Seaplane project likely to take off on May 27

Kollam: With the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) giving the green signal on Thursday, the much awaited seaplane project of the State is set to take off from the Ashtamudi Lake in Kollam by May-end. Highly placed sources told The Hindu that the first seaplane service, Ashtamudi to Punnamada (Alappuzha), will be launched by Chief Minister Oommen Chandy. The tentative date is May 27.
The clearance was given after top officials of the DGCA and Cochin International Airport Ltd (CIAL) inspected the landing site at Kollam and Alappuzha on Thursday.
The inspecting team comprised DGCA Deputy Director Bharat Bushan; Deputy Commissioner of Civil Aviation (Security) Sarat Sreenivasan; CIAL General Manager (Security) P. Gourisankar; and CIAL Manager (Training) C. Baburaj.
A houseboat each will function as the terminal of the seaplane landing and takeoff sites. Security gadgets were installed in these houseboats on Thursday. The installed gadgets include X-ray screening equipment and metal detectors. The two houseboats comprise a lounge for passengers.
17/05/13 The Hindu

Parliamentary committee questions airport policy

Bangalore: The Parliamentary Standing Committee on transport tourism and culture, which has been questioning the closure of the HAL Airport for commercial flight operations since the opening of the Bengaluru International Airport (BIA) in 2008, wants the central government to come out with a clear policy on new airports being constructed within 150km radius of the existing one.
The committee headed by Rajya Sabha MP and CPI(M) leader Sitaram Yechury, in its recent report on demands for grants (2013-14) of Ministry of Civil Aviation, wants a clear policy decision on new airports within 150km radius of the existing one.
The HAL airport had to cease commercial flight operations from May 2008, as the government’s policy does not allow any existing airport to function within 150km of a Greenfield airport (BIA). However, with the government giving in principal approval for setting up a Greenfield airport in Aranmula (Kerala), the committee has questioned the Greenfield airport policy.
17/05/13 Hemanth CS/Daily News & Analysis

Air India Seeks Dollar Loan to Refinance Rupee Debt

Air India Ltd., the carrier which pays more interest on its debt than any publicly traded Asian airline, plans to borrow $300 million from overseas to repay costlier rupee obligations, according to a company official.
The carrier is in discussions with two overseas lenders, including one in the U.K., said the official, who asked not be identified as the person is not authorized to speak to the media. The dollar-denominated loan will carry an interest rate of 300 basis points over the London interbank offered rate, the official said. The three-month dollar Libor rate was unchanged at 0.274 percent yesterday. That compares with about 10.5 percent the carrier pays for rupee loans, the official said.
The former monopoly, which paid 34.8 billion rupees ($634 million) as interest in the year ended March 31, is cutting costs and resuming Boeing Co. 787 flights to regain market share. Competition is intensifying on overseas routes after Etihad Airways PJSC agreed to buy a stake in Jet Airways (India) Ltd. Air India, bailed out by the government four times in as many years, needs to lure more customers to continue getting state funds, said Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh.
17/05/13  Karthikeyan Sundaram/Bloomberg.com

Environment impact assessment process could delay Mopa airport to beyond 2017

Panaji: The state government's hopes of throwing open the Mopa Greenfield airport by late 2016 or early 2017, may not happen as no work can start on the project unless the environment impact assessment (EIA) is completed, a process that will take not less than a year.
Sources said any agency will require at least a year to conduct a "thorough environment impact study" as it needs to be an all-season study, as per Union ministry of environment and forests (MoEF) guidelines. This would mean that an agency beginning work this monsoon will complete it next summer, sources said.
After the report is submitted, a public hearing will have to be conducted, the source added.
Sources said that in such a situation, it would be around June 2014 that a work order could be issued at the earliest. Chief secretary B Vijayan said no work order is possible to be issued without conducting an EIA and admitted that an EIA would take around year.
17/05/13 Times of India

Case against Ranjini Haridas

Kochi: Cases have been registered against TV anchor and actor Ranjini Haridas and a passenger, after an altercation between the two at Nedumbassery airport on Thursday morning.
Binoy of Ponkunnam arrived with family at the Cochin International Airport at Nedumbassery on Thursday morning after a vacation in the United States. There were long queues before the customs counter at the airport.
Ms. Haridas arrived at the airport as part of an artiste group returning from an overseas tour. Passengers waiting in queue objected when Ms. Haridas tried to bypass the queue and get herself cleared out of turn.
What ensued was a verbal duel between the anchor and Mr. Binoy. On the basis of a complaint lodged by Ms. Haridas with higher police officials, a team from Nedumbassery police arrived at the spot and registered a case against Mr. Binoy. Later, on the basis of a complaint lodged by Mr. Binoy’s wife, a case was registered against Ms. Haridas on similar charges.
17/05/13 The Hindu

Airlines unbound, fliers in a bind?

In India, the concept of domestic airlines unbundling services — including preferential seating and check-in baggage — and charging separately for these, is still in its early days. But this has really caught on in the West. In the US, for instance, airlines are estimated to have collected more than $6 billion in baggage and reservation change fees from passengers last year, the highest amount since these add-on charges became the norm five years ago. In fact, these fees — along with extra charges for boarding early or picking prime seats — have helped return the aviation sector in the US to profitability.
The entire idea of this unbundling of fares is to give the passenger the discretion to decide the add-on service that he or she wants while taking a flight, even as airlines correspondingly cut down on their base fares. According to a November 2011 American Aviation Institute study, the unbundling trend in the US has had profound positive impact for the consumer. Base airfares are less expensive (on an inflation-adjusted basis) than in 2001. In 2001, the inflation-adjusted average base fare per passenger segment flown by major carriers was $164, versus $158 in 2010.
17/05/13 Anil Sasi/Indian Express

Clearing agents stop work at Chennai Air Cargo complex

Chennai: Import and export of cargo at the Air Cargo Complex at Chennai has come to halt after the clearing staffs decided to stop work.
Industry sources said the strike may have an impact on the automobile majors who have factories in and around Chennai, as they import critical components. It may be noted, automobile industry accounts about 12% of the total import in this complex.
In the last four months this Complex has been facing turbulent times due to shortage of Customs Officers, frequent strikes or slowdown by the Ground Handling Agency (GHA) of Airport Authorities of India (AAI).
A V Vijayakumar, president, The Chennai Customs House Agents Association said they have been sharing their concerns in various forums – PTFC, CAFAC and with the Ministries of Finance, Commerce, Civil Aviation and also with various trade bodies.
He represents the association, which has around 1,000 members with about 600-700 staff members in the Air Cargo Complex alone.
17/05/13 T E Narasimhan/Business Standard

Canopy cover-up for glass crash

The Calcutta airport is spot-fixing — fixing spots where glass pieces from the facade can come crashing down on passengers. And for that, it’s tech tool of choice is the good ol’ brolly, also known as a fibreglass canopy.
Nearly 10 glass panes of the airport’s new terminal have crashed since March when the facility became operational and the last one fell within striking distance of two wheelchair-users on Tuesday.
Alarmed by the regular incidents of glass panes cracking and crashing, the authorities have started the process of erecting canopies at the 20 entrance and exit gates of the terminal’s city side and seven at the bus boarding gates on the air side.
“The canopies will protect passengers from broken glasses. It is a matter of concern and we’ve hired a consultant to find out the exact cause of the problem and its solution,” airport director B.P. Sharma told Metro on Thursday.
“The transparent canopies would be made of hardened fibreglass,” he added.
The cover-up route begs the question: why go in for a glass facade in the first place given that breakages are par for the course at all modern Indian airports?
But thereby hangs another tale.
At Calcutta airport, the canopies will initially be installed in the “priority areas where there is maximum movement of passengers”, the entrance and exit points and boarding gates. “Most number of glass panes have broken on the air side,” said an airport official.
17/05/13 Sanjay Mandal/The Telegraph

VVIP helicopter deal: CBI quizzes IAF official

New Delhi:  The CBI on Thursday quizzed a senior Indian Air Force (IAF) officer as witness in connection with alleged corruption in the Rs 3,546-crore VVIP helicopter deal in which former Air Chief Shasi P Tyagi is one of the suspects. Without naming the officer, CBI sources said an Air Marshal-level officer was examined as witness to clarify technical issues related to the tender of 12 helicopters for which UK-based AgustaWestland was chosen as successful bidder.
Sources said the agency wanted to know details of alterations done in the chopper's specifications and whether it had suited the UK firm. ACM Tyagi was booked by the CBI along with 12 others, including his three cousins, for alleged cheating, corruption and criminal conspiracy in the deal and searches were carried out at 14 locations, including his residence.
17/05/13 Times of India

Why airlines are stonewalling govt’s ombudsman proposal

The Ministry of Civil Aviation is pushing for an ombudsman – a key person who would look to address passenger complaints – but private airlines have been resisting any such move for more than three years. As of today, if an airline loses your bags, makes you run around for a refund or if its staff misbehave with you, all you can do is write letters of protest and wait. There is no systematic redressal of passenger complaints.
Which is perhaps why Civil Aviation Secretary K N Shrivastava has called a meeting of all airline CEOs today where, among other things, he is expected to once again bring up the issue of an airline ombudsman.
An airline CEO told Firstpost that private airlines are worried about any Government-appointed ombudsman being “intrusive” in their day-to-day functioning. Not only do airlines fear that an ombudsman could become a tool for competitive snooping, they also wonder about the very concept of an ombudsman when no clearly defined service standards really exist for the airline industry.
17/05/13 Sindhu Bhattacharya/First Post.com

Europe considers emission fines for Chinese and Indian airlines

Brussels: The European Commission said Thursday that Air China and Air India were among 10 Chinese and Indian airlines facing the prospect of fines and exclusion from airports in the European Union for refusing to comply with rules aimed at regulating greenhouse emissions.
The carriers are accused of not providing emissions data, as required by the European rules, and not participating in a permit system that entitles airlines to emit greenhouse gases in European airspace.
The volumes of carbon dioxide that the European Commission said the 10 carriers emitted through their jet engines in Europe last year was comparable to the emissions from burning about 130 rail cars of coal.
The commission said the eight Chinese carriers could face fines totaling 2.4 million euros ($3 million), and the two Indian airlines face total fines of 30,000 euros.
So far the emissions rules apply only to flights within Europe, and European carriers and most non-European airlines have complied. Still hotly debated, though, is the planned expansion of the system next January to include international flights in and out of Europe.
17/05/13 James Kanter/The New York Times/NDTV

New batch passes out from Army Aviation Training School

Nashik: Thirty-two Army officers today passed out of the aviation training school here after completing a 17-week course.
They will join the Army Aviation Corps (AAC) as combat helicopter pilots. These officers underwent rigorous training at the Army Aviation Training School (CATS) here in North Maharashtra and were part of the 19th batch of the premier institute. CATS is the only institute that trains helicopter pilots for the Army.
Captain Akshay Ghorpade was adjudged best candidate overall and won the 'Silver Cheetah' trophy at the hands of Lt Gen K Surendranath, Chief of Staff of Pune-based Southern Command, who was chief guest at the passing out ceremony.
The ceremony was attended by senior Army officials and civilian dignitaries, among others.
17/05/13 ZeeNews

Mopa airport: Ministers told to walk the talk

Panaji: Upping the ante, Vijay Sardesai, Independent MLA, on Thursday demanded that the Ministers in the BJP-led coalition government who attended the ‘anti-Mopa airport’ public meeting in Margao on Wednesday should resign if the State government failed to scrap the proposal.
Mr. Sardesai, who is closely associated with the demand to scrap the Mopa airport proposal in north Goa, was speaking to presspersons in the backdrop of the meeting at Lohia Maidan on Wednesday.
Minister for Environment and Forests Alina Saldanha and Fisheries Minister and Independent MLA for Navelim Avertano Furtado attended the meeting organised by ‘Goans for Dabolim Only’. Among the four other MLAs, who were also present at the rally, two support the government — Independent MLA for Velim Benjamin Silva and Goa Vikas Party MLA Caetan Silva.
17/05/13 The Hindu

Needed: Signage for Ludhiana airport

Ludhiana: Besides the railway crossing at the entrance of the Sahnewal airport giving a tough time to commuters, the dilapidated approach road from the highway to the airport has also given much grief to people. Surprisingly, the national highway does not even have a signboard giving directions to the airport. With the state government planning to upgrade the airport, insiders underline the need to construct a new building as the old one has limited space for passengers.
One of the officials at the airport conceded to the problems. "The railway crossing at the entrance is one problem. Apart from that, the approach road from National Highway No 1 is in a very bad condition as it has not been carpeted for quite a while. It reflects poorly on the airport. There is no signboard for people coming to the city to board a flight and often people waste a lot of time looking for the airport. Even though the state government said they would upgrade the airport, there is ambiguity over whether authorities will upgrade the building, which is quite old".
17/05/13 Shariq Majeed/Times of India