Govt may allow airlines to import 10% ATF directly

New Delhi: Leading legacy carriers have urged the Central government to re-allow the airlines to import aviation turbine fuel (ATF) directly. Airlines were last permitted to directly import aviation fuel during 1995-96 for a very short span. That led to reduction in fares while operating costs came down considerably for companies like Jet Airways, Indian Airlines and Air Sahara.
However, sources said that though the government is unlikely to allow import of 100% of the airlines' requirement, it may agree to allow import of up to 10% of their annual consumption directly.
ATF sales tax varies from state to state from 26% to 30%. Besides that, there is an 8% excise duty on aviation fuel.
According to analysts, the airline industry can save up to $450 million if it is allowed to procure fuel at international prices. However, at present, only the public sector oil companies like Indian Oil, Bharat Petroleum Corporation, etc, have the necessary fuel storage and hydrant systems at the airports.
24/02/07 Atreyee Dev Roy/Financial Express

FAA pursues aviation cooperation program with India

Washington: Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Administrator Marion Blakey said February 20 that Integrating China and India with global air traffic systems is also important for making international air travel safe and trouble-free, she said, as the two countries experience an explosive growth in domestic air travel.
Blakey said her agency would like to use the experience it has gained in China to craft an aviation cooperation program with India.
“We are counting on a long-term relationship with India to work with them to grow their aviation system,” she said.
Blakey said the first U.S.-India Partnership Summit, scheduled for April 23-25 in New Delhi, will provide an opportunity to discuss the most important issues related to bilateral cooperation such as airport development and construction and air traffic management.
India already has asked for U.S. assistance in implementing more advanced navigation and training for its air controllers. The United States has offered to assist with the certification of India’s own satellite-based navigational system.
In March, the two countries are scheduled to begin discussions on a bilateral aviation safety agreement, which would allow the U.S. regulators to accept Indian airworthiness certification on some aviation and aerospace products.
23/02/07 Andrzej Zwaniecki/US Department of State (press release), US

Liberals want to know whether government leaked name of Air India witness

Ottawa: The Liberals demand an investigation to determine whether a government official leaked the identity of a potential witness in the Air India bombing case to a Vancouver newspaper.
They said Prime Minister Stephen Harper's office should check to see if anyone in government or law enforcement provided that confidential "security information" to the Vancouver Sun. The prime minister himself referred to the article in the House of Commons this week.
Harper touched off a chorus of catcalls as he attempted to draw attention to the Sun report that the man in question was the father-in-law of Toronto Liberal MP Navdeep Bains.
The Liberals said it was obvious that some public official - either in government or law enforcement - leaked Darshan Singh Saini's name because only they would be aware that the RCMP might want to question him.
Conservative House leader Peter Van Loan denied any government involvement and said the Liberals could complain to the Vancouver Sun if they have a problem with the story.
23/02/07 Alexander Panetta/Winnipeg Free Press, Canada

CFM Training Center In India

New Delhi: CFM International is in the initial stages of setting up an Aircraft Engine Training School in India to provide advanced maintenance courses for the CFM56 engine that powers Boeing 737s and a majority of Airbus A320 series aircraft. Read On >>

Indian businessman dies after mid-flight heart attack

Thalang: An Indian businessman on a private flight from India to Singapore died early this morning after suffering breathing difficulties mid-flight, forcing the pilot to make an emergency landing at Phuket International Airport (PIA).
Lt Col Somkid Khaosang, Duty Inspector at Tah Chat Chai Police Station, named the man as Ram Calani Kusiram, 67.
“The man’s 27-year-old son, Calani Nares Kusiram, told us that his father suffered from heart problems. While on the plane, he began to have difficulty breathing so his family requested permission to land at Phuket Airport.
“The doctor said that Mr Kusiram was already dead when he was brought off the plane,” Col Somkid said.
“Mr Kusiram’s body is at Thalang Hospital. His family will take it back to his hometown in India later today,” he added.
Phuket International Airport Director Sq/Ldr Pornchai Eua-aree said that incidents such as this happen occasionally at all airports. “The flight this morning was a private plane with a seating capacity of 20. The plane was not scheduled to land in Phuket, but we happened to be the closest airport.
24/02/07 Phuket Gazette, Thailand

India clears the air about Pakistani aircraft delay

New Delhi/Islamabad: Forget conspiracy theories, it was just a technical glitch. So said India Friday as it cleared the air about the 'mysterious' delay in the takeoff of the Pakistani aircraft Thursday night carrying back the seven injured people in the train blasts, even as it asked Islamabad to give access to the survivors to probe the explosions.
'Some media reports suggest that the aircraft was delayed because India wanted an undertaking from Pakistani authorities for access to the evacuated Pakistani passengers for interrogation. This request had been made to Pakistani authorities while conveying the clearance for the aircraft,' external affairs ministry spokesperson Navtej Sarna said in a statement.
'We drew the attention of the Pakistani authorities to the fact that the terrorist attack on the train is being investigated by Indian police who may wish to take their statements at a later date,' he added.
'It is our hope that the government of Pakistan will facilitate this in the interest of the investigations,' he said.
Sarna, however, clarified that the release of the injured passengers was 'not linked to this nor their evacuation delayed because of it,' he said while referring to nearly six hours a C-130 transport aircraft of Pakistan Air Force had to wait before it could take off at 9.15 p.m.
23/02/07 RxPG NEWS, US

DGCA directive for pvt chopper operators

The Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has made it clear that a private helicopter service operator would have to get a site licensed as a ‘heliport’ if the designated area is used for landing and take-off by him for more than 7 days in a month.
The directive comes at a time when Uttar Pradesh is going to polls and political parties might require the services of a private chartered helicopter to make use of a landing site several times in a month for campaigning across towns and villages of the State.
In a communiqué to the civil aviation wing of the State Government, the DGCA has indicated that under series ‘B’ ‘Part I’ of the ‘Aerodrome Standard and Air Traffic Service’ rules and the provisions of Rule 133A of the Aircrafts Rule 1937, the terms ‘temporary helicopter site’ do not apply only to elevated ‘heliports’ on top of buildings and other types of constructions. The owners of helicopters offered for chartered or private flight operations frequently used by the politicians during polls in UP would now have to ensure that there were not more than seven landings by the same operator in a particular constituency during a month to avoid being liable for DGCA action for violation of heliport licensing rules, the DGCA circular said.
23/02/07 Santosh Chowdhury/Hindustan Times

Two airlines to shift call centers to Kenya from India

Two major airlines are planning to shift their call centres to Kenya from India in anticipation of a submarine optical fibre cable being laid on the eastern Africa coast, a senior government official said Friday.
At present, eastern Africa relies on satellites for its international telecommunication needs such as receiving and sending data, which is more expensive than using a submarine optical fibre cable.
The two airlines will set up call centres in Kenya and the government aims to subsidize their telecommunication costs to retain the business, said Bitenge Ndemo, the information and communications permanent secretary. He declined to name the airlines.
Ndemo said that the new investment will create 2,000 jobs in Kenya. The airlines are willing to invest in Kenya because of the quality of the country's human resources, Ndemo said.
24/02/07 The Age, Australia

LTTE fugitive: Red alert across Tamil Nadu Airports

A red alert has gone across all airports in the South Indian state of Tamil Nadu to stop a Tamil Tiger fugitive who was trying to escape the law enforcing authorities and go to Sri Lanka.
The man , an important arms buyer for the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) named Kiruba alias Kirubhakaran is badly wanted by the Indian law enforcement authorities in connection with the loads of raw materials bought and and shipped from India for the manufacture of deadly claymore mines.
The airports have been alerted since the Police came to know Kiruba was trying to travel unnoticed not through the usual way he comes and goes by illicit boats but by using the passport and by air.
The Indian law enforcement authorities think that he was in charge of procuring explosives, steel balls and metal beams necessary for the manufacture of Improvised Explosive Devices and making payments on behalf of the LTTE.
24/02/07 Walter Jayawardhana/Lankaweb, Sri Lanka

Airport development on an upswing: Kalam

New Delhi: With the Civil Aviation sector in the country witnessing an unprecedented growth, investment in modernisation of airports was on an upswing, President A P J Abdul Kalam said.
Observing the Civil Aviation sector had witnessed an unprecedented growth in recent years, the President in his address to the joint sitting of Parliament said the government had initiated modernisation of major airports in the country.
Kalam said air services were also being liberalised to cope with the rapidly growing air traffic demand.
There had been an almost 50 per cent growth in passenger traffic in the last financial year, he said.
23/02/07 PTI/Financial Express

AI aviation insurance renewal in July

Thiruvananthapuram: Air-India has begun the process of renewing the aviation insurance policy for Air-India and Air India Express, which is due for renewal from July 1.
The national carrier has invited bids from public and private insurance companies for renewing the policy. Four public sector companies and eight private sector companies are in the fray to bag the insurance cover this year, a top AI official at the airline headquarters in Mumbai told The Hindu . The AI insurance cycle runs from July 1 to June 30. A consortium of public sector insurance companies led by New India Insurance had bagged the contract last year. Ninety per cent of the risk was placed in the International Lloyd's market, the official said.
The average fleet value of the national carrier is estimated to be $ 3.5-4.5 billion with AI's massive fleet acquisition programme on. Its fleet is likely to go up from the existing 48 to 59 by 2007-end. The official said the national carrier estimated an excess of five billion passengers in Air-India and Air India Express, the low cost carrier, during July 2007-June 2008 period.
24/02/07 S. Anil Radhakrishnan/The Hindu

GoAir announces pre-budget fare bonanza

Mumbai: GoAir, a low cost carrier (LCC), has announced its special GoSmart Pre-Budget Summer Time Bonanza, an offering that will allow customers to plan and book their summer vacation for tickets as low as Rs 0/- across GoAir destinations.
The offer will remain open from 23 February till 28 February 2007, for travel between March to August 2007.
Commenting on its latest initiative, Jeh Wadia, managing director, GoAir said, "Every initiative introduced is designed around benefiting our customers and this initiative offers them a chance to book now for fares as low as Rs 0/- for their summer travel. This also safeguards them against any probable change / hike in airfares post budget."
23/02/07 domain-B

`Aerofest 07' begins

Chennai: A two-day event on aerospace, `Aerofest 07,' organised by Hindustan Institute of Engineering Technology was inaugurated on Friday.
Arun Kumar Tiwari, Director, Defence Research and Development Organisation, said the modern man confused the requirements of body with those of mind. Every person should have patience and gratitude, which were two wings of human beings, he added.
Ramakant Singh, Deputy Director of Civil Aviation, an alumnus of the institute, recalled his association with founder-chairman of the institute K. C. G. Verghese.
`Certification of civil aircrafts', `boom in civil aviation', `design of conical probe', and `multiple nozzles' were some topics to be covered.
As part of the celebrations, an `aero exhibition' would be held at the HIET in Guindy, the organisers said.
24/02/07 The Hindu

Kingfisher to fly new routes, add more flights

Mumbai: Vijay Mallya-promoted Kingfisher Airlines plans to launch more flights on new routes in its summer schedule, beginning March besides introducing services connecting Tier-II cities in the western and southern regions.
"We will increase the number of flights on our trunk routes like Mumbai-Delhi, Mumbai-Bangalore, and Mumbai-Kolkata from March this year in our new summer schedules," Kingfisher Airlines general manager (sales) Manoj Chacko told PTI.
The airline, which has a fleet of 25 aircraft, will also fly two daily flights connecting Delhi-Chennai, he added.
The airline was also looking to start services from Mumbai to Baroda, Jamnagar, Bhuj, Indore and Nagpur. It will also start services on the Bangalore-Lakshwadeep, Chennai-Madurai, Chennai-Trichy and Chennai-Coimbatore routes, thereby connecting all important cities around Chennai, said Chacko.
23/02/07 Economic Times

Dubai -Mangalore - Booking Opens

Dubai: As part of Air India's continued efforts to introduce more flights to Mangalore destination, Air India, in an official communication to daijiworld on Friday February 23, 2007, has informed that from March AI Express will fly 5 times a week and bookings have already opened online on www.airindiaexpress.in
In a letter to daijiworld, the Air India official has said that barring Sundays and Tuesdays, AI Express will fly all other 5 days a week to Mangalore from Dubai and back.
"Timing has a minor change from March 25, AI Express will take off from Dubai at 1400 hrs local time instead of current 14.30 hrs and from Mangalore the flight will take off at 2010 hrs instead of 2100 hrs"
Official also said that Doha-Bahrain-Mangalore booking will open online from next week, subject to schedule approval by the Airport authorities.
23/02/07 Daijiworld.com

Post-merger, A-I, IA to hire new advisor

Mumbai: Post-merger, Air India and Indian Airlines will hire a change management consultant to enable the employee adapt with new working environment and reorient themselves to deliver better performance.
Air India Chairman and Managing Director Vasudevan Thulasidas said the combined entity will have a change management consultant which will enable employees to be IT-savvy.
Air India has shortlisted two IT majors TCS and IBM.
Air India now has 15,500 employees while Indian Airlines has 18,000 with a combined fleet of 122. “Though the merged entity will be over-staffed, the expansion in the fleet from 90 to 122 will absorb the surplus human resources,” sources said.
Industry sources said while Air India had finalised wage negotiations with its employee unions, Indian Airlines was in talks with a few of unions for revising the wages.
Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel had earlier said that the merger would involve no retrenchment, no cuts or losses in pay scale, perks or allowances.
23/02/07 P R Sanjai/Business Standard

AI-Indian merger to come under Competition Panel scan

New Delhi: The merger of Air India and Indian may have been cleared for take-off, but whether the combined entity would continue to enjoy monopoly over the lucrative Middle-East sector has become a matter of scrutiny by the country's Competition Commission.
The Commission, which is at present playing more of an advisory role pending passage of an amendment bill granting it more powers, could force open this market for private players, sources said today.
"The merger of Indian and Air India may require intervention of the Competition Commission, which is planning to take up the issue with the Ministry of Civil Aviation," a source said.
When private players were allowed to start operations on the international routes, the government did not open the money making Middle-East sector for the two airlines it owns.
As per the Competition Act, no merger should create entry barriers for competition. The Competition Commission has taken a view that the present the limited competition between the Indian and Air India would cease after their merger.
"This situation is not allowed in the law," the source said.
22/02/07 PTI/The Hindu

'Air India, Indian merger will pose major challenges'

New Delhi: The merger of two state-owned carriers, Indian Airlines and Air India, has the potential to create a strong global player but only if it is followed by thorough restructuring and a public issue, experts said Friday.
According to industry experts, the merged entity will have a fleet size of 125 new generation aircraft by 2010 after new aircraft are added and some of the existing ones are phased out to emerge among the top 30 carriers globally. The turnover will also top Rs.150 billion ($3.3 billion).
But experts said the merger would also pose some serious challenges in the months to come, especially in integration of two companies that have had completely divergent operations.
'We are not talking about 10-15 employees but north of 33,000 who are spread all over the world,' said Harry Dhaul, director general of AviationWatch, a consumer awareness organisation in the aviation industry.
'The two carriers also have a different fleet composition, so some vital aspects like managing spares and pilot training will pose fresh challenges,' Dhaul said, referring to Air India's order for 63 Boeing aircraft and Indian's plans to acquire 43 from rival Airbus Industrie.
22/02/07 India PRwire (Press Release)

Cleared airport security, flew out - on wrong ticket

A passenger cleared airport security in the Indian capital, Delhi, and flew out on a private airline - all on the wrong ticket, it has emerged.
Mr A Srinivas should have been on Air Sahara's 18 February flight to Kochi in southern India but flew a week earlier by mistake, with no questions asked.
Airport security officials said anybody with a valid ticket is allowed inside the terminal building.
Air Sahara did not respond to BBC's queries on the incident.
Mr Srinivas told the BBC it all began with his getting the date wrong.
"I had fixed a meeting in Kochi on 18 February. My tickets were booked accordingly. But somehow I thought I was leaving a week earlier on 11 February."
No one at Delhi airport picked up his error.
"The security at the airport entrance looked at my e-ticket and waved me in. Another security man looked at it too," Mr Srinivas says.
At the "crowded" Sahara Airlines counter, Mr Srinivas presented his ticket for flight number S2 147.
"The airline official started drumming on her keyboard. There seemed to be some problem. She resumed typing again," he recounted.
"She looked up and asked me if I had baggage to check in. When I said no, she asked my seat preference, and I asked for an aisle seat."
Mr Srinivas said that without any other questions asked, the airline gave him a boarding pass to fly to Kochi.
Only when he arrived there three hours later, did he realise he had made a mistake.
"It was a security lapse of the worst kind. No one had noticed that I was carrying a ticket for a later date. It is all about overworked airline officials and casual airport security persons", said Mr Srinivas.
22/02/07 BBC News, UK

AI sells a pilot dream to youth

New Delhi: The acute shortage of pilots in India could turn out to be a boon for young science and engineering graduates who dream of flying high. Air India has decided to select 150 such students every year after an aptitude test and send them for pilot training to Europe and Australia. Read On >>

Manitoba to offer aviation training in India

Mumbai: An agreement designed to help India's aviation industry was signed here today by the city-based Cubex India with Winnipeg Aviation and Red River College of Winnipeg, Manitoba (Canada). Read On >>

Pakistani plane waits for hours

New Delhi: A bizarre drama was enacted at the Delhi airport on Thursday after a Pakistani Air Force C-130 aircraft landed here to evacuate those injured in the firebombing of the Samjhauta Express on Sunday.
Around 5.30 p.m., Pakistan's Foreign Office spokesperson Tasneem Aslam told this correspondent that only seven of the 10 Pakistanis admitted to the Safdarjung Hospital had reached the airport and three persons — Rana Shaukat Ali (46), his wife Rukhsana (40) and their one-year-old daughter Aksa — were "missing from the hospital."
"Our plane is stranded at the Delhi airport. We are waiting for the three passengers to be brought there," Ms. Aslam said, claiming that Indian intelligence agency personnel harassed Mr. Ali at the hospital on Wednesday.
Earlier, just after 4 p.m., External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Navtej Sarna told presspersons that Mr. Ali and his family wanted to go to Panipat and return to Pakistan via the Attari-Wagah border. (His five children perished in the train attack).
Ms. Aslam said Pakistan High Commission officials were not allowed into the Safdarjang Hospital and told by the External Affairs Ministry officials that the patients would be taken directly to the airport.
Soon after, this correspondent telephoned Mr. Sarna for his version of the story. Just before 6.30 p.m., he rang back, saying that Mr. Ali and his family were "not missing at all" and "nobody was harassing anybody."
According to him, the decision not to allow access to the Pakistani officials was taken by the hospital doctors.
Mr. Sarna also maintained that the Pakistani plane developed a "glitch" and could not take off.
At 7.40 p.m., Ms. Aslam told this correspondent that the "aircraft was still at the airport" and they were informed that Mr. Ali and his family wanted to travel home via the land route.
Asked about the technical glitch, she said: "I am at the High Commission. Let me check with the pilots." A few minutes later, an Indian official said one of the engines did not start.
Finally, the plane left a few minutes after 9 p.m.
23/02/07 Amit Baruah/The Hindu

C-130 in Delhi augurs well for Indo-Pak relations

Islamabad: Putting aside decades of distrust, Pakistan and India chose consideration against the backdrop of the recent Samjhota Express disaster ‘by allowing a Pakistan Air Force pilot to fly a C-130 inside the Indian borders.’
Traditionally, the two nuclear neighbors have ventured into each other’s territory to bomb and destroy during wars. But Thursday saw the third time a military aircraft fly in to pick up injured Pakistani nationals who were transported to New Delhi from the Haryana city of Panipat. Paramedical staff and emergency medicines accompanied the PAF aircraft. Four ambulances have been lined up in front of the burns casualty ward of the hospital in New Delhi to ferry the injured to the airport.
Earlier, say military sources here, it was in 2001 when a PAF aircraft flew in the Kutch area of Gujarat when it was hit by a massive earthquake. Pakistan had sent doctors and medical supplies that the Indian government accepted.
23/02/07 Mariana Baabar/The News - International, Pakistan

Anil, Mukesh fight hits Reliance air taxi ops

Mumbai: The fate of the Reliance air taxi operations now hinges on the outcome of the battle between Anil and Mukesh Ambani to establish which group has the right to construct and operate the hangar at the Mumbai international airport.
The Anil Ambani-controlled Reliance Transport and Travels Private Ltd (RTTPL) had moved the Bombay High Court seeking directions to the Airports Authority of India (AAI) to recognise RTTPL as the allottees of 2,701 sq mt plot for the hangar, instead of Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL), which is controlled by Mukesh.
The HC on Thursday dismissed the petition stating that it cannot direct AAI to decide the dispute between the two groups. The court advised the brothers to settle the dispute in a civil suit. The court has, however, restrained AAI from entering into a formal lease agreement for four weeks to allow time for RTTPL to move the civil court. The case pertains to RTTPL being granted a permit to operate a non-schedule air transport passenger service by the Director General of Civil Aviation in 2000.
22/02/07 Anshika Misra/Daily News & Analysis

Home Office faces £2.5m payout for leaving translators idle for 15 years

Two interpreters who were paid to do nothing for 15 years are suing the Home Office for ruining their careers.
Marti Khan and Odette King are claiming more than £ 1.5million after blundering immigration officials apparently "forgot" they existed.
Mrs Khan, 48, and Mrs King, 57, were paid £25,000 a year to translate for new arrivals to the country at airports.
But managers failed to reassign them after the Home Office started outsourcing their duties to freelance interpreters in 1990.
The two women continued to turn up to work for 41 hours a week but said they were paid to "do nothing" or given "basic clerical duties" such as filing.
If they had not eventually complained of being underemployed and earning less than freelancers they could have stayed on until it was time to draw their pensions, an employment tribunal heard. Now taxpayers face a £2.5million bill after the tribunal ruled they were victims of race and sex discrimination.
Judge Jeremy McMullen, QC, criticised bosses at the Immigration and Nationality Directorate as "one of Britain's least impressive managements". He said the farce had involved more than 100 managers and human resources staff.
A panel at Central London Employment Tribunal ruled that the women had effectively been redundant since 1990. It said they had suffered race and sex discrimination and were unfairly dismissed.
It added: "What was striking was the Home Office's failure to grasp the nettle for a period of about 15 years.
"It seemed that if the claimants had not raised complaints about being under-utilised and paid less than freelance interpreters the situation may well have continued until their retirement.
"However, as professionals who were proud of their skills they did not find it acceptable that they were being paid to do very little."
Both women are British but Mrs Khan is of Indian origin while Mrs King comes from Iran.
22/02/07 This is London, UK

Airlines see space to grow share of non-passenger revenues

Bangalore: As airlines fight a bitter fare war, they are trying to increase ancillary revenues to be able to afford lower fares to passengers. Especially, the low cost carriers.
In the latest move in this direction, budget carrier Air Deccan has tied up with online travel portal Travelguru to offer hotel booking and holiday packages on its website, which gets 12 million hits per month.
The travel portal, which went live on Air Deccan’s website 20 days back, has already done business worth Rs 5 lakh, and this includes rooms booked in five star hotels like Taj and Oberoi. Through this exclusive tie-up, Air Deccan intends to earn commission on every room sold on its website.
In a similar move, rival SpiceJet Ltd had tied up with Yatra.com some time back. Both the no-frill carriers are looking at raising their non-passenger revenues to remain competitive in the market.
22/02/07 Praveena Sharma/Daily News & Analysis

Poor airport infrastructure hampering tourism growth: report

Even as inbound international arrivals peaked at 4.4 million in 2006, India's tourism growth was hampered by inadequate airport infrastructure and the lack of adequate hotel rooms, says a new report, recommending a seven-point plan to boost the sector.
The other areas that need reform are the country's airline policy, taxation regime, the bureaucratic set-up, human resource development in the hospitality sector, and the visa regime, says the 'Total Tourism India' report prepared by credit card major Visa and the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA).
The report says that domestic travel "has been quietly booming over the past 15 years, as India's states increasingly awaken to home-grown tourism's potential to stimulate economic growth and boost employment".
Domestic trips reached an all-time high of 430 million in 2006, up 13 percent from 2005. The average annual growth rate has been more than 10 percent since 2000, with the boom in low cost carriers bringing travel within the price range of millions of more households across the subcontinent.
The report also shows that international outbound trips by resident Indians peaked at around 8.3 million in 2006.
"But India needs to accelerate efforts to improve and expand its infrastructure, particularly airports and roads, broaden its product range, especially in accommodation, and increase its competitiveness," PATA president and CEO Peter de Jong said at the launch.
23/02/07 IANS/Mangalorean.com

Families of Air India victims urge Ottawa to extend anti-terror law

Ottawa: Earlier Thursday, a group representing families of victims of the Air India bombing urged all federal politicians to support renewal of Canada's Anti-Terrorism Act.
The Air India Victims' Families Association said MPs from all parties are playing political games with provisions of the law.
Association spokesman Bal Gupta said fighting over the provisions is an insult to the 329 people killed in the Air India plane went down off the coast of Ireland.
Liberal Leader Stephane Dion has said his party will oppose extending the provisions when they expire on March 1.
The Mounties had hoped to use the investigative-hearing provision of the act to compel testimony.
22/02/07 Joan Bryden/570 News, Canada

Liberals demand apology from PM over Air India

Prime Minister Stephen Harper ignored demands that he owed a Liberal MP an apology on Thursday, one day after suggesting the Grits are opposed to anti-terror measures in order to protect one of their parliamentarian's relatives.
Liberal MP Navdeep Bains demanded an apology from the prime minister during question period.
"Yesterday, the prime minister in the House of Commons attacked my integrity and the integrity of my family. Now that he's had some time to think, will the prime minister simply retract his remarks?" Bains asked.
An unrepentant Harper sidestepped the question, instead saying he recognized the Air India bombing was an important matter.
Bains rose in the House once again to repeat his request that the prime minister retract his comments. Harper effectively challenged him to point to any error in the newspaper report.
The political firestorm erupted one day earlier when Harper attempted to read from a newspaper report saying that Mississauga-Brampton South MP Navdeep Bains' father-in-law is on a list of potential witnesses that the RCMP wants to compel to testify about the 1985 bombing.
Harper had been responding to unrelated criticism about the way his government chooses judges.
22/02/07 CTV.ca, Canada

Alpha’s duty-free plans meet FIPB roadblock

New Delhi: Duty-free giant Alpha’s plans for the Indian market have run into rough weather. The multinational was planning a joint venture here with Kishore Biyani’s Future Group to tap various segments, including duty-free trade. The foreign investment promotion board (FIPB) has put on hold the Alpha’s plea to allow its holding company in India to set up duty-free shops on airports and invest in flight kitchens.
Trouble seems to be brewing following a letter from former Union minister Jagdish Tytler, highlighting Alpha’s collaboration with Cochin International Airport (CIAL) for duty-free trade. The UK-based company has not disclosed the partnership with CIAL while obtaining FIPB approval last year for a holding company, the Congress MP has said. The department of industrial policy & promotion (DIPP) may seek details from Alpha on its involvement in the CIAL project, top government sources said.
A request from Alpha Airports Group, seeking permission to convert its holding company into a operating-cum-holding company, was to be considered at the FIPB meeting on February 14 but it was withdrawn following Mr Tytler’s communication, they added.
23/02/07 Gunjan Pradhan Sinha & G Ganapathy Subramaniam/Economic Times

Visas on demand after airport modernisation: minister

New Delhi: India is planning to introduce five-year multiple entry visas, as also for issuing the document on arrival, once the country's major international airports are modernised, Tourism Minister Ambika Soni said here Thursday.
'India is planning to issue five-year multiple entry visas. The ministry of external affairs has agreed to issue visas on arrival once the major international airports are modernised,' Soni said at a function here where she released the 'Total Tourism India' report.
Credit card major Visa and the Pacific Area Travel Association (PATA) have jointly brought out the report that took 12 months to prepare. It recommends a seven-point action plan to advance India's tourism development.
This includes expanding airport capacity, reforming airline policy, expanding accommodation inventory, reducing and simplifying the taxation regime, cutting bureaucratic delays, boosting human resources and streamlining visa processing.
22/02/07 Earthtimes.org

Mumbai airport undergoes makeover

Mumbai: Mumbai International Airport Ltd (MIAL) partially overhauling the domestic terminal currently, its first major city-side upgrade.
Within three months, a new arrivals plaza, verdant landscaping and new traffic patterns are assured. Leighton Asia (Southern) is onboard as contractors for the project.Ravi Punde of Design Cell has been engaged to plan the landscaping of the arrivals plaza, while the Indian Institute of Technology (Bombay) has done traffic studies on the basis of which the traffic patterns will be altered.
But what will bring the most relief to travellers will be the opening of the 4,100 sq m new arrivals wing, which will help in bifurcation of the arriving traffic.
Meanwhile, the capacity of the taxi parking will almost be halved—from nearly 320 parking spaces for cabs currently; the new taxi stand will have a capacity of only 166. A canopied pedestrian concourse, connecting the arrivals wing to the car park directly, will be created as well.
23/02/07 Lekha Agarwal/Mumbai Newsline

LCCs fight lean season with promotional offers

In a bid to tide over the lean season, low cost carriers (LCCs) are offering various promotional packages to increase their passenger load factor. Air Deccan, GoAir and SpiceJet have lined up a host of schemes to boost air travel from February to mid-April.
GoAir has announced that it had eliminated the extra charges payable on all call centre ticketing office (CTO) and even airport ticketing office (ATO) bookings with effect from February 14. The airline has also announced an initiative, GoFly @ Rs 0, which allows passengers to fly free to all its 13 destinations on bookings made till February 23 for travel between March 1 to 25.
To enable travellers to fly at Rs 99 to all its destinations except on the Delhi-Goa route, SpiceJet is offering tickets on a first-come-first-serve basis.
Even IndiGo has announced a promotional offer on 1 lakh tickets at Rs 100, Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 for sale from February 26 to February 28. Taxes and surcharge are extra. Air Deccan has introduced tickets at rock bottom prices, as low as Rs 7, to those who want to book tickets online.
23/02/07 Shaheen Mansuri/Financial Express

Online air ticket scam suspects held by Mumbai cops in Vasco

Vasco: The economic offences wing (EOW) of crime branch, Mumbai today detained two persons, for their suspected involvement in the online air ticket scam, this evening after a motorcycle and a car chase. Another accomplice is said to be absconding.
According to sources, the Mumbai sleuths arrived in Goa, this evening, in connection with last year’s Rs 13.5 crore online air ticket scam, in Mumbai. TheEOW team has earlier arrested nine persons in this case.
The EOW officials informed that the accused obtained credit card numbers of customers and used the numbers to book air tickets online. It was also informed that Kingfisher Airlines was cheated of crores of rupees while the other airlines faced loss in lakhs.
Acting on tip-off, the EOW team with the help of crime branch, Goa, today chased an Indica car , which was proceeding towards Vasco from Dabolim airport. There were in all six occupants, including two men, three women and a two-year old child in the car.
The speeding car collided with a minibus, on the Vaddem-Chicalim slope, at around 6 p.m. As the EOW team tried to nab the occupants, two of the six persons were caught, but an occupant, Sameer Kasam Shaikh abandoned the car and is absconding.
The officials disclosed the names of the two detained suspects as Sameer Maqbool Shaikh and Mehboob Shaikh.
22/02/07 Navhind Times

Air travelling no longer a luxury

Guwahati: Faced with intense competition from various private airlines, Indian Airlines, too, has effected drastic cuts in its domestic airfares. As per the unchecked fare (X Class, which is non-refundable), introduced by Indian Airlines with effect from February 17 to September 30, the fare for a Guwahati-Kolkata flight is as low as Rs 1,290. A Delhi-bound flight will now cost Rs 2,500, while the Guwahati-Imphal fare is the lowest at Rs 1,100.
The fares for the other destinations from Guwahati are: Guwahati-Agartala Rs 1,500; Guwahati-Lilabari (Dibrugarh) Rs 1,200; Guwahati-Bagdogra Rs 1,700. The “unprecedented” slash, which has been more pronounced in the eastern region, is stated to be as high as 75 per cent in the Guwahati-Kolkata sector.
An Indian Airlines official said that the new arrangements were done to enhance its competitiveness in view of the private carriers offering low rates for domestic destinations.
The new airfare structure of Indian Airlines compares favourably with those of other domestic airlines.
Under the circumstances, the consumer is having a never-before experience as far as travelling in air is concerned.
22/02/07 Assam Tribune

More comforts for Mangalore Air Passengers

Mangalore: The Mangalore Airport which recently turned into International Airport is now slowly going to be one of the busy airport in India. New flights are introducing their services every day.
Mangalore to Dubai, Mangalore to Abudhabi, Mangalore to Muscat and Mangalore to Doha Qatar and Bahrain are on schedule but more new services are coming up with lots of facilities for Mangalore passengers.
Now Air Deccan will begin its new flights from Mangalore to Mumbai from March 25. In a press release, company stated that Air Deccan which has made a mark by providing service with minimum fare will begin the flight form Mumbai at 1.15 pm. The flight will reach Mangalore at 2.30 pm and it will leave Mangalore at 3 pm to arrive in Mumbai at 4.15 pm.
22/02/07 SahilOnline, United Arab Emirates

Govt panel clears merger of Air-India and Indian

Mumbai: The group of ministers (GOM) headed by Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee has approved the two-year merger proposal for Air-India (A-I) and Indian (formerly Indian Airlines).
The proposal now awaits Cabinet approval. Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel said the government intends to complete the process by March 31, though the transition would take one or two years.
The unified entity will have over 112 aircraft and a turnover of $4 billion. In 2006, the two airlines together carried 11.7 million passengers.
The merged company will control over 70 per cent of the real estate at Mumbai and Delhi airports (in terms of parking bays, hangars and maintenance slots).
With the merger, the new entity will have more aircraft than Singapore Airlines, Malaysian Airlines and Thai Airways.
Also, with new aircraft acquisitions cleared by the government for both airlines, the combined fleet strength would go up to 130. However, in terms of annual passenger traffic, it will lag far behind the three Asian tigers.
22/02/07 Business Standard

Pilot refuses to fly beyond duty hours

Passengers of an Indian flight had to wait for over three hours before their flight left New Delhi airport for Kolkata. This happened after the pilot scheduled to fly the plane refused to fly the aircraft on the grounds that he had completed his scheduled number of hours in duty.
The harassed passengers were flown to Kolkata only after another pilot was rushed in to take over the scheduled flight. By refusing to fly the scheduled flight, the pilot inconvenienced the passengers but he was well within what the rules of his job dictated.
According to norms decided by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), the Flight Duty Time Limitation for a pilot is 11 hours.
22/02/07 Suparna Dey/Times Now.tv

Changi Airports Int'l and Tata to make joint bids for Indian projects

CAI, the investment arm of Changi Airport, has signed an agreement with the Tata group to make a joint bid for the operation of Kolkatta and Chennai Airports.
Its air passenger traffic is projected to grow 20 percent annually over the next four years.
Chow Kok Fong, CEO, CAI, said: "In the case of India, there is a very large middle class. This is the class that can afford air travel. Despite the large size of the middle class, when you talk in terms of what we call air travel intensity per capita, that means the number of miles flown on average by each person in the country, Chinese is 0.1 percent or one thousandth that of Singapore; India is half of that."
But airport infrastructure has not been able to keep up with demand so India embarked on an airport privatisation programme two years ago.
To get a piece of this lucrative airport business, CAl has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Tata Group to set up a joint venture company to bid for the investments and operations of Chennai and Kolkatta Airports.
21/02/07 Asha Popatlal/Channel News Asia, Singapore

IA takes on low-cost carriers in fare war

Kolkata: Indian Airlines is revving up for a dogfight in the skies. With all-time low fares in its arsenal, the national carrier is ready to fire salvos at not just legacy carriers, like Jet Airways and Air Sahara, but low-cost airlines like Air Deccan and SpiceJet as well.
"We have slashed fares on several routes out of Kolkata. The new fares, applicable till September-end, are aimed at winning back passengers lost to competition," IA chief manager (marketing & sales) Nirbhik Rai Narang said.
The airline's new basic fares range from Rs 175 to Rs 625 on all flights to the north-east, except Dibrugarh.
The basic fare to Dibrugarh is Rs 1,525. An additional tax and fuel surcharge component of Rs 975 is applicable on all tickets.
The number of discounted fare seats may range from 15 to 50, depending on the flight's load factor. The full fare on these sectors range from Rs 4,330 to Rs 7,540.
Fares have also been slashed on metro sectors. The lowest fare (tax & surcharge included) to Delhi is Rs 2,990. It will cost a passenger Rs 3,990 to travel to Mumbai, Rs 3,330 to Chennai and Rs 4,000 to Bangalore.
The basic return fare to Bangkok too, has been slashed. The lowest return fare ranges between Rs 4,500 to Rs 6,000. The tax and fuel surcharge applicable on this sector is Rs 4,000.
21/02/07 Times of India

DHL sees strong growth in South Asia

Rising trade within south Asia and Asia-Pacific is boosting growth of express delivery shipments, but a trend toward more local sourcing is a challenge, top regional officials at DHL Express said on Wednesday.
The express delivery arm of Deutsche Post AG has more than half the market for international express in south Asia, and expects growth in shipment volumes to continue in the 'strong double digits'.
DHL Express has invested $1.7 billion in Asia-Pacific in the past six years, with more than half going into greater China and about $300 million in India. It is spending more than $110 million expanding its China business over the next few years.
In India, DHL owns 81 per cent in logistics firm Blue Dart Express Ltd and 47 per cent in Blue Dart Aviation, the sole domestic freighter operator. Blue Dart competes with Gati Ltd and smaller regional firms.
21/02/07 Financial Express

Pvt airlines will go for consolidation

New Delhi: Analysts expect the low cost carriers to firm their grip on the passengers with Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation predicting that the budget airlines will account for nearly 70% of the market in three years.
Similarly, the mega airlines - Singapore Airlines, British Airways and Emirates - are expected to continue giving a tough fight to the national carrier.
What the merger is expected to do is encourage the private carriers, some of whom are already allowed to fly overseas, to consolidate. "We could see very hectic consolidation and M&As in the next 12-18 months,"says Capas chief executive officer Kapil Kaul.
Jet Airways, which earlier tried to acquire Air Sahara, is expected to start the hunt once again once the arbitration proceedings are over. Similarly, Vijay Mallya's Kingfisher and SpiceJet, which has recently received funding from the likes of the Tata group, could also be on the prowl.
22/02/07 Times of India

False names for 'notorious' flight

An Air India flight from Birmingham to Toronto has become so notorious for people being caught travelling on false passports police have produced a 'pro-forma witness statement' to reduce the time spent dealing with each case.
The observation was made by a judge at Warwick Crown Court as he was sentencing the latest defendant who attempted to use a false passport on the Transatlantic route
Harjit Singh, pleaded guilty to possessing a false identity document, and was jailed for nine months, after which he faces deportation.
Singh, 25, of no fixed address had been working at a farm in Evesham but is originally from India.
Prosecutor Graham Hubbard said at 4pm on Sunday January 21 Singh arrived at Birmingham International Airport to check in for an Air India flight to Toronto.
His documents were checked, and it was realised his UK passport in the name of Shamus Hussain was false.
Investigations revealed the passport had been stolen and Singh's photograph had been inserted in it.
When he was questioned Singh admitted he had been living in this country illegally since 1998, and had paid £2,000 for the false passport so he could get to Canada.
21/02/07 ic Solihull.co.uk, UK

`Intelligent` plans for major airports: AAI

New Delhi: The roadmap for modernisation of Kolkata and Chennai airports is nearing completion and civil aviation ministry officials are already upbeat about the new “intelligent” and IT-enabled terminals coming up at major airports across the country.
“As soon as we get it, we will move the Union Cabinet on modernisation of Kolkata and Chennai airports,” Civil Aviation Secretary Ashok Chawla told reporters after inaugurating the “Inter Airport India” exhibition here.
He said the West Bengal government had already made it clear that the Kolkata airport would be modernised by the Airports Authority of India (AAI).
Earlier, addressing the inaugural session of the exhibition, AAI Chief K Ramalingam said major Indian airports in future would have “intelligent terminals” fitted with sensors to operate various facilities — from lighting and air-conditioning to an IT-enabled building management system.
High-tech equipment would be deployed for the security and air traffic control (ATC) systems covering a wide range of activities — from access control to perimeter security.
22/02/07 Press Trust Of India/Business Standard

Paramount to add 15 new aircraft

Madurai: Paramount Airways has chalked up plans to have a national footprint by end 2009, which will be done by acquiring 15 new aircraft in three years.
Speaking to TOI here, Paramount MD M Thiagarajan said the airline, which started operations a year ago, connects eight destinations through 50 flights daily.
Paramount is the lone carrier in the HVC (high value carrier) segment, while most airlines follow a LCC (low cost carrier) or full service carrier (FSC) model.
"We believe in pampering our passengers. This year we will connect Trichy, Mangalore and Calicut after which we will interconnect all the sectors that we currently operate in,"Thiagarajan said.
On Wednesday, the airline announced one more flight between Madurai and Chennai, taking the total number of daily flights between the two destinations to four. The funding of the 15 new jets will be through internal accruals and debt.
22/02/07 Rajesh Chandramuli/Times of India

New entrants corner 44% of aviation mart

In the 42 months since Air Deccan became a credible and stable challenger to the erstwhile ruling triumvirate of Jet Airways, Indian Airlines and Sahara, the new entrants have garnered about 44 per cent of share of the market.
According to the figures for January, budget carriers alone -- such as SpiceJet, GoAir, IndiGo, apart from Deccan -- have 34 per cent share of the market. A year ago, the figure was only 20.8 per cent.
The market share of Kingfisher Airlines, a full-service airline that took off in May 2005, has increased to 10 per cent. SpiceJet's has increased to 8 per cent. GoAir, IndiGo, Paramount and Indus account for the rest.
In August 2003, when Deccan took off as the country's first no-frills carrier, Jet, IA and Sahara controlled the entire market.
Indian Airlines' share at that stood at a handsome 35 per cent.
22/02/07 P R Sanjai/Business Standard/Rediff

Air Deccan ties up with Travelguru

Air Deccan announced a strategic tie up with Travelguru, India's premier online travel portal to provide budget hotel bookings and holiday packages. The tie up will provide Air Deccan passengers the unmatched convenience of selecting and making reservations in 2,500 hotels including over 1,500 budget/ economy hotels, through its website www.airdeccan.net. The hotels are located in 160 cities across India including all destinations that Air Deccan flies to.
The hotels included offer a wide range of facilities such as free airport transfer, breakfast and other value adds , making this a single window service for all travel solutions. Air Deccan passengers are assured the best available hotel rates along with instant confirmation of the booking. Passengers will have online access to both Air Deccan and Travelguru contact centres for speedy and accurate response to their queries.
21/02/07 Moneycontrol.com

Air Deccan eyes up to 30% revenues in 3 yrs

Bangalore: Low cost airline Air Deccan aims to raise up to 30 per cent of its total revenues from ancillary streams in three years, a three-fold jump from the current levels, its Managing Director G R Gopinath said.
"We are aiming for ancillary revenues of 25-30 per cent in three years," he said.
Currently, ancillary revenues account for nine per cent of India's second largest airline's top-line.
Ancillary revenues are essentially categorised as non-passenger revenues which the company draws by way of inflight catering,excess baggage, selling of credit cards, aircraft branding, hotel bookings and things of that nature.
"Web (Internet) is a powerful engine of growth for us," Gopinath said. "We want to drive revenue into this."
Company officials said 8.5 lakh people visit Air Deccan website every day.
Air Deccan said its website has emerged as India's largest e-commerce site. The company's call centre gets 24,000 calls every day, officials said.
21/02/07 PTI/Financial Express

Jet Airways to start flights to Brussels in August

Brussels (Belgium): India's largest private airline company Jet Airways will make a stopover in Brussels for its flights between Mumbai and New York in the US, according to local media reports.
The service that is due to start this August will provide the first direct air link between Belgium and India, says INEP.
At present travellers to India from Belgium have to take connecting flights from other cities including Paris, Frankfurt and Amsterdam.
Next to the link Mumbai-Brussels-New York, Jet Airways also intends to start a connection between New Delhi and Toronto before 2007-end.
This connection will also have a stop over in Brussels, "Flandernews.com" reported.
However, in the Jet Airways office in Brussels there was nobody to confirm the report as the management was in a meeting.
The tourism minister from the Flanders region of Belgium, Geert Bourgeois, currently visiting India, met Indian tourism minister Ambika Soni and the management of Jet Airways in Mumbai.
Since 2002, the number of outbound Indian tourists has annually grown by 12 per cent. It is estimated that by 2010, some 11.5 million Indians will take a holiday abroad.
22/02/07 IANS/Economic Times

AFL may soon WiZ it on own cargo airlines

Kolkata: AFL, which has a presence in airfreight, logistics and express services, is exploring the viability of entering the cargo airlines space. The company recently inked a joint venture deal with Dascher, a leading German logistics player, to spin off its cargo division into a 50:50 joint venture. But, it seems, AFL will not stop there, and is now drawing up plans for launching a cargo carrier.
Industry sources said the carrier is likely to be an entirely separate business from the joint venture, with AFL chairman-cum-managing director Cyrus Guzder as an investor, but this could not be confirmed. When contacted by DNA Money, company sources refused to comment.
The exact fleet strength and investment figures were not available. An aviation analyst, however, said AFL’s captive cargo load, however, would not be enough to sustain the cargo carrier business. It will need to generate business “from outside.”
Retail is a likely area that can feed future cargo business in India in a big way, said an aviation analyst. He added while the passenger transportation segment is taking wings, the cargo business in India has remained largely untapped.
21/02/07 Madhumita Mookerji/Daily News & Analysis

Aviation meet underscores need to create infrastructure

Kochi: Mr. G C Daga, Director (Marketing), IndianOil inaugurated the two day 15th International Aviation Conference in the presence of Mr. Thorsten Luft, General Manager, Middle East Businesses, Air BP; Mr. R Sareen, GM(Aviation), IndianOil and over 100 delegates from 30 countries here today.
Delivering the inaugural address, Mr. Daga complimented the airline companies for continuing to deliver value to customers despite a debilitating impact on the bottom-line". The domestic passenger traffic at Indian airports is expected to grow by about 25% and international traffic by about 15% annually. Aviation fuel growth, which is currently poised at about 15-20% annually, is also expected to maintain the growth trend considering the future growth potential in air travel in the country.
Mr. Thorsten Luft, in his address stressed on the need for safety in aviation operations which is especially important in the current context in India where there is clearly a boom in the airline business. The challenge clearly is to manage the transition with a clear focus on quality operations. The opportunity, however, is clearly there for the Indian aviation sector to tap the most contemporary of technology and processes in the world, he added.
Delegates attending the conference include representatives of leading international and domestic airlines besides from allied industries, statutory aviation authorities and government agencies including representatives from the Indian Defence Services.
21/02/07 Prdomain Business Register (press release)

Cafe Coffee Day enters agreement with Air Deccan, Go Air

Kolkata: India's largest retail coffee chain Cafe Coffee Day has earmarked a Rs 30 crore investment for setting up 100 outlets across the country and 10 abroad, a company official said on Wednesday.
Inaugurating the company's 400th outlet here, director of Cafe Coffee Day Naresh Malhotra told reporters that another 100 outlets would be opened across India by September 2007.
Malhotra said that to expand the reach, the company has entered into an agreement with Air Deccan and Go Air for airline catering. He said, the company was looking at a growth of 25 per cent from this line of activity.
22/02/07 PTI/The Hindu

Air Sahara launches new flights

New Delhi: Expanding its presence across the country, Air Sahara will operate new flights from Thursday between Hyderabad-Pune, Nagpur-Pune, Nagpur-Pune, Mumbai-Nagpur and Mumbai-Srinagar (via Delhi).
The Aviation Major on Wednesday commenced flights from Nagpur to Hyderabad and Mumbai, according to an Air Sahara release here.
"We are delighted to add additional connections to and from Nagpur, Pune and Hyderabad. Air Sahara is also offering a new connection between the cities of Mumbai and Srinagar. The new flights will have very convenient timings and attractive fares to and from these destinations," Air Sahara president Alok Sharma was quoted as saying by the release.
22/02/07 Zee News

GE Brings ecomagination to India

New Delhi: General Electric Company (GE) today announced the launch of the company’s innovative ecomagination initiative in India -- designed to bring to market new technologies that will help customers address their most pressing environmental challenges such as the need for cleaner, more efficient sources of energy, reduced emissions and abundant sources of clean water.
The ecomagination initiative was launched in New Delhi by John Rice, GE Vice Chairman and President & CEO,GE Infrastructure and Lorraine Bolsinger, Vice President, Ecomagination.
On the occasion, the company signed an MoU with Air India that will help the airline achieve its goal of becoming an environmentally sustainable airline, with sound environmental programs and practices.
_____________________________
GE engines to save
Air India $150 million
New Delhi: Air India will be saving $150
million over 15 years by mounting advanced
General Electric (GE) engines GE90-115B
on its 27 Boeing 777-300ERs aircraft. The
Ecomagination range of engines allow better
fuel efficiency and lower operating costs.
V Thulasidas, CMD, Air India said: “We
are spending large amounts on aviation
turbine fuel (ATF), which accounts for over
35 per cent of our operating costs. We have
bought the best airframes and new generation
engines to become one of the most efficient
airline with lowest operating costs.”
Thulasidas also signed a memorandum of
understanding with GE for a broad-based
environment-friendly initiative for the
entire operations of the airline.
Its headquarters at Nariman Point, Mumbai,
will be turned into a Green Building and
its maintenance and repair operations will
also be bought under GE’s Ecomagination
programme.
21/02/07 Business Standard >>
_____________________________
This first-of-its-kind partnership with Air-India will see GE delivering aircraft engines from its ecomagination portfolio including GE90-115B engines for the Boeing 777-300ERs and the GEnx engines for the Boeing 787-800 aircraft ordered by Air India. The value of these orders from Air India is over $2.2 billion. Beyond aircraft engines, to help Air India position itself as an environment friendly airline, GE will partner in other areas such as – green building, in flight content creation, co-branding etc.
GE also announced the signing of an MoU for a Green Building Project with Haryana Technology Park. Under the MoU, GE India and Haryana Technology Park will collaborate in a number of initiatives to create a truly green building project of world standards specifically in the areas of utility services like power generation & distribution, lighting, water treatment, security, sensing equipment and other environmentally friendly solutions.
environment-friendly technologies. I commend GE for taking this initiative and hope others will follow.”
GE said that it was targeting over US$ 1 billion per year in revenues from ecomagination products in India by 2010. GE also announced that it will invest up to US$150 million in “eco-related” research & development funds at its Technology Center in Bangalore over the next five years.
20/02/07 Business Wire (press release), US

Air Deccan obtains certification for Full Flight Trainer

Montreal: Air Deccan obtained dual certification for a Full Flight Trainer(TM) (FFT(TM)) manufactured by Mechtronix Systems, the fastest growing global provider of flight training equipment. The unit was originally acquired by ATR Training Center of Toulouse, France and placed in India for the training of Air Deccan's pilots. The FFT(TM) is re-configurable between ATR 42-500 and 72-500 models and features GNSS, Weather Radar, TCAS, EGPWS, and a SimAuthor debrief station. It is also equipped with a CAE Tropos Visual System.
The certification process was performed by the DGAC, the civil aviation authority of France, who already approved one similar unit for Toulouse-based ATR Training Center. The dual certification obtained is for FNPT II MCC and FTD Level 2 under JAR-STD 3A and JAR-STD 2A respectively. Mechtronix' FTT(TM) fixed-based simulator supports ATR's new training
platform called Advanced Aviation Training.
21/02/07 CNW Telbec (Communiqués de presse), Canada

General aviation industry sales up 24% to record $18.8 billion

A growing international business jet market helped propel the general aviation industry to an $18.8 billion banner year, the General Aviation Manufacturers Association (GAMA) reported last week. Billings in 2006 were up 24.1 percent over the $15.1 billion reported in 2005 and represented an all-time high for general aviation plane-makers. Shipments topped 4,000 for the first time since 1982, when U.S. manufacturers alone delivered 4,266 airplanes. The 2006 total of 4,042 deliveries marked a 12.9 percent improvement over the 3,580 airplanes delivered in 2005.
"Worldwide economic growth, a strong export market and increased use of general aviation for both business and personal use all played a part in this outstanding year for general aviation," said GAMA Chairman John Grisik, who is executive vice president, operational excellence and technology for Goodrich Corp.
Speaking during GAMA's Annual Industry Review last week, Grisik pointed to the growing international market as a strong driver in the growing deliveries. While the North American market remained stable, U.S. general aviation manufacturers reported a 60 percent increase in exports in 2006, he said.
Grisik also was encouraged that the market will continue to improve internationally in 2007. The real gross domestic product is expected to grow by more than 10 percent in China, seven percent in India and five percent in Russia for the next several years, GAMA noted.
20/02/07 Kerry Lynch/The Weekly of Business Aviation/Aviation Week, US

Cochin airport to emerge as airport township

The Cochin International Airport, the country's first joint public-private venture in civil aviation, is close to setting a benchmark.
The airport will soon emerge as India's first airport township with an investment of just Rs 300 crore.
Ten years down the line, the airport will have 18 different sub-projects including, a 6.4 crore IT park, a golf course, a perishable cargo unit, half a dozen five-star hotels and an aviation academy spread out over 1,300 acres of land.
And to top it all, there's going to be a state-of-the-art maintenance and hanger unit exclusively for Airbus 380.
This airport township will be funded by Kerala NRIs, the state government and other financial institutions. Not only will this be the first of its kind in the country, the project will also have a huge employment potential.
20/02/07 CNN-IBN

FIIs may be out of aviation FDI cap

New Delhi: In a move that paves the way for greater foreign investment in domestic airline companies, RBI has said foreign institutional investors (FIIs) can pick up stake in these airlines beyond the sectoral FDI cap of 49% through secondary market purchases. The apex bank’s view is that the sectoral cap of 49% is not stipulated as a composite limit. While FII investment is distinct from FDI in the foreign investment policy, secondary market purchase was a grey area that has now become clear.
RBI is of the opinion that investment through GDRs should be within the overall FDI limit. Secondary market purchases by NRIs and erstwhile overseas corporate bodies (OCBs) will also be within the 49% FDI limit. Such investments will be on a par with secondary market purchases by foreign banks, companies and nationals.
Following the RBI clarification, FIIs will be in a position to pick up shares of listed companies like Jet Airways, SpiceJet and Air Deccan from the secondary market without having to keep an eye on the 49% FDI limit all the time.
20/02/07 Central Chronicle

Jet Airways to raise $800 m locally

Mumbai: Jet Airways, which needs to raise $800 million by way of equity or quasi equity to part finance its $2.5 billion aircraft acquisition plan, would most likely raise the amount locally, a senior company official said on Thursday.
“It’s easier to raise money in the domestic market. The debt portion has already been tied up and we will now have to begin work on the equity portion. We have time till July for this,” said the company official.
He didn’t disclose the amount of debt that has been tied up or the capital that would be raised through equity offering. The company is still undecided on the mode of offering, be it rights and/or public, or invite strategic or financial investors, he said.
Jet Airways has 20 firm and 20 optional aircraft orders to fuel its domestic and international network expansion plans.
20/02/07 Rabin Ghosh/Daily News & Analysis

PM moves to resolve dispute threatening Air India probe

Ottawa: Prime Minister Stephen Harper said Monday he has stepped in to resolve a dispute that threatens to shut down the probe into the worst terrorist act in Canadian history.
He was responding to Air India Inquiry Commissioner John Major's stark warning that he might scuttle the inquiry into the 1985 Air India bombings due to a lack of public access to crucial documents.
Major warned earlier Monday that government secrecy - driven by national security fears - is trumping Harper's promise last year to ensure victims' families that the deadly attacks and its aftermath would be subjected to a public probe.
Harper appointed Major, a retired Supreme Court of Canada judge, last year to investigate circumstances surrounding the Air India bombings that left 331 people - mostly Canadians - dead.
Harper noted Monday that Major and commission lawyers had been given full-and-uncensored access to all documents related to the inquiry, of which roughly 10 per cent couldn't be made public under Canadian law.
But Major made clear the hearing of evidence, set to begin on March 5 after Monday's adjournment, can't proceed unless the government gives ground and makes public documents that "are needed but currently denied" by bureaucrats.
A spokesman for the Air India Victims Families Association said his group supports Major's stand to shut the inquiry if disclosure doesn't improve .
"What exactly is the government hiding?" said Dr. Bal Gupta of Toronto.
20/02/07 Canada.com

Air Deccan to fly Mangalore - Mumbai from March 25

Mangalore: Air Deccan will begin its flights from Mangalore to Mumbai from March 25.
In a press release, company stated that Air Deccan which has made a mark by providing service with minimum fare will begin the flight form Mumbai at 1.15 pm. The plane will reach Mangalore at 2.30 pm and it will leave Mangalore at 3 pm to arrive in Mumbai at 4.15 pm.
Air Deccan is the second biggest Indian low cost airliner and in 2006 it had 19.7 per cent of the market share. It has more than 300 flight movements in a day in 60 airports of the country, the release added.
20/02/07 Mangalorean.com

Mangaloreans overjoyed at the prospect of a direct flight

Doha: There is excitement in the air with news of the imminent direct flight by Air India Express to Mangalore. When the historic maiden flight from Dubai flew directly to Mangalore on October 3, 2006, little did people here in Qatar realize that direct flights from Doha were high on the agenda. This is a major milestone; yet, the irony is that some of our fellow Mangaloreans are not aware of this major accomplishment.
When Mangalorean.com team set out on a mission to get the reaction of the members of the Mangalorean community in Qatar, it was an eye-opening exercise. We were surprised to learn a little known fact - that the Tulu speaking community of 'Tulunadu' had lobbied to make Mangalore an International airport way back in March 2000. It started off with a signature campaign which was addressed to the then Civil Aviation Minister Mr. Sharad Yadav. We have attached the related newspaper clippings and other documentation for the information of our readers.
21/02/07 Team Mangalorean, Qatar (with inputs from Joyce Alvares & Iqbal Manna)/Mangalorean.com

Thulasidas pilots extensions of exemption on aircraft lease

New Delhi: Air-India chairman and managing director V Thulasidas on Tuesday said the airline industry still required leased aircraft and the government should continue exemption of withholding tax on lease rentals of aircraft beyond the fiscal-end.
Speaking at conference on GE ecomagination, Thulasidas, though not quantifying the impact that withholding tax would have on A-I, said, “Even our purchase agreement of the 68 Boeing aircraft may have some leasing options in that. Withholding tax exemption is important, as leasing will continue even if we get a new fleet of aircraft.”
The finance ministry has decided to re-introduce withholding tax on lease rentals of aircraft from the next financial year. Lease rental of an Airbus A320 family type or a Boeing 737 family of aircraft is $20 million. The civil aviation ministry and the federation of Indian airlines had sought extension of exemption of tax on lease rentals on aircraft under Section 10 (15A) of the Income Tax Act 1961.
21/02/07 Financial Express

New airlines scoop out bigger pie

Bangalore: In just a year, the domestic aviation pie is looking very different.
While the new entrants have usurped market share from incumbents, low-cost airlines, which were not around three years back, look set to dominate the sky for some time to come.
Except for Kingfisher Airlines (a new player), which has increased its market share to 10.5% in January this year from 7.6% last January, all other full service carriers (FSCs) have lost marketshare, even as the overall share of FSCs has shrivelled to 62% from 79% last January.
The share of low-cost carriers (LCCs), on the other hand, has swelled to 38% from 21%.
Likewise, challenger carriers (Air Deccan, Kingfisher Airlines, SpiceJet, GoAir, Paramount and IndiGo) have hammered down the share of incumbents to 50% from 72% to take their own share up from 28% to 50%.
The biggest loser has been Jet Airways, which has lost 9.2% marketshare from 34.7% last year.
Another incumbent facing the brunt of the new entrants is the state-owned Indian, whose share has been eroded by 8.7 percentage points to 16.30%.
20/02/07 Praveena Sharma/Daily News & Analysis

Jet Airways, Hutch offer new mobile ticketing

Executives of Jet and Hutch announced the 'M-ticketing with JetWallet' solution that allows users to book, pay and generate e-tickets on their phones.
According to Jet and Hutch executives, initially the Jet offering will be available exclusively to Hutch subscribers with Java-enabled phones with GPRS capability and those who are Jet Privilege members. JetWallet is a piece of software that can be downloaded directly on to mobile phones and then can be used to book Jet tickets.
Such e-tickets will be emailed to customers who can then print them and use as regular tickets. E-tickets are automatically stored on mobile phones allowing for future access. The solution, according to an official release, allows customers to view past tickets, change, cancel or get refund on tickets booked through JetWallet.
21/02/07 IANS/ZDNetIndia

Jet sets adspend pace, Mallya right behind

The rivalry between Naresh Goyal's Jet and Vijay Mallya's Kingfisher Airlines is spilling into the advertising space. Jet Airways is ramping up its advertising spend for 2007 to over Rs 100 crore, even as challenger Kingfisher gets ready to roll out its international campaign.
Kingfisher plans to spend as much on advertising over the next one year as it did in the last 22 months of its existence - around Rs 70-odd crore. Jet Airways seems to have already set the pace for the current year. Publicis group's Starcom has been handed over charge of Jet's media buying business, while the creative account has been given to M&C Saatchi. Jet's ad budget will cover markets beyond India, in line with its international expansion plans.
Kingfisher Airlines plans to ride on the global appeal of Formula 1 races to launch its international advertising campaign in March this year.Last year, Kingfisher test-marketed certain campaigns targeting NRIs at United States and UK.
Though Starcom MediaVest CEO-South Asia Ravi Kiran declined to provide details about Jet's advertising plans for the year, he said these would include a series of innovations that would go beyond plain vanilla advertising.
20/02/07 Sudipto Dey & Ratna Bhushan/Economic Times/agencyfaqs.com

Air fares go crashing

Calcutta: Domestic air fares have never been cheaper, courtesy competition from low-frill carriers.
Indian (the airline) today announced an “unprecedented slash” in fares, especially in the eastern region, valid from February 17 to September 30.
The slash is as high as 75 per cent in sectors like Calcutta-Delhi-Calcutta and Calcutta-Guwahati-Calcutta.
Earlier this month, Indian and Air Sahara had announced schemes to lure corporate clients from low-frill carriers. Under the scheme, Sahara is issuing multi-coupon tickets, each priced at Rs 32,400. Each ticket comes with six coupons that can be used by six executives from a company to fly to as many destinations.
Indian, under its corporate super-saver scheme, is issuing 12-coupon tickets priced at Rs 70,000 each for the economy class and Rs 1,05,000 each for the executive class.
Indian has also introduced a web check-in facility, under which a passenger can download the boarding pass from the Internet and directly approach the boarding area.
20/02/07 The Telegraph

IT firms target $8bn aviation engg market

Bangalore: Big and small domestic IT firms are busy positioning themselves to snap up the $8 billion market opportunity that the aerospace sector has created.
A recent Booz Allen Hamilton report states India’s aerospace offshore engineering services market, excluding the defence offset opportunities, has the potential to reach about $4 billion by 2020. This could bring an additional $4 billion opportunities in the form of offset requirements, during the same period.
The figures are arrived at from the hundreds of defence orders and the diktat of the offset regulation in this regard. If an order by a defence entity or state-owned civilian carrier to a foreign supplier is worth at least Rs 300 crore, the supplier will have to offset (reverse purchase) at least 30 per cent of the total purchase value by either procuring components by partnering with local firms or by availing of engineering services, rules the offset policy.
Engineering services revenue for IT leaders like TCS, HCL Technologies, Satyam, Wipro, Infotech Enterprises and emerging ones like QuEST and CADES is in the $15-$60 million range.
TCS, claims that 13 per cent of its total engineering services revenue (about $40-45 million) comes from aerospace engineering. HCL Technologies, says 6 per cent of its total revenue i.e. $60 million, comes from aerospace practices.
20/02/07 Bibhu Ranjan Mishra/Business Standard

Aircraft movements goes up by 30% in South

The meeting of the Parliamentary Consultative Committee attached to the Ministry of Civil Aviation met at Cochin in Kerala today. It was chaired by Minister for Civil Aviation, Shri Praful Patel. The meeting focused on discussions on airport infrastructure and air connectivity in Southern India.
The Members of the Committee were informed that air traffic during 2005-06 had undergone a massive increase over 2004-05: aircraft movements had gone up by 17%, passengers up by 24% and cargo up by 10%. Across the airports of Southern Indian itself, aircraft movements had gone up by 30%, passengers up by 33% and cargo up by 10%. Southern India accounts for almost 1/3rd share of the entire air traffic of the country. In the year 2005-06 aircraft movement in the country was 0.84 million of which 0.26 million was in Southern India – 30.9 %. Total passenger traffic in India during this period was 73.35 million of which Southern India accounted for 22.24 million – 30.3% of the total. 1404 metric tonne cargo was handled all over the country in 2005-06 of which 445 thousand metric tonne – 31.7% was handled in South India alone.
There are at present 29 airports in Southern India. Scheduled air services are available to and from 19 airports which include five in Andhra Pradesh – Hyderabad, Rajahmundry, Tirupati, Vijayawada and Vizag; five in Karnatka – Banglaore, Belgaum, Hubli, Mangalore and Vidyanagar, three in Kerala – Calicut, Cochin and Thiruvananthapuram, five in Tamil Nadu – Chennai, Coimbatore, Madurai, Trichi and Tuticorin and one in Lakshadweep – Agatti. Besides there are seven operational airports of which three are in Andhra Pradesh, one in Karnataka, two in Tamil Nadu and one in Pondicherry which have been used for small aircraft operations and flying club activities.Air Deccan provides the maximum connectivity in Southern Indian connecting 18 stations in the region. Besides Indian Airlines connects 10 stations - Alliance Air 4 stations – Jet Airways 9 stations – Air Sahara 6 stations – Paramount 8 stations – Kingfisher 12 stations – Spice Jet 3 stations – Go Air 4 stations and IndiGo 3 stations.
The air connectivity across the country is being increased in the summer of 2007. In the Southern region the number of weekly departures would be going up from the present 2938 departures per week in the Winter Schedule 2006 to 3734 departures per week in the Summer Schedule of 2007 – an increase of 27%. In the Western region the present departures of 2534 per week would go up to 3219 in the summer schedule of 2007 – increase of 27%. In the Northern region 2132 departures per week would be going up to 2433 departures per week – increase of 14% and in the eastern and North-Eastern region the present 1034 weekly departures would go up to 1129 departures – a 19% increase. The summer schedule would become effective from the last Sunday of March 2007.
Shri Praful Patel informed the Members that the Ministry of Civil Aviation had moved a note to the FIPB for 100% FDI in sea plane so as to build connectivity and tourism along the long coastline of India and to provide connectivity and tourism opportunities to the Islands which have great potential for high-end tourism.
19/02/07 Press Information Bureau (press release), India

Small aircraft to connect holy cities

Kochi: The government is planning to connect smaller cities by introducing 80-seater aircraft. There is also a move to connect pilgrimage centres to develop a good aviation network, according to Union civil aviation minister Praful Patel.
The minister told mediapersons that there was the need to have better connectivity among smaller cities and the government was looking at acquiring small 80-seater aircraft. He was here in connection with the parliamentary consultative committee meeting.
The Centre was also looking at connecting the various pilgrimage centres across the country like Sabarimala, Tirupati, Shirdi, Vaishno Devi and Ajmer. He said the meeting discussed the prospects of growth in the aviation sector with special focus on the south. Growth in the domestic sector was nearly 50%, the highest across the globe. In the international sector it was only 25% and there was the need to increase international connectivity.
19/02/07 Financial Express

Foreign fund buying in Indian carriers outside cap

Mumbai: India's central bank has clarified that the 49 percent foreign investment limit in Indian domestic airlines does not include open market buying by funds and applies only to direct investment, the Economic Times daily reported.
After the report on Tuesday, shares of Jet Airways Ltd., Deccan Aviation Ltd. and SpiceJet Ltd. rose between 1.5 percent to 3.5 percent in the Mumbai market.
The Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) observation came in response to a query from budget airline Spicejet.
The paper quoted the RBI as saying "FII (Foreign Institutional Investment) is not to be taken into account while calculating FDI (Foreign Direct Investment) in a domestic airline company."
However, investment through depositary receipts, secondary market purchase by overseas Indians and overseas corporate bodies would come under the 49 percent sectoral cap, the paper said.
20/02/07 Reuters/NDTV.com

Airlines want taxman to leave expat pilots alone

New Delhi: Faced with steep rise in pilot salaries over the past couple of years, airlines have asked the finance minister for income-tax sops for expat pilots working in the country. In a pre-budget note to FM, airlines have requested the government not to tax foreign pilots under Indian income-tax laws but treat them as scarce technical manpower. If accepted, this will help the domestic airlines to cut their wage bill for foreign pilots by around one-third.
Currently, airlines bear the tax component that foreign pilots pay on any income earned in India. Airline companies have cited a now-defunct section of the I-T Act, — Sec 10 (6) vii I-T Act 1961 — which gave foreign technicians tax exemption for a period of 36 months from date of arrival in India. “This helped several industries to develop necessary skilled manpower personnel,” airlines said in a note to FM. “The exemption would help airlines to attract foreign pilots and engineers, till the time adequate pool of local talent is available,” said Air Deccan MD GR Gopinath.
Currently, over 550 expat pilots work in various domestic airlines in the country. As per industry estimates, the country needs over 3,000 pilots over the next three to five years.
20/02/07 Sudipto Dey/Economic Times

A Vegetarian zone on flights

The Chennai-based Bhagwan Mahaveer Foundation (BMF) has suggested that airlines have separate vegetarian zones on the lines of no-smoking areas. With more and more Indians taking to the air and more and more vegetarians among them, it is a suggestion worth considering.
BMF managing trustee N Sugalchand Jain was quoted by PTI as saying that vegetarians felt uncomfortable when the passengers sitting next to them tucked into non-veg food. These days, foreign airlines flying into and out of India make it a point to recruit not just air-hostesses who know Hindi but chefs who prepare Indian cuisine, both north Indian and dakshin style.
It would be in the fitness of things if India’s airlines tried out the vegetarian-zone idea before any foreign carrier promoted the concept as its very own USP — unique selling proposition!
20/02/07 Economic Times

Spicejet raises nearly Rs 680 million via preferential allotment

Low-cost carrier Spicejet said that it raised an amount close to Rs 680 million by allotting 13 million equity shares, representing 5.43% stake in the company, to BNP Paribas Arbitrage Fund at a price of Rs 52.69 a share, reports the Financial Express.
The allotment was made out of a proposed preferential issue of 72 million equity shares.
Recently, the company had informed that it would offer equity shares on preferential basis to various foreign and domestic investors in order to raise funds for non-aircraft capacity expansion purposes like investment in engineering and strengthening call centers.
In December, the company had planned to sell USD 80 million worth of shares on a preferential basis. The company had, however, received offers amounting to USD 118 million. Texas Pacific group, a leading global private investment, which also wanted to invest in the carrier later withdrew the offer.
20/02/07 Myiris.com

BNP arm picks up over 5% in SpiceJet

Mumbai: Low-cost carrier SpiceJet today announced the allotment of 1.31 crore equity shares to BNP Paribas Arbitrage Fund as part of the scheme for preferential issue of 7.20 crore equity shares to a clutch of investors.
SpiceJet informed the BSE today that the allotment was for 5.43 per cent of the company, and the shares were purchased on February 1.
SpiceJet in December had announced the preferential issue to investors, including the Tatas. Allotments have been made to Ewart Investment, Istithmar PJSC, KBC Financial Products (UK), BNP Paribas Arbitrage Fund and Tata Investment Corporation.
The company has so far raised Rs 296.71 crore and issued 5.6 crore shares at Rs 52.69 apiece.
SpiceJet, which is expanding in the country, planned to mop up close to $80 million through the preferential issue. The response was, however, encouraging and it received offers exceeding $110 million.
19/02/07 The Telegraph

Frustrated Canada judge may quit Air India case

Ottawa: The head of a Canadian inquiry into the 1985 Air India bombing threatened to quit on Monday unless the government declassified documents it has claimed must be kept secret for security reasons.
The commissioner, former Supreme Court Justice John Major, said the issue hampered his examination of the security lapses that allowed the explosion, which killed 329 people in history's deadliest bombing of a passenger airliner.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper, who appointed Major last year, told Parliament that federal law prevented the release of a limited number of documents.
But he said that, as a result of Major's statement, he had given instructions that government departments apply the law in as "non-restrictive" -- or uncensored -- a manner as possible.
Air India Flight 182, originating in Canada, blew up off the Atlantic coast of Ireland on June 23, 1985. A near-simultaneous attack aimed at a second Air India flight killed two Tokyo airport workers. Major's inquiry is not to find the perpetrators but to find out what went wrong to allow the bombings.
20/02/07 Reuters India

Air India families urge Dion to rethink Liberal stance on anti-terrorism act

Ottawa: Families of victims of the Air India tragedy are urging Stephane Dion to rethink the Liberals’ stance on the Anti-Terrorism Act.
Despite opposition from some Liberal MPs, the newly minted leader has said his party will support the withdrawal of two controversial provisions of the act, involving preventive arrest and special investigative hearings.
The Air India Flight 182 Victims’ Families Association wants the two provisions extended for another three years and is starting a lobbying campaign to demand MPs’ support.
The families argue that if the provisions are allowed to expire on March 1, the federal government will lack the teeth to catch suspected terrorists and prevent future attacks.
They also fear that the RCMP will have to scrap plans to compel suspects in the Air India disaster to testify before a judge.
19/02/07 The Canadian Press/Canada.com

Mountie cited specific threat to Air India days before bombing

Ottawa: An RCMP inspector warned just weeks before Air India Flight 182 blew up that the Mounties had received “specific intelligence” warranting protection of all the airline’s flights to and from Canada.
The information is just one nugget among many buried in thousands of heavily edited pages of material soon to be tabled with the inquiry into the June 1985 disaster, making it difficult to determine how the new facts fit into the confounding Air India puzzle.
The inquiry allowed journalists a brief look Monday at a sampling of 42 binders of letters, memos and reports spanning more than two decades. Many of the pages, including some entire documents, were censored by government officials.
An RCMP chronology of threat assessments prepared by the Canadian Security Intelligence Service says several meetings were held from May 26 to 31, 1985, involving representatives of Air India, Transport Canada and the Mounties.
The meetings “did not convince Transport Canada that a serious threat existed” warranting RCMP involvement, the chronology says.
Insp. H. G. Clarke of the RCMP’s Protective Policing Branch, however, insisted that “specific intelligence was received by the RCMP which indicated that special security precautions should be taken on all Air India flights to and from Canada.”
The chronology suggests police were indeed provided weekly throughout June for the airline’s flights from Canada to India. But the efforts were not enough to prevent the worst terrorist act in Canadian history.
19/02/07 Jim Bronskill/The Canadian Press/Canada.com

Government's nod for Kannur airport

Kochi: Union Minister of State for Civil Aviation Praful Patel has said the Union Government has in principle approved a plan to develop the Kannur airport on the lines of Cochin International Airport Limited (CIAL).
The Minister was speaking to reporters after a meeting of the Consultative Committee on Civil Aviation here on Monday.
He said the Union Government would back promotion of tourism industry by the Kerala Government and that the Centre was committed to providing better connectivity and infrastructure.
Mr. Patel said the Government wanted to link more cities via air and looked to inducting smaller aircraft for the purpose. He said Kerala was already well connected to West Asia and the Union Government wanted connectivity to destinations such as Europe also.
The Civil Aviation Ministry was looking to expand the Air India Express service for cost-effective operations.
20/02/07 The Hindu

Flight poser on trade

Ranchi: The corporate and the business community of the state are reportedly “shocked” at Air Deccan’s sudden decision to withdraw the Ranchi-Raipur flight operations from March.
Sources in Air Deccan confirmed that there would be no flights between Ranchi and Raipur after March 25.
They insisted that it is a temporary decision and flights could resume after some time.
Officials said the company is undertaking a lot of planning to link more new sectors of the country. The planning has compelled the company to suspend the Ranchi-Raipur operations for some time.
The travel agents confirmed that the occupancy rate in this route was more than 80 per cent.
“There is a demand for tickets in this sector. It is a little puzzling why the company is suddenly ceasing operations in this route,” said an official of a leading travel agent.
19/02/07 Rajan Dasgupta/The Telegraph

Offshore drilling creates need for helicopter

New Delhi: Global Vectra Helicorp, India's biggest helicopter charter company, will spend $103 million to buy new helicopters to meet rising demand for transportation to offshore drilling platforms.
Global Vectra will buy 11 helicopters in two years, Ravinder Rishi, chairman of the company's parent Vectra Group, said in an interview in New Delhi. Global will buy five Eurocopter helicopters from European Aeronautic Defence & Space and six from Textron's Bell unit, he said.
Indian helicopter operators are expanding as Reliance Industries, Oil & Natural Gas and other oil companies step up exploration in the country.
BP, Total and other oil companies are increasing exploration in India to fuel expansion in the world's second-fastest growing major economy. That is spawning demand for helicopters that are used to fly engineers to the offshore rigs.
Deccan Aviation, which runs India's biggest low-fare airline, plans to buy more helicopters and Kingfisher Airlines will start a new unit to cater to these needs.
India's government plans to permit more overseas companies to set up helicopter businesses in the country.
Global Vectra will buy five Eurocopter helicopters for €42.5 million, or $56 million, and six Bell helicopters for $46.8 million, Rishi said.
19/02/07 Santanu Choudhury/Bloomberg News/International Herald Tribune, France

Insurance cos to bid jointly for Air India cover

Mumbai: Public and private sector insurance companies are forming alliances to bid for state-run carrier Air-India’s aviation cover worth $3.5 billion.
To counter intense competition and get better rates from reinsurers, public sector insurance majors — New India Assurance, Oriental Insurance, United India Insurance and National Insurance — have decided to float a consortium to bid for Air-India’s cover.
Private insurers are considering a similar alliance which will include Bajaj Allianz and ICICI Lombard.
Air-India has invited technical bids for aviation insurance for its aircraft fleet worth $3.5 billion this year, against $3.2 billion last year. The government-owned airline currently has 48 aircraft, the largest fleet size since its inception.
M Ramadoss, chairman and managing director, Oriental Insurance Company, said the consortium would share the risk equally.
The aviation cover consists of aviation hull and spares liability policy, hull war cover, policy deductible cover and war excess liability cover.
20/02/07 Falaknaaz Syed & P R Sanjai/Business Standard

Air India doubles daily flights from Dubai to Delhi, Mumbai

Dubai: Air India has announced the launch of its second daily flight from Dubai to Mumbai and Delhi from February 26.
The carrier will operate Boeing 767-300 aircraft offering 12 seats in executive class and 249 seats in economy class on the routes to meet the growing demand for travel to India.
Flight AI 736 will depart Dubai at 0845hrs and arrive Delhi at 1310hrs, from Saturday to Thursday and on Friday the flight will depart Dubai at 0515hrs and will arrive Delhi at 0940hrs. Simultaneously AI 726 will depart Dubai at 2015hrs and will arrive Mumbai at 0030hrs from Saturday to Thursday and on Friday the flight will depart Dubai at 1415hrs and will arrive Mumbai at 1830hrs.
With these additional flights, Air India will be operating 37 flights out of Dubai to different destinations in India like Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, Thiruvanthpuram, Kozikode, Goa, and Lucknow providing passengers with more choice to fly on Air India.
20/02/07 Khaleej Times, United Arab Emirates

Starcom wins Jet Airways global media account

Mumbai: Jet Airways has announced the appointment of Starcom as its Global media agency, with immediate effect. The airline company has also simultaneously appointed Starcom IP, as its global digital [Online and wireless] AOR.
The agency is currently scouting International terrain for an individual to head this account.
Starcom Worldwide India-West & South managing director Manish Porwal said that they are be looking for at least two people at the senior and junior level having global experience and strengths in networking, from within and outside the system.
The account will be handled out of Mumbai and this new Global account director will be responsible for orchestration between Starcom's international offices in Asia, Europe, Middle East, Africa and North America, in framing the communication strategy for Jet Airways for the Indian as well as international markets.
19/02/07 Indiantelevision.com

City loaders weigh down air travellers

Mumbai: Important installations like airports in India are not just targets for terrorists. City’s airport suffers from an internal threat — loaders.
It is more than often that passengers find themselves held hostage at the airport car park to veiled threats from unscrupulous loaders. These men wear green uniforms with yellow epaulettes with markings showing their affiliation to ‘Vimantaal Hamaal Ekta Sangatana’ (VHES).
They introduce themselves as ‘authorised personnel to facilitate baggage transfer from the airport entrance to the parking zone’. A very high sounding euphemism for good old porters indeed! They fleece passengers of money and goods with mild blackmail — very polite and veiled threats are made to extort exorbitant charges.
“The porters demand unconscionable tips from foreign passengers. If refused, they slyly cite instances of passengers’ baggage being stolen after they refused to give in to some porters unreasonable demands,” said a spokesperson for the Airport Authority.
Though junior police officers attached to the Sahar airport police station have allegedly complained to the ACP (Airport Division), Janardhan Garje, that senior officials were turning a blind eye to the illegal activities of the loaders, the situation has not changed.
19/02/07 Raju Parulekar/Daily News & Analysis

NAL, Bangalore plans to build 70-seater aircraft

New Delhi: The National Aerospace Laboratories, Bangalore, a unit under Council for Scientific and Industrial Research is planning to build technology for a 50-70 seater 'regional' aircraft within the country to suit India specific needs.
The latest aviation technology will be used or developed to build an aircraft which would be very light, fuel efficient and be able to land and take off from the typical Indian airfields which have very short or semi prepared runways and minimally equipped airfields.
Director NAL AR Upadhya talking to Hindustan Times from Bangalore said that a Rs 1200 crore preliminary proposal for building these aircrafts has been prepared.
A national effort involving many other aerospace organisations would be undertaken in a public-private partnership mode with major industry sharing the cost and risk during its development, production and marketing.
"We have already set the model for public private partnership with a collaboration agreement with Mahindra Plexion Technologies for a 4-5 seater multi role aircraft for executive transport and other roles."
The market for 50-70 seater turbo prop aircraft according to Upadhya will increase over the next two and a half decade with India requiring nearly 200 aircrafts of various sizes in the next five years.
18/02/07 Satyen Mohapatra/Hindustan Times

NAC pilots to fetch Rs 200,000 salary

Kathmandu: Nepal Airlines Corporation (NAC) Sunday decided to steeply raise pilots' allowances, bringing the total monthly salary and allowance up to around Rs 200,000, a move intended to deal with the looming scarcity of pilots. Presently, the pilots, on an average, fetch salaries and allowances amounting to around Rs 80,000.
Today's meeting of the board of directors of the corporation, endorsed a proposal to increase the salary to halt the current trend of pilots leaving the corporation, said an official at NAC.
In the last six months, three senior captains of Boeing aircraft and three captains of Twin-Otter left the corporation due to lucrative salary in foreign airlines. Now, around 55 pilots have been working with the NAC, of which nine fly in the domestic sector.
Most of the pilots quitting NAC jobs have joined Indian airlines, including Blue Dart and First-Flight. Some have hopped to Chinese airlines. The maximum amount that Nepali pilots working in foreign lands earn is US $ 10,000 a month.
19/02/07 Krishna Regmi/Kantipur Online, Nepal

Why was Kerala comrade carrying bullets?

Chennai/Thiruvananthapuram: The case of the Chennai airport security confiscating five live bullets from the cabin baggage of CPI (M) politburo member Pinarayi Vijayan on Friday is getting curiouser and curiouser.
With the preliminary inquiry of CISF manning the Thiruvananthapuram airport suggesting that no bullets were found in Vijayan’s baggage before he boarded a Paramount Airways flight at 11.30 am to Chennai (before he was to take a Jet Airways flight to Delhi at 5.30 pm), many questions have cropped up.
Is the CISF at the Thiruvananthapuram airport trying to cover up a security lapse? Or, if the CISF initial report is true, where did Vijayan get the bullets from, after he left Thiruvananthapuram and before he was to leave Chennai for Delhi? By admitting that there were bullets in his baggage, Vijayan has sought to negate the second question, which means more difficult explanations for the Thiruvananthapuram airport security.
Vijayan said he had left the .38 calibre bullets in his bag after removing them from the revolver before producing it for renewal of the licence. “There has been a threat to my life,” he said.
18/02/07 Arun Ram/Don Sebastian/Daily News &Analysis

Air India probe hit by further delay

Ottawa: A long-delayed probe of the 1985 Air India bombing has hit another snag, as counsel for the commission of inquiry and the federal government haggle over how much of the evidence can be made public.
The inquiry, headed by former Supreme Court justice John Major, has been in recess for over three months. It is scheduled to resume with a brief public hearing Monday.
But sources say the proceedings will be limited to formal statements by the parties involved, including Mark Freiman, the chief counsel for Major, and lawyers for the government and the families of the bomb victims.
The plan had been to go on after that to hear from present and former members of the RCMP and the Canadian Security Intelligence Service. But their testimony will now be postponed for another two weeks.
It’s hoped that, in the meantime, there can be a meeting of minds on two points — the vetting of written documents to safeguard national security, and the extent of oral testimony that will be heard in open session.
Government lawyers warned last fall they would insist that some witnesses be heard behind closed doors, and some documentation remain secret because of continuing security concerns — even though many of the matters under scrutiny are two decades old.
Major, for his part, has said repeatedly he wants most of the proceedings to be accessible to the families who lost loved ones and to the media.
18/02/07 Jim Brown/The Canadian Press/National Post, Canada

Kullu to get runway over river

New Delhi: It's no flight of fancy. The country could soon gets its first "bridge-on-river-cum-runway".
The Airports Authority of India (AAI) is planning to extend the about 1,450-metre-long runway at Kullu so that it can accommodate bigger aircraft as at present only ATRs or smaller planes can land there.
The plan is to increase the length by about a kilometre so that the Airbus can also come here and boost local tourism by increasing the carriage capacity at perhaps lower fares.
Sources said AAI has asked IIT (Roorkee) to study two option diverting the river and a bridge on the river without altering its course.
The option of diverting river is learnt to be more 'complicated' as it would involve acquiring vast tracts of land for the new course. IIT will now study the bridge option, which despite being a costly affair seems more achievable to aviation experts.
The problem with Kullu is that planes have to land from one side only in the morning as later in the day this area gets strong tail winds. Which means that the runway has to be extended towards the river only.
19/02/07 Saurabh Sinha/Times of India

Mile-high hostie sacked

Qantas has sacked Lisa Robertson, the hostess at the centre of the Ralph Fiennes mile-high sex scandal, after she admitted the onboard tryst.
In a media statement released this afternoon, the airline said: `"Qantas airways announced today that flight attendant Ms Lisa Robertson's employment contract to operate on Qantas aircraft had been terminated.''
The announcement followed revelations of an onboard tryst between Ms Robertson and actor Ralph Fiennes that has dominated word media over the past week.
Ms Robertson was initially suspended after allegations emerged that she had sex with the British actor in an aircraft toilet during a flight from Australia to India on January 24.
Ms Robertson initially denied having sex with Fiennes, claiming that he followed her into the toilet and "became amorous".
However, in an interview published over the weekend, Ms Robertson admitted to the encounter, and to later spending the night with the actor in his hotel room in India.
"At first I denied it because I was desperate to keep my job and I didn't want to hurt Ralph," Robertson told Britain's The Mail on Sunday newspaper.
Fiennes' media manager Sara Keene told News Ltd papers that he was seduced by Ms Robertson.
19/02/07 Melbourne Herald Sun, Australia

Airlines' may lose tax benefits on rental

New Delhi: Airlines reeling under losses due to competition have one more reason to worry. The government is expected to end the tax exemption on lease rentals for aircraft which is available till March this year.
While airlines have been in a rush to buy aircraft, they have also resorted to selling them to another company and then leasing them back. The move helps them show lower losses and also benefit from the tax exemption.
The airlines and the civil aviation ministry have argued that the withdrawal could severely affect their bottomlines since the exemption could have helped them fight competition better and meet the rising demand in a market which is amongst the fastest growing in the world.
The exemption on lease incomes, available under section 10(15A) of the Income Tax Act, was withdrawn for agreements signed after March 2005. Later, the cut-off date was extended to September 2005 and then extended on two more occasions following hard lobbying by airlines. The latest sunset clause expires on March 31, 2007.
19/02/07 Times of India

Cancellation of flight leaves passengers high and dry

Thiruvananthapuram: Passengers of a New Delhi-bound Indian flight had a harrowing time at the international airport here on Sunday following the sudden cancellation of the flight.
The IC168 flight, bound for New Delhi via Mumbai, was cancelled after over four hours of ordeal for the passengers. Airlines sources said the pilot of the A-319 aircraft `exceeded the maximum flying hours set by Director General of Civil Aviation on a single day.'
The flight, which was to leave here for New Delhi at 2.55 p.m., was delayed due to a technical snag initially.
The 122 passengers who had boarded the aircraft were informed by the pilot at 3.05 p.m. of a snag in the hydraulic system.
By around 4.30 p.m., the passengers were asked to deplane and were again informed about the problem around 5 p.m.
Finally around 7.10 p.m., the airline announced that the flight had been cancelled.
The stranded passengers were put up in city hotels, an official said.
19/02/07 The Hindu

Efforts on to improve infrastructure facilities at airports

Kochi: Efforts were on to improve infrastructure facilities at airports in India, which have seen a 40 per cent growth in the domestic passenger segment during certain months, a top official of Air India saidon Sunday.
A Parliamentary Consultative Committee, chaired by Union Minister Praful Patel would be meeting here tomorrow to discuss various issues related to the civil aviation sector, Air India Chairman and Managing Director V Thulasidas, who was elected President of the Aeronautical Society of India, at its AGM here, said.
Stressing the need for an aeronautical policy and an aeronautical commission to implement the same, he said the proposals in this regard have been submitted to the Centre.
18/02/07 Zee News

Air blues put DGCA in new orbit

Boom in air traffic and various challenges –– congestion and scarcity of talent –– accompanying it have launched the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) into a new orbit.
Analysts reckon that Director General of Civil Aviation, K Gohain, faces steep challenges since the airlines are inducting aircraft by the dozen. So many new airlines have sprung up and many more waiting for take off. An increasing number of foreign airlines are now landing in India, many of them with daily flights to most metro cities.
The situation is such that landing and parking slots are not available at many airports like Mumbai and Delhi, especially during peak hours. Similar is the situation in the case of airport terminals which are bursting at the seams, with passengers often finding it difficult to wade through check-in and security screening.
Only a sustained effort by the government to strengthen DGCA will result in discipline of all the key players involved in this key service sector which happens to be more high-profile than any other.
19/02/07 G Ganapathy Subramaniam/Economic Times

Euphoria in stadium, trouble at airport

Guwahati: Passengers of an Indigo Airlines flight from New Delhi had a harrowing experience at Guwahati airport today, first finding their luggage missing and then being stranded for several hours because of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s arrival for the National Games closing ceremony.
As many as 59 pieces of luggage belonging to the passengers were not brought on the flight because their weight had exceeded the aircraft’s “carrying capacity”.
The irate passengers accused officials of Indigo Airlines of refusing to answer their queries about their luggage on arrival at Guwahati.
A representative of the airline, however, refuted the allegation. He said the passengers got back their luggage by afternoon.
18/02/07 The Telegraph

New airports: Ministry for priority to players with land

New Delhi: With the Government facing all round flak over land acquisition issues, the Ministry of Civil Aviation is keen to ensure that a private person who has access to land gets priority while setting up an airport. At present, State governments decide on the site of the airport and acquire land for the project to come up.
The Ministry is keen that if an individual wants to build a private airport, this should be allowed as long as it does not interfere with air traffic control movements in the area. At such private airports, however, security and air traffic control activities would remain with the State.
In this context, the Minister for Civil Aviation, Mr Praful Patel, has called on the Finance Minister, Mr P. Chidambaram, and the Deputy Chairman Planning Commission, Mr Montek Singh Ahluwalia, to review the airport policy.
"There is a need to see how we can have airports without the Government stepping in. At the same time, we must ensure that land related problems faced while developing Special Economic Zones do not come up at such airport projects. There is no reason why the Indian landscape cannot be dotted with airports as we see in the US," Mr Patel said.
He was speaking at the foundation stone laying ceremony of the new integrated terminal and runway at the Indira Gandhi International Airport here on Saturday.
17/02/07 The Hindu Business Line

Tatas plan airport modernisation foray

In keeping with its business expansion mode, the Tata group is set to enter the business of airport modernisation. Partnering the Tatas could be the Singapore-based Changi Airport International, which has already made bids in the past to get involved in the development of airport infrastructure in the country.
Sources told Business Line that the Tata group is expected to take a majority stake in the venture and an official announcement is expected as early as next week.
The Tata group's proposed foray into the aviation sector would come after a considerable time since it made an abortive bid more than a decade ago to enter the aviation business in India in partnership with Singapore Airlines. Since then, the group has steered clear of this sector, except for picking up a small equity stake in SpiceJet recently. The Tatas were not involved with the modernisation of Delhi and Mumbai airports that saw bids from leading Indian corporate groups such as GMR, GVK, Zee, Reliance Anil Ambani Group and DS Constructions.
Changi Airport International has actively been searching for a suitable Indian partner for some time now.
17/02/07 Moneycontrol.com

New integrated terminal at IGI to go domestic by 2020

New Delhi:The new integrated passenger terminal (Terminal 3) set to come up at IGI Airport ahead of the 2010 Commonwealth Games which will cater to both domestic and international passengers is to be eventually converted to a domestic terminal by 2020.
The foundation stone for Terminal 3 and the third runway, billed as one of Asia's longest at 4,430 metres, was laid today by UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi at a function attended, among others, by Union Minister for Civil Aviation Praful Patel, Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit and Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram.
When Terminal 3 is converted to a domestic terminal, all international operations will be shifted to a brand new international passenger terminal (tentatively called Terminal 4) which will come up at the same place where the international terminal currently stands.
Senior Delhi International Airport Private Ltd (DIAL) officials say until the new terminal is built, certain changes will be effected to deal with the growing air traffic. Soon, Terminal 1A will be thrown open to other airlines besides Indian (Airlines) and Kingfisher.
17/02/07 Delhi Newsline

Instructor shortage: Flying clubs get innovative

New Delhi: With more airlines starting up and some 3,000 pilots needed over the next five years, instructors in flying clubs are leaving by the droves for them. There were some 70 instructors in 2003; last year there were just about 30, say experts. But some flying clubs are trying to stem this trend by offering fully-funded programmes to new students. Read On >>

'Mumbai airport plans yet to be ironed out'

New Delhi: While the countdown for a new runway has begun in Delhi, Mumbai's airport expansion plans are yet to take off. Civil aviation minister Praful Patel has admitted that Mumbai is facing 'problems'.
Both the airports were privatised simultaneously last year to expedite the modernisation process.
"There are problems in Mumbai. The state government is yet to iron them out. Delhi airport has been getting much better support and faces far less problems," he said on the sidelights of Delhi's foundation stone laying ceremony for a new airport and runway on Saturday, A GVK official admitted that the group could not give any timeframe for building a new runway in Mumbai. "As per international guidelines, parallel runways need to be 1,100-metre apart.
Even after all encroachments in the airport area are cleared, we would need to acquire private land to have that distance.
In a place like Mumbai, getting private land is extremely tough. Moreover, the approach funnel for the new runway also has some obstructions like the big headquarters of a big company," he said.
18/02/07 Saurabh Sinha/Times of India

Deccan clips wings

Ranchi/Raipur: The existing Air Deccan flights connecting Raipur with Ranchi and Bhubaneswar will be grounded next month.
While the last flight from Raipur to the Jharkhand capital (DN 574) will be available on March 25, the last to the Orissa capital (DN 735) will fly on March 24.
However, the low-cost airline will start airbus service on Raipur-Mumbai-Ahmedabad-Mumbai-Raipur (DN 705) and Delhi-Raipur-Calcutta-Raipur-Delhi (DN 624) sectors from March 26.
On the other hand, Air Deccan Ranchi station manager Krishna Yadav said the no-frills airline would start 180-seat airbus services to Raipur, Mumbai and Bhubaneswar from next month. However, he could not specify the date when the service would start. Besides, the demand for the existing Calcutta-Ranchi-Raipur sector has prompted Air Deccan to start a dedicated 48-seat ATR only between Calcutta and Ranchi in the last week of next month.
While Yadav said there was a “great demand” on the Calcutta-Ranchi-Raipur sector, tour operators indicate that the Ranchi-Raipur flight has witnessed total occupancy only for a few times.
17/02/07 Anupam Sheshank & R Krishna Das/The Telegraph

Fog beats CAT-III

New Delhi: The sudden onset of fog at IGI airport on Saturday morning brought the familiar problems of delays, lack of information and frayed tempers in its trail.
As fog rolled back in on Saturday morning, Indian made only two CAT III B take-offs, saying Air Traffic Control did not always give them preference when the visibility procedures were lifted.
"The fog was very thick and conditions were not conducive even for CAT III. However, even after the fog lifted, Indian, as in many other cases, was not given preference to take off," said an Indian official.
Sources, however, attributed the few take-offs to the fact that since nobody had anticipated the fog, Indian did not have the requisite number of pilots ready for CAT III conditions.
Two international and 12 domestic flights were diverted. Flights coming in from Shanghai and Muscat, which were to land around 7.30 am, finally reached at 1.30 pm.
18/02/07 Neha Lalchandani/Times of India

Service revolver bullets add fuel to Vijayan controversy

Thiruvananthapuram: The discovery of five live bullets in the laptop bag of CPI-M’s Kerala state secretary Mr Pinarayi Vijayan at Chennai airport yesterday has raised questions as to how he came to possess a prohibited bore weapon despite his civilian status. Mr Vijayan was on his way to attend the CPI-M politburo meet in New Delhi but missed his Jet Airways flight.
The CISF personnel at Chennai airport let him off after receiving a faxed copy of his rifle license. Mr Vijayan said he had removed the bullets and kept them in the bag before giving his gun to the authorities concerned in Kerala for renewal of licence.
The .38 bullets found on Mr Vijayan can only be used in a service revolver, in makes such as Webley & Scott or Smith & Wesson.
Mr HK Dutta, the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) commandant at the Thiruvananthapuram airport, today said that there was no flaw in security check and that Mr Vijayan was frisked just the same as other passengers bound for the Paramount Airways flight to Chennai from Thiruvananthapuram. “We did not find anything suspicious on him. The ammunition did not elude the eyes of the Thiruvananthapuram airport authorities eventhough the hand-baggage x-ray did not reveal the bullets,” he said, alleging that the bullets were probably transferred from the check-in baggage to the hand baggage after Mr Vijayan reached Chennai.
17/02/07 The Statesman

Bear the pain, says Praful on flight delays

New Delhi: Air-traffic congestion and the resulting flight delays that have become a routine at the Delhi airport are a small price to pay for the growth of the aviation sector, according to Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel.
“There are only about 15-minute delays during the peak hour,” Patel claimed on Saturday, adding, “you cannot have painless growth”. Patel was speaking to HT on the sidelines of a function to lay the foundation stone for a new airport terminal.
However, airport officials who did not wish to be named said the average flight delay was of 45 minutes.
They blamed the delay on growing traffic and the absence of infrastructure and manpower at the airport to handle such pressure. The airport handles 650 flights a day.
Even as the minister was giving his speech, more than 100 flights were delayed by 3-4 hours at the IGI airport, barely a kilometre away, due to dense fog in the morning. There was no flight operation from 8 a.m. to 9.50 a.m.
17/02/07 Sidhartha Roy/Hindustan Times

Air India Express acquires Landing Rights in Bahrain

Bahrain: Air India Express has now cleared all formalities regarding the landing rights at Bahrain International Airport. This paves the way for the third leg of the international direct flights to Mangalore, after the initial Dubai based flights and the last week's Abu Dhabi/Muscat flights to Mangalore.
The Air India headquarters at Mumbai have confirmed that all formalities with regard to landing rights at Bahrain are cleared. This is a major milestone that Air India Express has reached in the process of operating a direct flight from Bahrain & Doha to Mangalore. It is expected that there will be two flights a week.
As per the sources, the tentative date for the flight has been earmarked as Sunday, March 25, 2007, subject to crew availability and time slots. The Aircraft for this route has also been scheduled and the timing of the flight has already been worked out in coordination with the Mangalore airport authorities.
17/02/07 Mangalorean.com

Air Deccan flights from Delhi to Shimla from April

Shimla: Air Deccan will be starting its regular flights between Shimla and Delhi from April onwards and this would provide the much-needed air connectivity for promoting tourism in the hill station.
A meeting between Air Deccan officials and prominent hoteliers was held recently in which they decided to start the flights from the tourist season.
Initially, the Air Deccan flights will fly for four days a week as a result providing regular flights on alternate days. The airline will be operating a 48-seater aircraft thereby bringing down the fare to about Rs 3000. Besides, the summer season will see reduction in fares and hence the problem of getting tickets would also be sorted out to a great extent.
Over a dozen premium hotels have guaranteed to provide 12 seats per flight as Air Deccan wanted a corporate assurance to ensure that it does not turn out to be an misadventure for them.
17/02/07 Punjab Newsline Network/PunjabNewsline.com

Unauthorised loaders harass passengers at Mumbai airport

Mumbai: Authorities of the Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport have a new security issue to deal with—unauthorised loaders. The Airports Authority of India (AAI) has lodged a complaint with the Sahar police station, stating that some 200 unauthorised loaders operating outside the airport force passengers to use the trolleys provided by them. They then charge the hapless passengers a ‘trolley tax’ of Rs 50 to Rs 100. The loaders, who are often in a group of 4-5 persons, target foreigners and families with children.
According to the complaint, these unauthorised loaders operate under the aegis of an organisation called Vimantal Hamal Ekta Sanghtana (VHES). The complaint further accuses them of various unauthorised activities like trespassing, entering restricted areas, pilferaging, damaging AAI property etc.
However, both the police and the AAI claim that resolving the matter is the job of the other party.
17/02/07 Mumbai Newsline

Dual benefits on GoAir

GoAir today announced that it has eliminated the extra charges payable on all CTO (Call Centre Ticketing Office) and ATO (Airport Ticketing Office) bookings. Effective from February 14, 2007, GoAir passengers can now save additional Rs. 75/- on all bookings made via CTO/ATO. This benefit can also be availed for cancellations and rebooking transactions.
In addition to this, GoAir also announced its latest initiative, GoFly @ Rs 0/-, that allows GoAir’s valued passengers the chance of flying freely to all 13 Indian GoAir destinations on bookings made till 22nd February ’07 for travel between 1st March to 25th March.
Passengers can book the tickets either through the GoAir website, call the GoAir Customer Care, travel agents or airport ticketing counters.
17/02/07 Moneycontrol.com (press release)

Duty-free shop operator hits Customs roadblock

New Delhi: Duty-free shops at the Indira Gandhi International airport will now be run by a consortium of UK-based Alpha Airport Group (AAG) and Pantaloon Retail India Ltd.
However, the joint venture (JV) has run into procedural bottlenecks with the Customs refusing to grant it licence to operate a bonded warehouse.
The Customs licence is mandatory for carrying and storing foreign goods in the airport premises by a duty free shop.
The objections, sources said, have been raised following the JV's inability to get a clearance from the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB).
The AAG, which had FIPB nod to form a wholly owned subsidiary, needs to seek the investment board's permission to make downstream investments which do not come under the automatic route of the FDI policy, sources said.
18/02/07 Pradeep Thakur/Times of India