Reliance-Jet to develop small airports

Bangalore: Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Infrastructure is looking at developing airports in Tier II and III towns of Maharashtra in a tie-up with Naresh Goyal's Jet Airways.
The Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC), which operates seven airstrips in Baramati, Belora, Latur, Osamabad, Yavatmal, Kolhapur and Nanded, has opened up a bidding process for private participation in the development of these airstrips into commercial airports.
10/11/07 Anshul Dhamija/Times of India

Indian stowaway found on Singapore Airlines flight

Singapore: Authorities are investigating the case of a "burly Indian" stowaway who managed to sneak onto a Singapore Airlines (SIA) cargo flight and sit just meters behind the pilots. The incident raises security concerns because unlike passenger jets, there is no cockpit door protecting the pilots.
The unidentified man was caught an hour into the seven-hour flight from Sharjah, in the United Arab Emirates, to Amsterdam, Netherlands. The plane was forced to turn back to the UAE where the man was arrested.
The incident happened last Tuesday but was not disclosed until Friday, the Straits Times (Singapore) reported.
The man could not speak English, did not appear drunk and was calm during the flight. He was served food and drink and was not restrained.
Concerned that the man would turn violent if he "saw sand instead of tulips," the shade next to the man's seat was pulled down so that he would not know where the plane was heading.
09/11/07 Paul Icamina/All Headline News.com

Sit-in against transfer of Thiruvananthapuram airport control

Thiruvananthapuram: The Airport Action Council organised a sit-in, in front of the international airport here today, questioning the transfer of its administrative control to the Airports Authority of India executive director in Chennai.
Communist Party of India (CPI) leader Pannian Ravindran, MP, who inaugurated the sit-in, said a petition signed by all 29 Members of Parliament representing Kerala would be submitted to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. The MPs would meet Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel in this connection.
He alleged vested interests were engaged in backroom maneuvers to 'downgrade' the airport when it was poised for major growth for the first time since being declared an international airport on April 1, 1991.
However, the Kerala Association of Travel Agents, which has been in the forefront of the agitation, has expressed anguish at the attitude of the people's representatives towards the airport's development.
The Airport Advisory Committee, headed by none other than Pannian Ravindran, and under the control of the Federal Civil Aviation Ministry, has not met for three years. The inability to convene the meeting affected the development of the airport, association president K V Muralieeharan said in a statement recently.
10/11/07 John Mary/Peninsula On-line, Qatar

Airfreight capacity crunch to hit India by 2011

India is failing to keep pace with expected airfreight demand and a capacity crunch may hit as early as 2011, according to a report from the International Air Transport Association.
IATA is forecasting a tumultuous year for the Indian airfreight market because its infrastructure will not be able to cope with the massive growth expected.
The Indian airfreight market is expected to grow faster than others in Asia, except for China, but IATA believes that airports in China and the Middle East are better prepared to cope with the surge.
Intra-Asian airfreight will drive the market, with some 57 per cent of the world’s airfreight to be moved within the region by 2011. Despite huge aircraft orders by Indian airlines, airports are unprepared for the expected demand.
09/11/07 Air Cargo News.net, UK

Aggressive competition forces Indian to reduce fares

New Delhi: Faced with aggressive competition from low-cost airlines in the past six months, Indian has been forced to drop its price line, in some cases even lower than the low-cost airlines.
"We haven't been able to fill up the aircraft at higher fares. Every time we've upped fares, forward bookings have fallen. Plus, customers have come to expect lower fares, thanks to the deals from low-fare carriers," said a senior official from Indian on condition of anonymity. Three months ago, Indian was merged with Air India to form National Aviation in the search of better economies of scale.
But to make matters worse, airline capacities have gone up by 35% in the past one year. While traffic, too, has grown during the same period, airlines have been under constant pressure to fill the demand-supply gap.
Speaking on behalf of travel agents selling Indian tickets, Madhav Oza, a Mumbai-based consolidator, says with its new fleet, the airline should have been able to go in for higher revenues. Indian is currently in the middle of a massive $2-billion fleet-induction programme to bring in 43 new Airbus planes. However, it has completely failed to capitalise on this.
There is very little advertising on the new planes or service quality, and not too many people even know how many of the new planes are part of the fleet.
10/11/07 Deepshikha Sikarwar/Economic Times

Airbus and Boeing set to do battle at Dubai Air Show

Paris: Aircraft manufacturing giants Boeing and Airbus are set to go head-to-head in a bruising battle to win new business at the upcoming Dubai Air Show, setting their sights on the booming Gulf airline sector.
Dubai-based Emirates airlines could announce plans during the five-day exposition, which opens Sunday, to buy 100 long-haul carriers, choosing between Boeing's 747 Dreamliner and the A350 XWB, made by the US group's European rival Airbus.
Emirates is already Airbus' leading client for the A380 superjumbo, the world's largest civilian airliner. Emirates has ordered 55 A380s.
The A380, which can carry between 525 and 853 passengers, is seen as a promising acquisition for Emirates, which aims to make the Gulf state of Dubai a huge aviation "hub," connecting fliers with all four corners of the world.
Two other Gulf carriers, Qatar Airways and the smaller Etihad Airways based in Abu Dhabi, have adopted the same objectives.
Emirates and Qatar Airways are therefore considered crucial to the future of Airbus, which has lately lost ground to Boeing.
Boeing through the end of September had booked 893 orders to 854 for Airbus, according to the latest available figures.
Indian and Chinese companies, also operating in growing markets, could in addition place big orders in Dubai, according to Morgan Stanley analyst Penelope Butcher, as well as Latin American carriers anxious to expand their fleets.
09/11/07 AFP

Mangalore Airport New Terminal Building Ready by April 2009

Mangalore: The additional premises of Mangalore Airport at Kenjar comprising new runway and terminal building will be completely functional by April 2009, said Transport, Civil Aviation and Tourism Parliamentary Standing Committee Member B Janardhana Poojary.
"As per contract, the works of terminal building will be completed by September 2008. Later, the offices of various aviation companies will also be shifted to the new premises. Thus, the new set up will be totally commissioned by April 2009," he stated.
Poojary, who is also the member of Rajya Sabha, visited the airport on Friday and inspected the progress of the ongoing constructions. "About 35 per cent of the total construction has been over. A sum of Rs 55 crore has been spent for the new runway. Besides runway, the total project expenditure is Rs 147 crore," he stated.
10/11/07 The Hindu/Daijiworld.com

Expedia to expand into India next year

Bellevue, Washington: Expedia Inc., the world’s largest online travel agency with more than $17 billion in annual gross travel bookings, plans to grow even larger early next year when it establishes operations in India.
Sharat Dhall, managing director of Expedia’s yet-to-be launched India subsidiary, confirmed in mid-October that the company will launch a Web portal specifically for Indians. The announcement put an end to several years of speculation about when – or if – Expedia would enter India.
“We will be starting our own Web site in India shortly,” Dhall said in a statement. “We have the strength of our international experience and exposure. Based on that, we will build our Indian operations with a long-term view.”
Himanshu Singh, managing director of Travelocity.com India Pvt. Ltd., the Mumbai-based subsidiary of Travelocity.com LP, Expedia’s largest competitor, responded to the news by essentially challenging Expedia to “bring it on.”
11/09/07 Chris Nelson/IndUS Business Journal, US

Guardian partners with Indian firm

Guardian Technologies International Inc. has teamed up with a company in India to tap into the growing market there.
The Herndon-based company, which makes technology to detect bombs at airports, signed an agreement with New Delhi-based Hi-Tec Aviation Safety & Security Systems Pvt Ltd. to resell its product as India's airports expand.
Guardian develops imaging technology such as X-ray scanners that detect explosives and medical imaging devices that can identify diseases.
The company said it is aiming to get its technology in some of India's biggest airports including in Mumbai, New Delhi, Bangalore, Kolkata and Chennai.
09/11/07 Erin Killian/Bizjournals.com, US

Goyal, Branson may go for equity swap

Naresh Goyal's Jet Airways may swap equity with Richard Branson's Virgin group for acquiring a stake in Belgium-based Brussels Airlines.
The Virgin Group, promoted by Branson, holds a 29.9 per cent stake in SN Airholding, the parent of Brussels Airlines. The move would be a masterstroke for Goyal's Jet Airways as it will give airline a commanding lead over its private peers such as Kingfisher Airlines, which are still working their way for permits to fly overseas.
Wolfgang Prock-Schauer, chief executive officer, Jet Airways, said, "I cannot comment on this. There are no concrete plans on this."
Analysts believe that the move makes eminent sense for the Indian entrepreneur, as it would help him, in one single stroke, to add several destinations from its European hub in Brussels for Indian travellers.
Brussels Airlines and Jet Airways already share facilities in Brussels and are now moving towards a code-sharing agreement.
The news of a swap deal between Branson and Goyal was first reported by Trends-Tendances, a Belgian magazine. The magazine valued the equity swap deal at four Jet Airways shares each for one SN Airholding (the holding company of Brussels Air) share. SN Airholding's board of directors was scheduled to meet late on Thursday night, according to Trends-Tendances.
08/11/07 Rabin Ghosh/DNA Money/Sify.com

2 Kandahar hijackers to be tried for dacoity case in Mumbai

Mumbai: Two persons accused of conspiracy to hijack an Indian Airlines flight to Kandahar in December 1999 will soon be brought to Mumbai to face trial in a robbery and dacoity case, police said.
"We had arrested Abdul Latif and Bhopal Mal in December 1999 for robbing a car and then using it for carrying out a dacoity in a bank in Borivali. They were later taken to Patiala on suspicion of being involved in the hijacking," Deputy Commissioner of Police (detection) Deven Bharti said.
Bharti said the trial in the special CBI court in Patiala in the hijacking case is slated to end soon and the city police will get the duo "anytime after November 12".
"We had recovered 6,000 USD, two AK-56 assault rifles, seven grenades and four rocket launchers from a total of five accused at the time of arrest and will be getting the custody of Latif and Mal soon," Bharti said.
09/11/07 Zee News

Duty-free retailing runs into rough weather

Mumbai: Duty-free shopping at Indian airports, touted as the next big opportunity that would rake in the moolah for retailers, is running into rough weather. The two large contracts for shops in Mumbai and Delhi airports, which between them account for 60% of the international airline traffic, are bogged down in a range of issues between the airport companies and the retailers.
The Mumbai concession, awarded to the Spanish retailer Aldeasa and ITDC early this year, has run aground and is currently being renegotiated. The duo won a three-year mandate to run the duty-free shops in Mumbai, after aggressively bidding Rs 571 crore for the contract.
They were scheduled to start duty-free operations in June this year, but have not yet formed the joint venture company, people close to the development said.
Various issues, largely concerning the infrastructure at the international airport, are now being raised with the airport company Mumbai International Airport (MIAL). The two parties are meeting next week to thrash out issues, sources said.
09/11/07 Kala Vijayraghavan & Cuckoo Paul/Economic times

Mile high hostie Lisa Robertson booted off TV

London: Aussie air hostess Lisa Robertson, who famously had sex with actor Ralph Fiennes in a lavatory cubicle during a Qantas midair flight, has been booted off a British reality show before it has even begun.
Robertson, who has also been working at a Sydney brothel, was to have been the star of the British I'm A Celebrity Get Me Out of Here show being filmed in Australia's north.
But producers of the show axed the 39-year-old on the eve of the show with executive producers confirming they had been inundated by telephone calls and emails from Aussie locals complaining of her inclusion.
She had been signed to the show a month ago but producer had been "bombarded" with concerns about her image.
They feared her manner would ruin the show's reputation as a family program.
"Lisa would have been compulsive viewing what with her seedy past," a program source said yesterday.
"But I'm a Celebrity is enjoyed by all the family and her stint on the show might have meant a few awkward questions being asked about the program makers' judgment."
Robertson hit the headlines earlier this year after being sacked following revelations she had sex with 44-year-old Fiennes on a Qantas flight from Australia and India.
09/11/07 Charles Miranda/Daily Telegraph, Australia

Snag disrupts Kingfisher flight schedule

Kolkata: Flight schedules of Kingfisher Airlines went haywire in the last two days after one of its aircraft was grounded following a snag. Four Kingfisher flights were delayed by several hours on Tuesday and Wednesday and two others cancelled for paucity of aircraft. Nearly 300 passengers were inconvenienced.
The ATR aircraft, based in Mumbai and bearing the registration VATKAL, was to fly to Agartala from Kolkata on Tuesday. The flight, IT-2541, took off at 3.15 pm but returned within 15 minutes after the captain noticed a hydraulic snag that jammed the landing gear.
Though Agartala-bound passengers were endorsed on a subsequent Indigo flight, lack of a spare ATR aircraft meant that all flights to the North-East that use the type of aircraft would take a hit.
IT 2503 to Bhubaneswar, scheduled to take off at 6.30 pm, departed at 11 pm on Tuesday. On Wednesday, the Bagdogra-bound flight with 40-odd passengers was cancelled. They were endorsed in a Jet Airways flight. The Guwahati-bound flight, which was scheduled to take off at 7.30 am, departed from Kolkata at 11 am.
The Agartala-bound flight departed at 6 pm, over two hours 45 minutes behind schedule. The Bhubaneswar-bound IT 2503 left Kolkata at 9 pm instead of 6.40 pm.
09/11/07 Arpit Basu/Times of India

Srinagar airport to go international soon

Srinagar: Srinagar airport is all set make an appearance on the route-maps of international air-traffic in the coming months as its status would soon be prefixed with international, sources said. However the necessary land infrastructure which ought to match international airport standards is completely missing. “The road from airport to city cannot be termed as being international standard as there are more than one reason for the same. First the road width is not enough to accommodate more than two vehicles on the same lane of the road and secondly the already decrepit road is full of potholes that can easily be felt throughout the road,” said Rauf A Punjabi, former President Kashmir Chamber of Commerce & Industry (KCCI).
Punjabi at the same time believes that the transport to and fro airport should be of international standard so that people coming to this place feel the difference. He suggests that coaches of international standard should be introduced so that Srinagar city too can boast of international standards when it comes to aviation industry.
08/11/07 Jehangir Rashid/Etalaat

SpiceJet directed to pay Rs 45,000 as compensation

Chandigarh: The District Consumer Forum has directed SpiceJet Airways to pay Rs 45,000 as compensation along with Rs 10,000 as other expenses to a complainant who had to unduly suffer because of a cancelled-at-last-minute flight.
According to complainant Dr Bhagat Singh Sehrawat, he had booked four Spice Jet tickets for a Delhi-Bangalore trip. He had also bought return tickets from Indian Airlines in advance, which were non-refundable. However, he found out on reaching the airport that the flight had been cancelled because of adverse weather conditions. The incident dates back to December 23, 2006, and since he had booked rooms in Bangalore, Mysore and Ooty, he asked for the refund so that he could catch the Indian Airlines flight which was available that day itself. However, airline officials told him that the refund could be received only from the agent. With not enough money to buy tickets, he and his family had to stay for three days in Faridabad as the next Spice Jet flight was scheduled for December 26.
09/11/07 Chandigarh Newsline

Dubai Airshow to break records

Dubai: The 10th biannual Dubai Airshow, kicking off on Sunday, will break all previous sales records, Shaikh Ahmad Bin Saeed Al Maktoum, Chairman of Dubai City of Aviation Establishment and Chairman and Chief Executive of Emirates airline and group, said yesterday.
The 2005 edition of the third largest airshow in the world saw roughly $21.3 billion in new aircraft purchases from Gulf airlines.
The 10th edition of the Dubai Airshow, featuring commercial, military and private aircraft, is completely sold out, thanks to the arrival of several major homegrown exhibitors. Dubai Aerospace Enterprise is the host sponsor this year. Mubadala, the Abu Dhabi government's investment arm, will also exhibit and several announcements are planned on the company's budding aviation interests.
In addition, this year will see a detailed unveiling of Dubai World Central, the $33 billion, 14-square kilometre aviation hub currently under construction.
This year, the Dubai Airshow has grown by 17 per cent from 2005 in terms of exhibitors, due in part to the 130 newcomers from 24 countries that are showing.
National pavilions at the show will represent Austria, Canada, France, Germany, India, Jordan, the Netherlands, Sweden, Ukraine, the UK and US.
Some of the 140 aircraft on static display will include several new-to-market models, according to organisers.
09/11/07 Ivan Gale/Gulf News, United Arab Emirates

Kashmir witnesses 30 percent increase in air traffic

Srinagar: With a number of private airlines foraying into Kashmir, the air traffic in the Valley has witnessed a sharp increase over past some time.
Presently seven airlines viz. Spicejet, Jetlite, Air Deccan, Kingfisher, Indian Airlines and Go Air and Jet Airways operate daily flights from Srinagar-Jammu, Srinagar-Delhi and Srinagar-Mumbai.
“There has been around 30 percent increase in the air traffic this year so far as compared to the last year,” said Manzoor Ahmad, authorized agent of several private airlines.
He said the air traffic has increased due both to local rush as well as increase in tourist flow through out the year.
A travel agent said the traffic witnesses more increase between October to March.
“The budget airlines do provide a good option to the passengers especially during the winters when the Srinagar-Jammu highway often remains closed,” Javaid Ahmad, a travel agent said.
He said many people who earlier would travel Jammu by road now prefer budget airlines.
08/11/07 Gowhar Bhat/GreaterKashmir.com (press release)

Bomb hoax delays flight

New Delhi: As many as 145 passengers of a Sharjah-bound flight had to be called back at Delhi airport on Wednesday evening for another round of security check following a phone call about a bomb being planted on board the aircraft.
The call turned out to be a hoax.
The Indian Airlines flight IC 883 was scheduled to depart at 5-30 p.m. from the international airport.
All the passengers were checked again. The entire baggage was thoroughly scanned. The aircraft was also changed and the flight eventually took off at around 10 p.m., an airline official said.
08/11/07 The Hindu

CBI probe sought into airport trolley contract

Thiruvananthapuram: The Kerala Civil Aviation General Workers Cooperative Society has demanded a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into the alleged favouritism involved in awarding the contract for trolley retrieval service at the Thiruvananthapuram international airport.
In a memorandum submitted to the CBI Director, the workers’ society pointed that Airports Authority of India (AAI) official had ‘violated laws while awarding the contract thus causing financial loss to the tune of Rs.25,000 per annum’ and the contract was against AAI’s commercial interest.
The cooperative society, which had also participated in the bid along with three other institutions, pointed out that they were not informed regarding the time and date of opening of the price bid. One of the bidders who had no experience in handling the work was informed by AAI officials while opening the bid, the memorandum said.
“Despite quoting the highest amount of Rs.65 per trolley, we were denied the contract,” society chairman, Jude Sajith D’Cruz pointed out. The society alleged that the commercial manager had deliberately and purposefully avoided the society.
The society also pointed out that the firm that had been engaged in trolley retrieval service for the last three years had again been awarded the contract.
08/11/07 The Hindu

AAI all set to beautify Patna airport

Patna: Buoyed up by the positives recorded on the revenue front, the Airports Authority of India (AAI) has decided to beautify the city Jayaprakash Narain International Airport here.
It would start from the entry point itself with the authorities having decided to replace the old gate with a new one at a whooping cost of Rs 32 lakh. The design of the gate has already been made and work on it will start as soon as the design gets the final approval from authorities concerned.
There is also a proposal to repair the approach road and a sum of Rs 17 lakh has been earmarked for this purpose. Adding to the looks of new road and gate will be flowers with the AAI having set aside a fund of Rs 10 lakh on the horticulture head. Plans are also afoot to set up a musical fountain near the terminal building. Feasibility report of the fountain installation, however, is still awaited.
AAI Patna director Atul Dikshit said that a proposal was also there to open food joints on the empty spaces outside the main terminal building.
09/11/07 Sanjeev Kumar Verma/Times of India

RCMP needs own intelligence team, former top cop tells Air India inquiry

Ottawa: The RCMP needs its own intelligence team, separate from the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, to combat terrorism and other national security offences, says a former top cop.
Robert Simmonds, who was commissioner of the Mounties when CSIS was created, told the Air India inquiry Thursday that he's never doubted the competence of the civilian spy agency or the need for it to exist.
But he maintained there's a parallel need for police to gather evidence in a way that will meet the legal test for use in court - rather than relying on CSIS, which usually objects to public disclosure of its sources and information-gathering methods.
Simmonds said he can't understand why CSIS wouldn't be happy to let the Mounties work in parallel with them, if only to protect the cloak of confidentiality they are so concerned about.
He said the investigation of the Air India bombing that took 329 lives in June 1985 - barely a year after CSIS was created - illustrated the practical difficulties that arose with the separation of intelligence and police powers.
The current inquiry, headed by former Supreme Court justice John Major, has heard evidence of failures to share information, erasures of key wiretap tapes, and competition between the RCMP and CSIS in the recruitment of sources.
But the most intractable problem, said Simmonds, was "how do you convert information obtained by CSIS into meaningful evidence to be put before a judge?"
If that can't be done, because of the need to protect confidential sources and operating methods, he said the police need to have the ability to step in and do the job themselves.
Documents tabled at the inquiry show Simmonds tried to get approval from the government to spend $2.6 million a year to set up and staff an intelligence unit within the RCMP that would have filled the void left by the loss of the old security service and the creation of CSIS.
The Mounties eventually did establish a more modest national security investigation section, but it was never funded to the extent they wanted.
Under questioning Thursday, Simmonds acknowledged that even if the force had a full-blown special branch it wouldn't have guaranteed they could have prevented the Air India bombing.
"It would be entirely speculation," he said. "I don't know. I can only say that the base of information readily available would have been more extensive."
The downing of Air India Flight 182 was blamed on militant Sikh separatists based in British Columbia, but only one man has ever been convicted. Another was killed by police in India and two more were acquitted at trial in Vancouver, a verdict that outraged the families of the victims.
08/11/07 The Canadian Press

Watchdog reviewed only part of the tapes

Ottawa: The oft-cited 1992 report exonerating Canada's spy agency for erasing key tapes related to the Air India bombing got it wrong, a retired Mountie testified yesterday.
The federal government had long cited the conclusions of the 1991-02 annual report from the Security Intelligence Review Committee, the civilian watchdog that oversees the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, in arguing that a full public inquiry was unnecessary.
However, retired RCMP Sergeant Terry Goral, who was involved with the Air India investigation and an 11-page RCMP memo assisting SIRC's Air India report, said SIRC's highly publicized conclusion was based on a misunderstanding.
"It is often said that there was nothing on the tapes and that we agree with that," Mr. Goral testified yesterday. "However, if you read further, they talk about 50 tapes that are reviewed and that there was no significant criminal information uncovered on these 50 tapes. Well, those were only 50 tapes out of a couple hundred tapes."
Mark Frieman, the inquiry's lead counsel, pounced on the comment.
"So am I to understand from that, that the message of [SIRC chairman John] Bassett may not have been entirely in alignment with the facts in the matter, on tape erasures?"
"On that issue, yes," Mr. Goral replied.
He said the police did get some leads out of the summaries of the tapes, which, he said, suggests the actual tapes would have been useful for the criminal investigation.
08/11/07 Bill Curry/Globe and Mail, Canada

Malik's lawyer son faces disciplinary hearing

The lawyer son of a Vancouver businessman acquitted in the Air India bombing will have to face a disciplinary panel for alleged misconduct in his father's legal aid application, the B.C. Law Society has ruled.
Jaspreet Singh Malik had tried to argue that his Charter rights would be violated if he was forced to testify against himself in a law society hearing to answer allegations he misled a B.C. Supreme Court justice and colluded with his father, Ripudaman, and other relatives to diminish the family's assets.
But a law society panel said in a ruling released Thursday that the broader public interest is more important than the rights of the younger Malik.
It also said when Jaspreet took his oath to be a lawyer, he "knowingly, willingly and voluntarily" agreed to be governed by the Legal Profession Act and Law Society Rules, which include testifying at disciplinary hearings.
"We are satisfied that it is not contrary to fundamental justice for the law society to require the respondent to testify on the hearing of the citation," said the panel of Gordon Turriff, David Renwick and Warren Wilson - all Queen's Counsels. "The respondent's application is dismissed."
Malik was cited by the society after Sunni Stromberg-Stein, a court justice, found he had participated in schemes designed to diminish his millionaire father's assets so he would more easily qualify for extraordinary funding under what is called a "Rowbotham" application.
09/11/07 Kim Bolan/Vancouver Sun, Canada

Cabinet approves AAI-CAE aviation academy JV; IGRUI, CAE management contract

New Delhi: As long-term measures to meet the shortage of pilots, the Cabinet today gave its approval for management contract agreement of the Indira Gandhi Rashtriya Uran Akademy (IGRUA) with CAE Inc., Canada. Read On >>

Trainee pilots flirt with death

Mumbai: It’s been a bad year for Indians training to be pilots abroad. Never before have so many died in the span of a year, during training. Read On >>

Narrow miss over Bangalore skies

As part of TIMES NOW's special series on Air Safety where we have been tracking several cases of near collisions and accidents in Indian skies, about 150 passengers on board a Mumbai-Bangalore Kingfisher flight had a narrow escape at Bangalore airport on Saturday (November 3), when the descending aborted landing and pulled back up into the skies after the pilot spotted another plane on the runway.
The incident seems to be an eerie replay of the October 19 near-miss when a pilot coming into Mumbai saw a craft on the same runway on which he was to land.
After hovering for ten minutes, the pilot informed the badly-shaken passengers the reason for the plan suddenly taking off again.
The passengers landed safely 20 minutes later.
Augustine Raj, a passenger travelling on that plane, spoke to TIMES NOW saying the incident trigerred panic among all the passengers on the flight.
07/11/07 Times Now.tv

A tedious drive to new Bangalore airport

Bangalore: With the new airport scheduled to open in just over four months, The Times of India undertook an exercise on November 5 to check out the exact nature of the travails one would have to go through to reach the airport. The distance and the poor accessibility to the airport has had everybody worried, and our exercise at evening peak hours proved it will probably be worse than what many imagined.
It’s killing. There’s no other way to describe it. It took us nearly three hours through numerous congested traffic junctions and suffocating pollution to get from Electronic City to the upcoming international airport in Devanahalli, a distance of 68 km.
By about the 25th kilometre from Electronic City, we were beginning to feel exhausted.
From our experience, here’s what you need to be prepared for: if you are taking an international flight out of Bangalore which requires you be at the airport three hours prior to departure, then leave home at least five to six hours before the flight time. We say ‘at least’ because there’s a good chance your cab will scrape or hit somebody in the bumper-to-bumper traffic, which might lead to a hold-up.
08/11/07 Times of India

Praful Patel wants Air India to expand network, fleet

New Delhi: Civil aviation minister Praful Patel has urged Air India to widen its network and plan quickly for expansion of its fleet. At a meeting here on Wednesday to review performance of the recently-merged airline, he called for strengthening of the cargo business of the company.
Some of the major issues discussed by the minister included the airline’s plan to induct over 60 aircraft and enhance connectivity. Air India now has a fleet of nearly 125 aircraft, and is planning to order a large number of planes for delivery after 2011.
Before merger, Air India had placed orders for 68 Boeing aircraft while Indian had ordered for 43 Airbus aircraft. The civil aviation minister has always favoured the airline’s move to increase its fleet size.
Mr Patel is likely to review progress of the two airlines next fortnight. He would also look into the airline’s plan to restructure its current capacity deployment on different domestic and international routes.
08/11/07 Economic Times

Civil Aviation Ministry reviews progress on AI, Indian merger

New Delhi: The Civil Aviation Ministry on Wednesday reviewed the progress made on various aspects relating to the merger of erstwhile Air India and Indian, even as the new entity is planning to buy a large number of aircraft in addition to the 111 it has already ordered.
At a meeting chaired by Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel, the merged Air India was asked to draw up within the next fortnight fresh plans especially regarding its global routes, creating hubs in Europe and issues relating to the human resources.
"It was a review of the overall process of merger covering all aspects of the amalgamation and what progress has been made on each front," Patel told PTI after the meeting which was attended by top officials of the Ministry and Air India, including AI Chairman and Managing Director V Thulasidas.
Sources said the Ministry asked the airline to come up with fresh plans in the next 15 days on the route network and its leasing programme.
07/11/07 PTI/The Hindu

Villagers oppose Balurghat airport revival

Balurghat: Resumption of air service from Balurghat in South Dinajpur district is still at the nascent stage but a controversy has broken out on the matter of land use.
The airport, which once enjoyed a brisk business closed down many years ago and the airport campus gradually turned into a thoroughfare for the residents of 12 villages of the Danga ~ Vijaysree anchal, which is beyond the airport. And now that the policy makers are planning to revive the airport, the villagers are against the campus wall of the proposed airport.
According to them, a campus wall would deprive them of the passage they enjoyed for such a long period and so, unless the authorities arrange for an alternative passage, they would resist the idea of a campus wall for the airport. On the other hand, there seems serious intent from the policy makers’ end to revive the airport. Airports Authority of India officials have inspected the airport site thrice in recent times and construction of the wall has already begun, which has made the residents of the 12 villages in concern see red.
07/11/07 The Statesman

Political concerns push Chennai airport out of private ambit

New Delhi: Private companies’ ambition to modernise the Chennai airport on the lines of similar projects in Delhi and Mumbai has fallen flat following a political veto by the Tamil Nadu government which has forced the Centre to shift its preference to the old state monopoly, the Airports Authority of India (AAI).
The modernisation project, expected to be completed by 2010, is estimated to cost at least Rs. 2,350 crore, though it could be revised up further.
Sources in the Civil Aviation Ministry told Hindustan Times that the DMK government at Chennai moved to rule out private developers through a public-private partnership route for the project, which involves the restructuring of the airport which is a key hub for one of India’s fastest growing regions involving traffic that connects to South-East Asia.
The DMK in Chennai and the Left Front government in Kolkata have been ideologically opposing private sector development. The ministry was pushing for private participation in the modernization of Chennai’s airport but the DMK, which is a key partner in Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s coalition, appears to have prevailed.
08/11/07 Samiran Saha/Hindustan Times

Chennai airport infrastructure stretched, State informs court

Chennai: The Tamil Nadu Government has informed the Madras High Court that the acquisition proceedings for the proposed Chennai Airport expansion plan have commenced, and that existing facilities at the airport have reached a saturation point.
In a counter-affidavit in response to a writ petition filed by E.V.P. Housing Chennai Private Limited, the Transport Secretary said the Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority (CMDA) had been directed to freeze all building activities in the approach area and issue suitable instructions after getting full details from the Airport Authority of India (AAI).
The official further stated that the AAI, in a letter dated August 1, had approved acquisition of 1,069.99 acres on the northern side of the existing airport.
The purpose of the July 9 order of the State Government, on the freezing of building activities, “is to avoid unnecessary financial loss to the Government in paying compensation for the proposed acquisition, since the compensation will have to be paid for the superstructures on the lands proposed to be acquired.”
08/11/07 The Hindu

Biggies eye airport area development

New Delhi: The biggest names of Indian industry have evinced keen interest in the aviation ministry's move to develop city sides of 35 non-metro airports the PPP way. Players like L&T, Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group, Lanco, GMR, GVK and Satyam Finance are among those that have shown interest in the Amritsar and Udaipur airports that are first off the block. The government is appointing a financial consultant to find out the real estate potential of these places and what revenue they should expect from chosen partners.
City side development basically has four main components. Successful bidders will be responsible for commercial exploitation of airport area by developing facilities like hotels and conference centres. The logic is that business travellers fly to a city, hold their meetings at the airport and then return, a common practice abroad.
The other components private players will be responsible for are — running parking lots; commercial space within the terminal and also for housekeeping of terminals. While PPP in cityside development is being stiffly opposed in certain quarters of Airports Authority of India (AAI), the government took this decision as it felt the AAI was not able to tap commercial potential of airports.
08/11/07 Saurabh Sinha/Times of India

Vacation plans ruined for Kingfisher airline passenger

Mumbai: Aalhad Wadekar (27), a product manager with a private company, who had booked a flight from Mumbai-Nagpur with Kingfisher Airlines exactly one month ago is still in Mumbai waiting for his ticket to his Diwali destination, Nagpur. Speaking to Newsline, Wadekar said, “Exactly one month back, on October 6, I had booked an 8 pm flight from Mumbai to Nagpur for November 6. Yesterday, when I called Kingfisher up to confirm the timing of the flight, I was told that the Mumbai-Nagpur service is not operational. I did not lose hope; as I knew that in case of any problems, the airline would surely provide me with some alternative transport.”
However, when Wadekar reached the airport, to his shock, the Kingfisher counter employee told him that they had arranged for him to travel on an Air Deccan flight, which was Mumbai to Nagpur via Ahmedabad! “The counter employee told me that as all other flights were full, I would have to travel in the Air Deccan flight, which would have taken me 7 hours as the flight was to Nagpur via Ahmedabad,” says a shocked Wadekar.
Needless to say, Wadekar refused the ‘offer’ made by the Kingfisher staff and decided to try his luck with the railways. “However, due to the festival season, I still have not been make any arrangements....” he said.
08/11/07 Jaidev Hemmady/Mumbai Newsline

Boeing, SpiceJet Celebrate Airline's First 737-900ER Delivery

Seattle: The Boeing Company and New Delhi-based SpiceJet today celebrated the delivery of the airline's first Next-Generation 737-900ER (Extended Range) airplane. With this delivery, SpiceJet becomes the first India-based airline to operate the 737-900ER. SpiceJet originally announced its decision to purchase five 737-900ERs and five 737-800s at the 2006 Asian Aerospace Air Show in Singapore.
All of the 737-900ERs will be equipped with performance-enhancing Blended Winglets, which improve fuel efficiency and reduce CO2 emissions by up to four percent.
Boeing announced the launch of the 737-900ER program in July 2005. The 737-900ER incorporates a new pair of exit doors and a flat, rear-pressure bulkhead that allow a maximum capacity of 220 passengers in a single-class layout. Aerodynamic and structural design changes -- including strengthened wings, a two-position tailskid, enhancements to the leading and trailing-edge flap systems, optional Blended Winglets, and auxiliary fuel tanks -- will allow the 737-900ER to accommodate higher takeoff weights and increase its range to 3,200 nautical miles (5,900 km).
The 737-900ER has substantial economic advantages over competing models including 6 percent lower operating costs per trip and 4 percent lower operating costs per seat than the A321 -- which is more than 9,550 pounds (4,340 kg) heavier.
07/11/07 PRNewswire-FirstCall/CNNMoney.com

Resume Air India Flight Service between B'lore-M'lore: MP

Udupi: MP Manorama Madhwaraj has demanded the Chairman and Managing Director of Air India start early morning and late evening flight services between Bangalore and Mangalore.
Listing out the lapses in the Air India service, she said; "It is very inconvenient for a traveller, who has to travel by Air India flight from Delhi-Mumbai-Mangalore sector. Practically, no attention is given to expand the entry of Air India into the various sectors based on trafic density and passenger friendly principle."
Earlier, there was a direct Air India flight from Delhi to Mangalore with a stop over in Mumbai. It was very convenient for the passengers who were to travel upto Mangalore. Unfortunately, that flight had been discontinued for the reasons best known to the Aviation Ministry. But certainly not in public interest and not for the growth of Aviation sector, she charged.
Recently, the travellers, who were travelling by Air India from Delhi to Mangalore had a bad experience, she said. After reaching Mumbai, they had to wait for nearly four hours for taking flight to Mangalore. There was precious little what the officers of Air India could do to help the people, she added.
07/11/07 Daijiworld.com

Manila Looks To Become Asia's Flight-Training Capital

Manila: Philippine Senator Edgardo Angara wants the Philippines to be the next flight-training capital of Asia, saying the country urgently needs a single, centralized, and autonomous civil aviation authority. Read On >>

Odyssey to manage bookstore at Hyd airport

Hyderabad: GMR Hyderabad International Airport (GHIAL), a subsidiary of the GMR Infrastructure, has awarded bookstore concession to Odyssey India, a retail chain promoted by Hyderabad-based media house Deccan Chronicle Holdings, for setting up a bookstore in the new airport.
The concessional agreement with Odyssey is for three-years,
starting from the launch of the airport in March 2008.
In a press release issued today, GMR said that Odyssey had been selected the preferred bidder based on both technical and financial evaluations, such as its background, network of operations in India, proposed categories of merchandise for the bookstore outlets and concept planned for this outlet.
08/11/07 Business Standard

Deccan pitches copter ride to new airport

Bangalore: Deccan Aviation Ltd, which owns nine helicopters, plans to operate an intra-city chopper shuttle service in the state capital. This is to ferry to the new airport on Bangalore’s outskirts passengers who wish to avoid the city’s notorious traffic gridlocks.
The new airport, being built by Bangalore International Airport Ltd at Devanahalli, is 35km north of the city’s central business district (CBD). The airport will become operational in March, but it can be accessed from the city currently only through a clogged, four-lane national highway.
At present, it takes an average 90-180 minutes to reach the airport from the city’s CBD, longer than the duration of flights to cities such as Hyderabad and Chennai.
“We have two helicopters in Bangalore. One can be put into shuttle service once the new airport starts,” says Capt. G.R. Gopinath, executive chairman of Deccan Aviation, which also runs India’s biggest low-cost airline.
Based in Bangalore, Deccan is preparing a detailed business plan for operating the heli-charter service, which will be ready by the month-end, Gopinath adds. A BIAL spokesperson declined to comment on the planned service.
07/11/07 K. Raghu/Livemint

'Refund immediately for cancelled flights'

Chandigarh: In a judgment that should bring relief to harassed air passengers, a city consumer court has ordered airlines to refund tickets immediately after a flight is cancelled.
The consumer redressal forum's president Jagroop Singh Mahal said, "There may be a large number of consumers who are suffering enormously in terms of time, mental agony, harassment and discomfort due to this unfair trade practice adopted by the airlines."
The court said in case of flight cancellation or delay by more than six hours, airlines should refund the money at the airport itself so that passengers could book seats on another flight, if they so desired.
Mahal said the forum was giving a general direction under Section 12 of Consumer Protection Act.
The order came on the complaint of Bhagar Singh Sherawat, a city resident, who was denied repayment for four
tickets after a Spice Jet flight from Delhi to Bangalore was cancelled.
07/11/07 Times of India

In-flight sales pick up speed

On-board merchandising, a big business worldwide, is now beginning to take off in India, thanks to an increased number of carriers crisscrossing the country's skies.
It's a key platform for major brands to reach out to the consumer directly.
Air India's revenues from duty-free sales amounted to around Rs 10 crore last year and it expects this figure to go up substantially in view of having extended its network by launching new flights.
SpiceJet has identified its vendors and is in the process of deciding on its product portfolio, said sources.
The carrier is also readying its logistics and IT backend for credit cards and expects at least 1 per cent of its revenues to come from in-flight merchandising in 2008, sources added.
Deccan, in association with Delhi-based AVA Merchandising, set up the flight banner "Brand for Less".
GoAir has also tied up with AVA Merchandising for its in-flight shopping service.
Air India introduced duty-free shopping on-board more than 20 years ago. It used to operate this on its own - buying and selling them onboard.
07/11/07 DNA Money/Madhumita Mookerji

Relaxing FDI caps in aviation back on agenda

New Delhi: In yet another attempt to allow foreign airlines to pick up to 49% equity in domestic airlines, the Planning Commission has floated a new proposal to scrap the bar on foreign carriers from investing in this sector. The proposal is expected to be taken up by the full Planning Commission at a meeting, which is likely to be chaired by prime minister Manmohan Singh, this week.
The department of industrial policy & promotion (DIPP) and the Planning Commission had earlier sought opening up of this segment for foreign airlines, but the civil aviation ministry did not accept those proposals.
“The domestic aviation sector has matured and the time has come for further liberalising FDI caps. This has also become imperative as domestic airlines are now flying abroad and forging alliances with their overseas counterparts,” a finance ministry official said.
While 49% foreign direct investment (FDI) is permitted in domestic airlines, foreign airline companies are barred from investmenting in this segment. NRIs are allowed to hold up to 100% equity in domestic airlines.
In the Eleventh Plan document draft, the Planning Commission has proposed participation of foreign airlines in domestic carriers to bring in international best practises in the domestic market. The finance ministry has indicated its willingness to open up the sector further.
07/11/07 Subhash Narayan & Nirbhay Kumar/Economic Times

Air India plans acquiring up to 100 aircraft

New Delhi: Air India could look at acquiring up to 100 aircraft for meeting its requirements for a five-year period beginning 2011. A clear picture on the exact numbers is likely to emerge in the next few days after a review meeting of the fleet requirement is completed here on Wednesday.
The National Aviation Company of India (NACIL), the company into which Air India and Indian have been amalgamated, is assuming a Compounded Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 12 per cent in international traffic and 15 per cent in the domestic traffic as forecast for meeting its fleet requirement, sources told Business Line.
The aircraft requirement are being considered keeping in mind not only the growth in the domestic and international markets but also sixth freedom operations rights that have been given to Air India.
The sixth freedom rights allow an airline to pick passengers from a country other than its origin and carry them to a third country.
06/11/07 Ashwini Phadnis/Business Line

Consumer body calls for boycott of Indian, Air India

Dubai: A leading airline consumer body has called for the boycott of India's national carriers Indian and Air India for providing sub-standard services in the Gulf sector.
"We are going to boycott Indian and Air India for providing substandard services in the Gulf sector, especially from Kerala, and initiate legal action against them," K M Basheer, general secretary of the All India Airport Users' Forum (AIAUF), told IANS.
He said that the carriers provided five-star treatment to passengers going to Britain and the US while charging comparatively lower fares but passengers on the Gulf sector are charged exorbitant fares while at the same time being subjected to indifferent treatment by airline crew.
"Flights, especially from Calicut to the Gulf are frequently delayed or cancelled putting passengers to great inconvenience," he added.
There are around 55 lakh expatriate Indians in the Gulf region.
07/11/07 IANS/Sify

Your air ticket will pinch you a bit more this season

Mumbai: Flying away this Diwali is turning to be expensive as the fuel surcharge and peak season fares combine to weigh heavy on air-travellers pockets. Cheap tickets to metros, as well as tier two cities like Indore, Udaipur, Ahmedabad, Jaipur and Panaji have been sold out, report airlines. Only full fare tickets are available for this week leaving travellers with no option but to pay. Even business class seats have been sold out on most routes, as air passengers are learning to book in advance.
One way fares on the Mumbai-Delhi route — the busiest air-corridor in the country — have been as high as Rs 17,814 for the odd flight, in this case a Kingfisher flight for Thursday (Diwali) evening. The normal fares on various airlines through the week range between Rs 4,900 and Rs 11,500 for flights in the morning and evening peak hours. These depend on the time of the day, but are still 30-200% higher than fares in October.
In a new trend, low-cost airlines fares are matching up with those of full service airlines. The Delhi-based Indigo for instance, has pegged return fares on Mum-Delhi in the Rs 20,000-range as they try to maximise yields. The cheap flights have been blocked off by the airlines’ yield management systems. The peak fares this year are higher than last year’s Diwali peak, said a source from Kingfisher airlines.
07/11/07 Cuckoo Paul/Economic Times

MDLR Airlines appoints PDM for marketing

New Delhi: Regional domestic airliner MDLR Airlines on Tuesday said it has appointed Percept D' Mark (PDM) as the marketing agency and Percept Profile for communications consultancy.
"The next 12 months should see MDLR initiate strategic communication strategies while simultaneously involved in uniquely designed events," MDLR Airlines Vice-President (Corporate Affairs) Nupur Mehta said.
PDM is handling clients like, Genpact, Maruti Suzuki, Microsoft, Reliance Insurance, MGF-Emmar, and Mac and will shortly open new offices in Kolkata and Chandigarh.
06/11/07 PTI/Economic Times

Charges fly against trolley contract

Thiruvananthapuram: The Kerala Civil Aviation General Workers' Cooperative Society has alleged malpractices in awarding contract for operating the trolley at the Airport here. The society has also sought a probe by CBI into the issue.
The society has alleged that the contract for operating the trolleys at the Airport was given to a firm which had quoted a rate that was lower than what was quoted by the society. The society, which has more than 20 years of experience in the field, was even not invited for the price bid by the Airport Authority of India (AAI), society chairman Jude Sajith D'Cruz said.
07/11/07 Newindpress

Private firms to offer ground handling at Hyderabad airport

Hyderabad: With the Union government allowing developers of new airports to outsource ground-handling and cargo services, the upcoming international airport will have private players offering them.
What is being hitherto handled either by airline companies themselves or the Airports Authority of India will now be a domain of private companies, once the airport becomes operational.
Beginning with passenger check-in, many important services come in to play to avoid any hitch in the travel.
“Though these services go unnoticed, they are very vital to any airport. Now that they are privatised, the agency will have to provide world class services at any cost,” according to V.S. Bobba, managing director of Menzies-Bobba Aviation, the ground-handling agency at the international airport coming up at Shamshabad.
What services go into ground-handling? Ticket sales and service counters, aircraft pushback and towing, aircraft loading and unloading, de-icing and others form part of it.
06/11/07 A. Saye Sekhar/The Hindu

Amadeus backs WTA India

Amadeus, a leading global technology partner for the travel and tourism industry, were key sponsors for the World Travel Awards (WTA) Asia, Australasia & Indian Ocean ceremony which took place at The Leela Palace Kempinski in Bangalore, India last Friday.
Amadeus recently hosted their annual e-commerce forum in Osaka, Japan, during which they stated that airlines in Asia Pacific must take advantage of new technologies in order to keep up with the changing travel environment, with technologies such as Web 2.0 set to play a pivotal role in the travel industry of the future.
As thought leaders in the travel technology arena, it is fitting that Amadeus, which recently celebrated their 20th anniversary, have been nominated for the World’s Leading CRS/ GDS System which will be announced at the annual World Travel Awards ceremony set to take place in Turks and Caicos next month.
As many as 50 of the sought-after trophies were given out to the elite of the regional travel trade on Friday night during the India event. It was a marvellous celebration of the region’s contribution and dedication to the tourism industry.
06/11/07 Internet Travel News (press release), UK

A lot rides on A380, save low fares

New Delhi: The Airbus 380 ~ a 300-million-dollar super jet ~ is turning to be the new face of the airliners worldwide, which they believe, would distinguish them from the budget airlines.
But even as the giant aircraft can carry more than 550 people at a time, one can’t expect fares to come down. And for Sydney to London and back, a deluxe seat will cost about 10 times as much as an economy fare. Singapore Airlines’ A380 jet made its first passenger flight from Singapore to Sydney last week.
India’s aviation sector too is struggling to acquire the A 380 Airbus to emerge as an airline giant. Airbus is in talks to sell A380 jets to state-run Air India. Civil Aviation ministry officials have predicted that superjumbos would play a key role in the expansion of the Indian aviation industry. So far, the European aircraft manufacturer has orders for five A380 jets from one Indian carrier, Kingfisher Airlines, and Boeing officials have expressed skepticism over the need for such big planes in the Indian market. According to Air India sources, it could buy 10 to 12 A380 aircraft. If Air India orders in the next few months, they could probably take delivery by 2011.
06/11/07 The Statesman

Fog causes misery to air travellers

Bangalore: Triggering absolute chaos at the city’s HAL Airport on Tuesday, over 20 domestic and international flights were stranded — some on the air, many on the ground — as the fog at dawn reduced runway visibility to below the prescribed minimum standards.
The space-starved departure and arrival terminals were a sea of frustrated passengers. The arrival of international carriers Gulf Air, British Airways and Air Arabia was delayed by over an hour. The British Airways flight from London was diverted to Chennai. Several flights scheduled to depart at about 6 a.m. could leave only after 8 a.m., when the weather cleared.
Delayed for two hours were the departures of seven Kingfisher flights, three of Jet Airways, two of Indian, six of Air Deccan and two of Indigo, Air Traffic Control (ATC) sources told The Hindu.
Built and upgraded to handle a maximum of 700 passengers an hour, the airport terminal building and the people who manned it were in for a shock. Over 2,000 passengers crammed into every available inch of space. The overstretched facility just could not handle the rush, admitted the airport officials.
07/11/07 Rasheed Kappan/The Hindu

Jet set for Brussels hotel venture

New Delhi: Jet Airways is getting into hospitality venture. Naresh Goyal-owned airline has acquired 15 acres near the Brussels airport in Belgium. The airline said this 500-room five-star deluxe hotel would mainly target Jet passengers who transit through its base in Brussels and the airline crew. It would also have a catering kitchen to serve all Jet flights originating from Belgium and London.
"We are going to tie up with a leading foreign chain of hotels for this project though the hotel will reflect our culture. It will go in direction of achieving our dream of establishing Jet as a truly Indian brand abroad,'' said an official.
Incidentally, Oberoi Hotel chairman PRS Oberoi is on Jet's board of directors and the airline is likely to use his experience for this project. To cater to its Indian clientele, the airline is planning to have ethnic dishes on its menu and a dedicated restaurant is also being considered.
The Belgium government is supporting Jet's move to build the hotel.
07/11/07 Saurabh Sinha/Times of India

Kandahar hijack financiers set to walk free

Mumbai: Two Pakistanis who robbed a bank to allegedly finance the hijacking of the Indian Airlines flight IC-814 to Kandahar are going to walk free next month without facing a trial.
The duo had submitted a guilty plea before a Mumbai sessions court and were sentenced to eight years in jail recently. Since they have been in custody through their arrest in December 1999, their sentence will be set off against the period they served as undertrials.
Mohammed Asif alias 'Babloo', a resident of Karachi and Mohammed Rafiq Haji, a resident of Multan, were picked up by the Mumbai police on December 30, 1999 for robbing a bank at Borivali along with two other Pakistani nationals on October 6, 1999.
In October 1999, the four accused first stole a Maruti van at Orlem in Malad and later used it for the bank robbery at Maharashtra State Cooperative Bank in Borivali. More than seven lakh rupees were stolen but only Rs 1.72 lakh were recovered at the time of the arrest in December 1999 — the rest of the money having been already transferred to the hijackers. The accused were also found in possession of two AK-56 rifles, seven grenades and four rocket launchers.
07/11/07 Kartikeya/Times of India

Ottawa's secrecy claims stall Air India probe

Ottawa: After months of smooth sailing, the Air India inquiry is facing renewed objections from the federal government about plans to hear sensitive testimony in public.
Inquiry counsel Mark Freiman said Tuesday that he has been unable to reach agreement with the Justice Department on how to handle the evidence – the nature of which he is not disclosing for now.
Mr. Freiman said he believes that the matter should be presented in open session and that the families of the bombing victims have a right to hear it.
Government lawyer Barney Brucker, citing national security concerns, says the evidence can't be discussed in any detail publicly and should be heard behind closed doors.
It will be up to the head of the inquiry, former Supreme Court justice John Major, to rule on the matter after he hears further arguments – which themselves will remain confidential pending his decision.
Mr. Major threatened at one point, early in his hearings, to shut down the inquiry unless the government relented in what he viewed as excessive secrecy claims.
06/11/07 The Canadian Press/Globe and Mail, Canada

Federal no-fly list comes under fire at Air India probe

Ottawa: The head of the Air India inquiry is raising questions about whether Canada's newly minted no-fly list is really an effective tool in fighting international terrorism.
Former Supreme Court justice John Major noted Tuesday that a similar list in the United States has been plagued by problems - including false matches in which people with names similar to those of suspected terrorists are pulled aside at airport check-in counters.
"If we're looking to avoid what happened on 9-11, it's presumably to keep dangerous people capable of blowing planes up or capturing (them) off the plane," said Major.
"It seems difficult that you can do that by name alone."
The comments came as Major heard testimony from federal Privacy Commissioner Jennifer Stoddart, who has long expressed similar concerns.
The intent of the list is to bar anyone deemed a danger to air safety from boarding a commercial flight.
But Stoddart maintained the criteria for being considered dangerous are so vague that it's hard to figure out how people end up on the list - or why barring them from flying is an appropriate solution.
"I don't understand it," Stoddart told the inquiry.
"You're not safe to fly, but then presumably you're simply told that you can't fly - and you're released to go about your daily business. Well, what is it about you that makes you so dangerous?"
Major suggested a better approach might be to subject people on the list to additional screening, but not automatically forbid them from boarding.
"I don't understand why anybody can't get on the plane if sufficient precaution is taken," he said. 06/11/07 Jim Brown, THE CANADIAN PRESS/940 News, Canada

Air scare: 10 hits, two misses every month

New Delhi: Indian skies are fast becoming among the most dangerous in the world. Ten bird hits and at least two air misses are being reported every month.
Airports handle around 60,000 flights every month — so one in 5,000 flights faces one of the two dangers.
In 2007, 18 air misses were reported by September-end. This figure would go up in the coming two winter months, officials say.
And the busiest eight airports together reported 89 bird hits during the same period. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation recently presented a report on the situation to the civil aviation top brass.
The DGCA officials claim that every air miss or near miss is taken very seriously.
In each case of an air miss, experts question the pilots and the air traffic controllers separately and also extensively analyse the transcripts of the conversations between the ATC and the pilot.
05/11/07 Yogesh Kumar/Daily News & Analysis

Bird-hits rising: Study

New Delhi: Dirty surroundings of airports have made landings and take offs a risky affair in India.
While, almost all airlines say this is a routine feature, which causes hardships to passengers and great expense on repairing the damage to the aircraft, an airline has now compiled all such incidents over the past 13 months and reported a staggering 84 hits during that period.
India's largest private carrier Jet Airways has recorded incidents from October 2006 to date. The number is very high for just one airline. Jet operates 350 flights daily, and is second only to national carrier's figure of over 550.
Luckily for the airline, 49 incidents did not see the aircraft getting damaged, although, in many of these cases, the flights were delayed. But the sheer figure of 84 hits in 13 months for just one carrier is scary, admit aviation industry insiders.
The airline has rated Ahmedabad, Delhi, Mumbai, Vadodara, Hyderabad and Bangalore as being prone to bird hits. Other places like Bhopal, Rajkot, Nagpur and Kolkata also faces the problem but not frequently.
06/11/07 Times of India

Deccan forms consortium to bid for airport projects

Bangalore: Deccan Aviation has said it has formed a consortium for bidding for airports projects across the country.
The Deccan Aviation Executive Chairman, Capt G.R. Gopinath, told newspersons at the sidelines of a press conference that his company along with the Nitin Raheja Group, IDFC and the GVK Group had formed a consortium to bid for airport projects in tier two and three cities across the country. Each of the partners will hold 25 per cent stake in the consortium.
The consortium has bid for three airport projects in Karnataka which include, Gulbarga, Bijapur and Shimoga. It is also in talks with the Maharashtra Government as well as the Andhra Pradesh Government for building airports in tier two cities.
Capt Gopinath said that as the airports themselves will not earn enough revenues for the promoters, industrial parks will be built around them. This will help the airports get a steady stream of passengers as well as revenues from the industrial parks.
Capt Gopinath said Deccan Aviation had hired Accenture to study the back end as well as the front end integration of the company.
The consultancy agency is expected to submit a report within six weeks, he said.
05/11/07 K. Giriprakash/Business Line

Delhi airport: Govt mulls fog system

New Delhi: The Ministry of Civil Aviation has now promised that their new fog management system will deliver and this year, the Delhi airport will not be plunged into chaos.

This year, one may not have to wait forever at the Delhi airport when the fog descends.
But even if one has to, airport authorities promise, passengers will be given food, water and a place to rest with constant updates on the arrival of their flight.
These are some of the assurances of the Ministry of Civil Aviation, which is putting its new revamped fog management system in place by December 8 and according to the Met department, the annual winter fog in Delhi will be from December 8 to February 15.
The ministry has said:
* All airlines have to be prepared to land in at least a medium level fog. This means the fog landing equipment of CAT 2 grade has to be in place. Airlines that don't comply will not be allowed to fly this season at all.
* Airlines must ensure that passengers are given food and water for delayed flights. Ifthey don't, the Delhi airport will provide it and bill the airlines.
* LCD screens will be installed at all airport terminals, updating passengers on the take off time of their flight and also details of how long it may be stuck hovering over the landing strip.
* 60 airport officials will be pressed into action to help with passenger queries.
* And a media centre and crisis centre is being set up at the airport to handle all passenger queries at the airport.
06/11/07 Revati Laul/NDTV.com

Foggy days ahead at Delhi airport

New Delhi: As winter creeps in, air travellers flying in and out of the Capital need to brace themselves up for delays all the way from this coming December to mid-February.
The Meteorological Department has informed the Union Government that there will be over 150 hours during this period when visibility will be less than 50 metres due to fog owing to which no flight operations will be possible at Delhi airport.
That is the bad news. However, there is some good news too. “Some relief from fog is expected in January,” said Joint Secretary (Civil Aviation) K. N. Srivastava at a press conference here on Monday after chairing a meeting on the arrangements for the winter at Indira Gandhi International Airport.
The meeting was attended by officials from the Met Department, Delhi International Airport (Private) Limited, different airlines and the Directorate-General of Civil Aviation.
The DGCA has also issued instructions that all airlines need to have a CAT III-compliant cockpit crew.
06/11/07 The Hindu

Delayed flight? Your airline will feed you from now

New Delhi: This winter, there is some consolation in store for passengers stranded in airports due to delayed flights. The government has asked all airlines to provide food and refreshments in case of a flight delay. It has also asked the airport operator — Delhi International Airport (DIAL) — to serve snacks and soft drinks to passengers in case airlines fail to provide it. The airport operator would be allowed to recover the expenses from the airlines concerned later.
In case the flight is delayed for two hours, the airlines would have to provide only soft drinks and some light food. If the delay is beyond two hours, then passengers will have to be served full meals, the source added.
DIAL is also reportedly working with its food and beverage (F&B) concessionaires to provide multiple food options to passengers through airlines. It has already tied up with a few fast food suppliers to provide various culinary options to passengers. Industry sources said DIAL had a meeting with various airlines on Monday to gear up for the foggy season ahead.
06/11/07 Nirbhay Kumar/Economic Times

Four regional carriers set to take off

Flying could soon become the preferred mode of travel for people in small towns and cities throughout the country, with the government expected to give its approval for four regional airlines soon.
According to sources, three operators would be given licences for the southern region - Air Dravida, Star Aviation and Trans India - while MDLR Airlines would be the sole northern region player, to begin with.
Ramachandran Iyer, executive director for Air Dravida, says his airline would be a full-fare one.
Air Dravida plans to connect Madurai, Coimbatore, Kochi, Thiruvananthapuram, Bangalore and Hyderabad with Chennai. It would also fly between Hyderabad and Bangalore.
Unlike Air Dravida, though, Star Aviation and Trans India are still firming up their plans. Ashok Bhushan of Star Aviation said his company had not decided on the routes yet, but planned to get five 70-seater aircraft, whether on lease or through purchase.
Trans India's Bijoy Mechery said the company was still looking for funding ($30-100 million) and operations were expected to begin only late next year. But, both Bhushan and Mechery said their operations would be value-for-money and not necessarily low-cost.
Harshvardhan, a director with MDLR Airlines, said his company was looking to convert its existing non-scheduled carrier licence into that of a regional airline to avail of the parking fee waiver and lower fuel costs.
06/11/07 Sindhu Bhattacharya/DNA Money/Sify.com

Mining baron plans air cargo foray

Bangalore: Mining baron Santosh Lad is planning to expand his Rs 3,000-crore business by foraying into the air cargo space. Larsen & Toubro (L&T) may come in as a partner in the project.
Lad plans to revamp his recently acquired Chennai-based cargo company Crescent Air Cargo.
Operations are scheduled to begin from November 1 on the Chennai-Vizag-Kolkata route.
06/11/07 Mini Joseph Tejaswi & Anshul Dhamija/Times of India

TCS solution for British Airways

Chennai: Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) is building a new software management solution for British Airways to monitor cabin crew. This solution can be made commercially available for other airlines, according to Paul Coby, Chief Information Officer, British Airways.
Addressing a press conference here on Monday at the launch of the TCS Travel and Hospitality Innovation Lab 2.0, Mr. Coby said both British Airways and TCS would jointly work on the ‘leading edge cabin crew’ management solution. It was not about commodity, but working on leading edge system, he added.
The cabin crew management would help the airline monitor its 15,000 plus cabin crew, mostly based at Heathrow and Gatwick, and some in international locations such as Buenos Aires, Delhi and Bahrain.
At present, monitoring was done manually with the use of Microsoft’s Excel sheet, while the new solution would automate the entire cabin crew management, said G. Raghavan, Head, Travel and Hospitality, TCS.
06/11/07 The Hindu

32 special flights for Haj pilgrims

Lucknow: Air India would operate 32 special flights for Haj pilgrims between Lucknow and Jeddah between November 11 and December 3. Around 30,000 people from different parts of the state are expected to go for Haj this year as against 27,000 last year. The first flight with the Hajis will depart from Lucknow on November 11 at 8.25 am.
An official of the Uttar Pradesh State Haj Committee said that the flight information and other important details about the journey would be available on www.hajcommittee.com, the official website of Haj Committee of India.
“Hajis would assemble at the Haj House on November 9 to 10, where we have made arrangements for them to stay. They have been asked not to come with more than two persons to avoid chaos. Roadways buses would ferry them to the airport,” he said.
He added that Monday was the deadline given by the state government to complete all works related to the Haj journey. Lucknow airport Director S D Awasthi said that they would take help of local police (besides CISF present at the airport) to maintain law and order at the airport.
06/11/07 Expressindia.com

Jeweller with revolver arrested from airport

Bhubaneswar: A businessman who was carrying an unlicensed gun into a flight was arrested by police on Monday evening.
Sriram Soni, who was to board the Air Deccan flight at about 6.45 p.m., was found possessing a .32 mm revolver and six cartridges. When the securitymen asked him to produce the licence, he could not, Airfield Police Station IIC Utkal Das said. He has been booked under 25 Arms Act.
Soni is a jeweller from Dhenkanal. In a separate incident, Sahid Nagar police arrested two persons and seized a country-made revolver from them. The two were identified as Ashok Das and Santosh Behera.
06/11/07 Newindpress

GVK group to increase stake in MIAL

Mumbai: As Mumbai airport morphs into the most sophisticated air traffic hub in the country, GVK, the lead investor in the Rs 7,000 crore project wants to consolidate its position.
GVK group is planning to increase its equity holding in MIAL to over 51 per cent from 37 per cent at present.
The group has initiated discussions with Bidvest-the South Africa based investment company which holds 27 per cent equity in the project. While Airports Company South Africa holds 10 per cent AAI owns 26 per cent equity in MIAL.
For GVK Power & Infrastructure, the listed entity which houses MIAL is expected to grow multifold in the near future. Mumbai airport will soon be ready to handle 40 million passengers per year, double from the current traffic level.
The group is well positioned in terms of future revenue prospects. The group is even planning to bid for several overseas airport development projects.
05/11/07 Rumi Dutta/NDTV.com

Tech glitch in Mumbai Airport leaves passengers stranded

New Delhi: A glitch in the computer systems at the Mumbai International Airport on Sunday evening held up flights for several hours.
The baggage handling services of Air India and several other airlines were disrupted leading to long queues.
Passengers had to wait for hours outside gate numbers 3 and 4, as the waiting areas were over crowded resulting in long queues of passengers, along with loaded baggage trolleys, forming outside the entry gates.
The systems were eventually restored at 2 am on Monday morning, when the normal flow of traffic resumed.
05/11/07 CNN-IBN

Taj applies for more chopper licences

New Delhi: After getting a rooftop helipad at its Wellington Mews hotel in Mumbai only for the use of top company honchos, the Taj Group has applied for operating helicopters on an island near its famous Lake Palace hotel in the midst of Lake Pichola in Udaipur. The group has also applied for helipad licence for its Hyderabad property, Taj Krishna.
In Udaipur, the group wants to operate to Arsi Vilas — an exclusive island on the lake that was built in 18th century by the local ruler for watching sunsets. This island is very close to the Lake Palace hotel. Interestingly, both these places have been sites for Hollywood shootings with James Bonds' 'Octopussy' being shot at the palace some decades back and Liz Hurley doing a photo shoot at Arsi Vilas two years back.
06/11/07 Saurabh Sinha/Times of India

Two detained with fake passports

Ahmedabad: Sardar Patel International Airport immigration officers nabbed two persons for using fake passports to board a flight for Kuwait on Monday.
The arrest has exposed an international illegal immigration racket with likely connections to Ahmedabad, said crime branch officials. According to immigration officials, the passports of the two men Mansur Hanifa Raut and Shankaran Shekhar, who came for security clearance for a Kuwait Airways flight, appeared to have been tampered with near the photographs. Later, a blue-ray machine confirmed that the pictures were pasted later.
"They spoke broken English and did not know Hindi. They wanted to go to Kuwait for employment. One of them confessed that he had managed to come to India from Kuwait on the forged passport," stated M N Sunesara, inspector of immigration dept.
06/11/07 Times of India

Minister urged to open up Karipur airport

Thiruvananthapuram: UAE-based Pravasi Bandhu Welfare Trust has urged Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel to open up Karipur airport to international airlines as at Pune, Nagpur and Coimbatore airports, which have fewer international passengers, flights and facilities.
In a petition to Patel, Trust chairman K V Shamsudheen said it was high time the Government ended the monopoly of the national carriers in the Kerala-Gulf sector so that an open competition with international carriers ensured better fares and facilities for passengers.
He points out the Civil Aviation Ministry, which recently permitted private airline Jet Airways to fly to a few Gulf destinations barred it from flying to UAE and Saudi Arabia to insulate Air India Express and Indian from competition in the sector. UAE and Saudi Arabia have the largest Keralite population.
As many as 240 international flights operate from Karipur a week and international passengers average more than half million a year.
06/11/07 John Mary/Peninsula On-line, Qatar

Air University may take off

New Delhi: With the blistering pace of growth in civil aviation, not only is there an ever increasing demand for certified pilots and cabin crew but also for experts in several related disciplines. Read On>>>

Your pilot may have bought his license

Mumbai: In a shocking case that has grave ramifications for safety, a chief flying instructor (CFI)allegedly cleared 25 aspiring pilots without conducting the mandatory flying checks that test their competence. Read On>>

India's aviation boom gives cabin crew new wings

New Delhi: Thousands of young Indians are enrolling at flight attendant schools for a sky-high career that promises generous pay and a glamorous lifestyle. Read On >>

Jet Airways van collides with tractor at IGI Airport

New Delhi: A Jet Airways van collided with a Air India tractor at the IGI airport here early on Monday.
The tractor belonging to the National carrier was stuck at the apron area with flat tyres when it was hit by the van, airport officials said adding nobody was injured in the incident. No aircraft was present in the area when the incident happened.
05/11/07 PTI/Newindpress

Jet Airways honoured as 'India's Leading Airline'

Jet Airways India Ltd has announced that Travel agents worldwide have voted Jet Airways 'India's Leading Airline' at the 14th Annual World Travel Awards. The awards were announced on November 02, 2007, at the World Travel Awards Asia, Australasia & Indian Ocean ceremony, held at the Leela Palace Kempinski, Bangalore, India.
Hailed by the Wall Street Journal as the "Travel industry's equivalent to the Oscars", the World Travel Awards are the most comprehensive and prestigious awards program in the global travel industry today. Conceived in 1993, these awards seek to acknowledge and celebrate excellence in the world's travel and tourism industry. The World Travel Awards are especially coveted as, uniquely, the votes are cast globally by fellow professionals.
05/11/07 Equity Bulls

Efforts on to lower fuel losses in aviation sector

New Delhi: After the auto industry, the government has decided to investigate fuel losses in the aviation sector. The Petroleum Conservation Research Association (PCRA) has commissioned the Indian Institute of Sciences (IISc) and the National Aeronautical Limited (NAL) to study the Bangalore and Delhi airports to find ways of increasing fuel efficiency in the aviation sector.
The six-month study will help set up benchmarks for best practices in managing airports. "We shall look at how to improve management of airports. There are three key areas where losses occur at the moment — excess hovering in the sky, taxiing around and being unable to achieve cruising altitude," said R Srinivasan, professor of the department of management studies, IISc, Bangalore.
The Airports Authority of India (AAI) is trying to refine ATC techniques to increase runway movement capacity and lower hovering time.
According to Srinivasan, if hovering was reduced by even five minutes for each plane at an airport that handles 100 flights per day, the industry would save about 4.83 million litres of aviation fuel costing about Rs 21 crore.
PCRA has already consulted the aviation ministry, the airport authorities as well as the Federation of Indian Airlines and taken them on board to ensure the study is suited to the needs of the industry.
05/11/07 Nitin Sethi/Times of India

Jet hikes fuel surcharge by Rs 150/ticket

Mumbai: Jet Airways has revised the fuel surcharge on all fares in its Club Premiere and economy class tickets by Rs 150, effective today, on domestic routes.
The move follows an increase in the price of aviation turbine fuel (ATF).
For tickets issued outside India, a surcharge of $34 will be applicable on each sector of domestic travel in India. It is also applicable on all domestic segments even if the domestic segment is part of an international journey.
05/11/07 Business Standard

Jet Airways, Paramount Airways and SpiceJet to increase ticket prices

Domestic air travel is all set to become even more expensive as the airline companies are planning to increase ticket prices due to increasing price of the aviation turbine fuel.
Jet Airways, Paramount Airways and SpiceJet has already revealed that they are going to increase the rates by Rs 150.
Incidentally, this is the second time in as many months that the ticket prices are going up due to increase in the prices of the ATF.
It is pretty disappointing that the government has done little to control the ever increasing prices of the fuel for the airplanes.
Jet Airways had this to say on the increase in ticket prices: “The surcharge has been necessitated in view of the escalation in ATF prices. The revised fuel surcharge of Rs 1,350 would be applicable on all tickets purchased in the country. For tickets issued abroad, a surcharge of $34 would be applicable on each sector of domestic operations. The surcharge would not apply for tickets sold on or before November 4.”
04/11/07 TechWhack

AI plans special unit for ground handling

New Delhi: With private Indian carriers setting high passenger service standards, the Maharaja - which is in the midst of a do-or-die makeover - has been forced to pay attention to this long ignored aspect.
Known for indifferent passenger handling over years, the National Aviation Company India Ltd (NACIL) - formed by merging Air India and Indian Airlines - has for the first time set up a strategic business unit (SBU) for ground handling at airports. Its entire focus will be on facilitating passenger movement at airports.
'All airport functions that Air India and Indian Airlines used to perform like security and baggage handling would be done by this SBU and its focus would be on customer care,'' NACIL CMD V Thulasidas said. Also, the new ground handling policy cleared by government mandates AI to form a company to do the job.
''For airport check-in we have decided to deploy only our own people, including new recruits,'' said Thulasidas. Among other things, the check-in experience at AI counters has been a sore point with travellers, mainly abroad, where this job is outsourced. On the other hand, the sole private Indian carrier flying abroad, Jet, and the one waiting in wings to do so, Kingfisher, highlight customer service as their USPs.
05/11/07 Saurabh Sinha/Times of India

Punjab to start land acquisition for Mohali int`l airport

New Delhi/Chandigarh: Punjab will start acquiring land for setting up Mohali International Airport, a joint venture between the Airport Authority of India (AAI) and the Great Mohali Area Development Authority (GMADA), from December.
It is estimated that the government will acquire nearly 300 acres for the project, spending Rs 300-500 crore.
It will be the second international airport in Punjab after Amritsar. According to plans, the existing infrastructure of the civil-cum-defence airport at Chandigarh would be integrated into the Mohali international airport.
The project includes building an international terminal near the existing Chandigarh Indian Air Force base and further expansion of domestic terminal.
Also, the existing runway will be expanded to handle large passenger aircraft. In the proposed project, the AAI will have 51 per cent stake while 49 per cent stake will be held by the GMADA.
05/11/07 Vijay C Roy/Business Standard

Air India offloads US citizen despite confirmed ticket

Gurgaon: Denise Chaudhary and her daughter have been up for the last 48 hours trying to get on a flight to New York, but thanks to Air India, they are back in their Gurgaon flat.
Denise had accompanied her husband, Minnesota State Senator, Satveer Chaudhary to India on a visit and was booked to go back to New York early Sunday morning. However, Air India refused to take them on board saying the flight was full.
"They said there had been overbooking and that there were no arrangements for us," says a visibly harassed Denise.
Denise was asked to re-book on another flight. When she did that, she was told that she and her daughter were were no-show cases — meaning they never showed up at the airline counter — and was asked to pay a penalty.
Add to that, she was subjected to the airport staff's disgusting behaviour.
"They just wanted the money in my wallet. Rs 500 each. They came very close to me, very suggestively and I didn't like it at all. I wanted to leave immediately for I was feeling very harassed and extremely threatened," says she.
05/11/07 Divya Iyer/CNN-IBN

Hyderabad’s new international airport: Starting the take-off run

While the opening of the the new Hyderabad International Airport at Shamshabad is five months away, work is going on at a frantic pace to ensure that all activities come on line smoothly for the transfer of business from the existing airport to the one at Shamshabad. The cost of the first phase of the project that is to be commissioned in March is estimated at Rs 2,478 crore.
GMR Hyderabad International Airport Limited (GHIAL), which was formed to design, finance, build, operate and maintain the greenfield airport at Shamshabad, started trial operation programmes in early September this year. It has appointed the Airport Consulting wing of Munich Airport International for handling the Operational Readiness and Airport Transfer process, more commonly referred to as ORAT.
For Munich Airport International, that was responsible for the shifting of business from the old Bangkok airport to the new Suvarnabhumi airport in Thailand, as well as to the new airport in Kuala Lumpur, the new Terminal 3 in Singapore and the soon to be operational Terminal 5 in London Heathrow, the task at Hyderabad is nothing new.
When completed, the airport, that is a public-private partnership project between GMR Infrastructure, Malaysian Airports Holding, Berhad, Airports Authority of India and the Andhra Pradesh State government, will provide world-class facilities and infrastructure. Its single terminal will be equipped with common user terminal equipment, check-in desks and self check-in kiosks.
05/11/07 Ashwini Phadnis/Business Line

New airport terminal edges out wildlife habitat

Not many know that an expensive new terminal and runway coming up at the international airport in the capital has dealt a death blow to a wildlife habitat spread over 3,000 acres of land on the city's edge.
The area dug up and fenced off for the new T3 terminal at the Indira Gandhi International Airport was once home to over 63 bird species, 60 blue bulls, packs of jackals, wild dogs and wild cats.
It is located just behind the Centaur Hotel and opposite Hotel Uppal's Orchid, with a road in between.
DIAL is Delhi International Airport Limited (DIAL), a joint consortium of the Airports Authority of India (AAI), GMR Group, Frankfurt Airport and Malaysian Airport, which is developing T3 at an estimated cost of Rs.300 billion (approx $7.6 billion).
'The forest area in the country is already shrinking. According to government norms it should be over 33 percent but figures show it is less than 12 percent.
'In the past six months we have trans-located at least 52 neelgais (blue bulls) to the Asola Wildlife Sanctuary after capturing them psychically, as tranquillisers could prove lethal for them. Five neelgais still remain and the process of safe relocation is still under way,' Raj said.
'The bird species have now flown elsewhere due to the destruction of water resources in the area, but peacocks are still there.
04/11/07 Sahil Makkar/Earthtimes, UK

JetLite wants to retain Sahara's Indian feel

Bangalore: Jetlite, the low cost carrier of Jet Airways, is taking the service positioning route instead of low fare, to beat competition in this space. With the tagline — Warmth: Free. You’re welcome! — JetLite has unveiled its brand proposition and has replicated the Indian look and feel of Air Sahara.
“Leveraging on the strengths of Jet Airways, we are targeting a service positioning for JetLite instead of product positioning. Air Sahara always had a reputation for its service delivery, which we did not want to change. Considering that we have the same cabin crew, who are now part of JetLite, we did not want to lose the Indian warmth and hospitality that Sahara was associated with. At the same time, consumers have the confidence of being part of Jet Airways, known for its efficiency, reliability and on-time performance,” Chief Executive of JetLite, Garry Kingshott told ET. Air Sahara was acquired by JetAirways in April this year.
The airhostesses of JetLite will continue to wear sarees to add to the Indian service style. Also in contrast to other low cost carriers such as Deccan, Indigo and SpiceJet, JetLite is betting on quick meals that are offered on board, free of cost, for its service proposition.JetLite reported a loss of Rs 192 crore during the first half of current fiscal.
05/11/07 Urvashi Jha/Economic Times

Tiger Airways to major airports: Won’t sacrifice low-cost model

In a report from The Australian, Tiger Airways’ Chief Executive Tony Davis has told chief airport operators that the airline will not fly at airports that do not fit their low-cost model.
The announcement was made following Tiger Airways’ decision to fly from Newcastle and returned its Sydney landing slots for the northern winter timetable.
"We're absolute purists when it comes to the low-cost model, and that means that if there are airports that we can't make work then we won't serve them," Mr Davis said.
The airway now flies to twelve Australian destinations, including recently adding Newcastle, Canberra and Hobart to its list, with one way promotional fares of $9.95 tax-inclusive.
The airline will also commence its first flight to India and fifth flight to China.
05/11/07 e-Travel Blackboard (press release), Australia

Air India to invest in Hong Kong

Mumbai: Eight Indian companies, primarily from the financial services, IT, retail and aviation sectors are expected to invest in Hong Kong next year, Invest Hong Kong's Associate Director-General Simon Galpin said.
"We have talked to eight Indian companies from various sectors and they have agreed to invest in Hong Kong next year," he said here.
Galpin, however, declined to divulge the size of the investments.
Invest Hong Kong is a department of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and is the government's arm charged with attracting foreign investment into the island.
Presently, nearly 20 prominent Indian firms, including Air India and State Bank of India (SBI), have investments in Hong Kong, he said.
"Total trade between India and Hong Kong, which stood at USD 7.67-billion in 2006, is expected to go up this year with a number of new players increasingly showing interest to Invest in Hong Kong," Galpin said.
04/11/07 PTI/The Hindu

From Heathrow, British Airways best; Air India worst

London: If you’re flying direct to Heathrow, you’ve only got four choices: United, American, British Airways, and Virgin Atlantic. (Continental flies to Gatwick, which is an easier airport to navigate, but that route’s on-time rating is an abysmal 40 percent.) The best on-time performance (87 percent) is British Airways’ last flight of the night from Newark (188), departing at 8:50 p.m. and arriving at 8:45 a.m. the next morning. Of course, flying across the Atlantic is as much about comfort as convenience. BA recently overhauled its “Club World” cabin with new flatbed seats, and Virgin’s “Upper Class” product continues to be the most glamorous in the sky. But if you’re paying your own way, check out Eos, one of a new breed of airlines offering business-class seats at steep discounts. Even better, Eos flies to Stansted, a smaller and more manageable airport on the east side of London.
Best: For coach fliers, BA Flight 188, out of Newark. For those with money to burn, Eos can’t be beat.
Worst: Air India has cheap flights from JFK, but crowded planes and long delays.
04/11/07 New York Magazine, USA

Haj airfares not increased

New Delhi: The government Friday decided not to increase the airfare for Haj pilgrims this year despite the increase in fuel prices and the resultant hike in airfares the world over.
Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi told newspersons Friday: ''The union cabinet presided over by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has decided not to increase the airfares in spite of recommendations of the experts' committee.''
According to the minister, the experts' committee ''had examined the current inflationary trends and the consequent rise in plane fares the world over and recommended that the fare be increased from Rs.12,000 to Rs.16,000 per pilgrim''.
The concession will benefit 110,000 Haj pilgrims who will be flying to Jeddah this year for the annual pilgrimage. But the government will pass on the increased subsidy amount, of around Rs.400 million, to Air India (AI) that will ferry the Hajis.
This year, Air India has included Varanasi also as an embarkation point.
The subsidy will include the payment of airport tax levied by the Saudi government.
03/11/07 IANS/Bhatkallys, United Arab Emirates

Dnata travel services awarded gsa contract for kingfisher

Dnata Travel Services has been appointed as General Sales Agent for passenger sales for Kingfisher Airlines for Abu Dhabi, Sharjah, the Northern Emirates and Kuwait.
The contract was signed on October 17 2007 at the Dnata Travel Centre between Iain Andrew, Divisional Senior Vice President, Dnata Travel Services, and V. Raja, Global Sales Head, Kingfisher Airlines Limited.
The agreement offers customers an increased distribution platform with access to any Dnata Travel outlet or local travel agency in the represented territories of Abu Dhabi, Sharjah, Northern Emirates and Kuwait.
Customers can also call and book e-tickets on Kingfisher Airlines at Dnata's 24-hour contact centre, manned by skilled and multi-lingual staff trained to meet the requirements of the customers, on +971 (0)4 3166666.
Dnata Travel Services is GSA to more than 40 airlines in Dubai, Northern Emirates and the GCC region, acting as the essential link between its airline partners and local travel agents and providing more than 40 years of experience to promote and sell their services in a highly competitive and dynamic market.
04/11/07 Al-Bawaba, Jordan

Gang that cheated airlines of crores busted

New Delhi: An e-ticketing racket that robbed 22 airlines of crores of rupees has been busted with the arrest of five men, including a Congo national.
Police said they had printouts of more than 10,000 tickets that the gang bought using stolen credit card details. They said they had also traced 335 email identities used to buy the tickets. The gang had a sizable database of stolen credit card details, most of them from Nigeria. They were sourced by the Congolese gang member Kalendo Ngoy. Another gang member, Bhuwan Koirala, used to work as a bar manager and stole credit card details when customers handed them to him for payment.
The gang would approach prospective passengers and offer tickets to any place at up to 40 per cent discount. It would take payment from them in cash and then buy the tickets on the Internet using the credit-card details to pay the airlines. When the airlines would seek payment from the credit card companies, they would find card holders complaining that they had neither made those online bookings nor travelled.
Police investigated the case on a complaint from Spicejet and Kingfisher Airlines, which said they were cheated to a tune of Rs 28 lakh and Rs 22 lakh since January. Besides Ngoy and Koirala, the gang members are Vipin Dahal, Darshan Singh, and Jasbir Singh, who had been arrested in May this year for cheating and forgery.
04/11/07 Delhi Newsline

Rising ATF prices may force airlines to hike fares

The airline industry in India is all set to spread its wings across the country. In the last few months, almost all airlines have added new destinations on their route map. However, all airlines are also struggling to book profits, and with rising fuel prices, a hike in the fares also looks imminent.
“The reality is that all airlines are under huge operating loses. The industry hasn’t yet capitalised on the alternate source of revenues. They have no option except to raise the fares in order to sustain themselves,” says Jayesh Desai, national director, transaction advisory services, E&Y.
According to traffic results for September 2007 by International Air Transport Association (IATA), the demand in the Asia-Pacific region continued its brisk growth of recent months, rising 9.7% in September due to strong economic expansion and fast-developing markets in China and India.
This also reflects that all airlines have added new destinations both in the country and across the globe. So if Air India has started its operations on Mumbai-New York, Chennai-Dammam, Mumbai-Singapore, Amritsar-London-New York routes, Kingfisher is all set to reach out to cities such as Aurangabad, Udaipur, Jodhpur, Jaisalmer, Khajuraho, Jammu, Lucknow. And it’s not just Indian carriers but international airlines such as KLM, Emirates and British Airways have also increased their frequency to different destinations in India.
04/11/07 Raja Awasthi & Dheeraj Tiwari/Economic Times

Chennai airport project contract likely by Feb

New Delhi: The development work for Chennai airport is likely to be completed by June 2010 with the Airports Authority of India (AAI) planning to award the contract by the middle of February next year and give the winning bidder 28 months to complete the project.
Official sources told Business Line that the AAI Board had approved a detailed project report for the development of the airport and a note had been sent to the Ministry of Civil Aviation for holding a Public Investment Board meeting to enable the project to move ahead. The PIB approval is required as the project cost exceeds Rs 150 crore, officials indicated.
During the first phase, which is to be completed by 2010, there are plans for two multilevel car-parking areas, each with space for 1,200 vehicles. In addition, there would be a new domestic terminal that can handle 10 million passengers annually.
The new construction would allow the airport to handle an additional 4 million international and 10 million domestic passengers annually, thereby taking the annual handling capacity to 16 million domestic passengers and 7 million international passengers.
03/11/07 Ashwini Phadnis/Business Line

167 expatriates back and safe

Hyderabad: As many as 167 passengers, including several women aboard a special flight from Dubai, heaved a sigh of relief as the Air India aircraft touched down at the Rajiv Gandhi international airport here at 5.30 am on Saturday.
Emotional scenes were witnessed, as the passengers, all of them staying illegally in United Arab Emirates (UAE), came out of the airport to a tearful reunion with their near and dear ones. They were mostly from Nizamabad, Karimnagar, Medak, Adilabad, Nalgonda and East Godavari districts. But for the timely help from the State Government, they would have ended up in UAE prisons for overstaying.
Energy Minister Mohd. Ali Shabbir who looks after the NRI affairs in the State visited Dubai and escorted back 167 persons. The Government has spent a whopping Rs. 1.30 crore to bring back 1,256 illegal expatriates by arranging special flights from Dubai and Sharjah. Mr. Shabbir told The Hindu that out of 75,000 Indians staying illegally in UAE, 40,000 hailed from Andhra Pradesh.
04/11/07 The Hindu

Amnesty-seekers miss free flight home

Dubai: Four Indian illegals missed the special free flight to their home town on Friday night because they did not complete the necessary paperwork, it has emerged.
On the last day of the amnesty, all four from the South Indian state of Andhra Pradesh had gone to Dubai International Airport after receiving free air tickets at the Sharjah Indian Association from Mohammad Ali Shabeer, Minority Welfare Minister in the Andhra Pradesh Government, who had come to the UAE to escort the labourers back home.
"I was so happy to have got a free passage. Now, I was told that I should go to the Sharjah Immigration and Naturalisation Department and get my paperwork completed. No one informed me of these procedures before," said Sinu, pushing his luggage trolley out of the departure area at Terminal 2 after missing his flight.
On the last day of the amnesty, all four from the South Indian state of Andhra Pradesh had gone to Dubai International Airport after receiving free air tickets at the Sharjah Indian Association from Mohammad Ali Shabeer, Minority Welfare Minister in the Andhra Pradesh Government, who had come to the UAE to escort the labourers back home.
"I was so happy to have got a free passage. Now, I was told that I should go to the Sharjah Immigration and Naturalisation Department and get my paperwork completed. No one informed me of these procedures before," said Sinu, pushing his luggage trolley out of the departure area at Terminal 2 after missing his flight.
"I informed Minister Shabeer of my situation and he requested an Indian volunteer to direct me to the proper channels and get my immigration clearance done," said Sinu who wondered whether he would be branded an offender now that the amnesty period has ended.
The three-month amnesty was declared by the UAE government on June 2 and it was later extended until November 3.
03/11/07 Sunita Menon/Gulf News, United Arab Emirates

Kingfisher Airlines eyes virgin markets

Port Blair: Kingfisher Airlines is increasingly looking to connect virgin markets, including tourism hotspots like Jodhpur, Jaisalmer and small towns like Surat and Hubli.
"The decision to connect virgin destinations is usually not revenue driven. We are also looking to spur use of air connectivity in these cities by connecting them to the mainland," Kingfisher Airlines global sales head V Raja told mediapersons at a meeting held in Port Blair on Friday.
Kingfisher Airlines has touched cities like Kochi, Goa, Hubli, Kandla, Surat, Trivandrum and also Agatti (Lakshadweep). "The idea is to trigger demand is these destinations since they can prove to be potential revenue earners," he added. "Apart from introducing flights on these routes, we are working closely with our advisory group firm Kingfisher Holidays for tie-ups with hotels in these cities to boost business as well as leisure and tourist traffic. We expect to provide more connectivity and flight options across our network in the months ahead," Kingfisher Airlines' global sales chief said.
Elaborating the airlines plans for Port Blair, Mr Raja said the group is in discussions with the likes of Hotel Sinclairs Bay View and Fortune Resort Bay Island to offer special packages during peak season for holidayers.
04/11/07 Anuradha Himatsingka/Economic Times

Patel to promote flight simulator

The civil aviation ministry is keen to enter into a collaboration with Wing Commander (retd) Anil Gadgil and wife Kavita, founders of the Jeet Aerospace Foundation (JAF), to undertake joint flight simulation training projects across the country. The Gadgils are the parents of MiG crash victim Flight Lieutenant Abhijit Gadgil. Read On >>

Govt steps in to save duty-free industry

New Delhi: The government has now decided to take up the issue of the European Union (EU) banning the carriage of liquid, aerosols and gels (LAGs) from India with the global forum for civil aviation, International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO).
According to sources in the civil aviation ministry, the government is soon going to call a meeting with duty free players in India to solve the EU diktat. The move comes following the duty-free players in India, who have assembled under the umbrella of Asia Pacific Travel Retail Association (APTRA), writing a letter to the civil aviation ministry asking them to intervene and resolve the matter, which otherwise would severely impact the duty-free trade from India. SundayET has an exclusive copy of the letter.
Already facing problems on the infrastructure front, the Rs 300-crore Indian duty free industry has come under another cloud when EU banned the carriage of liquid, aerosols and gels (LAGs) from any of the countries which has not signed a security agreement with the union. The move by EU was an attempt to curb any nefarious plans on-board. Since India doesn’t have any agreement with the EU, it has banned goods such as liquor which fall under the LAG category, bought in duty free shops from India.
04/11/07 Aman Dhall & Dheeraj Tiwari/Economic Times

Govt steps in to save duty-free industry

New Delhi: The government has now decided to take up the issue of the European Union (EU) banning the carriage of liquid, aerosols and gels (LAGs) from India with the global forum for civil aviation, International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO).
According to sources in the civil aviation ministry, the government is soon going to call a meeting with duty free players in India to solve the EU diktat. The move comes following the duty-free players in India, who have assembled under the umbrella of Asia Pacific Travel Retail Association (APTRA), writing a letter to the civil aviation ministry asking them to intervene and resolve the matter, which otherwise would severely impact the duty-free trade from India. SundayET has an exclusive copy of the letter.
Already facing problems on the infrastructure front, the Rs 300-crore Indian duty free industry has come under another cloud when EU banned the carriage of liquid, aerosols and gels (LAGs) from any of the countries which has not signed a security agreement with the union. The move by EU was an attempt to curb any nefarious plans on-board. Since India doesn’t have any agreement with the EU, it has banned goods such as liquor which fall under the LAG category, bought in duty free shops from India.
04/11/07 Aman Dhall & Dheeraj Tiwari/Economic Times