Budget: Aviation industry had nothing to cheer about

The contrast could not have been starker. On Tuesday, Lalu Prasad’s Railway Budget had both coolies and passengers breaking into a jig. But when P Chidambaram finished delivering the Union budget on Friday, neither air travellers — who were expecting surging airfares to fall — nor the aviation industry had any thing to cheer about.
For, none of the industry’s expectations had been fulfiled by the Budget. In fact, of the 187 paras in the FM’s speech, there was just one line directly mentioned the sector — helicopter pilot training — and not on the issues that could have helped airfares to fall a bit. This despite the fact the Economic Survey admitted that "profitability of the domestic airline industry is under tremendous pressure as almost all airline operators in the country are reported to be making losses."
Aviation minister Praful Patel said: "We were expecting some relief on ATF pricing. But we will continue pursuing the issue with state governments and the FM."
A fuming Air Deccan founder Captain Gopinath said: "It’s shocking. Aviation does not find a mention as infrastructure while roads, ports and Railway do."
01/03/08 Times of India

Budget blues strike yet again

In spite of the booming growth in India’s aviation and tourism segments, the Union Finance Minister, P Chidambaram has left both these sectors highly disappointed with his Union Budget for 2008-09. The aviation and tourism industry, which is one of India’s biggest cash-cow, strongly feels that it has been given a step-motherly treatment. The Union Finance Ministry has not only failed to provide any incentives, but it also reduced the budget allocations for both, aviation and tourism. The Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) has received only Rs 10,031 crore for coming financial year, compared to Rs 12,347 crore for 2007-08.
According to Saroj Dutta, Chief Financial Officer (CFO), Jet Airways, the aviation industry had two major demands – rationalisation of taxes on Aviation Turbine Fuel (ATF) and Fringe Benefit Tax (FBT) – but the budget did not address these demands.
“We were expecting that the budget would offer some tax incentives for developing Brownfield airports, which are very difficult to build compared to the Greenfield airports,” stated Sanjay Reddy, Managing Director, Mumbai International Airport Limited.
GoAir on its part was hoping that an exemption from payment of Withholding Tax on aircraft and engines earned by the foreign companies from an Indian company for lease agreements would be announced in the budget.
“The industry has been waiting with bated breath that this might just be the budget where these issues would have been addressed. But, a step-motherly treatment has been meted out to the aviation industry,” lamented Anand Ramachandran, Vice-President (Finance), Deccan.
01/03/08 Mayuresh Pawar/TravelBizMonitor

At IGI, docs await ladder, find patient dead on board IA flight

New Delhi: Is my mother alive? That’s the first question Mangla Kulkarni’s son Rahul threw at the doctors after they boarded IC-602 at the IGI airport on Thursday evening.
The airport doctors’ logbook says they got the alert message at 7.20 pm. The Indian Airlines’ flight touched down at 7.40 pm. But the doctors could get on board after 20 long, nerve-wracking minutes. Reason: The airline ladder was not available.
The death certificate issued by AIIMS says the 60-year-old from Mumbai suburb Thane had died 10 minutes before the Lucknow-Delhi-Mumbai flight landed at 7.40 pm. But the anxious family had no way of knowing that — for 20 minutes all they did was wait for the ladder to be in place. And pray.
As per information, Kulkarni was stretchered on to the flight: she had suffered a serious cervical injury after an accidental fall. The victim had gone to Lucknow with husband R R Kulkarni to attend a religious function. After receiving the injury she was admitted in Neera Hospital, in Lucknow’s Aliganj area, for past eight days.
According to reports, son Rahul informed the cabin crew after Kulkarni developed complications some 20 minutes before the flight was to touch down at IGI. The flight captain then alerted the air traffic controller (ATC) that a passenger was serious and needed immediate medical attention upon landing.
01/02/08 K Sobhana/Delhi Newsline

Thiruvanathapuram airport may be partially closed for three months

Thiruvanathapuram: The Thiruvanathapuram Airport may be partially closed for six hours daily for three months from April 1 in view of the works on the new terminal.
The Airports Authority of India (AAI) officials here have forwarded a proposal in this regard to the AAI headquarters and are awaiting a final nod.
“We have proposed that the Airport be closed from 1 p.m. to 7 p.m. for three months from April 1. A final decision on this has to be taken by the headquarters in consultation with several other agencies concerned,” Airport Director N. Nagraj told this website’s newspaper.
The Airport is proposed to be closed in order to carry out the works on merging the parking bay of the new terminal with the runway.
The schedule of several flights will have to be changed if the Airport is closed partially. The closure of the Airport would also affect the movement of the flights flying over the limits of the Thiruvananthapuram Air Traffic Unit.
01/03/08 Newindpress

Chopper training cost to go down

The single line on aviation in the Union Budget could prove to be a bonanza for youngsters nursing dreams of becoming a chopper pilot. Read On >>

Indian student and filipino instructor die in Philippines training plane crash

Manila, Philippines: Two people were killed when the Cessna plane 150 they were riding crashed in a village in Plaridel town in Bulacan province Saturday. Read On >>

IFALPA worried about misuse of multi-crew pilot licence in face of pilot shortage

The new multi-crew pilot licence (MPL) could be "applied incorrectly in response to cost or time pressures to respond to the current pilot shortage", according to the International Federation of Air Line Pilots' Associations. Read On >>

Jet Airways expands service in Canada

With the launch of daily code share service between Jet Airways and Air Canada offering facilities like convenient connection options on a single ticket, passengers will now get an increased access to major cities in both the countries.
"The code share service launched yesterday offers customers convenient connection options, one-stop check-in and seamless baggage transfer to final destination, on a single ticket," said Daniel Shurz, Vice President, Network Planning of Air Canada in a statement.
Air Canada in cooperation with Jet Airways has expanded its network to India from three to four destinations, and significantly increased access to India from across Canada. With the addition of Chennai, Air Canada now serves four destinations in India on a code share basis: Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore and Chennai.
Air Canada customers traveling to India will now benefit from the non-stop flights to London Heathrow from seven cities across Canada (Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal and Halifax) which connect in London to Jet Airways operated flights to Mumbai.
29/02/08 PTi/Economic Times

Technical snag hits Kochi-Delhi flight

Nedumbassery: The passengers on board of a Delhi bound Indian flight went into panic when the flight IC 166 re-landed at the Nedumbassery airport 30 minutes after taking off on Friday.
The flight had left Kochi at 10.50 a.m. The pilot reportedly noticed that the pressure in the aircraft cabin was steadily lowering.
The pilot brought the aircraft back to the airport safely at 11.20 am. There were 87 passengers on board.The malfunctioning of some equipment which led to the reduction of pressure in the flight cabin was rectified immediately.
The flight resumed journey to Delhi via Mumbai after the completion of formalities at 1 p.m.
01/03/08 Newindpress

Devanahalli: High-level team's inspection on Friday

New Delhi: Concerned over the delay in the Devanahalli international airport fully adhering to the required norms for the project to become operational, a high-level team of the civil aviation ministry is visiting Bangalore on Friday for an on-the-spot inspection.
The ministry had made an inspection of the airport on February 8 and made several suggestions on various aspects of the project, which will be thrown open to commercial traffic on March 30 after inauguration by the prime minister on March 28. The team will now see whether these suggestions have been implemented.
Ministry sources told Deccan Herald here on Thursday that the team is being led by joint secretary K N Srivastava and comprises Airports Authority of India chairman K Ramalingam and Director General of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation Kanu Gohain.
The DGCA, the regulatory body, has to give the licence to the airport before making it functional. But for that, several parameters have to be adhered to. As for AAI, the air traffic control (ATC) will be manned by its personnel although the airport is a greenfield project.
29/02/08 B S Arun/Deccan Herald

US aircraft maker seeks tax sops on import of jets

New Delhi: Major aircraft manufacturer in US Hawker Beechcraft on Thursday sought changes in India's import licence rules and demanded tax incentives on import of small and medium jets.
The company also said that India's import licence norms and "tax burden" act as deterrents to business.
Hawker Beechcraft, which opened a service centre here on Thursday, however, is planning to expand operations in India.
Noting that high tax burden impedes the growth of a sector, Hawker Beechcraft Corp (HBC) CEO Jim Schuster said higher levy affects the competitive environment needed to carry out business.
HBC's partner InterGlobe General Aviation CEO Nigel Harwood too stressed the need for a change in rules related to import licence.
HBC today inaugurated its first authorised service centre in collaboration with InterGlobe General Aviation -- a subsidiary of InterGlobe Enterprise -- here, that will cater to the needs of its aircrafts in India and in South Asia.
28/02/08 PTI/The Hindu

Air India IPO likely in second half of 2008

New Delhi: The government is considering divesting its stake in national carrier Air India through an initial public offering (IPO) in the second half of 2008. This was stated by Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel Friday on the sidelines of a press conference to launch India’s first civil aviation exhibition, India Aviation 2008.
“We may consider issuing an IPO in the second half of this year,” he told reporters, noting the divestment may be in the range of 10-15 percent of the shareholding.
Patel said he would also be meeting Finance Minister P. Chidambaram to discuss reduction in excise and custom duty on aviation turbine fuel (ATF).
He said states could make their “taxation” policy more “reasonable”, by reducing their levy on ATF, which will directly affect ticket prices.
India’s aviation growth will be through Indian state governments and smaller cities, rather than the central government or metropolitan cities, he added.
“I am in favour of bringing in the states. They themselves can be the drivers of growth,” Patel said.
28/02/08 IANS/Thaindian.com, Thailand

Low-cost carriers look at loyal fliers to increase market share

New Delhi: The struggling low-cost carriers (LCCs) are borrowing a leaf out of their full-service brethren’s business book — the popular frequent-flier programmes (FFPs). Currently, LCCs in India such as GoAir, SpiceJet and Deccan don’t have a structured, full-fledged FFP in place and they try to lure passengers through limited-period special offers on tickets and freebies. But increasing competition within LCCs and from a resurgent Railways too — with railway minister Lalu Prasad Yadav announcing a 4-7% cut in AC first and second class fares in his budget speech on Tuesday — is making many LCCs to look at loyalty programmes as a way to shore up revenues and build brand stickiness in a market hitherto driven on price alone.
For the first nine months of 2007 about 32 million people took to air in India (a growth of 36% over 2006) with the LCCs (currently five) accounting for over 45% share. Even though projected passenger demand for the next four years remain healthy, the industry is already battling overcapacity. As against domestic seat capacity of 54.8 million (April 2007 to January 2008), airlines carried just 36.7 million passengers during the period, a load factor of around 67%. LCCs believe that the launch of FFPs will help improve load factors, besides snatching market share vis-à-vis full-service carriers.
29/02/08 Dheeraj Tiwari & Vishakha Talreja/Economic Times

Airlines must consolidate to protect margins: Economic Survey

New Delhi: Concerned over losses and declining margins of air carriers, the Economic Survey for 2007-08 Thursday suggested consolidation to ensure optimal use of resources.
This is despite the fact that the civil aviation sector is growing rapidly and the government giving 'in-principle' approval to import 496 aircraft in the next five years, the survey said.
More than 250 aircraft are likely to be acquired by airline operators, it pointed out.
The survey said that the process of consolidation has already begun.
'The recent mergers and acquisitions that have occurred in public and private sector airlines are expected to enable the airlines to increase revenues through synergies in operations and by ensuring optimal utilisation of resources in this capital-intensive sector.'
Public sector carrier Air India has merged with Indian, private airline Sahara merged with Jet Airways and Air Deccan merged with Kingfisher in recent times. The merger of Indian and Air India would provide an integrated international and domestic footprint, which will enhance options and alternatives to air passengers, the survey said.
28/02/08 India PRwire

Airlines' fleet size set to double

New Delhi: Domestic airlines may be suffering losses but growth in Indian skies is unlikely to be muted in the years to come. According to the Economic Survey, more than 250 new aircraft are to be acquired by scheduled airlines in the next five years. Budget 2008-09.
As of now, there are 14 scheduled and 65 non-scheduled operators and together they own 535 aircraft. So, in terms of fleet size alone, the Indian skies are expected to witness 50 per cent growth by 2013. But the ministry of civil aviation has already given its ?in-principle? approval for import of 496 aircraft. So technically, the size of the domestic industry could double in the next five years. To keep pace with fleet expansion, the government is working on improving airport infrastructure across the country. The Airports Authority of India is committed to modernising 35 non-metro airports besides undertaking substantial upgradation of Kolkata and Chennai airports. Taking note of the strain on profitability of domestic carriers, the survey points out that due to intense competition between airlines and declining margins, consolidation within the industry is inevitable.
29/02/08 Sindhu Bhattacharya /DNA MONEY/Sify

Soaring competition in domestic skies cuts into profits

New Delhi: With increasing competition in domestic skies, the profitability of the domestic airline industry is under tremendous pressure as almost all operators are reported to be making losses, according to the pre-budget Economic Survey 2007-08 presented in Parliament on Thursday.
“Given the intense competition among the airlines and the declining margins, a process of consolidation is perhaps inevitable.” The process has already commenced, and the recent mergers and acquisitions in the public and private sectors are expected to enable the airlines to increase revenues through synergies in operations and by ensuring optimal utilisation of resources in this capital-intensive sector.
After the merger of the national carriers Indian Airlines and Air India into the National Aviation Company of India Limited, the new brand entity Air India is expected to provide an integrated international and domestic footprint, which will enhance options to the customer, improve load factors and yields on commonly serviced routes and allow easy entry into one of the three global alliances.
Noting that the civil aviation sector underwent dramatic expansion during X Plan period, the Survey says the rapid growth of the economy, especially during the last four years, has been accompanied by a sharp increase in the volume of air traffic.
29/02/08 Vinay Kumar/The Hindu

Aviation sector records robust growth in 2007: Survey

New Delhi: The civil aviation sector continues to report robust growth in January-December 2007 with domestic passenger traffic recording a growth of 32.51 per cent. The Economic Survey 2007-08, tabled in Parliament on Thursday by the Union Finance Minister, Mr P. Chidambaram, showed that the international air traffic grew by 15.6 per cent during the same period.
The survey points out that the combined number of international and domestic passenger traffic has almost doubled between 2004 and 2007. Similarly, international air cargo reported a growth of 13 per cent while domestic air cargo sector grew by 9.8 per cent during April-October 2007.
Financial health.
Commenting on the financial health of the sector, the survey states that the process of consolidation has started and is likely to enable the airlines to increase their revenues through synergies in operations and also by ensuring optimal utilisation of resources in a capital intensive sector.
During the year, not only did the Government initiate the process of merging Air India and Indian, but the merger of Jet Airways and Air Sahara was also completed and Kingfisher Airlines acquired Air Deccan.
Realising that infrastructure development is a key issue, Airports Authority of India (AAI) started the process of modernising Kolkata and Chennai airports. In Chennai, AAI proposes to construct an integrated passenger terminal capable of handling 20 million passengers annually at an estimated cost of Rs 1,942.51 crore by June 2010.
28/02/08 Business Line

Air India plane hits 'nilgai' on Kanpur runway

Kanpur: In yet another incident highlighting the chaotic and dangerous conditions prevailing on runways in the country, a 48-seater Air India regional flight hit a nilgai while landing at the Chakeri airport in Kanpur on Thursday.
The 47 passengers on board and four crew members however escaped unhurt. The Delhi-Kanpur-Allahabad flight, CD 7801, had just landed at Kanpur when the incident occurred.
The pilot pulled the emergency brake after he noticed the nilgai on the runway, but the animal took a hit and died on the spot. Air India officials said damages to the nose of the plane forced cancellation of its onward flight to Allahabad.
"The plane was landing at 12.33pm when it hit the nilgai," said Air India's area marketing manager Uma Shanker. "All the passengers are safe," he announced.
The airline sent the passengers to Allahabad by taxi, the official said. Allahabad high court judge Justice V N Trivedi and his wife were among the passengers.
"A team from Delhi was immediately sent to Kanpur to determine the extent of damage. However, since the aircraft went to the hanger on its own power after the accident, we don't think the damage was too severe," said an Air India spokesperson.
29/02/08 Times of India

Air Canada expands service to India

With the launch today of year-round daily codeshare service to Mumbai and Chennai in cooperation with Indian carrier Jet Airways, Air Canada has expanded its network to India from three to four destinations, and significantly increased access to India from across Canada. With the addition of Chennai, Air Canada now serves four destinations in India on a codeshare basis: Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore and Chennai. Air Canada codeshare services offer customers convenient connection options, one-stop check-in and seamless baggage transfer to final destination, on a single ticket.
"We are pleased to offer our customers more choice and convenience when travelling to India, in cooperation with our partner, Jet Airways," said Daniel Shurz, Vice President, Network Planning. Air Canada customers travelling to India now benefit from the choice of the carrier's extensive schedule of non-stop flights to London Heathrow from seven cities across Canada (Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal and Halifax) which connect in London to Jet Airways operated flights to Mumbai. In addition, flights from Toronto to Chennai via Brussels, operated by Jet Airways, are available from Air Canada on a codeshare basis. Aeroplan members benefit from mileage accumulation on these Air Canada codeshare flights.
28/02/08 Air Canada/Aviation.ca, Canada

Minimum damage to people in Imphal airport upgradation assured

Imphal: Transport minister Jayentakumar has said that expansion of the Imphal airport is a sensitive issue but nevertheless important.
Responding to a question raised by MPP MLA Dr. Ibohanbi on the night landing facility at Imphal Airport, Jayentakumar said that work has already started to enable night landing. He said that the Airports Authority of India and government of Manipur have decided to install solar lamps to facilitate night landing. He went on to say that another important issue was the upgradation of the Imphal airport to the standard of international airport. The minister said that as per the AAI guidelines, the requirement for an international airport is 500 acres.
He said that since procuring the required land will affect the lives of many people "the government is trying to find out a way to cause minimum damage to the people".
28/02/08 The Imphal Free Press/KanglaOnline

Pilots with foreign radio licences risk being grounded

New Delhi: Pilots with Indian airline companies, who possess foreign licences for using wireless communication sets in cockpits, are in for a hard time. Read On >>

Air India Express contemplates new routes for expansion

Mumbai: Air India Express, the low cost arm of the national carrier, Air India, plans to add new routes to destinations like Kuwait, Doha, Bahrain, Port Blair and Phuket and Dammam in Saudi Arabia. The airline is contemplating connecting Kuwait with Mangalore and Dammam to Kerala. It also plans flights from Delhi to Doha, Bahrain, Port Blair and Phuket.
Air India Express will add one new station, as well as new routes. The airline intends to start these routes during the summer schedule, which starts from March 30,2008. The new station will be Dhaka and it will be connected on the Calcutta-Singapore and Calcutta-Bangkok flight. It also plans to connect Dhaka and Mumbai in the near future.
The airline will start flights to Dubai from Pune and Ahmedabad. Each of these flights will be operating thrice a week. The airline will also restart flights from Hyderabad to Dubai, thrice a week. In addition, the Nagpur-Dubai flight, which was introduced in October 2007, will now be extended to Indore.
28/02/08 Krupa Vora/TravelBizMonitor

Nagpur airport may earn with night parking

Nagpur: In an effort to generate revenue during off-peak hours at the Dr Ambedkar International Airport, the Airports Authority of India has decided to provide night parking facilities.
The Dr Ambedkar International Airport has so far been earning revenue only during peak hours (from 7 am to 11 pm) from 16 domestic flights and four international flights.
It plans to rake in the moolah by providing eight parking slots available at the airport to private airlines during off-peak hours (12 midnight-6 am).
A senior AAI official, preferring anonymity, told ToI that domestic airlines (including Jet Airways and Indigo) have evinced interest to avail of the night parking facility being offered at the Nagpur airport.
Jet Airways operates flights to Mumbai and Delhi, while Indigo operates flights to Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, Kolkata and Jaipur from Nagpur. Another airliner, SpiceJet, which plans to launch operations from Nagpur has also requisitioned for the same facility.
29/02/08 Sachin Dravekar/Times of India

AAI lines up Rs 12k-cr airport revamp

New Delhi: The country’s aviation infrastructure will get a massive investment dose over the next five years. Airports Authority of India (AAI) has planned to set aside Rs 12,434 crore for the upgradation and modernisation process.
For the three metro airports in Kolkata, Chennai and Trivandrum, AAI has earmarked 43% of its planned outlay, while the rest will go into upgrading other non-metro airports and modernising the existing aeronautical facilities.
Of the Rs 5,332.13 crore earmarked for the three metro airports, Chennai has got the highest share — Rs 2,462 crore — for revamping the existing airport while the Kolkata airport will be modernised with a total outlay of Rs 2,417 crore.
Another Rs 452 crore will be spent on the Trivandrum airport. AAI has floated tenders for the modernisation of these metro projects, which are likely to be at par with India’s busiest Mumbai and Delhi airports, which are currently being re-developed by major private players.
Sources in AAI said the process to scale up two of India’s most profitable airports — Kolkata and Chennai — to world standards has already started with adequate funds put in place for the next five years.
28/02/08 Chanchal Pal Chauhan/Economic Times

Airlines to raise $4 bn to add muscle

Mumbai: India’s cash-starved airlines plan to raise at least $4 billion (Rs15,880 crore) in 2008-09 to fund new planes, expand networks and help tide over a projected combined loss of $700 million this fiscal. The fund-raising will be the largest ever by the country’s carriers as some of them start or get ready to fly overseas routes.
In the current fiscal year, the country’s airlines raised just about $1 billion.
State-owned National Aviation Co. of India Ltd, or Nacil, which operates Air India, Jet Airways (India) Ltd, Deccan Aviation Ltd, Paramount Airways India Ltd and Kingfisher Airlines Ltd are the leading airline companies that plan to raise funds by offloading equity and raising debt.
Most of them are also knocking on the doors of US and European credit agencies for financing aircraft acquisition.
The airlines have no option but to raise fresh funds for their capital expenditure as some of them are acquiring widebody planes for international operations, said an analyst who tracks the aviation business for an international brokerage.
28/02/08 P.R. Sanjai/Livemint

SpiceJet mulls flight to Gulf, China; to deploy 10 aircrafts

New Delhi: Low-cost carrier SpiceJet is gearing up to fly overseas with possible flights to the Middle East, China and the SAARC region within the next three years.
"If the government relaxes the present rules then we would fly even earlier, otherwise we plan to fly overseas by June 2010," SpiceJet Executive Chairman Siddhanta Sharma told PTI.
As per the existing rules, a start-up airline has to complete five years of domestic operations to be able to fly abroad.
The airline is primarily looking to fly to those destinations which attract a lot of migrant population from India, such as the Middle East and the SAARC countries besides China, he added.
SpiceJet also plans to deploy a fleet of 10 aircrafts initially for global flights.
"We will initially deploy 10 aircrafts that will take care of our needs till 2013. After that we may expand depending on the projections we make," he said. It has already placed orders for the 10 airplanes.
27/02/08 PTI/Economic Times

Airlines take to free tickets, discounts to boost revenue

Mumbai: In the aviation sector, where profit margins are wafer-thin, airline operators are taking a lead in introducing free tickets and other freebies to improve air travel bookings. The rationale behind introducing free ticket is to cut down losses. In the fiscal 2007-08, airlines collectively incurred losses to the tune of over Rs 2,000 crore.
Explains Anand Ramachandran, vice-president, finance, Deccan, "We resort to schemes like free tickets and discounts to sell unsold tickets across sectors, especially during the lean season. For instance, our passenger load factors (PLF) were 79% in January, and the remaining seats were sold by offering free tickets exclusive of taxes. Air tickets are perishable commodity. Once the doors of the aircraft are shut for take-off, the vacant seats cannot fetch any returns and selling them off at a discount makes business sense."
By offering tickets at throw away prices, the airlines not the least earn minimal revenues by way of fuel surcharge and other taxes which is approximately Rs 2,050 on each ticket inapplicable of whether sold in an offer or across the counter. The schemes help the airlines get over 200 bookings during the first week after the announcement of the schemes.
28/02/08 Shaheen Mansuri/Financial Express

Kingfisher to give up licences for overseas flights under brand

New Delhi: Vijay Mallya’s Kingfisher airline has to give up its licences after its merger with Air Deccan is completed in order to use the budget carrier’s entitlement to launch overseas flights under the Kingfisher brand. The merged entity would require IATA membership, besides clearing a host of other formalities.
A recent meeting at the civil aviation ministry revealed that several new obstacles have come up in the way of Kingfisher Airlines’ plan to fly on foreign routes using Air Deccan’s entitlement. It is not as simple as it looked initially, government sources said. The civil aviation ministry has said the merger of Kingfisher with Air Deccan should be completed before the merged entity gets in-principle approval for flying overseas. After the merger, the licence of Kingfisher would be cancelled and the merged entity would operate on the licence of Air Deccan. The merged entity will use the Kingfisher brand but run on Air Deccan’s entitlements.
In view of the new complications that have come up, the launch of overseas flights by the UB Group airline is likely to be delayed.
28/02/08 Nirbhay Kumar/Economic Times

Mallya to prune Deccan's operational costs

New Delhi: UB Group chairman Vijay Mallya is now moving ahead with plans to cut operational costs of the Bangalore-based airline. To begin with, the airlines’ operations in the north-east would be pruned.
Mallya has urged the civil aviation ministry to allow Deccan to withdraw flights on some routes, besides limiting frequency on a few sectors from the upcoming summer schedule. UB Group, which owns Kingfisher Airlines, bought a 26% stake in Air Deccan in June last year for Rs 550 crore. It later acquired 20% in the airline through an open offer. “Withdrawal of operations and reduction in frequency on several routes in NE is planned due to poor load factors in the last six months. This has forced us to carry out route rationalisation and contain losses to some extent,” Mallya has said.
Together, the two airlines have an accumulated loss of nearly Rs 2,000 crore.
28/02/08 Nirbhay Kumar/Economic Times

300 on AI NY flight stranded for 24 hrs

New Delhi: Nearly 300 passengers on an Air India flight were stranded for almost an entire day at the Indira Gandhi International Airport here on Wednesday after they raised an alarm following spillage of oil when the aircraft was being refuelled.
Air India’s Flight AI-111 was to fly from Amritsar to New York via New Delhi and London. The aircraft took off from Amritsar and landed in New Delhi at about 5.45 am. The aircraft was scheduled to take off at 7.20 am from New Delhi after refuelling. That is when the drama began at Delhi airport.
"As the aircraft was being refueled, there was a spillage of fuel on to the ground. Some of the passengers in the economy class raised an alarm and started shouting that the aircraft was leaking," said an Air India official. Following this, two of the passengers in the first class section refused to fly and insisted that they be allowed to get off. A passenger in the business class complained of ill health and also wanted to get off. The three passengers then asked for their luggage. It proved a Herculean task to locate the baggage of the three passengers. But when this was done, some of the passengers in the economy class who were on the aerobridge refused to board the aircraft at about 11 am out of fear. By about 11.30 am, the crew of the aircraft refused to fly as their duty hours would have been in excess of that stipulated by civil aviation requirements by the time they landed in London.
The result was that the 298 passengers had to cool their heels at Delhi airport for the whole day.
27/02/08 Sridhar Kumaraswami/Asian Age

Paramount drops acquisition plan; to focus on expansion

New Delhi: The Madurai-based Paramount Airways has dropped plans of acquiring a low-cost airline and instead plans to concentrate on induction of wide body aircraft and expansion into the international market.
The airline’s Managing Director, Mr M. Thiagarajan, told Business Line that the plans of acquiring an airline had been dropped as the business model of running a low-cost airline and the one followed by Paramount Airways were “diametrically opposite.”
For close to seven months, Paramount Airways had been examining a proposal to pick up a stake in an existing airline in which the South-based airline had the option of becoming a strategic financial investor.
While officials were not forthcoming on the name of the airline in which Paramount was looking to pick up a stake, sources indicated that they had been in talks with the Delhi-based SpiceJet Airlines.
27/02/08 Ashwini Phadnis/Business Line

PM likely to inaugurate Bangalore International Airport

Bangalore/New Delhi: Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh is likely to inaugurate the Bangalore International Airport at Devanahalli near Bangalore on 30 March 2008. Highly placed sources in the BIAL have stated that the Prime Minister's office has been approached for his presence at the international airport inauguration and the sources in the home department have also confirmed that such a request has gone to the PM's office. But the PM's office confirmation was yet to come.
It could be recalled here that the BIAL will inaugurate the new airport on that day and the remaining work is being completed at a war footing. According to sources in the BIAL the work on Trumpet fly over had resumed and the airline offices have started migrating their IT bases as they found the Airline offices that have been prepared by the BIAL acceptable to their standards. Singapore airlines, Kingfisher, Jet airways, Deccan, Dragon airlines, Indigo, spicejet, Indian and Air India and many other airlines have confirmed their completion of migration by March 15. In the new development the Japan Airlines has also shown some interest in operating from Bangalore.
28/02/08 Mangalorean.com

Short-haul flyers shun new airport

Bangalore: Fears are coming true. The new Bengaluru International Airport appears to be putting off travellers flying on short-haul routes — those that have a flight time between 30 minutes and an hour.
Reason: the airport is around 40 km from the city and the accessibility is poor. Most are dreading the commute to and from the airport and the expense involved. The rail and road options could be more attractive for many.
According to a senior official of a low-cost airline, ticket sales for April and May between Bangalore and Hyderabad, Kochi, Chennai and Coimbatore have dropped between 30% and 35% compared to the same period last year.
"Passengers having to fly out of the city from the new airport are thinking twice if their chosen destinations are on the short-haul sectors."
Over 40% of the flights out of Bangalore are to short-haul destinations.
Observers say airlines may now have to rethink their short-haul strategy. "If people find train and bus travel to be a smarter option, then airlines will have to discontinue certain short-haul routes or rationalize their frequency on some," said an industry observer.
28/02/08 Anshul Dhamija/Times of India

Rising airport taxes leave low cost travellers cold

Flying between the brand new airports of Hyderabad and Bangalore will not be a low cost affair, reports CNBC-TV18’s Roshni Menon.
Get ready to shell out more for your low cost air ticket if you are flying from Bangalore or Hyderabad. The user development fee, that the two new airports will charge, may increase your ticket costs by close to 50 %. Add to that, the travel expenditure to the new airports, which are on the cities' outskirts, and you are looking at doubling your travel costs. Some airlines are already considering optimizing and cutting flights to these new airports.
"On a Bangalore-Delhi, we are charging only Rs 3,000-4,000. If you are going to charge one-third as airport charges, then fares are going to go up by 30% and in some cases 50%. This is absolutely unacceptable and a preposterous idea,” said GR Gopinath, Executive Chairman, Simplifly Deccan.
For someone traveling between these two cities, the average flight cost is around Rs 1,800 one-way on a low cost carrier. The user development fee will increase costs by over Rs 1,200. Add to that, the cost of traveling to the airport, and you could end up spending an additional 85% on your trip. That is a reason why even airlines are battling to keep the old airports open.
27/02/08 CNBC-TV18/Moneycontrol.com

Deal with Changi on Durgapur airport

Calcutta: Singapore’s Changi Airports International today signed an agreement with the developers of an airport in Andal near Durgapur.
Under the “technical services agreement”, Changi will play a key role in preparing the master plan for the airport and provide technical knowhow for its management and operations.
“We will also supervise airport capacity, land-use plan, passenger terminal layout and other infrastructure facilities,” Eugene Gan, the senior vice-president (worldwide operations) of the Singapore company, said after the pact was signed in the presence of civil aviation minister Praful Patel.
“Training will be imparted to the airport’s senior managers on terminal management,” Gan added.
Durgapur Aerotropolis (airport city), the first of its kind in India, will also have an industrial park and a township with all amenities like schools, colleges, shopping zones and healthcare facilities.
It will be spread over 2,300 acres, of which the airport will cover 650.
27/02/08 The Telegraph

‘Airport infrastructure policy by early April’

Kolkata: The government is likely to erect a new airport infrastructure policy by the end of March or early April as it seeks to boost private investment in greenfield airports in the country.
"We are in the process of formulating a clear set of guidelines for attracting more investment in airport infrastructure. The policy notification will come by early April and is awaiting cabinet clearance," Union Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel said today.
The ministry will come out with a list of closed airports which will be revived through joint venture route with the help of private investment.
The policy has been prepared by the Committee on Infrastructure headed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. It also includes Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia, Finance Minister P Chidambaram and Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel.
27/02/08 PTI/Economic Times

Emirates expands India network to 10 cities

Mumbai: Emirates, the Dubai-based international airline, today announced its six-weekly, non-stop services to Kozhikode (Calicut) starting 1 July, 2008.
Kozhikode will become the third city in Kerala with non-stop Emirates flights from Dubai after the airline introduced services to Kochi in 2002 and Thiruvananthapuram in 2006. Kozhikode will also become Emirates' 10th destination in India.
Emirates will initially operate its Boeing 777-200 and Airbus A330-200 aircraft on the Dubai-Kozhikode route offering over 4,000 business and economy class seats and close to 200 tonne cargo capacity per week in both directions.
27/02/08 Business Standard

Machines to man Indian airports

New Delhi: The home ministry has installed state-of-the-art machines at all international airports in order to check the authenticity of passports, so that human trafficking can be curbed.
''In order to check the veracity of passports, we use magnifying glasses and ultraviolet lamps have been installed at all international airports. The central government has also undertaken issuance of machine readable passports, which are more secure,'' said Radhika V Selvi, Minister of State for Home, in a written reply to the Lok Sabha on Tuesday.
''Moreover, Passport Reading Machines (PRMs) and Questionable Document Examiner (QDX) machines have been installed at all major international airports. Specific training is also imparted to immigration officers to detect forged/false documents,'' Selvi added.
The Bureau of Police Research and Development (BPR&D), which comes under the MHA, has also prepared a training manual on ''Human Trafficking Handbook for Investigators'' for use in the police training institutes.
27/02/08 Indo-Asian News Service

Science till 10th only? You can still be a pilot

New Delhi: Soon, almost anyone who has cleared Class XII could be eligible to become a pilot irrespective of which stream the person chose after Class X — arts, commerce or science. Read On >>

New pilot norms may fuel interest among youth

New Delhi: The DGCA has recommended that anyone who has passed Class X with physics and maths and then completed Class XII from any stream can be considered for becoming a pilot. Read On >>

International students: FAA, Homeland Security crack down on US

Thousands of foreign student pilots have been able to enroll and obtain pilot licenses from U.S. flight schools, despite tough laws passed in the wake of the 9/ll attacks, according to internal government documents obtained by ABC News. Read On >>

Aircraft part falls off on IGI runway

New Delhi: The engine cover of an aircraft of the national carrier with more than 150 passengers fell off on the runway just as the plane was taking off at the Indira Gandhi International Airport.
Although officials described the incident, which occurred on Sunday, as a scare, they agreed that it was a reflection of poor aircraft maintenance by Air India. Proper check up of aircraft before take-off is mandatory.
The A-321 aircraft was bought barely six months ago and though it was making an unscheduled flight to Srinagar on Sunday, it is used to fly regular passengers too.
The aircraft had to return after taking off to reclaim its part. It was then promptly grounded, and the flight was cancelled.
The alert pilot informed the air-traffic controllers about the part on the runway immediately. A similar incident had led to the 2000 crash of an Air France Concorde, in which 113 passengers were killed. A piece of metal left on the runway near Paris had punctured the aircraft’s tyres as it took off.
27/02/08 Sidhartha Roy/Hindustan Times

Despite Lalu, airlines say ‘trains cannot fly’

Bangalore: Railway minister Lalu Prasad on Tuesday intensified the price war between train and air travel by cutting rail fares on AC First Class by 7%, AC-II by 4% and AC-III by 3%.
The discount widens the gap between fares of budget airlines and AC II-tier to around 30-40%. It also widens the chasm between no-frills airline fares and AC III-tier by close to 40-50%.
However, even after the price slash, AC First travel by train would be costlier than budget airlines by around 10-15%.
But it would be cheaper than economy class fares in any full service airline (Jet Airways, Kingfisher Airlines and Indian Airlines).
So, will low-fare airlines feel the heat of Lalu’s aggressive pricing? Most budget carriers are unperturbed. GoAir managing director Jeh Wadia puts it simply by saying “trains cannot fly.” So “any amount of discount cannot replace the time advantage that can be enjoyed air passengers.”
Some airline executives, however, feel that Lalu’s move could, at the most, marginally impact short-haul sectors.
27/02/08 Praveena Sharma/Daily News & Analysis

Fare cuts may give low-cost carriers a run for their money

New Delhi: Railway minister Lalu Prasad has slashed upper class fares (AC-I and II) between 7 and 4% during the lean season. The move has once again reaffirmed the railways status as a tough competitor to low-cost air carriers.
Once the new fares come into effect from April 1, passengers traveling in AC first class from Delhi to Mumbai would spend around Rs 2,200, against Rs 2,570 currently. In contrast, air passengers traveling in a low-cost carrier (LCC) would pay between Rs 500 and Rs 4,000 per ticket over and above the Rs 1,700 surcharges, bringing the total cost of travel to between Rs 2,200 and Rs 5,700. While, the LCCs would take shorter duration to reach the destination, it would come without frills such as food and very little space as opposed to the spacious sleeper compartment of a train.
Many of the discounts on the proposed fares will be further enhanced under a variable fare scheme for newly designed high-capacity coaches.
“New routes launched by the air carriers were just getting popular but the budget has announced new trains on these routes making it harder for the air carriers,” Ankur Bhatia, MD, Bird Group said.
Air fares are most probably going to drop after this Railway Budget, especially for low-cost carriers, which were born essentially as competition to the railways,” Bhatia said.
26/02/08 Financial Express

Tough tussle ahead between rail and airways

New Delhi: Union Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav, the turnaround man of Indian Railways, gave the parting gift to rail passengers when he presented his fifth Rail Budget. The rail passengers are indeed overjoyed with the cut in fares.
This can give the airline companies sleepless nights as passengers may find it easy and affordable to board trains rather then fly.
Therefore, it becomes important to explain how the two categories of fares compare especially after the recent cuts announced in the Rail Budget.
A Delhi-Mumbai rail ticket of AC-II will cost Rs 1,924.8 and in contrast, a ticket on a low cost airline on would cost about Rs 2,525.
Railways is definitely turning out to be cheaper and blame it on the various surcharges that airlines now levy despite the fact that an air ticket price on this route is merely worth Rs 500.
Still, most airlines are confident that they will not loose passengers on the longer routes because the railways lose steam when it comes to competing on travel time for the same distance.
27/02/08 NDTV.com

Airlines bet on speed to beat rival rail

New Delhi: The railways today reduced fares on all air-conditioned classes but airlines remained unimpressed by the small cuts.
The non-plussed airlines feel trains will have to learn to fly first to beat them, something which the Indian Railways says it may do in the future with trains travelling at the speed of 300-350 km per hour in dedicated high-speed corridors.
For the last two years, Lalu Prasad had been trying to counter low-cost airlines, which were eating into the traffic of prestigious trains such as the Rajdhani Express, by reducing fares in AC-I and AC-II classes.
The minister hopes that this year’s round of cuts will help bust competition.
Airlines, however, do not see any threat from the fare cut.
According to GoAir managing director Jeh Wadia, “The Indian passenger has always followed a process of upgrading as he moves up the economic ladder ... This trend will continue. This is because the Indian Railways cannot provide the time efficiency that air travel offers. Moreover, GoAir takes the launch of Go-Mumbai smart card as a huge compliment to the power of the Go brand.”
27/02/08 The Telegraph

Budget airlines may feel heat of fare cut

Mumbai/New Delhi: Railway minister Lalu Prasad’s move to reduce fares of air-conditioned (AC) as well as second-class railway passage will hit the short-haul routes of low-cost airlines, but their long-haul routes will remain unaffected, say airline representatives and analysts.
In the Railway Budget for 2008-09, Prasad announced a 6% reduction in the fares of sleeper-class coaches and 2% in AC 3-tier and AC chair car coaches. Last year, he cut AC fares by 8%.
An analyst with a domestic brokerage, who did not wish to be identified, said the short-haul routes of airlines that can be covered by rail in 5-6 hours will bear the brunt of the railway minister’s proposal of paring fares.
Capt G.R. Gopinath, who introduced the low-fare airline concept in India and founded Deccan Aviation Ltd that runs country’s largest low-fare carrier Simplifly Deccan, however, did not anticipate any immediate problem.
SpiceJet’s director Ajay Singh doesn’t expect passengers to stop flying. According to Jeh Wadia, managing director of GoAir the fare cuts announced in the rail budget may have been prompted by “the phenomenal 33% growth recorded by the Indian aviation sector in the last year.” InterGlobe Aviation Pvt. Ltd-run IndiGo’s chief executive officer Bruce Ashby ruled out any fare reduction to counter the railways.
27/02/08 P.R. Sanjai and Tarun Shukla/Livemint

Proposal for helipad near Akshardham temple in Delhi

New Delhi: The government is mooting a proposal to construct a helipad near Akshardham temple in the national capital, the Rajya Sabha was informed on Tuesday.
"Pawan Hans Helicopter Limited is in talks with Delhi Development Authority for allotment of land at a suitable place near Akshardham temple for construction of heliport," Minister of state for Civil Aviation Praful Patel said.
All India Institute of Medical Sciences had requested permission for landing of helicopter on elevated helipad at Jai Prakash Narain Apex Trauma Centre at the premier institute in August last year, he said while replying to a query.
"AIIMS has been advised to follow the guidelines for authorisation for elevated helipad and guidelines for preparation of helipad as per Civil Aviation Requirements and prepare standard operating procedures for operation of helicopters from the proposed helipads," he said.
26/02/08 PTI/Economic Times

MTR Wins HK$128 Million Order for Delhi Airport Metro Project

MTR Corp., Hong Kong's government- controlled subway operator, won a HK$128 million ($16.4 million) engineering and project management contract linked to the Delhi Airport Metro Express Line.
The contract was awarded by India's Reliance Energy Ltd., MTR said in a statement on its Web site yesterday. The subway operator will define all electrical and mechanical systems for the project, it said.
MTR is expanding outside Hong Kong to widen its sources of income. A venture with Henderson Group Plc's John Laing rail unit in June won a deal to run five railway lines in London. The company is also investing in subway lines in Shenzhen and Beijing, and pursuing projects in other Chinese cities.
The 22.65 kilometer (14.1 miles) Delhi Airport line is scheduled to be opened in July 2010, MTR said.
27/02/08 Clare Cheung/Bloomberg

Passenger collapses at airport, dies

Mumbai: A 61-year-old air passenger who was traveling to London collapsed at the international airport and died on Tuesday morning, making this the second such case in three days.
Police sources said that the passenger, Shivaigar Gosai, who lived at Milton Keynes in England, was visiting his brother living in Porbundar, Gujarat. However, he developed severe diarrhoea a few days after arriving on February 16.
The police said that his daughter and her friend came down from England to take Gosai home. They had reached Mumbai en route to London when Gosai collapsed while boarding flight AI 125. An airport doctor rushed to the spot and took Gosai to Holy Spirit Hospital, Andheri (E), in an ambulance. However, he was declared dead before admission. The body was then taken to Cooper Hospital, Juhu.
On Sunday, 70-year-old Jose Pinto from London collapsed at the transit lounge in Mumbai and was declared dead on the spot.
27/02/08 Rajiv Sharma/Times of India

Air Arabia takes off to Kozhikode

Sharjah: Air Arabia's inaugural flight to Kozhikode on Tuesday turned out to be an occasion for big celebrations for passengers at the Calicut International Airport in Karippur.
The first direct service by a foreign airline, the flight received a colourful welcome at the airport premises.
Upon its landing, the aircraft was given a water salute by fire tenders of the Kerala State Fire Department, in what turned out to be a first at the airport that underwent a massive expansion recently. Slogan shouting by passengers who chose not to hide their excitement of getting an overseas carrier added to the festive ambiance.
On board the flight, CEO of Air Arabia Adel Ali promised to offer prompt and punctual service to Kozhikode that experienced several delays and cancellations by other carriers.
The airline currently serves 10 destinations in India, three within the state of Kerala alone.
Scheduled on Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays, the flight will depart Sharjah at 8:30am and arrive at Kozhikode at 1:40pm. It will then turn around from Kozhikode at 2:25pm and arrive in Sharjah at 5pm. The expanded schedule will be announced later.
27/02/08 GULF TODAY/Daijiworld.com

Man loses Rs 70,000 in online fraud

Ahmedabad: A professional from Ghatlodia was duped of Rs 70,000 by online fraudsters. Online tickets had been booked from various portals through his account.
According to Satellite police officials, Sandip Kajrekar, resident of Simandharnagar Flats, Ghatlodia, and employed with a construction major in Satellite area, had gone to a shopping mall on February 22. When he swiped his card, he got to know that he had already exhausted his credit limit. Shocked, he checked out with his bank and got to know that airline tickets had been purchased from various web portals on his account. Kajrekar then approached police officials with a complaint.
"The portals of MakeMyTrip, PayPal and Yatra were used in the fraud. The fraudsters booked tickets from Mumbai to Bangalore, Chennai and Hyderabad in three domestic airlines including Air Deccan. We now have to get details of the booking and travelling from the websites," said KK Patel, inspector of Satellite police station.
The credit card was used between February 9 and 20 for bookings of tickets worth Rs 70,000.
27/02/08 Times of India

Srinagar Airport likely to open for international air traffic by June 2008

Srinagar Airport will open for the first time to Iinternational traffic this summer with the Airports Authority of India (AAI) taking steps to modernize the airport.
The terminal building of the airport is being expanded from the existing 6190 square meters to 16100 square meters and would have modern amenities like aero-bridges, central heating system, lifts, conveyor belts and escalators.
Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad has said the international airport terminal would be ready by June 2008.
Rakesh Kalra, Director of the Srinagar Airport, said the opening of the Srinagar Airport to international traffic would ensure better connectivity with Gulf countries, which in turn would boost tourism in the state.
Last year 430,000 tourists, including 23,000 foreigners visited Kashmir.
Kalra observed that the state's economy would also benefit with the direct export of its horticulture produce to global markets.
26/02/08 ANI/The Cheers, Estonia

New terminal may be out of bounds for passengers

Thiruvananthapuram: ‘An airport sans entrance!’ The new terminal of the Thiruvananthapuram Airport which is expected to be ready by December this year, may get such a rare title. Thanks to the delay in constructing the approach road.
With around 350 workers working round-the-clock in shifts, work on the new terminal of the Thiruvananthapuram Airport is expected to the completed much ahead of the expected schedule of December this year.
Even then, there are concerns on whether the new terminal would be operational owing to one or the other reasons. It is the responsibility of the State Government to provide road, rail and water connectivity to the new terminal.
The Kerala Industrial Technical Consultants Organisation (KITCO), a State Government-owned agency, has been entrusted with this task.
Though the land has been acquired, the work is yet to commence. Tendering process for the construction work began recently. The submitted tenders will be opened on March 7.
Even when a common man feels that it may take years to complete this work, KITCO claims that it will be completed in eight to ten months.
The Airports Authority of India (AAI) has also expressed concern over the delay in commencing the work on the approach road.
27/02/08 Arjun Raghunath/Newindpress

Chicken dishes are making a comeback on flights

Several domestic carriers had withdrawn chicken from their menu in mid-January after the outbreak of bird flu in the state. Even international flights that load meals in Calcutta had scrapped chicken from their menus.
The state government had banned buying and selling chicken on February 5. The ban was lifted a week later.
“Chicken dishes have been reintroduced on our flights from Calcutta since February 22,” said a Kingfisher Airline official on Tuesday.
Air India has also been serving chicken dishes as part of its Indian and Continental menu on domestic and international flights from Calcutta since Sunday.
In the interim period, some airlines had been serving only vegetarian items, while others were substituting chicken with lamb and mutton.
27/02/08 Sanjay Mandal/The Telegraph

Gati, AI to start overseas cargo flights

New Delhi: Express distribution and supply chain company Gati is looking to commence overseas air cargo operations in partnership with Air India soon. Gati and AI had signed a pact late last year for commencing domestic cargo operations and already three Boeing 727-200 aircraft are being operated as freighters under this arrangement.
For the second phase of expansion, AI is readying Airbus 310 aircraft which would initially carry cargo between Hong Kong, China, India and Europe.
Gati is expected to sign a fresh agreement with Air India for overseas cargo business soon, MD and CEO Mahendra Agarwal told DNA Money.
The AI cargo business will have a national hub at Nagpur and a fleet size of 10 aircraft by the end of 2008-09; it could well become Rs 1,000 crore business by the end of the next fiscal.
Meanwhile, in a bid to strengthen its global parcel service reach, Gati on Monday entered into a strategic alliance with Amsterdam-based General Logistics Systems (GLS). As per the agreement, Gati would act as GLS’ international strategic partner in India and provide access to the remotest locations here since it covers 594 of 604 districts in the country.
26/02/08 Daily News & Analysis

GMR to start charters, plans Rs 700 cr investment

Bangalore: GMR Infrastructure—which has New Delhi, Hyderabad and Istanbul airport projects in its kitty—is now foraying into air charter services. The company is diving into the corporate jet market with a capital expenditure plan of Rs 700 crore. GMR Aviation, set up to drive this charter venture, will have an initial fleet size of 6 nine-seater aircraft and two choppers.
What started as a project for captive use has now been spun off into a full-fledged venture, as a subsidiary of GMR Infrastructure. The company is looking at tapping the growing corporate jet market in India. According to industry estimates, the number of private aircraft in India is expected to rise from the existing 150-190 to over 500 in the next four years.
The company has already obtained a licence to operate charter services and has met with encouraging response in its test-marketing phase. GMR has appointed Amit Sinha, formerly with Tata Aviation, to head the venture.
GMR Infrastructure chief financial officer (corporate integration) A Subba Rao told ET, “we floated the venture purely for captive use. But, we now see great potential in offering third party services and using our assets more effectively.”
26/02/08 J Padmapriya & Urvashi Jha/Economic Times

Domestic airlines poach expats

New Delhi: With carriers such as Jet Airways and Kingfisher Airlines all set to battle it out on international routes, leading expatriates with years of experience in global airlines are now being wooed for top management posts.
Jet Airways, the private airline with clearance for flying abroad, has roped in 14 expatriates from major foreign carriers.
The company was able to woo five senior management executives from Singapore Airlines - one of their key competitors, especially in the south-east Asian market.
Besides, three executives have left Gulf Air, a region that has recently been opened up for Indian private carriers, for the company. Jet started operations to West Asia in January this year.
Kingfisher boasts of five expatriates on its advisory board, out of which two are from Cathay Pacific and one from KLM Royal Dutch Airline.
Indian carriers usually have to offer executives a hike of 30-40 per cent on the previously drawn salary.
A lack of trained personnel in engineering and operations has also forced airlines to appoint expats as operational heads, albeit at a premium.
Carriers such as SpiceJet, Simplifly Deccan and IndiGO have expats heading their engineering and technical departments.
26/02/08 Anirban Chowdhury/Business Standard

Public, private airlines of Bangladesh lock horns over deal with India

A deep rift has emerged between the country's public and private airlines over the new Indo-Bangla air services deal that allows more flights between the countries, but which Bangladeshi flag carrier Biman fears will undermine its long haul routes.
Hailing the agreement, which was signed in Delhi on February 13, private airlines said the deal offers new business opportunities for Bangladesh's aviation industry.
The pact allows Bangladeshi airlines to operate flights to 18 destinations in India and Indian airline Air India to operate flights from Sylhet for the first time.
Under the deal, the number of weekly flights between Bangladesh and India will be raised to 61 from 30. India also waived a royalty provision. Earlier, Bangladesh Biman had to pay $100 to Air India for carrying a passenger to any third country destination via India.
Biman Bangladesh officials however said the agreement will benefit India, not Bangladesh.
Terming the agreement as unwanted, the officials said India will get more advantages from the agreement as more passengers will be carried through India to Europe and the US.
26/02/08 Rashidul Hasan/The Daily Star, Bangladesh

Turban searches delay flight in Brisbane

Brisbane Airport has defended the action of security officers when they demanded 13 Sikh community members remove their turbans and a woman take off her face veil.
The search on Saturday caused a bottleneck at a security checkpoint and delayed at least one international flight, reports said today.
Brisbane Airport spokesman Jim Carden said it was not unusual for security officers to direct people to remove headgear.
"Those regulations have been in place about 12 years," Mr Carden said.
They applied at all Australian airports to any headgear, including baseball caps, rastafarian scarves, Jewish yarmulke, Emirates' cabin crew headgear and pilots' caps, he said.
If a passenger walking through security set off the alarm, a hand-held wand was passed over them to check for prohibited objects.
"But if the screening authority is still not satisfied that the screening has still not been completed, that passenger may be asked to remove that headgear - that has always been the case," he said.
26/02/08 AAP/The Age, Australia

Blue Dart to fly cargo overseas

Blue Dart Aviation, a subsidiary of express cargo firm Blue Dart Express, is exploring options to start scheduled overseas operations.
The move would enable the air cargo company to improve utilisation of its aircraft, which currently fly for only eight hours at night. The company not indicated any timeframe for the start of these operations.
Anil Khanna, MD, Blue Dart Express told DNA Money, "We are working closely with DHL global aviation group to see whether our aircraft can be leveraged for international operations. As part of our business expansion, we keep evaluating all options and if we find that it makes commercial sense and can be operationally put together, we will explore it." DHL, the European logistics giant, has a controlling stake in the company and operations of the two are synchronised.
Blue Dart has a fleet size of seven, made up of four Boeing 737 and 3 Boeing 757 aircraft. Express cargo operations being an overnight service, the aircraft are stationed idle during the day. Usage of these through the day for an international service would help the company make more efficient use of its assets.
26/02/08 Nirmal John & Archana Shukla/DNA MONEY/Sify

Airports strike put off

New Delhi: Following a meeting with Union Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel, the Airports Authority Employees’ Union (AAEU) on Monday deferred its strike scheduled for Tuesday.
Mr. Patel along with senior officials of the Ministry and the Airports Authority of India met the representatives of AAEU at Rajiv Gandhi Bhawan, where the latter raised their demands. As of now, the strike has been deferred and the second round of talks will take place on March 10.
“A number of issues, including the closure of Bangalore and Hyderabad airports raised by the union representatives, were discussed. It has been decided that the Ministry will look into these matters in detail and another round of discussion will be held with the union representatives in the near future,” said an official release.
26/02/08 The Hindu

Legal stamp must for Kingfisher overseas plans to take wing

New Delhi: The UB Group-owned Kingfisher Airlines Ltd has run into another roadblock in its ambitious plan to fly to international destinations with a necessary relaxation in government policy still pending approval even as the airline targets an August launch of its first non-stop flight between Bangalore and San Francisco.
In September, Deccan Aviation Ltd, in which UB has a controlling stake, had sought an “in-principle” approval from the government for permission to fly to as many as two dozen cities worldwide, anticipating a relaxation of eligibility criteria by December to fly overseas. Indian rules mandate at least five years of domestic flying experience before being able to start international operations.
Given that uncertainty, the next best option for the carrier was to fly on the rights of Deccan, which completes five years of operations in August. The UB Group will by April have a 69% stake in the merged Kingfisher-Deccan entity.
But the civil aviation ministry has said it still cannot grant the “in-principle approval” before the legal merger of the two entities is completed and the documents are submitted with regards to the ownership structure, according to a senior government official, who declined to be identified.
26/02/08 Tarun Shukla/Livemint

Pune airport reopens on 27; eyes three more destinations

Pune: After the 15-day closure, Pune airport will be reopened on Wednesday with no change in facilities or schedule of the airlines. The only good news for passengers is, when the regime of restricted watch hours ends in May, destinations like Aurangabad, Coimbatore and Kolkata will be connected to Pune. The international destinations like Singapore and Bangkok are also in fray, as the international players Lufthansa and Emirates have enquired about the slot.
Air routes to and from Pune have remained disconnected owing to the critical work of runway recarpeting. The airport will be opened on February 27. “Even if the airport will be opened, there will be restricted watch hours as the work will continue. The work will end in May and probably from June 1, Pune will have the airport open for 24 hours,” said Deepak Shastri, director of Pune Airport.
Meanwhile, the critical work of recarpeting of runway will end on Tuesday. In the initial stages, the corners of the runway were repaired and that is why some part was available for the take- offs and landings. But now the work of the main part of the runway is going on.
26/02/08 Pune Newsline

International flights set to go up from Pune

Pune: The number of international flights from Pune is set to go up significantly as a precursor to the Commonwealth Youth Games (CYG) scheduled for October 2008. Destinations include Frankfurt, Dubai, Muscat, Sharjah and Singapore.
As of now, only one international flight is in operation on the Pune-Dubai-Pune route by the Air India (formerly Indian). The enhanced international flights from Pune is expected to be reflected in the post-June operational schedule for the airliners, Deepak Shastri, director of the Airports Authority of India (AAI), Pune, told TOI on Monday. By then, said Shastri, the ongoing runway recarpeting and repair works at Pune's Lohegaon airport will be completed in all respects and the airport will have 8,300 ft runway availability — instead of the present 6,500 ft, which limits the operation of bigger aircraft. Also, flights will operate round-the-clock.
26/02/08 Vishwas Kothari/Times of India

Malaysia considering ‘visa on arrival’ for Indians boarding from Chennai also

Chennai: he Immigration authorities in Malaysia are reviewing the current situation to help extend the ‘visa on arrival facility’ to Indian nationals boarding from Chennai. At present, it is available to Indians boarding from other Indian States.
Addressing a press conference organised by Tourism Malaysia, the promotional arm of the Malaysian Government, the Counsellor of Immigration Department of Malaysia based in New Delhi, R.B. Bahari, said, “Unfortunately, we have a large number of overstaying cases of Indian nationals hailing from Tamil Nadu and boarding from Chennai. We are currently reviewing the situation and it is up to the Malaysian Government to extend this facility to those Indian nationals coming from Chennai and arriving in Kuala Lumpur to enjoy this status.”
26/02/08 The Hindu

Three held for breach of security at Chennai airport

Chennai: Two youths who entered the high-security domestic airport here with fake boarding passes were arrested on Monday, airport sources said.
A private airline staff was also arrested for reportedly issuing the fake passes to the duo, the sources said.
The sources said Ganesh Rajan and Salim Ahmad entered the airport around noon, carrying boarding passes for a Bangalore-bound Paramount Airways flight scheduled to depart at 1640 hours.
On suspicion, the youth were questioned by airport authorities and it came to light that the duo had come to attend an interview conducted by another private airline. They had secured the passes from their friend, Manikandan, working for the Paramount Airways.
25/02/08 PTI/The Hindu

New Bangalore airport exposes India's infrastructure challenge

Bangalore: In southern India the much-awaited Bangalore international airport is almost ready, but getting there could prove a nightmare for travellers facing more chaos on clogged roads.
The Bangalore project well illustrates the problems India faces in fixing its creaky infrastructure to match an economy expanding at an annual rate of nine percent.
Growing personal incomes have fuelled a surge in air traffic and car sales, straining aviation and road infrastructure in a country that needs to invest tens of billions of dollars in public works.
Domestic air traffic is forecast to double to 60 million passengers by 2010 from last year, while car sales are projected to reach two million units from 1.4 million in the same period.
From Electronic City in south Bangalore -- the hub of India's information technology industry -- it could take a four-hour drive to reach the airport when it opens.Flying time to the nearby southern city of Chennai is just 40 minutes.
India's traffic problem is particularly acute in Bangalore, and seemingly set to worsen. The city of six million people adds 1,000 vehicles to the roads a day and traffic crawls at an average speed of 13 kilometres an hour.
26/02/08 AFP

JetPrivilege enters into partnership with Tata and SBI Cards

Jet Airways’ JetPrivilege, India’s largest frequent flyer programme has entered into a ‘credit card points to JPMiles conversion’ partnership with Tata and SBI cards respectively.
With the introduction of these partnerships, JetPrivilege members who hold Tata and SBI credit cards may now effortlessly convert these credit card points towards JPMiles, and redeem the same for award flights on Jet Airways or any of its airline partners.
Jet Airways’ JetPrivilege members, who are also Tata Credit Card and Empower Card holders, may now convert their Empower Points towards JPMiles in the ratio of 2 Empower Points to 1 JPMile. To convert their Empower Points to JPMiles, Tata Credit Card and Empower Card holders may call on the Tata Credit Card helpline, and quote their JetPrivilege membership number to be credited with the equivalent JPMiles.
Similarly, Jet Airways’ JetPrivilege members, who are holders of SBI Platinum Card, SBI Gold Card as well as SBI International and Domestic card, may convert their Power Points towards JPMiles in the ratio of 3 Power Points to 1 JPMile. The aforementioned SBI Card holders need to accumulate a minimum of 400 Power Points to start redeeming JPMiles on their credit cards. To convert their Power Points to JPMiles, credit card holders may call on the SBI Card helpline and quote their JetPrivilege membership number which needs to be credited with the equivalent JPMiles.
22/02/08 PRESS RELEASE/Jet Airways

Low-cost carriers to cut flights over user charges

New Delhi/Mumbai: With the Bangalore airport announcing stiff user developmental fee (UDF) on domestic passengers, low-cost carriers (LCCs) - JetLite, SpiceJet and Simplifly Deccan (formerly Air Deccan) - have decided to drastically cut their flight schedules to the city and other new airports like Hyderabad.
Bengaluru International Airport Ltd, which runs the new airport to be operational at the end of March, is imposing Rs 240 as UDF on domestic passengers flying from the city, which will be hiked to Rs 675 from June 1.
It has also imposed UDF of Rs 520 on international flights which will be hiked to Rs 955 again on June 1.
The new Hyderabad airport, controlled by the GMR group, is also negotiating with the government on imposing UDF of a similar nature. GMR executives say that the charges will be finalised in a few days.
26/02/08 Surajeet Das Gupta & Manisha Singhal/Business Standard

Emirates service to Kozhikode

New Delhi: Dubai-based Emirates Airline on Monday said it would launch non-stop services six times a week to Kozhikode from July 1, 2008. Kozhikode will become the third city in Kerala to be served with non-stop Emirates flights from Dubai. The airline introduced services to Kochi in 2002 and to Thiruvananthapuram in 2006.
On the Dubai-Kozhikode route, Emirates will initially operate Boeing 777-200 and Airbus A330-200 aircraft, offering over 4,000 ‘business’ and ‘economy’ class seats and close to 200 tonnes of cargo capacity a week in both directions.
The direct flight will operate on all days of the week, except Sundays. Emirates now operates 99 weekly flights from Dubai to Ahmedabad, Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai, Kochi, Delhi, Hyderabad, Kolkata, and Thiruvananthapuram. Kozhikode will become Emirates’ 10th destination in India.
26/02/08 Sandeep Joshi/The Hindu

Sical Logistics begins terminal work at MIHAN

Chennai: Sical Logistics Ltd, an integrated solutions provider for multi-modal logistics for bulk and containerised cargo and offshore logistics, has commenced work on Nagpur Sical Gupta Road Terminal Ltd (NSGRTL) for road terminal at the Multimodal International Hub Airport at Nagpur (MIHAN) on Monday. Nagpur Sical Gupta Terminal is a special purpose vehicle floated by Sical Logistics in association with Maharashtra Airport Development Company (MADC) and Gupta Coal in the ratio of 51%, 26% and 23%.
Nagpur Sical Gupta will build, operate and manage the road terminal. The total project cost is estimated to be Rs 119.30 crore with a debt:equity ratio of about 1:1. The road terminal will stretch across a 60 hectare plot and have parking facilities for 1,150 vehicles including multi-axle vehicles, warehousing space of 500,000 sq ft, 15 hectares of open space and 45,000 sq ft of cold storage area, said Sical in a press release on Monday.
26/02/08 Financial Express

Air Arabia to introduce service to Kozhikode

Air Arabia announced last week that it will launch services to the South Indian city of Kozhikode (formerly known as “Calicut”) beginning February 26, (subject to final approval from Directorate General Civil Aviation (DGCA) India). Roundtrip flights will initially operate three times per week between Kozhikode, the third largest city in Kerala, and Air Arabia’s hub in Sharjah. End of May, service will be expanded to six times per week. Air Arabia is the first Airline in the Middle East to commence operations to Kozhikode.
Air Arabia’s tenth destination in India, Kozhikode is also the carrier’s third destination in the state of Kerala. Currently, the carrier provides daily roundtrip service to Keralan cities Thiruvananthapuram and Kochi. In total, Air Arabia now serves 38 destinations across the Middle East, North Africa, Indian Subcontinent and Central Asia.
26/02/08 eTravelBlackboard - Asia Edition, Australia

Air India to reintroduce flights to Ahmedabad, Jaipur tomorrow

Kolkata: Air India would re-introduce flights to Ahmedabad via Jaipur from Kolkata four days a week and to Jaipur via Ahmedabad three days a week with an Airbus A-319 aircraft from February 26.
Air India sources said today that IC-269 would leave Kolkata on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays at 1545 hours to reach Ahmedabad at 1755 hours and Jaipur at 1930 hours. The return flight from Jaipur would reach Kolkata at 2230 hours.
The IC-267 would leave from Kolkata on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays at 1545 hours to reach Jaipur at 1810 hours and touch down Ahmedabad at 1945 hours.
The return flight from Ahmedabad would land at Kolkata at 2230 hours, the sources added. 25/02/08 Agencies/Chennai Online

Computer numbers allotted for flight crew exams

DGCA has published the list of computer numbers allotted to candidates for flight crew examinations. Read On >>

Era Infra, KMB JV Pockets Contract From Air Ports Authority Of India

Era Infra Engineering’s construction & contract arm, in joint venture with KMB, Ukraine has pocketed a contract worth Rs 779 million from Air Ports Authority of India.
The companies have been awarded the work of expansion and modification to terminal building for international operation at C E Pune.
The maximum time duration for the contract is 7.5 months.
Era Infra Engineering is a fully integrated infrastructure development company taking part in India’s core infrastructure and construction segments. The company is engaged in the development and construction of highways, airports, power plants, industrial projects, institutions, railways, and residential and commercial complexes.
26/02/08 Ketan Sharma/Stock Watch

Cab strike at Mumbai airport

Mumbai: Thousands of air passengers had a harrowing time on Monday when the 1,700 cabs at Sahar international airport went on a flash strike.
The cabbies were protesting against Mumbai International Airport Ltd for asking them to move to a new parking lot near Sahar police station.
Meanwhile, the proposed strike by Airports Authority of India employees against the government move to close down the old airports at Bangalore and Hyderabad has been deferred after an assurance from civil aviation minister Praful Patel that some “positive” decisions would be taken by March 10.
26/02/08 Daily News & Analysis

Air India witness makes appearance on murder charge

Surrey, BC: Smiling and waving at associates, accused killer Raminder Singh (Mindy) Bhandher made his first appearance in Surrey provincial court Monday on a charge that he shot a young man last month.
Bhandher had spent the weekend in jail after being arrested in Vancouver on Friday while driving with his close associate Amardeep Singh (Lali) Narwal.
Narwal was in court Monday, along with gangster Nachatar Singh (Nash) Bagri and members of Bhandher's family and his wife, Feroozan Noori.
The 30-year-old Bhandher, who was a key defence witness at the Air India trial for Ripudaman Singh Malik, is accused of killing Tejvir Singh (Sunny) Bains in a brazen evening shooting.
Bhandher, whose father Balwant remains a suspect in the 1985 Air India bombing, was called by Malik to refute the testimony of the Crown's star witness at the Air India trial. She had claimed to overhear Malik and Bhandher discussing incriminating information about the bombing in April 1997.
Bhandher and some of his associates were on hand to support Malik when the Air India verdict came down on March 16, 2005, acquitting the Vancouver businessman.
26/02/08 Kim Bolan/Canwest News Service/Vancouver Sun/Canada.com, Canada

Cheaper aviation turbine fuel hopes crash at North Block

New Delhi: The Budget is unlikely to lift the spirits of the aviation industry. The finance ministry has decided against according declared good status to aviation turbine fuel (ATF), or jet fuel, in the Budget. The move would have reduced sales tax on jet fuel to a uniform 4% across the country.
Sales tax on the fuel varies in each state and in certain cases, it is as high as 24%. Domestic carriers are incurring losses due to high fuel bills, which constitute about 40% of airlines’ total operating cost.
In a recent communication to the civil aviation ministry, a finance ministry official said jet fuel could not be added to the list of declared goods without building a consensus among state governments. It said the empowered committee of state finance ministers has said states would strongly object to any such move of the Centre.
Considering the possibility of stiff opposition from states, the initial plan of announcing jet fuel as a declared good in the Budget had been dropped, a source in the government said. It is learnt that the civil aviation ministry has been asked to pursue the issue with individual states and create a consensus.
25/02/08 Nirbhay Kumar/Economic Times

HAL in talks to make Honeywell engines

Bangalore: In what could be the biggest aircraft engine-sourcing contract from India, Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) is in talks with aero-engine maker Honeywell International Inc. to manufacture more than 1,000 small plane engines locally for the global market.
HAL, the state-run defence aircraft maker, expects a contract to be signed in March for the engines of Honeywell that power small turbo-prop planes such as Jetstream of BAE Systems Plc. and Island Hopper of Integrity Aircraft Holdings Ltd Corp., both of which can carry around 20 passengers.
So far, the Indian aerospace firm has been exporting sub- systems, forgings and components for engines through its equal joint venture in Bangalore with Snecma of France— Snecma-HAL Aerospace Pvt. Ltd—set up in 2005.
24/02/08 K. Raghu/Livemint

Nacil to call for bids for $7 bn cover

Mumbai: Insurance companies are getting ready to aggresively bid for the country’s largest aviation insurance policy, with a cover of up to $7 billion (Rs28,000 crore) when the National Aviation Co. of India Ltd, or Nacil, into which state-run firms Air India and Indian Airlines were merged last year, floats a tender for the same this week.
All state-owned and private insurance firms are expected to bid for the business and some of them have already started discussions to forge alliances, according to a senior executive with a private sector insurance firm who did not wish to be identified.
Nacil expects to buy the policy, which will cover 140 planes, at a substantial discount—apart from the number of aircraft involved, its fleet is also young, a factor that goes into pricing.
The insurance contract for 2007-08 for Air India was bagged by a consortium led by state-run New India Assurance Co. Ltd with ICICI Lombard General Insurance Co. Ltd as co-insurer.
25/02/08 P.R. Sanjai/Livemint

BJETS wants 100% in arm, to pump in $900 mn

New Delhi: BJETS Pte, a Singapore-based company owned by Balaji Ramamoorthy, a person of Indian origin (PIO), has sought permission to pump in nearly $900 million (Rs 3,600 crore) to bring 100 business jets to India for charter and fractional ownership business. The company has sought permission to buy Business Jets India, a company set up by the Ramamoorthy family, for its Indian foray, sources said.
Interestingly, the Singapore-based company has sought clearance for 100% stake in Business Jets India despite reports about Tatas picking up a stake in the venture. According to revised foreign direct investment (FDI) policy guidelines, 74% FDI is allowed in chartered airlines while NRIs are allowed 100%. BJETS has urged the government to waive the equity ceiling and allow 100% foreign investment. Industry sources say the Tata Group is likely to pick up more than 35% stake in the Indian venture of BJETS.
According to the business plan submitted to the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB), BJETS plans to register 100 business jets in India by 2015 and fund the entire operations through infusion of $900 million out of which $200 million would be equity and $700 million would be debt.
25/02/08 G Ganapathy Subramaniam/Economic Times

JetLite draws on synergies to cut costs

Mumbai: JetLite, the erstwhile Air Sahara which was acquired by Jet Airways in April 2007, is all set to clock a turnover of $460 million for the year ended March 2008, according to outgoing CEO Gary Kingshott.
However, it is yet to break even.
“That is linked to when we can get all our planes to fly. We were hoping to do that by January. We need to get two more planes off the ground, and we hope to do so in the next 45 days,” he said.
The Australian CEO, who was deputed from Jet Airways, is towards the end of his two-year contract.
The airline plans to reduce fares by nine per cent over a period of five years to strengthen its position as a value carrier and compete more effectively. This would come by way of achieving lower costs by drawing synergies with Jet Airways.
JetLite has reduced its cost per available seat km (CASKM), a measure of unit cost for airlines, from Rs 4.30 per seat km when Jet acquired Air Sahara to Rs 2.90 per seat km.
25/02/08 Ranju Sarkar/Business Standard

PMO push to tender for Northeast air link

New Delhi: The Prime Minister’s Office has asked the government to come out with a fresh tender to float an airline that will connect a host of airports in the Northeast.
With the state-run Alliance Air’s contract to run air services within the region having ended in December last year, the PMO has asked the government to float a global tender for an airline that will run a fleet exclusively for the region.
Top officials said the plan for an airline for the Northeast was floated by Manipur Governor S.S. Sidhu and was being pushed by Meghalaya chief secretary Ranjan Chatterjee.
Chatterjee is also currently in the fray for the position of chairman, Air India.
Both Sidhu and Chatterjee have considerable experience in the civil aviation sector and are of the opinion that an airline that would operate out of a hub at Guwahati and connect the difficult Northeast terrain using small passenger aircraft, could be viable with a small subsidy.
The selected airline will be subsidised by funds from the North Eastern Council (NEC) and will be expected to fly as many as 400 flights every month connecting the region internally by the end of 2009.
24/02/08 Jayanta Roy Chowdhury/The Telegraph

Pistol recovered from cargo at Guwahati airport

Guwahati: An Italy-made pistol has been recovered from the cargo sent by a courier company at the Lokopriyo Gopinath Bordoloi International Airport, police said on Sunday.
Five persons were arrested in this connection. Police said that during cargo scanning at the airport on Saturday evening, a pistol was spotted inside a box with electronic products booked by a Guwahati-based courier company Tirupati Couriers.
The box was booked by one J L Mehra and was scheduled to be sent to one Satya in Karnal, Haryana. The courier company had booked the parcel with Jetlite Airways.The police seized the parcel and arrested five employees of the courier company in this connection on Sunday.
24/02/08 PTI/Times of India

Kingfisher have to keep Deccan look to fly abroad

New Delhi: Kingfisher may have to keep a Deccan look on its aircraft to be able to fly abroad later this year.
Recently, it has filed an application for doing so on licence of Air Deccan (now Simplifly Deccan) as the latter would be eligible to do so on completion of five years this August, as per the existing rule.
But "operational issues" mean that flying on Deccan’s licence means having the brand’s livery on the aircraft.
These issues were pointed out to UB group chief Vijay Mallya when he recently went to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) office.
This catch would make it necessary to keep Deccan’s identity intact,DGCA sources added, something that the "Captain Gopinath was aware of while striking the deal with Mallya". Kingfisher’s plan is to use its long-range aircraft for flights to Europe and US while brand Deccan will be deployed on nearby areas like southeast Asia and the Gulf.
25/02/08 Saurabh Sinha/Times of India

Airlines face credit fears

As airlines try to counter soaring aviation turbine fuel (ATF) prices, slowdown in demand and overcapacity, the spectre of credit crisis is hovering over them. Run-up to Budget 2008-09
Airlines fear that if losses due to these factors continue, they might fall out of favour with banks and financial institutions.
Budget carrier SpiceJet Ltd chief financial officer (CFO) Parth Sarathi Basu says that even though his airline enjoys (credit) limits from banks today, it may not be the same next year if the red ink on the balance-sheet spreads further.
Basu revealed that SpiceJet did not have any plans for raising funds. A year back, the no-frill airline raised around Rs 320 crore ($80 million) from Tata Group, private equity funds Texas Pacific Group Ventures, Istithmar PJSC and Goldman Sachs.
And it is not just SpiceJet, which is sacrificing depreciation to fund its aircraft purchase. Credit crunch has forced other airlines also to go in for sale and leaseback and capacity rationalisation.
Industry sources say shortage of funds has compelled the Mallya-owned Deccan to defer delivery of some aircraft and GoAir to rationalise its fleet.
25/02/08 Praveena Sharma/DNA MONEY/Sify

More air link for Games facilities

Ranchi: The state can expect new flights by the year-end as Jharkhand Olympic Association (JOA) has initiated efforts for smooth transition of participants and officials by air and railway during the 34th National Games.
The National Games will be held at three locations — Ranchi, Jamshedpur and Dhanbad.
As of today, Ranchi is the only venue with a regular air link with Delhi.
Efforts are being made to expedite commencement of one flight from Delhi to Dhanbad via Ranchi, and another from Delhi to Jamshedpur via Ranchi. The JOA will approach Indian, Kingfisher and MDLR Airlines, JOA secretary-general S.M. Hashmi said.
He also said: “To expedite commencement of flights, a JOA delegation will soon meet civil aviation minister Praful Patel and Vijay Mallya, the chief of Kingfisher Airlines, and MDLR Airlines officials.”
25/02/08 The Telegraph

Two Kerala airports to be expanded

Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala will expand two of its international airports at Thiruvananthapuram and Kozhikode and set up a new one at Kannur.
The state's other international airports is at Kochi.
Work on the first phase of the Thiruvananthapuram airport on 27 acres will start this year. For the second phase, another 93 acres will be acquired, Law Minister M. Vijayakumar said here yesterday.
"The state government will provide another 137 acres for the development of the Kozhikode airport. For the proposed Kannur airport, 2,200 acres would be acquired,"he said. The central government recently gave the go-ahead for a new airport at Kannur.
Once the Kannur airport is ready, Kerala will be the only state with four international airports. The airport at Kochi is also the first airport in India that was developed with private-public partnership in the late '90s.
25/02/08 IANS/Gulf Times, Qatar

Online air ticket fraud: ATS clueless

Mumbai: The anti-terrorism squad (ATS), which arrested eight persons in connection with an online air ticket booking fraud, is yet to establish the identity of the Kazakhstan-based accused who allegedly provided credit card numbers to those arrested.
The squad, even after keeping the accused in custody for over one-and-half months, is yet to establish how many air tickets were booked through the internet. Also, since no one has lodged a complaint, it is not known who suffered losses due to the fraud. A police constable himself became the complainant in the case.The prime concern of the ATS is detection of terrorism-related cases, seizure of narcotics and fake currency. However, this is the first time that the squad is busy probing a cyber crime.
Interestingly, the cyber crime investigation cell (CCIC) of the city crime branch is unaware of this case. In 2007, the CCIC had assisted the Economic Offences Wing to detect an online ticket booking racket by tracing the Internet Protocol (IP) address of the accused. Generally, cases related to credit card fraud and computer are dealt by police stations with assistance from the CCIC.
25/02/08 Mateen Hafeez/Times of India

Citu firm on airport strike

Calcutta: The “indefinite” nationwide strike by airport staff from February 26 threatens to disrupt flights and is sure to bring passenger services to a halt. Also, it ties up civil aviation minister Praful Patel on his daughter’s wedding day in Udaipur.
Fliers in Calcutta, and the rest of the country, are pinning their last hopes on Monday’s meeting between the Airports Authority of India (AAI) and the employees’ union in Delhi.
“If the AAI does not bend, the strike is inevitable,” asserted Shyamal Chakraborty, the state chief of Citu, which is backing the shutdown. The strike has been called to protest the AAI’s decision to close down the Hyderabad and Bangalore airports to make way for private greenfield projects and press for financial demands of the employees.
If the flights operate at all — the airlines said they would stick to schedule — fliers at Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport will have to cope up with dirty terminals, filthy toilets and lack of basic facilities, like drinking water and air-conditioning. The airport authorities said they were taking measures to ensure normal operations.
25/02/08 The Telegraph

Work on AI's maintenance unit in Kerala to start in March

Thiruvananthapuram: The work on the engineering and maintenance unit to be set up by Air India here would begin on March one, Kerala Law Minister M Vijayakumar said here on Sunday.
The maintenance, repair and overhaul facility coming up at 6.07 hectares of land close to international airport here would initially service Boeing 737-800 series aircraft but would be upgraded to handle all types of aircraft in the subsequent phases, Vijayakumar told reporters here.
The construction work of the unit would be inaugurated by Chief Minister V S Achuthanandan. The cost of initial phase of the unit was estimated to be Rs 70 crore, which would be fully funded by Air India, he said.
24/02/08 PTI/Economic Times

Flights delayed by fog

Dense fog disrupted flight operations for nearly four hours at Calcutta airport on Sunday morning.
The departure of 27 flights was delayed. Three flights bound for Calcutta were diverted, while three others had to circle overhead before landing.
The recently installed Category II Instrumental Landing System could not help, as visibility dropped to 50 metres.
Domestic flight operations at the airport start around 5am, but on Sunday, the first plane — Deccan’s flight to Raipur —took off at 8.40am. It was followed by Air India’s Port Blair flight, whose scheduled departure was 5.35am.
Visibility started dropping from 5am, said an airport Met department official. Around 5.30am, the visibility dipped below 350 metres, making it impossible for flights to operate even by using the CAT-II landing system. For two hours from 5.55am, the visibility was about 50 metres.
25/02/08 The Telegraph

Oman Air to set up international pilot training complex

Muscat: Oman Air will set up a pilot training school and simulator in Muscat this year, according to Oman Air CEO Ziad Bin Karim Al Haremi. Read On >>

Refusal to accept baggage may cost airlines dear

New Delhi: Refusal of airlines to accept oversized baggage and belongings of passengers could be treated as deficiency in service for which compensation could be claimed. It is not necessary to show bodily injury to claim for mental agony and harassment in such cases, the Supreme Court indicated on Friday while dismissing an appeal filed by Air France.
The airline had challenged an order of the National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission which had held that refusal to accept an oversized baggage from a passenger amounts to deficiency in service.
A bench comprising justices BN Agrawal and GS Singhvi refused to entertain the plea of Air France that there is no provision for compensation for mental agony, harassment, inconvenience, etc, in the absence of physical injury under the Carriage by Air Act of 1972.
Non-bodily injuries are excluded by the Warsaw and Hague Conventions that have the force of law in India under the Carriage by Air Act. The complainant was, therefore, not entitled to any amount of compensation for mental agony, harassment and inconvenience, said Air France.
Complainant Sonali Arora — along with her two minor daughters — had travelled on Air France flight from London to Paris on July 4, 1998, and from there to Delhi. It was alleged that the staff of the airline did not allow her to carry one of her handbags on board on the ground that it was oversized. She was compelled to abandon the handbag at the Heathrow Airport in London. According to her, the bag in question contained various valuables, including a camera, two Rado wrist watches, six crystal decoration pieces and souvenirs.
25/02/08 Sanjay K Singh/Economic Times

States asked to cut sales tax on ATF

New Delhi:Minister of state for civil aviation Praful Patel has recently written a letter to all state chief ministers asking them to bring down the rate of sales tax on aviation turbine fuel (ATF) in their respective state budgets in 2008-09.
The minister has said the sales tax on ATF has to be cut down to the declared goods rate of 4%, which ranges from 20-35% across various states. “Given the negligible contribution to the overall sales tax collection, the impact of a reduction of sales tax on ATF for the state exchequer will be negligible — especially in view of the upside that the states have seen through high price and increased uplift,” said ministry sources, quoting from the minister’s letter.
In fact, tax on ATF is in excess of 50% in some states. Worse, ATF in India is 70-80% costlier than many other countries. The airlines industry is now in deep distress with cumulative losses of over Rs 2,000 crore in 2006-07.
The single largest element contributing to the airlines costs is ATF which accounts for 40% of the operating cost of Indian carriers as compared to 20% for international carriers.
24/02/08 Raja Awasthi/Economic Times

Two passengers arrested for harassing Deccan air hostess

Two traders were arrested at the airport on Thursday night for allegedly molesting an air hostess aboard a Deccan flight on their way back from pilgrimage.
Sheikh Jamil Hussain, 37, and Kuddus Ali Mallick, 33, both building material suppliers from Dankuni, were occupying aisle seats on the flight from Jaipur, which took off around 8.30pm.
The men, who were returning from Ajmer-e-Sharif, called an air hostess over to their seats “several times on flimsy grounds”, said an airline official. “Once, when the air hostess was walking down the aisle, one of the men intentionally stretched his leg out and tried to block her way,” alleged the official.
The air hostess initially did not react to the harassment. But shortly before the flight landed, “the two asked her if she was free at night”, according to police. “They also held her hand and asked her to accompany them.”
The enraged air hostess reported the matter to the pilot, who informed the ground security of the airline. The security officials alerted the airport police station around 11pm. When the flight landed a few minutes later, a team of officers was waiting in the domestic terminal.
They were arrested after the air hostess lodged a complaint of molestation against the duo, said North 24-Parganas police superintendent Supratim Sarkar. Hussain and Mallick were produced in Barrackpore court on Friday and remanded in judicial custody for 14 days.
23/02/08 The Telegraph

Embraer Reveals First Phenom Customer In India

Last week, Embraer disclosed a contract with Indian business aviation solutions company Aviators India Pvt. Ltd. for two Phenom 100 executive jets, totaling US$ 5.96 million, at list price. This order, announced at the Extravaganza Mumbai 2008, February 22-23, in India, is already included in Embraer’s firm order backlog. Delivery is scheduled to begin in 2009.
"Aviators India has over ten years of experience in the Indian marketplace. Their choice of the Phenom 100 underscores our confidence in the suitability of the aircraft for this market," said Capt. Manfred Baudzus, Embraer Director of Marketing and Sales for Asia Pacific - Executive Aviation.
The Indian company is active in consultancy services for aircraft management, purchasing airplanes and helicopters, and setting up corporate flight departments.
"Amongst the aircraft in its class, the Phenom 100 provides the best value for investment and is a great personal aircraft," said Capt. Arun Sharma, Managing Director of Aviators India Pvt. Ltd.
Aviators has been in business since 1994 and has bases in Bangalore (also headquarters), Mumbai, Calcutta and Delhi.
24/02/08 Aero-News Network, US

Global cargo firms keen to fly into India

New Delhi: The air cargo industry in India is all set to expand its wings. According to ministry of civil aviation, three international companies — FedEx, Malaysia Airlines (MAS) and Australia-based HeavyLift Cargo Airlines — have approached the ministry seeking details on setting up and expanding their operations in India.
The three freighter service providers have sought clarification on the recent Cabinet decision to increase the foreign direct investment (FDI) cap from 49% to 74% in the air cargo sector.
When SundayET contacted FedEx, the official spokesperson declined to comment. “As a matter if policy, we don’t comment on corporate developments,” the spokesperson told SundayET. Currently, there exist only 12 aircraft dedicated to freighter services in India.
According to ministry sources, MAS plans to start a dedicated freighter service between Kuala Lumpur and Delhi this year and is also considering using Delhi as its cargo transit point from Amsterdam and Frankfurt. At present, MAS has no dedicated freighter services to India.
A World Air Cargo report says India is the leading international freight market in the sub-continent. Out of the total 1.4 million tonnes of international cargo that flew in and out of the region, India moved the maximum with 8.82 lakh tonnes.
24/02/08 Raja Awasthi & Dheeraj Tiwari

Air India suspect's witness charged with murder

Metro Vancouver: A key witness for Air India suspect Ripudaman Singh Malik has been charged with first-degree murder in the slaying of a young Surrey man.
Raminder Singh (Mindy) Bhandher, whose father Balwant remains an Air India suspect, will appear in Surrey provincial court Monday morning.
Bhandher, 30, was arrested today. He is alleged to have entered a woman's condo on Jan. 28, 2008 and gunned down 24-year-old Tejvir Singh (Sunny) Bains, her young lover. The woman was the ex-girlfriend of one of Bhandher's closest criminal associates.
Bhandher testified for Malik in May 2004 to refute the testimony of the Crown's star witness who claimed she overheard Bhandher and Malik discussing Air India. Bhandher claimed to be in India when the conversation was said to have taken place. But he also admitted a lengthy involvement in drug trafficking, credit card fraud and other crimes. Bhandher's father Balwant, who was out of town on business when his son was nabbed, remains a close associate of Malik's and a suspect in the June 23, 1985 Air India bombing.
23/02/08 Kim Bolan/Vancouver Sun/Canada.com, Canada

Alleged fraud ring linked to Air India suspects

Edmonton: An Indo-Canadian organization from B.C. with links to Air India bombing suspects allegedly used documents stolen from a private Edmonton registry to underpin a multimillion-dollar auto theft fraud.
Civil court documents filed in Vancouver in support of a lawsuit by Insurance Corp. of B.C. allege an organization that includes an admitted drug dealer obtained vehicle registration documents from an Alberta registry. The court documents don't name the registry or the source of the documents. But law enforcement officials in both provinces say an Edmonton criminal well-known to police engineered the breach at an Edmonton registry. The man's girlfriend worked there and stole the documents for him.
Police sources said that when the couple was arrested in 2003, she had dozens of internal registry documents in her purse. She was fired from the registry but never charged.
"She stole the paper -- identities, blank cards, the whole bit," a police official said.
About 50 vehicles stolen from Kelowna were registered using "easily obtainable stolen registrations" from the Edmonton registry, the official said.
One person named in the suit is Raminder Singh (Mindy) Bhandher, one of the witnesses for the defence in the Air India case. His father, Balwant, was an Air India suspect.
During his 2004 testimony, Mindy Bhandher boasted about his history in Indo-Canadian gang activity, admitted he smuggled marijuana, sold cocaine and ecstasy and carried a handgun. He admitted he had been involved in a credit-card fraud ring in B.C. and Calgary.
23/02/08 Charles Rusnell/Canwest News Service/Times Colonist, Canada

Bumpy road to new Bangalore airport

Bangalore: Even though work on the Bangalore International Airport at Devanhalli, 35 km from the city, is moving at an incredible pace in time for it to be opened on 30 March, the project continues to attract its share of criticism.
The critics, including leaders of the software industry, have been demanding the present airport at Hindustan Aeronautics Limited, should continue to function alongside, if only to meet the requirements of the domestic travellers. Additionally, BIAL’s proposal to charge a user development fee for domestic and international passengers ranging between Rs 675 and Rs 955, respectively, has led to a howl of protests.
On the continuation of the HAL airport, the argument is that road connectivity to the new airport remains a major problem. Successive governments have failed to provide the much needed road and proper rail link to the new airport, travelling to which would take a minimum of two hours provided the traffic jams are negotiated successfully.
This explains the chorus for continuation of the existing airport. Otherwise, the IT industry and others affected argue that flying to short distances like Chennai, for example, would become tedious.
The journey back and forth to the new airport would take three times the flight time. For the record, it takes under 40 minutes to fly from Bangalore to Chennai.
23/02/08 Tyagraj Sharma/The Statesman

A-I checks into newer US routes

New Delhi: The national carrier Air India plans to add more capacity to many cities in the US and expects a growth of 25-30% in its revenues this fiscal from this sector. The revenue from this sector is expected to touch to $830 million in the current fiscal, from $760 million last year.
“We are working aggressively on this sector which has emerged as a big revenue earner. The India-US sector is the largest revenue earner for Air India and offers us enormous potential for growth. We plan to add more aircraft to our fleet to cater better to passengers on this sector.”
The airline plans to start flights to the Silicon Valley of the US, San Francisco, from Indian Silicon Valley Bangalore with effect from August. The carrier, which plans to add 15 Boeing 777-300ER aircraft, will also start flights to Washington and Texas.
In fact, the airline started a non-stop flights between New Delhi and New York last week and offers 12,536 seats per week between India and the US on its 38 weekly flights to four US destinations. New York tops the list with 6,293 seats, followed by Chicago with 2,961 seats, Newark with 2,394 seats and Los Angeles with 888.
24/02/08 Raja Awasthi/Economic Times

New terminals at IGI to be disabled-friendly

Air travellers with physical disability will not face problems while moving at the airport and boarding the plane as the new terminal buildings will be a "disable-friendly" one.
"The new terminal building (T1B) and integrated terminal at the IGI airport will have facilities like ambu-lift, wheel-chair with attendants, walkaletors, parking space near the departure terminal and other facilities," a Delhi International Airport (P) Limited (DIAL) spokesman said.
The new airport building has been designed in such a way that people with disability do not face any problem while boarding the plane.
The integrated terminal (T3) building has been designed by renowned international master planner and architects like Motth Macdonald's and HOK, who have designed and constructed a number of disable-friendly airports in Europe.
24/02/08 PTI/Economic Times