Kingfisher Airlines to raise Rs 5,000 cr

Bangalore: Kingfisher Airlines, owned by Vijay Mallya’s liquor-to-airlines UB Group, on Tuesday said it would raise $1 billion (close to Rs 5,000 crore) through various instruments.
The company’s board approved the airline’s plan to raise the amount through issuance of equity shares or preference shares or through global depository receipts (GDR).
Of the designated amount, the company will immediately seek to raise up to $250 million (Rs 1,100 crore) through GDR issue and another Rs 500 crore through domestic offering. “The funding is expected to be completed within the next three to four months,” a company statement said.
Kingfisher Airlines had earlier said it might raise around Rs 450 crore through GDR and might look at a rights issue for the domestic float.
Vijay MallyaKingfisher Airlines also said it would seek shareholders’ approval to increase its equity share capital to Rs 1,650 crore from Rs 900 crore and authorised preference share capital to Rs 2,600 crore from Rs 100 crore.
01/09/10 Business Standard

State-owned oil marketing companies reduce ATF prices by 4%

New Delhi: State-owned oil firms today cut jet fuel, or ATF, prices by 4%, the first reduction in rates since July, on softening of international oil prices.
Aviation Turbine Fuel (ATF) rates in Delhi will come down by Rs1,715 per kilolitre (kl), or 4.09%, to Rs40,138 per kl from midnight tonight, said an official of Indian Oil Corp, the nation's largest fuel retailer.
The rates for Bharat Petroleum and Hindustan Petroleum, the other dominant jet fuel retailers, will see a similar price hike, as the three state-run firms fix prices in tandem.
The reduction follows two successive rise in prices on August 1 and 16.
In Mumbai, the price of ATF were reduced by Rs1,800, or 4.16%, to Rs41,388 per kl.
31/08/10 PTI/Daily News & Analysis

Airlines may not reduce fares despite ATF cut

New Delhi: Domestic air carriers do not plan to lower air fares despite state-owned oil companies slashing rates of jet fuel by 4% on Tuesday. The aviation turbine fuel (ATF) rates in Delhi will come down by Rs 1,715 per kilolitre (kl), or 4.09%, to Rs 40,138 per kl from midnight Tuesday, said an official of Indian Oil — the nation’s largest fuel retailer.
In Mumbai, the price of jet fuel will come down by Rs 1,800, or 4.16%, to Rs 41,388 per kl. Jet fuel constitutes about 40% of an airline’s operating cost.
This is the first reduction in rates since July, on softening of international oil prices, and follows two successive rise in prices on August 1 and August 16. ATF rates have gone up on 10 occasions since March. Jet fuel in Delhi was priced at Rs 37,982 per kl in the second half of February before international oil rates started firming up, resulting in an increase in domestic rates.
01/09/10 Anindya Upadhyay/Economic Times

Open offer for 20% stake in SpiceJet soon

New Delhi: Media baron Kalanithi Maran is expected to launch his open offer for an additional 20% stake in low-fare carrier SpiceJet Ltd this month after missing an August deadline because of an investor complaint to the capital market regulator, two senior airline executives said.
Sun TV Network Ltd chief Maran, whose firm KAL Airways Pvt. Ltd had in June paid `746 crore for a 37.7% stake in the Gurgaon-based airline, has to make the offer to minority shareholders in line with Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) regulations.
The SpiceJet executives, who both declined to be named, said the application to announce the open offer was awaiting Sebi’s approval.
The open offer had been due to start on 6 August and close on 25 August, but was deferred, with no new dates set and no reason specified for the delay.
01/09/10 Tarun Shukla/Live Mint

Air crash: Unhappy kin may not accept pay off

Mangalore: The Mangalore Air Crash Victims Family Association has resented compensation being paid to victims as in the case of motor vehicle accidents based on the income of the deceased.
This was expressed during the meeting of the association held at Kasargod recently. Thirty four of the victims' kin were present at the meeting. The members decided to attend the meeting called by the legal solicitors of Air India at Mumbai, but reserved the decision to accept the compensation amount. They will study the parameters adopted to give the compensation and have decided not to accept it, if it is lower than their expectations. If many find the compensation amount unacceptable, they will decide on engaging a foreign law firm, who are well versed with such matters, to get higher compensation through mediation with insurance companies.
31/08/10 Times of India

Lower income families get a raw Deal

Mangalore: It's official. Families in the high income bracket are indeed getting more compensation than the lower-salaried victims. The legal counsel for Air India on Tuesday settled three claims at Rs 2.27 crore, for families who lost their kin in the air crash of May 22 this year. The counsel had called five families and three claims were processed till late evening.
Abdul Basheer from Jeppu, whose brother Abdul Rehman lost his wife and son, said that two families in the high income group had got Rs 90 lakh each and another family got Rs 47 lakh as the income of the deceased was low.
Though the compensation amount doled out to victims is guided by the Montreal Convention, families during the counselling process found out that higher salaried individuals get more than US $ 1.6 lakh (roughly Rs 76 lakh) than mandated by the Convention.
Abdulla from Kasargod, who lost his 28-year-old son Anwar Sadiq said that in previous sittings the counsel had first offered Rs 42 lakh. "When we objected they raised it to Rs 45 lakh and then Rs 47 lakh, he said.
31/08/10 Stanley G Pinto/Times of India

If your Mumbai flight’s late, you may just end up in Pune

Mumbai: If your flight is unable to arrive in Mumbai on time from September 8, you may be forced to land up in neighbouring Ahmedabad or Pune. Fliers coming in between 9.30pm pm and 11pm need to be especially careful.
In a bid to make airlines operate on time, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has announced that flights to Mumbai which cannot make it on time will be diverted. However, airlines said that the rule was thoughtless as it would only add to their expenses.
Mumbai airport is becoming a hot-bed for the beginning of disciplinary activity. Last month, the DGCA came up with a push-back rule to ensure timely departure.
The airlines were taken aback by the rules as they claimed that nothing had been communicated to them either by the DGCA or the airport operator. “We are yet to receive formal communication,” a spokesperson for Kingfisher airlines said.
01/09/10 Naveeta Singh/Daily News & Analysis

Malaysia Airlines offers 5 more flights from Delhi to Kuala Lumpur

New Delhi: Malaysia Airlines will offer 5 additional flights from New Delhi to Kuala Lumpur, bringing the total number of flights to 12 weekly non-stop flights to the capital city of Malaysia. The new services will commence operations effective September 1, 2010.
To fete the additional flights, Malaysia Airlines is offering promotional return airfares of Rs 16,376 to Kuala Lumpur, Rs 8,904 to Penang and Rs 19,037 to Langkawi which is valid for travel from Sept 1, 2010 till September 30, 2010.
The new flight departs New Delhi every Monday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday at 12.25pm, arriving in Kuala Lumpur at 2025. The service will be operated on a B737-800 aircraft offering 16 business and 150 economy class seats.
Malaysia Airlines operates 38 weekly flights from India to Malaysia and globally flies to over 100 destinations across 6 continents.
31/08/10 Economic Times

Jumbo flights to land at Patna airport

Patna: The scare is over for now. Jumbo aircraft will land and take-off from the Jaiprakash Narayan International Airport.
The state government has complied with the directorate-general of civil aviation’s (DGCA’s) directive to prune 249 trees on the Patna zoo premises.
A day earlier, cabinet co-ordination department principal secretary Afzal Amanullah visited Delhi and apprised the director-general of civil aviation, Airports Authority of India (AAI) chairman and Union civil aviation secretary of the steps being taken by the state government to remove the obstacles in the approach funnel.
Amanullah told the officials that the state government would meet most of the conditions put forth by the DGCA in the next six-seven months.
The specifications include pruning of about 3,700 trees located inside and outside the Patna zoo, removal of street light poles and advertisement boards on roads outside the Patna airport and demolition of parts of buildings on the north-east side of the airport.
Amanullah made it clear to the officials that reducing the height of the secretariat tower clock by 11.5 metre was a bit difficult task as it was a heritage building.
31/08/10 The Telegraph

Indian filmmaker might get 10 yrs for carrying brass knuckles into airport

Houston: Indian documentary filmmaker Vijay Kumar, who is being prosecuted in the US for carrying brass knuckles in a prohibited place, could get a jail term of upto 10 years if convicted. 40-year-old Kumar,a resident of Malad in Mumbai, was detained at Houston International airport for allegedly carrying
brass knuckles and jihadist literature in his luggage and is now "stuck" in federal custody since last week.
Kumar is being prosecuted for carrying brass knuckles in a prohibited place, a third degree felony, punishable by 2 to 10 years in prison, said Donna Hawkins of the Harris County District attorney's office.
In Texas, brass-knuckles are prohibited by law so he was booked on a felony charge of Possessing a Prohibited Weapon in a Prohibited Place (in this case the airport). The TSA website, states that brass knuckles are allowed on planes in checked luggage, not carry-on bags.
Lawyer Roger Jain said that since Transportation Security Administration regulations allow Knuckles in checked in baggage, which shows that there is no violation for carrying it. Carrying Jihadist literature and a large amount of cash is not an issue, according to Hawkins. But even if a weapon is stored in a checked in baggage and not in carry on baggage, it is a punishable offence, she said. However, since the weapon was in his check-in-baggage, his lawyers argue that it was clear he did not want to attack anyone. If he had such plans, he would have kept it in the hand luggage.
31/08/10 Press Trust Of India/Hindustan Times

Lawyer: India man in agency 'limbo'

An Indian filmmaker freed from jail after being detained by airport security authorities who found "jihadist" literature in his luggage is now in federal custody, stuck in what his lawyer calls "limbo" between state and federal law enforcement agencies.
Vijay Kumar, 40, is expected to ask that bail be set in his case Thursday .
Kumar surrendered his passport to Harris County officials on Aug. 23 pending the outcome of charges he was carrying a weapon in a prohibited place.
Kumar, a Hindu, was detained for carrying brass knuckles and Islamic jihad literature in his checked baggage at George Bush Intercontinental Airport as he tried to leave Houston Aug. 20. After a weekend in jail, Kumar's bail was reduced from $50,000 to $5,000.
After he was released on bail, Kumar's visa, which allowed him to travel between India and America, was revoked by Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Because he had neither a passport nor a visa, he was taken into federal custody, his attorney Grant Scheiner said.
Scheiner said the procedure to get a suspect from federal detention to county jail is difficult, and not guaranteed, because the federal case takes precedence.
If Kumar makes bail, he can fight the state charge to get his passport back, Scheiner said.
Kumar's plight has garnered media interest in India where allegations, which he has rejected, have arisen that he was connected with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, a Hindu fundamentalist organization.
31/08/10 Brian Rogers/Houston Chronicle

Air India perjury trial set to begin

A jury of nine women and three men was selected Tuesday to hear the perjury case against a key witness in the Air India bombing —and they were cautioned by the judge not to research the high-profile case.
After the 12 were selected from a pool of more than 150 potential jurors, B.C. Supreme Court Judge Mark McEwan told them: "I'm telling you in the strongest possible terms: Don't.
"It's very, very important in a jury case that you decide only on the evidence given," he said, adding it would be easy for them to turn to the internet for some background on the Air India trial.
The 12 will determine whether Inderjit Singh Reyat lied during the trial of two men accused in the Air India bombing of 1985.
Ajaib Singh Bagri and Ripudaman Singh Malik faced mass murder and conspiracy charges linked to the deaths of 331 people. They were acquitted in March 2005 after the judge concluded the Crown's witnesses were unreliable.
Reyat, who testified in 2003, was charged with perjury in 2006, accused of lying 27 times during the trial.
31/08/10 The Canadian Press/CBC News

Snag hits cargo clearance

Kolkata: Consignment agents handling air cargo at the Kolkata airport are facing a problem due to the shutdown of the Customs department system that clears import and export goods. Customs officers acknowledged that they were encountering teething troubles migrating to a new system.
Agents said a lot of cargo was stuck at the warehouse.
01/09/10 Times of India