E-tickets a security threat at airports?

Mumbai: E-tickets that can be bought with the click of a button and are fast becoming the norm across the country pose a security threat that airports are grappling with. It was only recently that the ministry of civil aviation discovered that people have found a way to beat the security system and enter an airport without a genuine ticket.
For example, once a person purchases a ticket online, he gets a copy of it mailed to his inbox, which remains even after he cancels the ticket. By simply printing it out and presenting it to the airport security guards, a person can gain entry into a terminal.
This year, nine such cases have been reported at Mumbai, Delhi and Calicut airports. Security officials believe that the number of people misusing e-tickets may be higher as not all cases are easily detectable.
Internationally, all e-tickets are bar-coded and validated at the airports entry point. In India, however, passengers are allowed access to the airport merely by producing the e-ticket along with a proof of identity.
A person need not even go through the trouble of booking and cancelling a ticket. It's possible to download an old ticket and change flight details, the name of the person, etc.
01/10/10 Hemali Chhapia & Chinmayi Shalya/Times of India

Navy disallows landing to tardy flight at Dabolim

Panaji: Naval authorities denied a Kingfisher Airlines flight landing permission at the Dabolim airport on Thursday morning as it failed to arrive on time.
Due to this, the pilot of the KF 4611 ATR aircraft hovered in the sky for about 10 minutes and then flew back to the Bangalore airport without landing.
The flight, with about 51 passengers and crew on board, was scheduled to land at Dabolim airport at 7.45am on Thursday and was to take off from the airport at 8.15am with about 58 passengers. However, when at around 8.45am the pilot asked the Dabolim airport for landing permission, the Navy ATC refused it. The pilot was then left with no choice but to fly the aircraft back to Bangalore with all the passengers onboard. "The flight was scheduled to leave from Bangalore airport at 6.15 am. But there was an unusual phenomenon of fog in the Garden City due to which departure was delayed. The flight departed from the terminal at 7am, but it had to wait at the runway for another 44 minutes due to heavy traffic. By the time, the flight arrived at Goa it was 8.45am.
While the Goa airport generally closes at 9am, it closed early on Thursday, and we were denied landing," said the carrier's official spokesperson, Prakash Mirpuri. However, a Naval spokesperson in Goa said that no scheduled flights are permitted at the airport from 8.30am to 1pm.
01/10/10 Times of India

Air India intensifies regional ops, to revive defunct low-cost unit

Mumbai: National carrier Air India is moving to revive its defunct low-cost unit Alliance Air with a different brand name starting next March to connect smaller cities in the country, said two airline executives familiar with the plan.
The board of Air India, run by National Aviation Co. of India Ltd (Nacil), has given in-principle approval for the project, code-named India Hopper, said the persons, who declined to be named because they aren’t authorized to speak to the media.
The airline will connect so-called tier II and tier III cities with the 45 small 40- and 80-seater planes that Air India plans to have in its fleet over the next three years. The national airline, which has 11 such aircraft now, is looking at turboprop planes manufactured by ATR, a subsidiary of European firm Airbus SAS.
“Air India would not be in a position to buy planes, but we will be looking at leasing more smaller planes to intensify regional operations,” said one Air India executive.
30/09/10 P.R. Sanjai/Live Mint

Kingfisher Airlines: Flying high

Mumbai: Kingfisher Airlines (KFA) has seen renewed investor interest, with the Reserve Bank of India’s approval seen favourable for the company’s impending global depository receipt (GDR) and domestic issues. KFA plans to raise $250 million (about Rs 1,100 crore) through GDRs and Rs 500 crore through a domestic issue in the next couple of months.
The board has also approved a plan to increase preference share capital to Rs 2,600 crore from Rs 100 crore to facilitate the debt recast. The move has seen the board of United Breweries (Holdings) Ltd, its holding company, approve conversion of loans of about Rs 650 crore into preference share capital.
Reports suggest KFA is seeking a two-year moratorium on the interest payment on its debt, which it hopes to repay over the next seven to nine years. With total debt of about Rs 7,922 crore and interest cost of nearly Rs 1,100 crore against a net loss of Rs 1,290 crore, the company had an interest coverage ratio of -0.84 per cent as of March.
Operationally, the year 2010 has spelt a strong revival of the aviation sector.
01/10/10 Priya Kansara Pandya & Sunaina Vasudev/Business Standard

India invites foreign investment in aviation sector

Montreal: India has invited Canadian and other global companies to participate in its booming aviation sector, which has investment opportunities worth USD 150 billion.
"Though India has achieved a lot of progress in this area in a short span of time, still we have a long way to go. Scope for working together is immense as USD 150 billion worth of investment opportunities are available," Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel said at a meeting of top aviation players here yesterday.
He said both the Indian aviation industry and its foreign partners could grow hand in hand to become "partners in progress" in the spectacular growth story of the country's civil aviation sector.
Highlighting several growth indicators of the sector, Patel stressed that global best practices must be adopted so that the country may be equipped to handle this kind of high growth and massive expansion.
30/09/10 PTI/Times of India

Kingfisher to recast Rs 6k-cr debt by next month

Bangalore: Vijay Mallya-led Kingfisher Airlines is expected to finalise the restructuring of its Rs 6,000-crore debt in a month. The development comes ahead of the carrier’s plans to raise $250 million through a global depository receipts (GDR) issue.
“The Reserve Bank has allowed banks to the debt. We are working with a consortium of banks to restructure the entire debt. It should be finalised by next month,” said , CMD, Kingfisher Airlines, at the company’s annual general meeting (AGM) on Thursday.
Mr Mallya said that, of the total debt, 30% will be converted into equity capital by the banks. There is an additional window of Rs900 crore that will also be provided by banks. The has to be repaid in nine years and has a two-year moratorium, along with seven years of easy . It carries an interest of 11%.
UB Holdings will also provide a loan of Rs 735 crore, which will be converted into equity. Earlier this year, Kingfisher had hired management consultancy firm Seabury Aviation & Aerospace to help improve its financial and operational performance.
01/10/10 Sobia Khan/Economic Times

Airbus reaches new heights with Indian supplier

By the end of 2010 every Airbus A320 Family aircraft will be partly made in India. Bangalore based Dynatmatic Technologies, through their partnership with Spirit AeroSystems (Europe) Ltd, will make all wing flap track beams for every variant of Airbus’ best-selling A320 Family aircraft.
The flaps on the wings move along high tech guide rails, known as the flap track beams. These flap track beams are an intricate assembly of tracks which are connected to the wing.
Each A320 Family aircraft wing has three Flap Track Beams and each Flap Track Beam is made from 166 detail parts composed of Titanium, Aluminium and Steel alloys. Dynamatic produces the beams at its newly built, state-of-the-art facility, “Prana”, located in Bangalore, Karnataka Province, Southern India.
This industrial cooperation with Dynamatic Techologies for the A320 Family is part of Airbus’ strategy of fostering partnerships throughout the world, including India. Airbus has been cooperating with India for 35 years.
30/09/10 India Infoline/Sify.com

Hyderabad-based Logistics Company plans to sue Airbus

New Delhi: What does a $35 billion order to supply 179 tankers for the US Air Force have to do with a Hyderabad-based Logistics company? Plenty, says Flyington Freighters which is trying to establish itself as India's only long-haul cargo airline.
The Hyderabad-based firm accused Toulouse-based Airbus industries of using its order for 12 A-330-200 cargo aircraft to pitch for the USAF tanker contract and then delay its deliveries by three years.
EADS North America first bagged the contract in early 2008 proposing a tanker variant of the A-330. The orders were cancelled that year and fresh tenders were floated.
According to a senior Flyington official, Airbus was depending on its proposed production line in Mobile, Alabama to supply aircraft to the Hyderabad firm. The new production facility however did not materialise owing to the rebooting of the USAF deal. Flyington now plans to sue Airbus for breach of contract.
Flyington was to get the first orders in July 2008 but now says deliveries have been pushed to late 2011.
01/10/10 Sandeep Unnithan/India Today

Online travel companies attract renewed interest from investors

As airlines continue to report higher passenger numbers, online travel firms are seeing renewed interest from investors. At least three Indian online travel firms—IxiGO.com, Yatra.com, and Cleartrip.com—are in the process of securing investment through initial public offers (IPOs), private equity or venture capital funding.
The renewed interest in online travel firms, that went through a rough patch when a global economic slowdown hit the travel industry, is being driven largely by the successful listing of Indian online travel firm MakeMyTrip Ltd, that runs Makemytrip.com, on Nasdaq in August, and whose stock soared to three times its IPO price of $14 each.
“The entire profile of online travel firms has risen with Makemytrip’s listing and 20% passenger growth fuelled by overall economic growth,” said Dhruv Shringi, chief executive officer and co-founder of Yatra.com.
“We have been contacted by a few financial and strategic investors in the last few weeks for our growth capital needs,” said Aloke Bajpai, founder and chief executive officer of iXiGO.com, an online travel meta-search company that is looking to raise between $7 million (Rs.31.4 crore) and $10 million for new product development, brand building and expansion into new markets.
01/10/10 P.R. Sanjai & Shraddha Nair/Live Mint

Ethiopian Airlines accepted as future Star Alliance Member Carrier

New Delhi: Star Alliance, the way the Earth connects, today announced that the Chief Executive Board (CEB) has unanimously approved the application of Ethiopian Airlines to join Star Alliance.
“On behalf of the Chief Executive Board, it gives me great pleasure to invite Ethiopian Airlines to join the Star Alliance network. Ethiopian’s extensive intra-African network will provide more choice for our travellers and bring the Star Alliance benefits to new markets. Moreover, we will in future have three main hubs in Africa – Addis Ababa, Cairo and Johannesburg – allowing for an ideal access to the continent from either the North, Centre-East or South”, said Jaan Albrecht, CEO Star Alliance.
“We are happy and honoured to be invited to the big family of airlines. Ethiopian will definitely enhance Star Alliance’s global network. Our long experience in the Africa market, coupled with our strategic hub Addis Ababa, and the recently created Lomé hub will allow Star Alliance members to access many new markets in Africa. Together, we can offer our passengers more convenient flight schedules, greater flight frequencies, a larger network and more on-line connections. All these features improve the quality of the service available to our customers”, said Mr. Girma Wake CEO Ethiopian Airlines.
Ethiopian Airlines will become the third Star Alliance member carrier on the African Continent, joining EGYPTAIR and South African Airways.
The acceptance of Ethiopian Airlines is an integral part of Star Alliance’s Africa strategy. Market studies, conducted by the International Air Transport Association (IATA) as well as by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), show that Africa is forecast to have the second highest growth rate in air traffic over the coming years. Demand will mainly stem from economic growth made possible by increasing political stability and creating better business climate on the continent.
Through its future membership in Star Alliance, Ethiopian Airlines will gain access to the many markets across the globe. By the same token, more business travellers from Ethiopia and across Africa will in future benefit from the Star Alliance customer proposition: world-wide reach via the extensive network, seamless travel and status recognition through the frequent flyer programmes.
The integration teams of Ethiopian Airlines, mentoring carrier Lufthansa and Star Alliance will begin their work shortly, with the aim of completing the membership process within the next 12 months.
Ethiopian Airlines will add five new countries (Chad, Congo, Djibouti, Mali, and Niger) and 24 African destinations to the Star Alliance network, which will then encompass a total of 29 carriers, offering a choice of more than 21,380 daily flights to 1,196 destinations in 186 countries.
29/09/10 PRESS RELEASE/Star Alliance

Recarpeting of Mumbai main runway from November 1

Mumbai: Passengers need to brace themselves for flight delays at Mumbai airport from November 1 as authorities will be closing the main runway for recarpeting for eight hours during the day. From 9 am to 5 pm, the secondary runway with a much lower capacity will be in use, airport officials said.
While the main runway can accommodate upto 34 flight movements and at a stretch up to 40 movements an hour, the secondary runway can accommodate up to 28 movements an hour. The civil aviation ministry has slashed 12 domestic slots in this winter’s schedule. But the total air traffic movements a day at the airport including domestic, international and general aviation movements are expected to be around 750, which would be keep the secondary runway crowded, airport sources said.
This was reinforced by the Executive Director of Jet Airways, Saroj Dutta, last weekend, when he called Mumbai airport a nightmare for airlines and said that only operators knew what problems they faced on a daily basis. Dutta said that the next few months are expected to be extremely tough for airlines at the Mumbai airport with the main runway being closed.
01/10/10 Express India

GE Aviation engine bid lowest for India's jet fighter

Bangalore: General Electric's subsidiary GE Aviation was declared the lowest bidder for supplying engines to power India's second generation Tejas fighters, the Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Mark-2, a senior official said Thursday.
'GE Aviation emerged as the lowest bidder for supplying about 100 engines (GE-414) to fit into the LCA Mk-2,' Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) Chief Controller (R&D) Prahlada told IANS here.
Europe's Eurojet, a sister concern of Eurofighter that manufactures jet engines for its Typhoon fighter, was the other bidder short-listed for the multi-billion rupee tender after the global tender that was was floated in 2009 by the Indian defence ministry.
'Price negotiations and contract finalisation will be worked in the next two months,' Prahlada said. 'GE Aviation will deliver 20 GE-414 engines from 2014 and the rest will be manufactured in India under transfer of technology to our defence establishments.'
According to a statement by the state-run DRDO, the price negotiating committee for the alternate engine declared GE Aviation the lowest bidder after commercial quotes of both the bidders were compared following evaluation and acceptance of their technical offer.
30/09/10 IANS/Sify

Aircraft fuel emissions causing deaths in India: Study

Boston: Aircraft flying above North America and Europe are emitting pollutants that are poisoning the air in India and China, and resulting in deaths of thousands of people in these Asian nations, a new study has said.
The study led by a team at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology says airplanes flying at a cruise altitude of around 35,000 feet emit pollutants that contribute to about 8,000 deaths per year globally.
Due to high speed winds that flow east, air pollution caused by planes flying over North America and Europe is adversely impacting air quality in India and China, it said.
Nearly 3500 people -- almost half of the global number -- die in India and China due to this air pollution. Air travel is heaviest above North America and Europe.
\"Even though the amount of fuel burned by aircraft over India and China accounts for only 10 per cent of the estimated total amount of fuel burned by aircraft across the globe, the two countries incur nearly half - about 3,500 – of the annual deaths related to aircraft cruise emissions,\" the study said.
The research provides the first estimate of premature deaths attributable to aircraft emissions at cruise altitudes.
30/09/10 ExpressIndia