DGCA to monitor routewise tariffs

New Delhi: Following recent instances of airlines hiking fares by 300% on some routes to exploit a massive demand-supply crunch, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has set up a dedicated ''tariff analysis unit'' to monitor routewise tariffs across their networks on regular basis. Airlines had already been asked to give a monthly range of tariffs for all their routes and not charge more than the highest limit. Any change would have to be notified to the DGCA and on websites within 24 hours.
DGCA chief Nasim Zaidi, who introduced these changes and on Tuesday took over as the aviation secretary, said after assuming the new charge: ''We are adopting a twin-pronged approach to fares. One will be asking airlines to give a price band and also give routewise tariffs. We will see airlines don't breach these things.'' While the ministry says it will not interfere in setting fares, it wants to ensure that airlines don't cross their highest published fares in crunch situations.
01/12/10 Times of India

AI training chief Sukumar likely to escape the Axe

New Delhi: Stefan Sukumar is likely to survive the axe and retain his job as the Chief of Training at Air India (AI). The AI board had formed a two-member committee when it last met on November 18 to look into the "process of recruitment" that was followed to appoint Sukumar and submit a report within a fortnight. On the same day, the board had sacked Pawan Arora as the chief operating officer of AI Express.
Hired at an annual package of Rs 1.2 crore, Sukumar’s appointment had run into trouble after the revelation that AI had not even advertised for the post. The committee had detailed discussions with Sukumar and AI officials.
"Sukumar had offers from two international airlines for the same post and AI needed to decide quickly as he would have otherwise taken up some other offer. Also, he was considered the ideal candidate at a time when AI is all set to join the Star Alliance grouping of airlines," said an official. "Sukumar has worked with Lufthansa’s flight training department and knows the requirements for Star Alliance," the official added.
01//12/10 Tushar Srivastava/Hindustan Times

Air India hires yet another consultant

Air India, seemingly ever willing to take advice where it can get it, has appointed yet another consultant. The move comes as the airline struggles to cope with losses and accumulated debt in the midst of a government bailout. Besides this, some recent senior appointments have come under a cloud and the shifting of domestic services to Delhi’s new Terminal 3 in November was marked by chaos.
The latest adviser to have been hired is Deloitte Consulting India Pvt. Ltd, which beat five other contenders—KPMG, McKinsey and Co., Booz and Co. Inc., Bain and Co. and the Boston Consulting Group. It will advise the airline on macro issues and review the turnaround programme.
Under the contract, Deloitte will present a report within two months, suggesting ways of reviving Air India.
Since the government merged Air India and Indian Airlines in 2006, the merged entity has engaged a clutch of consultants.
01/12/10 P.R. Sanjai & Manish Basu/Live Mint

Salary check: AI broke after March

New Delhi: Beleaguered national carrier Air India (AI), battling with a bleeding balance sheet and mounting debts, does not have the finances to pay for salaries of its employees beyond March. The startling revelation has forced the country's aviation bosses to sit up and take notice of the clear and present danger.
Senior airline executives briefed top civil aviation ministry officials about the company's deteriorating financial condition on Monday ahead of the crucial Group of Ministers meeting of AI on December 6.
Unless the government immediately releases the remaining Rs 1,200 crore equity support, which has been opposed by finance and home ministries, it would be very difficult for the airline to sustain operations, the Ministry has been told. AI CMD Arvind Jadhav is on record as saying that the airline needs an infusion of Rs 10,000 crore in equity and another Rs 10,000 crore in interest-free loan to regain financial health.
01/12/10 Tushar Srivastava/Hindustan Times

Air India expat COO earns up to Rs 3.26 cr a year

New Delhi: Loss-making state-owned carrier Air India’s expat Chief Operating Officer Gustav Baldauf gets paid almost double the salary drawn by those on the board, barring the five independent directors. Baldauf, who joined the airline in June 2010, is entitled to an annual compensation of up to euro 5 million or Rs 3.26 crore according to information tabled by civil aviation minister Praful Patel in Parliament today. He was appointed on a contract-basis for three years, extendable by two years.
Six functional directors on Air India’s board are paid between Rs 1.3 lakh and Rs 2 lakh per month each and the airline’s CMD Arvind Jadhav is paid up to Rs 1.5 lakh, and two government nominees are paid a total of up to Rs 1.6 lakh. This brings the monthly pay of board members, barring independent directors, to around Rs 15 lakh, almost half the salary package of airline’s COO.
Of the total package, euro 3.48 million or Rs 2 crore is the fixed component that includes house rent allowance and other perks; and the rest (euro 2 million or Rs 1.19 crore) is performance-linked pay.
01/12/10 Indian Express

Foreign carriers scaling up India ops as growth takes off

Mumbai: It’s not just the domestic air carriers that are riding the aviation boom. In the past few months a number of foreign carriers have either resumed or increased services to the Indian destinations. They are looking at adding new destinations and providing value added services to lure travellers in the one of the world’s largest markets.
“The growth of the Indian economy has resulted in the growth of the masses. India has a 300 million strong middle class who can afford outbound travel,” said Olan Bundhuratana, general manager- India, Thai Airways International.
Thai Airways is not the only one looking at the India story. Lufthansa, Air Asia and Air Arabia are some of the players which have either introduced new flights, increased frequencies or lined up value-adds.
Within India, Mumbai and Delhi seem to be the first priority to increase frequencies. Recently, Thai Airlines announced three flights between Mumbai and Bangkok, taking the total number of weekly flights to ten. It plans go double daily on this route by April with 14 weekly flights. Austrian Airlines, which had suspended Mumbai flights around a year-and-a-half back, has also resumed five flights on the Mumbai-Vienna route.
Some of these airlines are also looking at other Indian cities. Lufthansa is also keen on increasing its exposure here and along with Mumbai is looking to increase frequencies in Pune. Air Arabia is also seeking to ramp up operations.
01/12/10 Amritha Pillay/Daily News & Analysis

Air India purser delays flight for dahi bhaat

Mumbai: A senior purser delayed an AI 188 Toronto-New Delhi flight by 10 minutes on November 26 because the airline refused to yield to his demands of serving him dahi bhaat (curd rice). He stood adamantly on the aerobridge and refused to enter the plane unless the caterer and airport authorities agreed to serve him his special meal.
"The flight was to leave at 11.50am and the Boeing 737-300ER was still attached to the aerobridge. He stood there arguing with the caterer about his meal -- a request made at the last minute," said an AI crew member. "The airport manager tried to reason with him, but he refused to budge. When the security manager intervened, the purser said he won't let the flight take off unless he was served curd rice."
Fed up with his tantrums, the captain asked the crew to close the doors of the aircraft.
The purser realised his drama won't yield any results and entered the plane. But he continued to trouble the crew inside the plane during the 14-hour journey.
He pretended to be unwell and said he wanted to sleep. He even changed his uniform and wore a lungi to the chagrin of other crew members.
30/11/10 Naveeta Singh/NDTV.com

Suspects in Ambani helicopter sabotage acquitted: no proof

Mumbai: A sessions court on Tuesday acquitted, for want of evidence, two suspects accused of tampering with the gearbox of industrialist Anil Ambani’s personal chopper last year.
The court, while acquitting Uday Wanekar and Pairaj Thewar, employees of the firm responsible for maintaining the helicopter who were suspended after the incident, did not rule out the role of an insider from the firm, Airworks in the sabotage.
In the first-ever order under the Suppression of Unlawful Acts against Safety of Civil Aviation Act, 1982 (SUSCA), the sessions court made sharp observations on the role of Airworks. The court also said the police had failed to find the main suspect.
In April 2009, a technician had found pebbles in the filter cap of the compound gearbox of the helicopter, a VT RCL- 412.
The court said the role of the accused was not clearly pointed out and the prosecution had been unable to establish the management’s innocence.
01/12/10 Sukanya Shetty/Indian Express

Madhavan Nambiar Hands Over Charge as Civil Aviation Secretary to Nasim Zaidi

M. Madhavan Nambiar, on his superannuation, today handed over the charge of the office of Secretary, Ministry of Civil Aviation to Syed Nasim Ahmad Zaidi. Nambiar, IAS had joined as Secretary, Civil Aviation on 17 September, 2008. During his tenure he contributed immensely to the growth of the Civil Aviation Sector. Dr. N. Zaidi, IAS is presently the Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA). He joined as the Director General of Civil Aviation in November, 2008. Prior to this assignment, Dr. Zaidi served as the Permanent Representative of India to the Council of ICAO since 2005. Before that he was Joint Secretary in the Ministry of Civil Aviation.
30/11/10 Press Information Bureau

Space crunch at Patna airport forces airline officials to revoke decision

Patna: Space crunch at the Jaya Prakash Narayan International (JPNI) Airport here has forced some airline officials to withdraw their recent decision not to allow air travellers to go out of the security area after once entering it. "The new guidelines of airline authorities have been withdrawn after the intervention of the airport management," a senior Airport Authority of India official told TOI. The latest decision is seen as a security hazard.
The decision is in contravention of the air traffic protocols applicable throughout the country, said an airport official.
At almost all airports in the country, passengers are not allowed to come out of the `Security Hold Area' after the issuance of boarding cards. But at JPNI airport, the scene was completely different till quite recently. Air travellers here could come out of the security area.
"It was a wrong practice, creating problems in managing passengers. It was a peculiar situation unlike other parts of the country," JPNI airport manager of an air carrier told TOI.
01/12/10 Times of India

Private airlines challenge ground handling policy

New Delhi: India’s major private airlines have approached the Delhi High Court seeking quashing of the new ground handling policy framed by the government.
The new policy restricts the private airlines to undertake self ground handling at all the metropolitan airports - Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Bangalore and Hyderabad. These services include passenger and baggage handling activities at the airport terminals and traffic service including the passenger check-in. The other ground handling services includes aircraft handling, loading and unloading, flight operations, surface transport etc. These services are proposed to be undertaken by the airline operator or subsidiary companies of the national carrier - National Aviation Company of India Ltd. or their joint ventures specialized in ground handling services. The policy also restricts the foreign airlines and the private independent ground handing service providers to undertake self ground handling and ground handling at joint user Defence airfields. The new policy is to be implemented by January 2011.
30/11/10 Abhijit Pandey/Law et al. news

Advance Passenger Information System in six international airports: Govt.

Minister of State for Home Affairs Mullappally Ramachandran said on Tuesday that Advance Passenger Information System (APIS) in Phase-I has been introduced at six International Airports at Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad, Bangalore and Cochin.
In a written reply to a question in Lok Sabha, Ramachandran stated that under APIS all airline operators flying into India are required to provide passengers particulars electronically in the prescribed format, within 15 minutes of their take off from the port outside India, in flat file to the concerned Immigration authorities in India.
In Phase-II, APIS is proposed to be implemented at all the 26 international airports in the country in a centralized mode to facilitate the operationalisation of APIS at all the international airports in the country.
30/11/10 ANI/Sify.com

AAI nod to Chandigarh international airport

Chandigarh: With the Airports Authority of India (AAI) clearing its architectural designs and building maps, the foundation stone for the international terminal coming up at Chandigarh airport is likely to be laid in a couple of months, it is learnt.
According to sources, both the AAI board and the joint venture floated to oversee the project recently cleared the designs and maps and approved the architect. Detailed estimates are now being prepared for the first phase of the airport, which will be submitted to AAI in March.
AAI has, meanwhile, sanctioned around Rs 500 crore for the first phase of the project. Of this amount, Rs 250 crore is for construction of the terminal building spread over 3,14,500 square metres, Rs 50 crore is for external development (road and parking within airport) and Rs 90 crore for apron construction, Rs 35 crore for hangar construction, while Rs 40 crore will be for the cargo area.
30/11/10 Indian Express

AI signs MoU with employees for payment of interim relief

Mumbai: Cash-strapped Air India, whose management has been considering slashing salaries and allowances of its employees, has signed an MoU with its officers' association to pay interim relief which would put an annual burden of Rs 36 crore.
The company signed an MoU with the Air India Officers Association (AIOA) on Friday for the release of the ad-hoc interim relief for general cadre of officers of NACIL-A effective from April 1, airline sources said today.
The MoU, which has been approved by CMD Arvind Jadhav, entails an interim relief of Rs 10,000-15,000 per month in the productivity-link incentives (PLI) of general category of over 2,200 erstwhile Air India officers.
The agreement has been signed ahead of a case filed by the AIOA in the Mumbai High Court.
30/11/10 PTI/Economic Times

Amritsar-Toronto flight to resume soon

New Delhi The government on Tuesday decided to soon resume the Amritsar-Toronto Air India flight, the discontinuation of which since October has caused a lot of problems to frequent non-resident Indian fliers to Punjab.
The assurance to restore the flight was given by Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel to Punjab Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal, who headed a SAD-BJP delegation to lodge strong protest over the cancellation of the flight.
The national carrier had withdrawn the service as part of cost-cutting measures and on the ground that the airlines was making huge losses in the sector.
Badal later told reporters that millions of Sikh and Punjabi diaspora settled abroad invariably travel by this particular flight to and from Amritsar for religious tourism and pay obeisance at the Golden Temple, which is the highest spiritual seat of the Sikh religion.
Accompanied by Amritsar BJP MP Navjot Singh Sidhu and other BJP and SAD MPs, Badal said it was evident from records that the particular flight was flying with full passenger capacity load and the discontinuation of the service caused a huge loss of revenue to the national carrier and also compromised on the viability of the Amritsar airport, which would lose about Rs 10 crore per year.
30/11/10 ExpressIndia

Chandigarh airport’s new international terminal may get more approach roads

Chandigarh: The UT Administration and Haryana are mulling the construction of additional approach roads that would lead to the international terminal that would be coming up at Chandigarh Airport. The areas from where the roads can be constructed are being studied.
The aim of constructing the approach roads is to ensure better access for the residents of the city as well as for those coming from Haryana. A meeting regarding the issue was held today. The feasibility of having either one or multiple approaches is being considered.
Airports Authority of India (AAI) has cleared the architectural designs and building maps of the terminal. Chandigarh, Punjab and Haryana have a stake in the airport. Another option being mulled is having access to the terminal from within the airport by construction of an underpass. An official of the Administration said that the main aim is that residents should be able to access the airport easily.
30/11/10 Indian Express

New Delhi 4th Nasair destination to India

Nasair announced the launch of the new destination Riyadh - New Delhi - Riyadh as of Dec 2nd, 2010 by 3 flights a week at promotional prices starting from SR 250. This was stated by Mr. Simon Stewart - CEO of Nasair, adding that by launching the New Delhi route Nasair has completed its plan to expand its network in India to 4 stations in 2010, having already launched three other destinations to Mumbai, Cochin and Calicut.
Furthermore, Simon added that India is one of the strategic destinations for Nasair, which requires in depth planning expanding in that promising market, as all the market studies shows high demand to cover the needs of travelers between Saudi Arabia and India extensively.
On the other hand Mr. Stewart said, that Nasair is proud of the 4 million loyal clients travelled in 2010 to 24 domestic and international destinations to 24 destinations, on board Nasair young fleet consisting of 13 aircraft.
30/11/10 AME Info.com