Official sources in the Arunachal Pradesh Government have said they are attempting to get in touch with some witnesses in Bhutan who have claimed seeing a chopper descending in their area, and then taking off in a north easterly direction.
The statement came as the search operation for missing Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Dorjee Khandu and four others was called off on Sunday due to inclement weather and receding light. The Government of India is trying to get in touch with the Bhutanese locals.
Meanwhile, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has released images of the area where its two satellites were used to try to find the missing chopper.
The chief minister's principal secretary, Yeshi Tsering, has also revealed that he received a phone call from a person who told him that the chief minister was safe in Bhutan. He suggested that it could have been Khandu. But this is yet to be corroborated and confirmed.
Pawan Hans has defended itself by saying that the missing helicopter was four-months old and in perfect condition technically.
In a statement, Pawan Hans said VIPs had used the chopper previously without experiencing any problem.
The defence of the chopper came as Chief Minister Khandu's adviser Kiren Rijiju said there was need to take a strong view on the maintenance capabilities of Pawan Hans.
He said the maintenance of choppers by the organization was erratic. He also said that as of now there was no official confirmation about the chopper landing in Bhutan.
The missing Pawan Hans AS350 B-3 helicopter that took off from Tawang at 9.50 a.m. on Saturday lost communication with the ground after it flew past the Sela Pass along the Chinese border about 20 to 25 minutes later. The helicopter was scheduled to land in Itanagar at 11.30 a.m. on Saturday.
On Saturday, several media reports quoted Arunachal Pradesh Governor General (retired) J J Singh and Chief Secretary Bam as saying that the helicopter had landed safely somewhere in eastern Bhutan adjoining Tawang district and that the same helicopter was flying back to Guwahati with the chief minister on board.
Bhutan, however, later denied that any Indian helicopter had landed in its territory, but said a search operation was launched following request from New Delhi.
Apart from Khandu, the people on board included crew members Captain J S Babbar and Captain K S Malick, Khandu's security officer Yeshi Choddak and Yeshi Lamu, sister of Tawang legislator Tsewang Dhondup.
01/05/11 ANI/Sify
Sunday, May 01, 2011
Eyewitnesses in Bhutan say they saw chopper trying to land
Utter confusion prevails over the missing helicopter of Arunachal CM Khandu Dorjee
New Delhi: Utter confusion prevailed over the missing helicopter of Arunachal Chief Minister Khandu Dorjee, with neither the Centre nor State in control of the search operations. A helicopter carrying Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Dorjee Khandu and four others went missing on Saturday shortly after take off from Tawang.
The chopper was last in communication with the base when it was overflying Sela Pass, 20 minutes after taking off from Tawang, and all communications were lost after that.
On Saturday, the Governor of Arunachal Pradesh, Gen (retd) J J Singh in an impromptu press conference called without any consultation with Centre, said that Chief Minister Khandu had landed safely in a place called Daporijo in Upper Subansiri district. After Singh's statement, search operations to find the missing helicopter were called off.
But, immediately after the press conference, when the Home Ministry enquired from J J Singh as to how did he reach this conclusion (of the CM's helicopter landing safely), the latter said that he got the information from a state minister who in turn is said to have received the information form the Tawang MLA.
There are two routes from Tawang to Itanagar. While one route is through Sela Pass, the other one is via Tawang Chu -Guwahati to Itanagar.
Initial reports from the Army had said that the missing helicopter had passed over the Sela Pass, but later, a post of 5th mountain division denied having seen any helicopter passing over the Sela Pass.
01/05/11 Shishir Gupta/Indian Express
Search was called off after reports of chopper landing: Army
New Delhi: The search operation to trace the missing chopper carrying Arunachal Chief Minister Dorjee Khandu was called off yesterday after media reports claimed that it had landed safely, Army Chief General V K Singh said here today.
However, he said that the operation was resumed this morning and no further information has been received so far."The operation (to search the missing chopper) was called off yesterday after media reports that it had landed safely. But it was resumed today morning and so far there is no further information on it," General Singh said on the sidelines of a seminar here.
There was a state of confusion yesterday in the afternoon with claims made by Arunachal Pradesh Governor Gen (retd) J J Singh first and then by the Chief Minister's Office and Defence spokesperson that the Chief Minister had landed safely in a place called Daporijo in Upper Subansiri district there.The CM's office had said the helicopter had landed in a place in Bhutan. However, later in the evening denials came from all concerned saying helicopter had not been located and search operation was still on.
"The helicopter is missing and the search operation is still on," Union Home Secretary Gopal K Pillai had said here last evening. The Arunachal Pradesh government said that it is yet to ascertain the whereabouts of the Pawan Hans chopper which went missing since morning with the Chief Minister and four others on board. Arunachal Pradesh Deputy Inspector General (DIG) of Police Robin Hibu had said joint search operation for the missing copter will be conducted by Army, Air Force and state police from today morning by air and through ground.
01/05/11 PTI/IBN Live
Meira Kumar worried about safety of Arunachal Pradesh chief minister
The Speaker was monitoring the development and was keeping herself updated about the search and rescue operations, they said.
Kumar had met Khandu on April 28 during her visit to Itanagar to attend the 13th annual conference of the North East Region Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (NERCPA).
The fate of the chief minister, whose helicopter went missing shortly after take off from Tawang yesterday, is unknown even as the Army, SSB, ITBP and the state police have launched a massive ground operations to locate it.
01/05/11 Daily News & Analysis
Bad weather affects search operations of missing AP CM's chopper
Over 1000 villagers search for missing Arunachal CM
IAF, soldiers scour mountains for missing chopper
Isro's help sought to locate CMs copter
Indo-Bhutan troops search Arunachal CM
Joint operations resumed to search Arunachal CM
Day 5: Six more unions pledge support to striking AI pilots
New Delhi: The Air India pilots’ strike gained momentum on its fifth day on Sunday with six pilots’ union pledging support to the banned ICPA (Indian Commercial Pilots Association) which is spearheading the agitation, a news channel reported.
The national carrier has cut its domestic operations to 40 flights from its regular 165 for Sunday.
Out of 66 Air India domestic flights from Delhi, only 13 will operate today while from Mumbai, out of 55 flights of the airline only 9 will operate.
The total flight cancellations from the financial capital stood at 78.
Nearly 850 AI pilots are continuing their strike ignoring stern warning of sacking by the management and the Delhi High Court's decision to initiate contempt proceedings against them.
Pilots are on strike demanding fixed salary, a CBI probe into the mismanagement of the airline and the removal of its CMD.
The airline tried to put in place some alternative strategies to minimise hardships caused to hundreds of stranded passengers by taking two aircraft from Kingfisher Airlines on wet lease and flew a large number of them to Patna, Varanasi and Mumbai. Pilots are also made available in a wet lease arrangement.
Though earlier, there was speculation that Air India was in talks with Kingfisher to "loan" pilots to fly their aircraft. However, a Kingfisher spokesperson denied any such move.
01/05/11 PTI/ZeeNews
Pilots across airlines back strike
Mumbai: Support poured in for the striking pilots’ union on Saturday with the Air Line Pilots’ Association (ALPA), India, an umbrella body comprising pilots from Air India, Jet Airways and Kingfisher Airlines issuing a note of support for ICPA, the pilots’ union of Air India that is protesting. Around 2,000 pilots from ALPA will wear black bands to protest against the AI management’s stand. “As it is International Labour Day on Sunday, the gesture condemns labour problems faced by the pilot community,” said an ALPA, India, spokesperson.
At least 135 of 165 domestic flights were withdrawn by the national carrier on Day 4 of the strike as the required number of pilots were not available for duty, airline officials said.
Meanwhile, ICPA, on Saturday, accused the management of approaching private airlines to sabotage the protest.
“The airline chairman had once asked us to operate flights for Paramount Airways, a now defunct Chennai-based airline, which we flatly refused. Now, again we have heard of certain moves by them to benefit other private airlines,” said captain Rishabh Kapur, general secretary, ICPA.
01/05/11 Soubhik Mitra & Agencies/Hindustan Times
Gulf passengers hit hard by AI strike
Kozhikodu/Kochi: The passengers to the Gulf countries have been hit hard by the ongoing Air India strike. For Mehmud and Ismail bound for Dubai from Karipur, not many options were left. Either cancel the ticket and take another one or wait to see if Air India arranges another flight. But buying a ticket in another airlines will cost more.
Air India Express has the cheapest fare. Now a normal ticket costs Rs 2000 more than the charge for the same in Air India. Both men were confused. They hoped to get help from Union Minister Mullappally Ramachandran, but the announcement came that he would be coming late. There was no time to lose and the frustrated men headed to the Air India counter to check the alternative arrangement.
Just like them, hundreds of Gulf passengers are suffering due to the ongoing strike by a section of Air India pilots.
In the last three days, Air India's daily flights to Dubai and Sharjah (AI 937 and AI 997) from Kozhikode were cancelled. Though 280 passengers were supposed to travel by one flight, only one additional flight having a capacity of 186 passengers was pressed into service till Saturday noon. According to Shanavas Gaffer, branch manager of a leading travel agency, a Jumbo aircraft is likely to be pressed into service on Sunday covering Dubai and Sharjah to meet the emergency. But there is no official confirmation regarding this.
However, no Air India Express flights starting from Kozhikode were cancelled till Saturday evening.
As almost all the domestic flights of Air India were badly affected in Kerala on Saturday, an official spokesperson of Air India said in Kochi that the domestic passengers were given the option of either re-booking or full refund of the ticket charge.
01/05/11 Athul Lal A G and Byju Aryad/ExpressBuzz
Me, my family, my son-in-law: Pilots want a freebie parivar
New Delhi: What the striking Air India pilots don’t mention in their litany of complaints is how at a board meeting earlier this year they vehemently opposed any curbs on their royal privileges — “passages” or free return trip tickets for their family. And even refused to accept the private airline definition of “family”.
Unlike private airlines’ employees, who have restricted passages and specific definition of family to include only immediate members such as self, spouse, dependent children and parents, Air India’s definition is far more generous.
According to Air India, an employee’s family, entitled to travel free with him/her, includes: spouse, children, step-children, parents, brothers, sisters, sons-in-law, daughters-in-law and even grandchildren up to 12 years.
Even those who have retired are entitled to passages. “This has led to a situation where former Air India employees, currently employed with private airlines, avail passages on Air India,” said another executive.
In fact, freebies like passages are at the heart of the trouble fomenting at the airline, and one of the main reasons why the union decided to declare a strike. The matter was raised repeatedly at union leaders’ first meeting with Civil Aviation Minister Vayalar Ravi, soon after the strike notice in February.
In a proposal submitted to a Board committee looking into the harmonisation of pay and working conditions of erstwhile Indian Airlines and Air India, the only concession unions wanted to make was drop “grandchildren” from the definition of family.
Air India and erstwhile Indian Airlines follow separate policies on “passages”, entitlement to which depends on factors like rank and years in service. Over and above this privilege, employees are also entitled to “discounted passages”, where discounts may vary from 50 per cent to 90 per cent for family.
01/05/11 ExpressIndia
AI pilots will lose salaries, colleagues too may be hit
With the agitating pilots belonging to Air India’s domestic wing defying the management’s deadline to report to work, the remaining staff too are likely to bear the brunt of the ongoing strike. The management, in consultation with the government, has decided to stop the agitating pilots’ salary and withdraw their perks.
“The airline is following the ‘no work, no pay’ principle. This means the salaries of the rest of the staff for the duration of the strike would get affected too as the aircraft lie grounded and there is no work,” said a senior airline executive. On an average, the salaries of rest of the employees are likely to get affected by Rs 20,000-30,000, said the executive.
On day four of the strike, the airline operated only 20 per cent of the normal daily schedule on its domestic network with just 10 commanders and 25 unconfirmed pilots belonging to erstwhile Indian Airlines taking to skies. The airline took two Kingfisher planes on wet lease — a lease that includes flight and cabin crew — to operate trunk routes.
“The airline will firm the flying schedule for the next fortnight and start taking bookings,” said an airline spokesperson.
The airline added that pilots, along with engineers, were the highest paid in the aviation industry.
01/05/11 Smita Aggarwal/IndianExpress
Air India to operate only 40 flights as strike enters 5th day
As the strike by Air India pilots entered the fifth day on Sunday, the national carrier reduced its operation to 40 flights across its network against the regular 165.
“We are continuing with our contingency plans and will be operating 40 domestic flights across the country today. We will be utilising Boeing 737 aircraft of our subsidiary Air India Express on some of the sectors,” an Air India spokesperson said.
The national carrier will be operating 14 flights, including one each to Kathmandu and Dubai, on Sunday out of its scheduled 52 flights from the national capital.
The stand-off between striking pilots and Air India management continues with both sides refusing to budge from their respective stand.
01/05/11 PTI/The Hindu
Kingfisher leases out planes to stricken AI
New Delhi: Air India's domestic services remained virtually grounded on Saturday as the pilots' strike entered the fourth day. Barely 10% of the 320 daily domestic and short-haul international flights, operated by the erstwhile Indian Airlines , operated, leaving thousands of flyers stranded.
The pilots' agitation received "a shot in the arm" on Saturday when UPA ally Trinamool Congress extended its support. "The government can talk to people from across the border... AI is the foundation of civil aviation in India. Thinking of privatizing or declaring a lock-out or even moving court is not a solution. The management has to understand that the pilots are their own people and not outsiders. Every pilot loves AI. The solution is very easy: talk to your own people. I can guarantee that if spoken to with respect, which everyone deserves, a solution can be reached in a matter of a few hours," Trinamool MP and minister of state for health Dinesh Trivedi said.
With the Indian Commercial Pilots' Association (ICPA), supported by the management pilots, striking work and the management refusing to budge from its stand, AI had to take two aircraft from Kingfisher on wet lease and operate them on the Delhi-Mumbai-Delhi and Delhi-Patna-Varanasi-Delhi sectors. However, the airline said the arrangement was on a transfer-of-passenger agreement.
The earlier plan of taking 25 to 26 sets of pilots from Kingfisher to fly AI's domestic planes, as both operate Airbus A-320 planes, did not, however, materialize.
01/04/11 Times of India
Civil Aviation minister rules out partial lockout of Air India due to pilots' strike
New Delhi: Refuting media reports that Air India may be partially locked out due to pilots' strike, Union Civil Aviation Minister Vayalar Ravi on Saturday said that chartered flights have been arranged to ferry stranded passengers.
When asked if the national carrier may be partially locked out due to the strike, Ravi said: "No, that is the media report. Nothing has been discussed like that. Some of them are on strike but we are trying to maintain, as much as possible, flights."
About 130 flights were cancelled as nearly half of Air India's 1,600 pilots continued their agitation for the fourth day. So far nine pilots have been sacked.
The airline has stopped taking fresh bookings.
"I have given instructions to inform international centres like New York, England everywhere that these are the connectivity available to them. These connectivities are available in coordination with private airlines also. We have stopped booking for the last two days. It means fresh passengers will come. Those who have booked already, they will be transported with existing flights as well as with chartered flights also," said Ravi.
During the meeting with striking pilots, the minister assured to appoint a judicial committee to look into their grievances of salary hike, merger of erstwhile domestic Indian Airlines with Air India and other demands.
30/04/11 ANI/Economic Times
Private jet demand increasing in corporate India
Mumbai: Shuffling between cities and visiting remote locations has become easier for corporate India that has turned towards executive jets to ferry them whenever and wherever they want. "India has realized a 46 percent increase in registered private jets in the past 36 months," Justin Lee Firestone, Group Managing Director, Firestone Management, which recently came out with a bi-annual report on Indian aviation said, as per an IANS report.
Though small in number, the niche is witnessing a boom, thereby attracting all major aircraft manufacturers to India. Firestone added "The growth opportunity for private jet manufacturers to deliver their products into India is tremendous.”
The report says that India currently has a total of 136 private jets made by global aircraft manufacturers like Hawker Beechcraft, Cessna, Bombardier and Gulfstream. The spurt in demand of these technologically advanced and luxurious aircraft is the realisation of an unmet demand and current travel needs of the industry, said Amber Dubey, Director for Aerospace and Defence with global consultancy KPMG.
"With the demand for business travel on the rise, corporate sector and high-net individuals have started to realise the benefits of owning an executive jet. It saves time and gives hassle-free travel," added Dubey. Dubey further foresees the demand for the executive jet sector to be on the higher side in the coming three-to-four years. Currently, private jets' range varies from around USD 4 million to USD 58 million.
The owners' club includes like DLF's KP Singh, Raymond's Gautam Singhania, Reliance Group's Mukesh Ambani and GMR group's GM Rao. According to the official data by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), the private jet fleet in the country is around 135 out of a total of 1,146 aircraft.
30/04/11 TravelBizMonitor
Take off isn’t far away
Aviation enthusiasts across the world fulfil their desire to get wings through virtual flying. India has been a late starter in the domain— here it is still at a very early stage to be called a trend.
Microsoft flight simulator software, easily available in video games stores, is what is required to get initiated into the virtual world of aviation. But it is only the beginning of a journey that invariably gets driven by the desire to get as close to real as possible.
Not many know it better than Vybhava Srinivasan. The Bangalorean chartered accountant’s girlfriend, now his wife, gifted him simulation software seeing his interest in aviation. Today, more than seven years later, Vybhava, who works in PricewaterhouseCoopers, has built at home a Boeing 737 NG (next-generation) cockpit.
It’s a complex mix of hardware and software he accumulated over a period of time. The 737 has an advanced instrument panel, yoke, throttle quadrant, multi-functional displays, auto-pilot and autothrottle panels and even original pilot’s seats—old Boeing 727 seats made available to him by a friend in Indonesia, but for a price.
The process took more than two years—and left a hole in his pocket.
Yet, for Vybhava, flight simulation is more than a hobby today. From being a “pilot”, he has grown into managing the affairs of global virtual aviation community. He is a director of International Virtual Aviation Organisation (IVEO), a Belgium based non-profit group that provides infrastructure to fliers through a network of 16 servers across the world including one in India. Vybhava is also executive VP (administration) of mycockpit.org, the world’s largest home cockpit building community.
IVEO is one of the biggest communities of online fliers, rivalled only by Virtual Air Traffic Simulation Network (Vatsim). “If IVEO is European, Vatsim is American,” says Vybhava, lamenting that the two networks have only minimal presence in India despite the huge world-wide popularity.
01/05/11 Gautam Datt/ExpressBuzz
Flyers' trouble doubled by runway closure
Mumbai: For flyers, who are already going through a harrowing time owing to the ongoing Air India pilots' strike, the five-hour closure of cross-runways at the city airport on Saturday only added to their woes.
The repair work on the cross-runways between 11.30 am and 4.30 pm translated into 100 fewer flights and a jam-packed schedule on the popular sectors due to the weekend rush. Of the 56 AI flights scheduled to take off from Mumbai, 39 were called off and besides, 39 landing flights were cancelled.
Owing to the impasse, the prices of the few available seats for the next two days have shot up, pushing them up to Rs 15,000-Rs 20,000. Most flyers are now left with no option but to wait till the eleventh hour to ascertain their flight status.
Airport officials also admitted that flight seats were scarce on According to tour operators , fares would be lower on Sunday than that on Monday , when the rush would be maximum. A ticket on Delhi-Mumbai flight is selling for Rs 7,500-10 ,000 on Sunday, while the rate on Monday has gone up to Rs 10,000-16 ,000. Similarly, a flight to Chennai costs Rs 11,000-15 ,000 on Sunday but the ticket on Monday has shot up to Rs 15,000-Rs 23,000.
01/05/11 Chinmayi Shalya
AI staff leave counter unattended; fliers fume
New Delhi: The ordeal for Air India (AI) passengers seems far from over. If the AI pilots’ strike was not enough, an unresponsive management at the Indira Gandhi International Airport is adding to the passengers’ woes. On Saturday afternoon, the officials at the AI counter at Gate No. 8 decided that they had had enough and left the counter unattended even as stranded passengers waited for an answer to their problem.
“We were asking the officials about our flight schedule when they suddenly announced that their duty was over and left the counter,” said Arun Aggarwal, who was hoping to board a Mumbai flight last night at 11.
Passengers were sitting inside the unattended counter, holding placards that read, “Air India holding passengers hostage”.
Harassed passengers, meanwhile, continued to spend nights on the floor of the lobby, while some complained of lost baggage and misplaced boarding passes.
“We have been at the airport since Friday night. We were supposed to catch a connecting flight to Mumbai and from there to Hyderabad. We were promised seats on a Jet Airways flight but nothing has happened so far,” said Yogesh Gupta, who reached Delhi from Hong Kong last night.
For Ashiq Hussain, waiting to board a flight to Srinagar, the delay the delay is more worrisome.
30/04/11 Mallica Joshi/Hindustan Times
India is building helicopter MROs
India’s growing helicopter market is fueling the need for helicopter MRO services, and Indian companies are stepping in to meet the demand.
There are currently 16 operators providing MRO services for helicopters in India, according to the Rotor Wing Society of India. In addition to state-owned Pawan Hans and HAL, other companies providing helicopter servicing facilities are Air Works, India Engg, Deccan Charters, Mesco Airlines, Shauriya, Summit Aviation, AR Airtech, OSS, Indo Pacific, Indamar, Trans Bharat, India International, Indocopters and Heligo. However, the growing aviation sector and government investment in the industry is encouraging investors to set up facilities in India.
Air Works, which currently services the Bell 206, 407, 412, 427 and 429, the AgustaWestland AW109 and the Eurocopter AS365N3 Dauphin at its facilities in Mumbai, Pune, Delhi, Chennai and Bengaluru, plans to offer “complete repair and overhaul of helicopters by the third quarter of this year,” according to executive director Ravi Menon. Helicopters currently account for 20 percent of Air Works’ MRO business.
Integrated Helicopter Services (IHS), a joint venture between Vectra Group India and Russian Helicopters, launched the first service center for Russian Helicopters in Greater Noida, near New Delhi in February. The company will initially service civil helicopters and then expand to the military segment. The new facility reduces the cost of servicing for these helicopters by more than 40 percent, as they previously had to be flown to Russia for maintenance. There are currently six Russian civil and more than 200 military helicopters flying in India. The Indian Air Force (IAF) has its own maintenance facility, but IHS is seeking the contract to work on rotor blades, which the IAF now sends to Russia for service. Vectra has plans to buy 12 to 15 Kamov-32s and Mi-171s or 172s in the next two years.
30/04/11 Anand and Madhura Katti/AINonline
CAG blasts Air India for mismanagement
New Delhi: Adding further fuel to the striking pilots’ charges of rampant corruption and mismanagement, the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) has questioned Air India’s ongoing acquisition of passenger aircraft claiming the “acquisition was not based on due diligence,” and has indicated massive mismanagement on several fronts, including terms of borrowing, and choice of routes to operate.
In its report, which is expected to be tabled in the next session of Parliament, the CAG observed, “The proposal to expand capacity was not warranted in view of intense competition and inability of IAL (Indian Airlines Ltd) to handle competition.” The CAG report also hauled up the airline for borrowing from IDBI at a higher rate of interest (11.75%) when it had the option of back stop financing (an arrangement where the airline comes up with a small down payment and the manufacturer covers the rest) at a modest 4% with the supplier, Airbus.
This led to the national carrier suffering a loss of Rs314.66 crore till March, 2010, and “a “loss of Rs 2,459.79 crore would further be incurred in future.”
The CAG further noted that the public exchequer suffered a loss of Rs199.37 crore on account of bridge loans availed by IAL at higher rates. The report also criticised the management of routes.
01/05/11 Aditya Kaul/Daily News & Analysis
AI pilot strike robs cancer patients of their medicines
Chennai: Thousands of cancer patients across the country are in pain, deprived of diagnosis and treatment after several of the 400 hospitals ran out of nuclear medicine because of the Air India strike.
Air India has the largest network of flights that airlift perishable radioactive isotopes from Mumbai and Delhi to other cities and towns. Other airlines that deliver the isotopes either do not have regular services to small towns or dangerous goods (DGR) certified aircraft and pilots authorised to carry such material. Some centres in Chennai, Bangalore and Hyderabad, which arranged special flights to get the isotopes at a higher cost, are in a state of uncertainty as the stocks are likely to run out in a day or two.
"The last dose of Sm153 (an isotope used for treating bone cancer patients in excruciating pain) at my centre got over today. Tomorrow, I would have no option but to send back at least six patients. At several other centres, people with cancer of several parts of the body will go without treatment," said Dr Ajith Joy, a nuclear medicine consultant at the Kerala Institute of Medical Sciences, Thiruvananthapuram.
01/05/11 Arun Ram/Times of India
'AI dropped profitable routes'
Mumbai: Air India pilots claimed that the carrier gave away profitable routes even when they were making money on those sectors.
According to members of the Indian Commercial Pilots ' Association (ICPA), 34 routes from the southern region—most of them domestic and some to Middle-East countries—serviced by the former Indian Airlines were either withdrawn or temporarily cancelled. The decision to surrender the 34 routes and some more was taken after AI merged with erstwhile IA in 2007, and subsequently, the relinquished slots were taken over by private carriers.
Though the AI management claimed that the surrendered routes were either unprofitable or it was impractical to continue with those sectors after the merger , TOI found—after going through the list—that all the flights there operated with more than 70% load factor (passenger load + cargo). An AI source said of the 34 flights withdrawn, 10 operated with 85% passenger load and nine had 80%. Six flights had more than 90% load factor and one 100%. "Those could not have been not making profit," an AI official said.
01/05/11 Chinmayi Shalya/Times of India
Railways runs special trains for stranded fliers
Kolkata: For Air India passengers caught in the pilot strike, Indian Railways has got into the rescue act with special bail-out trains. On Saturday, a special AC train was operated from Sealdah to New Delhi, carrying stranded air passengers from one of the worst-hit sectors. In all, railways will be operating 20 trains between six major destinations: Kolkata-Delhi, Delhi-Mumbai, Delhi-Hyderabad, Mumbai-Hyderabad, Mumbai-Bikaner and Chennai-Bangalore.
"We operated a Rajdhani category superfast train to clear the extra rush of passengers due to non-availability of AI flights services," an Eastern Railway spokesperson said. Though other airlines fly to Delhi, the cancellation of AI flights has led to a deficit situation, triggering a massive surge in fares. Of the 21 AI flights that were scheduled to operate out of Kolkata, 13 were cancelled. The carrier operated flights to Delhi, Port Blair, Agartala, Shillong, Silchar, Guwahati, Bagdogra and Dibrugarh on Saturday. Most of these were to the North-east, where the airline operates low-capacity ATR aircraft.
According to an AI spokesperson, the carrier would continue to endorse its passengers on flights operated by other airlines as long as additional seats were available.
01/05/11 Times of India
Air show begins at CIAL
Nedumbassery: The executive business jet aircraft service has tremendous possibilities in Kerala, Cochin International Airport Ltd (CIAL) Managing Director C G Krishnadas Nair said here on Saturday.
He was inaugurating a static display of business jets at the MRO building of the CIAL. At present, around 100 executive business jet aircraft are being used by corporate and business magnates in the country. Orders have been given to procure around 130 more such aircraft. It is expected that at least 500 business jet aircraft will be sold in the future, Nair added.
The CIAL plans to set up a dedicated terminal for the operation of private jet service, close to the main airport, which will provide parking and maintenance facilities. A permanent construction of parking bay for such private aircraft is expected to attract more such aircraft. The terminal is now available only in Chennai and Bangalore.
The air show, though market-oriented, would also boost the brand name of the CIAL, Nair said. The two-day static display organised by the CIAL in association with the Titan Aviation, a Dubaibased Aviation Service Major, will conclude on Sunday.
Phenom 100 Light Business Jet, King Air C 90 B Turbo prop, Cessna 172 Piston Engine, Lear 60 X R Private Jet are displayed.
01/05/11 ExpressBuzz
