Domestic Air Traffic to Reach 160-180 M Passengers Per Annum by 2020

The Minister of Civil Aviation, Shri Praful Patel informed the Lok Sabha today that as per CAPA-SITA White Paper on Information Technology in Indian aviation, it has been estimated that by 2020, domestic traffic will reach 160-180 million passengers per annum and international traffic will exceed 80 million. To sustain such growth, the Government is taking following initiatives:
(i) The infrastructure at the airports and Air Traffic Control and Navigation is being constantly upgraded to meet the future demand of the airlines.
(ii) To create a worldclass airport infrastructure upgradation/modernization of a number of metro and non-metro airports have been undertaken by Airports Authority of India (AAI) as well as through Joint Venture Companies.
(iii) AAI has undertaken upgradation & modernization of 35 non-metro airports in the country in a time bound manner. In addition, 13 more airports have also been taken up for upgradation.
(iv) AAI has also undertaken the modernization and expansion of the international airports at Chennai at a cost of Rs. 1808 crores and at Kolkata at a cost of Rs. 1942.51 crores.
(v) DGCA from time to time reviews and amends its regulations as per international standards and aviation requirements of the country.
(vi) DGCA itself has been strengthened to meet international safety obligations.
(vii) City side development of specific airports has been undertaken under Public Private Participation model.
(viii) A new policy for green field airports which envisages that the Greenfield airports to be set up by AAI would be preferably constructed through public private partnership (PPP) and such airports would be financed substantially through PPP concessions.
(ix) An Independent regulatory Authority, namely, AERA has been established 12.5.2009 with the prime objective to create a level playing field and healthy competition amongst all major airports (Government- owned, PPP- based, private), regulation of tariffs of aeronautical services, protection of reasonable interest of users, operation of efficient, economic and viable airports.
29/04/10 PRESS RELEASE/Press Information Bureau

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Flat service tax on fliers

New Delhi: Finance minister Pranab Mukherjee today offered relief to air passengers by partially rolling back the service tax his budget had proposed on every plane ticket, domestic or international.
The budget had levied a 10 per cent service tax on all airline tickets, but this has now been reduced to a flat Rs 100 per ticket for domestic travellers and Rs 500 per ticket for international passengers.
For instance, if you buy a domestic air ticket for Rs 4,000, you would need to pay just Rs 100 extra rather than the Rs 400 mandated by the original budget proposals. If you buy an international ticket for Rs 50,000, the service tax will now be Rs 500 rather than Rs 5,000.
An Air India spokesperson indicated that as of now, airlines planned to absorb the revised tax and would not raise the fares.
“The small increase of Rs 100 on domestic tickets would have no impact on air ticket prices,” the spokesperson said. “The international travel service tax of Rs 500 would also have no impact.”
Earlier, service tax used to be charged only on foreign travel and that too only for business class or first class.
29/04/10 The Telegraph

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Times Private Treaties Flies High By Investing in Aviation Companies

Times Private Treaties has invested in some of the innovative aviation companies which include Deccan Express Logistics, Kingfisher (Deccan Aviation) and Paramount Airways. The Times Private Treaties business model is designed to share risk, accelerate growth and create value for the brand in the long term.
Through a strategic alliance with Times Private Treaties, companies such as Deccan Express Logistics, Kingfisher (Deccan Aviation) and Paramount Airways are building strong brand identities and building their service offerings.
Deccan Express Logistics is an express transportation and logistics company which is the first Indian company to create a hub-and-spoke distribution model in an industry.
Paramount Airways in India is a leader in providing domestic airline travel and online ticket booking with best comparative airfare tickets to all class. In fact, Paramount Airways is the only airline in India to offer Full Business Class service at prices comparative to Normal Economy class fares of other Airlines.
29/04/10 The Open Press

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Opposition’s Bharat bandh: Air, rail traffic disrupted

Kolkata: Total pandemonium is going on in some of the states due to the all India bandh called by the 13 non Congress and non BJP parties. Supporters of those parties are clashing with the police and public properties worth crores of rupees are being destroyed. Many trains have been cancelled and flights in various airports have been called off.
As the state of West Bengal is being ruled by the Leftists, this state is the worst hit. All the private airlines have cancelled their flights to and fro from Kolkata and no taxis or private cars are available at the airport.
Though Leftists have a good base in Kerala, flights have not been disrupted in the state. However, trains have been disrupted at various places and all schools, business establishments and educational institutional are closed.
Orissa is free from such problems as all trains and air traffic is normal.
27/04/10 JIT Mukherjii/DailyNews365

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Purulia arms drop case: CBI Director hopeful about Danish national's extradition

Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) Director Ashwani Kumar has said he is hopeful about securing the extradition of Danish national Kim Davy, the prime accused in the 1995 Purulia arms drop case.
Kumar noted that certain legal formalities are to be completed for the custody of Kim Davy.
"We are trying for his (Kim Davy's) extradition since 2002 and Denmark government has agreed for it. Diplomacy has also agreed. Only the legal process remains since Kim Davy has filed an application in a court there that he doesn't want to be extradited. India has given them all the guarantees but now we'll have to fight the case because Kim Davy also has his rights and he doesn't want the extradition," said Ashwani Kumar.
"Thus, we will have to fight the case and hire a lawyer. We'll fight the case and we have good evidence and government of Denmark is with us and I am sure we'll be able to get him soon," he added.
The Interpol had recently informed the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) that the Denmark authorities have decided to extradite Purulia arms drop case mastermind Kim Davy aka Neils Holck to India.
CBI spokesperson Harsh Bhal had said the Interpol would facilitate the extradition of Davy to India after receipt of documents formally from the Danish authorities though diplomatic channels.
27/04/10 ANI/one india

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Ash cloud lifts, airfares soar too

Mumbai: The flights have taken off, and so have the fares. In an attempt to make up for the losses when volcanic ash clouds grounded flights to the US and Europe for six days last week, airlines have started hiking fares. Travel agents say that fares have gone up by at least 20% on flights to the US and Europe .
The move comes despite a recent government request to domestic airlines not to profiteer from the disruption by hiking fares. Airlines, in their defence, claim that fares are anyway high during the holiday season, which have further gone up due to the eleventh-hour bookings. Flag carrier Air India and private carrier Jet Airways fly to European cities like London, Brussels and Frankfurt, while Kingfisher Airlines operates regular flights to London .
On April 19, the Union civil aviation ministry had requested airlines not to resort to ‘exploitative’ fares by overcharging stranded passengers or those who were transferred from one carrier to another. Over 40,000 passengers were stranded in India when the European airspace was shut following a volcanic eruption in Iceland, which spewed volcanic ash into the skies.
An analyst said: “It is unlikely that the lost revenues from the disruption can be recovered immediately. Hence, airlines have hiked fares on long-haul destinations.”
27/04/10 Shaheen Mansuri/Financial Express

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Flight delay will soon entitle you to 'cash & care''

New Delhi: Fliers would soon be entitled for cash and care in case their flights are cancelled, delayed or they are denied boarding even when they are holding a confirmed ticket.
The aviation industry regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has come out with the draft guidelines on obligations of airlines towards passengers if they are inconvenienced.
Once finalised, the obligations on airlines would be incorporated in the existing civil aviation requirements (CAR), the aviation industry rule book for operation. DGCA head Nasim Zaidi said the economic regulation is within the purview of the government and the regulator is developing a system for compensation.
As per the draft rules, air carriers would have to pay up to Rs 4,000 to passengers if they are denied boarding despite confirmed booking. The airlines would have to offer either alternative flight or refund of air ticket in case flight is cancelled. The passengers would be entitled for meals, refreshment and accommodation in case a flight is delayed.
26/04/10 Nirbhay Kumar/Economic Times

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Iceland's volcanic ash hit India's exports as well

Even as India's airlines were struggling to get back to normalcy after weathering the global recession, the volcanic ash from Iceland has given the industry another jolt while also affecting the country's exports.
Just a few days before ash spewing out of the Icelandic volcano crippled Europe's airports, Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel had said that Air India has now turned the corner. His comments about the national carrier may have been premature but he was certainly reflecting the general upbeat mood of the civil aviation industry in recent months. Traffic has been picking up and the bottomlines of companies are not looking as red as in the past.
In fact, the sudden shutdown of European airports last week has hit Indian exporters harder than the aviation industry itself. Some export associations peg the losses at as high as Rs.1,000 crore ($220 million) in this period while others say exports of $1 billion of high-end merchandise to the US and Europe may face delays or cancellations.
Higher freight rates now being charged by the airlines that have resumed flights are going to add on to costs and adversely affect competitiveness of Indian products in major markets of the developed world.
25/04/10 IANS/Economic Times

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Lack of air capacity hampers repatriation efforts

Tens of thousands of British passengers are still stranded abroad as the fallout from the volcanic ash plane groundings continues.
British airspace was reopened on Tuesday but airlines are still working through the backlog of cancelled flights, with some passengers facing a further week of waiting to return home.
The Association of British Travel Agents said it hoped to have repatriated more than 100,000 passengers by Monday.An estimated 10,000 are stranded in Egypt, 8,000 in India, 9,000 in Florida and 2,500 in Thailand, according to industry figures compiled by the BBC.
The skies over the UK and much of northern Europe were declared a no-fly zone for six days as a result of the ash cloud pouring from an erupting Icelandic volcano.
Virgin Atlantic boss Sir Richard Branson today criticised the Government for “overreacting” in banning all air traffic and is calling for them to compensate the industry. His airline is among those appealing to customers who are booked on flights for this weekend to volunteer to give up their seats to stranded passengers.
24/04/10 Robin Henry/Times Online, UK

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Living it up in fine style: Jet-Propelled life for Modi

Mumbai: The Challenger 300, a luxury eight-seater jet that Indian Premier League chairman Lalit Modi uses to shuttle around the country was acquired in 2008 from Ireland. Golden Wings, a Mumbai-based private charter firm that operates the aircraft in India, acquired it on lease from Peel Aviation, Ireland.
According to industry sources the aircraft, a 2007 Bombardier model with the registration number VT-RAK is worth between Rs. 80-100 crore. Despite several attempts, Pradeep Thampi, owner of Golden Wings did not respond to our calls.
A staffer in his Vile Parle office who refused to reveal his identity told HT that Modi is one of their clients but did not comment on who owns the aircraft. The controversial jet is chartered for Rs 2.75 lakhs per hour.
24/04/10 Hindustan Times

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SOTA to open 15 regional chapters in India by July

New Delhi: Society of Travel Agents (SOTA), an exclusive travel trade association of International Air Transport Association (IATA) approved travel agents, will open its 15 regional chapters in India by July 31, 2010. Regional Directors and other office bearers of all the 15 regional chapters will also be selected.
Speaking exclusively with TravelBiz Monitor, Suneel Kohli, General Secretary, SOTA said, “There are around 2,700 IATA approved travel agents in the country, while only 50 per cent are members of any of the associations. We want to bring all of them into our fold. States with large number of IATA approved agents will be clubbed to form the regional chapter. The Punjab regional chapter will comprise whole of Punjab, Haryana, Jammu and Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh. Likewise, most of the North Eastern states will be part of the West Bengal regional chapter. There will be independent regional chapters for Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Orissa, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra and Goa. Delhi regional chapter will look after the whole of National Capital Region.”
JN Behl, President, SOTA said that priority of the Society is to improve the membership base. “Problems in each region are different and therefore we want those issues to be settled at the regional level. Disputes redressal will be of paramount importance at SOTA. Justice JD Kapoor (Retd) has consented to be the patron of the Dispute Committee of SOTA,” added Behl. Furthermore, the monthly meeting of SOTA which was held in Delhi last week witnessed the formation of different committees, like Domestic Airlines, Tourism, Visa, Membership and Disputes redressal for the Delhi regional chapter.
24/04/10 P Krishna Kumar/TravelBizMonitor

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Saras crash probe report cites dozens of lapses

Bangalore: The report of the investigation into the crash of Saras, the light transport aircraft, near here on March 6, 2009 that killed all three crew members on board, enumerates dozens of lapses, including an insufficient pre-flight debriefing, a poor telemetry system and “lack of crew coordination.”
The report, prepared by a board constituted by the Directorate-General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) and made public on the DGCA website on Thursday, said: “Incorrect relight [restart] procedure devised by the designer and adopted by the crew… [led to] abnormal behaviour of aircraft [and] resulted in the accident.”
The second prototype of the aircraft, built by the National Aerospace Laboratories (NAL), crashed and burst into flames near Bidadi, 30 km from here, less than an hour after it took off, killing Wing Commander K. Praveen, Wing Commander Dipesh Shah and test engineer Squadron Leader Ilayaraja, all in their mid-thirties.
The 75-page report says the pilots switched off one of the engines midair (as part of the programme requirement), but failed in their attempt to relight it. “Saras-specific intentional engine shutdown and relight procedure was not well planned and prepared,” it says. “Either wrong selection of mode switch or the [failure to press] engine start switch… during the first relight attempt is the most probable cause for the engine not to relight in the first attempt.”
The chilling transcript retrieved from the cockpit voice recorder in the past 38 minutes of the flight reflects concern over the loss of control on several occasions — on one occasion of laughter of relief when the aircraft appears to stabilise, and finally a distraught pilot calling “Going to ground.”
23/04/10 Divya Gandhi/The Hindu

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Human error, faulty design behind Saras crash: probe

Bangalore: Wrong selection of mode switch or failure to re-start the engine during the flight trial of the faultily designed light transport aircraft Saras led to its crash March 6, 2009, the investigation by the Indian aviation regulatory authority said Thursday.
“Either wrong selection of mode switch or non-pressing of start switch is the most probable cause for turboprop engine not relighting (restarting) during the test flight of the Saras P2 aircraft, resulting in its fatal crash,” the final report of the Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) concluded on the accident.
The two pilots of the Saras and an engineer of the Indian Air Force (IAF) were killed when the aircraft plunged to the ground near Bidadi, about 30 km from here.
The twin-engine second prototype, designed and manufactured by the state-run National Aerospace Laboratories (NAL) of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), was test flown by chief test pilot, Wing Cdr.K. Praveen, test pilot Dipesh K. Shah and flight test engineer, Sq. Ldr.S.Illyaraja of the IAF’s Aircraft System & Testing Establishment (ASTE).
The board of inquiry, instituted by the DGCA to investigate the crash, also pointed out that NAL failed to design suitable control surfaces to attain the prescribed limit and prior to formulating the Pratt & Whitney engine relight procedures in air.
“Design improvement on control surfaces is required even for flight testing purpose to enable the crew fly the aircraft manually without getting into fatigue level,” DGCA’s inspector of accidents C.P.M.P. Raju said in the 75-page probe report.
The regulator also recommended NAL to consult other aircraft manufacturing industries to explore the convenient limit of control forces for easy maneuverability by pilots.
Flying the experimental Saras for the first time, the pilots attempted to switch off and relight in midair (about 9,000 feet) one of the two engines (PT6A-67) as part of the mandatory flight development programme requirement.
“After ascending to its designated height of 9,000 feet, the left engine was switched off. When the crew attempted to relight or restart it after a minute, it failed, resulting in the aircraft losing height, going out of control and crashing,” the report said.
All the three on board were charred to death and were on their seats.
“At about five minutes prior to crash, when some abnormal behavior of the aircraft was felt by the pilots, the co-pilot was hilariously telling commander ‘road is there for emergency’ and also advised FTE (flight test engineer) for placing readiness of parachute for emergency.
These parachutes were not used by the pilots/FTE in the accident.
22/04/10 Thaindian.com, Thailand

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Saras crash report: DGCA suggests design changes

Bangalore: The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has recommended that the National Aerospace Laboratories (NAL) effect design changes in its first civil aircraft, the 14-seater Saras. In its prototype PT2 version, this aircraft crashed in March 2009 during a test flight.
Releasing the report on Wednesday, the DGCA did not indicate any problems in the engine or turbine but zeroed in on design, indicating that some changes will have to come from the drawing board.
DGCA said it would be appropriate for NAL to consult aircraft manufacturers in conducting flight trials rather than rely on private contractors. It recommended that private contractors be engaged only for supplying parts and certain accessories and the contracting system be reviewed.
Implementing these recommendations and getting them certified could mean the Saras project would be further delayed by a couple of years.
23/04/10 Times of India

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Ash clears, now fares touch the sky

Chennai: Airfares have started skyrocketting after airlines resumed their services to Europe after over five days of complete disruption because of volcanic ash cloud over European air space. Even though the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has warned airlines against overpricing, international airlines reservation system is displaying only the most expensive seats on sale for flights scheduled to leave in the coming days.
Passengers whose flights were cancelled in last couple of days are forced to cough up more money to buy tickets as fares have gone up by over 30% for flights to Europe. International fares were cheaper before the shutdown of airports in Europe. But the situation has changed post-shutdown as airlines have stopped offering low-fare seats.
Only the most expensive fares are showing up in the reservation database accessible to travel agents.
Fares to London or Frankfurt now range from Rs 50,000 to Rs 1 lakh as against the regular fare of Rs 30,000. Fare to New York ranges from Rs 70,000 to over Rs 1 lakh as against the regular fare of Rs 50,000.
23/04/10 V Ayyappan/Times of India

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Airline legally bound to follow time-table under scheduled permit

To carry passengers commercially, an airline obtains a Scheduled Operator's Permit (SOP) from the DGCA. Under this permit, an airline is legally bound to follow its flight time-table at all costs. It can cancel a flight schedule only in case of bad weather or if the aircraft develops a technical problem.
"It is only then that accommodating passengers on different flights comes into the picture. In this case, Air India did not have another aircraft to operate at the Delhi-Coimbatore flight 7603 at the scheduled hour of 5.20am on Tuesday. So it should not have diverted it's aircraft, which was to operate flight 7603, for a charter flight. The matter is about violating the SOP permit," said a DGCA top official.
A passenger has a choice of many airlines and when he books a ticket on a particular airline he cannot be moved onto another flight just so that the airline can operate a charter flight with the particular aircraft instead, he added.
23/04/10 Times of India

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Flying high over turbulence

Mumbai: Despite rising aviation turbine fuel prices and cancellations following the volcanic eruption in Iceland, domestic airline companies are likely to witness sustained passenger volumes.
While losses from the six-day closure of European airspace are estimated at $1.5-2 billion for the global aviation sector, the impact is likely to minimal for the two listed entities, Jet Airways and Kingfisher Airlines, which diverted part of their traffic through other airports. Analysts say Jet, which operates 12 flights daily to the US and Europe, could take a hit to the tune of Rs 4 crore per day on its top line. However, as some of its flights were routed through other centres (Athens) and it charged higher fares on resumed flights, the losses might be contained.
Jet gets 56 per cent of its revenues from international operations. While these air pockets will cause a revenue loss in the short term, analysts say the year ahead could see the same robust traffic that was witnessed in FY10.
Aviation companies have been reporting consistent passenger load factors since the December quarter, considered a peak season for the sector. Passenger traffic for March, the latest month for which the numbers are available, shows a 23 per cent year-on-year jump, with volumes pegged at four million. For the March quarter, the sector saw passenger traffic at 12 million, up 20 per cent over the March quarter in FY09. While FY09 was a forgettable year for the sector, which recorded deceleration in growth for the first time since 2002 due to the economic slowdown, FY10, according to Crisil Research, should see a 16 per cent y-o-y jump in passenger traffic to 45.8 million.
The reasons are strong demand from leisure travellers and benign ticket prices. For the current financial year, the research firm believes growth will be in the region of 15 per cent due to strong economic growth, rising incomes, and affordability, and will take total passenger traffic to 52.7 million. However, what could derail the growth story for the companies are rising crude oil and aviation turbine fuel (ATF) prices.
23/04/10 Ram Prasad Sahu/Business Standard

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Flights resume, blame game begins

London: European skies have been reopened and passengers have started to arrive at London airports after the unprecedented six-day airspace lockdown sparked by a volcanic ash cloud from Iceland.
Aviation authorities in Europe agreed to change the size and shape of no-fly zones, opening air space through areas not polluted by the ash cloud.
Airlines now face a massive logistical operation to return hundreds of thousands of passengers to their destinations after the cancellation of an estimated 95,000 flights across Europe alone.
The British Airways chief executive, Willie Walsh, warned that it would take ''weeks'' to get schedules back to normal.
The decision to reopen airspace, announced by the Transport Secretary, Lord Adonis, and the British Civil Aviation Authority, comes after intense lobbying from the airline industry in Europe.
Airlines have been forced to thrash out and agree to a ''safe'' level of volcanic ash under which flights can resume.
The Guardian reported that regulators in Europe have been trying for years to force airlines to set specific thresholds but they have been hampered by the aviation industry's fears of losing a plane in spite of a dust all-clear.
The Civil Aviation Authority has stated that its safety tests show that plane engines have ''increased tolerance levels in low ash density areas'' and has now set down strict risk assessment requirements for airlines to ensure aircraft are rigorously inspected and monitored.
Recriminations about Britain taking an overly conservative response to the crisis started with the Conservative Party's transport spokeswoman, Theresa Villiers, calling for an inquiry into the ''fiasco''. She said six days into the crisis, experts have suddenly stated that there are safe levels.
Mr Walsh has echoed her concerns: ''I don't believe it was necessary to impose a blanket ban on all UK airspace last Thursday. My personal belief is that we could have safely continued operating for a period of time.''
22/04/10 Paola Totaro/Sydney Morning Herald

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Flights resume, but sky's still not clear for fliers

Mumbai: Airlines can finally breathe with the European airspace opening up after an asphyxiating six days brought on by volcanic ash from Iceland, but passengers may have to endure delays for at least another week, with the backlog throwing flight schedules into disarray.
Indian and European airlines said they would resume flights to the West with additional and bigger aircraft, soon after the European air navigation safety authority announced opening up of its airspace on Tuesday. However, they will not be able to accommodate new passengers as most of the cancelled flights were up to 90% booked, said an Air India spokesperson. The carrier has a backlog of at least 10,000 passengers.
On an average, 13 international flights take off everyday from India carrying 3,500 passengers.
Air-India plans to resume flights on European and Canadian routes from April 22 by deploying a jumbo jet, the Boeing 747-400, which can carry more passengers on than the Boeing 777-300 ER it currently runs on the routes.
The airline is adding almost 423 seats on these sectors. Private carrier Jet Airways is also likely to run an additional flight to London with over 300 extra seats on the route.
Kingfisher Airlines, which has not operated a single flight for the past six days to London, will start operations from Thursday. The airline has a backlog of about 7,000 passengers.
22/04/10 Manisha Singhal/Economic Times

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Airlines resume flights as ash cloud recedes

Mumbai: As European skies cleared up, airlines resumed normal services to and from Heathrow and other airports on Wednesday, a day after they operated some flights on partial opening of airports across the continent.
Thousands of passengers have been stranded at airports around the world since April 15 as Icelandic volcanic ash forced many European airports to close their airspaces.
But even as airlines announced resumption of flights, fliers like Nayana Dutia, booked on a Mumbai-London Jet Airways flight, were not sure till the last minute whether their flights would take off.
On Tuesday, Dutia’s flight was cancelled after passengers had boarded the aircraft. “Yesterday, we boarded the flight, but it got cancelled. This time we think we will make it to London,” he said. Dutia’s flight took off from Mumbai at 1.35 pm on Wednesday.
Several other flights left and reached Indian airports as per schedule — not just to and from Frankfurt, Munich, Zurich, Vienna and other continental airports, but London’s Heathrow too.
All international carriers, including Air India (AI), Jet Airways, Kingfisher Airlines, Lufthansa, British Airways, Swiss International Airlines, Austria Airlines and Singapore Airlines, have fully resumed operations to Europe.
A statement issued by the ministry of civil aviation said: “AI has resumed its daily flights to Paris and Frankfurt besides New York and Chicago. Jet Airways has resumed its flights to London from Delhi and Mumbai.”
21/04/10 Naveeta Singh/Daily News & Analysis

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Aviation regulatory probe report seeks design changes in Saras

Bangalore/New Delhi: Finding fault with the management of the country’s first civil aeroplane project Saras, India’s aviation regulator has recommended key design changes to the 14-seater plane.
The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), in a probe report on the crash of a Saras prototype during a test flight in March 2009, has asked the National Aerospace Laboratories (NAL), the agency developing the aircraft, to not employ private contractors in designing the plane.
In the report, reviewed by Mint, DGCA has suggested that NAL consult other aircraft makers for flight trials.
Implementing DGCA’s recommendations and getting them certified could delay the Saras project by another two years, said an NAL official, who did not want to be named.
The aircraft was to be certified this year.
The regulator has said private contractors be engaged only for supplying parts and appliances. “The contracting system followed by NAL is to be reviewed by competent authority,” it said in its report.
NAL is the aerospace arm of India’s biggest public research agency, the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR). NAL director A.R. Upadhya said he had not seen the DGCA report.
“We’ve asked for the report,” he said. “Whatever are the DGCA recommendations, we will study and implement it.”
A top government official familiar with the matter, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said the report has been approved by the civil aviation ministry and it would be made public soon.
21/04/10 K. Raghu and Tarun Shukla/Live Mint

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Airport regulator seeks ministry view on carrier charges

New Delhi: India’s airport regulator may take another three months to decide on the charges that carriers pay at the country’s larger airports.
The Airports Economic Regulatory Authority, or Aera, which was expected to announce its decision around this month, has now sought the advice of the civil aviation ministry on the matter, said Yashwant Bhave, chairman of the regulator. Aera will await the government’s comments before drawing up tariffs.
“Each stakeholder has to be taken on board and government is certainly a very important stakeholder,” he said. Once the process is finalized, draft guidelines will be issued, he said.
Aera, which was set up late last year, is drafting fee policy at a dozen airports that get at least 1.5 million passengers every year. Airports and carriers are battling over the fee model to be followed.
Airlines and Aera prefer the so-called single-till model, which is followed at UK airports such as Heathrow and Gatwick, in which all principal activities, including aeronautical and commercial (or retail) functions, will be charged under a single window, keeping costs down. In contrast, the dual-till model has aeronautical or flying-related activities being charged under one head while the remaining activities are charged under a second till, resulting in a higher payout by carriers.
21/04/10 Tarun Shukla/Live Mint

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Number of domestic flyers up 21% in Jan-Mar

In what may come as a relief for airline companies, the number of domestic air travellers between January and March showed a healthy increase over the same period a year ago, when the industry was feeling the heat of the global recession.
More than 12 million passengers were carried by domestic airlines between the January-March period this year, almost 21 per cent more than 9.98 million during the same period last year, according to figures released by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation.
While Jet Airways and JetLite together account for about 26 per cent of these increase, Kingfisher Airlines accounts for 23 per cent, followed by National Aviation Company of India Ltd (Nacil), which flies under the Air India brand, came a close third at 17.8 per cent.
Tour operators are rejoicing the return of the domestic travellers.
With the number of travellers rising, airlines have also increased their airfares to offset the increase in the prices of aviation turbine fuel (ATF). For the fourth time in two months, state-owned oil retailers raised ATF prices, most recently by 3.2 per cent. Most airlines have increased their fares by about 10 per cent and some like Jet Airways plan to increase their fares by 10-15 per cent in the near future.
22/04/10 Sneha Kupekar/Business Standard

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Fleet insurance plans may not cover losses from cancellations

Mumbai: Airlines are discovering that their fleet insurance packages are insufficient to cover them from losses arising out of flight cancellations. But even as they discover this new risk that has the potential to severely hit their balance sheets, insurance companies are saying that covers may not be available.
Although flights to-and-from major airports in Europe resumed on Thursday, the airline industry is facing losses running into millions of dollars with over 95,000 flights being cancelled.
There is also a potential dispute brewing between perishable cargo owners and insurance companies, with insurers saying that damage to goods would not be covered, if airlines have refused to accept the cargo.
“We do not expect any major claims because of flight cancellations due to the volcanic ash,” said Yogesh Lohia, chairman, General Insurance Corporation — the national reinsurance company, which underwrites the business of all non-life insurers in India. Mr Lohia added that there would be travel insurance related claims, however, the amounts involved would be very small.
Losses due to flight cancellations are not new to airlines. In India such cancellations have been a frequent feature in flights leaving Delhi during winter because of fog. Flag carrier had so often been a victim of such cancellations that it took out a policy last year to cover the Delhi fog. This was a separate domestic policy and had nothing to do with its fleet cover.
22/04/10 Economic Times

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European airspace opens partially; relief for passengers

New Delhi: The partial opening of European air space on Tuesday provided some relief to air travellers stranded at various airports around the country. An official statement issued states that there are about 9,000 Europe bound passengers around the country waiting to be transported by Jet Airways and Air India alone.
EUROCONTROL expects 14,000 flights to take place today in European airspace, representing half of scheduled air traffic, its Web site said. EUROCONTROL, the European Organisation for the Safety of Air Navigation, is an intergovernmental organisation made up of 38 Member States and the European Community.
Jet Airways is operating four daily flights to the US and Canada through Athens in an effort to transport stranded passengers. Sources said passengers were being taken to Athens and from there being taken by road to other destinations in Europe.
Air India has resumed flights to Chicago, New York and Newark from Mumbai and Delhi. In a statement late this evening, the state-owned airline said that it was hopeful of operating two of its Boeing 777 aircraft from Heathrow to Delhi and Toronto which have been grounded at Heathrow airport for the past couple of days.
21/04/10 Business Line

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Sigh of relief as some flights start taking off

New Delhi: There’s finally some good news for air travellers. Greece has allowed Indian carriers to fly passengers to and from Athens — that’s connected to the rest of Europe by land, rail and sea. This enabled Jet to fly passengers to Europe on Tuesday, the first time by an Indian airline in six days. German major Lufthansa operated flights to India on Tuesday and has scheduled six departures to Frankfurt and Munich in the early hours of Wednesday, along with flights to Vienna and Zurich on its umbrella carriers like Swiss and Austrian. More European carriers could restart flights, depending on the ash cover there.
Air India’s two aircraft that have been held up at the London airport will be deployed to fly stranded passengers to Delhi and Toronto on Tuesday, depending on clearances. In case the German air space is opened, there will be one flight from Mumbai to Frankfurt and another from Mumbai to London. The airlines US operations will continue with a technical halt at Cairo.
But the huge backlog has meant a massive rush and confusion among both passengers and airlines. According to the aviation ministry, Jet and AI alone have 6,000 and 3,000 Europe-bound passengers stranded in India.
21/04/10 Times of India

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First flight to London in 5 days takes off

Mumbai: The first flight in five days from Mumbai to London’s Heathrow, British Airway flight BA138, took off at 4:21 pm on Tuesday while another BA flight 198 took off for London at 6:59 pm.
However, Jet Airways’ flight NW118 to London, scheduled for departure at 4 pm, was called back to the bay area after it had taxied to the runway. Its departure was postponed to 9 pm and eventually cancelled. Kingfisher Airlines has cancelled all its London-bound flights on Wednesday.
The day was also marked by chaos for stranded passengers, as airline officials remained clueless about resumption in daily services, with fresh eruptions from the Eyjafjallajökull volcano in Iceland spewing ash more than 15,000 feet into the sky sending fresh ash clouds into Europe on Tuesday, dashing hopes of resumption of daily services to Europe.
21/04/10 Ranjani Raghavan , Shashank Shekhar /Indian Express

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Take off but land at your own risk, airline tells fliers

Mumbai: The only airline that resumed flights from India to Europe on Tuesday did so with a rider.
Passengers of two British Airways flights to London were told that in case the flights could not land in London and had to be diverted to Europe, the airline would no longer be responsible for them. Volcanic ash in European skies has disrupted air traffic for six days.
"Before boarding the flight, airline staff told us we would have to manage on our own if the flight was diverted. We were allowed to board only after we accepted the conditions,” said Thangam Nair (72), Mulund resident, before boarding the flight with her husband and daughter.
"If a flight lands in a country other than the UK, passengers without the Schengen visa will be stranded,” said a travel agent requesting anonymity.
21/04/10 Soubhik Mitra/Hindustan Times

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Govt extends travellers’ visa

New Delhi: As volcanic ash continued to disrupt international flights forcing nearly 41,000 foreigners stranded in India, the government on Tuesday decided to allow special landing permit or extension of visa to them for a maximum period of 14 days without charging any fees.
"The powers for extension of visa or issue of special landing permits can be exercised by immigration officers not below the rank of inspector posted at the airports," the home ministry said in a statement.
Flights to the UK and other European destinations remained cancelled for the sixth consecutive day on Tuesday in the wake of huge clouds of volcanic ash emanating from Iceland.
21/04/10 Times of India

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Fly out stranded passengers, govt directs airlines

Mumbai: With more than 40,000 passengers stranded in Mumbai and Delhi, the civil aviation ministry has stepped in to mitigate the effect of the crisis and help airlines deal better with the situation. Ministry sources said airline officials were told on Tuesday to ask their passengers to defer their travel plans to Europe till flights resume and the backlog of stranded passengers is clear.
The directive came as most flights are already booked to capacity and very few seats will be available even when airspace restrictions are lifted. The ministry asked airlines to request confirmed passengers to voluntarily postpone their travel plans if possible and accommodate those stranded as a priority.
‘‘The ministry cannot make recommendations to foreign airlines. However, Indian carriers have been asked to check if any of their booked passengers are willing to give up seats in favour of those stuck in the country,’’ a ministry official said.
21/04/10 Chinmayi Shalya/Times of India

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Cloud over take-off efforts

London: Aviation authorities began trying to implement a plan to ease six days of severe restrictions on aviation traffic around Europe on Tuesday, but a new ash cloud spreading south from the erupting volcano in Iceland threatened to undermine the efforts.
The reopening was cautious, patchy and unpredictable, underscoring the piecemeal nature of the European response to the unparalleled disruption that has drawn criticism from the airline industry, spread confusion among marooned travellers and stilled many of Europe’s busiest flight-paths.
The Eurocontrol air traffic agency in Brussels said it expected some 55 to 60 per cent of flights over Europe to go ahead on Tuesday, a marked improvement over the last few days.
By midmorning, 10,000 of Europe’s 27,500 daily flights were scheduled to go, the agency said.
In disparate ways, European governments sought to ease the inconvenience — and mounting cost — for passengers stranded in far-flung destinations.
The French consulate in Hong Kong urged French residents to open up their homes to stranded compatriots. With an estimated 150,000 citizens stranded abroad, Britain’s Royal Navy sent a warship to Spain to pick up troops returning from Afghanistan with a handful of civilians.
Several airports in southern Europe — notably Madrid, Athens and Rome — continued to serve as impromptu hubs for the rest of the continent on Tuesday, but the new uncertainty over weather conditions was
The region is grappling with a new blow to its ability to act decisively during an emergency. Most noisily, the head of the International Air Transport Association said before the announcement to partially lift the aviation ban that “the decision Europe has made is with no risk assessment, no consultation, no coordination, no leadership.”
21/04/10 Hindustan Times

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Developments in volcanic ash affecting air travel

Weather conditions aren't set to change over Europe until Friday, meaning the volcanic ash may linger over the continent until then, a spokeswoman from Britain's weather service, the Met Office, said.
Starting Friday, southwesterly winds will start taking the ash away from the United Kingdom, the spokeswoman said Tuesday.
About 14,000 flights were expected to operate in European airspace Tuesday, half of scheduled air traffic, according to Eurocontrol, the intergovernmental body that manages European air travel. By the end of Tuesday, more than 95,000 flights will have been canceled since the ash shut down airspace on Thursday, Eurocontrol said.
All European airspace is available above 20,000 feet, Eurocontrol said. Lower air space is closed or severely restricted across Europe, it said.
FedEx announced its FedEx Express service would resume intercontinental flights via Europe, though not on a full schedule. It warned there may still be delays on inbound and outbound shipments from affected areas. Items will be prioritized on a "first in, first out" basis.

Indian authorities on Tuesday announced a two-week visa extension for Europe-bound foreign travelers stranded in the country because of the volcano. About 9,000 passengers booked by state-run Air India and private carrier Jet Airways have been left stranded, according to Indian civil aviation authorities.
Air India has resumed flights to Chicago, Illinois; New York's JFK airport; and Newark, New Jersey, from Mumbai and New Delhi, the civil aviation ministry said. The airline has two planes stranded at London's Heathrow and one at Frankfurt, it added.
India's Jet Airways has restarted its U.S. and Canada flights via Athens, Greece. The airline hopes Europe-bound passengers can travel onwards from Athens to other destinations on the continent.
21/04/10 CNN

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South Asia businesses and tourism hit by air crisis

Business and tourism in South Asia are increasingly being hit by airline inactivity caused by the spread of volcanic ash from Iceland.The export of garments and perishable goods from the region to Europe has been severely affected, as has the tourism industry in South Asia.No country in the region has escaped from the economic impact of the crisis.But officials say the priority is dealing with thousands of people across the region who are unable to fly.
Tourism in India, Nepal, Bhutan, Sri Lanka and the Maldives has also been badly damaged. For Nepal and Bhutan the crisis is even more serious because this time of the year is peak season.
At this time of the year tourism in the cooler north of India is also hugely popular.
According to figures from the Indian Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), 41,435 passengers have been affected by the flights crisis and it will take several days to clear the backlog.
All flights from India to London and Paris were cancelled on Monday, but Air India and Jet Airways resumed services to the US and Canada through Cairo and Athens respectively.
Many passengers whose visas have expired have been unable to leave the airport premises while several airlines are reported to have stopped paying for food and accommodation - arguing that they are not obliged to do so in the event of a natural calamity.
Meanwhile, exporters in Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka have borne the brunt of exporting losses.
20/04/10 BBC.co.uk

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European flight disruption hits Indian gold imports

Disruption of flights in Europe has hit gold shipments to India, the world's top buyer of the precious metal, potentially pushing up local prices ahead of a gold-buying festival next month, traders and dealers said.
"Shipments are getting delayed as sizeable gold is being imported from that part of the world," said Pinakin Vyas, assistant vice-president with Mumbai-based IndusInd Bank, a large gold importer.
India buys gold mostly from the UK and Europe, Zurich in particular, but air traffic in the region remains disrupted following last week's volcanic eruption in Iceland which has thrown up plume of ash.
Flights were set to resume on Tuesday under a deal to free up airspace but strengthened eruptions from the volcano threatened to unravel the plans.
The country's gold demand has soared since mid-April, an auspicious period for Hindu weddings, raising sales but depleting stocks.
"As of now, no one has kept big inventory," Vyas said.
This may lead to a scarcity as stocks are required to meet demand for the gold-buying local festival, Akshaya Tritiya, on May 16, dealers said.
20/04/10 Moneycontrol.com

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$1-bn Indian exports may go up in smoke due to Ash clouds

New Delhi/ Mumbai: Thousands of businessmen worldwide have suffered following cancellation of flights as the the volcanic ash clouds continued to spread across the the European skies.
Exporters are increasingly becoming jittery of making huge losses and apprehend large-scale cancellation of orders and delay in payments. High-end merchandise exports from India worth $1 billion are likely to be affected due to the air travel crisis, said Ajay Sahai, director general, Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO).
“Exports worth $10 billion are shipped annually by air via European air routes. For EU, consignments worth $1 billion is exported monthly. This is likely to be hit but it is yet to be evaluated. The problem would aggravate if the crisis is prolonged,” he told Business Standard.
While bulk orders for cheaper products are shipped, high-end luxury items and perishable products are sent by the air route from India. Exporters, particularly, those dealing with new clients are more at risk of losing their business, rejection of shipment and cancellation of order bookings, Sahai added.
According to industry estimates, exporters are incurring a daily loss of around Rs. 20 crore. In Maharashtra, exporters have stopped buying fresh vegetables and fruits from farmers because they expect air services to resume after April 23.
Industry sources said nearly 225 tonnes of vegetables and fruits are exported to Europe and the Gulf, out of which 150 tonnes are sent from Maharashtra and the rest from Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka.
20/04/10 Nayanima Basu & Sanjay Jog/Business Standard

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Europe airspace opens partially, flights from India still off

London/New Delhi: The European Union (EU) on Tuesday cleared a limited resumption of air traffic amid a warning by UK of fresh volcanic ash clouds even as flights from India to Europe remained cancelled.
In India, the volcanic ash over Europe continued to create chaos at the Delhi and Mumbai airports with thousands of fliers, including foreigners, stranded.
While Air India and Jet Airways had resumed services to the US through alternative routes and were working overtime to help the stranded passengers, the flights to Europe remained cancelled.
Air India resumed its long haul non-stop flights between India and the US on Sunday. Flights to London may resume after Tuesday night, depending on slots available.
The airports in Manchester, Birmingham and London are still closed.
The Indian civil aviation ministry set up a control room to coordinate with the external affairs ministry, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) and the airlines.
The DGCA is keeping a close watch on the pricing of tickets to prevent airlines from passing off their losses to passengers.
20/04/10 Headlines Today/India Today

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Bombardier opens new Bombay hub as India aviation soars

Bombardier Aerospace inaugurated a regional support office in Bombay on Tuesday boosting its presence in a market forecast to take delivery of 250 business jets over the next ten years.
The office is the company’s fifth regional service office to open outside of North America in the past three years, it said in a statement. It also plans to open similar facilities for business aircraft in Dubai and Shanghai by the end of the year.
India is one of the fastest growing aviation markets in the world, with about $80 billion US likely to be spent on new aircraft over the next ten years and $30 billion on airport infrastructure, according to figures from the Investment Commission of India.
James Hoblyn, president, customer services and specialized and amphibious aircraft told reporters that India is expected to take delivery of 250 business jets over the next ten years, reiterating a forecast for the market made at last year's Paris Air Show.
20/04/10 OMI Agency/Toronto Sun

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Volcanic ash: Domestic airlines lose Rs 82 cr, stocks tumble

New Delhi/Mumbai: The volcanic eruption that has turned the European airspace into a virtual no-fly-zone is estimated to have cost domestic airlines nearly Rs 82 crore in terms of passenger revenue in the past few days as the disaster kept flights grounded.
Aviation stocks on BSE mirrored the financial damage with Jet Airways, Kingfisher Airlines and SpiceJet falling to Rs 502.40 (6.47%), Rs 48.25 (2.82%) and Rs 56.25 (4.17%), respectively on Monday. National carrier, Air India operates nearly 30 flights to various European destinations such as Frankfurt, Paris and London.
As per an industry estimate, a long-haul flight to London generates a revenue of Rs 1 crore daily with US-bound flight bringing in Rs 1.5 crore. “Globally, airlines are losing $200 million a day due to the closure of European airspace. Indian carriers’ share to the total loss is about 5-7%,” Amadeus India managing director Ankur Bhatia said. Indian carriers operate about 30% of their international flights to European and American destinations.
The latest crisis has hit the carriers at a time when the industry is struggling to come out of the red caused by spiralling fuel price and recession.
Airlines are also losing passengers on their domestic network as in-bound air travellers from Europe are stranded and not coming to India. Air India and Jet Airways, which operate services to North America, have re-routed their flights through Egypt and Greece.
As per the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), over 41,000 passengers have been affected at Delhi and Mumbai airports due to cancellation of flights.
20/04/10 Economic Times

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Volcanic ash: Struggling Europe meets its 9/11 in ash attack

London: Eyjafjallajoekull, a word almost nobody had heard of, has suddenly topped the lexicon for thousands of stranded travellers, the travel and tourism trade, airlines, logistics companies, and now European governments.
The obscure Icelandic volcano, which continues to erupt, resulted in an almost total flight ban over Northern Europe for the fifth day Monday, and the fall-out of the volcanic ash cloud is beginning to take on the contours of a major economic disaster for an already beleaguered Europe — hitting airlines, travel and tourism, hospitality, insurance, air-cargo, fruit and vegetable trade, air-freight and the logistics industries, while aviation and travel stocks tumble across world markets.
Airlines on Monday, losing over $200 million per day according to IATA, lambasted European governments for delaying a co-ordinated response, and accused them of over-reacting to the safety issue, with European Commission weighing in on the side of airlines. Indian airline industry, struggling with fuel prices and recession, is estimated to have already lost about Rs 82 crore in terms of passenger revenue alone, both international and domestic, though proper estimates are yet to be done.
CII director general Chandrajit Banerjee estimates that the impact is tremendous for business travellers. “It is a great critical loss for many, especially the airlines in India, although we have not been able to quantify the loss as yet,” he said. The $60-billion technology services sector that gets about 30% of its revenue from the European market says it’s business as usual, so far, after the issue was discussed at Nasscom’s executive council meeting on Monday. “In fact, companies may be saving travel money as they rely more on video conferencing,’’ said Som Mittal.
20/04/10 Sudeshna Sen/Economic Times

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Over 41,000 air passengers affected

New Delhi: As many as 41,435 passengers have been affected in Delhi and Mumbai because of the large-scale disruption in air traffic to the European and North American cities caused by the plumes of volcanic ash drifting from Iceland.
“The Ministry of Civil Aviation has set up a control room — headed by Joint Secretary Prashant Shukul, with officials from the Ministry of External Affair and the Directorate-General of Civil Aviation — to clear the backlog,” Civil Aviation Secretary M. Madhavan Nambiar told reporters here on Monday.
Though Air India and Jet Airways had resumed services to the U.S. through Greece and Egypt, the situation was still grim, he said.
20/04/10 The Hindu

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Europe Flight Delays Hit India Exports

Mumbai: India's gem and jewelry exports to the key European markets of Belgium and the U.K. have been affected by flight disruptions over the past few days as planes remain grounded following a volcanic eruption in Iceland.
A passenger waits for flights to resume at Narita International Airport, in suburban Tokyo on April 19, 2010.
"We're finding it difficult to transport our goods, there has been a backlog of goods to these places," Vasant Mehta, chairman of the Gem & Jewellery Export Promotion Council, told Dow Jones Newswires.
Most of northern Europe was last Thursday covered by a cloud of ash from the Eyjafjallajokull volcano in Iceland, leading to thousands of flight cancellations. Experts say it will take some days for the ash to clear.
Mr. Mehta added that exports to the U.S., the main market for Indian jewelry, have progressed as normal as goods are transported through a different route.
India's gem and jewelry exports rose 16% to $28.41 billion in the last fiscal year to March 31.
Harmesh Arora, vice president of the Bombay Bullion Association, added that India's gold stocks remain sufficient as flight disruptions have had little impact on imports.
20/04/10 Swansy Afonso/Wall Street Journal

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Govt advises flyers to defer travel to Europe

New Delhi: The fifth straight day of flight cancellations over Europe has sent alarm bells ringing in the aviation ministry, as it estimates that 41,435 passengers are stuck in Delhi and Mumbai alone. The all-India figure would be higher and the numbers could keep adding up if airlines aren’t able to restart flights soon.
The government, on its part, advised passengers to defer travel to European destinations unless absolutely necessary. The advisory issued by the aviation ministry was part of government’s multi-pronged strategy under which talks have been initiated with Greece to allow Indian carriers to pick up or deboard stranded flyers.
The aviation ministry’s crack team, led by secretary M M Nambiar and DGCA chief Nasim Zaidi, is trying to get rights for Indian carriers to fly to a few open airports in southern Europe. Along with the joint secretary in charge of bilaterals (agreements that enable inter-country flights), Prashant Sukul, the team wants Indian carriers to be able to fly passengers to and from places like Cairo, Athens and Madrid. Now, with much of Europe airspace under the volcanic ash cloud, accessibility to the continent is only possible through a combination of rail-road-and-sea links from these places.
‘‘We are trying to secure for Air India rights to fly via Cairo, while Jet can fly passengers to and from Athens. Madrid is also an option. We are in constant touch with Euro Control for the latest situation of airspace closures,’’ Nambiar said.
20/04/10 Times of India

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When planes won’t fly

Cancelled flights to Europe, due to volcanic eruptions in Iceland, have several students in the city on tenterhooks.
Ravi Theja Muthu, a second year engineering student at Sri Bhagwan Mahaveer Jain College of Engineering (SBMJCE), is one of them.
He was scheduled to travel to the US for a conference on April 16. “I had a 6.30 am British Airways flight (BA118) to catch to London. I was to go to Bolivia from here.
When I reached the airport, I was shocked to find the flight cancelled and other London-bound passengers being guided to check into a hotel. I heard they would have to wait for 72 hours in Bangalore before some development takes place,” he said.
He will now miss the first two days of the conference, scheduled to begin on April 19. Though Ravi cancelled his ticket and got a refund, he will now have to fork out an extra Rs 80,000 since he will be travelling via Hong Kong.
Srihari Bhat, another collegian whose team is taking part in an aero design competition in Texas next week is worried about sending the cargo for the event.
The unpredictability of the flights has Shashikanth Subramanya, who’s also taking part in the competition, worried.
However, the faculty advisor of the team, C K Chandra Babu, is taking things in his stride and is quite sure normalcy will return before the team sets out for the competition.
Chess maestro Viswanathan Anand has sought a postponement of his World Championship match against Veselin Topalov in Sofia, Bulgaria as the grounding of international flights due to the volcanic ash over Iceland has left him stranded in Frankfurt.
19/04/10 Nishanth S Coontoor/Bangalore Mirror

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Air trauma may last months

New Delhi: Even as the airspace over Europe remained closed for the fourth day running on Sunday, and thousands of air passengers remained stranded, experts expressed fears that the ash released by Iceland’s erupting volcano might continue to disrupt air operations for weeks and months.
Indian airline companies, however, resumed their flights to the United States by using alternative routes that bypassed Europe altogether.Indian airline companies, however, resumed their flights to the United States by using alternative routes that bypassed Europe altogether.
As eruptions from the volcano continued to spew ash into the atmosphere, experts said only a heavy shower could bring them to a halt and enable airlines to resume operations.
The last time the crater, Ejyafjallajokull, erupted was in 1821, when it went on expelling lava for more than a year. There are also fears that another Icelandic volcano, Katla, said to be five times bigger, could become active as well.
“Our work suggests that eventually there will be either somewhat larger or more frequent eruptions in Iceland in coming decades,” Freysteinn Sigmundsson of the Nordic Volcanological Centre in Iceland told The Telegraph, London.
"While volcanic eruptions can be predicted, there is no way to predict how long they will continue. The eruption of Ejyafjallajokull had been predicted,” Professor D Chandrasekharam, former head of the department of earth sciences at the Indian Institute of Technology, Mumbai, told Hindustan Times.
18/04/10 Tushar Srivastava/Hindustan Times

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Airports Authority of India may levy landing fees on more airlines

New Delhi: The Airports Authority of India (AAI), a body that owns and operates most airports across the country, plans to levy landing fees on some aircraft which have been exempt from such a charge till now. This move, if cleared, will help the beleaguered Authority to improve its revenues even as it hurts some airlines at select routes.
But at the same time, the Airport Regulator wants to soften the blow for airlines at two of the largest airports in India-Mumbai and Delhi-by refusing a proposal of increasing airport charges at these two locations by 10% each.
AAI has proposed charging landing fees from aircrafts having seating capacity of less than 80 passengers and being operated by scheduled domestic operators. Such aircraft have been exempt from landing and parking charges at Indian airports till now. Giving this information in Lok Sabha on Thursday, Civil Aviation minister, Praful Patel said he has asked AAI to commission a study and get a clearer picture on this proposal.
The waiver of landing charges for 80-seaters andother concessions in Route Navigational Facility Charges (RNFC), 15% reduction in landing charges for domesticflights etc. were allowed by AAI from 2004 at all airports.
Meanwhile, the Airports Economic Regulatory Authority (AERA) appears to be batting for embattled airlines. In a consultation paper posted on its website, the Authority has rejected demands by both, Mumbai and Delhi International Airports, to raise base airport charges by 10%. If these charges are implemented after the consultation process is over, airlines will have to shell out more for using airport facilities and therefore suffer further margin erosion.
19/04/10 Sindhu Bhattachrya/Daily News & Analysis

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MRO: creating self-sufficiency

The Indian aviation industry is one of the most dynamic industries the world over and has witnessed an exponential growth over the last two decades. The liberalisation of the Indian economy led to the Open Skies Policy which brought about a good many private airlines competing for a market share, which until then was the exclusive domain of the national carriers. This rapid growth and resultant competitive environment fuelled the advent of low-cost airlines like Air Deccan, which pioneered the concept in India, Spice Jet, Go Air and Indigo. Air travel, which was affordable to only a select few, was now available to the “common man”. According to the latest figures released by the DGCA (Directorate General of Civil Aviation), the total number of passengers was 29.8 million in 2009, up 30 per cent from the previous year to grow by a further 19 per cent over the next five years. Interestingly, the Asia Pacific region accounts for 32 per cent of the world's passenger market.
The current fleet size of aircraft is expected to grow from the present 400 plus aircraft to around 720 plus at a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 8.3 per cent. The environment has only gotten more and more competitive over the last decade. According to a report by the Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation (CAPA), the domestic airline industry will incur a combined loss of Rs. 7,000 crore in 2009-10 in addition to the accumulated losses of Rs. 26,000 crore. With the economic climate showing signs of revival, it is time for serious introspection to identify efficiencies, develop strategies, build long-term relationships and cut costs. Airlines will perforce be driven to focus on innovation, formulation of strategies and brand building, if they are to survive. The competition in the region is formidable with well entrenched players and an environment conducive to growth. It is time for airlines to outsource non-essential services such as MRO (maintenance, repair and overhaul) to third party service providers within the country.
The MRO spend by airlines in India now is $500 million and is likely to grow to $1.5 billion in 2020. The Indian MRO is now more of an imperative than an option. There has been much debate and speculation as to whether India has the potential to develop as an MRO hub in the region.
19/04/10 The Hindu

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Airlines cancel flights to the West till Monday

Mumbai/New Delhi: The thick volcanic smoke and flying ash choking European airspace continued to disrupt flights leaving passengers stranded for the third consecutive day on Sunday.
With little chance of the ash receding, Air India cancelled all its flights to Europe, the US and Canada till Monday. In all, the national carrier cancelled 16 westbound flights for Monday. Apart from this, it cancelled 18 flights scheduled for Sunday.
Jet Airways also cancelled all flights operating to London and the United States via its Brussels hub. So did King-fisher, which operates four in and outbound flights from Mumbai and Delhi to London.
Europe is a major transit hub and 30 per cent of international traffic from India goes to and via the continent. Officials of a large Indian conglomerate, who had gone to London for fundraising work, are among the several thousand fliers stranded.
“I just came back from Europe. The situation there is the worst since World War II when European airspace was closed.” said travel entrepreneur Ankur Bhatia, MD, Amadeus India, who managed to catch the last Lufthansa flight from Munich to Delhi before the airport closed.
“It would take several weeks to clear the backlog after flights begin to operate,” Bhatia said.
Foreign airlines such as British Airways, Lufthansa, Air France, KLM and Virgin Atlantic have grounded their planes. Airport officials said the aircraft are parked at distant bays at the Delhi and Mumbai airports, indicating that they may remain grounded for a few days at least.
With most of Europe out of bounds for flights, airlines have begun looking for alternate routes to resume flights to North America. Jet Airways will use Athens as a transit point to operate flights onwards to the US (Newark) and Canada (Toronto).
18/04/10 Lalatendu Mishra and Sidhartha Roy/Tushar Srivastava and Neelam Pandey/Hindustan Times

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Europe's ash clouds airfares from India

Mumbai: Even as airlines cancelled all West-bound flights for the third consecutive day on Saturday because of the volcanic ash blinding European airspace, industry experts predicted tough days for passengers travelling to the UK, the US and other European countries. Tour operators said that the volcanic eruption had cast a pall over the holiday and business travel season.
The International Air Travel Association (IATA) estimates that airlines are losing $ 200 million a day on account of cancellations. Worst hit are flyers, stranded in various parts of the globe, waiting for airspace restrictions to be lifted.
Travel experts say that even when restrictions are lifted, passengers may have to pay through their noses to buy a ticket to the UK, US and much of Europe because of the backlog. "Most of the flights are either flying full or are packed to 90 percent capacity. When the European airspace is cleared, there will be a crowd of stranded passengers vying for the few available seats on flights," said Rajesh Rateria, managing director, Cirrus Travels. "It will be a difficult situation for airlines to handle."
Tour operators said currently most airlines are left with only business class seats to offer, as most flights are running booked. "In that situation, the question is whether a passenger will be able to get a seat for the rates he/she wanted even while the re-booking charges are waived off," said Ajay Prakash, national general secretary, Travel Agents' Federation of India (TAFI). Even if fares don't go up, passengers will be paying Rs 50,000 for a ticket to a European destination instead of Rs 35,000 as only business class seats are on offer.
Agency reports said the ash plume forced extension of no-fly restrictions over much of Europe on Saturday as Icelandic scientists warned that volcanic activity had increased.
18/04/10 Chinmayi Shalya/Times of India

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Ash cloud forces cancellation of flights

New Delhi: The global aviation industry is suffering a daily revenue loss of at least $200 million owing to the disruption of air services in the US and Canada besides Europe, where an unprecedented 17,000 flights were grounded after drifting ash clouds forced a nofly zone over almost the whole of the continent following Thursday’s volcanic eruption in Iceland.
Air India announced the suspension of all flights scheduled for Sunday to Europe, Canada and the US for the next two days. The airlines cancelled all of its eight Saturday flights to the same destinations. A top AI offi cial said the disruptions were expected to continue till next week.
Jet and Kingfisher too cancelled their flights to these destinations. Jet Airways said the closure of London Heathrow and Brussels airports has led to the cancellation of the following flights to and from London, and to Brussels and New York (JFK) from Chennai, scheduled for Sunday, pending the reopening of airports.Passengers of the cancelled flights, AI said, could take flights at a later date without penalty or full refund on cancellation.
18/04/10 K S Narayanan/ExpressBuzz

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Stranded fliers cause 10% rise in hotel prices

New Delhi: As forecasters said the haze over Europe will stay for five more days, stranded passengers have caused hotel rates in New Delhi and Mumbai to climb 10 per cent. Travellers in large numbers have cancelled their tickets on flights to Europe, USA and Canada, rather than extend them to a later date.
STIC Travel Group Chairman Subhash Goyal said the rates would have climbed further had the arrival of tourists from the West not been hit by the haze. “So the increase is not very steep,” said he. Inbound travel, some experts said, could be down as much as 10 per cent. A Cox & Kings spokesperson said hotel rates have risen over 5 per cent for new bookings. Hotels in Beijing and Singapore are also straining to accommodate thousands of stranded passengers.
“This is the worst-ever air space closure in Europe. The situation is going to remain the same over the weekend. Around 30 per cent of travellers from India go to Europe and America, and most of them are cancelling for now,” said Amadeus India Managing Director Ankur Bhatia, an airline ticketing system provider.
18/04/10 Business Standard

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Over 1,000 stranded in India as European flights cancelled

New Delhi: Around 1,000 passengers were stranded at airports in Mumbai and New Delhi on Saturday as flights to Europe were cancelled due to heavy volcanic ash from an Iceland eruption, reports and officials said.
About 900 passengers were stuck at Mumbai's international airport, and hundreds more were stranded at Delhi, the NDTV network reported.
Most flights from the two cities to Europe, the United States and Canada were cancelled, and flights to India were also delayed indefinitely, officials said.
Major disruptions of flights were expected to continue until next.
India's national air carrier Air India cancelled flights to cities across Europe and US scheduled for Saturday and Sunday.
Kingfisher Airlines spokesman said all flights to the Heathrow airport were cancelled on Saturday.
17/04/10 Earth Times

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'India to be among top 5 aviation markets in 5 yrs'

Mumbai: India is poised to emerge as one of the top five aviation markets in the next five years, Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel said today.
"Within a short span, the Indian aviation industry changed drastically. We believe that in the next five years India would be among the top five aviation markets in the world," Patel said while inaugurating the new terminal 1C at the Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport (CSIA) here today.
17/04/10 Press Trust of India

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Air travel chaos till next week

New Delhi: The volcanic ash over Europe has led to major disruptions of flights going to Europe and US at the Delhi international airport. Disruptions are expected to continue till next week. Worried passengers are lining up not knowing when will they fly next to their destinations in Europe and US. To add to their woes some of the airport officials are passing the buck to the respective airlines and the uncertainty of the next available flight is making the situation chaotic.
Meanwhile, about 900 passengers are stranded at Mumbai's Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport due to the closure of European airspace. The passengers, most of whom were to fly by Jet Airways, are demanding priority booking from the airline which it is not offering. All Kingfisher flights to and fro Heathrow have been cancelled.
17/04/10 NDTV.com

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Volcano effect: Hundreds of passengers stranded in Mumbai Airport

Mumbai: Hundreds of air passengers are facing huge delays on Chhatrapati Shivaji Intarnational Airport at Mumbai as international air service disruptions intensified after a cloud of ash from a volcano in Iceland spread across Europe.
All the Air India flights from Mumbai to the United States of America, Canada, and London have been called off.
The flights flying towards India are also delayed indefinitely, thus, causing inconvenience to the passengers moving to and fro.
Iceland's second volcano eruption in less than a month began under the Eyjafjallajokull glacier in the south of the country on Wednesday.
Between 700 and 800 people were evacuated from their homes in the remote, lightly populated area 125 kilometres east of Reykjavik, as melted glacier water caused massive flooding.
Last month, the first volcano eruption at the Eyjafjallajokull glacier since 1823 -- and Iceland's first since 2004 -- briefly forced 600 people from their homes in the same area.
Iceland lies on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, the highly volatile boundary between the Eurasian and North American continental plates.
16/04/10 ANI/Daily India.com

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A third of flights from India hit

New Delhi: Airlines in India today cancelled about 70 outbound flights, most of them destined for Europe, as airspace remained shut over the continent for a second day in a row. Some flights to the United States and Canada were also grounded as a drifting volcanic ash cloud over Europe threatened to disrupt air travel across the world.
Indian airports operate more than 200 international flights daily.
Spokespersons of Air India, Jet Airways and Kingfisher Airlines said they have suspended all operations to and from these destinations.
While Air India said it has suspended all West-bound flights for 48 hours from today, Jet Airways said it is putting all West-bound flights on hold indefinitely. Kingfisher cancelled four flights between London's Heathrow Airport and Delhi and Mumbai.
Flights to US were also affected as most of them either have a stopover in Europe or overfly the continent.
Industry sources said about 90 per cent of passengers booked on flights now cancelled have postponed their travel.
“Majority of travellers — over 90 per cent — are waiting instead of looking for alternative arrangements,” said Sabina Chopra, co-founder of Yatra.com, a travel portal. “The leisure traveller can change their travel dates and destination. We are also postponing the supply date and back end for them by rescheduling their hotel bookings.”
But passengers who are desperate to reach their destinations are opting for alternative routes through airlines like Emirates, Cathay Pacific, Qatar, China, Thai and Malaysian, she added.
17/04/10 Business Standard

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Europe grounded, no flights from India to UK and US

New Delhi: The giant no-fly zone over Europe, caused by flying ash from an erupting Iceland volcano, continued to grow on Friday, grounding thousands more flights across the world.
It led to the cancellation of all flights from India to the US, UK and most of Europe. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, returning from Brazil, had to take a detour — with a Johannesburg stop-over — to avoid Frankfurt before reaching India on Saturday.
The situation, experts said, isn’t likely to improve soon.
Air India said it wouldn’t operate flights to Europe, the US and Canada for 48 hours. Its flights from the US to Europe and India are delayed indefinitely.
Jet and Kingfisher cancelled all Europe and US-bound flights for Friday but didn’t announce Saturday schedules.
British Airways, Lufthansa, Virgin Atlantic and Air France cancelled flights. Fliers have been advised to call the airlines and get updates from websites.
17/04/10 Hindustan Times

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Iceland's volcanic ash halts India-UK flight operations

Mumbai: A huge cloud of ash from a volcano in Iceland not only turned the skies of northern Europe into a no-fly zone on Thursday, but also left passengers in India hassled.
Major airlines like Jet Airways, Kingfisher Airlines and British Airways cancelled flights, compelling passengers travelling to the United Kingdom and northern Europe to frequently check for updates on flight schedules. There are six direct flights to London, UK, from Mumbai and more than 15 (direct and indirect) from India.
Britain, on Thursday, closed airports in Northern Ireland (Belfast), Scotland (Glasgow, Edinburgh, Aberdeen) and England (Birmingham, Manchester), including airports in London (Heathrow, Gatwick, Luton, Stansted), because of an eruption of Iceland’s EyjaFjoll volcano.
A spokesman for Kingfisher Airlines said, “We cancelled our flights on Thursday and are monitoring the situation closely.” British Airways, which operates two flights from Mumbai every day, said customers booked to travel on a cancelled flight can claim full refund or rebook their flight for a later date.
Air India operated flights despite the ash cloud.
16/04/10 Naveeta Singh/Daily News & Analysis

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U.K. airspace closed: Kingfisher cancels flights, AI reschedules

Kingfisher Airlines cancelled its flights to London for the second consecutive day on Friday while Air India rescheduled its flights to London, Toronto and New York as airspace was closed over several North European airports due to drifting ash from a volcano in Iceland.
Kingfisher flights from New Delhi to London and from London to New Delhi were cancelled. Also, a flight from Mumbai to London and London to Mumbai were cancelled.
“In view of continuous restriction over UK airspace and closure of London’s Heathrow airport, Kingfisher airlines cancelled its flights from Mumbai and New Delhi to London today,” Kingfisher spokesperson Prakash Mir Puri said here.
Air India has rescheduled its long haul flights to Toronto, New York and London till 2PM today.
“Due to airspace restrictions, Air India’s flight from Delhi to New York, Mumbai to New York, Mumbai-London, Delhi-London-Toronto, Delhi-Frankfurt, Mumbai-Frankfurt-Chicago and Ahmedabad-Frankfurt-Newark will leave after 2 PM today,” an AI spokesperson said.
Yesterday, Kingfisher cancelled all its flights to London from Mumbai and Delhi while Jet cancelled two flights from the two Indian metropolises and one from London to Delhi.
16/04/10 PTI/The Hindu

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Jet Airways No.1 domestic airline for sixth straight month

New Delhi: India’s private carrier Jet Airways along with its low-cost subsidiary JetLite has emerged as the leader for the sixth consecutive month in March capturing 26.1 percent of domestic market share. Kingfisher Airlines’ market share was 23 percent while national carrier Air India’s was 17.8 percent.
Among the low-cost carriers, IndiGo’s share was the highest at 14.7 percent, the civil aviation ministry said in a statement Thursday.
15/04/10 IANS/Thaindian.com

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A great March -- airlines flew 23.5% more people

Bangalore: Domestic passenger traffic continued to soar with airlines carrying 39.03 lakh fliers in March this year, up 23.51% from the same month last year when they had flown 31.60 lakh passengers.
Ministry of civil aviation data show this year’s March passenger number was higher compared with even 2008 when local airlines had carried 37.11 lakh.
In the first quarter too, 17.13% more passengers took to the sky this year at 118.53 lakh against 98.22 lakh in the first three months - January to March - of 2009.
Air traffic was up month-on-month, too, as it climbed 1.035% in that period from 38.63 passengers in February.
In March 2009, airlines had recorded an average of high 60 load factor.
In terms of market share, all carriers lost marginally except Kingfisher Airlines and Air India (domestic) in March compared to February.
The Vijay Mallya-owned carrier’s share moved up to 23% from 22.7% while Air India’s to 17.8% from 17.2%.
Naresh Goyal-owned Jet Airways, along its subsidiary JetLite that offer budget services, maintained market dominance with 26%. Jet’s share was down by 10 basis points (bps) from 26.10% in February.
IndiGo, SpiceJet, GoAir and Paramount Airways market pie shrunk to 14.70%, 11.9%, 5.3% and 1.3% from 14.90%, 12.2%, 5.5% and 1.8%.
16/04/10 Praveena Sharma/Daily News & Analysis

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Hope floats: Domestic air traffic climbs 23% in March

New Delhi: The worst in the aviation sector seems to be far behind with domestic air traffic continuing the double-digit growth. Domestic airlines flew 39.76 lakh passengers during March this year, up 23% over the corresponding month last year.
As per the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) data, most of the airlines filled over 70% of their seats during this period. The flight occupancy, however, dipped marginally compared with February this year.
“It indicates that airlines have added capacity in March. There is also the seasonality issue,” said airline ticketing service provider InterGlobe Technology Quotient (ITQ) CEO JB Singh.
Most of the carriers are expanding their operations, as the growth in the sector has stabilised on the back of strong economy and improved market sentiment.
While full-service carriers such as Air India and Kingfisher Airlines are cautiously adding flights, the no-frill airlines such as IndiGo and SpiceJet have indicated aggressive fleet induction plans. The domestic airline industry has been in turbulance in the past two financial years, as weak demand, excess capacity and spiralling fuel price had hit it hard. The industry is estimated to have lost about Rs 10,000 crore in 2009-10.
16/04/10 Economic Times

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Oil firms raise ATF price by 3.2 pc

New Delhi: For the fourth time in two months state-owned oil retailers today raised jet fuel or ATF prices, this time by 3.2 per cent, in step with rise in global oil rates.
Aviation turbine fuel (ATF) rates in Delhi have been raised by Rs 1,338 per kilolitre, or 3.2 per cent, to Rs 42,179 per kl with effect from midnight tonight, an official of the Indian Oil Corp, the nation's largest oil firm, said.
15/04/10 Press Trust of India

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AAI Seeks withdrawal of concessions for smaller aircraft

The Airports Authority of India (AAI) has sought the withdrawal of waiver of landing charges for aircraft having seating capacity of less than 80 passengers and being operated by scheduled domestic operators. This information was given by the Minister of Civil Aviation, Shri Praful Patel in Lok Sabha today.
The Ministry of Civil Aviation has directed Airport Authority of India (AAI) to commission a study on the various aspects to get a clearer picture of the proposal.
The waiver of landing chrges in respect of aircraft with pasenger seating capacity of less than 80 seats and other concessions in Route Navigational Facility Charges (RNFC), 15% reduction in Landing Charges for domestic flights etc. were allowed by Airports Authority of India w.e.f. February, 2004 as per the recommendation of Naresh Chandra Committee. These concession /incentives are applicable at all airports.
15/04/10 PRESS RELEASE/Press Information Bureau

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Code soon for offloading air passengers

For passengers with confirmed bookings and unable to board flights due to overbooking, there could be good news if the directorate-general of civil aviation (DGCA) overcomes resistance from carriers and issues guidelines for their code of conduct with their customers so offloaded.
Draft guidelines on overbooking require domestic airlines to not only pay a compensation to an offloaded passenger but also arrange for his stay, food and telephone in the boarding city until he reaches the destination airport.
It will be mandatory for airlines to take care of a passenger holding a confirmed ticket on a flight but not allowed to board for lack of seats.
“The guidelines have been drafted and put up for internal discussion within DGCA and the civil aviation ministry. DGCA will put them on its website to get the industry’s reaction. The final draft should be out by the end of May,” a ministry official told Financial Chronicle.
Director-general Nasim Zaidi, confirming the move, said, “We are working with the ministry and airlines. We will discuss the economic impact on carriers before effecting the plan. In the meantime, a proposal has gone to the ministry. Once it clears it, we will take it forward with the carriers.”.
Only full-service carriers such as Jet Airways, Kingfisher and Air India overbook by between 5 and 10 per cent, depending on the route and flight timings, mainly to avoid seats going empty because of passenger no-shows.
15/04/10 Parul Chhaparia/mydigitalfc.com

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First India MRO For Russian Aircraft Opens

New Delhi: Rosoboronservice India Ltd. (ROS(I), a joint venture between Rosoboronexport of Russia and India’s Krasny Marine Services, has launched the first Aviation Division in Goa for Kamovs, Tupolevs and Ilyushin aircraft in the Indian navy inventory.
The $25 million center is expected to drastically reduce the turnaround time for aircraft that head to Russia for repairs and have often had to crimp operations as a result.
Until recently, the military — captive users of Russian equipment — have had to send aircraft equipment and engines to Russia for servicing, causing delays and operational gaps. Transportation of the equipment has added costs too.
Russian spares have also known to be poorly tabulated. Now, a warehouse stocked with spares has made the system more efficient, according to V.G. Jayaprakashan, managing director of ROS(I).
With 17 staff including engineers, the center has a large number of diagnostics. The Russian-produced Sea Dragon System, operational on the Indian navy Il-38 — used for anti-submarine warfare, with electro-optical sensors, electronically scanned radar and electronic support measures — will arrive later this year, Jayaprakashan says.
While the Indian navy has ordered eight Boeing P8-I aircraft to replace its aging fleet of eight Tupolev Tu-42s, as well as the remaining two IL-38 aircraft, the earliest delivery will be in 2013.
The aviation center will prove to be a big benefit as the navy can have maintenance on hand, one naval officer says.
14/04/10 Neelam Mathews/Aviation Week

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India airlines eye turnaround, funding woes linger

Mumbai: India's aviation industry, which is expected to lose $2.1 billion in 2009/10, is cautiously expanding routes and adding capacity as an economic recovery sets in, but fund raising continues to pose a challenge.
"Return to growth was sharper than we expected because of impressive economic growth and significant capacity reduction by airlines, especially Jet and Kingfisher," said Kapil Kaul, Chief Executive Indian subcontinent and Middle East, Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation (Capa), an aviation consulting firm.
In the last two years, the airlines sector in India and globally had been battered by a spike in fuel prices and economic slowdown resulting in lower travel spends.
The past few months though have thrown up evidence of a turnaround with travellers returning and passenger traffic grew 20.54 percent in Jan-March over a year ago, government data showed.
All private carriers posted seat factors of over 72 percent in Feb-March, while three budget airlines- SpiceJet, Indigo and Paramount - recorded over 75 percent. Jet Airways, India's top private carrier by sales, reported around 80 percent load factor for international routes. "We are happy with the bookings we have recieved for April to June.
Volume driven yields will go up," said Raj Sivakumar, vice president, revenue management, Jet Airways. The new-found confidence is prompting airlines to reach out to newer overseas locations though the pace of expansion is more measured now than what was seen in 2008, before the slowdown hit.
While Jet has launched a daily Mumbai-Johannesburg flight, Kingfisher has received approval for seven new international routes and budget carrier SpiceJet is getting ready to make its international debut.
15/04/10 Reuters/Economic Times

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Denmark hints at extraditing Purulia arms drop mastermind to India

New Delhi: The Interpol has informed the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) that the Denmark authorities have decided to extradite Purulia arms drop case mastermind Kim Davy aka Neils Holck to India.
In October 2002, the CBI had requested for Davy's extradition.After prolonged negotiations through diplomatic channels on fulfilling certain conditions to pave way for his extradition, present Danish authorities have decided to extradite him to India.
According to CBI spokesperson Harsh Bhal, the Interpol would facilitate the extradition of Davy to India after receipt of documents formally from the Danish authorities though diplomatic channels.The CBI accused Davy as the person behind arms drop near Anand Marg ashram in West Bengal's Purulia District. On April 9, the Danish Police apprehended Davy. The CBI said Davy has demanded that the legality of the decision should be tried by the Danish courts. The CBI also accused Davy for conspiring to procure a huge quantity of arms and ammunition and to traffic it illegally into Indian territory for the purpose of waging war against India.
14/04/10 ANI/oneindia.in

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InterGlobe General Aviation signs sales representation with Pacific Aerospace

InterGlobe General Aviation Pvt. Limited (IGGA), a group company of InterGlobe Enterprises, has signed with Pacific Aerospace for the exclusive sales of the P-750 XSTOL aircraft in India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and the Maldives.
The introduction of the P-750 will be the first XSTOL (Extremely Short Take Off and Landing) aircraft to enter the region. As the world’s most versatile aircraft, not only is it the ideal passenger carrier, it is the perfect aircraft to carry out a variety of Special Missions, already proving itself in some of the most demanding environments across the world. The aircraft is being used by the UN World Food Programme in Chad, Sudan and Nepal, humanitarian work in the highlands of Papua New Guinea and Aerial Survey work in the Australian outback along with the freezing extremes of Alaska and the Himalayas. Pacific Aerospace has recently partnered with L-3 Communications to offer the P-750 XSTOL to the US Air Force for missions in Afghanistan.
The addition of the P-750 adds a new element to IGGA’s current product offering, including exclusive representation for Hawker Beechcraft Corporation, Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation and Dornier Seaplane Company and further emphasizes IGGA’s mission to set the benchmark for General Aviation in the region.
Mr. Nigel Harwood, President and CEO, InterGlobe General Aviation said, “We are pleased to enter into this long term association with Pacific Aerospace which has a heritage of 50 years in designing and manufacturing rugged, versatile and reliable aircraft. The performance of P-750 XSTOL makes this a perfect aircraft for the diverse terrain of the region due to its extremely short take off and landing capability in hot and high altitude conditions and exceptional payload performance”.
15/04/10 India Infoline.com

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ALPA not for industrial action

Mumbai: After over 2,000 airline pilots from across the country came together under one umbrella body called the Air Line Pilot’s Association (ALPA), the association announced that its objective was not to threaten airline managements.
Speaking on the key objectives of the pilots’ body, a senior ALPA member said that its primary aim was to capitalise on the vast technical resources available with the pilots which would be aimed solely at improving air safety.
The formation of ALPA was made possible following an agreement between erstwhile Air India’s Indian Pilots’ Guild (IPG), erstwhile Indian Airlines’ Indian Commercial Pilots Association (ICPA), Jet Airways’ Society for Welfare of Indian Pilots (SWIP) and Kingfisher Airlines’ Integrated Pilots Welfare Association (IPWA) to make the umbrella organisation.
14/04/10 Indian Express

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India's aviation industry taking off once again

New Delhi: India's aviation industry is taking off again after last year's downturn.
With passenger numbers for domestic carriers growing, many airlines are expanding their fleet and have started rehiring.
India's domestic air traffic has grown about 25 percent in the last four months with low-cost carriers leading the fight back for the Indian aviation industry.
Thanks to their low prices, airlines such as IndiGo and Spice Jet accounted for almost 60 percent of all domestic passengers flown in January 2010.
IndiGo is planning to expand its fleet size from 24 to 34 by the end of the year, and hire around 1,000 people.
Spice Jet too is on a hiring spree, as it looks to fly international routes soon.
Praful Patel, Minister of Civil Aviation in India, said: "Growth has come back in the last four to five months. We are looking at the year 2010 with cautious optimism. If this trend continues, I am sure that by 2010 end, the worst part of Indian aviation would have been over."
The revival is also good news for airport operators who are implementing modernisation projects worth millions of dollars.
State run Airport Authority of India is planning to partially privatise at least 15 non-operational airports across the country.
Nearly 35 non-metro airports are also being upgraded to handle increased passenger flow.
13/04/10 Damanjeet Kohli/Channel NewsAsia

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