Mukesh's rooftop helipad plan all set for a take-off

Mumbai: The Maharashtra Coastal Zone Management Authority ( MCZMA) has cleared the decks for a helipad atop Seawind, the Ambani residence at Cuffe Parade.
The Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries Limited proposed a helipad atop Seawind and sought permission from the government. Around the same time, many other industrialists and builders also approached the government seeking permissions for their helipads.
The state government changed the DC regulations last year to permit helipads atop buildings. This cleared the way for RIL's helipad plan. But environmentalists raised objection to this, stating the noise pollution would violate provisions of the Environment Protection Act, 1986.The matter was heard by the MCZMA on August 24 and the proposal was cleared.
Currently, captains of industry, builders and politicians use the helipad at Mahalaxmi racecourse.
05/09/09 Yogesh Naik/Times of India

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Airlines shed costs to keep flying

With a loss of over Rs 10,000 crore in a year, airlines in the country are trying new ways to remain afloat. To cut cost large operators are moving more seats to no-frills service, writes B S Arun,DH News Service.
Seven years after the first budget airline took off from the Indian soil, low cost air travel has come to stay in the country. The no-frill airlines occupy about 55 per cent of the market share and are set to gain more owing to a combination of factors.
It was on August 23, 2003 that the country’s first budget carrier — Air Deccan — took off from Bangalore to fly to Hubli. Almost seven years later, the last of the full service carrier left to turn low cost carrier or LCC — Air India — announced this month its plans to launch a budget airline. The other two legacy carriers— Jet Airways and Kingfisher Airlines — already have their own budget subsidiaries.
As the state-run airline’s international low cost arm — Air India Express — will run the domestic LCC, both Jet and Kingfisher are already expanding the operations of their LCCs. More aircrafts of these three FSCs (full service carriers) will be converted into no-frills carriers in the days and months to come, taking space in the budget pie. Thus, Jet Konnect and Kingfisher Red will have an additional number of budget aircrafts. All the legacy carriers will, however, maintain their original full service character.
The popularity of the LCC should be seen in the background of the cost-conscious Indian. Adding to this is the current economic downturn which has forced corporates away from executive class travel .
The cost of running an airline continues to be high, such as prices of jet fuel. There is excess capacity in the market. The continued losses of the three FSCs played a major part in their decision-making, attempting to make good at least some yield which was otherwise not there.
31/08/09 Deccan Herald

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Airlines criticise airport developer’s demand for 10% fee hike

New Delhi: The demand by the joint venture companies running Mumbai and Delhi airports to raise their charges by 10% for the second time this year has been criticised by the aviation industry, which feels it would add to the pressure mounted by the high jet fuel cost burden.
Both GVK-led Mumbai International Airport Ltd and GMR-led Delhi International Airport Ltd have separately written to the Civil Aviation Ministry seeking 10% hike in the airport charges, saying the hike was part of their concession agreement. The ministry is yet to take a decision on the issue but is examining the proposals from the private airport operators.
The industry, which recently gave an unprecedented strike call to protest high jet fuel prices and steep airport charges, is demanding no further hikes in the airport charges, which include levies for landing, route navigation, parking and facilitation.
Industry sources said when the sector was passing through extreme financial pressures, there was no real urgency for the ministry to allow a second hike in airport charges this year.
Seeking early steps to make the newly-created Airport Economic Regulatory Authority functional, they said any decision on these charges should be left to this body which should decide after a proper review of the entire gamut of problems being faced by the industry.
30/08/09 PTI/Livemint

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Karnataka begins talks with airline firms on operating flights from Mysore

Bangalore: The State Government has begun discussions with airline companies to operate flights from the new Mysore airport.
The airport is set for inauguration on September 15, and the Director General of Civil Aviation is stated to have permitted an inaugural flight on that day.
Given the length of the runway of the new airport which is 1.7 km, only aircraft of the size of ATR-72 (which can carry up to 70 passengers) and smaller aircraft can operate from there. The State Government and the Centre are scheduled to announce the upgrading of the runway to 2.4 km, following which bigger aircraft (A-320) can operate from Mysore.
It is a wholly government owned airport compared to the new airports which are being constructed under public-private partnership. The airport terminal has been designed for a 200-passenger peak-hour load (100 passengers who arrive and 100 passengers who leave).
31/08/09 S. Rajendran/The HIndu

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Air India not synonymous with civil aviation

He quips that the crisis at Air India is not the only issue in the aviation industry, like it is made out to be at the moment but Minister of Civil Aviation Praful Patel is quick to point out that it can’t be dismissed either given the social obligations that Air India has to fulfill. Even as he says that the government cannot bailout an airline, he admits in an interview with ET that they are looking at ways to address the issues that the sector is grappling with. Excerpts:
Given the crisis that we are currently seeing at Air India, do you believe that the government has been efficient enough in its administration of the civil aviation space?
Fundamentally, I would like to point out that Air India is not synonymous with the civil aviation sector. The government has tried to build up a backbone for the country. We are looking at broadening our footprint to about 125 operational airports over the next five years and further at creating an aviation grid for the future such that the maximum distance between two airports is not more than 50 to 100 kilometres.
Mind you, out of the 85 operational airports, about 70 don’t make any money and yet we have to invest to make them safe and efficient to cater to the needs of people. In fact, the question of airlines only comes into play once the backbone is ready. Once the infrastructure is in place, any airline can come and go.
30/08/09 Lisa Mary Thomson & Shantanu Nandan Sharma/Economic Times

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Bid to boost NE air connectivity

New Delhi: Notwithstanding past setbacks the process of launching an exclusive air service to boost intra-regional connectivity in the North-east has been revived, with the Ministry initiating fresh talks with private airline operators, disclosed Minister Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER), Bijoy Krishna Handique. Talking to newsmen days ahead of completion of first 100 days in office, Handique said he tackled plethora of issues including the controversy relating to use of funds by Bodoland Terrirorial Council (BTC), charges of corruption in North Eastern Council (NEC), revival of the stalled Lumding-Silchar Broad Gauge line among others. The Minister completes 100 days on September 15.
Identifying connectivity as the key issue, the Minister expressed his dismay at the regional air service. ‘The core areas in the region are not being touched by the air operators,” he said, underlining the need for dedicated air services.
At least 11 unused airstrips are being developed and a couple of green field airports are also coming up. “We have opened negotiations with some private air operators,” he disclosed.
The NEC’s earlier attempts to start a regional airline came a copper, because of lack of response from the private air operators. The Council contributes Rs 38 crore as subsidy to the air operator, Alliance Air used to operate the regional air service using four ATR 50 aircraft.
29/08/09 Kalyan Barooah/Assam Tribune

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Bilateral Aviation Safety Agreement between India and USA

India and USA are working on a Bilateral Aviation Safety Agreement (BASA), which would lead to mutual acceptance of aeronautical products/parts developed in either country. Since aeronautical products are now being designed and manufactured in India, a need was felt for international acceptance of such products.

The steps involved in BASA process include:
* Skill upgradation of Indian DGCA certification experts by providing advanced training in certification procedures and oversight of design and production activities.
* Assessment of Indian authorities and industry capabilities to undertake certification and production work on a sustained basis to meet the FAA Standards.
* FAA conducting a Shadow Certification exercise with DGCA officials on a sample product, and satisfying themselves that Indian standard certification procedure are acceptable for high class aeronautical products.
The BASA process with a limited scope is expected to be completed by end of year 2010.
US-India Aviation Cooperation Programme (ACP)
The US-India Aviation Cooperation Program (ACP), a public-private partnership between the U.S. Trade Development Agency (USTDA), the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and U.S. aviation companies, has been established to provide a forum for unified communication between the Government of India and U.S. public and private sector entities in India. The ACP is designed to work directly with the Indian Government to identify and support India’s civil aviation sector modernization priorities.
The ACP’s specific objectives are to: (i) promote enhanced safety, operational efficiency and system capacity in the Indian aviation sector; (ii) facilitate and coordinate aviation industry training and technical ties between the U.S. and India; and (iii) strengthen overall US-India aviation cooperation. Funding for training and technical assistance programs is provided by USTDA and the in-kind support will be provided by FAA and US aviation companies.
Through the mechanism of ACP, Indian and US officials has identified specific areas for technical co-operation, which include:
· Air traffic flow management
· Certification of aeronautical products
· Certification of Global Navigational Satellite System (GNSS)
· Development of human resources.
· Assistance in the area of helicopter operations.
The training programme are targeted for DGCA personnel and industry in India. This programmes would be a joint effort between several ACP member companies including Boeing, Prat & Whitney, GE and Honeywell.
28/08/09 Press Information Bureau

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Plane seized at airport for duty evasion

Chennai: Air customs officials of Chennai airport seized an eight-seater aircraft owned and operated by a private financial services company for violation of import duty procedures.
Based on a request from Delhi air customs, the air cargo wing of the Chennai air customs detained the Beechcraft Super King Air B200 aircraft on Thursday. The aircraft was based here and was used to fly charter operations in the past year, officials said.
29/08/09 Times of India

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Flying may pinch 5-10% more from October onwards

Mumbai: Domestic airlines are considering a 5-10% increase in fares in the October-December quarter in view of rising prices of aviation turbine fuel (ATF) and to take advantage of peak season traffic.
ATF or jet fuel prices in the domestic market have gone up by 50% from the lows of the last quarter of 2008-09 (January-March). But airlines have not been able to pass additional costs on to passengers because of declining traffic.
With passenger numbers increasing -- July saw a year-on-year jump of 21.3% -- carriers are seriously considering increasing fares in the coming quarter.
A senior executive of a low-cost airline said this was the only way to prop up yields -- net revenue per seat -- which have taken a severe beating from intense competition.
"We have no option but to hike ticket prices by 5-10% if we want to avoid sinking deeper into losses. This quarter has seen fierce fare wars that made us change our pricing strategy to be at par with competition," he said. The official said fares will be hiked across all sectors. His airline has, however, not decided whether to hike the fuel surcharge, basic fares or both.
Jitendra Bhargava, executive director, Air India, too, said fares will go up, but didn't specify by how much. "While there are no immediate plans, we will look into this closer to the festive season," he said. A senior executive of another full-service carrier said his airline would push up fares gradually to avoid a disruption in its seat-load factor.
28/08/09 Ramiya Bhas/Daily News & Analysis

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Petroleum Ministry rules out reducing ATF price

New Delhi: Petroleum Ministry today ruled out reducing the base price of ATF as demanded by the cash- strapped aviation industry, saying there was little scope for tinkering given the low margins oil firms earn on processing of crude bought at international rates.
"(While) the base price (of jet fuel or ATF) is linked to international prices (import parity), the price build-up has a significant tax component," Petroleum Secretary R S Pandey told reporters here.
State-run fuel retailers Indian Oil, Bharat Petroleum and Hindustan Petroleum pay international rates for buying crude oil and so the products refineries produce are also priced at international parity.
Pandey said refinery margins or the value a company earns for processing a barrel of crude oil, were low. "Margins are not very high. They have (infact) shrunk in recent days and you have to appreciate this (before seeking a cut in base price)," he said.
Central and state taxes make up for more than one-third of the jet fuel price, he said, adding the Government does not control the price of aviation turbine fuel (ATF) as it was a deregulated product.
The Rs 37.48 per litre selling price of ATF in Mumbai comprised Rs 13.46 a litre in excise duty and sales tax.
"Taxes are entirely in domain of the finance ministry and the states," he added.
27/08/09 Press Trust of India/Business Standard

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Travel agencies to gain from DGCA's order on basic fares

New Delhi: The Directorate General of Civil Aviation’s (DGCA’s) order asking domestic and international airlines to abolish fuel surcharge and include it in basic fares would increase the earnings of travel agencies.
That is because the commissions these agents get from international airlines is expected to rise by 30-50 per cent. Currently, the commission paid to travel agents is calculated on base fares.“In the present fare structure, 30 per cent is the fuel surcharge and if that gets integrated, it will increase our earnings by over 30 per cent,” said Ajay Prakash, general secretary, Travel Agents Federation of India.
“This will impact the commission received from the international carriers by as much as 50 per cent,” said Rajji Rai, president, Travel Agents Association of India.
Full-service domestic carriers Jet Airways, Kingfisher Airlines and Air India already pay a 3 per cent commission on fares, including the fuel surcharge. The low-cost carriers do not pay commissions. International airlines, who earlier had a fuel surcharge component, have merged it and have started paying commission to agents.
“We have merged the surcharge with the fare and have started paying the agents an increased commission. This increase, in our case, has not been much but it will vary from airline to airline,” said Pran Dasan, regional manager (South Asia), Kuwait Airways.
“We currently pay a commission of 5 per cent to the agents and we are working on the DGCA order. Anything that comes out would benefit the agents and consumers,” said a Cathay Pacific executive.
28/08/09 Mihir Mishra/Business Standard

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Helicopter taxis ready for take-off

Pune: 11 of 20 non-scheduled operator permits (NSOPs) issued by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation from January to July are to helicopter operators.
Amongst those who believe that the time of the air-taxi has come is Pune-based Gautam Pashankar, Chairman, Pashankar Group, that has interests in real estate amongst other businesses.
With the NSOP in the pipeline, he has booked one Bell helicopter, and plans to eventually operate a five-copter fleet under the aegis of Sahyadri Aviation Pvt Ltd, a new group company.
With a proposed outlay of Rs 100 crore, Pashankar also proposes to set up a heli-base on six acres at Nande near Pune, where owners can park helicopters for a fee, and get maintenance services thanks to a tie-up with Air Works India Engineering Pvt Ltd.
His target group is the leisure traveller. "We are putting up a luxury villa project at Ratnagiri. This service is essentially for people who want to travel back and forth between these two destinations, and I will provide six persons 20 free trips annually for five years after taking possession of the property," says Pashankar, adding that charter bookings make the air-taxi an economically viable project.
According to Sujay Sumbh, Senior Vice-President, Global Vectra Helicorp Ltd, India's largest private helicopter company with a 29-strong fleet, and five more in the pipeline, religious tourism, particularly visits to prominent shrines are on the rise.
The typical duration for hire of an air-taxi is two-three days for corporate charters and 10-30 minutes for shuttle services.
27/08/09 BusinessLine/Sify

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IOC against cutting ATF base price

New Delhi: The country’s largest oil marketing company, Indian Oil Corporation Ltd (IOC), has said it would not reduce the base price of jet fuel, dashing hopes of several loss-making domestic airline companies.
“Base price of ATF (aviation turbine fuel) is fixed on the basis of international crude price. It is based on a principle. The principles will have to be changed for changing (reducing) the base price,” IOC chairman Sarthak Behuria told ET.
The company’s decision follows the recent refusal by the empowered committee of state finance ministers to rationalise the sales tax on ATF. Sales tax is levied on the base price and ends up pushing costs for airlines even higher. Last week, civil aviation minister Praful Patel met petroleum minister Murli Deora seeking his help in persuading state-run oil marketing firms to reduce the base price of ATF.
Jet fuel contributes about 40-45% to the total operating cost of an airline. The airline industry, which is estimated to have lost about Rs 10,000 crore in 2008-09, has been demanding the reduction in ATF price by rationalisation of sales tax on it.
In a presentation to the Cabinet recently, the civil aviation minister urged oil marketing companies to reduce the base price of ATF and place it on a par with international prices. He also sought government approval for classifying ATF as ‘declared goods’, thereby attracting a uniform sales tax of 4% across the country. The sales tax on ATF levied by various states varies from 4% to 30%.
26/08/09 Economic Times

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Pilot allowed to fly after near-fatal error

Mumbai: The pilot of an Executive Jet charter flight, whose mistake almost led to a mid-air collision in the city skies on Sunday morning, was allowed to fly back to Mumbai later in the evening. He was initially grounded by the DGCA after the plane reached New Delhi. But later, he was given special permission to fly it back to Mumbai as it had been chartered by an NRI business tycoon from Dubai. The plane returned to the city at 8.45 pm, and the pilot was finally grounded till the completion of investigations.
At 11.15 pm, the Pinnacle Air charter, with six people on board, was lined up on runway 27. It was to leave for Aurangabad and its call sign was VTBPS. At the same time, the Executive Jet, carrying five passengers, taxied to the start of the same runway without the ATC's permission, said sources.
The plane was given the call sign of VPBSD. The distance between the two planes was 1500 metres approximately. The length of the runway is 3,445 metres.
At 11.16 am, the Pinnacle plane took off with the ATC's permission. "The Executive Jet pilot Jet misunderstood the call sign VTBPS for VPBSD and took off at the same time," said an airport official. With heavy rains reducing visibility to 800 metres, neither of the planes saw each other.
Sensing danger, an ATC official contacted the defaulting pilot on VHF (very high frequency), asking, "Confirm you are at holding point" A Jet Airways pilot, who had lined up behind the Executive Jet, replied that the plane had taken off misunderstanding the ATC instructions.
25/08/09 Naveeta Singh/Daily News & Analysis

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DGCA may submit report on near-miss at Mumbai airport

New Delhi: The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DCGA) is likely to submit its preliminary report to the Civil Aviation Ministry tomorrow on last night's near-miss incident at Mumbai airport when two aircraft took off almost simultaneously from the same runway.
Two private charter jets took off close to one another after the pilots of one of the aircraft mistook instructions from the air traffic control (ATC) meant for the other.
Official sources said the DGCA was in the process of finalising its preliminary report and had already gone through the transcripts of the Cockpit Voice Recorders and the Flight Data Recorders of both the aircraft to ascertain the ATC instructions as well as the pilots' response.
The two chartered aircraft, one a 'Challenger' from Bermuda and the other a Canadian Regional Jet belonging to Indian aviation company Pinnacle Air, took off almost simultaneously from Runway 27.
24/08/09 Press Trust of India/Business Standard

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M&M may build smaller commercial aircraft: Sources

Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) is training its sights on building its aerospace business and some inorganic activity towards that is on, sources told CNBC-TV18’s Sumantra reports. The company has just become a Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) certified design house, and is now looking at making commercial aircraft, though of a smaller nature.
When we say commercial aircraft it does not mean the big jets that we see which are applied by airlines. These are more of the nature of corporate aircraft that are being used by the captains of the industry. Now what M&M plans to do is through its Mahindra Aerospace which comes under the umbrella of Mahindra Systech they are planning to build their capabilities. In fact if you recall that they already have a joint venture in pace with National Aeronautics Limited and they had made a project of a five seater plane to showcase its capabilities to other foreign potential partners. But now they have decided to commercialize this project and have got a leg up towards this objective by bagging an approval from DGCA as an aviation design house and they plan to take it forward.
24/08/09 CNBC-TV18/Moneycontrol.com

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Taj ties up with three airlines for their frequent flyer progs

Mumbai: India's Taj Group of Hotels has partnered with three global airlines, All Nippon Airways (ANA), Sri Lankan Airlines and Etihad Airways for their frequent flyer programmes.
The partnership envisages the travellers of three air-carriers earning airline miles while staying at Taj property, a company press release said today.
"A customer will earn valuable airline miles on the frequent flyer programme while staying at any of the group's luxury hotels, luxury grand palaces or the Gateway hotels," the release said.
The Taj will leverage this channel to promote various hospitality offers across destinations and hotels to reach out to customers and the airline would use this to help its members and frequent flyers earn miles on their travels and their stay as well, it said.
24/08/09 SamayLive

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Major air disaster averted at Mumbai airport

Mumbai: An air disaster was averted at the Mumbai international airport when two small private jets were involved in a near-miss on Saturday after they took off from the same runway almost simultaneously.
According to a DGCA official, the incident occurred when the Air Traffic Control(ATC) reportedly gave the clearance to the pilots of the two chartered aircraft to take off around the same time from Runway 27.
One of the planes was a chartered aircraft 'Challenger' from Bermuda while the other was a CRJ jet belonging to Pinnacle Air of India, the official said. One of the planes was headed for Aurangabad while the other was going to Delhi.
It was not immediately known how many passengers were in the two aircraft, both of which had non-scheduled operator permits. The incident happened around 11:30am, the official said.
23/08/09 PTI/Times of India

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Flying on clipped wings

It has been quite a while since the aviation sector has been struggling hard to fly out of rough weather. Be it low demand, lower margins or higher jet fuel prices, industry players have been knocking at the civil aviation ministry’s doors to seek some relief. Though the ministry has assured them that it would take every step to help the industry, it may take a while before things start looking up.
Interestingly, despite the present gloom, industry experts see a better scenario in the near future. “The outlook depends on economic growth. It is estimated that the sector will grow at about 12-15 per cent. With global economies picking up, this growth will be evident,” executive director of KPMG Rajeev B Batra said.
Batra’s estimates are little more optimistic than that of the civil aviation ministry. Civil aviation minister Praful Patel recently said that the industry was expected to grow by 8.5 per cent per annum till 2015. “In our most conservative estimates, we expect demand in the sector to grow at 8.5 per cent,” he said.
The industry is also pinning hopes on the new infrastructure plan and the setting up of Airports Economic Regulatory Authority to decide on airport charges.
The sector saw a loss of about Rs 2,000 crore in 2006-07, which in 2007-08 was pegged at Rs 4,000 crore. In 2008-09, the losses are estimated to be over Rs 8,000 crore. National carrier, Air India, alone is estimated to have accumulated losses of Rs 7,200 crore loss. Private carriers, including Jet Airways and Kingfisher, have also been complaining about huge losses mainly due to aviation turbine fuel (ATF) prices. While Jet posted a loss of Rs 225 crore in the first quarter of 2009-10, compared with a net profit of Rs 143 crore in the same period last year, Kingfisher reported a net loss of Rs 243 crore for the quarter ended June 30 from a net loss of Rs 158 crore in the same quarter last year.
The airlines’ frustration has reached such a level that a few weeks ago some of them even decided to go on strike in case the government did not extend a helping hand.
23/08/09 Parul Chhaparia & Amit Mudgill/mydigitalfc.com

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Govt draws flak from IATA for approving airport fee hike

New Delhi: As Indian carriers continued to press for reduction in airport charges, the government has come under attack from global airline body IATA for approving "unjustified" hikes in the levies by private airports and allowing introduction of airport development fees.
In its Annual Report for 2009, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) has come down heavily on the Civil Aviation Ministry on allowing a hike in airport charges.
"In a surprise move and without consulting with airlines, India's Ministry of Civil Aviation approved a 10 per cent increase in airport charges at Mumbai and Delhi airports effective early 2009. This was followed by the approval of an airport development fee at Delhi airport beginning March 1, 2009...," the IATA report said.
23/08/09 Press Trust of India

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Domestic air fares nosedive sharply on swine flu fears

Mumbai: Air fares in several domestic sectors have crashlanded and flying to places such as Goa, Mumbai and Bangalore is once again possible for less than Rs 2,000 if you booking the right flight at the right time. Travel experts say airlines have responded to falling passenger loads and swine flu fears to bring fares to their lowest point in two years. Even flights to usually expensive destinations such as Kolkata, Chennai, Guwahati and Jammu are almost 30%-40% lower and tickets are available for anything between Rs 2,500 and Rs 3,000 if you shop around for the right fare.
"Only two months ago, domestic fares were so high that people were choosing to travel abroad because of the attractive fare packages. A ticket to a very well-connected destination, came at between Rs 3,500 and Rs 4,500 even in low-cost carriers," a travel expert said. "But the situation has turned on its head to benefit economy-class travellers."
GoAir, for instance, is offering Mumbai-Goa tickets for Rs 1,975; a discount of Rs 300 brings the fare down to sub-2,000 levels. Spice Jet has pitched the same ticket at 2,150 minus Rs 150 (to give you a ticket for Rs 2,000). Even full-service carrier Kingfisher's ticket is priced at Rs 2,250.
Similarly, if you book a Mumbai-Banglore ticket for Sept 1 either on Indigo or GoAir, you can expect to get a ticket for as low as Rs 1,553. The maximum fare, offered by even full-service carriers, is also between Rs 3,000 and Rs 4,000. You can get air tickets for Delhi, too, at Rs 1,998. And tickets for destinations like Jammu, which are usually priced between Rs 5,000 and Rs 8,000, are priced at Rs 1,803 for September 1.
23/08/09 Chinmayi Shalya/Times of India

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Fuel surcharge to be clubbed with base air fare

Mumbai: India’s aviation regulator, Directorate General of Civil Aviation, or DGCA, has asked domestic and international airlines to abolish fuel surcharge and include it in the base fare, two officials with the regulator said.
The move would push up costs for airlines as the 3% commission that they pay travel agents on base fares would now have to include the fuel component as well. Currently, airlines list fuel costs under the ‘YQ’, or tax category, which is excluded from the 3% commission paid to travel agents on base fares.
“Airlines are showing the fuel surcharge under the ‘YQ’ head, which is meant for taxes paid to the government. But in the case of fuel surcharge, no taxes are paid to the government,” said a senior official at DGCA. “Therefore, airlines were asked to club both basic fare and fuel surcharge.”
As a first step, DGCA has asked airlines to start listing a detailed break-up of fares for their passengers.
“Airlines are falling in line and we believe airlines will soon club fuel surcharge with basic fares,” the official said.
The direction was given at a meeting with airlines on Wednesday, chaired by director general of civil aviation, Nasim Zaidi.
22/08/09 P.R. Sanjai/Livemint

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States not to lower sales tax on ATF

New Delhi: States today refused to lower sales tax rates on jet fuel, cost of which accounts for over 40 per cent of the total operational cost of airlines and is the foremost issue facing the aviation industry, beset with host of other problems.
West Bengal finance minister and VAT panel chairman Mr Asim Dasgupta also said states are opposed to bringing ATF under the declared goods category, as demanded by airlines. If ATF brought under declared goods, no state would be able to impose more than four per cent sales tax on jet fuel. The sales tax rates, which vary from state to state, range from a mere four per cent in Andhra Pradesh to over 30 per cent in several other states. “The mood of states is not to review the (sales tax) rates of ATF now, because we asked some hard data on policy of fixation of pricing of petroleum products. We have not got the response,” Mr Dasgupta told reporters after the panel met on Goods and Services Tax. States' stand on sales tax rate on ATF comes nearly 10 days after a ministerial group has been set up to study the impact of ATF prices on the aviation industry and recommend steps to bring down the operational cost of airlines.
The VAT panel had earlier asked the Centre a host of questions like how ATF prices are fixed, what is the share of ATF in total costs of running an airline and so on, but has not got any repose so far. “Consensus of the Empowered Committee of State Finance Ministers (VAT panel) is that we do not want this (ATF) to be brought in the declared goods list,” Mr Dasgupta added. He also said the decision will be conveyed to the Centre “accordingly, duly, appropriately”
Goods, which are of importance in the inter-state trade or commerce, are brought under declared goods category. Currently, this list includes items like paddy, rice, and other food grains, coal, cotton, iron and steel and even LPG.
22/08/09 Press Trust of India

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Swine flu gives jitters to cabin crew

New Delhi: While on the ground one sees a surreal atmosphere with people in masks, immigration personnel suitably covered up, hand sanitizers at various points and thermal cameras, in the air, the cabin crew seem unprotected. With WHO warning of an explosion in cases, they are a worried lot. After all, a woman pilot in Noida and a CISF personnel at Delhi airport were recently detected with swine flu.
Says a Spicejet airhostess, "Recently, on a Delhi-Pune flight, almost every passenger was wearing a mask. I felt vulnerable suddenly. Why can't we have masks on sectors which are highly prone to swine flu, she asks. If we can have mandatory vaccinations for Hepatitis A and B and typhoid, why not mandatory measures here too?"
That feeling was echoed by an AI airhostess. "Recently, on an international flight, I tended to a passenger with cold and cough. Subsequently, I was down with flu for over a week. Now, I am tense after any international flight."
Though airlines say advisories have been given about swine flu, cockpit crew of at least two airlines say they haven't received any such intimation. Most airlines have kept masks in planes, but few passengers are aware of it. Obviously, information hasn't been disseminated properly?
AI, for example, has kept 14-15 masks and gloves on international flights, which are to be given to passengers with flu symptoms, says Jitender Bhargava, AI spokesman.
But cabin crew would like these masks to be made mandatory on all flights, quite like paracetamol tablets. In Hong Kong, says one airhostess, masks are available at airline counters.
Another suggestion is to screen passengers at the time of check-in, instead of disembarkation, as is being done now. By the time a sick passenger lands after a flight, he would have infected many, says a crew member.
23/08/09 Shobha John/Times of India

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Air fares between India and Trinidad to become cheaper

Port-of-Spain: Indian High Commissioner to Trinidad and Tobago Malay Mishra has announced that state-owned Caribbean Airlines and Air India are working on a project to reduce air fares between the two countries.
He told a meeting that when the programme become operational "an airline ticket purchased in Trinidad and Tobago will connect a Caribbean Airlines flight with Air India in New York."
Travel for trade, cultural and religious reasons between both countries continues to escalate, but there could be a higher number of visits if the air fares are reduced.
In June, India Tourism and Air India officials based in New York met several travel agents and discussed ways to boost tourism from Trinidad and Tobago to India.
22/08/09 IANS/Economic Times

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Most airlines fail to toe DGCA line on fare ads

Mumbai: Despite the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA)'s orders to airlines to do away with misleading advertisements offering rock-bottom fares with hefty extras tagged on later, most airlines have been merrily carrying on with the same practices. The August 15 deadline, the third one this year, went by again, with only three carriers making the necessary modifications demanded by the DGCA-primarily the display of a single, all-inclusive fare in all advertisements.
According to the Aircraft Rules, 1937, non-compliant airlines can be made to pay a fine of Rs 5 lakh to Rs 10 lakh or face imprisonment for two years. However, DGCA director-general Naseem Zaidi, feels that the remaining airlines will also fall in line. "We are holding daily meetings with them,'' he said.
The first deadline given to the airlines was February 14. When none complied, DGCA's regulations and information department in May sent out a circular notifying amendments in the relevant Rule 135 of the Aircraft Rules. It also defined the word `tariff' as one of the amendments. A new deadline of June 30 was set, which was once again extended to August 15.
21/08/09 Chinmayi Shalya/Times of India

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Lean months, swine flu send fares south

New Delhi: Coinciding with the traditionally lean travel months, the swine flu scare has spelt lower fares, in several instances almost 50 per cent lower than the peak fares this year on metro routes. A Delhi-Mumbai trip currently costs less than Rs 2,500 on a low-cost carrier, half of the amount the flyer shelled out in February earlier this year. The discount is applicable only to round trips, and not to one-way fares. It’s mostly the low-cost carriers who are offering competitive fares. But they insist fares might pick up once in festive season.
On one of the busiest air traffic routes, Delhi-Mumbai-Delhi, SpiceJet and GoAir are offering a round trip in less than Rs 5,000 while Indigo and Jet Lite charge slightly higher. Despite the attractive fares, the outlook is grim for the second quarter as yields are likely to be 20 per cent lower than in the previous quarter, splashing red on balance sheets, says Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation (CAPA)
With festive season just a month away, Go Air is the first one to announce special all-inclusive fares beginning at Rs 1,500 for travel till March 2010 for tickets booked within next week. Not all airlines are, however, as enthused to offer lower fares in the festive season.
As the domestic flyer shifts from full-service carrier to the no-frills, the full-service airlines are busy re-jigging their business models and adding capacity to their low-cost arms. Jet Airways’ no frills economy service — Jet Konnect — will soon start operating on several domestic routes as it tries to tap the lower fare segment and increase yields.
21/08/09 Smita Aggarwal/Indian Express

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Low-cost airlines make profit while full-service counterparts are in red

Mumbai: India’s aviation industry is in the grips of a peculiar trend, which, if it gains traction, portends a complete makeover for the sector while attracting thousands more to take flight.
Low-cost airlines such as IndiGo and SpiceJet are making profits while traditional full-service airlines Air India, Jet Airways and Kingfisher Airlines are deep in the red, a trend experts believe marks the beginning of budget airlines’ domination of Indian skies.
In the June quarter, Jet lost Rs 225 crore and Kingfisher lost Rs 243 crore. The national carrier that ran up losses of Rs 7,200 crore last year is yet to report the first quarter numbers. However, SpiceJet and IndiGo have reported profits for the quarter.
Sure enough, the full carriers are now betting on nofrills . Jet will transfer two-thirds of its domestic operations into Jet Konnect, the low-cost service it launched in May; Kingfisher has trimmed its fleet from 89 to 69 and plans to expand the operations of Kingfisher Red; and Air India says it will become a no-frills airline.
Analysts say the market opportunity is huge, particularly because just 3% of India’s population fly now and low fares are the only way to attract more passengers.
India accounts for 2% of the global air traffic and 17% of the global aviation industry’s losses, almost all of it attributed to full service carriers, according to Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation (Capa), a Sydney-based aviation research firm.
20/08/09 Mithun Roy/Economic Times

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Jet fuel import may be freed

New Delhi: In a move that could provide some respite to ailing airline companies, the government is looking at allowing them to import jet fuel on their own. Import of jet fuel under the open general licence (OGL) would allow airlines to avoid high sales tax levied by state governments varying from 12% to 23%.
OGL is the most liberalised form of import licence that does not place any export obligation on the importer. The airline industry, which suffered an estimated loss of Rs 10,000 crore in 2008-09 mainly on account of high fuel prices, excess capacity and weak demand, has sought the government’s support. Jet fuel is about 40-45% of the total operating cost of an airline.
The finance ministry is examining a proposal in this regard, a government official told ET. At present, aviation turbine fuel (ATF) can only be imported by Indian Oil Corporation, which is the designated agency, as it is a canalised item. While there is nil Customs duty on ATF import, it faces a countervailing duty of 7.5% in lieu of excise duty levied on domestic production.
However, when airlines purchase ATF for domestic consumption, they have to bear the burden of not just 7.5% CVD or excise duty but also sales tax levied by various states. Moreover, operators of airports, where fuelling takes place, also levy throughput or service charges that range from 3-4% over and above this.
20/08/09 Deepshikha Sikarwar & Nirbhay Kumar/Economic Times

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Victoria still rules the Indian skies

New Delhi: The remnants of the Raj era is lingering in the Indian skies, albeit only through a couple of letters: VT — short for Victoria’s Territory. VT is the registration code for aircraft registered in India.
The Union Minister for Civil Aviation, Mr Praful Patel, informed Parliament during the just-concluded session that an attempt was made with the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) to get the call sign changed.“After evaluating all the options, it has been decided not to replace existing VT mark,” Mr Patel said and added that no other code which distinctly identifies with India was available. “All letters that can denote India are already allotted to other countries, hence, replacing VT with another code which does not denote India is not worthwhile,” the Minister informed Parliament.
20/08/09 Ashwini Phadnis/Business Line

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No masks, crew will keep their smiles on

Bangalore: The magic is in the face for cabin crew, and some of them aren't covering their smiles with masks even in the time of swine flu.
Airlines bosses feel the masks would be out only if the crew spot symptoms of the flu in passengers. Which didn't really stop a passenger on a recent Delhi-Bangalore flight from noting: "You need to be protected because you come into contact with passengers all the time."
The masks some airlines have given, meanwhile, lie unused in first-aid cabinets. A crew member who didn't want to be named says: "If the crew themselves aren't protected, how can they care for others? And how do they smile knowing they're the only ones not wearing masks?"
Airlines, though, have taught crew to detect passengers with flu-like symptoms, isolate them, have them use exclusive restrooms and offer first aid.
20/08/09 Prashanth G N/Times of India

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Jet fuel prices won’t be cut soon: Patel

New Delhi: Domestic airlines will have to wait for at least three months before any reduction in jet fuel prices, their biggest expense, civil aviation minister Praful Patel said on Tuesday.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh last week asked for the formation of a group of ministers (GoM) to look into rationalizing jet fuel prices.
Airlines want the state tax on jet fuel, which tops 30% in some states, to be reduced to a uniform 4%. Patel said it will take at least three months for some movement on the issue.
“It can’t be open-ended (timeline for an outcome),” said Patel, speaking in an editorial roundtable organized by the Hindustan Times, published by HT Media Ltd, which also publishes Mint.
On whether a final negotiated view could include a uniform 12% or 18% sales tax, he said it was too early to comment given that the issue will now be debated in the GoM, which includes Patel.
“Our cost of fuel, especially some variable costs, are much higher here. But that not withstanding, the pain (for the airline industry) is universal.”
On Air India, run by National Aviation Co. of India Ltd, Patel said the national carrier will not be privatized.
19/08/09 Tarun Shukla/Livemint

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Ministry-airlines meeting on ground handling inconclusive

New Delhi: The government and airlines appear to be at loggerheads over implementation of the much delayed ground handling policy.
Ground handling involves passenger handling at terminal side (baggage loading, etc) as well as on the airside (loading and unloading of aircraft and aircraft handling).
In a meeting with the civil aviation secretary and other senior ministry officials on Tuesday, the Federation of Indian Airlines (FIA) made it clear that it wants airlines to be allowed to do self-handling of such operations.
Speaking after the meeting, FIA secretary-general Anil Baijal told DNA Money, "We want self-handling. If it is inefficient or does not provide value for money, market forces will automatically make it redundant. Why should only three designated operators be allowed to do the entire ground handling?"
The ground handling policy envisages only three ground handling agencies -- airport operator or a joint venture, subsidiaries of Air India or its JVs and service providers selected through competitive bidding -- and rules out any self-handling by private airlines. Airlines would have to relinquish ground handling across Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, Kolkata, Bangalore and Hyderabad airports.
When asked whether a proposal (being considered by the government) on allowing terminal-side handling by airlines would be acceptable, Baijal reiterated "We want complete self-handling, not parts of ground handling operations."
18/08/09 Sindhu Bhattacharya/Daily News & Analysis

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Airlines say business class buzzing again

Bangalore: Indian high flyers, who had been downgrading to economy class since last year, are now slowly returning to premium air travel as fares in that segment plunge and as they pick up positive signals from domestic and global economies.
M Thiagarajan, managing director of Paramount Airways, said premium travel saw a slight upswing of 3-4% in July compared to the month before, because of overall positive business sentiment.
Jet Airways also reportedly flew more business passengers in July than in June.Air India too is seeing its premium segment grow this month, at 10% y-o-y. Jitendra Bhargava, executive director-corporate communication, attributes the rise to relatively lower fares. He said it was also partly due to lower base effect. According to International Association of Air Transport, premium travel numbers were down 21.3% in June from 23.6% in May. IATA estimates revenues from premium seats was declining at close to 40% in the same months.
18/08/09 Praveena Sharma/Daily News & Analysis

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H1N1: Return flights packed as NRIs cut short holiday

Mumbai: The swine flu scare has made several NRIs and people working abroad — particularly the Gulf — visiting Pune and Mumbai to cut short their vacation prematurely, say travel agents in Mumbai.
According to travel agents, a large number of Indians living in the Gulf countries have cancelled their travel plans in the past two weeks.
“In all, there has been about 40 per cent cancellations,” said Pradeep Lulla, National President, Travel Agents Association of India (TAFI). “Many are leaving the country because of swine flu and even the domestic travel industry has been hit,” he said.
According to Lulla, many corporate bookings have been cancelled and promotional functions called off because of the panic. The maximum rush, according to a senior airline official from a private international airline, is for the Gulf countries.
19/08/09 Shashank Shekhar/Indian Express

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Travelocity Global buys Travelguru

Mumbai: Travelocity Global, the US based online travel firm, has acquired Travelguru, one of India's largest online hotel distribution networks, for an undisclosed sum.
Industry sources, who termed the deal as a distressed sale, pegged the acquisition size at between Rs 45 crore and Rs 50 crore.
Travelocity Global said that the Travelguru will remain a separate entity with co-founder and CEO Ashwin Damera continuing to head its operations.
Travelguru between its three offices in Mumbai, Delhi and Bangalore employs close to 150 people.
Roshan Mendis, regional vice-president of Travelocity Asia Pacific, said the acquisition will complement the company's online business and help it access more than 4,000 hotels in India.
Industry sources told DNA that Travelguru has been in the red for quite sometime and Damera had been trying hard to find a buyer for over a year now, reaching out to the likes of expedia.com, makemytrip.com and Cox & Kings.
Travelguru since its inception in 2005 has received two rounds of venture capital funding. It raised $25 million in 2006 -- $10 million from Sequoia Capital India, which the latter followed up with a $15 million co-investment with Battery Venture.
In 2007, Travelguru acquired travel portal, desiya.com, reportedly for $25 million in 2007.
19/08/09 Ashish K Tiwari/Daily News & Analysis

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Travelguru Valued At $12 Million?

The Travelocity-Travelguru deal marks the first sign of consolidation in the heavily venture-backed online travel agent (OTA) space in India. Besides Travelguru, other major venture capital backed OTAs are Makemytrip, Yatra and Cleartrip. Though the valuation for the Travelocity's acquisition of Travelguru is not disclosed, VCCircle has learned from sources that the hotel aggregator could be valued between $10-12 million. An email sent to Ashwin Damera, CEO & Co-founder, Travelguru, to verify this information, did not elicit a response till this article was published. Avendus Capital has advised Travelguru on the deal.
Travelguru is believed to have recorded revenues of Rs 10 crore for fiscal year ending March, 2009. Travelguru has been looking for a buyer since last year. Last year, VCCircle had reported that Travelguru was in talks to sell out to Travelocity's rival Expedia. The talks didn't materialise into a transaction then.
The VC investors in Travelguru would have lost money on the deal. Venture capital firm's Sequoia Capital India and Battery Ventures committed $25 million in two rounds of funding to Travelguru. The total amount of funding that actually flowed into the company is not known. Though investors in Travelguru would have preferred a stock deal, Travelocity is believed to have insisted on an all-cash deal.
18/08/09 VCCircle

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Private airlines pitch for ground handling duties

New Delhi: Private airlines, opposing the government’s proposed ground handling policy, made a strong case on Tuesday for allowing them to handle baggage and cargo carried by their aircraft, saying appointing others to do the job would increase costs and delay flights.
Senior representatives of private airlines put forth their views opposing the policy at a meeting with civil aviation secretary M. Madhavan Nambiar and other top officials.
“We heard their views on ground handling policy. We will have more rounds of discussions and hold inter-ministerial consultations on the matter. The cabinet committee on security will take a final view later,” Nambiar said after the meeting.
Before the committee takes up the matter for a final decision, discussions would also be held with finance and home ministries on issues relating to security and customs.
Under the present proposal, ground handling activities at six airports of New Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Bangalore and Hyderabad are to be allowed only by the airport operators or their subsidiaries, Air India or its subsidiaries, or service providers selected through competitive bidding.
18/08/09 PTI/Livemint

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Domestic airlines see rise in biz class travellers

New Delhi: There has been an uptick in the number of business class passengers carried by Jet Airways and Air India (domestic) on their domestic flights in recent times. Frequent fliers on Kingfisher have noticed a similar trend. So are domestic airlines seeing a turnaround in their fortunes?
“The number of passengers being flown in business class in the domestic skies is growing. When we compare July over June, we see an increase in the number of passengers carried in business class. But it is still too early to say that a recovery is taking place,” said Mr Sudheer Raghavan, Chief Commercial Officer, Jet Airways.
Air India (domestic) too has seen an increase in domestic business class travel which in some sectors is almost 50 per cent higher than what was being flown earlier, senior airline officials said.
Jet Airways, which in a shift of focus to all-economy class low cost sub-brand Jet Konnect, had reduced its business class seats by 25 per cent in July. However, the airline has seen a 10 per cent increase in the number of passengers flying in business class on its full service brand Jet Airways.
16/08/09 Ashwini Phadnis/Business Line

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AAI issues notice to private airlines

Chennai: A cash-strapped Airports Authority of India (AAI) has issued ‘cash and carry’ notices to a few private airlines whose credits have overshot their bank guarantees in a bid to meet its expenses.
While AAI is clueless about recovering its outstanding dues of Rs 600 crore from the public sector Air India, it has cracked the whip on private carriers after they accumulated dues on airport facility usage charges to the tune of Rs 9 crore, as against the bank guarantee of Rs 6.2 crore in the case of one airline and Rs 170 crore against a guarantee of Rs 100 crore in the case of another.
Both the airlines - their spokespersons deny having received the AAI ‘cash and carry’ notice - will now be allowed to operate from various airports in India only after paying the charges in advance, AAI sources said.
“All major airlines are given a credit facility against some minimum bank guarantee that they pledge for the money they owe to the airports for its operations. They can’t be cash-ready always, which is why we extend this facility to them. But when the dues exceed the bank guarantees the situation becomes serious. When we come across a situation like this over a period of time we issue the ‘cash and carry’ notice,” explained an AAI source in Delhi.
17/08/09 Mamta Todi/ExpressBuzz

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Oil companies hike ATF price by 4.5 per cent

New Delhi: State-run oil firms today hiked jet fuel prices by 4.5 per cent in step with firming international oil rates, the second time in a month.
Indian Oil, Bharat Petroleum and Hindustan Petroleum raised Aviation Turbine Fuel (ATF) rates in Delhi by Rs 1,662 per kilolitre to Rs 38,585 per kl effective midnight tonight, an IOC official said.
Global crude oil prices have firmed up during August on signs of recovery in major economies of the world including India. Crude oil prices rose to USD 74 per barrel last week.
15/08/09 Press Trust of India

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ATF prices up, fare hike to follow?

New Delhi: The government may have constituted a group of ministers to look into ways to lower aviation turbine fuel (ATF) tariff, but that did not come in the way of state-owned oil companies increasing jet fuel prices by a whopping 4.5%, citing firming international oil prices.
The current hike of ATF prices, the second in a month, is to the tune of Rs 1,662 per kilolitre in Delhi, Rs 1,732 in Mumbai, Rs 1,759 in Kolkata and Rs 1,816 in Chennai. The average increase is Rs 1,762 per kilolitre. On August 1, ATF price was raised by Rs 585 per kilolitre.
An AI spokesperson said the move would further compound problems of the industry, faced with low-capacity utilization because of the slowdown. A senior Jet Airways official said the hike was unexpected as the government was looking for ways to lower ATF prices.
16/08/09 Economic Times

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DGCA forms expert panel to forecast trends in aviation industry

Mumbai: The Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) is constituting an Air Traffic Experts Committee to look into the various economic, social and political factors that affect air traffic. One of the key immediate aims of such a committee would be to study similar forecasting models that are already prevalent in other countries and come up with an apt air traffic forecasting model for Indian skies.
“We have very good data that are not subjected to quality analysis. There are sudden variations in air traffic from time to time and, therefore, I have instituted a committee who will be handling statistics from all areas of aviation and forecasting trends in air traffic,” said director general of civil aviation Naseem Zaidi.
According to Zaidi, the primary aim of such forecasting would be to help in planning the expanding airports infrastructure in the country with quality data. “We want this committee to work on a continuous basis and forecast factors that affect demand in air travel and everything and anything pertaining to air travel, airports infrastructure, etc,” he added.
The DGCA is also planning to approach the Central Statistical Organisation (CSO) to help the regulator coordinate all related statistics pertaining to aviation. “At the end, the aim of the committee would be to help in better planning in all aspects of aviation,” said Zaidi.
16/8/09 Shashank Shekhar/Indian Express

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‘I think private airlines grew too fast’

In his second stint as Civil Aviation Minister, Praful Patel has had to face several challenges—a slowdown in the sector, Air India’s bailout package and aggressive private airlines. In this Idea Exchange moderated by Chief of Bureau Pranab Dhal Samanta, Patel speaks of the aviation sector and Cong-NCP ties
Pranab Dhal Samanta: This is Praful Patel's second stint as Minister of Civil Aviation. Can you tell us of the challenges you face in the sector and comment on the political scene?
Five years of civil aviation have been very interesting and exciting, sometimes with a lot of pressure. The system in India is such that if you don't do anything, no one asks you anything and you are not accountable. In trying to push things in a sector, there are constant questions and pressures. One can certainly feel a sense of satisfaction at the end of five years, together with a tinge of remorse because the entire sector is so dependant on fuel and the global aviation scenario. The oil prices of late 2007 and upto the middle of 2008 shook the foundations of this sector. India has been doing remarkably well because of the facilitation we had done in this sector: opening up, liberalisation, de-regularisation, a lot of public private partnerships, etc. At least a direction was sought to be given. In 2007, the fuel prices shot up and the recession also set in. Today, the bigger problem in aviation sector is because of the recession. We have 30 per cent less people flying than last year. That is not because of fares or any fundamental change in the aviation sector, but due to the economic environment. The first casualty in any slowdown is travel and tourism.
15/08/09 Indian Express

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More people flying abroad even as local travel declines

Bangalore: Shrinking number of air passengers on the domestic sector has pushed up the share of international sector in India's total air passenger traffic.
Latest statistics put out by the Airports Authority of India (AAI), shows the domestic sector's share declined to 71% last fiscal from 74% in financial year 2008 even as the international sector's share moved up to 29% from 26%.
The drop was on account of an 11% drop in air passengers on the domestic sector, even as passengers flying into and out of the country grew 6%.
The Airport Authority's year-to-datedata for the current fiscal, brought out in May, show a fall of 10% in domestic traffic as international traffic went up 4% during the same period.
The share of international traffic at Delhi and Hyderabad airports during year to date jumped to 31% and 27% from 28% and 17%, respectively as compared with the year ago period.
A senior executive at the Hyderabad airport said international traffic was growing because airlines were launching new flights and adding more frequencies even as domestic airlines were cutting back capacity.
15/08/09 Praveena Sharma/Daily News & Analysis

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Airlines expected to grow at 8.5% per year till 2015

New Delhi: India’s aviation sector, which contracted 4.7% in 2008, is expected to grow by at least 8.5% every year till 2015, civil aviation minister Praful Patel said on Thursday. “We do expect that kind of growth because of the 300-million-strong middle class,” Patel said.
If the economic situation improves, the sector could even see a 25-30% growth, the minister said.
“It’s reasonable,” domestic carrier SpiceJet Ltd’s chief commercial officer Samyukth Sridharan said.
The country’s civil aviation sector grew 46.4% in 2006 and 32.5% in 2007, before shrinking in 2008 in the wake of a global economic downturn.
In the first half of 2009, traffic has dipped by 4.9% but figures for June and July have shown better-than- expected passenger numbers.
Civil aviation in India—the world’s ninth-biggest—is a $14 billion (Rs67,340 crore) industry.
13/08/09 Tarun Shukla/Livemint

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'Aviation sector growth dipped 4.7% in '08-09'

New Delhi: The Union cabinet minister Praful Patel on Thursday said that the $14 billion Indian aviation industry - almost similar to Indian railways with a turnover of $18 billion - would grow at around 8.5% annually over the next five years. However, due to the slowdown, the sector has declined by 4.7% in 2008-09.
Arguing for the support from the government, he said that Rs 100 spent on air transport produces benefits worth Rs 325 for the economy. The sector, he said, provided 2 lakh direct employments in the country. "India's per capita number of trips is 0.02, compared to 0.1 for China, which is five times higher, and 2.2 trips for the US. So there is a huge potential in our country," the minister said.
According to the statistics he provided, India's population in million per aircraft - and this is an interesting piece of statistics - is 2.89, he said, adding it was 1.14 for China, 0.63 for Brazil, 0.31 for South Africa, 0.24 for Japan, 0.11 for Germany, 0.07 for Britain and 0.05 for the US. "This shows huge potential to increase aircraft penetration in the country, even when compared to other Asian countries," he said.
14/08/09 Times of India

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Praful for more capital to Air India

New Delhi: Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel, who made a presentation on the aviation sector to the Cabinet on Thursday, said he impressed upon his colleagues the need for infusing more capital into Air India, which has an equity base of just Rs. 145 crore and has placed orders for new jets worth Rs. 50,000 crore.
He said the base price of aviation turbine fuel was much higher than that in most countries. ATF accounted for more than 40 per cent of the total operational cost of an airline in India as against 20-25 per cent globally.
The Cabinet was also apprised of the decision of the Airports Authority of India (AAI) to raise funds by issuing infrastructure bonds worth Rs. 5,000 crore. The AAI was modernising and upgrading a large number of airports, including in Kolkata and Chennai.
Elaborating on the need for reducing the burden of ATF prices, Mr. Patel said the prices of jet fuel had increased by 99.6 per cent in the past one year.
India emerged as the ninth biggest aviation market, but was “still the least penetrated:” the country accounted for 0.02 air trips per capita, compared to 0.1 in China and 2.2 in the U.S. He maintained that the aviation sector was estimated to grow at 8.5 per cent a year by 2015.
Pointing out that the average yields of the airlines suffered owing to the global downturn, Mr. Patel said the average ticket price had fallen from Rs. 6,035 in 2003 to Rs. 3,956 in 2008, while the variable costs like that of ATF kept rising.
14/08/09 Vinay Kumar/The Hindu

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Group of ministers to try cool aviation turbine fuel

New Delhi: A panel of senior Union ministers would look into the issue of high sales tax on aviation turbine fuel (ATF) and suggest ways to bring it down. The aviation industry which is reeling under heavy losses had recently threatened to suspend their operations in case the government failed to reduce the fuel cost burden by rationalising sales tax on jetfuel. In a Cabinet meeting on Thursday the government decided to form a group of ministers (GoM) to address the problem being faced by domestic carriers.
Civil aviation minister Praful Patel made a presentation to the Cabinet on Thursday and proposed to set up a GoM to examine the high fuel coast burden on airlines. He also mentioned the need to infuse fresh equity in the loss-making Air India to help in tide over the financial crisis. Converting high interest loan into low-cost one also figured out during his presentation. “The Cabinet has agreed to form a GoM which will look into the sales tax on aviation turbine fuel (ATF) and high base price of jetfuel,” Mr Patel told reporters after the Cabinet meeting.
Stressing the need to rationalise taxes on ATF, the minister said that India though being the ninth biggest aviation market in the world was still the least penetrated. He said that the country accounted for 0.02 air trips per capita, compared with 0.1 in China and 2.2 in the US.
Mr Patel also expressed concern over falling yield of airlines as a result of increasing input cost mainly jetfuel.
“The average airline ticket price had fallen from Rs 6,035 in 2003 to Rs 3,956 in 2008 while variable costs like that of ATF kept rising,” he said. Jetfuel contributes nearly 40% to the total operating cost of an airline. The airline industry is estimated to have lost Rs 10,000 crore in 2008-09 mainly on account of high fuel price and excess capacity.
14/08/09 Economic Times

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Let them learn from low-cost airlines: Left

New Delhi: Left parties on Thursday said the group of ministers constituted to assess the health of airlines should not be converted into a forum for organising a bail out package for private airlines. “The government’s priority should be Air India. If low-cost airlines are making profits, others should wake up to this reality rather than asking for bailout. After all, they are paying the same taxes and the same fuel costs as the low cost carriers,” said CPM polit bureau member Sitaram Yechury.
CPI leader Gurudas Dasgupta said it was yet another example of crony capitalism. “Obviously, GoM is constituted to help the two leading private airlines who are said to have strong connections with those in charge. They have always got patronage from government in sanctioning of routes, easy credit and bank loans,” Mr Dasgupta said.
In what strengthens the case of those opposing bailout package for private carriers, there have been reports that low-cost airlines have posted impressive profits in the first quarter. Contrary to guesstimates in the industry, Indigo’s profits for the first quarter is over Rs 100 crore. Carriers like Indigo are not in agreement with the demands put forward by full carriers.
14/08/09 Economic Times

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National carrier? 0.16% of Indians fly Air India

Amidst the Air India (AI) bailout controversy, comes its announcement that it is thinking small. AI’s immediate target is to shift 54 of its domestic flights into low cost services, increasing this number to about 150 in the near future. Are they on the right track this time? To answer this question, we need to start from the principles of government help for distressed large corporations.
Three reasons are usually given to prevent the sudden demise of a large corporation. They are that: (i) it could lead to the collapse of an essential infrastructure or (ii) it provides some essential services that are not provided by anyone else or (iii) it directly affects the lives of many people. Let us go through each one of them. AI has 16% market share while the other five players have the rest. Therefore, it would be hard to envisage that the airlines industry would collapse if AI is wound up since unlike in the case of a bank failure, there is no contagion effect in this industry. Second, apart from Jamnagar, there is not a single town that AI has reached where the private players have not. In fact, as on May 2009, both Kingfisher and Jet Airways operate across more domestic destinations than AI. It is doubtful that the collapse of AI would mean that Jamnagar, the ‘oil capital’ of India, will not be served by private airlines.
Finally, how many lives will be affected if AI closes? The annual estimated numbers of passengers who travel by various airlines in India constitute less than 4% of the total population. Given the share of AI in passenger travel, the percentage of people who travel by AI is less than 0.64%. These are the number of passenger trips and not the number of passengers who travelled. If we assume that on an average an individual takes two round trips a year amounting to four trips a year, this would mean that the maximum number of individuals who travel by AI is less than 0.16% of the total population. And, these are people who can travel in other carriers should they not have access to AI. The other group of people who will be affected is AI’s 31,000 employees. However, it is the associated costs with this huge number that have contributed significantly towards AI’s losses.
14/08/09 Bappaditya Mukhopadhyay /Financial Express

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More low-fare flights lift air traffic 21.3% in July

Bangalore: Capacity addition in the low-fare segment and better spending power due to stock markets climbing up led to huge recovery in demand for air travel last month with the number passengers taking to sky jumping 21.3% to 30.67 lakh from 25.29 lakh in July last year.
Industry experts said the spike in the domestic passenger traffic in July was mainly due to airlines shifting more capacity to the lower end of the fare basket. This, they said, was spurring demand.
Last month also saw Naresh Goyal's Jet Airways and JetLite reclaim leading position in the market with a 26.3% share. The two airlines overtook Kingfisher Airlines, whose share dipped 1.4 percentage points to 23% in July over June.
Other airlines that cornered more market share in July were budget airlines IndiGo and GoAir, whose share increased to 14% and 5.7 from 13.6% and 5.4% respectively in June.State-owned Air India and budget carriers SpiceJet lost seven basis points and three basis points at 16.2% and 12.5% respectively. Business class airline Paramount Airways maintained market share at 2%.
In terms on-time-performance (OTM), Paramount topped at 87.6%. It was followed by IndiGo and Kingfisher Airlines with OTMs of 86.5% and 81.2% respectively. National Aviation Company of India Ltd (Nacil) has lowest OTM at 76.5%.
Jeh Wadia-owned GoAir had the lowest flight cancellation rate of 0.6% followed by Nacil, whose cancellation rate was 0.7%. Among national scheduled airlines, JetLite's cancellation rate was highest at 6.2%.
13/08/09 Praveena Sharma/Daily News & Analysis

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Airlines carry more passengers but earn less

New Delhi: Airlines have started to come out of the dive that they started in November 2008, when they flew 3 million passengers, compared with 4.1 million in May of that year.
In June 2009 they carried almost 3.7 million passengers, and in July they carried marginally fewer passengers at 3.6 million. Good news? Not quite, because they are making less money per seat they sell than they were in 2008. This is the effect of the shift towards the low-cost model — sell more seats but earn less per seat.
The latest data collated by the Directorate-General of Civil Aviation show that during July this year the airlines flew 35.97 lakhs passengers or almost 3.6 million, registering a growth of 18 per cent compared with the same period in the previous year.
In July this year, the highest increase in passenger carriage for a stand alone airline was shown by the Mumbai-based low-cost airline Go Air which carried 2.04 lakh passengers, up from 75,000 in July last year. Kingfisher Airlines, which does not give a break-up of number of passengers flown by its 100-per cent subsidiary Red, carried 8.29 lakh, up from 4.69 lakh passengers. In July last year, Kingfisher and Air Deccan were operating as separate entities. But later Kingfisher Airlines purchased Air Deccan and renamed it Kingfisher Red. NACIL (Domestic), JetLite, SpiceJet, Paramount and IndiGo all flew more passengers during July this year compared with the same period in the previous year.
12/08/09 Business Line

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Airbus, Boeing, Singapore govt eye Gujarat for MRO units

World’s leading aircraft manufacturers are now eyeing Gujarat to set up their maintenance, repair and overhauling (MRO) facilities. Promoters of Gujarat Vittal Innovation City (GVIC), a Gujarat SEZ, told ET NOW that they are in an advanced stage of talks with Airbus, Boeing and the Government of Singapore to set up MRO facilities in the state. These MRO facilities are likely to be a part of the aerospace and avionics subconclave that the promoters of GVIC plan to build in their 2,500-acre SEZ.
“MRO can become an economic activity around an aerospace kind of subconclave. With about 30% defence offset likely to happen, it is likely to bring in huge orders for MRO facilities in the country and apart from design and refurbishing for the Asian market. Additionally, south Gujarat is about 10 minutes flying time from Mumbai, this again is an incentive for the players to set up their facilities here. We are in discussions with Boeing , Airbus and the Government of Singapore,” said Pankaj Saran, COOdesignate , GVIC.
“Aviation is also a highly skill-based industry and to build these skills we are also in talks to set up an Aviation University, he added. The SEZ is jointly being promoted by the Gujarat Industrial Development Corporation (GIDC), Government of Gujarat and the EMPI Vittal Centre INNOPOLIS Consortia and is situated in a strategic area on the Delhi Mumbai Industrial Corridor (DMIC) in South Gujarat.
GVIC has roped in the Korean government through the Korea Land Corporation as a co-developer in this SEZ.
13/08/09 Sushmita Mohapatra/Economic Times

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Domestic passengers carried by Indian Scheduled Airlines in the month of July, 2009

The total domestic passengers carried by the Scheduled Airlines of India in the month of July, 2009 was 35.97 lakhs. The total passengers carried by domestic airlines in the month of June, 2009 was 36.94 lakhs. The break-up for the month of July, 2009 is as follows:
Air India (Domestic) – 5.82 lakhs, Jet Airways – 6.81 lakhs, Jet Lite – 2.66 lakhs, Kingfisher – 8.29 lakhs, Spice Jet – 4.49 lakhs, Paramount – 0.72 lakhs, Go Air – 2.04 lakhs, IndiGo – 5.02 lakhs.
The percentage share of the carriers in the month of July, 2009 was:
Air India (Domestic) 16.2%, Jet Airways – 18.9%, Jet Lite – 7.4%, Kingfisher –23.0%, Spice Jet – 12.5%, Paramount – 2.0%, Go Air – 5.7% and IndiGo – 14.0%.
The seat factors of the domestic airlines in the month of July, 2009 was:
Air India (Domestic) – 58.3%, Jet Airways – 69.7%, JetLite – 70.6%, Kingfisher Airlines – 70.4%, Spice Jet – 72.6%, Paramount Airways – 85.9%, Go Air – 76.1% and IndiGo – 78.0%.
12/08/09 Press Information Bureau

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Number of air passengers dips in January-July

New Delhi: The number of air passengers dipped 4.9 per cent to 2.48 crore during January-July this year as compared to 2.6 crore in the like period last year, official data released here on Wednesday said.
Private carrier Jet Airways and its low-cost carrier JetLite, with 26.3 per cent market share, carried most number of passengers during the period.
Kingfisher came second with 23 per cent market share and national carrier Air India third with 16.2 per cent, data released by the Director General of Civil Aviation said.
Among low-cost carriers, IndiGo's market share stood at 14 per cent during the period, while SpiceJet and GoAir came second and third with 12.5 per cent and 5.7 per cent respectively.
Paramount Airlines has a share of 2 per cent.
The data showed that the number of domestic passengers fell to 35.97 lakh in July from 36.94 the month before.
12/08/09 IANS/Economic Times

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Aviation woes: Praful Patel to brief Cabinet

New Delhi: Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel is expected to make a detailed presentation on the problems of the civil aviation sector in a Cabinet meeting on Thursday.
The aviation industry hit hard by the global recession is expecting a loss of about Rs 10,000 crore or USD 2 billion in 2008-09.
Major players of the industry have even threatened to go on strike on August 18 but later retracted from their position under government and public pressure.
While pointing at high taxes and ATF prices, the sector has been demanding the government to take steps to reduce the burden of the high price of Aviation Turbine Fuel (ATF).
Ironically, the base price of ATF is higher in India than that in other parts of the world by as much as 40 percent.
The industry stalwarts have demanded the government to bring ATF prices under declared goods category in order to a uniform tax of four percent across the country.
13/08/09 Zee News

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Delhi's Airspace Closed For Two Hours Wednesday

New Delhi: In the wake of Independence Day celebrations on Aug 15, the airspace of Indira Gandhi International Airport was closed for two hours on Wednesday and for seven hours on Aug 15.
"Due to rehearsals for Independence day celebrations, the national capital's airspace will be closed from 1 pm to 3 pm on Wednesday and no aircraft would be allowed to fly," the Press Trust of India (PTI) quoted an airport official as saying.
On Aug 15, the airspace would remain closed for seven hours, from 6 am to 10 am and from 4 pm to 7 pm for the Independence Day celebrations, he added.
A Notice to Airmen (NOTAM) has been issued by the Air Traffic Control (ATC) and all the airlines in this regard.
Taking into account the closure of IGI airport on both the days, the airlines have scheduled their flights in order to avoid any inconvenience to the passengers.
12/08/09 Bernama, Malaysia

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DGCA warns of action against airlines for not distributing Health Screening Card to the passengers on board

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has written to all airlines operating international air services to/from India asking for compliance to its instructions regarding distribution of Health Screening Card to the passengers on board. It has warned of appropriate action against airlines which fail to comply with the DGCA directions.
The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) in April 2009, had directed all airlines operating international air services to and from India, to make available to all international passengers copies of the Health Screening Card– designed for the purpose of declaration to the Airport Health Organisation – at the time of embarkation to ensure that the passengers are informed about the steps being taken by the Government of India to conduct entry screening of passengers traveling to India from countries which have reported human cases of H1N1 infection. These directions were re-iterated in May and June 2009. The Screening Cards were to be distributed to all passengers and also filled by crew members of the airlines before they dis-embarked.
However, it has now come to the notice of the DGCA that some airlines are still not distributing the requisite Health Screening Cards to the passengers on board, causing public health hazard. This non-compliance with the laid down requirements has been viewed very seriously. The DGCA, thus, has once again reiterated that the instructions given to the airlines in this regard, should be followed in letter and spirit, failing which appropriate action would be taken against them.
12/08/09 Press Information Bureau

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Govt should help airlines: SBI

New Delhi: In an exclusive interaction with NDTV, OP Bhatt, chairman of the State Bank of India (SBI) said that the government should come forward and help aviation Industry
“The government has tried a helping hand for every industry including exports. If they do it for aviation, they would be able to get out of the woods,” Bhatt said.
The industry has suffered losses to the tune of Rs 10,000 crore with state owned Air India's losses alone running into nearly Rs 7000 crore.
Now, with the markets improving, Bhatt says the airline operators could look at tapping the equity market to raise funds.
“Airlines require equity and all of them are aware of it. The timing is right and so they are exploring the option,” he said.
The aviation industry might be looking at possible options in order to bail themselves out from this mess. However, with most of the aircraft on lease and no improvement in traffic, finding collaterals for loans will be quite difficult.
12/08/09 NDTV.com

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‘Secret’ rescue mission for missing Israeli raises eyebrows

Kasol (Kullu): A group of 10 Israelis, accompanied by an equal number of local guides, today set out from Kheerganga, 26 km from Kullu, to search for the missing 24-year-old Israeli backpacker, Amichai Shtainmetz, who disappeared from a guesthouse in the area last month.
According to a spokesperson of the Israeli embassy in New Delhi, the members of the team were all volunteers and not from the Israeli army as believed by the Himachal police.
The rescue effort, however, has stirred a hornet’s nest after the Himachal Pradesh government said it had no information of any helicopter being used in the Parbati valley in an earlier rescue mission. Authorities at Kullu’s Bhuntar airport have also denied any knowledge about the chopper.
The ‘secret helicopter recce’ to search for Amichai, reportedly involving a Delhi-based private company and an Israeli insurance firm, raised serious security concerns in view of the terror threat as well as drug smuggling in the sensitive Parbati valley, where Asia’s biggest hydroelectric dam, the 2,051 MW Parbati project - is under construction.
Experts have warned the search mission in the Kheerganga-Mantalai-Pin Parbati pass, which overlooks the strategically sensitive region of Spiti-Kinnaur bordering Tibet on the Sino-Indian border, could pose grave security risks.
Kullu SP KK Indoria confirmed a privately owned helicopter landed at Bhuntar airport and flew over the Parbati valley for four or five days. However, he said he was not aware whether any permission for the operation had been sought from the civil aviation or home ministries. “They (the Israelis) had met me and I assumed they must have obtained permission for their search mission”, he added.
Principal home secretary Subhash Negi and GAD secretary Ajay Bhandari told The Tribune neither the Israeli embassy nor the Indian government sought the state government’s cooperation in the search for the missing Israeli. “We don’t know whether any helicopter is being used in the rescue mission in the Parbati valley”, they asserted.
Airport Authority of India’s Kullu chief KM Nehra said though the Israelis had not stated their helicopter flight plan to Bhuntar airport they must have conveyed it to the Delhi-based Flight Plan Aviation Centre.
When contacted, counsellor at the Israeli embassy Irit said: “The insurance firm hired the private helicopter from a Delhi company and conducted the search operation over the Kheerganag-Bhunbuni pass for four or five days till yesterday. However, there has been no trace of Amochai. The rescue team consists of 8 Israeli volunteers, who are not army personnel as thought by some, and the operation was funded by a privately-owned Israeli firm.”
However, Irit refused to name the company. “We were told by both the Indian external affairs and civil aviation ministries there was no need to obtain prior permission for the search operation in Kullu”, she claimed.
Local residents said “nobody knows who flew the helicopter here for five days and what they took out.” The area has rich reserves of precious stones and hashish is readily available in the lower Parbati valley.
11/08/09 Kuldeep Chauhan/The Tribune

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Epitaph time? Not yet, for full-service airlines

Bangalore/Mumbai: With the three full service carriers (FSCs) -- Kingfisher Airlines, Jet Airways and state-owned Air India -- planning to slowly move a large part of their capacity to low fare segment, the airfield in that space has now been left to just one player --- Chennai's business class airline Paramount Airways.
Time to write the epitaph of the legacy carrier?
M Thiagarajan, managing director of Paramount, doesn't think so.
"There is nothing wrong with the FSC business model as such; they (Jet, Kingfisher and Air India) have not been able to sustain it because they went in for explosive expansion," he said.
Unlike his peers, Thiagarajan has no plans of tweaking his business model to remain airborne.
Interestingly Paramount has been logging a seat factor of over 80% every month -- that is, only one in five seats is going empty, and that too, in an all-business class service -- it does not have normal fare seats.
True, Paramount's market share is still very small after almost four years of operations. In June, it had a 2% share compared with Kingfisher and Jet's 24.4% and 16.6%, respectively.
"I have intentionally gone for slow capacity addition and ruthlessly managed costs. This has worked for me," Thiagarajan said.
Samyukth Sridharan, chief commercial officer of budget carrier Spicejet Ltd, also believes that it is not a case of wrong business model for the FSCs, which are flying to low fares to keep afloat.
Sridharan said SpiceJet's cost per available seat kilometre (CASK) was the lowest in the industry at Rs 2.30. Jet's was more than twice that in the first quarter at Rs 4.79.
He said such a high cost structure will not allow Jet to compete with budget carriers.
This is the reason why low cost airlines are not worried about FSCs entering into their segment.
A senior executive of another low-cost airline, who did not want him or his company to be named, also brushed off such apprehensions.
We have seen a 7.5% growth in passenger traffic in the last quarter and are expecting a double-digit increase in the current quarter.
12/08/09 Praveena Sharma & Ramiya Bhas/Daily News & Analysis

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Airlines gear up to combat flu scare

Mumbai: With the flu scare gripping the country, airlines, airports and the travel industry in general, have stepped up measures to combat the H1N1 virus. Mumbai International Airport is conducting massive “thermal camera screening” of incoming passengers. The airport has also distributed surgical face masks to employees at Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport. Two air cleansing machines have been set up to purify arrival area at regular intervals, said an airport executive.
“We have procured a thermal camera and government doctors are conducting the screening process,” the Mumbai International Airport spokesperson told ET. Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport is the first airport in India to have a thermal camera for screening of swine flu.
At the domestic terminal, facemasks have been distributed and there are plans to make travel packs available to passengers and employees. These packs will contain facemasks, sanitary wipes and Receptol tablets.
Kingfisher, the largest private airline, is closely monitoring the situation and is in regular touch with the airport health authorities and other national and international stakeholders. Factual information on H1N1 influenza was disseminated to employees of Kingfisher Airlines. An advisory was circulated to all cabin crew and flight deck crew listing out the specific precautions.
All employees of GoAir suffering from cold, cough or fever have been asked to abstain from work till completely cured. At airports, GoAir has requested authorities to provide face masks for use of airport staff who come into direct contact with customers.
Low cost carrier SpiceJet has said that internal messaging is being done to create awareness on strict hygiene measures and posters with key messages have been put up in high visibility areas. In addition to this, SpiceJet ground staffs in Pune have been given special masks to ensure employees and guests’ safety.
12/08/09 Mithun Roy/Economic Times

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Onus on Patel to plead for airlines

New Delhi: Airline operators today urged civil aviation minister Praful Patel to take up their case for cutting taxes on jet fuel and airport charges before the Union cabinet.
Patel is expected to make a presentation on the aviation sector’s losses and highlight the need to cut fuel taxes before the cabinet on Thursday.
Officials said they expected the civil aviation ministry to restart talks with airport bodies and airlines, and get the newly appointed Airports Economic Regulatory Authority of India to put a leash on airport charges.
At the same time, the ministry is likely to urge state governments to cut jet fuel taxes. The levy varies across states.
The officials said the government had long advocated a declared goods status for jet fuel, which could bring down the tax from as high as 29 per cent in some states to a uniform rate of 4 per cent.
Andhra Pradesh has the lowest tax on jet fuel at 4 per cent, while Bihar and Tamil Nadu have the highest at 29 per cent. West Bengal charges 25 per cent.
However, the Centre has not gone ahead and granted the declared good status because of opposition from the states who have not accepted the logic for reducing taxes.
10/08/09 The Telegraph

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Praful gives patient hearing to airlines’ problems

New Delhi: Looking for ways to tide over the financial crisis that has affected the civil aviation sector, representatives of private airlines as well as chief of the State-run Air India held detailed discussions with the Union Civil Aviation Minister, Praful Patel, here on Monday.
Coming together under the umbrella of the Federation of Indian Airlines (FIA), the bigwigs of India’s major airlines were closeted in the meeting for more than an hour with Mr. Patel at the Ministry’s headquarters at Rajiv Gandhi Bhavan.
“Both the Civil Aviation Minister and the Secretary were sympathetic to our demands. Our discussions were held in a positive and constructive manner. I hope that the government will look at our difficulties and something will come out in the next four to six weeks,” Vijay Mallya who heads Kingfisher Airlines told reporters.
The meeting was attended by Naresh Goyal, Chairman of Jet Airways, Jeh Wadia of GoAir, Rahul Bhatia and Aditya Ghosh of IndiGo, Sanjay Agrawal of SpiceJet, Arvind Jadhav, Chairman and Managing Director of Air India, and FIA Secretary General Anil Baijal.
11/08/09 The Hindu

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What swine flu scare? Have package, will travel

New Delhi: Defying doomsday predictions on swine flu, people are packing bags to get out of town over the long weekend. With prices down by 15%-20% from last year on special packages for I-Day, travellers are spoiled for choice.
While Agra, Jaipur, Shirdi and Tirupati are domestic favourites, Macau and southeast Asian destinations are the current international hotspots. And this is all thanks to the never-say-die spirit of the Indian traveller. Travel Agents Association of India’s (TAAI) Rajinder Rai said, “Swine flu has had no impact on holiday bookings in general. Travel to some areas like Pune may be affected but people are still travelling for the long weekend to places like Macau and southeast Asian destinations.”
Industry estimates suggest that 20% more Indian travellers are visiting Macau this year drawn by its international casinos and buzzing nightlife. STIC Travels’ Hong Kong-Macau package is also proving popular and it has offered a 40% slash in prices for Sri Lanka.
An indication of the drop in prices is the weekend packages offered by yatra.com. The online travel company is offering domestic destinations like Goa, Jaipur, Mussoorie and Kodaikanal starting at Rs 2,289 per person for two nights and three days.
Besides cutting down on costs, companies are throwing in perks like private transfers from airport and all meals included in the packages.
11/08/09 Himanshi Dhawan/Times of India

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GoM on ATF prices likely soon

New Delhi: Faced with losses of around Rs 10,000 crore for the fiscal 2008-09, the aviation industry’s woes are likely to be taken up by the Union Cabinet which will deliberate on high taxes on jet fuel and airport charges at its next meeting. In fact, a Group of Ministers (GoM) may be set up to focus on ATF pricing. After a meeting between civil aviation minister Praful Patel and a Federation of Indian Airlines delegation, sources said a presentation on the problems being faced by the industry is likely to be made at the Cabinet meeting on Thursday.
The meeting was also attended by FIA chairman and Air India CMD Arvind Jadhav, Jet Airways chairman Naresh Goyal, SpiceJet CEO Sanjay Agarwal, IndiGo chairman Rahul Bhatia and president Aditya Ghosh, and GoAir MD Jeh Wadia.
11/08/09 Indian Express

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Private airlines to meet Praful Patel today

New Delhi: Representatives of private airlines will meet the Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel on Monday.
The request for meeting the Minister was made by the Federation of Indian Airlines (FIA), informed sources said.
The airlines had put on hold their decision to go on a day’s strike on August 18 in view of agitated public sentiments and also the government’s offer to hold dialogue to resolve the problems faced by the civil aviation sector, which is also reeling under the impact of global economic downturn.
Leading airlines such as Jet Airways and Kingfisher were pressing ahead with the decision to suspend their domestic flights for a day but fissures appeared in the FIA with IndiGo and SpiceJet favouring the process of dialogue.
Air India decided to mount additional flights if the airlines suspended their service.
Private carriers were protesting against the high rate of sales tax on aviation turbine fuel (ATF) and steep airport charges that were making their operations financially unviable and inflicting losses on them.
10/08/09 Vinay Kumar/The Hindu

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Only states can decide on aviation fuel tax issue, says Patel

New Delhi: Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel has categorically ruled out stepping in to bring down sales tax on aviation fuel as demanded by the aviation industry, and said that it was an issue under the state governments' purview.
"This issue comes under the purview of the state governments and there is not much the central government can do about it," Patel said in an interview to the broadcaster IBN7.
"If it were in the hands of the government, we would have already done it."
His comments came in reply to a question on the contentious issue of aviation fuel sales tax, which cash-strapped carriers say is too high and one of the reasons for them to warn recently that they would suspend operations.
Patel also declined to comment on when he thought the sales tax issue would be resolved.
"This is not in my hands. I called finance ministers of all the states to Delhi for a meeting and requested them. This is not in the hands of the government of India."
He also ruled out any financial aid for the beleagured industry. "No, we will not give a bailout package. Everyone comes out of the problem in its own way."
In explanation, Patel said his "ministry does not have money", and asked rhetorically: "Whose money will I give? From where will I get the money? Private companies will do businesses on their own. When they do business, they keep their earnings with them. They don't give it to the government. So, now when they are in crisis, from where will the government give money?"
He also denied giving a Rs.20,000-crore bailout package to the national carrier, but hinted the government would bring in fresh equity.
09/08/09 IANS/Economic Times

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