Plug air safety gaps: pilot body to DGCA

Mumbai: Acting on passenger safety concerns raised by Indian pilots, an international pilot body has asked India’s aviation watchdog to plug gaps in air safety and punish those found responsible for safety lapses. The International Federation of Air Line Pilots’ Association (IFALPA), which represents more than a lakh pilots across the world, wrote to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) last week.
The letter from the IFALPA president, Captain Carlos Limon, cited a case where the Air India management issued a circular indefinitely increasing pilot duty timing last December without approval from the regulator. “Such incidents should not be taken lightly. The DGCA should investigate and punish those responsible,” read the letter.
05/04/11 Soubhik Mitra/Hindustan Times

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Fake pilots: Panel to probe insiders' role

New Delhi: The civil aviation ministry has formed a 12-member committee to ascertain the involvement of insiders in the fake pilot licences scam. The committee, which will submit its report in six weeks, will also recommend ways to make the examination for accrediting commanders in airlines foolproof.
“The committee will first find out the extent of insiders’ role in the whole scam and will then suggest ways to make the examination system foolproof,” said a senior ministry official, who did not want to be identified. The committee comprises members from the civil aviation ministry, Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), representatives from the Indian Air Force, Air India and National Informatics Centre, and independent aviation analysts.
Rohit Nandan, joint secretary, civil aviation ministry, is the convenor of the committee, which also has Director General of Civil Aviation E K Bharat Bhusan as its member.
After the scam was unearthed, DGCA has initiated a revamp of the pilot licensing system and is looking at appointing a third party to scrutinise pilot training academies. Not only pilot training institutes but the conduct of DGCA officials has also come under the scanner since the scam broke out.
31/03/11 Mihir Mishra/Business Standard

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Chennithala’s flights of fancy

Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee chief Ramesh Chennithala has not crowned himself with glory by starting a new trend in electioneering in the state. He is the first local leader to use a helicopter for campaigning in Kerala, one of the smallest states with the highest population density. The All India Congress Committee has, reportedly, placed at his disposal a chopper, ostensibly to facilitate campaign by the party’s national leaders like Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi. But he found it convenient to hop from Kottayam to Haripad from where he is contesting to the Assembly. Little does he know that his extravaganza has evoked only derision and he has already become a butt of ridicule.
Kerala is one extended town from Mancheswaram in the north to Parassala in the south. Relatively speaking, it has excellent communication systems, though the roads tend to be narrow because people have traditionally preferred to build houses that open into roads. It is the only state which has three fully-functional international airports, while a fourth one is being planned at Kannur. All this rules out the need for use of helicopters. Of course, helicopters were used by national leaders of the Congress in the past and nobody questioned their right to do so because they addressed meetings only at a few important centres. That cannot be the case with Chennithala who, by virtue of the position he holds, has to campaign in all the constituencies where the Congress has fielded candidates.
31/03/11 Expressbuzz

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Traffic jam over Mohali as honchos fly in on pvt jets

India Inc's scramble to fly to Chandigarh in their fancy jets and be counted on the tarmac of the otherwise sleepy airport in Chandigarh will make it as busy as the Delhi or Mumbai airports on Wednesday. At last count, 96 aircraft would be flying in India's who's who for the high-voltage semis. Of these, just 20 would be commercial aircraft (scheduled flights plus special flights for the semifinal) and the remaining 76 VVIP IAF flights, private jets and charters!
Only the aircraft carrying Sonia Gandhi, her family and entourage and the prime ministers of India and Pakistan will land and take off in a jiffy. The rest, which includes likes of Sharad Pawar, Praful Patel, Jyotiraditya Scindia, the Ambani brothers, the Mittals, the Hindujas, and Bollywood glitterati, might come in Hawkers and Bombardiers but will have to wait for landing at the crowded airport and takeoff.
Those who have obtained permission to fly in their planes are the lucky ones, for, the airport has conveyed that it's up to its gills and can't take any more planes. Hence, even those with private aircraft are now seeking to hitch a flight with their friends.
All incoming flights will land between 6am and 1pm and after the match is over, these charters would take off after 11.30pm onward. The last one could get the clearance to fly as late as 1-1.30 pm.
30/03/11 Saurabh Sinha & Ajay Sura/Times of India

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Cricket fans fly high on private charters

Mumbai: After pubs and multiplexes, it seems to be the turn of private charter firms to rake in the big bucks. Select cricket fans from Mumbai are spending eight times the cost of a business class return air ticket from London to fly to Chandigarh to watch India take on arch-rival Pakistan in the World Cup semi-finals at Mohali.
A family, which is in the power generation business, has hired a six-seater Citation Jet from Airnetz Aviation, a private charter company in Vile Parle, for Rs 10 lakh.
Nikesh Goswami, of Leo Air Charters, said they would be ferrying cricket fans on board a similar six-seater business jet to Chandigarh on Wednesday.
Mumbai airport sources said private charter firms and private jet owners are awaiting clearance from the Indian Air Force that manages Chandigarh airport.
Domestic carriers are also operating additional flights to Chandigarh to accommodate the rush. Jet Airways said it would operate an additional flight each from Mumbai and Delhi to Chandigarh.Kingfisher Airlines and low-cost carrier GoAir had already announced additional flights to the Punjab city.
30/03/11 Soubhik Mitra/Hindustan Times

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MP government has no information about flight that took Anderson out of Bhopal

New Delhi: Details of use of state government plane to ferry Union Carbide Chairman Warren Anderson out of Bhopal in 1984 are not available with the Madhya Pradesh government, state's aviation directorate has said.
Responding to an RTI application seeking to know who had sanctioned the flight which took Anderson to Delhi soon after the Bhopal gas tragedy in December 1984, the aviation directorate, after nine months of the application having been filed, said information is not available as the matter is 26-year-old.
The information under the Right to Information Act should be provided within one month of receiving the application but the Aviation Directorate which got the application on June 26, 2010, did not respond to it till March 26, 2011. The reply comes only after a complaint against it was filed with the State Information Commission.
The applicant had sought to know from the Aviation department the file noting regarding the sanction of the flight, name of person who sanctioned it, details about the names and number of passengers in it.
Anderson had reached Bhopal from the US three days after the gas tragedy struck the city on the intervening night of December 2-3, 1984, killing over 15,000 people.
On his arrival, he was arrested by local police and later granted bail by a local court.
He was allegedly allowed to use an aircraft of Madhya Pradesh government to come to Delhi from Bhopal from where he returned to the US.
29/03/11 PTI/Economic Times

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Airlines plan more flights despite surge in fuel prices

New Delhi: Indian carriers are increasing the number of flights this summer at the fastest rate since 2007, despite the surge in global crude oil prices.
The Indian domestic passenger market grew 18% last year and has continued to expand at double digits in the first three months of 2011, allowing airlines to bet on the coming peak season despite higher fuel prices, airline executives said.
Weekly flights are expected to increase by 14% this summer, with 12,700 departures every week from end-March to October.
“Overall we are seeing a 14% jump. This is a big increase since the downturn in 2008,” said a government official who did not want to be named. “The total number of cities connected will remain at about 83.”
Air India Ltd is increasing its daily domestic flights from 320 to 348-50, with new flights to Kulu and additional flights to Hyderabad, Imphal, Bangalore and Dehradun.
“This is because of growing traffic and to improve connectivity,” said an Air India spokesman.
SpiceJet Ltd plans to add 11 aircraft to its fleet of 25 between now and October—five Boeing 737s and six short-haul Q400s. By May its daily flights will climb from 167 in the winter to 204 in summer.
“And we are not even talking about the Q400s,” said its chief commercial officer Samyukth Sridharan. The Q400s are scheduled to launch the airlines regional operations. Each Q400 can do nine flights a day.
Jet Airways (India) Ltd said it will develop Hyderabad as a “mini hub” with the introduction of 15 new flights from 27 March, connecting Bhubaneswar, Vijayawada, Jaipur and Nagpur.
30/03/11 Tarun Shukla/Live Mint

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Now, an application to predict pilot alertness

Mumbai: At a time when crew fatigue is one of the biggest challenges confronting modern aviation, an iPhone application (app) called CrewAlert allows airlines to predict a pilot's alertness levels.
Developed by Boeing and Jeppesen, it takes into account several factors, including the pilot's physiology, sleep and time zones travelled, to predict alertness levels.
For over four years, Indian pilots have been fighting to get scientifically backed rest rules for cockpit crew. The introduction of the app has prompted Jet Airways pilots to press the aviation regulator for a similar arrangement. At present, India follows Flight Duty and Time Limitation (FDTL) rest rules formulated way back in 1992. The research done on pilot fatigue in the last 20 years has not been used to improve rest rules for the Indian crew.
Society for Welfare of Indian Pilots (SWIP), an association of Jet Airways pilots, sent a letter in this regard to the Director-General of Civil Aviation on Monday. "We would like you to evaluate and assess the 1992 FDTL objectively and scientifically with regards to alertness in crews," says the letter. "One such readily available software is ewAlert.
Pointing out that the software is based on Boeing Alertness Model, a bio-mathematical model derived from decades of research on fatigue and sleep, the SWIP, in its letter, has said, This model predicts alertness in crew and takes into account physiology of the individual, actual sleep availed, operation during window of circadian low and time zone transitions for a given set of duty or duties. The software costs $20 and runs on an iPhone, a very small price for human lives."
29/03/11 Manju V/Times of India

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Airlines in a tangle over circular on flight schedule

Mumbai: An ambiguous circular released by the aviation regulator has airline authorities in the country scratching their heads. The majority view is that it means a nightmare for them and their passengers.
The circular, issued by Lalit Gupta, deputy director-general, civil aviation, on Friday, says: "Amendments in the scheduled (sic) during mid-season along with justification may be discussed and finalized by a committee headed by the joint secretary (ministry of civil aviation), representatives of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), Airports Authority of India and joint venture company airports. This committee shall meet at least once a month to discuss and finalize these amendments. In view of the above, no ad hoc changes shall be considered." A source said implementation will begin in 10 days.
The airlines have interpreted the circular to mean that if there is any change in a flight's schedule, whatever the reason be, the airline concerned cannot operate the particular flight at any other time without the sanction of the DGCA-appointed committee. At present, if an airline cannot stick to a flight's schedule for reasons like weather-related delay, security delay, technical problem, and crew scheduling problem, it seeks a verbal permit from the DGCA and the airport operator to postpone the affected flight.
But an official from another airline interpreted the circular differently. "I think it only means that airlines should adhere to their slots religiously," he said. "Airlines could continue to operate, for instance, relief flights if an aircraft is grounded at a particular destination or operate a flight at a different time if it gets a bomb alert without approaching the said committee.
29/03/11 Manju V/Times of India

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Indian airlines’ EU plans may hit air pocket

Indian carriers’ entry into the European Union (EU) carbon market next year is set to slow expansion plans as operational costs rise, leading to higher airfares that will make some airlines less competitive than their rivals.
From January 2012, emissions from all flights that arrive at or depart from an EU airport will be covered by the EU emission trading system (ETS).
The scheme, aimed at reducing industrial greenhouse gas emissions cost-effectively, will cover all airlines operating in the EU except for very light aircraft and flights involving the military, police, customs, rescue operations and government business.
While the US and China have already protested against the scheme, the Indian government is yet to take a stance on it.
Air India Ltd, Jet Airways (India) Ltd and Kingfisher Airlines Ltd have flights operating in Europe and plan to increase flights to the continent.
Aviation accounts for less than 3% of 2009 global carbon emissions, but is expected to increase to 5% by 2050.
Under the proposed scheme, the EU can impound and sell any aircraft in the event of non-compliance and cancel an airline’s certificate to fly, technically known as air operator’s certificate.
The EU ETS will add to costs in terms of monitoring, reporting and verifying carbon emission records. Airlines will also have to spend to allocate and trade carbon credits in the open market.
A senior Air India executive said the airline has already started submitting verified data on carbon dioxide emissions to EU ETS. “We were asked to submit this data under protest. This is a one-sided regulation. We have asked the ministry to frame similar regulations for carriers that are flying to India,” the executive said.
29/03/11 P.R. Sanjai/Live Mint

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Lookout notices issued for three fake pilots, instructor

New Delhi: Delhi Police issued a lookout notice Monday against three pilots and a flying instructor for forging marksheets to procure pilot licences.
'We have issued notices against pilots Swaran Singh Talwar of MDLR, and Syed Habib Ali and Bhupinder Singh, who have licences but have not joined any airline. A lookout notice has also been issued against flying instructor D. Asatkar,' a senior police officer said.
The pilots had allegedly procured Airlines Transport Pilot Licence (ATPL) using fake documents.
'The lookout notices are issued to prevent them from fleeing the country. All airports and ports have also been put on high alert,' the police officer added.
Police are conducting raids across the country to nab them, he added.
Delhi Police have so far arrested six people, including an official of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), for their involvement in the scam.
Pradeep Kumar, 48, an assistant director with airline regulator DGCA, Pradeep Tyagi, 35, the pilot who helped others to procure fake marksheets, and his two associates Pankaj Jain, 23, and Lalit Jain, 34, were arrested between March 22 and March 25 from Delhi and Chennai.
Pankaj Jain and Pradeep Kumar were arrested from the capital March 25, while Lalit Jain was arrested from Chennai March 24. Tyagi was picked up from Rohini, in Delhi, March 23.
During interrogation, Pradeep Kumar told police that he had processed files for around 60 licences in the past couple of years.
28/03/11 INAS/Sify

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A big passion of flying small planes

Ludhiana: One of the parameters of gauging the dynamicity of a city is the quality and variety of entertainment and indulgence it offers its people. For the seekers of adventure and recreation, besides food and shopping, going out of town seems to be the only option in Ludhiana. But, here's a clutch of enthusiasts who have gotten together to form a group for pursuing their passion for remote control model aeroplane flying.
The Model Avionics Club was set up in 1990, after which it held an air show at Sahnewal airport. After a revival of sorts in 2009, the group's current avatar has 22 active members. The most sought-after weekly activity of the club is to a get-together at the airfield every Sunday, where the members bring along their aircraft and support equipment.
Members of the club fly their crafts with expertise and show skills by performing successful air manoeuvres. Some have also done aerial photography by using onboard camera on the crafts. Along with canal of 300 meters, the club has also prepared airfield further away from Janpath Enclave.
A dentist by profession, Sandeep Singh have been an active part of this club and has so far designed and made three aeroplanes. To maintain his hobby, he orders equipment from America.
28/03/11 Times of India

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DGCA: Aspiring pilots’ exam results to be put on the Net

Mumbai: To ensure that aspiring pilots and commanders do not indulge in forging of marksheets in connivance with the central examination organisation (CEO), the directorate general of civil aviation (DGCA) announced that the results will now be published on the website.
After the fake pilot licence scam broke out where it was found that many pilots and commanders are said to have forged/tampered with the marksheets to obtain their commercial pilot licence (CPL) and airline transport pilot licence (ATPL). “During the investigation it was found that this was not possible without help and they were aided by DGCA officials from the CEO and licensing department,” says an industry source.
To curb this menace, the regulator came out with a public notice last week where it announced discontinuation of issue of result card by CEO pilots, engineers, flight dispatchers, etc. As such the candidates now have to down load the result page posted on DGCA website, where his/her name appears and enclose it along with his/her application for the purpose of issue of licence.
28/03/11 Naveeta Singh/Daliy News & Analysis

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Probe into fake pilots scam reveals flying schools fudged logbooks

New Delhi: Investigations into the fake pilot scam have revealed that several flying schools were 'fudging log books' to escalate the number of flying hours of pilots to get them licenses.
The Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) is reportedly conducting an inquiry into the manipulation of logbooks by flying schools and records of the 50-60 requests processed by Pradeep Kumar are also being checked.
Meanwhile, attempts are being made to arrest three more pilots and a Mumbai-based tout — Deepak Asatkar. Meanwhile, sources in the Crime Branch told TOI that "their investigations are also looking into the recruitment of pilots in all the airlines".
"To get a license, a pilot needs to show a particular number of hours in training. Instead of flying, the pilots, with the help of schools, would manipulate logbooks to show this. We suspect that officials of various flying schools are involved in this. Presently, we are concentrating on these pilots. DGCA is looking into logbook fudging on its own," said a source.
28/03/11 Neeraj Chauhan/Times of India

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Forged marksheets: DGCA chief says more arrests to come

New Delhi: Even as the Delhi Police claim to have busted the racket that provided forged marksheets to pilots aspiring to become commanders after arresting one senior officer from the aviation regulator DGCA's office, the regulatory body's chief thinks this might not be the last arrest as there's more cleaning up to do.
The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) chief E K Bharat Bhushan suspects there are more people from within the regulator's office involved in the fake pilots' licence scam. "We have shared more clues with the police about DGCA officials we are suspicious about. The clean-up drive will continue beyond this," Bhushan told ET.
According to the Delhi Police crime branch deputy commissioner, Ashok Chand, Air India's Captain J K Verma, who was arrested earlier during the month for having forged his documents, helped the police get to the bottom of the racket. However, more information is expected to come to light when other tainted pilots namely Captain Swaran Singh Talwar, Captain Syed Habib Ali and Captain Bhupender Singh join the investigations
On Saturday, the police arrested Pradeep Kumar, who worked as an assistant director at the DGCA and took bribes to facilitate the process of obtaining fake pilots' licences from the regulator's office. The police have also arrested the mastermind behind this racket, Captain Pradeep Tyagi, on Wednesday.
28/03/11 Anindya Upadhyay/Economic Times

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Summer heat on fliers & fires

Patna: Flying in winter is a pain because of frequent flight delays. The summer is no better, at least for Patnaites. Fewer seats will be available in planes taking off from the city airport as the temperature soars.
The airlines will cut the seating capacity of their aircraft operating from the city in summer months for load penalty factor. Under this norm, the operators have to reduce the weight of planes by leaving some seats vacant for smooth take-off when the temperature is high.
“The aircraft engine has to create a certain minimum thrust while taking off. As the air becomes thinner during summer, the flight captains prefer to reduce the aircraft load for a safe take-off from a short runway so that the necessary engine thrust is available. With reduced weight, the engine requires less thrust. That is why full load flights do not operate during the summer months, especially in the day when the temperature is higher,” said a source in the aviation industry.
The load penalty factor plays a major role at Patna airport because of its short runway. Against the total runway length of 2,286m (7,500 feet), only 1,954m (6409 feet) remains available at the time of take-off because of location constraint of the airport.
Over 12 passengers booked on Jet Airways’ Patna-Mumbai flight (S2 721) today had a taste of trouble the load penalty factor can lead to. They were not allowed to board the plane despite having boarding cards when fight captain Tina Updhayaya told the airline officials that she would not be able to take-off with full load flight as the temperature was high.
28/03/11 Sanjeev Kumar Verma/The Telegraph

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AERA to initiate consultation process for new tariff structure

Hyderabad: Airport Economic Regulatory Authority (AERA) is set to initiate consultation process for putting a new tariff structure in place for airports next month and it roll out by August, the Authority said today.
AERA chairman Yashwant Bhave said the regulator will follow capital-asset pricing methods to determine tariff and it will be different for each airport.
"The new structure will be effective from July or August. We will follow capital-asset pricing model to determine the tariff so that the return on investment for airport operators will be commensurate with the risk. It will be different for different airports," Bhave told reporters on the sidelines of the GMR Aviation Security Summit here.
He said they would take into consideration the viability of airport, quality of services and concession agreements signed with respective governments while determining the tariff.
"All these factors will come up for discussion in the consultation paper and everybody will have a chance to comment," he said.
GMR and GVK, operators for Delhi and Mumbai airports, respectively, approached the appellate tribunal against the AERA's recent order to regulate airport revenues.
27/03/11 PTI/Economic Times

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Regulator for monthly data on co-pilots

Delhi: Wiser from the fake pilot licences scandal, the aviation safety regulator has made it mandatory for airlines to submit to the Civil Aviation Ministry monthly data on co-pilots recruited by them, and the details of their training.
In an order issued March 24, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) asked all airlines to monitor hiring and training of Commercial Pilot Licence (CPL) holders in an “effective manner”. Trainee pilots and co-pilots have CPLs; commanders have a higher level of licence, the Airline Transport Pilot Licence (ATPL).
Upgrade criteria for co-pilots vary. The minimum flying hours’ experience laid down by DGCA is 1,500 hours; IndiGo allows upgrade to commander after the pilot has flown 2,000 hours.
27/03/11 Indian Express

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Tough to prove actual flying hours: aviation experts

New Delhi: Despite a host of counter-measures taken by regulatory body DGCA after a dozen arrests including pilots for faking documents, aviation experts feel that it is difficult to prove logging of actual flying hours. Even though steps like online examinations for pilot licenses and stringent measures to audit flying schools are on the anvil, aviation experts say most of these schools function in remote areas which are not covered by the air traffic control (ATC) network.
27/03/11 Press Trust Of India/Hindustan Times

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DGCA official among 4 held in ‘fake pilot’ scam

New Delhi: Four persons, including a Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) official and a pilot, were arrested on Saturday by the Delhi Police in connection with the fake flying license scam.
The arrested DGCA official, Pradeep Kumar, 48, is an assistant director with the aviation regulator, and was responsible for granting licenses to flying students. Others arrested include a pilot, Pradeep Tyagi, 35, who helped candidates procure fake mark sheets, and his two associates, Pankaj Jain, 23, and Lalit Jain, 34.
Police said that Tyagi had obtained commercial pilots’ license in June 2010 after submitting a forged report card and fudging flying hours. “Tyagi is the main accused. One Deepak Asatkar of Mumbai is a key member who functioned as a conduit for the gang. The pilots paid Rs12 lakh each for the forged mark sheets. Tyagi gave Rs25,000 to Kumar for expediting their files,” said Ashok Chand, DCP, Crime, Delhi Police.
The arrests came following investigations into a complaint filed by the DGCA stating that some pilots had procured licenses using forged mark sheets. The first to be apprehended was Indigo’s Parminder Kaur Gulati on March 8 and Air India’s JK Verma, four days later. “We have smashed this gang. We are looking for three pilots and a flying instructor in Mumbai who are on the run,” Ashok Chand said.
27/03/11 Aditya Kaul/Daily News & Analysis

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Citizen Journalist exposes pilot test flaws

Mumbai: Nitin Shukla works in Canada as a flying instructor in a school. He says , "I have around 900 hours of flying time and 500 hours of instruction time under my belt. I've always wanted to come back home in India and work here. But I cannot even give a pilot test here in India though I am more than qualified for it."
The main reason is the DGCA requires pilots to be standard twelfth pass with maths and physics. That is a requirement nowhere else in the world.
Nitin elaborates, "It's because of these unnecessary rules and regulations by the DGCA that our skies are unsafe. Rules that don't allow qualified pilots to come in but let pilots with just 200 hours of flying time to handle high-performance aircraft."
"I could have got the marksheets if I wanted to fulfill that requirement as I was approached by a Delhi education system middleman who claimed to have given other pilots the same. While I chose not to go down that road, I know others who did."
27/03/11 CNN-IBN

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‘Fake licence boom in 2004-08’

Mumbai: “The 18 fake pilot licenses that have come to light are just the tip of the iceberg and were issued in the 2004-08 period,” aviation expert Capt Mohan Ranganathan has claimed. He also said that investigation by an independent body about the licenses granted to kin of directorate general of civil aviation (DGCA) officials will also help shed light on the issue.
To uncover more pilots like Capt Parminder Gulati of Indigo Airlines and Capt JK Verma who forged their marksheets to obtain the airline transport pilot license (ATPL) from DGCA, one needs to revisit the licenses issued in these years as most fake licenses were issued in this period and checks to verify them were done away with by the then-DGCA,” Ranganathan alleged.
It was during this period that the aviation industry started booming with the entry of low-cost carriers (LCCs) like Air Deccan (2004), Spicejet (2005), GoAir (2005) and IndiGo (2006). “With so many airlines starting operations, there was a dearth of pilots. Hence, these licenses were issued as a quick-fix solution,” he said.
According to another industry expert, the overcapacity of aircraft which led to hiring of so many pilots leading to issuance of fake licenses to some is also the reason behind this expose. “Why has this scam come to light now? This is because we have an excess of pilots and this is a good way to get rid of them by branding them fakes,” he said, and added, “This extra manpower is also the reason behind introducing rules like medical tests of foreign pilots by Indian doctors and bringing their income in the tax ambit. That is why you will see that almost 30% of expat pilots have gone back.”
Ranganathan says that the only way to unearth the entire scam is to constitute an independent body to investigate it.
26/03/11 Naveeta Singh/Daily News & Analysis

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Air passengers to top 28 cr in 2020

Hyderabad: Airports in the country will handle 28 crore passengers by 2020, Mr V.P. Agrawal, chairman of the Airports Authority of India told the delegates of the two-day summit on aviation security organised by the GMR.
India is still considered one of the least penetrated markets and has tremendous growth potential, he said.
“Opportunities in this growing market include up-gradation/modernisation of both metro and non-metro airports and linking of big cities with two-tier and three-tier cities, expanding existing airports and developing greenfield airports.”
Answering a question on Begumpet airport in Hyderabad, which has been lying vacant since the new airport came up at Shamshabad, Mr Agrawal said the government has no plans to monetise the huge tracts of land available with the airport.
“It cannot be monetised. Whatever land we acquired is for aviation purposes. It can be used for pilot training by flying institutes,” he said.
26/03/11 Deccan Chronicle

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Logbook blew lid off pilot licence scam

Mumbai: Flying hours were jotted down on the register even on the day the training flight was grounded
While browsing through a logbook at a Rajasthan government-run aviation school, the Anti-Corruption Bureau of Rajasthan Police noticed that flying hours of the pilots were manipulated in the register to help them secure licences.
peaking exclusively to MiD DAY, the officials revealed the logbook blew the lid off the fake pilot licence scam.
Nine pilots have been arrested in this case so far and there is one common link between all of them the logbook.
The cops smelt a rat when they noticed the pilots' flying hours were registered even on the day the training aircraft was grounded.
"When we started investigations, we found that the flying school had made entry of flying hours with Cessna 152, when the training aircraft was actually grounded," said Umesh Mishra, IG Anti-Corruption Bureau.
Rajasthan Flying School has a single engine trainer aircraft, Cessna 152, which was grounded long ago.
Air India pilot Rahul Yadav was the first person arrested in this case.
25/03/11 Bipin Kumar Singh/MiD DAY

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Air fares soar ahead of India-Pakistan tie at Mohali

Business class tickets are sold out on all flights to Chandigarh, while economy class fares have soared ahead of the India-Pakistan Cricket World Cup semifinal match on 30 March in Mohali.
Those who do make it inside the stadium that day will have Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for company. In a public invitation, Singh has also asked Pakistan’s President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani to join him in the stands at Mohali, the first such gesture since the terrorist attacks in Mumbai in 2008.
Those who haven’t bought their flight tickets for Chandigarh have to be prepared to pay a premium.
“It’s a big match, it’s like the finals. Chandigarh is sold out,” said a senior officer at a travel website, who declined to be named. “These type of events don’t come often for the airline industry, but the fares are definitely crazy.”
The 30-minute flight between Delhi and Chandigarh will cost Rs.7,407-10,482 on 29 March, a day before the match. Fares for 30 March are not available while those for the return flight on 31 March are Rs.8,400-11,700.
A flight to Chandigarh from Delhi on any other day costs about Rs.3,200.
About a dozen flights ply between Chandigarh and the national capital every day, with most of them going on to, or returning from Jammu and Srinagar.
26/03/11 Tarun Shukla/Live Mint

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Dreams take wings with a 100 miles

Bangalore: It was a ride they would cherish forever. On Friday, Bangalore International Airport Limited and private airline Jet Airways helped light up a 100 faces as children from neighbouring schools and villages took off on their first flight ever. The event was held to commemorate 100 years of civil aviation in India.
"We always see the planes taking off and landing frm our schools, but travelling in one was a dream we thought might never come true," said Chandana from Hegganahalli government higher primary school.
In a collaborative effort, fuel was donated by Indian Oil Sky of Indian Oil Corporation Ltd ( IOCL) and flight catering partner LSG Sky Chefs provided food and beverages.
Actress Ramya added a touch of glam as she joined the children on board.
The event was the culmination of a specially organized painting competition themed 100 years of civil aviation. Over 1000 children, aged six to 14 participated in the event. The winners were invited aboard as a reward.
"It is encouraging to see Jet Airways and the airport come together to celebrate it in such a befitting manner," said actress Ramya.
26/03/11 Times of India

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End of flying career for 14 'fake' pilots

Mumbai: In an unprecedented move, the Directorate-General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on Thursday revoked a total of 14 commercial pilot licences (CPL), ending the career of those pilots who submitted fake flying training records from Rajasthan State Flying School to procure their licences.
This is the first time that India has taken such a stringent action against pilots who indulge in fraudulent practices.
One of the 14 pilots who lost their licence is the son of a DGCA official. "Following inputs from the anti-corruption bureau which is investigating the case, we had cancelled the licences of eight pilots. Today we cancelled another six CPLs," said director-general of civil aviation Bharat Bhushan. Once a CPL licence is cancelled, the person is no longer a pilot. S/he can approach the court and challenge the DGCA's decision to revoke their licence. "But since they do not have a strong case, it is unlikely that these people will fly as pilots again," said an aviation source.
The matter pertains to 14 pilots who did their training in Rajasthan State Flying School. One of the requisites for earning a CPL is 200 hours of flying training. "These pilots had not undergone the total 200 hours of training. The chief flight instructor of this school had issued them fake records of flying training sessions," said a source. It means their CPL licences were obtained fraudulently. The case is being investigated by the anti-corruption bureau.
India is not the first country, though, to handle cases like this with stringency. "In the UK, if you are caught copying in a pilot exam, you will lose your Airline Transport Pilot Licence and CPL as well. Your career as a pilot ends there," said a senior commander, adding that it is not possible to submit fake documents to the UK's aviation regulator as the entire system is computerized.
25/03/11 Manju V/Times of India

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DGCA identifies 2 more pilots who forged marksheets

New Delhi: The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has identified two more pilots who had submitted forged marksheets to obtain the Airline Transport Pilot License (ATPL). After obtaining an ATPL, a First Officer is qualified to commander a flight. In a separate case, Garima Passi, a pilot with low-cost carrier SpiceJet, quit on Thursday, a day after she was suspended and grounded by the airline.
Sources, however, said Passi was asked by the airline to put in her papers.
The two fresh cases unearthed on Thursday, which takes the total number of such cases to seven, came to light after the Delhi Police crime branch tipped off the DGCA about the pilots.
On checking, the information was found to be correct. The name of the two pilots and the airlines they work for has been kept under wraps to ensure that they don’t get away.
25/03/11 Tushar Srivastava/Hindustan Times

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DGCA cracks whip on another 18 fake pilots

New Delhi, Mumbai: The list of pilots whose licences have been suspended for being fake is swelling by the day.
Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) EK Bhartbhushan confirmed on Thursday that 18 more licences have been suspended in Jaipur, taking the total suspensions to 23.
Five licences were suspended earlier for pilots having submitted fake marksheets. But till now, only two of the accused pilots have been arrested.
Both are SpiceJet pilots and have already been sacked. Captain Anuj Kumar and first officer Amit Mundra have been accused of misrepresenting their flying hours in order to obtain licences from DGCA.
While the Rajasthan Anti-Corruption Bureau is examing other cases of fudged marksheets and false flying hours, the regulator DGCA too is doing its best to tackle this widening fraud.
Bharatbhushan told DNA that DGCA has already completed systematic verification of about 1,500 licences in the last three weeks and would soon complete the process for all 4,054 licences issued by it.
Then, it has also commenced a special audit for all 40 flying clubs across the country to determine if these schools are competent to certify that a candidate has completed 200 hours of flying before applying for a CPL.
Lastly, the regulator has also asked airlines to do some checks on their end.
24/03/11 Sindhu Bhattacharya & Amritha Pillay/Daily News & Analysis

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Now, you can have cockpit experience

Mumbai: One of the world’s oldest B-747-200 simulators has found its final resting place at the Nehru Science Centre (NSC) in Worli. It is being readied for display in nine months in a specially built hall.
“Normal construction cannot stand a weight of over 370 tonne. We had to get a special space constructed for this display,” NSC director Anil Manekar told DNA. That, however, was the easiest part of what he described as “a humongous challenge in trying to preserve this representative of our scientific and technical heritage”.
The simulator has been used by Air India for training since the mid-1970s, when the wide-body Boeing 747s or ‘Jumbo Jets’ had become the rage. “As technology moved on, the first simulator soon found fewer takers,” said a senior member of the technical team overseeing its running. “Maintaining the simulator became a struggle as its parts became hard to find. The defunct machine was abandoned in early 2008 and a decision made to scrap it.”
The NSC heard of this and convinced the authorities to part with the simulator so that it can be displayed. “Not many of us are privileged to go into the cockpit and see the systems. We felt this will be the next best thing for people to get that experience,” said Manekar. “The authorities said they would give it to us, but the entire responsibility of dissembling, moving and assembling it would be ours. All they did was refer us to contractor S Desai who was willing to undertake this task.”
25/03/11 Yogesh Pawar/Daily News & Analysis

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Sparks fly as DGCA, schools pass the buck

Mumbai: As the fake pilot licence scam grows bigger, with 13 pilots and commanders arrested so far for forging mark sheets and inflating flight training hours, the aviation authority and training schools have brought out the daggers against each other.
The directorate general of civil aviation (DGCA) on March 22 called a meeting of the 40 flying training schools (FTS) in India and warned them of stringent action, while the latter allege that if the regulator was indeed serious about the issue, it could have been resolved long ago.
In the meeting, DGCA hinted at tightening the noose around the schools.
Reacting to DGCA’s allegation that some schools help students log in extra flying hours than they have actually flown to complete the mandatory 200 hours flying, the schools say that the regulator needs to look at the ground beneath its feet. “.. The marksheets are issued by DGCA and it needs to check its own house,” said YN Sharma, chief operating officer (COO), Chimes Academy, Madhya Pradesh.
“The regulator has a system of cross-checking the numbers of hours logged in by students. For instance, DGCA can audit and co-relate the total number of hours flown by the students in a year with the fuel consumption of aircraft run by that academy. It can check consumption of 100 LL fuel, a kind of aviation fuel used only for aircraft of flying schools, which is procured from a sole provider, ie, Indian Oil Company. If the school is showing more hours than the fuel consumption, it can be caught easily,” he said.
“This is a scam run in collusion of DGCA officials in the licensing department and the chief examiners office (CEO). The CEO handles the marksheets while the licensing department issues the license. If they want to catch the culprits they should install CCTVs in their own campus rather than pass the buck,” said a North-based FTS which did not wished to be named.
24/03/11 Daily News & Analysis

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Red tape, lack of transparency resulting in malpractices: Pilots

Mumbai: The fake pilot license scam has its roots in the red-tapism and lack of transparency in the workings of the directorate general of civil aviation (DGCA), say industry experts.
Moreover, the time-consuming examination to get the commercial pilot license (CPL), and stodgy human interface in the absence of computerisation, is making frustrated students take a short cut and indulge in malpractices.
“While abroad a student needs 40% to get a CPL, in India the percentage is 70. Moreover, while DGCA conducts CPL exams every three months, there are weekly exams in foreign countries,” said the owner of a training school.
A student needs to complete 200 hours of flight training and clear four papers within a span of two years. If he has passed in say two papers but has been unable to clear the remaining within two years, he has the appear for all the papers again. “This is very time consuming and if a student has failed in one paper he has to wait for three months for the next exam,” he said.
According to the Airlines Pilot Association of India (ALPAI), which has over 2,000 pilots from Air India, Jet Airways and Kingfisher as its members, the problem can be solved with computerisation of exams conducted by DGCA. “There should be minimum human interface for issuing of licenses,” said Captain S Marwah, president of ALPAI. “In fact, submission of documents by candidates should also be online.”
24/03/11 Naveeta Singh/Daily News & Analysis

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Are you seeking leniency for cheating? Take a pilot’s test

Mumbai: Any guesses why the fake pilot's licence scam is so colossal? Past cases of fraud involving pilot's licences and flight training in India show that the aviation regulator, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), has been lenient towards the accused. Though the DGCA has independent powers to revoke a pilot's licence, it prefers to let the police and the courts decide on the course of action. As the case drags on, the accused pilot continues to fly or instruct, the regulator giving him back his licence and restoring his privileges.
A case in point is that of Carver Aviation Academy, Baramati. Its former chief flight instructor (CFI), Capt Ashim Taxali, was under the scanner in 2007 for clearing 25 student pilots without conducting their flying tests. These were students who had trained abroad for a commercial pilot licence (CPL). To get an Indian licence, such students have to take a flying test in India, which can be conducted by any CFI authorized by the DGCA. The students approached Capt Taxali, who "pocketed the fees paid by the students and issued them certificates without so much as making them sit in an aircraft, let alone operate it", said a DGCA source.
The matter came to light after the chief operating officer of the flying club filed a police case against the CFI, since his activities resulted in loss of revenue for the club. ToI reported the matter on November 6, 2007, following which the DGCA initiated an inquiry. Capt Taxali was placed under suspension and the flying club shut down. The police chargesheeted Capt Taxali, who spent a month in jail before being granted bail. Though the case is in court, the DGCA restored his CFI licence and reopened the flying school.
This was despite the DGCA investigation report (a copy of which is with ToI) accusing him of fraud.
24/03/11 Manju V/Times of India

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All 40-odd flying schools will be audited: Ravi

New Delhi: At a time when fake pilot licences are giving sleepless nights to the aviation sector, the civil aviation ministry has ordered an audit of the 40-odd flying schools in the country and made it clear no leniency would be shown.
“The issue is very serious. All the flying schools in the country will be audited and no leniency will be shown to anybody. We will go very strongly by abiding by the laws and every angle would be looked into,” said Civil Aviation Minister Vayalar Ravi.
There are about 40 flying schools in the country, of which over 12 to 13 are run by the government, and the rest by private bodies. These institutes allegedly provide fake flying hours to the students for extra money. Instead of actually training the aspiring pilots for 100 hours, many institutes train them only for 75 hours, and by this they make better profit and extra money.
Checks are also being introduced for students going to countries where manipulations in flying schools are known to be rampant. The airlines say they already double check the pilots coming from countries like the Philippines, where flying schools provide flying hours certificates without actually training the pilots.
24/03/11 Business Standard

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Delhi police hunt for two Mumbai touts in fake pilot case

Mumbai: The Delhi police team is camping in Mumbai to probe the fake pilot license scam and has questioned the directorate general of civil aviation (DGCA) officials in Mumbai. They are also looking out on two touts — Deepak and Tyagi who are known to have helped the Air India (AI) commander JK Verma to get his Airline Transport Pilot License (ATPL) with forged papers.
The fake pilot license scam that started with the arrest of pilots in Rajasthan and Delhi has now found its way to Mumbai. Since the last two days the Delhi crime branch officials are in the city to trace the touts who made this possible. “While questioning Verma he gave us names of two touts from Mumbai with whom he was regularly in touch,” says a Delhi police official on conditions of anonymity. “He told us that the touts were recommended to him by his co-pilots for smooth facilitation of his ATPL. We have also questioned DGCA officials in the exam department in the past two days,” says the official.
24/03/11 Naveeta Singh/Daily News & Analysis

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Eight more fake pilots to be arrested

Jaipur/Mumbai: The story of fake pilots and phantom flying schools is getting scarier. It's turning out to be much more than just a one off case or at best a few.
Two days after two fake pilots employed with spice jet were arrested for foraged flying hours from the government-run Rajasthan Flying School, CNN-IBN has accessed names of eight more pilots, who are still flying and could soon be arrested.
Also for the first time an engineer from Air India could also be arrested.
Rajasthan anti corruption bureau says there could be more pilots waiting to be exposed.
Against a question, if the finding so far in the issue is the tip of the iceberg, Jaipur ACB ADG Ajit Singh said, "Tip of the iceberg or not, but certainly there could be many more such cases".
CNN-IBN spoke to sources in airline, aviation and police officials to get the names of the suspect pilots.
The list of the accused includes, Nitin Jain and Rajesh Mirani from Jetlite and Rakesh Mehta, an Engineer from Air India.
Other commercial pilots who are on the wanted list are Sanjiv Gupta and Manlini Iyer from Bangalore, as well as Saahil Malik, Nidhi Vashishtha and Sumit Jain. It is not known where they are currently employed.
The anti corruption bureau has written to the CBI to look into the DGCA's role into the scam. Other flying schools are also being probed.
23/03/11 Swati Vashishtha/Raksha Shetty/CNN-IBN

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Airlines body to move SC over ground handling ban

New Delhi: The Federation of Indian Airlines (FIA) would appeal to the Supreme Court against a decision of the Delhi High Court which bars carriers to undertake ground-handling activities at the country’s top metro airports including Hyderabad and Bangalore.
“The lawyers have drafted the application. There is a laid down court procedure and it would come for hearing in due course,” FIA secretary general Anil Baijal said.
The Delhi High court recently upheld a Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) decision restricting airlines like Jet Airways, Kingfisher and IndiGo from activities like baggage handling, cargo scanning, taxing, refueling and cleaning of the aircraft among others.
The airlines have maintained that such restriction would affect their ability to distinguish themselves from rivals and render ground-handling equipment worth hundreds of crores useless.
The civil aviation ministry had formulated the new ground handling policy based on the security concerns in the face of terror attacks. The policy, however, could not be implemented as airlines lobbied against it and argued that it would add to the cost of already bleeding industry.
24/03/11 Nirbhay Kumar/Financial Express

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Air tickets above Rs 1 lakh now under I-T scanner

Mumbai: The Income Tax (IT) department will now be keeping a closer watch on the travel sector. The department has asked all major travel agents to provide details of all passengers who book individual tickets exceeding Rs 1 lakh.
Tour operators said while they were asked to furnish details of such passengers only in December 2010, the department asked them to send data from April last year.
"If a person books a return ticket for himself for more than Rs 1 lakh, we will have to forwards his\her details to the IT department,'' said Rajesh Rateria, managing director, Cirrus Travels.
Tour operators said this would bring major businessmen or business houses under scanner as they usually book premium seats to international destinations. The agents have been asked to provide every three months details including name, address, place of travel, duration, class of air travel and even the passenger's PAN number.
The IT officials said this drive was merely to collect intelligence that could come in handy for any later investigations. "We are already collecting data on other transactions like credit cards and car purchases, this is just another area,'' a senior IT official said. "Details of any passengers are still to reach us,'' he added.
23/03/11 Chinmayi Shalya/Economic Times

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DGCA eases norms to help regional carriers take off

New Delhi: A company looking to begin regional air services will need to reach a fleet size of three aircraft within two years instead of the earlier stipulated one year, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) said on Tuesday.
Only by the end of five years would the carrier be required to operate five aircraft against the earlier deadline of two years, the aviation regulator said.
Strict norms on fleet size and other stringent conditions have stifled the growth of regional airlines in India so far. Though a comprehensive policy to promote regional airlines was devised in 2007, not a single such airline operates in the country.
Over the years, Star Aviation —- which wanted to begin services to smaller south Indian towns from Chennai —- didn’t get off the ground.
Former Meghalaya chief minister P Sangma’s airline Skyking received a no-objection certificate from the government, but its permit expired without it starting operations. Ditto for Jagson Airlines, which now operates only chopper services to select destinations.
Even state-owned Pawan Hans Helicopters’ permit for regional connectivity lapsed.
A host of regional cargo services such as Flyington Freighters, Avicore etc also lost their NOCs but could not begin operations.
The latest concessions from the DGCA suggest a realisation of the futility of imposing strict conditions and are expected to help small interested players launch regional airlines, if approved.
23/03/11 Sindhu Bhattacharya/Daily News & Analysis

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Domestic carriers stare at losses in fourth quarter

New Delhi: The party for domestic airlines may not last long and some of the carriers like Kingfisher Airlines and SpiceJet may be staring at losses in the quarter ending March this year. As per a senior executive of a private low-cost carrier, the average passenger revenue is expected to come down to Rs 2,750 in this quarter compared to Rs 3,400 in the October-December period. While the two listed airline companies, Jet Airways and SpiceJet, have been posting profits for the last few quarters, Kingfisher Airlines has narrowed its losses.
SpiceJet CEO Neil Raymond Mills told FE that passenger revenue had come down significantly while operating cost moved up on rising fuel price. “What can one expect when operating cost goes up and passenger revenue comes down?” Mills asked.
Aviation turbine fuel (ATF) price has been increasing on rising global crude price squeezing airlines’ margin. Jet fuel contributes 35-40% to the total operating cost of an airline. The global crude price has crossed $100 a barrel-mark, forcing oil marketing companies to raise ATF price in the domestic market.
The oilcos led by public sector IOC effected 6% increase in ATF price on March 15, the 11th straight hike since October 2010. Jet fuel presently costs Rs 58,310 per kilolitre in Delhi. Domestic airlines have partly passed on the cost burden on passengers by increasing fuel surcharge in the last months.
23/03/11 Nirbhay Kumar/Financial Express

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Rajasthan Flying School runs without aircraft

Jaipur: Rajasthan Flying School could hold the key to the mystery of many dubious pilots who are flying you around.
The flying school was closed in 2008 because the only aircraft it had was grounded. Just to reiterate, it does have an aircraft to train pilots.
The same government-run flying school gave flying hours to students till six months back - offcourse for a price.
Two students of the institute Captain Anuj Choudhary and Co Pilot Amit Mundra, arrested by the Rajasthan Anti Corruption Bureau, were flying Spice Jet aircrafts till last week.
Both face charges of exaggerating their flying hours to fraudulently obtain Commercial Pilot licenses.
Out of the 200 mandatory flying hours, Amit forged 147 and Anuj 136. The actual hours flown by them were just 53 and 64 respectively.
"When they were training for their commercial pilots' license from the Rajasthan Flying School, they fudged their flying hours entries in order to be eligible for the license," said Rajasthan Anti Corruption Bureau AGDP Ajit Singh.
Rajasthan anti corruption bureau stumbled upon the shocking facts in July last year. The first give away was that they were issuing flying hours without consuming fuel. That got the cops suspicious.
The flying school then worked around this by buying fuel and then burning it just like that. The pilots will wants us to believe that they have been taken for a ride.
The ACB has made nine arrests including the Chief Flying Instructor Mohinder Kumar of the Rajasthan Flying School, the Chief Flying Instructor of Hissar in Haryana, the Assistant ATC of the Sanganer Airport in Jaipur and an assistant from the flying school.
22/03/11 Swati Vashishtha/CNN-IBN

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Cops may arrest fifth pilot for forgery

New Delhi: The Crime Branch of Delhi Police is likely to arrest the fifth pilot who allegedly used forged mark sheets to get an airline transport pilot license. The police had last week got a complaint about the fifth pilot in the case. So far, the police have not been able to locate him and have sent teams to
nab him.
However, they have not divulged the name of the pilot in the case as of now as he is allegedly a 'flight risk'.
"We are investigating the matter and the arrest will be made soon. We have the address and other details of the person but as of now we are trying to locate him," said a senior police officer on the condition of anonymity as he is not authorised to speak to the media.
Police said they had zeroed-in on two more pilots, identified as Meenakshi Sehgal with Indigo airlines and Swaran Singh Talwar of MDLR. Talwar was denied bail in the case.
23/03/11 Karan Choudhury/Hindustan Times

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Civil Aviation Authority in the offing

The process of setting up an autonomous Civil Aviation Authority to regulate all aviation safety issues in India is in the final stages with a cabinet note on it likely to be finalised soon.
The proposed CAA, which would have administrative and financial autonomy, is also likely to keep a tab on the entire range of activities —from proper provision of air traffic services and licensing to financial fitness of airlines.
"A cabinet note is being prepared. We have sent all the facts. The (Civil Aviation) Ministry will have to forward it to the government," Director General of Civil Aviation E K Bharat Bhushan told PTI here.
Government plans to bring in a legislation to establish the CAA. Bhushan said the CAA would have a "lot of financial, administrative and procedural independence. We will be able to recruit (professionals) directly" instead of routing it through the Union Public Service Commission.
A feasibility study to set up the Authority was commissioned in October 2009 in technical cooperation with the UN body International Civil Aviation Organisation to improve financial and administrative autonomy for discharge of safety oversight functions more effectively.
The ICAO feasibility study was reviewed by the DGCA and the Civil Aviation Ministry last year. The proposal was also endorsed by the US Federal Aviation Administration which said the proposed body would be in line with ICAO policy.
22/03/11 Moneycontrol.com

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Scan on flight schools

New Delhi: The aviation regulator is considering “looking into” 10,000 commercial pilot licences and will conduct a third-party audit of flying schools after six cases of licence fraud were detected among pilots.
The directorate-general of civil aviation (DGCA) has planned the steps as the licence forgery cases have given rise to fears that incompetent pilots are endangering travellers’ lives.
The regulator is also worried that a large number of Indian youth nowadays go abroad for training to become pilots and return with fake or invalid licences.
Besides the six cases of forgery, “we have got some more suspicious cases but there is nothing confirmed as yet and investigations are going on”, DGCA chief E.K. Bharat Bhushan said.
Two pilots of IndiGo and two of SpiceJet were found to have used forged mark sheets to get licences. An Air India pilot and one from MDLR are also being probed for similar offences.
All the 4,000-odd holders of airline transport pilot licences are being probed and the DGCA is “considering looking into all the commercial pilot licence holders,” he said. There are over 10,000 such licence holders in the country.
21/03/11 PTI/The Telegraph

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Rajasthan Anti-Corruption Bureau arrests two pilots for fake licences

Jaipur: The Rajasthan Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) on Monday arrested two SpiceJet pilots for "fraudulently obtaining commercial pilot licences (CPL) from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA)".
Three JetLite and Jet Airways pilots would soon be arrested on same charges. The agency had earlier arrested Rahul Yadav who had flown 1,000 hours for Indian Airlines.
DGCA recently suspended licences of seven pilots and two flying school instructors — including Nidhi Vashishtha, Rahul Yadav, Malini MR, Priya Sharma, Rakesh Mehta, Pallavi Hemant, Shaheed Maliq, Mahaveer Singh Beniwal and Mohindar Kumar — in this connection.
IG, ACB, Umesh Mishra said SpiceJet's captain Anuj Kumar Chaudhary and co-pilot Amit Mundra —both working in Delhi — were arrested in Jaipur on Monday.
ASP Bhupendra Yadav, investigating officer, said police have issued notices to JetLite and Jet Airways seeking details of three other pilots including Rajesh Mirani, Nitin Jain and Sanjeev Gupta.
22/03/11 Nitesh Kumar Sharma/Times of India

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AI pilot rubbishes fake licence charges

Currently facing charges of using forged documents to obtain his commercial pilot's licence, Air India pilot Arjun Giare claims that his reputation is being maligned without reason. In the eye of the storm - Giare - who has been charged with showing fake Class X certificates with a misrepresented year of birth, rubbishes the entire expose as 'hogwash'.
"All the reports on television and newspapers about me are false and baseless. I have done nothing wrong or illegal and I am in possession of all my true and authentic documents which I will show to a competent authority when required ," he said to ET.
Giare also claims that a misprint on the part of CBSE has led to all the misinterpretation. "There was a CBSE misprint that is being highlighted the wrong way. It is easy to highlight what suits the authorities concerned. My documents were earlier already verified by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA). I am not a 'fake' pilot and have every certificate to prove the same," he said.
According to him, the misprint stated his year of birth as 1981. However, he got a new certificate in 2003 from CBSE which corrected his birth year as 1980 after the order of the Delhi High Court.
At present, Giare has been de-rostered by Air India till the time the enquiry is underway.
20/02/11 Neha Dewan/Economic Times

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9 pilots grounded for flying after retirement

Mumbai: After cracking the whip on pilots with fake flying licences, the aviation watchdog, last week, grounded nine pilots who were operating commercial flights despite crossing the retirement age of 65 years. The incident came to light during surprise checks conducted by the Directorate General of Civil
Aviation (DGCA) in Mumbai in the past two weeks.
According to the Aircraft Act 1937, pilots aged above 65 years can only be hobby fliers. “It is a serious safety violation. We will take strict action against pilots and airlines violating the rule,” said Bharat Bhushan, director general, DGCA.
Eight of the nine pilots caught flying past their retirement age were working with private commercial airlines while one was employed with a city-based private charter company.
Air safety experts said airlines have been blatantly violating this rule because there is a shortage of senior pilots.
22/03/11 Soubhik Mitra/Hindustan Times

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Jet, JetLite combine emerges market leader in Feb

New Delhi: Domestic carriers flew 45.75 lakh passenger in the month of February this year registering an increase of 18.45 per cent over last year during the same period, with Jet Airways and JetLite combine emerging as the market leader.
During the month, Jet Airways had a market share of 18 per cent while JetLite had 8.1 per cent.
Kingfisher had a market share of 19 per cent followed by the Delhi-based no frill airline, IndiGo, which reported a market share of 18.7 per cent, the latest data released by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) shows.
22/03/11 PTI/msn.com

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Kerala Aircraft Static Display Show in April

Titan Aviation in partnership with Cochin International Airport Ltd (CIAL) is organizing the first ever “Kerala Aircraft Static Display Show – 2011” scheduled to be held on April 29th and 30th in Cochin International Airport, Cochin, Kerala. The purpose of the event is to create awareness about general and corporate aviation among business community and bring them in direct contact with Business / Private Aircraft manufacturers and sellers.
Titan Aviation co-sponsored the Heli Tourism Conference held in CIAL on 15th Feb 2011 to promote the concept of Helicopter Tourism and Helicopter Charter Operations in and around Kerala.
This show will provide a platform to introduce the concept of Private Aircraft / Helicopter ownership and the benefits of private air travel to the rich clientele of Kerala and South India. Titan Aviation will play the role of a mediator connecting aircraft exhibitors and potential customers from South India where as CIAL will take care of necessary arrangements for the Static Display of Aircraft, relevant infrastructure, security and support for the exhibitors and visitors.
22/03/11 CharterX

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DGCA to bring over 10,000 commercial pilot license holders under scanner

New Delhi: Aviation regulator DGCA plans to bring under the scanner over 10,000 commercial pilot license (CPL) holders and conduct third-party audit of all flying schools in the country in the wake of cases of forgery behind securing of licences coming to light.
As the forgery cases have given rise to fears that travellers' life is being endangered by incompetent pilots, the regulator is planning a slew of steps to check the malaise.
Apart from this, the regulator is also worried about the problems faced by a large number of Indian youths, who go abroad for training and return with fake or invalid licenses, after spending lakhs of rupees.
Besides the six cases of pilots using forged documents to get their licenses, "we have got some more suspicious cases, but there is nothing confirmed as yet and investigations are going on," DGCA chief EK Bharat Bhushan said.
The six cases of forged documents that have come to light are two each from air carriers IndiGo and SpiceJet and one each from Air India and MDLR.
While all the 4,000-odd holders of Airline Transport Pilot Licenses (ATPLs) are currently being probed, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation is "considering looking into all the CPLs", he said. There are over 10,000 CPL holders in the country.
In a bid to combat fudging of records, the DGCA is determined to have an online option for students, beginning with "at least in some (examination) centres, by July," the Director General said, adding, "We are working with the National Informatics Centre on this project" that should be in place soon.
Asked whether flying training schools were following stringent standards laid down by the regulator, Bhushan said: "There have been cases ... there is suspicion that at least some of the flying hours that they are logging in the student's log books, are not genuine".
He also indicated that problems relating to training infrastructure have also been found.
21/03/11 PTI/Times of India

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Fake pilots scam points to need for detailed background checks

Mumbai: As the fake pilots scam gets bigger by the day, consulting firms, pilots fraternity and pilot training schools feel that thorough background srcutiny can avert recruitment of fake candidates in the industry. The scam came to light when over five pilots from various airlines were found cheating the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) with either fake mark-sheet or fraudulent flying licenses.
Says YN Sharma, CEO of Bhopal-based Chimes Aviation Academy, “Sheer ignorance from recruiters and regulatory authority leads to such circumstances. Against the backdrop of five pilots being exposed with fake certificates, it is very crucial for the DGCA to dwell deeper and understand the education and employment history of the candidate.” Stressing the three level checking on the candidates eligibility, Sharma says, “First, whenever a candidate logs his documents with the DGCA, the authority should go to the flying school to check his/her flying hours and the actual fuel consumption by the student, just to match flying hours with actual fuel usage while being trained.” The second aspect, says he, is checking the credibility of flying schools as there may be many flying schools which issue passing certificates to ineligible students. And finally, if a student has done his flying hours abroad, the DGCA has to check with the aviation authorities in the respective country to get an accurate information about the school and the student.
According to E Balaji, director and president, Ma Foi Management Consultants Ltd, “A stringent checking is not possible unless the employer has access to DGCA database rather than just relying on the documents produced by the employee.” The awareness has increased but it is confined to roles at senior positions. As background check is an expensive process it is done only at very senior level in India especially in the banking, financial services and investment banking sectors where the frauds are high and damages are sensitive.
Experts say, unfortunately, unlike in the West, background checks are not an imperative part of the recruitment process in India.
21/03/11 Smita Joshi Saha, Shaheen Mansuri/Financial Times

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Aviation FDI hears freedom call

New Delhi: The government may allow foreign airlines to pick up minority stakes in domestic carriers, as part of its upcoming FDI policy review later this month. Rules are also likely to be relaxed for foreign firms who are required to seek the approval of their domestic joint venture partners to set up units in the same area of business. However, opening up of multi-brand retail may not happen.
Moreover, the cabinet committee of economic affairs may take up for its approval foreign direct investments (FDI) of more than Rs 1,500 crore, against Rs 600 crore now.
Projects below Rs 1,500 crore will be considered by the Foreign Investment Promotion Board, which will reduce the time for clearing the proposals, officials said.
Civil aviation secretary Nasim Zaidi has said his ministry has received a request from the department of industrial policy and promotion (DIPP) — the nodal agency on FDI policy — to allow foreign airlines to invest in this country. He said the proposal “was under consideration and a decision on this would be taken soon”.
However, sources said, “Opening up of multi-brand retail, for which the discussion paper was also mooted by the government, may not find mention in the FDI revision nor extending the ceiling on defence production.”
21/03/11 R Suryamurthy/The Telegraph

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Licence to beat the system?

If you're taking a flight today, what are the chances your pilot paid anything from Rs 1.5 lakh to Rs 10 lakh to procure a fake licence? Almost 20%, say flying instructors and examiners, none of whom agreed to be quoted by name. They say at least one in every five pilots recruited in the last five years of the aviation boom is "weak" and could have procured a licence illegally. Conservatively speaking, this means roughly 500 of India's 4000 pilots are "weak".

So how do they bypass the system? Systematically. Flying instructors, ground school teachers and airline sources reveal how it's done:

The flying school A student is meant to clock the mandatory 200 flying hours to be eligible for a commercial pilot's licence (CPL). If a student doesn't have the hours, he can bribe the school and get the requisite certificate. Everyone's happy because the school saves on fuel costs. The chief flying inspector (CFI) can be bribed to fudge personal logbooks.

DGCA inspectors who monitor flying schools have too much on their hands to verify student, plane and journey logbooks. Sometimes, inspectors collude with clubs. With 35 clubs churning out 600 students a year, there is immense scope for fraud.

The ground school A student needs to have attended 350 hours of class from a DGCA-certified school in order to be able to sit for the CPL exams. But if a school is not DGCA-certified, he can bribe the flying club – rates reportedly start at Rs 80,000 and go up to Rs 1 lakh – for a certificate that he attended non-existent classes there. Ground instructors can also be bought, say sources. The CPL and Airline Transport Pilot Licence exams have no proper syllabus, so bribing is said to be frequent.

DGCA touts are said to be the name of the game. The going rate to 'pass' a CPL paper is at least Rs 1.5 lakh. It's Rs 10 lakh for all three ATPL papers. Sources say there are at least seven agents inside the DGCA. When one flying school got tired of the corruption racket, it filed 18 vigilance cases against DGCA staff.

20/03/11 Times of India

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Airfares rise as protests, Holi take off

New Delhi: Domestic carriers have raised air fares by over 100 per cent in key sectors from Friday evening. This comes after a 200-300 per cent price-rise for the Diwali rush just four months back, following which the government had to intervene to cool down fares.

The Delhi-Mumbai economy class fares for a Friday evening flight were at Rs 14,800 for Kingfisher Airlines and Rs 16,400 for Jet Airways. In normal weekends the fares are Rs 5,500-6,000. GoAir, a low-cost carrier (LCC), was charging Rs 9,706 for a ticket to Mumbai compared to a normal weekend fare of Rs 5,000. Airlines are also said to be cashing in on the Jat agitation which has virtually disconnected Delhi-Lucknow with many trains being cancelled. LCCs are charging Rs 9,000 for a one-way ticket compared to Rs 3,000 on normal days. GoAir is charging Rs 14,306, four times the normal weekend fare for a flight to Lucknow from Delhi.

This fare increase, airlines are saying, is within the various minimum and maximum rate slabs they have submitted to the government.

But travel agents and consumers are crying hoarse. “The government seriously needs to do something about it, as the airlines are fleecing fliers. There cannot be any logic to charging so much because the demand is high,” said Travel Agents Federation of India President Ajay Prakash, who returned to Mumbai from Delhi on Friday evening. Prakash said a friend had to pay Rs 19,000 for an economy class return ticket to Delhi from Bangalore on a Kingfisher flight. “One can get a return ticket from Delhi to Dubai at the same price,” he added.

20/03/11 Mihir Mishra/Business Standard

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Helicopter services by this month: K Ranjit

Imphal: The proposed Imphal-Moreh and Imphal-Jiribam via Tamenglong helicopter services are likely to be introduced by March 31, said Transport minister K Ranjit today during the discussion on budget estimates for 2011-12 for eight departments.

The minister informed this while replying to a token cut motion moved by MLA Ng Bijoy.

He said that a meeting of the third group of the North Eastern Council (NEC) held at Shillong on February 21 had agreed to a state proposal for introducing helicopter services in the state.

M/s Pawan Hans Ltd will be the service provider on a subsidy basis.

Union Ministry of Home Affairs will bear 75% of the subsidy while 25% will be borne by the state government.

The service provider has agreed to operate the helicopter service three times a week for the Imphal-Tamenglong-Jiribam service and daily for Imphal-Moreh, he added.

Mention may be made that hectic preparations are on for the introduction of the helicopter services since the MHA gave the green signal.

Government had provided all requisite information to the MHA joint secretary (NE) who asked for the same on the grounds that the Centre has agreed to the introduction of helicopter services in the state, initially between Imphal-Tamenglong-Jiribam and Imphal-Moreh.

18/03/11 E-PAO

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Read this, DGCA

Seven years ago, TEHELKA had revealed the shocking state of pilot training in India (Captain Peril, 18 December 2004). The year-long investigation established that norms for obtaining a flying licence are so blatantly flouted that an unlimited number of flying hours can be logged entirely on paper, the theory exam can be passed and the stringent medical requirements cleared without the actual candidate appearing for them.
A team of TEHELKA reporters (Kumar Baadal, Aman Khanna) was able to obtain a student pilot’s licence (SPL) after clearing the medical check-up but without appearing for the requisite oral examination or the cockpit test. More shockingly, beginning the process that culminates in the commercial pilot’s licence (CPL), TEHELKA was able to log in 10 flying hours without ever getting off the ground.
The CPL entitles the licence holder to immediately begin flying as a co-pilot. The investigations also established that the verification procedures can easily be circumvented and the licence can be issued to just about anyone.
Flying clubs in the country lie at the heart of this scandal. The team met the chief flying instructor of the Northern India Flying Club (NIFC), Patiala, on 21 November 2003. For a bribe, Captain SS Kang was willing to get an SPL issued after an ‘oral’ test, log 10 non-existent flying hours and get the CPL issued without the requisite flying hours through his contacts in the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA).
19/03/11 Tehelka.com

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Indian flyers from quake-hit Japan pay through the nose

Bangalore: We are not talking about business or first class fares. Airlines are charging these rates for economy class, as panic-stricken people flee from quake-hit Japan.
A random search done by DNA for fares on the Tokyo-India sector on the Cleartrip website for travel on Saturday showed that one-way ticket prices of some airlines have moved up to as high as Rs2 lakh.
Industry experts and travel agents say the current fares are almost two to three times of what airlines were charging for last-minute booking before the earthquake struck the island nation about a week back.
Anoop Kanuga, director, Bathija Travels believes a sharp decline in capacity on the sector could have resulted infares flying skywards. He estimated that the airlines have reduced 20% capacity between Japan and India.
A senior executive of gulf carrier Emirates, who did not want to be named, said the mass exodus from Japan could have led to a sudden spike in demand for air tickets and this was pushing up the fares. Typically, airlines follow a dynamic fare system to optimise their yield — net revenue per seat — on each flight.
An executive with Air India said the national carrier had added more flights between Japan and India, keeping its fares at reasonable levels.
19/03/11 Suparna Goswami Bhattacharya/Daily News & Analysis

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Train cancellations give fillip to air fares

Lucknow: Cancellation of trains due to Jat agitation is proving a boon for the airlines. People who want to reach home for Holi festival are paying four to five times the normal air fare these days.
The air fare depends on the availability of seats. The rush at present is more from Delhi to Lucknow because more people from the city are working in the national capital. As a result, the cost of Delhi-Lucknow air ticket is up to Rs 14,000.
The Delhi-Lucknow air fare on Go Air for Saturday is over Rs 9,000, Air India nearly Rs 10,000, Kingfisher and Jet airways over Rs 14,000. On the day of Holi (Sunday), the rush would be less as compared to Saturday, hence the Delhi-Lucknow air fare of various airlines is between Rs 2,000-6,000. Similarly, the air fare for Monday (March 21) is between Rs 2,000-4,500.
In comparison, the Lucknow-Delhi air fare is less for Saturday and Sunday flights but more for Monday next.
19/03/11 Times of India

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Star Alliance selects Zero Octa as Preferred Vendor

Zero Octa, the specialist audit subsidiary of Kale Consultants Ltd., and the Star Alliance, today announced that Zero Octa has been selected as preferred vendor for sales audit and revenue recovery and protection services for its member airlines.

Zero Octa had been the preferred supplier for revenue protection services for Star Alliance since September 2005. This new contract in effect extends this agreement and reaffirms Zero Octa as being an industry leader in the delivery of best practice solutions and services in the audit domain for airlines.

The appointment of Zero Octa is the outcome of a central selection process undertaken by Star Alliance on behalf of its member carriers. As a result, participating member carriers can now contract their individual requirements from Zero Octa, at favourable conditions and also expand the scope of work. This agreement covers multiple audit services, including passenger audit, collections management, refund application processing, BIDT audit, Direct Operating Cost audit, etc.

“In the case of Zero Octa, we are very pleased that we can continue and build on the cooperation which began back in 2005. All participating member carriers have managed to increase the percentage of recovered revenue and they look forward to a continued success relationship with Zero Octa,” said Christopher Korenke, VP Commercial, Star Alliance.

Speaking on the occasion, Peter O’Sullivan – Head of Business, Zero Octa, said “We are delighted to be continuing our long association with Star Alliance. This new contract reaffirms our standing in the market today. Quality, speed, accuracy and diligent customer service have been the cornerstones of our business – and we are sure that Star Alliance member airlines will continue to benefit from our services.”

17/03/11 Business Standard

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IATA appoints new Asia Pacific VP

Manila: The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has appointed Maunu von Lueders as Regional Vice President for Asia-Pacific based in Singapore.

Asia-Pacific is the world’s largest aviation market. Its 26% share of travel will grow to 30% by 2014, when 1 billion passengers are expected to travel within the region.

A Finnish national, von Lueders has served as CEO of two international carriers, JetLite in India and Nordic Airlink/FlyNordic in Sweden. His aviation career began with Finnair where he worked until 2001 in various positions including general management, sales & marketing, commercial partnerships and international relations.

Von Lueders has also worked with the oneworld global alliance as Vice President of Sales.

“He brings extremely rich experiences in all facets of the aviation business. This will help IATA to deliver its critical agenda of industry projects in the dynamic Asia-Pacific region,” commented Giovanni Bisignani, IATA’s Director General and CEO.

“The industry’s future is being built today in Asia-Pacific and I am confident that Maunu’s leadership will ensure that IATA’s global experience continues to play an important role in the region’s development.”

18/03/11 Emmie V Abadilla/mb.co.ph

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Wary of fake licences, airlines rush to restore faith in aviation industry

New Delhi: Air carriers have started undertaking various measures to check the growing threat of fake pilot licences in an attempt to restore confidence in the safety of their services.

Low-cost carrier SpiceJet plans to conduct tests all over again for pilots. "We will make our pilots take various tests all over again," said its CEO Neil Raymond Mills. "One cannot verify a licence 100% if it is authorised by the regulator itself, because such a licence has to be trustworthy."

Some airlines are working with aviation regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA). "We are working with the DGCA in the investigation and providing all assistance that we can. Internally, a senior group of executives are focusing on these issues. We are reviewing all our internal records and providing them to the DGCA to help them with their investigation," said Aditya Ghosh, president IndiGo in a written communication.

National carrier Air India , too, has constituted a three-member committee to scrutinise documents of pilots under the scanner.

Airlines have been finding it tough to hire trained pilots as they expand their networks and flight schedules buoyed by growing number of passenger traffic.

17/03/11 Anindya Upadhyay/Economic Times

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AI to operate Jumbo 747 to Tokyo daily

New Delhi: With large number of people waiting to leave Japan amid fear of a nuclear fallout following earthquake and tsunami in the country, Air India has decided to operate a daily direct flight with Jumbo 747 to Tokyo from Wednesday. The national carrier has deployed Boeing 747-400 'Jumbo', with a capacity of 423 seats, on Delhi-Tokyo route instead of Boeing 777-300ER aircraft, an airline official said.

The flight (AI-306) would leave Delhi between March 16 and 19, at 2300 hours and reach Tokyo's Narita airport the next morning at 0950 hours (local time).

The return flight would have a quick turnaround and leave Narita at 1130 hours (local time) to reach Delhi at 1800 hours (local time).

So far, the carrier has brought back around 900 passengers from Japan since the country was hit with earthquake and tsunami.

16/03/11 Press Trust Of India/Hindustan Tines

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Airlines blame tax hurdles for slow MRO biz takeoff

Mumbai: Airlines in India outsource at least $700 million worth maintainence, repair and overhaul work to companies abroad annually and there is a great need to develop such infrastructure in India, experts said at the inauguration of the MRO India 2011 conference in Mumbai today.

For airlines, especially low-cost carriers, which depend upon maximum utilisation of each aircraft — up to 14 hours a day in the air — to keep the profits coming, grounding of aircraft due to maintenence repairs amount to additional avoidable expenses. And when they send their aircraft abroad for maintainence and repair, they end up losing valuable days in ferrying the aircraft abroad and during customs clearance.

“Five to ten years ago, there were close to 8-10 MROs keen in setting up business in India, but most of them have backed out. Today there are only a handful,? said Babu Peters, executive vice president, engineering, GoAir, who gave a talk on the “present state of MRO in India and the wish list from operators” at the conference on Wednesday. This is partly because the development of the MRO (maintainence, repair and overhaul) industry in India has been hindered because of the differential taxation structure, those in the MRO industry said.

17/03/11 Indian Express

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Steep airfare won't mar Holi

Mumbai: Keen to avoid a repeat of the sudden surge in the price of air tickets following increased demand during Diwali in November, the Civil Aviation Ministry has instructed the DGCA to take strict action against airlines if they are found indulging in the practice.

"The new minister has asked the competent authorities to monitor every hike in airfares during the festive season. He has stated unequivocally that the fares should be fair to travellers and any airlines increasing fares exorbitantly at the last minute will have to face the music," said an official from the ministry, on condition of anonymity.

The Civil Aviation Economic Advisory Council (CAEAC), is also on the job, "I don't think the airlines can increase the fares exorbitantly anymore, but if they do, we will take up the matter with the concerned authorities," said R Deskian, CAEAC member and trustee, Consumer Association of India.

"We haven't seen any significant increase in bookings on account of Holi. Since there is no increase in traffic on the important routes, any change in airfare will be a result of generic demand-supply factors and not because of the forthcoming festivities," said Keyur Joshi, COO and Co-Founder, Makemytrip.

17/03/11 Bipin Kumar Singh/MiD DAY

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IAG chief asks government to spell out aviation policy

Airlines can bolster India’s economic growth if the government cuts taxes and spells out an aviation policy to help them expand, said Willie Walsh, chief executive of International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (IAG), which runs British Airways and the Spanish carrier Iberia.

Walsh, who was in New Delhi on Tuesday to attend an aviation conference, welcomed the aviation secretary’s statement that the government will encourage Indian carriers to fly international routes, a sector dominated by foreign airlines.

“(But) I think there is a contradiction... there is very high level of tax here,” he told reporters at the sidelines of the conference. “You can’t expect airlines to grow and help fuel further economic growth and at the same time impose very high levels of tax either through the fuel tax or service tax. That’s clearly going to damage the airlines. So I think the call for a more comprehensive aviation policy is a good call.”

Jet fuel in India is considered to be among the most expensive globally. Indian carriers have sought reduction of state-level sales tax on the fuel.

Overseas carriers currently control 60% of international air traffic to and from India, while Air India Ltd, Jet Airways (India) Ltd and Kingfisher Airlines Ltd account for the rest.

Civil aviation secretary Nasim Zaidi had said earlier on Tuesday the government will back Indian carriers to fly to overseas destinations and utilize their capacity optimally.

16/03/11 Tarun S/Live Mint

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Foreign airlines to invest in civil aviation under Consideration: official

Civil Aviation Secretary Dr Nasim Zaidi today said the Ministry of Civil Aviation has received a request from Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) regarding allowing of foreign airlines' investment in India.

He said the proposal was under consideration and a decision on this would be taken soon.

Elaborating on the overall contribution of the civil aviation to the GDP, he said that the ministry is launching the satellite accounting system to assess the actual contribution of the sector to the country's economy.

Addressing industry's concerns, he said the ministry is well aware of the unfavourable fiscal environment affecting the viability of civil Aviation and the Ministry would take up the issue of recent hike in Service Tax with the Finance Ministry.

In the same vein, the Ministry of Civil Aviation is taking up the issue of high taxes on Aviation Turbine Fuel (ATF) and is in favour of including ATF under Goods and Service Tax (GST).

On the emission and environment related issues he said that there is a need to evolve a global approach under ICAO rather than following a regional approach which might hurt the aviation sector particularly in developing countries.

15/03/11 ANI/Sify

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Foreign airlines’ investment in India under consideration: Zaidi

New Delhi: The Centre is considering allowing investment by foreign airlines in India, Civil Aviation Secretary Nasim Zaidi said here on Tuesday.

Addressing the India Aviation meet, organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) here, Dr. Zaidi said the Civil Aviation Ministry had received a request from the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion regarding allowing of foreign airlines' investment in India. “This is under consideration and a decision on this will be taken soon,'' he said.

Elaborating on the overall contribution of the civil aviation sector to the GDP, he said the Ministry was launching the satellite accounting system to assess the actual contribution of the sector to the country's economy.

Addressing the industry's concerns, he said the Ministry was well aware of the unfavourable fiscal environment affecting the viability of civil aviation and it would take up the issue of recent hike in service tax with the Finance Ministry.

He said the Ministry of Civil Aviation was taking up the issue of high taxes on aviation turbine fuel (ATF) and was in favour of including ATF under the Goods and Service Tax (GST).

15/03/11 The Hindu

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Domestic airfares may surge with aviation fuel prices

New Delhi: Domestic airfares could be hiked soon owing to high oil prices. Low-cost carrier, SpiceJet said on Monday that it would need to increase its fares by Rs 600-700 to offset the high cost of aviation turbine fuel (ATF).

“At current levels of crude oil prices, we would need to hike (fares) by around Rs 600—700 rupees to break even,” SpiceJet. Chief Executive Officer Mr Neil Raymond Mills told reporters on the sidelines of a CII meet on aviation.

The low-cost air carrier had already raised prices by an average Rs 200 per ticket. “But, this is just the beginning. We are reviewing the prices on a daily basis,” said Mr Mills.

Kingfisher Airlines’ Chairman Mr Vijay Mallya said that the airline has already been passing on the increasing fuel cost burden to passengers and it will continue to do so. “Despite this, there has been no reduction in load factors,” Mr Mallya told reporters.

Since Jan 1, aviation fuel prices in Delhi have gone up by Rs 7,118 per kL due to the spurt in global crude oil prices. Jet fuel costs account for about 40 per cent of an Indian carrier’s operational expenditure.

Meanwhile, Civil Aviation Secretary, Mr Nasim Zaidi said that the Ministry will speak to the Finance Ministry to ease the cost burden on airlines.

15/03/11 Business Line

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Airlines begin to increase fares to meet rising ATF expenses

New Delhi: With crude oil price crossing USD 100 per barrel mark, the airlines have begun to pass some of the cost on to the consumer to meet the increased air turbine fuel expenses, and asked the government to take steps to reduce the cost of aviation fuel.

Low cost carrier, SpiceJet has raised the fares by a couple of hundred rupees and is reviewing it on a daily basis while Kingfisher has also sufficiently hiked the fuel surcharge.

Terming the present crude prices as "unsustainable" for airlines' survival, SpiceJet CEO Neil Raymond Mills said, "We have already started passing it (burden of high crude prices) on to the customer. We have started with an increase of a couple of 100s of Rs per ticket but to be very honest this is only the beginning... It is getting really uncomfortable..."

Mills said some of the cost will have to be passed on to the consumer and some of it will have to be borne on our own, we'll have to manage it on a day-to-day basis.

"Pricing (of tickets) is dynamic. It's changing everyday, it is not absolute or same across the board. At current levels of crude, airfares must be hiked by Rs 600-700 to break even," he told reporters on sidelines of "India Aviation Meet " on 'Creating an Economically Viable, Sustainable and Inclusive Aviation Sector' by CII.

Kingfisher airlines has also sufficiently raised fuel surcharge to offset some of burden increased ATF prices.

15/03/11 Economic Times

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Oil firms hike jet fuel prices by 6%

New Delhi: State-owned oil firms on Tuesday hiked jet fuel prices by a massive 6 per cent, the 11th rate increase in six months.

Aviation turbine fuel (ATF) rates in Delhi have been hiked by Rs 3,377.09 per kilolitre (kl), or 6.14 per cent, to Rs 58,310.45 per kl with effect from midnight tonight, an official of Indian Oil Corp, the nation's largest fuel retailer, said.

The hike comes on the back of three consecutive massive hikes effected since February this year, when crude oil spiked to over USD 100 per barrel.

Wednesday's hike is the 11th straight increase in jet fuel prices since October, 2010, when international crude oil prices started soaring.

The ATF price in Delhi on October 1, 2010 was Rs 40,728.52 per kl. The rates have been increased by Rs 17,581.93 per kl, or 43.16 per cent, in 11 tranches since then.

Jet fuel will cost Rs 59 031.39 per kl in Mumbai, home to the nation's busiest airport, from tomorrow, as against Rs 55,500.06 per kl currently.

15/03/11 PTI/Times of India

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