Aviation flying high with domestic air traffic growth over 20%

ET Intelligence Group: The recent data presented by Directorate General of Civil Aviation ( DGCA) shows that February is the fifth consecutive month where domestic passenger traffic grew over 20% on a year-on-year basis.
In February, Indian airlines flew 7.4 million passengers as against 6 million passengers in the corresponding month of the last year, indicating a jump of 24.7%. The firm trend in traffic and lower fuel prices are expected to support valuation of aviation stocks in the short and medium term.
There are a few factors which have contributed to the growth in passenger traffic. First, airlines have been passing on the benefit of lower crude oil prices to travellers. Second, as rail fares have increased in the recent months, the difference in fares of rail and airlines has narrowed for key routes such as Mumbai-Delhi, Mumbai-Bengaluru, and Mumbai-Chennai.
It has been observed that the difference between the fares of rail (AC 2-tier) and air is in the range of Rs 700-800 on these key routes. Due to this, there has been a meaningful migration of travellers from rail to air.
31/03/16 Rajesh Naidu/Economic Times

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Here are reasons why domestic air traffic grew over 20%

The domestic air traffic grew for fifth consecutive month in February and as per the data by Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), the traffic went up over 20% on a year-on-year basis.

DGCA stated that in February, Indian airlines flew 7.4 million passengers as against 6 million passengers in the corresponding month of the last year, indicating a jump of 24.7%.

A multiple factors backed this trend such as low fuel cost, most discounts by airlines and also increase in rail fares.

It should be noted that the difference between the fares of rail (AC 2-tier) and air is in the range of Rs 700-800 on these key routes.
31/03/16 Business Insider

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Every hoax call costs an airline Rs 2 crore

New Delhi: The Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA) has received more than two dozen hoax calls recently, costing the airlines and security agencies crores of rupees.
The CISF, too, said that the IGIA was not built in a manner to facilitate security checks before entry into the airport. The officials said that change in the security plan would require complete overhauling of the terminals; otherwise it would make the airport more vulnerable to terror attacks.
As per available data, more than a dozen cases were registered pertaining to hoax calls at the IGIA police station under Suppression of Unlawful Acts against the Safety of Civil Aviation this year, but only two callers have been traced so far.
"The International Civil Aviation Organisation, a UN agency, provides for three kinds of security plans to be followed worldwide. At the IGI airport we follow the Security Hold Area plan - wherein a passenger is allowed to walk up to the check-in counters, where he/she undergoes a thorough frisking. The concourse plan - where a passenger is not allowed to enter the terminal without frisking - is followed in India only at the Srinagar airport," said a senior CISF officer.
According to them the agency might opt for the concourse plan at IGIA, but it would require a complete overhaul of the terminals.
30/03/16 Times of India

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MEA mulls evacuation of Indians in Libya

Days after the death of a Kerala nurse and her child in western Libya, a senior Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) official told The Hindu that at least 1,800 Indians are still in the country and may need to be rescued through an emergency evacuation soon.

“The total number of Indians who have been staying in Libya despite advisories to leave the country is 1,800. But we are in touch with all Indian citizens and have logistics related information about them,” said the official, adding that the information could be used in case of an evacuation.

Discussions about an emergency plan were prompted by the March 4 attack in Yemen which left one Indian nun killed and a priest missing and the March 25 mortar attack in Libya which killed the nurse and her child.

Despite several rounds of negotiations with their suspected IS captors, the government has been unable to track down two professors from Sirte University kidnapped in August 2015.
30/03/16 Kallol Bhattacherjee/The Hindu

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Aviation Industry Should Avail Opportunities Than Discuss Rules: Tata Sons

New Delhi: With the Civil Aviation Ministry expected to finalise the much-awaited aviation policy next month, which will also decide the fate of existing norm for international operations by domestic airline, Tata Sons on Tuesday said that industry should avail opportunities than discuss rules.

"I would say let us all move on. Market has opportunity, competition should move on and we will also live on. It is not that we are winning everywhere. It is a challenging market. We have some very powerful competitors let everyone give their best," Mukund Rajan, director, Vistara Board, told reporters here.

Mr Rajan was talking to reporters after the opening of the Tata-SIA run airline's exclusive lounge for business class passengers and Club Vistara customers at the Indira Gandhi International Airport here on Tuesday.
"Let us not get in to this rule or that rule and someone was obstructed here or there," Mr Rajan said in an obvious reference to the fight between the old airlines and startup carriers over the 5/20 rule, under which an Indian carrier should have minimum 5 years of domestic flying and at least 20 aircraft for going overseas.
29/03/16 PTI/NDTV

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Buy air ticket, bet on stadium seat

A ticket to Mumbai has become as much of a gamble for the cricket fan as a ticket to Wankhede on Thursday.

Businessman Kushal Patel and three friends are booked on an IndiGo flight to Mumbai on Wednesday, even though the trio weren't sure of getting tickets to the officially sold-out India-West Indies semi-final until late on Tuesday.

"We booked the airline tickets immediately after India's victory against Australia on Sunday because we knew airfares would shoot up. A lot of fans would like to go to Mumbai and demand would obviously be high," said Kushal, who will be travelling with friends Chirag Vyas, Suraj Juneja and Chirag Shah.

The group of four plan to stay at a friend's house in Mumbai and return on Friday to "prepare for the final", if India gets past the West Indies of course. "If we don't get tickets to the match, there is the option of cancelling our flight tickets," Kushal said.

Calcutta-Mumbai airfares have increased by 30 per cent for flights scheduled between Wednesday and Thursday afternoon. Last-minute bookings leading up to the big match are likely to raise fares even higher, airline officials said.

Like Kushal and his friends, many Calcuttans do not have tickets to the second semi-final of the World T20 but are booked on flights to avoid paying a premium later.
30/03/16 Sanjay Mandal and Subhankar Chowdhury/Telegraph

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New Delhi delays roll out of new replacement VIP jets

The Indian government will retain the Air India B747-400s as its choice for VIP operations following a dispute over whether Air India (AI, Mumbai Int'l) or the Indian Air Force (Delhi Int'l) would operate their planned replacements - a pair of B777-300(ER)s.

The Economic Times indicates New Delhi had planned to place two upgraded B777s, sourced from Air India's fleet, with the Air Force which would then have operated them with Air India providing MRO services. However, government is now in a quandary over whether to allow Air India to use the aircraft for commercial purposes when not used for official duties.
29/03/16 ch-aviation

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More flights to Kashmir will regulate airfare: GoI

Kashmir has undoubtedly best and varied tourism products to offer to travelers. However, this place receives very less number of tourists compared to other tourist destinations in India.

Stakeholders in the travel, tourism and hospitality sector have been making all out efforts to woo tourists to Valley but negative perception, adverse media publicity, unaffordable airfare to Srinagar have been shooing tourists away to other destinations.

To win tourists back to Kashmir, Ministry of Tourism GoI has been making special efforts to promote the place not only in India but in foreign countries.

In an interview with Rising Kashmir, Deputy Director General (Northern India), Ministry of Tourism, Government of India Arun Srivastava said J&K receives special focus with regard to promotional activities.

Ministry of tourism, Government of India has been making special efforts to promote J&K as the top tourist destination in India. We make it a point that J&K gets good publicity in all the national and international travel trade fairs.
28/03/16 Rising Kashmir

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Saab offers to make Gripen-E aircraft in India

Betul: Swedish aerospace firm Saab reiterated its offer to supply the next generation Gripen-E fighter aircraft to India through the "government-to-government" route and has offered to not only make the aircraft in India but also create the required manufacturing ecosystem in the country as part of the multi-billion dollar project.
"We are not saying don't go ahead with Rafale with France. We know that the Indian Air Force has a much bigger requirement than the 36 aircraft being negotiated. Over the next seven years, the IAF will be down to less than 30 squadrons. We are offering the Gripen through the government-to-government route, which is the best process," Saab, air systems vice-president Sudhir Varma said on Tuesday.
A day earlier, a US think tank had pointed out vulnerabilities in the Indian Air Force's strength and said that air dominance was vital for the country if it were to have deterrence stability in southern Asia and for preserving the strategic balance in the wider Indo-Pacific region.The formal offer was along the lines of Saab's $4.68 billion fighter deal with Brazil where the Swedish company is manufacturing aircraft in Brazil.
30/03/16 Times of India

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Tata Sons keen to end row with domestic airlines over 5/20 rule

New Delhi: Tata Sons is keen to put the squabble with other domestic airlines, on whether the government should do away with the 5/20 rule, behind.

“I would say let us all move on. It is a challenging market. We have some very powerful competitors let everyone give their best. I am sure that the market will reward those who are truly committed to customer interest,” Mukund Rajan, Director, Vistara Board, told newspersons soon after the airline’s exclusive lounge opened at IGI airport here.

Vistara is the brand name of a domestic airline jointly promoted by Tata Sons and Singapore Airlines.

At the end of February this year, an open fight had broken out between Ratan Tata, Chairman Emeritus, Tata Sons, and Ajay Singh, SpiceJet’s promoter, on whether the Centre should remove the 5/20 rule.

“It is sad to see incumbent airlines lobbying for protection and preferential treatment for themselves against the new airlines that have been formed in full compliance with prevailing government policy and providing air transport to Indian citizens in line with the dream of a ‘new India’ promised by the new government under (Narendra) Modi’s leadership,” Ratan Tata had said in a tweet.
29/03/16 Business Line

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No independent regulator for ATF price: OMCs

New Delhi: Four of the country's largest airlines have called for an independent regulator to ensure a transparent pricing mechanism for aviation turbine fuel (ATF). But, this has been stalled by state-owned oil marketing companies (OMCs). According to sources in the civil aviation ministry, there were attempts to bring the pricing of ATF under the regulation of the Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board (PNGRB).
"A number of meetings were held between the public-sector OMCs and the petroleum and aviation ministry officials but nothing was finalised. There is opposition from OMCs regarding this," said a ministry official.
PNGRB has not been mandated by the government to regulate prices of petroleum products. ATF prices are fixed by Indian Oil, Hindustan Petroleum (HPCL) and Bharat Petroleum directly. The ATF price was increased on March 1 after two consecutive price cuts. ATF price touched Rs 3,711 for a kilolitre in September 2012 but came down to Rs 39,301 on March 1. The steep fall in crude oil prices might have played a big role in the turnaround story of the Indian aviation sector, but airlines are still not convinced, saying they have not received the full benefit in terms of jet fuel pricing. This, according to the airlines, is due to the public-sector OMCs, which enjoy monopoly in the market and are not keen to lower ATF prices.
29/03/16 Arindam Majumdar/Business Standard

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Flight Operators Seek Government Sops to Offset Losses

Visakhapatnam: Unless the government offers incentives, dreams of operating international flights might not be realised in the near future, felt speakers at the International Airlines Summit held here on Saturday. They urged the Civil Aviation Ministry to allow the flight operators to include at least two domestic destinations before flying off to a foreign destination.

Participants, including representatives of various airline operators, felt that all four airports in AP, particularly Vizag airport, has potential for operation of international flights. However, they pointed out that to make it financially viable, the government should offer support in terms of incentives by giving underwriting for vacant seats.

“We need to conduct a market analysis to identify the potential of each airport and plan accordingly to operate international flights. The flight operators too should run long-haul flights from Tier-II cities,” said Tariq H Butt, head (airport marketing) of Airports Authority of India (AAI).

He explained that every year, about 60,000 passengers from AP are travelling to the Middle East countries via Hyderabad and this could be netted by the airlines by operating international flights directly from the state. According to him, the airlines can operate international flights directly to all Asian countries except Philippines and Lavos as well as SAARC countries except Afghanistan and Pakistan without additional traffic rights.
27/03/16 New Indian Express

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‘AP has the makings of an aviation hub’

Visakhapatnam: There is immense potential for both passenger and cargo traffic from Visakhapatnam as also from the Vijayawada, Tirupati and Rajahmundry Airports in Andhra Pradesh.

A little encouragement from the governments, both at the Centre and in the State, by way exemptions and concessions, proactive approach on the part of Airports Authority of India (AAI), of airline operators, tour operators and other stakeholders would go a long way in giving a flying start to airports in Andhra Pradesh, the speakers opined at the International Airlines Summit here on Saturday.

The summit was organised by the AP Air Travellers Association in association with AP Chambers of Commerce and Industry Federation (APCCIF) and Tour and Travels Association of AP to showcase the potential of Visakhapatnam International Airport as also the other airports in the State.

Visakhapatnam MP K. Haribabu underlined the need for direct international connectivity from Visakhapatnam to Dubai and other cities. AP has got abundant water resources, power and agricultural production. It was going to become a power-surplus State soon.

On the bilateral agreement regarding allocation of seats between India and other countries, he felt that it was for the Ministry to take a call on the issue. In the meantime, Air India should be given first preference for operation flights from Vizag to Dubai and other destinations and the next preference should be given to Indian private airlines.
27/03/16 The Hindu

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'Make in India' pitch to sell Swedish fighter for air force

The uncertainty over India's negotiations with France for the Rafale fighter aircraft and the air force's desperation to stall the depletion of its combat fleet have prompted global aviation majors to dovetail their planes into Prime Minister Narendra Modi's "Make in India" campaign.

After US companies Lockheed Martin and Boeing, Swedish firm Saab has now said that it is willing to transfer technology and set up a new company with an Indian partner to make its latest fighter aircraft, the Gripen E, in India. The Gripen E is being built block-by-block and is slated to roll out of its production assembly in May this year.

"Sweden is looking for a market. India is looking for technology. The Gripen E can be the frontline multi-role fighter made in India," said Saab's technical director and product manager for the aircraft, Gideon Sines, to a group of Indian journalists visiting the manufacturing facilities in Sweden. The visit was sponsored by Saab.

Versions of the F-16 Fighting Falcon (made by Lockheed Martin), the F/A-E/F Super Hornet (made by Boeing) and the Gripen C/D (made by Saab) did not make it through the trials conducted by the Indian Air Force for its tender for 126 medium multi-role combat aircraft (MMRCA) since 2007. The Eurofighter Typhoon and the Rafale were "downselected". Rafale beat the Typhoon by quoting a lower price.
26/03/16 Sujan Dutta/Telegraph

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Hiring helicopters and private planes sees steady rise among commoners

About five times a month, Airlogic Aviation Solutions, a charter flight company in New Delhi, gets bookings from villagers in Sirohi and Jalore in Rajasthan. They book planes and helicopters to fly over newly constructed Jain temples and shower flowers over these places of worship.
Ahmedabad-based businessman Sunil Patel booked a helicopter last month and joined a set of like-minded people, including some villagers, to shower flowers on the Ramdev temple in Peepligaon, Gujarat. Patel believes that the gods need to be appeased in all ways.

Hiring planes and helicopters is no longer the preserve of politicians or the rich and famous. In the smaller towns and the villages, chartering aircraft has become a status symbol.

To shower flowers on temples from the skies, a helicopter usually takes four passengers at a time. They carry 10-12 kg of flowers with them, which are released from open windows above the temple. The seats are sold for Rs 25,000 for those who want to ride first and cost Rs 15,000 for the third or fourth ride of the day. "This has become common and we have seen our business grow four times in the last few years," said Manish Dhiman, director of Airlogic Aviation, which started four years ago.
26/03/16 Devina Sengupta/Economic Times

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Plaint against State Aviation Company CMD

Bhubaneswar:   The son of a sitting MLA on Friday lodged a complaint with Khandagiri police against the CMD of a State-based aviation company over a financial dispute.

While no FIR has been registered in this connection, Khandagiri IIC Sarat Sahu said since it was a civil dispute, police would first hear both parties before initiating action.

Sources said the legislator’s son had paid `80 lakh for 40 per cent shares in the company in January 2015. Later, when he wanted the money back, the company’s CMD started avoiding him.

While the complainant claimed to have received some part of his investment in cash, a cheque for the rest amount which was given to him by the CMD was turned down by the bank, stating that the signatory was not authorised to issue cheques on behalf of the company.
26/03/16 Indian Express

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Indian flyers to get higher compensation for injury, loss of baggage

New Delhi: Air passengers will now get higher compensation that could amount up to Rs 1 crore in the event of death, injury, loss of baggage or inordinate delay in flights, with an amended legislation coming into force.

Indian airlines would have to pay compensation that is equivalent to the rates paid by their global counterparts. The quantum would be based on Special Drawing Rights (SDR) and current exchange rates, and the compensation amount could be up to Rs 1 crore.

Providing for increased compensation to air travellers, the amended Carriage by Air Act received assent from the President on March 21, as per a government communication.

The Carriage by Air (Amendment) Bill was cleared by the Parliament on March 11.

With the amended law coming into force, the government can now revise the liability limits of airlines in line with the Montreal Convention, which was acceded to by India in May 2009.

Under the amended Act, the government has powers to issue notifications for the purpose of determining the liabilities of the carriers and extent of compensation for damages.

Among others, the compensation for death in an air accident and the amount would be calculated on the basis of SDR (Special Drawing Rights). The liability limit for damage in case of death or bodily injury for each person would rise to 1,13,100 SDR from 1,00,000 SDR.

As per the latest exchange rate, the compensation limit rises to more than Rs 1 crore. One SDR was equivalent to Rs 93.49 as on March 23.
25/03/16 PTI/Free Press Journal

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AI pilots top safety breach list

New Delhi: Twenty Air India pilots reported drunk for duty, 33 flew without getting mandatory proficiency checks done on time and 12 invited friends or relatives into cockpits, says a government report that shows the state-run airline led domestic carriers in such violations.

The civil aviation ministry dossier has listed 165 breaches of safety rules among all airlines from January 2013 to February this year, leading to warnings, suspensions or cancellation of licences. Air India was followed by Jet Airways and IndiGo, while a few such incidents by pilots of GoAir and SpiceJet were also listed in the report.

Senior ministry officials said the dossier had been prepared on the basis of incidents reported to the aviation regulator, the directorate-general of civil aviation. "From time to time, we look to see if there has been any spurt in such cases and if necessary, we issue fresh guidelines to airlines to stop such occurrences. The dossier is part of that exercise," a joint secretary said.

The most frequent violation was operating flights without getting proficiency checks done on time. Pilots are required to get such tests - which test their ability to handle emergencies like terror alerts or turbulent weather and other key skills - done every six months. "Many pilots don't take the tests seriously enough. In such cases, they are given warnings if it is the first time. For the second time, the pilots are suspended," a DGCA official said.
24/03/16 Sumi Sukanya/Telegraph

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New civil aviation policy may be out in April: Civil Aviation Minister

Machilipatnam: Union Civil Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju Thursday said new National Civil Aviation Policy is likely to be out next month.

"At present, we are working on the policy which is likely to be out next month. We have received many suggestions on the draft policy and we are hopeful that new policy will be out in April," Raju said.
He was speaking to reporters after addressing a private function here.

The minister said the country needs four modern airports, two on West coast and as many on East coast.

"At present, we have only three modern airports that have parallel runways at Delhi, Bangalore and Hyderabad and the fourth one is coming up in Vishakhapatnam. With the size of a country like India we need more modern airports, at least two on the West coast and two on the East coast," Raju said.
25/03/16 PTI/Business Standard

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Expect Flier-friendly Policy

New Delhi: The much-awaited new civil aviation policy is likely to be unveiled by next week, which is expected to clear the government’s stand on the 5/20 rule — an airline requiring five years of operations and 20 aircraft in its fleet to fly on international routes.

In an interaction with Express, Minister of State for Civil Aviation Mahesh Sharma said, “It (civil aviation policy) would be unveiled during the next seven to 10 days.”

While the older airlines flying abroad have insisted on retaining 5/20 rule, the newer entrants have demanded scrapping it. Leading them is Ratan Tata who triggered a controversy last month by tweeting that the older airlines cannot demand a preferential right for themselves by demanding retaining the existing guidelines. The one-year-old Vistara is run by TATA-SIA Airlines Ltd.
Sharma refused to comment on the matter except stating that “when we talk of issues, we talk in the interest of passengers”.
Three options stated in the draft policy are: continuing the present norms, complete abolition from immediate effect and a credit-based system to replace it.
25/03/16 Samiran Sarangi/New Indian Express

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Much-delayed Civil Aviation Policy looks to generate employment

Mumbai: The Civil Aviation policy, first expected to be finalised by November-end, was later moved on to December 2015-end. Now, the government says that the policy may finally see the light of day in April this year.
Disagreements over the 5/20 rule -- which requires air carriers to fly domestic routes for at least five years and have a fleet of 20 aircraft before they fly international routes -- is one of the major reasons for the delay in the policy. A 2% levy on cess on domestic and international flight tickets to pay for improving regional connectivity, is another tender nerve.
While the government irons out the issues, a quick look at the draft aviation policy that tells us that one of the focuses of the government through the new policy is the generation of employment.
According to a JM Financial report, India's air travel market is the sixth largest globally in terms of (the) total domestic seats and ninth largest in the world by total domestic and international seats.
"However, despite being the second most populous country, seventh largest in terms of area and among the top 10 in terms of GDP, India remains the most under-penetrated aviation market in the world. India’s annual domestic seats per capita stand at an abysmal 0.08 -- significantly lower than other developing countries like Brazil and China, where penetration rates are between 0.4x and 0.7x," the report says.
25/03/16 Tejal Yerunkar/Daily News & Analysis

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India's air passenger traffic up 24% in February 2016

New Delhi: India's domestic air passenger traffic surged by over 24% to 161.31 lakh in the February this year over the same period of 2015 even as the number of flyers declined when compared to January 2016.

Budget carrier SpiceJet, maintained its high seat factor run, logging over 90% seat factor for the ninth consecutive time with 92.3% load factor during the month.

On the other hand, Tata-SIA-run full-service Vistara and another Tata group-invested airline AirAsia India along with Spicejet gained market share, rest of the carriers saw a marginal dip in their pie.
25/03/16 PTI/Daily News & Analysis

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Travel firms, airlines make merry on long weekend

New Delhi/Chennai: If you have been planning a holiday, this could be one of the best times to travel.

A combination of extended weekends and steep discounts on hotels and flight deals have come together to make holidays relatively cheap.

This year has about a dozen extended weekends. Many professionals have days off this week, with Holi on Thursday, followed by Good Friday. The next extended weekend is in April during Ram Navami.

"We have had increased demand for the long Holi weekend. More people are travelling to domestic locations than to international destinations," said Ranjeet Oak, chief business officer (holidays), MakeMyTrip - an online travel company.
"While Goa continues to top the charts, many customers are also opting for destinations such as Srinagar, Katra and Jaipur. Internationally, Thailand and Dubai continue to top the charts, followed by Singapore." Popular domestic destinations are those that offer a mix of leisure, work or religious interest. Popular international locations are the ones that can be reached in three-five hours.
24/03/16 Ajay Modi & T E Narasimhan/Business Standard

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2 years on, govt's jet to fly again

Mumbai: Nearly two years after the Maharashtra government's business jet was grounded for want of trained pilots, the state has engaged an expat at Rs 15.5 lakh per month. Pay apart, the expert pilot will also be provided accommodation in south Mumbai and a car.
The government acquired a 9-seater Cessna citation XLS for Rs 52 crore in 2008. "There was no other alternative. We have to have pilots with necessary qualification for the state's plane," said Chief Secretary Swadheen Kshatriya.
Citing rules of aviation regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation, the top official said a pilot with a minimum 150-hour experience can only fly the Cessna, which is used to ferry the chief minister, Governor and state guests.
According to officials, chief pilot of the business jet, K H Buhariwala, suddenly quit in May 2014, forcing authorities to ground the aircraft. While the state later appointed Captain Avtar Singh as pilot in-charge, he could not fly the plane due to inadequate experience.
25/03/16 Yogesh Naik/Mumbai Mirror

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Global airlines summit tomorrow

Visakhapatnam: Representatives of 15 airlines are expected to participate in the International Airlines Summit, being organised jointly by the AP Air Travellers Association (APATA) and AP Chamber of Commerce and Industry and Tour and Travels Association of AP, here on March 26.

The objective of the summit is to rope in more airline operators, both domestic and international, to operate flights from Visakhapatnam International Airport as also from Vijayawada, Tirupati and Rajahmundry airports. The potential of cargo exports from AP, creation of additional infrastructure facilities and provision of better amenities to passengers would also be discussed at the summit, APATA working president Cheruvu Ramakotaiah and director of AP Chambers of Commerce and Industry Federation (APCCIF), Visakhapatnam, O. Naresh Kumar, told a media conference here on Thursday.

Mr. Ramakotaiah said Visakhapatnam International Airport was number 1 among the Type II airports in India and hoped that more exporters would consider Vizag for exports. Pawan Hans was prepared to operate 12-seater aircraft from Vizag, provided it was given a base at the airport. He said15 airline operators would participate in the summit. He recalled as to how APATA, in its earlier avatar as VATA, brought the Singapore High Commissioner to Visakhapatnam in the past.
25/03/16 The Hindu

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Put an Upper Cap on Air Fares: Government

New Delhi: Faced with a barrage of criticism, the government has suggested the airlines to put an upper cap on air fares. Recently, airlines had hiked their fares exponentially to make a kill especially after the Chennai rains and Jat agitation in Haryana.

The Civil Aviation Ministry’s lack of response to fleecing by airlines drew flak, far and wide.

In an interaction with Express, Minister of State for Civil Aviation Mahesh Sharma said, “If we put a cap, we will find ourselves different from the rest of the world. What we have, however, suggested the airlines is to put an upper cap on the pricing,” he said.
Sharma said that the government is averse to price regulation but India cannot put a regulatory mechanism in place, as it is bound by the International Civil Aviation Organisaton (ICAO) regulations.
Though only one to two per cent tickets are sold in the higher price bracket, Sharma said they bring bad names to the industry.
24/03/16 Samiran Sarangi/Indian Express

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Club One Air targets a turnover of Rs 200 Cr

Club One Air is all set to increase its total fleet size to a double digit. With the introduction of their 3rd Falcon-2000 into its fleet, the Delhi headquartered private jet operator has now doubled its total fleet size to 10 within just two years.

Commenting on this new addition to the family; Bhupesh Joshi, Director & CEO, Club One Air said, “It gives me immense pleasure to introduce one more Falcon -2000 into our fleet. We believe this initiative will help us to provide best in class services to our customers in a seamless manner.”

The 3rd Falcon 2000 was manufactured by Dassault who strongly have presence since 50’ as provider of fighter jet for the Indian Air force such as iconic ‘Mirage 2000’.   Dassault aviation is also a business jet market leader in India in the long range large cabin segment.

“We want to congratulate Club One Air for the addition of one more Falcon 2000 to its fleet. We are looking forward to support the aircrafts through extended customer service network in India,” Gilles Gautier, Senior Vice President-Sales, Dassault Aviation.
23/03/16 TRavel Treands Today

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India’s HAL To Make Foray Into Civil Aviation

Hyderabad: India’s state-run defense aircraft-maker Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. (HAL) has announced plans to manufacture and operate two Dornier Do-228 aircraft, marking a foray into the civil aviation sector.
“HAL’s board has finally sanctioned the manufacture of two civil Dornier aircraft,” a company official says. The financial details for the proposal and a time-frame for when it will become operational were not disclosed.
Since 1983, HAL has manufactured over 120 of the light, 14-seater and 19-seater Do-228 aircraft under license from original manufacturer RUAG at its Transport Aircraft Division in Kanpur in north India.
“We plan to upgrade these aircraft,” the official says. HAL is “exploring options to reduce costs to make the aircraft viable for internal civil operations and more export opportunities.”
The aircraft are already being used by the Indian air force, navy and coast guard services.  A few aircraft have been exported to Mauritius and the Seychelles.
23/03/16 Jay Menon/Aviation Week

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‘Seal’ing a victory

After completing his diploma in polymer science and rubber technology, R Sundaram worked for a few years before returning to his home town Salem to start his own venture — Elastomeric Engineers. This was way back in 1988.

The company, which is engaged in the manufacture of aeronautical rubber products, supplied gaskets to BHEL in the initial years of operation.

The break, Sundaram recalls, came about in 1993-94 after attending an aviation seminar. “The thrust was on indigenisation of components for aircraft; since I was engaged in manufacture of aeronautical rubber products, I decided to focus on manufacturing import substitute components,” he says.

Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd and Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) shared technical and component details for making of cockpit rubber seal. This seal is a critical component as it has to maintain the cabin pressure while the aircraft is airborne, and hold it for a minimum of 14 seconds as the aircraft touches the ground. It was being imported from the UK. “After two years of struggle, we developed base rubber compound, the cockpit rubber seal for SuryaKiran, and ours incidentally has been certified as holding the cabin pressure for 65 seconds,” says Sundaram.

“Around this time we realised that we needed a unit for manufacture of precision aeronautical components.” Thus was born Aerospace Engineers.

“Then came the unforgettable day in my life, when in 2001, Wing Commander Rakesh Sharma conducted the initial test flight with the “Salem wallah” ( that's how they used to refer me in the early days) seal on SuryaKiran aircraft. It was around 11 am. We had all assembled near the aircraft in Bangalore. When Sharma came to pilot, he was told that the cockpit rubber seal was made by a Salem-based company.
22/03/16 LN Revathy/Business Line

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Govt serves notice to Air Odisha over suspension of services

Taking a tough stand against the chartered air carrier Air Odisha Aviation Pvt Ltd for discontinuing its intra-state air services, the state government today issued show cause notice to the private carrier for its unilateral decision to suspend services from today over non-payment of subsidy to it.
According to sources, the state government has served show cause notice to Air Odisha Aviation Pvt Ltd for withdrawing services without informing it which violates the conditions of the memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed between the two.

The private carrier has been asked to reply to the notice by March 26.

“Air Odisha Aviation Pvt Ltd has been issued notice for suspending air services. The carrier has been asked to reply by March 26 as to why it has suspended the services without informing the government. Of the pending dues, 75% of subsidy has been paid,” RS Gopalan, Additional Secretary of General Administration Department said.

Hours later, the carrier announced to resume its services.

“Today we received our pending subsidy dues from the state government. We resumed the flight operation from today,” Air Odisha Aviation Pvt Ltd Operations Manager Joseph Nayak said.

It may be recalled that the carrier had stopped it services to Sambalpur and Rourkela last Saturday and had announced to stop the flights to Jeypore from Monday over non-payment of subsidy. Notably, the carrier had stopped its services to Jharsuguda on January 22, three days after it began its operations from here as runway repair work was underway there.

The carrier had claimed that Rs 60 lakh was due towards payment of subsidy to it.
21/03/16 Odisha Sun Times

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Indian Navy Retires Sea Harriers

The Indian Navy has retired the Sea Harrier fleet that operated from its aircraft carrier INS Viraat, and plans to replace them with MiG- 29Ks that India has bought from Russia.

The Indian Navy bought 30 British-made Sea Harriers in 1983 but only 11 now remain. The Navy once considered upgrading  the Sea Harriers but abandoned the plan.

The Sea Harrier pilots are now being trained to fly the Russian MiG 29K fighter aircraft. India had planned to replace the Sea Harriers with the homemade Light Combat Aircraft (Naval) version but the program is more than 15 years behind schedule, said an Indian Navy official.

State-owned Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. conducted a limited upgrade to the Sea Harriers in 2009 but acquisition of spares has become a problem because BAE Systems has stopped manufacturing the aircraft. The limited upgrade included mounting of Israeli Elta-made multimode fire control radars and Derby beyond-visual-range air-to-air missiles.

In 2006, the Navy planned to purchase retired Sea Harriers from the Royal British Navy but the Ministry of Defence later abandoned the program.
21/03/16 Vivek Raghuvanshi/Defense News

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Comfort more important than style in air: Survey

For 84 percent Indians, comfort is more important than style while travelling by air, according to a study by online travel site Expedia.

The Expedia Passenger Preference Index includes amenities for which customers would prioritise on flights of different length, how they prefer to pass the time, their opinions on baggage fees and packing, and which passenger behaviour they found most frustrating.

According to the survey, 74 percent of travellers will pay for added comfort on a short haul flight, and the number further jumps to 89 percent on long or extra-long haul flights. Alcoholic beverages are preferred by only 9 percent Indians.

"Indians lead globally in paying extra for a window seat (34 percent) or an aisle seat (10 percent), for a snack (36 percent) and a non-alcoholic beverage (16 percent) on board a short-haul flight," said Expedia India's Marketing Head Manmeet Ahluwalia.
21/03/16 Business Standard

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​NAL optimistic on general aviation in India

Singapore: India's National Aerospace Laboratories (NAL) is confident that less restrictive rules and regulations around certification will help to catalyse the country's nascent general aviation sector.

That was the opinion of NAL director Shyam Chetty, who spoke with Flightglobal at the recent India Aviation show in Hyderabard.

The aerospace research and development firm has signed an agreement with Mahindra Aerospace to produce and certificate its indigenously designed CNM-5 five-seater piston aircraft at a factory in the Indian city of Kolar.

So far, only one prototype of the NAL-designed aircraft has been produced. The aircraft was built by by Mahindra unit GippsAero at its factory near Melbourne, Australia, and had its maiden flight in 2011. It has since been used in flight tests.

This aircraft will be transported to Kolar for the certification campaign. In addition, Mahindra will build two more prototypes at Kolar, which is to the northeast of Bengaluru.

“Before it was not attractive to build, test, and certificate the aircraft in India,” says Chetty. “The current government says 'Make in India' is a very crucial thing, and aviation and aeronatuics will also play a big role in this as as technology driver. We are hopeful about the [CNM-5] as well as Mahindra’s eight and ten seater programmes.”

Mahindra’s two other programmes are the Airvan 8 and Airvan 10. Like the Airvan 8, the CNM-5 uses a Lycoming IO-540 piston engine. The larger Airvan 10 is powered by a Rolls-Royce 250 turboprop.

Apart from the prevailing emphasis on “Make In India,” which was a theme of this year’s India Aviation show, another positive element for the CNM-5’s prospects is the government’s intention to develop 160 airstrips to handle general aviation aircraft. Scattered about the country, most of the strips date from World War II.
21/03/16 Greg Waldron/Flightglobal

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Let's integrate our rail, airport infrastructure

I rise to speak on the Railway Budget. Without being political about it, I must say my friend, Mr Suresh Prabhu, is a fine person. He has the ability to turn around the Railways, and make a difference, which we all seek. But I still have some apprehensions.

Of course, the Budget is in the right direction. There are no new announcements. There is no populism. Even last year he tried to keep the Budget focused in terms of achieving the targets rather than simply expanding the scope of targets. I think it is a matter of great importance and caution that we do not overstretch our commitments because there are so many projects, so many railway lines, including in my erstwhile constituency, which I represented in the Lok Sabha, where projects started 20 years ago and still they have not seen the light of day. Part of it is done and the balance is not completed. This is the story of most of the projects. I think it is important that prioritisation is done and completion of projects is timely rather than having half-baked and unfinished projects.
I have also a word of caution. There is a mention in the finance minister's speech that the government is going to have a capex of Rs 1.25 lakh crore by the Railways in the current fiscal and Rs 1,000 crore for the roads sector. While I have also been in the infrastructure ministry, and I have no doubt the Railways is a far bigger, far more well-equipped organisation, but to absorb Rs 1.25 lakh crore of capital expenditure in one single financial year is a humungous task, and it is a huge challenge. I wish you well, but I have my doubts about it.
And doubts are not because of the intention but because of our own systems. The capacity of our systems is first to take decisions, to give the clearances, then, there are 10 other issues, which are involved. Therefore, as a statement of intent that you will be spending "x" amount of money is a good thing. But I do not know how much of that will be actually spent. Nonetheless, I compliment you and wish you well. Even if 50 per cent of the money is spent, I think it will go a long way in improving the overall infrastructure of the Railways.
19/03/16 Praful Patel/Business Standard

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Aviation academy to come up at Begumpet airport

Hyderabad: The State government has entered into an agreement with Aero Campus Aquitaine of Bordeaux Metropole of France to set up an Aviation academy to train candidates in Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (MRO) and develop local aviation and aerospace talent.

State government enters into an agreement with Jerome Verschave of Aero Campus Aquitaine and Anna Raimat of Bordequx
Metropole.
It is aimed at train candidates in maintenance, repair and overhaul and develop local aviation and aerospacetalen
The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed on Saturday at the India Aviation Show 2016  in the presence of Industries Minister Jupally Krishna Rao between Industries Principal Secretary Arvind Kumar and Jerome Verschave of Aero Campus Aquitaine and Anna Raimat of Bordequx Metropole.

"Our aim is to train at least 1,000 students a year in aerospace and related areas. We want this Aero Campus to give maximum preference to students Telangana State.  The courses will be of various durations from few weeks to one year.  We will take 300 students in the first batch to begin with.  And subsequently this number will go up to 1,500 to 2,000," said Krishna Rao.  The academy will come up at Begumpet Airport. "We got location commitment from authorities. Now we will initiate and work to get necessary DGCA and government clearances. It will be India's first such training academy in aerospace industry. We would like to focus on MRO technology training," according to Arvind Kumar. "We will also provide accommodation to rural students. These courses will have residential facilities. All these are paid courses. The lower courses will be subsided by the government," he added.
20/03/16 Hans India

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Drone piloting is the hot new career

For Nishank Mishra, who has freelanced as a web developer since 2011, the skies were beckoning. “In a middle class family, the chance to learn something new after graduation is not available. You do your job and start earning,” he says. His father retired as assistant engineer with the Public Works Department; his mother is a homemaker and his elder brother works in bank operations. But, Mishra was stung by the aeromodelling bug. He began saving money, sparing time and buying parts. “Slowly and gradually, I built my own drone, a 1.8 kg quadcopter fitted with a GoPro camera, and took it on a test drive to shoot the lakes of Nainital,” says Mishra about last year’s experiment.
Today, the 27-year-old earns anywhere between Rs 15,000 to Rs 25,000 for every aerial photography and cinematography assignment he takes up, using a DJI Inspire 1 Pro that costs R3.5 lakhs. Along with aerial tech company Quidich, he has shot for BBC, KTM India, Hero, Land Rover and Red Bull. As he chats about his passion, you realise that his web developing years have been long forgotten; for the last one year, Mishra has been a professional drone pilot.
Money is a fringe benefit when you are flying your eye in the sky, is Mishra’s belief. Others may feel differently, but the bottom line is this — piloting a UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle for us Luddites) is no longer just an expensive hobby. Right from corporate events to industrial surveys, piloting a drone has become a much sought after job, and takers are queuing up.
20/03/16 Benita Fernando/Mid Day

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Boeing 737 Engine Designer Rules Out Engine Failure Amid FlyDubai Jet Crash

Moscow: Earlier in the day, FlyDubai Boeing 737-800 plane coming from Dubai crashed while attempting a landing amid poor weather conditions at the Rostov-on-Don Airport (ROV), leaving no survivors from those 62 people aboard.
"We monitor and analyze the performance of this massive fleet of CFM56 engines each day and we are not aware of any issues that would hazard the safe flight of 737 aircraft," CFM International spokesman Rick Kennedy said in a statement.
The Ohio-based company stressed that CFM56 engines powering the Boeing 737 were among the most reliable in the airline industry.
The engine designer offered to assist in the investigation into Saturday’s crash of a Boeing 737-800 passenger plane in Rostov-on-Don, although it said that at this juncture no jet propulsion investigators had been requested to the scene by regulatory officials.
Investigators earlier found the crashed plane's first and second flight data recorders, and its first voice recorder.
19/03/16 Sputnik News

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Pawan Hans to fly into AP, TS

The public sector operator of helicopter services is looking to connect district headquarters with big airports in Telugu states
Established three decades ago in 1985 as Helicopter Corporation of India Ltd (HCIL), Pawan Hans Limited has pioneered the concept of helicopter services in the country.
The public sector undertaking (PSU) has a fleet of over 44 helicopters under its wings now, providing services through 21 bases across 17 states, majority of them being in North East part of India.

It is now planning to diversify into small fixed-wing aircraft and sea planes, besides expanding its existing fleet to 100 helicopters by 2025 with an outlay of up to Rs 5,000 crore. It also plans to launch its services in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.

“Both the states offer huge scope for regional air connectivity between district headquarters and big airports in the respective states. We had discussions with delegations of AP and Telangana. We will meet the officials again in April to discuss in detail. We are confident that we will start our operations in the two states in 2016,” Dr B P Sharma, Chairman & Managing Director, Pawan Hans Limited, tells The Hans India at the India Aviation 2016 show in Hyderabad.

Do you have any plans to extend your services to AP and Telangana?
Pawan Hans Limited is a central government PSU. We are presently doing helicopter flying. We plan to diversify into small fixed-wing aircraft and sea plan services. The new Civil Aviation Policy of the central government, which is to be launched soon, will aggressively promote regional connectivity. On Thursday, I had a chance to meet delegations of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh governments. Both are new states now and there is a huge scope for regional connectivity in the both as they need to connect the district headquarters with the state capitals and other cities. This can only be done with small fixed wing aircrafts and helicopters. We also had discussions with the Chief Secretary of Andhra Pradesh. We are in touch with Civil Aviation department of Telangana. We will work on providing regional connectivity in the two states and come out with proposals.
20/03/16 P Madhusudhan Reddy/Hans India

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FICCI pitches for 100% FDI in aviation sector

Hyderabad: India should go for 100% FDI in airlines sector to realise the full potential of the country’s aviation industry, a joint report of FICCI-KPMG has suggested.
The report was released yesterday at the ongoing India Aviation show 2016 here. Noting the rapid growth that Indian civil aviation sector has been witnessing over the past few years, the report pitched for open sky policy and urged the government to finalise the civil aviation policy at the earliest to resolve the vexed issue of international flying norms for local carriers.
At present, government allows up to 49% investment by a foreign airline in an Indian carrier. However, it has proposed to hike it to over 50% in the draft policy unveiled in October last year.
“For super-charging growth in the aviation sector, urgent remedial measures are required. India needs to be promoted as a trade and tourism hub in order to derive synergistic benefits for the aviation industry. Leading aviation hubs like the US, EU, UAE, Singapore and China have a robust industrial, trading, maritime and tourism ecosystem that both supports and benefits from their aviation sector,” the report said and called for close collaboration between Ministry of Civil Aviation and related ministries.
18/03/16 Tribune India

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Drones must follow air traffic rules, says IATA

Mumbai: In view of safety risks posed by drones to aircraft, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) has said air traffic rules should be followed by drones operating in the same airspace as manned aircraft.
In India, drones were banned by the directorate general of civil aviation in 2014. The ban will stay in place till the time the regulator formulates rules and regulations for civil use of drones or unmanned aircraft systems (UAS). While the Indian regulator is yet to issue norms on their usage, other countries, like the US, where drones are not banned, have started taking steps to monitor their numbers and usage.
"Safety reports from a number of civil aviation authorities across the world have revealed a significant number of near-collisions involving drones," said Rob Eagles, director, air traffic management, infrastructure, IATA, recently. Many of the unmanned aircraft operators are new to aviation, he said and added that hazards involving manned (like airline aircraft) and unmanned aircraft (drones) operating together in the same airspace call for education of drone operators. "Unmanned aircraft operating in a non-segregated airspace need to operate in accordance with the same tried-and-tested concepts as manned aircraft. They will need to operate in accordance with air traffic control instructions and have compatible communication and navigation capabilities and be able to be seen by air traffic controllers and manned aircraft," he added.
18/03/16 Manju V/Times of India

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Medical aid via jets

Hyderabad: If you think that business jets are only for luxurious travel, you may be mistaken. These jets, which are equipped with medical modules, are being used for medical evacuation. Some charter airlines are ferrying patients from Iraq, Afghanistan and Africa to Indian hospitals.
“Medical evacuation is slowly picking up in India. We use our charter flights to ferry patients in India and also from places like Afghanistan, Iraq and Africa, where medical facilities are not great,” said Bhupesh Joshi, director and CEO of Club One Air. Fixed wing aircraft and helicopters are used as air ambulances for primary medical evacuation or during Golden Hour (where time is crucial), while private jets are used for medium haul flights to other countries for secondary medical evacuation — a situation where a patient is critical but it is not life threatening.
Foreign patients are mostly brought in for secondary medical evacuation. According to Vadim Feldzer of Dassault Aviation, his company has a special medical module for Falcon, which can be converted into an air ambulance. “Our Falcon 2000 has an advanced medical evacuation module. We are seeing some interest in the market. Currently, we are in discussion with our prospective customers in Southeast Asia.”
So how does this work? Patients, who are either super-rich or have an insurance cover, get in touch with big Indian corporate hospitals like Apollo and Max. Then they draft in charter flight operators for medical evacuation. The charges for this service in India are in the range of Rs 1.5 to Rs 2 lakh.
19/03/16 Umamaheswar/AsianAge

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Indian airlines look to smaller planes

Hyderabad: Indian airlines are in talks with ATR, Bombardier and Embraer to buy smaller planes to fly to the country's booming second and third tier cities ahead of a government drive to get more of the country connected by air.

National carrier Air India plans to add 40 new planes to its domestic fleet by the end of 2017, of which 13 will be smaller turboprop planes for regional connections, its chairman Ashwani Lohani told Reuters on Friday.

Lohani said the airline, which already leases eight ATR turboprop planes and three Bombardier CRJ-700 70-seater aircraft, would launch "a major foray" in to flying to smaller cities this year.

Low-cost carrier SpiceJet is also talking to small aircraft makers to add to its fleet of 14 Bombardier Q400 turboprop planes, as it expands the number of shorter routes it flies, a company spokesman said. India's government in October outlined plans to boost regional aviation connectivity by forcing airlines to fly to smaller cities and reopening many of the country's 350 disused airstrips as "no-frills" airports.

"The government's initiative to develop regional connectivity encourages airlines to go into these markets and creates an opportunity for us," said John Moore, head of sales at ATR, one of several firms showing off their latest planes at this week's airshow in the south Indian city of Hyderabad.
19/03/16 Reuters/Khaleej Times

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At 20.3%, India's domestic aviation market grew the fastest last year

With 81 million trips, India's domestic aviation market grew at over 20.3% during January-December 2015, making it the highest growth rate recorded in the world, said a study released by Ficci-KPMG as part of 'India Aviation Report 2016' report.
The growth, report claims, has put India well on its way to become the third-largest aviation market by 2020 and largest by 2030.
The report suggests that aspects such as increasing disposable incomes, fall in prices of Aircraft Turbine Fuel (ATF), increase in tourism, visa reforms, etc. have placed India in this unique position.
Amber Dubey, partner and India head of aerospace and defence, KPMG, said, "The positive impact of NCAP (National Civil Aviation Policy) 2016, rise in disposable incomes and the fall in ATF prices are likely to help India leapfrog into the top three of the world. One hopes that the government can match domestic ATF prices with global levels for a three-year experimental period. MRO is likely to see a huge revival if the service tax is zero-rated.
Growth of aviation and tourism can create a huge multiplier in terms of GDP growth and jobs."
18/03/16 dna

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Club One Air on an Expansion spree

India’s largest and oldest Luxury Jet Charter operator is all set to increase its total fleet size to a double digit! With the introduction of their 3rd Falcon-2000 into its fleet, the Delhi headquartered private jet operator has now doubled its total fleet size to 10 within just two years.

Commenting on this new addition to the family; Bhupesh Joshi, Director & CEO, Club One Air said, “It gives me immense pleasure to introduce one more Falcon -2000 into our fleet. We believe this initiative will help us to provide best in class services to our customers in a seamless manner.”

The 3rd Falcon 2000 was manufactured by Dassault who strongly have presence since 50’ as provider of fighter jet for the Indian Air force such as iconic ‘Mirage 2000’. Dassault aviation is also a business jet market leader in India in the long range large cabin segment.

“We want to congratulate Club One Air for the addition of one more Falcon 2000 to its fleet. We are looking forward to support the aircrafts through extended customer service network in India,” Gilles Gautier, Senior Vice President-Sales, Dassault Aviation.
17/03/16 IIFL

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New aviation policy: Small towns to give big boost

The government’s new aviation policy appears to have become successful even before it was formally announced, as small airlines and small aircraft manufacturers believe in its positive impact on the Indian aviation. “Air travel is biggest booster to the economy. The government is understanding this now. That’s why they are trying to improve regional connectivity through subsidising air travel between metros and hinterland. They are becoming more and more liberal,” said Captain Madhu K. Valsaraj, president and chief pilot of Deccan.

Earlier in the day, civil aviation secretary R.K. Choubey said the proposed civil aviation policy offers liberal code sharing between airlines. It allows regional airline to tie-up with domestic or international airline. “With this, you can fly from Toronto to Gorakhpur or Jhansi to Amsterdam.” A code-share agreement is an arrangement where two or more airlines share the same flight. A seat can be purchased from an airline on a flight that is actually operated by another airline under a different flight number or code.
18/03/16 Deccan Chronicle

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Civil Aviation Ministry seeks position paper from Ground Handlers Association of India

The Ground Handlers Association of India (GHAOI) announced that it has been asked to submit a position paper on key aspects of policy which amongst others affect Safety and Security of Airports highlighted by the association. The draft policy allows self-handling, third party handling, temporary employees and unlimited players in the airport, an utterly disastrous and thoughtless move.

Elaborating on the position paper, Arvind Kumar, Secretary General, Ground Handlers Association of India, said, “As an association, we feel the draft aviation policy has serious loop holes that need to be fixed before it is rolled out to avoid threat to national security. Our biggest worry is unrestricted and unqualified self-handling and third party handling with contract labour, as it will lead to existing domain experts being replaced with unqualified operators. It is sad that some of the airlines are en-cashing on the opportunity and have moved the debate to price points; the fares would come down but only by less than a percent if at all. Why would anyone like to risk their life for less than 100 rupees?”

The position paper will highlight the origin the ground handling policy – that came into effect during the governance of our former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee – global trends and best practices, and the importance of a sound and robust ground handling policy in a booming aviation sector – include establishment of firewalls, bonafide wholetime employees and level-playing field for everyone.
17/03/16 Travel Biz Monitor

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NAL hopeful of funding to revive Saras

NAL director Shyam Chetty says that the crash of the second Saras prototype in 2009 created programme delays that pushed development funding into a third national five-year planning period. The next financial plan has been delayed owing to the government of Narendra Modi, which entered power in May 2014.

“The entire planning and funding process is looked at very differently [under the Modi government],” he says. “The Saras was one of the victims of this change financing for major programmes.”

Chetty spoke with Flightglobal at the India Aviation event in Hyderabad.

The first Saras prototype is in storage in Bangalore. This aircraft, which was extensively upgraded after the crash of the second prototype, was conducting low speed taxi tests when funding evaporated. Chetty says this aircraft is ready to resume taxi tests upon NAL obtaining fresh funding.

A third prototype is in the early stages of production, its construction frozen by lack of funds.
17/03/16 Greg Waldron/Flight Global

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Now, IRCTC to sell tickets for Pawan Hans helicopter service

Seeking to promote helicopter -tourism, Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation and Pawan Hans have joined hands under an agreement that would allow flyers to book tickets through IRCTC website.
Pawan Hans is a PSU of the Civil Aviation Ministry. The Memorandum of Understanding has been signed to implement the ‘heli project’ by making joint use of their capabilities and facilities to give a major fillip to tourism initiatives by the IRCTC, a railways PSU.
The agreement envisages both sides to jointly identify areas of cooperation and draw up detailed projects to promote ‘heli tourism’ in the country and enable selling of online tickets for regular and chartered helicopter services and joy rides.
“The signing of MoU with Pawan Hans will give a major push to our tourism initiatives by promoting ‘heli tourism’ in the country, an area which has enormous potential as a tourist product,” IRCTC’s Chairman and Managing Director A K Manocha told PTI.
The two sides will also facilitate marketing or cross-selling of products and services through both physical outlets and websites, thus improving the range of services to their own customers.
Both will also undertake opening and managing of various catering and hospitality outlets and budget hotels through their joint strength, at Pawan Hans (PH) properties and non-PH locations.
IRCTC has already been providing helicopter rides to tourists for an aerial view of Mumbai. “The MoU will give a cutting edge to such an effort,” Manocha said.
17/03/16 PTI/The Financial Express

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'India, Aviation's Next Bright Star in Line'

India’s star is burning bright. According to a report by global aircraft manufacturing giant Airbus, India is well on its way to becoming the third largest aviation market by 2034.

Traffic serving the Indian market is already projected to grow at 8.4 per cent per year over the next 20 years, well above the world average 4.6 per cent. Domestic Indian traffic is set to grow even faster - at 9.3 per cent, making India the world’s leading emerging aviation market.

The growth is set to be driven by a burgeoning middle class who are beginning to find air travel a viable mode of transport. Formerly the exclusive domain of the rich, plunging air ticket prices and a competitive market has opened up the sector to the middle class.
18/03/16 The New Indian Express

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India Aviation Report says country to become third largest aviation market by 2020

The country is likely to become the third largest aviation market by 2020, claimed a report published on Thursday, the second day of the India Aviation Exhibition and Conference. The report, called “India Aviation Report”, has been prepared by KPMG and Ficci.

It claimed that with 81 million trips, India’s domestic aviation market grew over 20.3 per cent in 2015 — the highest ever growth rate recorded in the world.

“In January 2016, the passenger growth was 22 per cent. Some people attribute this growth to fall in crude prices, but no other country in the world has achieved this kind of growth during the period,” said R N Choubey, secretary, Ministry of Civil Aviation, at the launch event.

According to the report, the Indian civil aviation sector has exhibited tremendous resilience to the global economic slowdown and ranks ninth in the global civil aviation market.

This is largely attributed to the growing economy, increased competition among airlines, especially among low-cost carriers, modern airports, greater use of technology, foreign direct investment (FDI) and increased emphasis on regional connectivity. The report observed that the National Civil Aviation Policy (NCAP-2016), which is likely to be out next month, would provide a significant fillip to the sector. The various fiscal and monetary incentives, liberal policies focused on ease of doing business and enhanced push for regional and global connectivity are extremely positive.

The growing competition among the states would provide a further fillip to the growth of India as well as its aviation sector, said Union Civil Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju. The minister also launched the “India Aviation Report”.

The report suggests that aspects such as increasing disposable incomes, fall in prices of aircraft turbine fuel (ATF), increase in tourism, and visa reforms have placed India in a unique position. This brings the country closer to achieving its vision of becoming the largest aviation market by 2030, it said.

Steps taken to revive 160 airports and make them operational will improve air connectivity to regional and remote areas. Public-private partnerships in the sector will get substantial support from states in terms of financing, concessional land allotment, tax holiday and other incentives, the report suggests.

“Enormous growth in domestic passenger traffic, substantial strengthening through government initiatives, decrease in global crude oil prices and airlines showing profits indicate a significantly positive transformation for the Indian civil aviation market. The close partnership between the government and the sector in ongoing and future projects will further improve regional connectivity. I am certain that the sector will take complete advantage of the positive momentum and help sustain the growth,” said Harshavardhan Neotia, president, Ficci.
18/03/16 Business Standard

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Canada, U.S. keen on becoming India’s civil aviation partners

Day One of India Aviation 2016 that kicked off in Hyderabad on Wednesday showed promise of becoming a win-win for India, with representatives of Canadian and United States Government expressing keen interest in becoming India’s civil aviation partners.

Inaugurating an interactive session with the partner countries, Union Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju said the sector should actually complement and contribute to growth and not become a bottleneck for economic activity.

“Government of India is interested in a shift. We would like to move towards ‘Make in India’ and ‘Skill India’. We need skilled manpower who can handle the training needs of other countries,” he said, to loud applause. “India is a big country with all types of climates – from snow-capped mountains to deserts, and this is unique. India is a big country looking forward to contribute to the growth of the sector and it is a win-win situation,” he stated.

In his remarks, Canadian High Commissioner to India Nadir Patel, a former chief negotiator in the sector for his country, said that with a strong aviation eco-system, comprising about 700 companies, Canada was home to many international aviation companies.

“If India looks to expand its aviation eco-system, Canada is uniquely placed to share our experiences like low-cost research and development,” he said. Informing that bilateral trade between Canada and India had grown by 30 per cent last year and that there was still room for further growth, he specifically referred to Canada-India civil aviation cooperation.
18/03/16 Suresh Krishnamoorthy/The Hindu

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Etihad Airways leading international airline at India Aviation 2016 in Hyderabad

United Arab Emirates - Etihad Airways, one of the world’s fastest growing airlines, is supporting India Aviation 2016 this week welcoming Indian and foreign dignitaries to its two aircraft on static display at the air show being held in Hyderabad.

The airline’s state-of-the-art Boeing 787, one of the Abu Dhabi-based carrier’s five Dreamliners, is joined by its fifth and newest Boeing 777 freighter delivered direct from the aircraft manufacturer.

Etihad Airways is the only airline with two commercial aircraft on show at Begumpet Airport, demonstrating the importance of the Indian aviation market to the carrier. It is also participating in the associated exhibition with strategic Indian partner Jet Airways.

VIP visitors to the aircraft and joint exhibition stand included: India’s Minister of Civil Aviation, the Honourable Ashok Gajapathi Raju; Secretary of Civil Aviation Shri R. N. Choubey; the UAE Ambassador to India, His Excellency Ahmed Al Banna; and Senior Economic Advisor at the Ministry of Civil Aviation, Dr Renu Singh Parmar.

They were welcomed for guided aircraft tours by Etihad Airways’ Emirati staff together with senior executives including Kevin Knight, Chief Strategy and Planning Officer, and Neerja Bhatia, Vice President India and Indian subcontinent.

Organised by India’s Ministry of Civil Aviation and Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI), the air show provides Etihad Airways with another platform to engage with key policy makers, business leaders, aviation experts and others across the aviation industry.
17/03/16 e Turbo News

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Allow 100% FDI in airlines, resolve 5/20 issue quickly: Ficci-KPMG study

Pitching for open sky policy and 100% Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in airlines sector, an industry study has urged the government to put in place the proposed civil aviation policy at the earliest and resolve the vexed issue of international flying norms for local carriers.
The joint Ficci-KPMG report on India Aviation 2016 sought finalisation of the long-awaited National Civil Aviation Policy in the letter and spirit and also suggested going for open skies along with 100% FDI in airlines and a final decision on the contentious 5/20 rule.
"It may cause some pain initially, but will make Indian carriers more efficient, quality conscious, passenger-centric and a global player," the report said.
At present, government allows up to 49% investment by a foreign airline in an Indian carrier. However, it has proposed to hike it to over 50% in the draft policy, unveiled in October last year.
The draft National Civil Aviation Policy (NCAP), has presented many interesting proposals to promote growth in the aviation sector and its vision is to enable 300 million domestic ticketing by 2022, although ambitious, highlights the hidden potential of the Indian aviation sector, the report said.
"(The Government should) finalise the long-awaited Draft National Civil Aviation Policy in letter and spirit," it said.
Observing that for super-charging growth in the aviation sector, urgent remedial measures are required, the report said India needs to be promoted as a trade and tourism hub in order to derive synergistic benefits for the aviation industry.
17/03/16 PTI/dna

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Gujarat to set up MRO facility at Ankleshwar

The Gujarat State Aviation Infrastructure Company Limited (GUJSAIL) has proposed to set up an MRO (Maintenance, Repair & Overhaul) facility at Ankleshwar, with an initial budgetary allocation of Rs. 20 crore, said Director-Civil Aviation of Gujarat, Capt. Ajay Chauhan.

At a showcase of its activities at the ongoing India Aviation 2016 here, he said the MRO that existed in Ahmedabad was equipped to handle ‘tip-to-toe’ maintenance of Legacy Aircraft and was an authorised service facility of Embraer and Bombardier aircraft. The new one proposed was planned to be able to accommodate two large aircraft and three smaller ones and would be a Greenfield airport dedicated to MRO and cargo.

As for the selection of Ankleshwar as the location, he said it was done so keeping in mind the fact that it was a prominent industrial area and also because of its proximity to Mumbai. The GUJSAIL, he said, operated under the autonomous regulatory body of the State government, the Director-General of Civil Aviation. The move to set up an MRO coincided with that of developing an airstrip at the location.
18/03/16 The Hindu

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Domestic aviation market grew 20% in 2015: report

With 81 million trips, India’s domestic aviation market grew 20.3 per cent in calendar 2015, compared to the previous year, according to the FICCI-KPMG India Aviation Report.

The report, which was released by Civil Aviation Minister P Ashok Gajapathi Raju on the second day of the India Aviation Show 2016 here on Thursday, also predicted that India is on its way to become the third largest aviation market by 2020.

Among the growth drivers are increasing disposable incomes, fall in prices of aircraft turbine fuel, increase in tourism and visa reforms.

The passenger traffic on international routes increased 6.5 per cent during the period. In comparison, international passenger throughput at Indian airports grew 7.7 per cent.

There was 17.1 per cent growth in the total passenger throughput for FY2015-16 till January, at 184 million. Passenger throughput is expected to reach around 370 million by 2020, with domestic traffic constituting around 80% per cent. The National Civil Aviation Policy, which the Centre is likely to announce next month, is expected to provide “significant fillip to the industry”,' the report said.
17/03/16 G Naga Sridhar/The Hindu Business Line

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Survey reveals that 74% of Indian fliers avoid baggage fees

New Delhi: A whopping 74% fliers in India would avoid baggage fees at all cost making them the highest in the world, shows a survey termed Passenger Preferences Index conducted by travel portal Expedia.
The survey also shows that Indians at 74% rank third in the world after Taiwan and China when it comes to packing less to ensure things fit in a carry-on that is led by Taiwan & China at 78% "Indians avoid checking bags because of the fee (53%), to skip waiting at baggage carousel (59%), out of fear that their bags will get lost (46%)," the survey says. The global survey highlights that three-quarters (74%) of travellers will pay for added comfort on a short haul flight, but this jumps to 89% on long or extra-long haul flights.
Travellers from Mexico (98%), India (97%), Thailand and China (96%) are the most likely to pay for added comfort on long haul flights. India (20%) leads in playing games on a phone or mobile device while flying.
17/03/16 Economic Times

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Airbus sees demand for over 1,600 planes in India

Hyderabad: Indian carriers will require 1,610 aircraft over next twenty years, European plane maker Airbus announced today in its India market forecast at Hyderabad.

This will include 1,230 single aisle narrow body aircraft and 380 wide body passenger and freighter aircraft. In its market forecast in 2014 Airbus had estimated India would require 1,300-odd planes.
Demand is seen both in single aisle narrow body planes and wide body planes.
"We have seen launch of new carriers in India and we see a role for A321neo, which is the largest single aisle aircraft with lowest cost per seat. The number of wide body planes in India will grow seven fold. We expect Indian carriers to grow international air traffic and in order to do so the airlines will need wide body planes. Indian carriers carry over 30% of India's international traffic and there is room to grow it to 50%," said Joost Van der Heijden, vice president (marketing) of Airbus.
Demand for wide bodies is also expected as India relaxes 5/20 rule. This would allow new airlines including AirAsia India and Vistara to fly abroad.
17/03/16 Business Standard

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Boeing predicts robust growth of Indian aviation sector

Hyderabad: Predicating a robust growth for the Indian civil aviation sector, aerospace major Boeing today predicted India will require 1740 aircraft by 2034 entailing a cumulative investment of $ 240 billion.

Dinesh A Keskar, Senior Vice President, Sales, Asia Pacific and India, said that the Indian domestic passenger has crossed the 80 million mark last year up from 66.4 million (2014), registering a growth of over 20 per cent. All indicators point towards India becoming one of the biggest aviation markets in the world over the next two decades.

Addressing a conference at India Aviation 2016, the Boeing official said the 1,740 aircraft required include 1,460 single aisles constituting about 84 per cent, 260 wide bodies (15 per cent) and 20 regional jets (about 1 per cent). Their value works out to $160 billion, $ 80 billion and $ 1 billion respectively.

Referring to various factors that have played a role in the growth of the civil aviation business in the country, he said the cost of fuel, which accounts for about 49 per cent cost in January 2013 has come down to 23 per cent in February 2016. This has played a major role airliners performing better leading to a profitable growth. But the only worry is the potential of rupee depreciating against the dollar as domestic airlines in India earn in rupees, but they have to meet their purchase obligations in dollar terms.
17/03/16 V. Rishi Kumar/Business Line

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Skill Development in Aviation Sector

Delhi: The Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship Shri Rajiv Pratap Rudy has said that the Ministry of Civil Aviation has had a comprehensive skill gap analysis in the civil aviation sector and to formulate a road map. The draft report has identified possible skill requirements in areas such as airport, airlines, MRO (maintenance, repair and operations), cargo and ground handling. Draft Report indicates that by 2035, the Indian Civil Aviation sector (across the study segments of Airport, Airlines, Cargo, MRO and Ground Handling) would employ 0.8 to 1 million personnel directly and another 3 million indirectly (for 1 direct job about 3.5 indirect jobs are created), after factoring in the likely improvements in economic output and labour productivity.
16/03/16 Business Standard

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AP to set up aviation academy at Puttaparti

Hyderabad: Andhra Pradesh government, with the support of the Centre, will set up an aviation academy at Puttaparti in Anantapuramu district, Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu said today.

The academy would come up on a 150-acre site in the next three months, he said.

The Chief Minister met aero industrialists and manufacturers who were here to participate in India Aviation Expo this evening and discussed the possibility of developing aviation industry in Andhra Pradesh, a release from the Chief Minister's Office said.

The Chief Minister held talks with representatives of Airbus, Qatar Airways, Boeing, Aerospace, Czech Airways. He also discussed the matter with Union Civil Aviation Minister P Ashok Gajapati Raju.

While a greenfield international airport would be developed at Bhigapuram near Visakhapatnam, aerospace and defence manufacturing units would be set up in Anantapuramu district, the Chief Minister told the business representatives.
16/03/16 Business Standard

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Pawan Hans, HAL to set up helicopter MRO facility

Hyderabad: Pawan Hans Ltd (PHL) and Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) have signed an agreement to set up a maintenance facility for both defence and civil helicopters.
The Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (MRO) facility will be set up in New Delhi and it is expected to be operational by June 2016.
A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between PHL and HAL has been signed at India Aviation 2016, the country's largest civil aviation conference and exhibition underway here.
"PHL and HAL are collaborating with each other for setting up MRO business for defence and civil helicopter industry, which has a potential to provide an efficient, cost effective, better turnaround time for the customers," PHL said in a statement.
17/03/16 Statesman

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Excellence in biz & general aviation honoured

Hyderabad: As part of its effort to recognise merit and excellence within Business and General Aviation in the country, Business Aircraft Operators Association (BAOA) presented the BizAvIndia Awards 2016 in the city on Tuesday.

The awards were presented at a glittering ceremony in the presence of aviation industry doyens, dignitaries and crème de la crème who had gathered in the city for the India Aviation Conference and Exhibition 2016.

The BizAvIndia Operator of the Year award went to Global Vectra Helicorp Ltd in the large fleet category and Poonawalla Aviation Pvt Ltd in the small fleet category, which was based on quantum of flying, complexity of aircraft and operations, safety record, humanitarian effort and other parameters.

The BizAvIndia Award for Innovation was given to JetSetGo Aviation Services Pvt Ltd for their works towards expanding business aviation markets and improving efficiencies through use of internet.

The BizAvIndia Hall of Fame was bestowed upon Capt. SS Majithia, Chairman, Saraya Group; for his relentless contributions towards the growth of India’s Business and General Aviation sector.
16/03/16 Hans India

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India Aviation takes off, govt reaches out to industry

Hyderabad: The fifth edition of India Aviation 2016 kicked off in Hyderabad on Wednesday with a focus on developing the country as a manufacturing and maintenance, repair and operations (MRO) hub, bringing to together airline promoters, chief executives and bureaucrats.

On the occasion, along with Make in India, the government also emphasised its focus on plans for regional connectivity, which received a boost in Finance Minister Arun Jaitley's Budget 2016-17.

The event also attracted three biggest airlines from the Gulf - Emirates from Dubai, United Arab Emirates' Etihad Airways and Doha's Qatar Airways, as these companies marked a presence for the first time in the biennial show.

Civil Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju said the first day of the five-day event saw participation from 25 countries, with ministerial-level participation from four countries. "The country's aviation sector has grown by about 35 per cent from the time the show was conducted in 2014, with an unparalleled 20 per cent growth in domestic traffic," said Raju.
16/03/16 Arindam Majumder & Aneesh Phadnis/Business Standard 

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‘India Aviation 2016’: Pranab Mukherjee calls for enhancing infrastructure

While inaugurating the ‘India Aviation 2016’, a mega civil aviation expo and conference, at Begumpet airport, President Pranab Mukherjee today suggested enhancing civil aviation infrastructure by building new greenfield airports to not only cater to “phenomenal” rise in passenger and cargo traffic, but also to connect tier 2 and 3 cities, especially in Northeast.
Mukherjee noted that India still lags behind in terms of per capita air travels when compared to other countries. “It is estimated that India shall require about 800 aircraft by 2020 to cater to the phenomenal increase in air passenger and freight traffic. The supporting aviation infrastructure has to be suitably upgraded by building new greenfield airports, expanding existing airports and upgrading facilities for maintenance, repair and operations,” he said.
Despite rapid growth of civil aviation industry in the country, “several tier 2 and tier 3 cities of India still remain unconnected or are inadequately connected with the national grid”, the President said.
“With the existing economic centres reaching a saturation point, business activities are bound to move to newer destinations. Northeastern states still lack adequate air connectivity due to paucity of civil aviation infrastructure,” he said.
“The deeper the air penetration to smaller cities, better the connectivity to Northeastern part of India,” he said.
The President is on a day-long tour to Hyderabad for the fifth edition of biennial aviation event themed on ‘India’s Civil Aviation Sector: Potential As Global Manufacturing and MRO Hub’.
16/03/16 PTI/Financial Express

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Civil aviation policy gets delayed; likely in early next fiscal

Hyderabad: The new civil aviation policy is expected to be finalised early next financial year with the government still working on certain issues including those related to the 5/20 international flying norm.
The draft policy was unveiled in October last year and after extensive consultations with various stakeholders, some issues are still being sorted out.
Civil Aviation Secretary R N Choubey today said the ministry plans to finalise the Cabinet note for the policy by the end of this month after sorting out certain issues.
The policy was expected to be finalised in the current financial year as certain proposals were to be implemented from April 1, 2016.
Speaking on the sidelines of the India Aviation-2016 event here, he said as many as 15 variations are being looked at with respect to the 5/20 rule.
16/03/16 PTI/Economic Times

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Air ticket pricing responds to demand, supply: MoS Mahesh Sharma

New Delhi: Pricing of air tickets by domestic carriers runs at multiple levels that are in line with global practices and respond to market dynamics, the government said today.

In recent times, concerns have been expressed in different quarters about steep fluctuation in air ticket prices, with some even demanding capping of airfares.

"Air fare pricing forms the strategic framework of airlines to respond to the demand/supply and market dynamics through the Inventory Management Process," Minister of State for Civil Aviation Mahesh Sharma told the Rajya Sabha.
"The domestic airline pricing runs in multiple levels (bucket or Reservation Booking Designator) which are in line with the practice followed globally," he said in a written reply.
"The domestic airline pricing runs in multiple levels (bucket or Reservation Booking Designator) which are in line with the practice followed globally," he said in a written reply.
15/03/16 PTI/Economic Times

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India's HAL Seeks Partners for New Regional Aircraft

India's Hindustan Aeronautics (HAL) has assumed the mantle of responsibility for designing a regional transport aircraft (RTA) after nine years of failed attempts by Bangalore-based National Aerospace Laboratory (NAL). HAL has released a request for information (RFI) for collaboration with another airframer to build a 50- to 80-seat “medium-sized twin turbofan/turboprop” in India. The RFI calls for responses by April 11. Plans call for the first prototype to take off in five years.

The project would cost approximately $1 billion for three prototypes and certification. “We are looking to the government for support and have submitted a proposal,” said HAL chairman T. Suvarna Raju. “We will work with a consortium of partners,” NAL original received $3 million to start work, but failed in its attempts to produce a design.

Should responses from prospective manufacturing partners prove encouraging, the 50-50 joint venture project would tie in with the government’s “Make in India” campaign and help address its long-held desire to expand regional and remote connectivity. The OEM partner would provide transfer of technology for manufacture, testing and supply and certification.
15/03/16  Neelam Mathews/AINonline

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Saudi, Indian aviation leaders say time is now to invest in growing sector

Space and aviation industry leaders in Saudi Arabia and India recently said their industries are good opportunities for foreign direct investment (FDI) projects, calling it an ideal time to partner with the improving industries.

The leaders promoted the idea at the recent Global Aerospace Summit in Abu Dhabi.

The aviation industry in Saudi Arabia has been improving with privatization, liberalization and expansion, and its passenger and fleet numbers have doubled over the last few years.

Within the next 20 years, Saudi Arabia will become a self-sufficient force, fully maintaining and assembling its aerospace industry with its components sector. This is a significant step forward for the industry as well as the regional economy.

"For those people who have cash in their pockets, this is the time to move into the kingdom," Abdulmohsen Aynousah, director of technical sales and marketing for Saudi Aerospace Engineering Industries, said.

Experts estimate that the industry will make notable contributions to Saudi Arabia’s non-oil GDP in the next 15 years. The contributions, which could be 10 to 15 percent, would improve the GDP’s current level of 2 percent.
15/03/16 Gulf News Journal

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ZEE to buy aviation firm Fly By Wire

Media Major Zee Entertainment Enterprises today said it will fully acquire aviation firm Fly By Wire for a total consideration of Rs 61.25 crore in an all-cash deal.

The board of directors of the company in metting held yeterday has approved in-principle an acquisition of 100 per cent equity stake in Fly By Wire International Pvt Ltd, Bangalore (FBW).

Fly By Wire International provides aircraft charter services which own/operates one Bombardier Challenger 605 aircraft.On the reasons for investment, Zee said ''Subsequent to sale of the smaller aircraft owned by the company, the company has been chartering the aircraft from FBW on an exclusive basis... In order to save costs and for ensuring better operational efficiency, it is considered expedient to own the aircraft by acquiring 100 per centequity stake in FBW.
15/03/16 UNI/WebIndia123

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HAL, PHL to establish helicopter MRO in Delhi

Delhi: The Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) and the Pawan Hans Ltd (PHL) signed an MoU to establish a joint venture in the national capital to carry out the maintenance work related to all types of helicopters and address the needs of defence and civil markets in India and other countries.

This was discussed at a program held at the ongoing ‘India Aviation-2016’ in Hyderabad.

Union Minister for Civil Aviation Ashok Gajapati Raju, Rajiv Nayan Choubey, Secretary, Ministry of Civil Aviation, T. Suvarna Raju, CMD, HAL, B.P. Sharma, CMD (PHL) and other senior officials were present on the occasion.

“The business of the joint venture will be conducted in the best interest of the customers based on sound commercial principles”, said Raju.

V. Sadagopan, CEO (Helicopter Complex, HAL) and Sanjiv Bahl, Executive Director, (PHL) signed the MoU.
16/03/16 Siasat

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Gulf carriers hope to fly higher in India

Gulf airlines led by the big three — Emirates, Etihad and Qatar Airways are showcasing their modern aircraft at the air show in Hyderabad signifying the importance of the Indian market to the carriers. The air show begins on Wednesday.

Emirates is the biggest of the Gulf and foreign carriers operating in India with 185 flights per week and commands a market share of 11.4 per cent (next only to Jet Airways and Air India) of country's foreign air traffic. Etihad and Qatar Airways have a market share of around 4.5 per cent with onward traffic contributing 60-70 per cent of their passenger volumes.

Qatar Airways is displaying an Airbus A350 the latest aircraft in its fleet which it inducted last January. The airline has seven aircraft of the type in its fleet and 73 more on order.

Qatar Airways, which expressed repeated interest to invest in IndiGo, has grown its operations in India from four cities in 2004 to 13 cities at present and flies 102 flights per week.

But with weekly seats between India and Doha capped at 24,000 the airline is at a disadvantage in comparison to its peers.
“We are proud to showcase our A350 for the first time in the Indian market, giving prospective clients and visitors  a glimpse of what to expect when they fly on board. We recently celebrated the first anniversary of our A350 operations which demonstrates our technologically-advanced and fast-growing young fleet,” the airline's chief executive officer Akbar Al Baker said in a statement last week while announcing its participation in the air show.

Emirates is showcasing its Airbus A380 aircraft while Etihad is displaying its Boeing 787 passenger and a Boeing 777 freighter aircraft.
16/03/16 Aneesh Phadnis/Business Standard

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Air routes to be reworked for big airlines to fly to small cities

Large commercial airlines will have something to worry about as the civil aviation ministry on Tuesday told the Supreme Court that it would rework the 22-year-old Route Dispersal Guidelines (RDG) to force airlines to fly smaller aircraft to towns like Shimla that have shorter airstrips.
Solicitor general Ranjit Kumar informed a bench of Chief Justice T S Thakur and Justice U U Lalit that the RDG was formulated in 1994 and needs reconsideration as 22 years had passed during which the aviation industry has undergone a sea change.
The SG was answering the concerns of the court, which had found during the last hearing that the Himachal Pradesh capital did not have regular air connection with Delhi as big commercial airlines refused to fly there owing to the short airstrip.
Appearing for Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), additional solicitor general S S Patwalia told the court that only Air India operated flights to Shimla, where 40-seater aircraft had to be flown with nearly 25% empty seats for smooth take off.
16/03/16 Dhananjay Mahapatra/The Times Of India

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Airbus to set up training centre for pilots in India: Kiran Rao

With an order backlog of over 500 planes, Airbus has secured dominant position in India's civil aviation market. Airbus executive vice-president (marketing and strategy) Kiran Rao tells Aneesh Phadnis that the company will set up a pilot training centre in India, and it expects issues around A320neo engine to be resolved by June. Edited excerpts:

How is Airbus supporting its customers in resolution of A320neo engine issue? When can we expect complete resolution of the problem?

First of all, I have to say that we have delivered an excellent aircraft to IndiGo. It consumes less fuel and is quieter. This is important for India as taxes on fuel here are high. We delayed the deliveries because we were waiting for the engine software upgrade and that has now been done. Pratt & Whitney said engine software and hardware issues would all be ironed out by June 2016.

There is a view that cheap fuel can impact the demand and lease premium for A320neo. Do you agree with this?

Fuel costs are an important component of an airline's operating costs. Airlines are keen to save on fuel expenses irrespective of whether crude oil is at $100 or $40 (a barrel) and with 15 per cent less fuel burn, A320neo helps them to do that. We are not seeing any shortage of demand for the aircraft. In fact, customers are requesting us to advance the deliveries.

Public sector banks are saying Airbus should return pre-delivery payments it took for Kingfisher aircraft (Kingfisher did not take delivery of the planes and there is dispute over advances given to Airbus). How is Airbus addressing the issue?

Airbus does not comment on ongoing legal disputes.

Can you tell us more about Airbus plans to set up a flight training centre in India?

We support IndiGo's and CAE's flight training centre at Delhi and Bengaluru. However, we plan to have our own flight training centre in India. Within this year, we will finalise the location and the plan for the centre.

The centre would be for A320-type aircraft to begin with, given the fact that over 70 per cent of our market share in India is in this segment.
16/03/16 Aneesh Phadnis/Business Standard

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