Centre should absorb ATF sales tax burden

Mumbai: Centre should provide relief to loss making domestic airlines by absorbing the Rs 3,200 crore sales tax burden on aviation turbine fuel and ease rules regarding domestic and international operations, Cyrus Guzder chairman of AFL private Ltd said at an aviation summit in Mumbai on Tuesday.
State governments charge upto 25-28% sales tax on ATF, and high fuel costs along with a weak rupee have been responsible for moutning losses.
Guzder said the Centre should direct the states to scrap the sales tax on aviation fuel and compensate the states for the loss by absorbing the Rs 3,200 crore burden.
30/10/12 Aneesh Phadnis /Business Standard

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Better infrastructure needed in Indian aviation: Air Arabia Group CEO

Mumbai: International traffic to/from India has been a strong and steady performer, growing at close to 12 per cent per annum over the last eight years since the market was liberalised. This growth is driving opportunities for global airlines and airports. The second session on ‘India Market Strategies for Foreign Airlines & Airports’ at the CAPA (Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation) India Aviation Summit 2012, held at Taj Mahal Palace hotel in Mumbai today, discussed alternative India market strategies for international airlines and airports. Debating on the topic were Adel Ali, Group CEO, Air Arabia, and Kerrie Mather, CEO, Sydney Airport. The session was moderated by Nik Gowing of the BBC World.
Kicking off the session, Mather said, “India is currently Australia's largest unserved route with no direct flights between India and Australia. In 2011, Sydney recorded 120,000 visitors on the Delhi-Sydney route and 60,000 passengers on the Mumbai-Sydney route. This is enough to fill four daily direct flights. We are currently seeing a double digit growth in traffic from India to Sydney. Asian and Middle-Eastern carriers are taking advantage of this traffic between both countries through their hubs in Singapore, Hong Kong, Dubai, etc. Direct services between India and Sydney would lead to significant growth in traffic.”
30/10/12  Lyandra D'souza/Travel Biz Monitor

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Gulfstream Sees China Private-Jet Rebound as India Trails

China’s private-jet market will rebound next year after a leadership transition in the ruling Communist Party while business aviation falls behind in India, the chief of General Dynamics Corp. (GD)’s Gulfstream unit said.
China is building about 10 airports a year and easing flying restrictions to spur demand, Gulfstream President Larry Flynn said yesterday in an interview. He said sales waned before the country’s once-a-decade power shift, which gets under way with a Communist Party congress starting Nov. 8 in Beijing.
“They’re waiting on the new government in China, so our Chinese orders were down this year from last year,” Flynn said at the National Business Aviation Association conference in Orlando, Florida. “The new government gets installed, people go back to normal business, you’ll see more orders out of China.”
Gulfstream’s role as a producer of private jets such as the long-range G650 gives it a perspective on plane sales inside and outside the U.S. Official support for corporate aviation in China will help the industry expand more quickly in the world’s most-populous country, Flynn said.
30/10/12 Thomas Black/Bloomberg

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Now, wear your baggage to save extra charges on flights

London: Want to avoid paying extra baggage charges on flights? Put on this 'wearable' suitcase!
An Irishman has come up with a bizarre new "wearable luggage" that can hold a total of 15kg of luggage and can help you beat the baggage charges levied by budget airlines.
Engineer John Power has invented a coat, priced at 56 pounds, which is made of light but strong polyester and has 14 variously sized pockets that can hold a total of 15 kg of luggage, the 'Daily Mail' reported.
After boarding, the dress called Jaktogo can be folded up and carried as a shoulder bag.
Power, 57, said that he travels twice a week using budget airlines.
30/10/12 PTI/Business Standard

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Heli taxi service in Kollam

Kollam: The district tourism promotion council (DTPC), Kollam, and New Delhi-based Chipsan Aviation Ltd will introduce a heli taxi service in the town ahead of the second President's Trophy Boat Race on Thursday. The initiative offers helicopter joyrides to the residents on Tuesday and Wednesday.
The AS-350 B3 helicopter that will be based at the Ashramam ground will have the capacity to carry six passengers. The civil aviation department has already approved the proposal to run the service.
The service, divided into two categories of seven and twelve minutes each will cost a person Rs 2,500 and Rs 4,500 respectively.
29/10/12 Times of India

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Coordinated steps needed to boost aviation sector: Venugopal

New Delhi: K C Venugopal, who took over as Minister of State for Civil Aviation today, said coordinated efforts were needed by all stakeholders to boost the growth of the sector.
After taking charge, Venugopal was briefed about the recent measures taken by the Ministry on various issues at an interaction with officers.
On his arrival at the ministry headquarters at Rajiv Gandhi Bhavan, he was received by Civil Aviation Secretary K N Shrivastava and other senior officers.
29/10/12 PTI/Business Standard

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Diwali air fares will burn a big hole in your wallet

Mumbai: With Diwali less than a fortnight away, air fares are already at their peak. While seats are fast running out due to last-minute bookings, no direct flights are available on some sectors. So, if you are planning to travel weekend-to-weekend (from November 10-18), a round trip to any of the metros or some Tier-II cities would cost you nothing less than Rs 13,000-18,000. In some instances, the lowest available fares are as high as Rs 20,000. Although the demand, according to tour operators, has been lower than last year, the proximity to the festival of lights and limited seats in the market have combined to push the fares to new heights.
According to tour operators and travel portals, a round trip ticket to Delhi is priced between Rs 16,000-19,000. Delhi, one of the most well-connected cities in the country, is already one of the most expensive destinations by air. During Diwali, the national capital is one of the most popular destinations in the country-which, said operators, pushes up prices. Kolkata, another hot favourite during the festival, is also the most expensive this season.
30/10/12 Chinmayi Shalya/Times of India

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Aviation sector eyes Indian opportunities

The Aviation Industry Association says a new trade agreement with India will bring a wave of growth for New Zealand aviation firms.
Economic Development Minister Steven Joyce led a delegation to sign an agreement with Indian authorities to improve links and trade in the aviation sector.
India is predicted to jump from the ninth largest civil aviation market in the world to the third by 2020.
But Aviation Industry Association chair Irene King says local businesses have a number of problems operating in India.
29/10/12 Radio New Zealand

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Copter service for Sabarimala pilgrims

Pathanamthitta: Pilgrims visiting Sabarimala from different parts of the country will be able to use the helicopter taxi service from Kochi during the forthcoming annual Mandalam-Makaravilakku season. Thanks, to the regular ‘helitaxi’ service planned by the Delhi-based Chipsan Aviation Ltd. (CAL) for Sabarimala pilgrims.
Talking to The Hindu, Sunil Narayanan, CAL director, said the company was planning to airlift pilgrims using helicopters from the Nedumbasserry airport to Perinad, about 50 km away from Sabarimala, covering 55 nautical miles. The company will take the pilgrims in a luxury taxi cab from Perinad to Pampa. CAL will also make arrangements for the ‘kettumurukku’ of the pilgrims at Pampa.
According to Mr. Narayanan, CAL will charge Rs.12,000 a passenger for a one-way trip and Rs.22,000 for a round trip.
However, during the five-day monthly puja period, the company has on offer another package which includes, apart from the helicopter travel, food, accommodation, and transport facility in a dolly (a palanquin like carriage) from Pampa the holy hillock at Rs.30,000 a person, he added.
28/10/12 Radhakrishnan Kuttoor/The Hindu

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Private airlines may wing it to profit in Dec quarter on better load factor

Chennai: Private airlines could turn profitable in the December quarter on strong yields and better load factors. The private carriers collectively could post a profit of $120-140 million for the quarter although Air India will keep the sector in the red, says CAPA (the Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation) India.
The airlines are hoping for a robust second half. October has not lived up to expectations, with most carriers breaking-even and some posting modest losses. However, November and December looks encouraging, said CAPA India, which tracks the aviation sector, in its report.
Despite the projected strength, the hostile cost environment — over some of which management has limited control such as cost of fuel and the depreciation of the rupee — continues to impact all carriers, it said.
According to CAPA India, the first quarter was the best in 18 months. All private Indian carriers, excluding Kingfisher, were profitable. In several cases, this was due to sale-and-leaseback and other income.
27/10/12 Business Line

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Government forms new aircraft acquisition committee

New Delhi: The government Friday approved the formation of a new aircraft acquisition committee which will consider proposals by airlines on how to meet air traffic demand.
"The committee will consider, examine and make recommendations on all proposals for providing air transport services," the civil aviation ministry said in a statement, adding that the committee will also look into approvals for aircraft imports.
According to the statement, the procedure for import of aircraft has been streamlined with stipulated time-lines being placed for various stages of processing.  "AAC shall examine proposals from the perspectives of air transport capacity, safety, security, financial, commercial and other relevant aspects of the proposal," the statement said.
The AAC will also look into the operations of scheduled air transport services providers, regional airlines and non-scheduled air transport services.
The existing AAC is currently non-functional as it has been dissolved. Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh said earlier that a new AAC will be formed, which would look at business plans, finances and other related aspects of purchase of aircraft.
26/10/12 IANS/Deccan Herald

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Maradona flags off Boby Chemmanur Airlines

Kannur: Argentine football legend Diego Maradona on Wednesday flagged off the low-cost helicopter service, launched by Chemmanur International Jewellers at a gala function here. State home minister Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan was the first traveller in this chopper service named Boby Chemmanur Airlines, which plans to connect main business and pilgrim centres inside and outside Kerala.
Maradona also inaugurated the Kannur showroom of Chemmanur International Jewellers as well as the 101st branch of Chemmanur Gold Loan.
25/10/12 Times of India

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Amex forecast sees only 'modest' air fare rises in 2013

According to American Express Global Business Travel in its latest forecast, airfares will increase “modestly” globally in 2013.
“At the same time, global economic uncertainty – particularly due to the fiscal crisis in Europe and deceleration of growth in China – is expected to curtail demand and keep rates in mature markets, as well as in China, relatively flat,” the forecast says.
“The performance of business travel across Asia Pacific in 2013 will vary country to country, but there are specific markets that will likely see moderate levels of growth including India and Australia,” said Dr Carl Jones, Head of American Express Advisory Services for the Asia Pacific region.
In the Asia Pacific region, market performance will vary in 2013:
Short Haul Economy: -1 to 4 per cent
Long Haul Economy: -1 to 4 per cent
Short Haul Business: 0 to 4 per cent
Long Haul Business: 0 to 4 per cent
25/10/12 Doug Nancarrow/Aviation Business

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Govt allows Indian air carriers their own groundhandling

New Delhi: In a policy reversal, the government today allowed Indian carriers to carry out ground-handling of their own flights at all the airports.
The proposal was made at a meeting Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh had with representatives of airlines here, which came ahead of a hearing of the matter in the Supreme Court soon.
Under the 2007 policy, the main airports were supposed to have only three ground handling companies -- the Air India- Singapore Airport Terminal Services (SATS), the local airport operator in alliance with a ground handling partner and one to be chosen through competitive bidding. The six airports are at Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Kolkata and Chennai.
The airlines complained against the policy saying it would lead to largescale retrenchment and that there would be no alternative use of assets already in place.
25/10/12 PTI/Deccah Herald

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Will foreigners save India's airlines?

India has risen in the past decade to become the world's fourth-largest economy, and together with its technology sector, one industry in particular has mirrored the nation's growth: aviation, according to International Business Times.
India's domestic aviation market has tripled in the past five years and, even as its growth rate has slowed this year, the number of passengers carried by domestic airlines rose 0.5 percent to 39.82 million during the January to August period, compared with a year earlier. India, long an underdog in commercial flying, is now the ninth-biggest civil aviation market in the world in terms of traffic.
The days of harrowing flights to crumbling airports in rickety Soviet-made airplanes are long gone. Now, the nation's airlines fly the newest Boeings and Airbuses, and flag carrier Air India is one of just a handful operating the Boeing 787, the most advanced jetliner in the world. No one in Europe, for example, does yet.
23/10/12 Satya Nagendra Padala/Press-Telegram

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Govt to review rules on private jet import

New Delhi: The civil aviation ministry is mulling a change in the guidelines for non-scheduled operators (NSOPs), to ensure individuals or companies buying aircraft for private purposes cannot do so under the NSOP category at lower import duty and then divert it for personal use.
Minister Ajit Singh said, “We are looking at route dispersal guidelines to encourage connectivity and we will be going with a code-share arrangement between non-scheduled operators and commercial airlines for connectivity to tier-III and tier-IV cities (a code share is where two or more airlines share a flight). We are also looking to see if we can put guidelines for NSOPs, so that people can’t import jets at lower tax and then use it as private ones.”
Singh said the ministry was looking into duties, too. “We want some adjustments, so that there isn’t a wide variance in the duties (on imported jets).
23/10/12 Disha Kanwar/Business Standard

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Air Kerala to approach DGCA for NOC

Kochi: Air Kerala, the proposed airline of Kerala, will put in a formal application next month before the director general of civil aviation ( DGCA) for getting the no objection certificate for services.
This was stated here on Monday by minister fisheries, port and excise K Babu, who is also a member of the director board of Air Kerala. He was speaking after inaugurating the covered passenger alighting and boarding facility at the international terminal of Cochin airport.
The minister said the consultancy firm assigned to prepare the feasibility report on the proposed airline would submit its report in three months.
"But we are not waiting for the report and are planning to go ahead with other pre-launch activities. All such works will be undertaken simultaneously,'' Babu said.
23/10/12 T Ramavarman/Times of India

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Cloud seeding to go on till early Dec

Bangalore: Cloud-seeding operations, which started in the catchment areas of Cauvery, Kabini and Hemavathi river basins last week, will go on till the first week of December.
Arvind Sharma, CEO of Agni Aviation, which has been entrusted with carrying out cloud seeding, said: “The window of opportunity is till the first week of December and we will be carrying out operations till then. The results have so far been quite satisfactory as it has contributed 20-25% of the rainfall,” he said.
Over the last couple of days, many parts of the state, especially southern Karnataka, has been receiving considerable rainfall. Sharma added that one aircraft based at the Mysore airport has been carrying out sorties for about six to seven hours every day.
22/10/12 Daily News & Analysis

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Cloud seeding trials take off in Mysore

Mysore: At a time when the residents of Mysore and Mandya districts wait for rains to alleviate the water crisis, a private company has been conducting ‘basic trials’ in cloud seeding in the City of Palaces.
Speaking to Deccan?Herald, chief pilot Captain Arvind Sharma of Agni Aviation confirmed that cloud seeding trials have started. A Piper Cheyenne aircraft has been kept on ‘operational standby’ to undertake seeding, depending on the formation of clouds in the catchment areas of the Kabini, the Cauvery and the Hemavathi River basins.
“The seeding will be carried out depending on the cloud formation in the coming days by the Piper Cheyenne aircraft, which has been stationed at Mandakalli Airport in Mysore,” Sharma said.
According to Sharma, “Cloud seeding is a technique of precipitation enhancement.” But unless there are “good clouds available,” it becomes impossible to carry out the process. 
20/10/12 Manish/Deccan Herald

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Increase FDI to boost aviation sector of Country: Ajit Singh

The Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh has said that increase in Foreign Direct Investment would give a boost to the aviation sector in India.
Talking to AIR, on the sidelines of a meeting in Dubai, he said the decision to increase the investment limits in the airline sector in India is an enabling provision, which will bring an increased flow of capital, new expertise and technology, quality services, improvement in airport infrastructure and maintenance. The Minister said in the long run, it is bound to help the growth of aviation industry in the country.
20/10/12 All India Radio

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‘Joint venture is answer to expats’ travel woes’

DUBAI: India’s central and state governments, members of Parliament from Kerala and the opposition should unite and act together for a joint ‘Air Kerala-Air India Express’ venture.
This was a suggestion for the solution of Air India’s woes by some Indian political stalwarts and bureaucrats in Dubai.
Communist Party of India (Marxist) Kerala state secretary Pinarayi Vijayan suggested the union and state joint action to help ease the travel problems of expatriate workers in the Gulf from Kerala, which according to him are shortage of aircraft, unacceptable seasonal fare hikes and unsolicited cancellations that allow exploitation by other airlines.
Vijayan was speaking after inaugurating the festivities of the 250th episode of Gulf Focus at a seminar organised by Malayalam Communications Limited, the company that owns Kairali, People and We television channels beaming from Kerala.
Gulf Focus is a programme aired by Kairali TV focusing on issues faced by Keralites in the Gulf states.
21/10/12 Mohan Vadayar/Gulf Today

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India could face shortage of air traffic control officers

New Delhi: : With burgeoning air traffic, India could soon face a severe shortage of air traffic control officers (ATCOs), a top aviation official said today, asking the Airports Authority of India to take immediate steps to recruit them in large numbers.
Responding to the suggestion by DGCA chief Arun Mishra, AAI Chairman V P Agrawal said the average annual intake of ATCOs was about 250, apart from an almost similar number for communication officers. "We will step up this recruitment process in the coming days," he said.
They were speaking at the opening of the four-day Asia Pacific Regional Meeting of the International Federation of ATC Association here.
Expressing concern over airlines criticising "high airport charges", the AAI chief said the navigation charges in India were "25-30 per cent lower than Europe and China. And yet, the IATA (International Air Transport Association) speaks of high charges."
He said the improvements in air traffic flow management and navigation systems had led to lesser fuel burn for aircraft and has helped airlines save lot of resources.
20/10/12 PTI/Economic Times

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Mahindra & Mahindra May Re-bid For American Aircraft Maker Hawker Beechcraft

Amid the recent political debate by Barack Obama and Mitt Romney on keeping China’s currency at low levels, lies a sale of a bankrupt American aircraft maker, Hawker Beechcraft.
Mahindra & Mahindra Limited, which had earlier bid for the company and lost it to a Chinese part government owned firm Superior Aviation Beijing Co., is said to bid again for it, states ET. Superior Aviation was supposed to buy it for $1.79 Bn.
The news rekindled as the deal between the American and Chinese firm did not go through.
Hawker’s CEO Steve Miller hinted at ‘global politics’ involved in the deal failure, citing calls from the Democrats and Republicans for toughness on China’s currency policies.
M&M is looking to grow in the aerospace business and had earlier bought majority stakes in component maker Aerostaff Australia and turboprop aircraft manufacturer Gippsland Aeronautics in 2009.
19/10/12 Paritosh Gajjar/Deal Curry

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IndiGo No. 1 in Indian skies again

New Delhi: Low cost carrier, IndiGo, once again emerged as the market leader, with the airline carrying the highest number of passengers and claiming the largest market share in September.
The no-frill airline carried 10.94 lakh passengers and claimed 27.2 per cent market share last month. The domestic airlines witnessed a 0.5 per cent dip in terms of total number of passengers carried between January and September against the corresponding period last year, official data showed.
Between January and September this year, a total of 438.39 lakh passenger flew on domestic airlines, while in the corresponding period last year the number was 442.18 lakh, a dip of 0.9 per cent.
In September, there was a dip of 3.51 lakh passengers as compared to August. The domestic scheduled operators carried a total of 40.18 lakh passengers last month while in August they flew 43.69 lakh, the data showed.
19/10/12 Financial Express

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Domestic airlines report 12% drop in flyers in Sept

New Delhi:  Domestic airlines registered a decline of over 12 per cent in the number of passengers during September this year, as compared to the same period last year.
Latest data released by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation show that domestic airlines flew 40.18 lakh passengers in September, as compared with 45.87 lakh passengers flown previously.
Analysts say the decline in passenger demand was largely due to the fare hike by airlines . To spur demand, the full service airlines, including Jet Airways and Air India, have dropped fares by 40 per cent if passengers book in advance.
The data indicate that for the fourth successive month, demand was lower than the available capacity.
18/10/12 Business Line

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Joyrides a huge hit with tourists

Mysore: Mysoreans and others are enjoying joyrides over Heritage City. With a rise in the inflow of tourists following the suspension of the Cauvery agitation, the popularity of rides has gone up. The two aircraft -- Cessna 152 and Cessna 172 - took off on Tuesday. Many tourists went back home disappointed due to the limited number of rides.
"It feels great to fly the city at 1,000 ft and because there's no air traffic, it's easy to land and take off," said assistant flight instructor Madhurima Mukherjee who flies the Cessna-152.
She added: "The four-seater Cessna-172 obviously can take more people at a time. Those who've come on the ride enjoy every moment of his journey and families prefer the Cessna-172. The rush was overwhelming from Day 1." Till Thursday evening, 120 persons had gone on the joyride.
19/10/12 Kevin Mendonsa/Times of India

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Cheaper air travel could be illusory

Mumbai: While Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh and some experts say abolition of the airport development fee (ADF) at the Delhi and Mumbai airports from January 2013 would lead to lower cost of travel, it might actually do the opposite.
Experts say the expected financing gap in the case of Mumbai International Airport Ltd (MIAL) will be Rs 4,200 crore and in the case of Delhi International Airport Ltd (DIAL) Rs 1,500 crore. Domestic passengers pay Rs 200 and Rs 100 as ADF at Delhi and Mumbai airports, respectively, and international passengers pay Rs 1,300 and Rs 600 a trip, respectively. Delhi also levies a user development fee (UDF) of between Rs 190 and Rs 450 on domestic passengers and Rs 400-1,000 on international travellers.
Sector experts say in the absence of ADF, the UDF charges are likely to go up. The amount will be fixed by the Airports Economic Regulatory Authority.
A GMR Group (it runs DIAL) spokesperson earlier told Business Standard that raising funds in the next two to three months to compensate for the loss of ADF (that is, raising debt and debt/equity to fill the gap) would be difficult. Adding, the government's move will pose challenges for private investors in the project, too.
18/10/12 Neha Pandey Deoras/Business Standard

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Kaman, Kineco sign deal to form joint venture in India

Kaman Aerospace Group Inc., a subsidiary of the Bloomfield, Conn.-based and publicly traded Kaman Corp. and Kineco Pvt. Ltd. have agreed to form a manufacturing joint venture in India. The new company will be named Kineco Kaman Composites India Pvt. Ltd. The venture is based in Goa and will manufacture advanced composite structures for aerospace, imaging/medical and other industries.
“This venture comes together with the strength of a mutually shared vision that will drive and focus the joint venture to provide outstanding composite structures manufacturing solutions for our customers around the world. This strategic step is in keeping with our vision to provide our customers with a complete aerosystem solution,” said Gregory L. Steiner, president of Kaman Aerospace Group. “Our customers will benefit with a Kaman ‘One Stop’ full complement of seamless services including design, tooling, testing, certification, low rate initial production, through steady state high velocity production. In addition, mature processes with high labor content will serve as key potential opportunities to provide our customers with future step down pricing.”
“The partnership between Kineco and Kaman is a unique and special one. This joint venture formation has the potential to become an extraordinary event for Indian business and the global aerospace industry,” said Shekhar Sardessai, chairman and managing director of Kineco. “This relationship will foster and develop opportunities for both companies from uncharted territories.”
18/10/12 Indus Business Journal

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India Ponders Allowing Per-seat Scheduled Air Charter

The Indian government looks set to reform complex rules that have made it hard for charter operators to expand services. The country’s Business Aviation Operators Association (BAOA) is in talks with the Ministry of Civil Aviation to permit nonscheduled operators to enter into codeshares with scheduled airlines to provide feeder services to remote destinations with short and unpaved runways.
“Discussions are also on for [merging] the scheduled operator permit with the nonscheduled operator’s permit [NSOP] under a common air operator permit, as is the global norm,” BAOA president Rohit Kapur told AIN. As things stand NSOP operators cannot legally publish or advertise flight departures or sell tickets to individual passengers. In practice they have to quietly take bookings from passengers and then coordinate the departure time.
18/10/12 AIN Online

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No plan to invest in Indian carrier: Cathay Pacific

New Delhi: Hong Kong-based Cathay Pacific today asked India to relook into the "high" airport tariffs and said it has no plans to invest in any Indian carrier.
"Airlines are working in wafer-thin margin and such high airport charges were not going to help Indian aviation sector in long-term view," Tom Wright, General Manager, South Asia, Middle East and Africa, told reporters.
He said Indian airports are some of the most expensive in the world and high airport charges were detrimental to the growth of passenger traffic and hard on airlines struggling to maintain their margins.
Though bouyed by India's passenger traffic potential, Wright said Cathay Pacific had no plans to invest in domestic carriers now as "our business model doesn't allow for the same."
17/10/12 PTI/Economic Times

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Have aerial view for Rs 2.5k

Mysore: There was a huge applause when Cessna-152 aircraft took off the ground from Mandkalli Airport here on Monday. As part of Dasara celebrations, the district administration, in association with Government Flying Training School (GFTS-Jakkur, Bangalore), is offering aircraft ride for Rs 2,500 under Maharaja package.
The administration had planned to bring two aircraft Cessna-152 and Cessna-172. But only two-seater Cessna-152 was able to land in Mysore. "The four-seater aircraft couldn't land due to unavoidable reasons and non-availability of pilot," said DC P S Vastrad. Cessna-172 would land in the coming days, after clearing some norms and when the pilot is available.
Speaking on the features of Cessna-152, GFTS director Naveen Raj Singh said it is an American two-seater, fixed-tricycle gear, general aviation airplane. The plane is piloted by assistant flight instructor Madhurima Mukherjee.
16/10/12 Kevin Mendonsa/Times of India

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Indian carriers to operate 19% less flights due to high costs

New Delhi: With rising costs, Indian carriers would operate 19 per cent less number of flights this winter compared to last year, though no-frill airlines would put in more flights during the busy season starting this month-end.
Full-service carriers, Air India and Jet Airways, along with their no-frill subsidiaries Alliance Air and JetLite, would operate less number of flights, while all no-frill airlines -- IndiGo, SpiceJet and GoAir, would significantly increase flights and augment capacity this season, according to the Winter Schedule of flights approved by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation.
Significantly, the flight schedule of crisis-ridden Kingfisher Airlines has not been approved by aviation regulator DGCA. Kingfisher, which has declared a lockout till October 20 with its employees on strike to demand pending wages, had last year flown 2,930 flights.
17/10/12 PTI/Business Standard

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Govt allows pvt firms to use PSU-owned jet fuel facilities

New Delhi: After allowing domestic airlines to import ATF directly, the government has decided to permit private firms to use oil PSU-owned jet fuel facilities like refuelling terminal and storages at Chennai and Kolkata airports.
Currently, open access to ATF facilities exist at Delhi, Hyderabad and Bangalore airports, sources said on the sidelines of the Petrotech 2012 Conference here.
At a meeting convened on September 24 by Pulok Chatterji, Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister, the issue of open access to ATF facilities of PSUs at airports was discussed.
It was earlier planned that open access would be provided at Chennai, Kolkata, Goa and Mumbai airports by March 2013. However, the target date was shifted to December 2014/March 2015.
At the meeting, attended by Oil Secretary G C Chaturvedi, it was decided that open access would be provided at Chennai and Kolkata airports by March 2013, sources said.
17/10/12 PTI/Business Standard

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India, New Zealand to cooperate in civil aviation sector

New Delhi: India and New Zealand today decided to promote and develop training and technical cooperation in civil aviation sector including accepting of each other's aeronautical products and licenses.
A document, called the 'Arrangement for Cooperation on Civil Aviation', was signed by Civil Aviation Secretary K N Shrivastava and New Zealand High Commissioner Jan Henderson.
Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh and Minister of Economic Development and Tertiary Education Steven Joyce were present during the ceremony.
17/10/12 PTI/Business Standard

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Wider aviation coverage on Ajit Singh's radar

Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh is thinking of toughening the route dispersal guidelines, so that domestic carriers mandatorily fly to more Tier-3 and Tier-4 cities.
In an interview to Business Standard, he said: “The problem with these cities is not that they are in remote locations but they do not have connectivity. We are looking at creating a new category of such locations in the route dispersal guidelines, so they (carriers) have to fly a certain percentage (of their flights) here. We could also increase the 10 per cent rule.” Basically, the plan is to recategorise the categories in route dispersal guidelines of 1994 according to the current economic conditions of the cities.
Under the current policy, a domestic carrier has to fly 10 per cent of the number of flights that it does in metropolitan and large cities (category-1) to destinations in the northeast, Andaman and Nicobar Islands and Jammu & Kashmir (category–2).
17/10/12 Disha Kanwar & Surajeet Das Gupta/Business Standard

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Etihad not interested in majority ownership, CEO says

Abu Dhabi: Etihad Airways Chief Executive Officer James Hogan said on Tuesday that the Abu Dhabi-based airline has been approached by “all Indian carriers” for the possibility of buying stake.
“All the Indian carriers have approached us and we continue to evaluate the impact of FDI [Foreign Direct Investment],” Hogan told reporters Tuesday on the sidelines of a conference in Abu Dhabi.
When asked how many airlines, Hogan said, “quite a number.”
Last month, the Indian government lifted a ban on foreign airlines investing in its carriers, allowing them to invest up to 49 per cent. The lifting of the ban is expected to help the domestic airline industry in India.
16/10/12  Samia Badih/Gulf News

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Domestic flying may cost more as airlines cut flights by 19%

New Delhi: This winter not only will domestic air passengers have fewer choices but may have to pay more for flights.
This is because airlines plan to trim flights to 10,935 a week down almost a fifth from the 13,541 they operated in winter 2011.
Kingfisher Airlines off the air, the general slowdown, the high level of taxation and fuel charges have forced airlines to reduce the winter offering.
Globally, the winter schedule runs from the last Sunday in October till the last Sunday in March of the following year. Airlines need to the permission of the Directorate-General of Civil Aviation to operate flights during this period.
Amber Dubey, partner and head aviation, KPMG, says the capacity may not just push fares up but foresees some consolidation.
17/10/12 Business Line

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Many challenges before Oommen Chandy's Air Kerala project: Experts

Thiruvananthapuram: While Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy is determined to see his pet Air Kerala project take off by April 14, 2013, aviation experts on Monday opined that unless prudence was shown, it would end up the way of numerous other state-owned enterprises. P.K. Devidas, an aviation professional with more than four-and-a-half decades of operational experience at the highest level with international airlines, said the simple rule that Chandy should adopt was to ensure that businessmen, bureaucrats and politicians were kept away from the proposed airline.
"Thorough professionals in the aviation industry should be recruited and they should be given full responsibility and made accountable. If those with no airline experience are recruited, it would end up as a miserable failure, as we have seen in our country in the aviation industry," said Devidas to IANS. The Kerala government will apply to the Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) next month with the preliminary capital of Rs 100 crore.
As of now, the rules state that an airline can fly on international routes only after operating in the domestic sector for five years. But Chandy is hoping that with a battery of central ministers from Kerala, pressure can be applied to get rules relaxed. Batting for Air Kerala is union Minister for Overseas Indian Affairs Vayalar Ravi, who wanted the central government to give exemption on the condition that the proposed airline should operate on domestic routes for a stipulated period of time.
15/10/12 IANS/IBN Live

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Air Kerala may fly overseas on FDI

Foreign carriers have evinced interest in Air Kerala, a state-promoted airline project, expected to fly between the Arabian Gulf countries and the southern Indian state. A tie-up with a foreign airline may help the start-up to fly overseas overcoming regulations which insist five years of domestic operations and a minimum fleet size, said people familiar with the process.
Currently, Air Kerala, with an initial equity base of Rs 200 crore, will be 26% state-owned with non-resident Keralites and business groups holding the remaining shares valued at Rs 10,000 per share. Ernst & Young is helping the Kerala government with a feasibility report on the airline project, which could dent Air India's business on the profitable Gulf sector routes.
Last month, India allowed foreign airlines to buy 49% ownership in domestic carriers opening up possibilities for Air Kerala, which is being floated to offer competitive fares to the state's diaspora of more than 2.5 million in the oil-rich Gulf. Incidentally, the Arab airlines have dominated prevailing talks of foreign interest in India's crisis-hit aviation sector.
15/10/12 Boby Kurian/Times of India

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Discounts disappear as airfares soar

Mumbai: With the airfares going high around Diwali, discounts are now vanishing soon. To make the most of the heavy demand for domestic travel in November, airline have withdrawn the discount offers, earlier used to lure passengers.
In a recent development, Jet airways and Air India withdrew the incentives offered to fliers while booking. "All the fares on the inventory are the same, heavy discounts for early bookers are all gone," said Rajesh Rateria, managing director, Cirrus travels. "The demand has increased and all airlines will now capitalise on it to make some profits," he added. Travel experts said that the exit of Kingfisher inventory from the market has made travel dearer this season.
"Due to less number of seats factors, the prices have gone up. As Diwali gets closer, fares will rise further up by at least 20 percent," a Fort-based agent said. "A return trip to Delhi is likely to go up to Rs 20,000 to 30,000," he added.
14/10/12 Chinmayi Shalya/Times of India

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C02 emission by airlines very low: DGCA

New Delhi: To make Indian skies more environment friendly, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation has for the first time come up with a detailed aviation carbon footprint report. The report states that Indian and foreign airlines in India account for less than one per cent of the country’s total carbon dioxide emissions. From now on, all airlines and airports will have to submit air turbine fuel consumption, electricity usage and information about the movements of passenger, cargo and aircraft to the DGCA.
15/10/12 Indian Express

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Jet fuel prices cut by 3%, burden on airlines reduced

Jet fuel prices were on Monday cut by 3% on back of rising rupee, the second reduction in rates this month that will ease burden on cash-strapped airlines.
Aviation Turbine Fuel (ATF) price at T3 terminal in Delhi was cut by Rs2,117 per kilolitre (kl), or 3%, to Rs68,399 per kl with effect from Monday night, according to Indian Oil Corp, the nation's largest fuel retailer.
The reduction, which comes on back of a steep 4.3% (Rs 3194.72 per kl) cut in rates effected from October 1, was possible as rupee firmed up against the US dollar making and cheaper international oil.
Prior to these cuts, ATF price were hiked on five occasions since July.
In Mumbai, jet fuel will cost Rs68,731 per kl as against Rs70,949.97 currently.
15/10/12 PTI/Daily News & Analysis

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Betting on the Bombardier Q400

The Indian aviation sector floundered last fiscal due to high fuel cost and weak pricing power. But low-cost carriers IndiGo, GoAir and SpiceJet — buoyed by expansion in market share and expectations of market growth — went aggressive on their expansion plans.
While IndiGo and GoAir placed large orders for the Airbus A320 Neo aircraft, the Sun Group controlled SpiceJet placed its bets on the Bombardier Q400 turboprop aircraft. These, SpiceJet says in its annual report for 2011-12, helped the airline connect to Tier II and Tier III cities. It placed an order for 15 Q400 aircraft and took delivery of 12 last fiscal.
What made the airline decide to go for the Bombardier Q400? SpiceJet says the airports in many smaller cities do not have the infrastructure to accommodate jets.
15/10/12 Anand Kalyanara/Business Line

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Fliers in small planes at risk of oxygen shortage

Mumbai:  It is a small detail but it could mean the difference between life and death. If you are in a turbo prop aircraft like a Bombardier Q400 or an ATR aircraft, oxygen masks in these flying machines are not deployed automatically during an emergency in case oxygen levels in the passenger cabin dip, making it hard to breathe.
In such situations, passengers in such aircraft are expected to make do with poor oxygen supply for a maximum of four minutes, which is something a healthy person can endure. But if you have an asthma condition or a pulmonary or cardiac problem or are severely anaemic or if you are a heavy smoker, you could be in trouble. The same would apply if you are a senior citizen or if you are flying with a baby.
Bombardier Q400 aircraft have no oxygen masks for passengers. One has to call for help and the flight attendant is expected to rush with an oxygen cylinder which has masks attached. In case of an ATR aircraft, the flight attendant will have to come to your row and manually deploy the oxygen mask, which though is available only for 25 percent of the passengers.
15/10/12 Manju V/Times of India

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Rajeev Chandrasekar's aerospace software firm set for expansion

Bangalore: Axis Aerospace & Technologies (AAT), owned by Rajya Sabha MP Rajeev Chandrasekar, is planning to establish a supply chain cluster in  75-acre land near the Bangalore International Airport to provide manufacturing and allied support facilities to global aerospace and defence companies.
AAT, which offers integrated product development services to companies such as Airbus, Bombardier, Caterpillar, Thales, Volvo among others, is also understood to be closing in on a key acquisition to tap the impending flow of offset orders into India.
Sudhakar Gande, Vice Chairman, Axis Aerospace & Technologies, said, "The relationship with Airbus, one of the key clients of AAT subsidiary CADES, has been progressing well, and the ODC (Offshore Development Centre) that has been set up for Airbus is on track to achieve its business objectives and goals."
"As part of AAT’s growth strategy, we are actively scouting the market for acquisitions to expand our offerings in engineering services for both the civil/commercial as well as defence/offset markets," he added.
15/10/12 Raghuvir Badrinath/Business Standard

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Aviation Min to review all cases of violations

After finding that the Airports Authority of India was sitting on a vigilance report alleging its officials of major irregularities in awarding ground handling projects in Chennai and Kolkata airports, the civil aviation ministry has started a review of all vigilance cases pending with its departments.
The key departments under the ministry are the Directorate General of Civil Aviation, Airports Authority of India (AAI), Pawan Hans Helicopters Limited and Air India Limited.
“After the alleged irregularities in the award of ground handling projects by the AAI, we decided to start the review. In this particular instance, we found that the case was pending with the authority for quite some time but it did not initiate any action against its officials,” said a senior civil aviation ministry official.
The official said that the ministry will review all the cases and will initiate suitable action against the ones involved, as it is believed that there would be many cases where action would not have been initiated.
15/10/12 Mihir Mishra/Indian EXpress

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Aerial ride from today

Mysore: Finally, the directorate general of civil aviations (DGCA) has given its approval for sortie (joy ride in small aircrafts) at Mysore Airport at Mandakalli, as part of Dasara festivities.
Beginning from?Monday (October 15), Dasara sortie will begin in Cessna aircraft from the airport at 9.30 am and the ticket per head is priced at Rs 2,500 under Maharaja package.
The package is a two-seater facility (including the pilot) and will offer the passenger a view of landmarks of the city from the sky; Chamundi Hill, Hotel?Lalithamahal Palace and Amba Vilas Palace in a duration of 15 minutes, deputy commissioner P?S?Vastrad told Deccan Herald.
14/10/12 Deccan Herald

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Geetika suicide case: Aruna Chaddha's bail plea dismissed

New Delhi: A Delhi court Monday rejected the bail plea of Aruna Chaddha, an accused in former flight attendant Geetika Sharma's suicide.
District Judge S.K. Sarvaria dismissed the bail application of Chaddha, an official of the now-defunct MDLR Airlines where Geetika had worked. She was arrested Aug 8.
"The apprehension of the prosecution that the applicant would tamper with prosecution evidence if enlarged on bail cannot be said to be baseless," the court said.
Former Haryana minister Gopal Goyal Kanda, employer of Chaddha and Geetika, is the prime accused in the case. He too is in judicial custody along with Chaddha.
Geetika, 23, died on the night of Aug 4-5 at her house in Delhi's Ashok Vihar area. Her two suicide notes named Kanda and Chaddha for harassing her and driving her to suicienied the allegations.
15/10/12 Punjab Newsline

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IAF to procure 12 choppers for Siachen operations

New Delhi: Troops stationed at the Siachen Glacier can look forward to better resource mobilisation as the Indian Air Force is procuring 12 new light helicopters for deployment there.
A request for proposal (RFP) has been sent by the IAF to defence aerospace PSU HAL for buying 12 Cheetal helicopters which will be used for carrying out operations in high altitude areas in the northern borders, IAF officials said.
The Cheetal helicopters are an upgraded version of the Cheetahs with more powerful engines manufactured by HAL.
The IAF has some of its squadrons of the Cheetah/Chetak choppers deployed in Leh and Thoise in Jammu and Kashmir for flying to provide air support to army troops deployed at and along the world's highest battlefield there, the officials said.
14/10/12 Kashmir Times

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Jharkhand CM push for delayed copter deal

Nearly five months after the fateful helicopter accident, the civil aviation department of the Jharkhand Government has been finally instructed to wake up and take some steps for purchase of a new helicopter for VIP use.
Chief Minister Arjun Munda on Saturday instructed to form a panel of senior State officials to evaluate proposals for the purchase that would be finalised through a global tender.
The CM directed formation of a committee headed by the Development Commissioner to evaluate proposals for purchase of a VIP helicopter through global tender. The committee will have Principal Secretaries of the home, finance and civil aviation departments as members and the Chief Secretary will review the proposal.
According to instructions, the committee will decide on the brand and price of the helicopter that would be purchased for the State Government.
15/10/12 Daily Pioneer.com

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Poor performance of regional airlines to be examined

New Delhi: Acknowledging that regional airlines have not succeeded so far in India, the Civil Aviation Ministry has decided to examine the reasons and the steps needed to be taken to promote regional connectivity.
Along with this, the Ministry would also examine ways to carry out restructuring of the Route Dispersal Guidelines (RDGs) which mandate Indian carriers to operate to socially- important but financially-unviable routes of the Northeast, Jammu and Kashmir and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
"It has been decided to conduct a study to examine why regional airlines are not successful in India and what needs to be done to promote regional air connectivity," official sources said.
To carry out this study, the Ministry has decided to appoint a consultancy firm to examine these issues in-depth and recommend measures to improve regional connectivity, they said, adding the outcome of the study could form the basis of a draft policy framework on the matter.
14/10/12 PTI/Business Standard

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Eye on aviation pie

Bhubaneswar: With a view to augmenting air connectivity in the state, the Odisha government has approached the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), a Montreal-based United Nations body, to extend support in developing a roadmap.
"We have discussed our plans for developing the civil aviation sector in Odisha and requested ICAO to send a team to the state soon," secretary, commerce and transport, G Mathivatanan, told TOI. Mathivatanan met secretary general of ICAO Raymond Benjamin in New Delhi on Friday. "Benjamin assured to send a team to assess the state's potential in the civil aviation sector soon and help build a roadmap for developing Greenfield airports and other infrastructure," Mathivatanan informed.
The ICAO was created in 1944 "to promote safe and orderly development of international civil aviation throughout the world. It sets standards and regulations necessary for aviation safety, security, efficiency and regularity, as well as for aviation environmental protection. The organization serves as the forum for cooperation in all fields of civil aviation among its 191 member states", says the organisation's website.
14/10/12 Times of India

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Coordination meeting held on charter arrivals

Panaji/Vasco: With the first charter flight scheduled to touch down at Dabolim on October 16, the director general of police Kishan Kumar on Saturday held a co-ordination meeting with various agencies including officials of the airport, customs, immigration, CISF and police.
Airport director M Suresh told STOI that the meeting was held to discuss issues pertaining to strengthening security and also to enhance ease for charter tourists. With over 900 charter flights scheduled to arrive in Goa during the season beginning with October 16, the DGP urged officials of the customs and immigration to ensure the smooth functioning at the airport without compromising on movement of drugs and other contraband.
14/10/12 Times of India

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Cathay Pacific to exhaust its traffic rights

New Delhi: Cathay-Pacific, Hong Kong’s flag carrier, will be the second after Dubai-based Emirates to utilise all its bilateral air traffic rights with India, as it increases its weekly flights from 35 at present to 46 by the year end.
It will start four flights a week to Hyderabad from Hong Kong in December, while its wholly-owned subsidiary Dragonair will commence a similar service to Kolkata from November.
Tom Wright, general manager, South Asia, West Asia and Africa, said, “Once we have launched all our flights to these destination, we would have utilised all our traffic rights.” Traffic rights negotiated between India and Hong Kong are primarily based on number of flights. But in case of Delhi, it includes seats.
14/10/12 Disha Kanwar/Business Standard

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Rupee appreciation will improve airline profits

Mumbai: The strengthening of rupee against the dollar in the last month will improve operating profits of domestic airlines,  according to  Bank of America Merrill Lynch (BOAML)  analysis. Rupee has appreciated approximately six percent versus the US dollar over the past five weeks. Airlines stand to benefit  since significant portion of domestic airlines' costs are  in US dollars.
The BOAML analysts estimate that each one  percent  appreciation in rupee will improve  Jet Airways and SpiceJet's  earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, amortisation and rentals (EBIDTAR) by 0.4 percent and 1.8 percent respectively in current financial year.
Appreciating rupee will have an indirect impact on price of aviation turbine fuel, the report says. State oil marketing companies cut aviation fuel prices by 4.3 percent earlier this month the first such reduction since June.
For FY 2012 Jet Airways and SpiceJet posted a EBIDTAR of Rs 1168 crore and Rs 83 crore respectively.   However  both these airlines  posted huge losses due to rising fuel costs and depreciating rupee. Fuel costs account for 30-40 percent of domestic airlines' operating expenses and carriers were hit hard by both these factors.
13/10/12 Aneesh Phadnis/Business Standard

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Good times ahead for the airlines industry

Chennai: The festive season is expected to bring in some cheer to the beleaguered airlines industry with airlines companies expected to benefit from an appreciating rupee, temporary shutdown of Kingfisher and improvement in yields and utilizations due to the onset of the busy season. While we expect weak quarter two results (FY13) on account of seasonality, we could see a sharper than expected recovery in the seasonally strong third quarter, a recent report on the airlines industry by Bank of America Merrill Lynch stated.
Moreover, the appreciating rupee will also have an indirect impact through prices of domestic fuel. The temporary shutdown of Kingfisher is also seen as a marginal positive for remaining carriers as this further consolidates the industry and eases supply prior to the busy season. We do not expect Kingfisher to normalize its operations in the near term, the report added.
13/10/12 Aparna Ramalingam/Times of India

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HAL signs MTA contract with Russian partners

Bangalore: Hindustan Aeronautics today entered into an agreement for a Multirole Transport Aircraft project with its Russian partner United Aircraft Corporation— Transport Aircraft (UAC-TA).
The preliminary design phase contract was signed with UAC-TA, the Russian partner and their JV-Multirole Transport Aircraft Ltd for the Multirole Transport Aircraft project, Hindustan Aeronautics (HAL) said in a statement.
The agreement is a follow on contract of the General Contract signed between the three parties in May 2012, it said.
"With this HAL and UAC-TA will start the preliminary design work immediately at Moscow. HAL design team consisting of 30 designers will be positioned at UAC-TA", HAL Chairman R K Tyagi said.
The primary objective of the project is to achieve self reliance in design, development and production of aircraft of this size and also to manage the programme with international collaboration and large number of global suppliers, he added.
12/10/12 PTI/Business Standard

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Domestic aviation sector may see recovery in Q3: Report

Mumbai: The struggling domestic aviation sector is likely to see a recovery in the third quarter on the back of a stronger domestic currency and temporary shutdown of Kingfisher Airlines, among others, according to a report.
"While we expect weak Q2 results on account of seasonality, we could see a sharper-than-expected recovery in the seasonally strong Q3.
"In the near-term domestic airline companies will benefit from an appreciating rupee, temporary shutdown of Kingfisher, capacity discipline and improvement in utilisations and yields due to onset of busy season," a Bank of America Merrill Lynch report said here today.
Noting that the rupee has appreciated close to 6% to the dollar in the last five weeks, the report said the appreciating rupee will also have an indirect impact through the prices of domestic fuel.
12/10/12 PTI/Business Standard

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Ministry of civil aviation to focus on promotion of regional air connectivity

Guwahati: The ministry of civil aviation will engage consultant to undertake study on promotion of regional air connectivity.
The study will look into the issue of restructuring of Route Dispersal Guidelines. The outcome of the study shall form the basis of a Draft Policy Framework on the subject.
The consultant will bring out the role of regional air connectivity in India and identify the factors that are inhibiting the growth of regional air connectivity in different parts of the country which shall include economic, commercial, technical, infrastructure, policy and regulatory constraints.
12/10/12 Bikash Singh/Economic Times

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Bombardier Aerospace expands in India

Montreal:  Bombardier is expanding its business jet repair capabilities in India.
The aerospace division of the Montreal-based plane and train builder says a repair shop in New Delhi operated by current partner Air Works has been named a line maintenance facility for Challenger 604, Challenger 605, Global Express and Global Express XRS business jets.
It will complement Air Works’ centre in Mumbai, which has been part of Bombardier’s authorized service facility network since 2008.
The newly authorized New Delhi facility at Indira Gandhi International Airport, features an 840-square-metre maintenance hangar.
“Our long-standing relationship with Air Works and their commitment to excellence make them a perfect fit for the needs of Bombardier operators in the region,” said Bombardier customer services spokesman Eric Martel.
12/10/12 The Gazette

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Indian carriers to benefit from temporary shutdown of Kingfisher: BoA-ML

Mumbai:  Indian airline companies are set to benefit from appreciating Rupee, temporary shutdown of Kingfisher, capacity discipline and improvement in utilistions and yields due to onset of busy season, said Bank of America Merrill Lynch in a report. "While we expect weak Q2FY13 results on account of seasonality, we could see a sharper than expected recovery in the seasonally strong Q3," it said.
The airline industry is going through rough weather. Kingfisher and Indian Airlines have been affected by high debt and employee unrest.
Rupee has appreciated 6 per cent vis a vis the US dollar over the past 5 weeks. Significant portion of domestic Indian airlines costs are US$ denominated. Each 1 per cent appreciation in Rupee improves FY13E EBITDAR by 0.4 per cent, 1.8 per cent for Jet AirwaysBSE 2.29 % by 0.4 per cent and SpiceJet by 1.8 per cent, said the report.
12/10/12 Anindya Upadhyay/Economic Times

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Tiff over carbon tax on aviation may end soon

New Delhi: The face-off between the European Union (EU) and India over carbon tax on aviation could see a resolution, with a compromise formula likely to evolve at the UN's International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO)'s meeting to be held in end-October.
Under the proposed formula, an international market-based mechanism would be developed for taxing international flights but it would apply to flights between developing countries at a later date, covering only the developed nations to begin with.
Revenues from developing countries' airlines would be reverted back to the respective nations to deploy in reducing greenhouse gas emissions from the aviation sector. The tax collected from rich countries' carriers would be shared with developing nations.
12/10/12 Nitin Sethi/Economic Times

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FDI poses potential threat to national security, says Intelligence report

Mumbai: "Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in aviation and telecom sectors is potential threat to national security," a secret paper submitted by Joint Intelligence Committee (JIC) to Union Home Ministry in September 2008 stated. The Union government has overlooked the paper while approving FDI and framing its rules.
The secret paper, a copy of which is with India Today, draws attention to threats associated with foreign participation in the economy. It categorically mentions that in India the only guideline, which touches upon security aspects, is the FEMA notification issued in 2000 that prohibits FDI from Pakistan and Bangladesh. "No other country is mentioned."
Security experts believe that China is a bigger threat than Pakistan. The paper broadly focuses on national security threats arising out of FDI inflow, mergers and acquisitions, Sovereign Wealth Funds (SWF) and public private partnerships. It takes into account references from PMO on "FDI in sensitive areas and industries" and "enhancement of FDI limit in telecom sector".The paper mentions that flow of unverifiable investments from tax havens like Mauritius, Cyprus, Cayman Islands and from criminal groups operating from outside pose a security threat to the economy.
12/10/12 Kiran Tare/India Today

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These students give wings to their dreams

Madurai: Three third-year students of the Kalasalingam University in Virudhunagar district have proved that the sky is not the limit for them by bagging the first prize in the 'Aero Design and Fabrication' contest held in Hyderabad recently.
The trio who are students of mechanical engineering, come from varied backgrounds. R Sowminarayanan, A Venketesh, and J Selvaraj jumped at the opportunity to participate in the competition conducted by the southern section of the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE). They passed the first level of making the model of a glider with paper, based on a design provided to them and topped the district level. They also stood first in the state-level competition and went on to enter the national-level finals held at Hyderabad early this month.
According to Sowminarayanan, who wants to become a pilot, flying and aircrafts were always in his blood, as his great grandfather had been a pilot in the Indian air force in the pre-independence era.
12/10/12 Padmini Sivarajah/Times of India

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DGCA's enforcement powers remain on paper

Mumbai/Delhi: Directorate General of Civil Aviation may have been slow to act against Kingfisher Airlines but the regulator's notice to the airline last week comes as an acknowledgement that financial crisis does have an impact on safe and reliable air transport.
Else where in the world, civil aviation authorities enhance audits and bring airlines under greater scrutiny. There are instances of  airlines being fined for not adhering to schedules and Mexican government had suspending permits  of three airlines (AeroCalifornia, Avolar and Aviasca)  in 2008-09  for unpaid air traffic dues amongst other things. The three airlines never took to skies again.
Last week the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) fined Xtra Airways for violating rules protecting passengers when their public charter flights are suddenly canceled, and ordered the carrier to cease and desist from further violations. Xtra Airways was one of several carriers operating flights for Direct Air, a charter operator which ceased operations in March.
In the US  the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is the safety regulator. The financial regulator is the Department of Transportation.
Whenever an airline is in financial stress the FAA increases the surveillance of that airline. The FAA is seeking USD 162 million in civil penalties from American Airlines which declared bankruptcy earlier this year. The penalties pertain to 36 instances of safety violations such as failure to perform repairs and mechanics putting aircraft into service with inoperable equipment.
11/10/12 Anees Phadnis/Disha Kanwar/Business Standard

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Kerala pressing ahead with airline project

Dubai: The Kerala Government is pressing ahead with a plan to materialise a popular demand to launch the state’s own airline — Air Kerala — after weighing the challenges currently faced by the global aviation sector, Ramesh Chennithala, the head of the state unit of the ruling Congress Party, said on Tuesday.
The President of Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee, or KPCC, stressing the need to have a prudent and pragmatic approach, said the airline project,  “a long-nourished dream of every Gulf-based Non-Resident Keralite,” has to overcome several procedural and regulatory obstacles, including an eligibility criteria to operate on international sector, before its scheduled launch in April 2013.
Under the current Indian civil aviation authority’s rules, an airline can only fly international routes after completing five years of domestic service. There is also a stipulation that an airline operating internationally should have at least 20 aircraft in its fleet.  Both these conditions have to be waived by the federal government to enable Air Kerala to commence Gulf flights immediately after its launch next year. Kerala’s Chief Minister Oommen Chandy has pledged to launch the airline on April 14, 2013 to coincide with Vishu, New Year’s Day in the Malayalam?calendar.
11/10/12 Khaleej Times

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Rs4.5 crore for seeding, but will there be clouds?

Bangalore: The government announced a `4.50 crore cloud seeding project on Wednesday as a last ditch attempt to augment rains in the Cauvery Basin, although even the company entrusted with the project admitted that cloud-seeding works best when it is part of long-term water management and not as a crisis response.
Captain Arvind Sharma, the CEO of Agni Aviation, told DNA that the cloud seeding would be done using one aeroplane during November. “The North-East monsoon affects Tamil Nadu, Kerala and southern parts of Karnataka, so we will be targeting that area.
We will use one aeroplane and radar data from the Indian Meterological Department as well as our own radar data to identify viable clouds to seed. But if we are presented with sunny days with minimal cloud cover, then we won’t use the aeroplane at all. The success essentially depends on whether we have a cloud,” he said.Captain Sharma believes that cloud seeding should become an integral part of the state’s weather plans, rather than the last resort.
11/10/12 Daily News & Analysis

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New aviation wing may monitor finances

Delhi/ Mumbai: The civil aviation ministry is considering a proposal to set up a separate unit to monitor and analyse the financial position of airlines. That would take the function of monitoring airlines’ financial health out of the purview of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA). The DGCA will concentrate only on technical and safety aspects.
The move has been mooted to put in place a system to pre-empt serious financial crises such as the one faced by Kingfisher Airlines. The crisis has led to the non-payment of salaries and dues. Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh said, “The financial position of airlines is definitely a concern — more so, with the recent crisis in the sector. So, we’ll form a separate unit within the ministry. The DGCA will look at technical and safety aspects and the new unit will analyse the financial angle.” He refused to divulge details, saying that would be premature.
Apart from financial analysis, the unit will analyse fares and yield management practices followed by airlines. The unit will put in the public domain details like how many tickets were sold in the various buckets of fares. The intention was not to regulate fares but to bring transparency, Singh said.
10/10/12 Disha Kanwar & Aneesh Phadnis/Business Standard

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Govt likely to clear air for A380 soon

New Delhi: The world’s largest passenger aircraft, the Airbus 380, could soon take to the Indian skies as the government plans to allow international airlines to operate these ultra long-haul planes into the country.
Allowing carriers to operate Airbus 380s into India is a change of stance by the government which had earlier stopped airlines from flying these planes into India to protect the Indian carriers.
Lufthansa, Emirates and Singapore Airlines had shown interest in operating the aircraft into India.
“We will allow carriers, who want to fly Airbus 380s into India under the existing bilateral allotments they have,” said a senior civil aviation ministry official, who did not want to be identified.
The government had not been allowing these carriers to operate Airbus 380s on the ground that it will be difficult for Indian carriers to compete with airlines operating ultra long-haul planes.
10/10/12 Mihir Mishra/Indian Express

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Hurdles may delay launch of India airline, says leader

Sharjah: The spreading of Air Kerala’s wings over the Indian skies still depends on the removal of an array of hurdles, a visiting high-level ruling party politician said in Dubai on Tuesday.
Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) President Ramesh Chennithala said that his party and the Kerala state government will try to solve all these hurdles in the way of taking the airline into the skies.
Chennithala, however, did not say that the airline will not take off on April 14 as announced by Chief Minister Oommen Chandy at Thiruvananthapuram on Monday.
Chandy had said that the government would launch Air Kerala on April 14 to coincide with Vishu, the Malayalam New Year Day.
Some of those problems include federal permission to operate international flights, leasing of aircraft, operating at affordable prices for commoners, fuel price, etc., he said.
10/10/12 Mohan Vadayar/Gulf Today

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AirAsia ready for India if environment is right: CEO

Kuala Lumpur: AirAsia is keen to have more presence in India if the "aviation environment" and tax structure are "conducive and friendly" for low-cost airline operations, the group's CEO Tony Fernandes has said. He felt that though the Indian government has allowed 49 per cent foreign direct investments in the country's civil aviation sector, the cost of operating an airline were still higher than many developed nations.
"This is the power of AirAsia. Everyone wants us, but the right infrastructure and environment must be there for us to go there (India)," Fernandes was quoted by Malaysian news agency Bernama as saying. "The airport tax is already very high and I even heard that they are going to further increase the tax, forcing many airlines to quit from certain destinations," he said.
"If everything is right, then we will be stupid not to enter the Indian market, which boasts more than a billion population," Fernandes added.
10/10/12 PTI/IBN Live

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'Air cargo sector going through stress'

New Delhi: With air cargo sector going through stress due to economic slowdown, stakeholders should understand the market and try to evolve a fast, effective and economically viable delivery process, a senior Civil Aviation Ministry official said today.
"Air cargo sector is going through stress due to economic slowdown but its growing steadily at a pace of 8 per cent. We have to understand the market and try to evolve a process which is fast, efficient and economic," S Machendranathan, Additional Secretary and Financial Adviser    in Ministry of Civil Aviation, said.
Machendranathan launched the Air Cargo Forum India (ACFI), an apex forum of stakeholders of air cargo industry having the members like airlines, freight forwarders, cargo terminal operators, courier and express operators, general sales agents and others associated with air cargo industry.
10/10/12 PTI/Business Standard

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Ajit rues shrinkage in number of air passengers

New Delhi: Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh today expressed concern over shrinkage in air passenger traffic numbers in the last three months but hoped that the buoyancy in the sector would lead to a spike in the long-run.
"In the past three months, the traffic numbers have fallen. Following the global economic downturn, there were worries about a downturn in the Indian economy. There were estimations about a fall in GDP growth and there were issues relating to high costs. And airlines and the hospitality industry are the first to suffer from this," Singh told the Economic Editors conference here.
"We hope that in the long-run the traffic will increase. It is bound to increase," he said.
Official figures have shown that in July-September, the air traffic has shrunk month-over-month by 9-11%.
However, between January-August this year, international passenger traffic grew by 15% over the same period last year and the number of passengers carried rose marginally from 39.63 million in 2011 to 39.82 million this year.
09/10/12 Business Standard

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Separate air accident bureau will probe accidents: Ajit Singh

New Delhi: Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh on Tuesday said that a separate air accident bureau which will be established to investigate accidents. Speaking at the Economic editors conference, Singh claimed that international traffic in India witnessed a growth of 5.4 per cent during January-August compared to same period in 2011. While, approximate losses of airlines in 2011-12 is over Rs 10,000 crore, domestic traffic is rapidly shifting to low cost carriers.
The minister also showed concern about the condition of the aviation sector in the country. "Debt burden of airlines a major issue with the airline sector," said Singh. He also said that the Civil Aviation Ministry will take a more active role in the future. "Civil aviation authority will replace DGCA and the bill will be passed in Parliament soon," announced Singh.
Commenting on Air India, Singh said, "Air India has shown improvement. We need to achieve 73 per cent passenger load factor till 2015. We expect to achieve that much earlier."
09/10/12 CNN-IBN/IBN Live

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HC stays DGCA's order to revoke approvals of Ravi Rishi's firm

New Delhi: Pulling up DGCA for a "hasty" decision, the Delhi High Court on Tuesday stayed the aviation regulator's order withdrawing operational safety clearance to repair and maintenance firm Indocopters Private Ltd (IPL), a group company of Ravi Rishi-led Global Vectra Helicorp Ltd.
Justice Rajiv Shakdher also issued notices to DGCA and Ministries of Civil Aviation and Home Affairs (MHA) and asked them to file replies by October 10, the next date of hearing.
The Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) had on September 18 revoked Approved Maintenance Organisation (AMO) approval and the Continuing Airworthiness Requirements (CAR) certificate of the IPL after the MHA raised security concerns and withdrew the clearance accorded to Ravi Rishi-led firms.
Ravi Rishi-led Global Vectra Helicorp Ltd, to which IPL is a sister concern, is the largest shareholder in Tatra Holdings owning the Czech truck manufacturer Tatra that is facing CBI probe for allegedly supplying trucks at exorbitant price to the Indian Army.
09/10/12 PTI/ZeeNews

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Financial stress in airlines may impact operational safety: Aviation regulators

New Delhi: The ongoing 49th conference of Director-Generals of Civil Aviation (DGCAs) of the Asia-Pacific region, being held in the Capital, provides a great opportunity for India to learn from what others are doing to tackle the twin issues of financial viability and airline safety.
From neighbouring Sri Lanka and Pakistan to the tiny island nations of Singapore and Australia, all seem to believe that financial stress in airlines could have a bearing on operational safety.
“Of course, there is a co-relation. Arrey Bhai, jitni shakkar dalo, utni hi mithas ayagee (the more sugar you add, the sweeter will be the product). In Pakistan, I do not directly look at financial aspects of airlines, but we do not give a licence to an airline if it has less than three aircraft,” said Nadeem Khan Yousufzai, Director-General Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority.
Concurring with his views, Sri Lanka’s DGCA and Chief Executive Officer, H.M.C Nimalasiri, said that financial stress could lead to a situation that could hurt the interest of the travelling public. He said while currently there was no department looking into the finances of airlines, the island nation’s Government had initiated a process of setting up a body to look into this aspect of airline operations. In Australia, apart from the DGCA, there is the Australian Securities and Investment Commission that looks into financial issues across sectors.
09/10/12 Aswini Phadnis/Business Line

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No foreign airline has approached us for stake as yet: Ajit Singh

New Delhi: So far, no foreign airline has sought to invest in a domestic airline, Minister for Civil Aviation Ajit Singh said.
In September, the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs had allowed foreign airlines to acquire stake of up to 49 per cent in domestic airlines.
“It is a long-term policy. Aviation is a very complicated business. The management and technical expertise that you get by tying up with another airline will help the Indian industry. Let us see what happens now,” the Minister said at the Economic Editor’s conference here.
He said that work on three new greenfield airports at Mopa in Goa, Navi Mumbai and Kannur in Kerala was expected to begin by the end of this financial year.
09/10/12 Business Line

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CO2 emissions by airlines in India significantly less: DGCA

New Delhi:  Indian and foreign airlines operating in India account for less than one per cent of the country's total carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, which is significantly less than the global average, a latest study said today.
"This number is significantly lower than the global average contribution of airlines which represent approximately two per cent of global anthropogenic emissions," a report brought out by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation said.
The report, titled 'Carbon Footprint of Indian Aviation 2011', said the carbon footprint of Indian carriers was 12,704,000 tonnes of CO2, a six per cent increase in comparison to 2010.
The report was released by Raymond Benjamin, Secretary General of UN body, International Civil Aviation Organisation, at the ongoing Asia-Pacific conference of aviation regulators here.
08/10/12 PTI/Economic Times

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India Releases Firstever detailed Aviation Carbon Footprint Report for 2011

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) presented today the 2011 Carbon Footprint Report for the Indian Aviation Industry, in line with India’s initiatives to address the climate change challenge.The report was released at the 49th Conference of Directors General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), Asia Pacific Regions being held in New Delhi.Compiled for the first time in such a detailed format, the report was prepared in cooperation with the major airlines and airports of the country and with the support of the European Union/India Civil Aviation Cooperation Project is another milestone for the Indian Civil Aviation strategy of developing a sustainable aviation framework. According to the report:
a. The carbon footprint of Indian scheduled airlines for domestic and international operations was 12,704,000 tonnes of CO2; a 6% increase in comparison to 2010.
b. The carbon footprint of foreign airlines serving international destinations from Indian airports, based on fuel uplift from India, reached 3,623,000 tonnes of CO2.
c. CO2 emissions from Indian scheduled airline operations as well as from foreign airlines to international destinations represent less than 1% of the country’s total CO2 emissions. This number is significantly lower than the global average contribution of airlines, which represent approximately 2% of global anthropogenic emissions.
d. In the business-as-usual scenario (i.e., no measures taken to reduce emissions), emissions of Indian scheduled airlines from domestic and international operationscould reach 27,000,000 tonnes of CO2 by 2020.
e. Emissions from operations at Indian airportsare much less than airline emissions and are estimated at approximately 700,000 tonnes of CO2.
09/10/12 Invest In India

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Ground handling can't be taken away from airlines: SC told

New Delhi: The Federation of Indian Airlines (FIA) on Tuesday pleaded before the Supreme Court that ground handling at airports is part of aviation business and the government cannot take it away from them.
The federation said their efficiency and time-bound services would be adversely affected if the handling duties is taken over by the government authorities and refuted the contentions of the Centre it has been done out of security concern.
"Ground handling is part of our business and we want it to be with us. My punctuality and quality of services would go haywire and I would to receive blame from my passengers," senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for the FIA, told a bench headed by Justice B S Chauhan.
He further submitted that government's contention that it has been done out of security concern is wrong as the private airlines have been handling ground work on more sensitive airports in Jammu & Kashmir, Punjab and\ northeastern states.
09/10/12 PTI/Zee News

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New civil aviation authority to be autonomous body

New Delhi: The proposed Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), which is to replace the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), is to not only pay market-linked salaries to its employees but is also likely to follow a hire and fire policy, senior Government officials said late Saturday.
“The CAA will be an autonomous body. It will have a different pay scale from what is followed in the Government. The Government hopes to introduce a Bill for setting up the CAA in the forthcoming Parliament session. At the moment, inter-Ministerial consultations are going on for setting up of the CAA,” Secretary Civil Aviation, K.N. Srivastava, said.
Officials were, however, tightlipped on whether a professional, or a serving or retired bureaucrat would head the new organisation.
The new aviation authority will also enjoy administrative and financial freedom so as to meet functional requirements for an effective safety and oversight system, something that the existing DGCA lacks.
07/10/12 Business Line

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Kerala set to fly solo

What does a state with three international airports, another in the offing and seven million passengers passing through it annually do next? Open its own airline, of course. And that's what Kerala is doing. If that sounds audacious and unrealistic at a time when most airlines are in the red, those heading it are unfazed. After all, they ask, didn't Kerala give India its first airport based on the PPP (public-private participation) model in Cochin in 1999? And it's running profitably, garnering Rs 100 crore last year alone.
But what compelled this sliver of a state to think of starting its own airline, says Kerala chief minister Oommen Chandy, was the step-motherly treatment meted out by AI Express. "It cancelled flights recently to the Gulf at the drop of a hat. Despite knowing two weeks beforehand, it didn't inform our passengers. We don't expect this from a national carrier. Also, the fares of other airlines are too exorbitant for workers in the Gulf." (see box) Interestingly, this is probably the first instance globally when a state/provincial government will hold equity stake in an airline , says an aviation adviser at Ernst & Young.
07/10/12 Shobha John/Times of India

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Aviation conference of Asia Pacific countries in Delhi

New Delhi: The directors general of civil aviation of countries from Asia Pacific region will gather here to discuss ways and means to manage air traffic for a safe, secure and sustainable growth of aviation sector.
Civil aviation minister Ajit Singh will inaugurate the 49th Directors General of Civil Aviation conference of Asia Pacific region tomorrow in which 238 delegates from 45 countries and six organisations will participate.
The theme of the conference is 'Managing Air Transport growth in Asia Pacific Region through a collaborative approach to safety, security and sustainability'.
India is organising the conference for the second time. Regional director of International Civil Aviation Organization Mokhtar A Awan said India should come up with more politically and administrative active authority like the civil aviation authority soon for development of civil aviation in the region.
07/10/12 Times of India

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Kanda had ‘evil designs’ on Geetika, say police

New Delhi: The Delhi Police on Saturday chargesheeted the former Haryana Minister, Gopal Goyal Kanda, and his aide Aruna Chaddha accusing them of allegedly abetting the suicide of air hostess Geetika Sharma through “malicious and wilful acts of mental torture, threat, blackmail and stress” and criminal intimidation spread over two years that forced the 23-year-old to end her life.
The police alleged that Geetika’s appointment, rapid promotion and strange service conditions despite her being under-aged and inadequately qualified showed that Mr. Kanda had ‘evil designs’ on her right from the first day and that the “undue favours were given with the intention of entrapping her.”
Mr. Kanda was also charged with criminal conspiracy, destruction of evidence, and forgery under the Indian Penal Code and sending offensive messages under the Information Technology Act. Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate D.K. Jangala took cognisance of the charge sheet and listed the matter for scrutiny of documents on October 9.
06/10/12 The Hindu

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Geetika suicide case: Gopal Kanda and his aide chargesheeted

New Delhi: Former Haryana minister Gopal Goyal Kanda and his aide Aruna Chaddah unleashed "a series of wilful and malicious acts of mental torture, threat, blackmail and stress" on former air hostess Geetika Sharma which led to her suicide, Delhi Police today said in its charge sheet filed in a court here.
The police accused the duo of "harassing, conspiring, intimidating and creating an atmosphere of terror and continuous pursuit" in the mind of 23-year-old Geetika that "she found no option but to end her life".
23-year-old Geetika was found dead on August 5 at her Ashok Vihar residence in North West Delhi. In her August 4 suicide note, Geetika said she was ending her life due to "harassment" by Kanda and Chaddah, a charge denied by them.
Investigators said Kanda had evil designs on the victim from the first day she joined his company MDLR where he gave her undue favours with the intention of "entrapping" her.
06/10/12 PTI/Economic Times

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Offensive SMSes forced Geetika to commit suicide?

New Delhi: Delhi police indicted former Haryana Home Minister Gopal Goyal Kanda and his close associate Aruna Chaddha regarding Geetika Sharma suicide case. Police on Saturday, Oct 6 submitted charge-sheet to a Delhi court and accused Kanda and Chaddha of harassing Geetika.
The cops in its charge-sheet said that Kanda's offensive messages (SMSes) had compelled 23-year-old air-hostess Geetika Sharma who had worked in now defunct MDLR airlines owned by Kanda.
Following Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Information Technology Act, the investigative officials charged criminal conspiracy, destruction of evidence, forgery and sending offensive messages against Kanda.
Charges against Kanda and Chaddha said that the duo had abetted the suicide of the former sir-hostess through "malicious and wilful acts of mental torture, threat, blackmail and stress and criminal intimidation spread over two years" that forced young Geetika to end her life.
07/10/12 One India

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Tigermoth main attraction at IAF parade

 Hindon (Ghaziabad): The flight of the vintage aircraft Tigermoth was the main attraction at the Air Force Day parade rehearsal here in absence of the grounded Suryakiran Aerobatic Display Team (SKAT).
At the dress rehearsal for the main parade on October 8, the Tigermoth, which is the first of the vintage squadron of the force, was the only new addition to the flying display team for the event.
As soon as the yellow-coloured aircraft took off, it was welcomed by a thundering applause from the crowd including families of air warriors and school children.
The IAF is planning to resurrect around six vintage aircraft as a mark of respect to its predecessors and includes a Wapiti, Howard and three other old aircraft.
The indigenously-developed Airborne Early Warning and Control Aircraft (AEW&C) along with the Russian-origin Mi-17 V5 choppers were showcased for the first time in static display area.
06/10/12 PTI/Business Standard

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Low-cost carriers sniff an opportunity

New Delhi: A few weeks ago, Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy stunned the aviation world in India when he announced the launch of Air Kerala, a state government-owned airline, to fly to the Gulf. This was seen largely as a reaction to an increase in air fares on those routes, and to Air India Express diverting its planes from the Gulf routes to cater to the Haj traffic.
No one knows whether the plan has any teeth to it. Indeed, the Ministry of Civil Aviation hasn’t yet received any formal application from the state. However, what the entire incident did was drawing attention to the increasingly booming business in the Gulf routes and some of the cash-generating airlines that fly those.
According to the International Air Transport Association’s July 2012 data, “The Middle East (or West Asian) carriers experienced the strongest traffic growth, at 11.2 per cent year-over-year, although this was surpassed by a 12.4 per cent rise in capacity.” These kinds of numbers are no doubt helped by the fact that India has signed three bilateral pacts with the United Arab Emirates (UAE) — specifically, Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Sharjah. With Sharjah alone, India’s treaty allows for around 17,800 seats on a weekly basis. All the airlines from the UAE have above 95 per cent utilisation of their bilaterals.
04/10/12 Business Standard

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Doppler Very High Frequency Omni-Range ready to guide flights

Ludhiana: After a wait of nearly two months, the Sahnewal airport authority has finally received the Instrument approach landing (IAL) procedure needed for making the DVOR ( Doppler Very High Frequency Omni-Range) — an electronic navigation device — functional for enhancing the visibility during landing and take-off of airliners from the airport, especially on days of poor visibility. The DVOR that was installed in the beginning of August, would now become operational with the handing over of the IAL to Air India pilots on Friday.
A recent report in The Ludhiana Times of India, "DVOR 45 days old, but yet to start" had highlighted how the DVOR was yet not functional in the absence of IAL procedures to be sent by the Airport Authority of India (aai).
"We received IAL procedure on October 1 from AAI after the approval of Director General of Civil Aviation. We would have given it to the pilots on Wednesday, but the flight was cancelled. We will hand it over to the pilots on Friday once the flight lands," said Sahnewal Airport manager V P Jain.
04/10/12 Vaivasvat Venkat/Times of India

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Government's move to control aircraft purchase may push more flights to smaller cities

Mumbai/New Delhi: The government is set to play a big role in purchase of aircraft by private airlines and may push them into increasing flights to smaller cities under a controversial set of rules that is set to rile the industry.
The civil aviation minister, Ajit Singh, is pushing for a more aggressive stance towards private airlines who buy a large number of aircraft and deploy them on a few routes creating overcapacity. He wants them to tailor those purchases and increase flights to non-metro cities and small towns as part of the government's drive to extend and deepen connectivity.
But the rules are likely to fall afoul of airlines who want complete freedom in purchases and deployment. The industry has not taken kindly to the ministry's desire to increase flights to smaller airports, saying that such flights will be uneconomical.
Experts say that the government could end up micro-managing the sector and revive memories of a bygone era when government decided the location and quantum of business investment.
02/10/12 Manisha Singhal & Anindya Upadhyay/Times of India

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Global outlook up, but Indian carriers to bleed

Mumbai: Profits of airlines globally are shoring up after plunging in the first half of this fiscal, but the Indian carriers would continue to bleed on account of rising costs and low passenger traffic, experts said.
Airlines world over are expected to earn $4.1 billion in 2012, up by $1.1 billion from the $3 billion forecast by the travel body in June, according to International Air Transport Association’s (IATA) revised forecast on aviation sector for 2012.
“The fall in airline profits from the $8.4 billion that the industry earned in 2011 will be cushioned by improved airline performance,” it said.
According to the association, the industry’s net profit margins would be 0.6% (up from the previous forecast of 0.5%) in 2012 as against 1.4% in 2011.
However, experts said the short-term forecast for Indian airlines was still negative as increasing fuel costs, high airport taxes, rupee devaluation and high maintainence costs would dent their profitability.
02/10/12 Yuga Chaudhari/Daily News & Analysis

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Eight field officers to secure 97 airports, govt to revamp BCAS

New Delhi: The country’s aviation regulator, which deals with potential hijacking of an aircraft, threat by an intruder, and other security issues, has only eight field officers to check the security apparatus at 97 airports across India. After glaring shortcomings were pointed out by the International Civil Aviation Organisation during their safety audit conducted last year, the Civil Aviation Ministry has decided to revamp the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS).
Currently being run with a strength of 126 officials, the restructured BCAS aims to recruit 2,120 personnel. It wants to have its own team present at all functional airports, thereby giving them an edge to manage the security on their own. These officers will be called Civil Aviation Security Liaison Officers.
“During their audit the ICAO made an observation that the aviation security regulator was massively short on manpower and their job was primarily reduced to issuing entry passes. The lack of infrastructure and absence of adequate personnel was affecting the performance of the regulator,” said a senior official.
02/10/12 VijaitaSingh/Indian Express

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Airlines’ improved performance cushioned fall in profits: IATA

Mumbai: "The fall in airline profits from the $8.4 billion that the industry earned in 2011 will be cushioned by improved airline performance," said a release issued Monday by the International Air Transport Association (IATA), announcing an upward revision to its global aviation outlook for 2012.
"Airlines are expected to earn $4.1 billion in 2012 (up $1.1 billion from the $3.0 billion forecast in June). The revision will still see the industry's net profit margins fall from the 1.4% realized in 2011 to 0.6% (up from the previously forecast 0.5%)," the release said. In a first look at 2013, IATA sees global profits rising modestly to $7.5 billion, though this is a net margin of just 1.1%.
"Asia-Pacific airlines are set to post a $2.3 billion profit for the year. That is $0.3 billion better than previously forecast. With 40% of the global cargo market, the region's carriers are the most exposed to weak cargo demand," said the IATA statement.
01/10/12 Manju V/Times of India

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Air India misses deadline to pay Rs 7,400 cr bank dues

Mumbai: Air India missed the September 30 deadline for repaying a consortium of 26 banks working capital loans of Rs 7,400 crore by raising bonds guaranteed by the government as per its restructuring package. The state-owned airline is now likely to get an extension of one to three months, to repay the loan reducing its exposure to the state-owned banks. A ministerial meeting is to be held next week to sort out the confusion over the guarantee to be provided by the government.
When contacted by Financial Chronicle, an Air India official said in a written communication, “The ministry of civil aviation is in the process of clarifying the issues raised by the ministry of finance and it is anticipated that this will be sorted out soon so that Air India can proceed with the nonconvertible debenture (NCD) issue.”
30/09/12 Manju AB & C Shivkumar/mydigitalfc.com

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Jet fuel price drops 4.33%; no reduction in air fares

New Delhi: After three months of a sustained northward rally, oil marketing companies on Monday reduced the price of Aviation Turbine Fuel (ATF) by 4.33 per cent. However, this is not likely to bring any relief to flyers as there is little sign the airlines will bring down the fuel surcharge.
From Monday, every kilo litre of ATF would cost Rs 70,515.97 in Delhi against Rs 73,710.69 earlier. The last reduction in ATF was on July 1 when prices came down to Rs 61,169.08 per kilo litre from Rs 62,409.95 a kilo litre.
Currently, the ATF price is 20.38 per cent higher when compared year-on-year.
The airlines have faced higher fuel prices for the past several months. This, coupled with the festival season and reduction in seats, will not translate to a drop in passenger fares.
01/10/12 Business Line

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