Air India making arrangements for transportation of 110,000 Hajis

New Delhi: Air India is making arrangements for transportation of 1,10,000 pilgrims under the Government quota besides operating additional scheduled services in case there is need to facilitate the transportation of pilgrims going for Haj through private tour operators. This information was given by Shri Praful Patel, Minister for Civil Aviation in a written reply to a question in the Parliament today.
The Haj Committee has received 1,90,000 applications through the State Haj Committees against the Government quota of 1,10,000. Apart from this 47,000 pilgrims would be going for Haj 2007 through Private Tour Operators.
The Government provides subsidy in airfare makes arrangements for the transportation of the Haj pilgrims going through the Haj Committee of India and facilitates provision of accommodation and other logistic support for them.
Air India allows baggage allowance of 45 kgs. per pilgrim, 10 litre of Zam Zam water free of cost and excess baggage at a subsidized rate.
30/08/07 Tarique/ TwoCircles.net/Indian Muslims, USA

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No mangoes in baggage to US, please

New Delhi : India asked passengers flying to the United States not to carry mangoes in their baggage on Thursday, saying exports of the fruit to that country - opened this year to great fanfare - were limited to registered traders.
The move to allow commercial mango exports has encouraged travelers to their personal baggage with the fruit, one of the country's favorites beloved by thousands of homesick Indians - but this has sparked complaints from US food authorities.
India, the world's largest producer of the golden fruit, began exporting it to the United States in April following years of lobbying in what some analysts have called "mango diplomacy".'
Washington had refused to accept the fruit shipments because they were not irradiated to protect against fruit flies and pests.
"It would like to inform the public... only pre-cleared and certified commercial consignments of irradiated mangoes are allowed to enter the US," said the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority, an Indian trade ministry body.
30/08/07 Independent Online, South Africa

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Indian plane has narrow escape

Kathmandu: Dozens of lives were saved from an impending accident when the right landing gear of an Indian Airlines Airbus 320 caught fire but landed safely at the Tribhuwan International Airport in Kathmandu Wednesday afternoon.
The Airbus, which was carrying some five dozen passengers, was on a routine Kolkata-Kathmandu flight, and had landed at the TIA at 15:08 hours.
The cause of the fire is still not clear, the airport officials said.
After the landing gear caught fire, the fire trucks based at the airport were immediately pushed into action. Other parts of the Airbus were not damaged after the fire was put out quickly.
29/08/07 Kantipur Online, Nepal

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Human trafficking: Cops sniff out ‘inside’ links

New Delhi: The human trafficking web has widened operations to net employees working for foreign airlines at the Capital’s international airport.
This came to light after three men — Joginder Singh, working for Finnair, Dhirendra Dhuria, a boarding executive with Indian and Vishwas Anand of EuroAir — were arrested by the Delhi Police recently. They have been charged with helping passengers board planes without having to go through the mandatory checks inside the airport.
Last Wednesday, Indian airlines officials got suspicious of a passenger Kulwant Singh, who was about to board a Frankfurt-bound (AI-137) flight. The immigration stamps on Singh’s boarding pass did not look original and neither did the Schengen visa on his passport. The man was handed over to the police and thus emerged these fresh links that spawn an elaborate trafficking racket involving travel agents, touts and airlines officials.
30/08/07 Amandeep Shukla/Delhi Newsline

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Govt open to regional airlines flying abroad

New Delhi: Regional airlines, the new category of airlines created by the Government to promote air travel in smaller cities can also look forward to flying abroad. A senior official told Business Line that the Government wa s open to allowing regional airlines to operate abroad as long as they meet the laid down criterion.
The Government allows airlines having completed five years of domestic flying and having a fleet of five aircraft to operate abroad. At the moment, Jet Airways, Jet Lite and the newly merged state-owned airline, Air India are allowed to operate abroad.
Regional airlines are likely to be promoted by entrepreneurs mainly using small turbo prop or regional jets such as Canadian Regional Jets, Embraers and the ATR, that carry between 80 and 90 passengers and can land on smaller airfields. These smaller aircraft can also be used to operate flights between Thiruvanthapuram and Colombo, Kozhikode-Male or Lucknow-Kathmandu provided the Government gives permission.
29/08/07 Business Line

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Sikh Community Feels Targeted At Airports

America's Sikh community wants another meeting with the Justice Department over a controversial new airport search policy. The Sikhs say they're being targeted for intrusive searches because they wear turbans.
Sikh protestors call a new airport security rule that allows pat-downs of their turbans "racial profiling." The Transportation Security Administration says it's simply trying to search for weapons and explosives and cannot rely only on wands and metal detectors.
On August 4th, the Department of Homeland Security started a new no-hat policy, where airport screeners can ask to search passengers wearing everything from a cowboy hat to a turban even if the metal detector doesn't sound off.
Men of the Sikh religion who wear turbans feel singled out. The United Sikh Coalition has written in protest to Homeland Security Chief Michael Chertoff - nearly 2,000 people have signed petitions requesting an end to what they call racial profiling.
The Sikhs say having to remove their turban is like being strip-searched -- it's an article of faith, typically only removed in private.
28/08/07 Teresa Garcia/abc7news.com, USA

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Emirates plans cargo service from Calcutta

Calcutta: Flower bulbs, packed pomfret, jumbo crabs, fresh fruits and vegetables and leather goods from across the state are attracting more buyers abroad, prompting airlines to start cargo services from the city.
With a 15 per cent growth last year in export of perishable goods through the airport, the authorities are also speeding up the process of completing the construction of the cold storage facility in the cargo terminal.
“The cold storage will be operational early next year. It will allow more perishable goods to be sent out through the airport,” said a senior airport official.
Emirates is planning to start freighter operations from the city. Air cargo operation is estimated to grow at a rate of 20 to 25 per cent in the region.
The airline is conducting a survey to draw up detailed plans. Currently, Emirates has only passenger operations to Dubai. Singapore Airlines operates two freighters a week from Calcutta.
According to Emirates cargo officials, about 40 tonnes of flower bulbs were recently carried in a month from Calcutta to Dubai on passenger flights.
29/08/07 The Telegraph

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Jet Airways to launch flight to Canada

Hyderabad: Jet Airways is launching two new flights connecting Delhi and Chennai with Toronto from September 5 and in October next respectively.
Talking to reporters here on Monday, Ragini Chopra, Vice- president (corporate communications) said the five-times-a-week flight will also connect to New York, via its hub in Brussels.
She said Jet Airways also plans to introduce flights between Hyderabad and Toronto. "To start with, we will be launching services from Hyderabad via Delhi, Mumbai and Chennai, and introduce direct flights from the city once the Shamshabad International Airport is fully operational".
She said the airline was awaiting permission to fly aircraft to West Asia and should be launching the services to the region by early 2008.
27/08/07 PTI/Times of India

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Tata Consultancy bags deal with Hawaiian Airlines

Mumbai: Tata Consultancy Services said on Monday it had signed a multi-year contract with Hawaiian Airlines to provide IT, business process outsourcing and infrastructure services.
The company did not put a value on the deal, but a source close to the development said the total contract was worth about $40 million.
TCS, India's top software exporter, said in a statement it would provide maintenance and support services to the airline's revenue accounting application.
Ahead of the announcement, shares in the Indian company closed 0.9 percent higher at 1,025.65 rupees in a Mumbai market that rose 2.89 percent.
27/08/07 Reuters India

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Airlines may get to fly abroad before 5 years

New Delhi: The government is likely to do away with the mandatory norm that requires Indian airline companies to operate in the domestic market for at least five years before they fly abroad. The civil aviation ministry is of the view that each airline should be evaluated on its own merits instead of a blanket eligibility criteria.
The domestic airline industry is divided on this issue. While older private airlines like Jet Airways are in favour of continuing with the existing norms, newer entrants like Kingfisher, SpiceJet and Air Deccan want them to be relaxed.
The new thinking of doing away with the minimum experience criteria altogether comes at a time when a group of ministers headed by external affairs minister Pranab Mukherjee is deliberating on the national civil aviation policy. The policy includes among other things norms for domestic airline companies to fly abroad. The next meeting of the GoM is slated in the first week of September. The new move may pave ways for scheduled carriers such as Kingfisher and Air Deccan to operate internationally.
27/08/07 Nirbhay Kumar/Economic Times

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UAE's top air carriers express keen interest in new airport in Kerala

Dubai: A new airport in Kerala is drawing the interest of local air carriers, as heavy demand on existing routes has led them to schedule additional frequencies.
The Kerala government is in the process of acquiring 1,200 acres of land for the upcoming new airport at Kannur, located in the uppermost portion of the state north of Calicut.
Construction of the airport will take roughly three months once the land has been acquired, local media reported.
Already, Emirates, Etihad and Air Arabia said they harbour hopes of flying there once necessary governmental approvals have been made.
Currently travel between Kerala and the UAE is at all all-time high, due to the large numbers of Indian labourers and professionals working in the UAE as well as leisure travellers. Just three months after launching flights to Kerala, Etihad said it would add more flights there.
According to the Kerala government, inbound tourism is expected to grow by 10 per cent once the airport is in operation.
Emirates airline has been a beneficiary of this rise in air travel, experiencing 85 per cent load factors on its Kerala flights.
26/07/08 Ivan Gale/Gulf News, United Arab Emirates

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Six more flights from Tiruchi to Singapore

Tiruchi: Air India Express, the budget carrier, will add six flights a week to Singapore from Tiruchi starting September 10.
With this, the airline’s flights on the Tiruchi-Singapore sector will go up to nine a week. The airline is currently operating three flights a week each on the Tiruchi-Singapore and Tiruchi-Dubai sectors.
The airline will deploy an additional Boeing 737-800 aircraft for three additional flights while the existing flights on the Singapore-Tiruchi-Chennai sector will be extended to Singapore on the other three days.
The additional flights will be operated on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays making it two flights to Singapore from here on these three days, the district sales manager of Air India Express, S. Kannan, said.
The Singapore-Tiruchi-Chennai-Singapore flight will arrive at Tiruchi at 11.20 a.m. and leave for Singapore at 12.20 p.m. on all the three days. The Singapore-Tiruchi flights, which are being extended to Singapore, will operate at the same timing on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. The Dubai-Tiruchi-Chennai-Singapore night flights will continue to operate on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.
27/08/07 The Hindu

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Passengers protest as Dubai-bound flight leaves in advance

Kozhikode: Irked over timings of a Dubai-bound Air India Express flight being advanced, passengers went on a protest at Karipur international terminal here today.
Airport sources said the timing of flight 311, originally scheduled to depart at 10.30 am, was advanced by four hours and the passengers were informed about the revised schedule in time.
However, a section of the passengers claimed that they were not intimated about the change by the Air India office although they had given their contact telephone numbers.
Fortynine passengers were reportedly left stranded at the airport following the incident, they said. Meanwhile, the agitated passengers were pacified by Air India officials who assured them that they would be accommodated in different flights by evening to their destinations.
26/08/07 PTI/The Hindu

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Fare war in the air

Mumbai: Travel to the Big Apple just got cheaper, with a fare war breaking out among airlines flying the Mumbai-New York route. US carrier Delta rocked the boat on Friday with a new basic economy class fare of Rs 26,050 for a Mum-NY-Mum ticket.
Continental Airlines, which starts operations on October 2, will also offer the same fare on the Mum-Newark-Mum sector. Both carriers offer non-stop flights on the route. Other players like Air India, Jet Airways, British Airways and Lufthansa are likely to follow suit with new fares to compete with the US carriers, travel industry sources said.
The offer is valid for outbound travel from October to November 15, though the return leg of leg of the journey can be completed up to a year later.
The current offer is for tickets to be booked before the end of the month, but travel agents here said this is likely to be extended with more offers from competition. The basic fares have a build up of fuel surcharge and assorted taxes, added to them. These range between Rs 10,000 to Rs 20,000 depending on the airline chosen (see chart).
The fare-war has been triggered by the new capacity introduced by Air India, Jet Airways and Continental from August. The fall in fares mirrors a similar situation two years ago on the India-London route, when new airlines like Jet Airways and bmi started operations on the route.
25/08/07 Cuckoo Paul/Economic Times

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More aerospace ties between Quebec and India

A $1.7-million research collaboration between academics from India and Concordia University will forge new links for Quebec's aersopace industry, the head of CRIAQ says.
Known by its acronym, the Consortium for Research and Innovation in Aerospace in Quebec groups Quebec industry with universities and research centres. The 5-year-old consortium operates with a mix of private and public funding.
"Our professors are very happy to collaborate with Indian academics," said consortium president and CEO André Bazergui. "They're also keen to attract some good (Indian) students."
The projects will match researchers from Concordia with partners at the Indian Institute of Science, Indian Institute of Technology and Madras and National Aerospace Laboratories.
The projects stem from a trade mission to India led by Economic Development, Innovation and Export Trade Minister Raymond Bachand in November 2006.
Quebec's aerospace industry employs 40,000 people in the province and 80 per cent of the $11.4-billion market is in exports.
By making contacts through academic ventures, Canadian companies will be in a better position to export their products to India's rapidly growing aerospace market, Bazergui said.
The bill for the two research projects geared at improving turbine engines is being shared by the consortium, the provincial government, Pratt & Whitney Canada Corp. and its Indian partners.
Pratt & Whitney, an engine designer and manufacturer, chose the scope of the three-year projects.
24/08/07 Allison Lampert/The Gazette/Montreal Gazette, Canada

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Filled to gill, AI cargoes to newer lands

Mumbai: In just two months after Air India flagged off its first fully dedicated freight carrier, it has toted up an impressive capacity utilisation of 80%. Buoyed by this, the carrier plans to spread its wings by taking its freighters beyond Europe — to markets like China, Japan and the US.
“As more aircraft are being converted into freighters, we may go to markets like China, Japan and even the US. The announcement may come in a few months,” said Mahesh Palkar, manager, marketing, tariff and industry affairs, Air India.
Currently, the two fully dedicated freighters (converted A 310s) of AI are flying to European destinations, including Paris and Frankfurt, with seven trips a week via Bangalore and Chennai and a capacity of 34 tonnes per aircraft.
The cargo carried by the freighters is general cargo, including pharmaceuticals and garments among others.
Air India currently enjoys a market share of 9% in cargo which it estimates will go up to 15% in the first year of the launch of the fully dedicated cargo business.
25/08/07 Shweta Bhanot/Daily News & Analysis

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Virgin Atlantic plans more Indian destinations

Mumbai: Virgin Atlantic Airways plans to add new destinations within the country in the next 18 months besides consolidating its position in Mumbai, a senior company official said.
"We have plans to consolidate our position in the Mumbai market and would like to make our roots strong," Virgin Atlantic Airways Ltd's Marketing Manager, Neha Lidder Ganju, told reporters here today.
The airline has plans to add new destinations like Ahmedabad, Hyderabad and Bangalore but it would take around 18 months, she said.
Speaking on competitive pricing of air tickets, she said "the market has settled down and we don't see any price war in the near future."
24/08/07 PTI/The Hindu

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Smaller foreign airlines to be exempted from mandated commercial agreement

Lok Sabha: It has been decided by the Government that smaller airlines having 7 services or less to India may be exempted from the Mandated Commercial Agreement, w.e.f. 1st January 2008. This information was given by Shri Praful Patel, Minister for Civil Aviation in a written reply to a question in the Parliament today.
In December, 2004 it was decided that all existing Government Mandated Commercial Agreements would be reviewed and phased out over the next five years and all new operations by foreign carriers, both on new destinations as well as on existing routes would be free from the obligations of Mandated Commercial Agreement. The decision for smaller airlines was taken subsequently. This new system is expected to bring about a level playing field between the national carriers and the foreign carriers on the international operations.
23/08/07 Indlaw.com

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Air India's New York flight turns flop, rates slashed

Mumbai: Good news for travelers flying to New York. After getting poor response for its debut flight, Air India is now slashing fares to attract customers. The new rates will kick in from September 1st.
By slashing rates, Air India is trying hard to woo customers so that they break their loyalty to its rival brands. The AI non-stop Mumbai—New York flight that was launched with much fanfare, has so far failed to make an impact. Though the flight promises world-class comforts in a spanking new Boeing 777-200 LR, customers don’t want to give it a try.
Starting September, the airline is slashing its economy class fares. An economy class ticket will now cost Rs 38,000 plus taxes, which is down from the earlier Rs 52,000.
S Venkat ED, Finance, Air India said, “As far as economy fares are concerned, from first September we will slash rates to Rs 38,000 plus taxes and fuel surcharge. But for business and first class we have maintained the old prices.”
Air India's first US flight attracted only 80 passengers compared to its competitor Jet Airways, whose maiden flight was house full.
23/08/07 Archana Shankar/CNN-IBN

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Canada-India flights from Jet Airways

Indian carrier Jet Airways has announced the launch of a new service from Toronto, via Brussels, to Delhi. Using Airbus 330-200 aircraft, the service will be offered five times a week and will be synchronized with other connections.
As such, passengers from Toronto will have the option to connect to the New York-Mumbai flight, while those flying from the Big Apple will be able to transfer to the Delhi service.
Naresh Goyal, Chairman of Jet Airways, told TravelVideo.tv: "We have been working on these plans for more than two years, and having changed the way people fly in India, we will take to the world our own brand of service and style that bespeaks the spirit of New India."
The new service will depart Toronto International Airport at 8:15pm, landing in Brussels at 9:55am. The connecting flight then departs Belgium at 11:55pm, landing at Indira Gandhi International Airport in Delhi at 11:35pm.
The return option, flight 9W 226, leaves Delhi at 2:45am, landing at Brussels at 8am. It takes off in Brussels at 9:55am and lands in Canada at 12:15pm.
23/08/07 Cheapflights.com, US

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GMR to start Istanbul airport work by Dec

Mumbai: A GMR Infrastructure Ltd led consortium is expected to take operational control and begin work on the Sabiha Gokcen International airport in Istanbul, Turkey by early December this year, according to a senior company official.
Speaking to Thomson Financial News from the Southern Indian state of Hyderabad, the official said the signing process for the airport project was delayed because of the elections in Turkey.
The official said the new government will set up an empowered committee of ministers to formally ratify the project once they sort out the ministry formation process.
GMR Infrastructure expects the Turkish project to add to its revenues this financial year itself as the Sabiha airport is an existing profit making brown-field airport. The official clarified that the GMR consortium will manage only the Asian side of the airport.
23/08/07 Thomson Financial/AFX/Forbes, US

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Nepal -India to sign ASA next week

Kathmandu: Nepal and India are going to sign the Air Service Agreement (ASA) next week.
Nepalese officials and tourism entrepreneurs believe that the agreement would be crucial in resolving the existing problems in air service between two countries.
The airline operators and entrepreneurs say that Nepal should ask India to reduce the parking and navigation fees by 50 per cent. The parking fees that India has imposed on Nepalese Airlines are almost double than that Nepal charges in TIA, says Birendra Basnet managing director of Buddha Air Limited.
It is said that the existing parking and navigation fees were fixed for the 125-seat airlines. But the small aircraft are bearing loss in their flights, say airline operators.
24/08/07 Gorkhapatra, Nepal

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Govt plans to do away with ECR system

New Delhi: The government is planning to do away with emigration clearance to spare lakhs of workers going overseas to earn a livelihood from harassment at the hand of emigration authorities.
This was stated by the minister of overseas Indian affairs Vayalar Ravi at the launch of www.pioTV.com, a digital integrated media platform aimed at connecting people of Indian origin living across the world.
“We are planning to do away with Emigration Check Required (ECR) system because lakhs of poor workers were facing harassment at the hands of authorities,” Mr Ravi said.
“Of course the worker reaching the airport should have all proper work documents in order,” the minister said.
The ECR is required for workers travelling to United Arab Emirates (UAE), Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Oman, Kuwait, Bahrain, Malaysia, Libya, Jordan, Yemen, Sudan, Brunei, Afghanistan, Indonesia, Syria, Lebanon, and Thailand. For Iraq, emigration continues to be banned after the beheading incident of a worker there.
The ministry already had liberalised the emigration system by extending the ‘Emigration Check not Required’ (ECNR) status to 173 countries in December last.
24/08/07 PTI/Economic Times

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Kasaragod Expatriates urge direct flight to Mangalore

Kuwait: Kasaragod Expatriates Association(KEA) along with the conglomerate of NRIs from Mangalore submitted the memorandum to Air India requesting flight connectivity between Kuwait and Mangalore, the prominent coastal town in southern part of Karnataka which is adjoining to Kasaragod District in northern part of Kerala. The delegation was lead by KEA's president Engr. Abu Backer who briefed the need to have flight service In Mangalore - Kuwait sector to Air India?s country Manager Mr. Krishan Bhar.
Mangalore airport is traditionally being used by people from Malabar region specifically from Kannur and Kasaragod apart from people from Dakshina Kannada and Uttara Kannada districts in Karanataka. Kuwait has large expat population from this belt spread over two states who are currently depending Mumbai, Calicut and Bangalore airports for their overseas travel. Obviously the choice of airlines are determined by availability, rates and timings which results in using different airlines like Kuwait airways, Air Lanka, Air India, Emirates airlines, etc. Once Mangalore is linked with Kuwait by Air India, the entire expatriate community from this region travelling to Kuwait will avail the services of India's national airlines.
23/08/07 Mangalorean.com

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Indian businessman to launch UAE carrier

Dubai: An Indian businessman is launching Kang Pacific Airlines, making it the fifth airline based in the UAE, its owner said.
The airline plans to launch commercial service out of Fujairah in October, to tap the growing demand for air services to certain destinations.
Initially intending to serve the Philippines, Bangladesh, India and Sri Lanka, Kang Pacific also plans to operate flights to the UK.
The airline will operate as a hybrid between a budget and a full service carrier. When launched, it will join Emirates airline, Etihad Airways, Air Arabia, and RAK Airways.
The airline is the brainchild of Paul Kang, an Indian businessman who previously owned companies involved in aviation catering as well as supplying to duty free shops in the UK and Fujairah.
Kang told Gulf News that he is self-financing the airline's launch with $10 million in startup capital, primarily to procure two DC-10s, a Boeing 747 and one Boeing 737 over the next six months. The fleet will primarily consist of leased aircraft roughly 20 years old.
23/08/07 Ivan Gale/Gulf News, United Arab Emirates

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Amritsar to NY flight from Sept

Jalandhar: Air India would be starting four flights in a week from Amritsar to New York via London from September 11, while the AI management is also contemplating to start a direct flight between New Delhi and San Francisco in January.
Announcing this, Air India northern region general manager Rohita Zaidka said the national carrier was also studying the Delhi-Vancouver tour. Addressing a press conference here on Wednesday, Zaidka said the fare for the Amritsar-New York flight would be the same as that from Delhi. While stating that Air India would be the first Indian carrier to directly connect Punjab with USA via London, she said the days of operation would be Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday. A bus service from Jalandhar to Amritsar would be started for the convenience of passengers of Amritsar-New York flight, and there would be no extra charges for the bus, she announced.
Zaidka said the Air India Express, a subsidiary of Air India, was also planning to strengthen its operations from Amritsar to Dubai by operating six flights a week from November 1 as on this route.
23/08/07 Times of India

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Businessman goes Missing from Airport

Mumbai: Saji Abraham (34), a Dubai-based businessman has been reported missing from airport terminal 2C since Monday August 20th night despite being escorted by his cousin Jayan Tangachan (36) all the way from Dubai. Abraham was waiting in the transit lounge to board a flight to his hometown Kochi.
On Sunday August 19, Abraham landed in the city by a Saudi Arabian Airlines flight (SV 750) at 6 pm. “Being short-tempered, Abraham got into a brawl with the Dubai police in June and landed up in jail,” said his cousin, who also works as a merchandiser in Dubai.
Following three months in jail, Abraham’s condition deteriorated and the local authorities asked him to go back to India. “He was acting weird after being jailed for two months,” Tangachan said.
They were to catch a Jet Airways flight to Kochi at 5.50 am.
“Abraham hardly seemed disturbed during the journey,” said Tangachan. Both sat on the chairs and fell asleep. “When I got up at around 11.45 pm, I noticed that he was missing,” he informed.
22/08/07 Mid Day/Daijiworld.com

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Special flights likely to ferry Andhra workers from UAE

Hyderabad : With the Sep 2 deadline for deportation of all illegal immigrants in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) approaching fast, the Andhra Pradesh government may request New Delhi to operate special flights to ferry its 40,000 workers stranded in the Gulf country.
The government is planning to take up 'evacuation' on a war-footing, similar to the one taken up to bring back workers from Kuwait during the 1991 Gulf War.
About 5,000 workers have come back since the UAE government announced amnesty for those staying illegally, but 40,000 are still in the country.
Energy Minister Mohammed Ali Shabbir, who also looks after NRI affairs, has said the state government may request the civil aviation ministry to operate special flights to bring the workers home. The centre will also be urged to extend the facility of free travel to those stranded.
Shabbir will lead a five-member delegation to Dubai and Abu Dhabi for ensuring safe passage of workers stranded without proper documents.
22/08/07 IANS/NewKerala.com

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New pilot training plan sparks worries

Brussels, Belgium: The international airline industry, faced with a growing passenger load and a shortage of pilots, is ready to graduate its first flight crews from a shortened training program that experts warn may not be good enough. Read On >>

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Upbeat Mallya will fly to US by 2008

Kingfisher Airlines will start operations to the San Francisco and New York in the US in April 2008, the airline's chairman Vijay Mallya said on Tuesday.
“We have filed an application with the US State Transport Department for permission to fly to the US", Mallya said at the sidelines of a marketing seminar organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry.
Mallya said Kingfisher Airlines would fly on Air Deccan's licence if overseas flying norms were not relaxed. At present private Indian airlines with over five years of domestic flying experience and a fleet size of 20 aircraft are permitted to fly overseas.
“Air Deccan will be a five-year old airline in 2008. Even if the overseas norms are not relaxed, we will fly on Air Deccan's licence,” he said.
A proposal to relax overseas flying norms is under consideration of a group of ministers headed by External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee.
Kingfisher has filed an application for an open offer to buy an additional 20 per cent stake in Air Deccan with the market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India.
22/08/07 Samiran Saha/Hindustan Times

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Scramble for seats

New Delhi: All direct flights on the India-US sector are going choc-a-bloc - be it business or economy class - and there appears to be no respite in sight. Add to this, is the pressure from the growing student traffic as sessions at most US universities begin in September.
Confirms Nisha Maharaj, regional manager, Indian subcontinent, American Airlines, "American Airlines is pretty much booked till September-end and it would be difficult to get seats even on business class."
Ankush Nijhawan, MD, Nijhawan Group, however, begs to differ. According to him, tickets are definitely available on this route, but the fares tend to be on the higher side at this point in time. This, he says, is partly due to the student rush, a trend that repeats during December-January months.
The direct carriers between India and the US include Continental Airlines, Delta Airlines and Air India, apart from American Airlines. Air India recently started its non-stop service between Mumbai and New York and quite a few dates on Continental
are going full.
22/08/07 Ravi Teja Sharma/Business Standard

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Jet set to fly Madrid, Birmingham, Geneva

New Delhi: Jet Airways is all set to spread its wings to three new foreign destinations—Birmingham, Madrid and Geneva. The airlines has received the government’s permission to fly on these sectors even as Kingfisher and SpiceJet await the empowered group of ministers (EGoM) decision on whether or not to lower the requirement for flying on international routes to three years of domestic experience.
“We have agreed to grant Jet Airways the traffic rights to operate on India-United Kingdom, India-Spain and India-Switzerland route via Brussels under code-sharing agreement with Brussels Airlines,” a senior official in the ministry of civil aviation told ET.
Jet will be operating the flights via Brussels under a code-sharing agreement with Brussels Airlines. International routes are lucrative for domestic airlines as the sector is experiencing a 16% growth with better profit margin. The traffic on the India-UK route is growing even faster at 60-70%, say experts.
22/08/07 Nirbhay Kumar/Economic Times

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AI Express makes emergency landing at Muscat

Mangalore/Muscat: Several passengers bound for Muscat by Air India Express were stranded at the Bajpe airport as the flight bound for Mangalore from Abu Dhabi was delayed today August 21, 2007.
Air India Express IX 832 which took off from Abu Dhabi enroute to Mangalore developed a technical snag while flying over Muscat air space and had to make an emergency landing at Muscat.
According to the AirIndia officials, the flight will now take off at 11A.M. Wednesday morning.
22/08/07 Mangalorean.com

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Boeing India Appoints Gillian Sourcing Director

New Delhi : The Boeing Company announced today that Daniel Gillian has been named director of enterprise sourcing for India. He will be based out of Boeing's India headquarters in New Delhi.
"We are strengthening our enterprise presence in India and Dan will play a central role in establishing strategic business relationships with Indian industry." said Ian Thomas, president of Boeing India. "Dan will help develop our network of Indian partners and will pursue mutually beneficial growth and productivity opportunities."
Gillian has held several positions during a seven-year Boeing career including assignments in program management and engineering functions. He most recently served as program manager for avionics on critical platforms for Boeing Integrated Defense Systems.
Gillian holds a master's in business administration from Washington University in St. Louis, Mo.
21/08/07 Online-Magazin Business Traveler.eu, Germany

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Emirates and ECU open centre for security and aviation excellence

The Emirates Group has cemented its relationship with Western Australia’s Edith Cowan University with the opening of the Centre for Security & Aviation Excellence. Read On >>

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New pilots paying to fly

Schiphol, Netherlands: When Austin Whitehead started his first job as a co-pilot with Ryanair this month, he had a little more than 250 hours of flight experience under his belt - and €92,000 in loans to repay for his training. Read On >>

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Jet Airways Becoming A Formidable Rival To MAS In The U.S.

New York: Jet Airways, according to aviation experts in the U.S., could become a formidable competitor to Malaysia Airlines in the United States.
Jet Airways, the "new kid on the block", whose arrival has already created some unease among a number of airlines, including India's official carrier Air India and Dubai-based Emirates, which rely heavily on the financially-strong U.S.-based Indian community for traffic, is also eyeing the Malaysian Indian community in the U.S., many of whom would not mind stopping over in India for a day or two before taking a connecting flight to Kuala Lumpur.
Trumpeting its "excellent service, modern aircraft and comfortable seats with more legroom", Jet Airways has been spending massively on publicising its services.
Huge advertisements detailing the aircraft's comfortable interior configuration, the meals served on board and the efficient service have begun to appear in the proliferating ethnic print and broadcast media catering exclusively to Indians living in the U.S. and also persons of Indian origin (PIO), as the Indian diaspora.
20/08/07 Manik Mehta/Bernama

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Onam feast in the sky for Kerala-bound passengers

Various airlines operating to Kerala will be dishing out elaborate feasts onboard during the current Onam season, the biggest festival for Malayalees.
Onam, a harvest festival celebrated in the south Indian state, falls this year on August 27.
Oman Air, for instance, will celebrate Onam in the sky by serving a special menu on its flights to Kochi and Thiruvananthapuram from August 25 to 27. Keralites will be celebrating the festival over 10 days.
Indian Airlines, which flies daily to Kozhikode from Doha, introduced its festival meal yesterday, its manager said. It will continue until August 27.
As in the previous years, SriLankan Airlines is also planning to serve festive food on its flights to Kerala, an official said.
Gulf Air too will be celebrating the joyous festival by serving the traditional Onam meal onboard from Thursday until August 31 on its flights to Thiruvananthapuram and Kochi.
21/08/07 Gulf Times, Qatar

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Air India set to ramp up cargo operations worldwide

Mumbai: Post its merger with Indian Airlines, Air India, the merged entity, is keen to expand its cargo operations worldwide.
Currently, it has a cargo network in 13 domestic destinations and after recently launching a cargo service to Europe, the airline aims to expand its wings to more promising markets.
The airline is estimated to generate a revenue of nearly Rs 700 crore in the 2007-08 fiscal from cargo operations alone.
Says V Thulasidas, CMD, Air India, “My team is studying various markets like China and Japan for enhancing our cargo network.”
However, at present, an Airbus 310 has been converted into a freighter aircraft, which makes four trips a week via Bangalore and Chennai to Frankfurt and Paris.
Currently, the cargo division contributes 8-10% of the total revenues of Air India and by enhancing its network to other destinations in the Middle-East and the UK, the contribution of the cargo division will account for nearly 50% of the total revenues.
20/07/08 Shaheen Mansuri/Financial Express

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Worldwide pilot shortage looms

Atlanta: The U.S. airline industry hopes to hire 12,000 pilots this year and 65,000 by 2012 amid a growing shortage that threatens to disrupt passenger service. Read On >>

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SIA training center: Breeding able flight crew

Preparing able flight and cabin crew is an important factor for modern airlines to ensure not only the comfort of their passengers, but also their safety. Read On >>

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British Airways London flight delayed

Chennai: Passengers on the British Airways flight to London scheduled to leave here early on Sunday waited a whole day before their flight finally took off from Chennai’s international airport.
Flight BA 036, scheduled to leave at 8 a.m. on Sunday, was delayed by a “technical snag”, British Airways officials said.
Passengers were told that the door of the 777 aircraft was not closing and that the required part needed to fix the problem was not available anywhere in India. The part had to be flown in all the way from London, delaying the flight by one full day.
The flight, rescheduled to leave Monday morning at 9 a.m., was delayed again because of a radar failure at Chennai’s Air-Traffic Control.
21/08/07 The Hindu

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Myanmar's Air Bagan to fly to Chennai soon

A Myanmar national private airline, the Air Bagan, will launch its second international flight between Yangon and Singapore on Sept. 7 following its first to Bangkok, Thailand in mid-May, sources with the airline said on Monday.
The addition of Air Bagan's international flight to Singapore will bring the total number of air routes between Yangon and the Southeast Asian member nation to three. The other two airlines that have flown between the two cities are Silk Air of Singapore and the Myanmar Airways International.
Using a 228-seat airbus A 310-200 aircraft, the Air Bagan has been flying Bangkok daily since May 15 and the airline plans to stretch wing also to China's Kunming, South Korea's Incheon, Cambodia's Siam Reap, India's Chennai and Bangladesh's Dhaka.
Air Bagan has been flying between Yangon and 17 domestic destinations, using two Fokker F-100, two France-made ATR-72, three ATR-42 aircraft and two airbus A 310 totaling nine, according to the airline.
20/08/07 People's Daily Online, China

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Foreign airlines find ally

New Delhi: The Planning Commission is supporting the finance ministry in allowing foreign airlines pick up stakes in domestic aviation companies.
The finance ministry favours a higher foreign direct investment limit in aviation than the present 49 per cent.
It also wants equity investments by foreign airlines, at least as minority partners.
North Block feels foreign airlines can bring not only the much-needed funds but also technical expertise in the aviation sector.
A group of ministers has been formed on the proposed civil aviation policy after differences arose over foreign investments and other issues.
Planning Commission officials said the body was expected to support the finance ministry on the issue and had already prepared internal policy papers.
However, the civil aviation ministry, backed by established players such as Jet Airways and Air India, feels foreign airlines are interested in India merely to feed global routes.
Support for foreign airlines has come from smaller players such as SpiceJet which are facing mounting pressure on their bottomlines.
19/08/07 Jayanta Roy Chowdhury/The Telegraph

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Ethiopian Airlines to launch new flights to India

New flights are expected to be launched by Ethiopian Airlines which will tap into the growing markets in China and India, says Ethiopian Airlines Chief Executive Girma Wake.
Mr Girma announced that the airline was considering increasing the number of weekly flights to China from 11 to 14, along with plans to make Addis Ababa its gateway to Africa.
Last week, the airline estimated a 106% increase in pretax profits for 2007 – 2008 to 448 million birr (USD 49.3 million).
Despite the rising competition in the region from other foreign carriers such as Emirates, British Airways and KLM, Girma has remained supportive of Ethiopia’s ‘open skies’ policy.
Mr Girma also believed that Ethiopian Airlines would look to the Far East to increase its growth in the future rather than the U.S or Europe.
"India and China will have a lot of traffic to Africa in the future. They are investing more in Africa and their people are getting richer. Now they will look for tourism," he said.
20/08/07 e-Travel Blackboard (press release), Australia

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New Bahrain airline Ajwaa to be launched

Manama: A new airline, previously rumoured to be starting operations from Bahrain, is preparing to launch with its base here "very soon".
Plans of the new carrier Ajwaa were first revealed by GDN last month following the appearance of a partially finished website that showed details of flights being offered from Bahrain to a number of destinations in the Middle East.
The site named Bahrain as the airline's head office and displayed images of commercial aircrafts with the Bahraini flag featured on their livery.
However, Civil Aviation Affairs Assistant Under-Secretary for Airport Services Nabeel Taqi had told GDN then that the idea of a new international carrier operating from Bahrain was "nonsense" and soon after that Ajwaa removed flight details from its website.
However, Ajwaa chairman Mohammed Al Namran and general manager Mohammed Bin Ali contacted GDN to reveal plans for the new airline are well advanced.
Mr Bin Ali said he is based in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia and that Ajwaa has the backing of investors from Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and other GCC countries.
Mr Al Namran confirmed that Bahrain would be the main passenger hub for the airline.
Ajwaa is reportedly preparing to start operations in the fourth quarter of this year, using an initial fleet of four Boeing and four Airbus aircraft to serve GCC routes before expanding to destinations such as Egypt and India.
20/08/07 Gulf Daily News, Bahrain

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Unscheduled landing by Indian plane at Jinnah International

Karachi: An Indian plane on a world tour landed in emergency at the Jinnah International Airport here on Saturday. Spokesman for the Civil Aviation Authority Pervaiz George told Dawn that a single-engine micro-light aircraft made a "technical landing" for refuelling at the airport.
He said the plane with two Indian pilots - Rahul Monga and Anil Kumar - took off from Bandar Abbas in Iran and was scheduled for Jamnagar in India via Muscat. However, Mr George said, the plane avoided its flight plan and landed in Karachi. "After refuelling, it left for India", he added.
Airport sources said the pilots wanted to make a world record by completing a trip around the world in the minimum duration through a single-engine plane. They said the pilots had so far spent 78 days and the current world record through such an aircraft was 99 days.
18/08/07 Pakistan Dawn, Pakistan

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Bricks in airport cellphone box

Calcutta: Cellphone boxes that arrived here from Bangkok early this morning had brickbats packed in them when they were taken for clearance tonight.
Nine cartons, each supposed to contain 90 mobile phones, reached the Calcutta airport at 4 this morning by a Thai Airways plane.
Air India personnel, who do ground handling for Thai Airways, took two cartons for the mandatory clearances from the cargo hold area around 8.30pm and found that their seals had been broken.
A peep into the boxes revealed the actual contents.
A senior airport official said a probe has been started. Several airport employees were being questioned as it was likely that the seals on the cardboard boxes were tampered with here.
Officials, who could not recall any incident of the sort earlier, said the other cartons would be opened on Monday.
19/08/07 The Telegraph

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AI plans ad blitz to promote non-stop flights to US

Mumbai: National carrier Air India has planned a Rs 20-crore advertising blitz over the next six months to showcase its non-stop flights from India to destinations in the United States.
Launched July-end, the campaign presently revolves around the Mumbai-New York non-stop flight, for which the company has set up billboards at Times Square in New York and in Mumbai besides advertising in leading US newspapers and travel magazines.
Air India's billboard at Times Square is the first such initiative by a public sector enterprise from India. "We have planned around Rs 20 crore ad blitz spanning over the next six months," a senior Air India official told PTI in Mumbai.
"We are now planning to put up a billboard at the John F Kennedy Airport...," he said.
Air India has also started print advertisements for the newly-launched flight and had placed a full page advertisement in the New York Times on the day of the launch. "Besides, we have also placed quarter page ads in the Wall Street Journal besides ads in travel magazines in both the US and India," the official said.
17/08/07 Press Trust Of India/Hindustan Times

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SpiceJet expects to fly overseas by next year

Kochi: Domestic low-cost carrier SpiceJet on Friday said it may to start flights to overseas destinations with the relaxation of civil aviation policy for new carriers to fly abroad.
"By next year we expect to get a license to fly abroad. We will fly shorter destinations, which are similar to those we are operating in India," Spicejet Director Ajay Singh told media.
Asked about the possible destinations, he said it has not been finalised yet as the government policy was not clear.
"We have not finalised any destination. There is not much of clarity on the new aviation policy but we believe that government has relaxed norms for minimum flying experience to three years form the earlier five years," Singh said.
On the company's fleet expansion plans, he said with $350-400 million loan from the US Exim expected to be cleared the carrier would add 10 aircraft between 2009 and 2011.
Currently, SpiceJet has 14 planes, which will be taken up to 19 by March 2008 and to 26 by December 2008. It would be starting its Delhi-Kochi direct flight by August 26, while it is already flying in the Delhi-Bangalore-Kochi sector.
17/08/07 PTI/Economic Times

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English, expat pilots hardly fly together

New Delhi: Rising number of expats coming in may have proved to be a blessing for the pilot-starved aviation industry in India, but their high failure rate in oral English tests conducted by the Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has become a cause for concern. Read On >>

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Airports Company wants to have its own courtrooms

The Airports Company of South Africa (Acsa) has made an application to the Justice Department for permission to set up its own in-house court at the airports.
MD of Acsa, Monhla Hlahla, said that they company was exploring the idea of having its own court to deal with criminal matters that take place at the airports.
"We've got unique issues here and you find sometimes that if you take the matter to the bigger courts they just seem really petty when compared to cases like murder. You find that an issue like somebody stealing somebody's purse gets thrown out of court," she said.
Having an in-house court would enable criminal matters to be dealt with quicker and easier, Hlahla said.
She said that the move is likely as the airports already have police stations.
"We could maybe get one of the main courts that are closest to the airport to have a smaller office at the airports," she said.
Acsa has also embarked on a project outside of South Africa's borders operating an airport in India. The Airports Company invested R27m and together with Bidvest, Old Mutual and an Indian construction company, GVK are operating a development airport in Mumbai. Acsa own 10% of the airport and have a 25year concession agreement.
Hlahla was speaking at Acsa's results presentation where the company presented results for the year ended 31 March 2007. Revenue is up 18% to R2,6bn including non-aeronautical revenue (NAR), which accounts for 43% of total revenue at R1,4bn.
17/08/07 Dikatso Mametse/Moneyweb, South Africa

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Passengers air their grievance, AI asked to shell out Rs 2 lakh

Ahmedabad: Holding Air India guilty of deficiency in service, Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum, Ahmedabad (Rural), has directed the national carrier to make a refund of Rs 2,43,241 with nine per cent interest to one Tarun Seth and his wife Pratibha. It has also ordered payment of compensation to the Seths for mental agony, inconvenience and shock.
The order came following a complaint filed by Consumer Education and Research Society, Ahmedabad, and the Seths against Air India regional manager here and the commercial director at Mumbai. Seth and his wife had booked business class tickets for an Air India flight from New York to Mumbai on October 14, 2004 and had paid Rs 2,43,241. On boarding the flight, they found that the seats allotted to them were not in proper condition, nor were they adjustable. Being senior citizens, they had spinal cord related problems and so found it difficult to travel in those seats. They complained to the flight staff, who told them that they would be accommodated in comfortable seats at London.
At London, their complaint was not resolved and they were not given the promised seats due to which they had to travel in discomfort and had their backache aggravated besides suffering mental and physical harassment. Once home, they approached Air India which regretted the inconvenience and offered them free tickets for the Mumbai-London- Mumbai sector. As they rejected this offer, they were offered free tickets for Mumbai-New York flight but they refused this offer also. The complainants were asking for tickets with a stopover at London but Air India turned down their demand.
Subsequently, they approached CERS which issued legal notice to Air India asking it refund the air fare to the complainants. This failed to get a response and a complaint then was filed with the Forum.
17/08/07 Ahmedabad Newsline

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Fly to New York from Chandigarh

Chandigarh: Can you fly from Chandigarh to New York ? Yes, say Air India officials.
Anyone interested in flying on a non-stop Mumbai-New York flight in a new generation Boeing 777 aircraft can do so by taking a Chandigarh-Mumbai flight of Indian without paying anything extra. The booking of baggage to the final destination and boarding passes for the Mumbai-New York flight will be issued in Chandigarh.
Transfer from the domestic terminal to the international terminal will be “seamless and hassle-free”, promise Air India officials. The fare charged will be the same as that charged from a passenger travelling from Mumbai to New York.
It is a buoyant Punjab market and the competition offered by a private airline, Jet Airways, on long-haul flights has made Air India consolidate its Punjab and Chandigarh operations besides concentrating on new hubs, including Srinagar, for expanding its base in north India.
It will be introducing from September 11 a direct flight from Amritsar to New York via London besides seven days a week a flight from Delhi to London and New York, becoming the first international carrier to directly air-link Punjab with the United States. Jet Airways has already introduced the Delhi-Brussels-New York flight and will start the Toronto-Brussels-Delhi flight early next month.
16/08/07 Prabhjot Singh/The Tribune

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Finance Ministry bats for foreign airlines

New Delhi: The finance ministry appears to be pushing for equity participation by foreign airlines in Indian aviation companies. The ministry has said the final policy in this regard must include investment options by foreign airlines in domestic carriers.
While 49% FDI is allowed in domestic airlines, direct or indirect investment by foreign airlines is not permitted. The draft policy has preferred to remain silent on this issue even though it has mooted a higher FDI limit in domestic airline companies.
Commenting on the draft aviation policy, the department of economic affairs (DEA) said: “In the first draft (NCAP), it had been indicated that even though FDI in domestic airlines has been restricted to 49%, direct or indirect investment by foreign airlines, which is not permitted now, would be considered in due course. However, in the latest draft, this provision has been removed. We believe that the intent of the government to consider this aspect in the future ought to be stated in the policy.”
DEA is supported by its other arm, department of expenditure (DoE).
16/08/07 Nirbhay Kumar/Economic Times

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HAL, Canada's CAE in JV for pilot school in B'lore

Bangalore: State-run Hindustan Aeronautics (HAL) has forged a joint venture with Canada's CAE to set up a $55 million pilot training school in Bangalore and drawn up plans to establish a facility to manufacture multi-role combat jets. Read On >>

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Fly the good times to the US

For the business traveller, flying to the US has never been better. As competition hots up with the entry of new airlines (Air India has launched a non-stop fight from Mumbai to New York and Jet’s flying to Newark via Brussels), airlines are dropping fares and throwing freebies to wean away customers.
Delta Air Lines, for instance, is offering complimentary chopper service between downtown Manhattan and the JFK Airport on purchase of a qualifying non-stop ticket between New York City and Mumbai, or vice-versa.
Now, you can fly to or from the airport in 10-15 minutes while it can take 45-90 minutes by road.
Air India is offering its first class guests a free pick-up and drop facility for its new non-stop Mumbai-New York service, while Emirates offers its business class and first class passengers a complimentary pick-up and drop, subject to a maximum distance of 40-60 miles from the airport. This service is available in all key cities served by the airline, including New York.
ther airlines like Lufthansa and Austrian Airlines had a companion-free offer for the US and Europe on full-fare business class tickets, which ended in June and July, respectively.
“Customers often weigh things like frequent flier miles when choosing an airline. To wean them away, other airlines may come up with such offers,” said Deep Kalra, founder and CEO, makemytrip.com.
Many frequent fliers are influenced by freebies like upgrades and other services like lounge facilities or pick-up and drop.
16/08/07 Ranju Sarkar & P R Sanjai/Business Standard

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No English? Don’t fly to London

Calcutta: As India celebrates the 60th anniversary of Independence, a citizen smarts under the insult meted out to her at Calcutta airport for not speaking English.
Saleha Iqbal, 55, was “harassed and detained” by immigration officials for over half an hour on July 7 as she could not reply to their queries in English. The central Calcutta resident, travelling alone, was on her way to London to join her sister, who had lost her husband two weeks before.
“Strangely, her inability to speak English did not land her in trouble at Heathrow airport, in London,” said Saleha’s son Mohammed Asif Iqbal.
Asif has written to chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and the airport authorities, seeking action against the “guilty” officials.
“The immigration officials asked her whether she could speak English, as she was conversing with them in Hindi. When she said she could not, one of them yelled at her, saying she had no business travelling to London if she could not speak the language,” said Asif, an executive in a software company.
The official asked her to wait and took away her passport and ticket. “Others then started interrogating her...... They had suddenly become suspicious of an innocent woman simply because she was not speaking English,” said Asif.
Nervous and humiliated, Saleha called her husband from her cellphone. “My father wanted to talk to the immigration officials, but they refused to speak to him,” Asif recalled. When Asif was informed about the situation by his father, he called Air-India officials, who “sorted out the matter”.
15/08/07 Sanjay Mandal/The Telegraph

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Etobicoke's Air India memorial in bad shape

Less than two months after it was officially dedicated, Canada's first Air India Memorial to the lives of 329 victims of the in-air bombing is dead.
Toronto's soaring temperatures and scarce rainfall, combined with seemingly little watering by city staff, has turned what looked like a green contemplative sanctuary when it was dedicated in June into an arid wasteland.
Today, it is blighted by sun-scorched sod and a dead flower bed.
The memorial lands stand in stark contrast to the flourishing grasses and lush gardens in neighbouring Humber Bay Park West, where one bountiful garden is marked by a "Clean City, Beautiful City" project sign.
Jayashree Thampi, head of the Air India Victims' Families Association, said she took notice of the dead state of the site during a visit with relatives from North Carolina a week ago.
"I thought, 'wow. This is so sad. I hope the grass survives,'" she recalled. "I thought I should call someone. The grass is so dry and all the plants are so dead. It looks like it hasn't been watered since that (dedication) day."
That day was June 23, a sunny Saturday morning when Air India families were joined by Prime Minister Stephen Harper, Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty and Mayor David Miller at the official memorial unveiling ceremony.
The ceremony remembered the 329 victims of Canada's worst act of terrorism.
The Air India Victims' Families Association fought - and waited - for 22 years to have a memorial built to commemorate the lives of their loved ones.
14/08/07 Tamara Shephard/Ontario Mirror Guardian, Canada

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Air India has no plans to buy Serbia's JAT

New Delhi: Air India has no plans to buy Serbia's state-owned carrier JAT and is yet to decide on a proposal from JAT for a strategic alliance, Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel told parliament on Tuesday.
The Serbian government plans to privatise JAT, whose assets including its 20-year-old fleet mainly of Boeing 737 planes and real estate are estimated to be worth $150 million.
In June, an Air India spokesman told media the carrier was was considering a strategic alliance with JAT, and could later bid for an equity stake if there was an agreement on the valuation and sharing of profits.
14/08/07 Reuters/Economic Times

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Foreign flights: Kingfisher-Deccan pressurises govt

New Delhi: The fight over flying overseas has entered its final phase. In the latest development, the Kingfisher-Air Deccan combine has stepped up the pressure on government to get rights for foreign flights.
Deccan MD Captain Gopinath wrote a letter to Pranab Mukherjee, who heads a group of ministers (GoM), asking for removal of restriction on operating international flights. The GoM is looking at the issue of relaxing norms for overseas flying, in the process of framing the new Civil Aviation Policy. At present, Jet Airways and its recent acquisition Air Sahara (now JetLite) are the only private carrier that fly abroad. Calling the existing rules discriminatory and favouring only some players, Gopinath wrote that many foreign airlines ‘‘though being one or two years old'' and a small fleet of three to four planes are permitted to operate to many Indian cities.
The GoM met on Tuesday and discussed the new civil aviation policy. At present, the five-year and 20-aircraft rule make Jet and JetLite the only private carrier allowed to fly to foreign shores like UK, US, Europe, Southeast Asia and Canada will be added to the list next month. Under the proposed changes, aviation minister has been talking of a case by case clearance to airlines in which their track record will decide whether they can fly abroad or not.
15/08/07 Saurabh Sinha/Times of India

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Mihin Lanka unveils flights to Buddhagaya

Mihin Lanka will expand its route map to Buddhagaya, India. The low cost carrier will launch a new non-stop service between Colombo and Gaya international airport from September 2.
The route will be served by an Airbus A320 in economy and premium economy.
Buddhagaya emerged as Mihin Lanka’s sixth destination for giving travellers access to low fares and unique onboard services. New route will be ideal for pilgrims and holidaymakers around the world.
Gaya becomes third Indian city to be served from Colombo following launch of flights to India two months ago.
Mihin Lanka will offer one round trip flight on Sunday to Buddhagaya beginning September 2 with the option of second frequency.
15/08/07 Ceylon Daily News, Sri Lanka

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Indian announces special I-Day offers

Muscat: Indian (Airlines) has announced special offers on the 60th anniversary of India’s Independence Day.
The airlines current low season market fares to online destinations in India valid for travel until September 30, 2007 has been extended for travel until December 31, 2007 only for tickets purchased on August 15, 16 and 17. Indian started Oman operations in 1993 with three flights a week and at present has 20 flights a week to eight online destinations. They are Mumbai, Delhi, Ahmedabad, Calicut, Kochi, Chennai, Bangalore and Hyderabad.
Indian also leads the competition in providing enhancements in passenger related facilities. Its web-based services enabling simple internet booking, check-in and ticketing have won it the Nasscom “Best IT User Award 2006” in the travel and hospitality segment.
15/08/07 Times of Oman, Oman

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It's Jet vs rest in battle for skies

New Delhi: India’s aviation sector is locked in an intense battle for the skies. The dogfight, this time around, is over flying international.
Sources tell CNN-IBN that domestic airlines, lobbying hard to be allowed to fly out of India, have come together to fight efforts by Jet Airways chief Naresh Goyal to stop newer entrants from operating on international sectors.
The Group of Ministers, which meets on Tuesday, is expected to discuss lowering norms for airlines that want to go international.
Currently, the new entrants need to have a five-year flying record and 20 aircraft. The only two private airlines that meet these norms are Jet Airways and Jetlite, both owned by Naresh Goyal.
Sources tell CNN-IBN that Goyal is lobbying to introduce a profitability criterion, which will effectively keep out the newer airlines out of picture.
But analysts say that shouldn't be the case.
The five-year flying norm was introduced by the Government citing security fears. But domestic carriers argue that airlines like Etihad and al-Jazeera, which are less than two years old, are allowed to fly into India and that the same norms should be applied to outbound flights.
13/08/07 Karma Paljor/CNN-IBN

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Gulf Air offers cheap fares for workers

Manama: Bahrain's national carrier Gulf Air has introduced a raft of reduced one-way fares to 18 destinations as part of the government's amnesty for expatriate workers.
Countries included in the scheme are India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Yemen, Iran, Syria, the Philippines and Thailand.
The fares are: Mumbai BD50, Delhi BD50, Bangalore BD70, Chennai BD60, Kochi BD70, Trivandrum BD60, Karachi BD40, Islamabad BD50, Lahore BD50, Peshawar BD50, Dhaka BD40, Kathmandu BD70, Damascus BD40, Sana'a BD40, Shiraz BD30, Tehran BD40, Manila BD120 and Bangkok BD110.
The airline's initiative comes after embassies in Bahrain last week called for airlines to reduce the costs for expatriates taking advantage of the amnesty, which ends on December 31.
Diplomats said special consideration should be given to those who are desperate to return home, but do not have the funds to pay for the normal cost of tickets.
14/08/07 Gulf Daily News, Bahrain

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SriLankan Airlines doubles free baggage allowance for passengers

SriLankan Airlines has announced an increase in free baggage allowance for return passengers flying out of Qatar.
Travellers who purchase their tickets in Doha are now entitled to carry 40 kg of baggage on their return journey; double the amount of the previous allowance.
SriLankan Airlines Manager for Qatar, Mr. Lakshman Weerasooriya, believes that the extra allowance will provide an incentive for passengers to choose the carrier over other Middle East airlines. When added to the CAA permitted hand luggage allowance, it means that 47kg of baggage can be brought back on return flights; an additional benefit that is ideal for the summer season, when holidaymakers often want to carry home gifts and purchases from their vacation,' he adds.
SriLankan Airlines is the largest foreign carrier into India, with 90 flights a week to 10 destinations and is currently involved in an aggressive expansion programme for its Middle East operations.
13/08/07 AME Info (press release), United Arab Emirates

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Air-India, Jet turn heat on Delta

Mumbai: Intense competition by Indian carriers Air-India and Jet Airways in the Mumbai-New York sector has forced established US carrier Delta Air Lines woo business-class passengers by offering complimentary helicopter rides.
Air-India started its daily non-stop service to New York (JFK) on August 1, and private carrier Jet Airways began its daily Mumbai-New York (Newark) service with a stopover at Brussels from August 5. They are aggressively wooing passengers by offering introductory fares as well as brand new airplanes saddled with added comforts and the latest in-flight amenities.
Expecting a drop in passenger numbers, Delta has launched its complimentary helicopter service for BusinessElite customers. This is the same class as Air India's Business Class and Jet's Premier Class.
This service is available between heliports in downtown Manhattan or at 34th Street and John F Kennedy International Airport on a non-stop ticket between New York and Mumbai. Passengers flying from Mumbai will also get this facility. The scheme is on for travel up to December 31.
13/08/07 Lalatendu Mishra/Hindustan Times

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India plans air services pact with LatAm, African nations

New Delhi: Air travel to Chile, Mexico and Libya is likely to become easier with the government planning to have bilateral air service agreements with these countries. Talks are in line with the government’s aim to have direct link with all countries.
“We have received proposals from these countries and are currently negotiating the terms with them...,” a senior official of the ministry of civil aviation said.
“We would soon meet civil aviation authorities in the nations concerned to further discuss the agreement,” he added. When contacted, a Mexican government official said, “We are pursuing a bilateral air service agreement with the Indian government. The talks are at a preliminary stage now.” India maintains an open sky policy with other countries for all cargo services without any restriction.
A bilateral air service agreement between two countries enables them to designate any number of airlines as they wish to operate in their countries.
13/08/07 Nirbhay Kumar/Times of India

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Malaysia Airlines offer super low fares

Malaysia Airlines’ is offering travelers super low airfares for bookings till 15 August 2007 during its World Online Celebration.
Customers booking these offers through www.malaysiaairlines.com can enjoy up to 75% discount on air fares for all Malaysia Airlines international destinations, except in Australia, for travel from 16 January to 22 May 2008.
Amazing rock-bottom one way fares start from RM29 for ASEAN destinations, RM199 to the Orient, RM299 to destinations in North Asia and the Indian Sub-Continent, RM699 to European and Middle Eastern destinations, and RM1129 to South Africa.
For destinations in the Indian Sub-Continent, offers start from RM299 to Dhaka, RM399 to Chennai and Colombo and RM459 for flights to Hyderabad and Bangalore.
For destinations in ASEAN countries, fares start from RM29 to Medan, RM99 to Phnom Penh, Phuket, Cebu and Surabaya, RM199 to Ho Chi Minh City, Jakarta, and Bandar Seri Begawan and RM159 to Bangkok.
All promotional airfares are for economy class travel on Malaysia Airlines and exclude fuel surcharge and other applicable surcharges. Children enjoy a 15% discount whilst infants are charged only 10% of the adult fares.
13/07/08 eTravelBlackboard - Asia Edition, Australia

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Air Arabia adds security layer to online bookings

Dubai: In an effort to deter identity theft, Air Arabia said it is adding new security measures to its online booking system.
The airline will begin requiring customers to include the PIN code while booking tickets on its website as an extra security measure, the company said on Sunday.
The use of stolen credit cards to purchase plane tickets is a small but thorny problem for airlines, which absorb the fraudulent bookings as a loss.
Currently, many airlines allow customers to purchase tickets using their credit card or ATM cards on behalf of another person. This capability has been exploited by identity thieves, who purchase tickets using someone else's stolen card.
In the Indian subcontinent, Air Arabia requires ticket holders to present the credit card at the airport. In Sri Lanka, this effectively cut the number of illegally purchased tickets down to zero, according to airline officials.
While the airline said the number of fraudulent tickets bought by identity thieves each year is in the hundreds, or 0.1 per cent of overall transactions, other carriers have suffered greater misfortune.
According to reports in the Indian press this week, Kingfisher Airlines lost Dh15 million in revenues from fraudulent online bookings.
12/08/07 Ivan Gale/Gulf News, United Arab Emirates

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Wipro set to enter JV with Boeing for MRO pie

New Delhi: Wipro Technologies is shoring up opportunities in the Maintenance Repair and Overhaul (MRO) business with the US-based Aviation major Boeing.
Wipro Technologies will be providing software tools and technological support to carry out an array of aircraft checks and maintenance programs in Boeings MRO facility, which is slated to come up in Nagpur, Maharashtra.
Boeing has already signed an MOU with the national carrier Air India to develop an airframe MRO. The JV of Air India and Boeing is also on a lookout for another partner with hardcore with MRO experience.
Boeing has announced to invest 100 million dollar into the Nagpur MRO facility in India. "25 per cent of 100 million dollar will go in setting up IT services applications. That's the piece we are looking at," says Partha Sarthi Guha Patra, Vice President Strategic Initiatives and Offset Programs.
13/08/07 Archana Khatri/Hindustan Times

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Etihad set to increase flights

Etihad Airways is to increase its flying programme by 21 per cent at the end of October when the airline will also bid to attract more travellers with the introduction of new flight timings to improve connecting services.
The Abu Dhabi-based airline will boost its weekly flights from 564 to 716 for the global aviation industry’s winter season which starts on 28 October with most of the increases set to take-off in the GCC, Europe and the Indian subcontinent.
The extra flights will improve 17 routes across Etihad’s global network including Bahrain, which doubles from 14 to 28 flights a week and Muscat jumps from seven to 21 flights a week.
Etihad’s strong network across the Middle East will be strengthened further with increases on routes to Doha, from seven to 14 flights a week, Amman from six to daily and Damascus from five to daily.
The airline’s services to the Indian subcontinent will receive a significant boost as Thiruvananthapuram and Kochi, Etihad’s two Kerala routes, and the Bangladeshi capital of Dhaka, will all increase to daily flights.
13/08/07 eTravelBlackboard - Asia Edition, Australia

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Jet Airways Cargo targets Irish market

Jet Airways Cargo has introduced an overnight express road feeder to all major airports in Ireland.
Following the introduction of a route from London to Mumbai, the Indian carrier is now able to offer customers the option to transfer cargo to various destinations in Ireland. Consequently, Jet Airways has employed International Airline Marketing (IAM) to act as sales agent in the region.
"Jet Airways is still a relatively unknown quantity here, but we aim to change that. This is a quality carrier with a very young fleet and a determination to make its mark," said Ian McCool, managing director of IAM.
Jet Airways Cargo currently operates 14 flights per week from London to Mumbai using Boeing B777s. The aircraft has a palletised cargo capacity of 22 tonnes with a full passenger load on the Mumbai to London route.
13/08/07 Alex Hawkes/ArabianBusiness.com (press release), United Arab Emirates

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More flights to Gulf from Mangalore Airport

Mangalore: The Airports Authority of India in Mangalore is on the way to earn a profit of Rs. 6 Crore in FY 2007-08.
Airport director at Mangalore Airport at Bajpe during the a casual talk to the press persons M.R.Vasudeva said, the airport earned a profit of Rs. 83 lakh during 2006-07. The passenger traffic is expected to go up to 6 lakh in 2007-08 in comparison 4.58 lakh passengers in 2006-07. The Airport which is growing in passenger traffic will include various new facilities for passengers when the expansion of the airport is complete. He said the Authority had allowed the Manipal University to set up a health booth on rental basis. It will be manned by a doctor and a nurse.
Mr.Vasudeva said the number of flights to the Gulf countries, would see a tremendous increase to 14 a week from October 25, 2007, as against 10 presently. Air India Express will introduce new service between Sharjah and Mangalore from October, he said.
Various other outlets including a foreign exchange counter, cafeteria and snacks bar and sweets stall will also be opened in the airport.
11/08/07 Mangalorean.com

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AI's non-stop flight between New Delhi-New York

Bhopal: After successfully launching Mumbai- New York non-stop flight, newly merged Air India will launch a non-stop flight between New Delhi and New York from January 2008, Indian Chairman and Managing Director Vishwapati Trivedi said on Saturday.
"The new entity will launch non-stop flight between New Delhi and New York in January," Trivedi told reporters after inaugurating a newly renovated reservation office of air carrier Indian.
He said soon direct flights for Haj pilgrims will be launched from Indore to cater to the demand of the people of the region.
Referring to delays in flight operations, he said it was mainly due to air congestion and non-availability of parking space at airports and to address these problems the government is mulling to start parking facility at airports like Bhopal, Indore and Lucknow among others.
12/08/07 PTI/The Hindu

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Wipro, Lockheed Martin start ops in Gurgaon

New Delhi: Wipro Technologies and defence contractor Lockheed Martin on Saturday announced the opening of their joint network centric operations centre in Gurgaon. It is the third such centre for Lockheed Martin after those in USA and the UK.
The centre, christened Ambar Jyoti, will develop, demonstrate and experiment with emerging network-enabled capabilities and solutions to cater to military and civil applications. With its core competence in testing and analysing war-fighting concepts, it would help the armed forces in the areas of command, control, communications, surveillance and reconnaissance.
While it could help with traffic management in civil aviation, Ambar Jyoti would also come handy for optimal resource deployment in case of natural disasters. “While Wipro brings its IT infrastructure and networking expertise to the collaboration, Lockheed Martin would provide simulation tools and its aerospace expertise,” said Wipro chief operating officer AL Rao.
12/08/07 Times of India

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4 new AIE Sharjah-Mangalore flights

Mangalore: Air India Express will introduce four flight
service between Sharjah and Mangalore from October 25, Airport Authority of India (AAI) Director M R Vasudeva said on Saturday.
He told press persons at the Bajpe airport that with this additional service, the number of international flights per week between Mangalore and the gulf country would increase to 14. There would a total 28 international flight movement per week at the Bajpe airport per week from October 25 from the present 20 flight movement, he added.
He said the work on the new terminal building at the airport had been awarded and would be completed in next 18 month period. The required land for the new terminal building had already been acquired by the state government and handed over to the AAI.
12/08/07 UNI/Deccan Herald

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Technology upgrade to make Mumbai ATC national gateway

Mumbai: In a move that will catapult Mumbai—and India—in the league of aviation biggies, the Airports Authority of India (AAI) has roped in German Air Traffic Control (ATC) specialists COMSOFT to undertake the installation of an aeronautical message handling system (AMHS) at the Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport.
The AMHS—used to relay flight plans, meteorological data, emergency messages, etc as a flight is transferred from one ATC centre to another—will be a dedicated data network connecting air traffic control centres across the globe. It is a new, refined and superior technology over the currently used aeronautical fixed telecommunication network (AFTN).
While the functionality of the AFTN—implemented in the ’70s—is so limited that it can at the most carry text with a maximum of 1,800 characters, the AMHS can carry any kind of digital information including text, graphics, images, files, databases, audio and video.
The move to replace the obsolete AFTN has been underway since March 2005 when AMHS service was established between Japan and USA.
11/08/07 Lekha Agarwal/Mumbai Newsline

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Virgin takes 20% stake in FAX; Destination India soon

Putrajaya: AirAsia X has finally got the Malaysian Government’s nod to fly to Australia’s Gold Coast and Avalon besides London on the same day as British billionaire Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Group inked a deal to pay just over US$6mil for a 20% stake in Fly Asian Xpress Sdn Bhd (FAX).
This puts an end to the over five years of speculation that Branson would invest in AirAsia. Virgin’s entry gives AirAsia X “greater global credibility and visibility across markets”.
FAX will operate Malaysia’s only long-haul low-cost carrier, AirAsia X, that had decided Gold Coast will be its first destination by end-September or early October and the cheapest fare it will offer is RM90.
Apart from the 20% stake sale to Virgin, FAX would sell an additional 20% to AirAsia Bhd and that would mark the first round of fund-raising exercise, capitalising FAX at nearly US$40mil, FAX director Datuk Tony Fernandes told a press conference after FAX and Virgin signed the share sale agreement yesterday.
Apart from the Gold Coast, FAX would fly to Hangzhou and Tianjian in China, and Avalon in Melbourne this year. Early next year, Fernandes said, FAX planned to fly to Amritsar and “we would call it the Punjabi Express.”
Other destinations on its radar screen include Birmingham, Manchester, stations in India, China, the Middle East and the United States. The route to Japan is still being explored.
11/08/07 BK Sidhu/Malaysia Star, Malaysia

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'Asia does not need Virgin brand'

Putrajaya: British billionaire Sir Richard Branson, founder and head of Virgin Group Ltd, said he had no plans to introduce the Virgin brand in Asia, ceding the market to AirAsia’s already established presence.
"AirAsia has already built a strong brand name (as a leading low-cost carrier) and AirAsia X will be a strong brand as well.
"We don’t need the Virgin brand for this region," he said at an event to announce Virgin’s entry as a new shareholder in long-haul budget carrier AirAsia X.
He said AirAsia Bhd group chief executive officer Datuk Tony Fernandes has had "phenomenal success" in the short-haul Asian routes.
"I am thrilled to be able to support AirAsia in this venture and look forward to seeing low-cost, long-haul travel being opened up from their base in Malaysia," Branson said.
Branson’s Virgin bought a 20 per cent stake in Fly Asian Xpress Sdn Bhd (FAX), the operator of AirAsia X.
11/08/07 New Straits Times, Malaysia

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RCMP wants to take Air India investigation overseas

Vancouver: The RCMP’s Air India Task Force has asked the Indian government for permission to visit the South Asian country to further the criminal investigation into the June 1985 bombing, CanWest News Service has learned.
Insp. Lloyde Plante confirmed Friday that investigators met with Indian government representatives in Canada this week to update them on the ongoing criminal probe.
Plante said the criminal case is active, despite the acquittals two years ago of key suspects Ripudaman Singh Malik and Ajaib Singh Bagri.
Several other suspects, including people in India and England, were identified as unindicted co-conspirators during the 19-month trial of Malik and Bagri that ended with not guilty verdicts in March 2005.
Plante stressed the planned trip to India has nothing to do with recent news reports about an alleged confession by suspected mastermind Talwinder Singh Parmar, founder of the Babbar Khalsa terrorist group, while he was being interrogated in Punjab in October 1992.
“This trip, frankly, had been planned well in advance of the news reports,” Plante said.
Parmar’s statements were widely published after an Indian magazine last week said former Punjab police officer Harmail Singh Chandi had been prepared to testify at the Air India inquiry about the circumstances surrounding Parmar’s in-custody death and the fact that Parmar supposedly confessed and implicated other Sikh separatist leaders.
10/08/07 Kim Bolan/CanWest News Service/Vancouver Sun/Canada.com, Canada

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Evidence Mounts Of Parmar’s Fake Encounter

Chandigarh: New revelations that Talwinder Singh Parmar, the alleged mastermind of the 1985 Kanishka airplane blast and Babbar Khalsa International chief, was killed by the Punjab Police (PP) in a staged encounter in 1992 have forced the Canadian authorities investigating the case to re-examine Parmar’s killing. Parmar was a Canadian citizen at the time of his death, and a team of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) is readying to fly to India after former DSP Harmail Singh Chandi produced for the first time the confession of Parmar extracted by the PP just before his killing. The pp, which had covered itself in glory after killing Parmar, has gone red in the face.
Tehelka’s breaking story (Operation Silence, August, 2007) on Parmar’s illegal murder has been taken on record by the John Major Commission of Inquiry set up by the Canadian government in 2006 to re-examine the June 23, 1985 Kanishka blast. Spokesperson for the Commission, Michael Tansey, told Tehelka: “We are aware of the Tehelka article. It has sparked off a lot of attention here. We intend to look at the information to determine its veracity and try and corroborate it. The Commission will resume its proceedings on September 10.” Tansey said that the criminal investigation was for the RCMP to follow, but the circumstances surrounding Parmar’s death are “within the mandate of the Commission”.
Former Supreme Court Justice John Major told Canadian reporters that the Tehelka article falls under the “terms of reference (of the inquiry), so we really do not have an option.”
11/08/07 Vikram Jit Singh/Tehelka

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AI flight 17 hrs late day before, 20 hrs yesterday

New Delhi: Air India passengers to Seoul were in for 'double trouble' this week after the same flight was delayed on two consecutive days — by 17 hours on Thursday and by almost 20 hours on Friday. And if the harrowing wait wasn't enough, passengers said they were misinformed, forced to wait at the airport and harassed by the staff when they protested.
Both flights were delayed due to technical reasons, said airlines officials. The C-10 aircraft that was to fly on both days, is about 15-18 years old. Air India officials said the airline has not purchased an aircraft in the past 15 years, leaving enough room for technical problems off and on.
The AI-310 Mumbai-Delhi-Seoul flight was to land in Delhi at 10.30 pm on Thursday from Mumbai and fly on to Seoul at 11.15 pm. Airport sources said the flight, delayed in Mumbai, finally landed in Delhi at 5.30 pm on Friday and left for its destination an hour later.
11/08/07 Neha Lalchandani/Times of India

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Air India’s Maharaja is going to New York’s Times Square

In the eclectic maze of sky high billboards, digital JumboTrons, fluorescent displays and LED news-crawlers, for a month, the Maharaja will have a “spectacular” (presence) in the heart of New York’s Times Square, the world’s unrivalled marketing crossroads. From Mumbai to New York, the Maharaja’s workforce is frantically working to get the Air India “spectacular” — as signs in Times Square are officially called — installed at its hired location at the junction of 47th street and Broadway.
At approximately $100,000 for a month, the billboard showcases the flag carrier’s recently launched non-stop Mumbai-New York service and “actually consists of four separate rectangular panels merged into a single hoarding”, said Air India deputy commercial manager (advertising & special promotions) Veera Khambatta. If combined into one, the billboard would be 118 feet high and 169 feet wide — that’s half as tall as the Qutab Minar. Also, that’s almost the size of the 120-foot-high or seven-storey tall NASDAQ signage in the animated district, which pays more than $2 million annually for leasing the strategic advertising space.
10/08/07 Lekha Agarwal/Indian Express

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Jet to add more flights to US by winter

New Delhi: Expanding its wings further to overseas destinations, private carrier Jet Airways today said it planned to start daily flights from Delhi to New York's JFK Airport as well as to South Africa by this winter.
"By the end of October or early November daily flights from Delhi to JFK Airport will start," Jet Airways Executive Director Saroj Datta told reporters here.
"We also intend to start flights to east coast of US from Chennai or Bangalore," he said, adding the carrier would also start flights to Johannesburg by this winter.
The airline today announced the launch of its new flight linking Delhi with Toronto via Brussels, five times a week.
The carrier will operate flights to Toronto with an Airbus 330-200 aircraft and has offered an inaugural return fare for economy class at Rs 35,000, while for the premiere class the return fare starts at Rs 1,57,500 (excluding taxes).
09/08/07 Press Trust of India

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Air India mulling Euro hub, more direct flights to US

Mumbai: Buoyed by the successful launch of its non-stop Mumbai-New York flight on August 1, Air India is planning to add more such destinations in the US from various Indian cities and proposes to acquire more aircraft for this purpose.
After its Mumbai-New York direct flight, Air India is now looking at connecting more destinations like Chicago, Washington and Houston in the US and Vancouver and Toronto in Canada.
The airline is also looking at setting up an European hub and restart services to Australia and Switzerland, besides adding more services to Asian and SAARC destinations.
The Indian cities that could generate adequate traffic for such non-stop flights to north America are Chennai, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad and Amritsar, apart from Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore, Air India's Chairman, V Thulasidas, told reporters here.
09/08/07 PTI/Economic Times

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Kerala body to charter flight for amnesty-seekers

Dubai: A cultural body from Kerala has decided to charter an Air India flight to repatriate the Indian amnesty-seekers, free of cost, who are unable to buy an air-ticket.
The chartered aircraft carrying 166 amnesty-seekers will leave Dubai International Airport for Calicut on September 1, an official of the UAE chapter of Kerala Muslim Cultural Centre (KMCC) said.Yahya Thalangara, general secretary of KMCC, UAE chapter said Air India had given a good package for chartering the flight.
Earlier, Kairali Television, a premier Malayalam television channel, had chartered an aircraft for 160 amnesty-seekers who were taken to Cochin a week ago.
09/08/07 PTI/The Hindu

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DGCA tightens norms for expat pilots

Mumbai: Expatriate pilots hired by airline operators in India will henceforth have to undergo the ‘air regulation examination’ conducted by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) like their Indian counterparts. Read On >>

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Australia adds aviation engineers jobs to skilled migration list

Foreign architects, locksmiths and aircraft engineers will find it easier to get work in Australia under changes to the country's skilled migration program. Read On >>

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Cathay Pacific Airways appoints new Port Manager

New Delhi: Hong Kong-based airline Cathay Pacific Airways today appointed Katie Rowen as the new Port manager for Delhi and Northern India.
Katei would be responsible for revenue and sales functions, cost control, budgeting and personnel related functions besides smooth running of all operations, a company release said here.
09/08/07 PTI/Economic Times

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India to get $10b aviation offshore business

Bangalore: The Central government's offset policy is expected to bring aviation offshoring deals worth over $10 billion to the country in the next couple of years. The government has already committed to acquire commercial and defence aviation products, aircraft, components, services and equipment worth $40 billion, with an offset component ranging from 30% to 50%.
Under the offset policy, the government holds back a minimum 30% of the invoice value of any civil or defence aviation related purchase over a mutually agreed period of time, till the seller outsources services equivalent to that of the offset share. The policy is aimed at helping to build an eco-system to support the growth and upkeep of the industry.
Some of the deals cleared include: 68 aircraft from Boeing for Air-India at $6.7 billion (with an offset share of 30%), 43 aircraft from Airbus for Indian at $2.7 billion (40%), 200 helicopters from Eurocopter for defence at around $20 billion (50%), and 126 MRCA (multi-role combat aircraft) from multiple vendors for defence at $10 billion (50%).
The major chunk of these offshoring deals are expected to land in Bangalore. Currently, no other location in the country has a comparable aviation ecosystem.
The aviation engineering business alone is expected to be over $4 billion by 2020. The space will include developing sub systems, intelligence for landing gear, structural body frames for aircraft, interiors, cockpit, and entertainment systems.
09/08/07 Mini Joseph Tejaswi & Anshul Dhamija/Times of India

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