Pak continues to ignore India on IC-814 hijackers

New Delhi Ten years after the hijacking of Indian Airlines plane, Pakistan is yet to respond to formal requests made by India for extradition of the five hijackers and two of their accomplices.
The Pakistan authorities, with whom formal requests were made in May 2000, has neither confirmed nor denied the presence of five hijackers -- Ibrahim Athar, Sunny Ahmed Qazi, Zahoor Ibrahim, Shahid Akhter Sayed and Shakir-- and two accomplices Yusuf Azhar and Abdul Rauf -- in their country.
The extradition requests were made under the SAARC and the Hague conventions under which Pakistan has the obligation to honour them, CBI sources said on Wednesday.
The sources said reminders were even being constantly sent to Islamabad besides getting the Interpol involved to ensure the execution of the Red Corner notice. But there seems to be no progress on this front in that country.
30/12/09 Express India

Read More

Kandahar hijack freed Mushtaq Ahmad, but shackled his family

Srinagar: Al-Umar Mujahideen still exists, but the outfit has been asked to lie low by Pakistan, claim police.
The outfit was floated by Mushtaq Ahmad Zargar, one of the three terrorists released by the Indian government to save passengers on a hijacked Indian Airlines flight. The other two were Masood Azhar and Ahmad Syed Omar Sheikh. Masood later went to head the dreaded Jaish-e-Mohommad, which has been held responsible for the attack on parliament.
However, since Mushtaq’s release, his family has been on the radar of security forces. The family had to maintain a low profile. For the last 10 years his relatives were hardly seen in public domain, purportedly due to the pressure and the constant surveillance.
They disconnected their phones. Zargar’s brother Fayaz Ahmad was arrested after Mushtaq was released. He was two years in the jail. Zahoor, the other brother, was also picked up from the street and interrogated for three months before being released.
Two years after Mushtaq became a militant in 1990, his brother-in-law Siraj-ud-din was picked by the security forces. He has been allegedly missing ever since.
“There is no end to our harassment. Every black law has been applied on us. Now please do not trouble us and leave us alone. We have suffered a lot. We don’t want to talk,” said Mushtaq’s relative, even requesting not to be named.
31/12/09 Ishfaq-ul-Hasan/Daily News & Analysis

Read More

FBI probes account of Michigan couple in Flight 253 case

US federal agents and Dutch counter-terrorism officials are investigating whether a second man helped the Nigerian bombing suspect get on the flight to Detroit on Friday without a passport, as a man from Newport, Mich., said he saw before he boarded the flight.
Lori Haskell said that FBI agents spoke with her and her husband, Kurt, Tuesday morning after the two spoke to news media outlets about Kurt Haskell's account that he saw an older, well-dressed Indian man help suspect Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab in his effort to board the flight in Amsterdam, Netherlands, without a passport.
The Reuters news service reported Tuesday that Dutch military police and Holland's national counter-terrorism agency NCTb were reviewing closed-circuit video and any other evidence that might corroborate Kurt Haskell's account. Sandra Berchtold, an FBI spokeswoman in Detroit, referred all news media inquiries to the Department of Justice in Washington, D.C. A spokesman there declined to comment.
Lori Haskell said she was questioned for about 10 minutes and recognized a photo of the suspect from several that agents showed her. She said her husband was interviewed for at least an hour.
She said they were interviewed separately at their law offices in Taylor.
30/12/09 Naomi R Patton & Ben Schmitt/Freep.com

Read More

Over 20 countries for Dubai airport show

Dubai: Airport authorities and contractors from more than 20 different countries will visit an upcoming airport show in Dubai aiming to place orders and to learn about new products and services offers, organisers said.
The 10th edition of Airport Show will run from April 25 to 27, 2010 at Airport Expo Dubai.
Mohamad Bader-Eddin, show director, Reed Exhibitions, organisers of the show, said the organisers expect to see the number of project buyers attending the event double over the previous year.
The organisers have increased the focus on further improving the return on investment (ROI) that exhibitors and visitors can generate from their participation, he added.
More than 80 purchasing decision makers and project leaders from live and current airport construction projects across the region are expected to attend.
A significant number have already confirmed their participation, including representatives from Doha International Airport in Qatar, Khartoum New International Airport in Sudan, Maharashtra Airport Development in India, Cairo Airport Company in Egypt, as well as Oslo Airport in Norway, Tan son Nhat International airport in Vietnam and Cape Town International Airport in South Africa.
30/12/09 Trade Arabia, UAE

Read More

U.A.E. to Set Up Yet Another Airline

The skies above the Gulf might get even more crowded next year as plans for a new Abu Dhabi-based low-cost airline get underway.
The new airline to come out of the capital emirate will be the United Arab Emirates’ third budget airline, following in the footsteps of flyDubai based in Dubai and Air Arabian in Sharjah.
“The Middle East is still playing 'catch up' with the rest of the world as far as LCCs [Low Cost Carriers] go,” David J Bentley, Joint Managing Director of Big Pond Aviation, told The Media Line. “The rest of the world is moving on with the continuing evolution of the hybrid model that superficially keeps costs and prices low while pandering to the needs of business travelers.”
In parallel with the Gulf’s premium airlines, the low cost segment of the market has seen substantial growth, with six new carriers established over as many years, including Air Arabian in 2003 in Sharjah, Kuwaiti Jazeera Airways and Saudi Arabian Sama Airlines.
While the major airlines focus on business clientele or tourists flying long haul routes to destinations like the United States, China and India, the low cost airlines tend to focus on inter-regional routes.
29/12/09 Adam Gonn/The Media Line, UAE

Read More

Pilot leave grounds AI's Gulf fliers

Thiruvananthapuram: Over 5,000 Gulf passengers from Kerala have been stranded after Air India ( AI) cancelled 28 of its flights from Kozhikode, a district in the northern part of the state.
The carrier is facing a temporary staff crunch with many of its pilots and cabin- crew, flying in the Kozhikode- Gulf sector, going on leave.
Even on Tuesday, the carrier announced the cancellation of its Dubai, Sharjah and Abu Dhabi flights.
With this, the number of flights cancelled by AI and its subsidiary Air India Express during the past eight days has gone up to 28.
A source in the company said, " Some pilots and cabin crew had applied for leave at least four months in advance.
They went on leave when there was no communication from the management." For those stranded, there cannot be a worse end to their holidays. Some even fear dismissal for not resuming office on the scheduled date.
As several flights were cancelled in the eleventh hour, AI failed to inform the passengers in advance. These days, heated arguments between stranded passengers and the airline officials are a common sight.
To add to the passengers' woes, AI officials have not been able to inform them about their next date of travel.
The passengers also alleged that AI staff at the airport never answered their phone calls.
In a week, AI and Air India Express jointly operate 89 flights from Kozhikode to various Gulf destinations. Most of the cancelled flights were scheduled for Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Sharjah, Muscat, Doha and Bahrain.
30/12/09 Mail Today/India Today

Read More

FBI yet to make headway in Indian Airlines hijack case

New Delhi: Success seems to be eluding the US' Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in the hijacking of the Indian Airlines plane in 1999 as even after a decade the American probe agency has not been able to chargesheet any accused who are roaming freely in Pakistan.
Moreover, the FBI, which entered into cooperation with the CBI in 1999 to jointly crack the case, did not hand over a single document collected by American forces from a Kandahar house despite repeated reminders by the Indian probe agency, official sources said.
29/12/09 Press Trust of India

Read More

Bag, items missing on flight

A family flying from New York to Calcutta on Air India alleged that clothes and a few other items were missing from one of their six bags that arrived several days late. The family was carrying one more bag which is yet to be traced.
Another family flying the same airline on the route also alleged that their baggage had arrived late.
Bidyut Ghosh, a scientist with Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, US, had arrived in the city with his family on December 25.
“We were carrying seven bags but were told that none arrived. The airline tracked down the baggage and handed it over to me at the airport on Monday. But on returning home to Phoolbagan, we found that the lock of a bag was broken. Clothes and some other items inside were missing. Besides, we are yet to get one more piece of the luggage,” said Ghosh.
The other family arrived in the city on December 19. “After landing at Calcutta we were told that not one of our eight bags had arrived,” said Kalidas Paul, who has put up in a hotel in the city. “One of the bags contained my medicines,” added Paul, a cardiac patient. The family members said they repeatedly tried to approach the claims department of the airline but the calls went unanswered.
30/12/09 The Telegraph

Read More

Asian carriers to lead global growth in 2010

Singapore: Asian carriers are counting on an anticipated pick-up in economic activity in the region next year to help pull the aviation sector out of the doldrums.
While some airlines said they are starting to see signs of an upturn, industry watchers note that 2010 will be a challenging year.
2009 has been one of the most turbulent years for global airlines in history. The highly leveraged industry felt the impact immediately when credit markets froze - putting a squeeze on its operations.
Paul Ng, Global Head of Aviation, Stephenson Harwood, said: "The fact liquidity was scarce over this period impacts the airlines and the businesses that support the airlines with almost immediacy. So, they suffer very quickly and very deeply as a result of the credit crunch that started in 2008."
Global carriers have had to contend with a sharp drop in passenger and freight traffic which started with the global economic slowdown and was made worse by the H1N1 flu outbreak.
A recent report by the International Civil Aviation Organisation shows that world airline passenger traffic fell 3.1 per cent in 2009 making it the biggest drop in the aviation industry's history.
Total passenger traffic - both domestic and international - fell in all regions around the world, except for the Middle East, which posted a 10 per cent growth.
That took the attention away from volatile oil prices which fell from their peaks near US$140 a barrel to as low as US$40 before rebounding in the third quarter.
The roller coaster ride resulted in massive losses for carriers like Singapore Airlines which warned that it could record its first ever annual loss in its corporate history.
28/12/09 Timothy Ouyang/Channel NewsAsia

Read More

Indian-descent man helped Abdulmutallab board Flight 253?

Taylor: A Taylor attorney who was aboard a terrorist-targeted Christmas Day flight to Detroit says he was not surprised to hear al-Qaida claim responsibility for the attempted bombing Monday because he does not believe the man now in federal custody acted alone.
Kurt Haskell said he and his wife, Lori, were playing cards near the boarding gate in Amsterdam when he saw a well-dressed man who appeared to be of Indian descent come to the assistance of the man he later learned was Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab. The 23-year-old Nigerian was having trouble boarding the plane he is accused of trying to blow up because he had no passport, Haskell said.
"I think what I saw was his handler ... getting him on the plane," said Haskell, who was returning from a safari in Uganda.
The Indian man, who looked about 50 years old, told ticket agents Abdulmutallab did not have a passport but needed to get on the plane, the Haskells said.
The ticket agent told the man nobody was allowed to board without a passport, to which the well-dressed man replied: "We do this all the time; he's from Sudan," Lori Haskell said, adding she and her husband believe the man was trying to pass Abdulmutallab off as a Sudanese refugee.
The two were then directed down a corridor to talk to a manager, she said.
"This meant nothing to me until this man tried to blow up the plane," Kurt Haskell said.
Abdulmutallab is charged with attempting to destroy an aircraft and placing a destructive device aboard an aircraft. He allegedly had chemical explosives concealed under his clothing. His attempt to detonate them as the plane approached Detroit created a fire, but he was restrained by passengers and flight crew who put out the blaze, federal authorities say.
Kurt Haskell said he does not believe the well-dressed man ever boarded the flight because he looked for him when the FBI gathered all the passengers for questioning at Detroit Metropolitan Airport.
The FBI and federal prosecutors would not comment Monday on the Haskells' story, but foreign media reports said military police in the Netherlands were examining security video to check the account of an airport accomplice. Some foreign media reports quoted the military police as saying Abdulmutallab boarded the flight without going through passport control.
U.S. officials have said Abdulmutallab had a multi-entry visa to the United States. They have not specifically said whether he had a passport, but visas are typically, though not always, stamped into passports.
Edward Hasbrouck, author of the travel book series "The Practical Nomad" and an expert on international travel, said something about the story does not add up.
If Abdulmutallab did not have the proper travel documents, it is not clear how he got from Lagos, Nigeria, to the Netherlands, because someone from KLM, as well as government officials, would have checked his documents, Hasbrouck said.
29/12/09 Paul Egan/The Detroit News, USA

Read More

More security checks for US-bound flyers

Mumbai: Passengers boarding their flights for the US from India should be prepared to undergo heightened scrutiny and security checks at all international airports in the country, including Mumbai. After a terror attack attempt was foiled in the USA, security officials in India received detailed manuals of the checks to be conducted on US-bound flights.
The security officials became more alert after a suspected Nigerian Al-Qaida operative tried to blow up a US plane going from Amsterdam to Detroit by lighting an incendiary device in air. He was overpowered by passengers who staved off what could have been a devastating terror attack. Apart from the usual setup checks, the passengers hand baggage will be manually checked by security agencies. Airlines operating to the USA have been asked to conduct a ladder point check on all passengers boarding aircraft.
This would mean that apart from the frisking done within the terminal building, the passengers will also be frisked just before boarding. These checks were already being conducted by USA-based airlines after the 9/11 terror attack. But now even India-based carriers have been asked to follow the same procedure on a mandatory basis, said a senior security official.
29/12/09 Chinmayi Shalya/Times of India

Read More

Decade after hijack, it’s still a chilling birthday gift

Chandigarh: It is an autographed birthday gift which still makes Pooja Kataria shiver at the thought of having been aboard the hijacked IC-814, but takes centre stage in her living room.
The beautiful Kashmiri Pashmina shawl was given to her by none other than one of the terrorists who seized the Indian Airlines plane in December 1999 from Kathmandu and commandeered it to Kandahar in Afghanistan. Ms. Kataria, newly-wed, was returning from Kathmandu and coincidentally, her birthday fell during the week the hijack drama continued. Ms. Kataria still has vivid memories of her cutting an apple, with the hijackers singing birthday wishes.
29/12/09 PTI/The Hindu

Read More

India denies entry to Sri Lankan Tamil MP

Colombo: Indian authorities have denied permission for Sri Lanka Tamil national Alliance parliamentarian and presidential candidate M.K. Sivajilingam to enter the country.
According to Indian media reports Sivajilingam has come to Chennai from London via Dubai. The Indian immigration officials have detained him at the airport and sent him back to without allowing him to enter the country.
Immigration officials clarified that the Tamil MP was not deported but denied an entry visa. The order to detain him and send him back has come from the central government, the officials said.
Sivajilingam, the Tamil National Alliance parliamentarian from Jaffna is contesting Sri Lanka presidential election as an independent candidate. He was an ardent supporter of the vanquished terrorist outfit of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).
During the height of the war, Sivajilingam was in Chennai after taking leave of absence from the Sri Lanka parliament in October 2008. In December 2008, Indian government ordered Sivajilingam to voluntarily leave India or face deportation due to his controversial political conduct.
28/12/09 ColomboPage, Sri Lanka

Read More

Did cost-cutting by AI lead to security breach?

New Delhi It was a cost-cutting exercise that seems to have gone horribly wrong for the cash-strapped Air India. Each year during Haj season, the airline used to send some of its security personnel from India to Medina for ensuring safe operations. Among other things, this team would maintain a register of ground handlers going inside aircraft for maintenance work and tick off their names as they came out.
However, for the first time this year AI awarded a comprehensive ground handling contract at Medina airport which included providing security also. And for the first time ever, AI also witnessed a maintenance worker hiding himself in the aircraft toilet and flying as a stowaway to Jaipur last Friday.
An AI spokesperson, on his part, said the stowaway incident could not be linked to the new arrangement this year. "This time we gave a comprehensive contract that includes security. But it is mere conjecture to presume that not posting India-based security officers there in any way compromises security." The airline has, as in past years, sent the complete commercial team for handling Haj flights from Medina but only excluded security officials this time.
Unlike other international airports where AI operates regular flights and has a complete security setup, Medina sees special Haj flights for only a few weeks every year. Hence, security personnel were sent from India to the holy city for this period only as this is a vital sovereign function of the state.

Airline insiders are unhappy at the decision to outsource security service operations, something that has always been supervised by Indian government officials (AI employees) at Medina. "The loss of reputation caused by this stowaway incident cannot be measured in terms of cost saving done by the decision of not sending security officers to Medina. That airport, to say the least, is extremely crowded at Haj time with millions of pilgrims leaving simultaneously. So having our own personnel there meant greater comfort level in terms of security. The Gulf has always been full of unhappy and exploited Indian workers but they could never manage to fly back home like this," said sources.
28/12/09 Saurabh Sinha/Times of India

Read More

Aviation panel notice to Medina airport

New Delhi: The Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) has sought a report from Medina airport authorities on Air India’s stowaway case which saw a ground staffer, Habib Hussain, hiding himself in a plane’s toilet and flying to Jaipur last Friday.
Air India, under fire for this breach, has also asked its ground handling agency there to explain how their employee stayed back on the aircraft.
‘‘The incident happened at Medina airport and we’ll need a report from there apart from our own internal probe. Local laws of the land will apply. But, the matter concerns the security of an Indian carrier, we are pursuing it very seriously and will make changes if needed,’’ said a senior official. A specific pre-flight check standard operating procedure may be framed following this incident, said sources.
While all agencies are unanimous that AI cabin crew should have been more watchful and noticed the person hiding in toilet, Indian aviation authorities claimed they have adequate checks in place that such a thing does not happen here.
AI on Sunday defended the captain’s decision to fly. ‘‘The commander decided to continue the flight to its destination after satisfying himself that there was no security threat to aircraft or the passengers,’’ an AI statement said.
28/12/09 Economic Times

Read More

Extra security for US-bound planes

Mumbai: Following the foiled Detroit terror attack on the Norwest Airlines flight, airlines have stepped up security for US-bound flights on advice of the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
On Saturday, a Nigerian tried to detonate an explosive device onboard Norwest Airlines flight 253 but failed. The flight was bound for Detroit from Amsterdam carrying 278 passengers, all of whom are safe.
Saroj Datta of Jet Airways, said his airline has already started implementing instructions issued by the US authorities. "We are putting additional security measures in place," he said.
Jet operates two flights daily to two US airports -- JFK and Newark. State-owned Air India, which has four daily flights to the US, has also tightened passenger and luggage screening procedures to conform to the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security and the upgraded US government security rules.
What would the heightened security mean for travelers? Stringent screening of baggage and security checks at several points by airports and airlines. An official from the Transport Security Administration (TSA), US government body, told DNA that the DHS has asked airlines to carry out more random checks and secondary screenings.
Mumbai International Airport Ltd (MIAL), on a tip-off from the Intelligence Bureau (IB), had increased security at Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport. So the Detroit terror has not drastically changed security procedures being followed at the Mumbai airport.
Even the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) said they were already prepared to meet any eventuality and have not pressed the panic button.
27/12/09 Daily News & Analysis

Read More

Suspected airline terrorist to force delays and added security at airports

If you thought some day soon you might be able to board an airliner without taking off your shoes while going through security: Forgetaboutit! Umar Farouk Abdul Mutallab of Nigeria has seen to that. He's the man now charged after an attempt to mix explosives to blow up a Delta/Northwest jet flying from Amsterdam to Detroit Christmas Day. Subdued by passengers he is now in FBI custody. In what has been a fast moving story the suspect claims he was doing it on behalf of the terrorist group Al Qaeda.
While Abdul Mutallab was not successful in his attempt, reaction to the "terrorist," attack as it is being called by US government officials, was swift as was reaction by some airlines. Powders will come under closer scrutiny since the explosive he used was a powdery substance. Canada was the first to announce new rules saying all passengers must remain in their seats for one hour before landing on flights entering the US. Security was immediately increased at all US airports by order of the White House and probes began in London where the suspect studied, and in Yemen where it is believed he obtained the explosives.
Additional immediate changes include the TSA being instructed to include body pat downs of all passengers flying into the United States. Homeland Security chief Janet Napolatano said Americans should expect increased security checks as the days unfold. Longer lines are expected as well.
KNX Newsman Charles Feldman, an aviation expert, said security does differ from country to country from what he's seen just recently.
"When I left Thailand recently the security check was very extensive but when I flew out of Rio it seemed almost non-existent by comparison," Feldman told this reporter. "They didn't even ask me to take out my laptop and I volunteered to do so."
Sriram is a native of India but a naturalized US citizen. He flies internationally and domestically often on business and said he has not seen much difference in checks in the US compared to Asia. He said laptops in China or Hong Kong always comes out for inspection. The incident is certainly bound to lead to not only increased security but probably profiling, whether intentional or not. As far as profiling goes?
Between convicted shoe bomber Richard Reid and suspected Nigerian bomber Abdul-Mutallab, the issue of profiling itself may change very quickly. While most everyone is a suspect it is likely security examiners will more closely keep an eye on certain individuals who might fit a profile over the general public.
26/12/09 Bob Brill/LA International Affairs Examiner, USA

Read More

Man hides in toilet on Haj flight to India

Jaipur/New Delhi: In a serious security lapse that revived concerns about counter-terrorism security measures, a stowaway on an Air India flight hid in the plane's toilet to fly to India. The lapse occurred on a special Haj flight operated by AI on the Medina-Jaipur sector on Friday, with 273 passengers on board.
Habib Hussain, a 26-year-old from Moradabad, had gone to Saudi Arabia six months ago and was employed as a loader by an agency providing services at Medina Airport. Habib went aboard for maintenance work in the Airbus A-330's loo and reportedly locked himself in there. Eyewitnesses say he was detected 45 minutes after takeoff when he walked out and sat on a vacant seat. He easily stood out among the Haj pilgrims because he had his overalls on.
However, other sources said an airhostess reported to the chief purser that a toilet was locked for a very long time. "The cabin crew can open a toilet door from outside in case of an emergency like someone fainting inside or simply not knowing how to unlock. Once the door was opened, the stowaway was discovered," the source said.
Habib's story has sent alarm bells ringing in security circles as it has exposed how easy it is for someone to smuggle himself on board. Police say it was "criminal negligence" on the part of the flight crew which led to the incident. The negligence was such that the red-light above the toilet door, which is on when it is occupied, went unnoticed. "It must have been on even before the flight took off," SP (East) Biju G Joseph said.
AI did not accept a security breach theory. "Only authorized personnel enter an aircraft for maintenance after clearing security checks in the sterile airport zone. Pilots announce before takeoff that all ground personnel must deplane. There is no practice of checking toilets or under seats to look for hidden passengers. The boarding card stub taken from passengers at the aircraft ladder is used to do a headcount with people seated inside. This is what airlines do," said AI spokesman Jitendra Bhargava.
The crew alerted Jaipur Airport Authority and handed him over to the CISF and immigration officials soon after the plane landed at 9.45pm. The local police were informed around 2 am on Saturday.
Police plan to take action against Habib as well as Air India officials.
27/12/09 Nitesh Sharma & Saurabh Sinha/Times of India

Read More

India's big role in Boeing 787 Dreamliner take-off

After two years of trying, the Boeing 787 Dreamliner successfully took-off on its maiden flight from Seattle earlier this month. The company says India plays a significant role in its 787 programme.
The successful launch of its 787 Dreamliner has Boeing ecstatic. The launch is also a big pat on the back for Indian companies HCL and the Tata Group, who are Boeing's partners in the 787 programme—supplying components and technical support.
India will take delivery of its first 787 Dreamliner in the second quarter of 2011. This will go to Air India, which has ordered 27 of the planes. Boeing, however, is not willing to provide a delivery timeline to Jet Airways, which has ordered 10 of the jets. 840 aircraft have been ordered by 55 customers around the world, making the 787 Dreamliner the fastest-selling new commercial jetliner in history.
Dinesh Keskar, President, Boeing India, said, “The technologically-advanced 787 will use 20% less fuel than today's airplanes of comparable size, provide airlines with up to 45% more cargo revenue capacity and present passengers with innovations that include a new interior environment with cleaner air, larger windows etc.”
Boeing is also betting on the Dreamliner to help it fly out of the turbulent times that gripped the aviation sector in FY09.
26/12/09 Swati Khandelwal Jain/CNBC-TV18/Moneycontrol.com

Read More

Festive Plans Go Awry - Air India’s Christmas Shocker for Gulf Passengers

Mangalore: For many of Gulf-bound passengers this Christmas, Air India Express turned into festive spirit dampener when their flights failed to take-off on scheduled time.
Several flights bound to Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Muscat, and Kuwait were either cancelled or delayed for hours and the result unbelievable inconvenience faced by the passengers. The chaos witnessed at Mangalore Airport was one of the worst in the recent times.
Several passengers were very expressive of their dissent that the Air India officials were rendered helpless as far as effectively managing the irked passengers or in calming their nerves were concerned. Many passengers, who were successful in getting a ticket during the Christmas paying thrice the amount lost their temper and gave the local staff their piece of mind, while few other passengers were seen pleading other airlines to start a direct service in order to avoid Air India Express in the future. Certainly, the officials here had to pay the price for irresponsible attitude of top officials in Mumbai.
On December 24, 2009 Dubai-bound flight was delayed for good 24-hours, finally taking off only on the next day. But passengers waiting to reach other destinations were in for greater shock with flights either being rescheduled or cancelled at the last moment even on the day of Christmas.
The efforts were made by Air India local staff to accommodate Dubai passengers in the night flight, and some of them were sent through Indian Airlines via Mumbai. The unprofessional approach and plans going awry resulted in greater trouble for the passengers for many of flight commandants had gone on Christmas leaves, especially the commandants of foreign origin who were away on at least a weeklong holiday from December 24 onwards.
26/12/09 Daijiworld.com

Read More

Indian origin woman recounts terror on Delta flight

A Montreal woman said she feared for her life after hearing several bangs that sounded like gun shots, and seeing a man on fire while her plane was landing in Detroit Friday.
“The man was on fire and the flames were so high, they almost hit the roof of the plane,” said Dollard des Ormeaux resident Shama Chopra, 54, who travelled from Mumbai to Amsterdam, and then to Detroit, before landing in Montreal late last night.
Chopra said she was sitting in business class, about four rows ahead of the 23-year-old Nigerian man, who authorities said may have links to Al-Qa’ida. He apparently tried to set off an explosive device aboard the Delta Air Lines plane as it approached Detroit Friday, but was overpowered by passengers and crew.
“The plane was about to land, and the landing gear wasn’t down yet, that’s when this guy set himself on fire,” she said. “I thought we were all gone. Thank God, somehow the plane landed.”
Chopra said she heard what sounded like gun shots coming from the front of the economy class section, and then looked back and saw the man on fire. A group of three passengers grabbed the burning man and tried to extinguish the flames. She said they asked passengers to pass over their water bottles to put out the fire.
“I was a bit sick, so I had four or five water bottles with me,” said Chopra, who was visiting family in India. “The men started screaming, ‘water! water!’ so I gave all my bottles to them.”
She said the men restraining the man threw him on the floor, jumped on him and tried to put out the flames with their hands, and then with water bottles.
“They burned their hands,” she said.
Eventually, flight attendants took fire extinguishers and doused the flames. The man was tied up and taken into the first class section. Chopra said it took between seven and eight minutes to put out the fire.
“He was very quiet after that. He didn’t say much, but he was alive.”
She said there was sheer panic in the cabin as all of this happened.
Chopra said she had seen the man just before the flight took off, because she was standing nearby. She said he looked worried.
The White House identified the man as Abdul Mudallad.
Peter King, a New York Republican who sits on the Homeland Security Committee told CNN Mudallad “did appear in a database as far as having a terrorist connection.”
“My understanding is ... that he does have Al-Qa’ida connections, certainly extremist terrorist connections, and his name popped up pretty quickly” in a search of intelligence data bases, King said.
He suffered third-degree burns and was taken into custody. The passengers, two of whom suffered minor injuries, disembarked safely from the Delta Air Lines plane, which had departed from Amsterdam.
“We believe this was an attempted act of terrorism,” a White House official told Reuters on condition of anonymity.
President Barack Obama is on vacation in Hawaii and was monitoring the situation.
25/12/09 Jason Magder/The Gazette/Canada.com

Read More

IGI Airport's new terminal gets ready for world's largest airliner

New Delhi: IGI Airport's new terminal T3 is being equipped to handle Airbus A-380, the world's largest commercial carrier which can carry 555 passengers. At the moment, only Hyderabad airport is equipped to handle the aircraft.
But none of the five international carriers that own the aircraft — Air France, Singapore Airlines, Emirates, Quantas and Lufthansa — operate it in India.
The A-380 has been designed to carry a maximum of 840 passengers, though most airlines have opted for a configuration that allows the plane to carry 555 passengers. A Boeing 747-400, the second largest passenger carrier, can carry 416 passengers.
The A-380 has a wingspan of 79.8m and is 73m long from nose to tail. Maximum take-off weight is more than 5.40 crore kg. The aircraft has a double deck configuration for passengers and another lower deck for cargo.
Terminal T3 will have nine dedicated contact parking stands with aerobridges — six at the international terminal and three at the domestic terminal — and three remote stands without aerobridges — two at the international apron and one at the domestic apron — to serve the aircraft. Dedicated A-380 gates have also been put up to cater to the large passenger flow to and from the aircraft. In the arrival section, of the 12 baggage belts, five will be wide baggage belts to clear luggage from each flight.
26/12/09 Neha Lalchandani/Times of India

Read More

'Alcohol tests for pilots on intl flights mandatory'

New Delhi: India's aviation regulator has struck a sobering note — don't get high before take off — for pilots of Indian carriers operating international flights this Yuletide. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has made it mandatory for Air India, Jet and Kingfisher to do 100% alcohol testing for all pilots operating flights out of India.
These airlines have also been asked to ensure that the cockpit crew pass breathalyzer tests on the flight back home, according to Indian safety laws and not local rules of those countries. "For this purpose, airlines have been asked to take a doctor on their flight to do the test at foreign airport if they don't have their medico stationed there," said highly placed sources.
DGCA chief Nasim Zaidi is learnt to have adopted a "zero-tolerance policy" on this issue. In fact, the regulator has decided to make punishment for pilots found high at the time of reporting to operate flights very stringent next year. "..For example, the US just suspends forever licence of a pilots caught drunk. We have had similar demands in India too," said sources. The DGCA is going to ensure that pilots are sober at the time of operating flights by moving towards a 100% pre-flight alcohol check for cockpit crew.
26/12/09 Saurabh Sinha/Times of India

Read More

Nepali director to make film on airline hijack saga

Kathmandu: Nepali film director Dayaram Dahal is planning to celebrate his two decades in the industry and40th film by venturing into uncharted waters.
The 38-year-old is now ready to make the first film from Nepal on the hijacking of an Indian aircraft 10 years ago.
On Xmas Eve, 1999, five people, who managed to smuggle weapons undetected on a Kathmandu-New Delhi flight operated by India's national carrier Indian Airlines, hijacked the aircraft with nearly 180 passengers, demanding money from the Indian government and the release of select prisoners from Indian jails.
The aircraft was finally taken to Kandahar in Afghanistan where it was released after the then Indian external affairs minister Jaswant Singh negotiated for the release of the hostages.
Now, a decade after the air drama, which was remembered in India Thursday, Dahal is writing a script for his upcoming film that will revolve round the woman widowed during the hijack.
Dahal says he has asked the government of Afghan President Hamid Karzai for permission to shoot in Kandahar as he wants to make his film as realistic as possible.
In India, two directors have already made films on the subject from the Indian perspective.
"Zameen" (Ground) was made by Bollywood director Rohit Shetty and released in 2003 while last year, Kunal Shivdasani debuted with "Hijack".
25/12/09 Naxal Hattisar/Xinhua, China

Read More

Six AI Express flights cancelled

Kozhikode: Disruption of Air India Express service from here to Gulf destinations over the last few days has resulted in cancellation of at least six flights today.
Utter confusion prevailed at Karipur international airport here with the Air India Express cancelling flights to Manama, Abu Dhabi, two services each to Sharjah and Muscat while services to other Gulf destinations including Kuwait, Sharjah and Dubai were delayed indefinitely, airport sources said.
The AI Express, which operates several flights to the Gulf region, had recently withdrawn ground handling personnel of a firm after its contract expired without making alternate arrangements resulting in complete disruption of flight schedule over the last few days and cancellation of as many as six flights today to the Gulf sector, the sources said.
25/12/09 Press Trust of India

Read More

Govt in no hurry to clear airline FDI

New Delhi: The government seems to be in no hurry to bring in foreign carriers as stakeholders in Indian airlines.According to sources, the ministry of commerce and industryis not keen to push for this clause, despite the ministry of civilaviation having recommended up to 25% stake acquisition by foreign carriers.
Sources said the previous commerce minister was keen on the issue, but "the present one does not seem to favour any foreign airlines picking up stake in Indian ones... this proposal is on cold storage for now." Under the earlier dispensation, the commerce ministry was said to have been favouring a 49% cap on foreign airlines investing in Indian ones.
In a draft press note releasedon Thursday, the commerce ministry indicated its reluctance on the issue. "No foreign airlines would be allowed to participate directly or indirectly in the equity of an Air Transport Undertaking engagedin operating Scheduled, Non-Scheduled, and Chartered airlines", though they are allowed to takeequity in companies operatingcargo airlines, helicopter and seaplane services. This draft would be reviewed in September 2010,so no change in regulations is likely till then.
The proposal on foreign airlines was first mooted two years back, when, along with myriad suggestions on reducing the tax burdenon aviation turbine fuel and a
range of other aviation activities, the civil aviation ministry hadinserted the proposal in a presen-tation to be made before the cabinet secretary.
25/12/09 Sindhu Bhattacharya/Daily News & Analysis

Read More

Bird hits engine of El Al plane in India

A bird hit the engine of an El Al plane taking off from Mumbai, India towards Tel Aviv on Thursday (Dec 24) night, Ynet has learned. The pilot on flight LY072 decided not to take any chances and turned back. The company stresses that the passengers or plane were not in danger during the incident.
Last week, an El Al plane was involved in a serious safety incident at Ben-Gurion Airport, as it was taking off from the same runway a Lufthansa plane was about to land on. The incident is believed to have been caused by the control tower.
25/12/09 Ynet news.com, Israel

Read More

A decade after IC 814 hijack, India is more prepared

New Delhi: Ten years after the hijacking of Indian Airlines flight IC 814, on its way from Kathmandu to New Delhi, India remains vulnerable to such assaults but key protocols are in place to thwart such incidents, say security experts and strategists.
If circa 1999 exposed the total unpreparedness of both the security and political establishments to resolve swiftly one of the country's most trying crises, a decade later much water has flown under the bridge ensuring that such incidents are unlikely to recur.
In place now is a tough anti-hijack policy that lays down procedures for shooting down a hijacked aircraft, heightened security presence in all airports by the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), sky marshals in flights and a fortified internal security mechanism.
"We have an anti-hijack policy that rules out negotiations with hijackers. What is more important is that we have ironed out the bureaucratic delays during crisis situations. But we still have to be cautious," Minister of State for Railways E Ahamed said.
The Bureau of Civil Aviation Security has prepared an aviation security manual that lists out a three-stage classification process for shooting down a hijacked aircraft.
When India was celebrating its last Christmas eve of the millennium, IC-814 was commandeered by five Pakistani militants and forced to land in three different airports - Amritsar, Lahore, and Dubai - before spending a week on the tarmac in Kandahar with 186 hostages on board.
On New Year's eve, former external affairs minister Jaswant Singh, accompanied three terrorists to Afghanistan, in exchange for the release of the hostages.
In contrast to 1999, when there was a hostile Taliban regime in Kabul, India now enjoys excellent relations with the Hamid Karzai government in Afghanistan having invested $1.2 billion in socio-economic reconstruction.
The CISF that took over the security of airports soon after the Kandahar incident in early 2000 maintains that it is fully geared to prevent such incidents.
24/12/09 Indo-Asian News Service/Hindustan Times

Read More

IC 814: 10 yrs on victim speaks about husband's killing

New Delhi: Ten years ago on this day the IC 814 hijacking took place. An Indian Airlines plane with 174 passengers and 11 crew members onboard was taken over by terrorists and a passenger was brutally killed.
Rupin Katyal, a 27-year-old electronic engineer from Chandigarh and his wife Rachna, had gone to Nepal to spend their honeymoon there. On their way back in the flight Rupin was stabbed to death by the hijackers.
His wife Rachna remained a hostage till the end of the crisis not aware that her husband had been killed. Speaking out for the first time in a television interview with CNN-IBN, she said, “I want to remember the good time. I had no idea that he was stabbed. I don’t know why it happened to me.”
A decade after the stunning hijack, Nepal, whose economy was devastated by the incident, is ready to narrate its own version of the disaster.
From early 2010, Nepali film director Dayaram Dahal is planning to shoot the first Nepali film on the mid-sky drama.
24/12/09 CNN-IBN

Read More

Hijacked IC 814 to be relived in Tamil, Telugu cinema

Actor-turned-director Prakash Raj has just finished the first schedule of his Kannada directorial venture, Naanu Nanna Kanasu but he is already thinking about his next bilingual film to be produced under his own Duet Movies banner.
Pavanam (Journey) will be made in Tamil and Telugu, and star himself. It is budgeted at Rs 11 crores, and is based on the hijacking of Indian Airlines' IC 814 from Nepal to Kandahar.
Radha Mohan, who had directed Mozhi and Abhiyum Naanum, will direct the film.
"I will play the role of a bureaucrat from the Prime Minister's office in Payanam. Radha Mohan did a lot of research while writing the script. I was inspired to make this film after reading the book Flight Into Fear by Captain Devi Sharan," says Prakash Raj.
24/12/09 rediff MOVIES

Read More

SC to decide if foreign airlines can deduct TDS on agents’ commission

New Delhi: The Supreme Court would decide whether foreign airlines are liable to deduct tax at source (TDS) on commissions paid to travel agents for rendering ticketing services.
The issue for consideration before the apex court is if airlines would have to deduct TDS on the difference between the full value of tickets and the concessional tickets issued to their travel agents.
The question has been raised by the income tax department before a Bench headed by Justice SH Kapadia, which has sought reply from international airlines British Airways as to why it failed to deduct TDS on such amounts.
The department had challenged the Delhi High Court judgement that held that the difference between the full value of the tickets and the concessional tickets issued by airlines is not an income in terms of Section 194H of the Income Tax Act, 1961, and hence the carriers are liable to make such deductions on such differential amounts.
The high court verdict had come on batch of petitions filed by the department against various airlines—Air India, Lufthansa German Airlines, Air france, Kuwait Airways Corporation, United Airlines and others. The high court had also held that since the airlines had no obligation to deduct TDS on such notional commission, which had not been realised, it could not be held as that these airlines were defaulting assessees.
24/12/09 Indu Bhan/Indian Express

Read More

Nepal pledges better safety in wake of IA hijack trauma

Kathmandu: Recovering from the trauma of the sensational hijack of an Indian Airlines aircraft 10 years ago, Nepal’s civil aviation authorities say they have learnt from the past experience and strengthened security measures at the country’s only international airport.
The hijacking had ended with the brutal killing of a passenger and the release of three Islamic terrorists by India in exchange for the safe release of the remaining passengers.
“We regret the incident 10 years ago,” said Dinesh Prasad Shrestha, general manager at the Tribhuvan International Airport in Kathmandu. “We have learnt from it and today, security measures have been enhanced at the airport to prevent a repetition.”
According to the official, Nepal Police are now entrusted with security measures inside the airport while Nepali Army looks after security on the periphery of the airport.
Security provisions at the former sleepy airport have been beefed up in accordance with the International Civil Aviation Organisation guidelines that include X-raying of baggage at the antry point and body searches of passengers.
For additional security, the airport has also introduced random checks of hand baggage for 50 percent of outgoing passengers while it is enforced for the remaining 50 percent.
In addition, passengers bound for India, Pakistan and the Middle East states are thoroughly examined, which includes their hand baggage.
23/12/09 Sudeshna Sarkar/IANS/Thaindian.com, Thailand

Read More

SRK's airport detention topped the shocker list of 2009

New Delhi: The year 2009 was not so happening for Bollywood with big budget flops and few surprise hits. But the never-ending list of shockers more than made up for the box office drought with 'Badshah of Bollywood' Shahrukh Khan's US airport fiasco taking the top slot.
India was ushering in its 62nd independence year, but the news which flashed across all news channels was the detention of Bollywood superstar at Newark airport which left the actor "angry" and "humiliated".
23/12/09 Press Trust of India

Read More

SpiceJet may turn in profit this fiscal after restructuring efforts

Mumbai: Restructuring exercises initiated by buyout specialist Wilbur Ross in SpiceJet Ltd are beginning to show results, at a time when local carriers are expected to post a combined loss of $2 billion (Rs9,360 crore) in fiscal 2010.
“Yields have already seen more than 20% recovery in the ongoing busy season and are expected to maintain this level over the next year,” analysts Anand Kumar and S. Arun of DSP Merrill Lynch wrote in a 4 December report. “This would enable SpiceJet to break even in FY10, the only listed airline in India not to post a loss for the year.”
Ross injected $80 million in India’s second largest low-fare carrier in July 2008 through his New York-based private equity fund WL Ross and Co. Llc, which invests in and restructures financially-distressed companies. He also brought in 41-year-old Sanjay Agarwal to run the airline, and he in turn hired nearly a dozen senior executives.
Agarwal also brought back G.P. Gupta—who was vice-president, finance, before joining rival GoAirlines (India) Pvt. Ltd as chief financial officer—as SpiceJet’s chief administrative officer.
Ross did not reply to emailed queries but suggested questions be addressed to chief executive Agarwal.
“There was no magic wand or (something that) required radical changes. It was just pure common sense,” Agarwal said. “There was a problem of lack of leadership and cost focus to be addressed. And we simply did it.”
While he declined to comment on SpiceJet’s profitability, Agarwal said the industry would show profits by the next fiscal, considering passenger growth and no capacity addition.
23/12/09 PR Sanjai/Live Mint

Read More

Jet Airways introduces direct services on Dhaka-Mumbai sector

Mumbai: Effective December 23, 2009, Jet Airways, India’s premier international airline, will introduce new, direct services on the Dhaka -Mumbai - Dhaka sectors, aboard its state-of-the-art Boeing 737-800 aircraft.
This will be Jet Airways’ third flight from Bangladesh to India, and will connect Dhaka with several destinations across North America, Europe, as well as eight destinations across the Gulf and Middle East, over the airline’s Mumbai hub.
The airline currently flies daily from Dhaka to Delhi and Kolkata.
The new Dhaka - Mumbai flight will initially operate 6 days a week, with the exception of Tuesdays. Effective March 29, 2010, it will be a daily flight.
Flight 9W 275 will depart Dhaka’s Zia International Airport at 1430 hrs, arriving in Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport at 1610 hrs. Flight 9W 276 will then depart Mumbai at 0830 hrs, arriving in Dhaka at 1300 hrs.
According to Mr. Nikos Kardassis, Acting CEO, Jet Airways, “Jet Airways offers travelers seamless connections to several destinations across India, as well as the North America, Europe, UK, Gulf & Middle East, over its hubs in Mumbai and Delhi. The launch of our new Dhaka – Mumbai service will thus connect Dhaka to the world, via Mumbai, while further enhancing air connectivity on the busy India-Bangladesh sector.”
23/12/09 PRESS RELEASE/Jet Airways

Read More

Rome keen to offer direct air connections with India in 2010

Mumbai: In a bid to improve air connectivity between Indian cities and Rome, Leonardo da Vinci Airport – the international Airport of Rome has approached Indian carriers to start direct services next year. After the withdrawal of Italian flag carrier – Alitalia Airlines from India, there are no direct services offered on India – Italy route. The airport has approached Indian flag carrier – Air India along with private legacy carriers like Jet Airways and Kingfisher Airlines. At present, only China Airlines (starting December 1, 2009) offers direct services from New Delhi to Rome (thrice a week) through its Taiwan – New Delhi - Rome service.
Divulging further information, a source close to the development said that since the rights to operate on India – Italy sector are open from the Ministry of Civil Aviation of both the countries, it will be convenient for any carrier to start operations of this route. Rome is convinced that there is a business and tourist market in India, which will definitely improve if there are direct air services offered in the market. With China Airlines' direct service from New Delhi to Rome, Rome tourism board is counting on about 1,000 seats a week from Indian market. The international Airport is working towards re-establishing direct flights between Rome and Indian cities in 2010, as the flying rights on the route is already available which is open to use.”
23/12/09 Anita Jain/TravelBizMonitor

Read More

Tokyo, Bengaluru and Ankara confirmed for Qatar Airways

Qatar Airways has confirmed three new destinations for its network, set to launch at the start of next year, Tokyo Japan, Bengaluru India and Ankara Turkey.
These three new destinations brings the total number of destinations in the Qatar Airways network up to 88, as they come online over an eight week period to begin in February next year.
“Tokyo is Japan’s commercial and financial centre and has been on Qatar Airways’ wish list of destinations for a number of years. It is only now that we are able to serve Tokyo due to new traffic rights and slot availability at the city’s main Narita International Airport,” said Akbar Al Baker, Qatar Airways CEO.
“India has been, and remains, one of our most important markets and we are pleased to be strengthening economic and cultural ties with one of the world’s fastest growing economies.”
23/12/09 eTravelBlackBoard

Read More

Boeing 787 Dreamliner's Kerala connection

Kochi: A husband and wife from Kerala were part of the team that realised the new Boeing-787 dreamliner which successfully completed its first test flight last week.
Rajagopal Mangalasserry who hails from Kozhikode was part of the Boeing project for the past one year. Rajagopal worked as a structural engineer with the mid-body integration group of the 787 aircraft while his wife Jayalaxmi was initially involved in the 787 project as a software engineer.
"It was an exciting project because it used a new technology,"Rajagopal who holds a master’s degree in structural analysis told Manoramaonline in an email interview. The 787 which uses a carbon-based plastic and titanium composite is considered more than 20 per cent fuel efficeint than comparable aircrafts.
The 787, according to reports can also carry 40 per cent more cargo.
22/12/09 The Week

Read More

Taxpayers fly NZ Speaker Lockwood Smith and wife to India

Speaker Lockwood Smith is taking his wife, Alexandra, with him on a taxpayer-funded trip to India. A spokesman confirmed Mrs Smith would accompany Dr Smith to the conference for speakers and presiding officers of the Commonwealth in New Delhi next month.
The Office of the Clerk of Parliament would cover their costs under rules set for MPs on the official inter-parliamentary travel programme, the spokesman said. The rules, signed off by former Speaker Margaret Wilson in 2007, provide for first-class tickets for the Speaker and his or her spouse "provided there is a representational role".
Other MPs travelling on inter-parliamentary business are entitled only to business-class travel, but can trade that in to cover the cost of two economy fares to let a spouse or partner go with them.
The spokesman said Dr Smith wanted to travel business-class but seats were not available, so they were travelling first class and he was paying the difference out of his pocket.
Clerk of the House Mary Harris was also travelling to India for the conference and would fly business class. She had booked earlier.
Singapore Airlines quoted return flights from Auckland to Delhi for two adults at the times Dr Smith was flying at $16,858 for first class and $12,558 for business class.
Dr Smith said: "The invitation from the Parliament of India was extended to Alexandra and me."
The conference was a significant opportunity to establish an international network among speakers and presiding officers in the Commonwealth.
23/12/09 Vernon Small/The Stuff.co.nz

Read More

Foreign carriers add India flights as demand shows signs of pick-up

New Delhi: In yet another signal of revival in the aviation sector, foreign carriers such as Lufthansa, Swiss International Airlines and Singapore Airlines plan to add flights to-and-fro Indian destinations.
The International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) has forecast a moderate recovery of 3.3% for the airline industry next year, as the world economy returns to the growth path. As per an estimate, global air traffic is expected to decline 4.5% in 2009. With air traffic starting to pick up in the emerging economies, foreign airlines have begun capacity adjustments on their network. They are deploying additional capacity on routes where demand has improved.
“Now, we are seeing the number of passengers as well as yield going up. Booking trends for the January-March 2010 period seem quite positive. We see a minimum 5-10% growth in traffic next year,” said Lufthansa director (South Asia) Axel Hilgers. The German flag carrier, which operates six flights in a week from Bangalore, is planning to start daily flights by adding one more to the schedule. It also has plans of increasing the number of economy seats on its Pune-Frankfurt flight. Its affiliate Swiss International Airlines and Austrian Airlines would also increase their flight frequencies to Delhi and Mumbai.
Mr Hilgers said despite a rise in the number of passengers, 2010 would continue to be a year of struggle, as the airlines had taken a severe beating this year due to the slowdown and would take time to recover.
While big foreign airlines are bullish about 2010, smaller airlines are worried that the additional capacities created may increase in higher losses for them.
22/12/09 Nirbhay Kumar/Economic Times

Read More

After clean chit, FAA to review DGCA’s security measures

New Delhi: The country’s air safety regulator, Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), may find itself in the dock again US. The US air safety monitoring agency, Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), which had earlier threatened to downgrade India’s safety ranking from Category I and subsequently given the Indian regulator a clean chit, will be reviewing the recent measures taken by the DGCA in four-five months’ time.
The FAA is said to have communicated this decision to the civil aviation ministry in the recently held India-US Aviation Partnership Summit attended by senior officials. FAA, which conducts an audit to determine whether a country complies with international air safety standards, would undertake a detailed review of the steps taken by the DGCA so far, said an official close to the development. The civil aviation ministry will also monitor and oversee the progress of DGCA’s initiatives to mitigate the concerns highlighted by the US agency. While most of the issues raised have been taken care of, the deployment of manpower and creation of technical posts will take around two years, the official said. “This is a serious matter and the civil aviation ministry would be closely watching the developments. We don’t want an embarrassing situation,” said the official.
In September, India was found to be fully compliant with the international safety standards in an audit done by FAA.
22/12/09 Smita Aggarwal/Indian Express

Read More

Indian businessman caught with diamonds in luggage

Kinshasa: An Indian businessman was jailed for six months and fined $100 000 (about R767 559,28) by a Kinshasa tribunal for concealing at least eight kilos of rough diamonds in his luggage, a judicial source said on Monday.
Ajudiya Pravin Kumar, a diamond dealer for six years in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), had been wanted by the high court in Gombe, a prosperous community in Kinshasa, for smuggling and illegal possession of diamonds, attempted corruption and fraud.
As well as the prison sentence, "he will also have to pay a fine of $90 000 and $10 000 in damages and interest to the DRC", said the DR Congo's lawyer in the trial, Me Ruffin Lukoo.
The tribunal also ordered the confiscation of the package by the Congolese state.
The lawyer described Pravin Kumar's sentence as "derisory" and said it "does not give a strong message to discourage other fraudsters. We wait for the power of the justice minister (Emmanuel-janvier Luzolo) to lodge a complaint".
Pravin Kumar was arrested on December 10 at Kinshasa airport en route to India.
21/12/09 iOL, South Africa

Read More

More wait for foreign airlines to pick up stake in domestic carriers

New Delhi: Foreign airlines will have to wait for some more time to know whether they will be allowed to invest in Indian carriers.
Official sources told Business Line that the proposal is not being “actively” considered by the Government just yet. At the moment, foreign airlines are not allowed to invest either directly or indirectly in domestic carriers. This was not the case in the early 1990s when foreign airlines were allowed to pick up a stake in domestic carriers, a move which saw some West Asian airlines invest in Jet Airways when it was set up.
When the Government reversed the policy, Jet Airways brought back the stake which the foreign airlines had in it.
Earlier this year, the Ministry of Civil Aviation had proposed that foreign airlines be allowed to acquire a 25 per cent equity of the 49 per cent FDI cap currently in place in the domestic airline industry. The proposal, which has been sent to the Commerce Ministry for a final decision, is part of a larger attempt being made by the Government to make India a more favourable destination for foreign investments.
21/12/09 Ashwini Phadnis/Business Line

Read More

Fraport eyes Indian greenfield airports

Frankfurt: German airport company Fraport AG is keen to bid for at least three greenfield airports in India. It already owns about 10% stake in the Delhi International Airport (DIAL) through a consortium, and performs certain airport specific consulting responsibilities regarding modernisation, development and operation of the airport.
Now, Fraport wants to bid for major greenfield airport projects such as Navi Mumbai, Pune (Chakan) and Goa (Mopa) as part of a consortium. These three airport projects are coveted ones and several large infrastructure players such as Reliance ADAG, Tata-Changi, Lanco and L&T may also be interested in bidding for them, when that process begins.
But unlike its "cautious" approach with DIAL, Fraport is clear that this time, it will acquire 26% stake in each such airport project. "We made a cautious entry in Delhi... but we now want 26% stake or some arrangement to control operational aspects in the new airports (when we bid for them)," Fraport India managing director Ansgar Sickert said in Frankfurt.
The three airports Fraport is eyeing are in various stages of approvals, so bidding has not opened for any of them yet. While the Chakan airport is mired in land acquisition issues, Navi Mumbai is still dealing with environmental ones. But this has not stopped large infrastructure players from vying for these airports and already, parleys are on between these companies to form different consortia.
21/12/09 Sindhu Bhattacharya/Daily News & Analysis

Read More

Solar-powered aircraft a little closer to reality

Indian engineers are showing a keen interest in becoming a part of aviation history being created in Zurich — of developing an aircraft that is expected to fly around the world without fuel and without polluting the environment. Once fully developed, the aircraft is expected to remain airborne, propelled by solar energy both during the day and at night.
“We receive a few letters every month from Indian students working on solar or renewable energies as also engineers.
There has been growing interest since we visited Delhi and Jaipur,” Phil Mundweller, Head, Media and External Communications, Solar Impulse, told Business Line.
However, at the moment, no Indian is a part of the 70-member team working on making the Solar Impulse project a reality. The aircraft is expected to take to the skies in 2012 and cover the globe in five stages.
“Each leg of the journey should be of about 8,000 km as we try and go around the world. The route has not yet been firmed up but we will land on all the five continents,” Mr Bertrand Piccard, the driving force behind Solar Impulse, said.
The current plan is to have stops in Europe, the Middle East, China, the Pacific (possibly in Hawaii) and in the United States. Admitting that it is “far too early” to talk about this technology being used in commercial airlines that fly millions of people around the globe everyday, Mr Piccard said: “What is being done is not a revolution. We try and open a new path and see what happens. We do not claim that commercial aviation will run on solar energy in the next couple of years.
“Solar Impulse is not an aircraft but an attempt to show the world what can be achieved by renewable energies and new technologies.”
The Solar Impulse project involves an aircraft that weighs 1,600 kg, approximately the weight of a family car, but with a wing-span of an Airbus A-340 aircraft to minimise induced drag and build a super-light aircraft that will have the power of a scooter.
The upper wing surface is covered with a skin of encapsulated solar cells, while the wing under-sides is coated with a high resistance flexible film.
To avoid the additional weight of a pressurised cabin, limit energy consumption, and reduce control panel assistance, the aircraft's maximum altitude will be limited to 8,500 meters.
The idea is to take off one hour before sunrise, climb to the maximum altitude and not to use energy stock in the battery when the sun goes down but go down to an altitude of about 1,000 meters.
21/12/09 Ashwini Phadnis/Business Line

Read More

‘Top priority is to get AI into Star Alliance’

Frankfurt: German airline Lufthansa wants the Air India-Indian Airlines combine to speed up the merger and its entry into Star Alliance, a delay that is directly benefitting the Gulf carriers. The lead airline for the alliance, Lufthansa, has said that while getting AI into Star is its “top priority”, a big country like India has room for more than one partner and that “Jet is also an option”.
Lufthansa’s board member Karl Ulrich Garnadt said this last week and added although the German airline understands that PSUs globally take longer than a private company for implementing big ticket decisions, “the wait can’t be indefinite”.
“We are waiting for the merger to come through so that we can code share with the massive domestic network of IA. We had hoped for better connectivity within India on IA through Delhi and Mumbai but a lot more needs to be done,” he said.
AI-IA combine chief Arvind Jadhav told TOI that the airline has time up to December 2010 to join Star and sounded confident of making it by then. “We should have the single code for AI and IA flights by October,” he said. A single code for AI and IC (code for IA flights) is a necessity for the carrier to join Star but this process has been delayed by over a year now.
21/12/09 Saurabh Sinha/Times of India

Read More

Lufthansa seeks nod for A-380

Frankfurt: German aviation authorities last week formally sought clearance from their Indian counterparts to fly the A-380 to Delhi possibly from 2010-end. Lufthansa expects to get about three of the ordered 15 super jumbos next year and has tentatively slotted them to fly on the US-Frankfurt-Far-East routes but is also eyeing Delhi as a possible destination.
“Delhi and Mumbai are huge markets and A-380 would be perfect for these places. Since Mumbai may not be ready and Delhi will get a terminal for A-380 by summer, it would certainly be a serious option to be considered for next winter,” said Karl Ulrich Garnadt, Lufthansa board member. The German airline could become the first to fly the A-380 in India as others like Emirates and Singapore Airlines which use this plane, don’t have any India specific plans for the ‘big bird’.
The company running Frankfurt airport — Fraport — has made it costlier for airlines who use old fuel guzzling, polluting and noisy planes, to the airport. “We have linked landing fee with nitrogen oxides and noise emitted by planes. That’s why we don’t see old planes too often here,” said Stefan Schulte, CEO, Fraport.
21/12/09 Saurabh Sinha/Times of India

Read More

Flier collapses at airport after row

Kolkata: A Bangladeshi national flying from Singapore to Dhaka via Kolkata fell unconscious at the NSCBI Airport after getting into a heated argument with Air India officials over the flight's delay.
Many of the 77 fliers claimed they were informed the last leg to Dhaka would be delayed by 10 hours only after they landed in Kolkata. The normal stopover is just 45 minutes.
The Singapore-Kolkata-Dhaka flight touched down in Kolkata at 11.30 pm on Saturday. "Before we landed, a crew member announced that the flight would take off for Dhaka as scheduled. Only after reaching the transit lounge were we told that the flight was scheduled for the next morning a 10-hour long wait," said Abdur Rashid Mohammad, one of the passengers.
This bit of news was something M A Ashraful Alam (24) found hard to digest. He started arguing with Air India officials that there was no weather trouble over Dhaka and that the last-minute change amounted to nothing but harassment. After arguing for more than an hour, Ashraful suddenly collapsed unconscious on the floor.
The crux of the problem was Air India's decision to put fliers from Singapore on the Mumbai-Dhaka flight on Sunday morning, which led to the delay. Airline officials claimed they decided on Friday afternoon in Mumbai that the Kolkata-Dhaka sector of the two flights from Mumbai and from Singapore would be merged because of turbulent weather over Dhaka.
21/12/09 Times of India

Read More

Flying Air Asia? Do the baggage maths

Kolkata: If you are planning to fly Air Asia, the low-cost carrier that operates between Kolkata and Kuala Lumpur, ensure that you travel light.
For, there is no free baggage on this flight. Passengers are required to pay for the registered luggage booked on its flights.
Not just that, calculating how much passengers have to pay for the baggage requires extensive homework. Charges vary according to different weight slabs and how early or late one declares the expected baggage weight.
While the airline charges Rs 147 for the first 15 kg, the amount increases steeply thereafter. Beyond 15 kg and up to 20 kg, passengers have to pay Rs 805, beyond 20 kg and up to 25 kg, the amount payable is Rs 1,537 and thereafter up to 30 kg the charge is Rs 2,270.
These charges are applicable only if one declares the expected baggage weight at the time of purchasing the ticket. If one chooses to declare the baggage weight during check-in prior to boarding, the passenger has to fork out twice the amount.There's still another situation to consider. If the actual baggage weight at the time of boarding is in a slab higher than the declared one at the time of booking the ticket, passengers have to pay for the excess weight at the rate of Rs 145 per kg.
20/12/09 Arpit Basu/Times of India

Read More

Jet Airways To Operate One More Flights From Bangladesh

Dhaka, Bangladesh: India's premier international airline, Jet Airways is going to introduce new direct flights on the Mumbai-Dhaka-Mumbai routes from December 23 this year, the company has said.
The flight will be Jet Airways' third flight to Bangladesh from India, and will connect Dhaka with several destinations across North America, Europe and the ASEAN region, as well as eight destinations across the Gulf, over the airline's New Delhi and Mumbai hubs.
The airline currently flies daily from Delhi and Kolkata to Dhaka.
"The new Mumbai-Dhaka flight will initially operate 6 days a week, with the exception of Tuesdays. Effective March 29, 2010, it will be a daily flight," a company announcement said.
Flight 9W 276 will depart Mumbai's Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport at 0830 hrs, arriving in Dhaka's Zia International Airport at 1300 hrs. Flight 9W 275 will then depart Dhaka at 1430 hrs, arriving in Mumbai at 1610 hrs.
19/12/09 Siddique Islam/All Headline News

Read More

InterGlobe Technologies Spreads Wings across South East Asia

Gurgaon: InterGlobe Technologies (IGT), India’s leading provider of IT and BPO solutions to the travel and transportation industry celebrates the opening of new BPO delivery centre today in Manila, Philippines.
IGT's Manila facility was inaugurated by Her Excellency Ms. Lilia De Lima, Director General, Philippine Economic Zone Authority. Speaking on IGT's launch in Manila, she said, “Government of Philippines extends complete support and cooperation to IGT. PEZA is a one-stop, non-stop partner for IGT's growth and success in the Philippines.”
Mr. Kapil Bhatia, Executive Chairman, InterGlobe Enterprises said that the group highly regards the immense talent and commitment to work in Filipinos. He reiterated his commitment towards Philippines and to invest further in near future.
Speaking in the launch, Mr. Vipul Doshi, CEO, IGT, said “IGT caters to global clients across six continents. We are building multiple service and delivery centers as part of our global delivery model. Our expansion in Manila is an important addition to our global footprint. It will also help our clients take advantage of global redundancy and service capabilities.”
Mr. Johnathan de Luzuriaga, Business Process Association of the Philippines (BPAP), said that in the outsourcing industry just being good is not acceptable. IGT exemplifies professional excellence.
“IGT will be the very first BPO specializing in Travel and Hospitality processes in Philippines. We have a solid mix of the best of both worlds in our Leadership team and we not only offer a job but a career to all our associates. InterGlobe Technologies has lived up to its ‘Great place to work’ reputation in Philippines as well. ” said Deanne Calma, Program Director, InterGlobe Technologies Philippines Inc.
A few key facts about the new IGT BPO facility in Manila
1. Total investment of over US $3 million in creating the facility
2. 500 seat service delivery center with complete training facilities, enabled with state-of-the-art technology and built with complete amenities
3. Expansion plans by next year
4. Best in class IT and telecommunications infrastructure
5. Employee friendly working atmosphere and facilities in line with IGT's global standard
6. Located in booming Fort Bonifacio in Taguig City, Metro Manila – The Philippine’s top city in the “Ease of Doing Business Index” rankings by the World Bank International Finance Corporation
IGT has the plan to further grow its delivery infrastructure and enhance its access to a wider resource base for its clients by instituting new facilities in other parts of the world like Romania, Poland, Brazil and Spain.
18/12/09 PRESS RELEASE/ InterGlobe Technologies

Read More

Collapsed airlines' stranded staff return to UK

Stranded Flyglobespan crew will return to the UK today following the failed airline’s sudden collapse.
Almost 30 employees will join thousands of holidaymakers attempting to make their way home for Christmas after all flights were cancelled.
Administrators for the Globespan Group are meanwhile investigating why around £30 million from credit card bookings failed to reach the struggling company from a third-party agent.
It was announced yesterday that 550 of 650 Flyglobespan staff will lose their jobs with immediate effect, with 100 being kept on as the business is wound up.
PricewaterhouseCoopers said the remaining 27 of 60 crew left stranded abroad will return home today.
They, along with Flyglobespan customers, have been taking advantage of extra flights and special fares laid on by rival airlines.
The airline had a contract to carry passengers between Delhi in India and Medina for the Hajj pilgrimage.
Flyglobespan captain Bob Lee revealed that the crew members have been confined to their hotel for at least four days because, as non-Muslims, they are not allowed to move around the city.
Capt Lee said 1,000 Flyglobespan passengers from India were also trying to find alternative flights home, adding to the difficulties facing the crew.
Katrina McBride, from Fife, told the BBC News website: "My daughter and a number of other crew who work for Flyglobespan are currently based in Saudi and India - who’s looking after them? Who will bring them home, when and how soon?
18/12/09 Liverpool Daily Post, UK

Read More

Lufthansa Group’s two affiliate airlines to increase flight frequencies in India

Mumbai: With an aim to further strengthen its position in India, the airlines of Deutsche Lufthansa AG is making full use of opportunities within the integrated airline group. The airline’s affiliate SWISS International Air Lines will increase flights between Mumbai and Zurich from five to six per week from June 2010. The SWISS flight from Delhi to Zurich will increase from five to six frequencies per week in the current winter schedule.
Lufthansa’s recently integrated affiliate- Austrian Airlines will increase frequencies on the Vienna – Delhi route from five to six in the next summer schedule, starting end of March 2010. Axel Hilgers, Director-South Asia, Lufthansa said, “By boosting connectivity for Indian travellers from key gateways, our aviation group responds to encouraging demand trends in this strategic market.”
In the upcoming summer schedule, Lufthansa’s Business Jet Service on Frankfurt – Pune route will be modified in order to broaden the customer profile. The Boeing 737-800s serving this destination will be converted into a two-class configuration. Lufthansa aims to increase the number of seats on the Frankfurt – Pune route significantly from 56 Business Class-only seats currently to altogether 92 seats (32 in Business and 60 in Economy Class). This capacity expansion allows Lufthansa to reduce frequencies between Frankfurt and Pune from six to three per week.
Since Lufthansa’s Hyderabad-Frankfurt route has not yet benefited from a full recovery, flights will be reduced from five to three per week in the summer schedule.
18/12/09 TravelBizMonitor

Read More

Jet Airways to fly daily from Delhi to Doha

Mumbai: Effective January 21, 2010, Jet Airways, India’s premier international airline, will introduce its third daily service to Doha with the introduction of its services on the Delhi-Doha sector, aboard a state-of-the-art Boeing 737-800 aircraft.
The airline currently flies daily to Doha from Mumbai and Kochi respectively.
Flight 9W 554 will depart Delhi at 1950 hrs, arriving in Doha at 2150 hrs. Flight 9W 553 will then depart Doha at 2250 hrs, arriving in Delhi at 0500 hrs, the following morning.
According to Mr. Nikos Kardassis, Acting CEO, Jet Airways, “Doha has been among the more popular destinations in Jet Airways’ international network, and the airline’s services to and from India to the capital of Qatar have been much appreciated by travelers. The launch of our daily services to Doha from Delhi will cater to the strong customer demand for direct flights on the route, and will also connect travelers from Doha to Jet Airways' 61-destination strong network spanning the length and breadth of India and beyond."
In addition to Doha, Jet Airways flies from India to eight destinations in the Gulf, including Kuwait, Bahrain, Muscat, Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Jeddah, Sharjah and Riyadh.
17/12/09 PRESS RELEASE/Jet Airways

Read More

AVISA forms Marketing Alliance with Avtrade

AVISA Aviation Safety Systems ("AVISA") www.avisa-ltd.com
the global airworthiness and safety consultancy, announces today that it has formed
a marketing alliance with international component service provider Avtrade
www.avtrade.co.uk,
Together through this marketing alliance, AVISA and Avtrade will provide a more
comprehensive service to clients, offering a high level of expertise for a very
competitive price.
AVISA is a global aerospace airworthiness and safety consultancy with offices in the
UK, Eastern Europe, Scandinavia, Asia and the Middle East. AVISA works to ensure
high safety standards and business improvements for its international clients in
both the civil and military aviation sectors.
Avtrade is headquartered in the UK and has offices across Europe, Russia, North
America, Asia and the Middle East. Avtrade experts maintain a first class
reputation, working in specialist component, engine and aircraft leasing divisions
to meet the demands of its airline customers. With a highly motivated sales and MRO
support team, Avtrade provides fully serviced and traceable components of the
highest standard.
Justin Goatcher, AVISA Group Managing Director commented:
"AVISA prides itself on building strategic partnerships with the very best industry
players in complementing industry sectors. Avtrade are without doubt a key player
in their sector and our industry, we are very pleased to be working with them and
value the increased ability we have to give our current and new customers a more
complete service. "
Jamie Brooks, Avtrade Middle East Sales Director added:
"Forming strategic alliances with like-minded companies such as AVISA makes absolute
sense when trying to give the operator a complete service. Avtrade prides itself on
concentrating on its core business; supplying and repairing components with the
highest service levels. Diversification in this industry can lead to a drop in
service standards which can affect your business model. Finding partners such as
AVISA who specialise in their division gives the operator a higher quality product
without increasing the price."
17/12/09 PRESS RELEASE/AVISA Aviation Safety Systems

Read More

Paramount to begin flying abroad from Oct

New Delhi: Chennai-based Paramount Airways is to start its international operations from October next year, when it receives delivery of its first Airbus 321 aircraft.
The airline qualifies to fly abroad in the same month, when it completes the government’s mandatory pre-requisite of having been in operation for five years.
The airline had earlier announced that it will start international flights from early 2011.
The airline has ordered 10 Airbus aircraft and will have received all by the end of 2012, in a batch of 3-2-3-2 every quarter after October 2010.
Managing Director M Thiagarajan said the airline would start flying from Colombo, Bangkok, Hong Kong and Singapore. “We will add West Asian and African countries later on,” he said.
He said the airline would not have to face any competition from low-cost carriers flying to West Asia, as it would only cater to premier-class customers.
Paramount is the only airline in India to offer full business-class service at prices comparable to the normal economy class fares of other airlines and its international operation will also offer premier-class service.
18/12/09 Mihir Mishra/Business Standard

Read More

Flyglobespan collapse: Virgin Atlantic bring flight crew back from India.

More than 8,000 calls flooded customer helplines yesterday, as efforts continued to bring home thousands of holidaymakers hit by the collapse of Flyglobespan.
Some 550 staff at Edinburgh-based parent Globespan Group also lost their jobs yesterday. Forty are staying on temporarily to staff the helplines and help wind up the business, but 60 baggage handlers employed by subsidiary firm Alba Ground Handling at Glasgow Airport are likely to be the only ones to keep their jobs.
Unions accused the firm of leaving overseas staff stranded and having to pay their own way home. Unite said some had been thrown out of their hotel rooms. Virgin Atlantic stepped in to bring flight crew back from India.
Passengers who had expected to fly out from Edinburgh and Glasgow yesterday for Christmas breaks desperately tried to arrange alternative flights.
Bruce Cartwright, of the administrator PricewaterhouseCoopers, said there were no funds available and there had been no option but to stop flights and make staff redundant. He said no-one would be left stranded anywhere – "we absolutely want to get everyone home".
All flights were cancelled on Wednesday after Globespan went into administration, followed by the airline yesterday. This has been blamed on Globespan's failure to secure extra funding from Halcyon Investments, an expected backer, after hitting cashflow problems.
Mr Cartwright said a Globespan helpline had received 8,000 calls yesterday and two numbers had now been set up – 0131-466 7612 and 0141-332 3233.
The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) said it would be chartering nearly 60 flights to bring 1,100 package holidaymakers home over the next two weeks. The passengers, in 11 Mediterranean and Canary Islands resorts, are covered under the official Air Travel Organisers Licensing (Atol) scheme. The CAA said there were spare seats on other airlines' flights for the remaining 3,400 Flyglobespan passengers to get home. But they are not protected by Atol and will have to pay for their own tickets.
All but four of the 24 Flyglobespan routes from Edinburgh and Glasgow are covered by other airlines: the exceptions are Madeira; Barcelona; Sharm el-Sheikh in Egypt from Edinburgh; and Hurghada in Egypt from Glasgow.
A further 117,000 people had advance bookings with Flyglobespan, of which only 27,000 have Atol protection.
Unite said flight crew and other staff had been stranded overseas, including those working on the airline's charter contracts in India and Saudi Arabia.
18/12/09 Alastair Dalton & Shan Ross/The Scotsman, UK

Read More

Airline industry lays on extra flights for stranded Flyglobespan travellers

Passengers left stranded by the collapse of the airline Flyglobespan are all expected to arrive home by Christmas after the airline industry mounted an emergency operation to repatriate thousands of holidaymakers.
The small Scottish airline and tour operator collapsed late on Wednesday, leaving 4,500 holidaymakers stranded in Spain, Portugal, Cyprus and Egypt or waiting for holiday flights from British airports.
Airlines including Ryanair and easyJet offered discount fares and laid on extra aircraft to fly many back to the UK. Administrators appointed to close down Globespan announced today that they had laid off 550 employees, including pilots and aircrew, without any redundancy pay, and were keeping 100 staff on to help wind up its operations.
Scores more Globespan employees in India, the Middle East and Ascension Island were also left overseas but are now being repatriated. Nearly 60 staff in Delhi have been given free flights home by Virgin, while an Italian airline has temporarily taken over "air bridge" flights for the Ministry of Defence for British troops based in the Falkland islands.
As attention shifted to the cause of Globespan's collapse, the administrator, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), confirmed it was also investigating why a "significant" amount of money from credit card bookings, thought to be between £30m and £35m, had not been paid to Globespan. The sum held back by payment processing firm E-Clear is thought to be about double that needed to cover sums which must now be paid out to credit card customers whose flights never took off.
17/12/09 Severin Carrell and Simon Bowers/Guardian.co.uk, UK

Read More

Gold Confiscated from Dubai Passenger

Mangalore: The officials of revenue intelligence have recovered a kilogram of gold from a person, who arrived in the city in a flight from Dubai on Thursday December 17 evening.Ibrahim from Bhatkal, who came in an Air India Express flight, was found to be carrying gold slabs weighing a kilogram, concealed in his shoes. The officials are now verifying the genuineness of the gold found. If it is found out to be genuine, the market value of the gold confiscated from the person, would be in the order of Rs 15 lac.
18/12/09 Daijiworld

Read More

Crew stranded in Delhi, Goa as Scots airline goes bust

Scotland's biggest airline collapsed last night after failing to secure a multi-million-pound rescue package.
Around 800 jobs will be lost at Flyglobespan and about 5000 holidaymakers have been left stranded abroad.
A further 5000 face missing out on Christmas and New Year holidays. And up to 90,000 people may have booked flights-and been left with no cover or protection.
Last night, scores of crew members were left jobless and stranded around the world.
Last night,it was claimed that between 30 and 40 crew had been stranded in New Delhi, India - though their hotel bills had been paid through until January 3. There are also crews stranded in Goa, Saudi Arabia, Ascencion Island in the mid-Atlantic and the Falkland Islands.
One crew was flown from Glasgow to London City Airport moments before the collapse of the company. They too are now stranded.
Cabin crew member Scott Wilkie learned the company had collapsed in the middle of his Christmas dinner when he got a text from a colleague.
Around 40 workers at Globespan's Glasgow airport-based handling company also face losing their jobs. Alba Ground Handling were bought over by Globespan after setting up as an independent company.
Cabin crew claim rumours were rife that Globespan was owed millions of pounds by a credit card processing company.
Last night, one Globespan flight arrived at Glasgow airport from Egypt.Those passengers were the lucky ones. Hundreds of passengers were due to fly out from Glasgow, Edinburgh and Aberdeen in the next few days.
Flyglobespan, who carried around 1.5million passengers last year, had appeared to be performing well in a difficult market. Earlier this year, they unveiled an operating profit of £1.2million - compared with a loss of around £19million the previous year.
Administrators said the firm had been unable to secure extra funding because of a loss of confidence in the sector following the collapse of other airlines.
17/12/09 Tom Hamilton/Daily Record.co.uk, UK

Read More

AI foreign pilots refuse to accept 10% pay cut

New Delhi: Foreign pilots working for Air India (AI) have refused to accept a 10 per cent cut in the salary. At the most, they may consider agreeing to a minimal salary cut. The pilots’ decision was conveyed at meeting of Air India officials with pilots’ recruitment agencies like Sigmar Aviation Recrutiment and Rishworth Aviation held on Wednesday in Mumbai.
“First of all we do not want any cut. But, considering AI’s crisis, if they propose any reduction it has to be minimal and not to the extent of 10 per cent in salary alone,” a recruitment agency official, who did not want to be named, told Financial Chronicle.
The carrier has proposed a 10 per cent reduction in foreign pilots’ salary and nearly half the bonus to $ 6,000 from $12,000 - $15,000 paid annually. The carrier also dropped plans to reimburse travel expenses of the foreign pilots that comes to about $3,000 per year.
16/12/09 Parul Chhaparia/mydigitalfc.com

Read More

Air India to get 1st Boeing Dreamliner in 2011

Air India will be the first Indian carrier to acquire the ultramodern Boeing 787 Dreamliner. However, the airline will get its first 787 Dreamliner in the second quarter of 2011, according to Dinesh Keskar, president, Boeing India.
Air India has ordered as many as 27 Dreamliners from the Seattle-based aerospace giant. Apart from Air India, Jet Airways too will buy 10 Dreamliners from Boeing.
December 15 was a red letter day in the history of The Boeing Company as Boeing 787 Dreamliner made its first flight on that day.
Boeing's 787 Dreamliner, a project which was marred by repeated delays and obstacles, is an instance of the most advanced aviation technology available. Its aerodynamic design, engines, flight controls and avionics are almost part of the aviation folklore.
16/12/09 Rediff

Read More

Jet Airways offers holiday options to Dubai Shopping Festival

Mumbai: Jet Airways, India’s premier international airline, under its holidays brand JetEscapes, will offer their guests travelling to Dubai for the popular Dubai Shopping Festival, attractive value deals, for travel between 28th of January to the 28th of February, 2010.
Considered a shoppers’ paradise during this period, Dubai can be experienced on a four day/three night basis under JetEscapes’ ‘Free and Easy’ and ‘Festival Extravaganza’ holiday options.
Attractively priced at INR 15,000 and INR 18,550 respectively, these packages include return air fare in Economy class, (inclusive of all taxes), Airport transfers, 3 star hotel accommodation with breakfast, City tour options, Travel Insurance, and a bonus of earning 5 JPMiles on every INR 100 spent on JetEscapes, by JetPrivilege members.
These packages will be made available from all of Jet Airways’ touch points, across India. Guests may contact any Jet Airways ticketing office or an IATA approved travel agent, for their booking needs. For more information, the JetEscapes Service Centre may be contacted on Tel : +91 22 424 95 999; Toll Free : 1800 209 6101 ( For users in India only ) or guests may email: jetescapes@jetairways.com
According to Mr. Sudheer Raghavan, Chief Commercial Officer, "The Dubai Shopping Festival is one of the most eagerly-anticipated events of the year, with the world's most acclaimed brands on offer at attractive prices. To cater to the heavy demand for attractive, value-based travel packages to Dubai during this period, Jet Escapes has introduced special holiday packages at unbeatable prices, allowing guests to shop to their heart's content while partaking of a world-class travel experience in the desert oasis of Dubai."
16/12/09 PRESS RELEASE/Jet Airways

Read More

AirAsia celebrates launch of the Kochi-KL route

Kochi: In an auspicious celebratory event here Tuesday, AirAsia, celebrated the successful launch of the Kochi - Kuala Lumpur route.
Kochi is one of the airline's latest Indian destinations which opened for sale recently, alongside Kolkata and Thiruvananthapuram (Trivandrum).
The occasion was graced by The Consul General of Malaysia for Southern India based in Chennai, Anuar Kasman, Noor Arif Mohd. Noor, Director of Malaysia Tourism Promotion Board in Chennai, Manoharan, Director of Tourism Malaysia - Southern Asia accompanied by AirAsia Regional Head of Commercial, Kathleen Tan. Also present were tourism delegates, hoteliers, travel agents, airport authorities and other distinguished guests and media.
Reinforcing the commitment to expand its Indian network, AirAsia launched three new routes from Kuala Lumpur to Kolkata, Kochi and Trivandrum which opened for sale on Oct 15. Since the opening of these routes less than two months ago, AirAsia has experienced an overwhelming response, of nearly 100,000 seats sold.
16/12/09 Daily Express, Malaysia

Read More