Air travel slows in November globally, domestic levels up in India - IATA

Geneva: International air passenger traffic fell by 1.5 percent in November compared with October, although it remained 4.0 percent up on November 2010, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) said on Friday.
In its monthly report on air industry activity, IATA said the international travel market had grown only 0.5 percent since May, although domestic air travel had increased more strongly.
The international passenger market has grown fastest in Latin America, Europe and the Middle East this year. But Europe has slowed sharply, with year-on-year growth of 4.9 percent in November, barely half the 9.5 percent in the year to date.
The global air travel market, including both domestic and international flights, shrank by 0.5 percent from October but remained 4.3 percent up from November 2010, IATA said.
IATA represents 240 airlines comprising 84 percent of global air traffic, including British Airways owner International Airlines Group, Air China, American Airlinesand Deutsche Post DHL.
Domestic air travel in China, India and Australia grew in November, offsetting some of the decline in international travel. China's domestic market has grown 17.2 percent in the past year, partly because of a weak November 2010.
30/12/11 Reuters/Economic Times

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Christmas spoiler: 349 AI flyers stranded in Canada for 3 days

Chandigarh/Ludhiana: Passengers of an Air India plane were stranded at a Canada airport for three-odd days on Friday. All the 349 passengers were coming to India on Christmas.
The airlines perhaps spoilt the Christmas of its 349 flyers as their flight took off three days behind the schedule on Monday.
Air India's Toronto-New Delhi-Amritsar Flight 188 was scheduled to leave Toronto on Friday but due to some technical glitches, it could not be allowed to take off till Monday.
Nishant and Hardayal Dhaliwal, who arrived here on the flight, said that the airlines officials did not provide them the information regarding the delays in the flight service. "Every time they answered, they sited a different reason," they alleged.
Minutes before its take off, the decision to quash the service was taken by the airlines officials.
31/12/11 dailybhaskar.com

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2nd suit filed in Las Vegas tour helicopter crash

Las Vegas: A second wrongful death lawsuit was filed Thursday in a Nevada court against the Las Vegas-based operator of a sightseeing tour helicopter that crashed and killed five people earlier this month.

The lawsuit filed in Clark County District Court in Las Vegas seeks unspecified damages from Sundance Helicopters Inc. on behalf of four children of Delwin and Tamara Chapman, both 49, of Utica, Kan. The Chapmans were celebrating their 25th wedding anniversary when they died Dec. 7 in a remote ravine near Lake Mead.

Sundance offered condolences to the Chapman family but didn't respond to allegations in the lawsuit.

Robb filed a similar civil wrongful death lawsuit Dec. 13 in Las Vegas against Sundance on behalf of the families of Lovish Bhanot, 28, and Anupama Bhola, 26, a honeymooning couple from India killed in the crash. That case is pending.

29/12/11 Ken Ritter/Associated Press/Newsday

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Air India, Star Alliance back on talking terms

New Delhi: Talks have revived between Air India and Star Alliance, raising hopes that the debt-ridden national carrier may get to join the largest international grouping of airlines.
Representatives of Air India and Star Alliance met last month in Delhi, people close to the development told ET. This meeting came about three months after the alliance had denied entry to the ailing carrier in August on the grounds that it did not meet the minimum joining requirements as stipulated in the contract signed in 2007.
"There was some discussion between the two parties on the sticking points and the airlines that had voted against Air India in July are understood to be reviewing their stance," a senior official from the aviation ministry said.
An official from Air India who did not wish to be named said that since the membership was "suspended" and not closed, a breakthrough is possible in the next couple of weeks.
Star Alliance did not reply to an email in this regard.
Officials said hopes have brightened since a new CEO, Mark Schwab, is taking over at Star Alliance in January.
30/12/11 Anindya Upadhyay/Economic Times

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Sikorsky delivers passenger chopper to Maharashtra

New Delhi : US aircraft major Sikorsky Friday delivered a mid-sized commercial utility aircraft to the Maharashtra government for transporting senior state leaders and bureaucrats.
"The helicopter's versatility, reliability, safety and operating cost efficiencies make it ideally suited for transportation of senior leaders, including heads of state," a Sikorsky statement said.
The S-76C++ joins a growing fleet of Sikorsky helicopters operating in India, including others in the S-76 family of choppers. The Maharashtra government had, earlier this year, shortlisted the helicopter after a detailed and intense technical evaluation process and signed a contract for the delivery of one machine.
29/12/11 IANS/Two Circles.net

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The AI Job Fiasco

As if a two-month delay in salary and four-month delay in payment of productivity-linked incentive (PLI — a huge component of any Air India officials’ salary) were not enough for the already demoralised employees of national carrier Air India (AI), the management is yet to streamline the career progression (promotions and postings) of the employees in the merged entity.
In the absence of a well laid out career progression policy, some AI officials, who otherwise have three-year tenure at any foreign station, are continuing for five years, while those in queue for foreign station posting are being denied their chance.
The Air India Officers’ Association — a body of officers working with the erstwhile AI — in a letter to Rohit Nandan, CMD of Air India Limited, on December 27, said, “The cream of foreign-station postings have been allocated to officers of erstwhile Indian Airlines (IA) with dual benefits (salary and PLI) and officers from erstwhile IA gone for foreign station postings has completed their tenure has not been called back till date, which is loss for the person who is in queue for the foreign posting (sic).”
According to sources, there are several posts that have been occupied by erstwhile IA officials who are continuing in the posting despite their tenure having ended about two years ago.
30/12/11 Samiran Saha/Tehelka.com

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Indian carriers not worried about IAG getting more slots at Heathrow

New Delhi: IAG, the parent company of British Airways and the Spanish carrier, Iberia, wants to get around 56 more daily slots at London's Heathrow airport. But this is not worrying Indian carriers wanting to fly to London, at least not for the moment.

The need for new slots arises from IAG and Lufthansa reached agreeing to acquire British Midland Ltd for £172.5 million.

“This acquisition will not impact Indian carriers as the India-UK market is presently well served. However, future expansion into Heathrow by Indian carriers will be impacted but I do not see expansion in the near term,” said Mr Kapil Kaul, Chief Executive Officer, South Asia, Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation. He also pointed out that Indian carriers, particularly Kingfisher, had bought expensive slots at Heathrow in 2008-09.

The former Chairman and Managing Director of Air India, Mr V. Thulasidas, told Business Line that even in 2007 getting slots for the airline at Heathrow was extremely difficult.

A senior official of an Indian airline operating to Heathrow added that the bigger worry was the dominant position that British Airways would enjoy over a global gateway hub such as Heathrow.

30/12/11 Ashwini Phadnis/Business Line

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DGCA notice to Air India for shielding expat pilot

New Delhi: After fake pilots, the aviation regulator is going after 'unsafe' pilots. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has issued a show cause notice to AI for making a wrong claim that one its foreign pilots had not been involved in any mishap seeking to extend his service.
The regulator found that the pilot had been involved with a mishap while operating an AI flight in Frankfurt, a fact not disclosed by the airline while seeking extension. It has now decided to suspend the pilot's foreign air crew temporary authorization that allows him to serve in India besides seeking an explanation from the airline.
AI had requested for extension of FATA for the expat pilot beyond July 31, 2011. "..During an inquiry, we found that the pilot was involved in a mishap in Frankfurt last year. The plane did not stop in time to align with the aerobridge and there was a collision with the aerobridge. The pilot's FATA is being cancelled and an explanation has been sought from AI," said a senior official.
29/12/11 Saurabh Sinha/Times of India

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India sitting on unused flying rights

Indian air carriers are well behind foreign peers in utilising the traffic allocated under the bilateral services agreements India has signed with 109 countries.
There are 834,000 weekly seats on international air routes connecting all these countries with India. The Indian airlines have been able to utilise only 22.7 per cent of the total seat allocations. Air India utilises 11.9 per cent and the other four private carriers that fly abroad utilise a combined average of 10.8 per cent. International carriers utilise 37.9 per cent of the total. (All flights together fill only about 60 per cent of the seat allocations, done in absolute numbers, under the agreements).
A big part of the Indian problem is the civil aviation ministry’s sitting on applications to fly abroad, to protect the interest of government-owned Air India. The latter is losing huge amounts of money and the ministry feels allowing any carrier to ply abroad, for the first time or to expand, would further hit AI.(Click here for table & graph)
A top airline official said this attitude hampered their growth and that of airports. “Not allowing us when the international carriers are utilising almost all their bilateral seats is not proper. We had made plans for the winter schedule that is currently on and the coming summer schedule but all our requests for permission are pending with the government,” he said.
29/12/11 Mihir Mishra/Business Standard

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Calls for direct flights between Scotland and emerging economies

Opposition parties have called for the Scottish Government to act to help create direct flights between Scotland and countries with emerging economies.
The Conservatives have called for a successor to the Air Route Development Fund, which subsidised airlines to provide direct routes but was scrapped in 2007.
Meanwhile, Labour said there should be a strategic review of air links to Scotland and the establishment of a marketing fund to help support direct routes to countries such as China, Brazil, India and Russia during the first two years of operation.
The Scottish Government has already set out its ambitions to improve international air connections with key global economies such as China.
The Government said a senior Chinese aviation delegation will travel to Scotland early in the New Year to take forward plans.
It said the European Commission (EC) was currently reviewing guidelines on start-up aid for airlines which had prevented a successor to the Air Route Development Fund from being established.
Conservative finance spokesman Gavin Brown said: "The SNP claim they cannot operate the air route fund because it falls foul of EU (European Union) rules.
29/12/11 STV

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NRI family fined R 8.5 lakh at Ahmedabad airport

Ahmedabad: Customs officials at Ahmedabad airport fined a family Rs 8.50 lakh as customs duty on Tuesday for carrying jewellery, leather and other items that they had failed to declare. The officials said the family did not know the rules and even co-operated with officials when the valuables were discovered. Senior customs officials said that the 3 passengers, who live in the US, had come to the city to attend a marriage function.
29/12/11 dailybhaskar.com

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Tighter inspection at airports as drug rings change their routes

Sepang, Malaysia : After uncovering five cases of drug smuggling this month alone, the KL International Airport Customs has declared all air routes into Malaysia to be at high risk of being used for trafficking.
KLIA Customs director Datuk M. Govinden said syndicates had changed their usual routes into Malaysia in a bid to deceive the authorities.
He said the syndicates used to fly from the Gulf and India, but have now switched to flights from other countries.
Govinden said the Customs Department would beef up its manpower to tighten inspection.
He disclosed that the Customs seized 3kg of syabu worth RM750,000 (S$307,575) from a 21-year-old Malaysian at 1.30am yesterday at KLIA. He was arrested.
within three months from October this year. Twenty-four people, 14 of them foreigners, were arrested.
When contacted later, Govinden told The Star that luggage arriving at KLIA would be scanned twice for suspicious items, especially drugs.
He said the first scanning would be conducted before the luggage was placed on the carousels.
29/12/11 Zuhrin Zam Ahmad and Loshana K. Shagar/The Star/Asia News Network/Asiaone

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Air Arabia bags best low-cost international carrier award

Sharjah: Air Arabia, the low-cost airline from Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), has bagged the award for best low-cost international carrier at the Travel Agents Association of India (TAAI) Travel Awards 2011.
The award was handed over by Union Minister for Tourism Subodh Kant Sahay and TAAI president Iqbal Mulla at the association's recently-held diamond jubilee celebrations in Mumbai.
Air Arabia has completed six years of operations in India. It operates flights from Sharjah to 13 Indian cities -- New Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Jaipur, Kochi, Nagpur, Coimbatore, Thiruvananthapuram, Kozhikode, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Chennai, and Dabolim.
28/12/11 IANS/Economic Times

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Air India ‘snag’ leaves 300 stranded in Toronto

New Delhi: Air India may be trying to woo passengers back on domestic routes with low fares but its international operations continue to report trouble. In the latest instance of embarrassment for the national carrier, the civil aviation ministry is expected to take action against key officials responsible for a fiasco in Toronto on December 23.
After 300-odd passengers of Toronto-Delhi-Amritsar flight boarded the aircraft, they were informed about a technical snag and asked to deplane. Thereafter, the flight was cancelled but these passengers were left in the dark over when they would be able to reach Delhi or Amritsar.
A ‘relief’ flight, sent from New Delhi to get these passengers, is expected to land in Delhi only on Wednesday morning.
Passengers booked on that flight have complained that the AI staff in Toronto gave them no clear answers and did not even try to accommodate them on subsequent flights to New Delhi.
28/12/11 Sindhu Bhattacharya/Daily News & Analysis

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India flight fares to remain high on strong demand

Despite Gulf and Indian air carriers increasing capacity and flights between the two regions, fares are unlikely to come down while demand for seats remains high,according to a survey.
As per the new Visa Global Travel Intentions Survey, 2011, released here by Arabian Business weekly magazine, India was voted one of the top global destinations for travellers from the UAE this year and continues to be popular with travelers in the Gulf. "India is consistently popular with people living in the UAE, both because it is home to a large population of expatriate Indians who come to work here in the UAE, but also because of its relatively close proximity, extensive and good value travel links," said Kamran Siddiqi, the General Managerfor Visa Middle East.
Air India already operates around 53 weekly flights to Dubai and its low-fare unit, Air India Express, operates 54 weekly flights. Other carriers in the Gulf and India are also looking to tap the lucrative market.
Qatar Airways said India would be one of its key growth markets in 2011 and recently launched a daily service to Kolkata. It already operates 95 flights a week to 12 other Indian cities, including Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Goa.
India's largest low-cost carrier, IndiGo, has also announced routes between Dubai and New Delhi and Dubai and Mumbai. Jet Airways, Air Arabia, flydubai and Jazeera Airways are also eyeing expansion.
27/12/11 PTI/Moneycontrol.com

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India against European Union's move to slap carbon emission fee on airlines

New Delhi: India has strongly opposed the European Union's move to slap carbon emission charges on airlines using its airspace, joining a growing global chorus against the move led by China and the United States.
At an interministerial meeting between officials of the external affairs, environment and aviation ministries along with representatives from the domestic airline industry, India said the move will lead to retaliatory action by the rest of the world. "The EU has legislated without consulting the rest of the world and they might have to face retaliatory measures from other countries of the world.
Therefore, they might have to reconsider whether their call is worth taking," said a senior aviation ministry official, who was part of the high-level meeting. But a final decision on India's stance will only be taken some time in February, officials said.
The European Union recently announced that all international airlines using its airspace will have to pay for their carbon dioxide emissions. They will have to pay 15% of the pollution rights accorded in 2012, which will rise to 18% between 2013 and 2020.
27/12/11 Anindya Upadhyay/Economic Times

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Black money: Jet Airways's parent company on I-T dept radar

New Delhi: Jet Airways has been served notices by the Income Tax (I-T) department over a Swiss bank account in the name of Tailwinds, the Isle of Man-based parent of Jet Airways, which holds 79.99 per cent stake in the airline. The I-T department has served two notices to Jet's co-founder, Naresh Goyal , a move by the government to unearth black money stashed abroad.
The first notice to Goyal was issued under Section 131 of the Income Tax Act seeking production and examination of books of accounts and other relevant documents. The second notice, served under Section 148, sought to reopen assessments of Tailwinds' books for 2006-07, a leading news television has reported.
According to sources, Goyal immediately responded to the first notice, stating that the Tailwinds accounts were officially disclosed to and approved by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB), and the ministry of civil aviation and that there was no tax evasion.
However, Goyal's response to the second notice which sought clarifications on Tailwinds' income from India is not known.
27/12/11 Mail Today/Business Today

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DGCA & DRI investigating corporates for customs evasion while using foreign-registered aircraft

New Delhi: The Directorate General of Civil Aviation and Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) are investigating whether corporate groups and tycoons regularly using foreign-registered private aircraft within the country have complied with Customs rules applicable on the use of such planes, both in letter and spirit.
These rules bar foreign-registered aircraft from being kept in the country for more than six months, lest they attract import duties.
But the authorities say many of these planes are predominantly used in India, flown out to neighbouring countries before the six-month period and brought back again for use in India, avoiding paying Customs duty in the process.
"The DGCA had raised this issue... The DRI looked into the matter and has now initiated an investigation," said an official with the aviation regulator. A Customs department official confirmed that the DRI had initiated a formal investigation.
27/12/11 Deepshikha Sikarwar/Economic Times

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Air India mechanical issues strands hundreds at Pearson

More than 300 people are stranded at Pearson International Airport without a flight because of an Air India plane fraught with mechanical issues.
The flight, which was supposed to leave on Friday, is now scheduled to leave tomorrow morning but passengers say they've spent all weekend hearing different things and now, they don't believe anything they're being told.
Their ordeal began on Friday. After boarding the plane and waiting in their seats for four hours, passengers were asked to disembark because of a mechanical issue.
It took a while longer before passengers were given their bags and told to go home.
The delays continued throughout the weekend.
Though passengers were told to come back Saturday, once they arrived at the airport they were informed that their flight wouldn't leave until Sunday night.
On Sunday, passengers went back to the airport only to be told that they would have to wait at Pearson until 6 p.m. to find out if their 7 p.m. flight would be ready to take off tonight.
That's when some passengers began shouting at Air India workers, demanding answers. Police were called and the situation was diffused quickly.
25/12/11 Sandie Benitah/CP24.com, Canada

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Singapore's Changi Airports to buy 26% in GVK Airports biz for Rs 2,200 crore

Mumbai: Singapore's Changi Airports is likely to buy a 26% stake in GVK's airports business, forming a crucial partnership just before bids are to be called for building a spanking new airport to cater to Mumbai's booming traffic.
People close to the deal said Changi Airports International, a wholly owned subsidiary of Changi Airport Group, is likely to pay GVK Airport Holdings Private Limited Rs 2,000-2,200 crore for the 26% stake, valuing the Hyderabad-based company's airport assets at 8,000 crore. The valuation and the deal size are much bigger than GVK's current market cap of Rs 1,738.70 crore, which, in turn, is a reflection of the tough times being faced by infrastructure companies such as GVK on the bourses.
"The deal is in the final stages and an announcement is likely to be made in January," a person familiar with the situation told ET. Sanjay Reddy, the GVK group's vice-chairman, said he would not like to comment on market speculation. A spokesperson for Changi Airport declined comment to an ET questionnaire some time ago.
26/12/11 Manisha Singhal/Economic Times

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Govt veering towards 26% FDI ceiling in aviation

New Delhi: The government is done with inter-ministerial consultations on allowing foreign airlines to pick up stakes in Indian carriers, crossing even the Sebi takeover hurdle. Top official sources told DNA that the proposal is now ready and there is a broad consensus on capping the investment limit at 26%. “There is also a view that foreign airlines could be allowed to pick up more than 26% stake,” the sources said without elaborating.
To a specific query on whether any foreign airlines had come forward to look for investment opportunities after the FDI cap discussion, the sources added: “Private equity investors and some foreign airlines have been making enquiries. But contrary to the popular belief, not a single airline from the Gulf region has come forward as yet with any such interest.”
One of the concerns voiced by some Cabinet ministers earlier is Indian skies would become the monopoly of Gulf-based carriers like Emirates if these are allowed to invest in loss-making domestic airlines. “Which airlines in the world are cash rich or have the ability to acquire Indian carriers? Qatar Airways, Emirates, Etihad, Lufthansa and Singapore Airlines have the money to invest. But there are major security concerns relating to Gulf-based airlines as well as those from China,” a senior Cabinet minister had said.
24/12/11 Sindhu Bhattacharya/Daily News & Analysis

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Cash-strapped AI decides to sell, leaseback Dreamliners

New Delhi: With the first of the 27 Boeing 787 Dreamliners for Air India expected to arrive next month, the cash-strapped national carrier has decided to sale and leaseback seven of them and has started looking for bridge financing worth USD 230 million.
While the first of these much-delayed planes would be delivered by the American manufacturer in January, the second one would come in March, the third in April and two each in May and June, official sources said.
The Air India Board has already decided to go for sale of these aircraft to a lessor and immediate leaseback under an operating lease of 12 years with an option to extend the period, the sources said.
Under sale and leaseback arrangement, one party sells a property to a buyer who immediately leases it back to the seller. The arrangement allows the initial buyer to make full use of the asset while not having capital tied up in it.
The sources said the airline required interim bridge financing for a period ranging between 6-12 months to accept delivery of the first two B 787-8 planes and has invited offers from banks and financial institutions to arrange for USD 230 million or equivalent of cost of two planes.
24/12/11 PTI/Economic Times

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Air India to get 1st South Carolina 787

Boeing Co.'s newly completed 787 delivery center in North Charleston has booked its first guest: Air India is scheduled to pick up the first South Carolina-assembled 787 Dreamliner in the spring, the plane maker confirmed Thursday.

Published reports for months have named the South Asian national carrier as the local launch customer for the new jet, but the American airframer only made it official this week.

Candy Eslinger, spokeswoman for Boeing South Carolina, said the announcement had "no relationship" to the relative progress of the 787-building operations in North Charleston and Everett, Wash., or to the latest developments in an ongoing financial saga at Air India.

"What changed is I can confirm officially that it's Air India," Eslinger said Thursday.

She referred other questions to the airline, whose spokesman could not be reached.

The Dreamliner in question -- Line Number 46 -- has been closely monitored throughout its assembly this year because it is the first twin-aisle Boeing commercial airplane to be built outside the Puget Sound region of Washington state.

The wings arrived at the North Charleston campus in July. In August, the engines arrived and workers wheeled the aft-body section manufactured to a building next door to final assembly. The plane moved from Position 0, the parts staging area, to Position 1 in September, and edged up to Position 2 in October.

Then, on Sunday, the jet was lowered onto its landing gear and pulled forward to Position 3, the next-to-last station in the massive final assembly building at Charleston International Airport.

Eslinger said it will be handed over to Air India in the second quarter next year. Boeing has built a special delivery center on its property especially for such occasions.

Adding Dreamliners to its fleet will be big for Air India as well. The airline ordered 27 of the fuel-efficient composite jets in 2005, but a three-year program delay and Air India's money problems have threatened that plan.

23/12/11 Brendan Kerney/The Post and Courier

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US delivers last Super Hercules cargo plane this weekend

New Delhi: India is all set to induct the last of the six C-130J Super Hercules cargo plane for its Special Forces this weekend, with the US major Lockheed Martin flying out the aircraft from its Marietta facility near Atlanta in US on Dec 15.

The aircraft fleet of six was bought by India in January 2008 for $1.2 billion and Lockheed Martin began delivery of the fleet in January 2011. The first of the six aircraft was inducted into the Indian Air Force (IAF) at the Hindon air base in Ghaziabad near the Indian capital in February this year.

"Number six of the six C-130J Super Hercules ordered by India, under the US Foreign Military Sales programme, departed Marietta on Dec 15. This aircraft, like its five predecessors, was delivered ahead of schedule and under budget," a Lockheed Martin official told IANS.

"The aircraft is scheduled to arrive at Hindon this weekend," an IAF officer told IANS, when asked about its arrival.

Since ordering the six planes for its Special Forces operations, India has made a case for buying additional six of these aircraft and the agreement in this regard is all ready for signing, according to the IAF official.

The IAF has already used these planes for carrying out operations, particularly of the humanitarian assistance variety soon after the fleet's induction.

23/12/11 IANS/Economic Times

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Fall in export of vegetables from CIAL

Nedumbasery: The row over the Mullaperiyar dam has taken its toll on the perishable cargo exports through the Cochin International Airport Ltd. (CIAL).
Officials at the Centre for Perishable Cargo cite a fall of about 20 per cent in the export of vegetable consignments to Middle-East destinations, which they attribute to the blockade of vehicular movement along the check-posts in Tamil Nadu.
“The average volume of outbound consignments is now hovering around 40 tonnes compared to the earlier estimate of 50-55 tonnes,” a senior official said. He attributed the shortfall to a considerable decline in the arrival of goods from stations like Coimbatore.
According to him, the seasonal demand also plays a big role in the type of goods exported. As such the export of meat and fish is bound to surpass its previous best by a higher margin. The trend will continue for another one week and after that a clear shift in the pattern of overall export could be seen, the official said.
Meanwhile, the scarcity of fresh vegetables has sent the prices in the local market through the roof, which, in turn, is expected to negate the advantages of the recent depreciation in Rupee.
The jump in vegetable prices has also left the export agents worried as they say they would be unable to meet their export contracts. For, the importers are not obliged to compensate their counterparts as per the long-term buyback agreements.
23/12/11 The Hindu

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Airlines may get to import jet fuel directly, bypassing IOC

New Delhi: To help the financially-pressed aviation sector, the government may allow airlines to import their fuel directly. The move would help airlines save at least Rs 2,500 crore annually, a fourth of their total aviation turbine fuel (ATF) bill of Rs 10,000 crore.

Since a decision on allowing airlines to import ATF involves a policy change, any decision on this will have to be referred to the Cabinet for approval.

A consensus on this issue emerged in a meeting held a few days earlier by a group of secretaries of relevant ministries, formed to look at the issues of concern for the sector. It included representatives from the ministries of civil aviation, commerce, petroleum and finance, beside the directorate-general of foreign trade (DGFT).

“It was felt that the airlines should be allowed to import fuel directly, as that will lead to huge savings for them. Our ministry has supported this demand and the good news for the airline may come very soon, maybe in two weeks,” said a senior civil aviation ministry official, who did not want to be identified.

Currently airlines buy ATF from oil companies. It is imported on their behalf. That is why they have to pay hefty states sales tax. By importing directly for their own consumption, the airlines would not have to pay the levy. The average sales tax on ATF in India is the second highest in the world, lower than only Bangladesh’s 27 per cent. The average tax in India is 24 per cent.

23/12/11 Mihir Mishra/Business Standard

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FDI in aviation finds no takers from Gulf carriers

New Delhi: Even as the Government is working on allowing foreign airlines to pick up equity in domestic carriers, the proposal seems to have found no takers from Gulf carriers.

Gulf carriers such as Emirates have widely been perceived as being keen on buying equity in domestic Indian carriers.

A person familiar with the development told Business Line, “Enquiries have come from various airlines and private equity funds.

Carriers are from the western and eastern countries but not a single Gulf carrier has made an enquiry.”

He refused to divulge names of the carriers shown interest in the proposal. The Department of Industrial Policy and Promotions (DIPP) has floated a note allowing foreign airlines to buy up to 26 per cent equity in domestic airlines.

Currently, barring foreign airlines (direct or indirect), foreign investors can invest up to 49 per cent in any scheduled domestic airlines. Scheduled domestic airlines are defined as any carrier which operates with minimum of five aircraft and a fixed schedule.

22/12/11 Shishir Sinha & Ashwini Phadnis/Business Line

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EU court upholds carbon trade plan for aviation

Amsterdam: U.S. airlines failed Wednesday to block an EU law charging airlines flying to Europe for their carbon pollution. The decision by an EU court was widely hailed by environmentalists but the Fitch ratings agency said it raised the spector of a global trade dispute.

The European Court of Justice in Luxembourg dismissed arguments that imposing the European Union's cap-and-trade carbon credits program on flights to and from European airports infringes on national sovereignty or violates international aviation treaties. U.S. and other non-European airlines had sued the EU, arguing that they were exempt from the law.

Environmentalists called the law a first step in controlling carbon emissions in a key economic sector, and EU officials said they expected airlines to comply.

But Fitch Ratings said the decision could deepen rather than quell the dispute, raised in a lawsuit brought by the trade organization Airlines for America and several U.S. airlines and supported by China, India and other countries with international carriers.

"We believe threats of trade retaliation over the EU's cap-and-trade system will pose growing threats to aviation market access in both developed and emerging markets next year," Fitch said.

21/12/11 Arthur Max/Associated Press/Bloomberg Business Week

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All goes wrong for 20 Air India passengers

Chennai: It was an awful experience for about 20 passengers from Singapore, who were booked to reach Chennai via Tiruchy on an Air India Express flight on Wednesday. While passengers missed the connecting flight at Tiruchy due to delay in arrival from Singapore, the airline failed to load their baggage into the aircraft.

They also had to travel six hours by private taxis to reach Chennai even thought they had air tickets to get there in 30 minutes.

Aircraft IX681, with about 45 passengers on board, left Singapore late.

When contacted, a Tiruchy airport source told DC the Air India Express flight got delayed by more than two hours on Wednesday due to a technical fault, adding that the baggage reached Tiruchy on Thursday and passengers are expected to collect them.

23/12/11 C Sujatha/Deccan Chronicle

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British Airways, American Airlines to pay NRI flier Rs 1 lakh

New Delhi: The British Airways and the American Airlines have been ordered by a district consumer forum to pay Rs 1 lakh as damages to a US-based NRI for an inordinate delay in delivering his luggage during his trip to hometown Calicut in Kerala in 2006.

The district consumer forum headed by its President C K Chaturvedi and comprising members Neeru Mittal and S R Chaudhary ordered the two airlines to pay the damages to the NRI as he was delivered his luggage when he was to return to New York after his 12-day trip to Calicut.

"We assess harassment and damages for Rs 1 lakh and this amount will be paid in the ratio of 30:70 between the American Airlines and British Airways," said the forum, asking the two airlines to share the damages.

The order came on a complaint by Dr Manoj Kumar, a New York resident, who had booked his air tickets from New York to New Delhi for August 18, 2006 and a return ticket for August 30, 2006.

22/12/11 PTI/Times of India

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GMR to bid for airport projects in Brazil

Male: The Bangalore headquartered GMR Group is set to participate in the modernisation of airports in Brazil, Group Chairman, Mr G.M. Rao has said.
“This will be the first time that GMR Infrastructure will be bidding alone for a project. The Brazil airport (bid) is coming at the end of January. Brazil is only giving 51 per cent equity, they want to keep 49 per cent with the (country's) Airport Authority. We decided to go alone because if we give to Malaysian (airports) then we will not have a majority. Wherever we do projects we want to have majority share holding,” Mr Rao told newspersons invited by the Company to witness the ground breaking ceremony for a new airport terminal in Maldives. GMR is partnering with Malaysian Airport for the modernisation of the Male airport here.
Brazil is taking up the modernisation of airports ahead of the 2014 soccer world cup which the South American country is hosting.
Currently, the GMR Group operates the Hyderabad, Delhi and the Istanbul airports.
22/12/11 Ashwini Phadnis/Business Line

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Emirates SkyCargo strengthens its team in Bengaluru

As a Cargo manager of Karnataka, Mathew will be responsible for all functionalities of the organisation which would also encompass Sales, Customer Service, Operations, and the overall performance of Karnataka market.

Emirates SkyCargo, the cargo arm of the award winning Emirates Airline appointed Mr. Nibu Abraham Mathew as Cargo Manager in Karnataka effective November 1, 2011

As a Cargo manager of Karnataka, Mathew will be responsible for all functionalities of the organisation which would also encompass Sales, Customer Service, Operations, and the overall performance of Karnataka market.

He has been associated with Emirates since 2006 where he has been working as Senior Cargo Sales Executive. During his tenure, Nibu was responsible for the overall sales and business development of the Bangalore market. Prior to working with Emirates, he was associated with Jet Airways in Chennai.

22/12/11 India Infoline

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EU court upholds carbon trade plan for aviation

Amsterdam: U.S. airlines failed Wednesday to block an EU law charging airlines flying to Europe for their carbon pollution. The decision by an EU court was widely hailed by environmentalists but the Fitch ratings agency said it raised the spector of a global trade dispute.
The European Court of Justice in Luxembourg dismissed arguments that imposing the European Union's cap-and-trade carbon credits program on flights to and from European airports infringes on national sovereignty or violates international aviation treaties. U.S. and other non-European airlines had sued the EU, arguing that they were exempt from the law.
Environmentalists called the law a first step in controlling carbon emissions in a key economic sector, and EU officials said they expected airlines to comply.
But Fitch Ratings said the decision could deepen rather than quell the dispute, raised in a lawsuit brought by the trade organization Airlines for America and several U.S. airlines and supported by China, India and other countries with international carriers.
"We believe threats of trade retaliation over the EU's cap-and-trade system will pose growing threats to aviation market access in both developed and emerging markets next year," Fitch said.
21/12/11 CBS News.com

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‘I had to document Air India 182 bombing’

Bangalore: Sturla Gunnarson, a Canadian documentary film maker and director of the renowned documentary ‘Air India 182,’ expressed his discontent over the Canadian government’s inaction on one of the worst plane bombings in the world in 1985.
Speaking at an interactive session at the fourth Bengaluru International Film Festival, he said the bombing of Air India 182, which killed all the 331 passengers aboard the flight, was one of the most gruesome mass murders in Canadian history.
“It is saddening that the Canadian government, in the face a great tragedy, went into a denial mode and blamed the Government of India instead, for the accident,” he said.
He pointed out that the Canadian government could have averted the tragedy and that it was an utter intelligence failure on the government’s part.
The Kanishka flight, that was bound for Delhi from Montreal, was bombed at an altitude of 31,000 feet in 1985. The trial, which lasted 23 years, was termed one of the most expensive cases in Canada.
The director termed his experiences in making the film as factual.
“Somebody had to make a film about an incident of this magnitude, which left thousands of lives devastated,” said Sturla Gunnarson.
21/12/11 Deccan Herald

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Call to boycott airlines paying lower commission held void

The Competition Commission of India, vide its order dated November 17, 2011 through a majority judgement, has held as illegal the call for boycott of certain foreign airlines flying from India given by the associations to which the Indian travel agents belonged following first reduction of commission from the historical nine per cent of the fare to five per cent and then switching over to the fee-per-transaction dispensation replacing the commission mode of compensation for the agents in the process.
The Commission held that such a boycott denied the travellers the services of these airlines and thus amounted to restricting competition and choice to travellers.
21/12/11 Murlidharan S/Business Line

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Airport announcements in Tamil, too

Putrajaya: Announcements will be made in Tamil at Malaysia's international airports for passengers flying between Chennai and Kuala Lumpur next year.
In a statement, Transport Minister Datuk Seri Kong Cho Ha said the announcements in the Tamil language would be made at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) and the Low Cost Carrier Terminal (LCCT).
Chennai is the Tamil-speaking southern state of Tamil Nadu in India.
Kong said the recommendation was made after taking into consideration public demands, the needs of the Indian community and the number of arrivals and departures to and from Chennai.
He said 434,050 passengers were received by KLIA and LCCT via the Chennai-Kuala Lumpur route this year.
21/12/11 Lim Wey Wen/The Star

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Flier awarded Rs 50000 for drink refusal

New Delhi: An international airline has been directed to pay a compensation of Rs 50,000 to a Canadian on being discriminated against because of her gender after one of its crew members refused to serve her alcohol as she was a woman.
A district consumer disputes redressal forum has also advised the Jet Airways India Limited "to train its staff on etiquette and behaviour" without any discrimination on the basis of gender and nationality.
"It is the choice of the passenger to demand the drink of their liking in the air journey and Indian crew members cannot be allowed to make any differential remarks between Indian and European women and they are expected to respect even lady members who demand alcohol and that too cannot be denied by the airline's crew members as it is a question of choice and not of imposing one's culture biases and prejudice on any one," said district forum president C K Chaturvedi.
The woman, working with the Canadian High Commission in India, had filed the petition claiming that she was aggrieved by the etiquettes and behaviour of the crew member of Jet Airways Limited during her return journey from Bangkok to Delhi through their flight on December 15, 2009. She alleged in her complaint that after taking off, when the plane was in the air and services had begun with beverages and snacks, she had ordered a rum drink. She was, however, informed by the male steward that the complainant being a female could not have alcoholic drink.
21/12/11 Smriti Singh/Times of India

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Five including an Indian Killed in Small Plane Crash on New Jersey Highway

Harding, New Jersey: Two investment bankers were among five people killed Tuesday when a small plane crashed on a New Jersey highway.
Jeffrey F. Buckalew, 45, and Rakesh Chawla, 36, worked in the New York offices of Greenhill and Company, the firm said in a statement. Buckalew owned the plane and was piloting it.
The other victims were believed to be Buckalew's wife, Corinne, and their two children, Jackson and Meriwether, according to the statement.
The single-engine Socata TMB-700 went down on Interstate 287 in Harding, N.J., at 10:04am.
It had taken off from Teterboro Airport in Bergen County -- about 33 miles east of Harding -- at around 9:50am, and was flying at an altitude of 17,500 feet before it crashed, National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) spokesman Bob Gretz said at a press conference Tuesday.
A fire erupted after the crash, and debris were spread in a half-mile radius from the impact site, Gretz said.
It was not known what caused the plane to go down. Gretz said a complete fact-finding investigation would take six to 12 months.
The plane had been in contact with an FAA radar facility in Ronkonkoma, N.Y., and lost communication shortly before the crash.
Gretz said the pilot had been speaking to the FAA about icing. It was not immediately known if the pilot was referring to ice in the clouds or on the aircraft, but the communication was described by Gretz as a conversation, "not a distress call."
20/12/11 NewsCore/FoxNews

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Govt for easing aviation rule to link smaller nations

The civil aviation ministry is contemplating relaxing the substantial ownership and effective control clause in its air services agreement with smaller countries.
The SOEC clause says only airlines owned by a country or its citizens can fly from the nation concerned to India and use the quota of seats allotted under a bilateral pact between the countries.
"At the International Civil Aviation Organisation conference this year in Mumbai , our focus was on having bilateral relationships with African countries, that many reciprocated.
"But many said they cannot afford an airline and cannot sign the bilaterals with a substantial ownership clause," said a ministry official, requesting anonymity.
The official added they were looking at changing the norm to bring all these countries on board.
At the conference, India signed bilateral agreements with Uganda and Mozambique, but could not ink a pact with many others because of the SOEC clause.
20/12/11 Rediff.com

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Indian drug suspect arrested with 3kg of ketamine at Suvarnabhumi Airport

Samut Prakan: An Indian national has arrested with about three kilogrammes of ketamine at Suvarnabhumi Airport, according to the Customs Department.
Mohamed Iliyas Rawther Mohamed Rabeek, 24, was arrested with some three kilogrammes of ketamine including its package weight, worth about Bt350,000, Customs Department deputy director general Thanat Suwatthanamethakul told a news conference at the customs office at Suvarnabhumi Airport.
The illicit drug was put in a hidden compartment at the bottom of his luggage, covered by instant noodle and snack.
20/12/11 MCOT, Thailand

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Airline’s package for Dubai festival

Kozhikode: With an eye on Dubai shopping festival, which would be held from January to February 5, the Dubai-based Emirates Airline has come with an attractive travel package for the travellers from the city.
The offer includes a variety of packages on twin-sharing basis for four nights, including return economy class airfare, breakfast, personalized meet-and-assist upon arrival and return airport transfers by private car. The customers have a choice of accommodation from 32 selected properties to suit all budgets.
However, the company said that the offer does not include visa and fuel surcharges.
21/12/11 Times of India

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L&T eyes $4b biz from Abu Dhabi new airport

Mumbai: Larsen & Toubro (L&T) is eyeing up to $4 billion (Rs 21,553 crore) worth of contracts in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi when bids for the construction of the new Abu Dhabi airport are opened at the end of this month. This can come as a welcome boost for the company, which has been staring at a huge order slowdown in India due to lack of policy initiatives at the government level.
L&T along with its consortium partners bid for the $12 billion project in November in an internationally competitive bidding. L&T would be the leader of the consortium, as in the previous bidding for the Al-Salalah airport in Oman.
The Abu Dhabi International airport is coming up as part of $1 trillion infrastructure investment plan-ned by the Abu Dhabi government.
19/12/11 Vikas Srivastav/mydigitalfc.com

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Indian to Sue Airlines After Allegedly Being Kicked Off Flight

Nashville, Tenn.: Two Muslim men who say they were kicked off an airplane in May after the pilot objected to their presence are suing Delta Air Lines Inc. and a regional carrier that operated the Delta Connection flight from Memphis to Charlotte, North Carolina.
According to a suit filed Monday in federal court in Memphis, Masudur Rahman and Mohamed Zaghloul were traveling to Charlotte to attend a conference on anti-Muslim discrimination at the time.
Rahman, who is an adjunct instructor of Arabic at the University of Memphis, has said he was dressed in traditional Indian clothing. Zaghloul, who is a religious leader with the Islamic Association of Greater Memphis, was dressed in Arab garb that included traditional headgear.
The two passed through regular security screening and were waiting at the gate to board when they were pulled out of line and subjected to a second security check, according to the suit. They were questioned about their trip and their luggage and belongings were searched before the men were cleared and allowed to board.
Shortly after the plane pulled away from the gate, the pilot announced the aircraft was returning to the terminal. Once there, according to the suit, the men were pulled off the plane, asked more questions and searched again, this time with a "comprehensive body pat down."
Although they were again cleared to board, the pilot refused to allow them back on the plane, the suit claimed. The plane began to depart without the men when an unnamed airline official called it back and it returned to the gate for a second time.
The suit claims the official then boarded the plane and spoke with the pilot, who said he would not allow Rahman and Zaghloul on the plane because their presence could make other passengers uncomfortable.
According to the suit, the official told passengers that anyone who was apprehensive about the presence of the two men could take a different plane and would be given a generous voucher. There were no takers. The pilot still refused to allow the men to board and they were booked on a later flight, the suit said.
Read Also: Pilot Refuses To Fly With Muslim Men On Board
19/12/11 Associated Press/Fox News

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GMR hosts groundbreaking ceremony for new terminal

Male: Indian infrastructure giant GMR on Monday hosted a groundbreaking ceremony on Hulhule’ for the new terminal of Ibrahim Nasir International Airport (INIA).
President Mohamed Nasheed, GMR Chairman G M Rao, Malaysia Airports Managing Director Sri Bashir Ahmad and assorted officials dug the first hole for the new terminal in front of journalists both local and Indian.
Aircraft belonging to local airlines flew overhead, with seaplanes from Maldivian Air Taxi and Trans Maldivian Airways dropping flowers onto the newly-reclaimed land.
Addressing the gathered dignitaries, officials, journalists and GMR staff, Rao said the company was conscious that INIA was the gateway to the Maldives.
Thoughout the ages the development of human civilisation had been spurred by transport links, Rao said, promising that the new airport would be a hub for economic development and modernisation.
“Since we have come here the love and affection of Maldivians has been of great comfort to us,” Rao said. “As an infrastructure developer GMR is the custodian of the asset it builds, while the asset belongs to the nation and its people. For the last year, we have fulfilled every one of our commitments to the government of the Maldives, and we intend to respect and fulfill every remaining commitment.”
19/12/11 JJ Robinson/Minivan News, Male

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Cabinet to take a call on Boeing 787 by January-end

New Delhi: The Union Cabinet is likely to take a call by January-end on the proposal to buy Boeing 787 aircraft for Air India. Air India has ordered 27 such aircraft, whose delivery has already been delayed by over two-and-a-half years.
Meanwhile, concerns have been raised over the sale and lease-back model of acquisition proposed for these aircraft.
The airline has issued a Request for Proposal (RFP) for sale/leaseback of the Boeing 787 aircraft.
On the other hand, the cash-strapped company has already drawn plan for utilisation of the aircraft from March, 2012
.This includes some long haul flights to Europe and the UK and medium haul flights to South-East Asia and the Gulf.
A person familiar with the development told Business Line, “The Cabinet is expected to discuss three options. The first is to approve the order for all 27 aircrafts, the second is for 14 aircraft and the third is cancellation of the order. The aircraft purchase issue will be a part of the turnaround plan.”
The company was expected to receive its first B-787 aircraft this month, but this has been delayed.
19/12/11 Shishir Sinha/Business Line

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Flight from Dhaka, 19 hours late

Kolkata: What should have ideally been aunremarkable 50-minute flight, from Dhaka to Kolkata on Sunday evening, turned into a nightmare for 108 passengers booked on Biman Bangladesh as takeoff was delayed by nearly 19 hours, twice the time it takes to travel between the two cities by road.
The passengers' ordeal began on Sunday afternoon when they left hotels and homes in Dhaka city
for the Shahjalal Interantional Airport. Ekram Kalam started for the airport around 2.30pm Dhaka time (2pm Indian Standard time) for flight BG 0095 scheduled for takeoff at 6.10pm and reached the airport at 3-3.30pm.
"Since one has to report three hours prior to an international flight's departure, most passengers had reached the airport by 3.30pm.
It was only on reaching the airport that everyone learnt about the flight delay," recounted Kalam.
At the check-in desk, Biman Bangladesh ground staff told passengers that the flight would takeoff at 9pm but no reason was cited for the delay, passengers assumed that it was either a technical snag or poor weather that had led to the flight's rescheduling.
20/12/11 Times of India

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Airlines bank on food to woo Indian passengers

Mumbai: Along with comfort seating and attractive fares, airlines are also dishing out new recipes for flyers, particularly on long-haul flights.
Roping in star chefs to design the menu and supervize food preparation, having food managers on board to customize passengers' meals, revising the menu frequently, using designer cutlery and serving regional meals are only few of the attractions. A menu with 19 varieties of special meals is a minimum one would be choosing from. Kanjivaram idli, purdah biryani, Kashmiri rajma and garlic and saffron naan, dilli chat and dahi wadas have found their way into the menu.
A recent add-on to the menu of Virgin Atlantic is hot chocolate after repeated requests by women flyers. Singapore Airlines introduced a cook-book with top international chefs dishing out exotic recipes. Austrian Airlines has a chef on board most of its long-haul flights, Etihad has a food and beverage manager to help passengers choose the right meal and drinks for their journey.
19/12/11 Chinmayi Shalya/Times of India

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Air Asia plans flights from Bhubaneswar

Kolkata/ Bhubaneswar: Malaysia-based low cost airlines Air Asia is exploring possibilities to start its operation from Bhubanswar to connect the city with Southeast Asian nations, informed organisers of Invest Bhubaneswar event, which has been providing international platforms for many small and medium enterprises (SME) in the state.
“Air Asia is exploring commercial viability of running flights from Bhubaneswar jointly with Industrial Investment Promotion Corporation of Orissa Ltd (IPICOL) for,” said Purna Mohanty, convenor of the recently concluded Invest Bhubaneswar event , where several business agreements with state-based SMEs took place.
Earlier in the event, the national budget carrier Indigo, which started its international operation from September this year, had announced its plans to start Bhubaneswar-Bangkok flights. Similarly Flydubai, the low-cost airlines managed by the Government of Dubai also showed its interest to operate flights between Bhubaneswar and Dubai.
Though the Biju Patnaik Airport has not been upgraded to international status, these airlines feel it will not be a hindrance to run their flights via Bhubaneswar. They hope the status of the only airport in the state will be upgraded once they come up with concrete proposal in this regard.
19/12/11 Business Standard

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Chinese and Indian firms bid for Hargeisa airport expansion

Hargeisa: The Somaliland Minister of Civil Aviation on Friday unveiled plans to renovate and expand Hargeisa’s Egal International Airport at early next year.
Mr. Mohamud Hashi Abdi told reporters that the infrastructure investment will cost $10 million which was donated by the government of Kuwait. He added it will create jobs for locals and help attract regional airliners to Hargeisa.
The conference held at Ambassador Hotel attracted local and international construction firms from neighboring countries and the two Asian economic giants; India and China.
Each bidding enterprise presented its plans and offers to the Ministry. Mr. Abdi thanked all the bidding companies for their efforts and presentations and promised to cooperate with the winner. He said the winner will be announced in the days ahead.
18/12/11 Somalilandpress

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KQ eyes China, India routes Send to a friend

Nairobi. Kenya Airways is eyeing routes in India and China to tap the growing trade between Asia and Africa.
The national carrier is planning to open six new destinations in each of the twin countries helped by the new planes it is set to acquire in coming months to cut its heavy reliance on the European and African routes.
Presently, the national carrier operates single daily flights to China and India, although expansion to new routes has been curtailed by lack of planes.
“Our own strategy is looking at expanding into China and India specifically. They are important in driving our future,” said Mr Titus Naikuni, KQ’s chief executive.
Now, KQ is targeting to boost its presence in the Asian market helped by the plan to double its fleet from the current 33 to 62 by 2016—which will allow it to connect the bulk of travellers from African cities to Asia through its Nairobi hub.
The twin countries are emerging as engines of the global economic growth as they grow faster than the US and European economies—which are slowing down due the ongoing economic turmoil.
18/12/11 The Citizen

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FDI in aviation may not find takers, warns IATA chief

Geneva: A top aviation industry representative has expressed doubts whether allowing foreign airlines to invest in Indian carriers would attract them enough to put in money now, when the domestic industry was in a financial mess.
However, he strongly supported the need for further liberalisation of India’s FDI policy in aviation as well as slashing of high taxes on jet fuel.
“In today’s difficult environment, generally speaking, many airlines are trying to keep their balance-sheets strong rather than investing in other airlines. .... Investing in loss-making business is obviously not a winning strategy,” IATA Director General and CEO Tony Tyler told PTI in an interview here. Almost all Indian carriers have suffered losses in the past two years.
But Mr Tyler made it clear that if investment by foreign airlines was allowed, “then investments from different kind of sources will arrive. ... Certainly, Indian laws are very restrictive on foreign investments in airlines.”
If FDI policy was liberalised, “you will see foreign money coming into the aviation market, because it is a rapidly growing market. Therefore, aviation-friendly policies are required, particularly lifting the dead weight of taxation,” Mr Tyler said when asked about the proposal to allow foreign airlines to pick up equity in Indian carriers.
18/12/11 The Hindu

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Russian president offers India joint production of civilian aircraft

Moscow: Russian President Dmitry Medvedev today offered joint development of civilian aircraft with India, saying the two nations could benefit in this from the accumulated experience in the development and production of combat jets.
"I discussed the idea of shifting our successful experience in the field of military aircraft to the civilian aviation, with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh last year (during New Delhi visit)," Medvedev said.
The two leaders were addressing the CEO's of top Indian and Russian companies after their Kremlin summit today.
"Now we are moving towards implementing this idea, at least I hope so," Medvedev said.
India have jointly developed Sukhoi Su-30MKI combat jet and are involved in the developing Fifth Generation Fighter Aircraft and Multi-role Transport Aircraft (MTA) for the military.
Earlier, Vice Premier Sergei Ivanov said Russia was offering joint production of new generation of civil aircraft including Sukhoi Superjet-100 regional jet and futuristic MS-21 medium haul aircraft.
16/12/11 Vinay Shukla/Daily News & Analysis

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India opposes Europe’s aviation tax set for the New Year

Durban, South Africa: Almost a week has passed since the chaotic climate change negotiations wrapped up here. But one unresolved issue from the U.N. talks will rear its head on the first day of the New Year. Experts are even concerned about it triggering a trade war between nations.
From Jan 1, the European Union will levy a carbon tax on aircrafts landing and taking-off from the airports inside the bloc. By some estimates CO2 from air travel constitutes 3 percent of the total greenhouse gases. The money, according to the EU, will be invested in countering climate change. There is presently no money in the Green Climate Fund, which has to be financed by developed countries to the tune of $100 billion a year starting from 2020.
During the climate conference, EU diplomats pushed other countries to accept its new scheme. India and others, however, slammed the carbon tax as unilateral trade barrier. “The attempts like tax on aviation are really disguise for trade barriers,” declared Indian Environment Minister Jayanthi Natarajan.
Three Indian airlines–Jet, Kingfisher and Air India–have regular flights into Europe. Kingfisher Airlines already registered losses of $93 million for the three months ending in September, which it blamed on higher fuel costs. The tax could cost these airlines millions of dollars annually as well as higher ticket prices for passengers.
The Geneva-based International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development estimate–for a short haul ?ight of 480 km, the ticket price increase is between €2 and €4; for a medium haul ?ight of 1,400 km it is between €3 and €8, and for a long haul ?ight of 6,400 km it is between €10 and €30 ($13 and $39).
16/12/11 Betwa Sharma/Smart Planet

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Avoid American airlines, Indians told

Chandigarh: Citing a US State Department advisory warning Americans of potential terror attacks against US interests, the Travel Agents Forum of India on Friday asked Indians to avoid American airlines.
Forum convenor Anish Agarwal said: "Travelling by an American airline carries a higher risk as is evident from an advisory issued on December 5 by the State Department, warning Americans around the world of the potential for terrorist attacks against US interests.
"American airlines are obviously a target of choice for these terrorists."
The forum has pointed out that given the past experience with the US agencies, in case of a terrorist attack, the interests of US nationals matter for them the most rather than passengers from other countries.
16/12/11 Deccan Chronicle

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Tweaking scene after protests, US film crew reshoots at airport

Ahmedabad: Days after they were forced to stop shooting at Ahmedabad airport by autorickshaw drivers, the cast and crew of 'American Gandhi' returned there on Friday. Amid high security, Hollywood filmmaker Joseph Mungra and his team shot the scene, which had been modified a little.
Last Sunday, the film crew had to abruptly wrap up the shooting after auto drivers and some flyers protested against the filming of a scene, alleging that it was portraying India and Ahmedabad in bad light.
The film stars James Patrick Stuart, a popular soap opera actor in the US, playing Mark Martin as a skilled but unemployed mining analyst.
"We changed the sequence where we show a local thug taking away a bag from the airport," said a film crew member. "Instead, we now have a hotel's agent meeting Martin and offering him help as a guide."
The film director also briefed the airport officials about the change in the scene to secure the permission.
17/12/11 Times of India

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Malaysian tourist dies after cardiac arrest at Chennai airport

A 54-year-old man from Kuala Lumpur, who came to India as a tourist, died after suffering a heart attack while he was waiting to board a flight to return to Malaysia at the Anna International Airport here this morning.
Airport sources said Syed Abdul Jalaludeen, accompanied by his wife Rejina Begum and two daughters, had come to New Delhi on December 7.
After visiting various tourist spots in North India, he and his family came to Chennai on December 10.
Jalaludeen came to the airport this morning along with his family to return to Kuala Lumpur. He was climbing the stairs to go to the passengers' waiting room when he complained of chest pain and swooned. On hearing the screams from his wife and daughters, a medical team at the airport rushed to the spot and examined him. But their efforts went in vain as he had already died, following a massive heart attack, the sources said.
16/12/11 UNI/NetIndian

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Gulf Air offers special India scheme

Mumbai: Bahrain's national carrier Gulf Air today introduced Falcon Corporate Plus, a package designed exclusively for corporate travellers, offering a range of benefits that include special discounts and free upgrades from economy to Falcon Gold Class. "As the largest Middle East network carrier with excellent onward connectivity to Africa and Europe, we offer Indian travellers seamless and faster connections in less than three hours giving you a choice of as many as 730 flights a week to the Gulf, the Middle East, North Africa and Europe via our Bahrain hub," Gulf Air chief commercial officer Karim Makhlouf said in a statement.
Gulf Air is planning a programme specifically for small and medium enterprises from here which includes a range of incentives including a double bonanza through which both member organisations and their travelling employees earn points which can be redeemed for free flights and upgrades.
15/12/11 Manoramaonline.com

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Indian newlyweds' parents sue over US crash

Los Angeles: The parents of a young Indian newlywed couple who died in a tourist helicopter crash near Las Vegas last week are suing the chopper company involved for negligence, lawyers said Wednesday.
The deaths of Lovish Bhanot, 28, and his new wife Anupama Bhola, 26, was "every family's worst nightmare," said attorney Gary Robb after filing papers in Clark County District Court in Nevada.
The legal action came after an initial investigation report said that the aircraft, operated by Sundance Helicopters, had inexplicably veered off course in the last minute before it crashed in a ravine last Wednesday.
The pilot and all four passengers died when the chopper they were taking to see the Hoover Dam, a popular tourist flight, crashed in mountains near the Nevada gambling city.
Bhanot was the managing director of Lyca Investment Ltd, a family-owned real estate company, and his wife was a stewardess for Air India, he said.
"The families are heartbroken by these deaths and they want answers," said Robb, a specialist in helicopter crash litigation, who is based in Kansas City, Missouri.
"This is every family's worst nightmare, than an occasion of joy and celebration would turn into a needless tragedy," he added, saying the families hope that, through legal action, future similar crashes can be avoided.
Citing the initial National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) report, the lawsuit claims that Sundance Helicopters were "negligent in failing to provide a proper and safe helicopter and/or proper and safe piloting to those aboard."
"This helicopter crash has all the indications of a loss of control problem which would have to be either mechanical or pilot-induced," said Robb. "That is the only conceivable explanation for the erratic and abnormal flight maneuvers of this aircraft just prior to the crash."
15/12/11 AFP

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‘Kalam not exempted from frisking at US airports'

New Delhi: Government Thursday said that former President A P J Abdul Kalam did not fall under the category of people exempted from security screenings at the US airports but this courtesy was extended to him in keeping with his stature.
Minister of State for External Affairs E Ahmed told the Rajya Sabha that his ministry had on learning about the incident involving security screening of former President Kalam at the JFK Airport launched a protest with the US government.
15/12/11 PTI/ZeeNews

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Bar on Indian private airlines help foreign carriers profit

New Delhi: If UPA-I is accused of 'killing' Air India by liberally granting flying rights to foreign carriers, UPA-II could well be doing the reverse - not allowing private Indian carriers to fly abroad as much as they want to on the pretext of keeping those routes secure for AI. But the problem is while AI does have the capacity to fly on many of those routes and so even as private desi carriers keep waiting, foreign airlines end up being the ultimate winners by being the dominant players on those lucrative routes.
This fact came out on Wednesday when aviation minister Vayalar Ravi told Lok Sabha that in 2010-11, domestic airlines utilized a mere 20% of the flying rights that India has on a reciprocal basis with 109 countries. A whopping 80% of the total seat capacity of Indian carriers under bilateral air service agreement (ASA) with 109 countries went unutilized.
15/12/11 Times of India

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Air Arabia flight from India delayed for more than 12 hours

Passengers of an Air Arabia flight from Jaipur to Sharjah were reportedly left stranded for hours yesterday following a delay of more than 12 hours due to a technical snag.
The airline, when contacted by 'Emirates24|7', said it cannot plan for unexpected delays and clarified that passengers were given all assistance following a 12-hour delay. The clarification was made following reports that passengers and relatives of Air Arabia flight G90434 created a ruckus at the Jaipur airport after the early morning flight failed to take off on time.
A senior spokesperson of the Sharjah-based budget carrier told this website that the delay was caused due to a technical snag. The 3.50am flight with 157 passengers finally departed at around 4pm, the official added.
According to Indian media reports, passengers and their relatives who had arrived at the airport almost two to three hours before the scheduled departure surrounded airline staff after no information was made available about the extent of the delay.
Some of them even accused the staff of not providing food or water or making alternate arrangements for accommodation following such a long delay. “All possible assistance was offered to the passengers. However we could not provide any hotel accommodation because we ourselves did not expect the delay to go on for so long. We were trying our best to rectify the problem at the earliest,” the spokesperson told this website.
14/12/11 Joseph George/Emirates 24/7

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2 Sri Lankans held at BIA for smuggling sea cucumbers

Bangalore: For the first time, Customs authorities on Tuesday seized 152 kg of endangered sea cucumbers worth Rs 30 lakh from two Sri Lankan nationals at the Bengaluru International Airport.
The Air Intelligence Unit (AIU), Customs, arrested the father and son duo –– Mohammed Rafeek Mohideen and Mohammed Rafad Mohammed Rafeek –– of Sri Lanka at the airport when the consignment of sea cucumbers was in the process of being smuggled out to Singapore. A local court on Wednesday remanded the two to custody till December 26.
Customs Commissioner Bani Bhattacharya said:?“They were carrying the dead sea cucumbers in six bags. They appeared extremely nervous when they were stopped after they checked in the baggage.”
The contraband was seized under the Customs Act, 1962 (read with Wildlife Protection Act, 1972). It is noteworthy that Mohammed Rafad was also booked by Customs officials in Chennai for smuggling Sea Horses in August 2010 and the matter is sub judice in Chennai.
The smuggling of sea cucumber, which has high medicinal and aphrodisiac value, is rampant due to its high prices in the international market, they said, expressing surprise over Sri Lankan nationals being caught for smuggling it, and that too in Bangalore.
“The big markets are in places like China, Singapore and Malaysia. The general route taken while smuggling sea cucumbers is through the sea to Myanmar and then to China, from where it goes to the international market,” an official said.
14/12/11 Chethan Kumar/Deccan Herald

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Open foreign routes to us that Air India can’t utilise: Private airlines

New Delhi: Domestic private airlines have sought permission to fly overseas routes that the national carrier, Air India, is not being able to utilise, fearing foreign carriers will take away traffic which rightfully belongs to Indian airlines.
Air India neither operates enough international flights nor does it allow private airlines to begin services on some extremely lucrative routes.
"Private airlines have asked for slots in Gulf and South-east Asian countries since destinations like Chang Mai, Bangkok, Sharjah and those in Russia are high revenue generators," a civil aviation ministry official said.
Air India is not using full entitlements on these routes, but refuses to relent. "Air India behaves as if it has a universal right of refusal. Of the total bilateral traffic rights available with India, only 30-35% are being utilised, and this under-utilisation is largely on account of AI's refusal to let other Indian airlines fly," the official said.
According to current policy on international routes, Air India - being the national carrier - has the first right of refusal for any route under an Air Service Agreement (ASA), which India signs with another country. Over the years, AI has acquired flying rights to many countries but has not been able to use these rights fully.
14/12/11 Anindya Upadhyay/Economic Times

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NTSB Releases Prelim Report on Vegas Chopper Crash

Las Vegas: Federal investigators are focusing on unexplained turns and a sudden climb that a sightseeing helicopter made moments before it crashed in a remote canyon east of Las Vegas last week, killing the pilot and four passengers on a twilight tour marking marriage milestones.
A preliminary National Transportation Safety Board report issued Tuesday summarizes details already made public by a board member after he viewed the charred wreckage of the Dec. 7 crash near Lake Mead.
"The left turn and climb are not part of the normal route," said the report, which makes no conclusions or recommendations. NTSB officials said a final report on the crash could take a year.
Radar records show that about a minute before the crash, the aircraft operated by Sundance Helicopters of Las Vegas climbed 600 feet and turned sharply left, fell 800 feet, turned left again and plunged into a ravine, the report said.
The pilot, Landon Nield, 31, of Las Vegas, died in the crash, along with Kansas tourists Delwin and Tamara Chapman, both 49, and India visitors Lovish Bhanot, 28, and Anupama Bhola, 26.
The Chapmans were celebrating their 25th wedding anniversary. Bhanot and Bhola were honeymooning after their marriage last month in a suburb of New Delhi, India.
Nield, a devout Mormon who grew up in Wyoming and Utah, was also a newlywed — he married in Las Vegas in June. He had no history of accidents or violations, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.
13/12/11 Ken Ritter/Associated Press/ABC News

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DHL will not merge Blue Dart with itself

Mumbai: The Rs 3,622,73 crore Deutsche Post DHL does not plan to merge its 81.03 per cent-owned, BSE-listed Blue Dart Express with its wholly-owned Indian arm DHL Express (India).
“Blue Dart has advantages with its governance and risk management systems. The verticals that Blue Dart services, domestic express, and that DHL services, international express, are different and require separate focus. At the backend, we already leveraging synergies between our different business units, so we do not see any reason to merge the two firms,” Malcolm Monteiro, senior vice-president and area director for South Asia told Financial Chronicle.
India is unique in the DHL ecosystem as a country where it has more than one brand in operation. Save for North America, where it uses the Exel brand in most countries worldwide, only the DHL brand is in use in India.
13/12/11 Yassir A Pitalwalla/mydigitalfc.com

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Air India's ‘first right' to fly overseas routes blocks private airlines' plans

New Delhi: Air India's first right to fly overseas is coming in the way of attempts by private airlines to fly on more overseas routes. Existing laws give Air India the first right of refusal on overseas routes as it is the national carrier.
Flights between two countries are determined by air services bilaterals which are exchanged between two sovereign nations.
So, the number of flights between, say, the US and India are determined by the bilaterals that the governments of these two countries sign.
What is fast becoming a big sore point for private airlines is that there are several routes on which Air India is not flying itself and is also not giving up its rights to allow other airlines to operate, sources claim. This is creating a situation where the expansion plans of private sector airlines to destinations such as Dubai, Singapore, Thailand and the CIS countries are getting blocked.
What compounds the situation is the recent report of the Comptroller of Auditor General (CAG), which blames the Ministry of Civil Aviation for being liberal in exchange of bilaterals.
13/12/11 Business Line

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Cocaine worth 1.5 cr seized at Mumbai airport

Mumbai: The airport intelligence unit (AIU) of the customs department detained a Ugandan national for attempting to smuggle cocaine on Tuesday at Mumbai airport. The passenger, 25-year-old Diana Musoga, was carrying 5.5kg of the banned narcotic substance.
According to customs officials, Musoga landed in Mumbai by an Ethopian Airways flight. While she was on her way out, she was intercepted by a customs team headed by assistant commissioner Sameer Wankhede. Musoga had concealed cocaine in 80-90 small wallets.
14/12/11 Times of India

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Jet set for 'Konnect' with Gulf

Mumbai: In May 2009, Jet Airways launched Jet Konnect, a no-frills brand, to take on IndiGo and Spicejet which were slowly chipping away its market share. Jet Airways Chairman Naresh Goyal’s gamble clicked and today Konnect accounts for 60 per cent of the airline’s domestic capacity. Along with JetLite, it’s roughly twice the number of low-fare seats of Indigo and SpiceJet combined.
That’s an irony considering that Goyal had dismissed the low-cost carrier model as untenable just three years ago. On the contrary, Jet is now set to take a big leap forward on its no-frills strategy. The airline is planning to introduce no-frills service flights in the price sensitive markets in the Gulf region. This will mark another break in tradition, as till now, the airline has offered only full service products on its international routes that account for about 65 per cent of its total revenue.
The airline flies to 24 international routes, including 10 cities in the
Gulf which account for nearly 40 per cent of all outbound traffic from India. Jet’s loads on the Gulf sector were 73.9 percent (in the second quarter of this financial year) and 77.9 percent (in the first quarter), which were lower than the loads on the US, UK and South East Asia sectors in the same period.
14/12/11 Aneesh Phadnis/Business Standard

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GMR Infrastructure bids for modernising three airports in Brazil

Hyderabad/Bangalore: GMR Infrastructure has bid for modernising three airports in Brazil after the government called for tenders to upgrade the airports ahead of the Soccer World Cup in 2014, a senior GMR official, who did not want to be named, told ET.
The decision to bid for new projects comes after the infrastructure firm abandoned two other aerodrome privatisation projects in Spain and Croatia to avoid confrontation with the contagious Euro zone crisis.
If GMR wins the bid, it will renovate airports at the capital city Brasilia, industrial hub Rio De Janerio and Sao Paulo, the country's largest city.
While a GMR spokesperson refused to offer an official comment on the development, the official quoted above said it was too premature to talk on the progress of the tender. Other bidders for Brazil's airports include Turkey-based TAV Construction that has undertaken construction of the Abu Dhabi international airport and France-based ADP, said the official.
The project bids are to be finalised by January next year. To fast-track private airport upgrade projects, Brazil has decided to grant licences to build new terminals and new airports.
A successful bid to re-build airports would signal the GMR's maiden projects in the South-American continent.
Globally, the GMR has modernised and is operating the Istanbul airport and also modernised the airport in Male. In India, GMR operates the Delhi and Hyderabad airports.
13/12/11 Deepika Amirapu & Chandra Ranganathan/Economic Times

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Fresh govt push for retail, civil aviation FDI

New Delhi: The government has not given up on liberalizing the foreign direct investment (FDI) regime despite suffering a setback on allowing foreign retail chains to set up shop in India. Within a week of announcing a pause on FDI in multi-brand retail, it is beginning fresh consultations with stakeholders, starting Tuesday, to get the plan back on track.
To begin with, the food processing sector and small and medium enterprises are being consulted, with farmer groups and traders to follow.
Separately, the finance ministry is in talks with the Securities & Exchange Board of India (SEBI) to see how foreign airlines that acquire stakes in Indian carriers are not bogged down by the new Takeover Code in completing transactions. The new rules mandate that companies acquiring 25% or more in another entity have to make an open offer for an additional 20% stake.
13/12/11 Sidhartha/Times of India

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International flight ops from Pune remain stagnant

Pune: Six years down the line, the prospect of any further increase in the number of international flight services from the city's Lohegaon airport appear fairly dim despite the interest shown by a few airlines in starting their services.
Lack of adequate infrastructure and space at the airport remains a major impediment while issues like the long-drawn proposal for extension of the runway are also seen as the key factors behind this slow progress. Not to mention, the state government's failure to push the proposed international airport project for the city beyond papers.
It was on December 12, 2005 that the first international flight from Pune to Dubai took off amid much fanfare and with a promise to put the city on the global air map in the true sense.
While the service to Dubai was operated by Air India (AI), the then national domestic carrier Indian started Pune-Singapore flight service on December 13, 2005. The service to Singapore remained operational till September 15, 2007 when it was suspended owing to operational reasons and never took off thereafter.
In June 2008, German airline Lufthansa introduced Pune-Frankfurt direct flights and the airport has since been handling direct flights to Dubai (now run by AI subsidiary Air India Express) and to Frankfurt, thrice and four-days a week, respectively.
13/12/11 Times of India

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Gulf Air announces discounted fares to select destinations

Mumbai: Bahrain's national carrier Gulf Air Monday announced a 40 percent discount from India to select new destinations in Europe and Africa to mark the airline's four decades of operation in the country.
The discounted tickets can be booked till Dec 16 from all four Indian destinations -- Mumbai, New Delhi, Kochi and Chennai-- to Gulf Air's recently opened services in Europe and Africa, the airlines Chief Commercial Officer Karim Kakhlouf said.
These include Rome and Milan in Italy, Geneva in Switzerland, Copenhagen in Denmark, Entebbe and Nairobi in Africa, he told media persons here.
Indians travelling with their families can avail of many benefits under the 'Family First' initiative offering special privileges for the spouses and kids.
12/12/11 IANS/Economic Times

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Maryland Governor Endorses ARINC to Modernize Airports in India

Singapore: Earlier this month, ARINC joined Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley and First Lady Katie O'Malley on a historic trade mission to India with a delegation of more than 100 Maryland business leaders, educators and elected officials--the largest-ever trade mission delegation from Maryland.
The primary objective of the trade mission was to create new investment opportunities for Maryland businesses looking to enter or expand into Indian markets, and for Indian companies looking to enter U.S. markets by locating in Maryland.
One of the highlights of the mission was a meeting between India's Minister of Civil Aviation Mr. Vayalar Ravi, Governor O'Malley, and ARINC's Asia Pacific Managing Director Mr. Jim L. Martin, to discuss the modernization of India's airports, with reference to a recent tender issued by the Airports Authority of India (AAI) to upgrade 25 of its airports.
Governor O'Malley mentioned that Maryland is one of the top technology states in America, and ARINC has had an established and outstanding record in helping airports worldwide enhance operations and improve passenger services by leveraging the latest cutting-edge technologies. The company is in an excellent position to help AAI achieve its goals of modernizing their airports, and requested the minister to provide opportunities to help ARINC grow in India.
12/12/11 Businesswire/Marketwatch

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Helicopter crash: Indian Couple identified

Two people from New Delhi, India, were among the victims killed in Wednesday’s fatal helicopter crash near Lake Mead, Clark County officials said Sunday.
Anupama Bhola, 26, and Lovish Bhanot, 28, were passengers in the helicopter. The coroner’s office previously identified the other passengers as Utica, Kansas, couple Tamara and Delwin Chapman, both 49. The pilot was 31-year-old Las Vegas resident Landon Nield.
All five died from multiple blunt force and thermal injuries. Their deaths were ruled an accident.
The tour helicopter, operated by Sundance Helicopters, crashed into a mountain between Lake Mead and Henderson shortly before 5 p.m. Wednesday. The helicopter was on a flight from McCarran International Airport to the Hoover Dam, one of its normal routes.
A National Transportation Safety Board special team has been investigating the accident. A preliminary accident report will be issued this month, but it could take up to a year before a full report detailing the cause is released, officials said.
Federal Aviation officials say the helicopter was a Eurocopter AS350, built in 1989, with tail number N37SH.
12/10/11 Jackie Valley/Las Vegas Sun

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Delay in nod for AI flight take-off led to confusion

Thiruvananthapuram: Delay by the Air Traffic Control (ATC) in giving permission to Air India (AI) flight AI 929 bound for Riyadh to take off led to Friday's confusion at the Thiruvananthapuram international airport in which the same runway was used by Emirates and SriLankan Airlines flight to take off and land within one minute.
The Air Traffic Controller's nod to Emirates flight EK 521 bound for Dubai to take off when the AI 929 flight operated using a 747-400 aircraft was awaiting clearance for the same led to the confusion.
The commander of the AI Jumbo flight waited for five minutes to get the nod to take off. Sources said the permission was given to the Emirates flight on the ground that the request came first from the Dubai-based airline. This irked AI flight commander Captain Gill and he brought the issue to the notice of the airport and the airline authorities.
Capt. Gill is learnt to have given the complaint, although the commanders of the other two airlines had not reported anything. No incident report had been made.
Sources said the AI flight commander had not followed decorum during communication over the radio phone while demanding an early take-off.
The Emirates flight with 241 passengers took off from runway 32 at 11.10 a.m. and the SriLankan Airlines flight UL 161 with 154 passengers from the island nation's capital landed at 11.11 a.m. Sources said the SriLankan flight landed on the runway only after the Emirates flight was airborne and all safety precautions were followed.
11/12/11 S Anil Radhakrishnan/The Hindu

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Oil min may reject ATF import move

New Delhi: This could disappoint Kingfisher Airlines, which hopes to import jet fuel without attracting state taxes and on credit from foreign suppliers. The petroleum ministry is set to reject the Director General of Foreign Trade’s (DGFT) proposal for letting private parties to import jet fuel as the country has surplus production.
“There is no question of allowing imports when we are a net exporter of ATF,” a person privy to the petroleum ministry’s thinking said. India exported 2.86 million tonne of jet fuel in the April-October period this year, earning $2.87 billion.
The official said that by importing jet fuel, user industries hope to save the state level taxes on the commodity in the range of 25%-30%. The central tax on on ATF is anyway very low, only 8% excise duty on domestic production. A matching 8% customs duty is to be paid if somebody imports the commodity.
12/12/11 Gireesh Chandra Prasad/Timsy Jaipuria/Financial Express

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Delhi couple among five dead in Vegas chopper crash

Henderson, Nev.: A federal crash investigator said Friday that a Las Vegas tour helicopter that crashed, killing all five people aboard, made a sudden climb and sharp turns moments before plunging into a canyon near Lake Mead.
National Transportation Safety Board member Mark Rosekind said he could not draw conclusions about the cause of the Wednesday crash from the erratic flight pattern and said the investigation would continue.
"Up to the last minute, it was all standard tour operating procedure," Rosekind said.
Rosekind said the fatal flight was the fourth for the aircraft after it underwent routine maintenance Tuesday to replace the engine and mechanical actuators in the tail and main rotor.
An initial engine examination at the scene found the engine was producing power at the time of impact, and Rosekind said all the mechanical control devices, called servo-actuators, were removed from the wreckage Friday to be examined.
Authorities removed bodies from the crash site Thursday but didn't immediately release the names of the five people who died in the fiery crash of the AS350BS helicopter operated by Sundance Helicopters of Las Vegas.
Clark County Coroner Michael Murphy said he cannot release the names of any victims because bodies have not been fully identified, a process that will likely involve the use of DNA, fingerprint and dental records.
Family members have identified three of the dead as the pilot, Landon Nield, 31, of Las Vegas, and Delwin and Tamara Chapman, both 49, a couple from Utica, Kan., who were celebrating their 25th wedding anniversary.
Murphy said Friday the other two victims were a couple from New Delhi, India.
Though official identification was pending, friends and family members in several states mourned the dead.
Delwin Chapman ran a construction company and served on the City Council. Tamara Chapman recently closed her hairstyling shop in the city of about 160 people, said Ron Solze, whose son is married to one of the Chapmans' four daughters.
"Both Delwin and Tammy just did so much with the community," said Marilyn Johnson, who traced her friendship with Tammy Chapman to Utica High School in the late 1970s. "They were always helping."
Johnson said Friday that Tammy Chapman was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis a couple of years ago and worked as a hairdresser until recently.
See Also: 5 Killed In Tour Helicopter Crash Near Lake Mead
10/12/11 Fox News/Associated Press

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GMR shares dip on back of Civil Court ruling against airport development charge

GMR shares on the Mumbai stock exchange fell 7.57 percent on Thursday on the back of a Civil Court ruling in the Maldives against its proposed US$25 Airport Development Charge (ADC), India’s Economic Times reported.
The paper earlier reported that the share slip had taken the company to a 52-week low, and that that the decision could leave the airport development project facing an annual funding shortage of US$25 million.
GMR said yesterday that it had yet to receive a copy of the Civil Court’s judgement and was only aware of the ruling through media reports.
“We are yet to receive the copy of the judgment and as such we are not in a position to evaluate the implications of the ruling,” the company said in a statement.
“GMR has been permitted to collect ADC and Insurance charge under the Concession Agreement signed between GMR-MAHB, Maldives Airport Company Limited (MACL) and The Republic of Maldives (acting by and through its Ministry of Finance and Treasury), and as such has set up processes for ADC collection from 1st January 2012 supported by an information campaign to ensure adequate awareness,” the company said.
“The bid for the Concession to manage, develop and operate Ibrahim Nasir International Airport for 25 years was conducted by the [World Bank’s] International Finance Corporation (IFC) and the component of ADC was part of the bid. GMR is confident that Government of Maldives will take such measures as would be necessary to honour its contractual obligation in this regard, given that the success of the development of the airport project is of national economic importance.”
The company noted that the payment of a development fee was “a common concept in many airports globally”, particularly as a part of concession agreements where airports are privatised.
10/12/11 JJ Robinson/Minivan News

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DGCA orders inquiry into landing and take-off within one minute

Thiruvananthapuram: The Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has ordered an inquiry into the Friday’s incident in which an Emirates flight-bound for Dubai took off and SriLankan Airlines flight from Colombo landed in the same runway of Thiruvananthapuram international airport within one minute.
The Air Traffic Controller who was on duty at the time had been grounded with immediate effect and the Air Safety Officer from Chennai will be reaching Thiruvananthapuram on Saturday to hold an inquiry into the incident, the DGCA, E. K. Bharat Bhushan told The Hindu.
The Emirates flight EK 521 with 241 passengers took off from the runway 32 at 11.10 a.m. as scheduled to Dubai. The SriLankan Airlines flight UL 161 with 154 passengers from the island nation’s capital landed in the same runway at 11.11 a.m., airport sources said. The flight from Colombo was scheduled to land here at 8.30 a.m. and return at 9.30 a.m.
“It is not an air miss as reported in some quarters. We are looking into whether the distance of two to four nautical miles specified by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) had been maintained while the landing and the take-off took place in Thiruvananthapuram”, Mr. Bhushan said. Only an inquiry and analysis of the recorded communication that took place between the ATC and the commanders of the two Emirates and SriLankan will reveal it.
09/12/11 S. Anil Radhakrishnan/The Hindu

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Man claims phone went missing from checked luggage

Raleigh: A Raleigh man who does a lot of flying to India on business says his phone was stolen from his luggage.
In the summer of 2010, Ron Sanyal says there was no room to take his bag as a carry-on on a flight to India, so he left it with an American Airlines flight attendant to have the bag checked in.
"At the last moment they said sr you cannot take your luggage," he said. "I got my laptop, but in a hurry it dawned on me while they were closing the gate, I forgot my iPhone. As soon as I talked to air hostess this tension is killing me, and she said no we have closed circuit TV, we are watching, I said OK, if you say so."
As soon as Sanyal landed in New Delhi India, he says he checked his bag and his iPhone was gone.
Ron filed a complaint with American Airlines about his stolen iPhone, shortly after the incident. While he did get a response from the airlines that said they were investigating, he says he never got a follow-up.
09/12/11 Diane Wilson/abc local.go.com

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Civil Court rules airport development charge invalid as GMR opens airline office complex

Male: GMR today opened a new Airline Office Complex beneath the International Terminal in a step towards consolidating check-in and security procedures for passengers.
The Civil Court has meanwhile ruled against GMR in a case filed by the Dhivehi Qaumee Party (DQP), challenging its right to collect a US$25 (Rf385.5) Airport Development Charge (ADC) and US$2 (Rf30.8) Insurance Charge commencing January 2012. The DQP had claimed that a pre-existing Airport Service Charge (ASC) of US$18 (Rf277.56) invalidates the ADC. The legal dispute with DQP could cost GMR Infrastructure US$25 million annually, India’s The Economic Times estimated.
The Civil Court today ruled that the clause in the concession agreement with GMR violated the Airport Service Charges Act of 1978, which was amended in 2009 to raise the charge to US$18 for foreign passengers and US$12 for Maldivians above two years of age.
Judge Ali Rasheed Hussein ruled that the Airport Development Charge and insurance charge were service charges “under other names.”
He noted that the Airport Service Charges Act had been amended seven times to raise the charges since 1978 by the legislature, “based on the economic circumstances of the Maldives and the means of the public,” which showed that the purpose of the law was to ensure that enforcement agencies did not have the authority to raise the charges.
08/12/11 Eleanor Johnstone/Minivan News, Maldives

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HC to police: Speed up process to seek info on Israeli woman

Mumbai: The Bombay High Court today asked the police to expedite its process of contacting the Israel Embassy to seek information about an Israeli woman arrested for possessing two live firearm cartridges at the airport. A Division Bench of Justices A M Khanwilkar and R G Ketkar gave the direction while hearing a petition filed by the Israeli national, Nurit Toker, who has sought quashing of proceedings initiated against her. The 23-year-old has claimed the cartridges were kept in her bag by mistake. Toker's plea stated that she completed her compulsory three-year military training in Israel on October 8 and had planned a vacation in India, Nepal and Thailand. She was about to leave for Nepal from Mumbai International Airports when the cartridges were detected in her bag by CISF personnel. Additional Public Prosecutor Aruna Kamat-Pai today informed the court that the police have contacted the Israeli Embassy seeking more information about her.
Further hearing has been fixed on December 22.
07/12/11 PTI/IBN Live

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‘Mamata not in favour of foreign investment in aviation’

New Delhi: A huge question mark hangs on allowing foreign direct investment (FDI) by foreign airlines in Indian carriers.
West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee - who, along with the Opposition, was instrumental in forcing UPA to suspend FDI in retail - is learnt to be opposed to FDI in aviation too.
The Centre is unlikely to invite her wrath by going ahead with this issue in a hurry, or at least till the Parliament session gets over.
"Allowing 26% FDI in aviation was an almost done deal (although aviation ministry had favoured 24%) but we have been told that Mamata is opposed to this move also. Now one does not know how and when the government would take up this issue again.
08/12/11 Times of India

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Elders condemn ‘turban attack’ in some nations

Rajya Sabha members, cutting across party lines, on Wednesday condemned the recent incidents in some countries including Italy where Sikhs were asked to take off their turban for security check at airports. Elders also demanded that the government should summon the Italian ambassador to express India's displeasure over these incidents.
The issue was raised by Shiromani Akali Dal member Naresh Gujral, who referred to the latest incident involving Jet Airways commander Ravijodh Singh at Milan airport. Deputy Chairman K Rehman Khan said the entire house joins in condemning this incident and this should be conveyed to the government.
07/12/11 The Pioneer

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