Showing posts with label Foreign Dec 2013. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Foreign Dec 2013. Show all posts

Saturday, February 08, 2014

India defers purchase of multi-billion dollar Rafale aircrafts

New Delhi: India has said that it will not sign a USD 20 billion deal to purchase 126 Rafael fighter jets from Frances Dassault Aviation due to scarcity of defense funds, Indian media reported on Friday.
The media quoted Indias defense minister A.K. Antony as saying that India was not having the required defense budget to buy the multi role aircrafts.
"Ninety-two percent of our budget has already been used, with only 8 percent left," Antony said as quoted by the media. "Almost all the budget has been spent. Many other projects are also in the pipeline," he said.
The defence minister has said the remaining eight percent funds allocated to its ministry would be utilized for modernization of defense forces, reports added.
07/02/14 Kuwait News Agency

Tuesday, December 31, 2013

DGCA to hire flight operations inspectors to stave off threat of downgrade by FAA

New Delhi: With the bill to establish the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) unlikely to be tabled in the upcoming Budget session of the Parliament, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) is looking at hiring Flight Operations Inspectors (FOIs) at market-determined rates on a contractual basis to stave off a threat of downgrade by US-based Federal Aviation Authority (FAA).
FAA, in audits conducted in September and subsequently in December 2013, has expressed severe concerns over the lack of full-time FOIs in the DGCA. The recruitments being done now are important as in case of a downgrade by FAA, Indian airlines will not be able to increase the number of flights to the US and additional checks will be imposed on existing flights of Air India and Jet Airways.
“We have hired 20 FOIs and the process will continue till we complete hiring 65 FOIs. The annual expenditure in salaries for the recruitments would be Rs 40 crore. The FOIs are being hired on contractual basis with government sanction,” said a senior official in the DGCA.
31/12/13 Sharmistha Mukherjee/Business Standard

More budget carriers mull flying abroad

New Delhi: While low-cost carriers (LCCs) have grown aggressively to take nearly two-thirds of air traffic in India over the past five years, these have also been rather cautious in expanding abroad.
However, with the local market continuing to be challenging and consultation on for removing the limitations on being eligible to ply abroad, this could change. An airline needs at least five years of plying at home and 20 aircraft before applying to fly abroad, the '5/20 rule'. International operations contribute only 11 per cent and 12 per cent SpiceJet's and IndiGo's revenues, respectively. The former is now looking at charting routes to offbeat destinations abroad.
IndiGo is not. Said a senior executive, "It is a conscious decision to go slow on international operations. The domestic market is crying for capacity. The number of domestic air passengers is projected to go up from 62-65 million to 110 mn over 36-40 months. It is only a matter of how many people come in at the right cost to grab that opportunity."
31/12/13 Sharmistha Mukherjee/Business Standard

Passenger alleges moustache ‘harassment’ at Sharjah airport

Sharjah: Officials at the Sharjah Department of Naturalisation and Foreign Affairs are investigating a case in which a passport control official allegedly retained a passenger’s passport because he did not like the latter’s moustache.
Brigadier Dr Abdullah Bin Sahoo, Director-General of the department, said they will study CCTV images to check whether the passenger’s allegations are correct and will then take action.
Sujeev Kumar, a software engineer, who flew from Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, in India arrived in Sharjah on Friday. Kumar said that the passport control officer told him he would return the passport if he shaved off his moustache.
30/12/13 Jumana Khamis/Gulf News

Kochi Airport is New Gold Route

Kochi: The Cochin International Airport in 2013 often hit the headline for repeated incidents of seizure of smuggled gold.
There was a phenomenal increase in the flow of gold through legal and illegal channel by passengers from Gulf countries at Cochin International Airport.
In August, about nine kg of gold bars worth `2.52 crore was seized. While the gold imported by passengers through the legal channel during September 2013 alone was 3.26 kg, the smuggled gold was around 20 kgs.
In October there has not been seizure of considerable quantity while in   November, 11.21 kg of smuggled gold was seized by the Air intelligence unit of the Customs.
31/12/13 New Indian Express

Passenger from Dubai arrested at Airport for holding fake passport

Mangalore: The immigration officials at Mangalore International Airport on Sunday December 29 arrested a man for trying to enter the city with a fake passport.
52-year-old Abdul Rahiman, a native of Bekal, Kasargod was arrested by Mangalore imigration officials for holding a forged passport.
Rahiman had boarded the12.30 pm Air India Express flight at Dubai airport terminal 2. The flight landed at around evening 5.30 pm in Mangalore. Rahiman was accused of using fake stamps of Dubai and Mumbai immigration offices in his passport.
31/12/13 daijiworld.com

Monday, December 30, 2013

GMR to divest 40% stake in Istanbul international airport for Rs 1,910 cr

Bangalore: Bangalore-based infrastructure major GMR Group today said it has signed a definitive agreement with Malaysian Airports Holding Berhard (MAHB)  to divest its 40% equity stake in Istanbul Sabiha Gökçen (ISG) and LGM Tourism, for € 225 million (about Rs 1,910 crore), subject to certain adjustments.
Definitive agreements have been signed subsequent to the exercise of Right of First Refusal by MAHB under the existing shareholders agreement of ISG, on December 23, 2013, the company said in a statement.
The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions including the approval of the relevant government authorities and the project lenders to ISG. This is the second major divestment of overseas assets by the GMR Group in less than nine months. Earlier in March 2013, the Group had divested its stakes in GMR Energy (Singapore) Pte Ltd.
30/12/13 Mahesh Kulkarni/Business Standard

Case of mistaken identity lands man in jail

Abu Dhabi: A case of mistaken identity that started at Abu Dhabi airport has led a communications engineer to be questioned and jailed in Al Wathba jail for more than a week, turning his life upside down.
Abu Dhabi police had inadvertently linked his identification records to a man, with a completely different name, who was deported from the country for crimes committed 11 years ago, Gulf News Learnt.
Indian national Mohammad Riyaz, 27, was arrested on October 20 at Abu Dhabi Airport on his way back from a vacation. Police took him into custody where they shaved his head and treated him like criminal.
According to the Abu Dhabi General Directorate for Residency and Foreigners Affairs, Riyaz’s passport was mistakenly linked by Abu Dhabi police to the name of a man who was deported in 2002.
Riyaz said he was released from jail on bail and was asked by Abu Dhabi court to obtain proof of his identity from the Dubai residency department that issued his visa and from Dubai police.
A Dubai police official said that Mohammad Ali Mohammad is the name of the deported man whose records are linked with Riyaz’s.
29/12/13 Gulf News

Dubai-bound passenger caught with Rs 10 lac at Mangalore Airport

Mangalore: The officials of the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence on Saturday December 28 late night arrested a passenger at Mangalore International Airport for trying to smuggle Rs 10 lac in cash to Dubai.
The arrested passenger has been identified as Abdul Rashid (40) from Bhatkal.
The passengers to Dubai were ready to board the late night Air India Express flight on Saturday when the officials of DRI received information about the smuggling attempt. The officials swung to action, and on checking, they found the money on Abdul Rashid.
30/12/13 daijiworld.com

Sunday, December 29, 2013

Air India officials quizzed in probe into gold smuggling

Chennai:  The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) has questioned six Air India officials after investigations linked the carrier's staff to two recent cases of smuggling gold into the country.
The first was on October 7 when 32kg of gold biscuits worth nearly Rs 9.5 crore were found in a toilet of an AI plane that arrived in Chennai from Dubai and the second on November 8 when a flight attendant was arrested with Rs 1.84 crore worth gold at Calicut airport.
Two weeks ago, DRI director general Najib Shah wrote to Air India chairman and managing director Rohit Nandan on the suspected nexus between airline staff on the Gulf sectors and smugglers.
According to officials, the agency has found evidence of the airline staff's involvement, especially those who work with ground-handling and flight engineering wings at foreign airports. "In some cases, we found that smugglers took help from airline officials in hiding the items inside the aircraft.
29/12/13 Arun Janardhanan/Times of India

Air India Express wrapping up Kuwait –Mangalore flights?

Kuwait: More than 100,000 expatriates from Coastal Karnataka, Mangalore &Northern parts of Kerala are disappointed to hear that Air India Express is wrapping up its flight services to KUWAIT – MANGALORE Sector from 15th February, 2014 throwing the travel plans of the passengers into disarray.  Prominent Coastal Karnataka NRIs here in Kuwait said that by deciding to wrap up their services to Mangalore route, Air India Express has put the passengers in trouble and the travel woes of Indian Expats in Kuwait are surely going to worsen in the coming days during the summer season in 2014 as the summer vacation for thousands of school going children starts during the month of June.
 Sensing the aggravated hurdles and to address the public interest,  The UNITED ASSOCIATIONS OF KARNATAKA, Kuwait (UAKK) an Umbrella Forum of 12 Associations in Kuwait has immediately urged the Union Ministry of CIVIL AVIATION to instruct Air India Express to retain the regular flight services to Kuwait – Mangalore sector, the only direct travelling option to Mangalore for thousands of Expats from Coastal Karnataka and Northern parts of Kerala region. UAKK has also urged Ministry of Civil Aviation to consider granting permission to other Airlines such as JET AIRWAYS to operate in this sector so that the passengers will have more than one travelling option to Mangalore and Kerala.
28/12/13 Bellevision

Sri Lanka deports arrested Indian journalist

Chennai/Colombo: Tamil Prabakaran (24), a Tamil Nadu-based journalist arrested in Colombo on Thursday reached Chennai on Saturday after he was deported by the Sri Lankan government.
"I was tortured psychologically by the Lankan army personnel," Prabakaran said soon after landing in Chennai. Speaking to reporters at the airport, Prabhakaran denied violating any rules while visiting Killinochchi. "I will fight for the Tamil cause and will approach the UN Human Rights Council against the abuses by Sri Lanka," he said.
Prabhakaran was arrested by the Lankan army personnel for allegedly filming military installations in Killinochchi, a former LTTE stronghold, without media credentials.
Prabakaran was deported and sent back on a Chennai flight at 6.40pm (local time), police spokesman Ajith Rohana said in Colombo.
29/12/13 Times of India

Friday, December 27, 2013

Air India top guns Boeing 777-200 LR to be sold for scrap

New Delhi: The throwaway price at which national carrier Air India (AI) has decided to sell its five Boeing 777-200 LR (long range) planes to Etihad Airways has raised eyebrows.
The planes, purchased just six years ago, will be sold for a meagre Rs 2,135 crore, which works out to Rs 427 crore per plane.
The price at which the Maharaja will sell the planes is a mere onethird of Rs 1,400 crore spent on purchasing each.
AI is reported to have lined up another three Boeing 777-200 LRs in its fleet for sale after it got the government nod to sell the other five. The Boeing 777 LRs were meant to fly for the next 25 years, then- civil aviation minister Praful Patel had told the government in August 2004, when the deal was finalised for ordering 111 Boeings and Airbus for the national carrier.
28/12/13 Sanjay Singh/Business Today

Airports Authority of India granted accreditation by UN agency International Civil Aviation Organization

New Delhi:  Airports Authority of India (AAI) has been granted accreditation by the UN agency International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) for facilities to enhance airport safety.
The state-run airports body received the ICAO's Trainair Plus accreditation certificate and membership plaque from ICAO, following an inspection of its Fire Training Centre (FTC) in October, an AAI release said, adding AAI Chairman VP Agrawal received the certificate and the plaque.
28/12/13 PTI/Economic Today

India's tit-for-tat forces US ambassador Nancy Powell to call off Nepal vacation?

New Delhi: US ambassador Nancy Powell had a first-hand experience of India's ire as officials here politely declined to accord her special airport privileges for her Christmas vacation to Nepal.
The government had on December 19 - a week after the arrest of diplomat Devyani Khobragade — withdrawn all special airport passes to the US diplomats that allowed them access to several places at the airport not just while travelling but also for receiving and seeing off guests. It said this was a reciprocal measure as Indian diplomats were not given the same passes in the US.
However, Lee McManis, acting spokesperson for the US embassy, said Powell's "personal holiday plans in Nepal were cancelled to deal with pressing issues", implying that her decision had nothing to do with the withdrawal of special privileges.
After receiving a communication from the US Embassy about Powell's plan to travel to Nepal, the government declined to accord her any special privileges as her airport pass stood withdrawn.
The withdrawal of the pass means that Powell will have to travel like an ordinary passenger. She will be forced to stand in a queue and also lend herself to routine frisking by security personnel. Sources said Powell will not get any privilege in India that her Indian counterpart in the US doesn't get. The government justified this saying that Indian ambassador to the US too travels like an ordinary person.
28/12/13 Times of India

Etihad contemplates paying Rs 1 crore fine slapped by CCI

After the Competition Commission of India (CCI) slapped Etihad with a penalty of Rs 1 crore , the Abu Dhabi airline is now considering paying the entire sum. The CCI had slapped a Rs 1 crore penalty citing non-disclosure of specific information while getting regulatory approvals. The information mentioned was pertaining to the Jet Airways  -Etihad deal with respect to the Heathrow slots. There were three landing Heathrow slots that Jet has sold to Etihad as a part of the deal. This had been done before the 24 percent equity sale had happened and the slots were essentially meant to be leased back to Jet Airways . Hence the legal team is now going through all the details, but they are likely to be making the penalty. The timeline that CCI has given to them is around 60 days, January 2014 is the possible timeframe. Sources have also claimed that the CCI has given them a clarity that the penalty is over and above the nod that had been already given by them for the Jet-Etihad deal. On contacting, Etihad said it is evaluating the CCI’s notification and that it would be inappropriate to comment any further.
27/12/13 moneycontrol.com

SAfrican woman held with party drug worth Rs 18 cr at airport

New Delhi: A South African woman was arrested at the Indira Gandhi international airport here for allegedly trying to smuggle party drug worth about Rs 18 crore out of the country.
The accused, who is in her late twenties, had arrived at the IGIA to board a flight to Johannesburg via Addis Ababa on Wednesday.
She was intercepted by customs officials and on examination of her baggage, it was found containing Methaqualone weighing 22.235 kgs, said Rajiv Tandon, Commissioner of Customs (Import and General).
28/12/13 PTI/Business Standard

Indian civil aviation finds comfort in overseas investment deals

India's civil aviation industry, which faced turbulence due to high operating costs in 2012, found some comfort this past year due to a slew of overseas investment deals that helped restore confidence in the sector.
"This has been a flat year with minimum growth. However, with the intent of the Tatas and AirAsia on entering the Indian market has definitely paved the way for future growth in the sector," Ankur Bhatia, executive director, Bird Group, told IANS.
"In 2014, we are looking forward for establishment of a civil aviation policy, rationalisation of taxes on jet fuel and growth in the regional aviation space," said Bhatia, who is also a member of the Confederation of Indian Industry's panel on civil aviation.
Abu Dhabi-based Etihad Airways became the first foreign carrier to invest in the Indian sector. It bought a 24% stake in Jet Airways for Rs.2,069 crore ($380 million).
27/12/13 IANS/Business Standard

Court threat to Diageo’s Indian deal

Spirits giant Diageo pledged yesterday to fight an Indian legal decision that has stalled a deal giving the British group control of United Spirits, the country’s biggest drinks business.
The court made the decision last Friday in response to a petition by creditors involved with the transaction.
Diageo and United Breweries, the Indian holding firm that sold its shares in United Spirits (USL) to the British company, both said they planned to appeal the decision.
The deal has been caught up in a separate legal battle involving India’s Kingfisher Airlines. Kingfisher and United Breweries are part of Indian business magnate Dr Vijay Mallya’s corporate empire.
The airline has been grounded since 2012 and is unable to pay off its loans, with United Breweries becoming a guarantor for its debts. Kingfisher creditors trying to get their money back petitioned for the deal between USL and Diageo to be stopped.
27/12/13 Scotsman

CCEA Allows Air India to Sell 5 Aircraft to Etihad Airways

New Delhi: To partly offset the over Rs. 20,000 crore debt that the state-run carrier Air India is saddled with, the government on Thursday allowed the carrier to go ahead with the sale of its five long-haul Boeing 777 aircraft to Etihad Airways.
The sale of these Boeing 777s wide-body aircraft is a part of the airline’s turnaround plan and was approved by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) which is headed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
Etihad recently picked up 24 per cent stake in Indian private carrier Jet Airways for Rs. 2,000 crore and is expected to deploy these six-year old 777s on long-haul routes like Abu Dhabi-Los Angeles from June next year.
27/12/13 New Indian Express

Airline seats for LNG with Qatar may not pass muster

The government’s plans to negotiate cheaper gas price with Qatar in exchange for increased airline seats between India and the Gulf nation is unlikely to find favour among all ministries.
This is because Qatar failed to fulfil its commitments made during the negotiations for the Air Services Agreement with India. At the negotiations held in 2005, Qatar Airways had made a commitment to hire pilots trained from the government-owned Indira Gandhi Rashtriya Uran Akademi (IGRUA), which has not been fulfilled.
“Qatar has hired only a few pilots, whereas, the commitments made during the negotiations were of many more,” said a senior civil aviation ministry official.
27/12/13 Mihir Mishra/Financial Express

Thursday, December 26, 2013

Check gold smuggling by some of your staff, Directorate of Revenue Intelligence tells Air India

New Delhi: The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) has told Air India that some of its employees are smuggling gold into the country, and a few of them are even repeat offenders.
DRI Director General Najib Shah has sent a letter to Rohit Nandan, chairman and managing director of Air India, listing some cases involving the national carrier’s crew, flight engineers and ground handlers. “We have told the airline that the attitude of their supervisors is very casual about the problem and the system needs to be robust, especially in smuggling-prone airports. We have been told that the employees involved have been suspended while an internal inquiry is being conducted,” said a DRI official. The department has sought details about the repeat offenders.
Air India did not respond to an email and SMS from The Indian Express on the issue.
DRI made some big gold seizures recently. In one incident, 32 kg of gold biscuits were found hidden in a toilet next to the cockpit in an Air India flight from Dubai to Chennai.
26/12/13 Shruti Srivastava/Financial Express

Two Nepali Women Held With Fake Passports

Chennai: Immigration officials stopped two Nepali women who tried to leave Chennai using passports that were flagged as fake.
Sewika Chetri (25) and Nanjita Tamang (20) approached the immigration departure clearance to leave to Saudi Arabia via Colombo by a Sri Lankan Airlines flight at 10 am on Tuesday.
When they were detained and interrogated, they revealed that they had procured the fake passports from a Nepali broker called Abhikeshwar.
Based on the information, immigration officials caught the man from Jhapa district in Nepal and began to quiz him about his operations in Chennai. Later, he was handed over to Airport Police.
26/12/13 New Indian Express

Jet Airways to start two more flights to India from Qatar

Doha: Jet Airways, India’s second largest carrier, will resume its Calicut flight and start an additional flight from Doha to Mumbai. But these flights will probably be possible only with the opening of the new airport (Hamad International) as there are no free-time slots in the existing airport, a senior official of the airline said yesterday.
“We have three daily flights from Doha to India’s three strategic cities — Delhi, Mumbai and Cochin, and with the latest announcement, Mumbai will get an additional frequency from Doha and the second one will fly to Calicut, which will be our fourth destination in India from Doha, and second in the southern Indian state of Kerala,” Anil Srinivasan, Country Manager (pictured), told The Peninsula.
Asked about the date of these additional flights, he said: “This can be any day. In fact, we have been waiting for time slots for long. But I think this will be possible only with the opening of the HIA or if we are allotted evening slots in the existing airport.”
26/12/13 Mohammad Shoeb/The Peninsula

US start-up uses jatropha plant seeds for biofuel

New York: A US company is eyeing countries such as India and Brazil to grow seeds of jatropha - the inedible, drought-resistant plant - to produce high-quality oil that can be refined into low-carbon jet fuel or diesel.
The San Diego start-up SGB is growing hybrid strains of the plant that produce biofuel in quantities that it says are competitive with petroleum priced at USD 99 a barrel.
Touted as the next big thing in biofuels about six years ago, jatropha attracted hundreds of millions of dollars in investments, 'New York Times' reported.
However, jatropha fell from favour due to economic recession and as growers found that the wild bush yielded too few seeds to produce enough petroleum to be profitable.
26/12/13 PTI/Business Standard

Wednesday, December 25, 2013

India may seek compensation from US for 12 Indians killed in aircraft hijacking

India may soon seek compensation from the United States for 12 of its nationals killed during the hijacking of Pan Am 73 in Pakistan more than 27 years ago, local media reported Wednesday.
The 12 Indians were on board the American flight when terrorists belonging to Abu Nidal Organization (ANO) hijacked it in Karachi way back in 1986. The attack was carried out with cover from Libyan authorities and Tripoli in 2008 had paid a compensation of 1.5 billion US dollars to the United States.
However, even though the funds were not from US taxpayers, Washington decided to compensate only the American passengers and abandoned the Indians and those of other nationalities.
The families of the Indian victims have approached the government urging New Delhi to take up the issue with US Secretary of State John Kerry, if not President Barack Obama, saying the Indian crew on board the flight saved the lives of Americans, and yet Washington chose to "discriminate" against the Indians, The Times of India reported.
"The all-Indian cabin crew saved the lives of 41 Americans on board by hiding their passports from the hijackers at the risk of their own lives. They did this fully knowing that the terrorists would immediately kill them as they were primarily looking for American targets," an unnamed source was quoted by the newspaper as saying.
25/12/13 Xinhua/Global Times

Father of Indian killed by hijackers seeks justice

Gurgaon: The father of an Indian killed by terrorists who hijacked an Indian plane to Afghanistan on this day in 1999 wants the killers to hang -- and wonders why it has not happened so far. "We want the hijackers to be prosecuted in India and hanged under Indian law," said an emotive C.P. Katyal, who lives with his wife here in Haryana. And Katyal feels that the Indian political class has failed him -- and similar victims of terror attacks. His son Rupin Katyal was one of the passengers of the Indian Airlines flight 814 which terrorists linked to Pakistan hijacked Dec 24, 1999 after it had taken off from Kathmandu.
Rupin Katyal and his wife Rachna, who married only earlier that month, were returning from their honeymoon when the Pakistan-based militant group Harkat ul-Mujahideen took over the aircraft with 176 people on board.
25/12/13 First Post

AI gets nod to sell 5 Boeing aircraft to Etihad

New Delhi: The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA), on Thursday, approved the proposal by the Civil Aviation Ministry to allow Air India (AI) to go ahead with the sale of its five long-haul Boeing 777 aircraft to Etihad Airways.
The proposal is part of the national carrier’s turnaround plan. Air India had earlier finalised the deal with the Abu Dhabi-based carrier, which has also picked up 24 per cent stake in Jet Airways worth over Rs.2,000 crore.
There was no official word on the approval, but sources in the Cabinet informed that the deal had been given the final go ahead, and was estimated to be around $300-350 million.
However, Air India and Eithad have not revealed the size of the deal. The sale proceeds would be utilised by Air India to partly retire its huge debt and liabilities of over Rs.20,000 crore.
26/12/13 Sujay Mehdudia/The Hindu

$150,000 found on Korean at Chennai airport

Chennai: A Korean national was detained for trying to carry $150,000 worth dollar bills without declaring it at Chennai airport on Tuesday.
Yoon Kiyeol had hidden the currency, worth approximately 97 lakh, under clothes in his hand baggage. A passenger is allowed to carry foreign currency worth 7,500 while travelling abroad.
This is the second biggest seizure of foreign currency at the airport. In September 2008, foreign currency worth 40 lakh was seized from a Polish national headed for Singapore.
Kiyeol had checked in to fly on the Chennai-Hong Kong Cathay Pacific flight at 3.15am. Sources said Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) personnel grew suspicious after they found an image that looked like currency inside the bag during security check. The dollars were found packed in three bundles.
25/12/13 Times of India

Drug-pusher arrested, 10 kg heroin worth Rs 40 crore seized

New Delhi:  In the second major seizure of heroin in the city this month, the crime branch has arrested one person with 10kg of the drug valued at Rs 40 crore.
Although a part of this consignment was to be peddled at rave parties on the city's outskirts, most of it was to be sent to south India, en route to Colombo, police said.
The drug mule was trapped at New Delhi station with the railway police's help after a team led by DCPs Bhisham Singh and Zile Singh traced him using technical surveillance and local intelligence, said Ravindra Yadav, additional commissioner of police (crime branch).
The accused, Mohammad Dharick (35), is a resident of Sivaganga in Tamil Nadu and has been booked under Section 21 of the NDPS Act.
25/12/13 Times of India

Eurocopter unveils next-gen helicopters, eyes Indian market

Aviation major Eurocopter has unveiled its next-generation utility helicopters for growing markets in India and other Asian countries for parapublic missions, oil and gas airlift and emergency medical services.
The company is confident of getting certification from the European Aviation Safety Agency for both new helicopters -- EC175 and EC145 T2 -- in the first half of 2014, said a spokesperson for Eurocopter, a unit of European aerospace and defence giant EADS.
"We strongly believe that the EC175 and EC145 T2 will be well appreciated by customers in Asia as they cater to a wide range of mission capabilities in this region where heliborne services are increasing in demand," Derek Sharples, Eurocopter South East Asia CEO, told a group of visiting journalists from the Asia-Pacific.
25/12/13 PTI/mydigitalfc.com

Tuesday, December 24, 2013

Chembur family waits for justice

Mumbai: On November 25, Chembur resident Jitendra Singh Khalsa (38) was found dead in the departure lounge at the Doha International Airport. But even a month later, his family is still seeking an explanation on how he was at the airport a day prior to his departure to India without luggage, boarding pass and passport. They have refused to claim the body, which is still lying in Qatar, until a post-mortem is conducted.
While the death certificate, issued by the Qatar government, says that Khalsa had died due to a cardiac arrest at the airport, it does not mention the time, thus arousing suspicion.
"Neither the company nor the Indian and Qatar governments have given us a proper explanation. The post-mortem will bring out the truth which the Qatar-based firm does not want to reveal," Khalsa's inconsolable mother Surjit told TOI.
24/12/13 V Narayan/Times of India

Visa for maid’s kin: US embassy staff under scanner

New Delhi: India has irrefutable evidence to prove that there was a conspiracy behind the arrest of beleaguered diplomat Devyani Khobragade in New York on December 12 in an alleged visa fraud case, it is learnt.
The role of US embassy personnel in arranging visa for the family members of Devyani’s maid Sangeeta Richard was being probed, sources said. Sangeeta’s kin took an Air India flight from India to the US just two days before the diplomat’s arrest in New York.
The tickets for Sangeeta’s husband Philips and their two children Jannifar and Jatin were issued by the travel agency of the US embassy in New Delhi. The three tickets were exempt from a service tax of 4.5 per cent.
The family was issued a T Nonimmigrant Status (T visa) provided to victims of human trafficking. Sources claimed that the US embassy had committed an immigration fraud because it granted visas to the maid’s family even though Sangeeta was untraceable. They wondered on what grounds the family was given visa and on whose application. The role of Sangeeta’s father-in-law, who is said to be working for the US embassy, in the entire controversy is also suspect.
India had lodged a complaint with the New York Police way back in June that Sangeeta was absconding but the police sat on the complaint and did nothing. “The US did not respond to repeated requests to help find Sangeeta when Devyani was arrested. India also asked the American embassy to help find Richard way back on July 5,” sources said. There is also a suspicion that Sangeeta might have been passing on vital information to the US.
24/12/13 Tribune

MAHB buys GMR stake in Istanbul airport

Bangalore: Malaysia Airports Holdings Berhad (MAHB), which holds 20 per cent stake in the consortium for Istanbul Sabiha Gokcen (ISG) International Airport, announced that it plans to buy 40 per cent stake held by Bangalore-based GMR Group for 225 million euros, or Rs 1,910 crore.
The development comes within days of media reports last week wherein GMR Group Chairman G M Rao was quoted as saying that there were no plans to exit from the ISG Airport.
In a regulatory filing to Bursa Malaysia (formerly Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange) on Monday, MAHB said that its proposes to buy 27.55 per cent stake held by GMR Infrastructure and 12.45 per cent held by GMR Infrastructure Overaseas in the airport project.
24/12/13 Deccan Herald

Chennai airport to become a South East Asian hub

Chennai: Chennai: Chennai airport, whose landing, housing and parking fees are lower compared to that of other metro airports in the country, has the potential to become a hub of South East Asia what with more airlines making a night halt.
Airport sources said that Air Asia and Air Costa have already expressed their willingness to use Chennai airport for their flight operations in India, keeping in mind the parking space available.
Chennai airport AGM (PR) Harbhajan Singh said that 36 aircraft were parked there at night, “Air India having four planes, Jet Airways and Spicejet having 12 each, Indigo six and  Go Air and Air Costa one each,” he added. The city airport has a total of 85 parking bays, including three hangars. According to Mr Singh, the airport earns an average revenue of about Rs 17.75 crore per month from landing and parking charges.
24/12/13 Deccan Chronicle

Monday, December 23, 2013

Disqualification of Megawide group in Cebu airport bid sought

Manila: The Gotianun family’s Filinvest Development Corp. (FDC) is seeking the disqualification of the consortium of Megawide Construction Corp. and Bangalore-based GMR Infrastructure Ltd., the highest bidder for the P17.5-billion Mactan-Cebu International Airport (MCIA) project.
The conglomerate said the unsatisfactory performance record, financial woes, and questionable long-term commitment of GMR puts to risk the “rare opportunity” of creating a world-class airport, a claim refuted by a Mega-wide executive.
In a letter to the Pre-qualification, Bids and Awards Committee obtained by The STAR, FDC said it “could not remain silent after it had obtained publicly available information concerning the members of the consortium that submitted the highest financial proposal, particularly in relation to their capacity to realize this project.”
23/12/13 Neil Jerome C. Morales/Philippine Star

GMR Infra to exit Istanbul airport

Bangalore: GMR Infrastructure, the Bangalore-based listed developer, is set to sell its entire 40 per cent stake in Istanbul’s Sabiha Gökçen International Airport for Euro 225 million (Rs 1,900 crore) to Malaysia Airport Holdings Berhad (MAHB).
MAHB holds 20 per cent stake in the Turkey project, while Turkey-based Limak Construction holds another 40 per cent. MAHB, in a regulatory filing, said it  exercised its right of first refusal (ROFR) to acquire the stake in the company.
GMR said they had received a notice from MAHB, seeking to exercise its ROFR. GMR had initiated a discussion with TAV Airports Holdings, which runs another airport in Turkey.  “As part of the discussions, Malaysia Airport Holdings exercised its rights,” a senior GMR official told Business Standard.  MAHB is also a stakeholder in two other airports at New Delhi and Hyderabad, which GMR manages.
23/12/13 Business Standard

Jet Air in pact with Turkish Airlines

Mumbai: Jet Airways (India) Ltd has entered into a fresh aircraft leasing arrangement with Turkish Airlines for its Airbus 330-200 wide bodied jets.
The Indian company, which is 24 per cent owned by Etihad Airways, will lease out three of its idle A330s to the Turkish carrier for six years, according to sources.
A Jet spokesperson did not comment on the development, and the financial details could not be ascertained.
At the end of the second quarter, Jet said it had grounded five A330s and had initiated discussions with players for both an outright sale and long-term lease arrangements.
If the company is successful in an outright sale of these aircraft, its debt portfolio will shrink by $200 million, the airline's chief financial officer Ravishankar Gopalakrishnan had said then. Debt at the country’s second largest airline was at $1.9 billion as on September 30, 2013.
23/12/13 Adith Charlie/Business Line

Indian expatriate caught while trying to smuggle out gold at Sharjah airport

Sharjah: An Indian expatriate was arrested at Sharjah International Airport while attempting to smuggle out eight 24 carat gold bars weighing 80 grams (each bar weighed 10 grams).
Customs officers at the airport intercepted the suspect while he was on his way out of the country. The accused was travelling to India, according to a Sharjah Police spokesperson.
He was arrested as he had not declared the consignment of gold to the airport authorities.
The police alleged that the suspect, identified as F.Sh.M., had tried to cheat the airport authorities by concealing the gold bars in his body. The suspect planned to smuggle the gold to avoid paying tax in India.
23/12/13 Aghaddir Ali/Gulf News

Sunday, December 22, 2013

Is a Vancouver–India air link in our future?

It has always surprised me, given the large South Asian population in Canada (and especially Metro Vancouver), that air links between the two countries are almost non-existent.
After all, the South Asian community — at 1.6 million strong — is the country’s largest visible minority, outnumbering Chinese-Canadians (although, in Metro, the Chinese are the largest group).
It is a community whose members have excelled at every level of society, from politics to business and from entertainment to sports. Meanwhile, bilateral trade between the two countries has grown to more than $2 billion annually.
So it is strange that Canada, in its entirety, has only one daily air service to and from India (Jet Airway’s Toronto-Delhi flight, which makes a stop in Brussels). In comparison, Vancouver alone has about 10 daily flights to destinations in China.
22/12/13 Chuck Chiang/Vancouver Sun

Smugglers smile as NRI carriers bring gold into country legally

Chennai: Faced with curbs on gold imports and crash in international prices leaving it cheaper in other countries, gold houses and smugglers are turning to NRIs to bring in the yellow metal legally after paying duty. Any NRI, who has stayed abroad for more than six months, is allowed to bring in 1kg gold.
It was evident last week when almost every passenger on a flight from Dubai to Calicut was found carrying 1kg of gold, totalling up to 80kg (worth about Rs 24 crore). At Chennai airport, 13 passengers brought the legally permitted quantity of gold in the past one week.
"It's not illegal. But the 80kg gold that landed in Calicut surprised us. We soon got information that two smugglers in Dubai and their links in Calicut were behind this operation, offering free tickets to several passengers," said an official. The passengers were mostly Indian labourers in Dubai, used as carriers by people who were otherwise looking at illegal means, he said. "We have started tracing the origin and route of gold after intelligence pointed to the role of smugglers," he said.
22/12/13 Arun Janardhanan/Times of India

Congo flyer hides Rs 5cr drugs inside bedsheets, nabbed

Mumbai: A Congo national who was to board a flight to Nairobi was arrested by the Mumbai airport Customs officials early on Sunday after contraband worth Rs 5 crore was found in his bag. The drug was concealed inside neatly folded and packed bedsheets.
"White crystalline power purported to be amphetamine was found in the bag of a Kenya Airways passenger. It weighed 5,015 gm and its value in the illicit drug market would be Rs 5.01 crore," said an official from the Customs Air Intelligence Unit. Around 3am, Bokele Wetoko, carrying two suitcases and a cloth handbag, was on his way to the immigration counter when he was accosted by the Customs officials after Anju, an eight-year-old Labrador, raised an alarm. The contraband was concealed in slim pouches of 200 gm each that were sandwiched in cardboards, the kind that is found packed between folds of new bedsheets. The bedsheets with the cardboards containing the contraband were packed into the passenger's cloth bag.
22/12/13 Times of India

Saturday, December 21, 2013

A-380s await Ajit’s nod to start commercial flights from India

New Delhi: Superjumbo A-380s could soon land in Mumbai if Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh gives his nod, several years after some major foreign carriers started seeking permission to use these large Airbus planes. Issues like clogging of airport facilities like baggage handling and speedy immigration and clearance for over 500 passengers at one go were analysed and decisions to overcome them taken by a group of officials, led by civil aviation secretary KN Srivastava, ministry officials said.
The proposal would now have to be cleared by the civil aviation minister before it can be implemented, they said. The proposal is to start the flights of the aircraft, the world's largest commercial jets, from Mumbai and then from Delhi, they said, adding that one more airport is being readied for the operations of these aircraft. Several carriers like Singapore Airlines, Dubai-based Emirates and Germany's Lufthansa, have been seeking permission to bring the aircraft into India since 2008-09, but were prevented by the prevailing rules in the country. While the two major airports at Mumbai and Delhi are capable of handling these fully double-decker, wide-body and twin-aisled long-haul jets, the problem is the influx of over 500 passengers coming out at a time when these planes land.
20/12/13 First Post

Malindo Air to start daily flights from Tiruchi

Tiruchi:Malindo Air, a Malaysian-based hybrid airline, will launch its commercial flight operations from Tiruchi, Delhi, Mumbai and Ahmedabad to Kuala Lumpur shortly.
The joint Malaysia – Indonesia airline, which is a member of the PT Lion Group, will start daily flights from Tiruchi on January 2. The flying time between Tiruchi and Kuala Lumpur will be three hours and 45 minutes.
The airline will start daily flights from Delhi on December 30.
The airline will operate daily flights from Ahmedabad and Mumbai on January 27 and February 15 respectively.
Addressing the media here on Friday, its Chief Executive Officer Chandran Rama Muthy said the airline would operate its Boeing 737 – 900 ER latest aircraft for its India operations with a 180–seat capacity, including 12 business class in every flight offering extra legroom and comfort.
21/12/13 R. Rajaram/The Hindu

3 held, gold bars worth Rs.5.4 crore seized at RGIA

Hyderabad: Gold bars weighing 18 kg worth over Rs.5.4 crore were seized from three passengers by the Air Intelligence Unit of the Customs Department at the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport (RGIA) in Shamshabad on Thursday midnight.
The arrested passengers have been identified as Chokka Lingam Murganandan (43), Zainuddin (50) and Haji Mohammed (50). They landed at the airport from Singapore in the Tiger Airlines flight number 2624 at around 12.40 a.m. when the customs officials intercepted them. Authorities checked the handbags of the three passengers. On suspicion, officials also frisked the trio through metal detector and found gold bars concealed in their trouser pockets and shoes.
B. B. Prasad, Chief Commissioner of Customs, Hyderabad Zone, told the media here on Friday that the accused were carrying six gold bars each weighing one kg.
21/12/13 The Hindu

Gold worth Rs 3.2crore seized in biggest airport haul this year

Mumbai: In its biggest seizure so far this year, the air intelligence unit (AIU) of airport customs on Friday busted a gang of three people, including two women, who were trying to smuggle gold bars worth Rs 3.2 crore into the country. They had arrived in the city by an Emirate airways flight.
The accused, suspected to be repeat offenders, had devised an ingenious method to sneak in the precious metal. “Each one of them had concealed four gold bars in aluminium pencil boxes, which had been hung from the rear end of the trolley so as to hide them behind their luggage,” said Deputy Commissioner, Kiran Kumar of AIU (airport customs).
However, an alert woman official found the behaviour of the trio suspicious and decided to intercept them, which led to the recovery. Officials said that the accused will be arrested and produced before a magistrate as the value of the gold is over Rs 1 crore.
The AIU has discretionary powers to release offenders on bail in case the value of the smuggled item is less than Rs 1 crore.
This incident comes barely nine days after two natives of Karnataka were held while attempting to smuggle gold worth over Rs1 crore by keeping it inside the pockets of their trousers.
21/12/13 Shahkar Abidi/Daily News & Analysis

Friday, December 20, 2013

Mumbai airport gets to receive first A380s, world’s largest commercial aircraft, flying into country

New Delhi: The Mumbai airport is set to be the first airport in the country to see the world’s largest commercial aircraft — the Airbus 380, with the civil aviation ministry allowing A380 operations in the country by foreign carriers in a phased manner.
“We have decided to allow foreign carriers to bring in Airbus 380s in a phased manner. It has been decided that Mumbai will be the first airport, where operation by Airbus 380s will be allowed,” said a senior ministry official, who attended a meeting here on the issue.
He added that a decision in favour of Mumbai was taken as the city is getting a new international terminal that would be inaugurated in January.
Allowing carriers to operate Airbus 380s into India would be a change of stance by the government, which has, till now, stopped airlines from flying these planes into India. Lufthansa, Emirates and Singapore Airlines are three international carriers, who have shown interest in operating the jumbo aircraft into India.
20/12/13 Mihir Mishra/Financial Express

Snag leads to identity crisis for AI Dreamliner in Paris

Delhi: Paris' ultra busy Charles de Gaulle Airport recently had a scare when a blank blip on its radar showed an unidentified aircraft approaching it. Alarmed air traffic controllers immediately contacted the aircraft and were then told that it was a schedule Air India Dreamliner flight from Delhi that had suffered a transponder snag due to which the plane was not able to emit its details!
The latest problem on Boeing's snag-prone Dreamliner happened on Tuesday when AI 143 was on its way to Paris CDG and its transponder reportedly stopped working. This vital equipment plays several crucial roles: it gives a collision warning to the pilot if another aircraft gets too close for comfort; pilots can use it to send distress signal discreetly to ATC and finally, it gives all details of the aircraft on the blips that appear on ATC radars. The emergency situations that transponders are used to warn ground controllers about are communication failure, hijack and any other emergency.
20/12/13 Saurabh Sinha/Times of India

HC tells air carriers not to fly passengers without visas

Kochi: Air carriers, especially international operators, are obligated to prevent transportation of passengers without valid documents, the high court said on Friday while dismissing a petition by Kuwait Airways.
The air carrier had questioned the Rs 1 lakh fine imposed by the Bureau of Immigration (BoI) for transporting a Kuwaiti national from Kuwait International Airport to Kochi on September 5 this year without a valid visa.
It was argued by the airline operator that a notice issued by BoI cited a non-existent rule. Neither the Passport (Entry into India) Act of 1920 nor its rules stipulated that the air carrier would be liable if a passenger travelled without a valid visa. Further, the fine amount was exorbitant and disproportionate, the petition had said.
The airline operator had also argued that transportation of the passenger without a valid visa was unintentional.
20/12/13 Times of India

Devyani case fallout: US diplomats lose airport passes

New Delhi: US diplomats in India were on Thursday deprived of their airport passes as part of reciprocal measures taken by India following the arrest and strip-search of an Indian diplomat in New York, a source said.
Three days ago, police had removed barricades outside the US embassy in Delhi.
The US embassy was informed by the external affairs ministry on Tuesday that they were taking back the special privileges, which included the diplomatic ID cards given by the Indian government, airport passes that allowed US diplomats to sail through the numerous security barriers and import licences for the embassy. The airport passes were taken back on Thursday, a source told IANS.
20/12/13 IBN Live

Thursday, December 19, 2013

CCI slaps Rs 1 crore fine on Etihad in Jet Airways deal

New Delhi: The Competition Appellate Tribunal (Compat) issued notices on Thursday to the competition regulator, Jet Airways and Etihad Airways on a plea against the approval of the acquisition of a 24 per cent stake in the Indian carrier by the United Arab Emirates airlines.
This followed former executive director of Air India Jitendra Bhargava challenging clearance to the deal by the Competition Commission of India (CCI). Compat will hear the case on January 9. It rejected Bhargava's appeal for a stay on the CCI approval for the proposed stake sale. "The tribunal would want... to hear both the parties on merits before deciding on the matter," the Compat bench said.
Separately, CCI has imposed a penalty of Rs1 crore on Etihad Airways under Section 43 of the Competition Act for completing parts of the deal even before the regulator could approve the proposed transaction.
19/12/13 Economic Times

Calcutta airport leash on passes

Calcutta: Calcutta airport authorities today asked the US consulate to “surrender” two diplomatic passes that allowed mission officials to enter areas out of bounds for ordinary visitors, as more retaliatory measures followed last week’s arrest of diplomat Devyani Khobragade.
In Delhi, a civil aviation official said the “instruction” to withdraw the facility came from the ministry of external affairs (MEA).
The office of the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security at Calcutta airport wrote to the consulate asking it to “surrender” the passes. “The consulate has been given time till tomorrow afternoon to submit the passes,” the official said.
Sources in Calcutta said the passes, which were transferable, allowed consular officials entry into check-in areas, though not inside the security hold area, where only passengers are allowed in after being frisked.
Ordinary visitors are not allowed into the check-in area even with visitors’ tickets.
18/12/13 Telegraph

Air India to expand code share partnerships

Mumbai: Air India will begin discussions with Star Alliance member-airlines, including United, Air Canada and Lufthansa, for code shares on domestic and international routes. Last week, the Star Alliance board had decided to commence Air India’s integration into the 28-member alliance.
A code share is a marketing agreement between two airlines that helps enhance an airline’s revenue. It allows an airline to put its code on a flight operated by a partner airline and sell tickets on routes on which it does not have operations. With Air India joining the Star Alliance, the carrier’s frequent flyer programme will be integrated with other Star Alliance members’ loyalty programmes, an attractive option for business travellers. “We will be talking to Air Canada, United, Lufthansa, Singapore Airlines and other airlines for code shares. These discussions will happen concurrently, along with the integration process. We would like to code share with Air Canada because we have stopped our flights to Canada,” said an Air India official.
19/12/13 Aneesh Phadnis/Business Standard

GMR hopeful of bagging Philippines airport project

New Delhi: Infrastructure major GMR today expressed hope of bagging the bid to modernise an important airport in the Philippines, saying its joint venture was the highest qualified bidder for the over $325 million contract.
"We are technically the highest qualified and between the first and the second bidder there is only 2.5% difference. We are waiting for their clearances," GMR Group Chairman G M Rao told reporters after meeting Finance Minister P Chidambaram here.
"We are highest technically qualified as well as the highest bidder. It is a process. It will happen soon," he said when asked how confident he was about winning the bid.
GMR Infrastructure is part of a consortium led by Philippines-based construction company Megawide Construction which submitted a bid of 14.4 billion Philippine pesos or around $326 million. In the bids which opened last week, it defeated Filinvest-CAI consortium that includes Singapore's Changi Airport.
18/12/13 PTI/Business Standard

Tuesday, December 17, 2013

Government may relax eligibility criteria for Indian carriers flying abroad

New Delhi: The government has begun consultations on relaxing the eligibility criteria for allowing Indian carriers to fly abroad, Rajya Sabha was informed.
"Consultations have been made with Directorate General of Civil Aviation ( DGCA) to explore the possibility to relax eligibility criteria based on international practices," Minister of State for Civil Aviation KC Venugopal said while replying to a question.
As per the prevailing norms, an Indian carrier can qualify to operate international services only after it has flown domestically for five years and has 20 aircraft.
Venugopal was asked by AIADMK member AW Rabi Bernard whether such consultations had begun and whether the move would benefit airlines like GoAir or new entrants like Tata- SIA.
To a question, he said no proposal was being considered by the Civil Aviation Ministry to privatise Air India.
17/12/13 PTI/Economic Times

Soon, Pune-Singapore air link via Hyderabad

Pune:  Low-cost carrier SpiceJet has announced that Pune is among the 14 Indian cities which are to be connected with Singapore via Hyderabad from January 6, as part of a three-year interline agreement it has signed with Singapore's budget carrier Tigerair.
"Starting from January 12, Tigerair customers from Singapore will also enjoy easy access to SpiceJet's domestic network, making their holiday and business travel more seamless," SpiceJet said in a release on Monday.
Hyderabad's Rajiv Gandhi International Airport, which is run by GMR Hyderabad International Airport Ltd (GHIAL), will be the first Indian airport to facilitate the connecting flights, the release said.
17/12/13 Times of India

SpiceJet-Tiger Air deal- What it means for Indian aviation

Mumbai: Airline sector is witnessing some interesting developments off-late. Even as AirAsia is yet to start its operations and Jet Airways is yet to formalise its relationship with Etihad, SpiceJet has signed an inter-line agreement with Singapore based low fare airline Tiger Airways Singapore Pte Ltd.
 There is nothing much in the deal that deserves a 12 per cent rise in the stock price that was seen when the news hit the market. Inter-line agreement is nothing more than SpiceJet getting rights to sell tickets of Tiger Airways along with its own tickets and vice-versa. It will help passengers flying abroad to plan their trip better, taking services of two low cost airlines to complete their journey. The impact on SpiceJet's financials is unlikely to be significant, but the underlying message in the deal is.
Tiger Airways is AirAsia's main rival in South East Asia. By entering into a relationship with SpiceJet, it is bringing the dog-fight to Indian skies. Though Tiger Airways is not pumping in money at this stage, probably an inter-line agreement could be a precursor and a probation period before a formal tie-up is announced.SpiceJet will be tested for its operations, flight schedules and in-flight services as Tiger Airways passengers might be using its services to connect with India.
17/12/13 Shishir Asthana/Business Standard

CIAL exports Rs 1-cr-worth flowers to Qatar

Kochi: The Cochin International Airport Ltd on Monday exported a consignment of fresh flowers to Doha on the occasion of Qatar National Day, which falls on December 18.
The shipment of 10,000 packets totalling 53,000 kg of flowers from Kerala and Tamil Nadu has been despatched through a special Etihad freighter. The Rs 1-crore export order was executed by procuring flowers from different locations in the two States. They consisted of jasmine, lilies, polyanthus, tuberose etc.
The perishable centre at CIAL, which can handle highly perishable products, is the key selling point to attract this type of business to Kochi. The centre is capable of handling temperature sensitive products such as vegetables, fruits, flowers, marine and pharma items etc.
16/12/13 Business Line

Etihad launches 8 new routes

Etihad Airways announced its route expanse plans to introduce three more destinations to its core international network in 2014.
The airline will commence daily services to Rome and Jaipur, together with four flights per week to the Armenian capital, Yerevan.
The new routes will join a previously announced daily service to Los Angeles and three flights per week to Dallas, plus daily services to Zurich (June 1), Perth (July 15) and Medina (February 1), all of which are scheduled to commence next year.
Jaipur, which launches on April 1, is part of Etihad’s India expansion plans, which will bring the total number of Indian cities served by Etihad to 10, with existing routes including Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad, Kochi, Kozhikode, Mumbai, New Delhi and Trivandrum.
Etihad Airways has doubled the number of flights and tripled the number of seats to Mumbai and New Delhi, adding a second daily service and introducing wide-bodied jets on both routes from Abu Dhabi, effective immediately.
17/12/13 Emirates 24|7

Man held at airport for smuggling gold hidden in dates

Officials of the Customs Department have recovered gold hidden in dates from a man who landed at the Pune International Airport from Sharjah on Sunday morning. The suspect has been identified as Ismail Mohammed Faisal (21) of Kasargod in Kerala, who worked in Abu Dhabi. A team of Customs Department led by Deputy Commissioner M V Badari Prasad held Ismail at the airport over suspicion. The sleuths frisked him and put his bags under scanning machines. It was revealed that one of the bags carried small gold pieces.
During further checks, the sleuths found dates wrapped in a bag. It was found that seeds of these dates were replaced with gold beads wrapped in black packets. The gold beads weighing 409 grams are worth Rs 12.5 lakh.
17/12/13 Indian Express

Monday, December 16, 2013

SpiceJet, Tigerair sign 3-year interline agreement

Hyderabad/Pune: Budget airliners SpiceJet Ltd and Tigerair of Singapore have entered into a three-year interline agreement to offer greater connectivity between flights operated by both the carriers.
This alliance helps connect 14 destinations covered by Spicejet with Singapore.
As part of the introductory promotional fare, one can fly to Singapore one-way for Rs 4,699 and the return journey starts from Rs 9,998, all inclusive.
SpiceJet is the first Indian low-fare carrier to establish such an arrangement with a foreign airliner. This partnership will result in a major boost for tourism and business travel between the two countries, both the airliners said.
Operations through this alliance will begin on January 6, 2014. SpiceJet’s domestic network from 14 Indian cities can enjoy seamless connection through Hyderabad’s Rajiv Gandhi International Airport onto Tigerair’s Singapore-bound flights.
16/12/13 V Rishi Kumar/Alka Kshirsagar/Business Line

Court permits Air India to pay part of compensation to Mangalore crash pilot’s kin

Mumbai: The Bombay High Court on Monday passed an order directing the labour court to disburse Rs 2.75 crore to the family of Captain Zlatko Glusica, the pilot of the Air India Express flight that crashed in Mangalore on May 22, 2010, killing 158 people.
The Glusicas had approached the labour court in 2012, saying that while families of the first officer and crew members of the ill-fated flight were paid the workmen's compensation due to them, they received nothing. Air India disputed the compensation amount claimed by the family.
On October 18, the labour court in Mumbai rejected Air India's claim and ordered it to deposit $7.45 lakh (Rs 4.63 crore) as per the workmen compensation package, plus 50 per cent of the compensation amount as penalty for delaying the payment, and 12 per cent interest per year on the compensation amount from the date of the accident till the date of depositing the amount.
Air India subsequently received a notice from Yashwant Shenoy, the constitued attorney of the family, stating that he would be filing an application before the labour court for disbursement of the entire amount based on the October 18 order.
The airline, represented by advocate Firoz Bharucha, then moved the high court for a stay on the order.
While hearing Air India's appeal, Justice Bhatkar asked advocate Bharucha to allow the labour court to disburse a part of the compensation to the family before Christmas.
At this point, advocate Bharucha volunteered to have the entire undisputed amount - Rs 2.77 crore - disbursed as long as the money was given directly to the family and not to their constituted attorney, who had filed an application before the labour court asking that the entire amount be given to him.
17/12/13 Bapu Deedwania & Bipin Kumar Singh/Mumbai Mirror

Air India integration with Star Alliance: Many miles to go yet

New Delhi: A team of Star Alliance, which has decided to restart Air India's integration process suspended since 2011, will arrive here on Wednesday to assess the steps needed to be taken by the national carrier to blend its network with that of the global airlines' grouping.
"A Star Alliance Team will arrive here on December 18. They will carry out gap analysis. I am working on a very tight schedule on a day-to-day basis. The entire process is likely to take three-four months but it will depend on what they would require," Air India CMD Rohit Nandan said on arrival from Vienna today.
The team will be staying here for a couple of days to carry out gap analysis.
Gap analysis is a technique that businesses use to determine the steps needed to be taken to move from the current state to the desired future state. In this case, it would be blending Air India's network with that of the 28- member Star Alliance.
15/12/13 PTI/Financial Express

Air India's New York flight passengers confined in plane for 6 hrs

New Delhi: Passengers of Air India's Delhi-New York Dreamliner plane had a difficult time when they were kept confined inside the aircraft at the IGI Airport here for more than six hours.
Passengers had boarded the aircraft by midnight last night but the plane left only at around 6.35 AM with no information being shared with passengers for the delay, one of the passengers said.
The flight AI-101 was scheduled to depart at 1:00 AM. As passengers were not allowed to deplane, they became restless with flight attendants stonewalling all information, the passenger claimed.
16/12/13 PTI/Economic Times

Jet Airways announces additional flights to Dammam from Kochi, Chennai

New Delhi: Private carrier, Jet Airways on Monday announced addition of two daily flights from Kochi and Chennai to Dammam in Saudi Arabia from January 15 next.
While the Chennai flight will be operated via Abu Dhabi to Dammam, the Kochi-Dammam will be served by a daily direct flight.
Jet Airways flight 9W 570 will depart Kochi at 0620 hours and arrive into Dammam at 0920 hours (local time). The return flight 9W 569 will depart Dammam at 1020 hours (LT) and arrive at Chennai at 1720 hours (LT). Jet Airways offers its guests from Kochi an evening option to Dammam via Abu Dhabi. 9W 576 Kochi to Abu Dhabi will be rescheduled to depart Kochi at 2040 hours and arrive into Abu Dhabi at 2330 hours, which in turn connects to 9W526 Abu Dhabi-Dammam.
From Chennai the daily flight 9W 526 will depart at 2015 hours and arrive into Abu Dhabi at 2325 hours. On the return leg, 9W 525 will depart Dammam at 0650 hours and arrive at Abu Dhabi at 0915 hours (LT), and depart at Abu Dhabi at 1045 hours to arrive at Chennai at 1615 hours (LT).
16/12/13 Sujay Mehdudia/The Hindu

Abu Dhabi to become Jet’s global hub from Jan. 15

Mumbai: Jet Airways will start using Abu Dhabi as its gateway for international operations starting January 15.
India’s second largest passenger carrier, which recently concluded the process of selling a 24 per cent stake to Etihad Airways, has started two new flights to Dammam in Saudi Arabia from Kochi and Chennai.
The new flights are part of the two airliners’ blueprint of connecting 23 cities in India to Abu Dhabi.
The Chennai-Damman flight will be operated via Abu Dhabi to Dammam, while the Kochi-Dammam route will be serviced by a direct flight, according to a press statement. The airline will deploy a Boeing 737-800 aircraft on these two new services, offering economy and business classes.
16/12/13 Business Line

Gulf carriers worst visa offenders

Kochi:  International airlines operating in the gulf sector are the worst offenders when it comes to flying in passengers without valid visas, the Bureau of Immigration (BoI) has informed the high court.
In an affidavit filed to the court through senior central government counsel T Sanjay, BoI said a central law making air carriers liable for transporting passengers, who don't have visas, was strictly implemented at Cochin International Airport in February last year.
The law, Immigration (Carriers' Liability) Act, was implemented based on instruction from the home ministry and BoI headquarters to streamline the security measures put in place to ensure that only genuine passengers travelled through the airport, the affidavit said.
Human trafficking through Nedumbassery airport, allegedly with the aid of senior police officers, was revealed last year, and a CBI probe is going on.
16/12/13 eTurboNews

Now, foreign airlines offer up to 40% discount to lure overseas travellers

Early New Year may be a good time to take that dream holiday overseas as foreign airlines, which are facing a drop in demand due to depreciating rupee and rising fuel costs, have significantly stepped up offers to lure the Indian traveller back.
Airlines including Emirates, Qatar Airways, AirAsia and Etihad Airways have lined up attractive offers to customers for the travel period between January and March, which is generally a lean season for the aviation industry.
According to online travel companies and agents, the number of promotional offers by the foreign carriers this years are at least 50% higher compared with the last year.
For example, Etihad Airways ran a scheme for three days, wherein it offered fare to Europe at Rs40,000, while the usual fare to the continent are around Rs60,000.
16/12/13 Yuga Chaudhari/Daily News & Analysis

Saturday, December 14, 2013

Mactan airport bidders to keep groupings for other PPP projects

Major conglomerates that participated in last week’s P17.5-billion Mactan Cebu International Airport concession auction are looking forward to other airport Public Private Partnership (PPP) deals that will likely be offered by the transportation department next year.
This follows the strong interest in the Mactan Cebu International Airport, which drew bids from seven of the country’s biggest conglomerates and their respective international foreign airport-operator partners.
Gokongwei-led JG Summit Holdings Inc. and Metro Pacific Investments Corp., as well as the Mactan Cebu Airport’s likely winner, Megawide Construction Corp. and India’s GMR Infrastructure, said they would retain their respective consortiums for upcoming airport PPPs.
San Miguel Corp., which teamed up with South Korea’s Incheon for the Cebu airport deal, was also keen on participating in other airport projects that will be auctioned off, president Ramon Ang said earlier.
The transportation department and PPP Center are considering holding in early January next year an investors’ conference for other airport deals in the pipeline, PPP Center executive director Cosette Canilao said.
15/12/13 Miguel R. Camus/Philippine Daily Inquirer

AI Express suspends two Kerala flights

Muscat: Air India Express, the budget airline of Air India, has cancelled its two flights to Kerala sector temporarily, a senior official from the Muscat Air India office said.
The airline has cancelled its two services, Salalah-Thiruvananthapuram (IX541) and Salalah-Cochin-Thiruvananthapuram (IX544), from January 15, 2014.
"The two main reasons behind the temporary cancellation are that there was not much load from Salalah at that time and there was also unavailability of aircraft," the senior official told the Times of Oman.
"There will be no change in the Salalah-Calicut flight services," the official added.
According to the senior official, the cancellation of flights will be effective for only 45 days.
15/12/13 Times of Oman

Omani held at Mumbai airport to be released

Ibrahim al Hadrami, who was arrested at Mumbai Airport after a pistol was found in his suitcase, will be released tomorrow, according to a reliable source. The incident took place when the guilty flew to Hyderabad last Saturday with his son, Ismail al Hadrami, to get a medical treatment but due to some reasons the plane landed at Mumbai Airport where Ibrahim was arrested for keeping a pistol in his suitcase. A staff member at Omani Consulate in India, Mubarak al Hanae, said: “We received a notification stating that an Omani citizen has been arrested for keeping a pistol in his suitcase. The embassy engaged a lawyer to pursue the case.” “The court last Thursday found Ibrahim guilty as he was travelling on business visa and not medical but granted him bail on RO 200. Currently, he is undergoing treatment and there are no worries regarding his condition. Hopefully, Ibrahim will be released tomorrow and he will come back home soon,” he added.
15/12/13  Salim al Jahwari/Oman Oberver

Expat held with gold in Hyderabad

Muscat: Indian customs officials yesterday arrested a passenger at the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport (RGIA) in Hyderabad, for allegedly trying to smuggle out 1kg of gold worth over Rs3,000,000 (OMR18,573.01).
The air intelligence wing of the customs intercepted the passenger, identified as Shaikh Altaf Mohin (from Mumbai), after he arrived from Muscat. The officials checked his bags and found 1kg of gold dust concealed in different plastic covers and aluminium foil, a customs officer said.
"The gold dust initially appeared to be coffee powder. However, after verification with a special machine, it was found to be gold," the officer said, adding the man was later arrested.
Till now, there have been only reports of Indian gold smugglers being arrested at south Indian airports, especially in Kerala, from among those arriving from Dubai.
15/12/13 Times of Oman

Dh2.2m gold and gems intercepted while ‘enroute’ to India

Colombo: The customs at the Bandaranaike International airport thwarted an attempt to smuggle out gold and gems worth more than Rs 81 million (Dh2.2m) on Wednesday morning, ‘Mawbima’ reported.
An export company had delivered the contraband in two boxes to the customs baggage stores to be sent to Chennai, India.
The customs officials, who inspected the two boxes prior to being loaded to a Chennai-bound aircraft, detected the metal at about 3am in the morning.
14/12/13 Emirates 24|7

Move over Jet-Etihad, Air India to get Star Alliance edge

New Delhi: The national carrier today announced that it is once preparing to join Star Alliance, the most prestigious airline grouping in the world. This means it can now use the wide Star Alliance network, which includes successful airlines such as Singapore Airlines, Lufthansa, THAI and Turkish Airlines as its members, for enhancing overseas operations. In a big way. In fact, if Air India manages to integrate itself with the Alliance in a short span of time, it may also be able to counter stiff competition otherwise coming its way from the Tata-Singapore Airlines alliance. Any which way ones looks at it, the Star Alliance entry can only be good news for Air India. "In a major decision in Vienna today, Star Alliance has unanimously decided to lift the earlier suspension of the process for Air India entry into the alliance. With this decision, final process for eventual entry of AI has begun," Air India said in a statement.
So what exactly will Star Alliance bring to the table? Now, instead of looking for a flight into the Gulf with either Emirates or Jet-Etihad, a passenger wanting to fly international from almost any city in India gets seamless transfers on a single boarding card in some cases. The passenger can book flights to the final destination at one time and hop on to a flight operated by a Star Alliance member anywhere on the route. So even if AI does not directly to fly to a destination, it can now offer flights to that destination on the strength of this alliance.
14/12/13 Sindhu Bhattacharya/First Post

DGCA confident of avoiding downgrade by US regulator

New Delhi: The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) is confident of avoiding a downgrade after the US Federal Aviation Administration completed its audit and most of the 33 issues raised by it in September were found to have been addressed by the Indian aviation regulator.
"There are around 5-6 points which will take some time to get addressed and that has been informed to the FAA," said a senior DGCA official. "Overall, they were very satisfied with the work that has been done and there shouldn't be a downgrade based on the progress since September, but the final decision will be taken in Washington."
The DGCA will find out whether it has done enough to avoid a downgrade after a month when the FAA compiles its report.
14/12/13 Economic Times

Arbitration won't obstruct airport development, says Saleem

Arbitration over the premature termination of the Male airport contract with India's GMR Group will not be an obstacle to the development of the airport, Maldives Airports Company Limited (MACL) managing director Bandhu Ibrahim Saleem said Thursday.
In an exclusive interview with Haveeru on Thursday, Saleem said the arbitration being a legal matter had no connection to any capital investment on the airport.
He further said the outcome of the arbitration, would not have any bearing on the development of the airport. In that regard, he said as arbitration was primarily based on dialogue, it will not hinder any efforts to develop the airport.
“The arbitration and the development of the airport have no connection. Arbitration is a separate legal proceeding. It will not have any effect on the airport development,” Saleem said.
According to Saleem, investors do not seem deterred by the pending arbitration as several foreign parties have already expressed interest to invest in the airport.
14/12/13 Ahmed Naif/Haveeru Online

India Delivers Dhruv Chopper to Maldives

Bangalore: State-run Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) Saturday handed over its flagship product Advance Light Helicopter (ALH) Dhruv to Maldives for induction into its defence forces.
Maldivian Defence and National Security Minister Mohamed Nazim received the all-weather chopper from HAL chairman R.K. Tyagi in the presence of Southern Naval Command's Commander-in-Chief Vice Admiral Satish Soni at the Kochi naval base in coastal Kerala.
"The ALH will be in Male in January as a made-in-India product with proven track record in both military and civil operations," Tyagi said on the occasion.
HAL has positioned a technical support team in Male to provide maintenance and logistical support.
14/12/13 New Indian Express

India donates second naval Advanced Light Helicopter to Maldives

Kochi: India on Saturday donated a second naval Advanced Light Helicopter (ALH), Dhruv, to the Maldives in a gesture that was described by Maldivian Minister for Defence Mohamed Nazim as “paving the way for further strengthening of ties between both countries.”
A brand new, Mark-III (the latest) variant of the India-made multi-role helicopter in Maldives National Defence Force (MNDF) colours was unveiled at a simple ceremony attended by Mr. Nazim, Vice-Admiral Satish Soni, Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief of India’s Southern Naval Command, and MNDF Brigadier General Ali Zuhair besides senior formations from both sides, officials from the Ministry of External Affairs and representatives of the helicopter manufacturer, Hindustan Aeronautics Limited, at naval air station Garuda in Kochi.
On the last leg of his India visit, Mr. Nazim said the Maldives maintained a friendly and cordial relation with its neighbours, especially India, which stood by the nation whenever it needed support. Defence cooperation between both countries grew drastically over the past few years with Indian armed forces, particularly the Navy, contributing greatly to MNDF’s capacity-building. He said the ‘gift’ would help the island nation’s Coast Guard carry out search and rescue and medical evacuation from its far-flung territories.
14/12/13 S. Anandan/The Hindu

Friday, December 13, 2013

Air India to start talks on joining Star Alliance

Mumbai: Star Alliance has lifted the suspension on Air India's entry into the global airline body, the national carrier said on Friday, bringing hopes for the loss-making airline to expand its global presence even as its margins are getting squeezed in the domestic market.
"With this decision, final process for eventual entry of Air India has begun. Once the airline becomes a member, Air India passengers will enjoy enormous benefits, including seamless transfers while travelling across the world, more frequent flyer mileage points, code sharing leading to a wider choice of flights and access to facilities at over 1,000 lounges worldwide," said the carrier in a statement.
"The market in India is now showing signs of stabilisation. Today we see an Air India which has successfully completed its merger with Indian Airlines and is building up a new fleet that forms the basis for a much improved level of service.
13/12/13 Economic Times

Passenger from Colombo caught with 300g of gold

Madurai:  In yet another gold seizure at the Madurai airport, officials from the customs department seized 300g of gold biscuits from an elderly man who arrived here from Colombo.
Customs officials said that the man had concealed six gold bars, each weighing 50g inside his rectum. They managed to extract the gold bars from the passenger after much effort, the officials said.
The officials, who refrained from revealing the passenger's name due to complications involved, said they detained the man after he was spotted restless in the airport.
A S Meenalochani, joint commissioner of customs, Madurai division said the passenger was apparently tired. He was taken to a private room where they conducted an investigation. After prolonged inquiry with the passenger, he admitted that he was carrying the gold pieces.
13/12/13 Times of India

Thursday, December 12, 2013

GMR, Megawide Group Set To Win Philippine Airport Contract

GMR Infrastructure and contractor Megawide Construction Corp are the likely winners of a $400 million airport terminal tender, the biggest so far under the Philippines' public-private partnership programme.
The consortium beat six others including the country's top conglomerates at an auction on Thursday, offering a premium of 14.4 billion pesos for the 25-year concession to operate central Philippines' Mactan-Cebu International Airport - the country's second-biggest - and build one of its terminals.
The project is a test of the government's resolve to boost economic growth through public-private partnerships (PPP) in infrastructure, following delays in previous high-profile tenders that have raised doubts about the scheme's effectiveness.
The Megawide-led offer was about 400 million pesos above the second-place bid from a group led by property-to-banking firm Filinvest Development Corp and Changi Airports Saudi Ltd. The winning bidder will likely be announced in early January.
Megawide, with a market cap of $428 million, has won three out of five contracts - valued at around 26 billion pesos - tendered by the government under the three-year-old PPP scheme.
12/12/13 Business World

‘More aviation taxes will hit travel demand, economy’

Geneva:  The International Air Transport Association (IATA) on Thursday made a strong pitch for global governments to take a re-look at the economic costs of imposing more taxes.
It gave the examples of Africa, where taxes, fees and lack of transparency are significant contributors to making jet fuel costs on average 21 per cent more expensive than the global average, and Mexico, which has recently introduced an environmental tax totalling $37 million annually. In addition, on Wednesday the US announced a budget agreement that will see the minimum security fee rise to $11.20 (from $5) per round trip .“It bears no relation to the cost of providing security and the excess will remain with the treasury. It is estimated to extract nearly $13 billion from the industry over the next 10 years — should it take effect from July 1,” IATA Director Tony Tyler said.
Airlines in India have for long been pointing to the fact that they face many handicaps, including the fact that the domestic cost of aviation turbine fuel is 25-30 per cent higher due to State levies ranging from 4 per cent to over 30 per cent.
In addition, the high cost of operating into airports also makes the cost of operating airlines in India higher than global levels.
12/12/13 Aswini Phadnis/Business Line

Aviation ministry rules out more flights from Qatar

New Delhi: The ministry of civil aviation has disagreed with a proposal of the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) to explore raising the cap on the number of weekly flights from Qatar in exchange for discounts on additional supplies of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from there.
A senior aviation ministry official said, “Indian carriers are currently utilising a fourth of the capacity available between India and Qatar. Given that, we would not want to enhance bilateral traffic rights between the countries at this point of time.”
Qatar has nearly exhausted the entitled capacity, while Indian carriers are utilising only around 6,000 seats a week.
Sources said the government was keen on enhancing air traffic bilateral rights, as Qatar has promised investments of up to $3 billion a year in India.
The Qatar government has been asking for an expansion of weekly capacity to 72,600 seats, against the available 24,800, to create a hub for West-bound international traffic out of India.
12/12/13 Sharmistha Mukherjee/Business Standard

Man on wrong flight delays take-off by 1hr

Muscat: A Bangladeshi citizen boarding an India-bound Air India Express flight in Salalah created confusion, leading to delay in the flight's take off on Tuesday.
The passenger, who was supposed to board the Oman Air Salalah-Muscat flight, mistakenly boarded the Air India flight IX544 to Kerala, leading to confusion inside the aircraft and at the airport.
"The Bangladeshi passenger was supposed to board Oman Air and fly to Muscat, but he boarded the Air India flight to Kochi at 2:40pm. We all were wondering why a Bangladeshi had boarded a flight to Kerala with Oman Air boarding pass. Later on, we found that he had boarded the wrong flight and the crew had to send him back. Because of him, the flight was not able to take off in time. There was a one hour long delay. Passengers were irked over the delay," Muhammed Rushdi, an Air India passenger, said.
12/12/13 Times of India

India's GMR Picks Citi, 3 Others for USD 300-350mn Airport IPO-Sources

India's GMR Infrastructure Ltd has hired four banks including Citigroup and JPMorgan to manage the listing of its airport business that is expected to raise $300-$350 million, sources with direct knowledge of the matter said.
The company, whose business interest includes airport, power and roads, has also picked Axis Capital, a unit of private Indian lender Axis Bank, and IDFC for the public offering, three sources involved in the process said.
All the sources declined to be identified as the IPO plans are not public yet. GMR, Citigroup, Axis Bank and IDFC declined to comment. JPMorgan did not respond to a request for comment.
12/12/13 Reuters/New Indian Express

Tuesday, December 10, 2013

7 bidders including GMR pass technical evaluation for Cebu airport project

Manila: The Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) said all 7 bidders for the P17.5 billion Mactan-Cebu international airport expansion project have passed the technical evaluation.
The DOTC had pre-qualified 7 groups for the project, namely:
Metro Pacific Investments Corp. - JG Summit airport consortium;
AAA Airport Partners led by the Ayala and Aboitiz groups;
Filinvest - CAI consortium which includes the operator of Singapore's Changi airport;
San Miguel Corp. - Incheon Airport consortium;
First Philippine Airports consortium led by First Philippine Holdings Corp. and Infratil Asia Ltd.;
Premier Airport group led by SM Investments Corp., Citadel Holdings Inc. and the operator of Zurich (Switzerland) airport; and
GMR Infrastructure (operator of airports in India, Turkey, Maldives) - Megawide consortium.
11/12/13 ABS-CBNnews.com

US regulator to audit DGCA from today

New Delhi: With 33 major deficiencies and a looming vacancy at the top, the Indian aviation safety regulator will come under the scanner of the US Federal Aviation Administration from Wednesday. The FAA team was here three months back and had identified the 33 problem areas — mainly related to staff shortage and training issues. It is now coming back to see if any real progress has been made on them or should Indian aviation be downgraded for having a watchdog who is too weak to ensure safety even as Indian air traffic grows by leaps and bounds.
While aviation authorities here are trying to ensure that a downgrade does not happen by listing a series of steps, the reality is that the government is unable to find a suitable person to head the directorate general of civil aviation (DGCA). The current DG, Arun Mishra, has been selected by UN's International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) as its Asia Pacific head because of his experience in aviation. But after he leaves this month, the DGCA will be a headless organization and the aviation ministry will give additional charge of DG to a joint secretary.
11/12/13 Saurabh Sinha/Times of India

'Jet-Etihad will impact Dubai airport traffic'

New Delhi: Depending heavily on traffic to and from India transiting through it, Dubai aviation authorities have for the first time conceded that the Jet-Etihad deal of using Abu Dhabi as a hub will impact it. Dubai Airports spokesman Zaigham Ali said Tuesday that the deal will "have some impact" while making India's importance clear for his airport.
"India is the number one destination country for Dubai airport. In 2012, Dubai airport saw 57.4 million flyers and of them 7.3 million (almost 13%) were flying to or from India. This year has seen record traffic to and from India flying Dubai's two airlines — Emirates, flyDubai — and Indian carriers like Air India, AI Express, Jet, IndiGo and SpiceJet. This is the highest to date, representing 13.3% growth over last year," said Ali.
11/12/13 Saurabh Sinha/Times of India

Choppergate: AgustaWestland sends arbitration notice to govt

New Delhi: Faced with the imminent cancellation of its Rs 3,546-crore contract inked in February 2010 to supply 12 VVIP helicopters to IAF, AgustaWestland has sent a notice to the defence ministry asking it to get involved in the arbitration process.
Having invoked arbitration in the case on October 4, with the nomination of former Supreme Court judge B N Srikrishna as the arbitrator from its side, AgustaWestland has warned it will take up the matter at an international forum if the MoD does not nominate its own arbitrator within 30 days.
"AgustaWestland would have the right to approach the President of the International Chamber of Commerce, Paris, for nomination of the arbitrator," said the notice.
11/12/13 Times of India

American engineer procured bullets from USA, said Odisha Police

Bhubaneswar: Live bullets which were carried by American engineer William Michael Hurtubise were procured from USA. This was revealed after the ballistic report which was submitted by the State Forensic Science laboratory to Airfield police station here on Sunday.   Commissionerate police arrested Hurtubise, a Texas based engineer form Biju Pattnaik Airport with 8 numbers of 22 mm live cartridges on September 18. He was released on conditional bail a month after his arrest by depositing a surety of Rs 50,000, passport and two bailers. Currently he is staying at Paradip, as the court restricted his departure from India for the on going trial.      “Earlier we were suspecting that the bullets seized from the American engineer might be made in India. But the ballistic report clearly mentioned that the bullets were manufactured by a USA based company,” the officer added.
10/12/13 Priyabrata Nayak/Odishadiary

Monday, December 09, 2013

Air India's 787s get software, component upgrades

New Delhi: Air India and US aircraft major Boeing have started to upgrade software and components on the national carriers' fleet of 787 Boeing Dreamliner aircraft, Minister of State for Civil Aviation K.C. Venugopal said Tuesday.
Venugopal informed the Rajya Sabha that a modification package has been prepared by Boeing for Air India's 787 Dreamliner aircraft.
"The modification is being sequentially carried out on each of the Dreamliner aircraft during a 10-day maintenance grounding with effect from Dec 1, 2013," he said.
According to Air India, the Dreamliners would be modified on a one-by-one basis and that the majority of the fleet will be in service.
Earlier, aircraft maker Boeing said its technologically advanced 787 is a safe aircraft and the company is keeping a watch over every problem faced by the plane.
10/12/13 Daijiworld.com

Quest Aviation Solutions to sell MD Helicopters in India and China

Quest Aviation Solutions has broadened its sales role with MD Helicopters, with the announcement that the company will now sell helicopters to India and China. Quest will support India and China from its sales offices in Bangalore and Beijing.
Mike Creed, commercial director of Quest, said: “We are delighted to have been appointed by MD Helicopters as their agent in China and India to complement our exclusive sales status role in the UAE for the MD product range.”
“Both of these markets have vast potential, especially for special missions such as EMS and police applications and we look forward to selling these extraordinary helicopters to two of the fastest growing markets in Asia,“ Creed added.
Quest are working in close association with MD Helicopters. The US helicopter manufacturer plans to open an office in China next year, will also explore commercial opportunities for destinations that are easily accessible by helicopter, but difficult by other means of transport.
10/12/13 Corporate Jet Investor

Etihad Airways doubles India flights, triples number of seats

Mumbai: Etihad Airways on Monday spelt out expansion plans for India, two days after the Supreme Court said it could still quash the airline's deal with Jet Airways if it found any irregularities.
The Abu Dhabi-based carrier closed a Rs 2057.67 crore 24% stake-purchase deal with Jet Airways on November 20. On Monday, Etihad said it has doubled the number of flights and tripled the number of seats which it offers between Abu Dhabi and Mumbai and New Delhi, adding a second daily service and introducing wide-bodied Airbus planes on both routes.
On the Abu Dhabi-Mumbai route, the evening flight is now operated with 292-seat Airbus A340-600 aircraft. The A340-600 will add 2,044 seats per week from Abu Dhabi to Mumbai, taking the total from 952 to 2,996 seats in each direction, over triple the previous capacity.
10/12/13 Economic Times

Sri Lankan smuggling in gold inside his rectum arrested at Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport

Mumbai: Airport customs officials arrested a Sri Lankan who was trying to smuggle in six pieces of gold weighing over 700gms inside his rectum, at Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport (CSIA) on Sunday morning. The seized gold has been valued at over Rs17 lakh in the open market.
The Air Intelligence Unit (AIU) officials of the airport customs department have identified the accused as Mohammed Manfous. He was apprehended after arriving from Singapore in a Jet Airways flight.
10/12/12 Daily News & Analysis

Dreamliners undergoing maintenance checks: Minister

New Delhi: To ensure reliability and safety, all Dreamliner aircraft in the Air India fleet has been taken in for a 10-day maintenance grounding beginning from December 1, Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh told the Lok Sabha recently.
The Minister said that since the induction of the Boeing 787 aircraft (Dreamliner) in the Air India fleet from September 2012 till November 27 this year, 136 minor technical snags have occurred on these aircraft which were fixed by the Boeing/Air India technical team.
Singh pointed out that in January there was an incident overseas relating to the batteries installed on a Boeing 787 aircraft, which necessitated the grounding of the aircraft fleet worldwide in accordance with the directive issued by FAA of US.
10/12/13 Business Line

Indian air travellers to Dubai nearly 8.3 million this year

New Delhi: India has emerged as the largest market served from Dubai with 7.34 million passengers passing through it in 2012, a figure which is expected to touch 8.3 million this year.
The hike in Indian passengers travelling to or through Dubai International airport has been caused by the fact that seven Indian and Dubai airlines operated to and from 20 Indian cities, which have a total of 185 flights every week, Dubai Airports' media relations manager Zaigham Ali said.
He said the number of Indian air travellers was expected to rise by 13.3 per cent in 2013 to 8.3 million, up from 7.34 million last year. "India is an important market absolutely and it will continue to grow even with status quo" in the bilateral air traffic rights between the two countries.
10/12/13  Economic Times

Etihad adds more flights from Delhi, Mumbai; announces major expansion

New Delhi: With the Government approving the 24 per cent stake in Jet Airways to Etihad Airways, Etihad has announced major expansion of its Indian operations.
“Central to the Etihad Airways plan is the use of Abu Dhabi, capital of the United Arab Emirates, as a global hub connecting international passengers and freight with flights to and from India. Pending the opening of a new facility, United States-bound passengers will be able to clear US immigration and customs at Abu Dhabi Airport,” the airline said in a statement.
The first stage of the Etihad Airways strategy includes additional flights or the introduction of larger aircraft on existing routes to India.
09/12/13 Business Line

Sunday, December 08, 2013

SpiceJet Doesn't Look Tasty

In the rush by foreign airlines to get a piece of India's airspace, domestic firm SpiceJet looks like an unwanted orphan.
New Delhi's move a year ago to let foreign airlines own up to 49% of local carriers has opened up the biggest new market for the global industry. India is set to be world's third-largest aviation market by 2020, according to analysts at CAPA-Centre for Aviation.
Abu Dhabi's flagship Etihad Airways tied up with India's Jet Airways  earlier this year. Malaysian low-fare giant AirAsia  and full-service Singapore Airlines  announced separate ventures with Tata Group, the conglomerate that owned Air India before the state seized it in the 1950s. These firms have deep pockets and operational expertise to fight it out in India's tantalizing yet regulation-heavy airspace.
There are three major domestic airlines that haven't tied up with foreigners. Market leader IndiGo is closely held and considered the strongest of the bunch. State-owned Air India constantly turns to taxpayers for bailouts and isn't under the same commercial pressure.
That leaves budget airline SpiceJet, which carries one in five Indian fliers, all alone. Based in Chennai in southern India, it will go head-to-head with the Air Asia-Tata low-fare venture, which also plans to set up its hub there.
08/12/13 Abheek Bhattacharya/Wall Street Journal

Indian airlines face late departures

New Delhi:  A major snag at UK's main air traffic control centre in UK's Hampshire on Saturday led to flight delays to and from its major airports like Heathrow, affecting India flights too. Air India confirmed that its two daily flights to London from Delhi and Mumbai were delayed by about an hour each due to the trouble in UK.
"All flights to and from London are facing some delays. All airlines are affected," said an AI official. While Jet and British Airways spokespersons could not be reached for comment, BA website showed some flights between India and London were delayed on Saturday and early Sunday morning.
08/12/13 Times of India