10 yrs after being duped by visa agent, Indian flies back from UAE

Dubai: When the now 48-year-old Chilumala Chandrashekhar arrived in the UAE in May 2007 on a visit visa from India, his two children were 10 and 6 years old, respectively. Since then, he hasn't seen them.

And this new year, he will be back home with his wife and children.

On Saturday, after 10 years of uncertainty, Chandrashekhar was at Dubai airport again, this time to return to his hometown in Telangana.

"I haven't seen my kids in 10 years. They are 20-year-old and 16-year-old now," he told Khaleej Times.

After being lured by false promises made by a fraud visa agent in India, Chandrashekhar decided in 2007 to leave his hometown and family behind in the hope that he would be able to build a better future for them.

But he ended up living in Dubai without getting his residency papers in order and doing menial jobs for 10 years. After suffering a serious injury at a construction site earlier this month - that resulted in a fractured heel - immigration authorities, the Indian consulate and local social workers intervened on humanitarian grounds. Chandrashekhar returned home on Saturday.
31/12/17 Dhanusha Gokulan/Khaleej Times

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Flight to Bangkok gets costlier

City residents are making a beeline for Bangkok for the New Year celebrations with the recently launched Air India Chandigarh-Bangkok flight booked to full capacity.
Ringing the New Year in the popular tourist destination though comes at a price since fare for the 5-hour direct flight has almost doubled.
The economy class fare for a return flight to Bangkok on January 1 is Rs 30,500. When the flight was announced, the introductory fare was Rs 16,000 for a return flight ticket.
RK Negi, local station manager, Air India, said: “The response of the flight has been encouraging. For January 1 flight, 150 economy seats have been booked and only a few business class seats are vacant, which are expected to be booked in the next two days.”
31/12/17 Tribune

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After Shikhar Dhawan, Kevin Pietersen Lashes Out at Emirates Airlines

New Delhi: Emirates Airlines' tryst with high-profile customers continues as after India cricketer Shikhar Dhawan had lashed out at them, English superstar Kevin Pietersen has also taken to social media to slam the airlines.

While travelling from United Kingdom to Melbourne via Dubai, KP's luggage was allegedly misplaced by the airlines and according to him, he was left with now clothes to wear for his commentary commitments in the Big Bash League.

KP's post read: "1. YOU FORGET TO PICK ME UP FOR MY FLIGHT. 2. YOU’VE JUST LEFT ALL MY LUGGAGE IN DUBAI. How do I work on international TV in a few hours with no clothes? 1st Class FULL paying passenger & PLATINUM member. @emirates @EmiratesSupport @Busta569"
With the help of Emirates, KP was finally able to get some clothes, which he revealed that in another tweet: "The @emirates credit card ran out when I went to the socks counter...! Gutted, but got some decent get up!"
Earlier, Dhawan in an angry, two part, tweet wrote - "Absolutely unprofessional from @emirates. Was on my way 2 SA with my fam & was told tht my wife and kids can't board the flight from Dubai to SA. Was asked to produce birth certificates & other documents fr my kids at the airport which we obviously didn't have at that moment."
"They are now at Dubai airport waiting for the documents to arrive. Why didn't @emirates notify about such a situation when we were boarding the plane from Mumbai? One of the emirates' employee was being rude for no reason at all."
30/12/17 cricketnext

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Emirates Airline denies Shikhar Dhawan's allegations of 'unprofessional' behaviour

New Delhi: The Emirates Airline on Friday apologised for the inconvenience caused to Shikhar Dhawan and family but simultaneously rejected the allegations made by the Indian batsman of "unprofessional" behaviour and said that it acted according to the South African laws.

Earlier in the day, Indian opener Dhawan accused the Emirates Airline of "unprofessional" behaviour and alleged that the Airline stopped his family from boarding the connecting flight from Dubai en route Cape Town, where India is set to open their Test tour against South Africa.

The right-handed batsman took to Twitter and said that the airlines asked for some documents of his wife Aesha and children as identification proofs and added that the airlines did not inform them beforehand about it.
Irked Dhawan tweeted, "Absolutely unprofessional from @emirates. Was on my way 2 SA with my fam & was told tht my wife and kids can't board the flight from Dubai to SA. Was asked to produce birth certificates & other documents fr my kids at the airport which we obviously didn't have at that moment."
"They are now at Dubai airport waiting for the documents to arrive. Why didn't @emirates notify about such a situation when we were boarding the plane from Mumbai? One of the emirates' employee was being rude for no reason at all," he wrote in another tweet.
In response, Emirate Airline issued a statement and clarified, "Since 1 June 2015, according to South African regulations, anyone
travelling to the country with a minor under 18 needs to prove parenthood or guardianship - while adults travelling alone with their children need to show that they have the consent of their non-travelling partner."
"Like all airlines, we must comply with the laws of every country in which we operate and this is a shared responsibility with passengers, who are required to hold valid travel documents for all countries on their itinerary," the statement further read.
30/12/17 ANI/Economic Times

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India cricket star Dhawan's wife, kids stopped in Dubai by Emirates

Cape Town: Indian opening batsman Shikhar Dhawan's family was not allowed to catch the connecting flight from Dubai to South Africa on Friday.

Taking to Twitter, an agitated Dhawan tweeted about the incident where his wife and kids were stopped from boarding an Emirates flight, after they were asked to produce birth certificates and other documents for the children.

Commenting on the episode, an Emirates spokesperson said:

"We note that the family was not able to continue their journey together as planned. We regret any inconvenience caused. However, since June 1, 2015, according to South African regulations, anyone travelling to the country with a minor under 18 needs to prove parenthood or guardianship - while adults travelling alone with their children need to show that they have the consent of their non-travelling partner.
Like all airlines, we must comply with the laws of every country in which we operate and this is a shared responsibility with passengers, who are required to hold valid travel documents for all countries on their itinerary."

India cricket team members touched South African soil in the morning, where they will play three Tests, six One-Day Internatonals (ODIs) and three Twenty20 Internationals (T20Is).

Dhawan alleged that Emirates Airlines didn't notify about producing birth certificates or identification proofs of the player's wife Aesha Mukherjee and their two kids.
30/12/17 Khaleej Times

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GoAir seeks DGCA nod to start overseas flights with Mumbai-Maldives route in Feb

New Delhi: Twelve years after launch, low cost carrier GoAir is finally preparing to fly overseas. The Wadia Group airline has sought nod to start with Mumbai-Maldives route in February and "filed for preparedness" with the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA).
"GoAir is doing route proving for Mumbai-Maldives (Male). While they have not indicated a firm date, GoAir has given first week of February as the tentative time for starting that flight," said a senior DGCA official. GoAir was launched in 2005 around the same time as IndiGo, SpiceJet and now-defunct Kingfisher. While its contemporaries started flying overseas almost as soon as they complied with the now abolished rule of completing five years in service and having 20 planes in their fleet, GoAir was conservative in fleet expansion and in venturing abroad.
Given its slow growth, aviation officials in Delhi say they have their "fingers crossed" on GoAir actually starting overseas flights. "They have got overseas rights for some time now. Let us see when they fly abroad," said a senior official. In mid-2016, GoAir was given flying rights to nine countries — Iran, China, Vietnam, Maldives, Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Qatar and Saudi Arabia.
On its part, a GoAir spokesman had recently told TOI: "Our International launch has been behind schedule due to the delayed deliveries of Airbus A-320 Neos (new engine option). Now since there is clarity on future deliveries, we are evaluating various international route opportunities and will announce our launch plans shortly." GoAir, with 31 planes in its fleet currently, says it still has all the overseas rights given to it earlier.
The airline has ordered 144 A-320 Neo planes but troubles with the Pratt & Whitney engines meant slower deliveries to both the Indian airlines that had ordered this combo — IndiGo and GoAir. Apart from delaying GoAir's international launch, the delayed delivery of planes also affected the airline's domestic flights that were planned on the anticipated aircraft delivery schedule.
29/12/17 Saurabh Sinha/Times of India

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Mumbai-Kabul air freight corridor opens

Mumbai: In a milestone development, an aircraft carrying perishable items arrived from Kabul at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport here, marking the launch of a dedicated air freight corridor between India and Afghanistan, an official said on Thursday.

The initiative was planned during the visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Afghanistan when he met Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani in September 2016.

The connectivity was subsequently implemented by Maharashtra Governor CV Rao and Afghanistan Vice President Danish Sarwar, providing the landlocked country (Afghanistan) greater access to markets in this state (Maharashtra).

“It will permit Afghan businessmen to leverage economic growth, enhance trade networks and offer their farmers direct connection to the markets in western India for their perishable goods,” a CSMIA spokesperson said.

The flight, carrying 40 tonne fresh apples, arrived here on Wednesday from Kabul and returned on Thursday with a cargo of 20 tonne bananas and 20 tonne fresh tomatoes from Mumbai.

The current trade volume between the two countries stands at roughly $350 million with a goal to increase it to around $1 billion in the next three years.

While India exports man-made filaments, apparel and clothing accessories, pharmaceuticals, cereals, man-made staple fibres, dairy and poultry products, spices, Afghanistan sends fresh fruits, dried fruits and nuts, vegetables, oil seeds, precious and semi-precious stones among others.
28/12/17 Indileak

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Passengers on Saudi Airlines flight escapes narrowly, as pilot averts major accident in Lucknow airport

New Delhi: A pilot of Saudi Airlines flight today averted a major accident by applying emergency brakes at the Lucknow airport. According to an airport official, the nose wheel of the airline –number SV895– developed a technical snag during the take-off. The aircraft, carrying 300 passengers, was scheduled for Riyadh. The aircraft developed the technical problem on the runway, as a result of which, the runway was blocked and all arrivals and departures had to be rescheduled, the official added said. The arrivals of six flights from various airports were diverted to IGI airport Delhi, while three scheduled departures were held up.

Earlier in November, a small aircraft was crashed during take-off in north-west Nepal’s mountainous Humla district, injuring at least 16 people, including thirteen police personnel who were on election duty. The accident at Simikot Airport happened when the aircraft of Tara Air, flying to Surkhet, attempted to take-off from the runway but failed after its tyre burst, police chief AIG Rana Bahadur Chand had said. The accident took place at around 9 am. The 9N-ABM aircraft was hurtling down the runway for take-off when the tyre burst. The aircraft finally came to rest at the northern part of the runway. The front part of the aircraft had suffered severe damages, Chand said.

Last year, a mid-air mishap was averted after an automatically generated warning alerted the pilots of two Air India planes which came dangerously close to each other allegedly due to a mistake from the air traffic controller. The incidentally apparently occurred due to the mixing up of call signs, assigned to the two flights –AI 142 (Paris-Delhi) and AI 154 (Vienna-Delhi)– by the Air Traffic Controller (ATC), sources said, adding the aircraft were just 700 feet apart when the vertical separation should be 1,000 feet. The controller has been taken off duty and the aviation authorities have initiated a probe to ascertain the exact cause of the incident, they had added. “The two Air India aircraft were in approach control at that time and were to land in Delhi. However, the ATC mistook the call sign of one aircraft for another, leading to the breach of separation,” the source had said.

The pilots are supposed to ensure a vertical separation of 1,000 feet between the two aircraft at a flight level of 29,000 feet. A call sign is the airline code and the flight number. During communications between the ATC and the pilot onboard a flight, phonetic versions for alphabets are used worldwide.
27/12/17 Financial Express

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Saudi aircraft snag affects 26 flights at Lucknow airport

Lucknow A snag in the front wheel of Saudi Arabian Airline around 1800 hrs on Wednesday threw air traffic out of gear at Chaudhary Charan Singh International Airport here, affecting 26 flights.

The traffic at the airport was resumed after almost five and a half hours after the plane was towed away to the workshop area.
The Lucknow-Riyadh flight SVA 894 was hit by a glitch in the front wheel due to which it had to be aborted even though it had already taxied on to the runway.
Passengers had to be deplaned on the tarmac and transported to the terminal building.
28/12/17 UNI

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Foreign carriers to bring in more non-stop flights

New Delhi: Come 2018 and Bali will be a direct flight away from Mumbai, and Ukraine capital Kiev from Delhi. Indian globetrotters will be able to take non-stop flights to a number of new international destinations from next year.
Pradeep Chauhan of Bird Travels, the general sales agent for a number of international airlines, said Vietnamese carrier VietJet will start a direct flight between Delhi and Ho Chi Minh in the summer. Anil Kalsi of the Delhi-based Ambe Travels added that Ukraine International Airlines was launching a Delhi-Kiev non-stop from May, linking the two cities for the first time.
"Indonesian carrier Garuda will start a direct flight from Mumbai to Bali from March 12. It will initially be thrice a week but the frequency will be raised to four from March 26. The airline will deploy its latest Airbus A-330 on the route," Chauhan said. Kuwait's low-cost Jazeera Airways will start direct flights to Ahmedabad and Kochi from January, he added. The airline had recently started flights on the Hyderabad-Kuwait route.
Being the world's fastest growing aviation market, India is on the radar of foreign airlines. But since Mumbai has no free slots and the Delhi airport is also slot-constrained, connectivity from the two aviation mega hubs is now suffering.
Jazeera had sought slots for Mumbai-Kuwait flights but is yet to get them. "Maldivian carrier Mega Maldives wanted to start flights to Delhi and Mumbai from this winter but did not get slots. We hope to get slots in the summer and start those flights," said Chauhan.
28/12/17 Saurabh Sinha/Times of India

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Second India-Afghan air cargo route launched

New Delhi: The second India-Afghanistan air cargo route linking Kabul to Mumbai was launched on Wednesday, with officials saying that it is expected to boost the export of fresh fruits and medicinal plants from Afghanistan.

The second route follows the success of the Kabul-New Delhi air corridor that was inaugurated by Afghan President Ashraf Ghani in mid-June.

Afghan officials told the media that 10,640 tons of fresh produce, fresh and dried fruits, medicinal plants and handicrafts worth more than $20 million had been exported to India since the launch of the first corridor.

The second corridor was inaugurated by Afghan and Indian officials at the Hamid Karzai international airport in Kabul.


Manpreet Vohra, who is India’s envoy to Afghanistan, tweeted, “Congratulations, #Afghanistan! The #IndiaAfghanistanAirCorridor expanded today! His Excellency Afghan Vice President Sarwar Danish inaugurated the first cargo flight from Kabul to Mumbai. Real and unimpeded connectivity for Afghan traders.”

Speaking at the launch ceremony, Deputy Chairman of the Afghanistan Chamber of Commerce and Industries, Khan Jan Alokozay, said the export of Afghan fruits will increase owing to the new route.
28/12/17 Indian Express

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Russian held at IGI Airport for travelling on fake ticket

New Delhi: Russian held at IGI Airport for travelling on fake ticket
New Delhi, Dec 27 (UNI) The Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) apprehended a Russian national for entering the Indira Gandhi International Airport on a fake ticket, here on Wednesday.
At around 0124 hrs, the CISF personnel noticed a foreigner roaming in check-in area, who was trying to escape from terminal-3 at IGI Airport. He was intercepted and enquired.
'On enquiry, the accused was identified as Anokhin Aleksei, a Russian national. He confessed that he entered the terminal by showing his passport and edited itinerary on mobile phone, bound for Moscow by flight SU-235, to see his friend off', an official said.
27/12/17 UNI

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Two Indian nationals held at Dhaka Airport with gold bars

Dhaka: Two Indian nationals were arrested at the Shahjalal Airport for allegedly carrying 2.6 kg gold bar, here.

The accused have been identified as Iswar Das and Gurjan Singh, who came here from Dubai on Emirates flight EK-586, at around 1945 hrs on Tuesday, a Custoims official said.
''They tried to leave the Green Channel area hastily. On suspicion, we challenged them, but they denied having any gold with them. We later took them to an Uttara clinic, where x-ray report confirmed presence of gold bars inside their rectums," said Assistant Commissioner (Preventive) of Dhaka Custom House, Md Saidul Islam.
27/12/17 UNI

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Jet Airways celebrates 10 years in Bangladesh

Jet Airways, a premier international airline of India, yesterday celebrated a decade of operations in Bangladesh.

Marking the occasion, the airline announced a flat 10 percent discount on ticket prices for 10 days starting December 21 for travel from Bangladesh to 10 destinations -- Amsterdam, London, Paris and Toronto and India's Kolkata, Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Bengaluru and Hyderabad.

Jet Airways is the first privately-owned Indian carrier to provide direct air connectivity between Bangladesh and India.

The first flight from Kolkata to Dhaka took place on December 16, 2007.

The airline now offers daily flights from Bangladesh to Kolkata, Mumbai and Delhi, said a press release.
Its chairman, Naresh Goyal, said, “Air travel between Bangladesh and India has been growing at a steady pace and we're happy that we have been able to further trade, tourism and people-to-people contact between the two countries.”
27/12/17 Daily Star

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Jet's Dhaka-Kolkata flight taxis with one flyer less, returns to pick him up

New Delhi: Jet Airways' Dhaka-Kolkata flight on Monday was delayed by two and a half hours as one of the passengers at Kolkata airport went to an adjoining boarding gate after reporting at airlines boarding gate counter.
While the count tallied with the flight's passenger list at the gate, the aircraft actually had one flyer less. This discrepancy appeared during a pre-takeoff headcount. Following which, the plane had to be taken back to a remote bay to pick up the passenger.
By the time the crew realised they had one person short, the plane had been pushed back for taxiing. The plane was refuelled and took off with a delay of 2.5 hours.
This uncommon confusion took place on Jet's Dhaka-Kolkata flight (9W 273) on Christmas.
26/12/17 Saurabh Sinha/Times of India

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Jet Airways offers 20% off on tickets from UAE

Jet Airways is continuing their countdown to 2018 with a special promotion to take travellers into the New Year.

People who book tickets from December 27, 2017 until January 2, 2018, will enjoy extensive savings of up to 20 per cent* on flights from the UAE to India and beyond to destinations including Bangkok, Colombo, Dhaka, Hong Kong, Kathmandu, and Singapore.

The limited period sale will be offered on a first-come, first-serve basis and will be valid for both one way and return journeys, allowing guests to plan their forthcoming travel well in advance. Tickets booked as part of the promotion will be valid for travel from January 15, 2018 onwards with applicable terms and conditions.

The special fares will be applicable only on flights operated by Jet Airways and guests can book their tickets via the airline's website at www.jetairways.com, the airline's mobile app or by contacting their travel agent.
27/12/17 Khaleej Times

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Dubai jeweller held for smuggling 50kg of gold into India

Dubai: The owner of a jewellery shop in Deira, Dubai has been arrested in Mumbai for allegedly smuggling 50 kg of gold into India with the help of his businessman brother.
India’s Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) took both men into custody last week after they seized a consignment from Dubai at Mumbai’s courier terminal.

The shipment which contained 20 disc-shaped pieces of gold each weighing 2.5 kg, was headed to the Indian state of Gujarat. DRI officials said the brothers were trying to pass off the shipment as a metal consignment to hoodwink authorities.
According to reports, the duo used the same ploy to smuggle around 350kg of gold to India through 21 consignments over the past six months. Describing their modus operandi, DRI officials said the suspects would procure large quantities of gold from African countries, have them melted in Dubai before dispatching them to India as metal consignments. “They’d even hired a Pakistani man in Dubai to conceal the gold. Both men will remain in judicial custody until January 5,” said an official.
27/12/17 Gulf News

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Christmas tourist arrivals in Goa have dropped by 30%, says local body as GST and high airfares make holidaying costlier

Panaji: Tourists usually throng Goa during Christmas but this year seem to have given the coastal state a miss, as both foreign and domestic tourist arrivals have dropped 30 percent, a local industry association said on Sunday.

Goa is known for its night-long parties which begin from Christmas (25 December) and continue till 31 December midnight.
"As far as Christmas is concerned, there has been a drop in foreign and domestic tourist arrival by almost 30 percent compared to last year," Savio Messiah, president, Travel and Tourism Association of Goa (TTAG), told PTI.

Messiah claimed that the factors "like GST" have affected the high-end tourists while many have refused to come because of the "high air-fares" and "high cost of holiday" in the state.

Messiah said the situation will hopefully improve during the New Year celebrations with more people arriving in the state.

However, Goa tourism department claims the tourists have just begun arriving and the number would go up during the coming week.

"The tourists have already begun arriving in the state. We expect more footfall this week. You can see yourself how streets are abuzz with the guests," the state's Tourism Director Menino D'Souza said.
24/12/17 PTI/First Post

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India refuses direct North East entry to Dubai airlines

New Delhi: India has rejected Dubai's request for rights that would have allowed carriers based in the Emirate to fly directly to under-served airports in the country, such as those in the North East.

"We have decided against allowing any such access to Dubai. The request has been rejected," said a senior aviation ministry official, who did not want to be named.

Dubai is trying to negotiate increase in the flying-rights entitlements to India, and flights to Guwahati or Dibrugarh would have been over and above the existing bilateral agreements had New Delhi agreed to the request. Dubai had written to the Indian government for direct access to northeastern airports.
Dubai-based Flydubai had sought to expand its footprint in India. "You want us to go to Bhubaneshwar, Tirupati, Coimbatore... wherever you want us to invest in driving economic growth, employment or be part of the (Incredible India campaign)... we will be happy to do that," Sudhir Sreedharan, Senior Vice-President, Commercial Operations, Indian Sub-Continent/Gulf Cooperation Council and Africa at Flydubai, had said earlier.
Flydubai and Emirates are two Dubai-based carriers operating in India.
25/12/17 Mihir Mishra/Economic Times

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All-cargo direct flight opens, linking Kunming, Bangalore

Kunming: A cargo flight loaded with 42 tonnes of electronic products departed from the southwestern Chinese city of Kunming for Bangalore, India, on Monday, the first all-cargo direct China-Bangalore route.

The new route, served by Airbus A300-600, will fly twice a week before increasing to five weekly, according to the Uni-Top Airlines.

The flight will carry high-end electronic products, mobile phone parts and communication equipment components made in Shanghai, Chengdu and Shenzhen.

Bangalore is one of world's leading information and technology centers.
25/12/17 Xinhua

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India Interested in Israeli Systems for its New Combat Helicopters Fleet

India is enhancing its combat helicopter fleet. HAL (Hindustan Aeronautics Limited) has received a Request for Proposal (RFP) for 15 Limited Series Light Combat Helicopters (LCH) from the Indian Air Force (IAF) and the Indian Army. This comes close on the heels of HAL receiving RFP for the supply of 83 LCAs (Light Combat Aircraft) just days ago.

India has been showing interest in several Israeli systems for this helicopter, namely various pods and Spike anti-tank missiles manufactured by Rafael Advanced Defense Systems.

LCH is a 5.5-ton class, combat helicopter designed and developed by HAL. It is powered by two Shakti engines and inherits many technical features of the Advanced Light Helicopter.

According to the company’s statement on its website, the features that are unique to LCH are sleek and narrow fuselage, tri-cycle crashworthy landing gear, crashworthy and self-sealing fuel tanks, armor protection and low visibility features which makes the LCH lethal, agile and survivable.
25/12/17 iHLS

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Airport X'mas for stranded Air India passengers

The Christmas spirit was dampened for passengers travelling to India from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) as several flights from Sharjah, Dubai and Abu Dhabi were delayed or rescheduled owing to foggy weather conditions in the country. Flights to Mumbai and Delhi were delayed by as long as 12 hours, forcing several passengers to be stranded at the airports who then took to social media to express their displeasure over the delays.

"Air India Express, terrible traveling service. Flight from Sharjah to Mumbai IX 252 delayed for more than 10 hours! No response from 24/7 helpline," tweeted Raj Shah, one of the passengers. The Air India Express flight IX 252 was originally scheduled to take off from Sharjah Airport at 2.25 am on December 25 and reach Mumbai at 6.55 am, however, the flight took off at 4.34 pm on December 25.

A source from Air India said, "The flights from Sharjah were rescheduled considering the weather conditions." Repeated attempts to get in touch with a spokesperson of Air India Express did not yield any result.
25/12/17 DNA

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DRI busts racket, foreign notes worth Rs 99 lakh seized

Ahmedabad: Directorate of revenue intelligence (DRI) Ahmedabad unit has busted smuggling of foreign currency of Rs 99 lakh at Hyderabad international airport and on the basis of the intelligence input shared by the agency two passengers were also apprehended in the case.
Officials said that the agency had specific intelligence that two passengers Bunty Ramnani and Rajendra Prasad Gupta both from Ulhasnagar in Thane of Maharashtra will be attempting to smuggle foreign currency out of India to Dubai and Sharjah respectively. The agency also came to know that these passengers will first go from Mumbai to Hyderabad as domestic passengers and from Hyderabad to Dubai and Sharjah by Air Arabia Airlines and Fly Dubai Airlines respectively in the early Sunday morning.
Intelligence further indicated that the accused will be concealing foreign currency inside the rectum, handles of their trolley bags, mobiles and inside false cavities of slippers worn by them to avoid detection by Customs at Hyderabad International Airport.
"DRI, Ahmedabad passed the intelligence to air intelligence unit (AIU) of Hyderabad International Airport. The officers of AIU at Hyderabad intercepted both passengers when they reached there to board the flights. On interrogation they denied carrying any foreign currency with them. Then the officers of AIU conducted thorough personal search of these passengers along with search of their checked-in-baggage.
During the search foreign currencies like Euro and US Dollar worth Rs 99 lakhs were recovered. Assorted foreign currencies were shaped into rolls and these rolls were concealed in their rectums, in the handles of their trolly bags, in false cavities of slippers worn by them and inside the mobile phones they were carrying with them. In the interrogation it was revealed that these passengers were carriers deployed by a smuggling syndicate based at Ulhasnagar," said officials.
25/12/17 Times of India

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Flight that took from Kochi returns to Kochi, passengers protest

Kochi: A Jet Airways flight that started from Kochi the other day to go to Sharjah returned to Kochi without dropping off the passengers. The flight could not land in the Sharjah airport due to heavy fog, and finally it returned to Kochi.

Reports say that the passengers of the flight that landed back in Kochi by 11.10 am are protesting.

The flight that took from Kochi by 9.30 pm on Saturday was diverted to Muscat after it became impossible for the plane to land in the Sharjah airport due to heavy fog. Though the flight landed in Muscat by 12.30, the passengers were not deboarded. The flight then started from Muscat back to Kochi by 7.30 am.

Nevertheless, there are complaints that there was an attempt to deboard the passengers of the flight by force in Kochi. The passengers are of the stance that they would not debaord unless they are assured about when they can travel back.
24/12/17 Kaumudi Online

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Protest as Jet Airways passengers not allowed to disembark from diverted flight

Al Ain: Passengers of a Goa-Abu Dhabi flight that was diverted to Al Ain due to fog have complained that the airline did not allow them to disembark for 11 hours and wanted to fly them back to Goa.
Jet Airways flight no. 9W590 from Goa to Abu Dhabi had reached Abu Dhabi on time on Friday night, but was redirected to Al Ain airport due to bad weather, passengers told Gulf News.
Passengers claimed that they understood the situation and were cooperating with the airline crew until they were told that they would be flown back to Goa even as other flights that reached later landed in Abu Dhabi. 
After waiting for about four hours without any clarification, they said one of the Emirati passengers aboard the flight developed a medical issue.
“She was returning after undergoing a surgery. She developed swelling. Paramedics came to treat her and finally she and her family members were only allowed to disembark,” said one of the passengers who did not wish to be named.
Passengers also took to Twitter to air their grievances as they feared about getting stranded for a longer time if they would be flown back to Goa.
24/12/17 Sajila Saseendran/Gulf News

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India refuses direct North East entry to Dubai airlines

New Delhi: India has rejected Dubai's request for rights that would have allowed carriers based in the Emirate to fly directly to under-served airports in the country, such as those in the North East.

"We have decided against allowing any such access to Dubai. The request has been rejected," said a senior aviation ministry official, who did not want to be named.

Dubai is trying to negotiate increase in the flying-rights entitlements to India, and flights to Guwahati or Dibrugarh would have been over and above the existing bilateral agreements had New Delhi agreed to the request. Dubai had written to the Indian government for direct access to northeastern airports.
Dubai-based Flydubai had sought to expand its footprint in India. "You want us to go to Bhubaneshwar, Tirupati, Coimbatore... wherever you want us to invest in driving economic growth, employment or be part of the (Incredible India campaign)... we will be happy to do that," Sudhir Sreedharan, Senior Vice-President, Commercial Operations, Indian Sub-Continent/Gulf Cooperation Council and Africa at Flydubai, had said earlier.
Flydubai and Emirates are two Dubai-based carriers operating in India.
24/12/17 Mihir Mishra/Economic Times

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How I was robbed flying Air India from New Delhi to Hong Kong

I had a sinking feeling about my journey to Hong Kong on flight AI310 when I reached the boarding gate at New Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport to be informed there would be a one-hour delay.

At the boarding gate across from us on Thursday night, another Air India flight, to Mumbai, was caught up in some kind of drama, with ground staff screaming their lungs out at each other and into their walkie-talkies over some crisis I couldn’t quite figure out, preoccupied as I was with the prospect of a tedious wait ahead of my least favourite pastime – flying economy class.

My own gate was soon the epicentre of another loud drama as one angry passenger after another launched into yelling contests with Air India counter staff over the inconvenience caused by our delay, which ended up lasting nearly two hours.

Our Boeing 787 Dreamliner, arriving late from Mumbai, had apparently developed technical problems and had to be replaced with another aircraft.
The “stuff dreams are made of” and the “dream come true”, as the state-owned airline advertises its 787 service, was already turning into a nightmare.

We were originally scheduled to fly at 11.15pm Indian time, but it was around 1am when we finally took off. The plane swap meant many passengers lost their window/aisle/emergency exit seat bookings and there was much commotion on board, compounded by ground staff running up and down the aisles looking for “missing” travellers.

I ended up in 22D, a middle-row aisle seat, and stashed my carry-on luggage – a small, nylon, zip suitcase – in the locker directly above my head.

Along with some clothes and books, I had in it a leather bag with my laptop, iPad, and some US, Indian and Hong Kong currency. I was carrying about US$3,000 in 100-dollar bills.
My suitcase had no lock, but it was so tightly packed and heavy that I remember thinking it would take considerable effort and skill to remove it or prise the leather bag out from above my head without my knowledge.

The journey lasted less than five hours, and I drifted in and out of sleep through most of it. I could sense the occasional passenger brushing past me for a toilet trip, and cabin crew going about their business up and down the aisle while most of us dozed off.
When we landed in Hong Kong on Friday morning, a very quick inspection of my carry-on baggage suggested everything was in order and I left the aircraft.

It was only in the evening, while unpacking at home, that I suddenly discovered all the US$100 bills were gone; they had been replaced with US$1 notes – 21 in total. Nice exchange rate.

The sneaky switcheroo had worked exactly as intended. Nothing else had been stolen and that was the genius of the con – I would have easily spotted a missing laptop or credit cards.
Whoever took the money would have had to remove the bag, take it away to carry out the elaborate swap and bring it back – it could not have been done above my head without waking me up.
23/12/17 Yonden Lhatoo/South China Morning Post





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Malindo Air launches service from Bengaluru

Bengaluru: Malindo Air, a Malaysian airline, has launched its services from Bengaluru to Kuala Lumpur.

A press statement from the company said Malindo Air departs every Thursday and Sunday from the Bengaluru international airport at 11.15 pm and arrives at Kuala Lumpur the next day at 6 am.

The return flight departs from Kuala Lumpur on the same day at 8.40 pm and arrives at Bengaluru by 10.20 pm.
22/12/17 Business Line

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Philippines Works On ‘No Visa’ For Indians

The Department of Tourism (DOT) Philippines is all set to hit the 100,000 mark soon from India market. India currently is the 12th largest source market for Philippines and the Philippines Tourism is seriously working on establishing direct connectivity between both the nations and also implementation of visa free travel for the Indians.

“The numbers to Philippines from India are good and growing. The arrivals to Philippines from India will soon reach 100,000. Presently India is at number 12 as a source market but soon to be in the top 10. Philippines is perceived as unique and niche destination in India. There has been over 20 per cent average growth pattern over past several months primarily due to increased visibility, aggressive marketing, word of mouth referential publicity and support by the DOT team in India to the trade, corporates (for MICE) etc,” SanJeet, Tourism Attaché, Philippines Tourism Marketing Office India said.

According to him, there has been a saturation of other South-east Asian destinations in the vacation portfolio of the traveller. “Millennial from India want something new and Philippines fits the bill perfectly due to English speaking nation. Philippines Tourism is also working rigorously on implementing on ‘no visa’ for Indians and starting direct flights to Philippines from India. On an average, Indians spend four days five nights and cover at least three locations during the visit.”

After tasting success in the major metro cities, Philippines is now looking to tap tier II & III cities in India. “After the metro cities, the next source markets to Philippines from India are the tier II cities which have the potential as well as are aspirational. These markets are being tapped through roadshows and trade shows,” he added.
22/12/17 Akshay Kumar/TravelTrendsToday

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Abu Dhabi-Lucknow Jet Airways flight diverted to Sharjah

Lucknow: An Abu Dhabi- bound Jet Airways flight from here was on Saturday diverted to Sharjah due to low visibility.

Later, the flight returned to Lucknow, reported ANI.

Last month, another Jet Airways flight was brought back to Delhi after it was diverted to Varanasi.

Following the incident, the fellow passengers at the Delhi airport had raised a ruckus.
23/12/17 Zee Media

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‘India, EU air pact will spur tourism’

New Delhi: The European Union’s Mobility and Transport Commissioner has invited India to explore a deeper engagement in civil aviation through a comprehensive aviation agreement, and also suggested the need for a global agreement on railways.

In an interview, Violeta Bulc, European Commissioner for Mobility and Transport said that she met Civil Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju on Tuesday and had suggested holding an annual aviation summit in India to explore ways to improve safety, security, and the size of airports.

“We shared connectivity issues during our meeting,” Ms. Bulc said. “That's why I invited the minister to consider the next step in our bilateral agreement, which would be a comprehensive aviation agreement. That will, of course, have a direct positive impact on tourism as well.”

“I am very encouraged by what we agreed to,” she added. “Topics like safety, security, improving capacities of airports were all part of our discussion. I proposed to have a proper yearly summit on aviation in India, which I got a positive response from the minister. This will explore all possible concrete areas,” according to Ms. Bulc.
23/12/17 The Hindu

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Four airlines phased out 84 foreign pilots in 2017

New Delhi: Four domestic airlines, including Jet Airways and Air India Express, have phased out a total of 84 foreign pilots this year, according to the government.
There were as many as 249 foreign pilots employed by various airlines in the country as of December 1, 2017.

"All the operators/ airlines have been directed to develop their in-house strength to minimise the dependency on expatriate pilots.

"Accordingly, operators train and upgrade the inducted Indian pilots to reduce the number of expatriate pilots and submit the phase out programme to the DGCA on a regular basis," Minister of State for Civil Aviation Jayant Sinha said in a written reply to a question in the Lok Sabha.

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) is the regulator.

Air India Express, Alliance Air, Jet Airways and IndiGo have phased out 84 foreign pilots this year, as per data provided by the civil aviation ministry.

Among them, Jet Airways has phased out as many as 52 foreign pilots while Air India Express 13 such pilots. IndiGo and Alliance Air have phased out 15 and 4 foreign pilots, respectively.
21/12/17 PTI/Times of India

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Guptas could lose jet over unpaid bills

The Gupta jet registered as ZS-OAK faces being impounded as the Saxonwold family close to beleaguered President Jacob Zuma appears to have run out of money to make scheduled repayments.

The Financial Mail has reliably learnt that the Canadian government’s export credit agency, which provided a soft loan for 80% of the finance required for the jet, has instituted legal action against the Guptas for defaulting on their payments.

The agency, Export Development Canada (EDC), promotes the growth of Canadian businesses abroad by providing finance to international customers who buy products from that country.
Documents contained in the Gupta e-mail leaks show that by October 14, when the next US$1.4m payment for the aircraft fell due, the Guptas still owed $28.3m to EDC.

Sources in the aviation industry told the Financial Mail that EDC had in November grounded the aircraft at Lanseria airport for 48 hours "due to nonpayment. It would appear that a bank (unknown to us) provided the guarantee of funds and the EDC released the aircraft". This was confirmed by another source.

Flight records for ZS-OAK show that since it departed from Lanseria, the aircraft travelled mostly between India and Dubai, where the Guptas have property and business interests. But on December 13 it flew from Dubai to Zurich, where it remained for six days before taking a 36-minute hop to EuroAirport Basel Mulhouse Freiburg in France on Tuesday evening.
21/12/17 Business Live

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Granted bail: Israeli ex-armyman caught with satellite phone at Mumbai airport

Mumbai: An Israeli ex-armyman was caught at Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport with a satellite phone in his luggage on Tuesday. According to the police, 24-year-old Ido Tsameret was caught at the airport after arriving in Mumbai from Israel on Tuesday morning. Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) officials, during the security check, found an unusual object inside his luggage and searched through it manually. Inside, they found a Magnus satellite phone, a range of emergency search and rescue devices manufactured by the company based in Tel Aviv, Israel.

Satellite phones are banned in India after they were found to be used by Pakistani terrorists to contact their handlers during the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks. In 2012, the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security issued a circular to all airports in the country, directing authorities to detain passengers and seize the handsets. After Sahar police station was informed by the CISF, it booked Tsameret under the Indian Wireless Telegraph Act.

On Wednesday, the police filed a chargesheet against Tsameret at the metropolitan magistrate court. Lata Shirsath, senior inspector, Sahar police station, said Tsameret was granted bail by the court on Wednesday. Tsameret arrived in India on a tourist visa after completing compulsory military service at home. His lawyer, advocate Prabhakar Tripathi, said Tsameret was to take a connecting flight to Goa from Mumbai when he was caught.

“He was not aware that satellite phones are banned in India,” said Tripathi. Tsameret is the third foreign national this year to be caught at Mumbai international airport in possession of a satellite phone. Last month, Australian national Michael Carton (58), who works with a natural resources firm, was caught with a satellite phone after landing in Mumbai. He was to go to Indore for a business meeting and told the police he required the phone to communicate from remote areas.
21/12/17 Srinath Rao/Indian Express

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Harsimrat requests civil aviation ministry to restart Amritsar-Birmingham direct flight

Chandigarh: Union Food Processing Minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal on Wednesday requested the civil aviation ministry to restart direct flight service between Amritsar and Birmingham for the benefit of pilgrims and NRIs visiting the historical city of Amritsar and other places in Punjab.

The Union minister has written a letter in this regard to Union Minister of State for Civil Aviation Jayant Sinha and informed him that she was continuously receiving requests from Punjabis as well as NRIs regarding the difficulties being faced by them due to non availability of direct flight connectivity between Birmingham and Amritsar.

Ms Badal informed the Union Minister that a number of expatriates from Punjab were residing in and around Birmingham and frequently travelled to Amritsar to pay obeisance at Sri Harmandar Sahib.
20/12/17 UNI

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Would like to add more flights to India in future: Qatar Airways CEO Akbar Al Baker

St Petersburg: Qatar Airways today said it would like to add more flights to India in the future as the country is an economic superpower and an important destination for the airline.

Addressing a press conference, a day after the launch of its new flight between Doha and Russia's second largest city after Moscow, Qatar Airways group CEO Akbar Al Baker said Indians can take the flight to St Petersburg from Doha as most flight from India arrives at Qatar's capital about two hours prior to departure of this new flight.

The Qatar Airways CEO, who had his education in India, said that he always cherish fond memories of the country.

Asked about future expansion plans of Qatar Airways in India, he said that the airline would certainly like to expand its operation there, but did not give any details.

"India is an economic super power today, so it is an important destination for us," he said.

Criticising the blockade imposed on Qatar by Arab nations, Al Baker said, "Never ever after second world war a civilised world imposed such blocked against any country".
20/12/17 PTI/Economic Times

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Mahan Air to launch Hyderabad-Tehran-Mashhad flight

Hyderabad: Mahan Air, Iran's private carrier, proposes to launch flights connecting Hyderabad to Tehran and Mashhad, which houses a prominent Shia shrine, Iran's Consul General here said on Wednesday.

Earlier, Aseman Airlines, another private carrier, was planning to launch flights connecting Hyderabad to the holy city of Mashhad.

However, this could not materialize due to some technical issues, said Iran's new Consul General in Hyderabad, Mohammed Haghbin Ghomi.

Under the new proposal, Mahan Air will operate the flight on Hyderabad-Tehran-Mashhad route. "This flight will be launched in the near future," he told reporters.

To begin with, this will be a weekly flight. Depending on demand, the frequency may be increased to thrice a week.

Hyderabad will become the first Indian city to be connected to Mashhad, the capital city of Khorasan province and famous for Ali Reza shrine. A large number of Shia Muslims travel to Mashhad for 'ziarat' (pilgrimage).
20/12/17 IANS/New Indian Express

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IAF to Ink Deal for 48 new Mi-17 V5 helicopters from Russia

“Negotiations with the Indian side have been completed, and we hope to sign the contract in 2018, ” Russian Helicopters CEO Andrei Boginsk was quoted as saying by the state-run news agency RIA Novosti December 17. However sources told India Strategic that signatures should be appended on the deal by both the sides in the first quarter of 2018.

The company has already delivered 151 Mi-17 V5 helicopters to India beginning with a deal for 80 machines in 2008, and then another 71 under three follow-on contracts. The Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) of the Indian Ministry of Defence (MoD) had cleared the purchase of fifth lot of 48 of these military transport helicopters in September 2015.
The Mi-17 variants are now the mainstay of the IAF for heli-transporting troops across the country from the Himalayan Mountains to coastal areas. IAF has also converted the V5 variant for VVIP role now.

IAF had first acquired Mi-4 helicopters from the Soviet Union followed by Mi-8s, the last of which was ceremonially phased out on December 17 at a function in Bangalore.

Russian Helicopters is part of the Rostec State Corporation, an umbrella organisation uniting Russia’s military industrial complex and arms exporter Rosoboronexport (ROE).
18/12/17 Vinay Shukla/India Strategic

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Megawide-GMR awarded P9.36-b Clark airport deal

The Duterte administration awarded to Megawide-GMR Consortium the engineering, procurement and construction contract for the Clark International Airport new terminal building, the government’s first hybrid infrastructure project under the ‘Build, Build, Build’ program.

Megawide-GMR, a joint venture of Megawide Construction Corp. and GMR Infrastructure of India, was declared the bidder with the “lowest calculated responsive bid,” after passing the post-qualification evaluation phase of the competitive bidding?beating the offers of four other bidders.

The ‘post-qualification’ process, done in accordance with Philippine government procurement rules, involved validating and verifying the authenticity and veracity of statements made and documents submitted by lowest bidder.

Megawide-GMR submitted the lowest financial proposal for the airport expansion project at P9.36 billion on Dec. 14.

The other four groups which joined the bidding after passing the evaluation of technical proposals were China State Construction Engineering Corp. Ltd., China Harbour Engineering Company Ltd., Sinohydro Corporation Ltd. and the consortium of Tokwing Construction Corp. and China Machinery Engineering Corp.
19/12/17 Manila Standard 

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Only Indian flight crew asked to deposit passports in Saudi Arabia: Delhi High Court told

New Delhi: A Jet Airways pilot today told the Delhi High Court that the flight crew of Indian airliners are made to deposit their passports with Saudi immigration authorities while on layover there, even as this is not a requirement for the staff of other foreign airlines.

Justice Vibhu Bakhru asked the central government to consider the plea as a representation and if expedient to take it up with the foreign nation, after the pilot's lawyer claimed that only the crew of Indian airliners were subjected to this conduct.

The lawyer told the court that the Indian flight crew are given only photocopies of their travel documents.

The pilot had moved the court as he apprehended he might face the same treatment that was given to an Air India crew in July this year as they only had photocopies of their travel papers.

Four crew members of Air India were detained by the Saudi Arabia police on July 26 as they could not show them the original copies of their passport.

According to Air India, the passports of the crew were deposited with the immigration office at Jeddah, which had issued them a certificate.

The certificate was deposited at their hotel, as is the practice, and a photocopy was kept with them, the airline had said in a statement after the incident.

According to news reports, the AI crew members were out for dinner a day after their flight from Mumbai landed in Jeddah when a police team approached them to check their travel papers.

When the airline staff failed to provide the original documents they were put in a police van and their phones confiscated, the news reports said.

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18/12/17 PTI/New Indian Express

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Air service negotiation between the Philippines & India to begin soon

New Delhi: Speaking to select media in Delhi after flagging off new batch of radio taxis with the Philippines Tourism promotional graffiti, Ma Teresita C Daza, Ambassador of the Philippines to India said that having no direct air service between India and the Philippines is a serious disadvantage, especially in terms of attracting big groups and big Indian weddings. However, she said that the air service negotiations between the two countries are expected to begin soon and an answer will be found sooner than later. “Representatives from our Civil Aviation Board were here a couple of days ago. It’s a matter of mutually convenient schedule to commence air service negotiations between the countries,” she said. Giving certain hint about Philippines Airlines resuming its Delhi-Manila service, the Ambassador said that there is “interest being shown” by certain airlines to “resume services”. “If that happens it will be a big boost to our tourism and our tourism promotions in the Indian market.”

Talking about Visa facilitation, the Ambassador said that they have been “constantly fine tuning” their visa process so that it becomes easy. She said that the Philippines offers visa free entry for 14 days to Indian passport holders with a valid Australia, US, UK, Japan, Canada or Schengen visa, for tourism purposes. This can further be extended for 7 more days. She said that the processes are quite ‘straightforward” for those who want to apply for visa from the Embassy in Delhi and consulates in other cities like Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata, she said.
18/12/17 TravelBizMonitor

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CIAL to help Ghana airports set up solar plants

Kochi: Cochin International Airport Limited (CIAL) will offer technical help to three airports in Ghana for establishing solar plants.

According to a CIAL statement, the decision was taken at a meeting of the Board of Directors of the company here on Saturday.

The airport operator has also contributed Rs. 5 crore to the Chief Minister’s Relief Fund for the victims of Cyclone Ockhi. A cheque for the amount was handed over to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan by Minister for Agriculture V.S. Sunil Kumar.
The Board of Directors of CIAL also decided to allot Rs. 4.41 crore to speed up the works on the inland waterways in the State, which is being developed jointly by CIAL and the State government.
The money will be handed over to Kerala Waterways and Infrastructures Limited, a joint venture between CIAL and the State government.
17/12/17 The Hindu

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City aviation institute seeks European agency nod for course

Mumbai: City-based Thakur Institute of Aviation Technology (TIAT) plans to launch a course in "type-rating" for A320 aircraft maintenance engineers (AMEs) and has applied to the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) for approval.

"We want our students to attain certain special training for certifying different types of aircraft. So we have applied to EASA for its approval to our Airbus A 320 type-rating course," said TIAT chief instructer Subhajit Maity.

"Type-rating" is a regulating agency's certification which allows an AME to certify a certain type of aircraft.
Maity said EASA's chief airworthiness manager had visited TIAT's Mumbai campus last week and had inspected various processes that are being put in place to commence the proposed course.

"If we are able to meet their parameters, we wil get the approval by the middle of next year," he said.

"The introduction of the type-rating course at the Institute will help our students save a lot of costs as at present they have to go out for such a training which is expensive," Maity said.

Set up in 2006, the TIAT currently offers a three-year programme in aircraft maintenance engineering in mechanics and avionics stream besides an EASA-approved AME licensing course.
17/12/17 PTI/New Indian Express

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Soon, Thailand beaches will be just a direct flight away

New Delhi: Indian leisure travellers will soon be able to fly to Thailand's popular beach resort towns Krabi and Pattaya directly, as the government has secured direct flight rights to these destinations for the country's airlines. "During negotiations, we have fetched rights for Indian carriers to fly to Samui and Utapao airports," said a senior aviation ministry official, who did not want to be quoted. While Samui is the airport for Krabi islands, Utapao is airport for Pattaya.

So long, Indian travellers had to fly to these destinations primarily through Bangkok because Indian carriers were not allowed to fly to these destinations. These rights were fetched at the ICAO Air Services Negotiation Event (ICAN) meet in Colombo last week. The Indian delegation was headed by aviation joint secretary Arun Kumar.

Sharat Dhall, chief operation officer at travel portal yatra-.com, said launching direct flights to Pattaya and Krabi will "surely see an uptick in people travelling to these destinations". These two destinations would also offer an opportunity for Indian carriers, especially the low-cost carriers, who primarily connect only to Bangkok, Dhall said. At the ICAN event, India and Thailand have also agreed to increase bilateral entitlements by 6,150 additional seats per year, which will apply once Indian carriers utilise 80% of the existing traffic right.
16/12/17 Mihir Mishra/Economic Times

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IndiGo to operate Colombo flights from January

New Delhi: Budget passenger carrier IndiGo on Thursday announced Colombo as its eighth international and 49th overall destination. According to the airline, the new schedule will see non-stop connections between Colombo to Chennai and Bengaluru, effective January 20, 2018. Speaking at the launch, Aditya Ghosh, President and Whole Time Director, IndiGo said: "As one of the most sought after destinations in South Asia, Colombo draws visitors from across the globe for its fine blend of tradition and culture." The company added that these new flights will further consolidate its position as the fastest growing airline in India with 149 Airbus A320 and three ATR aircraft in its fleet, operating over 1,000 daily flights, connecting 49 destinations effective January 20, 2018.
15/12/17 IANS/Sify.com

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GMR emerges as top bidder for Philippines airport

Infrastructure major GMR Group said it has emerged, along with a partner, as the top bidder in a race to construct a new eight-million-passenger airport in Philippines, and expects to get the order in one week.

The company, along with partner Megawide Construction Corporation, submitted the most competitive financial bid, it said.

“Clark airport is being developed by Government of Philippines through a hybrid model with EPC and O&M tenders being issued separately,” it said.

The EPC project scope involves design, construction, testing and commissioning of new Terminal with a capacity of eight million passengers per annum.

The consortium will construct the integrated terminal along with specified landside facilities such as car parks.

“This is the second airport project which GMR Group will be developing in Philippines along with Megawide Construction Corporation, with the consortium already operating the Mactan Cebu International airport, the second largest airport of Philippines which handles 10 million passengers annually,” it said.
15/12/17 Sanjay Kumar/Ultra

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Now, flight connectivity to Sharjah from Odisha capital!

Bhubaneswar: Good news for frequent flyers as the Biju Patnaik International Airport (BPIA) in Odisha capital is going to get air connectivity to one more foreign destination soon. This comes days after national carrier Air India launched its direct flight to Bangkok.

Budget passenger carrier IndiGo today announced direct flight services to Sharjah from two cities in India from later this month and 11 other cities, including Bhubaneswar, shortly.

As per the carrier, it will launch new flight services on the Lucknow-Sharjah-Lucknow and Hyderabad-Sharjah-Hyderabad sectors from December 29 this year. Besides, flights to Kolkata, Kochi, Goa, Tirupati, Rajahmundry, Patna, Mangalore, Visakhapatnam, Chennai, Raipur and Bhubaneswar will also be run, however through connecting flights.

While schedule of the Hyderabad and Lucknow flights have been announced, the same has not been announced for Bhubaneswar and other cities.

The Hyderabad flight (6E1405) will depart at 2.10 and Lucknow flight (6E1407) will fly at 16.15 on all days.

“Expanding operations to Sharjah on the 6E network is in response to the growing demand on the sector. These new flights will also open up immense connectivity to and from other cities on our network, supported by 147 Airbus-320 strong fleet,” said Sanjay Kumar, Chief Commercial Officer of IndiGo.
15/12/17 Odisha Sun Times

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Racial slur: Jet Airways probe finds no evidence against expat pilot

Mumbai: An internal probe by Jet Airways has found no evidence against an expat pilot who was accused by cricketer Harbhajan Singh of physically assaulting a woman as well as hurling racist comments at her and a handicapped fellow passenger.

Jet had sacked Capt Bernd Kain Von Hoesslin and launched a probe after the cricketer's tweets and the woman passenger's social media post on the incident went viral. The pilot has since filed a defamation case, seeking $15 million in compensation with interest from Singh and the passengers.

The probe report, based on the statements of the other crew members of the flight, said Von Hoesslin called for security as the woman passenger was heard "using expletives" when he questioned her and the fellow passenger about blocking the plane's entrance at the Mumbai airport.

His intervention was unnecessary as other crew members sorted out the issue and he later apologised to complainants, the report said, concluding that the matter "can be put to rest with no further actions on any members of staff".
ET has seen a copy of the report, prepared by Narendra Mansukhani, head of guest experience at the airline. Jet declined to comment.

Von Hoesslin, a 55-year-old pilot with experience of three decades and 14,600 hours of flying, said the report vindicated him, but was late. "The report is the cornerstone of everything" that happened at the incident, he said. "They are all employees of Jet Airways ... who were an eyewitness to the incident."

What appeared on the Internet was contrary to what transpired in afternoon, Von Hoesslin, a German passport holder, told ET during a recent hour-long chat, recounting the incident on April 3. "We have been trained to be courteous, polite to passengers, especially those who are handicapped. But some point in time flight safety becomes more important," he explained.
The plane was being refuelled, and simultaneously passengers were boarding it for an onward journey to Chennai. He said from the camera placed in the cockpit he saw the build-up of an altercation between two passengers and his flight crew. Other passengers were getting restive as their entry to the aircraft was blocked.

"We get paid to look at threat management. When a few untoward things line up an accident happens," he said.

The two passengers by trying to manoeuvre a battery-powered wheelchair through the main entrance had blocked the entry of other passengers into the aircraft. They were alighting from the plane, which was on a hopping flight from Chandigarh to Mumbai, having boarded the aircraft in Chandigarh. As tempers rose, Von Hoesslin said he decided to restore order.

The soft-spoken German pilot said he gently tapped the shoulder of the agitated passenger to gain her attention. The situation took a dramatic turn, as the passengers cried that the pilot touched her and that he was rude, he said. He was also accused of using racist language by calling them "bloody Indians". During the chat with ET, Von Hoesslin denied ever using such language.
15/12/17 Satish John/Economic Times

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Canadian held for entering Delhi airport using fake ticket

New Delhi: A Canadian national was caught at the Delhi airport for allegedly using a fake travel ticket to enter the terminal building to see his family off, official sources said today.

S S Josan was apprehended after CISF personnel found him roaming suspiciously inside Terminal-3 (T3) building of the Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport last night, they said.

He told the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) personnel that he used a cancelled ticket to enter the terminal to see his family off, who were travelling to Hong Kong, the sources added.
15/12/17 New Indian Express

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Tourism, Singapore airlines set blitz to spur India arrivals

The Department of Tourism   is ready to roll out the red carpet for  a significant increase in Indian arrivals into the Philippines following the signing of the Memorandum of Agreement with Singapore International Airlines.

Through the one-year collaboration, DoT and SIA will hold  joint marketing initiatives that will implement activities to promote the Philippines to the Indian market through social media, familiarization tours, and roadshows, among others.

The agreement was signed byTourism Undersecretary Benito Bengzon Jr. and SIA Senior Vice President for Sales and Marketing Campbell Wilson at the Makati Diamond Residences.

Also present during the signing were DoT Regional Directors.

“This is a milestone for the Philippines. The India market is growing at a very fast rate. In fact, we are expecting to reach 100,000 arrivals by end of 2017. This joint agreement is envisioned to sustain and further strengthen this growth in the next years,” said Bengzon.

Bengzon also disclosed that the department is not only looking at the headcount but also with the revenue it would generate.
14/12/17 Bill Casas/The Standard

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Jet Airways announces discounts for flight tickets

Muscat: Jet Airways, India's full-service airline, has announced discounted ticket sales for passengers from Oman.

The airline began its countdown to 2018 by announcing a special, 48-hour limited period offer from Sunday.

Guests making bookings during the limited window starting December 17, 2017 until Monday, December 18,will enjoy extensive savings via the flat 12 per cent discount on its flights from Oman to India and beyond, to destinations including Bangkok, Colombo, Dhaka, Hong Kong, Kathmandu, and Singapore.
14/12/17 Times of Oman

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Tata, GE Aviation to make aircraft engine components in India

Mumbai: GE Aviation and Tata Advanced Systems Ltd (TASL) are partnering to manufacture, assemble, integrate and test aircraft components. They will jointly manufacture CFM International LEAP engine components in India, for the global supply chain, Tata Sons said in a press release.

The two companies also announced their intention to pursue military engine and aircraft system opportunities for the India market. The LEAP engine is the world’s leading jet engine for single-aisle commercial jets.

The press release also said that a new Centre of Excellence will be established to help develop a robust ecosystem for aircraft engine manufacturing in India and build related capabilities.
14/12/17 Business Line

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We are excited about making F-16 aircraft in India: Lockheed Martin Official

Visakhapatnam: Lockheed Martin is excited about the prospect of making F-16 fighter aircraft in India and making India a global manufacturing and supply base for the aircraft, according to Phil Shaw, the Chief Executive of Lockheed Martin India Pvt. Limited. He was speaking here on Wednesday after participating in a programme - Girls in aviation sector - jointly organised by the company and the Airports Authority of India.

He said F-16 aircraft was the proven and the most advanced fighter aircraft in the world and "it would be a tremendous boost to the make-in-India initiative of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. We are partnering with the Tata group for the purpose."

In response to a query, he said there would be constant improvements to the aircraft and India would be the beneficiary of the technological advancements. He said the company had already supplied 12 numbers of C 130 cargo plane to the Indian Airforce, the aircraft being placed six apiece at two air bases in the country, and the components are manufactured in Hyderabad.

He said the company was also promoting innovators in India for the past 11 years in a programme jointly taken up with the Department of Science and Technology, and in association with Tata Trust. "We have chosen 50 promising innovators and given them an opportunity to study in MIT in the USA. During the period, it is estimated that they may have come up with 450 business arrangements, with an estimated value of $ 1 billion. From this year, we are also taking up seed funding of promising start-ups," he added.
13/12/17 CH. RS Sharma/Business Line

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A 3.5 hour delay, an inflight emergency and a grounding on foreign land – The story of a Mumbai-London flight

Baku: The 198 flyers on the British Airways flight BA 198 from Mumbai to London are probably wishing they had never boarded the flight.

The harrowing time for the unsuspecting flyers began on Monday afternoon after their flight, scheduled to take off at 1:15 pm, was delayed for nearly three and half hours and only took off at 5 pm due to heavy snowfall at London.

When the passengers had probably just settled in, an in-flight emergency ensured that the flight had to make an emergency landing at Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, just a few hours after the take-off on Monday evening.
Incidentally, former SBI Chairman, Arundhati Bhattarcharya is said to be among the passengers stranded at the Baku airport following the diversion of the BA flight.

As per protocol, whenever such detours take place and the repairs of the diverted plane requires a longer time, usually, the airlines sends a ferry aircraft to fly the stranded passengers to the destination.
And now, almost 20 hours after the take off, the poor passengers find themselves grounded at a foreign location, as the plane is yet to take off from Baku.

To put it in perspective, flight BA 198 was supposed to reach London from Mumbai in nine hours and the passengers have already spent double the amount of time in transit and are yet to reach their destination.

12/12/17 Times Now

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WFS opens Pharma facility in Copenhagen and wins new Air India contract

Worldwide Flight Services (WFS), the world’s largest air cargo handler, is continuing to enhance its ability to handle pharmaceutical cargoes with the opening of a new temperature-controlled facility in Copenhagen.

The investment is in support of WFS’ airline customers’ growing pharma volumes and WFS’ own IATA CEIV Pharma certification programme in Denmark, which it expects to complete in early 2018. The facility has the capacity to store up to 16 cargo units and offers separate temperature chambers offering both 2-8°C and 15-25°C environments. Each lane in the building is also equipped with an electronic rollerbed system to expedite the handling of pharma shipments. The WFS team in Denmark is also celebrating winning the cargo handling contract for Air India’s new three times weekly Boeing 787 passenger and cargo services linking the country’s capital city with Delhi.

Jimi Daniel Hansen, WFS’ General Manager Scandinavia, said: “We are delighted to be handling cargo carried onboard Air India’s new non-stop services between Denmark and India, which offers a direct trade link for exporters and importers in both countries. WFS is also progressing towards its IATA CEIV certification in Denmark with the opening of our new cooler facility to supports our customers’ premium cargo products for temperature-sensitive pharma shipments.”
13/12/17 Ajot

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Megawide-GMR tandem leads in bid to build new Clark Airport passenger terminal Read more: https://business.inquirer.net/242504/clark-international-airport-megawide-construction-corp-gmr-infrastructure-jake-bingcang-bcda-special-bids-and-awards-committee-passenger-terminal#ixzz51ODL8v9b Follow us: @inquirerdotnet on Twitter | inquirerdotnet on Facebook

A venture between Megawide Construction Corp. and India’s GMR Infrastructure emerged as the frontrunner Thursday in a public auction to build a new passenger terminal for Clark International Airport in Pampanga province.

Megawide-GMR, which operates the Mactan Cebu International Airport, bested four other groups, including big state-owned firms in China.

The Duterte administration, through the Bases Conversion and Development Authority, has committed to expand Clark Airport, an underused air gateway it wants to position as an alternative to the congested Ninoy Aquino International Airport in Manila.


Megawide-GMR was regarded the frontrunner with its offer to build a new terminal in Clark Airport, estimated by the government to cost P12.55 billion, for P9.36 billion.

The lowest qualified bid was the main parameter in Thursday’s auction.

Megawide’s offer was lower than Tokwing Construction Corp. and China Machinery Engineering Corp. (P12.45 billion), China State Construction Engineering Corp. Ltd. (P12.298 billion), China Harbour Engineering Co. Ltd. (P11.73 billion) and Sinohydro Corp. Ltd. (P10.68 billion).

Jake Bingcang, chair of the BCDA special bids and awards committee, said Megawide-GMR’s offer would still be subject to further review in the next few days. He said an award could be ready by Dec. 18, 2017, with groundbreaking of the project set by Dec. 20.

The BCDA is targeting to finish the new passenger terminal, which would bring Clark Airport’s existing capacity of four million passenger annually to 12 million passengers, by 2020.
The expansion of Clark International Airport is the first hybrid public-private partnership project rolled out under the Duterte administration.
13/12/17 Miguel R Camus/Inquier.net

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Ex-SBI chief, others stranded at Baku airport for 19 hours

Mumbai: Former State Bank of India chairman Arundhati Bhattacharya was among dozens of Indian passengers trapped in Baku, Azerbaijan, after a British Airways Flight, BA198, from Mumbai to London was diverted when smoke was detected in the first class galley. The passengers were shifted to another flight for London after a 19-hour-long wait at Baku airport.
"The (alternate) plane sent to Baku to fly passengers to London has taken off," said a BA spokesperson at 6.30pm, IST.
For passengers of Monday's BA 198, the ordeal began in the afternoon itself. The flight's scheduled departure time was 1.15 pm. But due to heavy snowfall in London, it was delayed to after 5pm. After flying for a few hours, it was diverted to Baku.
Soon after the diversion on Monday night, BA had said: "We apologize to our customers for the delay to their travels following a suspected technical issue with a flight from Mumbai to London. Engineers in Baku are checking the aircraft..."

The airline said in a statement: "We fully appreciate how frustrating this experience has been, and have apologised to our customers for the very long delay to their flight. We provided refreshments, and did our best to make sure our customers were comfortable overnight during the delay... The safety and security of our customers and crew is always our priority." BA did not give the number of passengers on this flight.

A stranded passenger, though, said he did not have access to his baggage. "I have three medicines that I need to take for diabetes, blood pressure and thyroid and I could not access these," said Mukesh Talreja, a first-class passenger who spoke to TOI from the Baku airport. He said passengers were given just omelettes for breakfast. They could also not leave the airport as they were denied short-term visas and most officials there did not speak English.
13/12/17 Saurabh Sinha/Times of India

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India is buying world's emptiest airport in its battle for territorial dominance with China

India plans to buy the world’s emptiest airport in an effort to limit China’s influence in the Indian Ocean.

Designed to accommodate one million passengers per year, Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport – a vanity project by Sri Lanka’s former President Mahinda Rajapaksa that opened in 2013 – is a complete dud and receives just a dozen passengers a day.

Yet India is set to pay $US300 million for a joint venture granting it a 40-year lease over the nearly 2,000-acre space in southern Sri Lanka that was once so empty it was used to store rice.

“India’s future plans for the airport are hazy. Maybe a flight school? A new destination for Indian weddings? There seems little chance that it will turn a profit. That is not the point of the deal,” David Brewster, an expert in Indian Ocean strategies at the Australian National University, recently wrote for The Interpreter.

Instead, the reason for the purchase appears to be the airport’s proximity – just a half-hour drive away – from a shipping port in Hambantota, which is run by China.

As China seeks to spread its reach cross-continent via the One Belt, One Road initiative, India, the US, and Japan all hold concerns that China wants to use the Sri Lankan port as a naval base. But its ability to do so is severely hampered without access to an airport.

“A key element in any overseas naval base, and even a logistics facility, is easy access by air for people and supplies. A naval base also requires maritime air surveillance capabilities. Control over Hambantota airport will give India considerable control over how the port is used,” wrote Brewster. “It is difficult to conceive of the Chinese navy developing a significant facility at Hambantota without also controlling the airport. In short, India is spending US$US300 million buying an airport to block a Chinese naval base.”
13/12/17 Tara Francis Chan/Business Insider

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4 UAE women go 'missing' from Mumbai airport, traced in Hyderabad

Hyderabad:  Four women from the United Arab Emirates (UAE), who went missing after landing at Mumbai international airport a week ago, were traced in Hyderabad by the joint team of Hyderabad and Mumbai police.
About a week ago, the four women, in their early twenties, had landed at Mumbai international airport to tour India.
The women were from UAE and after landing in Mumbai they were supposed to contact their families back in UAE and inform about their safe arrival.
However, for reasons unknown they went incommunicado thereafter.
Their family members based in the UAE waited for a few days thinking that they might call.
However, as there was no communication from their end, their families sought help from the government.
UAE consulate officials in Mumbai then approached the police commissioner and a team of policemen tried to locate the four missing women by looking into their cell phone details.
As their phones were off, the police went to the immigration officials at the Mumbai airport.
13/12/17 Times of India

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Afghan couple held for entering IGI using fake ticket

New Delhi: An Afghan couple were today apprehended at the Delhi airport for allegedly using a fake travel ticket to see their daughter off, official sources said.

Sayed Omar and his wife, N Sayedy, were apprehended around 6:30 am when CISF personnel found them roaming suspiciously inside the Terminal-3 (T3) building of the Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport, they said.

The couple told the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) personnel that they used a cancelled ticket to enter the terminal to see their daughter off, who was travelling to Kabul, the sources added.
12/12/17 PTI/India.com

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New Delhi to offer 49% stake in Air India to foreign firms

The Indian government plans to allow foreign investors to buy up to 49% of shares in Air India (AI, Mumbai Int'l) in the hopes this will render the privatisation of the state-owned carrier more competitive, Hindustan Times reported.

The proposed change will still retain a differentiation between Air India and other air operators in India. Existing legislation allows for full foreign ownership of all airlines except for the flag carrier, although not more than 49% of share can be held by foreign airlines. In Air India's case, the foreign capital will be limited to a 49% stake regardless of whether the investor is an airline or another company.

According to sources cited by the Hindustan Times, the decision to change the law has already been taken but its implementation might take some time due to a number of rules that need to be amended.

Because the new rules will ensure that Air India will remain under Indian control, the carrier will not need to reapply for traffic rights after privatisation.

Thus far, a number of Indian companies have expressed an interest in buying either the whole or parts of Air India, including SpiceJet, IndiGo Airlines, Jet Airways and Tata Group-controlled AirAsia India and Vistara, but the government hopes that by changing the law it will also attract foreign groups. The aviation ministry has decided against separating short-haul and long-haul parts of the carrier's operations.
12/12/17 ch-aviation

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Boeing to make aircraft components near Bengaluru

Bengaluru: Global aerospace major Boeing would make aircraft components and subsystems at a new facility it would soon set up on the city's outskirts, a senior official said on Tuesday.

"The state government on Monday approved Boeing's proposal to set up an engineering and technology facility with electronics and avionics manufacturing and assembly at an investment of Rs 1,152 crore," Karnataka Udyog Mitra Managing Director B.K. Shivakumar told IANS here.

The facility will be built in 41.7 acres of land the American firm has been allotted in the Aerospace Park at Devanahalli, about 40km from the city, and adjacent to the Bengaluru international airport.

"When commissioned, the Boeing facility will provide 2,300 direct jobs and many more indirect or associative jobs," said Shivakumar.

The aerospace behemoth, which makes various types of aircraft for civil and military operations worldwide, has a global research and development centre in the city since a decade.

The high-level high committee of the state Industry Department also approved the proposal of CDC Development India Ltd to set up a Technology Innovation International Park in the hi-tech, defence and aerospace Park at a cost of Rs 740 crore, with an initial job potential for 25 high-skilled techies.

"CDC has been allotted 100 acres of land in the Aerospace Park to build its tech park," said Shivakumar.

Universal Builders has been allotted 21.3 acres of land in the hardware park area of the aerospace park at a cost of Rs 525 crore for a housing project.
12/12/17 IANS/New Indian Express

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Air India Express to launch flights to Dubai from city

Vijayawada: The fast-expanding Gannavaram airport will soon have the services of Air India Express, an economy airline with international standards, connecting Vijayawada, Mumbai and Dubai.

The airline operates Boeing 737 flights and the services are likely to commence on January 15.

A team of Air India officials already visited the Vijayawada airport and expressed their satisfaction at the facilities developed after it acquired international status. “We are making plans ready for an integrated terminal building at the airport,” sources said.

The sources said that the immigration notification of the Vijayawada airport was getting ready at the Ministry for Home Affairs and would reach the airport next week. The notification was already signed by Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh and once the notification was released, the Vijayawada airport would have 10 immigration counters — five each for arrival and departure — to help initiate the immigration process, the sources said.

Soon after receiving the notification, a team of officials from the National Informatics Centre (NIC) would arrive at the airport at Gannavaram to install the necessary apparatus such as servers to carry out the checking process with available data such as fingerprints and photographs, the sources added.
12/12//17 The Hindu

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Japanese tech to make flying safer in India

Indian sky-space is expected to get safer for fliers during time of low visibility and fogs as state owned Airport Authority of India (AAI) with help from Japan, is mulling over introducing an advanced system where the aircraft will use signal multiple transponders, instead of one at present for on-ground communications, which at times does not give out exact position of the aircraft.

The technology can be useful in increasing airport safety and capacity, especially under low visibility conditions, by providing airport surface surveillance and, at the same time, protecting against runway incursions by aircraft and vehicles. AAI is mandated with running of most of the civil aviation airports in the country including the air traffic management system.

According to officials from Communication, Navigation and Surveillance (CNS) department of AAI, the ultra-low cost technology increases the capability of ground-based surveillance with the aircraft to 15-30 nautical miles (NM). At present the range of the ground based surveillance covers only till the terminal side.

The system is currently being implemented at Sendai International airport in Japan. Japan's Electronic Navigation Research Institute (ENRI) recently made a presentation regarding it recently at an Aviation Seminar held in Mumbai to discuss the development of indigenous technologies in Civil aviation.

According to Hiromi Miyazaki, Chief Researcher at ENRI in Japan the new technology which is normally referred as multilateration surveillance system (MLAT) offers better immunity to multipath interferences though it requires fewer number of receiver stations. Also, the installation is much easier due to small size receiver unit and requires no electric construction using optical power feeding.

As per UN backed International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), MLAT is an enabling technology that will enhance the provision of ATM (air traffic management) in a variety of applications, from "radar-like" air traffic control purposes to enhanced situational awareness of surface movements. MLAT offers most advantages in situations where other surveillance systems (eg radar) are not available.
12/12/17 Shahkar Abidi/DNA

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Security lapse: Afghan exits Delhi Airport without Indian visa

In a major security lapse, an Afghan national managed to exit from Delhi's Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport after landing there from Kabul, without an Indian visa.

The unaware traveler was detained, but allowed to leave after it was found that it was the fault of immigration officials.

The incident happened on November 30. Here's what happened.
The man arrived in India via SpiceJet flight SG-022. He was to travel further to Beijing.

To board the next flight, he was to go to the international transfer area, but "by mistake, he approached the immigration counter and was allowed to leave without stamping the passport", an official said.

He re-entered the terminal with his Beijing ticket, but couldn't produce an Indian visa.
Several security lapses have been reported at the Delhi Airport in recent times. In October, a woman was detained over her seemingly fake passport, but she managed to give airport officials the slip and escape.

In July, another foreigner sneaked out of the airport after being detained for not having a visa.

Earlier, BCAS managed to get dummy bombs through several security layers.
12/12/17 Gogona Saikia/News Bytes

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Kochi-Israel flight likely next year

Kochi: Cochin International Airport (Cial) is likely to add one more international destination to its growing list as officials of an international airline from Israel visited Cial with a proposal to start a direct flight earlier this month. A senior airport official said that a team from Arkia Israeli Airlines Ltd arrived here to check out Cial. The team was thinking about commencing direct flights from Kochi to Tel Aviv next year.
Though the airport stood at the fourth position in India in terms of international traffic, the growth is saturating with only a 5% increase in FY 2016-17. But, domestic sector witnessed a significant growth of 26%.
A new flight to Tel Aviv will act as a catalyst in increasing Cial's international figures while offering passengers from Kochi yet another alternative.
The senior official also added that Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv could serve as a transit point for passengers travelling from Kochi to Western destinations if a deal is inked.
10/12/17 Times of India

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China not satisfied with India’s position of Drone “intrusion”

Four months after defusing Doklam stand-off , India and China have entered into another controversy over India’s drone entering into the disputed territory near Sikkim on Friday, where both  armies remained face to face for 64- days before returning to their bases.

An Indian army drone entered Chinese territory and crashed in an area close to Sikkim. Chinese Defence and Foreign ministries called the incident an “intrusion” and voiced strong opposition.

The deputy director of the Chinese Army’s western theatre combat bureau Zhang Shuil, said in a statement, “The Indian move violated China’s territorial sovereignty. We strongly express our dissatisfaction and opposition.”
India’s defence ministry responded with a statement saying, “An Indian UAV which was on a regular training mission inside the Indian territory lost contact with the ground control due to some technical problem and crossed over the LAC [Line of Actual Control] in the Sikkim Sector.”

Meanwhile, Chinese official daily Global Times has responded to India’s request to return the drone saying, “We believe that this is not the time for India to make such a request. India needs to first correct its attitude by admitting the intrusion was wrong. It needs to apologize to China and promise no such incident will ever happen again.”

It further said, “The statement by the Indian defense ministry barely mentioned the intrusion, with no hint of an apology.”
10/12/17 APN

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Odisha CM inaugurates Bhubaneswar-Bangkok flight

Bhubaneswar: Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik flagged off national carrier Air India's Bhubaneswar-Bangkok flight from the Biju Patnaik International Airport today.

Air India's new flight is the second direct international service from the Odisha capital.

The airline operated a 162-seater Airbus A 320 neo aircraft on its inaugural flight from Bhubaneswar to Bangkok.

A total of 38 passengers took the flight from Bhubaneswar to Bangkok today.

Patnaik described the new flight service as a historic moment.

He hoped it would further strengthen the state's ties with Southeast Asian countries and boost trade and tourism.

"Besides, it will pave way for attracting more international visitors to our Buddhist tourism centres," the chief minister said.

He also thanked Air India for starting the international flight.

The Bhubaneswar-Bangkok flight will operate twice a week - Thursdays and Sundays.
10/12/17 PTI/Business Standard

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Foreigners using e-Tourist Visa facility soars at Tiruchi airport

Tiruchi: Fast growing Tiruchi international airport has seen a marked rise in the number of foreign tourist arrivals on e-Tourist Visa this year.

The rising trend is evident from the figures of foreigners availing themselves of this facility at this non-metro airport which witnesses nearly 800 foreign flight movements (both arrival and departure) on an average every month.

The number of foreigners’ arrivals on e-tourist visa at Tiruchi airport has already exceeded the 10,000 mark till date in the current year from January, airport sources told The Hindu. This figure is nearly double than what was recorded in the whole of calendar year 2016 (January – December) when foreigners arrivals on e-Tourist Visa were a little over 5,800 at Tiruchi airport.

Ever since e-tourist visa system was launched at Tiruchi airport in August 2015, the number of overseas nationals availing themselves of this facility is on the rise. On an average nearly 20 to 30 foreigners arrive at the Tiruchi airport making use of this facility every day, said the sources.
Many overseas nationals land at Tiruchi armed with ETA (Electronic Travel Authorisation) document generated online with the stamping done by the Bureau of Immigration officials deployed at the dedicated counters created for such foreign passengers at the new international terminal building here.

There are four separate counters at Tiruchi airport to exclusively deal with foreigners arriving with ETA. Bio-metric details of such passengers are captured by the Immigration officials prior to stamping, said the sources.

The Central government in a bid to boost tourism in the country extended the e-tourist visa facility to seven non-metro international airports in the country including Tiruchi, Jaipur, Varanasi and Amritsar in August 2015.

10/12/17 R. Rajaram/The Hindu

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Scots soldier jailed in India feels ‘betrayed’ by UK government

Billy Irving, 37, said he could “never forgive” the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO), accusing the government of failing to do enough to help.
Mr Irving touched down at Glasgow Airport on Wednesday, the first of the so-called Chennai Six to arrive back in the UK more than four years after they were jailed in India on weapons charges. He and five other British men were guards on a ship to combat piracy in the Indian Ocean but were jailed in October 2013 after being charged with carrying unlicensed firearms and ammunition. After years of campaigning, they won an appeal against their convictions last month and were given permission to leave India.
Mr Irving, of Paisley, Renfrewshire, told the Mail on Sunday newspaper: “I can never forgive the UK government and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. We would have been freed much sooner if they had really engaged in our plight and fought for us. I feel disgusted and betrayed.” Mr Irving’s fiancee Yvonne MacHugh, who campaigned tirelessly for his release, described former foreign secretary Philip Hammond as “next to useless and uninterested at best”. She accused current incumbent Boris Johnson of “hypocrisy” for saying the FCO had worked on the case “unstintingly”.
“Billy and the other men would have been free two years ago if they had been truly there for us,” she said.
The UK government said the case had been raised more than 50 times at ministerial level and nine times with the Indian prime minister since October 2013. An FCO spokeswoman said: “The Foreign Office worked tirelessly behind the scenes to reunite these men with their families.
10/12/17 Russel Jackson/Scotsman

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British National Moves High Court Against Extradition Proceedings

New Delhi: A 73-year-old British national, wanted in a child abuse and trafficking case in the Philippines, has moved the Delhi High Court challenging the proceedings in a trial court to extradite him to that country.

A bench of justices Vipin Sanghi and P S Teji has sought the response of the Centre on the plea of Lennox James Ellis, who was arrested from Goa on June 9 last year on the basis of a Red Corner Notice issued by Interpol at the behest of the Philippines government.

Ellis has been lodged in Tihar Jail since July 11 last year where he was sent after being incarcerated in a Goa jail for over a month.

He had entered India on January 15 last year on a valid tourist visa and was arrested from Goa airport when he was about to board a flight to Bangkok.

In his plea filed through advocate Ramni Taneja, Ellis has contended that he cannot be extradited to Philippines as the extradition treaty of India with that country was published in the Official Gazette on August 23, 2016, much after his arrest.

Therefore, the Extradition Act cannot be applied to him retrospectively, he has contended.

He also argued that he has been incarcerated in India for nearly 17 months "arbitrarily and illegally and without any legal basis whatsoever".


He also claimed in his plea that the issue of his extradition is between the UK and the Philippines and "India has no nexus whatsoever in this case".
10/12/17 NDTV

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