Showing posts with label Foreign Feb 2009. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Foreign Feb 2009. Show all posts

Saturday, February 27, 2010

Tiger Airways to expand flights to S India

Singapore: Singapore-based low cost carrier Tiger Airways is set to fly to Thiruvananthapuram and Kochi in Kerala state and Trichy in Tamil Nadu, the airline president and chief executive Tony Davies said in a teleconference here today.
Tiger Airways currently serves two destinations in south India from Singapore, operating 11-weekly flights to Chennai and five to Bangalore.
With its aircraft enjoying full loads, Tiger Airways business strategy would see increasing flights in the coming months in Asia, including Australia.
26/02/10 Press Trust of India

Saturday, February 28, 2009

AI non-stop link soon for Delhi-San Francisco

New Delhi: Starting this autumn, National Aviation Co. of India Ltd-run Air India will start flying between New Delhi and San Francisco—the longest non-stop flight between India and the US by any carrier.
The longest Air India flight operates between Mumbai and New York.
Air India is inducting seven Boeing Co.-made long-haul aircraft to its fleet of 154 this year and plans to start several other flights using Frankfurt airport as its European hub from end-March.
The date for starting the San Francisco service has not been decided but it will be only after August, Air India’s executive director Jitender Bhargava said.
New international routes planned include daily New Delhi-Frankfurt-Chicago and Ahmedabad-Mumbai-Frankfurt-Newark from the summer, besides Ahmedabad-Frankfurt and Amritsar-Frankfurt-Toronto from winter.
“Some of these flights are already available in the (reservation) system,” said a senior Air India executive, who didn’t want to be named, adding that the airline plans to shuffle its network in a way that domestic flights feed into the international flights at Indian metro airports and converge in Frankfurt to take the traffic forward, providing a wider choice of international destinations.
The increase in flights comes despite a slowdown in global travel. India’s international air traffic between April to November last year expanded 9.4% at a time when domestic passenger traffic shrank by the same rate, according to data from civil aviation ministry.
Four Boeing 777-200LR planes will join Air India’s fleet between July and September. Three more Boeing 777-200ER will join by August.
28/02/09 Tarun Shukla/Livemint

Air India flies to London as BA flies off

Air India will fill the breach when British Airways flies out of Calcutta next month, ensuring that the city stays connected to London.
The national carrier will reintroduce its Calcutta-London service, taken off the roster last October, on March 29 — the day British Airways operates its last flight on the route.
“It will be a daily service with a stopover in New Delhi,” a senior official of the airline confirmed on Friday.
The minimum introductory return fare for the Air India service will be lower than the British airline’s lowest fare on the route: Rs 25,500, inclusive of taxes, against approximately Rs 32,000.
According to officials, the hassle of a stopover in Delhi will be compensated for by the revised timings. One of the reasons for the “low load factor” that had prompted Air India to scrap the service last year was the London arrival time.
“The flight used to land at Heathrow after 9.30pm local time, by which time most flights out of London would have left. This meant that a transit passenger had to wait till the next day to catch a connecting flight,” said Anil Punjabi, the chairman (east) of the Travel Agents’ Federation of India.
28/02/09 Sanjay Mandal

GMIR-HIAL, MAS Aerospace Engineering sign MoU

Hyderabad: GMR Hyderabad International Airport Ltd (GHIAL) and MAS Aerospace Engineering (MAE), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Malaysia Airlines, on Friday entered into an agreement to set up a 50:50 joint venture airframe maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) company here.
The JV company will be known as MAS-GMR Aerospace Engineering Company Ltd.
"Despite the economic downturn, there are over 350 aircraft in operations currently. We expect that more than 200 new aircraft will be headed for India in the next few years, with a possible 10-fold increase of 2,000 new planes in the next 10-15 years," GMR Group Chairman G.M. Rao said.
The agreement was signed by P.S. Nair, CEO of GHIAL, and Mohd Rosian Ismail, Managing Director of MAE, in the presence of Rao, Dato' Tan Seng Sung, Malaysia's High Commissioner to India, N. Sadasivan, Deputy Chairman of Malaysia Airlines and Kiran Kumar Gandhi, Business Chairman- Airports, GMR Group.
This facility in Hyderabad airport will provide base maintenance services starting with C-checks for narrow bodied aircraft like Aribus A 320 and Boeing 737, including the B-737 Classic and B-737 next generation aircraft.
27/02/09 PTI/The Hindu

Mihin Lanka to operate from Nedumbassery: CM

Thiruvananthapuram: Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan told the state assembly today that Mihin Lanka, a Sri Lankan airline had approached the state for permission to operate flights from its Nedumbassery airport to Sri Lanka.
In a written reply to Jose Thettayil, the chief minister said the airline had approached the government for operating three weekly flights to Lanka from Nedumbasserry.
He added Star Aviation too had also approached the government for permission to operate two flights daily on the Hyderabad-Kochi-Chennai-Kochi-Chennai sector, he added.
Achuthanandan said 138 services a week were being operated on international sector, including Singapore, Sri Lanka, Al-ain, Sharjah, Bahrain, Dubai, Kuwait, Doha, Muscat, Salala, Damam, Riyad and Jeddah.
28/02/09 Kerala Online/Daily Mirror, Sri Lanka

Naresh and Anita Goyal receive “International Entrepreneurs of the Year” award

London: Naresh Goyal, Founder Chairman Jet Airways, and his wife Anita (Neeta) Goyal, Executive Vice President Revenue Management and Network Planning for India’s premier international airline, have been voted “International Entrepreneurs of the Year” by the readers of Asian Voice, the highest circulation newspaper among the Asian Community in the UK.
Mr. and Mrs. Goyal received the award from the Rt Hon Geoff Hoon MP, UK Secretary of State for Transport, before an august gathering of British parliamentarians and other distinguished guests at the House of Commons, as part of the Asian Voice Political and Public Life Awards 2008.
According to Mr. Goyal, “With Jet Airways, we set out to re-define service standards in global commercial aviation, while creating a truly international brand that would embody the dynamism and commitment to excellence that has come to define the new, resurgent India. Awards such as these only spur us on to greater effort, and are a tribute to the efforts put in by every member of the Jet Airways family to make our vision a reality.”
The Asian Voice Political and Public Life Awards are presented to people who have made a special impact in the preceding twelve months, either internationally, or in their local communities. The shortlists for the awards for 2008 were decided by a select panel including Marsha Singh MP, Lord King of West Bromwich and Baroness Howells of St Davids.
This is the latest in a large number of prestigious awards made over the last twelve months to Jet Airways and its management team. They include:
“Best Indian Airline” award at the prestigious Business Traveller Awards 2008.
“Best Domestic Airline Award’ for the Year 2008, at the 19th TTG Travel Awards.
TTG also accorded Chairman Naresh Goyal the ‘Travel Entrepreneur of the Year’ for his invaluable contribution to the trade in general and aviation in particular.
Voted one of the Top 10 Airlines in the world by the Best in Travel Poll 2008, organised by SmartTravelAsia.com.
Voted one of the world’s top three airlines in Conde Nast Traveler’s 2008 Readers Choice Awards survey.
Runner up as ‘Airline of the Year’ at the 2008 “Which?” magazine Annual Awards, only a percentage point behind the eventual winner.
27/02/09 PRESS RELEASE/Jet Airways

Friday, February 27, 2009

Air India Extends 10 Percent Commission

Air India announced that it is extending its 10 percent commission offer to travel agents for another month, to March 31. The offer originally expired February 28, and applies to all Executive and First Class bookings to India from New York’s JFK and Newark Airports and Chicago’s O’Hare Airport. The 10 percent commission replaces Air India’s standard 4 percent commission, which is available for all other bookings. This coincides with Air India's current Companion Fare offering for Executive and First Class passengers. Travelers who purchase a roundtrip ticket to Mumbai or Delhi in either of these two classes at the regular fare can get a 50 percent discount on a second, same-class ticket for a companion. This offer cannot be combined with other offers and is good for travel on all Air India flights from New York’s JFK and Newark Airports, and Chicago’s O’Hare Airport. Tickets must be purchased by March 31 and both passengers must travel together on all flights.
Individual Executive Class travelers can also enjoy significant savings with a limited time Sale Fare of just $3,176 roundtrip from New York (Newark Airport) and Chicago to Mumbai or Delhi.
26/02/09 Mark Rogers/Travel Agent Central

KL-Amritsar route a potential for MAS, AirAsia X

The mushrooming of low-cost carriers in India has made travel much easier in the large sub-continent.
The tariff war over Indian skies may be taking a toll on full service carriers as they compete against the low-cost airlines but consumers really benefit from the price war.
Two weeks ago, premium Indian carriers wanted fares raised. They brought it up with the government but just days after that, they had to revert to their old pricing system to remain competitive.
Carriers such as SpiceJet, IndiGo and GoAir are bringing down tariffs to what some perceive as “unrealistic levels’’ but they are getting the passengers needed to fill their planes.
These days, families are taking to the skies to travel across India due to the emergence of low-cost carriers. The case is the same for Malaysia after the emergence of AirAsia.
On my recent trip to India, I flew from Hyderabad to Amritsar – home to the Golden Temple. The journey normally takes 36 hours by train or three to four days by road. But it was a breeze for us onboard Kingfisher Airlines; in less than six hours we were at the Golden Temple. Kingfisher also offers live TV and you can watch CNBC, CNN and even Cartoon Network as well as movies.
Just to illustrate, the trip from Delhi to Amritsar by road normally takes eight to 10 hours despite the many new highways that have emerged.
Of course, when you travel by road, get used to the incessant soundtrack of vehicle horns.
And finding a clean toilet can also be trying even though there are many of them these days compared with some years ago.
27/02/09 The Star

Diageo not only suitor for Kingfisher Airlines: Mallya

Vijay Mallya, Chairman of the UB Group, speaking on the group search for a strategic partner for Kingfisher Airlines, said he is in discussion with more than one suitor and that Diageo is one on them. He said it is premature to speculate on the timeframe of the deal.
Mallya added he has already signed a confidentiality agreement and is in talks with a PE investor for raising USD 400 million for Kingfisher Airlines. He said negotiations with PE investor can continue regardless of FIPB approvals.
"I am in conversation with more than one suitor. Diageo is a fine company with an excellent portfolio of global brands. We are in active discussion. But I think it is rather premature to speculate on a potential deal either in terms of timeframe––will it or won’t it happen?," Vijay Mallya said.
26/02/09 CNBC-TV18

Thursday, February 26, 2009

SpiceJet facilitates Ross entry, to appoint 3 to board

New Delhi: Low-cost carrier SpiceJet will appoint three new directors to its board to accommodate US investor Wilbur Ross on the company board. The airline is already in dialogue with a number of people from across the industries for the same.
“As per the government norms, only one third of an Indian carrier’s board can comprise foreigners. At present, we have eight board members. We recently introduced Ranjeet Nabha of WL Ross & Co to our board. To appoint Wilbur Ross, we need to get three more independent members,” Sanjay Aggarwal, the chief executive officer of the airline, told Financial Chronicle.
He said Ross has been granted the security clearance from the ministry of civil aviation and will be appointed as a director on the SpiceJet board soon after other formalities are completed.
Aggarwal said the company was not looking at the new board members to bring in investments, not even from Ross, who has already pumped in $80 million in the company.
The carrier is also in search of various senior-level executives including chief financial officer and the heads of human resource and marketing.
In addition, SpiceJet will hire about 60 pilots and another equal number of employees for various levels in the next fiscal. However, Aggarwal said, considering the tough times in the aviation sector, the airline will not announce any salary hike for its top management in the next financial year.
25/02/09 Parul Chhaparia/mydigitalfc.com

Emirates sees growth in Silicon Valley-S India link

Thiruvananthapuram: Dubai-based Emirates is seeing bullish prospects in linking California's Silicon Valley with its Indian counterpart, Bangalore, via Dubai. Airline officials say that the IT sector boom in India, particularly in the southern Indian states, had led to a strong demand for an international link connecting the tech centers in India with San Francisco.
Emirates officials said load factors for San Francisco from Dubai and India were as high as 70-80%, and that bookings received by Emirates to San Francisco from India since its launch had grown to approximately 6% of total bookings in the market. Emirates had launched a Dubai-SFO direct flight in December, which in turn has connections originating from different Indian destinations.
Officials said the performance of the airline's SFO sector was on line with the expectations of the airline, and that consistently high load factors proved that.
Emirates claims it offers the shortest link from different Indian destinations to the West Coast of the US via Dubai, with a minimum connection time of 22 hours and 40 minutes from Chennai as against a maximum of 23 hours from Bangalore.
Emirates presently offers 163 flights per week to Dubai from 10 Indian destinations. Mumbai (35 flights per week) and Delhi (25) lead in absolute numbers, but south Indian destinations account for the most number of flights with Hyderabad (21), Bangalore (20), Chennai (19) and Kochi (14) totaling 74 flights per week. In addition, Thiruvananthapuram and Kozhikode have 14 flights per week to Dubai between them.
26/02/09 Economic Times

Wednesday, February 25, 2009

Foreign carriers take a hard look at Indian ops

Mumbai: Slipping international traffic is pushing foreign carriers operating out of India to downsize capacity and drop loss-making routes.
Till some time back, India was amongst the few countries around the world whose international traffic was growing. Now, with the number of passengers into and out of India dwindling, many international airlines are either suspending routes or reducing frequencies to match supply with the current demand. As per Airports Authority of India (AAI) data, growth in international traffic in April-December 2008 was 8.6%, half of what it was the year before. Experts believe the later part of this period may have seen negative growth.
"That could be reason that most of the overseas airlines have been cutting flights to and from some Indian cities recently," said an aviation analyst, who did not want to be named.
Air France has suspended services on Chennai-Paris route while its sister airline KLM has pulled off flights between Amsterdam and Hyderabad. A statement by Air France-KLM, the holding company of the two airlines, said the move was "in lieu of the financial results of this route and the market developments."
Austrian Airlines shut services out of Mumbai from February 1, and is now only operating from Delhi. Nippon Airlines and Japan Airlines too have announced reduction of frequency out of Mumbai.
British Airways will withdraw flights on the Kolkata-London sector from March 28.
German airline Lufthansa has not yet announced any routes suspensions, but it has shuttered four offices -- in Kolkata, Bangalore, Chennai and Hyderabad.
This, industry observers feel, may be a precursor to reducing frequencies to these cities.
Singapore Airlines recently announced an 11% cut in its global capacity, which will also see 17 of its aircraft -- mostly Boeing 747s -- being phased out. As part of the capacity rationalisation programme, the airline has announced reduced frequencies to Mumbai, Delhi, Hyderabad and Ahmedabad.
An analyst with an international research firm feels India, like some other East Asian countries, is a potential market as none of the airlines have pulled out completely.
In a market where most sectors are seeing fewer passengers, Gulf routes are doing well and airlines here have been adding capacity. Emirates Airlines' strategy -- announced a few days ago - will see the airline adding 14% capacity globally.
25/02/09 Archana Shukla/Daily News & Analysis

Hoax at IGI: 26/11 ‘suspect’ detained, released

New Delhi: A Malaysian Airlines passenger was detained at the IGI Airport on Monday after the airline’s office in Malaysia got an anonymous call claiming the passenger is one of the suspects of last November’s terror attacks in Mumbai.
Police sources said the airline office received a call claiming one of the passengers on the Kuala Lumpur-Delhi flight, Abu Suwaif, was a 26/11 suspect. Suwaif was released on Tuesday after detailed interrogation; the police are now trying to trace the hoax caller.
“Flight MH 184 landed in Delhi airport at 11 am Monday and was parked at Bay 46 in isolation. Officials from all security agencies were present and the passenger was identified and detained for questioning,” a CISF official today said.
Police officials investigating the case said Suwaif is a resident of Azamgarh in Uttar Pradesh and had gone to Malaysia in 2005-06. “Suwaif has come clean during the interrogation. He worked there as a fitter in a cable company,” an officer said.
25/02/09 Express India

EADS will up India sourcing from India

Bangalore: EADS, the European consortium that manufactures Airbus, Eurocopter and several other aerospace products, is planning to significantly scale up its presence in India and its sourcing from Indian companies.
According to Christian Duhain, head of EADS International Development, Asia-Pacific and Latin America, the Airbus Engineering Centre would be scaling up its activities over the next few months. "We are planning to have a headcount of 200 engineers this year," Duhain said.
The Centre, which is involved in design and development of Airbus models including the latest A380, currently has around 30 engineers. "We plan to bring to the centre work from other parts of the group," he said. EADS is also setting up an Airbus Training Centre in Bangalore.
EADS will step up outsourcing to Indian firms, especially to Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL). Duhain said the company will jack up its order to HAL for delivery of doors for single-aisle Airbus models. In 2007, EADS sourced orders of €100 million from its Tier-I andTier-II Indian suppliers. "Our goal is to increase this amount 10 times in the next 10 years," Duhain said.
Airbus currently has a 230 aircraft backlog for India, and a 75% market share. The company is producing one aircraft per week for India, which is "among our top markets," Duhain said.
According to Duhain, EADS does not foresee any major scale back in commercial bookings from India.
The company forecasts India would require at least 1,000 aircraft of various sizes over the next two decades. Besides, EADS also sees a huge potential in the helicopter market.
25/02/09 Josy Joseph/Daliy News & Analysis

Etihad flight diverted to Thiruvananthapuram due to medical emergency

An Etihad Airways Airbus A330-200, flight EY-471 from Jakarta (Indonesia) to Abu Dhabi (United Arab Emirates) with 169 people on board, diverted to Thiruvananthapuram (India) due to a medical emergency on board. The emergency landing didn't save the passenger anymore, however, he died on the way to a hospital.
The passenger had started to suffer from chest pain, then vomited blood, when the crew decided to divert to the nearest suitable airport.
The airplane continued its journey to Abu Dhabi after two hours on the ground in India.
24/02/09 Simon Hradecky/The Aviation Herald

Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Finnair to increase flights to India

Finland's national airline Finnair, which plans to acquire five new Airbus A330 this year to renew its fleet and cut emission levels, will fly one of the new aircraft to India. "We will be inducting five Airbus A330 aircraft this year and will fly one of them to India by April-May," Finnair Vice President Sustainable Development Kati Ihamaki told reporters in New Delhi on Monday (February 23).
Finnair has been flying to India since 2006 with daily flights to Delhi and five flights in a week to Mumbai. The airline plans to replace its McDonnell Douglas aircraft with the new fleet in an attempt to achieve greater fuel efficiency and reduce emission levels. "We will replace all our McDonnell Douglas aircraft by January 2010. We also plan to acquire Airbus A350 by 2014," Ihamaki said adding that the number of A350 aircraft will depend on the situation.
Finnair's fleet has an average age of five years. With the deployment of A340s, the airline has cut emission by 11% and by the year-end emission will come down to 80% due to A330s. "The induction of extra wide body aircraft Airbus A350 will bring down the emission level to 69 per cent," she said. The global aviation industry, contributing 2 per cent to the carbon emission and growing, has taken up the initiative for zero emission by 2050, she said.
23/02/09 TimesNow.tv

Cabinet approves NACIL, SATS joint venture

The Union Cabinet today approved the proposal to the National Aviation Company of India Limited (NACIL) for setting up of a Joint Venture Company with M/s. Singapore air Terminal Services (SATS) for undertaking Ground Handling / Cargo Handling activities at various airports in India. NACIL and SATS would hold 50:50 equity ratio in the Joint Venture Company. The JVC would be managed by the Board of Directors consisting of representatives from NACIL and SATS in equal proportion. The Chairman of the Board and CEO of JVC would alternate between NACIL and SATS for a fixed tenure. All profits and losses of the business would be shared by NACIL and SATS in the ratio of the equity structure. The approximate total investment in the project would be :
Bangalore- Cargo handling Rs. 99 crores, Ground Handling Rs. 73 crores
Hyderabad: Ground Handling Rs. 80 crores

National Aviation Company of India Limited (NACIL), into which the erstwhile Air India Limited and Indian Airlines Limited have amalgamated, today holds a major share of the ground handling business at Airports in India. With the introduction of independent world class handling agencies at the airports, there would be induction of modern equipment, technology and resource management tools leading to very high level of competition in the field. In order to succeed in retaining majority of the business, NACIL is required to take proactive measures to upgrade its services by induction of modern technology with special focus on customer services and quick response to customer needs.
Establishing a Joint Venture partnership with a company, which is reputed in the field of ground handling services, would be an important step towards establishing a world class handling facility. While the ramp handling remains to be a strong point of NACIL, their customer service, passenger handling and cargo handling areas will get the required boost in quality, to face the competition effectively. The JV will contribute towards improved efficiency, better resource utilization and induction of human resource at lower cost. In short, establishing a Joint Venture for Ground Handling will be a significant step to retain and increase the market share of NACIL in the years to come.
23/02/09 Press Information Bureau

Gulf Air Signs Agreement to Lease Four Boeing 777 Aircraft

Manama: Gulf Air, the national carrier of the Kingdom of Bahrain, today signed an agreement to lease four new Boeing 777 ER aircraft as part of the airline's re-fleeting and product-enhancement strategy. Three of the new aircraft will join the airline during March 09 while the fourth one will join in May.
The aircraft, leased from Jet Airways, will be used on a number of routes including London, Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok and intra Gulf Routes, gradually replacing the Airbus 340s.
"The introduction of these four aircraft is another important step in our strategic direction towards re-fleeting, enhancing our product and strengthening our presence as the carrier of choice in the Middle East and beyond," says Gulf Air Chief Executive Officer Mr. Björn Näf.
" In addition it will further strengthen our successful hub-and-spoke network and our operational efficiency while offering enhanced passenger comfort and flying experience"
"The addition of the Boeing 777's to our fleet is a major coup for us; the product they offer is one of, if not, the best in the world. I am confident that this will once again make Gulf Air the airline of choice and leave our passengers with an easy decision when deciding which airline to fly," he concluded.
The wide body Boeing 777-300ER is the largest long-range twin-engine commercial airplane in the world. It extends the 777 family's span of capabilities, bringing twin-engine efficiency and reliability to the long-range market. The aircraft come with a luxurious interior and a host of amenities providing the most comfortable travel experience to both premium and economy class passengers in a three-class configuration, i.e., First, Business and Economy with a capacity of 312 seats.
First class passengers on these aircraft can enjoy the luxury of a private suite with bespoke furnishing and a fully flat bed complete with a personal wardrobe. The herring-bone design business class offer a lie-flat bed with 180 degree recline, a privacy wall for personal space and world-class linens. Economy class passengers will not be disappointed as the seats come with more leg space to stretch out, a 130-degree recline and a hammock headrest to support head and neck.
Gulf Air Deputy CEO Ismail Karimi commented, "As the national carrier of the Kingdom, we are constantly looking at opportunities, where we can offer enhanced products and services for our customers. Ultimately, we want Gulf Air to be the airline of choice."
These almost-new aircraft with state-of-the-art cabin features will, I am sure, give our customers a luxurious and relaxing travel experience, concludes Mr Karimi Gulf Air already has two A330 aircraft on short-term wet-lease from Jet Airways.
23/02/09 PRESS RELEASE/Gulf Air

Jet Airways to lease 4 Boeing-777 aircraft to Gulf Air

Mumbai: Hit by economic slowdown, private air-carrier Jet Airways will be leasing out four of its wide-bodied Boeing 777 aircraft to Gulf Air.
"We are leasing out four of our Boeing 777-300 (ER) aircraft to Gulf Air for three-and-half-year period," Jet Airways Executive Director Saroj Datta said here on Monday.
A lease agreement has been signed for this purpose, Datta said adding, "The lease period would be for 42 months."
The aircraft would be on wet lease for first six months and for the remaining three years they would be on dry lease, he said.
Under wet lease, an airline provides its aircraft with complete crew, maintenance and insurance to another airline. However, under dry lease, only an aircraft is leased out.
The Bahrain-headquartered air-carrier would be taking three of the four leased aircraft next month, and the fourth in May.
Earlier too, Jet Airways had leased out two of its A330 aircraft to Gulf Air for four months from December last.
23/02/09 PTI/Times of India

Gurgaon airhostess found dead in Munich

New Delhi: Mystery continues to surround the death of a 30-year-old Gurgaon-based flight attendant three weeks after her body was found on a railway track near Munich, Germany.
Authorities in Germany are still investigating the case, and are yet to zero in on the circumstances leading to Shalini Yadav’s death. Her employers have refused to comment.
Yadav, a flight attendant with the Germany-based Lufthansa Airlines, was on a stopover at Munich after a Mumbai-Munich flight on February 2.
She was on duty, and was supposed to take the Munich-Mumbai flight on February 5.
But, according to the investigating officers in Munich, Yadav was found dead on the railway tracks around 10 kilometres from Munich.
“The case is still under investigation. She was killed by the train, and parts of the body was found till 100 metres on the train’s course,” M Titz, the senior public prosecutor in Munich and head of the department investigating the case, told Newsline on Monday.
While her family in India could not be contacted for more details, German authorities are now finding it hard to get to any conclusion in the absence of vital clues.
“While the investigations are still on, a case of death for unknown reason has been registered here,” Titz said. “We do not suppose it is a capital crime, murder or manslaughter. It seems she killed herself — having investigated so far, we do not suppose it to be a murder.” But the investigators are keeping all avenues open, Titz added.
24/02/09 Geeta Gupta/Express India

International buyers give Enstrom a boost

Enstrom Helicopter, which saw 12 of its 20 deliveries last year go to customers outside the U.S., is seeing a continuation of the trend in 2009.
The Menominee, Mich.-based OEM recently delivered its first 480B destined for Bulgaria to Fortuna Air of Veliko Tarnovo.
Earlier this year Enstrom also delivered a 480B to Rotor Ukraine, its newest European dealer. It will fly from the city of Kikolayev as a sales demonstrator and will be available for commercial purposes such as tours and photography.
Rotor Ukraine will be fully equipped to offer sales and service for Enstrom piston and turbine helicopters throughout the Ukraine and other eastern European countries.
Enstrom and Monarch Aviation also announced at Heli-Expo the sale of two more 480B turbine helicopters in India. The first went to Ashok Sawhny, CEO of Monarch International, and will be used by Monarch as a demonstrator as well as in a commercial role. The second aircraft was sold to Orissa Stevedores to be used as a corporate transport.
Monarch has proven especially adept at navigating India’s unique paperwork requirements and regulations,” said Enstrom director of sales and marketing Tracy Biegler. “Mr. Sawhny was the first private individual in India to receive a nonscheduled operating certificate.”
“There are a lot of people in India, but only a handful of helicopters,” said Monarch pilot M.K. Labroo. “The market must grow and it is growing.”
23/02/09 AINonline

Singapore Airlines offers freebies, discounts; struggles with demand

Mumbai: With nearly two months of boycott by travel agents in India, Singapore Airlines Ltd and the island nation are directly approaching passengers and tourists with promotional fares and freebies.
To counter the boycott, Singapore Airlines, the world’s largest carrier by market value, is offering discounts on tickets booked online.
The Singapore Tourism Board (STB) has announced an India-specific promotional scheme. “STB has dedicated up to S$500,000 (Rs1.65 crore) worth of free air tickets to be won before the closing date of 31st May,” the board said in a statement on Wednesday.
SOTC, a unit of travel firm Kuoni Travel (India) Pvt. Ltd, has announced packages starting at Rs22,950 for a three-night stay at Singapore. This includes return airfare and city tours, as well as free tickets to tourist spots for the first 100 customers.
Travel agents started the boycott late last year after several airlines, led by the National Aviation Co. of India Ltd, which runs Air India, stopped paying them a 5% commission on tickets sold. Reeling under the impact, many retracted their earlier stance, except Singapore Airlines and some other foreign carriers.
The agents then intensified protests and stopped selling Singapore as a tourist destination. India ranks as the fourth-largest tourist source for Singapore, with 770,000 visitors in 2008, or 7.6% of the visitors to the island last year.
Singapore Airlines executives were unwilling to go on record, but an executive said on condition of anonymity that the carrier would not roll back its decision to do away the commission to travel agents.
But the impact is showing already.
Singapore Airlines has already reduced operations out of India. Since we are switching passengers to other carriers, its load factor has declined, said Biji Eapen, president of the Iata Agents Association of India.
A 17 February report by brokerage firm CLSA quotes Singapore Airlines as saying India was among the airline firm’s worst performing markets with load factors on its India routes declining by 10% to 66% in the past two months.
Singapore Airlines is already struggling with falling demand, as reflected in advanced bookings, and reducing its capacity by 11% for fiscal 2010. On Friday, the airline also said it may postpone deliveries of new aircraft because of poor demand.
23/02/09 P.R. Sanjai/Livemint

Crown tells B.C. Appeal Court acquitted in Air India case should repay legal fees

Vancouver: A man acquitted in the 1985 terrorist bombing of Air India says he has assets worth $20 million - but he believes he shouldn't have to pay back millions of dollars in legal fees he owes the government.
Ripudaman Singh Malik has said he doesn't have any money to repay the $7.5 million he received to cover his legal costs for the massive Air India trial.
The trial ended in March 2005 with not-guilty verdicts for Malik and his co-accused Ajaib Singh Bagri.
Bruce McLeod, Malik's lawyer, told B.C. Appeal Court on Friday that his client has millions in assets from two properties, including a business in Vancouver and a hotel in Harrison Hot Springs, B.C.
The government froze Malik's assets in an attempt to get the money and Malik is appealing that decision.
Malik's lawyers missed a deadline for filing documents in the appeal but the judge said Friday the appeal can continue. The court is scheduled to hear the case for three days in March.
Crown lawyer Frank Potts said the fresh evidence McLeod will introduce at that hearing "is doomed to fail" because it wasn't brought up earlier.
Potts told the court that Malik says he's a millionaire when it suits him, and that he isn't when it doesn't.
He also called the assessed value of the two properties belonging to Malik and his wife "opinion evidence" that wouldn't hold up in court.
Meanwhile, Malik is suing the B.C. and federal governments for malicious prosecution, saying the charges stemming from the Air India case smeared his reputation and caused him financial loss.
Malik and his co-accused were charged in the mass murders of 331 people in two separate bombings on June 23, 1985, in what was the deadliest case of aviation terrorism before the 9-11 attacks in the United States.
Most of those killed were Canadian citizens who transferred to an Air India flight in Toronto after boarding a plane in Vancouver, where the Crown contends the bomb-laden suitcases originated.
The government paid Malik's legal bills for his 11-member defence team under an agreement that required him to repay the money after his trial, but Malik then said he couldn't afford to pay the debt.
23/02/09 Link, Canada

Monday, February 23, 2009

Jet Airways to stop Doha-Calicut service from March end

Doha: Jet Airways will be cancelling its direct flight from Doha to Calicut in the southern Indian state of Kerala by the end of next month. The decision was taken due to low passenger load to the sector, airline sources said yesterday. However, the airline will continue its connection flights to Calicut via Mumbai as well flights to other Indian destinations- Mumbai, Delhi and Kochi, Kerala. The last flight to Calicut would operate on March 28. Those who have bought tickets to travel after that date have been allowed to reroute their trip or accept a refund from the company, said an airline official.
“We are offering a full refund if the ticket is not used. The passengers can also re-route their journey in our Doha-Mumbai-Calicut flight or Doha-Kochi direct flight,” said the official. He said a number of people had bought tickets for the Doha-Calicut flight to travel during the forthcoming summer holidays. “ We have bookings up to August,” said the official.
Jet Airways is the sole Indian private airline operating flights to the Gulf sector. The company has also decided to stop some of its flights operating to other Gulf countries.
23/02/09 The Peninsula, Qatar

Saturday, February 21, 2009

Sri Lanka airport normal schedule resumes following rebel air raid

Katunayake: Sri Lanka government said the country's only international airport, Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA), is operating normally with its scheduled flights this morning.
Following the LTTE air attack on Sri Lanka capital Colombo last night airport officials have diverted some flights to neighbouring India and some were cancelled immediately.
According to the Duty Manager of BIA, three flights, Singapore flight scheduled to take off at 10.35 p.m., Bangkok flight at 12.25 a.m. and Chennai flight at 2.20 a.m. were cancelled by the Ministry of Aviation.
Sarath Kumara Gunaratna, Deputy Minister for Aviation confirmed that the normal proceedings of the airport are now underway. The airport officials have allocated a special telephone line (0112252861) to check the flight details for passengers who wish to leave the country during the day.
21/02/09 Colombo Page, Sri Lanka

Colombo bound flight re-directed to Thiruvananthapuram

Thiruvananthapuram: A Sri Lankan Airlines flight from Bangkok to Colombo was re-directed to the Thiruvananthapuram airport late Friday night following the LTTE air attack in Colombo.
The aircraft with 110 passengers onboard, however, left for Colombo around 1 a.m. after getting clearance for its onward journey to the capital of the island nation, airport sources said here on Saturday.
Two light aircraft of the LTTE last night bombed Colombo hitting Sri Lanka's main Revenue Department building near the Air Force Headquarters, killing at least two persons before they were brought down by the military.
21/02/09 PTI/The Hindu

Deccan Aviation ties up with FlySmiles

Deccan Aviation Lanka recently reached a groundbreaking milestone by tying up with Sri Lanka's national carrier SriLankan Airlines and their frequent flyer programme, 'FlySmiLes'.
This significant event is also a milestone in Sri Lankan history as it is for the first time that a country's national carrier has joined hands with a domestic aviation provider. This not only enables all passengers flying with Sri Lankan Airlines to either earn or burn their points aboard Deccan Aviation Lanka but also provides them with seamless connectivity from the International airport to the grounds of their intended final destination in a domestic context and vice versa.
It is a significant juncture in Sri Lanka's aviation history where the country's national carrier and premier helicopter service provider join hands through the FlySmiLes programme.
The partnership will foster the efforts of both companies to increase their market share and augment each other's product offering thereby providing increased benefits to passengers, ultimately creating customer loyalty.
The partnership will contribute towards the development of the country's aviation and tourism industry. Members who fly with Deccan will earn 5 points for every USD spent and similarly have the option of redeeming their FlySmiLes points with Deccan across 15 hot destinations.
Deccan Aviation India is the parent companyof Deccan Aviation Lanka chaired by Capt. G. R. Gopinath.
21/02/09 Daily Mirror, Sri Lanka

Friday, February 20, 2009

India Yet to Decide on Overseas Stake in Airlines

India is still examining a plan to allow overseas airlines to buy stakes in local carriers, Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel said in Mumbai today.
Such a move will reverse a more than decade-old rule banning non-Indian airlines from owning shares of domestic carriers, paving the way for Singapore Airlines Ltd., Virgin Atlantic Airways Ltd. and others to invest.
The move may give foreign carriers a chance to invest in a market that Airbus SAS expects to surge ninefold in the two decades to 2026. The plan will also give carriers like Jet Airways (India) Ltd. and SpiceJet Ltd. access to cash and expertise amid a record $2 billion industrywide loss last year.
India currently permits overseas companies to own as much as 49 percent of an Indian carrier. No direct or indirect ownership by an airline is allowed.
Patel said he was hopeful the current government would be able to take a decision on the investment proposal. The five-year term of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s government comes to an end in May, by which time elections are due.
Patel, who said the economic slowdown was taking a toll on air traffic, ruled out the establishment of a stabilization fund sought by Indian carriers.
20/02/09 Bloomberg/Vipin V. Nair

BA, GoAir in talks for code-sharing

Mumbai: British Airways (BA) is learnt to be in talks with GoAir to strike a code-sharing, co-branding and marketing agreement. This may eventually lead to acquisition of equity stake by BA in GoAir once India opens up investment by overseas airlines in domestic firms.
A person familiar with the situation said GoAir has appointed a London-based boutique investment bank, Euromax Capital for the transaction. He said the sharing agreements are expected to take place shortly. It will help BA to consolidate its market position in India, which is its largest contributor of passenger volumes after the US. GoAir will benefit from the BA network in India, in addition to the foreign carrier’s brand recall.
GoAir has three aircraft while BA has 48 flights a week from various Indian cities. The source said GoAir is looking at raising $150-170 million through dilution of a 35-40% equity. If the deal goes, it will value GoAir at around $350 million. When asked, the spokespersons of both GoAir and BA declined to comment. Both of them said that they do not comment “on market speculation.” Subodh Agrawal, chairman of Euromax Capital, also declined to comment on deal citing confidentiality agreements.
20/02/09 Piyush Pandey & Mithun Roy/Economic Times

First and business class flying collapses in downturn

As the local aviation sector reels from huge capacity cuts, the industry's peak body has warned there is worse to come.
Qantas, Virgin Blue and Singapore Airlines have all this week announced significant cuts with Qantas also moving its large domestic schedule in New Zealand to low-cost offshoot Jetstar.
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) on Wednesday night reported huge downturns in the number of passengers flying business and first class, with Asia leading the collapse.
"With job losses accelerating in January and consumer confidence falling further it looks as though even larger declines in air travel should be expected early this year," IATA's December premium travel report warned.
Domestic figures from the Bureau of Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Economics were slightly more positive but still showed a drop in traffic on the three busiest routes.
Melbourne to Sydney traffic decreased by 2.2 per cent, Brisbane to Sydney by 0.4 per cent and Brisbane to Melbourne by 0.1 per cent. Virgin Blue announced on Tuesday it would remove eight per cent of capacity - or up to five aircraft - from its domestic fleet in May just hours after Qantas said it would significantly alter its flight schedule. Virgin's plans will affect up to 400 staff, who the airline said could be offered job-sharing options or moved to international start-up V Australia before sackings were considered. Qantas's international changes will cut capacity to China and alter India's schedule. Tourism groups said on Wednesday the airlines were doing the right thing to ensure the future competitiveness of aviation.
20/02/09 WAtoday.com

Duo duped by fraudsters for Malaysia trip

Ahmedabad: A 45-year-old man, Noor Mohammad Shaikh, and his friend from Juhapura were lured by dream of better life and sent to Malaysia on forged documents.
The forgeries were so obvious that the duo was caught at the Malaysia airport itself. Later, they were deported to India. Shaikh has lodged a complaint against the immigration agent at Vejalpur police station.
Shaikh, a resident of Al Kamar Society, Maktampura, Juhapura, and his friend Abdul Rahim Shaikh were approached by Hafiz Aslam Khan Pathan and two others in December 2007 near Al Afzal Masjid. They said they had sent many youngsters on immigration documents to earn a quick buck.
However, the duo was caught on the international airport when they could not give convincing answers about their contact in Malaysia and duration of their tourist visa. They were sent to police custody where they spent a month, after which they were deported.
20/02/09 Times of India

Thursday, February 19, 2009

Int’l airlines reluctant to operate from NE

New Delhi: There may be a clamour for resumption of international flights out of Lokapriya Gopinath Bordoloi International Airport, but there are few takers among the international airlines to operate from the North-east. Civil Aviation Minister, Praful Patel today clarified that Guwahati is available as a point-of-call to the designated airlines of Brunei, Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore, Vietnam, Bangladesh, Maldives, Sri Lanka and Bhutan.
“However, actual operations by any airline is guided by its commercial judgements,” he concluded.
“Taking into consideration the current international traffic at Guwahati Airport, existing infrastructure is sufficient to handle international operations efficiently,” Patel said in response to a question by Anwar Hussain.
The suspension of international flights by Air India after a couple of years of operation of the Guwahati-Bangkok flight had led to protests in the region. The Central Government has since been dilly-dallying on restarting the international flight operations.
The scrapped Guwahati-Kolkata-Mumbai-Bangkok flight was started in April 2002 by Air India with much fanfare. However, the euphoria was short-lived. Air India cancelled the lone international flight in 2003 after 18 months of operations claiming heavy losses.
19/02/09 Assam Tribune

Centre examining FDI in aviation sector

New Delhi: The government on Thursday said it is examining a proposal to allow foreign airlines to invest in domestic airlines as well as state-owned Air India.
In a written reply in Lok Sabha, Minister of State for Civil Aviation Praful Patel said, "The proposal to allow foreign airlines to invest in domestic airlines is under examination."
He was replying to a question whether the government is considering a proposal to allow Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in domestic airlines, including public sector Air India.
Asked if Air India has opposed such a move, he said, "No such representation has been received from the Air India on change in FDI policy."
Meanwhile, in a separate question Patel said the Board of Airports Authority of India (AAI) has approved 'in principle' AAI's proposed VRS for employees of IGI Airport, Delhi and CSI Airport, Mumbai.
He said the Voluntary Retirement Scheme (VRS) is to be partly financed by the Joint Venture companies operating the Delhi and Mumbai airports.
19/02/09 PTI/The Hindu

Bill for same compensation to Indian air travellers as in West

New Delhi: Indian air travellers will now get the same amount of compensation as applicable in Western nations in case of loss of lives, baggage or cargo with Parliament today passing a bill in this regard.
The Carriage by Air (Amendment) Bill 2008, which was earlier passed by the Lok Sabha, got a nod from Rajya Sabha.
Replying to a debate on the bill, Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel said the legislation was necessitated as in case of loss of baggage or cargo, there was one kind of compensation in India and another in Europe. He said the Bill aimed to end this disparity.
His predecessor Rajiv Pratap Rudy and S S Ahluwalia (both BJP) raised issues like the downslide in the aviation sector and the mechanism to work out the compensation in keeping with inflation.
Patel said civil aviation in India has recorded a robust growth in the last few years but the growth had declined in the last two quarters due to factors like the global recession and the Mumbai terror strikes.
18/02/09 Press Trust of India

India to accede to Montreal convention

The Carriage by Air (Amendment) Bill 2008, stands amended by the Parliament after it was passed by the Rajya Sabha yesterday. It now paves the way for India to accede to the Montreal Convention, 1999. The Bill was passed by the Lok Sabha on 30th April, 2008.
Following is the text of the speech of Shri Praful Patel, Minister for Civil Aviation for consideration and passing of the Carriage by Air (Amendment) Bill, 2008 in the Rajya Sabha yesterday:-
“Hon'ble Speaker Sir and Members of Parliament. I place before you for consideration and passing of the Carriage by Air (Amendment) Bill 2008. As you are all aware, during the last decade there have been significant developments in the civil aviation sector bringing India to the core of the international civil aviation scenario. We have now infact become a trendsetter due to our size and impressive growth rates. To further place India in the ranks of global leaders, I propose this legislation which will facilitate higher compensation and prevent Indian passengers from discrimination.
On the proposal for amendment of the Act, I would like to mention that there is an international legal regime governing the liability of air carriers for injury or death of passengers, for destruction or loss of or damage to baggage and cargo, and losses caused by delay in international carriage of passengers , baggage and cargo. This regime is set out in a number of international instruments. However, India has so far ratified only two instruments, namely the Warsaw Convention 1929, and the Warsaw Convention as amended by The Hague Protocol 1955 and the same has been given effect to by the Carriage by Air Act 1972.
The various instruments adopted by the International Civil Aviation Organisation failed to receive the kind of universal acceptance as parent Warsaw Convention and the Hague Protocol had received. As a result a situation arose where several different combinations of liability regimes came into existence defying the much desired uniformity and unification of international law in this field. The ICAO then embarked upon serious initiative for a socio economic study of the levels of compensation and finally the Montreal Convention 1999 was adopted for the unification of certain rules for international carriage by air which aims to achieve the dual purpose of modernizing as well as consolidating the various instruments comprising the Warsaw System.
The Montreal Convention has already been ratified by 86 countries, out of which 25 have direct air links with India, including routes having high traffic density such as UK, USA, UAE, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Japan, Austria, France, Germany, Netherlands and Italy. In such a situation, non accession of the Convention by India may give rise to a situation involving serious discrimination between the passengers of the same flight with regard to compensation. It is therefore necessary to accede to the Convention.
In brief, the Convention seeks to increase the compensation levels for international passengers in the event of death or body injury and damage and delay to the passenger baggage and cargo. While the compensation for death or bodily injury is proposed to be increased 7 times from the existing levels of 20000 USD approximately to 140000 USD approximately, the compensation for damage to the checked baggage is to increase from 20 USD per kg approximately to 1400 USD per passenger. The compensation for damage to cargo is proposed to be increased from 20 USD per kg approximatley to 24 USD per kg.
Even today where Indian carriers are flying to States who have acceded the Convention, they have to insure for the liability limits set out in the Montreal Convention, even though India has not acceded to the Convention. If India does not adopt the Convention, the passengers originating and terminating their journey in India (who are mostly Indian nationals) would be deprived of the benefits of enhanced liability.
The Warsaw System allows at present four choices of jurisdiction for filing of a claim by the passenger namely, place of issue of ticket, principle place of business of the carrier, the place of destination of the passenger and the place of domicile of the carrier. Through the Montreal Convention a fifth jurisdiction is added which is the place of domicile of the passenger, provided the airline has a presence there. Therefore an Indian would be able to file claim in India even if the journey was undertaken outside India.
By amending certain provisions of the Carriage by Air Act, 1972 and to include the text of the Montreal Convention to the said Act as the Third Schedule, this would have the force of law in India in relation to any carriage by air to which those rules apply irrespective of the nationality of the aircraft performing the carriage.
In view of the foregoing, the Government has decided to accede to the Montreal Convention, 1999 and deposit the Instruments of Accession with ICAO. Before doing so, necessary legislative action is required in order to give effect to the provisions of the Convention in India. The rules contained in the First Schedule of the Act shall be applicable if the international carriage is between the Contracting Parties to the Warsaw Convention, those contained in the Second Schedule shall apply in respect of carriage between the Contracting Parties to the Warsaw Convention as amended by the Hague Protocol and the provisions in the Third Schedule shall be applicable for carriage between the States parties to the Montreal Convention, 1999.”
19/02/09 Press Information Bureau

DGCA to hire experts for airports, flights safety

New Delhi: The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) will hire experts from abroad to strengthen safety at airports and flights.
These experts will help the DGCA to augment its existing strength in discharging regulatory and safety-related functions." International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) has offered to run national projects in the areas of flight safety, aerodromes and air navigation secrvices." Minister of State for Civil Aviation Praful Patel said in a written reply in the Lok Sabha today.
" These national projects will augment the existing strength of DGCA by hiring experts (international/national) to assist DGCA in discharging its regulatory and safety oversight functions, till regular technical staff are recruited and trained by the government,"the Minister said.
19/02/09 Indopia

Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Paramount may tie up with two foreign airlines to fly overseas

Mumbai: Chennai-based Paramount Airways is likely to form tie-ups with two foreign airlines in order to attain the required size to fly abroad.
The move will also help Paramount to offer an integrated service to international travellers visiting India.
According to the present regulations, airlines need to complete five years in the domestic market and also have a minimum fleet size of 20 aircraft to be eligible to fly in international routes.
Paramount is currently talking to four airlines, including Singapore Airlines, Lufthansa, Qatar and Thai Airways, and expects to close a deal in the current quarter, sources close to the development said.When contacted, Paramount Airways managing director M Thiagarajan confirmed that the carrier was talking to a few foreign airlines but declined to give further details.
The load factor for most airlines has come down by 25% due to the economic slow-down. Airlines are now analysing different models to increase passenger traffic. Para-mount Airways is the market leader with 26% share in south India and reported a 45% increase in passenger traffic in January compared with last year.
Analysts said this kind of arrangement would indirectly help domestic carriers that are yet to fly international. Numerous international travellers and NRIs come to Mumbai, or Delhi, through international airlines and thereafter rearrange their journey to local destinations.
18/02/09 Mithun Roy/Economic Times

Sri Lankan Airlines wins IndiGo maintenance deal

Sri Lankan Airlines said its engineering arm has been awarded a major contract by IndiGo to carry out a series of important maintenance checks on the fast-growing Indian carrier's aircraft fleet.
The work will be done by Sri Lankan Engineering, the aircraft maintenance arm of Sri Lanka's national airline, at it main hangar complex at the Bandaranaike International Airport north of Colombo, a company statement said.
IndiGo is India's largest domestic low-fare carrier, and is now that country's third largest airline in terms of passengers carried.
D A G Jayasuriya, Head of Engineering at Sri Lankan, said the airline has done several heavy maintenance checks for airlines such as Airblue and Emirates over the last several years.
Manoj Gunawardena, Sri Lankan's chief executive, said Sri Lankan Engineering is now ready to carry out work for all airlines in the region.
The airline's school for pilots, aircraft engineers and technicians, Sri Lankan Technical Training, also became one of a few companies in Asia to receive the EASA 147 certification to provide training in aircraft maintenance to foreign and local students.
Sri Lankan has experience with Airbus aircraft, having an all-Airbus fleet of A320, A330, and A340 aircraft. Indigo, which commenced operations in August 2006, now has 125 flights a day to 17 cities in India.
18/02/09 Lanka Business Online

Government approves JV between NACIL and SATS

The Government yesterday gave post-facto approval to the formation of following Joint Venture Companies between the National Aviation Company of India Limited (NACIL) and M/s. Singapore Air Terminal Services (SATS) :

(i) For Cargo Handling at Bangalore International Airport Limited (BIAL), Bangalore with 50:50 shareholding.

The new Greenfield Airport at Bangalore commenced operations in 2008. Tenders were floated by BIAL for granting Service Provider Rights to professional Cargo handling entities for Build, Operate & Transfer (BOT) cargo handling facilities at the Airport. One of the terms of the tender was to create and provide cargo-handling facility of world-class standards. It was felt that the technical knowledge, experience and market standing of JV partner would enable erstwhile Air India to gain sufficient expertise in this field. Accordingly, erstwhile Air India and SATS submitted a combined bid to BIAL. The project cost is estimated to be Rs.99.10 crores. The debt-equity ratio will be 50:50 and NACIL’s equity contribution would be Rs.30 crores in the total share capital of Rs.60 crores. The balance would be borrowed from Banks and Financial Institutions. The JV is estimated to be profitable during its operation and expected to yield an IRR of 17% over a period 15-year. The profit margin is likely to be in the range of 10 to 28%.

(ii) To undertake the Ground Handling activities at Bangalore International Airport Limited (BIAL), Bangalore with 50:50 shareholding.

The erstwhile Air India (AI) had submitted its pre-qualification bid for provision of ground handling services at BIAL. Since international experience in ground handling was one of the criteria, AI decided to join hands with an international Ground Handler and submit the final bid. Thus AI submitted the ground handling bid jointly with SATS. AI shall subscribe for 50% of the shares and SATS for 50% of the shares and the same proportion of shares is required to be maintained throughout the term of agreement. This JVC would involve investment of around Rs.72.78 crores, out of which Rs.50 crores would be share capital and the balance capital would be raised from banks as commercial borrowings. As per estimates, it is expected to yield an IRR of 35% over a period of 10 years.

(iii) To undertake the Ground Handling activities at GMR Hyderabad International Airport (GHIAL), Hyderabad with 50:50 shareholding.

Greenfield Airport at Hyderabad has also come up and became operational from March, 2008. The GMR Hyderabad International Airport Limited (GHIAL) had invited selective tenders from ground handlers. In view of the ensuing merger of the erstwhile AI and IA, it was decided that they would jointly submit the tender along with a JV Partner for the Ground Handling contract at GHIAL. AI-IA decided to tie up with SATS as Joint Venture Partner. The JVC for Ground Handling Services at GHIAL would involve investment of approximately Rs.80 crores, out of which Rs.60 crores would be share capital and the balance capital would be raised from banks as commercial borrowings. The equity share holding of AI and SATS would be in the ratio of 50:50. As per estimates, it is expected to yield an IRR of approx. 41% per annum over a period of 7 years.

(iv) To undertake Ground Handling at Mumbai, Delhi and other Indian Airports excluding Bangalore, Hyderabad and Cochin with 50:50 shareholding.

NACIL as a National Carrier had the option of either undertaking the ground handling services at all metro airports under its subsidiary company or through a Joint Venture partnership company in terms new ground handling policy. After following the due process, NACIL has selected M/s. Singapore Airport Terminal Services (SATS) as JV partner for providing comprehensive ground handling services at Indian Airports. This Agreement is for all airports other than Bangalore/Hyderabad (for both these separate JVs are to be formed) and Cochin where there is a contractual agreement between the airport operator and Air India. In the proposed Joint Venture Company, both AI and SATS shall subscribe 50% of the shares each. The terms and conditions will be firmed-up after negotiations with SATS and accordingly the MOU for a particular station would be signed by the partners.
NACIL holds majority market share of the ground handling business at the Indian Airports, primarily as there is very little competition. Further, a large component of the third party ground handling contracts of NACIL are based on the mandated commercial agreements, which would cease to be in existence w.e.f. 1st January, 2010, as per the Government Policy.
18/02/09 Press Information Bureau

Jet Airways, Malaysia Airlines enhance travel connectivity and privileges.

Kuala Lumpur: Jet Airways and Malaysia Airlines have signed a code share and network-wide reciprocal Frequent Flyer partnership to provide its customers with enhanced travel connectivity and privileges.
Customers will enjoy a wider choice of flights, convenient onward connections in India and Malaysia with seamless transfers and through check-in, and the perks of frequent flyer membership.
Jet Airways will place its “9W” flight code on Malaysia Airlines’ flights operating between Kuala Lumpur and 5 major Indian cities, Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, Bengaluru (Bangalore) and Hyderabad.
In return, Malaysia Airlines will place its “MH” code on Jet Airways’ daily services between Chennai and Kuala Lumpur.
Tickets will be available for purchase from 25 February 2009 for travel commencing 3 March 2009.
In addition, customers will be able to earn and redeem miles when they travel with the respective airlines. This will benefit some 3 million customers comprising Jet Airways’ 1.5 million JetPrivilege members and Malaysia Airlines’ 1.5 million Enrich members.
Jet Airways Chairman, Mr. Naresh Goyal said “In addition to providing air travellers with a greater choice of flights between India and Kuala Lumpur, this new code-share agreement will offer customers of both our airlines with greater access to each other’s expanding global networks. They will enjoy a seamless travel experience, as well as the very high service standards that have earned both airlines global acclaim.”
Malaysia Airlines Managing Director/ Chief Executive Officer, Dato’ Sri Idris Jala said, “I am delighted to partner with Jet Airways as Malaysia Airlines work towards expanding and strengthening our hub-and-spoke network. This will allow us to capture untapped traffic from secondary points in India through the 5 Indian gateways onto MH’s network. Based on modest estimates, we expect to capture approximately 10% of the untapped potential traffic to Kuala Lumpur and beyond. This is valued at RM10 to 12 million per annum.”
Jet Airways and Malaysia Airlines currently have interline agreements for domestic points across India and Malaysia.
The Indian High Commissioner to Malaysia, His Excellency Mr Ashok K.Kantha and Malaysia Airlines Chairman, Tan Sri Dr Munir Majid were also present at the signing ceremony.
18/02/09 PRESS RELEASE/Jet Airways

Qantas cuts India, China services

Australia’s Qantas is to cut direct flights from Sydney to China’s Beijing and from Melbourne to Shanghai, but will increase flights between Sydney and Shanghai.
It also will cut direct flights from Australia to Mumbai, India, with all services to Mumbai to operate via Singapore from mid-May.
It also will withdraw from the domestic New Zealand market and hand those services to sister airline Jetstar, which has already signalled a fares war.
18/02/09 Impactpub.com

He paid for sharing name with terrorist

Mohali: A leisure trip with friends to Thailand turned into Punjab resident Paramjit Singh’s worst nightmare after he landed at the Bangkok airport - he was mistaken for a Sikh terrorist. Paramjit happens to share his name with Khalistan Liberation Force (KLF) chief Paramjit Singh Panjwar, who is on Interpol’s blacklist. And so, once he touched down in Bangkok on February 1, his troubles started.
Thailand police immediately arrested him at the airport, said Paramjit, who is now back home in Mohali. He alleged that he was kept in custody and tortured badly by police for over 12 hours before finally being deported to India.
“They did not understand my language and I was also unable to understand what they were saying. I even showed them my passport but they kept on beating me like an animal. They also snatched my driving licence and purse that contained US$1,100 and did not return it,” Paramjit Singh, 35, who runs his own business here said.
“Then finally, they deported me to India on the same night by giving me a certificate that reads ‘Entry of Paramjit Singh Panjwar is banned in Thailand from September 6, 1995, to September 6, 2095’. My friends who were accompanying me to Bangkok were not told about my whereabouts,” he said. His tale of woes did not end there as on reaching the Indira Gandhi International (IGI) airport in New Delhi he was again arrested by customs officials on the basis of the report they got from Thailand, he alleged. “The officials at IGI airport questioned me for the whole night on February 2 and a senior official among them threatened to put me behind bars.
Many times I fainted during the interrogation but nobody called any doctor,” said Paramjit. Now a Chandigarh-based NGO, Global Human Rights Council (GHRC), has come to his aid and registered a complaint with the general secretary of United Nations in the case.
18/02/09 IANS/Economic Times

SC to hear BIAL, MIAL's plea on March 3

New Delhi: The Supreme Court will hear on March 3 a petition challenging the Karnataka High Court judgment that quashed Bangalore International Airport Ltd's decision to award a duty-free shops contract to Nuance Group AG of Switzerland and Shoppers Stop.
With this, the apex court will also hear another similar petition filed by Dubai-based travel retail business company Flemingo Duty Free Shops Pvt Ltd challenging the Mumbai High Court verdict that quashed Mumbai International Airport Ltd's (MIAL's) decision to award the contract to DFS India.
A bench headed by Justice Arijit Pasayat asked the parties to maintain the status quo till the matter is disposed of.
Both the High Courts had held that MIAL and BIAL were a 'state' within the meaning of Article 12 of the Constitution.Both the Nuance Group and DFS Ventures, Singapore, had challenged the High Courts' orders.
The Karnataka High Court on December 19 last year, on Flemingo's plea, had set aside the award and directed BIAL to reissue fresh tenders within 45 days.
17/02/09 ZeeNews

Unisys to support upgrade of Delhi airport terminal

Blue Bell: Unisys India, a subsidiary of Blue Bell-based Unisys Corp., was named master systems integrator in support of the infrastructure project to modernize and restructure Delhi International Airport Ltd., including work on the airport’s new Terminal 3.
Terminal 3 will provide much needed additional capacity to Delhi during the 2010 Commonwealth Games as well as serve the more than 34 million passengers per year anticipated by Delhi International Airport.
Unisys has been awarded two contracts: the master systems integration agreement to work with General Maritime Corp., an infrastructure provider at the airport, and a subcontracted systems integration agreement with Larsen & Toubro Ltd., the primary contractor for the project. As part of the project, Unisys will design, test and commission the overall integration of various disparate airport systems that supply information to the airport community, including airlines, ground handlers, and government agencies such as Immigration and Customs and franchise operators.
17/02/09 Indus Business Journal, USA

Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Qantas slashes China, India routes

Melbourne: Australian carrier Qantas announced cuts to "underperforming" routes to China and India on Tuesday, and said it was handing its domestic New Zealand services to discount offshoot Jetstar.
Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce said the airline made the changes after closely monitoring its international operations amid turbulence created by the global economic crisis.
"The Qantas Group is performing well in this difficult environment but we are not immune from the need to address underperforming routes," he said.
"We are reluctantly making changes to our China and India schedules, but will continue to offer significant capacity into both countries as they remain important business and leisure markets."
The airline will cut direct flights from Sydney to Beijing and Mebourne to Shanghai, although flights between Sydney and Shanghai will increase.
Qantas also cut direct flights from Australia to Mumbai, with all services to the Indian financial capital to operate via Singapore from mid-May.
17/02/09 AFP

Air India convict's perjury trial adjourned

Vancouver: The much-delayed perjury trial of the only man convicted in the Air India bombings has been adjourned for another five months.
After two prior adjournments, the three-week trial of Inderjit Singh Reyat was scheduled to begin May 4 but his lawyer, Ian Donaldson, told B.C. Supreme Court Justice Mark McEwan Monday that he needs more time because of conflicts with other cases he is handling.
"I am stuck and I have no way of getting unstuck," he told the judge.
Donaldson said he's been Reyat's lawyer since he was charged with perjury and "I feel I owe it to Reyat to stay on" as his counsel.
Special prosecutor Len Doust did not oppose Donaldson's adjournment application and McEwan set the new trial date for Oct. 5.
The Duncan electrician is the only person ever found guilty in the 1985 bombing of Air India Flight 182 that killed 329 people, as well as the same-day blast at Tokyo's Narita airport that killed two baggage handlers. He allegedly lied 27 times while testifying for the Crown at the trial of two other accused, Ripudaman Singh Malik and Ajaib Singh Bagri, who were acquitted.
Reyat, 56, was arrested in England in 1988 and extradited to Canada. He has been in jail since. In May 1991, he was convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to 10 years for his part in the Narita bombing.
He was then charged in connection with the Air India bombing and pleaded guilty to manslaughter in 2003, receiving a five-year jail term. Those sentences expired in February, but he was kept in jail on the perjury charges.
16/02/09 Calgary Herald, Canada

Monday, February 16, 2009

Safaran defers plan to set up MRO in India

New Delhi: French conglomerate Safran, a global company in the defence and aviation sectors, has deferred plans to set up a maintain, repair and overhaul facility (MRO) for aviation engines in India, its chief executive said, blaming global downturn for the company's decision.
Last year, Safran had announced plans for an MRO for CFM56 turbofan engines used in Boeing and Airbus and said the 'fleet of CFM56 (in India) was large and called for heavy investments. The company had also said it would identify an Indian partner for this facility.
However, Safran's plans for an aircraft training centre in India is on track. "This will be for mechanics and engineers and our target is to train 500 people every year,'' the company CEO Jean-Paul Herteman said.
This will be located in Hyderabad and will start operations in early 2010 with an investment of $20 million,'' he said. Safran is Europe's largest engine manufacturer.
Asked on the large contracts the company has won in India, Mr Herteman said Safran has co-developed the 'Shakthi' engine for the Advanced Light Helicopter (ALH) and Dhruv, the technology showpiece of HAL (Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd).
Safran employs 1,500 people in India. The company has a smart chips and smart card manufacturing plant in Noida. It also runs an engineering center in Bangalore in addition to having a manufacturing JV with HAL.
16/02/09 Joji Thomas Philip/Economic Times

Airlines slash overseas fares by up to 50%

Mumbai: After the farcical flip-flop in domestic air fares, airlines are now coming up with promotional fares, which involve a discount of 30-50%, for international flights originating from India.
Jet Airways, the country’s largest airline, has cut international fares by 30%. For the Singapore and Hong Kong routes, Jet has introduced special fares that will be valid till February end. These fares will entail a 30% discount on base return economy class and premier fares.
Foreign airlines, too, have unveiled offers. The UK-based British Airways has reduced fares by 50% for flights to London from both Mumbai and Delhi. A passenger can get a British Airways ticket either from Mumbai or Delhi to London for just Rs 9,900 including taxes, 50% less compared with normal fares. This fare is valid for the economy class till March 31, 2009. Otherwise, a one-way ticket to London costs about Rs 20,044 including taxes. British Airways operates 48 flights every week from London’s Heathrow airport to six cities in India.
Jet Airways has also come out with a special Mumbai-London and Delhi-London first-class base fare at Rs 2 lakh, down from the earlier fare of Rs 2,72,000, per person. The airline operates daily, direct flights to Singapore and Hong Kong. Jet Airways currently operates over 370 flights daily.
Meanwhile, cash-rich Singapore Airlines is offering discount deals of up to 60% connecting Mumbai with various Southeast Asian cities.
“Many carriers are getting better yields from international operations. Jet’s revenues from international operations in the third quarter of FY09 were 100% more than the domestic numbers,” said an analyst with domestic brokerage firm.
16/02/09 Mithun Roy/Economic Times

Jet Airways to lease out airplanes to Oman Air

Mumbai: Naresh Goyal-promoted Jet Airways plans to lease out two of its aircraft to Oman Air, as part of its route rationalisation and cost-cutting plan.
The carrier has entered into agreements with Oman Air for the lease out of two Airbus A 330-200 aircraft for a period of six months with effect from May, it said in a filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange today.
The airplanes would be given on a wet-lease basis. Under such an arrangement, operational control and maintenance responsibility would be remain with the Indian carrier. The aircraft would continue to be registered in India and would be operated with Jet's crew.
Jet Airways has already discontinued Mumbai-Shanghai-San Francisco flight as part of its route rationalisation exercise.
16/02/09 PTI/Economic Times

Sunday, February 15, 2009

More AirAsia flights to India

Kuala Lumpur: Buoyed by its successful foray into the Indian market with a direct service between Tiruchi and Kuala Lumpur, the low-cost carrier AirAsia is planning to operate service to more destinations in the country.
The airline’s service on Tiruchi-Kuala Lumpur sector has proved to be a commercial hit with the flights averaging more than 80 per cent load factor on both ways, right from the launch on December 1.
AirAsia serves the route with a 180-seater Airbus A-320 departing from the low cost carrier terminal in Kuala Lumpur.
“We are overwhelmed by the response to the service. We are considering a second frequency on the route,” Kathleen Tan, Head, Commercial, AirAsia, told visiting journalists from India and other countries recently.
New Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai and Hyderabad are some of the potential destinations that the airline is looking at to introduce services, apart from a few tier-II cities. AirAsia X, a subsidiary of the AirAsia, would operate on some of these long haul sectors with flight duration of more than four hours. The no-frills airline’s low prices have indeed become a major attraction for families to think of foreign travel.
While other low-cost airlines have struggled and held back in the wake of the global meltdown, the AirAsia has remained aggressive.
The airline operates on 110 routes already and is adding more destinations even while rapidly expanding its fleet strength.
15/02/09 The Hindu

Saturday, February 14, 2009

Heathrow most annoying but safest airport; Indian immigration officials second rudest

London: Heathrow has been voted the worst international airport for passport queues and baggage problems, a survey of air travellers said on Friday.
New York's JFK and Los Angeles International airports were ranked second and third worst in the survey by online travel and social network WAYN.com
The survey asked 2,250 passengers about passport control, baggage handling, customs and security at major international airports.
Heathrow, the world's busiest air hub, was voted the worst for long passport queues followed by the two American airports, the poll said.
The three were also seen as having the longest wait time for collecting baggage and were considered the most likely to damage luggage, the poll said.
However New York and Heathrow were also regarded as the best airports for security, with British travellers putting Heathrow at number one.
Bangkok, Amsterdam and Rome were considered to have the least-thorough security, the poll said.
Heathrow's passport control officers were also considered the friendliest after Australia's followed by Canada, although British travellers put Heathrow first, the survey said.
US immigration officials were given the unwanted tag of being the rudest, followed by India and Russia.
Travellers wanting the shortest queuing times should head for Amsterdam's Schiphol airport, Changi in Singapore or Frankfurt.
13/02/09 AFP

Jet Airways among top ten airlines worldwide

Seasoned travellers have named London City airport the best in the UK in the Wanderlust 2009 Travel Awards.
London City airport had a satisfaction rating of 87.27% from Wanderlust readers, followed by Inverness airport with 83.53% and Southampton airport with 81.71%. Also in the list of the top 10 airports in the UK were Newcastle, Edinburgh, Belfast City, Birmingham, Bristol, Aberdeen and East Midlands.
The largest airport in the UK, Heathrow, was back in 20th position with a satisfaction rating of 64.77%.
No UK airports featured in the top 10 worldwide airports. Singapore Changi airport won yet again, with a fantastic customer satisfaction rating of 94.18%, followed by Paro airport in Bhutan with 91.43% and Hong Kong International airport with 91.3%.
Next highest rated worldwide airports were Denver, Kuala Lumpur, Bergen, Vancouver, Zurich, Amsterdam Schiphol, and Copenhagen, all of which scored comfortably in excess of 80%. No UK airlines were voted among the top 10 worldwide airlines either. Singapore Airlines won again, with a satisfaction rating of 93.78%, closely followed by Etihad Airways with 92.63%. Other top 10 airlines included Qatar Airways, Cathay Pacific, Jet Airways, Emirates, and Swiss International Air Lines.
But UK based airlines fared better in the top 10 low cost airlines. Air Berlin won for the second year in a row with a score of 85%, followed by Air Asia and Virgin Blue. UK airlines in the top 10 were bmi, Jet2.com, Flybe, easyJet and bmibaby. Ryanair was only placed in 19th position.
Nearly 3,000 travellers voted in the annual awards. Between them Wanderlust readers have visited more than 170 countries and 631 cities in the last year.
13/02/09 Holiday Extras

Air India Express to launch Srinagar-Dubai flight

Srinagar: The Air India Express will launch its weekly flight to Dubai from Srinagar tomorrow.
UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi will flag-off the first Air India Express flight at 2.30 PM tomorrow, official sources said."Initially, only one flight will be operated on every Saturday," a senior officer of Airport Authority of India (AAI) said.
Introduction of more flights will depend on the response of valley people, the officer said. The first international flight from the Srinagar airport took off in January 2002 to Jeddah in Saudia Arabia for Haj pilgrims.
13/02/09 Indopia.com

FAA codes for tired pilots hit turbulence

As aviation has advanced to the point where U.S. airlines are flying jets around the world for 16 hours or more, federal regulators are introducing new safety measures to ensure pilots get enough rest for those ultra-long flights.
Pilot fatigue has become a growing concern as many crews work more hours under labor contracts and investigations have shown that fatigue has played a role in aviation accidents.
What’s more, regulations on crew rest didn’t specifically address very long international flights. That led Atlanta-based Delta Air Lines to introduce its own federally approved measures in 2006. Delta developed the practices as it planned to start flying from Mumbai, India, to New York, a nonstop flight of more than 16 hours.
The Federal Aviation Administration used the Delta measures as a model for a notice on industrywide standards issued in October. But now other airlines say they’re concerned that the FAA didn’t follow the standard procedure for developing new rules and didn’t include a formal process to gather public comment.
Under the new standards, pilots can be on duty up to 23 hours, and airlines must allow 24 hours of pilot rest before the flights, 48 hours of rest during layovers and additional rest during flights.
The aim is to address the fatigue issue that pilots say they wrestle with regularly.
“We’ve got a lot of pilots out every day of the week that are just not getting enough rest at night,” said Don Wykoff, a Delta pilot and chairman of the flight time and duty time committee at the Air Line Pilots Association, which represents pilots at Delta and other airlines.
“We’ve got airplanes that can literally fly halfway around the world. The problem is, we don’t have rules that cover any aspect of that flying. They’re very old rules that never envisioned a flight that long.”
After the FAA update in the fall, American, Continental and other carriers filed a lawsuit in December seeking a standard rule-making process.
That process could take years, significantly delaying the effect of more stringent requirements that could force carriers to increase training, staffing and crew accommodations at a time of economic uncertainty.
“We’re not challenging the findings of this; it’s rather the procedure of the way the FAA went about it,” said American spokesman Tim Smith. He said American believes the safest rules come from the formal process “because the FAA itself becomes more knowledgeable and better educated through the comment period.”
The American pilots union, the Allied Pilots Association, calls the airlines’ lawsuit a stall tactic to avoid the higher cost of complying with the new safety procedures.
Without the new rules, airlines such as American have to give pilots only 24 hours of rest at the destination city and are not subject to the rest requirements for pilots on reserve before the ultra-long flights, among other differences, according to the Allied Pilots Association at American.
15/02/09 Kelly Yamanouchi/Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Gulf Air considering expanding operations in Indian market

Mumbai: Gulf Air, the national carrier of Kingdom of Bahrain is considering expanding its portfolio in the Indian market. The carrier currently operates twice daily flights from Mumbai and New Delhi; daily flights from Kochi, Trivandrum, Chennai and Bangalore; five times a week from Hyderabad and twice a week from Kolkata. In total, it operates more than 11,000 seats on the India – Gulf route every week. It is looking at connecting smaller cities of India with the Gulf region.
A source close to the developments said, “Gulf Air is considering expanding its Indian operations in the next few years. The carrier is keen on entering Tier I cities like Amritsar, Jaipur, Ahmedabad etc. within a year or so. The carrier is currently in bilateral talks with the Indian aviation ministry to increase services and capacities on the India – Gulf route.” Currently, the airline operates A320 and A330 aircraft on Indian routes, while there are no plans right now to replace smaller aircraft due to fall in load factors.
The source further added, “The main attraction for Indian travellers to fly on Gulf Air would be its connectivity to Europe, Middle East and USA. Apart from flexible connecting times, the carrier has recently reduced fares to European destinations for its Indian clients.” The carrier received about 80-85 per cent load factor last year (till November 26) and about 60 per cent in last two months (December 2008 – January 2009). Of the total passengers segment, about 70 per cent are trade travellers, 15 per cent are tourists to countries like Egypt and Turkey and remaining 15 per cent consists of business travellers, student segment and VFR (Visiting Friends & Relatives) sector.
14/02/09 Anita Jain/TravelBizMonitor

Minister for upgrades but children go business class

He has already been accused of ungentlemanly behaviour after circulating details of a colourful private conversation with the Mayor of London.
Now senior Labour MP Keith Vaz appears to have forgotten the great tradition of letting women and children go first.
After being upgraded on a recent family trip to India, the former Home Office minister and his lawyer wife Maria enjoyed first-class seats on Jet Airways, described by the airline as like 'your own private bedroom 30,000ft above the earth'.
Meanwhile their children, Luke, 13, and 12-year-old Anjali, were left in lower-grade seats further back in the plane.
Mr Vaz revealed details of the upgrade on the House of Commons Register of Members' Interests.
He said: 'On 28 December 2008 and 10 January 2009 my wife and children and I were upgraded on flights from London to Mumbai from standard class to business class and first class by Jet Airways.'
But a spokesman for the MP confirmed that it was Mr Vaz, 52, and his 49-year old wife who took the best seats on offer.
Jet Airways boasts that there are only eight passengers per cabin in first class, with each enjoying a seat that turns into a 90-inch long flat bed, and a private wardrobe.
It adds: 'Close the dual sliding doors to create your own private suite, offering unrivalled privacy and more personal space than one can imagine.'
The in- flight entertainment includes a 23in flat-screen TV with a choice of 75 films and TV programmes on demand.
Mr Vaz could also have enjoyed a five-course meal of 'world-class cuisine' and have been provided with lip balms, facial sprays, sleeper suits, eye masks, slippers and body lotion, should he have wanted any.
13/02/09 Tom Kelly/Daily Mail, UK

Dubai-based Atlantis focusing on high-end Indian tourists

Mumbai: Dubai-based Atlantis – the flagship resort of Palm Jumeirah, a high-end luxury property is all set to spread its brand awareness worldwide. Apart from the standard markets for Dubai like Europe and US, the hotel is also focusing on the emerging Indian market. The 1,539-room property will focus only on boutique and high-end travellers from Europe, US, Russia, Australia and South East Asia including India. Explaining the reason behind turning their eye to the Indian market, Brett Armitage, Senior Vice President – Sales, Atlantis, The Palm said, “India was on our mind from the last one year, prior to the opening of our property. There are various reasons behind this, the top most being the distance. With economic recession, most of the high-end clients are looking for short-haul destinations and Dubai is one of them. Secondly, according to Dubai's Department of Tourism & Commerce Marketing (DTCM), about 2, 50,000 Indians visited Dubai last year. We are just going to target 20,000 from the total figure.”
To reach the high-end clients, the sales unit of the hotel is currently in India. “We are in talks with various big tour operators from India. After having positive conclusions from the meetings, we are now aiming to have 20,000 room nights from the Indian market for this year,” added Armitage. The hotel has already appointed a representative in India, who's based out of Dubai, but will focus only on the Indian market. Talking about the sales activities, Armitage said, “We are looking at setting up a sales office in India by April this year. It would be either in New Delhi or Mumbai.
13/02/09 Anita Jain/TravelBizMonitor

Friday, February 13, 2009

Flydubai to debut with India

Dubai's first budget carrier, flydubai is on schedule for take-off to five Indian destinations in the second quarter, subject to the availability of aircraft.
The airline has not received any of its aircraft so far, according to flydubai top executive.
"No aircraft has arrived yet but we are on schedule to launch the airline," Chief Executive Ghaith Al Ghaith told Emirates Business, without divulging aircraft delivery dates.
"We will soon be making an announcement about the airline's launch. All I can say for now is it is on track," he said.
The budget carrier, assisted in its initial stages by Emirates, has 54 Boeing 737-800s on order, worth $4 billion (Dh14.6bn). It ordered 50 planes from Boeing and four from leasing company Babcock and Brown during the Farnborough International Airshow in July last year.
Al Ghaith said last month that the airline's first aircraft was supposed to be delivered by April, and operations expected to begin two weeks later.
But Boeing's 58-day machinist strike, which ended in October last year, has raised concerns about delivery delays for flydubai. The airline said in November that it was in talks with Boeing to understand the breadth of the delay.
If all goes well, the airline will start operations with five aircraft scheduled for delivery in its first year of operations, to five Indian destinations, including Pune, Chandigarh, Amritsar, Jaipur and Goa, said an airline source.
12/02/09 Zawya.com

Three Indians feared dead in US plane crash

New York: At least three Indians are feared to have been killed in an airline crash late on Thursday outside Buffalo, New York, early reports said.
The crash occurred after 10 p.m. New York Time in the rural village of Clarence Centre, and claimed forty-nine lives. News reports quoted the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) as saying that the plane was carrying 44 passengers and four crew on a flight from Newark, New Jersey, to Buffalo, which is a route Indian travelers frequently take. The identity of the Indians onboard, if any, is yet to be revealed.
Authorities said that the Continental Airlines Flight 3407, operated by Manassas, Virginia-based Colgan Air, was heading towards the Niagara Falls
The Erie County, New York, emergency coordinator said there were ‘multiple fatalities’ including one person on the ground.
About a dozen homes around the crash site were evacuated. Thee Buffalo News daily reported on its website that there were no survivors among the 48 on board and one fatality on the ground, citing airport sources.
Television footage from the scene in New York state showed a huge blaze still underway more than two hours after the crash.
The aircraft, described as a 74-seat Bombardier, was approaching Buffalo Niagara International Airport when it went down.
The Washington Times quoted State Trooper John Manthey as saying that the plane hit a house in Clarence around 10:10 p.m. Thursday.
Flames erupted from remnants of the house and aircraft as firefighters sought to control the blaze.
Clarence is about 20 miles northeast of Buffalo.
13/02/09 Sindh Today

Fresh evidence sparks debate over Air India probe

Ottawa: Fresh evidence at the Air India inquiry suggests a better effort by Canadian police, intelligence and transport officials could have averted the 1985 bombing that took 329 lives, say lawyers for the victims' families.
But the federal government insists it's not the job of the inquiry, headed by former Supreme Court judge John Major, to point fingers at anyone for past mistakes.
The federal legal team is urging Major to concentrate on forward-looking recommendations to bolster future anti-terrorism efforts.
The renewed debate was sparked by the release of documents delivered to the inquiry by government officials last fall but only made public Thursday.
They provide additional details indicating that Transport Canada conducted only minimal monitoring of Air India's security arrangements in the months leading up to the bombing.
Other documents suggest Air India managers themselves were confused about some security measures the day ill-fated Flight 182 left Toronto, later to be downed off the coast of Ireland by a terrorist bomb.
The documents also buttress previous evidence showing the Canadian Security Intelligence Service was hindered by a bureaucratic "quagmire" in its efforts to tap the phones of suspected Sikh extremists prior to the bombing.
"What we're seeing in these documents is a validation and a confirmation of what some of our hunches were," said Jacques Shore, one of the lawyers for the victims' families.
Written submissions to the inquiry by Shore and co-counsel Norm Boxall urged Major not to shy away from finding an "intelligence failure" on the part of CSIS -- as well as "institutional failure" by the RCMP and Transport Canada and "corporate failure" by Air India.
That raised the hackles of Barney Brucker, the chief federal lawyer at the inquiry.
In his own written brief, Brucker played down the significance of the new documents, saying they dealt with issues already aired during 17 months of public hearings.
Among the main points in the new material were:
-- An admission that Transport Canada's monitoring of Air India's security plan at Pearson Airport in Toronto was limited, in part because of a shortage of staff and resources.
-- A conclusion by an RCMP investigator who interviewed Air India managers that there was confusion and miscommunication about who was ultimately in charge of security and other decisions the day Flight 182 departed the city.
-- Additional evidence that training was inadequate for personnel at Burns Security, the company hired by Air India to screen passengers and luggage.
-- Confirmation that training was inadequate as well for some CSIS personnel who prepared legal applications for wiretap warrants. It took five months to obtain judicial permission to tap the phone of Talwinder Singh Parmar, the suspected ringleader of the bomb plot.
-- More evidence of bureaucratic in-fighting between CSIS and the RCMP, including a memo from a senior CSIS officer accusing the Mounties of unwarranted attacks on the competence of the security service.
-- A 1980 report indicating international air security experts had already identified bomb attacks as a major emerging threat -- contrary to assertions by some Canadian officials that hijacking was still perceived as the main danger when Flight 182 went down five years later.
12/02/09 The Canadian Press/CTV.ca, Canada