German bank says may repossess 2 Kingfisher aircraft

Germany's DVB Bank SE said it may repossess two Airbus A320 aircraft from troubled Kingfisher Airlines Ltd if the carrier failed to meet its commitment to the lender in due time.

The cash-strapped carrier, controlled by liquor baron Vijay Mallya, is having trouble making interest payments and paying salaries.

"It is a painful situation, it requires a lot of time and work," Bertrand Grabowski, a member of the board at the bank which oversees the aviation business, told Reuters on Friday. "We have said to Vijay (Mallya) that we cannot continue like this. If we are not paid on due time, we will certainly consider repossession of the aircraft," he said, while declining to comment if there was a certain deadline the bank had set.

“DVB has purportedly said they may repossess two aircraft if we do not pay them as agreed. Kingfisher Airlines fully intends to honour its payment obligations to DVB and other lessors,'' a Kingfisher spokesperson said

Grabowski said the amount of loan DVB has extended to Kingfisher was not significant to its $10-billion aviation portfolio and said the carrier is the only problem that DVB had in its aviation balance sheet.

14/01/12 Business Standard

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Jet Airways to add more flights to Gulf

Mumbai: Bolstered by high passenger volumes on its Gulf network, private carrier Jet Airways is looking at enhancing connectivity to the region from the coming summer. "Encouraged by the increasing traffic on the Gulf routes, we are mulling to launch some new sectors in our network," a Jet Airways source said on condition of anonymity.
The airline plans to add one flight on Mumbai-Dubai route, he said, adding services to Sharjah from Mangalore and Thiruvananthapuram are also being worked out. "We plan to introduce these services from the coming summer season." Jet Airways currently operates two daily flights from Mumbai and one each from Delhi and Hyderabad to Dubai.
The proposed flights are expected be serviced by the Boeing 737-800 aircraft, the source added. Jet Airways, which currently has a fleet of 93 aircraft, plans to add 49 more planes in the next five years to expand its domestic and international network.
Coming out of the global meltdown, when passenger air traffic fell significantly and airlines reduced capacity, the domestic air traffic clocked a 16% growth in 2010.
31/01/11 PTI/Economic Times

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Unruly carriers prey on cabin crew, passengers

Kolkata: Md Imran, the Kidderpore-based carrier' arrested at Kolkata airport on Saturday evening for harassing a female passenger at Dhaka airport and later on a Biman Bangladesh flight, is no aberration. Passengers and cabin crew are regularly harassed by carriers' on the Dhaka-Kolkata and Bangkok-Kolkata sectors, say sources.
"These men generally carry Indian food items like papad, masala and biscuits while flying out and electronics or garments when flying in. Some own small stores while others just do the carrying job," an airline official said.
Few incidents are reported because the victims are wary of humiliation.
"In most instances, these rowdies travel in numbers and intimidate victims. What Imran and his two cronies had not bargained for was the grit of the woman they targeted on Saturday," said a Biman Bangladesh official, who often hears about the misbehaviour of carriers on the Dhaka-Kolkata flight on Tuesdays and Saturdays when there is a connecting flight from Hong Kong.
"There are close to 100 carriers who frequently fly to Hong Kong via Dhaka. They are a major nuisance to cabin crew and passengers. Such is the situation that we do not roster female flight attendants on these flights," the official said.
In the past three years, cabin crews have filed at least six complaints against the misbehaviour of the carriers.
31/01/11 Times of India

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Boeing will deliver 787 Dreamliner to AI this year

New Delhi: Aircraft manufacturing major Boeing will deliver the first of its premium 787 Dreamliner aircraft to Air India (AI) this year. “Deliveries will occur this year and it will happen with proper settlement,” Dinesh Keskar, president, Boeing India, told Hindustan Times. Keskar said he would
formally announce the date of deliveries at the Aero India show to be held in Bangalore in the second week of February.
“We know the answer (when the first plane would be delivered to AI) but we wanted to find a good platform. We have just announced that we will deliver the 787 to Japan’s All Nippon Airlines in the third quarter this year,” Keskar said.
Keskar would soon be meeting AI chairman to inform him about the delivery schedule.
A miffed AI management had slapped a notice on the Seattle-based aviation giant demanding compensation of about $850 million for the persistent delay on deliveries of planes. AI had placed an order for 27 B-787 Dreamliners.
According to the original schedule, the first such aircraft was to be delivered in September 2008 followed by one each in the subsequent months.
By March 2011, Boeing was scheduled to have delivered 18 of these aircraft to AI.
30/01/11 Tushar Srivastava/Hindustan Times

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Indians to be airlifted out of Egypt as violence, looting continue

New Delhi: Indian Embassy in Cairo has made arrangements to airlift Indian nationals in Egypt wanting to return home in the wake of violent agitation against the Hosni Mubarak regime.
The arrangements are being coordinated by Indian Ambassador R. Swaminathan, officials said here. They said the embassy officials are in touch with the Ministry of External Affairs here, which is closely monitoring the situation.
The officials said most of the Indians are PIOs who have settled in Egypt and the Government will make arrangements if they wish to return to the country.
The MEA had yesterday issued a travel advisory asking Indians to avoid non-essential travel to that country.
"The Embassy of India in Cairo, is in touch with members of the Indian community, who are reported to be safe. There are about 3600 People of Indian Origin (PIO) in Egypt, of which some 2200 are in Cairo.
"In view of the prevailing situation in Egypt, Indian nationals are advised to avoid non-essential travel to Egypt for the present...," the advisory had said.
Indian Embassy has also set-up a round-the-clock control room. At least 100 people have been killed in the clashes and hundreds injured. Around 1,000 protesters have been arrested across the country since the protests broke out five days ago.
30/01/11 Deccan Chronicle

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Kannadigas Push for Better Air Connectivity to Mangalore

Bahrain: Kannadiga associations in Bahrain submitted a memorandum to Vayalar Ravi, Indian Minister for NRI Affairs and Civil Aviation, on Thursday January 27.
The memorandum said that fares to Mangalore are highly unfair compared to cities in neighbouring Kerala and requested him to bring down the fares and to give Mangalore airport an international status so that many airlines can operate flights to the city. This will result in better prices for NRIs from the region including places like Karwar, Udupi, Mangalore, Shimoga, Kasargod, and surrounding districts, as there are more than 200,000 Kannadigas from the area surrounding Mangalore airport.
Yet another point in the memorandum was introduction of Bahrain-Doha-Bangalore-Mangalore services. The passengers from Bangalore are presently forced to travel through Doha or Dubai or Muscat which causes a lot of inconvenience to families who are required to change their flights.
The petition also requested introduction of coach services to Mangalore railway station and Udupi city to support low income passengers coming from the Gulf. It also requested one additional international airport at Hubli or Belgaum or Bellary on an urgent basis.
29/01/11 Ronald D F D’Souza/Daijiworld

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Indians stranded as chaos rules Cairo airport

Cairo: Amid a massive unrest in Egypt dueto protests against President Hosni Mubarak, hundreds ofIndian passengers were stranded at Cairo''s airport today asflights were canceled or delayed, leaving them unable to leavebecause of a government-imposed curfew in the capital.
Egypt was in the grip of increasing lawlessness todayas gangs of armed men helped free thousands of prisoners andlooters rampaged malls, banks and jewellery stores, even asmany armymen doffed uniforms to join the uprising againstMubarak''s 30-year rule that has claimed at least 150 lives insix days.
In the face of mayhem and cancelled flights, hundredsof Indian tourists and businessmen struck at the Cairo airportwere still waiting to be rescued by the Indian Government.
Many of the passengers remained stranded at theairport, unable to leave because of the curfew as well asfears of the widespread looting reported across the capital.
"It is absolutely chaotic at the moment and no oneknows what is going on, as there are thousands of peopleoutside the terminal and there is no arrangement of food,"said Indian national Vineet Ahuja, who is stranded with his family at the Cairo airport.
30/01/11 PTI/One India

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DGCA circular on flights for foreign airlines

New Delhi: A foreign airline cannot fly extra passengers in a flight more than the aircraft capacity when it is replaced by a larger plane in the event of being grounded due to emergencies like technical trouble, according to the country's aviation regulator.
The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has come out with a fresh circular making it clear that "in case the airline is compelled to operate a particular flight with a higher capacity aircraft, it shall be ensured that the capacity is restricted to that of the original aircraft".
Such changes in aircraft occur at times when the original plane develops technical problems and cannot undertake its scheduled flight operation.
The maximum number of passengers an airline is allowed to board is detailed under the bilateral air services agreement between the governments of India and other countries.
Though no airline has violated the bilateral agreement norms so far, the sources said the need for such a circular arose after queries raised by some airlines.
A total number of seats, which a designated carrier of any country is allowed to fill in, are dictated by this agreement. For example, if an Airbus A-320 aircraft, with a capacity to carry around 120 passengers, has to be replaced, the airline can bring in an A-330 that can carry over 250 passengers.
28/01/11 Press Trust of India/Business Standard

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CAG takes dim view of Air India's aircraft acquisition

New Delhi: The Comptroller and Auditor-General (CAG) is believed to have come down heavily on Air India on the 111 planes it has bought for over Rs 40,000 crore starting 2006.
The cost of each of the 43 Airbus A-320 family of aircraft and 68 Boeing aircraft ordered by Air India ranges from $37.34 million to $143 million.
The CAG is also said to have questioned why the Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (MRO) facility that was to come up as part of the Indian order has not come up. The observations are said to be contained in an interim report on Air India. Being a State-owned enterprise, the finances of Air India are regularly audited by the CAG.
As part of the offset obligation for Indian's Rs 9,890-crore 43-aircraft acquisition proposal, the European aircraft manufacturer was to set up an MRO. While Air India has received all the 43 aircraft ordered, the MRO is yet to come up.
28/01/11 Ashwini Phadnis/Business Line

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Importers fret over delay in cargo clearance

Bangalore: Importers are fretting over delays in clearing the import cargo at the Bengaluru International Airport (BIA). The dwell time, or the time cargo remains in a terminal's storage awaiting clearance, has gone up to seven days.
Importers are incurring extra costs on account of this delay. Some importers are even looking at the option of shipping their goods out of the Chennai airport.
The trouble began when the Air Cargo Complex in BIA migrated to the Indian Customs Electronics Data Interchange System 1.5 (ICES 1.5) software version to expedite the process of clearing customs documents. The upgraded software was initially marred by technical glitches and software bugs. While the bug issue has been resolved, various other problems are said to have cropped up. Importers say there is even a shortage of customs officers and lack of co-ordination between different players in the ecosystem.
But the customs department blames the importers. "Importers and their agents take three days to file bills of entry. Another two to three days goes in paying the customs duty. Why can't they pay the duty online? There is also a provision to file advance bills of entry, which they don't use. How is it that GE Healthcare, 3M and IBM get their cargo cleared in a day?" asks the commissioner of customs in Bangalore, B Bhattacharya.
But the custom house agents (CHAs) blame the software for delays in entries. There are about 1,200 bills of entry made every day.
27/01/11 Shilpa Phadnis/Times of India

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Jeppesen, India’s Jet Airways Sign 5 Year EFB Class 2 Contract

Jeppesen recently agreed to a five-year electronic flight bag (EFB), tailored digital charting and navigation service renewal contract with Jet Airways, a leading commercial carrier based in India.
The agreement provides Jeppesen solutions for Jet Airways and its subsidiary carriers Jetlite and Jetkonnect. The agreement includes Jeppesen FliteDeck Pro class 2 EFB services with an enroute situational awareness application, tailored digital charting services and NavData navigational information.
Jeppesen services in the agreement help Jet Airways move closer to achieving its mission of operating in a paperless flight environment. Jeppesen FliteDeck Pro EFB services allow the airline to transmit seamless real time flight data between pilots and operations staff, including weather, maintenance logbooks and ground information in an integrated format to increase operational efficiency.
“We held productive meetings with the Directorate General Civil Aviation (DGCA) authority of India to implement our FliteDeck Pro EFB class 2 services with Jet Airways, which also clears us to provide similar options for other commercial carriers of India,” said Thomas Wede, Jeppesen senior vice president and general manager, Aviation. “We are pleased to continue our relationship with Jet Airways and we look forward to helping them operate more efficiently through enhanced digital navigation and operations solutions.”
28/01/11 Jim Douglas/AvStop.com

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Lankan with fake papers held at airport

Jaipur: A 22-year-old Sri Lankan was taken into custody by Sanganer police after the immigration authorities at the airport here caught him with a fake passport and visa documents on Wednesday. Police said the accused was trying to fly to London through Muscat in an Oman Air flight. He was staying as a refugee in Chennai for the past four years. The police, on Thursday, produced him in court which sent him to two-day police remand.
According to the police, the accused, Mathialagan Muthukumar, had taken shelter in Chennai in 2006 after he escaped from Sri Lanka with others in a boat. "He stayed in refugee camps in Chennai due to the civil war in Sri Lanka. He worked as a labourer during his stay in India," said ACP Rajesh Kumar Meel.
He added Muthukumar's two sisters live in London and he wanted to join them. "He was approached by a man in Chennai who promised to prepare fake documents for him. The man used a real passport belonging to someone else and replaced the photo with that of Muthukumar. He prepared fake visa documents for him," said the officer.
The man sent him to Jaipur saying it would be safer to fly to London from here with the fake documents. "He asked him to meet another man in Jaipur who would take him to airport and help him complete other formalities. Muthukumar followed his instructions, but immigration officials got suspicious," said the officer.
28/01/11 Times of India

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Air France-KLM takes 26% in Mumbai co, to set up repair unit

New Delhi: India's growing aviation market and huge aircraft orders from desi airlines are proving to be a big attraction for foreign carriers to invest here. The Air France-KLM combine recently picked up a 26% stake in a Mumbai-based firm, Max Aerospace and will soon launch a maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) facility for aircraft components in India.
The European giant, which has become one of the first international airlines to invest in a MRO here, has a simple business model for the MRO: Offer spare parts required by Indian carriers in the country itself without ordering them from abroad.
"The Indian market is growing very rapidly. Repairing or replacing aircraft components is a huge business opportunity. There are two cities (not Delhi or Mumbai) that have emerged as the options for locating this facility," said Vincent Knoops, senior V-P at KLM. Before Air France-KLM, Lufthansa's Lufthansa Technik was in talks with an Indian airport major to have an MRO in joint venture. But that deal did not click.
Indian carriers currently send their planes abroad for maintenance checks and also rely on overseas suppliers for their component requirement.
26/01/11 Times of India

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Jet Airways may join SkyTeam or Star Alliance

New Delhi: The country’s largest airline by passengers carried, Jet Airways (India) Ltd, plans to join international airline groupings SkyTeam or Star Alliance. The airline is also considering rebranding its low-cost carrier JetLite.
Jet, with a 115-aircraft fleet, has been expanding overseas since 2007 and an alliance with one of these groupings would help it grow its reach and revenue by about 5%, according to analysts.
The choice is limited though. Of the three global alliances, Air India is integrating into Star, the biggest, this year, and Kingfisher Airlines is joining OneWorld.
The aviation ministry does not want two major airlines in the same alliance, which would leave SkyTeam as Jet’s only option.
“OneWorld is already with (Kingfisher) so its has to be between Star and SkyTeam,” Jet Airways chairman Naresh Goyal said last week on the sidelines of a conference marking 100 years of flight in India. “But we are not in a hurry. Emirates has not joined any alliance, has it?”
Jet connects to 24 international cities, second only to Air India’s network, and has been stitching code-share agreements with international carriers to increase its reach.
27/01/11 Tarun Shukla/Live Mint

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Trust-Based Security System Pitched For U.S., U.K., Indian Airports

With security an imminent consideration in London because of the Olympic Games in 2012 and other reasons, the U.K. government is expected soon to announce a pilot program using the trust-based security (TBS) method at London Stansted Airport.
A U.S. airport and a mid-sized Indian airport are also viewing the TBS model, crafted by security consultant AR Challenges, company representatives tell Aviation Week. The system incorporates suggestions made by the Air Line Pilots Association in a white paper.
AR Challenges, based in Israel, the U.S. and Canada, is in discussions with information technology integrators involved with Indian Safe Cities projects. "It is essential that all systems are put together and integrated,” says Rafi Sela, the company’s founder. Sela has made presentations to the Airports Authority of India.
“In India, we are saying, just give us the security tax at the airport, and we will install the system under Build Operate Transfer (BOT) method … The airport also gets additional benefits beyond security. Retailers are willing to pay to get their message to passengers by offering spot discounts, airport operators can track vendors and employees and airlines can service their premium passengers as soon as their arrive,” Sela says.
The system has been tested for the past right months at arguably one of the most secure airports in the world—Ben Gurion International in Tel Aviv. Ninety percent of terrorist prevention there has been enabled by intelligence gathering, Sela asserts.
AR Challenges says it has the expertise, technologies and systems to support an immediate deployment of the TBS. Once the tests are completed, it plans to introduce TBS to the International Civil Aviation Organization.
“Asset protection must be threat-driven with a focus on the individual and the intent to do harm. In this system, the passenger is viewed as an asset rather than a liability to security. The philosophy on airport security, particularly in the U.S. is wrong. It is proactive rather than reactive,” says Sela.
25/01/11 Neelam Mathews/Aviation Week

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Foreign airlines clamour for more India seats

New Delhi: It looks like a battle of wits. Foreign airlines are clamouring for more seat entitlements from and to India, even as domestic carriers have finally got permission to raise capacities in select international sectors. With international traffic from India growing, the two sets of airlines are clamouring for more seats, but the government, it appears, is not obliging everyone.
Officials in the ministry of civil aviation acknowledged that requests are pending from countries such as Qatar, UAE, Singapore and Germany for increased seats and new destinations within India. Emirates, Qatar Airways, Singapore Airlines and Lufthansa are seeking increased business from India.
“The UAE wants a fresh bilateral with more seats and destinations from India. Currently, Emirates is allowed 54,000 seats a week. Qatar’s current entitlement is 23,000 a week. Singapore Airlines, Qatar and Emirates - all want more seats from and to India. Lufthansa wants to bring in the A380 and this obviously means more seat entitlements. But we are studying each request carefully. Since 2009, only about 7000-8000 new seats have been allowed and these were offered to Qatar Airways - they have failed to use even these. Instead of concentrating on allowing more seats to foreign airlines, we want Indian carriers to also increase their share in the international air traffic pie,” the officials said.
They pointed out that among domestic airlines, permission has been granted to Kingfisher and IndiGO to operate flights to Colombo from destinations other than Chennai - the Chennai-Colombo route is already being serviced by Air India and SpiceJet.
26/01/11 Sindhu Bhattacharya/Daily News & Analysis

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GVK Power to build airports in Bali, Java

Mumbai/Mangalore: Hyderabad-based infrastructure development company GVK Power and Infrastructure (GVKPIL), which also runs the airports at Mumbai and Bangalore, will develop international airports at Bali and Java in Indonesia.
This will be the company's first successful agreement with a foreign government for an international project after its failed attempt for modernisation and upgradation of the Male airport in Maldives last year. The company signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Indonesian government on Tuesday for execution of these projects right from conception to design to operating and managing these airports with an exclusivity clause.
"The Indonesian airport projects are strategically the next move for GVK. Java and Bali are growing very fast. We have to get a feasibility study done for traffic, investment and terms to be submitted to the Indonesian government," GV Krishna Reddy, chairman, GVKPIL, told ET.
He, however, did not gives any specific details outlining the project but it is estimated that the group will pump in close to $3billion to $4 billion in the development of these greenfield projects.
26/01/11 Economic Times

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Chances of direct Srinagar-Dubai flight bright: Soz

Srinagar: President of Jammu and Kashmir Pradesh Congress Committee, Professor Saifuddin Soz, on Tuesday said that chances of direct flight operating between Srinagar to Dubai and Jeddah were bright.
“At a high level meeting today with Secretary Aviation, Dr Nasir Zaidi and Chairman and MD Air India, Shri Arvind Jadhav, the chances for resumption of Srinagar – Dubai flight and connecting the same to Jeddah brightened up when these high ranking functionaries of the Ministry of Civil Aviation found weight in my argument that connecting Srinagar – Dubai flight with Jeddah (Saudi Arabia) would attract large number of passengers intending to perform Umrah. Functionaries said that this proposal would receive very immediate attention,” Soz said in a statement.
25/01/11 Greater Kashmir

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Visa on arrival for nationals of Myanmar and Indonesia

New Delhi: India on Tuesday extended its visa-on-arrival facility to Myanmarese and Indonesians tourists after finding it as a huge success with countries such as Japan, Singapore, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam and the Philippines.
Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono is chief guest at the Republic Day parade on 26 January.
It will be a single-entry visa with validity of up to 30 days. A tourist can receive such a visa by paying a fee of $60 (Rs2,730) at New Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata airports.
25/01/11 Sahil Makkar/Live Mint

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New international flying rights to boost local carriers

The country's international traffic has traditionally been dominated by overseas carriers. National flag carrier Air India was the only local airline flying out of the country until about a decade ago.
India's airlines are likely to increase their share of the market of passengers flying abroad, with the aviation ministry granting them fresh flying rights to a number of overseas destinations. The new flying rights, which were on hold for up to eight months, were awarded last fortnight by the ministry, with the largest chunk going to Jet Airways India Ltd, said two people familiar with the development, who did not want to be identified. Until 2005, Indian airlines controlled 25-30% of overseas-bound traffic, which has increased to 40% now. These rights can help Indian carriers raise their share of the international traffic from India to 50% over the next two years, said experts. "There will be resumption of expansion this year. Except GoAir, every carrier will have some international operation," said Kapil Kaul, chief executive officer, South Asia, for the aviation consulting firm Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation (Capa). "The real thrust would be felt by fiscal of 2012-13."
The country's international traffic has traditionally been dominated by overseas carriers. National flag carrier Air India was the only local airline flying out of the country until about a decade ago. This began changing in the middle of the last decade, with Jet Airways expanding to South Asia and beyond. Naresh Goyal-controlled Jet Airways has been cleared to start new services to Europe, including flights to Rome and Amsterdam from Mumbai.
24/01/11 India Infoline

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New Thai-Korean airline to fly to Mumbai, Cochin

Crystal Thai Airlines (CTA), a new startup commercial carrier with an ambition to become Thailand's third-largest airline, is getting ready to take to the skies early next month.
CTA, a 51:49 Thai-South Korean joint venture with 201 million baht in registered capital, is due to launch its maiden flights from Bangkok to Incheon and Muan, both in South Korea, on Feb 3, with two flights per week each.
The airline is led by Thai logistics businesswoman Manika Sawasdipan and has leased one Airbus A320, with 174 seats, said vice-president Pittipol Vannarot.
The airline is also acquiring a larger Airbus with a longer range - the A330-200 - through a lease in March to support expanding services. A second A320 is expected join the fleet by the end of this year, said Mr Pittipol.
Aside from South Korea, other destinations on its radar screen are Mumbai and Cochin in India, Clark (the Philippines), Colombo (Sri Lanka), Thimpu (Bhutan), Dubai and Phuket.
While the first A320 will be used to start services from Suvarnabhumi Airport to Incheon and Muan started, CTA intends to use the larger A330 for Incheon-Phuket services in March.
24/01/11 Bangkok Post.com

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India aid to rebuild Palali airport

Jaffna: The High Commissioner of India Ashok K. Kantha said that they have forwarded a proposal to the Sri Lankan government to rebuild Palali air strip to international standards.
“We are currently speaking with the Sri Lanka counterparts in this regard,” he said.
The airport is to be converted to an international airport mainly to cater to South Indian based airlines to fly to Sri Lanka. The High Commissioner speaking at the opening of the three day Jaffna Trade Fair which concluded on Sunday.
22/01/11 Shirajiv Sirimane/Sunday Oberver

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Emirates plans shift to e-freight system

Emirates has operationalised the e-freight paperless customs processing at Delhi, Bangalore and Mumbai airports, and has put in place the necessary infrastructure for a planned shift soon to e-freight at all the 10 airports in India that it operates from. This follows the International Air Transport Association (IATA) guideline to move to a paperless customs processing by 2014. With e-freight, the industry is expected to net a saving of $4.9 billion.
Ram C Menen, divisional senior vice president, Emirates Airline, told the media here on Thursday that technology was not a constraint and that it was hoping to implement the Indian Customs EDI System (ICES) 1.5, the application software for the e-freight system, this year.
Menen said air cargo generally grows at twice the pace of GDP growth, and with globalisation, business was building up in all segments.
22/01/11 Business Standard/Sify

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Colleague on board same US flight blew whistle on ‘drunken’ IFS officer

New Delhi: It was a diplomat colleague in Washington on board the same aircraft who blew the whistle on 2002 batch topper and Indian Foreign Service officer Alok Ranjan Jha on his alleged misbehaviour with women passengers in an inebriated condition while on a flight to New York.
Sources have confirmed to The Indian Express that a US-based Indian diplomat and his wife were on the same flight.
Jha was clearly unaware of their presence, sources said, as he allegedly got inebriated, flaunted his credentials and New York assignment, as he misbehaved with at least three women passengers.
21/01/11 msa.com

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Nasair launches Riyadh-New Delhi Route

Nasair, the Saudi Arabia’s smart airline today announced its new route to Delhi International Airport as part of its strategic expansion both within the Middle East and Internationally. This new route has been recently made operational, with three flights a week between New Delhi and Riyadh.
Simon Stewart – nasair CEO speaking at a press conference in Delhi said “nasair now operates more than 450 flights weekly, and have successfully added 7 new destinations during the year 2010 (Aleppo In Syria, Khartoum in Sudan, Dubai in the United Arab Emirates and Mumbai, Calicut, Cochin and New Delhi in India). nasair is planning to add at least 3 more international routes by the first quarter of 2011 and is adding the first one today by launching its 4th destination in Egypt Sohaj also today. We are aiming to carry over than 3 million passengers by the end of this year 2011 and our current figures show that we have carried more than 2 million passengers during 2010 alone,” he said.
Stewart further added that “nasair manages more than 450 flights per week, flying to 24 domestic and international destinations with its young and modern fleet which consists of 14 aircrafts. We added Embraer E190s in our fleet in December 2010 and are planning to add three Airbus A320s by 2012 to our growing fleet.
21/01/11 India Infoline

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Kandahar Hijacking: 3 Muslim accused acquitted

Mumbai: A Mumbai Sessions Court on 19th Jan. 2011 acquitted three persons who were accused of looting a bank in the city and send money to Pakistani terrorists to hijack the Indian Airlines plane IC-814 in 1999. The court acquitted Abdul Lateef, Yosuf Khan and Mushtaq Ahmed as the prosecution could not prove the charges.
The police had arrested them for allegedly looting a Bank of Maharashtra branch in Boriwali area in Mumbai in October 1999. The police had alleged the money was used in funding the hijacking of the plane. The police had also claimed to recover Rs 2 lakh in cash and some hand grenades from the accused.
The Flight 814 (IC-814) of Indian Airlines en route from Tribhuvan International Airport (Kathmandu, Nepal) to Indira Gandhi International Airport (Delhi) was hijacked on December 24, 1999, by armed men of Pakistan-based terrorist group Harkat-ul-Mujahideen.
20/01/11 Twocircles.net

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PAL eyes India; budget carriers expanding

Philippine Airlines (PAL) said yesterday it would begin flying to India in March, restarting the flag carrier’s services to South Asia after a break of more than 16 years.
Cebu PACIFIC planes taxiing at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport -3 in Manila.
PAL said it would field wide-body Airbus A330-300 jets on six times weekly flights to New Delhi, half of them direct from Manila and the others routed through Bangkok.
The New Delhi flights would give the airline a presence in South Asia for the first time since 1994 and were made possible after the Indian government relaxed visa rules to attract more Filipino visitors, it said in a statement.
The airline currently serves 26 points in 15 countries and territories, apart from 20 domestic destinations.
In the Philippines, domestic air traffic is expected to more than double to over 40 million passengers in less than 10 years, budget carrier Cebu Air, Inc., operator of Cebu Pacific, said.
20/01/11 BusinessWorld

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IndiGo to start international flights from Aug

As IndiGo turns five in August 2011, this approval dovetails well into its planning process. This will hasten the process of Indian carriers taking back some of the market share that has been lost over the past many decades to foreign carriers," the airline said in a statement.
Budget carrier IndiGo, which recently placed a record order for planes, will start international operations in August, pitting it against Emirates, Singapore Airlines Ltd and AirAsia Bhd. The aviation ministry has approved IndiGo's proposal to fly to four countries, joining Indian carriers Air India, Jet Lite (India) Ltd, Jet Airways (India) Ltd, Kingfisher Airlines Ltd and SpiceJet Ltd, in a market that's growing at around 10% annually. The Gurgaon-based carrier, run by InterGlobe General Aviation Pvt. Ltd, has been cleared to operate daily flights to Bangkok, Singapore and Dubai from New Delhi and Mumbai, besides connecting Muscat with Mumbai, all considered to be high-traffic routes. The aviation ministry cleared the four-month-old proposal late last week. IndiGo's proposal to fly to several other overseas destination starting from November is still to be cleared. On 12 January, the airline announced a record order for 180 Airbus SAS A320 jets in Toulouse worth $15 billion (Rs.68,000 crore) at list prices. "
20/01/11 India Infoline

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IndiGo gets nod to fly abroad; S’pore, Bangkok, Gulf on radar

New Delhi: IndiGo, the Gurgaon-based low cost-carrier, has got the government’s nod to fly abroad. The airline has been granted permission to operate flights to Singapore, Bangkok, Dubai and Muscat. IndiGo, promoted by InterGlobe Enterprises and Rakesh Gangwal, is India’s second largest airline with a market
share of 18.6 %. With its fleet of 34 new Airbus A320 aircraft, the airline offers 221 daily flights connecting 24 destinations.
The airline, which completes five years of local operations in August, a key requirement to start international operations, will begin international operations during the forthcoming summer schedule starting April. In its proposal to the aviation ministry, IndiGo had shortlisted 15 international sectors.
“IndiGo is delighted to receive these important traffic rights, and is grateful to the ministry of civil aviation for approving its application in a timely manner. As IndiGo turns five in August, this approval dovetails well into its planning process,” the airline said in a statement.
19/01/11 Hindustan Times

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Drunk Indian diplomat to be recalled for misbehaving with crew, woman passenger on AI flight to NY

New Delhi: The Central government is set to recall a senior Indian Foreign Service officer for allegedly misbehaving with a crew member and a woman passenger on Air India's non-stop New Delhi-New York flight on January 7.
Senior Indian Foreign Service officer, Alok Jha, allegedly misbehaved with a crew and a woman passenger on New Delhi-New York flight of Air India on January 7.
The Foreign Office is inquiring into the complaint against the officer, Alok Jha, who had topped the 2002 IFS batch, according to highly placed sources.
The complaint against the errant officer was reported to authorities in New York's JFK airport.
18/01/11 Saurabh Shukla/Headlines Today/India Today

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Airbus soars past Boeing to win $84b orders

Dubai: Airbus soared past US rival Boeing to win the annual orders race in 2010, new figures from the French planemaker revealed yesterday.
The EADS subsidiary said it booked 644 commercial aircraft orders worth more than $84 billion (Dh308.5 billion) at list prices last year, beating Boeing's total of 625 planes.
Airbus sold a net total of 574 planes worth $74 billion (Dh271.8 billion) at list prices compared with Boeing's 530, giving it a 52 per cent market share.
In total, Airbus' 510 deliveries in 2010 included 401 A320 family aircraft, 91 A330/A340s and 18 A380s.
At year-end, the company's commercial order backlog stood at 3,552 aircraft with a value of over $480 billion at list prices. The military backlog stood at 247 aircraft.
John Siddharth, Industry Analyst, Aerospace & Defence Practice, South Asia And Middle East, Frost & Sullivan, said: "Airbus has sold about 644 aircraft and about 200 [of them] were sold in December 2010, which is a big surprise."
Airbus also announced its 10,000th order on Monday with a firm contract from Virgin America for 60 A320s, including 30 A320neo aircraft.
17/01/11 Kevin Scott/Gulf News.com

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AI to have 27 Boeing Dreamliners by 2014

New Delhi: Air India is expected to get its first Boeing 787 Dreamliner by September and have all 27 aircraft join its fleet by 2014.
“The deliveries of all 787 dreamliners will start from the second quarter of the next financial year and will complete by 2014. These fuel-efficient aircraft will help us reduce costs of our long-haul operations,” said an Air India official, requesting anonymity.
The government carrier will get the delivery of seven Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft in 2011 followed by six in 2012. In the next two years Air India will acquire seven aircraft each.
B-787-800 can seat 210 passengers and are made of composite materials making it lighter and consumes 20 per cent less fuel than other aircraft. Air India plans to deploy these on long-haul sectors like India-US and India-Australia for non-stop operations.
Of the 111 aircraft Air India had ordered in 2005, 27 of them are Boeing 787 Dreamliners. Though the Boeing 787 aircraft project got delayed, the company has an order book of 840 aircraft from 55 customers around the world, making it the fastest-selling new commercial jetliner even before its first test flight.
Air India is also considering swapping three Boeing 777-300 ER (Extreme Range) with the Boeing 737-800. The Boeing 777-300 ER is a long-haul aircraft to be used for non-stop international operations (14-15 hours flights), whereas the Boeing 737-800 is a single-aisle short-haul aircraft, best for domestic and short-haul international operations.
18/01/11 Mihir Mishra/Business Standard

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Air India Seeks to Lease 40 Airbus, Bombardier Planes

Air India Ltd., the operator of the nation’s flag carrier, has sought bids to lease as many as 40 Airbus SAS and Bombardier Inc. aircraft as it expands its fleet to benefit from rising air travel in the nation.
The carrier wants to lease 10 Airbus A320s, 10 A330s and as many as 20 CRJ-700 planes, according to tenders on its website. The Bombardier tender was posted on Jan. 14.
India’s Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs in December approved an infusion of 12 billion rupees ($263 million) in Air India in an attempt to turn around the airline. IndiGo, a New Delhi-based discount carrier, last week signed a preliminary agreement with Airbus to purchase 180 aircraft as economic growth stokes travel demand in the nation.
State-run Air India plans to expand its fleet to as many as 286 aircraft and connect 60 major cities, the Civil Aviation Ministry said in July. The airline has 135 passenger planes and nine cargo jets, according to its website.
Air India’s market share declined to 17.1 percent in November from 18.8 percent a year earlier, according to data provided by the ministry. The airline had long-term debt of 347.2 billion rupees in the fiscal year ended in March 2009, Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel told parliament in November.
17/01/11 Siddharth Philip/Bloomberg/Business Week

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Delcam and Birmingham Airport take part in India visit

West Midland firms Delcam and Birmingham Airport are among 50 companies travelling to India for a trade delegation.
Business Secretary Vince Cable is joining the company on the visit to India, one of the world’s most dynamic economies, to strengthen the enhanced partnership between the two countries and co-chair trade talks.
The visit follows on from the mission led by Prime Minister David Cameron in July last year. Dr Cable, who was part of that trade mission, will be the first UK Cabinet Minister to visit this year.
Mr Cable said: “Last year, we set out a broad framework for our enhanced partnership. In 2011, we are moving beyond that, rolling up our sleeves and working together.
“India is very important to the UK, and the UK has the expertise to develop the capacities it needs to fuel its growth. Our business relationship is already strong, but it could be stronger.
The UK’s bilateral trade with India is currently worth around £11.5bn. Exports have continued to grow since the July visit with latest figures showing a rise of 35 per cent in UK exports to India in the year to October.
18/01/11 Graeme Brown/Birmingham Post

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Air France-KLM Launches Component MRO In India

Mumbai: India will gain its first component repair shop in a joint venture between Air France Industries KLM Engineering & Maintenance (AFI KLM E&M) and Mumbai-based Max Aerospace and Aviation Ltd.’s Max MRO Services.
Construction is to start early this year and finish in the first quarter of 2013, says AFI KLM E&M President Franck Terner. Terms were not disclosed, but the company, as yet unnamed, is expected to start operations with a 10,000-sq.-meter (108,000-sq.-ft.) facility.
Plants are under construction in Bengaluru and Nagpur, which offer tax-free zones established to encourage industry. Nagpur is home to the maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) center and taxiway Boeing is establishing for Air India.
“Given the high tax structure [in India], till the facility is set up, the company will import only the most needed components to give us economies of scale,” says Bharat Malkani, chairman and managing director of Max MRO Services. Max Aerospace’s defense arm recently assembled a Korea Aerospace Industries KT-1 trainer in India for trials.
Terner says estimates of $100 million in annual revenues for component repairs are “grossly underestimated. We expect the business to grow at 14% per annum for the next 10 years.”
17/01/11 Neelam Mathews/Aviation Week

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Air India plane wreckage requested for memorial in India

Families of crew members who died in the 1985 mid-air bomb explosion aboard an Air India flight have asked for the wreckage to be sent back to India for a memorial to commemorate the tragedy.
“As you are aware that Canada and Ireland have built four memorials and one memorial respectively, but we have none in India,’’ the son of pilot Narendra Singh Hanse, wife of co-pilot Satwinder Singh Bhinder and mother of flight attendant Shyla Juju said in a recent letter to Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
“We do request your office to consider building a Kanishka memorial in Delhi for remembrance of those whose lives were sacrificed for no fault of their own,” they said, referring to the ill-fated plane by its formal name of Kanishka.
“The Great Emperor Kanishka, bearing proudly an Indian flag, lies in a warehouse, rotting,” they said. “Prime Minister, at least some pieces [of the wreckage] could be used in the memorial in India.’’
But the RCMP are reluctant to let go of the rumpled fragments of fuselage, charred passenger seats and twisted scraps of wing flaps that were brought up from the ocean floor 20 years ago.
“The wreckage is owned by the government of India but the RCMP, or Canada has custody of it and will maintain custody until there is no possibility of a future trial, because it is all considered evidence,” Inspector Tim Shields, spokesperson for RCMP E Division in Vancouver, said Monday in an interview.
17/01/11 Robert Matas and Gurmukh Singh/Globe and Mail

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GMR, GVK groups may bid for Bali airport revamp project

Mumbai: India’s leading private airport developers, GMR and GVK groups, are planning to bid for the modernisation of Ngurah Rai International Airport in Bali, Indonesia.
Both are currently undertaking feasibility studies and preparing to participate in the tender process, sources said.
Indonesia’s state-run airport operator, PT Angkasa Pura I, will soon float a tender for the first phase of the project, envisaged at a cost of about $210 million (Rs 950 crore) in investment. The project is scheduled for completion by 2013.
The new international terminal is to cover 120,000 sq metres, with a 39,000-sq metre, three-storey parking structure, with room for up to 1,500 vehicles. The terminal is planned to handle up to 20 million passengers a year, said news reports from Indonesia. It was initially designed to handle 1.5 million passengers a year and now handles 9.5 million a year, including around five million foreigners.
“This airport is among the leading airports in Indonesia and attracts good traffic,” said a source.
Sources said GMR may also be interested in bidding for a large new international airport proposed for Bali. The Indonesian ministry of communications is seriously studying the creation of a new international airport each for Jakarta and Bali, said news reports a few days earlier, quoting Indonesian vice-minister of transportation, Bambang Susantono.
17/01/11 Katya B Naidu & P B Jayakumar/Business Standard

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South African companies set to benefit from IndiGo's Airbus order

IndiGo, India's largest low-cost airline carrier, has agreed to purchase 180 Airbus A320 aircraft which promises to provide substantial business to South Africa's sub-contractor firms. Airbus sub-Saharan Africa spokesman Linden Birns revealed that this was the largest single order for passenger jets in aviation history.
Centurion based Aerosud are Airbus' exclusive supplier of A320 flap-track cans. These components house the mechanisms which drive the wing flaps, responsible for controlling the aircraft during takeoff, approach and landing. They also manufacture the A320 avionics bay racks and sheet metal parts for the wings.
Cape Town based Cobham-Omnipless supply satellite communications antennae for the Airbus fleet which includes their A320 model.
In September 2010, Airbus announced contracts worth R4 billion with Aerosud, Cobham-Omnipless and Denel-Saab Aerostructures (DSA). An estimated R500 would be set aside for work related to the upcoming A350.
16/01/11 Chris Davies/African Business Review

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Doc loses bags twice on same trip

Mumbai: Refractive eye surgeon Dr Ambarish Darak had booked a Pune-Brussels-Frankfurt flight (PNR no. FWLOVS) on Jet Airways for January 5. When he reached Frankfurt Airport, his baggage was missing. "It took me almost three hours to make a complaint, because the staff was not keen on registering it. It was only after two days that I got my baggage, but my business trip was ruined in the process," said Dr Darak, who is a frequent flyer and a Platinum member of the airline.
His flight to Brussels was delayed. As a result, he missed the onward flight to Frankfurt, and had to cough up Rs 9,106 for a connecting flight (Lufthansa flight LH 1007). "I was promised an upgrade to business class on my return journey to Mumbai, but it did not materialise," said the doctor who has performed several eye operations on the staff at Jet Airways. In fact, his baggage went missing again on January 8 at the international airport in Mumbai, while on his way back.
Dr Darak wrote a complaint letter to the airline's CEO, Naresh Goyal, (Sunday Mid Day has a copy) on January 9, and the airline returned the luggage on January 11. "But it came back damaged. The gifts (glass crockery) I bought for my family in Germany was in pieces."
Dr Darak has sent a legal notice to Jet Airways demanding compensation for mental harassment and losses incurred.
16/01/11 Priyanka Vora/MiD DAY

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Airbus to disclose sales figures Monday; Boeing may be No. 1 again

Seattle: On Monday the aircraft manufacturing industry will find out whether Boeing or Airbus is number one in orders for 2010. Boeing issued its numbers on January 6th, with a total of 530 new orders. Airbus is expected to fall short, perhaps well short, of that number.
The European airplane company hasn't discussed numbers since early December. If the forecast holds, Monday will put Boeing back in the number one position as the world's biggest plane maker.
The majority of Boeing and Airbus orders will surround the 737 and the A320. Airbus is trying to start 2011 off with a bang, playing up an agreement to sell up to 180 A320s to India's low cost carrier IndiGo. This does not appear to be an official order yet, but rather a memo of understanding, which could make 150 of those jets new A320 NEOS, which stands for New Engine Option.
14/01/11 Glenn Farley/King 5/NWCN

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Asia's liftoff Kiwis' chance to fly

Alan Koziarski, New Zealand Trade and Enterprise's regional director for Southeast Asia, says aviation is one of New Zealand's "sweet spots" for exporters.
Aviation is a "hidden sector" in the economy, he says.
Few people know that New Zealand builds aeroplanes, develops specialist aviation software and supplies the world's airports with baggage handling systems, as well as training hundreds of foreign pilots for international airlines, Mr Koziarski says.
Within two decades Asia Pacific will account for about a third of global aviation industry turnover.
Strong freight and business passenger demand will add another 217 million travellers by 2013. This demand has helped to insulate Asian airlines from the ravages of the global downturn and will allow them to bounce back faster.
The Centre of Asia Pacific Aviation expects the region's airlines to make more than US$5b in profit this year, double the previous forecast and $2b more than the previous peak in 2007.
Indian budget airline IndiGo this week placed the biggest ever order for large jets with an agreement to buy 180 planes from Airbus.
Vietnam has to build 10 new international airports and 16 domestic airports by 2030 to cater for huge demand for air travel as budget airlines slash the cost of flying, Mr Koziarski says.
Asia's growth is key for the New Zealand industry to achieve its target of growing exports from $3.8b to a conservative $6.2b in 2015, he says.
New Zealand companies have a lot to learn and work to do to compete against huge Asian conglomerates, but some are leading the way.
Airways New Zealand is involved in developing India's air traffic management for the country's congested skies.
Hamilton airline pilot trainer CTC took its first intake of Jetstar cadets in July and specialist interior designer Redesign developed the retail area in New Delhi's new airport which opened in time for last year's Commonwealth Games.
"Our message to New Zealand companies is that the aviation industry and all its associated services are booming in Southeast Asia and India.
Glidepath has set up a regional base in Mumbai, India and has supplied baggage sorting systems to a number of Indonesian airports, most recently Padang Airport.
Chairman Ken Stevens, who is also trustee and board member of the Asia New Zealand Foundation, says Asia is much more difficult to break into for New Zealand exporters than Western or Pacific markets, which often share a degree of empathy.
15/01/11 Roeland Van Den Bergh/The Dominion Post/Stuff.co.nz

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'Sikhs should expect screening of turbans at US airports'

Washington: A Sikh community advocacy group has warned the community to be prepared for the 'reality that Sikhs should now always expect to be secondarily screened at American airports.'
The warning was issued by The Sikh Coalition in its revised guidance for 'Airport Screening Procedures as Applied to Sikh Travellers and Your Rights as a Sikh Air Traveller.'
'Significantly, Sikhs should now expect to be secondarily screened 100 percent of the time at American airports, even after passing through so-called Advanced Imaging Technology (AIT) machines,' it said.
'Although Transportation Security Administration (TSA) publicly asserts on its website that such machines can see through 'layers of clothing,' the TSA has made clear in both word and practice that such machines are not powerful enough to see through Sikh turbans,' the group said.
'This means that, for Sikhs, the new AIT machines will lead to more -- not less -- screening of turbans.'
The changes in it guidance have been prompted by feedback from the Sikh community and multiple meetings with officials at the Transportation TSA and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), it said.
14/01/11 IANS/Sify.com

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Global low-cost airlines struggle in India

Bangalore: International low-cost carriers flying into India have hit serious air pockets. NOK Air, Tiger Airways and Jetstar Asia have already faded from people's memory. Some of the few remaining players are said to be struggling to generate a decent economic return.
From January 11, Malaysian low-cost carrier AirAsia ceased operating out of Hyderabad and Thiruvananthapuram. Last year, it scaled down its Bangalore operations from a daily flight to four flights a week. It's also withdrawing its Chennai-Penang route, on which it had a complete monopoly, and instead converting that to a Trichy-Kuala Lumpur route.
Bruising fare wars have been one reason for the exits by these carriers. But there are other equally important reasons: low load factors, poor onward connectivity and competitive holiday packages offered by full service airlines.
"International point-to-point traffic is limited for these low cost airlines," said Ankur Bhatia, executive director of aviation consultancy firm Bird Group. So, if your flight gets delayed at your India boarding destination, and you miss the onward flight, these carriers don't have the bandwidth to quickly provide an alternative or to put you in a hotel.
Thai low-cost carrier NOK Air began operations in June 2007, it was positioned as a shoppers' airline offering discounts at malls in Bangkok. But the airline withdrew the Bangalore-Bangkok route in November of the same year. This was attributed to poor passenger response.
Singapore-based Jetstar Asia also met a similar fate three years back. It suspended the five flights per week service on the Bangalore-Singapore sector.
For AirAsia, some of the withdrawals have been on account of poor load factors.
14/01/11 Shilpa Phadnis/Times of India

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Prakash Raj re-constructs Thirupathi airport

Payanam, as we all know, is Prakash Raj's new offering to Tamil and Telugu fans. The movie which is about the infamous Indian Airlines plane hijack in 1999 demanded a series of sequences to be shot at an airport. So the crew of Payanam have re-created the Thirupathi airport which looks exactly the same as the original. This, insiders believe, would be the highlight of the movie.
Talking about Payanam, Telugu veteran actor Nagarjuna plays a commando in the movie. The movie has only one song which is also said to blend with the storyline.
13/01/11 Behind Woods

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Order is just a drop in the ocean: IndiGo

New Delhi: Evidence of the fabled Indian growth story can come in the strangest of ways to people willing to bet-and invest-on it. The recent instance of some airlines hiking fares to unprecedented levels during last Diwali season emerged as proof of the massive demand-supply gap in Indian skies.
So IndiGo, which had last summer got government nod to induct 150 aircraft, went ahead and ordered 180 brand new Airbus A-320s on Wednesday to be delivered between 2016 and 2025. "There is not enough supply and India requires more capacity. This was the rationale behind the order. Also, the 100 aircraft ordered in 2005 would join the fleet by 2015 and we needed to look beyond," IndiGo president Aditya Ghosh told TOI from Paris.
The airline chose an aircraft that promises unparalleled fuel efficiency (A-320 neo) so that it can continue to offer low fares. "There's no reason that people should find foreign travel unaffordable," Ghosh had recently said, while hinting that the airline will break that barrier when it starts international flights from August.
In fact, the airline is so bullish on India's potential and its growth story that it termed the record order for 180 planes in one go a "drop in the ocean". "We were not looking to make records or create them and based our order on estimated requirement. The fact that we did just that is an accident of history," he said even as IndiGo's first order for 100 A-320s in 2005 remains the highest-ever by a startup airline.
13/01/11 Saurabh Sinha/Times of India

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Fuel-efficient fleet will allow IndiGo to offer lower fares

This order for industry-leading fuel efficient aircraft will allow IndiGo to continue to offer low fares... The opportunity to reduce costs and to improve our environmental performance through the A-320 neo were key to our decision," said a joint statement of airline founders Rahul Bhatia and Rakesh Gangwal.
Airbus, however, was ecstatic. Shares of the aircraft manufacturer's parent company EADS touched a three-year high as Airbus India president Kiran Rao termed it the "beginning of the second wave of orders from India after 2005". Last year, India's second largest LCC SpiceJet had placed orders for 30 Boeing 737s and 15 Bombardiers turboprops. Other airlines are also expected to place orders this year, signalling the return of good time for Indian skies, and the fact that the country's current commercial aircraft fleet of 400 could double in just a few years.
The unlisted and privately-held IndiGo did not disclose its plans for funding the order and just said that it had "72 months to work on that", amid talk of an IPO for some time now.
13/01/11 Times of India

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EADS to expand presence globally

London: It was a very cheerful looking Mr Louis Gallois, chief executive of Airbus parent company EADS, who took his seat at the company's annual New Year press conference on Wednesday at Les Mureaux, near Paris. The firm has just secured what it believes is the largest single aircraft order in commercial aviation history from India's low-cost carrier IndiGo.
The deal, which includes 150 of its new fuel efficient A320neo and 30 of its best-selling A320, is worth an estimated $15.6 billion, according to the current catalogue price. “It is the deal of the year,” Mr Gallois said, describing the memorandum of understanding with Mr Rakesh Gangwal and Mr Rahul Bhatia's airline as the “best way to launch the A320neo.
It goes to show that it does provide added value to airlines,” said Mr Gallois, adding that the structure of IndiGo's order suggested that the two variants of the A320 complemented each other.
The signing comes as a major relief for Airbus, which had faced some scepticism about the value of introducing the new aircraft, which consumes 15 per cent less fuel than the regular A320. Last month, rival Boeing Chief Executive, Mr Jim Albaugh, told the Financial Times that he couldn't “see a compelling reason” to offer a similar upgrade on his firm's 737 model, arguing that the huge costs involved wouldn't be worth the “few per cent” of financial benefits.
12/01/11 Vidya Ram/Business Line

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IndiGo orders 180 airplanes; sets a record in commercial aviation history

Mumbai: Low-cost carrier IndiGo has placed firm orders for 180 Airbus 320 aircraft at an estimated cost of $ 15.6 billion. The order is the single largest for jets, in terms of volume, to be ever placed in the commercial aviation history.
It is not the first time that IndiGo has placed a brow-raising order though. The Gurgaon-based private carrier created ripples in the 2005 Paris airshow with an announcement to buy 100 A320s. Currently, the airline flies 34 A320s to 25 domestic destinations and plans to go international by August this year.
The airline signed a Memorandum of Understanding for 180 eco-efficient Airbus A320 aircraft of which 150 will be A320 NEO, said an Airbus spokesperson adding that the order was the largest in history. The A320 New Engine Option or NEO runs more efficient engines will be available from 2016 onwards. The aircraft has specially designed wing tips -- called Sharklets by Airbus -- that will reduce the aerodynamic drag which develops at the wingtips of a moving aircraft in the form of vortices. Sharklets will lad to fuel savings of up to 15 percent, which is up to 3,600 tonnes of CO2 annually per aircraft, says Airbus. The Neo will also provide a double-digit reduction in nitrogen oxides and will have a reduced engine noise.
12/01/11 Manju Vayalar/Times of India

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IndiGo To Study All Options To Fund $15.6 Bln Airbus Order

Mumbai: Indian budget carrier IndiGo, which early Wednesday announced what Airbus said was the biggest large-jet order ever, isn't immediately concerned about how it will finance the deal--a sign of the rising confidence of players in one of the world's fastest-growing aviation markets.
"We have lots of time [to decide on financing options]," said Aditya Ghosh, president of India's largest budget carrier by market-share, adding that the company will consider all options.
"Deliveries of the aircraft start only in 2016," Ghosh told Dow Jones Newswires.
He said also that the company hasn't yet decided whether it will conduct an initial public offering.
His comments came after unlisted IndiGo said it has ordered 180 A320 planes--including 150 of the new A320neos--which Airbus said is the biggest for large jets in aviation history.
The total deal value--at list prices--is $15.6 billion.
12/01/11 Anirban Chowdhury/Dow Jones/Wall Street Journal

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26 watches worth 2.5cr in AI flight toilet

Mumbai: The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) found 26 Franck Muller watches worth more than Rs 2.5 crore in the toilet of an Air India flight from Abu Dhabi after it landed at Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport late Monday. The cost of each Franck Muller watch is estimated to be around Rs 10 lakh.
The seizure indicates the revival of a modus operandi that prevailed till the early 1980s where smuggled consignments were concealed in the aircraft toilet and were later collected by a loader or cleaner who would carry it out of the airport premises in dustbins.
The DRI, which had prior information, searched the aircraft after all passengers had disembarked. During the search, DRI officers found the watches in a handbag concealed in the toilet.
Along with the watches, the DRI also found a white chemical in powder form. “This has been sent to a chemical laboratory for tests and identification,” a senior DRI officer said, requesting anonymity, as he is not authorised to speak to the media.
The DRI suspect that it is a high-value powder. The label on the bottles read ‘anti-cancer’ powder. DRI officers suspect the involvement of an insider who was to collect the consignment after the passengers had left. “It was hidden in the toilet using an old modus operandi,” the officer said.
12/01/11 Manish Pachouly/Hindustan Times

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A-380's commercial flight to India may turn reality

New Delhi: India may soon see the first commercial operations of the world's largest airliner - Airbus A-380. German major Lufthansa has sought government nod to fly the superjumbo on a daily basis between Delhi and Frankfurt from May 15, making IGI its fifth destination for this aircraft after Tokyo, Beijing, Johannesburg and New York.
Enabling this would require alteration in the existing Indo-German bilateral agreement that allows Boeing 747 as the largest plane flying between the two countries, a clause that would have to be changed to the A-380. While Delhi now has a terminal and runway that can easily accommodate the A-380, the aviation ministry is in a bind over Lufthansa's request. The German giant is the lead partner of Star Alliance and is helping Air India get fit enough to join the consortia instead of letting the alliance admit another Indian carrier as the first Indian member.
So allowing Lufthansa fly A-380 here may not hurt `partner' AI's commercial interests but this permission would lead to similar requests from other giants like Emirates and Singapore Airlines that would be hard to decline with the German precedent. This, say highly placed sources, could lead to serious trouble for struggling Indian carriers as the superjumbo's wow factor will take away a lot of flyers from the desi airlines to hubs like Dubai and Singapore on the A-380s.
12/01/11 Saurabh Sinha/Times of India

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‘Payanam’ First Look on January 14

The long awaited movie from Prakash Raj ‘Payanam’ will be out in February. Before that the trailer of the adventure drama will be made available for Pongal to get a first look of the film.
‘Payanam’ trailer will be released on January 14 and it will ride on the Pongal new releases. The main film will hit the theaters on February 4, according to producer Prakash Raj. ‘Payanam’ is an action-thriller based on the infamous Indian Airlines Flight 814 hijack to Kandahar from Kathmandu by a terror group in 1999.
11/01/11 IndiaGlitz

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NATS to help decongest Mumbai Int'l airport

Mumbai: The GVK-led consortium, which operates the Mumbai airport, has roped in UK-based air traffic services provider NATS to suggest ways to decongest the country's second busiest airport and increase its productivity and operational efficiency.
NATS, which also manages air navigation services at Heathrow, one of the world's busiest airport, has got the mandate to do a capacity enhancement study and make recommendations. The study is likely to be completed by April this year.
"The scope of work for NATS broadly includes determination of bottlenecks limiting airport capacity, suggestion of measures for capacity enhancement that can be achieved by improving air traffic procedures and by making changes to physical infrastructure at the airport," said Manish Kalghatgi, spokesperson, Mumbai International Airport.
A majority of Indian carriers, have, in the recent past revisited their expansion plans and re-routed network strategies because of the inability of the airport operator at Mumbai to provide slots for more flights from the city. These include national carrier Air India and country's largest airline by way of market share Jet Airways .
11/01/11 Manisha Singhal/Economic Times

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Reyat sentencing not enough: Kanishka co-pilot’s widow

Ludhiana: While a Canadian Court last Friday sentenced the only person ever convicted for the 1985 Kanishka bombing to nine years in prison, Amarjit Kaur Bhinder, widow of the plane’s co-pilot, Capt SS Bhinder, says there is little solace in this development.
British Columbia Superior Court Judge Mark McEwan, who handed the sentence to Inderjit Singh Reyat, found the latter guilty of perjury (lying under oath) during the 2003 trial of the case, in which the two main accused Ripudaman Singh Malik and Ajaib Singh Bagri, were acquitted. The court has found that Reyat misled the court 19 times in three days of testimony that began in September 2003.
Amarjit Kaur Bhinder talking to The Indian Express over the phone said, “There is nothing to celebrate for there is no closure in this case. The loss of 329 innocent lives is too much and the real culprits should be brought to book. This man should name the real people behind the tragedy and they should be punished.”
11/01/11 Amrita Chaudhry/Indian Express

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Airlines get more time to phase out expat pilots

New Delhi: The civil aviation ministry has granted much-needed relief to domestic airlines, allowing them to employ expat commanders and keep them on their rolls until 2013, as the industry prepares to induct 240 more planes in three years to meet increasing travel demand.
The blanket three-year extension is also a shift from the government’s policy of granting yearly extensions, and is likely to help India’s airlines compete better with carriers in China and South-East Asia in hiring experienced expat pilots.
Foreigners now make up 15% of the total number of pilots in India.
“The deadline (to phase out expat pilots) was to lapse this year. We have now allowed it till 2013,” said a civil aviation ministry official who did not want to be named.
In 2009, the government had asked the airlines to phase out expat pilots on their rolls by July 2011 so that Indian co-pilots could be promoted.
Domestic airlines, under the umbrella of lobbying group Federation of Indian Airlines (FIA), requested the regulator, Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), and aviation minister Praful Patel for a five-year window to hire foreign pilots and keep the current ones on their rolls, Mint reported on 28 September.
09/01/11 Tarun Shukla/Live Mint

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FedEx plane from Dubai in fire scare

The pilot of a FedEx cargo flight from Dubai to Mumbai made an emergency landing on 7th January after suspecting a fire in the aircraft’s cargo hold.
One of the logistics company’s McDonnell Douglas MD-11 plane had departed from Mumbai airport when the two crew members on board received a cargo fire indication.
The aircraft was quickly returned for a safe landing around 40 minutes after departure and taken to a remote bay.
10/01/11 arabain SUPPLY CHAIN.com

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Air India Express restarts flights to Mumbai

Air India Express is reintroducing its link to Mumbai from Bahrain this Thursday.
Passengers will be able to take advantage of the flight that is available on a bi-weekly basis, making it the fifth destination from Bahrain to India.
The flight, which departs Bahrain at 2.05pm for Mumbai, will connect to other Indian destinations like Bangalore and Ahmedabad.
In Bahrain, Air India achieved a 38 per cent revenue growth for the period of April to December 2010 over the same period the previous year.
Proposals are also on to augment the capacity out of Bahrain to other destinations in India.
09/01/11 Trade Arabia

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Shortage of Boeing planes delaying direct flights to London, New York

Ahmedabad: Union Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel today said the demand for more direct flights to London and New York from Ahmedabad could take more time due to shortage of Boeing aircraft.
“There are plans to get 27 Boeing planes at the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport, but there is a shortage of aircraft. Even the request for direct flight to London and New York are in the pipeline,” he said at the inauguration ceremony of a new international terminal at the SVPI airport here.
Later, he unveiled a 18-foot tall statue of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel at the airport. The statue was built at a cost of Rs 50 lakh by the Airport Authority of India (AAI). It was sculpted by noted sculptor Ram Sutar.
Patel further said he had not seen any initiatives from the Gujarat government for developing intra-state air connectivity, in support to the Centre’s efforts for the same. “Last time, when I was here to inaugurate the new terminal, I had said that state government also has to come forward for intra-state connectivity and support the Central government’s efforts,” Patel said.
10/01/11 Indian Express

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Nepali airline starts India flights

Kathmandu: Nepal's campaign to bring one million tourists this year receives a boost this week with a Nepali private airline beginning flights to India.
Domestic airline Buddha Air, which went international last year with flights to Bhutan, Friday launches its inaugural flight to Lucknow, the main city in Uttar Pradesh.
"We are starting with a 47-seater aircraft but will switch over to a bigger one once it catches on," Buddha's marketing manager Rupesh Joshi told IANS. "By March, we hope to start flights to Kolkata."
The 15-year-old airline, with an asset of $30 million and covering nine destinations in Nepal, will be initially running three flights a week to Lucknow in the evening - Wednesday, Friday, Sunday - with a return flight at night.
The inaugural flight with five passengers from Kathmandu, however, will return packed with 44 from Lucknow.
Joshi said the Indian authorities had given permission to run flights to four Indian cities - Lucknow, Kolkata, Varanasi and Patna.
07/01/11 IANS/Economic Times

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AirAsia Says Airport Taxes Too High In India

Malaysia-based budget AirAsia says high taxes are affecting its business model, which has led it to pull out of Hyderabad International Airport, starting Jan. 11. The carrier is also leaving Trichy Airport in South India.
Hyderabad Airport recently lost business from Sri Lankan Airlines and Gulf Air, which terminated operations to the destination.
AirAsia is also suspending service from Chennai to Penang, starting Jan. 21, although it is increasing frequencies on other sectors. Aviation Week learned the pullouts could be temporary because the carrier is not giving up its slots.
The airline is now turning its sights to Delhi International Airport. Along with India’s domestic budget carriers, it has asked the facility to convert the terminal used by low-cost airlines into an international and domestic budget terminal.
High airport taxes are hurting. “We are a commercial airline getting into a new market. If we have to pay half the ticket price in taxes on an average $100 fare, it doesn’t make commercial sense,” says Suresh Nair, AirAsia's regional manager for South Asia.
Now that 70% of airline operations in India are run by low-cost airlines, there is concern that the user development fee introduced by Hyderabad Airport could set a precedent for Bengaluru, Delhi and Mumbai.
“Fancy airports have been built with fancy charges, and they never saw the reality that is the budget model in their planning,” says an airline official.
07/01/11 Neelam Mathews/Aviation Week

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Air India bomber gets 9 years for perjury

Convicted Air India bomber Inderjit Singh Reyat was sentenced Friday in Vancouver to nine years for perjury stemming from his time as a Crown witness during a 2003 trial.
In handing down his sentence, B.C. Supreme Court Judge Mark McEwan said Reyat was "nothing like a remorseful man."
Reyat will receive 17 months credit for time spent in pre-trial custody, reducing his sentence to seven years and seven months. Crown prosecutors had sought the maximum sentence for perjury of 14 years.
Reyat had been in custody since September, when he was found guilty of perjury during the 2003 trial of Ripudiman Singh Malik and Ajaib Singh Bagri.
The two men had been charged with conspiring to blow up Air India Flight 182 on June 23, 1985, and of causing another explosion the same day that killed two baggage handlers at Narita Airport in Tokyo.
The 747 jet was off the coast of Ireland, en route from Montreal to London, England, and New Delhi when an explosive device went off in the cargo hold, killing all 329 people aboard. Malik and Bagri were eventually acquitted. Seven years later, on Sept. 18, 2010, the Crown proved that Reyat had lied repeatedly under oath during their trial.
07/01/11 CBC News, Canada

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Foreign tourist arrivals up 1.4% in December

Ministry of Tourism compiles monthly estimates of ForeignTourist Arrivals (FTAs) and Foreign Exchange Earnings (FEE) from tourism on thebasis of data received from major airports. Following are the importanthighlights regarding FTAs and FEE from tourism in India for the year 2010.
Performance oftourism sector in 2010 as compared to 2009 was much better as may be seen from details given below.
• FTAs during the Month of December 2010 was 6.55 lakh ascompared toFTAs of 6.46 lakh in December 2009 and 5.34 lakh in December 2008.
• There has been a growth of 1.4 % in December 2010 overDecember 2009 as compared to a growth of 21.0% registered in December 2009 overDecember 2008. The decrease in growth rate in December, 2010 as compared toprevious month of 2010 was mainly due to flight disturbances in Europe and other countries during December, 2010.
• FTAs in India during 2010 were 5.58 million with a growthrate of 9.3% as compared to the FTAs of 5.11 mn and growth rate of (-) 3.3%during 2009.
• The 9.3% growth rate in FTAs for 2010 over 2009 for Indiais much better than UNWTO’s projected growth rate of 5% to 6% for the worldduring the same period.
07/01/11 India Infoline

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Top-level visits from Canada to India begin this month

Toronto: After 2010, which saw almost a dozen Canadian ministers visit India, top-level visits in the new year begin with Clement Gignac, minister of economic development for French-speaking Quebec province, leading a big team to India later this month.
Gignac will head a 60-member business delegation to New Delhi and Mumbai from Jan 30.
The visit is a follow-up to Quebec Premier Jean Charest's successful visit to India last February to promote his province in the world's second fastest growing economy.
Quebec, which has its own trade office in Mumbai, is aggressively forging trade ties with India, particularly Karnataka and Maharashtra with which it has signed an MoU on higher education.
Indian ministers - Anand Sharma (commerce and industry), Subodh Kant Sahay (food processing industries), Praful Patel (civil aviation) and B.K. Handique (mines and development of north east region) - had signed various memoranda with Quebec during their visits to Canada last year.
'The Quebec minister will attend the Delhi summit of the World Sustainable Development Forum (WSDF) from Feb 3-5 and meet various ministers, including Anand Sharma, Praful Patel, Subodh Kant Sahay, Handique and Kapil Sibal,' Indian diplomatic sources told IANS.
06/01/11 IANS/Sify

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Air India to deploy Boeing on Ahmedabad-Mumbai-Newark route

Mumbai/Ahmedabad: National air-carrier Air India today said it will deploy a Boeing 777-200 (long range) aircraft on its Ahmedabad-Mumbai-Newark sector effective from January 10.
At present, the airline operates its Ahmedabad-Mumbai sector with Airbus 321 and the Mumbai-Newark route is serviced through Boeing 777 aircraft.
With the introduction of the Boeing 777 plane on the entire sector, Air India Flight AI-191 (Ahmedabad-Mumbai- Newark) will leave Ahmedabad at 10:25 PM and reach Mumbai at 11:25 PM, it said.
The flight will depart from Mumbai's Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport at 01:30 AM and reach Newark at 07:15 AM (local time). The return flight AI-144 will leave Newark at 4:25 PM
(local time) and reach Mumbai at 5:35 PM next. The flight will leave from Mumbai at 7:40 PM and arrive in Ahmedabad at 08:40 PM, the release said.
06/01/11 Press Trust Of India/NDTV.com

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FedEx to start direct flights between India and China

Delhi: FedEx Corporation, the world's second largest package delivery company, has decided to start direct cargo flights between China and India to tap the increasing bilateral trade between the two Asian superpowers.
"We want to play an increasing role in the tremendous growth story in India and China. We now have two major cities both in India (Delhi and Mumbai) and China (Shanghai and Guangzhou) which are connected to each other," Samuel Thomas, managing director, India operation, FedEx, said at a press conference on Wednesday.
FedEx has added a new plane -- an Airbus SAS A310 -- to handle the cargo between Delhi and Mumbai and its Asia-Pacific hub in Guangzhou in South China. Thomas said it is also exploring further possibilities of expanding its connect between the "two new engines of the global economy." The US-headquartered company will operate between India and China five times a week to meet the increasing demand in sectors like electronics, pharmaceuticals and machinery. India and China have been trying to mend their volatile relations by promoting bilateral trade. During Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao's December trip to India, the target for bilateral trade between the two countries was set at $100 billion (Rs 4.52 lakh crore) by 2015 from the current $60 billion.
India's gross domestic product (GDP) grew at 8.9 per cent during the July-September period, while China's central bank governor, Zhou Xiaochuan, pegs the GDP growth rate of the red dragon at 10 per cent for 2010-11.
06/11/10 Sanu Nair/Tehelka

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Dangerous beetle found in LAX cargo

U.S. customs officials said Wednesday they had found a beetle considered one of the world's most dangerous agricultural pests in a shipment of rice arriving at Los Angeles International Airport.
Agricultural specialists with U.S. Customs and Border Protection found an adult khapra beetle, eight larvae and a shed skin in a shipment of Indian rice from Saudi Arabia last week, spokesman Jaime Ruiz said.
The khapra beetle, which is native to India and not currently established in the U.S., is considered one of the most destructive pests of grain products and seeds.
"It is endemic to several countries and the reason it is very dangerous is that its life cycle is very long and it goes into all kinds of food grains," Naveeda Mirza, agriculture program manager for U.S. Customs and Border Protection, told Reuters.
The khapra beetle can also survive for long periods of time without food and is resistant to insecticides and fumigants. The rice was found in a box of food and personal effects being sent from one person to another, Mirza said.
The shipment was immediately quarantined and safeguarded, then destroyed under U.S. Customs and Border Protection supervision, Mirza said.
05/01/11 Dan Whitcomb/Country Guide

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AirAsia pulls out of Hyderabad airport over increased levies

New Delhi: Malaysian low-fare carrier AirAsia Berhad will from 11 January suspend operations from the Hyderabad airport because of increased levies on international passengers, setting a precedent that could hurt operators of swank, new airports built with billions of dollars in investment.
AirAsia’s move comes about two months after GMR Hyderabad Airport Pvt. Ltd (Ghial) increased international passenger charges by almost 100% to turn profitable faster, after receiving approval from the airport regulator Airports Economic Regulatory Authority.
Hyderabad airport charges Rs1,875 per international traveller as a user development fee as it tries to recoup the cost of building the Rs2,920 crore airport. It was allowed to increase the fee in October from Rs1,000. Domestic passengers are paying Rs475, 26% up from Rs375 earlier.
“If we have to pay Rs1,875 plus Rs225 as passenger service fee, Rs515 as a service tax on a Rs4,000 average air fare, how do we operate?” said Suresh Nair, regional manager (India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh) at AirAsia.
AirAsia expanded its Indian operations significantly in 2009 and 2010.
It now operates 68 weekly flights from India, up from four in 2008. AirAsia started direct services between Hyderabad and Kuala Lumpur in July 2010, with four weekly flights.
05/01/11 Tarun Shukla/Live Mint

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Flight options go up for US, Far East travellers

Kolkata: A crucial change in the timing of a return flight to Bangkok that came into effect on Tuesday is expected to give fliers from the city a lot more options to travel onward to the Far East and the west coast of the United States.
More importantly, it will allow travellers returning from these countries to catch a connecting flight to Kolkata. This will particularly facilitate corporate travellers who currently have to spend an additional night in Bangkok to take the flight back to the city the following morning.
The Jet Airways flight that earlier departed from Kolkata at 11.45 am and reached Bangkok at 4 pm local time did provide travel options to Hong Kong, Manila, Tokyo, Kuala Lumpur, Shanghai and Canton. But the revised timing the flight will depart from Kolkata at 1.30 am and reach Bangkok at 5.40 am opens up the entire world to travellers as they will have multiple options on outbound flights to the region and beyond.
While there were connecting flights to Thai destinations like Krabi, Phuket, Kosamui and Pattaya, tourists had to miss out on evening shows as they would be over by the time they checked into the hotel. Now, the revised timing will enable them to enjoy the programmes scheduled for the entire day.
06/01/11 Times of India

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Wikileaks lifts curtain on Boeing/Airbus horsetrading

The New York Times reports another set of WikiLeaks has shown the lengths the US diplomatic corps, among others, go to market defence and aerospace products. The newspaper says the cables, posted on its website shows “to a greater degree than previously known” that “diplomats are a big part of the sales force.”
The paper Sunday published diplomatic cables showing the king of Saudi Arabia wanted the United States to outfit his personal jet with the same high-tech devices as the American president's “Air Force One”. The president of Turkey wanted a slot for an astronaut on a NASA space flight and the Bangladeshi prime minister pressed the State Department to re-establish landing rights at Kennedy International Airport in New York.
“Each of these government leaders had one thing in common: they were trying to decide whether to buy billions of dollars’ worth of commercial jets from Boeing or its European competitor, Airbus,” the newspaper reported. “And United States diplomats were acting like marketing agents, offering deals to heads of state and airline executives whose decisions could be influenced by price, performance and, as with all finicky customers with plenty to spend, perks.
The United States economy, said Robert D. Hormats, under secretary for economic affairs at the State Department, increasingly relies upon exports to the fast-growing developing world — nations like China and India, as well as those in Latin America and the Middle East. “So pushing sales of big-ticket items like commercial jets, earth-moving equipment or power plants (or stepping in to object if an American company is not being given a fair chance to bid) is central to the Obama administration’s strategy to help the nation recover from the recession.”
The cables show that the United States was willing to pull out all the political stops if Boeing is in danger of losing a big deal to Airbus. In late 2007, the board of Gulf Air, the national airline of the oil-rich kingdom of Bahrain, picked Airbus for a huge sale. Boeing told the American government, which responded that there was still a way to turn the deal around, even though Airbus had offered the planes for about US$400 million less than Boeing. The crown prince and king of Bahrain, preparing for the first visit by a sitting United States president, agreed to reverse the decision after some lobbying, ordering Gulf Air to reopen negotiations with Boeing, which ended up winning the deal, which was signed while then-President Bush visited shortly afterwards.
04/01/11 defenceWeb

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Air India faces fresh workers' trouble in Nepal

Kathmandu: After losing a protracted labour dispute in Nepal's Supreme Court last year, India's flagship carrier Air India now faces fresh turmoil in the Himalayan republic with workers threatening to disrupt operations.
The airline's non-permanent staff is reported to have given a five-day ultimatum to the authorities to implement the verdict issued by the Supreme Court of Nepal in June 2010, failing which they have warned they would stop handling cargo at the Tribhuvan International Airport, Nepal's only international airport.
They have also warned that they would ask all ticketing agencies to stop issuing Air India flight tickets and, finally, seek to disrupt flights.
The workers' move comes even as Nepal kicked off its Nepal Tourism Year 2011 on Saturday with the avowed goal of bringing one million tourists this year, over one-fifth of whom would be Indian tourists.
The unrest is the sequel to the court battle started nearly six years ago when casual and temporary workers demanded that they be made permanent staffers.
Air India, which began operations in Nepal in 1952, rejected the demand, saying it was not an organisation registered in Nepal but an Indian government institution. As it began flights to Nepal after an agreement between the governments of India and Nepal, Air India said it was not bound by Nepal's labour law.
04/01/11 Indo-Asian News Service/NDTV.com

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Ramco bags huge order from MAS GMR Aerospace

Chennai: IT company Ramco Systems, part of the $875 million Ramco Group, has bagged a project from MAS GMR Aerospace Engineering for an "undisclosed amount".
MAS GMR Aerospace Engineering company is the Joint Venture firm of Malaysian Aerospace Engineering and GMR Hyderabad International Airport.
The company was set up to develop a third party airframe MRO facility that would cater to the needs of airline customers at the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport in Hyderabad.
The project is aimed at providing airframe maintenance, repair and overhaul suite of Aviation software offerings, Ramco Systems said in a statement.
"We are excited to be partnering the new greenfield airport project at Hyderabd. This was a challenging order win as we were competing with some of the biggest players in the industry. This win has further strengthened our portfolio of servicing best-in-class companies in the Aviation industry", Ramco Systems COO Kamesh Ramamoorthy.
04/01/11 Press Trust of India/Business Standard

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Etihad Airways launches flights to Bangalore

Bangalore: Etihad Airways , the national airline of the United Arab Emirates , has launched flights to its eighth destination in India -- Bangalore.
Etihad operates four return flights a week to Bangalore, it said in a statement.
The airline would increase to a daily service on the route from March 25, at the commencement of its summer scheduling season.
With the addition of Bangalore, Etihad flies to eight Indian destinations, including the cities of New Delhi, Chennai, Mumbai, Kozhikode, Thiruvananthapuram, Hyderabad and Kochi with a total of 49 flights to India per week.
04/01/11 PTI/Economic Times

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India's UN envoy has no problem with pat down searches

Washington: As a 'global citizen' India's permanent representative to the United Nations, Hardeep Singh Puri, has no problem with the controversial 'pat down' searches at US airports and seeks no exemption for himself.
'There is no controversy whatsoever. Insofar as I am concerned, no pat down took place,' Puri told IANS referring to an incident with him at Texas airport in November. 'I don't know why there is an attempt to generate a controversy.'
'I know what the American procedures are. I never asked for any exemption. And I would not on security ask for an exemption for myself.
'When I was going through the security scanner, there was no beep. So when he asked for a pat down, I said 'your rules provide that I can do the pat down myself' and that's what happened. So where is the controversy?' Puri asked.
'So far as my pat down is concerned, I made it absolutely clear as I am telling you now, no pat down took place. There was an attempt at a pat down. You can take exception to that.
'But, as I said, personally for me, I am not even objecting to the pat down. I said I am a global citizen and if there are security rules, I'll happily comply with them.'
02/01/11 IANS/Sify

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Chicago-bound AI passengers spend New Year at hotel rooms

New Delhi: About 220 passengers of a Chicago-bound Air India flight were forced to spend the New Year day in hotel rooms after the airline rescheduled their flight by 24 hours due to shortage of cabin crew. Air India flight (AI-127) to Chicago was scheduled to take-off at 1:30 a m but was delayed as passengers from connecting flights was also to be accommodated but those flights arrived late at the IGI airport, sources said.
Due to this, the flight was delayed by several hours and in the meantime the duty hours of the flight crew also came to an end.
Since the national carrier is facing shortage of cabin crew and also many of them being on leave due to Christmas and New Year it did not have spare crew to replace them, they said.
Though the airline management asked them to continue with their work beyond their Flight Duty Time Limitation (FDTL) saying they would get the clearance from the Civil Aviation regulator, the crew refused to violate their FDTL.
Left with no option, the airline cancelled the flight and reschedule it.
"Due to delay in arriving flights and accommodating the passengers into the Chicago flight, the flight got delayed and flight duty time of the crew came was almost over so they refused to operate the flight. Due to this, we have to reschedule to the flight," an Air India official said.
The rescheduling of flight spoiled New Year plans for many as many spent their new year at the hotel rooms, provided by the airline.
01/01/11 Press Trust of India/Hindustan Times

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