Jet Etihad 24% deal expected within a week: Jet sources

New Delhi: Naresh Goyal promoted Jet Airways and Abu Dhabi based Etihad Airways is expected to conclude a 24% stake sale deal within a week, sources from Jet airways confirmed. This puts rest to the speculation that Jet airways will announce the deal on February 1, just when it is going to announce its third quarter results. The stake-purchase agreement with Jet, second largest domestic passenger market share, will make Etihad the first foreign carrier to buy into an Indian airline after the cabinet approved 49% foreign direct investment (FDI) by foreign carriers in domestic airlines.
Etihad Airways Chief Executive Officer (CEO) James Hogan and Jet Chairman Naresh Goyal met Ajit Singh, the civil aviation minister and Anand Sharma, the commerce minister. Hogan said discussions with Indian government officials on its bid to forge a deal with Jet Airways (India) Ltd. were “very good.”
A senior government official of the commerce ministry said, “The two executives told Anand Sharma that they will submit an application with the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB).”
31/01/13 Disha Kanwar/Business Standard

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Jet-Etihad deal gets ministerial push

New Delhi: Abu Dhabi-based Etihad Airways moved a step closer to picking up a 24 per cent stake in domestic carrier Jet Airways with the top officials of both airlines meeting Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh and the Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma in anticipation of a deal being clinched soon.
It is learnt that both Etihad and Jet are likely to apply to the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) for seeking clearance for Etihad’s proposal to pick up 24 per cent stake in Jet Airways. The Etihad delegation was led by its CEO James Hogan, and Jet Airways promoter Naresh Goyal represented the domestic carrier.
Talking to reporters after meeting the officials of Etihad and Jet, Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh said the Etihad delegation was here today [Thursday] and both parties had been in the consultation process for quite some time. “They are discussing details with Jet Airways. Any foreign airline investing money has a number of concerns — what’s the policy, what’s the cost structure so that you make money out of that. They have been discussing this deal for over a month,” he said.
31/01/13 Sujay Mehdudia/The Hindu

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AirAsia not proceeding with flights from Singapore to India, China

Kolkata: Following a strategic review of its operations (TTG Asia e-Daily, January 28, 2013), AirAsia has decided not to launch flights from Singapore to India and China.
 According to an earlier press statement, AirAsia claims that routes less than three hours allow better revenue returns due to more sectors flown.
The carrier’s CEO Tony Fernandes said: “Routes originating out of Singapore to larger-population countries like China and India tend to be more than five hours, hence AirAsia’s decision not to proceed with any venture there in the foreseeable future.”
 Most major Indian cities such as New Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore and Chennai are approximately a five-hour flight from Singapore or the rest of South-east Asia.
31/01/13 Shekhar Niyogi/TTG Asia

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Singapore-India passenger traffic up 10% in 2012

Singapore:  India continues to be a very important market for Singapore Changi Airport, ranking among the top 10 countries by passenger traffic and airfreight tonnage.
"In 2012, passenger traffic between India and Singapore increased by 10.4 per cent," Changi Airport spokesman told PTI today.
But on the cargo front, shipments between the two countries declined 7.2 per cent, resulting from uncertainties in the global economy.
"With eight airlines operating more than 400 weekly flights between Singapore and 12 cities in India, Changi Airport is now the most connected point to India from Southeast Asia," he said.
31/01/13 PTI/Economic Times

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Ajit Singh snubs AI's concerns over Jet Etihad deal

New Delhi/Mumbai: Air India’s (AI) plea raising concerns over Jet-Etihad deal found no favour with the civil aviation minister Ajit Singh. However, the minister’s views are in complete variance with the bureaucracy of the aviation ministry which favours that AI’s interest should not be compromised from the deal.
In a letter to the civil aviation secretary, AI Chairman and Managing director (CMD) Rohit Nandan had raised concerns over the potential threat to the airline from Jet-Etihad deal.
Naresh Goyal promoted Jet airways is expected to soon announce a deal of 24% stake sale at over $300 million to Abu Dhabi based Etihad airways. The management of the gulf carrier is meeting Anand Sharma, commerce minister and Ajit Singh, civil aviation minister.
AI had expressed through the letter that allowing investments by foreign airlines will hurt the interests of domestic airlines and prevent Indian airports from developing into international hubs. It also added that Jet’s flights to Abu Dhabi could be used to funnel passengers from India headed for the US and Europe, according to two government officials who declined to be named.
30/01/13 Disha Kanwar & Aneesh Phadnis/Business Standard

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Etihad to meet govt ahead of deal with Jet

New Delhi: Exactly 17 years after he had to buy back 40% stake in Jet Airways held by Gulf carriers when foreign direct investment by foreign airlines was disallowed, Naresh Goyal is all set to become the first beneficiary of the reopening up of FDI in the sector. Top officials of Abu Dhabi-based airline Etihad are meeting aviation and commerce ministers Ajit Singh and Anand Sharma on Thursday to apprise them of their decision to invest in Jet Airways before making a formal announcement.
According to sources, Etihad - which Goyal helped set up in 2003 - will pick up 24% stake in Jet Airways for about $330 million. This deal values Jet at about Rs 7,562 crore, a substantial premium from its market capitalization of almost Rs 5,100 crore on Tuesday when the share closed 1.9% down at Rs 590.6 on BSE.
30/01/13 Saurabh Sinha/Times of India

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Etihad unlikely to gain much with a minority stake in Jet

New Delhi: Etihad Airways may not get any direct immediate benefits in terms of increased traffic from Indian cities even after it picks up a minority equity stake in India ’s Jet Airways.
According to senior officials of the ministry of civil aviation, the Abu Dhabi-based airline has indicated it will initially pick up 24 percent in the Indian carrier.
“This means effective management control and substantial ownership remain with the Indian entity which is Jet Airways. So for us, nothing really changes. The Jet-Etihad combine will continue to operate as an India-registered airline while Etihad itself will continue to be allowed 11 ports of call in India with as many seats per week as the Air Services Agreement (ASA) allows between India and the UAE,” said one official.
30/01/13 Sindhu Bhattacharya/First Post.com

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IndiGo adds capacity, drops fare on Dubai route

Mumbai: Its raining discounts on the busy Mumbai-Dubai route. Low cost airline IndiGo is offering return fares which are priced  20-25% lower than rivals kick starting a fare war on the route.
Mumbai-Dubai is the busiest international route from India with 91 weekly flights  between the two cities and around 21, 000 seats on offer. It was the fourth busiest route from Dubai (behind London, Doha and Kuwait) in 2011. Delhi stood at ninth place.
Currently Emirates offers the highest capacity with 35 weekly flights and 11819 seats on Mumbai-Dubai route.  Jet has four daily flights while IndiGo and SpiceJet have a flight each.  IndiGo is adding its second daily flight on the route from March and has dropped  fares is about 20-25% less than rivals.
30/01/13 Aneesh Phadnis/Business Standard

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SpiceJet may be next to get foreign investment

New Delhi: Top sources say low-cost carrier SpiceJet could be the next Indian carrier to get FDI from a foreign airline even as grounded Kingfisher Airlines is yet to find any investor. "SpiceJet is in talks with some foreign airlines and could announce a deal in the coming weeks or months. Kingfisher is yet to make any headway as hardly any player would like to put money in a company in such a condition," said a top aviation ministry official, who is kept in the loop by desi airlines seeking FDI, and foreign ones looking to invest here.
FDI by foreign airlines was disallowed in 1996 in what was seen as a move to prevent a Tata-Singapore Airlines joint venture.
30/01/13 Saurabh Sinha/Times of India

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Post FDI in aviation, investor interest in listed carriers show revival

New Delhi: With the cabinet's approval of 49% Foreign Direct Investment ( FDI) and fuel prices cooling off, the aviation sector is showed signs of revival.
With SpiceJet recording profits of Rs 102 crore in the quarter ended December, foreign institutional investors (FIIs) increased their stakes whereas FII stake in Jet airways has stabalized. Stakes of domestic institutional investors (DIIs), including mutual funds and insurance increased by a%age point in both the listed carriers.
Mumbai-based Jet Airways, India’s second largest carrier in terms of the number of passengers, saw the stake of FIIs dip slightly from 4.81% in the quarter ended September to 4.27% in the quarter ended December. The stake of FIIs in Sun Group-owned SpiceJet rose from 2.86% to 5.22%.
However, in the corresponding period last year, the stake of FIIs in SpiceJet was 3.81%. In past one year, there were three rounds of fund infusion in SpiceJet by its promoters of around Rs 419 crore.In Jet airways, the stake of FIIs was 5.42%.
29/01/13 Disha Kanwar/Business Standard

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US investigators ask Boeing for battery history

Tokyo:  US investigators said Wednesday they asked Boeing Co. to provide a full operating history of lithium-ion batteries used in its grounded 787 Dreamliners after Japan's All Nippon Airways revealed it had repeatedly replaced the batteries even before overheating problems surfaced.
National Transportation Safety Board spokesman Peter Knudson said the agency made the request after recently becoming aware of battery problems at ANA that occurred before two recent incidents involving the planes batteries. Boeing has already collected some of the information, he said.
All 50 of the Boeing 787s in use around the world remain grounded after an ANA flight on Jan. 16 made an emergency landing in Japan when its main battery overheated. About a week before that, a battery caught fire in a 787 parked at Boston's Logan International Airport.
ANA said it had replaced batteries on its 787 aircraft some 10 times because they didn't charge properly or connections with electrical systems failed, and informed Boeing about the swaps.
30/01/13 AP/Economic Times

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Dassault Falcon bets big on Indian market

Hyderabad: Dassault Falcon, a part of French aircraft manufacturer of military, regional and business jets Dassault Aviation, is looking at investing heavily in India to better serve its expanding customer base in the Indian subcontinent and prepare for future growth.
These investments will be highlighted, along with Falcon’s full line of large-cabin, long-range business jets, at Aero India which opens in Bangalore on February 6, 2013, the company said in a release issued from Saint-Cloud, France, on Tuesday.
Dassault built its reputation for advanced high-performance aircraft in the region with the Indian Air Force, which operates 50 Mirage 2000 fighters and, in January 2012, selected the new-generation Rafale for its medium multi-role aircraft (MMRA) mission.
30/01/13 K RajaniKanth/Business Standard

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NTSB: Mechanic checklists a lesson in copter crash

Las Vegas: Federal regulators on Tuesday recommended that aircraft mechanics and inspectors get enough rest and use checklists to guide their work after a 13-month investigation of a Las Vegas sightseeing helicopter crash that killed five people when a crucial bolt came loose.
"A checklist can be a crucial reminder and especially helpful when we are tired or distracted or new to a job," National Transportation Safety Board Chairwoman Deborah Hersman said after the five-member board reached its conclusions in Washington, D.C.
The board cited "inadequate maintenance" for the December 2011 crash of the Sundance Helicopters Inc. chopper during a scenic twilight tour of Hoover Dam and the Lake Mead reservoir on the Colorado River. Investigators found a crucial bolt may have been reused too many times and improperly installed, with the mistake not found during inspections.
Sundance CEO Bob Engelbrecht issued a statement Tuesday promising to study the NTSB report, review the board findings and recommendations, and "look to further improve our processes and procedures."
Killed were a honeymooning couple from India, Lovish Bhanot, 28, of Gurgaon, and Anupama Bhola, 26, of New Delhi; a couple from Utica, Kan., who were celebrating their 25th wedding anniversary, Delwin and Tamara Chapman, both 49; and the pilot, Landon Nield, 31.
29/01/13 Hutchnews.com

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Japanese airlines replaced many Boeing Dreamliner batteries

Tokyo: Japan's two major airlines said Wednesday they had replaced a number of batteries in their Dreamliners ahead of the worldwide grounding of Boeing's next generation aircraft earlier this month.
A spokeswoman for All Nippon Airways said 10 batteries on its fleet had been switched, while a representative of rival Japan Airlines (JAL) told AFP "quite a few" had needed changing.
The lithium-ion batteries, made by Japanese manufacturer GS Yuasa, have been at the centre of a probe into the Dreamliner's airworthiness since a fire on a JAL plane in Boston and an emergency landing on an ANA flight in Japan.
30/01/13 AFP/Times of India

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Air India appoints passenger general sales agents for UAE

Dubai: Air India has decided to appoint passenger General Sales Agents (GSA) for sale of Passenger Air Transportation in the territory of the UAE, as per the new policy approved by the Board.
According to a statement released here, the tender document (for Air India and Representative Agents of Air India Express) is available on the Air India website under the section tender AI International Tenders and the last date for receipt of completed tender document is 8th February, 2013.
"It is informed that the previous GSA appointment exercise has been withdrawn and the applications received in response to the previous tender exercises shall be returned to the respective applicants through courier/post," the statement added.
30/01/13 PTI/Economic Times

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Unruly Air India flight attendants get into fisticuffs in US hotel

Mumabi: In an incident that has left Air India red-faced, four flight attendants who were put up in a hotel in Chicago created a major scene last Tuesday. "The cause of the fight is not known, but they were screaming and shouting. After some time, they turned very violent with each other. Someone broke a bottle and there were fisticuffs," said an airline source. "Cabin crew members and others have had arguments in the past, but these are sorted out and they never get out of hand. Never in the history of the airline has such a violent fight taken place," he added.
"The police came in and an ambulance was called because some of them were injured. But the hotel apparently intervened and requested the police to not register a case. They reasoned that these four were scheduled to depart the next day," said another source. "But the four were restrained in their rooms from 2am to 10.30am with the police posted outside each room. They were escorted to the airport by the police and it is likely that they may be banned from entering the US," the source added.
29/01/13 Manu V/Times of India

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No selling stake to overseas carriers, says GoAir CEO

Kolkata: Low-cost flier Go Airlines (India) is not interested in selling its equity stake to foreign capital just for accessing funds. It is also not interested in aggressive growth in market share, emphasising instead on sustainability, its chief executive officer Giorgio De Roni has asserted.
In response to a question on the Kingfisher episode and whether the Wadia group carrier is interested in taking up some of the slots vacated by Kingfisher Airlines, Mr Roni told The Hindu: “We will grow step by step... our approach is to grow cautiously.. we are running a marathon and not a sprint.”
He said that the company was pursuing its plans of launching international flights and was hopeful of getting some waivers from the Centre on certain stipulations.
29/01/13 Indrani Dutta/The Hindu

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Indian automobile maker Mahindra eyes aerospace

Washington DC: One of India's largest information technology companies thinks it can adapt the software sector's on-site/offshore business model for the aerospace industry and leverage that growth to transform itself into a leading aircraft design and manufacturing house within a decade.
Mahindra Satyam's aerospace practice faces the long odds of any non-established player seeking to grow rapidly and become a sophisticated designer and maker of globally competitive commercial and military aircraft.
But the group, headed by Ramaseshan Satagopan, is not without certain advantages. Being part of the $15 billion Mahindra Group is helpful. The company has grown rapidly over 15 years by becoming a builder and designer of automobiles for the Indian market.Now, the Mahindra Group's chairman, Anand Mahindra, has started looking for new growth opportunities - describing himself, according to India's Business Standard newspaper, as "outrageously ambitious to see Indian aerospace take its rightful place in the world".
Underscoring that ambition, Satagopan tells Flight International: "My chairman feels the next wave [of growth in India] will likely be in aerospace".
29/01/13 Stephen Tribmle/Flight Global

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Vijay Mallya faces MIAL ire again

Mumbai International Airport Limited or MIAL, a joint venture between a GVK led consortium ( 74%) and Airports Authority of India has dragged Vijay Mallya led Kingfisher Airlines to the Bombay High Court seeking declaration of all the assets of the debt-ridden airline, two sources familiar with the development told ET NOW. "
A summary suit has been filed against Kingfisher Airlines seeking declaration of assets, attachment of properties and recovery of Rs 35 crores in outstanding dues, " said one of the two individuals cited above. The Bombay High Court has granted two weeks time to Kingfisher to respond to the MIAL suit. MIAL was represented by senior counsel Venkatesh Dhond and law firm Naik Naik & company.
28/01/13 Ashwin Mohan/Economic Times

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Airbus warned about lithium battery risks a year ago: Report

Paris/Detroit:  Airbus warned the airline industry of risks related to lithium batteries almost a year before two safety incidents grounded 787 Dreamliners built by its chief rival Boeing, according to a presentation seen by Reuters.
The European planemaker spelled out lithium hazards at a forum of airline customers in March 2012, citing the risk of flames, explosion, smoke and leakage in the event of a so-called thermal runaway or uncontrolled battery overheating.
"The risks associated to lithium batteries require the attention of the entire industry," according to slides of the presentation by Christine Bezard, flight safety leader of the planned Airbus A350 plane that will also use lithium batteries.
29/01/13 Economic Times

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MIAL seeks attachment of Kingfisher properties

Mumbai: Troubles continue for the beleaguered Kingfisher Airlines, as the Mumbai International Airport ( MIAL) today filed a suit in the Bombay High Court seeking attachment of airline's properties.
The airline owes the airport operator about Rs 40 crore in unpaid dues. Its operating permit lapsed in December end and the Directorate General of Civil Aviation has refused to allow the airline to restart operations in the absence of a viable plan.
A MIAL spokesperson confirmed that it had filed the case against Kingfisher. "We have filed the case. It will come up for hearing after two weeks," he said.
MIAL's latest action to attach properties follows its earlier move to cancel the airline's departure slots and its decision to take over office space allotted to the airline in the airport building.
28/01/13 Aneesh Phadnis/Business Standard

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Dreamliner's Australian flight grounded

The first commercial flight of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner to Australia has been postponed following the grounding of the aircraft worldwide.
Qatar Airways was due to make the first passenger flight of a Dreamliner to Australia on Friday, with a flight from Doha to Perth.
But the airline grounded its 787s on January 17, citing the US Federal Aviation Administrations warning over fire risks on board the revolutionary new jet Qatar has since confirmed it has postponed the launch of Dreamliner flights to Australia.
With investigators yet to identify the cause of the incidents, no new date for Qatar's inaugural Dreamliner flight to Australia has been set.
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Airlines around the world grounded their 787 Dreamliners on January 16.
29/01/13 Craig Platt/Sydney Morning Herald

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Post FDI in aviation, investor interest in listed carriers show revival

New Delhi: With the cabinet's approval of 49% Foreign Direct Investment ( FDI) and fuel prices cooling off, the aviation sector is showed signs of revival.
With SpiceJet recording profits of Rs 102 crore in the quarter ended December, foreign institutional investors (FIIs) increased their stakes whereas FII stake in Jet airways has stabalized. Stakes of domestic institutional investors (DIIs), including mutual funds and insurance increased by a%age point in both the listed carriers.
Mumbai-based Jet Airways, India’s second largest carrier in terms of the number of passengers, saw the stake of FIIs dip slightly from 4.81% in the quarter ended September to 4.27% in the quarter ended December. The stake of FIIs in Sun Group-owned SpiceJet rose from 2.86% to 5.22%.
However, in the corresponding period last year, the stake of FIIs in SpiceJet was 3.81%. In past one year, there were three rounds of fund infusion in SpiceJet by its promoters of around Rs 419 crore.In Jet airways, the stake of FIIs was 5.42%.
29/01/13 Disha Kanwar/Business Standard

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Etihad deal is a flight to survival for Jet Airways staff too

New Delhi: When a mega deal is in the offing, many times competitors and disgruntled employees try to spoil the party or, if they fail to do so, at least get a piece of the cake.
More so when the impending deal is an equity alliance between Jet Airways and Etihad Airways, a first in the Indian aviation’s recent memory.
The two airlines are in advanced stages of negotiations for a deal that may see Etihad picking up 24 percent equity initially.
Ever since some enterprising souls at Jet leaked the information of talks between the two airlines last year to a prominent pink paper, the number of instances when stakeholders and jealous competitors have tried to stymie the deal has risen.
29/01/13 Sindhu Bhattacharya/First Post.com

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Etihad Airways team to meet Anand Sharma on Jan 31

Agra: A business delegation from UAE’s Etihad Airways will meet Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma this week amidst talks of a possible deal with Jet Airways.
“A delegation from Etihad is coming to meet me on January 31,” Sharma told mediapersons on the sidelines of the CII Summit in Agra on Monday.
While the Minister did not elaborate on the agenda for the meeting, DIPP officials said that the changes in India’s FDI policy in aviation and Etihad’s prospects in India would be discussed.
Abu Dhabi’s Etihad Airways is expected to announce a deal to buy a 24 per cent stake in Jet Airways soon. In fact, shares of Jet Airways traded higher on Monday on hopes of an early deal.
28/01/13 Amit Sen/Business Line

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India, Dubai passenger traffic rises in 2012

Dubai:  With Mumbai and Delhi featuring amongst the busiest routes from UAE, India remained Dubai International airport's single biggest country destination in terms of passenger numbers last year.
The passenger traffic between Dubai and India continued to show robust growth during the past year, with total passenger traffic rising 7.4 per cent year on year to 7.34 million passengers in 2012, the annual traffic report issued by Dubai Airports has said.
Traffic was bolstered by the introduction of Spicejet which added new flights from Delhi, Mumbai, Kochi and Ahmedabad to Dubai.
Air India Express, Indigo and Emirates also added new flights and destinations during the year, it said in a statement released here on Sunday.
29/01/13 PTI/Economic Times

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SpiceJet to operate budget flight between Delhi and Chengdu

Beijing: India's budget airline Specie Jet is all set to operate its first flight from China from its southern trade hub Guangzhou to New Delhi from February 8.
"All necessary paperwork to operate the Spice flight from Guangzhou to Delhi has been cleared and the flight will begin its operations from Februry 8," Indian Consulate General to Guangzhou, K Nagaraj Naidu told PTI today.
Spice jet will initially operate four flights a week at an initial ticket price of 999 Yuan (Rs 8000).
The entry of the Indian budget airline has already spurred competition as China Southern Airline which operates daily flights between Guangzhou to Delhi has doubled its frequency.
29/01/13 Economic Times

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IndiGo becomes the first Indian airline with Sharklet equipped A320

India's largest airline, IndiGo has taken delivery of its first A320 aircraft equipped with Sharklet fuel saving wing tip devices, becoming the first Indian carrier to do so. Sharklets are newly designed wing-tip devices that improve the aircraft’s aerodynamics and significantly cut the airline’s fuel burn and emissions by four per cent on longer sectors.
Sharklets are an option on new-build A320 Family aircraft, and standard on all members of the A320neo Family. They offer the flexibility to A320 Family operators of either adding around 100 nautical miles more range or allowing increased payload capability of up to 450 kilograms. All future A320 aircraft to be delivered to IndiGo shall be fitted with the Sharklet wing tip devices.
“In little over six years since we began operating, our low fares and high service ethos at IndiGo has enabled us to grow to become India’s largest domestic carriers. We already operate one of the world’s youngest most fuel efficient fleets and our investment in Sharklet will help reduce our fuel consumption even further,” said Aditya Ghosh, IndiGo’s President.
28/01/13 Aviation.Ca

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Direct flights from Indonesia to India on the way to getting nod

The absence of direct air connectivity between India and Indonesia may soon become history as the Indonesian government is now working to remove the deadlock that has impeded Indian outbound traffic to the archipelago.
Rizali W Indrakesuma, Indonesia’s ambassador to India, said: “Three private carriers have expressed interest to begin flights on India routes, and the Indonesian government will be taking a call on these requests soon…The Indonesian government was not willing to transfer the Garuda rights to any private airlines earlier, but it has realised that it cannot rely only on Garuda.”
Both Lion Air and AirAsia are understood to have approached the Indonesian government for approval of routes to India, while the third carrier was not revealed.
 “Besides this, Garuda Indonesia will soon be signing a codeshare agreement with Jet Airways,” added Rizali.
29/01/13 Shekhar Niyogi/TTG Asia

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Air India puts Dreamliner planes for sale, leaseback

New Delhi:  Air India has put all its newly- acquired Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner planes for sale and leaseback and invited bids from prospective lessors by February first week, even as all of these aircraft remained grounded across the world.
Air India and other Dreamliner operators across the world have grounded their entire fleet of 50 B-787s delivered so far following a directive from the US Federal Aviation Authority after a fire risk reportedly caused by a battery problem.
In spite of this, the national carrier has gone ahead with its plan of sale and leaseback, which has already been approved by the government as part of its turnaround and financial restructuring plans.
28/01/13 PTI/Economic Times

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Indian air travellers fuel Dubai airport's growth

Dubai Airport has taken over as the world’s third ranked airport for international passenger numbers, vaulting ahead of Hong Kong International Airport in the global ranking, the company managing Dubai airport announced today. London Heathrow and Paris Charles De Gaulle airports top the list of busiest airports for international traffic.
 According to the annual traffic report issued today by Dubai Airports, passenger traffic surged 13.2 per cent to 57.68 million  in 2012, up from 50.97million  passengers recorded during 2011. In contrast, India's busiest airports Delhi and Mumbai handled 34 and 30 million passengers respectively in 2012.
India remained Dubai International’s single biggest country destination in terms of passenger numbers.
28/01/13 Aneesh Phadnis/Business Standard

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Jet Airways stake sale: Etihad to talk to Indian govt

A delegation of Abu Dhabi-based carrier Etihad Airways, which is expected to buy stake in Jet Airways, will meet Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma this week.
"They are meeting me on January 31," Sharma told reporters here on the sidelines of CII's annual Global Partnership Summit.
The proposed meeting comes in the backdrop of Jet Airways stating earlier this month that it was in talks with Eithad regarding a potential investment by it in the Naresh Goyal-owned carrier.
The issue is also understood to have come up during the bilateral meeting Sharma had with UAE Foreign Trade Minister Sheikha Lubna Bint Khalid Al Qasimi here.
28/01/13 Indian Express

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No infrastructure, airlines unable to import fuel

Kochi: Though almost a year has lapsed after the Centre decided to permit airlines to directly import aviation turbine fuel (ATF), none of the airlines has been successful in importing ATF so far.
The Centre had taken the decision after the cash-strapped airlines' clamour that ATF accounted for about 50% of their operational cost in the domestic sector.
They had claimed that direct import of ATF would bring down their operational cost by at least 20% to 22% as they can then avoid paying sales tax which hovered around that level.
Some states had raised concern that the decision would affect their revenue streams. Kerala was levying about 29% sales tax on ATF and had generated Rs 58 crore revenue last year. The finance department was estimating that this might shoot up to nearly Rs 69 crores in the current fiscal, considering the growing demand. There were fears that the decision to permit direct ATF import would derail these estimates.
28/01/13 T Ramavarman/Times of India

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FII holdings in Spicejet doubles in December quarter

Chennai: Foreign institutional investors have nearly doubled their holdings in billionaire Kalanithi Maran-owned SpiceJet, viewed by industry experts and analysts as the most eligible Indian airline to get foreign direct investment.
The latest shareholding data filed with the stock exchanges show that FIIs have raised their stake in the Chennai-based airline to 5.22% from 2.86% in the third quarter of this fiscal.
SpiceJet posted robust results, with a profit of Rs 102 crore on revenue of Rs 1,602.6 crore in the third quarter, beating expectations. BNP Paribas India Equity Fund acquired a 1.05% stake in the December quarter. The names of other FIIs are not known, indicating that they may have less than 1% stake (in which case a shareholder isn't identified).
28/01/13 Sanjay Vijayakumar/Economic Times

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Indonesian held with narcotics worth Rs 17 cr at IGI

An Indonesian allegedly trying to smuggle narcotics worth about Rs 17 crore out of India was arrested at the Indira Gandhi International (IGI) airport here, officials said today.
The accused, identified as Rahman Sinaga, was intercepted by customs officials at the departure hall yesterday.
When he was interrogated and searched, he was found to be carrying Amphetamine, a substance banned under Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, 1985, the officials said.
28/01/13 PTI/Business Standard

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Air Asia's Anthony Fernandez, Kerala biz man keen on Indian skies

Davos: Malaysian Air Asia's Anthony Fernandez and Middle East-based Indian businessman Yusuf Ali are believed to be exploring possible opportunities to enter the Indian aviation space.
Ali who hails from Kerala runs Lulu group of supermarket chain. He is looking at the possibility of starting an airline service between his home state and the Middle East, which has a significant population of Keralites.
Air Asia's Anthony Fernandez is eyeing a full-fledged airline service in India.
Both Ali and Fernandez have separately held informal discussions with Indian business leaders here at Davos where they are attending the WEF annual meeting.
While the two could not be reached for their comments, sources said both are very much interested in the Indian aviation space.
26/01/13 PTI/Indian Express

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Air India to keep Boeing 787 grounded till February 17

New Delhi: The six Boeing 787 aircraft in the Air India fleet will remain grounded till February 17. This means that the newest aircraft in the airline fleet will remain grounded for a month, as it was on January 17 that Air India had grounded its Boeing 787 fleet. Initially, Air India expected the 787 aircraft to be grounded for three to five days.
This will not be good news for Air India. The airline was looking at the induction and use of the Boeing 787 aircraft to turn around its financial fortunes. The aircraft was generating revenues of Rs 2 crore a day when it was in service. The airline grounded the aircraft after the Directorate General of Civil Aviation asked Air India to stop using the Boeing 787 till a problem with a battery on board had been sorted out.The Directorate General took the decision to ground the aircraft after US watchdog Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) pointed out problems with the battery.
26/01/13 Business Line

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Dreamliner grounding leaves airlines with uncertainties

New York: The prospect of a prolonged grounding of Boeing's new 787 jet is posing a logistical and financial challenge for several airlines, which have already canceled more than 1,000 flights in the 10 days since the plane was grounded worldwide.
Aviation analysts said that the carriers faced even more uncertainty after investigators in the United States and Japan reported that they had not made much progress in figuring out why two planes experienced serious problems with their volatile lithium-ion batteries.
Without a clear understanding of what happened, all 50 of the 787s delivered to eight airlines over the last 14 months will remain grounded.
27/01/13 New York Times /Indian Express

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Jet-Etihad deal set for take-off

New Delhi: Jet Airways is close to a stake pact with Etihad Airways with senior executives from both sides busy finalising the contours of a deal.
While both the airlines refused to confirm or deny the development, sources said Etihad’s chief executive, chief strategy officer and chief financial officer met senior Jet officials today.
The talks are meant to finalise the share sale price and other details of the deal.
According to sources, the Abu Dhabi-based carrier could pay up to $330 million for a 24 per cent stake in India’s second-biggest carrier.
Jet Airways had informed the BSE that a meeting of the company’s board of directors would be held on February 1, which among other things, would consider and approve the unaudited results for the third quarter ended December 31, 2012.
26/0-1/13 The Telegraph

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Russia and India Join Global Satnav Augmentation Meeting

Experts ensuring that aircraft can safely rely on satellite navigation across Europe and other parts of the globe met this week to share future plans, welcoming Russian and Indian representatives for the first time.
Ever more aircraft around the globe are using satnav augmentation to guide them on their way, with special infrastructure sharpening signal accuracy and reliability across given geographical regions.
More than 50 of the specialists overseeing the world?s five regional satnav augmentation systems met at Toulouse in southern France for the latest meeting of the Satellite-Based Augmentation Systems (SBAS) Interoperability Working Group (IWG).
25/01/13 Space REF

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Grounded Dreamliners take toll on AI budget

New Delhi: Air India’s (AI) grounding of its Boeing-787 Dreamliners has already started adding to the airlines’ fuel cost by around Rs 40 lakh daily, apart from forcing changes in flight schedules, said a senior Air India official. It has been a week since the United States’ regulator, Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), asked airlines around the world to ground B787s due to battery problems.
“Though the upward movement of fuel bills is hardly one per cent of Air India’s annual fuel bill of around Rs 6,700 crore, prolonged grounding will definitely impact us. The impact is not that much as AI has very limited international operations involving B-787s,” said a senior Air India official.
Air India has six Boeing 787s and was operating them on three domestic routes (Bangalore, Chennai and Kolkata) and three international ones (Dubai, Frankfurt and Paris). The airline is due to receive two more B787s in January and February. The decision to induct them will hinge on how the US aircraft maker addresses safety concerns.
25/01/13 Disha Kanwar/Business Standard

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Investigation into Boeing 787 battery shows short circuiting

Washington: An investigation into the battery of Boeing 787 Dreamliner that caused a fire in Boston early this month, showed signs of thermal runway and short-circuiting, US government investigators said.
"Here are findings to date. Fire was present. There are signs of thermal runaway and of short-circuiting," the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) Chairman Deborah Hersman told reporters yesterday on the investigation into the incident, following which several airlines including Air India have grounded their Boeing 787 Dreamliner.
25/01/13 PTI/Economic Times

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787 probe far from complete, regulator 'very concerned'

Washington: US safety regulators are nowhere near finishing an investigation into a battery fire on the Boeing Co 787 Dreamliner, a top official said on Thursday, raising the prospect of a prolonged grounding for the aircraft.
Deborah Hersman, chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board, made clear that investigators have found a series of "symptoms" in the battery damaged in a January 7 fire in Boston, but not the underlying cause of the problem. She also said the agency would be looking at the design of the battery compartment area of the plane and whether the certification standards had been strong enough.
The comments were seen by some safety experts within the aerospace industry as a clear signal that this is no longer just a teething issue for the new plane.
That will raise questions about the financial impact for Boeing, which is still running its assembly lines and backing up aircraft to be delivered, and for airlines, many of which counted on getting the futuristic 787 for their expansion plans.
"We are early in our investigation, we have a lot of activities to undertake," Hersman told a news conference.
25/01/13 Reuters/Business Standard

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India to present Dornier-228 aircraft to Seychelles

New Delhi: India is going to transfer a Dornier-228 maritime reconnaissance aircraft to Seychelles to help the country keep its Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) under better surveillance as well as guard against terrorism and piracy.
Defence minister A K Antony will present the Dornier aircraft, manufactured by defence PSU Hindustan Aeronautics, to Seychelles President James Michel at a function here on January 31. Earlier, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had announced $5 million assistance for Seychelles, in keeping with India's overall policy to provide economic and military aid to Indian Ocean Region (IOR) countries to counter China's inroads into the region.
25/01/13 Times of India

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Air India Bombing: Canadian Supreme Court Rejects Inderjit Singh Reyat’s Plea

Inderjit Singh Reyat, the only man convicted in the bombing of an Air India flight in 1985, was sentenced to nine years Friday as the Canadian Supreme Court rejected his bid to appeal against a perjury conviction.
The court gave no reasons for its decision, which is normal in cases where parties are seeking appeal,  Vancouver Sun has reported.
Inderjit Singh was sentenced to five years in February 2003 when he pleaded guilty of his role in the Air India bombing.
In September 2003, he was called as a witness against his co-accused Ripudaman Singh Malik and Ajaib Singh Bagri. On Sept. 18, 2010, Inderjit was proved of lying repeatedly during the trails.
25/01/13 IBTimes

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Burnt circuit boards snag Japan Boeing 787 probe

A device seen as key to explaining why a Boeing Co 787 Dreamliner jet made an emergency landing in Japan last week is burnt and unlikely to provide safety inspectors with data they need, said a person with knowledge of the ongoing investigation.
Circuit boards that control and monitor the performance of the plane's lithium-ion battery unit were charred and may be of little use to the teams investigating why the battery effectively melted, forcing safety investigators to scramble for possible clues from other components in the plane's electronics, said the person, who didn't want to be named as the probe is ongoing.Aviation authorities in Japan face a painstaking reconstruction that may take months before they can unravel what caused one of the batteries to overheat, triggering warnings in the plane's cockpit.
25/01/13 mobneycontrol.com

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MMRCA project: HAL to be lead integrator, says Defence Ministry

New Delhi: The Defence Ministry today suggested that Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd would be the lead integrator for producing 108 multi-role combat aircraft in the country after French firm Dassault Aviation sought to play a bigger role in the multi-billion dollar project.
“The role of HAL is already defined in the Request for Proposal for the MMRCA project. It says that the main body, aero-engines, air frame and the integration shall be done by the HAL,” Secretary (Defence Production) R.K. Mathur said at the Aero India 2013 press conference here.
The top official in the Department of Defence Production was asked to clarify on the role of the HAL in the project in view of the demand made by Dassault Aviation.
Dassault, which has bagged the IAF deal for supplying 126 medium multi-role combat aircraft, has asked the Ministry to define the role of Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd in the project.
25/01/13 PTI/Business Line

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Brother-sister duo held for smuggling gold

Hyderabad: Two persons, who arrived at the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport (RGIA) by an Emirates flight from Dubai, were arrested for trying to smuggle in eight kilograms of gold ornaments on Thursday morning.
DRI officials, who withheld the names of the two, said the siblings belong to Yakutpura and were repeat offenders. They were nabbed based on a tip-off given by airport authorities in Dubai. "The brother-sister duo boarded the flight in Dubai, hiding gold ornaments by strapping it to their body. Actually, they are agents who work on commission basis. The gold belongs to someone in Dubai and it was to be handed over to a third party in Hyderabad," DRI officials said. Both are repeat offenders and this criminal activity was done to avoid payment of customs tax.
25/01/13 Times of India

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Air India might not get payout from insurer on Boeing loss

Air India might have to rely solely on Boeing for compensation for the loss caused due to its 787 Dreamliners being grounded, as the insurance cover it has taken does not cover financial losses due to glitches occurring on account of technical and other factors.
"In this case, Air India will not be awarded any compensation as the planes have been grounded for other reasons and not due to fire, accident or blast. Only such damages are covered by the policy," said a senior official from New India Assurance, which had bagged a contract to insure the entire fleet of Air India.
In traditional fleet insurance policies, only damages caused by major accidents and natural catastrophe are covered. Hence, if an airline's fleet if grounded due to regulatory issues, the insurance company is not liable to pay.
Air India had grounded all six planes in its Dreamliner fleet after the US Federal Aviation Administration issued a global advisory to airlines that used the 50-odd Dreamliner aircraft around the world. Air India would resume Dreamliner services only when the Directorate General of Civil Aviation clears this.
But certain policies do offer a discount in premiums, if a flight is grounded for a long period. Private general insurer ICICI Lombard General Insurance for example, under its aviation hull insurance policy has a provision for concession in premium if the aircraft is grounded.
24/01/13 Aneesh Phadnis/Business Standard

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With Boeing 787s on ground, Air India to redeploy pilots on other planes

Mumbai: Air India will revert its Boeing 787 pilots to its  Boeing 777 fleet in the absence of clear time frame for re-induction of the grounded Dreamliners. Air India has grounded six Boeing 787 Dreamliners following Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) directive and this has led to cancelling and clubbing of its international flights.
Air India has 80 pilots who operate the Boeing 787 which was flown on three domestic and three international routes. Air India has 20 Boeing 777s which can cover its international network but due to non availability of captains on its Boeing 777s  some of the flights had to be cancelled or combined.  Delhi-Tokyo flight and a Mumbai-Delhi leg of an international flight has been cancelled for next few days and Singapore flights from Mumbai and Chennai are being combined on certain dates. Last week the airline clubbed Paris and Frankfurt flights.
According to sources twelve Boeing 787 pilots are now undergoing training which  will enable them to operate Boeing 777s. The seven day training will include simulator course and route checks which involves flying under supervision of trained commanders. "We do not have a time frame when Boeing 787s will be available  for utilisation. We have already begun the process of converting 12 787 pilots on the Boeing 777s. This will enable us to operate a few more flights,'' an airline source said.
23/01/13 Aneesh Phadnis/Business Standard

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Air India's wishing upon Star to finally come true

New Delhi: After years of wait, state-owned carrier Air India Ltd is likely to enter the prestigious Star Alliance in a few months. G D Brara, the airline’s director (commercial), will meet Star Alliance bosses in Frankfurt, Germany, this week.
Joining the Star Alliance, a global marketing group of 27 airlines, would mean an increase in passenger traffic because Air India would have become the automatic choice for customers on other Star Alliance members that travel to India.
“With an improved performance of Air India during its turnaround plan on various parameters such as market share, on-time performance and passenger load factors, we have been able to convince members of the Star Alliance (to offer membership),” a senior civil aviation ministry official said, requesting anonymity.
23/01/13 Disha Kanwar/Business Standard

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SpiceJet to terminate expat pilots

SpiceJet plans to cut costs by keeping fewer expatriate pilots on its payroll and changing flight crew schedules to help end two years of losses.
Starting this month, the New Delhi-based company is operating all of its Boeing 737 aircraft using local pilots, chief executive officer Neil Mills said. Overseas nationals typically get paid 40 per cent more than their local peers in India’s aviation industry, including tax liabilities. A weaker rupee added to the expenses, Mills said. The airline will retain foreign pilots needed to operate its 15 Bombardier Q400 turbo-propeller planes, he said.
“They supported us very well and they really helped us grow, but their cost has become very huge, particularly with the exchange rate having gone up adversely,” Mills, a South African, said on the telephone from his office.
23/01/13 Bloomberg/mydigitalfc.com

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Boeing 787's battery woes put US approval under scrutiny

Seattle/Tokyo: In 2007, US regulators cleared Boeing's use of a highly flammable battery in the 787 Dreamliner, deciding it was safe to let the lithium-ion battery burn out if it caught fire mid-air as long as the flames were contained, and smoke and fumes vented properly, according to documents reviewed by Reuters.
Fire risk on planes has always been a major concern, especially given the amount of fuel they carry and the heat generated by jet engines. US aviation standards require planes to have numerous on-board fire suppression systems.
But through a review of government documents and interviews with aviation and battery experts, Reuters found that the US Federal Aviation Administration granted the Dreamliner special conditions and said its contain-and-vent system was sufficient to control the build-up of explosive or toxic gases, except in situations considered "extremely remote."
23/01/13  Reuters/Business Standard

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Indian jet repossession row could scare off funds: aircraft renting firm

Dublin: One of the world’s largest leasing firms has warned India the failure of troubled carriers like Kingfisher Airlines to return airplanes when they cannot pay their bills could put the country’s aviation growth at risk by scaring away new funding.
ILFC, which owns over 900 aircraft and rents them out to airlines for several years at a time, is the latest industry player to clash with the Indian carrier, whose financial difficulties have left its aircraft grounded since October.
“I am not happy with the way things are working out in India right now,” ILFC chief executive Henri Courpron told Reuters.
“There is not a clear path to exiting fleets out of India when necessary. There are too many cooks in the kitchen and too many authorities involved in what should be a clear process.”
23/01/13 mydigitalfc.com

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Japan to look into auxiliary battery of ANA's Dreamliner

Tokyo: The Japanese authorities today said that they will conduct an analysis of a battery for the auxiliary power unit used in Boeing's 787 Dreamliner that made an emergency landing in Western Japan last week.
It comes after an All Nippon Airways ( ANA) 787 had to make an emergency landing due to a battery malfunction.
Japanese and US transport authorities are currently looking into the main battery of the ANA plane that caught fire.
The battery for the auxiliary power unit was intact, but the safety board decided to review the two batteries -- both made by GS Yuasa Corp.
An electrical fire that caused smoke in the cabin of another Dreamliner jet operated by Japan Airlines Company in Boston earlier this month originated from a battery for the auxiliary power unit.
23/01/13 PTI/Business Standard

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British Airways in talks with India's IndiGo for alliance: Reports

London: British Airways is in talks with India's biggest carrier, IndiGo, over a ticketing and baggage sharing agreement, a source with direct knowledge of the discussions said on Tuesday.
Known as an interline agreement, it allows customers from two airlines to buy connecting flights on one ticket. Such pacts are often precursors to code-share agreements, in which carriers sell tickets on each other's airline.
The arrangements increase revenue because airlines can offer more destinations, while keeping a lid on costs, as they don't need to service all the planes themselves.
Earlier on Tuesday, the Wall Street Journal reported a potential alliance between British Airways, owned by International Airlines Group, and IndiGo, and said the two airlines also discussed a possible investment by IAG into IndiGo's parent.
22/01/13 PTI/Economic Times

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AAI eyes foreign players for Kolkata, Chennai airports

Kolkata: The Airports Authority of India ( AAI) has finally initiated the process to rope in foreign companies for operating and maintening Kolkata and Chennai airports, in line with the recommendations of a Planning Commission task force.
“Whether we like it or not, the reality is that there is demand for very high level of passenger satisfaction. I am sure with our staff, we have reached a good level in this regard. But we are also open to the idea of roping in private players for maintenance and operation,” V P Agrawal, chairman of AAI, told Business Standard.
According to Agrawal, foreign operators such as Changi Airport Group (Singapore) and Flughafen Zurich AG, which runs the Zurich airport, have already shown interest for a tie-up with AAI for providing the services. “Things are at a very primary level. We have to work out the modalities for such arrangements. If it materialises, we will take the tender route for tie-ups.”
However, the AAI chief added: “The PPP (public-private partnership model is a kind of policy AAI is working on, which can be implemented starting with Kolkata and Chennai airports.”
20/01/13 Probal Basak/Business Standard

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NTSB rules out excess battery voltage in Boston 787 incident

The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board ruled out on Sunday excess voltage as the cause of a battery fire on the Boeing Co (BA.N) 787 Dreamliner jet operated by Japan Airlines Co (JAL) (9201.T) at Boston airport this month.
Last week, governments across the world grounded the Dreamliner while Boeing halted deliveries after a problem with a lithium-ion battery on a second 787 plane, flown by All Nippon Airways Co (ANA) (9202.T), forced the aircraft to make an emergency landing in western Japan.
"Examination of the flight recorder data from the JAL B-787 airplane indicates that the APU (auxiliary power unit) battery did not exceed its designed voltage of 32 volts," the NTSB said in a statement forwarded by a Boeing Japan representative.
On Friday, a Japanese safety official told reporters that excessive electricity might have overheated the battery in the ANA-owned Dreamliner which was forced to make the emergency landing at Japan's Takamatsu airport last week.
20/01/13 James Topham and Antoni Slodkowski/Reuters.com

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Cargo services to India face snags

Muscat: Small time door-to-door cargo service providers in the Sultanate are on the verge of closing down their operations as the Indian Customs Department has started implementing the tightened import rules strictly, leaving the customers in the lurch.
"If it took only 10 to 20 days to send goods to India, it's now taking around three to four months. The rules are tightened, so we are not able to deliver customers their goods on time. Thus, we are losing our business," a door-to-door cargo service provider claimed. Around half-a-dozen small-time cargo service providers in Ruwi are reportedly planning to close down their operations.
The new rules were initiated some three months ago but their strict implementation began some 20 days back. "From then on, we are not able to assure our customers that their goods will be delivered on time. Most of our customers will be going on leave for 30 or maximum 45 days. So, if they cannot get their goods while they are in the home country, they are not interested in sending it through us," a door-to-door cargo service provider said.
19/01/13 Rejimon K/Times of Oman

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Direct flight to W. Asia from Madurai sought

Madurai: Three trade bodies in the city have come together to demand a direct flight service from Madurai to Dubai and other destinations in the West Asia.
Members of the Tamil Nadu Chamber of Commerce and Industry (TNCCI), Sourashtra Chamber of Commerce, Madurai and Madurai Travel Club are travelling to Dubai to press the demand.
They propose to meet senior officials of Air India/Air India Express in Dubai on January 22 to impress upon them the need for the introduction of direct flights between Madurai and Dubai and other Gulf countries.
20/01/13 Business Line

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Boeing 787 won’t fly until officials are ‘1,000 per cent sure’ it is safe

The Boeing 787 Dreamliner will not fly again until officials are “1,000 per cent sure” it is safe, U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood says.
LaHood made his comments on Friday to reporters in Washington, after 50 Dreamliners were grounded around the world this week, amid growing concerns over the lithium-ion batteries.
U.S. and Japanese aviation safety officials wrapped up their initial investigation Friday of what caused warning lights to go off on an All Nippon Airways flight that was forced to make an emergency landing.
A Japanese safety official said it was possible that excessive electricity may have overheated the battery and caused liquid to spill out. Pictures show a burned-out blue metal box with clear signs of liquid seepage.
18/01/13 Vanessa Lu/The Star

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Dreamliner’s lure keeps airline CEOs wedded to grounded jet

Some airlines that bought Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner for its long range and industry-leading fuel savings are rallying behind the grounded plane whose fate is bound up with their own.
From American Airlines to lessor CIT Group, customers say they expect a fix for the battery faults keeping the world’s most technologically advanced jet on tarmacs instead of in the skies. The 787 has about 800 unfilled orders.
“These are 30-year decisions airlines are making, and they studied it long and hard before buying,” Michael Derchin, an analyst at CRT Capital Group in Stamford, Conn., said in a telephone interview. “It’s one of the biggest decisions airlines and boards make, and you don’t just casually change airplane orders.”
The Federal Aviation Administration ordered that U.S. Dreamliners be grounded Wednesday, citing fire risk from lithium-ion batteries. Foreign regulators followed, and all 50 of the delivered airplanes are grounded, along with any test flights at Boeing.
18/01/13  Mary Jane Credeur/Bloomberg News/The Seattle Times

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Boeing halts 787 deliveries until batteries fixed

Boeing Co. is stopping deliveries of the 787 until the plane's electrical system is fixed.
    Boeing says production is not stopping. The plane is assembled in Everett, Wash., and North Charleston, S.C. out of pieces built all over the world.
    The Federal Aviation Administration has grounded the 787s currently in use until Boeing can prove the batteries are safe.
    The FAA's emergency airworthiness directive issued late Wednesday said the 787's battery system would need to be modified, "or other actions" taken, under a method approved by the FAA. However, the agency has not said what those actions should be.
    Boeing said deliveries are stopped until an FAA-approved fix has been carried out. The FAA has said it is working on a fix but it has not said how long it will take.
    Boeing's move is not surprising. Many experts had suspected that airlines would not accept new 787s from the company until the FAA directive was carried out.
18/01/13 AP/NECN.com

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Air India expects interim report on Dreamliners from Boeing, FAA

New Delhi: Air India expects an interim report from Boeing and US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in a day or two on their probe into the technical problems faced by Dreamliner aircraft, all 50 of which have been grounded across the globe.
"We expect at least a preliminary or an interim report from the manufacturer and FAA in a couple of days, which might show us the way ahead," airline sources said here. Air India has grounded six of these planes in its fleet.
Once a report is received, the corrective measures that need to be taken by aviation regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) and the national carrier would become clear and "we can move forward to handle the problem", they said.
The entire 50-strong global fleet of Boeing 787 Dreamliners, including six of Air India, were grounded yesterday after US regulator FAA asked airlines to stop their operations temporarily till a battery fire risk was corrected.
18/01/13 PTI/Economic Times

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Union blames Boeing 787 woes on outsourcing

Washington:  Boeing's engineers union blamed the problems with the grounded 787 Dreamliners on outsourcing as it rejected the US aerospace giant's "final" contract offer.
After months of negotiations, and with current contracts expired, Boeing said late Thursday it had made its "best-and-final contract offer" to the Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace.
SPEEA union negotiators, representing 23,000 Boeing engineers and technical workers, unanimously rejected the offer.
They said approval for a strike may be on the ballots when the union members themselves vote on the contract offer.
The union said its members had been left out of the Federal Aviation Administration's safety review of the 787 Dreamliner, announced last week before a battery problem on a 787 in Japan led to the global grounding of 787s Thursday.
18/01/13 AFP/Economic Times

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Turkish Airlines plots Indian expansion

Turkish: Airlines is planning to increase its capacity to India on the back of a strong performance in 2012.
 The carrier currently flies daily to Istanbul from New Delhi and Mumbai, and wants to increase the capacity on these sectors due to increasing demand. It also intends to launch services from Kolkata, Chennai, Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Amritsar and Ahmedabad.
 Turkish Airlines has ordered 30 wide-bodied aircraft, to be delivered by 2016, which will double the carrier’s capacity. It has also signed long-term agreements with several travel consultants in India for sales distribution.
 Mehmet Akay, general manager-southern & western India, Turkish Airlines, said: “Last year was very successful for us as we achieved all our targets. Depending upon bilateral agreements, we would like to add new routes and establish new gateways in India to consolidate our presence firmly.”
18/01/13 Shekhar Niyogi/TTG Asia

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Dreamliner troubles put spotlight on Japan battery maker, threaten aviation hopes for industry

The troubles with Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner are drawing an unwelcome spotlight for the Japanese maker of the powerful lithium-ion batteries that have become the focus of investigations into onboard fire risks.
Kyoto, Japan-based GS Yuasa Corp. said it began working Thursday with investigators probing the cause of recent problems with the 787. An overheated leaking battery prompted an All Nippon Airways jet to make an emergency landing on Wednesday, leading regulators in Japan, the U.S., India and Europe to ground the planes.
Safety experts say the leakage of electrolyte from the ANA jet was cause for serious alarm because the very corrosive fluid can damage electrical wiring, components and even support structures for the plane’s composite body.
“The cause of the problems is unclear,” said Yasushi Yamamoto, a spokesman for GS Yuasa.
Lithium-ion batteries account for a small but growing part of total sales for GS Yuasa, a company first founded in 1895 that according to data company Toyo Keizai Inc. is the world’s third-biggest battery maker.
The company is much better known for its status as the biggest maker in Japan of automotive batteries, both conventional lead-acid batteries and also alkali and advanced batteries used in electric vehicles. It also is one of the biggest manufacturers of batteries used in power sports vehicles such as jet skis and ATVs, and of power and lighting systems, with overseas sales accounting for nearly half its revenues.
17/01/13 AP/Washington Post

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US officials join 787 investigation in Japan

US safety officials and Boeing inspectors joined a Japanese investigation on Friday into the 787 jet at the center of a worldwide grounding of the technologically advanced aircraft.
Japanese TV footage showed the American investigators — one each from the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board and two from Boeing Co — inspecting the All Nippon Airways jet on the tarmac at Takamatsu airport in western Japan.
The investigation is being led by the Japan Transport Safety Board.
The pilot of the ANA plane made an emergency landing Wednesday morning after he smelled something burning and received a cockpit warning of battery problems. All passengers evacuated the plane on emergency slides.
The American inspectors were expected to examine the battery later Friday, said Mamoru Takahashi, a JTSB official.
18/01/13 AP/Times of India

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Former Aviation Minister Shahnawaz Hussain dubs Boeing Dreamliner a ‘Chinese Toy’

New Delhi: Dubbing the grounded Boeing Dreamliner aircrafts as cheap ‘Chinese Toys’, former aviation minister and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) spokesperson Shahnawaz Hussain on Thursday said the government must pressurize the American company to provide another aircraft of the same category.
Earlier in the day, the DGCA grounded all six Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft operated by Air India after the same decision was made by the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) following repeated technical snags.
Speaking to reporters here, Hussain said the quality of the aircraft was not up to the mark.
“The Dreamliner is just like a Chinese toy. I have travelled by it several times. I have spoken to the crew members, who say that even the interior of the plane is like Chinese sofas, breaking into pieces,” said Hussain.
17/01/13 Truthdrive

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If there are commercial problems, Boeing will have to compensate: Ajit Singh

On a day when the aviation regulator directed Air India to ground all six of its Dreamliners following the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)’s worldwide advisory to ground B-787s, civil aviation minister Ajit Singh says the government will wait for the US regulator’s full report before taking further steps. In an interview with Disha Kanwar and Surajeet Das Gupta, the Union minister talks about Air India’s contract with Boeing and the implications of the latest development.
How serious is the grounding of Dreamliners and how you are going to tackle this issue?
At this point, there is not much clarity on the FAA’s advisory. We are waiting for the FAA report. As Dreamliner is made by a US manufacturer (Boeing), the US regulator should first give a clearance to the aircraft. Based on that, DGCA (Directorate General of Civil Aviation) will give its approval. Air India Dreamliners had some minor glitches, but those problems are not because of the battery (FAA has reportedly cited probles in the jet’s lithium batteries). FAA has to carry out some tests on whether the lithium battery is creating problems and Boeing also has to come up with tests. We can speculate at this time, but there is not much information. See, we were only flying to Dubai and Frankfurt and some local destinations, and we won’t give them permission to fly until DGCA gives them the clearance.
18/01/13 Disha Kanwar & Surajeet Das Gupta/Business Standard

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Boeing 787 production in South Carolina continues despite FAA groundings

Charleston: Workers continued Thursday to build new 787s at Boeing’s South Carolina assembly plant even though federal authorities have grounded planes now in service while onboard batteries are checked.
The Federal Aviation Administration grounded the jetliners the previous day following battery fires on two of the new planes flown by Japanese carriers.
Production continued on the new planes at the company’s sprawling North Charleston assembly plant that employs about 6,000 workers, said Boeing spokeswoman Candy Eslinger. Boeing also builds the plane at its plant in Everett, Wash.
She said she could not comment further on the battery situation but referred to a statement the company had released earlier.
In that statement, Boeing CEO Jim McNerney vouched for the safety of the new fuel-efficient plane the company calls the Dreamliner. It is the first commercial aircraft to have a hull made of lightweight composite materials instead of aluminum.
18/01/13 AP/Washington Post

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Flyers are certainly missing the Dreamliner experience

State-owned carrier Air India has closed bookings on Boeing Co Dreamliner-operated flights “for the time being” until safety concerns are addressed.
However, the grounding of all six Boeing 787 Dreamliners has not gone down well with flyers who preferred a Boeing 787 flight for its sate-of the-art in-flight entertainment system, flat-bed recline, reading lamps, large LCD screens and enhanced gaseous filtration system ( the cabin in the aircraft is pressurised to a match a maximum of 6,000 feet as compared to 8,000 feet in other aircraft) that lessens dizziness and headache inside the aircraft.
According to a report in the Times of India, passengers in Chennai who were earlier scheduled to fly on a 787 were disappointed when they were briefed about the grounding since it meant no wide windows, no better leg room or in-flight entertainment.
A CNN report suggests a Boeing 787 flight is 60 percent less noisy that other aircraft, and at 18 inches, the windows too are larger and give you a clearer view outside.
18/01/13 First Post.com

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DVB Says India Plane Lease Costs to Rise on Kingfisher Default

Jet Airways (India) Ltd. (JETIN) and rival carriers in the nation face rising aircraft financing costs after Kingfisher Airlines Ltd. defaulted on leases and Indian authorities failed to help recover the planes, DVB (DVB) Bank SE said.
“Risk is perhaps higher than we thought,” Bertrand Grabowski, managing director for aviation and rail at the Frankfurt-based bank, said in an interview in Singapore today. “If someone is willing to do aircraft financing in India, costs will move up,” he said without specifying any rates.
DVB Bank hasn’t been able to place with other carriers the two Airbus SAS A320s it repossessed from Kingfisher as India’s aviation regulator refused to deregister the jets, Grabowski said. The lender suspended all financing to Indian carriers because of the situation, he said.
18/01/13 Kyunghee Park & Sanat Vallikappen/Bloomber.com

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Come April 1, Ahmedabad airport will offer 9 international services

Ahmedabad: With the Thai Airways annoucing to launch a direct flight between Ahmedabad and Bangkok from April 1, the number of international services at the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport has gone up to nine.
As of now the airport has eight international airlines — Emirates, Etihad, Air Arabia, Fly Dubai, Qatar Airways, Air India, Singapore and recently started Spicejet — mostly connecting Gulf countries including Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Sharjah besides Air India which has two one-stop flights for The United States and the United Kingdom.
Thailand’s Ambassador to India Pisan Manawapat had announced the launch of the service from April 1 during the Vibrant Gujarat Summit. Sources said initially it would be a weekly flight but the frequency may be doubled once its operational.
18/01/13 Indian Express

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Jet Airways Brussels-Delhi flight lands at Amritsar

Amritsar: Jet Airways Brussels-Delhi flight was diverted to Amritsar due to inclement weather at Delhi airport.
According to reports the Jet Airways flight number 229 with 230 passengers on board landed at around 5 AM at Amritsar's Sri Guru Ram Das Ji International Airport.
18/01/13 Yudhvir Rana/Times of India

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UTC Life Rafts First U.S. Aerospace Exports from India

UTC Aerospace Systems has become the first U.S. company to manufacture aerospace products in India under the terms of a bilateral aviation safety agreement (BASA) signed in 2011 by the U.S. FAA and India’s Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA). The agreement gives blanket approval for manufacturing U.S. aerospace products in India, or vice versa.
At a factory in Bangalore in southern India, UTC Aerospace Systems, which includes the former Goodrich businesses acquired last year, started making life rafts for business aircraft. Under the terms of the BASA, UTC and other U.S. companies are expected to start manufacturing a variety of products for general aviation aircraft, including seats, lighting and batteries.
17/01/13 Neelam Mathews/AIN Online

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Air India grounds all 6 Boeing Dreamliners on safety concerns

New Delhi: Air India has grounded its entire fleet of six Boeing 787 aircraft, more popularly called the Dreamliner.
The move for grounding the fleet began at 3 a.m. this morning when the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) received a communication from the US watchdog Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) pointing to problems with the battery on the aircraft.
Following this early morning communication, the DGCA asked Air India to ground the fleet. Sources indicated that the problem is likely to be sorted out within the next three to five days and the aircraft should be back in service.
“The onus is now on Boeing to convince the FAA that the issue has been sorted out. When the FAA is convinced and they issue a directive, the aircraft will start flying again,” sources said.
Air India has ordered 27 Boeing 787 aircraft. Two of the Boeing 787 aircraft in the AI fleet were used to operate early morning flights from Delhi to Bangalore and Chennai as the instructions to ground the aircraft reached late, the sources indicated.
The aircraft were unlikely to be able to head back to Delhi as return flights from these two cities.
17/01/13 Ashwini Phadnis/Business Line

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Air India closes bookings, grounds all six Dreamliners

New Delhi: In a move that could hurt its financial performance, Air India has grounded its entire fleet of six Boeing 787 aircraft, popularly called the Dreamliner. In a statement, the airline said that it has “temporarily stopped operations,” with senior officials indicating that the aircraft could return to service in three-five days.
The move for grounding the fleet started at 3 a.m. on Thursday when the Directorate-General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) received a communication from the US watchdog Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), pointing to problems with the battery on the Boeing 787.
In the communication, FAA said that as a result of an in-flight Boeing 787 battery incident in Japan, it was issuing an emergency airworthiness directive to address a potential battery fire risk in the 787 and will require operators to temporarily cease operations of the aircraft.
Following the early morning communication, the DGCA asked AI to ground the fleet. AI has ordered 27 Boeing 787 aircraft.
For the time being, Air India has “closed” bookings on flights operated by the aircraft. The airline is deploying other aircraft in its fleet to transport passengers booked on the Boeing 787, the airline said.
17/01/13 Ashwini Phadnis/Business Line

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Lithium batteries central to Boeing's 787 woes

Washington: Lithium batteries that can leak corrosive fluid and start fires have emerged as the chief safety concern involving Boeing's 787 Dreamliner, a problem that apparently is far more serious than government or company officials acknowledged less than a week ago.
The Federal Aviation Administration late Wednesday grounded Boeing's newest and most technologically advanced jetliner until the risk of battery fires is resolved. The order applies only to the six Dreamliners operated by United Airlines, the lone U.S. carrier with 787s. Other airlines and civil aviation authorities in other countries quickly followed suit.
Japan's two largest air carriers voluntarily grounded their 787s on Wednesday ahead of the FAA's order following an emergency landing by one of the planes in Japan. On Thursday, the European Aviation Safety Agency ordered all European carriers to ground the jetliner. The Indian government ordered Air India to ground its fleet of six Boeing 787s, and Ethiopian Airlines grounded its four 787s "for precautionary inspection."
Only hours before the FAA issued its order, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood reiterated to reporters that he considers the plane safe and wouldn't hesitate to fly one. LaHood and FAA Administrator Michael Huerta unequivocally declared the plane safe at a news conference last week even while they ordered a safety review of the aircraft.
However, as details emerged of two battery failures only 10 days apart, it became apparent that the FAA wouldn't be able to wait for completion of its safety review before taking action. An inspection of the All Nippon Airways 787 that made an emergency landing in western Japan found that electrolytes, a flammable battery fluid, had leaked from the plane's main lithium-ion battery. Investigators found burn marks around the damage. Japan's Kyodo News agency quoted transport ministry investigator Hideyo Kosugi as saying the liquid leaked through the electrical room floor to the outside of the aircraft.
In the first battery incident on Jan. 7, it took firefighters 40 minutes to put out a blaze centered in an auxiliary power unit of a Japan Airlines 787. The plane was empty of passengers shortly after landing at Boston's Logan International Airport.
17/01/13 AP/KRGV.com

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Air India to operate Dreamliners only after FAA, DGCA green signal

New Delhi:  Civil aviation minister Ajit Singh on Thursday said the grounded fleet of Boeing Dreamliner aircraft would be allowed to fly only after clearance by US regulator Federal Aviation Administration and the DGCA.
The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has ordered the temporary grounding of all Boeing 787 Dreamliners for safety checks. The directive came at about 4am (India time) on Thursday and Air India - which operates six Dreamliners - will also be immediately grounding the aircraft for checks.
The minister's statement came after national carrier Air India grounded all its six Boeing-787 Dreamliner planes after a global directive by FAA to stop operations of all the 50 such planes delivered so far to various airlines.
On the extent of seriousness of the problem with the aircraft, Singh said, "How long it will take, we will all know only in a couple of days but there are about 50 Dreamliners in operations for more than a year, therefore more than 50,000 miles. So let us hope they can find a solution soon."
17/01/13 Saurabh Sinha & V Ayyappan/Timers of India

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India entitled to 'reimbursement' over Boeing 787 Dreamliners: Ajit Singh, Aviation Minister

New Delhi:  India's aviation minister said Thursday ailing Air India should be entitled to "reimbursement" from US giant Boeing after the state-owned airline's fleet of Dreamliners was grounded over safety concerns.
Air India suspended operations of its fleet of Boeing Dreamliners on Thursday along with many other airlines around the world until a fire risk linked to the plane's batteries is fixed.
"I am sure this (grounding) will entitle Air India to some reimbursement," aviation minister Ajit Singh said.
Singh did not name any figure, saying India would have to "wait until we get some clarity on the issue".
The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) grounded all US-registered Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft Wednesday to address the potential battery fire risk and issued a security advisory alerting international aviation authorities.
17/01/13 AFP/Economic Times

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Dreamliner grounded at Chennai Airport

Tambaram: An Air India’s Boeing Dreamliner 787 aircraft was grounded at the Chennai Airport on Thursday morning following instructions from the Director General of Civil Aviation.
The DGCA communique was a fallout of an emergency landing of a Dreamliner in Japan on Wednesday.
According to sources at the Chennai Airport, the Dreamliner was scheduled to leave for New Delhi with 186 passengers at 10.45 a.m. when the DGCA’s information reached Chennai Airport authorities.
The 186 passengers, along with another 64 passengers waiting to board a flight for Bengaluru, were accommodated in an Air India Airbus 330. It took off at 11.15 a.m. and the flight left for Bengaluru first before proceeding to New Delhi.
17/01/13 The Hindu

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FAA grounds Boeing Dreamliner jets

The Federal Aviation Administration issued an emergency order late Wednesday telling U.S. airlines to stop flying Boeing 787 Dreamliners until they can prove that batteries on board are safe.
It's a major blow for Boeing and its sophisticated new jetliner that's made largely from lightweight carbon composite material, which allows airlines.to save on fuel and which passengers like for its airy cabins.
The action came the same day a smoldering battery forced the emergency landing in Japan of an All Nippon Airways plane. That incident followed a fire Jan. 7 aboard an empty Japan Airlines 787 at Boston's Logan airport.
The 787 relies on electricity more than other planes, so the problems with its power system go to the heart of the plane's design.
"Before further flight, operators of U.S.-registered, Boeing 787 aircraft must demonstrate to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) that the batteries are safe," the FAA said in a statement.
"The FAA will work with the manufacturer and carriers to develop a corrective action plan to allow the U.S. 787 fleet to resume operations as quickly and safely as possible."
Investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board and their counterparts in Japan are studying both incidents to figure out what went wrong. They haven't said how long that will take.
17/01/13 Bart Jansen/USA Today

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MAS: No Plans To Buy Stake In Airline Companies In India

New Delhi: Malaysia Airlines (MAS) has reiterated that it has no plans to take up stakes in airline companies in India.
"We are not looking at investment (in airline companies) in India," its regional vice president for South Asia and Middle East, Azhar Hamid, said Thursday.
He was replying to a question if MAS would invest in airline companies in India, as foreign airlines were now allowed to take up to 49 per cent stake.
"We are still in the process of turning around," he said at the panel discussion on "Aviation in India -- The Way Forward," at the South Asia Tour and Travel Exchange Exhibition here today.
MAS posted a net profit of RM37 million for its third quarter ended Sept 30, 2012 after six consecutive quarters of losses, a significant improvement compared with the RM478 million losses in the previous corresponding period.
17/01/13 Saraswathi Muniappan/Bernama

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Indian carriers face downgrade threat from US

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the national aviation authority in America, has issued a safety alert for its operators - a move that could have far-reaching implications for Indian airlines.
Indian training and safety standards are far below those demanded by the FAA, and experts have warned that airlines operating out of India stand a very real risk of being downgraded. This, they say, could even lead to Indian carriers getting barred from flying to America.
The FAA’s Safety Alert for Operators (SAFO), issued for airlines and regulators around the world, deals specifically with degradation in pilots’ skills, which is significant, keeping in mind recent controversies involving Indian pilots fudging simulator training records.
In the last one month, Jet Airways has derostered two pilots and Air India suspended its training head for fudging simulator training records. Asking airlines to encourage manual flight operations, the FAA said, "Flight operations data has identified an increase in manual handling errors and the continuous use of automated systems could lead to degradation of the pilot's ability to quickly recover the aircraft from an undesired state.”
17/01/13 Aditya Anand/Mumbai Mirror

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MP wants direct flights to Saudi from Mangalore airport

Mangalore: Udupi - Chikmagalur MP K Jayaprakash Hegde has written to Union minister for civil aviation Ajith Singh requesting him to take steps to introduce direct flights to Saudi Arabia from Mangalore International Airport (MIA).
The MP quoting a feasibility report prepared in association with coastaldigest.com, a news portal, said that over two lakh people from south west coast are working in Saudi Arabia.
"Mangalore airport is the nearest airport for people of coastal Karnataka and Malnad regions, and Kasargod in northern Kerala. Hence it will be convenient if the civil aviation ministry direct the concerned to operate direct flights between Mangalore and Saudi Arabia," Hegde said.
Quoting the study report, Hegde said, 60% of the people of the region, who are working in Saudi Arabia, travel once in a year.
17/01/13 Vinobha K T/Times of India

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No plans to ground Air India's Dreamliner planes: Officials

New Delhi: There are no plans at present to ground Boeing 787 Dreamliner planes of Air India even though the aviation regulator DGCA proposes to carry out a safety review of the new aircraft, officials said today.
"There are no plans to ground the Dreamliner right now," a senior Civil Aviation Ministry official said when asked about the technical glitches some of these planes have faced in the recent past.
The comment came hours after two Japanese airlines-- ANA and JAL--grounded all 24 of their Dreamliner planes following a series of technical problems.
"We are in consultation with Boeing and Air India. Boeing will be giving us an update on the electrical problems some of these planes have suffered," the official said.
However, Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) would conduct a safety review of the aircraft currently with Air India, depending on the feedback from the manufacturer and the airline, he said. Air India has ordered 27 B-787s and six of them have been delivered so far.
16/01/13 PTI/Daily News & Analysis

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Japanese airlines ground Boeing 787s after emergency landing

Japan's two leading airlines grounded their fleets of Boeing 787s on Wednesday after one of the Dreamliner passenger jets made an emergency landing, heightening safety concerns over a plane many see as the future of commercial aviation.
All Nippon Airways Co <9202 .t=".t"> said it was grounding all 17 of its 787s and Japan Airlines Co <9201 .t=".t"> said it suspended all 787 flights scheduled for Wednesday. ANA said its planes could be back in the air as soon as Thursday once checks were completed.
The two carriers operate around half of the 50 Dreamliners delivered by Boeing to date. Wednesday's incident follows a series of mishaps for the new Dreamliner. The sophisticated plane, the world's first mainly carbon-composite airliner, has suffered fuel leaks, a battery fire, wiring problem, brake computer glitch and cracked cockpit window in recent days.
"I think you're nearing the tipping point where they need to regard this as a serious crisis," said Richard Aboulafia, a senior analyst with the Teal Group in Fairfax, Virginia.
16/01/13 Reuters/Daliy News & Analysis

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DGCA panel to look into Dreamliner issues

New Delhi: The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has formed a committee to look into issues connected with the Boeing 787 aircraft, popularly known as the Dreamliner, even a Air India has no immediate plans to ground the six aircraft in operation.
The decision to form the committee was taken after reports of two airlines in Japan – ANA and Japan Airlines – grounding their entire fleet of Boeing 787 after an emergency landing was made in that country following problems with a battery.
The Boeing 787, which is the latest civilian aircraft in service globally, has been facing problems with some airlines.
Speaking to newspersons here on Wednesday, Director General Civil Aviation Arun Mishra said that a report from Boeing was expected on the incident later on Wednesday evening.
“If there is anything (in the report) then we will have to go into it. There is no immediate need to ground the Boeing 787 with Air India. If it is very serious, we can consider grounding the fleet. The problems that were initially faced by Air India with the Boeing 787 have been sorted out,” he said.
16/01/13 Business Line

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Spicejet confirms interest from foreign investors; shares soar

Mumbai: Amid reports of Gulf carrier Qatar Airways holding talks to acquire stake in SpiceJet, the Indian low-cost carrier today said some foreign players have evinced interest in the company but did not name its suitors.
"Though few investors have evinced interest in the company post government allowing FDI in civil aviation sector to foreign airlines, it will be very pre-mature to comment on the possibilities of any fresh equity issuance to such interested parties or confirm, deny names of any specific entity," Kalanithi Maran-led Sun Group entity SpiceJet said in a BSE filing.
The company made the statement following reports that Qatar may buy equity stake in SpiceJet, which also fuelled a strong rally in its share price.
16/01/13 PTI/Economic Times

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Cial posts 11.75% rise in international traffic

Kochi: Cochin International Airport Ltd (Cial) has registered almost 11.75% increase in passenger traffic in the international sector and 9.8% dip in domestic sector during the first three quarters of the current financial year.
The total number of passengers who departed for international destinations through Cochin airport increased to 10,92,097 during the period from April beginning to December end 2012, from 9,67,430 passengers for the corresponding period in the previous year. The number of arrivals clocked 11,06,454 as against the previous period's figure of 9,99,866. The total passenger movement was 21,98,551 in the first nine months of this financial year compared with 19,67,296 in the previous year.
16/01/13 T Ramavarman/Times of India

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SpiceJet is not desperate to sell stakes immediately: CEO

Shares of SpiceJet rose around six percent on Tuesday on reports that Qatar Airways may pick up stakes in the carrier. However, the airline denied the reports on being speculative.
Neil Mills, the airline's CEO told CNBC-TV18 that the company is not desperate to sell stake. "We will evaluate available options  and only then will go ahead with any deal, " he said.
In the same breath, he also said that SpiceJet is keen to get a foreign investor on-board. Referring to the on-going Jet Air-Etihad Deal which is almost in final stages of negotiation, Mills said international joint ventures and competitions does not worry him, but he is keen to maintain market share. The airline's share is around 20% with rivals  like Jet Air and Air India whose fleet size is more than double to that of SpiceJet.
Apart from Jet, even Kingfisher is learnt to be n talks with foreign investor after the government allowed FDI into the Indian aviation sector. The policy is aimed at helping cash-strapped carriers raise equity funds.
16/01/13 moneycontrol.com

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Axis allays Male loan fears after profit rises 22%

Mumbai: Axis Bank on Tuesday said it is pursuing all options for recovering money from the Male International Airport project that ran into trouble in the third quarter of this fiscal.
“As far as the transaction is concerned, we clearly have our rights under various financing agreements in terms of the project,” Somnath Sengupta, executive director, Axis Bank, said in an analyst call discussing third-quarter financial results. The loan continues to be performing and all obligations are still being met, he said.
The private sector lender reported an increase of 22% in net profit for the quarter ended December, at Rs1,347 crore, riding on healthy retail loan growth.
16/01/13 Parnika Sokhi/Daily News & Analysis

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Not in talks with any Indian carrier: Qatar Airways

New Delhi: Amid reports of Qatar Airways holding talks to acquire stake in SpiceJet, the premier Gulf carrier today said that such "unfounded rumours" were being spread to raise share prices and asserted that it was not in talks with any Indian airline at present.
"Qatar Airways categorically denies it is interested in investing in Spicejet or any other Indian airline. This is pure speculation by individuals who deliberately want to spread such unfounded rumours to raise the stock value of their entities," the airline's CEO Akbar Al Baker said in a statement from Doha.
"India is a huge market and a potentially lucrative one. While we have expressed interest in expanding our presence in India, we will only be interested in any potential investment once we are sure regulations and laws are properly liberalised. I can confirm we are currently not talking to any Indian airline," the Qatar Airways chief said.
15/01/13 PTI/Indian Exprtess

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Jet to end Milan flights to cut loss

Mumbai: Jet Airways is suspending Delhi-Milan flights from next month in a route rationalisation exercise. While Jet continues to expand in the Gulf sector, it is curtailing long haul operations to cut down loss. Over the last few months Jet pulled out of Johannesburg and New York (JFK) routes.
"In view of the ongoing global economic slowdown and in particular the current economic crisis in the Eurozone countries, Jet Airways today announced that it has decided to temporarily withdraw its Airbus A330 daily direct service between New Delhi and Milan from Feb 1. As part of the on-going network rationalization program of the airline, one of the fiscal controlling measures adopted by the Management has been the withdrawal of loss making routes and redeployment of those assets and capacities on other routes and destinations, where profitability will be better,'' the airline said in a statement.
Jet did not disclose how it will redeploy the airbus A330 which currently flies to Milan. Both Johannesburg and New York too were served by the same aircraft type. It flies Boeing 777 on London routes. The airline made a loss of Rs 100 crore on  stand alone basis in second quarter, a weak season for travel. While domestic operations resulted in loss international operations made Rs 45 crore profit in the period.
15/01/13 Aneesh Phadnis/Business Standard

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Etihad deal with Jet to take off soon

New Delhi: Jet Airways may sign a stake sale deal with Abu Dhabi-based Etihad Airways by the first week of February.
Sources in the civil aviation ministry said Etihad might buy a 24 per cent stake for about Rs 1,800 crore.
The Abu Dhabi-based airline had initially evinced interest in both Jet Airways and Kingfisher Airlines. However, talks with Kingfisher fell through after the Vijay Mallya-led carrier failed to impress both Etihad and the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) with its financial turnaround plan.
According to Jet officials, the completion of the agreement is likely to take some time because of legal and regulatory complexities.
The carriers have appointed global consultants to ensure proper investments, given the high operating costs in India.
15/01/13 Telegraph

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Air India writes to Ministry expressing concern over proposed Jet-Etihad deal

New Delhi: In a move that could generate more controversy for the proposed Jet Airways-Etihad deal, Air India has written to the Ministry of Civil Aviation saying that allowing the deal to go through could affect the overall complexion of international air passenger flow to and from India.
Government sources told Business Line that while the letter does not mention Etihad by name, it does point out that if the West Asian carrier picks up a majority stake in Jet Airways, most of the decisions about Jet’s future plans are likely to be driven by the foreign carrier.
Air India’s communication adds that allowing the deal in the current shape could also have an adverse impact on Air India’s prospects as the airline currently operates non-stop flights from India to London, Paris and Frankfurt.
14/01/13 Ashwini Phadnis/Business Line

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Air India writes to Ministry expressing concern over proposed Jet-Etihad deal

New Delhi: In a move that could generate more controversy for the proposed Jet Airways-Etihad deal, Air India has written to the Ministry of Civil Aviation saying that allowing the deal to go through could affect the overall complexion of international air passenger flow to and from India.
Government sources told Business Line that while the letter does not mention Etihad by name, it does point out that if the West Asian carrier picks up a majority stake in Jet Airways, most of the decisions about Jet’s future plans are likely to be driven by the foreign carrier.
Air India’s communication adds that allowing the deal in the current shape could also have an adverse impact on Air India’s prospects as the airline currently operates non-stop flights from India to London, Paris and Frankfurt.
14/01/13 Ashwini Phadnis/Business Line

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