Tiger Airways launches services from Hyderabad

Hyderabad: Singapore's low cost carrier (LCC) Tiger Airways will launch its five day week services from Hyderabad's GMR international airport from September. This new addition marks the sixth Indian destination for Tiger after Bangalore, Chennai, Kochi, Thiruvananthapuram and Tiruchirappalli.
In 2011, the Hyderabad airport saw a total passenger traffic of 76 lakh people. Last year, Tiger Airways has publically stated its intentions to build its presence in India. This service will compete directly with Singapore Airlines regional franchise carrier Silk Air which operates many weekly with an A319 and A320. Singapore Airlines operates a dual brand strategy in India, with both Singapore Airlines and Silk Air operating to top metro markets in India.
02/07/12 Deepika Amirapu/Economic Times

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AI mulling the option of hiring expat co-pilots

Mumbai: Hit by frequent agitations by its unionised pilots, Air India is looking at the option of hiring junior pilots from overseas markets, a move that may trigger policy change as the current regulations do not allow recruitment of expats for that position.
The carrier, which is crippled by the ongoing 55-day-old strike by a section of pilots, has approached some recruitment firms for hiring foreign pilots, say sources familiar with the development.
"Along with hiring domestic co-pilots, which is currently in process, Air India also plans to hire junior expat pilots as well. The move, perhaps, is aimed at preempting agitations in future," sources told PTI.
The national carrier had last month issued an advertisement inviting applications from qualified commanders and co-pilots for flying its Boeing fleet, following 420 of its pilots, owing allegiance to now-derecognised Indian Pilots Guild, refusing to call off their stir despite repeated appeals by aviation minister Ajit Singh.
01/07/12 Press Trust of India/Business Standard

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Modernisation plan of Male airport in eye of political storm

New Delhi: The expansion and modernisation of the Male airport is in the eye of a political storm with some parties in Maldives seeking its nationalisation, even as its top officer said the construction of a new terminal by the GMR-led international consortium is "right on track".
The consortium won the concession to manage, operate and develop Male's Ibrahim Nasir International Airport for 25 years in 2010 to modernise and expand the capacity of the existing terminal and construct a brand new one.
The new terminal, scheduled to open in summer 2014, is "right on track and will be ready for operation on time", airport CEO Andrew Harrison told PTI on phone from Male.
The political storm erupted after some parties demanded that the airport be nationalised once again. The Maldives government has, however, assured that Indian investments will be protected.
The matter also came up during President Mohamed Waheed Hassan Manik's recent visit to India when he assured Prime Minister Manmohan Singh that Maldives would adhere to all agreements between Indian and its businesses. He had then expressed the desire for more Indian investments in Maldives.
01/07/12 Press Trust of India/Business Standard

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Mahindra, Rolls Royce partner on aircraft

Oshkosh: GippsAERO, the aircraft manufacturing division of Mahindra Aerospace, and automobile major Rolls Royce have announced the signing of an agreement to partner on engine technology for a new aircraft.
At a signing held at AirVentures 2011 in Oshkosh, WI, representatives from Rolls Royce and GippsAERO established an agreement to integrate the M250 B-17F/2 Rolls Royce engine into the GA10 aircraft.
The GA10, GippsAERO’s latest offering in general aviation, is currently being developed by GippsAERO at its Morwell, Australia plant The parties will work together to obtain Type Certification for the GA10 aircraft.
The GA10 project is currently in the prototype design phase with certification process to begin in March 2012 and entry into service scheduled for 2013. GippsAERO predicts that sales could reach up to 20 aircraft per year, in India, North America, Europe and Asia.
“We are proud to be associated with Rolls-Royce which is a world-leading provider of power systems and sevices in the civil aerospace market. We look forward to strengthening our relationship and developing further long term opportunities together,” said Arvind Mehra, Executive Director and CEO, Mahindra Aerospace Private Limited.
30/07/11 India Blooms

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"Lucky to be alive," say passenger of crashed Caribbean plane

Washington: "I am in pain, but very thankful to be alive," says Geeta Ramsingh, a 41-year-old Indian-origin woman who was among the 163 passengers who miraculously survived a Caribbean Airlines jet crash in Guyana.
Thirty-five of those on board flight BW523 were injured as the Boeing 737-800 plane crashed in Guyana''s Cheddi Jagan International Airport amid rain yesterday.
Recalling the events before the crash, Geeta, who is originally from Guyana but now lives in Philadelphia, said the plane made a hard landing and split into two right behind the first class cabin area.
Geeta said they had begun to applaud the pilot''s landing just after midnight when suddenly things went wrong, Trinidad Express reported.
There were 157 passengers and six crew members on the flight which came from New York, stopped off in Trinidad and was en route to Guyana.
"The plane sped up as if attempting to take off again. It is then that I smelled gas in the cabin and people started to shout and holler," Geeta said.
"A fellow who was trying to escape as well mistakenly jumped on my back and that is why my knees are bruised," she said. "So I am in pain, but very thankful to be alive," she was quoted as saying by AP.
31/07/11 PTI/msn news

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Import of aerobridges from China awaits MHA nod

While the new terminal at Indore airport is to be made operational in the first week of August, the one at Lucknow would be operationalised in September with Raipur following closely, the sources said.The Airports Authority of India (AAI) has already completed upgrading of 25 of the 35 identified non-metro airports. The new terminal at Chennai airport is slated to be ready by December, while the one in Kolkata is scheduled to be completed by March next year. The total valuation of the Chennai airport project works is estimated to be about Rs 2,015 crore, while that of the Kolkata modernisation project is Rs 2,300 crore. With airlines ordering more aircraft and air traffic estimated to double in the next few years, the capacity of airports have to be enhanced at a fast pace. The officials said the country needed to at least double the airport and runway capacities in the next three years to support these trends.
31/07/11 IBN Live

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Airport crash victim a devoted father and husband

The cabdriver who died after a horrific crash at Victoria International Airport is described as a devoted father and husband who worked hard to make sure his three children had a good education.
Ramesh Sharma, 57, died Friday night from injuries received in the crash earlier that day.
“He was the person who always worked hard,” said Sushil Hira, one of the owners of Yellow Cab where Sharma had driven for the last 15 years. Sharma was his closest friend.
Sharma’s 23-year-old son and 24-year-old daughter are in university. A 17-year-old daughter is in high school. He and his wife own a home in Saanich.
Sharma was in the middle of his usual 11-hour work day when the group, chatting and playing cards at a picnic table, was hit by an out-of-control white sedan just before 1 p.m. Friday.
The car sped in a straight line from the airport’s short-term parking lot, jumped a curb, crossed Electra Boulevard (the terminal access road), jumped another curb onto a raised berm and smashed through a wood-and-concrete picnic table where the Yellow Cab drivers often sit.
The car clipped a luggage-cart stand and shot through the airport’s staff parking lot exit before running into the corner of the security building, some 40 metres from the picnic tables. The tables are on a high median to the east of the airport building and short-term parking.
What caused the crash is under investigation by Sidney RCMP as well as RCMP traffic reconstruction officers.
30/07/11 Kim Westad/Timescolonist.com/Vancouver Sun

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US airline pays flyer 37K for misplaced bags

Ahmedabad: It is common for airlines to misplace or even lose luggage - but for Amdavadi Yesh Shah, an airline's uncommonly courteous response to such an incident holds an important lesson for carriers in India.
Shah's luggage was misplaced by Delta Airlines, which gave him Rs 37,500 as compensation. That was more than the value of his fare to Buffalo, US. The airline even sent him a letter apologizing for the inconvenience. Moreover, the luggage was delivered to him in less than two days after he landed.
"I took a Delta Airlines Mumbai-Amsterdam-Detroit-Buffalo flight," said Shah, who runs a visa consultancy firm in Ahmedabad. "After landing in Buffalo on May 25 at 10 pm, I came to know that the airline had left my two bags in Detroit where I had changed flights. I was to travel to Toronto by road the same night but had to stay back as the airline told me the luggage would arrive the next morning." But the luggage could not be delivered the next day and Shah left for Toronto for scheduled meetings.
31/07/11 Ankur Jain/Times of India

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Star Alliance to decide Air India’s induction date Sunday

New Delhi: After much delay, Air India’s formal entry into Star Alliance will be announced in Frankfurt Sunday, paving the way for the flag carrier to become the first from this country to join the largest global interline accord among 27 airlines.

‘Star Alliance will decide Air India’s induction date tomorrow (Sunday) in Frankfurt at their executive board meet,’ an Air India official told IANS. ‘We have concluded all the integration conditions set by Star Alliance.’

The national carrier was extended an invitation to join Star Alliance in December 2007 in Beijing, with Lufthansa as the sponsor. But delays in software and other operational integration after the merger of Indian Airlines into Air India put paid to the plans.

The alliance members also had grand plans for the formal induction ceremony against the backdrop of the Taj Mahal, just as Egypt Air had next to the pyramids on the outskirts of Cairo.

Global interline packs like Oneworld and Star Alliance entail several benefits to member carriers like improved product offering, better service standards, access to new markets and premium customers and partnership with leading global carriers.

30/07/11 IANS/News One

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Air India to miss Star Alliance flight

New Delhi: Star Alliance — the global network of airlines — may not take any Indian carrier on board for the time being, following letters written by Air India pilots about safety and maintenance standards in the state-run operator, according to civil aviation analysts.

Both Air India and Jet Airways were on the verge of joining the alliance.

Senior officials at Jet Airways, however, said they were evaluating all possible options.

“Joining Star Alliance is a management decision and the one we are still evaluating. We cannot comment if Air India’s status vis-à-vis the alliance affect our chances when we apply for induction into it. But we hope the state-run carrier will be soon affiliated with the international body,” said a senior Jet official on the condition of anonymity.

However, officials in the civil aviation ministry believe that the alliance may give both Air India and Jet Airways the miss.

Some of the 27 members of Star Alliance are opposed to Air India joining the group. Air India won’t be able to join even if one of the airlines decides to vote against it.

“The chief executive board of Star Alliance will meet on Sunday to vote on the issues. We will get to know the result by Monday morning. As of now, our induction date has been postponed for a couple of weeks. After finding out the voting result, we will be notified of the induction date,” an Air India official said.

30/07/11 The Telegraph

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Sensitive information leaked from Indian embassy in Moscow

Moscow: Sensitive information from the Indian embassy in Moscow appears to have been leaking to a foreign security outfit at least for the past two years, if documents released by an international hackers' group are to be believed.

Defence-related correspondence between the Indian embassy in Moscow and Russian entities seems to have been hacked by the Italian cybercrime police, said a report in the Moscow-based Izvestia daily.

The paper quoted from letters purportedly exchanged between the Indian embassy and Russian companies regarding supply of spares for Russian military aircraft. The letters have been posted online by ‘Anonymous Hackers for AntiSec operation,' a group campaigning against governments and security outfits.

The group said it hacked the documents from the server of Italy's National Anti-Crime Computer Centre for Critical Infrastructure Protection (CNAIPIC).

In a letter dated June 22, 2010, by Deputy Air Attache D.S. Shekhavat to the head of Aviazapchast, a company specialising in the supply of aviation spares, the Indian official complained about delays in the shipment of 15 helicopter engines. A reply from the Aviazapchast representative in India written on the same day was also hacked by the CNAIPIC.

30/07/11 Vladimir Radyuhin/The Hindu

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Maldives seeks more flight connectivity with India

Male: Maldives on Friday sought more flight connectivity and ferry services between its islands and India as the two countries reviewed the entire gamut of bilateral ties, including cooperation in defence and economic sectors.

External Affairs Minister SM Krishna, who was in Maldives on a two-day visit, held extensive talks with his counterpart Ahmed Naseem, besides meeting Defence and National Security Minister TI Kaleyfaanu, Home Minister Hassan Afeef, Economic Development Minister Mahmood Razee and Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Aslam Shakir.

During the talks, the Maldivian side called for more flight connectivity and ferry services between the two countries. It also sought more integration with the Indian economy, officials said.

The two sides have already decided to soon launch a ferry service to connect Kochi in Kerala with the Maldivian capital of Male as part of efforts to improve connectivity. A daily direct flight between Mumbai and Male has also been finalised.

29/07/11 Press Trust Of India/IBN Live

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Intl airlines wait in wings as snags remain

Chandigarh: As the countdown has begun for local airport to get the customs tag for start of international operations here, a foreign airline, Air Arabia, has come forward to start a Chandigarh-Sharjah flight. It has approached Airports Authority of India (AAI) with the proposal. Now, AAI has to take a decision regarding this.

Sources said the airport had the required infrastructure for international flights and just approvals for night-landing and customs status were required now. A highly-placed source in AAI told TOI on Thursday that various airlines were in touch with them about the flights, but as of now, they had received formal proposal from Air Arabia only.

"We are very close to receiving international tag for the local airport and are hopeful that we will be flooded with offers from more international players in near future," he added. Once international operations start, the airport would become more attractive to passengers from Punjab, Chandigarh, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Uttaranchal. AAI had offered to start flights to Dubai and Thailand from Chandigarh in 2009.

29/07/11 Times of India

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Jet Airways to begin Sharjah-Thiruvananthapuram daily services

Dubai: Jet Airways has announced daily flights from Sharjah to Thiruvananthapuram from October 30.

The airline currently operates a daily flight from Sharjah to Kochi and the addition of another daily service will further enhance its growing international network.

The flight 9W 569 will deploy Boeing 737-800 aircraft on this new route, offering 16 Premiere and 138 Economy seats.

Jet Airways currently operates to 24 international destinations.

With this additional flight between Sharjah and India, business customers of Jet Airways can avail themselves of the choice of timings throughout the day between UAE and India, the airlines said.

29/07/11 PTI/Business Line

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Man hides swanky watches, but alert customs flush it out

New Delhi: A man hid five Breitling for Bentley dials in his rectum after landing at the IGI Airport - a desperate attempt to smuggle expensive watches into the country. However, airport authorities saw through the trick and intercepted him before he could exit the terminal.

Customs officials said they had specific information that a passenger named Shadab Khan would be carrying watches and memory cards. Khan, described as a tall, lean man, flew down from Hong Kong on an Air India flight (AI-315) on Wednesday.

"We had information that he would try and bring watches and memory cards into Delhi. Accordingly, our men started trailing him from the aircraft itself. Once out of the plane, he walked into a toilet instead of heading for the immigration counters," said Ashutosh Baranwal, additional commissioner, customs, IGI Airport.

He added: "When he walked out, our officials went inside and found butter paper. From that, we concluded that he must have crammed the watches up his rectum using butter and soap."

29/07/11 Times of India

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Indians going abroad pack kilos of ghar ka khana

Mumbai: Some of the heaviest check-in bags that go into the belly of an aircraft belong to students, flying abroad for education. Books and clothes apart, every gram worth of free baggage allowance is judiciously used to pack in gastronomical armour needed to fight those ghar-ka-khana cravings that come with full force in a foreign land. For some, it takes the shape of boxes of mangoes, for others it is desi ghee, pickles and all. And the pressure cooker apparently gets preference over books.

These were some of the findings that came out in a survey done by an airline to figure out the choices and preferences of Indian students travelling abroad for college education. The most surprising revelation was the annual enquiries that come in during the mango season. "Every year students are keen to find out the maximum quantity of mangoes they can check in," said the survey done by UK-based Virgin Atlantic.

28/07/11 Times of India

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Emirates flight makes emergency landing in Mumbai

A Dubai-bound Emirates flight with 202 passengers and crew onboard on Wednesday made an emergency landing in Mumbai, more than 20 minutes after takeoff following a technical snag

Dubai: A Dubai-bound Emirates flight with 186 passengers on board was forced into making an emergency landing Wednesday at Mumbai's Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport shortly after take-off owing to technical problems with one of its engines.

Confirming the incident, an Emirates spokesperson told Gulf News in a statement: "Emirates flight EK507 Mumbai to Dubai returned to Mumbai airport shortly after take-off due to a technical issue. The A330 aircraft landed at Mumbai airport without incident shortly after its initial departure."

27/07/11 GulfNews

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Destination Mangalore for IndiGo Airlines Soon

Dubai : While a few private airlines' promises to connect Mangalore internationally
remain promises only, IndiGo, one of India's most reliable budget airlines which announced the launch of its international flights from September 1, has now assured to consider Dubai-Mangalore flights in the coming days.
Speaking to Rajesh Sequeira, founder and co-ordinator of Karnataka NRI Forum of UAE, Aditya Ghosh, president of IndiGO assured that Dubai-Mangalore IndGo flights are on the anvil, but it is too early to give the exact picture now. IndiGo considers Mangalore as one of the key destinations, he said.
Earlier this year, Jet Airways had reportedly planned Sharjah-Mangalore direct flight, and was supposed to begin operations from May 2011. The exact reason for the delay in operations is not known.
The change in aviation ministry head from Praful Patel to Vayalar Ravi has made a difference in introducing new flights to Mangalore, it is reliably learnt.
26/07/11 Daijiworld.com

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Emirates fare treat for the Kangaroo land!

Emirates Airline, the award winning international carrier once again introduces a delightful offering for Indian travellers to experience the magical country of Australia. The airline introduced attractive fares to various Australian points starting August 2011 until November 2011.
Passengers travelling from India can now choose from attractive one-way or return economy class fares while travelling to Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne and Perth via Dubai. Travellers from Delhi can book either a one way economy class fare at INR 27,890 to Perth or a return economy class fare at INR 42,900 to Perth exclusive of taxes. (Fares to other destinations are listed below in the table)
Australia is one of the most popular holiday destinations in the world thanks to its beautiful expansive beaches, crystal blue waters, amazing ancient rock formations and pristine rainforests. The country also attracts immense student traffic throughout the year since the living expenses and tuition costs in Australia are lower than those in the United Kingdom (UK) and the United States of America (USA), along with a high standard of living.
Additionally, India is the third-largest provider of permanent skilled migrants to Australia. Over 15,000 Indians decided to make Australia their home last fiscal.
With Australia once again relaxing the visa regulations from April 1 this year, more and more Indian students are anticipated to opt for Australia. Over 3,700 Indian student applications for Australian visa in 2011 demonstrate the demand for travel to the destination. Keeping in view, Emirates has also introduced a special offer for students aged between 17 and 26 travelling to Perth, Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne who will be allowed an additional baggage of 10 kgs travelling in Economy class. This offer is valid till 15th September, 2011.
25/07/11 Business Standard

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SpiceJet to tie up with global low-fare carriers

SpiceJet Ltd, India’s second largest low-fare airline controlled by media baron Kalanithi Maran of Sun TV Network Ltd, is exploring a different flight path for the second phase of its international expansion.
It is also talking to two airports in south India and one in Gujarat to set up its second regional base, after Hyderabad.
Currently flying two international routes—Colombo and Kathmandu—SpiceJet has applied for 10 more, including South-East Asia, West Asia and some destinations in the Commonwealth of Independent States. Its rival and India’s largest low-fare airline IndiGo has got permission to fly some key international routes—Dubai, Singapore and Bangkok.
“We will not be just a point-to-point carrier. We will create partnerships with other international low-fare carriers. They will sell our products and we will sell their products,” Spicejet’s chief executive Neil Mills said in an interview.
SpiceJet’s flights will feed into other international carriers and vice versa. Mills did not divulge details of international carriers the airline is negotiating with.
Leading low-fare carriers flying to India include Air Asia, Air Arabia and Tiger Airways.
25/07/11 Daily Mirror

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AI pilots scramble for Dreamliner take-off

Mumbai: Going by the current plans, it is likely to enter Air India's (AI) fleet later this year but the Boeing 787 Dreamliner has already caused many a heartbreak and unleashed a battle of sorts among the airline's pilots.

The buzz doing the rounds is about the pilots being selected to fly the Dreamliner. If AI does not choose its pilots judiciously, the cash-strapped airline could end up losing about Rs 10 crore by way of training and retraining pilots for Dreamliner as well as other aircraft.

The civil aviation ministry is reconsidering AI's plan to buy 27 Dreamliners, but in the airline, the fight is on to fly the B787. Many pilots qualify to be selected for training on the B787. In the last few weeks though, many have realized that in a government-run airline like Air India apologies to George Orwell while all pilots are equal, some are more equal than others. "The top brass-chiefs, directors and anyone who can pilot an aircraft-has enlisted to train on the Boeing 787," said an airline source.

The first Boeing 787 training batch drawn up by the airline management comprises 56 commanders and 27 co-pilots. "The commander's list reads like the who's who in AI's top management. The co-pilot's list has sons and daughters of top brass," said the source. For instance: the co-pilot's list has a son and a daughter of two AI general managers; then there is the father-son pair, the father is the chief of a particular department in the airline.

24/07/11 Manju V/Times of India

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Destructive beetle spotted at Indy airport

Indianapolis: Inspectors at Indianapolis International Airport intercepted an invasive bug with a taste for corn, wheat and other grains with the potential to harm the state’s agriculture industry.
Agriculture specialists with U.S. Customs and Border Protection spotted the two tiny khapra beetles this month during a routine search of packages traveling through the FedEx Express hub at the airport, agency spokeswoman Cherise Miles said.
The beetle eats dried grains, cereals and rice and thrives in silos.
"We have a lot of grain stored right now,” Indiana Farm Bureau spokeswoman Kathleen Dutro told The Indianapolis Star. “You could have hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of grain in a silo. If it’s contaminated, you’re out that money and (had better) hope you have good insurance.”
Timothy Gibb, director of Purdue University’s insect diagnostic laboratory, said the custom agents staved off a serious threat to farmers by intercepting the beetles.
The Indianapolis inspectors found the beetles on July 6 in a small bag of barley seeds included in a package of personal items being shipped from India to North Carolina, Miles said.
23/07/11 Chesterton Tribune

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Baylor Student Trapped In India

Waco: A Baylor University student has spent more than a month trapped in India after being arrested at an airport in Mumbai.
The student from Austin, who's name isn't being released, had been in India on a mission trip with Waco's Antioch Community Church since June 4.
The student was headed back to the United States on June 21, when security guards stopped her at the airport saying she had a bullet in a pocket of her backpack.
The Director of International Operations at Antioch, Shawn Griesemer, said the student had no idea where the bullet came from.
According to the State Department the student was arrested, but Griesemer says the student was never charged.
Her passport was taken, and she was not able to leave the country.
Griesemer said the student is living with friends while the church tries to bring her home.
23/07/11 Megan Snipes/Kwtx.com

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Emirates Optimistic Over India A380 Approval

Emirates is still waiting to hear whether it will be allowed to fly Airbus A380s into major Indian airports, but it does not think there will be a long-term holdup.
Both Emirates and Lufthansa have said they want to operate A380 routes to India, but so far the government has not approved the use of the aircraft at Indian airports. Local media are reporting that this is partly to protect Air India, which is due to receive its first A380 this year.
However, the Indian government has not formed a specific policy on A380s, says Andrew Parker, Emirates’ senior VP-international affairs. The government is “being cautious and taking its time” in studying the operational implications of A380 service, Parker tells Aviation Week at the Aviation Outlook Australia Pacific conference in Sydney. “We’ll be patient, [although] we want to fly the A380 [to India] as soon as possible,” Parker says.
22/07/11 Adrian Schofield/Aviation Week

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Mid-air 'collision' scare over Patna

Guwahati: A Jet Airways flight from New Delhi to Guwahati with 136 passengers aboard came dangerously close to a possible mid-air collision with a Boeing 747 international flight over Patna on Thursday morning.

Jet Airways authorities here and in New Delhi did not respond to calls from TOI. However, two Congress MPs from Assam, who were also traveling by the Jet aircraft, shared their scary experience that lasted a few seconds.

The MPs said Jet Airways flight 9W 2280 headed for Guwahati, which was take off from New Delhi at 10.15am, was delayed by 25 minutes and the incident occurred around 11.35am.

Assam Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) chief and Rajya Sabha MP Bhubaneswar Kalita was returning home at short notice. He managed to buy a ticket at the last moment and was allotted a seat in one of the rows at the rear of the aircraft. "About an hour after we took off from New Delhi, the plane suddenly dropped down and swerved to the right. The passengers panicked and wanted to know what was wrong. We were told by the pilot that the ATC had asked him to descend as there was an incoming flight flying much below the 1,000 ft gap required between two flights."

However, the Kolkata-based regional executive director of Airports Authority of India (East), Gautam Mukherjee, said no such incident was reported by air traffic controllers either in Patna or Guwahati.

22/07/11 Times of India

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Stapled visas prevent Arunachal karatekas to board Beijing flight

Itanagar: China has done it again. Just when it looked like that the Communist country has done away with its stapled visa regime, a team of karatekas from Arunachal Pradesh was not allowed to board a flight to Beijing at the Indira Gandhi International Airport in New Delhi on Tuesday for not having regular visas.

The karatekas from the state include Likha Lej (52 kg cadet boys), Tage Saa (65 junior boys) and Rei Yadi (53 kg junior girls). The players were scheduled to represent India at the 11th Asian Karate-do Championship (junior and cadet) at Quanghou City in Fujjian province of China from July 20 to 25 next.

Earlier, the Chinese embassy in New Delhi, after a marathon discussion with the Indian authorities, had agreed to issue regular visas to the karate team.

22/07/11 Times of India

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USIBC welcomes aviation security agreement between India, US

Washington: The US India Business Council has welcomed the signing of an aviation safety agreement between the two nations, noting that it will pave the way for greater bilateral trade in the sector.

"India-US Bilateral Aviation Safety Agreement [BASA] will improve passenger safety and therefore caps the success of the 2005 Open Skies Agreement, which opens more routes, includes more airlines, and greatly improves the ability for companies to engage in commerce between the US and India," USIBC chief Ron Somers said.

Coinciding with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's visit to India for the second round of the US-India Strategic Dialogue, J Randolph Babbitt, Administrator of the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and Nasim Zaidi, Civil Aviation Secretary, signed the agreement on July 18.

"This accord creates a safer, more positive environment for travel, resulting in a win-win situation for both economies," Somers said.

USIBC said it believed that a BASA between both countries would help India upgrade its technology to world-class standards and harmonise its regulatory and monitoring systems with international best practices.

BASA demonstrates that India has the capacity to develop FAA certifiable aircraft articles and appliances, USIBC said.

The BASA, by providing a framework under which we can develop reciprocal acceptances of certain aviation articles, stands to promote the burgeoning civil aviation partnership emerging between our two countries," noted Administrator Babbit at the USIBC's roundtable discussion on 'Building 21st Century Infrastructure,' held on July 19 in New Delhi.

22/07/11 Press Trust of India/Business Standard

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Air India asked to pay 252,000 pounds to its former staff

Air India has been ordered by a UK court to pay a whopping 252,000 pounds towards outstanding employment claim with accrued interest to one of its former London-based catering managers.

The English Court of Appeal delivered its reserved judgment in an appeal concerning overtime and other employment claims of a former London-based catering manager of Air India, Minoo Driver, who worked in its Inflight Services Department at Heathrow airport.

Minoo Driver, a Parsee from Mumbai was in Air India's employment since 1972 and his long standing relationship with the aviation company was soured when his contractual entitlements were denied to him and Driver had to approach the law courts to redress his damage.

The London law firm Zaiwalla & Co Solicitors, who handled Driver's successful appeal before the Court of Appeal, said, "Air India has thrown away over 350,000 pounds over fighting a small petty claim for overtime of an ex-employee."

Besides that they have wasted enormous management time and costs on what has turned out to be a wasteful expenditure.

"The Court of Appeal criticism of Air India's vigilance department reflects very bad on Indian Public Sector undertaking."

20/07/11 PTI/Moneycontrol.com

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AAI signs MoU for implementing GBSA

Airports Authority of India today signed an MoU with United States Trade Development Agency (USTDA) for implementing its pilot study on Ground-Based Augmentation System, which would help increase the overall air traffic handling capacity at the Chennai Airport.

Civil Aviation Secretary Dr Nasim Zaidi exchanged documents with United States Trade Development Agency Lee Zak in the presence of Airports Authority of India Chairman VP Agrawal for the project, funded by the US Trade Development Agency, under the India-US Aviation Cooperation programme.

According to the MoU, the US agency would assist in training, certification and project implementation, an airport statement said.

19/07/11 Moneycontrol.com

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Emirates’ A380 Awaits India Approval as Rules Block Flights of Superjumbo

Emirates Airline celebrated the opening of the new terminal at the New Delhi airport last year by flying in an Airbus SAS A380.

The plane has not returned there since. India’s government has not acted on requests to change regulations that bar overseas carriers, including Emirates and Deutsche Lufthansa AG (LHA), from flying aircraft bigger than the Boeing Co. 747 into the country. That rules out the A380.

The two airlines are eager to tap India’s growing travel market with the A380, the world’s biggest passenger aircraft. They have run up against policies that protect state-owned Air India Ltd., according to Rishikesha Krishnan, a professor of corporate strategy at the Indian Institute of Management in Bangalore.

“All these measures are to shore up Air India and they completely distort the market,” said Krishnan, who writes papers about India’s aviation industry. “They are all misguided restrictive practices and not in the best interest of Indian aviation.”

The rules deny more choices for passengers and reduce competition for Air India, Krishnan said. The carrier merged with state-owned Indian Airlines in 2007 and has received 20 billion rupees ($449 million) of public funds since April 1, 2009.

Cost Advantage

Nasim Zaidi, secretary at the Ministry of Civil Aviation, declined to comment when asked if the government was delaying A380 approvals to help Air India. An Air India spokesman declined to comment, and Air India Chairman Arvind Jadhav did not respond to two calls to his mobile phone, calls to his office and e-mailed questions.

20/07/11 Karthikeyan Sundaram/Bloomberg.com

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Virgin Atlantic introduces offer for students traveling to UK and US

Gurgaon: Virgin Atlantic has come out with some offers for students travelling to the UK and US for academic pursuits. Students can now carry up to 46 kg of luggage to the UK and US and one lucky flyer can also win a holiday to London for his/her parents or two friends. The holiday package for one lucky student includes two complimentary return air tickets from Delhi to London on Virgin Atlantic as well as three nights hotel accommodation in London and three tickets each to city's major tourist landmarks including The London Eye, Madame Tussaud's, The Tower of London, Ripley's Believe It or Not, Hop On Hop Off tours etc. Virgin Atlantic has created a partnership with "London & Partners", London's Official Promotional Agency. The offer is valid from July 16th till October 31st, 2011.

The airline has launched a radio campaign on the major radio channels of Delhi to create awareness about this offer and competition.

19/07/11 Economic Times

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Man evades security and manages to hide in plane

Maintenance workers cleaning a passenger aircraft in Saudi Arabia to prepare it for take off stumbled across an Indian man hiding between the seats after he succeeded in breaking through all security systems.

The workers seized the man and called the police, who escorted him out of the aircraft at Riyadh airport, Sabq newspaper said on Sunday.

It did not identify the man or say why he sneaked into the aircraft, which belongs to the Saudi Arabian Airlines.

17/07/11 Emirates 24-7

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Air India to spice up Melbourne route with 787

Direct Air India services between Delhi and Melbourne have been scheduled to finally commence in October this year with the carrier planning to fly its new Boeing 787 Dreamliner on the route.

The long awaited service, originally earmarked for a November 2010 start, will see the airline become just the second carrier behind ANA to receive the new jets, Indian newspaper The Telegraph reported.

Boeing flew a demonstration Dreamliner to New Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport late last week.

An Air India official told the newspaper direct flights to Australia were a “priority” for the airline.

“The route will be profitable for Air India and is a key ingredient of the turnaround plan,” the official said.

According to the newspaper, Air India also intends to operate services to Melbourne from Chennai and Mumbai.

The carrier has ordered around 27 of the 259-seater wide-body jets for its medium to long-haul flights, with trials on the aircraft to begin in August.

18/07/11 eTravel BalckBoard

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Officials to meet on Air India’s Star induction

Air India, Star Alliance and senior officials from the Indian government and the Civil Aviation Authority are scheduled to meet Monday to discuss the progress of the carrier’s induction into the alliance. The meeting is part of the routine integration process, a Star spokesperson told ATW, stressing the grouping is sticking to its July 31 deadline to finalize the formal integration of the carrier. He added that “progress had been made but, yes, there are still outstanding issues. We will probably know more after the meeting. Decisions will be made.”

In May, Star Alliance CEO Jaan Albrecht told ATW that AI has until July 31 to fulfill the requirements to join the airline grouping or the carrier's invitation would be withdrawn (ATW Daily News, May 10). "The process for AI to fulfill its requirements has now taken nearly four years," he noted. "We will not extend this deadline anymore. One day there must be a final point."

18/07/11 ATW Online

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First Chennai-Jakarta flight likely by year-end

Chennai: Indonesian national airline Garuda’s first Chennai-Jakarta flight is likely to start by this year end, a top envoy of that country said here today.
Currently, passengers to Indonesia have to fly via Singapore or Malaysia.
“We have been discussing it many times. Our plan was to connect the cities of Kolkata, Chennai, Mumbai and Delhi. My first preference is to have connectivity between Chennai and Jakarta”, Indonesian Ambassador to India, Mr Andi M. Ghalib said here.
Addressing members at a luncheon meeting organised by the CII here, Mr Ghalib, a retired Lt General, said the plan for direct connectivity between the two nations did not fructify due to various reasons.
He replied in the affirmative when later asked whether it would be launched by this year end, saying Indonesian President (Dr Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono) had spoken to Garuda (officials) in this regard.
16/07/11 PTI/Business Line

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Empire Aviation Group Flying high

Based in Dubai, Empire Aviation Group stands apart as the operator and manager of the Middle East’s largest fleet of corporate and private jets. As well as aircraft sales, the company provides aircraft charter and management services with a focus on high quality luxury and corporate travel throughout the Middle East and the rest of the world.
Executive director Steve Hartley is very clear about the company’s mission. “The purchase of an aircraft, whether for private or corporate purposes, represents a very significant investment. Our entire operation is geared towards managing and maximizing the value of that asset on behalf of our clients in the most professional and efficient way possible,” he states.
Managing the aircraft asset properly ensures that its value is protected, leveraged and maintained during the years of ownership. “Historically, aircraft have either maintained their original purchase price or in some cases even appreciated in value but without the effective management we provide, this would not be the case. We can also help customers to charter their aircraft and so offset some of the costs of ownership,” he explains.
For this reason, he is clear that despite Empire Aviation’s wealth of experience, owning as opposed to operating and managing a fleet could never be an option. “If we had our own aircraft we would inevitably be competing with our customers as charter requests would naturally be directed to our own aircraft first,” he adds.
“For similar reasons we do not offer a direct maintenance service, although we do have an extremely skilled division of maintenance engineers who measure cost against quality control and oversee all maintenance contracts. If we were to offer that service directly, customers could never be certain that they were getting value for money whereas with our third party arrangement, they know we will search out the best supplier. As it stands we can use our expertise to save our customers a great deal of money. For example, Jet Aviation is a preferred supplier, but for the benefit of owners, we also work with a number of other maintenance providers and we regularly put maintenance contracts out to tender.”
15/07/11 Jayne Alverca/Business Excellence

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Two airlines and airport sign MoU to share facilities

Air India, Adria Airways and Aerodrome Ljubljana have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), agreeing to share their fleets of Airbus and CRJ aircraft.
The MoU also means Adria Airways can now access Air India’s network, landing more planes past Deli, whilst also giving Air India bigger access to the Eastern European market.
Currently, Adria Airways flies about 400,000 passengers throughout Germany, the Balkans and North America but could potentially fly a further 130,000 commuters between India and Eastern Europe.
15/07/11 biofuels international

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Star Alliance, govt to meet on Air india

New Delhi: Senior government officials and members of Star Alliance will hold talks on July 18 on the progress of Air India’s induction into the international airline association. “A meeting with Star Alliance (officials) would be held July 18,” said Arvind Jadhav, chairman-cum-managing director of Air India. Ministry officials, Air India representatives would be there in the meeting with Star Alliance.”

The airline plans to join the Star Alliance network by July 31.

Earlier, in a meeting between both sides, the national carrier’s representatives apprised the readiness of Air India to join Star Alliance by July 31, 2011.

14/07/11 Indo-Asian News Service/Hindustan Times

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Fuel-efficient Boeing 787 to join Air India fleet by year-end

New Delhi: National carrier Air India will welcome passengers on its first state-of-the-art and fuel-efficient Boeing 787 Dreamliner when the aircraft joins its fleet by the year-end -- with warm and welcoming interiors coupled with comfortable seating and entertainment systems.

"The aircraft will have beautifully designed and decorated interiors with warm colours which will welcome our passengers," Air India general manager engineering and quality B.S. Baliga told IANS on board the 787 aircraft.

According to Baliga, the Air India's 787 will be equipped with best in-class seats for its 256 passengers.

"We have contracted the world's best seat manufacturers for our business and executive class seats, including Contour Aerospace Limited and Weber Aircraft," he said.

Air India had booked 27 Boeing 787s in 2006 in a mega deal for 68 aircraft from Boeing. Of these, 50 were for its own fleet and 18 for its low-cost subsidiary Air India Express that flies on short-haul international routes.

The Indian flag carrier will only be the second airline in the world to get the 787 which is currently considered to be one of the most anticipated and state-of-the-art airplanes in the world.

13/07/11 Economic Times

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High and dry after mid-air beer brawl

Chennai: Three passengers, who picked a fight with an air hostess after one of them demanded extra beer, were later held at the Chennai airport on Tuesday. Police said the passengers Dinakaran (23) of Chennai, Vanaravanababu (26) of Visakapatnam and Antony Merslin (30) of Thiruvarur, arrived at the Chennai airport from Singapore by an Air India flight. They had been held after Antony picked a fight with an air hostess. Antony had consumed three bottles of beer on board the flight and then demanded a fourth bottle.

The air hostess reportedly refused as passengers were eligible for one bottle of the beverage. This angered Antony who reportedly verbally abused the air hostess and started a fight with Dinakaran and Vanaravanbabu supporting him.

Police said Antony worked at a shipping company in Singapore with a monthly salary of almost `50,000. He had returned to visit his family, while Dinakaran, who worked as a labourer crushing stones was returning after four days in Singapore as he was unhappy with the job. Vanaravanababu had worked as a labourer for over four years and was returning home.

14/07/11 Indian Express

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Boeing 787 lands at IGI airport in Delhi

New Delhi: The Boeing 787 aircraft, popularly known as the Dreamliner, touched down at the IGI airport in the capital at 11.10 a.m. on its maiden voyage to India.
The aircraft landed from Tokyo and will travel to Mumbai later this week before heading back to the United States.
Air India, which has ordered 27 Boeing 787 aircraft will take delivery of its first Boeing 787 aircraft by end 2011, the President of Boeing India, Dr Dinesh Keskar, had announced recently.
The state-owned carrier was originally to have taken delivery of its first Boeing 787 aircraft in May 2008.
Dr Keskar, however, did not disclose when the remaining 26 Boeing 787 aircraft ordered by the airline will be delivered.
“Pilot training for the (Air India) aircraft will begin next month,” Dr Keskar added. Air India plans to use the Boeing 787 to operate non-stop services to the existing cities to which it currently operates in the United States.
13/07/11 Ashwini Phadnis/Business Line

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2 Ecuadorian pilots trained on ALH Dhruv’s simulator cockpit

Bangalore: Ecuadorian pilots operating the Advanced Light Helicopter (ALH) Dhruv have undergone simulation training at the Bangalore-based Helicopter Academy to Train by Simulation of Flying (HATSOFF), a joint venture of HAL and CAE Canada.
The two pilots of Ecuadorian presidential fleet are among the first to undergo training on the ALH Dhruv simulator cockpit which was recently certified by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation.
HATSOFF chief executive officer Wing Commander (Retd) CD Upadhyay, said the two pilots had undergone five hours of simulation training each on the ALH Dhruv simulator cockpit.
“As part of the training, various situations were simulated. The pilots, apart from undergoing conventional training, were exposed to critical emergency situations from which they had to bail out,” Upadhyay said.
The two pilots would again return in December for another five hours of training which was mandatory, he added.
In addition to two pilots of Ecuadorian presidential fleet, 16 pilots of the Ecuadorian Air Force operating ALH Dhruvs would come to Bangalore soon to undergo simulation training.
Ecuador is the biggest overseas customer of ALH Dhruv which is India’s flagship defence export. India had clinched $51-million deal with the South American country and supplied seven choppers.
12/07/11 C Uday Bhaskar/Daily News & Analysis

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Cathay to launch bi-weekly cargo service from Bangalore

New Delhi: Expanding its cargo services in India, Cathay Pacific will begin its bi-weekly operations from Bangalore next month.
Bangalore will be the fourth city — after Delhi, Mumbai and Chennai — from where the Hong Kong-based airline will operate its twice-a-week flight with Boeing 747-400F aircraft on the Hong Kong-Delhi-Bangalore-Hong Kong sector.
“India is an increasingly important market for our cargo business. We are pleased to be able to extend our services in the country through the launch of a freighter service to Bangalore. This new service will enhance Cathay’s presence in India,” Mr Nick Rhodes, Director of Cathay Pacific said in a statement.
The airline expects its service to attract shipments of computers, computer components, high value electronic goods, integrated circuits, semi-conductors and garments from China and neighbouring countries.
12/07/11 PTI/Business Line

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Air India's Melbourne route hangs on Dreamliners

Delhi: Direct flights to Melbourne are ''a priority'' for Air India, as the embattled government carrier prepares to take delivery of new planes it hopes can turn around its flagging fortunes.
The long-promised, oft-delayed direct route between India and Australia has been mooted for years, but hampered by regulation (the Civil Aviation Ministry refused the airline permission) and resources (a lack of long-haul planes owned by the carrier).
But with government approval and the first of 27 Dreamliner 787s set to be delivered to Air India by Boeing in October, launching a direct Delhi-Melbourne route is back under serious consideration. ''Melbourne is a priority,'' chief information officer Kamaljit Rattan told BusinessDay. ''We have the green light … to fly to Melbourne. But a final date has not yet been set.''
Air India plans to fly daily from Delhi to Melbourne and flights from Mumbai and Chennai have been flagged.
The 259-seat, wide-body Dreamliners will be used for Air India's medium and long-haul flights. Australia has been earmarked as a likely route for the planes, or their use on medium-haul flights will free up 777s for the longer trip to Australia.
No airlines fly directly from India to Australia and the Indian government twice rejected Air India's plans to launch the service last year. But under pressure from unions, the Civil Aviation Ministry reversed its decision in February. Mr Rattan said the airline was confident the route would be profitable.
13/07/11 Ben Doherty/Sydney Morning Herald

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Air Arabia adds new destination from India

Mumbai: Sharjah headquartered UAE low cost carrier Air Arabia has added a new destination of Gassim from India. Flights from 13 Indian destinations will be connecting Gassim from July 15, the airline said in a media release today.
The largest low coat airline in the Middle East and North Africa will offer flights to Gassim from its hub at Sharjah. The airliner plans to capture large number of Indian visiting friends and relatives in the UAE.
Air Arabia will offer four weekly flights to Gassim on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays from Sharjah International Airport. The flights from Sharjah to Gassim are planned in such a manner that the passengers will not have to wait for long at Sharjah airport for a connecting flight.
12/07/11 Economic Times

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Indigo sees growth potential in India-Singapore air traffic

Singapore: India-Singapore air passenger traffic has potential for further growth without competing airlines eating into each other's market share, says Indigo President Aditya Ghosh.
"I really, truly believe the market will expand, so I'm not sure that we're looking at eating market share from anyone," The Straits Times quoted Ghosh as saying ahead of the budget class carrier commencing flights to Singapore from September.
The India-Singapore route recorded a 14 per cent year-on-year increase in passenger traffic to 5.1 million last year, according to statistics from the Changi Airport Group.
Ghosh said Indigo will offer a fundamentally different product from other airlines operating on India-Singapore routes.
Indigo will not offer in-flight entertainment and lounges and passengers will have to pay for food, drinks and other amenities on board, he said.
13/07/11 Economic Times

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Boeing offers $45-m compensation to AI

New Delhi: American aircraft manufacturer Boeing Company has offered an interim compensation of $45 million in cash to Air India on account of delay in delivery of the B787 Dreamliner.
The compensation is mere a 5% of the $900 million the state-owned carrier had demanded from the Seattle-based company. An airline source said Boeing has offered $10 million in credit over and above the cash part. Air India has communicated the Boeing proposal to the government.
“The issue is between the airline and Boeing. Air India has communicated to us about the compensation Boeing has offered. Our view is that Air India should not settle for interim compensation. After three years of delay, Boeing is offering just a total of $55 million leaving the issue for unending negotiations,” a top aviation ministry official told FE.
12/07/11 Nirbhay Kumar/Financial Express

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Cathay ready to reconnect

Calcutta: Hong Kong-based airline Cathay Pacific has written to Mamata Banerjee with a request to help it explore the possibility of a comeback to Bengal after 41 years, saying the “time is right” for a fresh take-off.
The chief minister’s office confirmed receiving the letter on Monday from Tom Wright, Cathay Pacific Airways’s general manager for India, Middle East, Africa and Pakistan.
“We will be grateful if you can arrange a meeting to explore the possibilities of Cathay Pacific or Hong Kong Dragon Airlines (its sister airline) starting scheduled passenger air services from Hong Kong to Calcutta,” says the letter.
Wright was unavailable for comment.
Travel industry representatives said Cathay Pacific’s possible re-entry was the biggest development for civil aviation in the east since the low of British Airways’s exit in March 2009.
Cathay Pacific presently operates flights between Hong Kong and New Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore and Chennai. The airline also has flights to Europe, the US and Australia, among other countries.
12/07/11 Sanjay Mandal/The Telegraph

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Foreign, but not entirely safe

New Delhi: Michael James Fay-Doherty was one of the many expat pilots who came to India for a job at the height of the aviation boom in 2007, hoping perhaps that his criminal record and forged papers would go undetected by the understaffed aviation regulator in the country when passenger traffic had surged and pilots were in short supply.
Fay-Doherty wasn’t far off the mark. By the time his false credentials were discovered and he left the country, he had already flown in India for six months with India’s biggest low-cost airline, IndiGo, run by InterGlobe Aviation Pvt. Ltd.
Seventy-five months later, in January while investigating a flawed landing technique used by another IndiGo pilot, Parminder Kaur Gulati, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) found that she had produced a fictitious marksheet to obtain her commander’s licence.
The regulator then started scanning all the 4,500 pilot licences it had issued in the past five years. In an ensuing crackdown, the crime branch of the Delhi Police detained 22 people, including pilots, trainers and officials of DGCA. The last word hasn’t been heard yet on these cases.
As the investigations proceed, some aviation experts are asking if checks are being sidestepped in hiring procedures, in the process compromising air safety, even as Indian airlines prepare for a new boom in passenger traffic.
12/05/11 Tarun Shukla/Live Mint

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Expat pilot nos fall by half in 2 years in India

Mumbai: Some airline chiefs believe an expatriate pilot's accent adds to their carrier's brand value, some maintain a sizable number of foreign contract pilots on their employee rolls and pay them handsome salaries on time, as they will never join a strike. Others look at immediate savings and hire trained expatriate pilots, cutting down on command training bills--money spent to train and upgrade a co-pilot to a commander. But the fact is that expatriate pilots have been an integral part of the Indian airlines growth story in the last one decade. The country cannot do without expatriate pilots as there are insufficient trained desi commanders to fill up the left-hand seats in cockpits of its passenger aircraft.
In the last two years, the number of foreign pilots has dwindled by half. According to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), the Indian civil aviation regulatory authority, there were 686 foreign pilots with airlines in India in 2009. As of March 2011, the number was 356. Jet Airways is the largest employer of foreign pilots, with 120 on its rolls as of March, compared to 192 in 2009. The number of foreign pilots employed with charter aircraft companies too went down from 406 in 2009, to 145 as of today.
11/07/11 Manju V/Times of India

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Indian air cargo to Africa increasing

New Delhi: Indian air cargo to Africa is increasing at a steady rate of about 15-20 percent per year, with the country exporting approximately 6,000 tonnes of goods and merchandise by plane to the vast continent every month.
Most of the cargo is transported on African air carriers and some European airlines for the reason that there are practically no Indian airlines that have direct flights from India to African cities.
Almost 55 percent of the air cargo is flown by Africa-owned air companies while the rest is transported by Middle East and European airlines, with the export consignments transiting through a third country while on their onward journey to Africa, according to trade sources.
In earlier years, Indian air exports mainly went to South Africa and the East African region, India's traditional trading partners. But in recent years as exports have increased, Indian products have penetrated new markets in central and western Africa.
Pradeep Dixit, vice president international operations, Allied Aviation International, explained, "About 35 percent of Indian exports go to East Africa, 25 percent is bound for South Africa, another 25 percent goes to Central Africa and 20 percent reaches Central Africa."
10/07/11 IANS/Mangalorean.com

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Airline's baby ban in 1st class riles parents

Mumbai: Worli resident Bindiya Joshi, 33, normally a web recluse, has been glued to the Internet for the past week. Joshi is one of the several young parents from the city, who have launched an online campaign against Malaysian Airlines's week-old move to ban infants in its first-class cabins on flights.
"I demand full service. My child should not be treated like an unwanted inconvenience," said Joshi, a homemaker and a mother of two children. Social networking sites and online discussion forums have been flooded with many angry reactions.
"Where does it end? Will we stop obese people from flying next?" wrote Kamna Bhojwani-Dhawan on her website, momaboard.com. Dhawan, a Mumbaiite settled in San Francisco, started the portal in January for parents travelling with kids.
Malaysian Airlines's website, however, justifies the move as part of its cabin revamp plan to cut first-class seats from 18 to 12 for greater cabin space. "There was no facility for positioning bassinets in the first-class of the Boeing 747s," read the statement.
11/07/11 Soubhik Mitra/Hindustan Times

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Implement assurances on turban issue, Preneet to Italian govt

Chandigarh: Despite assurances by Italian government following the unsavory incident involving golfer Jeev Milkha Singh's coach Amritinder Singh, harassment of turban-wearing Sikhs is still continuing at airports in that country, especially at Milan.
This was revealed to visiting minister of state for external affairs, Preneet Kaur, during a meeting with the Indian Diaspora, following which Preneet, during her bilateral meeting with Italian vice minister Stefania Craxi raised the issue "very strongly" and urged the Italian government to translate the assurances made by their foreign minister into suitable executive instructions for airport authorities.
In March this year, internationally acclaimed Jeev Milkha Singh's coach Amritinder Singh was forced to remove his turban at Milan airport, which set off vociferous protests in India and abroad among the Sikh Diaspora, ultimately leading to an apology and assurance from the Italian government. But, apparently, things have not changed much on the ground.
Representatives of the Indian community, who met Preneet, told her that turbaned Sikhs were still being asked to remove turbans at security checks at Italian airports, despite categorical assurances from Italian foreign minister Franco Frattini to Indian external affairs minister SM Krishna, in his bilateral meeting in June, that Sikhs will not be asked to remove their headgear unless there was a specific alert.
10/07/11 Times of India

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Relatives angered by federal Air India offer

Vancouver: Relatives of the victims of the Air India tragedy say they are hurt and insulted by a federal government offer to pay $24,000 for each person killed in the June 1985 terrorist attack.
The offer of a one-time ex gratia payment was made at a meeting in Toronto Thursday attended in person and via teleconference by about 40 family members of the 329 bombing victims. Most of the families settled their legal claims for compensation in the early 1990s, according to a government spokesman.
An ex gratia payment is given where no legal obligation exists.
"We are just seething," said Anil Singh Hanse, an Australian whose father Narendra piloted the flight that was brought down by a B.C.made bomb. "This is insulting. Where the hell did they pull this figure from?"
Retired judge John Major suggested some form of payment be made to families in his Air India inquiry report in June 2010, although he made no official recommendation. The $32-million inquiry showed that numerous warning signs of the pending terrorist attack were missed by Canada's security agency and that missteps hampered the subsequent RCMP investigation.
Major also said the families were treated with "administrative disdain" for years by the Canadian government and deserved more than just an apology.
09/07/11 Kim Bolan/Post Media News/The Gazette

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Flights to Jeddah, Eastern Countries from Srinagar Airport soon: AAI

Srinagar: Linking operation of international flights with normalcy in the Valley, chairman Airport Authority of India (AAI) Thursday stated that international flights from Srinagar to Jeddah and eastern countries could be made operational from Srinagar International Airport if normalcy continues to prevail.
“It is all linked to normalcy in the Valley. Right now international flight operation from Srinagar airport is restricted to Hajj flights only. With normalcy returning to the Valley, international flight operations will pick up. We can definitely make connections to Jeddah and eastern countries,” AAI chairman V P Agarwal told reporters here. He was flanked by Director Srinagar Airport, Capt Raj K Malik.
Agarwal said AAI will install high-intensity lights at the Srinagar Airport to facilitate night landing. "The night landing of flights requires high-intensity lights which we will be doing in near future," he said.
The Indian Air Force (IAF), however, will have to provide more manpower to Air Traffic Control (ATC) for operation of the night flights, he said.
Agarwal outlined several measures for streamlining the functioning of Srinagar Airport, including extending the duration of flight operations to accommodate more daily flights.
08/07/11 Mouzum Muhammad/Greater Kashmir

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South African Airways woos Indian travellers

Johannesburg: Every second international traveller to South Africa is an Indian, and most of them fly out of Mumbai . Keen on cornering the largest slice of this passenger pie, South African Airways (SAA) has introduced its stateof-the-art Airbus A330-200 aircraft on the Mumbai-Johannesburg route.
"In 2010, Indians comprised 48.9% of people travelling to South Africa. That's why we earmarked the aircraft on the Mumbai route to ensure that they get the best that SAA has to offer," said Gcobani Mangcotywa , HOD, Asia and Australasia , SAA. In fact, the soccer world cup was a game-changer for the airline as it had to run an additional flight from Mumbai to cope with the surging tourist flow from the financial capital.
The new A330-200 , dubbed one of the best to service longhaul flights, has 36 business class seats, 12 more than the earlier A340-200 that used to fly on the route, and 186 economy class ones. The enhancements are in keeping with the high business class occupancy that SAA enjoys throughout the year, touching 75% during the peak season.
09/07/11 Kathakali Chanda/Times of India

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Government sounds air alert after US warning on aviation assets

New Delhi: The Central government has sounded an alert at airports across the country after intelligence inputs warned of a possible terror attack against aviation assets. Though the Bureau of Civil Aviation and Security first received an alert a couple of days ago, intelligence agencies on Thursday reiterated the warning, prompting a security beef-up at key airports, including the Indira Gandhi International Airport in New Delhi and Mumbai's Chattrapati Shivaji International Airport.
According to the latest intelligence alert, aviation assets could be targeted by terrorist elements in the immediate future. The alert follows a warning from American agencies that terrorist groups might surgically implant a bomb into human beings and place them on direct flights to the US.
"This is new intelligence about a possible technique that could be used...however there is nothing to indicate an imminent threat," a senior US security official was quoted as saying. The US based Transportation Security Administration had recently briefed air carriers and foreign partners to provide greater insights into recent intelligence indicating the continued interest of terrorists to target aviation, its spokesman Kawika Riley told the US media.
08/07/11 Economic Times

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IndiGo confirms Delhi route

The Indian no-frills carrier IndiGo is spreading its wings to Thailand to break Thai AirAsia's monopoly on low-cost air travel to the subcontinent.
An IndiGo jet stands ready to challenge Thai AirAsia for the lucrative Indian market.
The privately owned airline is scheduled to launch a daily service between Bangkok and Delhi on Sept 8, with a plan to later introduce two additional routes linking the Thai capital with Mumbai and Kolkata.
Bangkok is one of the first three foreign ports of call for the airline after fulfilling Indian authorities' prerequisite of operating domestically for five years.
The other two international cities IndiGo will service are Singapore and Dubai, both linked with Delhi, its home hub.
Thailand is popular among Indian leisure travellers and has high potential traffic growth, a factor that led IndiGo to start a route here, said Tya Vichayasai, sales and marketing manager of Pakin International Co, which was appointed general sales agent in Thailand for IndiGo.
About 900,000 Indians visited Thailand last year and more are expected this year, said Mr Tya.
08/07/11 Bangkok Post

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Boeing to fly much-delayed 787 Dreamliner into India next week

Mumbai: American aircraft maker Boeing will fly its most anticipated and state-of-the-art airplane, the Boeing 787 Dreamliner , to India next week, aviation industry sources said. The aircraft, already behind schedule by over three years from its first delivery date, has national carrier Air India as its second delivery customer after Japanese private carrier All Nippon Airways.

One of the lightest planes to have taken to the skies, the airplane made of carbon fibre and composite materials, will fly to the Delhi International Airport for two test flights and then to Mumbai on July 16, said a person with direct knowledge of the matter. From Mumbai, the aircraft takes off to its base in Seattle. Boeing flew 787 with its first customer ANA to Tokyo on July 3.

The Japanese carrier is also contemplating putting the 787s on the Mumbai-Tokyo route. "The 787 Dreamliner will fill in the much-needed gap in the mid-sized aircraft segment for the airlines in India," said Boeing's India president Dinesh Keskar, declining to offer a comment on the test flight of the Boeing 787 to India. Airlines in India have a mix of both narrow body aircraft, Boeing 737 and Airbus A320, which can fly 160-190 passengers, and wide-body, like the A330s and B777s, which have the capacity to fly over 350 passengers. But the Dreamliner offers an option of flying 250 passengers for the long-haul flights with maximum fuel efficiency.

"Only the functional reliability test remains to be done," Keskar said. Boeing's Dreamliner programme has been through some rough weather after the strike at its Seattle facility and production delays as it relies heavily on Boeing's use of assembled parts and reliance on outsourcing from other countries. The first test flight took off in 2009.

06/07/11 Manisha Singhal/Economic Times

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Boeing Values India Market for 1320 New Airplanes at $150 Billion

New Delhi: Boeing forecasts a $150 billion market for 1320 new passenger airplanes in India over the next 20 years as the economy aims for double-digit growth, stimulating strong demand for new and replacement airplanes. Boeing India President Dinesh Keskar shared the forecast today with Boeing’s outlook for India’s commercial airplane market through 2030.

"Robust growth with new economic prosperity amongst a massive Indian population, discretionary incomes, business progress and access to airports will increase airplane demand,” Keskar said. "In 2011, the economy continues to do well. Indian air carriers are becoming profitable and we expect the GDP to maintain its upward trend in the long-term. As a result, both the air travel and air cargo markets will grow.” Keskar also said that airline revenue and yields were up, but high inflation and volatile fuel prices will play a pivotal role in the health of the industry.

Passenger traffic, which has reached 53.6 million domestic (fiscal 2011) and 13.1 million international, is expected to grow at 8.1 percent annually over the long-term.

“The economic and air-traffic growth will in turn stimulate demand for a variety of aircraft types,” Keskar said. “The need is great for new airplanes that can efficiently and profitably fly short and long-haul routes. This demand is driven by growth in developing and emerging cities, demand from low-cost carriers and the need to replace an aging fleet.”

05/07/11 Manufacturing.Net

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AAC request for restoaration of direct international flights from Gujarat to US, UK

Ahmedabad: At the half-yearly meeting of the Airport Advisory Committee on Monday its members including Member of Parliament Harin Pathak asked for restoring the direct international flights to UK, US and other countries from Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport (SVPIA).

Pathak said passengers are forced to take their flights either via Delhi or Mumbai. He said the construction of international terminal and some other facilities have already cost over Rs400 crore. However, he added that the money would be a waste if the facilities are not used.

The committee has been constituted to advise airport management over the issues pertaining to passenger's facilitation and airport development among others. Apart from Pathak, the meeting was also attended by the former Woman and Child Welfare minister Maya Kodnani.

According to airport sources, it seems that the members of the committee were not convinced with the idea of operating Air India's domestic flights from the swanky international terminal. Pathak specifically pointed to the Air India's flight (AI-861, A'bad-New Delhi) to be operated from the domestic terminal itself and not via international terminals.

05/07/11 Daily News & Analysis

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Global firms to line up for civil aircraft project

Bangalore: Global engine makers have evinced keen interest to take part in India’s proposed Rs 7,555 crore national civil aircraft development (NCAD) programme, expected to give a major boost to civil aviation industry.
Bangalore-based National Aerospace Laboratories (NAL), under the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), has already completed a feasibility study on the design and development of a national civil aircraft for regional connectivity under the guidance of a High Powered Committee (HPC).
“Many of the engine manufacturers came and talked to us. They have made presentations about their products”, Chairman of the HPC, G Madhavan Nair, told PTI.
“We had detailed discussions with engine manufacturers”, he said. Based on detailed market studies, configuration definition of a baseline 90 seat, twin turbofan engine powered aircraft has been completed under the oversight of the HPC, which submitted the feasibility study report to Government in May this year.
Nair, a former Chairman of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), expects formal Cabinet approval for the project in two-three months and said he does not anticipate any problem in its clearance as the programme has been welcomed by all government quarters. According to officials, the aircraft would help connect tier-II and tier-III cities with major metros, thereby boosting inclusive economic growth.
04/07/11 Press Trust Of India/Business Standard

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Tata bid to take off in aerospace

Mumbai: The $70-billion Tata group is quietly building its presence in the aerospace industry that has recently seen significant investment from the private sector.
It is in the process of applying for licences from several central government ministries, predominantly the defence ministry, to sell helicopters that it plans to assemble at its joint venture with Italian conglomerate Finmeccanica’s AgustaWestland.
Speaking to The Telegraph, Tata Services Ltd resident director Bharat Wakhlu confirmed that the group had applied to the defence ministry as well as other government agencies for licences.
The Tata group and AgustaWestland decided in early 2009 to form a joint venture that would establish a plant to assemble the AW 119 helicopter — an eight-seater utility copter meant for both defence and civilian uses. The deliveries were supposed to start by 2011, but the deadline has since been pushed back by a year.
Sources said the joint venture was concurrently applying for licences as it went about putting up the assembly unit in Hyderabad. At the time the joint venture was formed, the production target was fixed at 30 units a year.
The Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation (CAPA) has estimated that the Hyderabad-based greenfield facility of this joint venture is likely to entail an investment of $30 million.
The joint venture company, Indian Rotorcraft, will assemble and deliver these helicopters. It will target domestic as well as global customers.
04/07/11 Piya Singh/The Telegraph

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Emirates flight from India to Dubai makes emergency landing

Dubai: An Emirates Airline jet carrying 222 passengers had to make an emergency landing at the weekend caused by what the airline described as "technical difficulties", a spokeswoman said today.
Flight EK533, which was scheduled to Dubai from Cochin, India on Saturday was delayed by more than 14 hours because of the problem.
"Emirates confirms that flight EK533 to Dubai, on Saturday 2nd July was delayed due to technical difficulties," the Emirates spokeswoman said in a statement.
The affected flight departed at 6.30pm local time on the same day.
03/07/11 Nadeem Hanif/The National

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'Ensure adequate flights for Haj pilgrims'

Guwahati: The state Haj committee has written a letter to the Haj Committee of India (HCI) to ensure that all pilgrims have a safe flight to Mecca for the holy prayers. Citing problems of inadequate flights, state minister for Haj affairs, Nazrul Islam, asked the HCI to ask local airlines to chip in. Last year, many pilgrims who had deposited money, form, passport and even got visas from Saudi authorities, were unable to fly as there were no or few flights.

"Last year, the HCI had selected some Saudi Arabia-based airlines to carry the pilgrims but they were not enough in number and many pilgrims were stranded. This time I have written to the HCI to select a local airline. We hope Air India can do a better job," said Islam.

This time, the Assam Haj Committee has received 3,953 applications out of which 1,026 applicants have already submitted their valid documents. Some 50 applicants are still to submit their documents and awaiting clearance from the authority. The last date of submitting applications is July 10.

02/07/11 Times of India

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Indian pilot killed in crash near Thornton had earlier close call

The pilot who steered his small plane away from two subdivisions before he died in a fiery crash Wednesday near Thornton had faced dire circumstances before.
About 12 years ago, Salil Sinha clipped an unmarked tower, lost a wing and still managed to land his aircraft safely, his brother-in-law, Paul Kreft, said Thursday.
Salil was president and owner of Julair LLC, which provides aerial-photography services nationwide, Kreft said. The plane was registered to the business.
On Wednesday, witnesses saw Sinha's Cessna 182 struggle against heavy wind and possibly a microburst as a storm system moved through the area, temporarily grounding flights at Denver International Airport. The plane flipped and smashed into the ground, exploding on impact between Quebec Street and Riverdale Road, near East 124th Avenue.
Sinha came to the United States from India when he was 18, with a college degree already in hand, his brother-in-law said.
He and his wife of eight years, Melissa, also have a 1-year-old daughter.
01/07/11 Joey Bunch/The Denver Post

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Demand for restoration of direct Kozhikode flights

Kozhikode: An association of expatriates from Kozhikode living in Kuwait today appealed to the government to restore direct flights between the two cities. "Indian community is the largest expatriate community in Kuwait and their numbers exceeded six lakhs as per the latest statistics of Indian Embassy and Government of Kuwait, a release by Kozhikode District Association, Kuwait, said. Over 50 per cent of the Indians working in Kuwait were from Kerala and out of this around 80,000 are from Kozhikode district, it said. Air India Express operates direct flights to Kochi and Mangalore though the number of passengers to these places was much less than those travelling to Kozhikode, it said.
01/07/11 IBN Live

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Business aviation makes inroads in Asia

The Asian market is waking up to the fact that companies using business aircraft earn more than those that don’t (141 percent more, according to an NBAA analysis). However, there are many obstacles remain to developing the private aviation sector in that part of the world. Until recently, no single Asian voice addressed the benefits and hurdles of establishing business aviation, but that is changing as the region’s associations begin to work together to create a more friendly environment for the segment.
During a session on international operations at the European Business Aviation Convention & Exhibition , three regional association leaders from Asia spoke about their respective territories: Capt. Karan Singh, vice president of the Business Aviation Association for India (BAAI); Jean-Noel Robert, chairman of the Asian Business Aviation Association (AsBAA); and Kazumobu Sato, vice president of the Japanese Business Aviation Association (JBAA), talked about the challenges of developing the sector in their respective locales.
India has seen strong and steady growth, with an installed fleet that has almost doubled since 2006, said Capt. Singh. The BAAI predicts there will be 1,793 business aircraft in India by 2020, but key to this development are infrastructure training and work on regulatory issues. India has a particularly difficult regulatory environment. For example, private aviation compliances are on a par with those of scheduled airlines so obtaining an operator’s permit is a lengthy process. In addition, there are hefty taxes on fuel, service and customs.
Fewer than 150 airports are open to business aviation, and facilities are substandard when compared with those of other countries, with limited parking space and customs and excise availability. Ground handling options are limited and expensive. Singh added, “To make things work we need ground handling, airports and heliports, maintenance faculties, spares and FBOs. We also need consulting, manufacturing and management and training.”
01/07/11 Liz Moscrop/AINonline

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India's Kingfisher mulls flights to Laos, Vietnam: envoy

Kingfisher, a private Indian carrier has expressed interest in opening a route to Laos and Vietnam India's Ambassador to Vientiane, Jitendra Nath Misra said ahead of a joint business forum between the two countries.
The inaugural Laos Nothern India Business Forum starts on July 02, attended by a delegation from Laos, organized by the Assam Chamber of Commerce and Indian Chamber of Commerce based in Lao.
"The airline links between Northeastern India Laos will also be a key issue at the First Laos-Northern India Business," Ambassador Misra reporters.
President of the Indian Chamber of Commerce to Laos, Habib Mohammed Chowdhury said the forum will focus on expanding trade, business, tourism, mining, hydropower, education, information technology and infrastructure between Laos and India.
Ambassador Misra said government-to-government assistance is strong but trade volumes were small.
02/07/11 Lanka Business Online

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Man held at IGIA with memory cards worth R58 lakh

The customs department at the Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA) have arrested a businessman returning from Hong Kong and recovered memory cards worth Rs 58 lakh from him. Customs department officers said Praveen Chopra had concealed 42 packets of cards inside the stocking he wore under an oversized pair of jeans.
A resident of Krishna Nagar, Chopra was returning from Hong Kong on board Air India flight 301.
Customs sources said Chopra had gone to Hong Kong on June 29 and that there was a gang who was using him as a courier.
01/07/11 Hindustan Times

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GR Gopinath’s intra-state aviation plan nixed

New Delhi: Low-cost aviation pioneer GR Gopinath’s dream of providing intra-state connectivity in Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and West Bengal may remain just that — a dream.
The Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has turned down his proposal to begin charter services in these states, citing many loopholes in his application for importing two 72-seater ATR aircraft on wet lease.
Under wet lease, an airline hires not just an aircraft but pilots and crew.
Unless the Ministry of civil aviation overrules DGCA and grants permission to Gopinath, Deccan Charters’ plans will not takeoff.
Gopinath said DGCA had earlier given him approval to import aircraft on wet lease, but stopped the import mid-way in Dubai some time back, despite an assurance that the wet lease would be converted to dry lease (so that Indian pilots and crew can be used) within 3-6 months.
But DGCA officials said no permission was given to Gopinath to import aircraft, only a no-objection certificate was granted and that wet lease is anyway allowed only under very specific circumstances.
“A non-scheduled operator permit (NSOP) holder bringing an aircraft from overseas has happened only once in the last 15 years. This could lead to undesirable consequences such as foreign aircraft owners resorting to this device and freely operating within the country without mandatory security checks in foreign crew. There are more than 130 NSOPs and the short-staffed DGCA cannot check each and every instance.”
The regulator noted that Gopinath produced security clearance certificates for foreign pilots and engineers for charter operations which were more than one year old.
01/07/11 Sindhu Bhattacharya/Daily News & Analysis

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Air China expands India operations

Mumbai: Air China, which operates on the Delhi and Bangalore routes, is set to expand its services to India with a Beijing-Mumbai flight from September. The airline will be the first among the three Chinese airlines operating in India to touchdown at the Mumbai airport.
The only direct airlink between Mumbai and China is Air India's tri-weekly flights to Shanghai. Jet Airways had launched flights from Mumbai to San Francisco via Shanghai a few years ago, but the service was suspended following losses. Jet Chairman Naresh Goyal had recently said the airline was looking to introduce flights to Shanghai and Beijing as part of its expansion plans.
Sources familiar with Air China's plan said it hopes to tap the growing business and leisure traffic on the route. The Mumbai-Beijing flight will stop over at Chengdu. The airline will be using a narrow body airbus A319 aircraft with a two-class layout. An airbus A319, can be fitted with 122-145 seats depending on the class configuration.
“Currently most people flying to Beijing fly via Delhi or transit from Bangkok or Hong Kong. China has emerged as a key venue for trade fairs and exhibitions. Also, a large number of Indian traders and importers travel to China. Leisure travel to China has also picked up,” said Iqbal Mulla, treasurer of Travel Agents Association of India.
01/07/11 Aneesh Phadnis/Business Standard

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India seeks more code-sharing to boost travel to Canada

Toronto: With no Canadian airline flying to India even as two Indian carriers touch Canada, Indian civil aviation authorities have demanded enhanced code-sharing by the Canadian national carrier Air Canada with Indian carriers to boost air travel between the two countries.
Indian civil aviation secretary Nasim Zaidi, who held talks with his Canadian counterparts and International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) officials in Montreal, said Thursday that since no Canadian carrier is operating to India, "it is thus important that the code-sharing for the Canadian carrier is enhanced.
"This would help the civilian passengers and will also help promote business. This will make seamless connectivity for passengers, allowing code-sharing on third country carriers, theoretically even through airlines such as Lufthansa."
A statement by the Indian high commission after the talks in Ottawa and Montreal (where the International Civil Organization is based), said India and Canada held "an extremely cordial and intensive discussion to enhance air connectivity between the two countries.
"This included unlimited air services for cargo; substantive liberalization of code-sharing relations between airlines; rationalization of code-sharing and inter-modal transport arrangements and simplification of clauses relating to tariff and fare structure."
01/07/11 IANS/Deccan Herald

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