Mahindra Rebrands Its General Aviation Aircraft as ‘Airvans’

Say goodbye to the Gipps imprimatur on its line of general aviation aircraft. India’s Mahindra Aerospace, which bought Australia-based GippsAero in 2009, is renaming its piston GA8 single the Airvan 8 and its under-development turboprop-single GA10 the Airvan 10. Mahindra also announced yesterday at EAA AirVenture that the Airvan 8 would be available on optional Wipline amphibious aluminum floats by year-end and that it is now taking nonrefundable deposits on the Airvan 10. It said it expects Airvan 10 certification in 2015.

This turboprop single is powered by a 450-shp Rolls-Royce 250 B-17 engine and features a 50-inch-wide sliding cargo door. It has a full-fuel payload of 1,400 pounds, a range of 550 nm with IFR reserves and a cruising speed of 145 ktas.

Mahindra also unveiled a new company logo. “The new logo and naming is closely aligned with Mahindra’s brand identity, encompassing both aircraft and component manufacture for Indian and global markets,” said Arvind Mehra, executive director and global CEO of Mahindra Aerospace. “The new identity combines the Airvan name with the numbers 8 and 10 signifying seat capacity,” he said.
29/07/14 Mark Huber/AINonline

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DGCA fails to plug safety loopholes even as FAA review meeting looms

Despite tall claims by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) of having plugged most deficiencies pointed out by the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the regulator has so far been able to recruit only 35 of the 75 chief flight operations inspectors (CFOIs).
The dismal picture emerges even as the DGCA prepares to move the US regulator next month to revoke the January downgrade of India's aviation sector from category I to category II.
The downgrade has barred Air India and Jet Airways from expanding their operations in the US and impacted codeshare arrangements with their American counterparts.
A DGCA official told MAIL TODAY that although top bosses are rushing ahead with scheduling the meeting, the time is not right as FAA is likely to take a more stringent view with a series of crashes have taken place globally the last month or so.
The DGCA plans to submit its final report and make a comprehensive presentation before FAA on the progress made in rectifying the defects pointed by the US regulator.
DGCA had appointed US-based firm The Wicks Group under a bilateral assistance programme funded by the United States Trade and Development Agency to help it upgrade their operations in order to restore the category-I status.
28/07/14 Business Today

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flydubai to start five-times-a-week flights to Mumbai from October

Mumbai: Commencing on October 28, 2014, flydubai will operate direct flights five times a week between Dubai International Airport’s Terminal 2 and Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport, and increase the frequency of flights to Delhi to five weekly. With the addition of Mumbai to its network, flydubai now serves seven destinations in India, with 25 flights a week, a release states.

Flight FZ445 will depart from Dubai at 2240 hrs local time on Tuesdays, Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, landing in Mumbai at 0300 hrs local time.

Flight FZ446 will depart from Mumbai at 0400 hrs on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, and arrive in Dubai at 0600 hrs local time.

In June, flydubai doubled its network in India with the start of flights to Delhi, Kochi and Thiruvananthapuram. The new flights were a result of the expanded bilateral agreements that India has signed with Dubai over the past 12 months.
28/07/14 TravelBizMonitor

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DGCA to seek fresh audit of India's aviation safety oversight mechanism

With new procedures in place and skilled manpower recruited to carry out aviation safety surveillance, DGCA is ready to seek a fresh audit of India's safety oversight mechanism which was downgraded in January by its US counterpart FAA.

In a bid to meet all deficiencies in 33 areas found by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) after it carried out two safety audits last year, the DGCA has been on an overdrive to recruit flight inspectors, one of the key findings of the US aviation regulator. Following these deficiencies, FAA had downgraded India from the top Category-I to II on January 31 this year.

While a large number of full-time Flight Operations Inspectors (FOIs) and other skilled and technical manpower have already been recruited, a spate of interviews are still on to further enhance the strength of such officials to enable DGCA fulfil all the criteria and seek a fresh audit. The sources said DGCA has sought a meeting with FAA next month to submit its final report and make a comprehensive presentation on the progress made in rectifying the defects and allaying the concerns expressed by the US regulator.

The FAA's downgrade of the country's safety mechanism came after it found deficiencies in 33 areas, including severe shortage of skilled manpower even at the top levels in India's aviation regulator and lack of regulations and procedures on safety surveillance and related issues.
27/07/14 Daily News & Analysis

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Air India ends contract of 30 pilots, including 15 expats

New Delhi:  Air India has ended the contracts of almost 30 pilots, including expatriates, over the past six months, a move that would help the cash-starved national carrier make some savings.
Fifteen of these pilots are expatriates who were hired for flying the Boeing 787 Dreamliners till Air India's crew got trained, airline officials said, adding that their contract was not renewed any further.
With the number of Boeing 777s in Air India's fleet depleting with five being sold to Gulf-based Etihad Airways and three more on the block, the contracts of 11 pilots of these aircraft have also been terminated, they said.
The remaining pilots whose contracts have not been renewed include two simulator instructors who are senior pilots and two of Boeing 747 jumbos, sources said, adding that this was a continuous process.
26/07/14 PTI/Economic Times

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Air India systems integration with Star Alliance: SITA completes technical requisites

New Delhi: Global aviation IT firm SITA today said it has completed a variety of technical requisites for Air India to integrate its systems with that of Star Alliance, including those concerning ticketing, e-commerce, departure control and revenue integrity.

The Societe Internationale de Telecommunications Aeronautiques (SITA), which earlier integrated the systems of erstwhile Indian Airlines and Air India after their merger, also provided its Horizon Passenger Services System (PSS) suite of solutions for Air India to seamlessly integrate with the global airlines' grouping.

The PSS suite comprises technological solutions for various activities like integrating reservations, frequent flyer programmes, departure control services, fares and revenue integrity and e-commerce. It also provides passengers with an efficient online booking engine, kiosk check-in and web check-in, a SITA statement said.
27/07/14 PTI/Economic Times

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Gold smugglers exploit Indian female pilgrims

Jeddah: Customs officials in India have arrested two Indian Umrah travel agents for smuggling in gold from the Kingdom to India through elderly female Umrah pilgrims.
Ten female pilgrims were initially arrested after being found to be carrying 5.3 kg worth of gold upon arrival in the form of 48 gold bangles and three gold bars.
The women had arrived in Hyderabad from Jeddah on a Saudia flight on Wednesday, according to media reports.
Officials said that the women passengers, mostly aged 60 to 80, were unaware of the plot and that they agreed to wear the gold bangles after being asked by the tour guides before boarding the flight, media reports said.
“The main kingpin — named Amin, who has since run away — and the arrested duo convinced the women that the gold was bought for relatives who were getting married in Hyderabad and that the gold would be allowed through at the airport if it was worn,” said a customs official. “This is why they agreed to wear it.”
Officials eventually arrested Mustafa and Rahman, Hyderabad-based tour guides who were accompanying the pilgrims, and let the women go.
27/07/14 Irfan Mohammed/Arab News

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Mangalore-Kuwait flight: Delegation from state to meet aviation minister

Bangalore: Minister for infrastructure development and information Roshan Baig on Friday July 25 assured that a delegation from the state would meet the minister of state for civil aviation in New Delhi to urge the restoration of direct flights from Mangalore to Kuwait.

He was responding to a question raised by MLC from Mangalore Ivan D'Souza during the state Legislative Council session, on reasons for stopping direct flights between Mangalore and Kuwait.

Ivan also said that due to the stoppage of the direct flight operation, commuters from Mangalore have been badly hit. "Out of the 7.62 lac NRIs in Kuwait, 1.3 lac are from the coastal Karnataka region alone. They need to be given this facility," he urged.

Baig said that the prime reason for stopping direct flights on Mangalore-Kuwait route was the lack of passenger response. To this, Ivan D'Souza replied that when the Air India Express direct flight was in operation on this route, only 60 seats were reserved for Mangaloreans and the rest 120 were for Keralites who boarded from Calicut. "The seats reserved for Mangaloreans were always full, but the response was not the same from Keralites, which gave the impression that the overall response was less," said Ivan.
26/07/14 Daijiworld.com

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Emirates A380 says “Namaste Mumbai”

Emirates, which flies daily direct from Lusaka to Dubai and Harare, has commenced its first scheduled Airbus A380 service to India with a daily flight between Dubai and Mumbai. EK500 took off from Dubai International airport at 21:55 hours on 21st July, arriving at Chhatrapati Shivaji International airport in Mumbai at 02:30, covering the approximate 2,222kms at an average cruising speed of 822kms per hour.

The return flight EK501 took off from Terminal 2 in Mumbai at 04:30hrs and arrived back at Emirates Terminal 3 in Dubai, the airline’s home and hub for its specially designed A380 terminal - Concourse A, at 06.00 hours.

Emirates’ Ahmed Khoory, Senior Vice President, Commercial Operations, West Asia and Indian Ocean said: “Mumbai was one of the first destinations on our route network when we launched in 1985. Dubai and Mumbai share a rich tapestry of partnerships, business and culture. In the past 29 years, we have flown over 42 million passengers between India and the UAE and so it is quite fitting that the city becomes our 29th A380 destination. Now our customers on the route can experience the luxury, the quietness and the outstanding service onboard an Emirates A380, in addition to the other four daily services we will continue to operate to the city.”
25/07/14 UKZambians

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Man reports innocent ex-wife as ‘terrorist’ to authorities

A Queens man called 911 to report that a woman flying to New York City from India was a “terrorist” involved in a “plot” – even though she was really his innocent ex-wife, according to his Brooklyn federal court complaint.
Jacob Thomas, 51, phoned 911 twice on July 5, 2014 to falsely report that a woman named “Shakeela” was “traveling to commit some type of terrorist act,” the complaint states.
Law enforcement agents who investigated the call found that there was a Shakeela traveling to JFK Airport from India but when they met her at the airport to search and question her they found no evidence of terrorism.
Thomas had recently expressed anger that his ex-wife was visiting the US and when federal agents questioned him he apologized for wasting their time, his complaint states.
26/07/14 Josh Saul/NY Post

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Over Rs 10 million worth Gold seized from the Airport within 24 hours.

Katunayake airport customs seized a stock of gold worth more than 10 million rupees during the last 24 hours.
The airport customs seized a stock of gold worth 8.95 million rupees which were to be smuggled out of the country by two women who were scheduled to fly to Bangalore last evening.
The two female suspects arrested are aged 26 and 36 and residents of Batticaloa and Trincomalee areas.
Meanwhile, Katunayake airport customs also arrested a woman who was attempting to smuggle a stock of gold worth more than 2.2 million rupees this morning.
The suspect, who is a resident of Battiacaloa area was planning to travel to Chennai, India.
26/07/14 Hiru News

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Jet, Etihad reinforce commitment to growth of Indian aviation

Dubai: Jet Airways and Abu Dhabi-based Etihad Airways have outlined plans to reinforce their long-term commitment to the growth of India's economy and aviation industry, including a major new turnaround strategy for Jet Airways to return to profitability in three years, it has been announced.

The two airlines have been codeshare partners since 2008 and their relationship was strengthened in November 2013, after Etihad Airways received approvals to acquire a 24% stake in Jet Airways, marking it the first investment by a foreign carrier in India's airline industry.

The wide-ranging partnership has numerous advantages for travellers, including enhanced connections across the world through an expanded codeshare agreement, reciprocal 'earn and burn' rights and tier level recognition on the JetPrivilege and Etihad Guest frequent flyer programmes, said a report.

Jet Airways and Etihad Airways also stand to benefit from cost savings and synergies in areas such as fleet acquisition, maintenance, product development and training, it said.

They continue to explore collaborative purchasing opportunities for fuel, spare parts, insurance and technology support, it added.
24/07/14 PTI/Business Standard

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With Etihad on board, Jet Airways chalks profitability plans

New Delhi: Jet Airways, India's No.2 airline by market share, will look at selling planes and restructuring its debts in its quest to turn profitable in the next three years.

The airline, which suffered a loss of Rs 4,130 crore in 2013-14, said it was planning a major overhaul of its fleet and products.

"We plan to reduce losses in 2015, consolidate in 2016 and turn profitable in 2017... We are already on track as our international business has turned profitable. We now have to take our business forward," Jet's CEO designate Cramer Ball told reporters. Ball is yet to get necessary clearances to take over his position.

Like all but one of India's major airlines, Jet, in which Gulf carrier Etihad recently bought a 24% stake, is losing money fast, beset by high costs, low fares and cut-throat competition in the domestic market.
24/07/14 Daily News & Analysis

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Jet deal opens up the skies to India and beyond for Etihad

New Delhi: Jet is looking to operate non-stop flights to Europe, China, Australia, the Middle East, South East Asia and neigbouring Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, said Naresh Goyal, the Jet chairman.

“Our focus remains to develop hubs in Mumbai and Delhi,” he said.

Jet will also link more points in India to Abu Dhabi, for onward connections, besides operating its own flights beyond Abu Dhabi to North America and the Middle East, and increase frequencies to Abu Dhabi. New routes will be introduced between Abu Dhabi and Goa, Ahmedabad, Pune and Lucknow by the year-end.

Focus will also remain on the international sector as competition increases in the domestic carrier market.

“Our international operations are already profitable and contribute 45 per cent to our total revenue,” said Naresh Goyal, the chairman of Jet Airways. “We [plan to] increase the contribution to 63 per cent by 2015.”

For Etihad, the partnership means access to more than 50 destinations in India through Jet and 42 million travellers in India’s domestic market. It currently has access to 20 destinations in India.
23/07/14 Sananda Sahoo/The National

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MAS selling India MRO unit stake

Hyderabad: Malaysia Airlines (MAS) is exiting its joint-venture with GMR Group, with the later expected to fully buy over the aircraft maintenance repair and overhaul (MRO) unit near Hyderabad International Airport, the Press Trust of India reported today.
GMR Group may buy out the entire 50% stake in MAS GMR Aerospace Engineering Co Ltd now held by Malaysian Aerospace Engineering Sdn Bhd (MAE), which is fully owned by MAS, the report said.
“The decision to acquire the stake came after the Malaysian partner expressed inability to infuse more funds into the loss making MRO facility, sources said.
“MAE has informed that its parent company Malaysia Airlines has been incurring losses for the past few years. The losses have been further aggravated by the mysterious disappearance of flight MH370, the sources said.”
24/07/14 Therakyat Post

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For Emirates, Kerala leads rest of India in flights

Thiruvananthapuram: With the latest bilaterals now in force, Emirates is operating 37 flights every week into Kerala, the highest among all states in the country, said a top airline official.

Essa Sulaiman Ahmad, Emirates vice-president for India and Nepal, said the last renewal of bilaterals between the two countries was in 2008. After the new agreement this year, Emirates is operating 37 flights a week to the three Kerala airports. In all, Emirates operates 185 flights every week for the entire country.

"This is the highest that we fly into any single state in India. The total number of weekly seats into India that came into force in 2008 was 54,200 and with the recent renewal of the bi-laterals, the number will go up by 11,000 seats during the next one year," Ahmad told IANS.

"The rise would be spread over three schedules. This increased seats would be shared by Emirates and Fly Dubai," Ahmad added.
24/07/14 Daijiworld.com

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Pilots of Air India plane heard Ukraine ATC asking Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 to change direction

According to Pravda News (pravdanews.info) just before the collapse of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17, an Air India Dreamliner enroute Birmingham from New Delhi heard the Ukraine ATC ask MH17 to change route. The original story appeared on Aerotelegraph.com.

Interestingly, the two flights - Air India and Malaysian Airlines Boeing 777 - were only 25 kilometres apart at the time of the instructions from Air Traffic Control Ukraine. This amounts to a flying time of just 90 seconds. The Air India flight was trailing the MH17.

Aerotelegraph.com reports that just a few minutes before the crash, both flights received permission for deviating from the planned route.
23/07/14 Daily News & Analysis

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SITA to Introduce Enhanced Aircraft Tracking Capability in India

SITA, which provides IT and communications solutions to the global air transport industry, today discussed its innovative technology to track aircraft with leading members of the Indian airline community. SITA's AIRCOM Server Flight Tracker is being introduced to allow airlines efficiently and cost effectively track their aircraft. The solution, which is currently being evaluated by several airlines for testing, will utilize technology that is already installed in aircraft to provide advanced tracking capabilities.

SITA's new solution was discussed at the Aircraft Services Workshop jointly hosted by SITA and DGCA. The workshop was inaugurated by Shri. Ashok Lavasa, Secretary, Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) and the keynote address was delivered by Dr. Prabhat Kumar, Director General, Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA). Leaders and executives from all major airlines and airports in India attended the workshop.

The SITA AIRCOM Server Flight Tracker solution will enable interested airlines to track aircraft movement by merging SITA's airline dispatcher center system and airline operations center system (AIRCOM) Server, with its Future Air Navigation System (FANS) ground application, which is available to Air Navigation Service Providers (ANSPs). The FANS system is already installed in many aircraft, so the solution does not call for extensive additional cost or investment by the airlines.
24/07/14 Dataquest

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Flydubai announce new Mumbai service

Dubai: Flydubai announced on Wednesday that it will launch a five times weekly service to Mumbai on October 28.
The flights will operate from Dubai International’s Terminal 2 and Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport.
Dubai’s discount carrier will also increase the frequency on its Delhi route to five times weekly on October 28.
Flydubai will serve seven destinations in India with 25 flights a week when Mumbai services commence.
23/07/14 Gulf News

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Oman Air starts new service

Kochui: Oman Air has started serving the new Omani regional airport at Duqm. Oman’s Air acclaimed Embraer E175 aircraft will operate four flights a week. Salim Al Kindy, acting chief executive officer, Oman’s Air, said the service between Muscat and Duqm will support the development of this increasingly important city. As a Special Economic Zone, Duqm is playing a vital role in Oman’s economic growth and Oman’s Air service will help to both facilitate business growth in the area and attract further investment.
24/07/14 New Indian Express

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Cairo-New Delhi flights could be the boost Egypt needs

Kolkata: Egyptair will commence thrice-weekly flights between New Delhi and Cairo in October despite weakened visitorship from India.
 This comes on top of an existing four-times-weekly service to Mumbai.
 Egypt's tourism minister Hisham Za’zou commented: “Cultural tourism decreased during the last three years, especially in Luxor and Aswan. The ministry is now seeking to open new tourism markets like India to boost cultural tourism.”
24/07/14 Shekhar Niyogi/TTG Asia

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India's Jet eyes profit by 2017 with boost from Etihad

New Delhi: Jet Airways, India's second-biggest carrier, forecast Wednesday a return to profit in three years through cost-cuts, route-sharing with new partner Etihad Airways and restructuring of hefty debt. The publicly traded airline, which has not posted an annual profit since 2007, has been struggling in an overcrowded market beset by cut-throat fare wars, high fuel costs and shoddy infrastructure.
"The game plan is in place, it's now about delivery," Jet Airways' new chief executive Cramer Ball told reporters in New Delhi. "It's a three-year plan -- 2015 we will reduce losses, 2016 we will consolidate and 2017 we'll have profitability," he said.
Ball was speaking at the airline's first news conference with Etihad since India cleared in May the fast-growing Abu Dhabi airline's purchase of a 24-per cent stake in the Indian carrier for 21 billion rupees (US$330 million). Jet's shares jumped over five per cent on the turnaround plan before retreating slightly to trade up four per cent at 266.35 rupees.
Ball, an Australian, said Jet was already profitable on international routes which contribute 43 per cent of revenues, a figure he projected would rise to 63 per cent by 2015. All major Indian airlines, except leading carrier IndiGo, have been haemorrhaging money but analysts say the sector has a brighter future longer-term thanks to a fast-growing growing middle class.
23/07/14 Channel News Asia

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Jet Airways and Etihad Airways: Committed to grow India's Aviation Industry

Jet Airways, India’s premier international airline, and Etihad Airways, the national airline of the United Arab Emirates, have outlined plans to reinforce their long-term commitment to the growth of India’s economy and aviation industry, including a major new turnaround strategy for Jet Airways to return to profitability in three years.

The two airlines have been codeshare partners since 2008 and their relationship was strengthened in November 2013, after Etihad Airways received approvals to acquire a 24 per cent stake in Jet Airways, marking it the first investment by a foreign carrier in India’s airline industry.

The wide-ranging partnership has numerous advantages for travellers, including enhanced connections across the world through an expanded codeshare agreement, and reciprocal ‘earn and burn’ rights and tier level recognition on the JetPrivilege and Etihad Guest frequent flyer programs.

Jet Airways and Etihad Airways also stand to benefit from cost savings and synergies in areas such as fleet acquisition, maintenance, product development and training, and continue to explore collaborative purchasing opportunities for fuel, spare parts, insurance and technology support.

Supporting the partnership, the Jet Airways Board recently approved a three-year business plan to reshape the airline and secure its long-term future. The plan incorporates a series of critical measures that lay the foundations for a return to profitability, such as long-term network, fleet and product developments to optimise the airline’s domestic and international operations.
23/07/14 E Turbo News

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Emirates becomes 2nd airline to operate jumbo A-380 to India

Mumbai: Gulf carrier Emirates became the second airline to operate jumbo A380 aircraft to India after Singapore Airlines, with the commencement of its first daily flight to Mumbai from Dubai.

Emirates flight EK-500 took off from Dubai International airport at 21:55 hours (local time) yesterday and arrived at city’s Chhatrapati Shivaji International airport (CSIA) at 02:30 am (local time), a release said here today.

The return flight EK-501 took off from Terminal 2 of the CSIA at 04:30 am (local time) and arrived back at Emirates Terminal 3 in Dubai at 06.00 am (local time), it said.

“Mumbai was one of the first destinations on our route network when we launched in 1985. So it is quite fitting that the city becomes our 29th A380 destination. In addition to this, we will continue to operate the four daily services to the city,” Emirates’ senior vice president for commercial operations (West Asia and Indian Ocean), Ahmed Khoory, said.
22/07/14 PTI/Free Press Journal

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India Still Negotiating Dassault Jet Purchase, Defense Minister Says

New Delhi: India is still negotiating a long-delayed purchase of fighter jets from France's Dassault Aviation.
India initially agreed to the purchase of 126 Rafale fighter jets from Dassault in 2012 but the purchase has been stuck in negotiations which still continue, Defense Minister Arun Jaitley said in a response to a question in the upper house of Parliament Tuesday.
"The process of negotiation with the vendor, Dassault Aviation, for procurement of medium, multi-role combat aircraft is on," he said without giving any date by which the negotiations might end.
India in recent years has become the world's largest importer of weapons as it tries to modernize its military.
The South Asian nation depends on imports from countries like Russia, the U.S., France and Israel for most of its arms requirements, but placing orders can sometimes take years.
22/07/14 Santanu Choudhury/Wall Street Journal

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Charges dropped against Sikh for carrying Kirpan to airport

New York: A US court here has dismissed criminal charges against a Sikh man for carrying a kirpan to a city airport.

The New York City Port Authority Police Department in May had issued a criminal summons in May to Maninder Singh for carrying two kirpans through security checkpoint at the John F Kennedy International airport here.

The summons had charged Singh with violating city federal rules, which prohibit carrying of knives with blade lengths of four inches or more.

Singh had faced a USD 300 fine as well as imprisonment of up to fifteen days.

The Queens Criminal Court dismissed the criminal summons after rights group Sikh Coalition's staff attorney Gurjot Kaur represented Singh during a hearing at where Kaur explained the religious significance of Singh's kirpans and the peaceful nature of his religious practice, the Sikh Coalition said in a statement.

Kaur also argued that the law in question provides many secular and recreational exemptions, including exemptions for individuals who carry knives for fishing, hunting and camping purposes and for members of the Girl Scouts or Boy Scouts.
23/07/14 PTI/Zee News

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Indian arrested after he’s mistaken as being part of fake passport ring

Abu Dhabi: An Indian businessman travelling to Istanbul from Abu Dhabi was mistakenly arrested as a suspect in a fake passport racket bust, XPRESS has learnt. He landed in jail for reportedly giving directions to three men travelling on fake passports.
Kamala Kannan, 42, was on a visit to the UAE when he was arrested at the Abu Dhabi airport on July 11. He was supposed to board Etihad Flight EY0097 to Istanbul at nine in the morning.
He was later released on July 18 after the court found him innocent.
“I cannot believe my fate. All I did to end up in jail was to help three men, who happened to be from my native place, with directions inside the airport after the immigration check,” Kannan from Chennai, India told XPRESS.
All the three men were later found to be travelling on fake passports, and are currently in jail.
According to him, after he cleared the immigration check, three men approached him and asked for directions to Gate 39. “They were also from Chennai, and since we were all travelling to the same destination, I readily helped them with directions,” said the businessman.
23/07/14 Anjana Sankar/Gulkf News

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AI loss Rs 800 cr in sale of 5 Boeing 777 to Etihad

New Delhi: Air India made a loss of Rs 800 crore in the books, in the sale of five Boeing 777 aircraft to Etihad Airways as these aircrafts had depreciated in the books over 20 years, Lok Sabha was informed on Monday.
However, the national carrier generated a surplus of over $25 million after prepayment of aircraft loan and saved a further $5 million per month towards loan and interest repayment, Minister of State for Civil Aviation G M Siddeshwara said in reply to a question.
“The five planes were sold to Abu Dhabi-based Etihad at a price of $336.5 million,” he said. Referring to the losses, he said, “based on the book value of these planes, book loss on sale of these five aircraft would be approximately Rs 800 crores as the aircraft had depreciated in the books over a period of 20 years while the loans were amortized over a period of 12 years".
“However, the national carrier generated a surplus of $25.735 million after prepayment of the Aircraft loan when the national carrier sold these five B777-200LR aircraft,” he said. “Further, a saving of $5 million per month was generated towards loan and interest repayment, resulting in improved cash flow,” he said.
22/07/14 Deccan Herald

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No joy rides for the minister and bureaucrats of the ministry of civil aviation

No joy rides for the minister and bureaucrats of the ministry of civil aviation as the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) has rejected their request for a trip in inaugural direct Air India flight to Moscow.
Air India on Monday had its formal launch at Domodedovo International Airport (DME) Moscow. As per the ministry's plan, the first direct Dreamliner Flight that took off from Delhi on Saturday to Moscow was to carry the minister for civil aviation A Gajapathi Raju, MoS GM Siddeshwara, Secretary Ashok Lavasa and three joint secretaries from the ministry.
The ministry had written to the PMO seeking a political clearance for the trip. The letter went to the PMO about a fortnight ago. However, two days before the tour, top sources said, the PMO denied the political clearance.
The ministry did not receive any formal denial. "But it was conveyed to us on Thursday that no one including the minister would board the flight. Sending a formal denial letter would have caused more embarrassment to us," said a senior officer at the ministry of civil aviation on condition of anonymity.
Only three persons — chairman of Air India Rohit Nandan, DGCA director Prabhat Kumar and a director — were allowed to take a new flight to Moscow.
22/07/14 Daily News & Analysis

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GoAir mulls setting up MRO facility at Nagpur

Nagpur: Wadia Group-controlled GoAir today said it is mulling setting up an aircraft maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) facility at Nagpur, a top airline official said.

"We are looking at the new government's policy for the aviation sector before taking a final call on the MRO issue," GoAir chief executive Georgio De Roni said after announcing the second non-stop flight service to Kolkata from Nagpur, scheduled to take off from July 23.

At present, the airline operates one daily morning flight to Kolkata, which then proceeds to Patna.

GoAir will be acquiring 72 new aircraft over the next seven years and the MRO will serve the purpose of maintenance of its aircraft, he said adding that the plan to set up the facility at Nagpur is due to its geographical location.
21/07/14 PTI/Business Standard

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Mid-air crash blamed on systematic flaws

A woman who died in a mid-air collision had noticed flaws in the aviation industry and was trying to make changes, according to her father.
Flight instructor Jessica Neeson, 27, and student Patricia Smallman, 64, died on July 6, 2010, after their Cessna 152 collided with another aircraft near Feilding's Taonui Aerodrome.
The second plane, flown by learner pilot Monaj Kadam, landed safely. He gave evidence at an inquest in 2011 before returning to India. The latest inquest was completed in Palmerston North today.
Several witnesses provided statements to Coroner Tim Scott who also heard testimony from Captain Gary Parata. Captain Parata, an expert on mid-air collisions, gave his view of why the incident occurred.
"There's almost never one single cause that can be attributed ... it comes down to systematic issues."
A report by the Transport Accident Investigation Commission stated the two Cessnas likely collided at approximately 1400ft, as they both ascended.
Ms Neeson was about to begin teaching Mrs Smallman an overhead rejoining manoeuvre (which must be done at 1500ft) while Mr Kadam was beginning a solo flight.
Flight Training Manawatu flight instructor Apurva Bhatia was assigned to Mr Kadam that afternoon, and monitored his radio calls. She said Mr Kadam had been scheduled to fly at 3.30pm but went instead at 2.45pm.
After pre-flight checks, she returned to an office overlooking the runway and received radio calls during Mr Kadam's take-off and as he climbed past 700ft.
Moments later she heard a distress call.
"I heard 'Mayday Mayday engine failure', I then heard screaming and then nothing else," Ms Bhatia stated. "On hearing the call ... I recognised the voice as being Jessica."
21/07/14 By Alecia Rousseau of the Manawatu Guardian/New Zeland Herald

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Air India resumes Delhi-Moscow flights after 15 years

Mumbai: Air India Ltd. has restarted non-stop operations between Delhi and Moscow, Russia after a gap of 15 year, with a Boeing 787 Dreamliner. The national carrier is currently offering promotional fares on this route in both directions, as per a release. The service on the Delhi-Moscow route was suspended 15 years ago due to operational reasons.

The service on the Delhi-Moscow-Delhi sector will be available on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays. Flight AI-155 will leave Delhi at 0155 hrs to arrive in Moscow at 0615 hrs, while the return flight will leave Moscow at 0820 hrs as AI-154 and reach Delhi at 1530 hrs.

To mark the resumption of services, a function was held at Domodedovo International Airport (DME), Moscow, which was attended by the members of the Federal Assembly of Russia, State Duma; Dorokhin Pavel Viktor, Deputy Chairman, State Duma’s Committee on Industry; H E P S Raghavan, the Ambassador of India to the Russia Federation; and the Director of DME Airport Authority, among others.
22/07/14 TYravelBizMonitor

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Egypt Air to operate three weekly direct flights to Delhi

Cairo: In a bid to boost tourism, Egypt's flagship carrier Egypt Air will start operating three weekly direct flights between Cairo and Delhi from October, adding to its four flights to Mumbai.
Indian Ambassador to Egypt Navdeep Suri signed a MoU on launching direct Egypt Air flights between Delhi and Cairo with the Egyptian Minister of Civil Aviation Hossam Kamal and the Egyptian Minister of Tourism Hisham Zaazou last week.
The agreement came as Egyptian Ministries of Tourism and Aviation are trying to boost tourism by increasing flights to many cities and capitals and connect them directly with Egyptian cities.

Egypt Air will start operating three weekly non-stop flights between Cairo and Delhi from October.
"India has good relations with all world countries especially with Egypt as both people have similarities in history and civilizations," Suri said.
21/07/14 PTI/Economic Times

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US Flyer with Sat-phone Undergoes Marathon 'Inquiry'

Chennai: An American tourist who was on her way back home after visiting India, was detained at the Chennai airport after CISF guards found a satellite phone in her luggage.
As the import and carrying of satellite phones is deemed illegal by customs and the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security, she was handed over to the airport police and various intelligence agencies have been conducting an inquiry since Saturday night.
Finally, late on Monday night, sources said that the major portion of the inquiry was “done with” and after a little paperwork, she would be allowed to leave.

A police official at the airport confirmed that Margot Greer Elizabeth (27), was handed over to them with the phone - and ever since she has been speaking with officers from CB-CID and other divisions.

According to the police, she had arrived in Chennai after touring Singapore and a few other Asian countries, a week ago. “At the time of her entering the country, we do not know how they allowed her to enter with the satellite phone, but during her return flight to Chicago, the CISF found and handed her over to us,” said Airport S2 Police Station inspector.
22/04/14 Daniel Thimmayya/New Indian Express

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Air India pilots unhappy over resuming flights to Kabul

New Delhi/Mumbai:  Despite assurances from Afghan authorities, pilots both serving and retired unanimously want Air India to immediately stop flights to Kabul after the missile attack on a Malaysia Airlines flight added a new dimension.

“We hear there is political pressure or compulsion to operate flights (to Kabul) which is wrong. The DGCA should immediately ban all flights to Kabul which has come under repeated rocket attacks. Air India cannot put the lives of passengers and crew at risk,” said Captain (retd) R.S. Rosha, former director Inflight Service and Operations, Indian Airlines.

“What are we going to prove? There should not be any compromise on safety. All flights must stop. Those very keen to go there must take to the road,” a serving pilot said asking not to be named.

“In aviation we don’t take 0.001 per cent chance. Though such incidents are very rare, nothing can be left to chance. Air India should immediately stop all flight operations to Kabul,” said Capt. Rosha.

“If the Government insists, then the pilots must refuse to operate flights. The matter ends there. I think pilot unions should issue directives to members not to fly into conflict zones,” said Capt (Retd.) Girish Kaushik, a veteran pilot who had once led a week-long strike at Jet Airways.

Clarity on resuming flights to Kabul is expected on Monday when the Director General of Civil Aviation and the Air India brass return from Moscow. But, official sources reiterated that there was no pressure and Indian military flights were landing at Kabul.
20/07/14 Sandeep Dikshit/Lalatendu Mishra/The Hindu

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Flight Tracking Website Calls Out Airlines for ‘Not Flying Over Ukraine Airspace’ PR Misinformation

FlightRader24 has called out on airlines for providing misinformation about their flights over Ukraine.

The live flight tracking website tweeted that: “Several airlines that have been tracked over Ukaraine as late as yesterday, claim they have been avoiding Ukraine for months #fail.”

The tweet was made in light of the Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 tragedy, where the Malaysian plane was shot down by a surface-to-air missile while flying over Ukraine.

The 298 passengers and crew did not survive the plane crash. Investigations into the perpetrators of the incident are still on-going.

Some airlines had apparently announced that they were not flying over Ukraine on their social media accounts, which prompted FlightRader24 to respond.

FlightRader24 chose not to “point out any airlines,” but added that “an airline concerned about its safety reputation should not lie to customers.”

However, before issuing out that tweet, FlightRader24 did call out Finnish airline Finnair for claiming not to fly over Ukraine.

The airline insisted that “Flightradar is inaccurate and does not take into account the fact that the world is round. :) The route goes on the West border.”

However, a Mikko Laaksonen pointed out that Finnair did fly over Ukraine using FlightRader24's data as prove.

Following that exchange, Finnair apologized to FlightRader24 on Twitter, and blamed “a lack of precision in the internal transmission of information” for the original tweet.
Although FlightRadar24 did not call out Singapore Airlines, a number of Twitter followers pointed out that Singapore Airlines flight SQ351 was close to MH17 when the incident happened.

FlightRader24 had tweeted out shortly after the MH17 incident that Singapore Airlines flight SQ351 and Air India AI113 were “about 25 km” from the Malaysia Airlines flight when it was shot down.
19/07/14 Although FlightRadar24 did not call out Singapore Airlines, a number of Twitter followers pointed out that Singapore Airlines flight SQ351 was close to MH17 when the incident happened.

FlightRader24 had tweeted out shortly after the MH17 incident that Singapore Airlines flight SQ351 and Air India AI113 were “about 25 km” from the Malaysia Airlines flight when it was shot down.
19/07/14  Larry Ong/Epoch Times 

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Malaysian jet crash: An Air India flight was 90 seconds away when missile struck MH17

The ministry of civil aviation's claim that there was no Air India flight near the ill-fated Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 when it was shot down over Ukraine on Thursday appears misleading.

An Air India Dreamliner flight going from Delhi to BirminghamBSE 0.00 % was in fact less than 25km away from the Malaysian aircraft, a distance covered by a Dreamliner or Boeing 777 in about 90 seconds, when the latter was hit. Because of this closeness, the Dnipropetrovsk (local Ukrainian) air traffic controller asked the AI pilots to try and establish contact with pilots of the Malaysian aircraft who had stopped responding to its calls.

Minutes before the crash caused by a missile strike, the AI pilots had also heard the controller give the Malaysian aircraft MH17 what is called "a direct routing". This permits an aircraft to fly straight, instead of tracking the regular route which is generally a zig-zag track that goes from one ground-based navigation aid or way point to another. "Direct routing saves fuel and time and is preferred by pilots. In this case, it proved fatal," said an airline source.

"The AI Dreamliner was less than 25km away from the Malaysian aircraft when the latter was hit by a missile. When the pilots learnt the cause of the crash later, they were stunned. It's like the person standing next to you has been hit by a sniper bullet," said the source.
20/07/14 V Manju/Economic Times

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Pilots' group president says MH17 shot down after attempt to avoid storms

Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 was guided off its most recently used course as its pilots hoped to avoid thunderstorms brewing in the south of Ukraine, it has been claimed.

When it was shot down, the doomed jet was many miles north of the flight paths it had used on previous days to Kuala Lumpur from Amsterdam's Schiphol airport.

Nico Voorbach, a pilot who flew the same journey earlier this summer for KLM, and who is president of the European Cockpit Association, said poor weather might have been the reason why flight MH17 found itself in the sights of a surface-to-air missile launcher. The aircraft was shot down in the separatist Donetsk region of east Ukraine.

Voorbach said: "I heard that they were diverting from some showers. I think there were thunderclouds. You would ask air traffic control to divert left or right, and they would give you the permission."

It also emerged that flight MH17 had initially filed a flight plan requesting to fly at 35,000ft above Ukrainian territory. On entering Ukrainian airspace, however, the plane's pilots were instructed to fly at 33,000ft by the local air traffic control due to other traffic. Malaysia Airlines said the pilots had to follow the lead of the local authorities.

Malaysia's transport minister, Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai, told a press conference: "MH17's flight path was a busy major airway, like a highway in the sky. It followed a route which was set out by the international aviation authorities, approved by Eurocontrol, and used by hundreds of other aircraft.

"MH17 flew at an altitude that was set and deemed safe by local air traffic control, and it never strayed into restricted airspace. The flight and its operators followed the rules. But on the ground, the rules of war were broken."

In response to claims that weather led to MH17 changing its flight plan, Malaysia Airlines director of operations Izham Ismail said that it had no reports from the pilot to suggest that this was the case. The airline has been keen to stress that after the International Civil Aviation Organisation in April identified an area over the Crimea peninsula as risky, its aircraft had "at no point" flown into or requested to fly into the area. The tragedy has, however, raised questions over the wisdom of commercial airlines continuing to fly over conflict zones.
19/07/14 Daniel Boffey/The Guardian

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Air India resumes flights to Kabul, SpiceJet to stay away

New Delhi:  India’s communication link with Kabul resumed on Saturday after being suspended for two days following the July 17, 2014 attack on Kabul airport.

“We are operating the flight today and we will be operating it normally,” said Air India officials even as some of its pilots in Mumbai opposed “political pressure” to resumption of flights without fail-safe measures.

Indian civil aviation authorities maintained there was no such pressure and have passed on the onus of resumption of flights to Kabul to the two airlines of which SpiceJet has publicly announced suspension of operations. Public carrier Air India did not fly to Kabul on Thursday, the day gunmen attacked the airport with rocket propelled grenades and automatic gunfire, and the next day.

They also said Afghan authorities had assured them about enhanced security measures at Kabul airport that include surveillance on all high rise buildings overlooking the airport, increased patrolling and more mock exercises.

Afghan sources in New Delhi maintained that the airport was safe and this had been conveyed to the Indian authorities. “Now it is up to them,” said an Embassy official.
19/07/14 Sandeep Diksht/Lalatendu Mishra/The Hindu

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Did Jet Airways, Air India fly over Ukraine? Airlines say no, sat data says yes

Jet Airways and Air India statements that they have been avoiding air space over Ukraine ever since the crisis began is the hottest talking point among aviation experts.

On Friday, a day after the Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 was shot down by a missile over Ukraine, both Airways stated: "Jet Airways would like to assure its guests that none of the Jet Airways flights to and from Europe fly through the Ukrainian airspace ever since the conflict began and we continue to avoid the Ukrainian airspace in the prime interest of the safety of our guests".

A civil aviation ministry statement said almost the same thing about Air India. "There was no Air India flight near the ill-fated Malaysia Airlines plane at the time of the incident," it said/

Travel enthusiasts rubbish the claims, saying data from flight tracking websites clearly show a Jet Airways flight along the same route, just two hours before MH17 was shot down.

Devesh Agarwal, an aviation enthusiast who scanned satellite-based flight tracking websites like FlightAware, PlaneFinder, and FlightRadar24, found Jet Airway's statement to be false .

"Radar-tracking data shows that Jet Airways flight 9W119, which departed from London at 8:39am on July 17 for Mumbai, flew almost the same air corridor north-east of Donetsk over the village of Shakhtars'k, the crash site of MH17, just about two hours before the ill-fated airliner was blown out of the sky," he said in his blog bangaloreaviation.com.

The flight-tracking websites are based on a system, under which on-board electronic equipment sends data about an aircraft's position via the Global Positioning System (GPS).
21/07/14 Shahkar Abidi/Daily News & Analysis

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Indian carriers join global peers in diverting, canceling flights over Ukraine, to Kabul

Mumbai:  India's airlines joined their global peers in rerouting flights outside the Ukraine airspace and cancelling operations to Kabul, amid instances of terror in both places.

"The ministry of civil aviation has informed that Air India and Jet Airways have issued orders to divert their flights from the conflict zone of Ukraine," said a government statement.
 Separately, Jet Airways announced that none of its continue to "avoid the Ukranian airspace,"

Earlier in the day low-fare carrier SpiceJet it has stopped flying to Kabul temporarily because of security issues. A spokesman at Air India said flights to the destination have been cancelled.

The shunning of Ukranian airspace comes after a Malaysian Airlines operated Boeing 777 flight crashed near the village of Grabovo killing close to 300 passengers and crew on board. There have been claims that the aircraft was shot down by separatist forces.

Other airlines IndiGo, SpiceJet and IndiGo don't fly over that airspace.
19/07/14 Sangita Mehta & Anirban Chowdhury/Economic Times

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Safe for Indian aircraft to over-fly Afghanistan-Pakistan region, Iraq?

With criticism mounting against Indian carrier Air India for over-flying Ukraine despite indications that it may have been risky, this week attention also focused on whether Indian authorities ought to reconsider airline flight paths crossing the Afghanistan-Pakistan region and perhaps Iraq.

Speaking to The Hindu John Goglia, an aviation safety expert in the U.S., said that some Western carriers do avoid this region and there was little doubt about the presence of MANPADS, or man-portable air-defence systems, in the area.

Malaysian Airlines 17 was brought down over eastern Ukraine on July 17 using a sophisticated missile system such as the SA-11 or SA-17 Buk 2, which according to reports is “fielded by a number of countries.”

Unlike MANPADS the Buk surface-to-air missile (SAM) system requires either a wheeled or a tracked chassis and “can engage aircraft at anywhere from altitudes of roughly 32 feet to 78,000 feet, putting flight MH17 easily within range,” the Washington Post reported.

Bruce Riedel, Senior Fellow at the Saban Center for Middle East Policy at the Brookings Institution said to The Hindu, “The good news is, no, SA11s are not available [in the Afghanistan-Pakistan region and] MANPADS SAMs cannot hit civilian aircraft at their usual flying altitude, but they can at take off and landing when they are very vulnerable.”
19/07/14 Narayan Lakshman/The Hindu

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Skyfire Threatens to Burn Down the World

New Delhi: The picture was heart-rending; a Russian soldier examining a teddy bear that belonged to a child amongst the wreckage of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17, shot down over Ukraine last Thursday. That child could well have been an Indian.

According to Flightradar24, the 24x7 global flight-tracking service, an Air India passenger (AI-113) was flying just about 25 km from the ill-fated Malaysian aircraft. The numbers tell the tale — the lives of 192 Dutch, 29 Malaysians, 28 Australians, 12 Indonesians, 10 Britons, four Germans, four Belgians, three Vietnamese, three Filipinos and one person each from the United States, Canada, New Zealand and Hong Kong were extinguished along with MH17. This is excluding the flight crew. The flight manifest is a bloody reminder of how civil wars affect the entire world today — not just on the ground, but also in the air.

Data from Aviation Safety Network suggests that at least 66 civilian aircraft were shot down by terrorists in the last two decades, killing over 1,416 people, since the first such incident was recorded on February 21, 1973. On that day, the Israeli Air Force had shot down Libyan Airlines Flight 114, which had strayed into the Jewish state’s air space.

Meanwhile, the world is watching a stand-off between Russia, which backs the anti-Ukranian government rebels who shot down the plane, and the Western alliance of the United States, United Kingdom, Europe and Australia, which is demanding a transparent investigation and absolute access to the crash site.

Putin blames the West for the crash, because it supports the Ukrainian government. “This tragedy would not have happened if military operations had not resumed in south-east Ukraine,” he said.

India, meanwhile, is treading carefully with long-term ally Russia. The government has so far referred to the MH17 incident only through condolence letters from Prime Minister Narendra Modi to his Malaysian and Dutch counterparts.

In his letters, Modi hoped that the circumstances which led to the crash are “established quickly”.

What has puzzled aviation experts is why MH17 chose to fly over the troubled region of eastern Ukraine. Indian officials said they altered the route of the country’s aircraft only after rebels shot down MH17.
20/07/14 Yatish Yadav/New Indian Express

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Ethiopia Airlines has named its new Dreamliner Taj Mahal

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia - In what is being seen as a recognition of the heavy traffic generated on its routes to the Indian subcontinent, the flagship carrier of the East African nation of Ethiopia has named its newest Boeing 787 Dreamliner after India’s most famous monument.

The Ethiopian Airlines (ET) has named its eighth 787 Dreamliner after the Taj Mahal, Mughal emperor Shah Jahan’s monument of love to his wife. This is the first time that the airline has named an aircraft of its Dreamliner fleet after a historical or heritage site outside of Africa.

ET has named its previous seven Boeing 787s as Africa First, Lucy, Queen of Sheba, Lake Tana, Walia Ibex and Serengeti, all Ethiopian and African sites.
21/07/14 Ethiosports

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How Close was Modi to the Ill-fated Malaysian Airlines MH17?

There are different theories on how close Prime Minister Narendra Modi was, when he was aboard the Air India One that flew over Ukraine on Thursday, the day Malaysian Airlines MH17 crashed.
One report suggests that Modi's Air India flight would have flown over the zone where the Malaysian Airlines MH-17 was shot down.
While Modi is said to have not been in danger, his plane was scheduled to fly over the Ukraine Flight Information Region just an hour after the ill-fated MH-17, reported The Hindu.
"There was no danger to the PM's plane, but obviously the area that they would have flown over would have been the same. The pilot would have to decide whether to divert over Russia or the Black sea instead," an aviation official told the newspaper.
However, a Times of India report suggests that Modi had flown out of Ukraine just minutes before MH17 exploded mid-air and came crashing down, and that the Air India plane was on the farthest flight path from it.
Air India One, that was flying Modi back from Frankfurt to Delhi was almost 200km away from MH17's assigned airway, an official told TOI, and was flying on the "Mike 991" aerial route, which is said to be in the south of the country and the farthest from the conflict zone in the northeastern part of Ukraine.
19/07/14 Mugdha Variyar/International Business Times

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Modi flew out minutes before MH17 crash

New Delhi:  Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 was shot down minutes after Air India One flying Prime Minister Narendra Modi back from Frankfurt to Delhi flew out of Ukraine on "Mike 991" — the aerial route farthest from the troubled country's conflict zone.

On the aerial route between flight paths given to Air India One and MH17 over Ukraine was another AI flight (AI113) winging its way from Delhi to Birmingham with 126 people on board. AI 113 was the closest companion to MH17 in its last minutes along with a Singapore Airlines aircraft returning home from Copenhagen.

While both AI planes flew over Ukraine almost around the same time, the airline says neither of them was in any danger. AI sources say Air India One (Boeing 747) and AI 113 (Boeing 787) were away from the aerial path of MH17.

"The airway (aerial route or highways in air allotted to different airlines for flying) of AI113 was almost 75km away from MH17 and its flight path. Air India One was almost 125 km away from the flight path of AI 113 and 200km away from MH17's assigned airway. The conflict zone in Ukraine has been in the country's north.
19/07/14 Times of India

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Ukraine crash may be 'act of war' for insurers

Mumbai:  The fact that the ill-fated Malaysian flight MH17 was brought down by a missile may trigger the war exclusion clause, which will mean that aircraft insurers pay only towards compensation for victims. General Insurance Corporation (GIC) of India is part of the consortium of worldwide underwriters which have covered the airline. The underwriters may term the crash an 'act of war', sources said.
Bulk of the claim arising out of an aviation accident is not the cost of the aircraft but the compensation paid to the victims. Given that there were 295 passengers on board, the total liability claim could be in the region of $400 million or Rs 2,400 crore. GIC's share is 3-4% of the total claim. But since that the reinsurer has protection for losses over $6 million, which ensures that the maximum balance sheet impact is limited to Rs 36 crore due to the liability claim. Although the cost of a new aircraft is a little over $300 million, insures said that the hull claim for the 17-year Boeing 777 would be in the region of $100 million.
Insurance brokers say that the issue of whether the plane was downed because of an act of war could get contentious since officially none of the countries are war. There is a possibility that the airline might make a claim for terrorist attack since there is a likelihood that the missile was fired by rebels.
19/07/14 Mayur Shetty/Times of India

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Malaysia Airlines tragedy to impact aviation insurance

Mumbai: The shooting down of a Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 in Ukraine might lead to an increase in insurance premium rates in war-risk category, according to experts. They say insurers are likely to insist on riders or ask for higher premium for war risk from airlines flying to and over troubled areas such as Ukraine.

The aircraft that crashed over eastern Ukraine, MH17, killing all 298 on board, is the second loss for the airline in four months. In March another Malaysia Airlines aircraft, MH370, had mysteriously disappeared in the Indian Ocean.

In the latest incident, Malaysia Airlines’ lead reinsurer is likely to pay the claim arising out of the crash. This would mean an increase in premium going forward, said experts. However, the risewould be marginal as there are several reinsurers who can offer cover at competitive prices. Besides, insurance companies will need to discuss the measures and such riders could be introduced only after a consensus.
19/07/14 M Saraswathy & Aneesh Phadnis/Business Standard

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UN Aviation body: It is not our job to warn nations about dangers of missiles

The UN civil aviation body said on Friday it was not responsible for issuing warnings about potential dangers such as military conflicts, saying that duty fell to individual nations.
The role of the International Civil Aviation Authority (ICAO) has come under scrutiny after a Malaysian airliner was shot down by a missile on Thursday over eastern Ukraine, killing 298 people.
Montreal-based ICAO rejected suggestions it should have issued a warning about the potential dangers of flying over the area.
"ICAO does not declare airspace safe or unsafe or undertake any other direct operational responsibilities with respect to civilian air services," said spokesman Anthony Philbin.
"It is always the responsibility of our sovereign member states to advise other states of potential safety hazards."
Asked whether ICAO would ever issue warnings about the dangers of missiles, he replied: "It's not our job."
Malaysia's transport minister said earlier that ICAO had shut down a route over eastern Ukraine after the disaster. ICAO said it did not have the power to open or shut routes.
ICAO did issue a warning to airlines in April about flying over Crimea in the wake of the Russian invasion but it cited potential problems with conflicting air traffic controllers, not the risk of violence. The warning was not an order but rather said "consideration should be given to measures to avoid the airspace".
19/07/14 Daily News & Analysis

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Jet crash rekindles MH370 families' grief, suspicion

Kuala Lumpur: The latest Malaysia Airlines disaster has rekindled the grief of MH370 relatives who say the new crash bears out their furious criticisms of the nation's flag carrier and government.

Flight MH17, a Boeing 777-200, went down in strife-torn eastern Ukraine on Thursday with 298 passengers and crew, mostly Dutch citizens.

The tragedy has reopened the deep emotional wounds caused by the March 8 disappearance of flight MH370, whose fate remains one of the biggest aviation mysteries ever.

Many of them have repeatedly accused the airline and Malaysian government of withholding information and of suspicious conduct in handling the probe into the disaster.
19/07/14 AFP/Zee News

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Indian Prime Minister condoles MH17 crash deaths

New Delhi: India Friday condoled the death of 298 people, including an Indian-origin crew member, who were on board the ill-fated Malaysian passenger plane which was shot down by suspected pro-Russian rebels over the Ukranian airspace on Thursday.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi issued a statement this morning, expressing his grief over the incident, while Parliament paid homage to the victims by observing a minute's silence.

"Our thoughts and prayers are with the families of those who lost their lives on board Flight MH17. We stand with them in this hour of grief," Modi, who returned to India last night after his trip to Brazil for a BRICS summit, tweeted this morning.

Coincidentally, the PM's Air India-One was reportedly on the same route as the ill-fated Malaysia Airlines plane which was flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, but about an hour behind the flight MH-17. After the crash, Modi's flight was re-routed, among many other planes.
18/07/14 S. Moitra/Times of Oman

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Asian airlines stopped flying over Ukraine months ago

The Malaysian airliner apparently shot down over rebel-held eastern Ukraine was flying over airspace that a number of other Asian carriers had already abandoned months ago because of security concerns.
South Korea's two main airlines, Korean Air and Asiana, as well as Australia's Qantas and Taiwan's China Airlines said they had all re-routed flights from as early as the beginning of March when Russian troops moved into Crimea.
"We stopped flying over Ukraine because of safety concerns," Asiana spokeswoman Lee Hyo-Min said.
Korean Air moved its flight paths 250 kilometres (160 miles) south of Ukraine from March 3 "due to the political unrest in the region", an official for the carrier told AFP.
A Qantas spokeswoman said its London to Dubai service used to fly over Ukraine, but the route was changed "several months ago", while Taiwan's China Airlines diverted its flights from April 3.
Asked why Malaysia Airlines had not taken similar precautions, the Malaysian prime minister Najib Razak said international air authorities had deemed the flight path secure.
"The aircraft's flight route was declared safe by the International Civil Aviation Organisation. And (the) International Air Transportation Association has stated that the airspace the aircraft was traversing was not subject to restrictions," he said.
Re-routing would have involved a longer flight-time and therefore higher fuel costs.
19/07/14 Telegraph

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Fare hike likely after flights re-routed

New Delhi: The downing of Flight MH-17 is expected to force airlines across the world to reassess routes over trouble spots and decide whether they would charge more for the longer flights that will burn more fuel.

Air India and Jet Airways claimed they had re-routed their flights to several destinations in Europe almost three months ago to avoid strife-torn eastern Ukraine.

Air India, the national carrier, said it had diverted the route of its flights to London and Paris when the conflict in the area first flared up.

Jet Airways scrambled to soothe fears by posting a note prominently on its website that said its planes did not fly anywhere near Ukraine.
 19/07/14 Karan Choudhury/ABP Live

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An Air India flight was near MH17: Technology nails Indian Ministry's lie

Australian honeymooners Simone La Posta and her husband Juan Jovel will be eternally grateful they chose to fly Malaysia Airlines MH17 from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur a day earlier than scheduled because they didn't want to be too jetlagged for work on Monday.
If they had taken MH17 on Thursday, they would have been dead now. And in what should send a chill down Indian spines, it turns out that an Air India Boeing 787 Dreamliner (registration VT-ANB) flying from Amritsar to Delhi and then to Birmingham in the UK was just around 25 kms away from the ill-fated Malaysian Boeing 777-200.
According to another aviation website Flightstats.com, the Air India 787 departed the gate at Delhi at 1:34 PM yesterday, a minute before scheduled time and landed in Birmingham 3 minutes before schedule at 5:57 PM GMT.
A file photo of the crash site. ReutersA file photo of the crash site. Reuters
A Singapore Airlines Boeing 777-200 (the same type of aircraft as the downed Malaysian one) flying from Copenhagen in Denmark to Singapore was also in the vicinity of MH17 and would actually have been at almost the same altitude as MH17 because it was on the same route heading eastwards.
The Air India 787 which was flying westwards was a full 7,000 feet higher at 40,000 feet at the Ukraine-Russia border because aircraft flying in opposite directions maintain different levels to avoid the danger of the mid-air collisions. In aviation terms when an aircraft is travelling at a speed of around 900+ kms an hour, 25 kms is almost nothing and it does seem like it would have been sheer chance that the trigger happy shooter shot down MH17.
See the full flight track of AI 113 yesterday here.
However, the Indian Ministry of Civil Aviation in a release issued earlier today claims there was no Air India flight near the ill-fated Malaysian plane at the time of the incident.
Do we trust the Ministry of Civil Aviation or do we trust Flightradar24, a real-time flight tracking service that provides live information about thousands of aircraft around the world at any given point of time and from which you can also replay your flight's path from a day or two ago?
Indian bureaucrats will not like it, but the source to be trusted here is Flightradar24, because ADS-B transponder data does not lie and neither does multilateration (MLAT). Flightradar24 has a network of 3,000 plus ADS-B receivers around the world. The service is also helped by 4,000 plus aviation enthusiasts with ADS-B receivers who feed data to Flightradar24's network.
18/07/124 Ivor Soans/First Post

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Indian flights asked to avoid Ukranian airspace

New Delhi: Indian civil authorities have ordered rerouting of Europe and US-bound flights to avoid Ukrainian airspace where a missile brought down a Malaysian Airlines flight.

"We have issued orders that all flights will avoid Ukraine airspace. The safety of the passengers is paramount," said Air India Chairman Rohit Nandan in a text message. This was followed up by statements by the Ministry of Civil Aviation.

Besides confirming fresh instructions about avoiding eastern Ukraine, the Ministry denied reports from airline tracking website Flightradar24 that showed other commercial aircraft including an Air India flight was 24 kms away when the Malaysian airline crashed over Ukrainian airspace.

Indian civil authorities had issued instructions shortly after Eurocontrol, the European flight safety body closed the airspace in Eastern Ukraine to all airline flights. As a result, Prime Minister Narender Modi’s special flight and hundreds of other flights were diverted from the flight path over which the Malaysian Airlines flight was shot down.
18/07/14 Sandeep Dikshit/The Hindu

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Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 crash: Why was a passenger plane flying over a conflict zone in Ukraine?

The Boeing 777 downed in Ukraine with the loss of 295 passengers was flying just 1,000 feet above a “no-fly” zone covering the troubled region, The Independent has learned.

Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 was on a routine flight from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur when it crashed, apparently after being hit by a missile.

The jet was travelling east across Ukraine along an airway designated A87. Eurocontrol, the co-ordination centre for air-traffic control in Europe, said: “This route had been closed by the Ukrainian authorities from ground to flight level 320 [32,000 feet] but was open at the level at which the aircraft was flying.” The plane was flying at the lowest permitted altitude over the area, flight level 330 [33,000 feet], when it disappeared from the radar.

Since the crash, all the airspace of eastern Ukraine has been closed to civil aircraft until further notice. Flight plans submitted by pilots are automatically checked against closed areas of airspace. Eurocontrol said: “All flight plans that are filed using these routes are now being rejected.”
As the security situation in Ukraine deteriorated in April, the US Federal Aviation Administration issued a warning to American pilots and airlines operating in the region. The “Notam” (Notice to Airmen) ordered “Exercise extreme caution due to the continuing potential for instability”.

Nevertheless, civil aviation continued to fly over the conflict zone, along airways that normally carry thousands of passengers on dozens of flights each day.

Since the news broke, many passengers have expressed astonishment that commercial flights should be routed over a conflict zone such as eastern Ukraine. One traveller, Nicholas Eeley, said: “I cannot believe that civilian aircraft blithely overfly active battle zones. How bad does it have to get to order a fly-round?”
The aviation expert, Chris Yates, said: “It beggars belief that a large passenger aircraft could be brought down in this way.”

“There have to be questions asked of the European safety authorities and why they didn't route aircraft further north.”

Civil aircraft constantly “squawk” - transmit their identity and flight information to notify air-traffic controllers and other pilots. Technology available to anyone with a smartphone allows aircraft easily to be tracked - with real-time details of airline, flight number, heading and altitude provided.
18/07/14 Independent, UK

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There was no threat to PM's aircraft: Aviation minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju

New Delhi: Government on Friday said there was no threat to Air Force One, the aircraft that flew Prime Minister Narendra Modi back from Germany over the airspace where Malaysian Airlines plane was shot down yesterday.
"I think that is speculation .... There was no danger to our PM's aircraft. No problem. On Air Force One, the flight data is on foreign radar," Civil aviation minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju told reporters when asked whether there was any threat to the PM's plane which flew over the same airspace.
The Prime Minister returned last night after his trip to Brazil for the BRICS Summit.
"What happens is that whenever any air route (for a VIP aircraft) is finalised, the countries involved get to know about it. If you don't keep them informed, there is another type of problem," he said.
18/07/14 PTI/Times of India

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MH17 plane crash: who are the pro-Russian separatists blamed for incident?

Ukraine's security service has released intercepted phone calls which it says are proof that that Russian-backed separatists are to blame for shooting down the plane.
Mr Oliphant said that the intercepted recording of rebel commanders “does seem to implicate whoever was involved”.
He said: “They speak Russian, at least one of the people meant to be speaking is a very well known Russian commander called Igor Vesler.
“However, it is impossible to verify the veracity of that recording. It falls into the Ukrainian narrative a little too conveniently.”
Speaking from Ukraine, Mr Oliphant gave his analysis of the situation: “It looks like the plane was shot down by some kind of missile.
"The question is who fired that missile. There are three suspects - the Ukrainians, the Russians or the separatist rebels.
“We didn’t think the rebels had anti-aircraft missiles capable of reaching that altitude, of about 10,000m.
“It is worth noting that the pro-Russian rebels in eastern Ukraine have shot down quite a few transport planes, quite a few Ukrainian jets. All of those were flying at a much lower altitude than this.”
18/07/14 Camilla Turner/The Telegraph

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MH17 crash: Swapping shift cost ethnic Indian flight steward Sanjid Singh Sandu his life

Kuala Lumpur: Swapping shift with a colleague cost ethnic Indian flight steward Sanjid Singh Sandu his life.
41-year-old Sanjid had switched his shift with a colleague on the ill-fated Flight MH17 from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur which was shot down over Eastern Ukraine on Thursday.
All 298 people on board were killed in the crash. According to his distraught father Jijar Singh, Sanjid's mother had planned to cook her son's favourite dishes upon his arrival in Penang, Malaysia.
"My son spoke to me over the phone just before his flight. I didn't know that would be my last conversation with him. What has happened has happened," Jijar, with tears flowing, told reporters at his house in Penang.
Jijar and his wife received the news from their daughter-in-law, who is also a flight stewardess at Malaysia Airlines, the Star newspaper reported.
He said Sanjid, fondly known as Bobby, was his youngest child and only son.
18/07/14 PTI/Times of India

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MH17 Shot Down: Air India, Jet Airways to Avoid Airspace Over War-Torn Ukraine

New Delhi: New Delhi:  Indian carriers, Air India and Jet Airways, will avoid the airspace of war-torn eastern Ukraine following a directive issued to them by the DGCA in the wake of reported shooting down of a Malaysian airliner in which all 295 people on board were killed on Thursday.

The aviation regulator, Director General of Civil Aviation issued instructions to Air India and Jet Airways, the only two Indian carriers that fly to Europe and North America, to avoid Ukrainian airspace while flying to and from destinations in both the continents, official sources said in New Delhi.

An Air India official said they would abide by any international advisory "to avoid airspace over conflict zone like Ukraine".

Airlines have to take a call on there routing to America and European destinations.There are several routes to go to the US and Europe and airlines have to take a call whether to abide by global aviation advisory on the such issues, sources said.
18/07/14 NDTV

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Air India flight with 126 on board was right behind MH 17

New Delhi: When Malaysia Airlines' MH 17 was shot down over Ukraine on Thursday night, an Air India flight with 126 passengers was right behind it. The flight, AI 113 en route from Birmingham to Delhi, and a Singapore Airlines flight flying home from Copenhagen were both about 25 to 50 nautical miles (40 to 80 km) behind the ill-fated Malaysian Boeing 777.

This gap, say pilots, is covered in less than five minutes. Both the planes clearly had a narrow escape.

A senior AI official, however, said that the Dreamliner operating as AI 113 was to take a different route. "AI director (operations) SPS Suri had issued a directive to avoid Ukraine's conflict zone ever since hostilities broke out in the region. We were taking a route that did not fly over the worst affected area that has been recognized as the conflict zone. But after the attack we have decided to avoid Ukraine completely," said an official.
18/07/14 Saurabh Sinha/Times of India

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PM’s flight was close behind

New Delhi: Officials say they have no information of any Indians on board the ill-fated MH-17 flight that crashed over Ukraine on Thursday. However, Prime Minister Modi's flight could possibly have been in the same corridor as MH-17 just a short while later.

MH-17 came down at Torez, near Shakhtersk, some 40 km from the Russia border in Ukraine after going off the radar at 1320 gmt. The PM 's flight Air India-001 took off from Frankfurt at 1122 gmt, and the flight time to Donetsk would be approximately 3 hours. That would have put him right over the Ukraine Flight Information Region (FIR) about an hour later.

"There was no danger to the PM's plane, but obviously the area that they would have flown over would have been the same. The pilot would have to decide whether to divert over Russia or the Black sea instead, " said an aviation official, who couldn't confirm which of the options were employed.

The area has been the scene of fighting between Ukrainian troops and pro-Russian rebels for the past few months..
18/07/14 Suhasini Haidar/The Hindu

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Indian-Origin Steward On-Board MH17, says Father

Kaula Lampur:  An Indian origin flight steward was among the fifteen crew members on-board the Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 that was shot down over Ukraine, Malaysian media reported on Friday.
According to Sanjid Singh Sandu's father Jijar Singh, Sandu was not supposed to be on MH17 as he had switched his shift with a colleague, the Malaysian Star reported.

His mother had planned to cook Sanjid's favourite dishes for him upon his arrival in Penang.

Sanjid was Jijar's youngest child and only son. "He last came home last month," Jijar said.

"My son spoke to me over the phone just before his flight. I didn't know that would be my last conversation with him," Jijar added.

Sandu's parents received the news from their daughter-in-law, who is also a flight stewardess with Malaysia Airlines at 4 A.M on Friday.
18/07/14 Indo-Asian News Service/NDTV

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Authorities Confirm No Indians Aboard MH17

Indian civil aviation authorities said Thursday there were no Indians aboard the Malaysia Airlines 3786.KU -11.11% flight that went down in eastern Ukraine near that country’s border with Russia.

The plane was carrying 283 passengers and 15 crew members when it was struck by a ground-to-air missile in an area of conflict between the Ukrainian government and pro-Russian separatists, according to U.S. intelligence agencies. It is unclear who fired the missile.

The crash follows the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 in March. There were five Indians aboard that flight.
18/07/14 Wall Street Journal

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SpiceJet cancels Kabul flights following spate of attacks at airport there

New Delhi: Budget carrier SpiceJet has from Friday cancelled its flights to Kabul due to a spate of attacks at the airport in the Afghan capital city. The Kabul airport faced a rocket attack on July 3 when a SpiceJet aircraft was taxiing to take off for Delhi and then the airport was again in the line of fire on Thursday.

"In view of the security situation in Kabul and its airport, SpiceJet has decided to temporarily suspend our Kabul flights until the situation improves... we have decided to take this step as the safety of our passengers and crew is of paramount importance to us. We will offer passengers a full refund and will also try to request other airlines that operate to Kabul to accommodate them if they still desire to travel," a SpiceJet statement said.

On July 3, over 100 passengers were on the Delhi-bound plane when the rocket was fired.
18/07/14 Saurabh Sinha/Times of India

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IAA takes Afghan aviation professionals under its wing

New Delhi: India has been approached by the United Nations and Afghanistan to train aviation professionals in the war-torn country where the international body is in the process of handing over airports.
The Indian Aviation Academy (IAA), a wing of the Airports Authority of India (AAI), is now imparting training to civil aviation professionals associated with airport operations in Afghanistan.
Senior functionaries from the United Nations Office of Projects Services (UNOPS) and Afghanistan government held a meeting with AAI Chairman Alok Sinha on Wednesday to work out the modalities to conduct the training.
Presently, a batch of officers from Afghanistan is undergoing a two-month training in airport management at the IAA’s Delhi facility. The training of this batch ends on July 25, a senior official said.
As per the IAA calendar for 2014-15, Afghan officials are the only foreigners for whom a training programme is scheduled.
16/07/14 Deccan Herald

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SpiceJet launches Ktm-Bagdogra-Kolkata flight

Kathmandu: SpiceJet is launching scheduled flights between Kathmandu and Kolkata via Bagdogra starting August 13.
Issuing a press statement on Wednesday, the company said it has opened bookings at an introductory promotional fare starting at Rs 199 plus fees and taxes.
"This offer from Kathmandu will be valid on the first 4,000 seats sold on a first come, first served basis. The fares from Kathmandu to Kolkata via Bagdogra start at Rs 5,078 plus statutory taxes and fees," the airline said in the statement.
SpiceJet will fly on the route three times a week on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. With the introduction of the flight, SpiceJet will become the first Indian carrier to operate international flights between Kathmandu and Bagdogra.
16/07/14 Republica

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Air India Express flight to be restored to Dubai from July 22

Pune: The Air India Express flight , which till recently was operating from Pune to Sharjah , will now be restored to Dubai with effect from July 22. Announcing the new time table, the Air India authorities in a release stated that flight schedule for Air India Express flight IX 212/211 will remain effective from July 22 to Oct 23, 2014.

Air India Express, which is a low-cost airline subsidiary of national carriers Air India (AI) had shifted its Pune-Dubai direct flight service to Sharjah from May 1 in view of the partial closure of runway at the Dubai International Airport. But on Tuesday, they announced resuming the normal operations. The flight will continue to operate thrice a week on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays as it had been doing in the past.
17/07/14 Daily News & Analysis

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Thales eyes Indian market with cooperation from HAL

Bangalore: French aerospace major Thales plans to expand business in India in cooperation with defence behemoth Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL).

"Thales has expressed desire to work with us to expand its business in India," a HAL official said Thursday from London, where the state-run enterprise is participating in the ongoing week-long Farnborough international air show.

Thales chief executive Jean-Bernard Lavy, who called on HAL chairman RK Tyagi on the occasion, said he would visit Bangalore later this year (November) to explore the business potential in the Indian defence sector. The $13-billion multinational partners with HAL in upgrading the Mirage 2000 fighters of the Indian Air Force and extends knowhow to its multiple-platforms.

"Lavy favoured structuring our engagement over a long-term than being associated with each project case-by-case," the company said in a statement later.
17/07/14 PTI/Economioc Times

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Tech Mahindra ties up with US varsity to collaborate on aviation R&D

New Delhi: The country’s fifth largest software services firm Tech Mahindra has inked a pact with US-based Wichita State University (WSU) to collaborate in the areas of aerospace engineering, certification, information technology and automotive testing.

Tech Mahindra will collaborate with WSU and its National Institute for Aviation Research (NIAR), the largest academic aviation R&D institution in the US, on multiple areas of engineering including composites, advanced materials and structural testing, it said in a statement.

“I strongly believe that this synergy can help reach the next level of solution offerings to our marquee customers, addressing their custom needs and industry-specific requirements in the areas of certification and testing,” Tech Mahindra Head of Americas (Aerospace and Defence) Krishna Balasubramaniam said.

The Indian IT firm plans to invest in equipping engineering talent available in the region to enhance their employment opportunities in the Wichita aerospace community.
17/07/14 Business Line

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India closes in on $20 billion Rafale deal

New Delhi: Unruffled by the last-ditch bids being made by countries like the US, UK, Germany and Sweden to wade into the "mother of all defence deals", India is quietly continuing its final negotiations for acquiring 126 French Rafale fighters in the almost $20 billion MMRCA (medium multi-role combat aircraft) project.

Defence ministry sources on Monday said another meeting of a sub-committee of the ongoing CNC (contract negotiation committee), which includes representatives from MoD, IAF, DRDO and Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), is slated to take place on July 17-19 in Bangalore with the French companies led by Dassault Aviation.

As reported by TOI last month, the complex negotiations have now finally reached a stage from where they can be wrapped up in the next three months, with over 50% of the final contract as well as the inter-governmental agreement already finalized. "After that, it will be a political call. The approval process will go right up to the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) before the contract can be inked," said a source.
16/07/14 Rajat Pandit/Times of India

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GE Aviation, SpiceJet sign flight efficiency services contract

Kolkata: SpiceJet Airlines has selected GE's Flight Efficiency Services (FES) to support its fleet of 52 Boeing 737 and Bombardier Q400 aircraft. GE will provide flight data analytics and fuel management to optimize the airline's operational efficiency with the goal of substantially reducing fuel expenses for the airline.

"India has among the highest jet fuel prices in the world," said Alan Caslavka, president of avionics & digital systems for GE Aviation. "We are excited about the partnership with SpiceJet and look forward to working with them to realize substantial savings."

Deliveries for the program will begin in late July 2014. GE's FES, which is widely recognized as the premium product in its class and in fuel efficiency management software worldwide, is used by a large number of leading airlines worldwide. Its introduction at SpiceJet aims to help the airline reduce its annual $600 million fuel bill, which is the largest cost component for airlines in India.
15/07/14 Subhro Niyogi/Times of India

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British cos show interest to partner with HAL for Regional Transport Aircraft programme

Bangalore: Industries in Britain would be interested to partner with Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) in India's Regional Civil Aircraft programme, a senior British trade official has said.

The message was conveyed by Carole Sweeney, Director of UK Trade & Investment (UKTI) to a delegation from HAL at a business meeting at the ongoing Farnborough International Air Show in Britain (July 14 to 20), HAL said in a release here.

UK industries would do their best in their known areas of expertise and skills if given an opportunity and they will play a critical role in the success of the programme, she was quoted as having told the HAL executives.

HAL Chairman R K Tyagi said soon Request For Proposal (RFP) would be issued for the engine of the aircraft as 11 bidders have already responded to the recent Request For Information (RFI) issued for the 70-90 seater civil aircraft engine.
15/07/14 PTI/Economic Times

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Indian carriers got traffic right on 17 new intl route: Govt

New Delhi: Government has granted traffic rights to Indian airlines on 17 new international routes since last May, including Kolkata-Guangzhou and Delhi-Tehran sectors.

Expressing hope that these rights would give a major boost to Indian carriers, Minister of State for Civil Aviation G M Siddeshwara said in Lok Sabha that these rights were granted to private Indian airlines after considering the operational requirements of national carrier Air India.

The other sectors for which traffic rights have been granted since May 2013 are Chandigarh-Dubai, Madurai-Dubai, Madurai-Kuala Lumpur, Bagdogra-Kathmandu, Hyderabad-Riyadh, Bangalore-Abu Dhabi, Hyderabad-Abu Dhabi, Ahmedabad-Abu Dhabi, Goa-Abu Dhabi, Lucknow-Abu Dhabi, Pune-Abu Dhabi, Bangalore- Tehran, Chennai-Doha, Hyderabad-Doha and Lucknow-Doha.

The guidelines for allocation of these rights on global sectors are done to provide a level-playing field to all eligible private airlines while retaining the primacy of the national carrier, as also the availability of traffic rights under respective bilateral air services agreements with the respective countries, Siddeshwara said.
14/07/14 PTI/Business Standard

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Boeing to replace AI Dreamliner windshields

New Delhi: After a series of incidents of cracks in windshields in Air India’s Dreamliners, manufacturer Boeing has said that it is developing a new design with improved features.

Boeing has also promised to replace the old windshields, Civil Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapati Raju informed the Lok Sabha in a written reply on Monday. Four cases were reported between November 3, 2013 and June 17, 2014.

“Ongoing investigations by Boeing indicates that moisture ingress has resulted in an increased rate of occurrence of cracking on non-structural outer glass ply, which does not affect the safety of the aircraft due to windshield’s multiple-layer construction,” Raju said.
The first case was reported on November 3 in a Delhi-Melbourne flight after landing there, while the second incident took place on a Mumbai-Delhi flight on December 14.

The other incidents took place on Frankfurt-Delhi flight on May 9 and the fourth on Delhi-Kolkata flight on June 17.

Raju also said that till June, out of 9,902 take offs involving Dreamliners, 318 instances of service delays attributed to technical snags have been reported.
15/07/14 Deccan Herald

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Etihad adds San Francisco flights using Jet Airways 777s

Etihad Airways will make San Francisco its sixth destination planned for the USA, saying it will launch daily nonstop service to its Abu Dhabi hub Nov. 18. And, in an unusual move, Etihad will operate the route using the aircraft of its Indian partner, Jet Airways.
Etihad's current U.S. destinations are Chicago O'Hare, Los Angeles, New York JFK and Washington Dulles. And, on Dec. 3, Etihad will begin nonstop service to Dallas/Fort Worth.
"The United States has been placed at the heart of our network development this year, with services launched to Los Angeles last month and flights commencing to Dallas in December 2014," Etihad CEO James Hogan says in a statement. "San Francisco is another strong addition and provides our first direct link to Northern California."
Etihad's new San Francisco service will be launched with the help of Jet Airways, one of several carriers in which Etihad has an equity stake.
"The route will be initiated using their Boeing 777-300ER aircraft through a lease agreement," Hogan says in the airline's statement. "The flights will be operated by Etihad Airways and its crew."
14/07/14 Ben Mutzabaugh/USA TODAY 

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Jet Airways to start flight to Vietnam

Mumbai: Jet Airways will introduce a flight to Ho Chi Minh city in Vietnam in November, the airline informed travel agents today. This will be the airline's 22nd international destination.In 2011 Jet Airways had signed a MOU with Vietnam Airlines to co-operate in commercial, technical, and training areas.
Currently there is no direct air link between India and Vietnam.
14/07'/14 Business Standard

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Airlines: Nod for 17 routes abroad

New Delhi: The Government has granted traffic rights to Indian airlines on 17 new international routes since last May, including Kolkata-Guangzhou and Delhi-Tehran sectors.

Expressing hope that these rights would give a major boost to Indian carriers, Minister of State for Civil Aviation GM Siddeshwara said in the Lok Sabha that these rights were granted to private Indian airlines after considering the operational requirements of national carrier Air India.
14/07/14 Business Line

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Delay in Air Arabia flights to India to dent RAK airport’s passenger target

Ras Al Khaimah International Airport will come in at the lower end of its target for passenger numbers this year, the airport’s chief executive says.
Mohammed Qazi said the airport is being hamstrung by delays on the part of Indian authorities processing paperwork that would enable flights to India by Air Arabia, which has succeeded the defunct RAK Airways as the emirate’s flagship carrier.
Before the India delay, RAK airport had expected 250,000 to 400,000 passengers to pass through its gates this year.
Mr Qazi says the delays mean the lesser of those figures is the airport’s new target.
“Of course, the 250,000-400,000 passengers that were expected was based on the route to India. If this doesn’t happen, we will expect 250,000 passengers,” he said.
He added, “It has been five months since we applied [for approvals]. It shouldn’t take this long.”
Air Arabia started operations from RAK airport on May 6 with the launch of flights to seven cities. Calicut in India was part of its operating plan, but it is still waiting necessary approvals from the Indian authorities.
14/07/14 Shereen El Gazzar/The National

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Air India restructured operations to Dammam since 2012: Government

New Delhi: Air India withdrew and restructured several domestic and international flights, including those to and from Dammam, Toronto and Sharjah, since 2012 as it was not able to recover fuel and other variable costs on these routes.

Since 2012, the national carrier has restructured operations to Dammam and launched daily frequencies from Delhi which enabled the airline "to reduce its losses to a very large extent", Minister of State for Civil Aviation G M Siddeshwara said in the Lok Sabha.

The flight on Amritsar-Delhi-Toronto route was also stopped due to recurring losses to the tune of over Rs 126 crore, which subsequently came down to a loss of Rs 20 crore, he said in reply to questions.

Its services to Sharjah from Amritsar and Lucknow were restructured with subsidiary and no-frill carrier Air India Express, which had "a low cost base", starting operations, the Minister said.
14/07/14 PTI/Economic Times

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Wipro Infra ties up with global aviation companies for components

Bangalore: Wipro Infrastructure Engineering (WIN), the privately-owned business of Azim Premji, has strengthened its presence in the aerospace segment through partnership with two global aviation majors to manufacture high precision components. WIN expects more opportunities with the likely opening of the sector to foreign investors.
WIN had opened a facility to manufacture aerospace actuators components at Devanahalli on the outskirts of Bangalore in February 2013 and has two global customers. One of them is CESA, a subsidiary of EADS and the pact involves transfer of technology as well as manufacturing aerospace actuators and related precision engineering components. WIN did not name the other aviation customer.
This has set the stage for WIN to use this manufacturing facility. Speaking to FE, WIN CEO Pratik Kumar said, “The opportunity is huge and we are well positioned with a strong platform to take our growth going forward.”
15/07/14 PP Thimmaya/Financial Express

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Post Cancer Treatment in Chennai, Omani Women Dies En Route Home

Chennai: In a tragic end to her tale, a 68-year-old Omani woman who was flying back to Muscat after receiving treatment for cancer at a hospital in Chennai, had a sudden heart attack just before boarding her plane.
Alaami Maryam, who had flown down ?to the city to receive advanced cancer care at a private hospital around a month ago, was apparently returning because there had not been too much of a change in her condition.
Along with her two sons, the woman had checked in for her flight to Muscat, Oman Airways flight WY 552 and had made it to the security hold area and was awaiting the boarding call. "A little before 7 am, she began to complain of breathlessness and she clutched her chest. Her sons called for help and we rushed her to the airport's emergency medical centre," said a police official, who was on duty this morning. Sadly, her breathing had stopped by then.
Even as her 7.20 am flight was boarded and left on time, the doctors attempted in vain to revive the elderly lady, but with little success.
15/07/14 New Indian Express

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