JetLite to get 3,000th 'next generation' B737

It's been a rough couple of months for workers at Spirit Aerosystems in Wichita. But Wednesday, they finally had something to celebrate. Spirit reached a milestone in their partnership with neighboring Boeing by delivering their 3,000th 737 fuselage. It's a feat accomplished just 11-and-a-half years after the plane first went into service.
The 3,000th 737 airplane it will go to Indian carrier Jet Lite later this year.
Employees at the Wichita plant started building 'Next Generation' 737's in the late 1990's. Even one of the engineers working on that first plane and now this 3,000th plane couldn't imagine reaching this milestone.
"It was worth walking out here to see this 3,000th just to say I saw it," said Darrel Bishop, a Spirit engineer. "It was not even in our dreams at the time we delivered the first one that we would build this many airplanes."
The first 737's, now called the classic, entered service in 1968, but with the Next Generation models came new technology and engineering methods. That gave the plane a new life. The Boeing 737 is considered the world's most popular and reliable commercial jet transport airplane.
Right now, more than 2,700 Spirit employees work on the 737 program, building 31 of these fuselages every month for Boeing.
02/07/09 Chris Frank/Kake.com, USA

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Slowdown doesn't stop AI shopping spree in US

New Delhi: As Air India struggles to pay salaries on time, over 20 officials of the state carrier are in France and the US to take delivery of three brand new aircraft.
Officials have left for Toulouse and Seattle to finalise the purchase of a Boeing 777 for Air India and two Airbus aircraft (A-320) for Indian Airlines, Nation Aviation Company of India Limited (Nacil) sources told DNA. The aircraft will be flown to India sometime this week.
"On the one hand, Nacil CMD Arvind Jhadav is struggling to get the Rs15,000 crore bailout package from the government, while on the other hand, Nacil officials are in Seattle and Toulouse witnessing the pre-delivery checks of the aircraft," Nacil sources said.
However, Nacil officials in Mumbai and Delhi are displeased with the management's decision. "It is strange that the management would not defer the delivery of the aircraft, but rather delay the salaries of over 40,000 employees," a senior Nacil official said.
The national carrier has 150 aircraft, the largest fleet in the country. It had placed orders for 111 new aircraft (68 Boeing and 43 Airbus) in 2005 at an estimated cost of Rs45,000 crore. Four more aircraft Boeing 777 will be delivered this year.
Ironically, despite Nacil's financial mess the management insists it will continue with the fleet expansion plan process.
While the economic meltdown has forced airlines worldwide to defer the delivery of new aircraft, Nacil officials and civil aviation minister Praful Patel seem to be unaffected by the prevailing crisis.
30/06/09 Yogesh Kumar/Daliy News & Analysis

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Second UK city battle over Indian air link

Manchester is locked in a dogfight with Birmingham to reinstate a direct air route to India.
Manchester Airport, which carries more routes than any other handler in the UK, last week invited senior figures from the Indian aviation industry to a panel to encourage them to revive direct services to the subcontinent.
Currently, Indian-based airlines only fly direct to London after canning services to Manchester in the late 1990s and to Birmingham last year. Although there is interest from airlines such as Kingfisher in serving another UK city, the decision may rest on which city is considered the UK's second city by decision-makers in India.
Dilip Kakar, UK finance manager at Kingfisher, and Shashi Kant Kaundal, a representative for state airline Air India, faced demands from senior British Asian business leaders to reverse their decision to abandon direct flights to Manchester. "I think people in India still believe that Birmingham is the second city," one audience member said. "Let me tell you right now that it is not. Manchester is."
29/06/09 Regeneration & Renewal, UK

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Show-cause notice issued to Nacil for service tax on Haj ops

Mumbai: The anti-evasion wing of India’s service tax department last week issued a show-cause notice to state-owned National Aviation Co. of India Ltd (Nacil), which runs Air India, asking for an explanation about the non-payment of around Rs100 crore service tax on the special flights it operates for the Haj pilgrimage.
According to data from the ministry of civil aviation, the total cost of the airline’s Haj operations in 2008 was around Rs847 crore, of which Rs147 crore came from 15-year-old fixed fares of Rs12,000 per pilgrim, while the rest is subsidized by the government.
The show-cause notice comes at a time when the cash-strapped Nacil is seeking up to Rs15,000 crore in bailout funds from the Union government for fiscal 2010, nearly four times the amount sought last year; the airline is likely to post a loss of at least Rs4,000 crore in 2008-09.
A show-cause notice is not an indictment, and only requires the company, in this case Nacil, to explain its position, typically within a month.
According to an official at the service tax department, the service tax liability pertains to non-scheduled air transport of passengers from India to an international location. The official asked not to be named because he is not the official spokesperson for the department.
The total cost of the airline’s Haj operations in 2008 was about Rs847 crore, ministry data shows
Under service tax regulations, non-economy class international journey is a taxable service. Any aircraft operator that provides scheduled or non-scheduled transport in any class other than economy must pay the service tax. There is no economy class in aircraft meant for non-scheduled transport of passengers.
Nacil is the coordinator for Haj operations. On behalf of the government, Nacil also leases planes and handles other logistics operations.
29/06/09 Khushboo Narayan and P.R. Sanjai/Livemint

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IAF equipment confiscated at Helsinki airport

New Delhi: An Indian Air Force cargo of aircraft equipment to Moscow has been confiscated at Helsinki airport by Finnish Customs after it was found without valid papers.
The consignment was on a Finnair flight from Mumbai to Moscow when it was stopped during transit at Helsinki on May 28, Defence Ministry sources told PTI here on Monday.
Even after a month of the incident, the consignment is still in the custody of the Finnish authorities and diplomatic efforts are currently in progress to secure the release of the consignment.
"Aircraft equipment was on its way to Moscow, where it was to be repaired by the Russians. At the Helsinki airport, the equipment was found without documents and was confiscated by Finnish authorities," they said.
"The cargo included 19 crates of aircraft parts weighing around 1,700 kg and unservicable spares of Russian origin aircraft fleet," they added.
The transportation of military hardware and obtaining clearances for the consignments was the responsibility of an official travel and transportation agent.
"The agents are responsible for making travel and transportation arrangements for the Defence Ministry and by fault, they seemed to have failed in obtaining the valid documents for the consignment this time," sources said.
After being informed about the seizure of IAF consignment, the Indian High Commission in Finland took up the case with Finnish authorities to get the equipment released.
29/06/09 PTI/The Hindu

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Passengers wait for over eight hours as Virgin Atlantic first delays, then cancels flight

New Delhi: London bound passengers on a Virgin Atlantic flight, VS 301, had to spend over eight hours at the Indira Gandhi International Airport on Monday after the airlines staff said the flight could not take off due to technical problems. Being made to wait for two hours inside the aircraft, passengers alleged harassment and lack of information from the airlines’ staff, who they said had no information on the status of things.
The flight, which was scheduled to take off from the IGI Airport at 1.15 pm, was delayed initially by two hours. “After three hours we were told there will be another 10-minute delay as the aircraft had developed a technical problem,” said a passenger.
The passengers said they were made to board the flight at 5 pm, but it never took off. They were asked to disembark the plane at 7.30 pm and were at the airport till 9.30 pm.
“There are children and elderly in the flight. The elders travelling alone are finding it hard to cope with such a situation. No refreshments have been provided to us, we have now been at the airport for over eight hours,” said Hussain Ozyurtcu, an NRI passenger who was in India for a friend’s wedding.
30/06/09 Indian Express

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Indian carriers take Air France crash hit

Mumbai: The crashed Air France aircraft has taken a toll on Indian carriers, whose finances are already under strain.
Private carrier Kingfisher Airlines has had to pay around 37 per cent higher premium to renew its annual cover. And the fear of a similar increase has forced Air India — the state-owned airline that has sought government bailout as it is finding it tough to pay salaries — to defer renewal by three months.
Unlike Vijay Mallya-promoted Kingfisher, Air India’s insurance cover has a clause that allows it to extend renewal by up to three months.
Kingfisher, which is holding talks to raise funds due to mounting debt and losses, has paid over Rs 50 crore ($10.5-11 million, since the payment was in foreign currency) to insure 74 aircraft, as against around Rs 38 crore ($7.9 million) that it paid last year. The airline purchased a $3.09 billion (around Rs 15,000 crore) insurance cover from ICICI Lombard which was effective from June 24, said insurance industry sources.
Indigo’s annual cover is scheduled to come up for renewal on July 31. While National Aviation Company, which flies under the Air India brand, did not respond to a questionnaire e-mailed on Saturday, Indigo could not be reached for comment.
In response to a questionnaire from Business Standard, a Kingfisher spokesperson said: “Our insurance costs are not comparable with last year as we have inducted five wide-body A 330 aircraft and commenced flying internationally, where liability insurance is very high.”
K Ramachandran, executive director, Boda Insurance Brokers, which is among the biggest reinsurance brokers in India, said that typically, premium rates were indifferent to addition of new aircraft or an airline’s move to fly outside its home market.
According to industry sources, Jet, which renewed its insurance cover at the start of the financial year, managed to do without paying a higher premium.
“The Air France crash is expected to provide a $600-$700 million hit (to global insurance companies), which is 40 per cent of the total premium collected, and therefore hardening of reinsurance rates was evident. We had seen prices go up from $2 billion to $4 billion after the 9/11 attacks (in the US),” said ICICI Lombard Reinsurance Head Rajiv Kumaraswamy.
Since January, there have been eight aviation-related claims, which have affected the market.
30/06/09 Shilpy Sinha/Business Standard

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‘H1N1 screening at Delhi’s IGI airport not exhaustive’

Chandigarh: Just as the panic-stricken foreign returned Indians are making a beeline to get themselves admitted in the isolation wards of city hospitals to rule out the possibility of an H1N1 infection, it is the screening system, or the lack of it, at international airports in the country that have come under the scanner.
Dr Nitin Jain narrates his flight experience to China and back. “As the airplane landed at Beijing airport, an announcement asked us to remain on our seats. Four doctors, wearing masks and gloves and equipped with remote sensing temperature recorders, scanned all the passengers. It took about 8 to 9 minutes to scan the whole aircraft. At the airport, several staffers were seen wearing masks and gloves while paramedics and quarantine counters had also been set up. The health information forms that were distributed in the flight had to be submitted at these counters where a thermal imaging camera scanned the person’s body temperature again. Passengers with abnormal temperature were separated and their samples collected.”
He added: “It was, however, a different scene altogether at the IGI airport. After clearing immigration counters, health declaration forms were given to us to be filled. Boredom seemed to be the mood as form after form was stamped without even looking at the passengers. No infrared thermal cameras or other temperature measuring equipment was seen anywhere.”
30/06/09 Indian Express

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Airlines continue to fly high

Air travel remained a large and growing industry worldwide until last year. This year, its prob lems are compounded by the adverse effect on the industry caused by the global financial crisis and lately the swine flu menace that is spreading from country to country. Adding to the worsening situation are fuel prices that are rising once again and may result in various airlines introducing or reintroducing fuel surcharges. British Airways and Air India are not alone in asking staff to take salary cuts or delays in them being paid.
However, air travel has not taken as hard a beating as expected. Business and leisure travelers continue to fly, although not as frequently as they used to. Governments have been taking steps to promote air travel as it facilitates economic growth, world trade, international investment and tourism.
Business travel in particular had maintained a rising graph as companies became increasingly international in terms of their investments, supply and production chains and customers. The rapid growth of world trade in goods and services and international direct investment also contributed to growth in business travel.
In the leisure market, the availability of large aircraft made it convenient and affordable for people to travel further to new and exotic destinations. Governments in developing countries realized the importance of tourism to their national economies and encouraged the development of resorts and infrastructure to lure tourists from the prosperous countries in Western Europe and North America. In the case of Saudi Arabia, there has been the remarkable growth of religious tourism, funded by increasing prosperity of Muslims around the world and who can now comfortably afford to go on pilgrimage.
Nevertheless, the International Air Transport Association (IATA), which represents some 230 airlines comprising 93 percent of scheduled international air traffic, has revised its airline financial forecast for 2009 to a global loss of $9 billion. This is nearly double the association's March estimate of a $4.7 billion loss, reflecting a rapidly deteriorating revenue environment. IATA also revised its loss estimate for 2008 to $10.4 billion from the previous estimate of $8.5 billion.
Recession is the most significant factor impacting the industry's bottom line. IATA's revised forecast sees revenues declining an unprecedented 15 percent ($80 billion) from $528 billion in 2008 to $448 billion in 2009.
Air cargo demand is expected to decline by 17 percent. In 2009, airlines are forecast to carry 33.3 million tons of cargo, compared to 40.1 million tons in 2008. Passenger demand is expected to contract by eight percent to 2.06 billion travelers compared to 2.24 billion in 2008. The revenue impact of falling demand will be further exaggerated by large falls in yields -- 11 percent for cargo and seven percent for passenger.
The industry fuel bill is forecast to decline by $59 billion to $106 billion in 2009 (which will probably impact on oil prices). Fuel will account for 23 percent of operating costs with an average price of oil at $56 per barrel (Brent). By comparison, the 2008 fuel bill was $165 billion (31 percent of costs) at an average price of $99 per barrel.
Over the last decade, labor productivity in the industry improved by 71 percent. Fuel efficiency increased by 20 percent and load factors rose by seven percentage points. The dramatic downturn in demand could push nonfuel unit costs higher, which cannot be cut in proportion.
The industry crisis is making liberalization even more critical.One encouraging factor in the aviation industry is that there were fewer accidents in 2008. The total number of fatalities from aviation accidents dropped from 692 in 2007 to 502 in 2008.
This resulted in a 56 percent improvement in the fatality rate from 0.23 fatalities per million passengers to 0.13 per million passengers. This year, so far, the figure is 348 deaths in commercial passenger planes, the large bulk perishing in the Air France tragedy at the beginning of the month.
28/06/09 TradingMarkets

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Airline alliances differ in strategy

Although global alliances in the airline industry seem to only look to have more members, strategies can vary. OneWorld wants to concentrate exclusively on quality members. “Size does not matter. We really favor quality over quantity,” said John McCulloch, managing partner of OneWorld, during the recent IATA meeting.
The alliance recently announced the integration in 2010 of S7 -Russia’s largest domestic carrier with a growing international activity. “S7 offers all the guarantees in terms of quality and reliability. The airline will definitely enhance the OneWorld brand,” said Gerald Arpey, CEO of American Airlines.
Mexicana is another airline due to join before the end of the year. Mexicana recently reopened flights to Europe to complement the network of its future partners British Airways and Iberia.
McCulloch said he remains cautious about OneWorld including new partners. “We still need partners in Brazil, China and India. For China, we have been for a long time in discussion with China Eastern in Shanghai. However, due to the reshaping of air transport by China, it might take a while before we come to a new agreement. We are also in talk with Kingfisher and Jet Airways in India but it is still too early to make any announcement,” he added.
Once a deal inked with a Chinese and Indian partner, McCulloch does not see any other partnership in Asia. “ We do not focus Southeast Asia as we estimate to have already a good network and strong partners such as Qantas in the region,” said McCulloch.
OneWorld’s main weakness –when compared to Star Alliance- is probably its relatively lack of visibility for consumers. The alliance has recently launched a communication campaign in Europe and started to paint some aircraft in OneWorld colors. It has officially asked the government to be granted an anti-trust immunity pact on North Atlantic routes by US and European aviation authorities. The pact should include American Airlines, British Airways, Iberia and Royal Jordanian.
Meanwhile, competitor Star Alliance continues to integrate new members with a target of 26 carriers in 2010 compared to 21 today. The alliance will soon take on board Air India, Brussels Airlines, Continental Airlines, TAM (Brazil) and – last announced- Aegean Airlines (Greece). Rumors indicate the integration of further partners in Africa.
29/06/09 Luc Citrinot/eTurboNews

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Chandigarh to become international gateway

Chandigarh: Travelling abroad from Punjab and Haryana will not mean travelling to Delhi anymore with Chandigarh airport being upgraded to an
international airport. The first flight for Dubai will take off July end.
Sunil Dutt, director of Chandigarh airport, said: "We have got confirmation from Fly Dubai. They have got permission from the union civil aviation ministry to fly a daily direct flight to Dubai from Chandigarh."
"The first international flight to Dubai will fly from here somewhere in the last week of July and the ticket rate is kept around Rs 3,500 to 3,600," Dutt said.
Fly Dubai is a low-cost carrier of Emirates Airlines.
Chandigarh international airport will replace the old domestic Chandigarh airport as the region's second international airport after the Raja Sansi International Airport in Amritsar.
The new airport is likely to give a big boost to the region's economy and facilitate travel for a large number of non-resident Indians (NRIs), who currently use New Delhi's Indira Gandhi international airport. It would largely serve the international passengers from the states of Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh.
"The area of the new building will be five times more than the previous one. After 1974, it is for the first time that Chandigarh airport is undergoing such a big scale renovation," Gagan Malik, construction in-charge of the new building of Chandigarh International Airport, said.
Atul Sareen, managing partner of Sky Airways, a registered international travel agency with its offices in Chandigarh and the US, told IANS: "There is a big rush of passengers who want to travel to Dubai from this part of the region so this flight is expected to get a good response."
29/05/09 IANS/Times of India

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Alpine Air signs pact

Kathmandu: Alpine Air has signed airport ground handling agreement for its Delhi operation with Air India SATS Airport Services on Friday in Kathmandu. Surendra Malla, chairman and managing director of Alpine Air, and Simon NG, president, marketing, Air India-SATS, signed the pact, states a press release issued by airlines on Saturday. Zenith Group has already been appointed as a general sales agent of Alpine Air for Nepal.
Earlier, Alpine Air entered into a marketing agreement with Inter Globe Enterprises Ltd India for its sales in India. Inter Globe has under its portfolio, various air transport, IT and hospitality related companies, along with Indigo Airlines, a domestic carrier of India. The release also says Radix International Inc, USA, will be hosting Computer-based Reservation System (CRS) with web-based e-ticketing.
27/06/09 Republica, Nepal

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Airports alerted after bomb threat on flight to Saudi Arabia

Kochi: Security personnel at the International Airport here swung into action after the Jeddah office of Saudi Airlines alerted the Bureau of Civil Aviation Securities (BCAS) about an anonymous bomb threat to a flight operating from India to Saudi Arabia.
Saudi Airlines authorities reportedly informed the BCAS of the threat, the authenticity of which could not be confirmed, airport sources said.
The BCAS subsequently alerted all the airports in the country about the threat, the sources said adding that, it was also not clear whether the threat was to any specific flight, they said.
Security measures have been strengthened in and around Kochi airport from Friday night onwards. Additional CISF and Police Personnel have been deployed.
28/06/09 ExpressBuzz

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Mallya taps Abu Dhabi royal for Kingfisher funds

Mumbai/Bangalore: Vijay Mallya, the UB group chairman, has reached out to Abu Dhabi's Al-Nahyan royal family for a possible investment in the debt-laden Kingfisher Airlines, people familiar with the development told ET. Mr Mallya is personally leading the talks with the family, which controls a number of sovereign funds with an estimated value of more than $500 billion, they added.
Kingfisher Airlines has notched up losses of over Rs 1,000 crore thanks to sluggish demand, high jet fuel costs and a debt load of Rs 8,000 crore. It badly needs equity of at least $400 million to meet operational costs and pay down some of its debt.
People close to the development said discussions are at a very preliminary stage and the board of Kingfisher Airlines is not yet involved. Details such as the amount of stake and the price have not yet been broached, they added. Mr Mallya’s UB group will retain management control with at least 26% stake, going forward.
Mr Mallya has raised significant debt in the four-year-old airline, often extending personal guarantees, but raising further debt may not be easy unless more equity is added. The current promoter holding in Kingfisher Airlines stands at 66%, giving Mr Mallya enough room to bring in new investors. Kingfisher shares rose 2% to end at Rs 50.90 on BSE on Friday.
Kingfisher has been looking to raise equity for a long time but a combination of bad market and high price expectations prevented the deal from happening. TPG Capital and Indigo Partners are among the funds that the airline was talking to. The company is also banking on the government opening up the aviation sector to foreign airlines.
27/06/09 Rumi Dutta & Boby Kurian/Economic Times

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Increase in India-Gulf flights brings down fares

New Delhi: The high profitability of the route, growing business ties, and the constant movement of labour between India and the Gulf region is helping airlines from both sides to steadily increase the number of flights being operated, lower fares — and make money from the operations.
On the Bangalore-Dubai route, while Emirates is offering a return fare of Rs 15,100, on Kingfisher, a return fare costs around Rs 15,700.
On the other hand, a flight to the Gulf region is about 2-3 hours and the average fare is about Rs 12,000-14,000.
India-US flight is covered in about 17 hours with a fare of about Rs 40,000-45,000.
Kingfisher Airlines became the newest entrant starting a daily flight between Bangalore and Chennai from Thursday, while FlyDubai, a Dubai-based low-cost airline will begin services to three cities here including Coimbatore from July 15
FlyDubai, on the other hand has fares starting at Rs 4,700 including all taxes from Coimbatore to Dubai. The ticket price includes all taxes and one piece of hand baggage, weighing up to 10 kg a passenger.
26/06/09 Ashwini Phadnis/Business Line

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Three of family isolated with swine flu fears

Kolkata: A family of three from Duliajan in Assam, including a five-year-old girl, was sent to the Beliaghata Infectious Diseases Hospital late on Thursday after it was suspected they were suffering from swine flu.
The girl and her parents landed at Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose International Airport in a Thai Airways flight after spending a vacation in Bangkok. After landing at 12.50 am, they underwent the mandatory medical check-up.
The check-up revealed that they had fever. The child had a runny nose, pain in the joints and slight breathing trouble. As a seven-year-old girl suffering from swine flu had reached Kolkata from Australia via Bangkok on Tuesday, the doctors at the airport took no risk. "Their symptoms prompted us to quarantine them," said A C De, the medical officer at the airport.
At the ID Hospital, the family was kept at an isolation ward. Their throat swabs were sent to the National Institute of Virology (NIV), Pune, for tests. The results are expected in two days.
27/06/09 Times of India

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Air India revises Kozhikode - Jeddah flight schedule

Kozhikode: Air India (AI) will originate its flight to Jeddah in Saudi Arabia from Kochi, instead of Kozhikode from July 1, 2009, due to operational reasons. As per a revised schedule issued by the airline, flight AI 963 on all days, except Tuesday and Fridays, will depart Kochi at 1655 hrs and reach Kozhikode at 1740 hrs. It will leave Kozhikode at 1850 hrs and arrive Jeddah at 2145 hrs local time, informed an airline release.
The return flight will operate from Jeddah on all weekdays, except Mondays and Thursdays. Flight AI 962 will depart Jeddah at 2315 hrs and land at Kozhikode at 0715 hrs the next morning, the release further added that the flight would leave Kozhikode at 0815 hrs and reach Kochi at 0900 hrs. As the present the Friday flight has been shifted to Sundays, passengers holding bookings on that day were advised to advance or postpone their journey, the release added.
26/06/09 TravelBizMonitor

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Birmingham wants Air India to resume flights

London: Business and civic leaders in the west Midlands have urged Air India to resume direct flights from Birmingham to Amritsar in view of increasing trade links of the region with India and demand from the people of Indian-origin in the region.
Air India stopped its direct flights on the Birmingham-Amritsar sector in October 2008 to focus on its routes to and from Heathrow. Mr Joe Kelly, chief executive of the Birmingham airport that recently gained permission for expansion plans, said: “It is economically important when you consider that Tata, who bought Jaguar Land Rover, cannot fly direct to Birmingham from India. This is the single most important transport priority for the entire region”.
While flights between India and Europe are governed by the agreement, those to the UK are governed by the bilateral civil aviation agreement between the two countries.
26/06/09 The Sikh Times, UK

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Delta Moving Nonstop India Flight Back to New York

Atlanta: A year after its launch, Delta Air Lines Inc. is moving its nonstop flight from Atlanta to Mumbai, India, back to New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport.
The flight will be moved effective Oct. 24, Delta spokesman Kent Landers told GlobalAtlanta.
Last August, the the newly announced route was heralded by economic development groups and business leaders as an important step in building ties between India and the Southeast. The flight took off from Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport on Nov. 1, 2008, carrying a Georgia trade delegation.
Three days before the maiden voyage, India's U.S. Ambassador Ronan Sen announced in Atlanta that India would open a consulate here by the end of 2009. Three weeks after the flight began, Delta temporarily suspended service because of the terrorist attacks in Mumbai.
Top Delta leaders noted in a June 11 memo to employees that the economic downturn had caused a restructuring of the global route map for the world's largest airline. CEO Richard Anderson said Delta would cut international capacity by another 5 percent on top of the 10 percent reductions it announced last year. Nonstop flights to Shanghai, China, and Seoul will be suspended beginning Sept. 1.
For Mumbai, that meant moving the flight back to New York, where the biggest pool of customers are.
Metro Atlanta Chamber President Sam Williams told GlobalAtlanta in an e-mail that even without the Delta flights, the chamber's efforts to lure business from China, South Korea and India, will continue.
Atlanta travelers still have one-stop access to Mumbai through JFK and to Shanghai through Detroit, Delta's Mr. Landers said. Travelers really only lose a few hours by taking those transfers, he said.
25/06/09 Trevor Williams/Global Atlanta

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165 ornamental fish worth Rs 2L sent back to Singapore

Chennai: Customs officials at the Chennai airport on Thursday sent back at least 165 ornamental fish, found in a suitcase, to Singapore. The officials found the suitcase on Wednesday night and alerted the bomb detective and disposal squad (BDDS). According to sources, the fish are worth Rs 2 lakh in the international market.
Indian Airlines flight (IC 558) from Singapore with more than 200 passengers landed at 11.40 pm on Wednesday. After all the passengers left, officials noticed a suitcase lying on the conveyor belt. A closer check revealed that the flight tag had been tampered with. The officials then called up the BDDS officials who declared that there was no explosive material inside. Later, customs officials opened the suitcase and found at least 165 ornamental fish in three plastic bags. The officials initially decided to send the fish to an aquarium but later, given the rising fears over the H1N1 spread, decided to send them back to Singapore from where they had been brought.
26/06/09 Times of India

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Houston Mayor White informed months ago of foreign airport projects

Houston Mayor Bill White was informed nearly a year and a half ago that a nonprofit arm of the Houston Airport System was heavily involved in building and running airport facilities in several other countries, public records show.
The mayor, who last month helped spur the sudden retirement of longtime airport system chief Richard M. Vacar, was told in mid-January 2008 that the airport system and its top officials were involved in airport projects in Dublin, Ireland, and Mumbai and New Delhi, India, along with a proposal to build a new airport in Denton County, Texas, and to take over Chicago’s Midway Airport if it were privatized.
Also on that list were the Houston Airport System’s possible involvement in privatizing six airports in Colombia, and developing a new facility at V.C. Bird International Airport in Antigua, an airport named for the father of the man who “knighted” Houston financier Allen Stanford.
White signed off on that project list but added a handwritten amendment to it, requiring that Houston airport officials charge a “substantial premium” for the services they were offering to the outside airports, and that they provide the city with quarterly profit-and-loss statements for the nonprofit. Click here to see part of the list signed off on by White.
The mayor has said that he had increasing concerns in the weeks leading up to Vacar’s departure about the extent to which Houston Airport System employees worked for the nonprofit.
The work by Vacar and other Houston airport officials in support of their overseas operations continued to grow after the mayor signed that letter. While documents show that Houston officials later backed away from the Midway airport deal, and didn’t win out on the Colombia projects, other records show that Vacar and other Houston airport officials worked in 2008 and early 2009 to do business in Nicaragua, Libya, China, El Salvador and Macedonia.
25/06/09 Jennifer Peebles/Texas Watchdog, USA

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Sikh body pays tribute to Kanishka victims

Ottawa: Often under pressure to underline its distance from any group even remotely involved with the Kanishka bombing, Canada’s Sikh community seems to be going all out to state its position of solidarity with the dominant Canadian feeling of rage and anger at the tragedy. The World Sikh Organization of Canada (WSO) has this year paid tribute to all victims of the Air India airplane tragedy that claimed 329 innocent lives and caused pain and hardship to many more. This year marks the 24th anniversary of the downing of Flight 182, off the coast of Ireland. “The loss of 329 lives is a loss for all of society, and not just a loss for the victims’ families,” said Ram Raghbir Singh Chahal, President of the World Sikh Organization. “Amongst the victims were accomplished humanitarians, scientists, artists and community activists, from many different faiths: Sikh, Hindu, Muslim, and Christian. The incomprehensible criminal act that resulted in the loss of their lives is an affront to all right thinking Canadians.”
Speaking about the political aftermath of the Air India tragedy, Gian Singh Sandhu, Senior Policy Advisor for the World Sikh Organization, stated, “Tragically, the Sikh community has been doubly victimized from this tragedy. Not only were there significant numbers of Sikhs amongst the victims, but the Sikh community of Canada has lived under a cloud of suspicion ever since. Sikhs routinely faced interrogation, harassment and intimidation, by Canadian authorities in the first decade following the Air India tragedy. While the harassment has dissipated over time, the wounds left in its wake have not. Sikhs continue to face widespread public hostility, and are still largely misunderstood due to the very successful anti-Sikh media campaign launched against them throughout the 1980’s and 1990’s.”
24/06/09 World Sikh News

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Timken eyes aviation market

Jamshedpur: Timken India Limited will soon start servicing helicopter bearings at its Jamshedpur plant.
The company’s managing director for India Gordon W. Robinson, who was in the city today, told The Telegraph that Timken was looking at aircraft business and taking steps to develop facilities for the same.
“We are focussing on the defence sector and trying to get orders for maintenance and servicing of helicopter gearboxes, apart from making bearings,” said Robinson during his brief stay at the Mercy Hospital in Baridih, where he had gone to donate art murals to the hospital administration.
He said the company was looking at opportunities in helicopters while the defence aviation was an area that could be tapped.
Timken’s parent company, US-based The Timken Company, manufactures helicopter gearboxes. Hence, providing the necessary servicing facility for helicopter bearings should not be difficult. Robinson also revealed that the company located at Bara is also coming up with a state-of-the-art bearing repair facility.
25/06/09 Pinaki Majumdar/The Telegraph

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HAL and TIMCO to set up airframe MRO facilities in Bangalore

Bangalore: Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) and TIMCO Aviation Services (TIMCO), an independent aircraft maintenance provider based in North America, will set up state-of-the-art airframe MRO facilities at HAL's Bangalore airport and manufacturing complex. HAL and TIMCO had entered into a new joint venture agreement in April this year, focused on developing comprehensive airframe maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) services to commercial air transport operators in India and the neighboring region.
The MRO will provide scheduled C-checks and heavy maintenance services for operators of narrow body Airbus and Boeing commercial aircraft.
Both HAL and TIMCO have fully ratified their JV relationship and are assessing ground breaking schedule alternatives with a focus on the shifting growth outlook for the Indian and regional fleets.
"We continue to assess the appropriate ground breaking date based on the volume of aircraft base maintenance requirements the 737 and A320 fleet families operating in India will generate. This is a crucial factor in assuring the venture’s success and viability," said R. Gene House, Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer, TIMCO Aviation Services.
Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), with 19 production units and 10 research and design centers in 7 locations across India, manufactures 12 types of aircraft developed in-house, and has produced another 14 under license.
25/06/09 Arjun/Machinist.in

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DGCA to comply with ICAO and FAA’s safety audit recommendations

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has developed an effective strategy to strengthen and develop a robust regulatory mechanism and a safety oversight system. This has been done to comply with International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) and US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)’s recommendations. The two agencies have audited India’s Safety Oversight System and have recommended in areas relating to trained technical manpower especially in the areas of flight operations, air navigation and aerodromes in DGCA; legislative framework and regulations governing aviation safety; and effective surveillance over operations and resolution of safety concerns.
To meet international safety obligations, DGCA has carried out a corrective action plan according to which the Government has approved revival of 132 lapsed technical positions and approved creation of 427 technical positions. Efforts are being made by DGCA to obtain approval for ad-hoc appointment of flight operations inspectors pending regular recruitment. DGCA will also hire consultants on 72 technical positions on short-term contract till regular recruitment is done. An aggressive action plan for regular recruitment/ promotion on newly created/ revived positions and strengthening of regional offices has been drawn up and is being pursued. As an interim measure, selection of about 40 Aviation Safety Inspectors on ‘secondment’ from industry in the areas of flight operations, cabin safety, aerodromes, air navigation services and dangerous goods has been done. To spruce up safety standards to be at par with international standards, a DGCA-wide surveillance programme has been prepared and DGCA officials along with seconded inspectors are carrying out surveillance.
India has so far complied with 54 of the 70 recommendations of ICAO, which is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN), and had audited India’s safety oversight system in October 2006 under its Universal Safety Oversight Audit Programme (USOAP). Under the USOAP programme, ICAO conducts mandatory audit of all its contracting States (190). DGCA is working to comply with the remaining 16 findings, of which four findings relate to Airports Authority of India (AAI) and have been committed for compliance by December 2009. Seven findings in the areas of air navigation services and aerodromes will be addressed by two National Projects with the technical assistance from ICAO for which Government approval is under way. DGCA is addressing the remaining findings which involve procurement of accident investigation and aerodrome kits; licensing of aerodromes and enhancement of manpower. A proposal for the setting up of National Safety Transportation Board to ensure independence of accident investigation is under examination with the Planning Commission.
Based on ICAO audit report of 2006, the FAA has held consultation with DGCA twice in 2008 and again in January 2009. It had also conducted reassessment of DGCA in March 2009 at New Delhi. The DGCA has taken steps to meet the concerns over safety of civil aviation system of India as raised by the FAA and has rectified 18 out of 19 deficiencies in areas of legislation, flight operations, airworthiness, surveillance and enforcement. On the outstanding one deficiency, which involves amendment of Aircraft Rule, 1937, a draft Notification has been sent to the Ministry of Law for approval.
25/06/09 Press Information Bureau

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Flydubai spreads its wings to three Indian cities

Starting mid-July, budget carrier flydubai will commence operations to three Indian cities, bringing the airline's total number of destinations to eight since its launch early this month.
The Dubai's first budget carrier said yesterday it will start flights to Indian's north eastern city of Lucknow on July 13, followed by Coimbatore in the south on July 14, and Chandigarh in the north west on July 23.
While the airline will fly to Lucknow four times a week, with fares starting from Dh425, it would operate a thrice-weekly service to Coimbatore for the same fare. And it would serve Chandigarh with a daily service with fares starting at Dh350.
The initiative to start the air service is part of an agreement between India and the UAE that allows each side a weekly seating capacity of over 29,000 in either direction on outbound flights, a senior Indian civil aviation ministry official was recently quoted as saying by an Indian financial daily Economic Times.
It added that flydubai will initially fly to smaller cities such as Lucknow, Coimbatore, Chandigarh and Jaipur.
Currently flying to four destinations — Beirut, Amman, Damascus and Alexandria, flydubai recently added Aleppo in Syria to its network of destinations.
And now, with three more destinations added, flydubai intends to fly between 14 and 16 destinations by the end of the year "subject to government approvals", a flydubai spokesperson told Emirates Business.
25/06/09 Shweta Jain/Emirates Business 24/7, UAE

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Air hostess tests H1N1 negative, but crew wary

With the H1N1 virus spreading far and wide, Indian flight attendants are no no longer eager to fly in the international sector.
Though they are not evading duty, they feel they are the most vulnerable to the flu as they interact closely with hundreds of strangers from across the world. On June 14, a Jet Airways flight attendant who came from Brussels to Chennai reported symptoms of flu to the health desk at the airport and was quarantined. Though she tested negative for H1N1 and was released, the flight attendant volunteered to get the test because she flew in a Toronto-Brussels flight in which a passenger was later identified as H1N1 positive.
Such situations are causing concern among cabin crew deputed to fly international, especially because airports abroad do not screen departing passengers. Passengers are screened only at arriving airports. So, cabin crew are at risk when the flight boards passengers from airports abroad.
Airports Authority of India (AAI) has distributed masks to all employees who come into direct contact with arriving international passengers at Indian airports. But, cabin crew cannot wear masks and serve passengers in flight for fear that they will be spreading panic.Recently, India made an appeal to countries infected with flu to screen passengers before letting them board planes at airports. "We will never know if a passenger is infected unless he/ she makes a voluntary declaration, which is rare, or till they are detected on arrival by the health desk," said a cabin crew. "The airline has given a directive to its crew to report to the health desk at airport if they suffer from fever or flu. The flight attendant may have approached the health desk at the airport following this," said a Jet Airways official.
Other airlines have also given similar directives to their crew.
25/06/09 V Ayyappan/Times of India

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No mechanical failure in fatal air crash

Scotia: A preliminary report into a deadly plane crash earlier this month found no evidence that the small single-engine aircraft had mechanical failure or malfunctioned before it splashed into the Mohawk River.
The Piper struggled to ascend after leaving Mohawk Valley Airport at 2:21 p.m. June 14 before plunging into the water with Dr. Krishnan Raghavan, 52, George Kolath, 42, and his 11-year-old son, George Kolath Jr. inside. More than an hour later, police divers pulled the bodies of the boy and Raghavan from the river. The body of the elder Kolath was recovered the June 15 after the plane was hoisted from the water. Autopsy results show the victims drowned.
The National Transportation Safety Board report stated that "the flaps were found retracted, not in the partially extended position for a short field takeoff and the landing gear was extended." The flight was being conducted under visual flight rules, in which pilots navigate using references on the ground. No flight plans were filed.
In the NTSB report, eyewitness accounts from two people indicate the doomed plane made at least two approaches and barely got off the ground before running into trouble.
"As he did his takeoff roll, he kind of ran out of runway," one witness told an NTSB investigator. "He lifted off barely above the weeds at the end of the runway and began to sink in the air towards the river. He pulled the nose up sharply, stalled the aircraft and the tail slid into the river." A second witness said on the second try the aircraft was "more aggressively striking the tail on the ground" and unsuccessfully attempted to get aloft a third time before hitting the waters.
The report did not identify who was the pilot in command.
Albany attorney Terry Kindlon, a seasoned pilot, said Wednesday it appears the aircraft "just wasn't going fast enough on a short, wet, turf to acquire sufficient airspeed for a good takeoff" and that when it left the ground it was wallowing along in what's called "ground effect." Put another way, the plane failed to gain sufficient enough speed to generate the lift and had a "aerodynamic stall" when the pilot abruptly pulled back on the yoke in an effort to clear the trees at the edge of the water, Kindlon said. The turf runway is 1,840 feet long and 120 feet wide with 29 trees about 102 feet off the end of the runway the plane was on.
Kolath was Raghavan's first student since he obtained his certified flight instructor certificate, and Ragavan obtained his commercial pilot certificate in 2005, according to the NTSB,
Raghavan had flown 5 1/2 hours with Kolath in the last 30 days and 25 hours in the past three months, according to the document.
25/06/09 Paul Nelson/timesunion.com

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Passenger held for creating trouble in aircraft

Thiruvananthapuram: A middle-aged man who allegedly created trouble onboard an Air India flight from Saudi Arabia that landed here was arrested by police.
Boban Daniel, 49, hailing from nearby Kollam District, was handed over to the police by CISF personnel based on a complaint from the flight commandant, official sources said.
Daniel was stated to be in an inebriated condition and misused the flight security jacket and also abused cabin crew when they asked him to remove the jacket, the sources said. He was produced in a court which remanded him to judicial custody till Thursday.
24/06/09 PTI/Times of India

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US court issues summons to Air India

Washington: A US district court in Washington State has issued summons to Air India in a multi-million dollar law suit filed by a former manager and senior instructor pilot of the Boeing Company.
In his law suit filed before a district court in the Washington State, the former manager and senior instructor pilot of the Boeing Company, Mr Anthony P. Keyter, has sought restitution and amends from Air India for allegedly violating aviation laws, adv ersely affecting flight safety.
In his capacity as senior instructor pilot Mr Keyter was posted in India for two and a half months in 2005 as part of the Boeing team's programme to train Air India pilots after it placed a business deal of more than $11 billion.
The law suit charges that during his stay in India Mr Keyter “observed habitual violations of the aviation laws by Air India”, having an adverse impact upon flight safety, endangering the lives of passengers. -
24/06/09 PTI/Business Line

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Deccan 360 ties up with Germany's Lufthansa Technik

Bangalore: Deccan 360, the recently launched cargo handling and express logistics firm has tied up with German-based Lufthansa Technik for maintenance and supply of components for its Airbus A310 freighter aircraft fleet.
Additionally, Deccan 360 has also contracted Lufthansa Technik Services India for complete and end-to-end warehousing requirements, making it the first of its kinds in India, a company press release said here today.
Captain G R Gopinath, Chairman and MD Deccan 360 said, "Our first wide-bodied Airbus A310 aircraft is already operational, connecting India to Hong Kong and Dubai. We are planning to induct two more wide body freighters by early next year. We plan to connect 35 Indian cities by this year end and another 45 cities by next year", he added.
Deccan 360 has signed a 10-year Total Component Support with Lufthansa Technik for supply of components along with repair and overhaul for its Airbaus A310 freighter fleet.
Lufthansa Tecknik Service India will also procure home base compnents for Deccan 360 and lease them to the airline.
23/06/09 Press Trust of India/Business Standard

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Jet flies into Rs400 crore tax trouble

Mumbai: The Directorate General of Central Excise Intelligence or DGCEI, the agency responsible for monitoring evasion of excise and service tax, has issued a show-cause notice to Jet Airways (India) Ltd, the country’s second largest private carrier, relating to a potential service tax liability of at least Rs400 crore, according to two agency officials familiar with the development.
The service tax liability pertains to the import of services by Jet over the past five years.
The two officials asked not to be named because they are not the official spokespersons for DGCEI.
A show-cause notice is not an indictment, and only requires a company—Jet Airways, in this case—to explain its position.
In an email statement, a Jet Airways spokesperson said: “Jet Airways shall respond to the authorities concerned after examining the legal position.” She did not divulge further details.
Mint has reviewed a copy of the show-cause notice.
According to the DGCEI officials, the show-cause notice, issued in April, covers tax liability of 23 services that were imported. The officials declined to disclose the nature of services availed of by the carrier.
Typically, a company is given a month to respond to such notices but it can always ask for an extension. Jet Airways is yet to respond to the notice.
Jet Airways has been served the notice under the so-called reverse charge mechanism. Under this, it is the recipient of services, and not the provider, that needs to pay tax.
The reverse charge mechanism, which was introduced in 2002, stipulates that in case a non-resident Indian who does not have a business establishment in India offers such a service, the recipient of such services will have to pay the tax.
Subsequently, this rule was expanded and the concept of import of services was introduced to cover services provided to an India-based entity by an entity based outside the country.
In 2006, the government defined what it meant by the import of a service and started treating the recipient of such service as a deemed service provider, liable to pay tax.
24/06/09 Khushboo Narayan and P.R. Sanjai/Livemint

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Jet Airways Defers Delivery Of Boeing Planes

New Delhi: Jet Airways (India) Ltd. said it has deferred delivery of nine Boeing Co. planes for its low-fare unit, JetLite, planned for this financial year due to the current slowdown in air travel.
The company has also decided to repay loans worth $150 million to several banks in the year that began April 1, a senior executive at India's second-largest carrier by market share told Dow Jones Newswires late Monday.
"This deferment (of aircraft deliveries) is part of our plan of not expanding capacity this year," the executive, who declined to be named, said.
"We are only taking delivery of one aircraft this August. The rest of the deliveries will now be from financial year 2010-2011 onward," the executive said.
Indian carriers are deferring delivery of new planes as the slowing global economy shrinks demand for air travel.
Local carriers likely posted a combined loss of up to $1.4 billion in the financial year ended March 31, the Center for Asia Pacific Aviation, a Sydney-based consultancy, said in May.
Jet Airways has already deferred deliveries of eight long-haul Airbus and Boeing planes - five Airbus 330s and three Boeing 777s - to the next financial year, as it has halted plans for further international expansion.
Its rival Kingfisher Airlines Ltd. has deferred taking delivery of 32 of 48 Airbus A320 planes that were due to arrive in late 2008 and in 2009. And Air India, the nation's flag carrier, said earlier this month it will sell 11 of its Airbus A320 planes and return an equal number to lessors.
23/06/09 Anirban Chowdhury/The Wall Street Journal

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Air India families still yearn for answers

Ottawa: Today marks 24 years since a Delhi-bound Air India flight left Toronto and Montreal and exploded over the Atlantic Ocean. And families of 329 victims yearn to know the story behind Canada's worst terror attack.
Yet, three years after the federal Conservatives called a commission of inquiry into the disaster — a year and a half after public hearings ended — there are still no answers.
The inquiry, led by former Supreme Court Justice John Major, has still not produced its final report.
More important, there is no hint of when it will come.
Commission counsel Mark Freiman would not take calls from the Star, and directed questions to the inquiry's media spokesman Michael Tansey.
"We still have not set a date for the release of the report," Tansey said by email, with no further explanation.
Major quickly produced a first report on the victims, their would-be rescuers, and their stories.
But families await his more substantive examination of what the government agencies knew and when, and how they failed to prevent the tragedy, or successfully prosecute the alleged bombers.
A lot turns on Major's final conclusions and recommendations, including what kind of reforms the federal Conservative government will propose for oversight of the various agencies involved. For the past two months, Public Safety Minister Peter Van Loan has said he will await Major's final report.
Justice Minister Rob Nicholson declined comment Monday on what is taking so long.
"I mean, I have complete confidence in the commission as it's set up, and I look forward to the report," said Nicholson.
Lawyer Norm Boxall, who represents a majority of families of the 329 victims, said he doesn't anticipate anything until the fall.
23/06/09 Tonda Maccharles/thestar.com

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Court frees Algerian man

Tambaram: Saleem Abbasi, the 42-year-old Algeria-born man with a Qatar passport, who spent four days in the Puzhal prison, was set free by a court here on Tuesday evening after the police submitted that they were not pressing charges against him or asking for an extension of his remand. Mr. Abbasi had reached Chennai from Kuala Lumpur on the night of June 18. He was detained by the airport authorities as his name figured in a “red corner notice” issued by Interpol.
Police sources said a case under Section 41 (1) (g) of the Code of Criminal Procedure (arrest on the grounds of reasonable suspicion) was registered and Mr. Abbasi was lodged in prison.
On Monday, the Assistant Director of Interpol, New Delhi, sent an urgent communication through the National Central Bureau of the Central Bureau of Investigation to C. Mugilan, Inspector of Police, Chennai Airport, with a copy to S.N. Seshasai, Deputy Inspector-General of Police, Crime Branch CID, asking for the release of Mr. Abbasi.
The letter, a copy of which was distributed to reporters at the Tambaram court by V. Kannadasan, Special Public Prosecutor (Human Rights Cases), said a communication from Interpol in Algiers had informed their counterparts in New Delhi that the “arrest has been cancelled by the competent Algerian judicial authorities and we ask you to inform the competent Indian judicial authorities that their Algerian counterparts do not intend to extradite the subject from India. In view of the above, it is requested to take appropriate steps immediately for the release of the subject from judicial custody.”
Police said following the communication, they did not press for the extension of Mr. Abbasi’s remand.
Judicial Magistrate P. Saravanan let Mr. Abbasi free.
24/06/09 K. Manikandan/The Hindu

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American Airlines names Philip Lewin as country manager for India

New Delhi: American Airlines has announced the appointment of Philip Lewin as the country manager for India. As country manager, India, Philip will be heading American Airlines operations in India, including sales/marketing, airport operations and the accounting functions.
Philip brings with him a rich and varied experience that spans across several reputed airlines around the globe and has worked extensively in the area of alliances and partnerships, the airlines said.
Prior to his current assignment, Philip was working with American Airlines in Zurich as the regional business development manager for Germany, Switzerland, Italy & Russia / CIS. Before joining American Airlines, Philip represented oneworld alliance in Germany, Italy and Switzerland, having spent six years working for SWISS and Swissair in a variety of management positions.
23/06/09 Economic Times

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Pilot’s case against Jet postponed

New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Monday postponed the hearing in the case filed by captain RPS Panag — one among the many Jet Airways pilots who recently resigned — challenging the Directorate General Civil Aviation (DGCA) of India’s civil aviation requirement (CAR) norm stipulating a six-month notice period.
“There was no judgement today. The next hearing will be on July 1,” said Panag.
The pilot had filed a petition on June 10 against the Union of India, DGCA and Jet Airways seeking interim relief in the form of a No Objection Certificate from Jet to join a new job with another airline.
About 20 Jet Airways' pilots had resigned in April to join Qatar Airways. The confusion over their relieving letter prevailed after the DGCA issued letters to some pilots and Jet Airways saying that the six-month notice period rule couldn’t be enforced if the terms of the employment have been altered or amended.
The pilots allege that the airline has refused to consider the letter and is forcing them to serve the notice period.
22/06/09 Parul Chhaparia/mydigitalfc.com

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Indian immigrants allege harassment

London: Indian immigrants have complained of harassment at British airports on returning to the U.K. from trips abroad, according to Highly Skilled Migrant Programme (HSMP) Forum, a non-profit organisation campaigning for the rights of skilled migrants.
The Forum, which has taken up the issue with immigration authorities, cited the case of Sujit Nair, who was allegedly harassed at the Glasgow airport after returning from a holiday in India.
“The immigration officer at the Glasgow airport bombarded me with questions. Subsequently, I was questioned by a police officer despite having permanent residency in the U.K. I felt very intimidated and unwelcome,” said Dr. Nair, who works at the National Health Service (NHS).
Non-EU immigrants.
The Forum said that similar complaints had come from non-EU (European Union) immigrants, but a majority were from the Asians.
“How did their employer allow them to go on a long holiday?”, “Why had they chosen to work in a particular field?” and “Why didn’t they find a job in some other area?” were some of the “irrelevant” questions the “interrogation” usually consisted of.Amit Kapadia, Executive Director of the Forum, said they were treated like “criminals.” “We are very concerned and have raised the matter with the U.K. Border Agency. However, the explanation given was not satisfactory.
23/06/09 Hasan Suroor/The Hindu

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PM remembers Kanishka bombing victims

New Delhi: Recalling the "tragic event" of bombing of the Air India Kanishka flight from Toronto to Delhi in June 1985, killing all 329 people on board, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Monday said people need to "work earnestly to rid the world of terrorism".
"On the eve of the 24th anniversary of that tragic event, as we honour the memory of the innocent victims of this grim tragedy, the best homage we can pay to them is to work earnestly to rid the world of the scourge of terrorism," Manmohan Singh said in a statement here.
"On this sad day, my thoughts go out to all those who lost their loved ones in the crash," Manmohan Singh said.
The Air India Flight 182 operating on the Toronto-Montreal-London-Delhi-Bombay route was on June 23, 1985, blown up in midair by a bomb in Irish airspace.In all, 329 people perished, among them 280 Canadians and 22 Indians.
22/06/09 IANS/SamayLive

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How AN124 pilot could've avoided all the trouble

A minute error in judgment caused the 23-hour-59-minute ordeal involving the AN124 aircraft, which is operated by the US defence forces.
The problem began when the aircraft flying from the Diago Garcia island in the Indian Ocean to Kandahar in Afghan-istan entered Indian airspace by flying within 200 nautical miles of the Indian coastline at 7.35 pm on Friday.
"Had the pilot flown to the left of the path that he took (and got picked up for), the ordeal could have been avoided though he would have had to guzzle more fuel," said air marshal (retd) S Ramdas.
Sources investigating the matter said defence radars picked up the aircraft mome-nts after it entered India's Air Defence Identification Zone (ADIZ).
"The radars picked up the aircraft, which gave out its identity as VDA 4466 (given only to civilian aircraft), but the flight plan suggested that it should be RCH 813 (given only to defence aircraft)," said an IAF official.
Officials elaborated that as per the AN124's flight plan RCH 813 was to operate through Indian airspace on a military mission to Kandhahar on the civilian number VDA 4466.
Aircraft that are assigned a military call sign need to obtain an Air Operations Routing (AOR) number from the Ministry of Defence, something AN124 did not have.
What complicated the matter was that the pilot could not explain why the aircraft was mentioned as RCH 813 in the electronic flight plan.
Timeline
June 19, 7.30 pm: AN124 enters Indian airspace at point ELKEL, an identification point used by Indian defence forces, located to the north of Male, Maldives.
June 19, minutes following 7.30 pm: Aircraft told to divert to Mumbai after pilot fails to provide right code.
June 19, 10.15 pm: AN124 lands in Mumbai, taken to remote bay at the end of runway 14, security forces start checking
June 20, 10 am: AN124 moved from remote bay to bay near Air India hanger, crew still onboard.
June 20, 6 pm: AN124 moves to takeoff, but pilot defers it after talking to his employers.
June 20, 10.14 pm: AN124 finally takes off after spending 23 hours and 59 minutes at Mumbai airport.
22/06/09 Aditya Anand/MiD Day

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Air Arabia opens school in Kerala

Trissur: Air Arabia, a leading budget airline in the Middle East and Africa, in collaboration with Sharjah Charity International has announced the opening of its latest Charity Cloud School in the Trissur district of Kerala, India.
The school, built as part of Air Arabia’s Charity Cloud project initiative that is driven by on-board passenger donations, is the company’s first community school project in India and is in line with Air Arabia’s corporate social responsibility (CSR) programme for 2009, said a company statement.
The school will offer quality education to children from underprivileged sections of society.
Air Arabia became one of the first companies from the region to introduce a sustainable CSR programme when it launched the “Charity Cloud” project in collaboration with Sharjah Charity International in 2005, the statement said.
The programme is aimed at raising funds for community development initiatives through on-board passenger donations.
The fund collections are reviewed annually and invested in health and education projects in impoverished nations through a planned CSR programme, it added.
A senior delegation from Air Arabia and Sharjah Charity International attended the inauguration of the school.
Air Arabia is not only committed to providing affordable air travel but also aims to actively engage with local communities to achieve better health and education for the underprivileged, an airline official said.
21/06/09 Trade Arabia, UAE

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When Neil Nitin Mukesh was detained at New York airport

The actor’s fair complexion made it difficult for the immigration officials to believe that he was an Indian. This happened when Neil Nitin Mukesh flew to the US to shoot the Yashraj film New York .
The film, directed by Kabir Khan and co-starring Katrina Kaif , John Abraham and Irrfan Khan , is about the discrimination people of certain community and religion face in the US after the 9/11 attacks.
Ironically, Neil, who plays a Muslim in the film, saw life imitating art when he was detained at the airport because he looked too fair to be an Indian and that made the officials suspicious.
“I can pass off as a Britisher, American, Kashmiri easily because my skin tone and complexion can blend anywhere. But this incident changed my attitude of how I will approach my role in New York which also dwells upon discrimination,” Neil told a news agency.
“I told him to google search my name. When he realised his folly, he was still not willing to let me go and started asking questions about my profession like what kind of films I do and why am I in New York,” the actor is quoted as saying.
In a way, Neil’s detention gave him an insight about his role in the film.
22/06/09 apunkachoice

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Indian airspace violation: Missed the flight15 times

New Delhi: The violation of Indian airspace by a US military aircraft on Friday evening was not the first such instance, DNA has learnt: it's been happening for the past 15 days. Russian transport aircraft carrying US military cargo have been repeatedly hoodwinking Indian airspace managers by claiming to be civilian aircraft, exposing serious lacunae in the Indian air space surveillance apparatus.
The Antonov AN-124, operated by a Russian firm, Volga-Dnepr Airlines, had been hired by the US military to transport cargo to Kandahar. The aircraft, however, had declared itself to all the Indian authorities, including the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), the Indian Air Force (IAF) and the Military Liaison Unit (MLU), as a nonscheduled, civilian flight. In reality, however, it was ferrying military cargo and, according to unconfirmed reports, ammunition for the US military operations in Afghanistan.
The failure of the Indian authorities to register this blatant airspace intrusion into Indian airspace has raised several questions about the alertness of the agencies entrusted with the task of giving air clearances to all flights using Indian airspace.
Though the Indian authorities suddenly woke up on Friday night and instructed the pilot to land in Mumbai, sources admitted that the aircraft had been flying daily for the past 15 days with the same 'civil' call sign. But it would change its call sign to that of a military aircraft after entering Afghanistan.
It was this surreptitious duality of flight status that raised the suspicion of the MLU in Mumbai on Friday night. Senior defense officials said it was shocking that noone (neither at the DGCA nor at the MLU) had detected the dual identity of the aircraft earlier and had kept giving air defense clearances so many times.
21/06/09 Yogesh Kumar /Daily News & Analysis

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US blames Russian firm for goof-up

New Delhi: According to sources, the US embassy in New Delhi has been profusely apologetic ever since the Indian air traffic controllers forced an AN-124 transport aircraft chartered by the US military to land in Mumbai. From the moment the aircraft landed in Mumbai, the US mission has been using various contact points to get the aircraft released.
The American interlocutors have placed the blame, for disguising the aircraft carrying military cargo as a civilian aircraft, on the Russian firm. The US military had hired a Russian firm, Volga-Dnepr Airlines, to transport military cargo from Diego Garcia to Kandahar.
A senior MOD source said that if the aircraft pilot had disclosed they were carrying military cargo, then "they would have had to disclose details of the cargo they are carrying, based on which we would have had to decide whether to allow the flight into our airspace." The fear of India refusing flight rights over its airspace could have been the reason for not disclosing the flight details, sources believe. They are also surprised that the aircraft was flying over India and not over Pakistan, on its way to Afghanistan.
Meanwhile, even as the Indian authorities were forcing the AN-124 aircraft to land in Mumbai, another aircraft of the same make was getting ready to take off from Diego Garcia for Kandahar. That aircraft, too, had reported itself as a civilian aircraft. "We warned them not take off, and told them that if they came over Indian airspace we would force-land them too," a senior MOD source said.
21/06/09 Josy Joseph / Daily News & Analysis

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The curious case of AN 124

Mumbai: The detained Ukrainian-make AN 124 cargo carrier chartered by the United States military, which was forced to land at Mumbai airport late Friday night for illegally intruding into Indian air-space finally took off tonight after representatives of Central Intelligence agencies questioned its crew members thoroughly about its mission and the cargo it was transporting from Diego Garcia to Kandahar in Afghanistan.
The aircraft was detected breaching Indian airspace around 8 in the evening and was forced to land at 10;35 p.m. Indian Air Force aircraft were not scrambled in response to the air-space violation, but the IAF did ask the Mumbai ATC to make it land. The flight, whose Nato code is Condor, was found to be carrying heavy military vehicles, anti-aircraft guns and other military equipment for US-led Nato forces fighting the Taliban in beleaguered Afghanistan.
The captain of the aircraft had apparently fumbled in giving the proper call sign, which led to the force-landing. The plane had been flying over the Arabian Sea regularly and had often violated Indian air-space. This was the first occasion when it was asked to land for verification of cargo and the nature of its mission.
The drama started late last night when Mumbai ATC detected the intruder, and apparently under instructions from the Air Force, directed it to land at Mumbai. The aircraft was taken to the isolation bay where Intelligence agents started questioning the 18-member crew on the plane. The crew was quizzed on how many such sorties they had flown from Diego Garcia to Afghanistan and why they did not obtain the proper authorization for crossing Indian air-space. The USA has been hiring these cargo carriers to transport military equipment from its Indian Ocean base at Diego Garcia to Afghanistan. The detained aircraft was finally given Air Operations Routing permission today.
20/06/09 The Statesman

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'Grounded' US aircraft cleared for takeoff

New Delhi: After a thorough check and clearance given by the foreign ministry, the IAF on Saturday cleared US-hired Ukrainian-made AN-124 cargo aircraft to resume its flight to Kandahar.
The cargo plane was on Friday force to land at Mumbai airport after confusion was created by the call sign made by the aircraft. The aircraft owned by a private Russian airline and hired by the Americans for their operations in Afghanistan, claimed that it had clearance from the Directorate-General of Civil Aviation to overfly Indian air space with a call sign attributed to civilian aircraft.
However, the IAF air traffic controller claimed it heard a different call sign generally attributed to a defence aircraft before it entered the Indian air space.
IAF spokesperson T K Singha said on checking the aircraft two vehicles meant for American officials fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan and boxes of medicines were found. There were a total of 18 persons on board the aircraft, including a five-member crew.
Singha said the aircraft was allowed to get airborne after the foreign ministry gave the "Air Operations Routing (AOR) authority to fly over Indian air space changing the call sign of the plane to that of a defence aircraft".
This was, however, not the first time that such an aircraft had intruded into Indian air space. Agency reports quoted unidentified IAF officials as saying the AN-124 had been operating on the same flight plan in the last fortnight and had come under adverse notice because of its call sign.
"The aircraft used a civilian aircraft call sign VDA 4466, whereas its original call sign was REACH 813, which implied it was a military cargo aircraft," they said.
For giving clearance to a foreign military aircraft for using Indian air space, the request has to be routed through MEA, intelligence agencies and then the IAF. In this case, the Russian operator obtained a civilian call sign that led to the confusion.
The aircraft was chartered by the US military for long-range military cargo delivery and air-dropping of troops. It had taken off on Friday for Kandahar from Diego Garcia, the island near Mauritius in the Indian Ocean which has a huge US military base.
21/06/09 Times of India

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Airspace violation: US military aircraft to take off

Government on Saturday (June 20) cleared take off of US-hired AN-124 aircraft detained at Mumbai airport. The US hired military aircraft that had violated Indian airspace last night and was detained at the Mumbai airport has got a clearance for take off at 4.30 PM.
The crew told Indian authorities that they weren't aware about seeking special permission to transport military equipment. They have been let off with a warning.
The AN-124, the largest heavy transport aircraft manufactured by Ukrainian Antonov company with NATO code name Condor, was carrying military cargo, which included land vehicles, equipment and weapons for the US' fight against terrorism in Afghanistan, they said.
".. The aircraft, chartered by the US military, took off from Diego Garcia, a US military base on an island near Mauritius in the Indian Ocean," the IAF officials said.
The IAF's South Western Air Command (SWAC) air defence 'Movement Liaison Unit', which noticed the aircraft, activated the standard operating procedures under which the Air Traffic Control ordered the cargo chartered plane to land at Mumbai.
IAF officials said there were a total of 18 persons on board the aircraft, including a five-member crew. Securitymen from the CISF had cordoned off the aircraft and sleuths from the Intelligence Bureau and officials from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation carried out checks in the plane's cargo hold. They also questioned the crew and passengers on board the aircraft, they added.
20/06/09 Times Now.tv

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Crew of Russian intruder aircraft being questioned, military cargo found

Mumbai: Security agencies were engaged on Saturday in questioning the crew of a Russian-make cargo aircraft which was ordered to land in Mumbai
late on Friday night after it violated Indian air space, according to an official.
There is no indication so far whether it was a genuine error on the part of the pilot or otherwise, the official said.
The civil cargo carrier, AN-124-100, was directed by the Mumbai Air Traffic Control (ATC) to change path and land at the airport here, which it complied with.
"Since the aircraft obeyed the ATC instructions and changed its path, there was no need for the IAF (Indian Air Force) to be directly involved in the matter. Contrary to speculation, the IAF did not provide any escort to the aircraft," an official spokesman for the ministry of defence said on Saturday morning.
The probe is being handled by a team of Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) and the Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA). However, no defence personnel are involved in the inquiry.
The aircraft is stationed in the parking bay of the Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport (CSIA) amid high security.
Though no official was willing to confirm, the aircraft is reported to be carrying a cargo of military trucks.
The cargo carrier, chartered to the US, was proceeding from a military base in Diego Garcia to Kandahar, and entered Indian air space illegally.
The Indian Air Force detected the violation when the alien aircraft was seen flying over north-west Gujarat skies.
20/06/09 IANS/Times of India

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Smaller towns may be ticket to growth for foreign carriers

New Delhi: Airports in smaller Indian cities and towns such as Chandigarh and Bagdogra are set to start handling international flights, as several new and existing low-fare foreign airlines seek to expand operations in the country.
The civil aviation ministry has so far this year allowed three such airports to put up immigration counters and other facilities needed for handling foreign routes. Several more are to follow.
Bhutan’s Druk Air Corp. Ltd on Friday launched its inaugural flight between Paro in Bhutan and Bagdogra, a town in West Bengal’s Darjeeling district.
Currently, only around two dozen of India’s 127 airports are equipped to handle international flights. Many of these are run by the Airports Authority of India, or AAI.
“We are creating customs and immigration facilities and asking other agencies to co-operate in the process,” said a senior government official involved in the process.
The official, who didn’t want to be named, said the government has already granted permission to several airlines, many of them low-fare carriers, from countries that are part of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, or Asean, to fly to 18 tourist destinations in India.
These include Port Blair in the Andaman and Nicobar islands, Bhubaneswar in Orissa, and Aurangabad in Maharashtra. None of the airports in these places currently handle international flights.
The Chandigarh and Madurai airports will be ready to handle international flights by October, a senior AAI board member said. He declined to comment on the investments required to upgrade the facilities and potential additional revenues for these airports from the international traffic.
Upgrading airports in the cities and towns to handle foreign flights involves setting up of immigration counters in coordination with the ministry of home affairs, customs duty counters in coordination with the ministry of finance, and ensuring security services as guided by the respective state governments.
The Boeing 737-800 or Airbus A320 type of aircraft require no major aeronautical infrastructure changes at airports as many of these already host domestic flights that operate these category of aircraft.
20/06/09 Tarun Shukla/Livemint

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Pilot death brings to the fore Indian, expa med disparity

Mumbai: The death of a Continental Airlines 60-year-old commander during a Brussels-Newark-cross-Atlantic flight on Thursday has brought to focus
the disparity when it comes to medical tests conducted on Indian pilots and their expatriate counterparts.
Simply put, if your flight is operated by an Indian commander over the age of 60 years, you can be sure that the pilot has undergone age-specific additional medical checks like treadmill test and lipid profile test. However, if you have an expatriate commander on board, it means that your pilot has not undergone the rigorous medical tests his Indian colleague has. Indian carriers have a total of about 700 expatriate pilots on its roll, with most of them flying as commanders. Though statistics are unavailable, going by a conservative estimate, about 55%-60% of them are above 60 years of age. "A large majority of expat pilots on wide-bodied aircraft like B 747 and A 330, which do long haul flights like Mumbai-London for instance, are above 60 years of age,'' said a senior commander.
The disparity in medical tests conducted on pilots over the age of 60 years in India and the US set in at the time when the two countries decided to extend the age bar for retirement from 60 years to 65 years. "When India did it four years ago, it introduced a number of additional tests for pilots over 60 years of age to ascertain that they were entirely fit for commercial flying duties,'' said a source. In India, pilots who cross the age of 55 years, have to undergo treadmill test and a complete lipid profile test once every two years. After crossing 60 years, other tests, like prostrate test, are added to the medical to-do list.
"In the US, when they passed the 65-year retirement rule, one of the conditions was that pilots would not have to undergo any additional medical checks. While in India, after the age of 55 years, pilots need to do a lot of additional tests and after 60 years, some more, which an expatriate commander working in India does not have to undergo,'' said Capt Mohan Ranganathan, an air safety expert. "It's about time that the director-general of civil aviation (DGCA) introduced the same procedures that other countries follow where any pilot has to undergo the local medical tests to obtain local licences.''
20/06/09 Manju V/Times of India

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DGCA awaiting replies on airlines' tiff with travel agents

Mumbai: Most foreign airlines are yet to respond to the 10-day deadline given by the Directorate-General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on their rules regarding the use of travel agents and their payments.
The Travel Agent’s Association of India (TAAI) met in Delhi today and decided to continue their boycott of Singapore Airlines’ tickets, on from December. “We are waiting for the DGCA to inform us about any reply they have got from the airlines in question. We will wait for another two-three days and then approach DGCA again,” said Rajjinder Rai, president of TAAI.
On June 3, DGCA had issued letters to 14 foreign airlines, asking them to explain reasons for not giving commission or remuneration to travel agents. The letter, signed by DGCA joint director R K Maheshwari, had asked for a reply within 10 days.
The DGCA raised questions over the way airlines’ structure the transaction fee and the logic behind asking agents to take commission from consumers. Later, on June 8, DGCA had sent another set of letters, adding another question on the agent’s commission. The 10-day period ended today.
Singapore Airlines said it had given its reply to DGCA, but wouldn’t say what it contained. “We will continue to keep channels open for dialogue with the associations in order to arrive at a mutually agreeable solution that would benefit all parties, including its customers,” went an SA statement.
Qatar Airways said it had responded to DGCA and so did Lufthansa.
20/06/09 Ruchi Panigrahi/Business Standard

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84 stranded in Riyadh as AI flight delayed

Riyadh: Eighty-four passengers were stranded at the King Khaled International Airport here yesterday when an Air India flight was delayed due to technical problems.
The airline’s Station Manager Ranjith Singh said the Flight AI 902 to Calicut was scheduled for departure at 11 a.m. yesterday but was delayed due to technical problems encountered during takeoff.
He said the passengers were well looked after on board as well as during their waiting period at the lounge before they were accommodated at a city hotel till the technicians give the green light for the departure of the aircraft. He hoped that the aircraft would be ready by this morning for departure. The flight is stewarded by the pilot Captain Michael Vaz.
A stranded passenger told Arab News that the passengers on board became restless since they were inside the aircraft for more than two hours.
20/06/09 Mohammed Rasooldeen/Arab News, Saudi Arabia

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Deccan360 to launch cargo flights to Dubai tomorrow

Mumbai: Indian low-cost airlines' pioneer Captain Gopinath is set to launch his cargo air service to Gulf tomorrow. Called Deccan 360, the cargo airlines will connect Dubai from Delhi and Chennai with wide-bodied Airbus 310 cargo freighter.
The airline currently operates a cargo service on Delhi-Hong Kong route.
"Our flights connecting Delhi and Chennai to Dubai will create stronger trade linkages between India and the gulf," Deccan 360 Chairman and Managing Director, Captain Gopinath told PTI.
The airline would operate a wide-body A 310 freighters on these routes, he said, adding the aircraft have the capacity to carry 25 tonnes cargo.
Deccan 360 plans to induct two more Airbus A310 frieghters as well as three ATR-72 with a capacity of 8 tonnes over the next six months, he said.
19/06/09 PTI/Indopia

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Jet Airways To Defer Delivery Of Boeing,Airbus Planes

Indian leading air compny Jet Airways with its international expansion plans grounded by the global economic slump - has decided it won't take delivery of eight aircraft.
"We will not take delivery of five Airbus 330s and three Boeing 777s this financial year (through March 2010)," Saroj Datta, executive director at India's second-largest domestic carrier by market share, told.The eight Boeing Co. (BA) and Airbus planes were scheduled to be deployed on Jet's international routes.
Jet's move was preceded by similar decisions by others among India's airline industry, which lost an estimated $2 billion in the year ended March 31, 2009.
Jet rival Kingfisher Airlines Ltd. has deferred taking delivery of 32 of 48 Airbus A320 planes that were due to arrive in late 2008 and in 2009.
18/06/09 Online Indian News

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Travel agent bungles, women's hockey team returns from airport

New Delhi: Mismanagement continues to haunt India hockey with the Russia-bound senior women's team made to return from the airport for not having necessary travel documents.
The women's team was scheduled to fly for Kazan, Russia from Delhi in a Lufthansa flight last night to take part in the Champions Challenge tournament, the first qualifying event for Champions Trophy, starting Sunday but they were denied permission to board the plane for not having transit visa to stop over at Frankfurt, Germany.
Apparently, the situation arose due to misunderstanding between the central government's travel agency Balmer Lawrie Ltd and Lufthansa Airlines.
"We had also sought all-travel related information in advance from them and the agency informed us that Lufthansa officials had told them that transit visas were not required for the Delhi-Kazan flight via Frankfurt. But they later retracted," Hockey India secretary general Mohammad Aslam said.
18/06/09 Press Trust Of India/Hindustan Times

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Saleem Abbassi held at Chennai airport

Chennai: A 42-year-old man, against whom a red corner notice had been issued by the Interpol in 1993, was intercepted at the Chennai international airport on Wednesday.
Saleem Abbassi, an Alegerian by birth had landed in Chennai from Kuala Lumpur on a Malaysian Airlines flight MH 180 at 10.45 pm on Wednesday.
The notice was issued against Abbassi by Interpol officer in Algeria in 1993 for his alleged involvement in the Algiers airport bomb blast in August 1992.
Saleem is the son of Madani Abbassi, president of the Islamic Salvation Front, popularly the FIS (an Algerian political party) that was prevented from forming a government in Algeria when the military took over.
Saleem, reportedly left Algeria for greener pastures in Europe.
He was in Germany, Belgium and other European countries for sometime after which he settled in Qatar from 1998 onwards. In fact, his visa to India was stamped on a passport issued in Qatar on June, 4, 2007 valid till 2012.
Saleem Abbassi was wanted in the case of a series of bomb blasts at Houari Boumediene Airport, Algiers, which killed nine people and wounded another 100.
This was his first trip to India. “He claimed that he was a businessman from Qatar and was on his way to Bangalore on an invitation of the Government of Karnataka to do some business in renewable solar energy,” a police official told Express.
Saleem has now been remanded to judicial custody after a 12-hour interrogation where in the Ministry of External Affairs was contacted and the Look out Circular issued against him by the Interpol officer in Algeria was confirmed. Officials, however, deny any Al Qaeda links he could allegedly have and say he was purely on a business visit to India.
19/06/09 Mamta Todi/ExpressBuzz

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AI plane strays into Pak airspace for 5 minutes

New Delhi: In a major security breach, an Air India flight strayed into Pakistan airspace for five minutes, creating a flutter at Amritsar international airport, around 7.30pm on June 5.
However, the Delhi-Amritsar-London flight with over 150 passengers reached Amritsar on schedule.
A senior aviation ministry official told DNA, "The pilot had been told to go around by the Amritsar control tower. But she wandered off into Lahore airspace."
The airline's preliminary internal probe found the pilot at fault and she has been withdrawn from flying duty.
Pakistan's air surveillance authorities tracked the aircraft the minute it crossed the border. It promptly instructed the plane to return to Indian airspace.
Airport officials at Amritsar went into a tizzy till the flight returned safely.
According to international air convention, no aircraft can enter foreign airspace without permission. Pakistan airspace is very close to Amritsar airport.
18/06/09 Yogesh Kumar/Daily News & Analysis

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U.S. eases process for GE India to import technology

Washington: The U.S. Commerce Department will this month give General Electric's India division a standing license to import controlled technology, Commerce Secretary Gary Locke said on Wednesday.
The company will be designated a "validated end user," allowing it to import certain items like civilian aircraft technology and explosive detection equipment, the Commerce Department said.
"That means the company will be allowed to enter a pre-approved, export express lane as a trusted end user. No more need for a license," Locke said in a speech to the U.S.-India Business Council.
GE India is the first company to qualify under the program the department established in October 2007 to cut red tape in trade of sensitive technology, eliminating the requirement to obtain licenses for each transaction for companies that pass security tests.
GE will use its new status to exchange technology with its security, aviation and energy infrastructure businesses in India, the company said in a statement.
"It will not only permit technology exchange on energy and aviation between GE and our research facilities in India, but will also permit the sale of advanced security systems to the Indian Ministry of Defense, Indian police and other Indian security organizations," said Tejpreet Chopra, chief executive of GE India.
Last year, U.S. companies exported $18 billion worth of goods to India, and India shipped the United States $25 billion worth of goods, Locke said.
The United States wants India to loosen foreign direct investment restrictions in the financial services, retail and cable and satellite television sectors, Locke said.
India also needs to boost its protection of intellectual property rights, he said.
17/06/09 Reuters/Guardian, UK

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Stop it at the airports

New Delhi: The unabated rise in the number of swine flu cases, involving chiefly people who have returned to India after picking up the infection abroad, points to laxity in screening incoming passengers at the country’s international airports. This should be a cause of concern, and something that the government needs to address without delay. The World Health Organisation (WHO) has already declared the H1N1 influenza as a pandemic, with the highest (Phase-6) level of risk in terms of its potential for spreading across the globe. Already about 75 countries have been affected by this disease, though the highest number of H1N1-positive cases as well as deaths due to it, totalling over 140, have been reported from just six countries in South, Central and North America — Mexico (where the infection originated), the US, Canada, Chile, the Dominican Republic and Costa Rica.
What is being done in India is to selectively screen people coming in from the key affected countries, but this is not enough. All travellers coming from abroad need to be monitored. Fortunately, so far, the international airports have been the only entry points and humans the only carriers of this infection. That makes it relatively easy to check its entry (unlike in the case of bird flu, where the infection carrier birds could get in from any point and intermingle with local birds to pass on the virus). But any lapses in checking for swine flu virus at the entry points can prove far more perilous than was the case with bird flu, as means like culling of birds and prohibition of their restocking for containing the pathogens at the foci of infection is ruled out.
In its current form, the H1N1 virus is said to be quite mild, and the least deadly of all the strains that have caused previous major influenza pandemics — Asiatic flu (1889-90, 1 million deaths) Spanish flu (1918-20, over 40 million deaths), Asian flu (1957-58, 1.5 million deaths) and Hong Kong flu (1968-69, 1 million deaths). But that does not rule out its transformation into a more virulent version. Though WHO has found no role played by animals in the epidemiology or spread of this disease, the H1N1 strain is believed to be a result of the combination and subsequent re-assortment of the swine flu, bird flu and human flu viruses.
18/06/09 Business Standard

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After crash, India inks $400 million deal for AN-32 fleet upgrade

New Delhi: Soon after an Antonov-32 crashed in Arunachal Pradesh, killing 13 military personnel on board, India has inked a $400 million deal with Ukraine to upgrade IAF's aging transport fleet of 104 such aircraft.
Though the contract was in the pipeline for a long time, with the AN-32s fast approaching the end of their "total technical life'' of 25 years by this year-end, the June 9 crash seems to have propelled the government to finally close the deal.
Russia, of course, remains miffed with India for moving towards signing a defence cooperation pact with Ukraine. Russia sees Ukraine, which inherited a robust defence industry after the Soviet Union breakup two decades ago, as a rival to its thriving arms exports business with India.
Under the contract, all the 104 AN-32s will get an upgrade and life extension overhaul over a period of five years, with an initial lot being sent to Ukraine and the rest undergoing it at Kanpur BRD (base repair depot).
"The project will be executed between 2009 and 2013. It will include life extension of both the engines and airframe, improved avionics suite, communication equipment and landing aids,'' said an official.
The medium-tactical transport AN-32s have had a relatively good flight safety record in IAF as compared to the MiG fighters, with the last major crash being recorded in Delhi in 1999, which killed 21 people. Of the 118 AN-32s inducted in 1984 to replace the then aging Dakota, Caribu and Packet planes, 14 have been lost in crashes till now.
But the twin-turboprop fleet, the IAF workhorse to ferry troops and supplies to forward areas, has suffered from poor serviceability, tardy maintenance, delays in overhauls and shortage of spares, resulting in a high AOG (aircraft on ground) percentage.
18/06/09 Times of India

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