New Delhi: American aviation major Boeing on Tuesday said it has delivered the first F/A—18 Super Hornet fitted with Indian-manufactured gun-bay door to the US Navy. The aircraft was handed over to the US Navy on July 20, Boeing officials said.The Gun-bay doors are manufactured by the Hindustan Limited (HAL) at its facility in Bangalore.Boeing’s F/A—18IN Super Hornet is one of the six contenders for the Indian Air Force’s Medium Multi-Role Combat...
Showing posts with label Foreign Jun 2010. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Foreign Jun 2010. Show all posts
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
As Indian traffic picks up, Boeing sees revival in orders this year
Farnborough, UK: US-based aircraft maker Boeing Co. expects new orders from Indian carriers in the second half of 2010 as the passenger market expands and more local airlines start flying international routes.The company is also expecting changes to its existing order book from Air India and Jet Airways (India) Ltd as these carriers expand operations.“I have always said there would be some orders next year in keeping with the true potential of India,”...
AI flight covers 3½-hr journey in 2 days
Mumbai: Flight IX-452 to Cochin with 160 passengers on board was to leave Abu Dhabi at 9pm local time on Saturday. The flight did not take-off that day as the aircraft developed a technical snag and had to be grounded. The next day, it took off at 8.45pm only to be airborne for an hour and develop a snag again. "It was diverted to Muscat and landed there at 10pm local time on Sunday," said an Air India spokesperson confirming the inordinate delay."The...
Wednesday, July 07, 2010
FDI in aviation up for review
New Delhi: The Manmohan Singh government is looking afresh at relaxing the caps on foreign direct investments in airlines, retail and defence.Sources said the government could allow FDI in the back-end of food retail. Multi-brand retail in select metros could be opened up.The government is also thinking of relaxing the norms for airlines. Though FDI up to 49 per cent is allowed, foreign airlines cannot pick up a stake, even indirectly.Sources said...
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
PM's plane survives lightning
New Delhi: It was a narrow escape for Prime Minister Manmohan Singh as lightning struck his aircraft minutes before touchdown at Toronto airport on June 26. The impact of lightning was felt on the nose of Air India One in which the prime minister was travelling. He left for India on Tuesday after Air India One was given full clearance by security forces following the Saturday's scare.29/06/10 Headlines Today/India To...
Maldives President Praises Plans for “World Class” International Airport
President Nasheed has said that the new Male’ International Airport will be a “state-of-the-art, 21st Century airport of which every Maldivian can be proud.”The government awarded the contract for building and operating the new airport yesterday to Malaysia Airports Holdings and GMR Group, after a competitive tendering process, overseen by the World Bank’s International Finance Corporation.Malaysia Airports Holdings operate 59 airports, including...
Nagaland Home Minister detained at Kathmandu airport
Kohima: Nagaland Home Minister Imkong Inchen was detained at the Kathmandu airport today for carrying Indian currency notes in the denomination of Rs 1000 and Rs 500, which is banned in Nepal. Official sources here said the minister was not aware of the ban. The sources said that after receiving the information, the government immediately informed Union Home Minister P Chidambaram about the detention. Unconfirmed reports said Imkong Inchen had Rs...
Indian court overrules MRTPC order against British Airways
New Delhi: Providing some relief to British Airways, the Indian Supreme Court last week set aside a fair trade regulator's order directing the aviation giant to pay a compensation of US$110,000 (around Rs 51 lakh) in a 13-year-old case of alleged delay in consignment delivery.A vacation bench comprising Justice RM Lodha and Justice AK Patnaik set aside the order passed by the regulator, Monopolies and Restrictive Trade Practices Commission (MRTPC),...
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Mahindra to make small aircraft for Indian market
Bangalore: Mahindra Aerospace of the $6.3-billion utility vehicle maker Mahindra Group will become the first Indian private firm to manufacture smaller civil aircraft for the Indian general aviation market, which is set to boom this decade."We will manufacture the turboprop aircraft in 2-20 seat capacity at our recently acquired Gippsland Aeronautics (GA) in Victoria State of Australia and market them in India," Mahindra Board Member Hemant Luthra...
Bidding party urges to re-evaluate Male airport bids
Male: The Turkish-French consortium that submitted proposal for Male International Airport has expressed dissatisfaction over the bid evaluation process, urging for a re-evaluation of the bids.“Firstly, the newspapers started reporting that GMR won the bid even though we were not told the party who won the bid. We faced many problems, since the two companies in our consortium are also listed in stock exchange,” Gusiloo Betkin, who heads the consortium,...
PM asks Sikhs to put 1984 behind, pays respects to Kanishka victims
Toronto: Assuaging the Sikhs in Canada that his government was doing everything possible to heal the wounds of the 1984 riots, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Monday urged the community to put the past behind them and move forward.In a meeting with Indo-Canadian parliamentarians before paying his respects to the victims of the Kanishka bombing at the Air India Memorial in Toronto, Manmohan Singh said the riots were a horrible tragedy which should...
Lufthansa warms up to Indian market
New Delhi: With the Indian aviation sector back on the road to recovery, foreign airlines are cashing on the spurt in demand.The Lufthansa group — comprising of Swiss, Austrian and Lufthansa — will increase the number of weekly flights to 75 in the winter schedule. The group has also decided to run bigger aircraft on Indian routes.The domestic aviation industry has seen a huge surge in demand in the last few months. The total number of passengers...
M&M may set up aircraft financing arm in Australia
Bangalore: Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M), the diversified business group with significant interest in automotive and information technology (IT), is looking at setting up an aircraft financing arm in Australia to boost the sale of aircraft being manufactured by Gippsland Aeronautics, which is now part of the Mahindra group.The over-$6.3 billion diversified business group is mulling to use its non-banking financial arm Mahindra & Mahindra...
Honeywell Names Pritam Bhavnani Aerospace President For India
Delhi: Honeywell today announced the appointment of Pritam Bhavnani as President of Honeywell Aerospace in India. Pritam relocates from Honeywell Aerospace, Phoenix, Ariz., USA, where he was most recently the Vice President of Customer and Product Support. He will be based in Gurgaon, India.“We look to Pritam to provide direction to Honeywell’s Aerospace business in India and help drive continued growth in this very important market,” Paolo Carmassi,...
Monday, June 28, 2010
GMR to charge US$25 per passenger, reveals Male President’s Office
Male: India’s GMR Infrastructure will take a service charge of US$25 per passenger once it takes over Male International Airport, the President’s Office revealed Sunday.GMR won the bid to build, operate, modernise, and expand the airport via its consortium formed with Malaysia Airports Holdings. The company proposed to pay US$78 million (almost Rf1 billion) upfront, one percent of the total profit in the first year (until 2014) and 10 percent of...
Ireland offers to provide a hub to Air India in Dublin
London: Ireland has offered to provide a hub to Air India in Dublin, India's Minister of State for Corporate Affairs Salman Khursheed has said.Air India has been scouting for an airport in Europe that is cheaper to operate than its current hub in Frankfurt, Germany.Khursheed, who was on his way back home after attending a memorial service in Dublin to mourn the death of 329 people aboard an Air India trans-Atlantic flight that was blown up by terrorists...
NACL acquires 50 acres of land at MIHAN for Boeing
Nagpur: The National Aviation Company Limited (NACL), which controls Air India, has acquired 50 acres of land for the proposed maintenance repair overhaul (MRO) project of aircraft major Boeing at the Multimodal International Hub Airport at Nagpur (MIHAN), officials said.This was disclosed during a media visit to MIHAN in the presence of Maharashtra Social Justice Minister Shivajirao Moghe, also the Guardian Minister, yesterday.27/06/10 Press Trust...
Ohio 6-Year-Old Turns Up on Terror Watch List
The father of a 6-year-old Ohio girl who turned up on the U.S. government's terror watch list says the worst thing his daughter has ever done is probably been mean to her sister.But Santhosh Thomas, a doctor from Westlake, Ohio, says he's sure that's not enough to land his 6-year-old Alyssa on the no-fly list of suspected terrorists.An airline ticket agent informed the family of their predicament when they embarked on recent trip from Cleveland to...
Pilots play cabin crew role to tackle crisis
New Delhi: Recently, when the cabin crew of British Airways went on a strike, the management asked the pilots to double up as cabin crew. The decision comes in the backdrop of the airline reporting a loss of £401 million in 2009 against a record profit of around £880 million the previous year. The loss is said to have been the biggest deficit since the privatisation of the airline in 1987, and largely on account of the £3-billion fuel bill. The Indian...
Sunday, June 27, 2010
Mahindras choose Bangalore to kick-off aerospace plan
Bangalore: Mahindra & Mahindra has picked Bangalore to realise its dream of becoming a global aerospace OEM (original equipment manufacturer).The automotive major will invest Rs 250 crore in a facility to make aircraft and components in the near term, Mr Anand Mahindra, Vice-Chairman and Managing Director of the Mahindra group, said here on Saturday.It is scouting for land near Bangalore – where it has acquired an engineering and design base...
Male opposition to campaign against awarding Airport to GMR
Leaders of the opposition parties in the parliament have launched a joint campaign against the government's decision to award Male International Airport to India's GMR Infrastructure.A member of the coalition formed to work against the government's decision, told Haveeru that the coalition consists of leaders of the opposition Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP), People's Alliance (PA), Jumhooree Party and Dhivehi Qaumee Party (DQP)."The leaders met...
Finnair to sell more Indian destinations through Kingfisher
New Delhi: Finnair, which flies daily between Helsinki and New Delhi, is looking forward to selling more Indian destinations through One World partner Kingfisher Airlines, but in the long-term wants to launch its own direct services to other metros.With Kingfisher Airlines joining the One World airline alliance, Finnair, which started services to India in 2006, can offer its passengers onward connectivity to destinations such as Mumbai, Chennai or...
Manmohan expected to pay respect at Air India Memorial tomorrow
Toronto: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, on a tour for the G-20 Summit here, is expected to visit the Air India Memorial tomorrow to pay respect to the victims of the 1985 Kanishka bombing that killed 329 people, mostly of Indian origin.Singh is likely to visit the memorial after the conclusion of the G20 Summit and would also meet the families of victims before his return to India, sources said.Air India Kanishka Flight 182 plunged into the Atlantic...
Int’l carriers bet on India growth story
Mumbai: International carriers are increasing their flight frequencies to and from India in a bid to cash in on the 20% growth in global air travel from the country. Currently, 1,070 international flights operate per week from various Indian airports. Over 69 international carriers from 49 countries have operations in the country. Airports in metro city are being upgraded to handle volumes that will grow 30-40% by 2014.Axel Hilgers, Lufthansa's South...
Saturday, June 26, 2010
Int’l carriers bet on India growth story
Mumbai: International carriers are increasing their flight frequencies to and from India in a bid to cash in on the 20% growth in global air travel from the country. Currently, 1,070 international flights operate per week from various Indian airports. Over 69 international carriers from 49 countries have operations in the country. Airports in metro city are being upgraded to handle volumes that will grow 30-40% by 2014.Axel Hilgers, Lufthansa's South...
GMR Infrastructure Limited wins the bid to expand & operate Malé International Airport
Bangalore: GMR Infrastructure Limited (GIL) announced today that it had won the bid to build, operate, modernize and expand the MALE International Airport (MIA). MIA is the gateway to the idyllic and enchanting Maldives and is one of the fastest growing airports in the region. Situated on Huhule Island in the politically stable archipelago of Maldives at the South Western tip of India, MIA is the biggest airport situated in the capital of Maldives....
GMR to spend $400 mn on Male airport modernisation: Rao
New Delhi: GMR Infrastructure, which has bagged the expansion and management contract from the Male International Airport, today said USD 400 million would be invested on the mega project over the next four years.The GMR Infrastructure-Malaysian Airports consortium would "invest about USD 400 million over four years" to build, operate, modernize and expand the Male International Airport (MIA), GMR chief G M Rao told reporters here today.In response...
Flight for a noble cause touches down in Bangalore
Bangalore: The aviation capital of India – Bangalore – jettisoned into the Australian aviation history books when two Australian pilots Ken Evers, 33, and Tim Pryse, 51, touched down at the Bengaluru International Airport and later at HAL military airport on June 23.Sources at the HAL airport confirmed the arrival of the aircraft.The pilots are on a circumnavigation flight across the globe, to mark 100 years of powered flight in Australia.The aircraft...
Govt considering setting up air accident probe body
New Delhi: Government is actively considering separating the role of an air accident investigator from the aviation regulator DGCA by establishing an independent organisation for the purpose through a legislation.An independent Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) is being "actively considered" by the government, which also proposes to set up an independent and impartial investigation body, Directorate General Civil Aviation (DGCA) chief Naseem Zaidi said...
Boeing has to check manufacturing flaws on 787 Dreamliner
The world's biggest aerospace company Boeing Co. is reluctant to fly its test fleet of five 787 Dreamliners until problems relating to the jets' horizontal stabilizers is resolved. However, the delivery schedule of the jet will remain unaffected, the company said.The Chicago, Illinois-based company said on Thursday that it has "identified a workmanship issue with the 787's horizontal stabilizers.""Some airplanes have issues with improperly installed...
Friday, June 25, 2010
Lufthansa Group to add 12 flights on India network
Mumbai: German aviation group Lufthansa will add 12 flights on its India network and deploy larger aircraft on Chennai-Frankfurt sector from the coming winter.The group will offer 78 weekly flights to and from India as against 66 now, a company release said in Mmbai on Thursday.The Group operates Lufthansa Airlines, Swiss Air and Austrian Airlines in India and flies across seven destinations -- New Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai, Kolkata, Hyderabad...
Disabled pilot to fly 2000 miles around Britain
A disabled pilot has challenged himself to complete a 2,000 mile flight around Britain on Saturday to raise awareness about a not-for-profit organisation that teaches people with disabilities to fly.Londoner Gautam Lewis, who is reliant on crutches after contracting polio as a three-year-old in India, will depart from the Freedom in the Air (FITA) base at Cranfield Airport on Saturday.His nine-day Freedom Flight Tour will call at 17 airports in England,...
Thursday, June 24, 2010
SC gives relief to British Airways
New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Wednesday set aside a Monopolies and Restrictive Trade Practices Commission (MRTPC) order imposing a fine of around Rs 80 lakh on British Airways (BA) for the delay in a consignment delivery. However, the Court was silent on BA’s request to exempt air carriers operating on international routes from any liability to customers under the local laws. It referred the matter to the National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission...
PM Harper issues apology to relatives of Air India victims
After 25 years of avoiding the mirror of accountability, Canada has turned to face its failure to stop the Air India bombing, with a full and powerful apology from Prime Minister Stephen Harper.“This was evil, perpetrated by cowards, despicable, senseless and vicious,” Mr. Harper said Wednesday evening at a Toronto ceremony for relatives of the 329 people, most of them Canadians, whose plane was bombed out of the sky on June 23, 1985, killing all...
Harper’s Air India apology stirs emotions
Surrey, B.C: Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s apology about the Air India disaster reverberated across the country, stirring strong emotions among a new generation of Indo-Canadians.“It means a lot,” said Romy Jassal, who was only seven at the time of the terrorist bomb explosion.“I respect it, just in memory of those who passed away,” he said Wednesday at the Guru Nanak Gurdwara in Surrey, B.C., moments after the apology was made.Accompanied by his...
Tears and candles in memory of loved ones who died on Flight 182
They gathered in silence and lit candles that floated gently into the Atlantic waters.Twenty-five years after it blew up off the Cork coast, the families and friends of Air India Flight 182 came to remember yesterday.Dozens of relatives had travelled from India and Canada to be in the small Co Cork village of Ahakista on the Sheep's Head peninsula.Pictures of mothers, sons and grandfathers who were among the 329 who perished in the bombing were mounted...
Iran detained and harassed in Chennai
Popular Sri Lankan singer and music producer Iraj Weeraratne says he was unfairly detained at the Chennai Airport for over six hours, Wednesday, and later released without an apology by the Indian immigration officialsSpeaking to Daily Mirror online from Chennai Iraj said that he had landed in Chennai to receive the ‘Best Song of the Year Award’ for one of his songs which he had produced with Vijay Anthony and also attend the music launch of an upcoming...
Air France-KLM Exec Warns Emirates Airline On Access
Emirates Airline may face a backlash from more governments unwilling to accommodate the next phase of the Dubai-based carrier's rapid expansion plan, according to a senior executive at Air France-KLM.The airline is already embroiled in battling high-profile efforts by Germany and Canada to regulate its fares and capacity.Emirates can expect "more and more reluctance [by governments] to grant traffic rights," said Peter Hartman, chief executive of...
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
PMO pushes for higher FDI in airlines
New Delhi: The Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) has pushed for allowing foreign airlines to pick up stakes in Indian carriers along with a significant say in their management. It has asked the civil aviation ministry to support Indian airline companies’ plans for rapid fleet and route expansion with such a policy action.The PMO has specifically told the ministry in a recent letter to promptly include the proposal on the agenda of the group of ministers...
PM Stephen Harper to Air India families: 'We are sorry'
Ottawa: Prime Minister Stephen Harper will mark the 25th anniversary of the Air India bombing by saying "we are sorry" to families of the victims."Some wounds are too deep to be healed even by the remedy of time," Harper will say on Wednesday in Toronto in a speech he wrote himself. "We are sorry."An excerpt from the speech was obtained by CBC News.Harper will say the destruction of Air India Flight 182 "was, and remains, the single worst act of...
Cork memorial service for Air India bombing anniversary
Relatives of 329 people killed when a bomb blew up an Air India flight off the coast of Cork are to gather on Wednesday to mark the 25th anniversary.Sikh extremists were blamed for the bombing, which killed mainly Canadians of Indian descent travelling between Montreal and London en route to India.The families will join Irish foreign affairs minister Micheal Martin at Sheep's Head peninsula in West Cork.A minute's silence will be held at a monument...
Airport security remains weak link on Air India anniversary
Ottawa: Twenty-five years after security shortcomings failed to prevent the deadly bombing of Air India Flight 182, federal agencies continue to struggle with ensuring front-line airport screeners are able to stop the next terrorist plot.In his massive report on the Air India catastrophe, former Supreme Court justice John Major says airports in 1985 had strikingly inadequate security — in large part due to complacency, poor training and lax discipline...
'International passengers can expect budget prices'
SpiceJet, which has a new owner in Kalanithi Maran, head of the Sun TV, will be India's first Low cost carrier (LCC) to go international in August this year. Spicejet CEO Sanjay Aggarwal speaks to Shobha John:Why is the airline going international?Going international was not an emotional decision for us. We want to better utilise our planes. These operations will be an extension of our domestic services. The delay in launch was because we got permission...
IBS bags JetBlue contract
Thiruvananthapuram: IT specialists for aviation industry, IBS Software, has inked a deal with the JetBlue Airways. With the contract, the New York-based low cost airlines would migrate from its legacy system to IBS i’Cargo platform to manage its cargo operations. The announcement was made at the recently-concluded Air Forwarders Association Meeting in Washington DC.23/06/10 ExpressB...
Cavotec to support the expansion of Mumbai International Airport
Cavotec Middle East, the UAE-based subsidiary of global engineering group Cavotec MSL, has announced that it has received a milestone order to supply and install 53 advanced fuel hydrant systems and related materiel at Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport (CSIA) as part of the aviation hub’s modernisation programme.Under the terms of the order, Cavotec is to supply 44 hydrant pits, including Cavotec Dabico Cla-Val hydrant valves, and...
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
A month later, no report on AI crash
Mumbai: Even a month after Air India Express IX 812 crashed at Mangalore airport killing 158 passengers and crew members, several important questions remain unanswered. The civil aviation ministry and the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) are not keen on releasing a preliminary investigation report. It points to a lack in transparency in the system. TOI chalks out a list of five questions which need to be answered:Why doesn’t India have...
Mangalore black box taken to US
Bangalore: A month after an Air India Express Boeing aircraft crashed at Mangalore International Airport, officials forming part of the Court of Inquiry (CoI) have taken the black box and the cockpit voice recorder to the instruments’ American manufacturer.Sources in the Civil Aviation Ministry told Deccan Herald over phone that a three-member team, headed by Air Marshal (retd) Bhushan Nilkanth Gokhale, who heads the CoI, S N Dwivedi, who is Director...
Victoria Announces Daily Direct Flights Between Melbourne And Delhi
Victoria is the first state to have secured India’s national airline, Air India to fly daily direct services between Melbourne and Delhi.Premier John Brumby and Industry and Trade Minister Jacinta Allan today signed a deal with Air India to fly daily direct services between Melbourne and Delhi out of Melbourne Airport, starting from 1 November this year.Mr Brumby said Air India’s decision to make Melbourne the destination for its first direct international...
Jet to lease six short-haul ATRs from Ireland firm
New Delhi: Jet Airways has decided to lease six short-haul ATR jets from Ireland-based Investec International. The airline will replace the same number of jets of Canadian Regional Jets (CRJ) operated by its wholly-owned subsidiary JetLite by the new aircraft. “The new aircraft will join the JetLite fleet in July-October this year. The jets would be taken on dry lease for five to six years,” a Jet Airways official said.The aircraft acquisition committee...
Monday, June 21, 2010
Buddha Air gets nod to fly to three Indian cities
New Delhi: Kathmandu-based Buddha Air has been permitted by the civil aviation ministry to start operations. The airline plans to fly to cities such as Kolkata, Lucknow and Patna.“..They would start flights from the coming winter schedule, subject to DGCA approval,” an official said.Buddha Air operates a fleet of five Beechcraft 1900D and three ATR 42. It serves several destinations in its domestic market. Traffic between India and Nepal is growing...
Pilot Error Seen Likely in Fatal India Landing
Investigators are becoming increasingly convinced that last month's fatal Air India Express crash was caused by pilots landing too far down a hilltop runway, and belatedly trying to get the Boeing 737 airborne again, according to people familiar with the probe.Preliminary conclusions about the May 22 accident in India's southern city of Mangalore, these people said, indicate failures by the pilots to follow basic safety rules during the final approach,...
Sunday, June 20, 2010
Canada promises speedy implementation of Kanishka report
Toronto: Canadian Immigration Minister Jason Kenney, on Saturday, said that terrorist groups would not be given any quarter even as the country stepped up security at airports and other vital installations as recommended by the Kanishka inquiry commission. Mr Kenney was talking to the families of the victims of the Air India aircraft bombing, most of them of Indian origin. The compensation package would be worked out fast, said the minister, who...
Air India probe turned up new leads: report
New investigative leads in the ongoing criminal probe of the Air India bombing were turned up during justice John Major's commission of inquiry, according to his report.In fact, Major criticized the RCMP for withholding information from him because they wanted to follow up on it for the criminal case.The bombing of Air India Flight 182 from Canada off the coast of Ireland on June 23, 1985, killed everyone on board. It was the deadliest terrorist...
Man who lost wife, daughters in crash builds school in India
It's the middle of the night in Yercaud, a lush hill station in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. A thunderstorm has knocked out the land line temporarily, but Anant Anantaraman has a cellphone, and he has heard the news from Canada: the Air India inquiry has issued its final report.He doesn't care. He doesn't even ask what it says."My life has changed so significantly that I have no room in my heart for vindication, for putting people in jail, for...
Son of Air India victim a pilot too
The irony of it all doesn’t escape Amarjit Bhinder.“It’s the only thing I didn’t want him to do and it’s the one thing my son ever wanted,” said Bhinder. “. . . ever since he was a little boy.”Her concern is understandable. Her son, Ashamdip Bhinder, 32, is a pilot with Air India; Bhinder is the widow of Satwinder Singh Bhinder, the co-pilot of Air India Flight 182 that was bombed by Sikh separatists in 1985 as it flew from Montreal to Mumbai, killing...
Flight cancelled, Indians stranded in Kyrgyzstan
New Delhi: About 70 Indian students stuck in Kyrgystan will have to wait through the weekend to get back home as their chartered flight from Kyrgyz capital of Bishkek to Delhi has been cancelled on Saturday. Now they will have to wait for two days more since the flight can't depart before Monday.A private airline broker had collected 350 dollars each for a ticket from the students. But the broker could not get permission from the Indian government...
Bag contained only brick
Chennai: Two Sri Lankan nationals rushed out of the airport after abandoning their baggage on Friday, while another was offloaded from the aircraft and examined. One of the bags contained just a brick.Explaining the sequence of events, airport sources said around 11 a.m. three Sri Lankan nationals came to board the Colombo-bound Jet airways flight 9W-232. One of them, Mohammadu Salauddin Mohammadu Fawusi (41), completed his immigration and other...
Saturday, June 19, 2010
Kanishka crash: AI can claim damages
New Delhi: The damning indictment of the Canadian police for its failure to avert an avoidable mid-air disintegration of Air India's 'Emperor Kanishka' aircraft by a bomb planted by terrorists will allow the airline to seek appropriate damages from Ottawa, feel legal experts here.Of the 329 persons who died in the bomb blast in the airborne craft near the Irish coast while on its way to London from Montreal on June 23, 1985, 280 were Canadian nationals...
CJFE Welcomes Air India Report; Calls for Killers of Journalist to be brought to Justice at Last
Toronto: Canadian Journalists for Free Expression (CJFE) welcomes the long-awaited and comprehensive report by John Major on the Air India tragedy. We particularly commend the light Major has shone on the connection between the Air India case and the attempted and subsequent murder of journalist Tara Singh Hayer.More than 60 pages of the report are devoted to a thorough analysis of Tara Singh Hayer's role as a key witness in the Air India case, the...
Canada ignored reports on threat to India, says co-pilot's widow
The widow of an Indian co-pilot, who flew the bombed Air India Boeing 'Kanishka' Flight 182 from Canada to India, on Friday, rued the lack of intelligence sharing responsible for the worst tragedy in aviation history.Co-pilot SS Bhinder's widow Amarjit Kaur said that the Royal Canadian Mounted Police did not share the intelligence report that pointed to a probable terror strike."There were intelligence reports. In fact, Air India had sent a telex...
3 Indian cos to bid for Male airport
New Delhi: Two leading private airport operators and the Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group (ADAG), that has been keen to be a big player in airport development field, on Sunday will bid to build a $360-million airport in Maldives' capital Male. The GMR-Malaysia Airports; GVK-Flughafen Zurich AG (that runs Zurich airport) and Reliance Infrastructure-Mexico Airports Aeropuertos y Servicios Auxillaries consortias will have Aeroports de Paris and Vienna Airport...
FAA team to check out safety record
New Delhi: It's reality check time for Indian aviation. Last September, the aviation ministry made tall promises about strengthening the Directorate General of Civil Aviation — agency responsible for ensuring safe flying — after the US Federal Administration (FAA) had threatened to downgrade Indian aviation from the current top billing to sub-Sahara Africa levels.Now a FAA team is coming to Delhi on July 8 and 9 for "final consultation" with authorities...
Friday, June 18, 2010
Canada PM vows to redress Air India families
The government of Canada has promised to make an apology and provide compensation to the families of victims of the 1985 Air India bombing, as a scathing report into the tragedy was released yesterday.Prime Minister Stephen Harper made the commitment in a meeting with victims' families, who had gathered in Ottawa for the report's release.Air India inquiry head John Major called for both compensation and an apology in his 3,000-page report, which...
Kanishka victims call inquiry report bitter-sweet
Toronto: Despite an inquiry report indicting the Canadian government on Thursday for the 1985 Air India Kanishka bombing and recommending ex-gratia for them, families of the victims were unhappy that the killers will never be brought to justice.Toronto-based Bal Gupta, who set up the Air India Victims' Families Association soon after losing his wife in the bombing June 23, 1985, was looking relieved for the first time in years after meeting Prime...
Our worst fears confirmed -CSIS, RC MP were negligent
The Air India inquiry report repeats what many of us suspected a quarter-century ago -- negligence by the RCMP and CSIS allowed 331 people to be murdered in 1985.When Ottawa used national security laws in 1987 to shut down the first trial of bomber Inderjit Singh Reyat, we assumed that the investigation into our country's worst terrorism incident was botched.Our worst fears have been confirmed after 25 years.This tragedy was the result of decisions...
Canada to apologise for Kanishka bombing
Toronto: what comes as a little consolation for the families of the victims of the Kanishka bombing, the Canadian government has said it will apologise to them and also pay them more compensation. The decision came after the John Major Commission report on Thursday blasted the Government for failing to stop the plot hatched by Khalistani elements seeking revenge for the 1984 army action at Amritsar's Golden Temple.The bombing of the Air India Flight...
Expat pilots to undergo med tests in India
Mumbai: In a major amendment to rules, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has now done away with the disparity in medical standards for Indian and foreign pilots employed with airlines in the country. Expatriate pilots will now have to undergo medical tests in India and get certified in accordance to Indian medical standards.Till now, foreign pilots employed by airlines in India didn’t have to undergo numerous medical tests prescribed...
Qantas welcomes India's Kingfisher Airlines
A move by India's Kingfisher Airlines to join the oneworld global airline alliance will help Qantas in its quest to increase its presence on the subcontinent, according to chief executive Alan Joyce.Qantas has long sought to gain a foothold in one of the fastest-growing aviation markets but has struggled to make direct services between Australia and India profitable. It currently flies to Mumbai via Singapore.Mr Joyce said the addition of Kingfisher,...
No air crash victims had forged passports: Official
Dubai: None of the passengers on board the ill-fated Air India Express flight, which crashed at Mangalore Airport on May 22, were travelling on forged passports, a senior Dubai official has said."The confusion over one of the victim's passport happened because his passport number was misprinted on the ticket by the airlines," Major General Mohammad Ahmad Al Merri, Director-General of the Dubai General Department for Residency and Foreigners Affairs,...
Air India pays over Rs. 14 crore as interim compensation to crash victims
Air India on Thursday said it has paid over Rs 14 crore as interim compensation to the next of kin of those killed as well as those injured in the May 22 air crash in Mangalore.158 persons, including all the six crew members, aboard the Air India Express flight IX-812, were killed when the Boeing 737-800 aircraft from Dubai overshot the runway and plunged into a ravine. Eight passengers had survived the crash.Of them, three injured were still in...
Jet Airways enters into code share with United Airlines
New Delhi: Private carrier Jet Airways would now be able to provide connectivity to 38 US cities from India as it entered into a new code share agreement with America's United Airlines."The new code share agreement between Jet Airways and United Airlines has opened for sale today for those travelling from June 30 to 38 destinations in the US from India and also through trans-Atlantic and trans-Pacific routes," a Jet spokesperson said. United is one...