Showing posts with label Foreign Jun 2011. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Foreign Jun 2011. Show all posts

Thursday, June 07, 2012

Grand Valley man grounds Jet Airways international flight

A Grand Valley man faces multiple charges after an international flight from Toronto to Brussels, Belgium was grounded in Newfoundland on Monday night (June 4).
At about 11 p.m., officers with the Gander/Lewisporte District detachment of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) received a complaint regarding an unruly passenger abroad Jet Airways flight 229.
According to police, the 39-year-old male, who had been drinking on the flight, became intoxicated and began using obscene language when the flight crew refused to serve him more liquor.
Police said the man then attempted to enter the cockpit to speak with the flight’s captain, forcing the flight crew to physically stop him.
As a result, the flight was diverted to Gander, Newfoundland, where the accused was arrested and removed from the aircraft. Varinder Sood, 39, of Grand Valley, has been charged with mischief, causing a disturbance, and interfering with the flight of an aircraft. He appeared in Newfoundland court on Tuesday and will remain in custody until a bail hearing on Wednesday (June 6).
05/06/12 Orangeville.com

Thursday, July 14, 2011

IndiGo sees potential in India-Singapore air traffic

Singapore: India-Singapore air passenger traffic has potential for further growth without competing airlines eating into each other's market share, says Indigo President Aditya Ghosh. “I really, truly believe the market will expand, so I'm not sure that we're looking at eating market share from anyone,”
India-Singapore route recorded a 14 per cent year-on-year increase in passenger traffic to 5.1 million in 2010, according to statistics from the Changi Airport Group.
Ghosh said, “Indigo will offer a fundamentally different product from other airlines operating on India-Singapore routes.”
“Indigo will not offer in-flight entertainment and lounges and passengers will have to pay for food, drinks and other amenities on board”, he said.
Indigo will kick off operations to Singapore on september 15, with a Delhi-Singapore return ticket priced at 276 Singapore dollars. Comparatively, full-service airlines charges between 700 Singapore dollars and 1,000 Singapore dollars for the same route.
13/07/11 Indian Express

Thursday, June 30, 2011

Glideapth to focus on cargo; in talks with MIDC for Nagpur hub

Mumbai: New Zealand-based aviation technology firm Glidepath today said it is in talks with the Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC) for a contract for baggage handling and airport security systems at the proposed Nagpur aircargo hub and said its future focus in the country will be cargo terminals.
"..We are at the preliminary discussion with the MIDC for bagging the contract for installing baggage and security systems at the proposed air cargo hub at Nagpur," Glidepath sales manger for SAARC region, Rajesh Karla told PTI here. Karla is part of the New Zealand trade and business delegation accompanying the visiting premier John Key. Karla also said they are in touch with the Airports Authority of India, and the two leading private airport operators - GMR, that operates the Delhi and Hyderabad airports, and GVK which runs the Mumbai airport, for more business orders. Glidepath, which has just completed the baggage and security systems installation at the cargo terminal of the Hyderabad airport, said it has just set up its first India office in Mumbai. Glidepath has already installed its systems at the arrival terminals of seven airports - Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Kochi, and Indore.
29/06/11 PTI/IBN Live

IndiGo will kickstart international ops with Delhi-Dubai flight

Budget carrier IndiGo Airlines, which signed a $16-billion deal with Airbus to buy 180 aircraft, plans to start international operations from September 1. In an interview with ET Now, IndiGo President Aditya Ghosh speaks to ET on the company's growth strategy and industry demand going ahead. Excerpts:
When will delivery for the 180 aircraft start?
We have ordered 180 aircraft, of which 150 will be the new Airbus A320 NEO. Delivery for these will start from 2015 and go on until 2024. Our existing order of 100 aircraft comes to an end in 2015. It will give us commonality of fleet. Also, we have chosen the Pratt & Whitney engines, which will help us burn 12-15% less fuel. We also have 50% improvement in emissions. Together, I think it will take IndiGo to the next generation four years from now.
How do you plan to finance the deal?
It will be a mix of operating and financing leasing, the same way we had funded our 100 aircraft buy six years ago.
What is IndiGo's plan on international routes? Which routes are you targeting?
We will start international operations on September 1. Our very first flight will be Delhi-Dubai. We will have flights from Delhi to Singapore and Bangkok. We will also connect Mumbai to Dubai and Bangkok. We also have plans to connect Mumbai to Muscat and Singapore.
30/06/11 Samir Hashmi/Economic Times

Another midair med crisis lands in Ahmedabad

Ahmedabad: For the third time this month, a midair health emergency made Ahmedabad airport officials frantically put in place medical arrangements on the ground. On Wednesday, a British Airways London-to-Mumbai flight (BA-199) made a priority landing at the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International (SVPI) airport after a four-year-old fainted onboard.
Akash Shavili, who was traveling with his family to Mumbai, suffered an epileptic attack minutes after the flight had crossed Pakistan. Soon after he fainted, the British Airways aircraft, a Boeing 747, was diverted to Ahmedabad and air traffic control officials were informed about the emergency at 11.07 am. The flight landed in the city at 11.30 am. Akash was rushed to Apollo Hospital from the airport. Akash's parents Arvind and Madhvi are practising doctors settled in the West Indies for the past 14 years.
"Seven of us took the flight from London to Mumbai and from there were going to Hyderabad. Akash was absolutely okay when he boarded the flight, but suddenly got an epileptic attack. Things were brought under control in the flight and he was conscious but drowsy when the flight landed at Ahmedabad," said Akash's mother, Madhvi. The flight departed for Mumbai at 1.19 pm leaving the seven passengers behind.
Doctors attending to Akash at the Apollo said that the boy's condition was stable.
30/06/11 Times of India

Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Purulia case: Kim Davy will not be extradited, rules Danish court

New Delhi: Danish citizen Kim Davy cannot be extradited to India to face trial for his alleged involvement in the sensational dropping of arms in Purulia in 1995 with the High Court in Denmark today rejecting a plea by the government there.
The plea by the Danish government to allow 49-year-old Davy, who is also known as Niels Holck, to be extradited in the Purulia case was dismissed on the ground he would risk "torture or other inhuman treatment" in India.
A CBI spokesperson quoting initial reports from Denmark said the plea has been denied on the grounds of jail conditions and human rights issues which is a subject outside the purview of the investigation agency."
The five-judge bench of Denmark High court upheld the decision of a lower court which had rejected Danish government's move to allow CBI's request for extradition of Davy after getting a number of soverign assurances from India including that no death penalty would be imposed on him and permission to serve imprisonment, if decided by court, in Denmark prisons.
The Danish government had appealed against the order of the lower court before the High Court which had reserved its decision.
The CBI spokesperson said the copy of the judgement was awaited.
30/06/11 PTI/Daily News & Analysis

New Zealand companies eye Indian aviation market

Auckland: Enticed by a booming Indian economy and a burgeoning aviation sector growing at 19%, a host of New Zealand companies are keen to enter the Indian aviation market or grow their presence.
New Zealand, which has a long aviation history dating back to early 20th century when Richard Pearse flew a monoplane, has a range of services and goods from short-haul aircraft and flight safety software to pilot training and airport infrastructure.
Pacific Aerospace , one of the leading manufacturers of smaller aircraft, said some Indian airlines have already shown interest in buying its P 750, a tough short haul plane ideal for regional connectivity. A deal with one of the airlines could be announced shortly, Todd Stephenson, general manager, said.
Stephenson said the plane has low operating costs compared to many competing planes like Cessna. Fitted with a Pratt & Whitney engine, the multi-utility 10-seater craft can do duty as either a passenger or a cargo plane, is easy to service and has a 100% safety record till now. "There has never been one lost due to an aircraft issue," he said.
And as flight safety becomes increasingly critical for airline operations, companies such as Wellington-based Superstructure are taking a big slice of the aviation safety software business. The company already has a tie-up with Jet and is talking to other airlines in India for deploying its software.
Ted Thomas, CEO, said "the core of the system is driven by the International Civil Aviation Organisation's guidelines" which offer airlines the opportunity to rate their safety procedures against ICAO's benchmarks. With many countries pushing for such evaluations - Germany has already made it mandatory - he sees growing opportunity in the thriving markets of India and China.
29/06/11 M A Stanley/Economic Times

AI scraps London flight, fliers told just days before

New Delhi: With Air India clubbing its flights on some international routes due to " low passenger load", those who were booked on flights that got cancelled have been left high and dry. A passenger booked on a Delhi-London flight that was scheduled to depart from IGI Airport on the morning of July 1 was informed about cancellation around June 21. Another flier booked on that flight got a call from Air India just recently on June 27.
Since the beginning of this month, AI-115 — that departs for London at 6.45am — has been cancelled and the airline has been offering passengers tickets on AI-111, which leaves in the afternoon. "This flight departs 14 hours after AI-115. I have made expensive hotel bookings in London that will be wasted if I don't get there on Friday. When I conveyed this to airline officials, they first said there was no other flight and later offered a flight that takes 17 hours to London," said Priya Kaul (name changed), who was told about the cancellation of her July 1 flight on Monday.
Kaul spent most of Tuesday trying to book another flight — which cost Rs 5,000 more than her AI ticket. "When I asked AI for a refund, they told me I would have to go to their Safdarjung office to collect it. I made the booking online in February so why can't they just reverse the transaction. They informed about cancellation at the last minute. I had to book a more expensive ticket and plan the trip again. And now, I am expected to go to the office to collect the refund," she added.
29/06/11 Neha Lalchandani/Times of India

Flyer gets Rs 2.5L from airline for callous treatment

New Delhi: An illiterate Indian flyer was awarded a compensation of Rs 2.5 lakh last week by a consumer forum after it ruled that he was treated callously by a foreign airline.
Mangat Ram had a Royal Jordanian ticket for Barcelona in Spain, via Amman. At Amman, the traveller was asked to fly to Athens from where, he was told, a connecting flight would take him to Spain.
But when Ram, who did not know English, landed in Athens, he failed to explain to the immigration authorities why he was there and spent four days in detention in a Greek prison till he informed his daughter in Spain about his ordeal — his son-in-law then flew in from there to bail him out. Even then, Ram was sent back to Delhi.
This was in May 2007, and Ram finally got justice when the consumer disputes redressal forum ( New Delhi) president C K Chaturvedi acted on his complaint against the airline. Chaturvedi ordered a compensation of Rs 2.5 lakh along with a refund of the ticket charge of Rs 36,000, and extra expenses of Rs 2,500.
The forum dismissed Jordanian's reply in which the airline said: "It is correct that at Athens airport, immigration authorities found the complainant inadmissible after checking his travel documents and as his overall appearance was not supporting the purpose of his trip and also being convinced that the purpose of his trip was seeking illegal employment and not leisure travel." Rejecting this argument, Chaturvedi ruled: "It is unfortunate that airlines can be so callous and casual to (an) Indian passenger who may be illiterate and may not match in appearance and attire of Europeans."
29/06/11 Saurabh Sinha/Times of India

Make way for Airbus A-380

A medical emergency has proved once again that the new airports being built in India are capable of handling the world's largest commercial jetliner — the Airbus A-380. Recently an Emirates A-380 aircraft, while on a scheduled flight from Sydney to Dubai, made an emergency landing at Hyderabad airport. This was the fourth instance of the A-380 landing and taking off safely from Indian airports.
All the A-380 flights into India have been special flights, but the largest commercial aircraft has landed and taken off from three different airports. In 2007, Airbus brought the aircraft into Delhi as a special flight for Kingfisher Airlines; the plane then went to Mumbai. The following year the aircraft landed in Hyderabad to take part in the maiden edition of the Hyderabad air show. In fact, at that time the aircraft landed at the now defunct Begumpet airport where the air show was held and then took a short flight to the newly opened Shamshahbad airport before departing for its home base in France.
Yet, Indian authorities have not given permission to global airlines to operate the A-380 to India as part of their scheduled operations. And this when data from Airbus show that the A-380 operates to 11 of the top 15 international airports including in the Asia-Pacific region at Hong Kong, Singapore, Tokyo, Seoul and Bangkok. Besides it operates to Beijing, Auckland and Melbourne.
Currently, the Dubai-based Emirates, German carrier Lufthansa and Singapore Airlines are said to be interested in operating the A-380 into India.
28/06/11 Ashwini Phadnis/Business Line

AI plans more foreign flights to save fuel cost

New Delhi/Mumbai: Debt-ridden Air India plans to divert part of its capacity to nearby overseas destinations such as Dubai and Singapore to increase its revenue from operations. The move is expected to help the airline get cheaper fuel in the overseas market, thereby reducing operating cost and generating more cash compared with domestic flights.
The airline has taken the decision in the face of its inability to raise funds from banks and financial institutions. The airline’s daily losses have skyrocketed to about R20 crore compared with R14 crore a year-and-a-half ago. Air India loses on over 80% of its total 395 domestic and international flights.
“We are planning to put 8-10 domestic flights on international sectors. This would bring a little extra cash. Till the time newly-set up CoS (committee of secretaries) suggest ways to strengthen airline’s financials we have to look for all possible ways of enhancing revenues,” an airline official said.
Meanwhile, leading bankers, which were part of the R40,000-crore loan restructuring package of Air India, have asked for the government’s gurantee and other supports before they finalise and start fresh exposurre in the company.
“Banks are really concerned about the financial conditions of Air India, which has been incurring losses for quite sometime now. It will not be that easy for us to provide fresh funds to the company without the government’s approval.
29/06/11 Financial Express

Indians in Ras Al Khaimah demand direct flight services

Hyderabad: Members of eight major Indian associations representing the Indian community in Ras Al Khaimah (RAK), United Arab Emirates have urged the Ministry of Civil Aviation to start operating flights from RAK.
According to S A Saleem, president of Indian Association and Chairman of Indian School RAK, around 4,50,000 Indians who reside in the catchment area of RAK have no choice but to travel to cities like Dubai, Abu Dhabi, and Sharjah airports for their onward journey to India.
The associations appealed the Chief Minister of Kerala and the Civil Aviation Minister of India Vyalar Ravi, who is also the Minister of Indian Overseas Welfare, to seriously look into this matter and commence direct air services between RAK and Indian cities such as Kochi, Thiruvanthapuram, Mangalore, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Chennai by Air India or to allow the national carrier of RAK to operate to these sectors.
"This should be done quickly, ideally in readiness for commencement of the school holidays next month as the majority of families will be travelling during this period. If no favourable actions are taken in this regard with immediate affect various associations will encourage the community to even go to the extent of boycotting Air India during the upcoming holiday season," Saleem said in a statement.
28/06/11 msn.com

Tuesday, June 28, 2011

AirAsia may contest with IndiGo for flights to India

Paris: AirAsia Bhd plans to boost flights to India, paving the way for a contest with IndiGo after the two low-cost airlines placed record orders for Airbus SAS planes last week.
AirAsia will use its Bangkok hub as the focus for its Indian expansion, Chief Executive Officer Tony Fernandes said in a June 23 interview at the Paris Air Show, after the Sepang, Malaysia-based carrier ordered 200 A320neo planes. IndiGo, which confirmed a deal for 180 A320s a day earlier, is set to begin overseas flights, including to Bangkok, in September.
Thai AirAsia Co will likely boost its fleet to as many as 70 planes from 20 to support expansion in India and northern China, Tassapon Bijleveld, the unit's CEO, said at the show.
AirAsia, the region's biggest budget carrier, is targeting India and China as economic growth and rising wages stoke travel demand among the countries' 2.6 billion people.
AirAsia will target India and northern China from Bangkok because the city is closer to these markets than Kuala Lumpur, its home base, Fernandes said. That will help keep flight times under three hours, the company's preferred model, he said.
The Thai unit, which now flies to Kolkata and New Delhi, may add as many as six destinations in India, Tassapon said. It will also boost its China network by a similar number, he said. Presently, the unit's only destinations in mainland China are Guangzhou and Shenzhen. The carrier also flies to cities in Southeast Asia from Bangkok.
28/06/11 Bloomberg/Economic Times

Sharjah man dies aboard AI Express flight

A 56-year old Indian expatriate from Sharjah died aboard Air India Express flight (IX 354) from Sharjah to Calicut on Sunday morning.
In a tragic story, family members waiting at the airport meet him, had to carry his dead body home.
Karakkapurayil Mohammed Kunju (56), who was travelling from Sharjah International Airport to Karippur International Airport with his brother K P Khader on the early morning flight, developed breathlessness mid-air and fell unconscious, according to airline sources.
Mohammed hails from CP House, Kannur, Kerala.
“After he complained of restlessness and breathlessness, cabin crew members gave him first aid. However, he fell unconscious and the pilot informed the airport authorities to keep emergency medical services and doctors ready for his treatment on landing,” said the source.
Even though an emergency medical team was ready at the Karippur International Airport, the passenger was already dead.
The deceased is survived by his wife Noorja and three children.
Abhay Pathak, Regional Head of Air India in the Gulf said he did not have details of the medical reasons behind the death. “In such cases, the airport authorities are responsible for providing the essential medical services.”
28/06/11 VM Satish/Emirates24/7

Monday, June 27, 2011

Transport firm holds Air India staffers hostage for non-payment of dues

Mumbai: On Thursday the employees of national carrier Air India (AI) had to face the consequences of the airline’s non-payment of dues.
As the airline had defaulted on payment of £60,000 to the transport company, it took 11 of AI’s crew members hostage. The crew was allowed to go only after the airline gave them two cheques.
On June 23 at 8.30am, the cabin crew (CC) of AI’s London-Mumbai flight were picked up from their hotel by OSJ Transport Company.
“We thought that the coach was taking us to Heathrow airport. But the bus took us to the company’s transport yard, which was just five minutes away from the hotel,” said a crew member. “The company then called up our operations department and asked them to clear the pending dues,” she added.
Every day OSJ operates four ferry buses from Heathrow airport to the hotel where the AI crew is put up. They have been serving AI for the past two years and the company owes them £60,000 for the past three months.
27/06/11 Naveeta Singh/Daily News & Analysis

Plane lands on closed runway

It was around 12.05 pm on Sunday. Some officials of the Airports Authority of India (AAI) were busy in the routine maintenance work on the main runway of the Kolkata airport.
They had to complete their work on an emergency basis as the Notam (notice to airmen) was issued regarding the closure of the main runway for only three hours, from 11.30 am to 2.30 pm.
Suddenly, one of the maintenance staff spotted an aircraft preparing to land at the runway. Immediately, he informed other officials and they started waiving flags to catch the attention of the pilot. But all their efforts went in vain as the Thai Air Asia plane landed at the main runway at 12.07 pm.
“Thank God! The aircraft as well as the airport narrowly escaped a disastrous accident,” Gautam Mukherjee, executive director, eastern region, AAI, said in his first reaction to the incident when contacted over the phone. According to sources at the Kolkata airport, a Notam was issued for the routine maintenance of the main runway. During the Notam period, the main runway was totally closed for any air operation.
27/06/11 Deccan Chronicle

Sunday, June 26, 2011

RAK Indian associations threaten Air India boycott

Major community organisations representing Indian expatriates living in and around Ras Al Khaimah have called on the Indian Government to increase the number of daily flights between various Indian cities and the emirate.
The office bearers of eight Indian community Associations in Ras Al Khaimah said they will boycott Air India, the Indian national carrier during the forthcoming summer holiday season, if their demand is not met.
Representatives of the association said for the 450,000-odd Indians living in Ras Al Khaimah there are a very limited number of flights to Indian cities. This forces them to travel by road to Sharjah, Dubai or Abu Dhabi to catch a flight home – a commute of flour hours when flying.
The community members have sent several memorandums and complaints to the new Indian Civil Aviation Minister Vayalar Ravi, who has promised to look into the matter.
“It takes minimum four hours by road to reach Sharjah, Dubai or Abu Dhabi Airports and if there is road congestion, some families miss their flights,” said S A Saleem, President Indian Association, Ras Al Khaimah and Chairman of Indian School Ras Al Khaimah.
“Around 450,000 Indians alone reside in the catchment area of Ras Al Khaimah. Even though there is an airport in Ras Al Khaimah, there is only one flight operating from this airport to one city in India,” he added, during a media briefing.
25/06/11 VM Sathish/Emirates24/7

Flights at TIA affected for two hrs

Kathmandu: Flights were obstructed for over two hours at the Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA) Saturday morning due to a technical problem in VOR (VHF Omnidirectional Radio Range), a navigation machine.
General Manager of TIA Ratish Chandra Lal Suman attributed the problem to accumulation of moisture in the VOR antenna, a radio navigation system that gives information about direction and distance. "The signal became weak and intermittent due to the moisture accumulation with some planes receiving the signal and others having problem," GM Suman said.
Three international flights -- Spice Jet, Jet Airways and Air China -- were diverted due to the problem that started at 9:15 in the morning. The planes landed at the airport later after the problem was fixed around two hours later. The Jet Airways flight from Mumbai returned to Mumbai and landed at 1:10 in the afternoon, the Spice Jet flight from Delhi went back to Delhi and landed at 1:30 in the afternoon, and the China Air from Lhasa went back to Lhasa and landed later at 1:40 in the afternoon. Flights of Indian Airlines, Nepal Airlines and Qatar Airways, however, had landed even during the snag.
"The three flights landed despite the snag and the three flights that were diverted could well have been postponed due to inclement weather conditions," Suman argued downplaying the problem.
Suman said the flights on IFR (Instrument Flight Rules) -- that depend on the instruments on the flight deck -- were affected at the time but those that could operate on VFR (Visual Flight Rules) -- relying on outside visual reference --were operational.
26/06/11 Prem Dhakal/Republica

Saturday, June 25, 2011

Russian fight jet about to send to India crashes, 2 dead

A fighter jet crashed in southern Russia on Thursday during a test flight, killing the two pilots and prompting the defence ministry to suspend the plane from use during an investigation.
The MiG-29 jet flown by experienced pilots went off the radar and crashed in the Astrakhan region around 43-kilometres from the town of Akhtubinsk, the defence ministry said.
The fighter jet was being tested prior to being sent to India as part of a contract to supply planes for a Russian-built aircraft carrier due to be completed next year, an aviation industry source told the Interfax news agency.
24/06/11 iafrica.com

African student held with 4kg of morphine at airport

Mumbai: The Air Intelligence Unit (AIU) of Mumbai Customs on Thursday arrested a South African student carrying 4.4 kg morphine worth more than Rs 4 crore in the international market. Anohya Jessica was arrested from the international airport in the early morning. She was booked on an Ethiopian Airlines flight, for Addis Ababa.
The AIU officials stopped her and checked her suitcase. They officials found morphine tablets concealed in specially designed top and bottom of in the suitcase. Jessica was arrested under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act. Though morphine is medically used as pain reliever, it attracts the NDPS Act if used for any other purpose.
AIU officials said that Jessica had come to India 15 days ago on a tourist visa. On Wednesday night, she arrived in Mumbai from New Delhi in a domestic flight and headed to the international airport.
Upon interrogation, Customs officials found that she had got the morphine tablets from a New Delhi resident. However, officials have not revealed his identity, as he is yet to be arrested.
25/06/11 Hindustan Times

Four Sri Lankan gold smugglers arrested in Chennai

The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) of India on Wednesday seized 1,867.5 grams of gold biscuits and jewellery worth Rs. 4. 2 million. Four Sri Lankans were arrested in this regard, according to The Hindu on-line report dated June 23.
C. Rajan, Additional Director General, DRI, Chennai, said the arrests followed specific information that Sri Lankans arrived in Chennai with smuggled gold from Colombo on their way to Thiruva-nanthapuram. From there they had come to Chennai by road and checked into a hotel in Mannady. The DRIofficials entered the room in which they were staying. They were identified as Mohammed Susan Akbar, Faseel Mohammed, Faisal Mohammed and Mohammed Fasran.
When the authorities conducted a search, they found a black coloured insulation wrapped packets kept concealed in socks of
Faisal Mohammed from where they seized six foreign marked gold biscuits weighing 600 grams.
24/06/11 The Island

Friday, June 24, 2011

Young Air India victim not forgotten

Bina Bhatt wanted to be an astronaut. She wanted to reach for the stars.
She was 15 and, like me, had just finished Grade 10 at North Toronto Collegiate Institute, a school where mostly white, mostly middle- and upper-middle-class teenagers went about their days without a care in the world.
Bina was different. She was the kid from India with the big glasses and the long black hair. Bina had a bindi. She was quiet, and shy and smart.
And I barely knew her.
It was June, 1985. Summer was all around. Friends were signing friends’ yearbooks, saying goodbye, and saying see you in September.
But we never saw Bina again.
On June 23, the shy girl with the big glasses fell from the sky off the coast of Ireland, a victim, along with 328 others, of the bombing of Air India Flight 182.
There was a solemn announcement at school. And that was it, adolescence kept on bouncing along and Bina Bhatt, for me — and for most of us, being self-absorbed teens — became a shadow pulling at the periphery of our memories.
Had she lived, she would be 40 now, a woman in mid-life. Perhaps even with children.
Thursday is the 26th anniversary of her death.
Bina Bhatt was not traveling alone, a crucial fact I do not recall from the school announcement. The trip to India was a family adventure.
Bina was born there. Her father, Vinu, and mother, Chandra, emigrated in the early Seventies. Vinu was a labour lawyer and a master mathematician. He worked at a cup manufacturing plant in Toronto.
The couple had a second daughter, Tina. Six years younger than Bina, Tina wanted to be a doctor. She would walk around with a stethoscope pretending. All four family members were Canadian citizens, and proud of it.
They lived in an apartment out near the airport, and did everything and went everywhere together. One popular destination was the girls’ aunt’s house.
Donna Ramah Paul is the Bhatts’ only living relative in Canada. She is not in the best health now, and could not be reached to comment for this story, but in 2006 she told the Bhatt family story to the Air India inquiry. Ms. Ramah Paul spoke of spoiling her two nieces. She would comb out Bina’s long black hair and pick Tina up from school and answer her constant stream of questions.
The girls were straight-A students. When Bina received a letter proposing marriage soon after her 15th birthday, her aunt told her to burn it.
23/06/11 Joe O’Connor/National Post

Memorial, new project mark 26th anniversary of Air India

Prime Minister Stephen Harper marked the 26th anniversary of the Air India bombing on Thursday by unveiling a new memorial for victims of the doomed flight and by launching a new research project meant to help Canada prevent terrorism.
It was on June 23, 1985, that 329 people, mostly Canadian, were killed when an Air India flight taking off from Toronto and headed to India exploded in airspace near Ireland.
Harper helped unveil a memorial in the Montreal area Thursday that was the fourth and final such tribute. Similar memorials now stand in Toronto, Ottawa and Vancouver.
The federal government also announced Thursday a new project meant to help Canada fight future acts of terrorism.
The $10-million Kanishka Project will provide funding for such things as conferences, publications and major research projects to "help Canada build the knowledge base needed to effectively counter terrorism," the Prime Minister's Office said.
Harper said the occasion was a reminder to Canadians that they are not immune to global terrorism.
23/06/11 Derk Abma/Post Media News/The Vancouver Sun

Thursday, June 23, 2011

Designer of Kudankulam reactor among the 44 killed in Russia plane crash

Sergei Ryzhov, the chief designer of the light water VVER nuclear reactors built by Russia in foreign countries, including India, was killed in a plane crash in Russia that claimed at least 44 lives.
Ryzhov was the chief designer of light water VVER reactors. Russia has built many nuclear power plants abroad with this reactor, including one in Kudankulam in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu.
The whole leadership of the designers units of Russia's state nuclear corporation was killed when a Tu-134 passenger plane crash landed on a highway in heavy fog and burst into flames in northern republic of Karelia.
The plane belonging to the Rus-Air airlines was flying from Moscow to the Karelian capital Petrozavodsk when it crash landed on a highway.
According to Rosatom spokesman Sergei Novikov senior officials of two more units of the nuclear corporation including the chief technology officer of Afrikantov Design Bureau of nuclear engineering Andrei Trofimov and Valery Lyalin, chief of department of 'Atomenergomash'- the main producer of nuclear power equipment in Russia - were also killed in the Tu-134 crash.
22/06/11 Business Ghana

Embraer delivers first Phenom 100 to Titan Aviation in India

Embraer has announced a delivery of a Phenom 100 executive jet to Titan Aviation, a global aviation specialty service provider headquartered in the United Arab Emirates, during a ceremony held at the Company's headquarters in São José dos Campos, Brazil.
This is the first Phenom 100 that Titan Aviation will manage and operate on behalf of an undisclosed customer based in India. This delivery increases Titan's portfolio of Embraer managed and/or operated Executive Jets to a total of four aircraft, which includes three Legacy 600s. Two additional Phenom 100s are expected to join Titan's fleet next year.
"Titan Aviation has become a great friend and business partner of Embraer Executive Jets, and we are confident that the management and operation of this aircraft is in very good hands," said José Costas, Embraer vice president, Marketing and Sales, Asia Pacific Executive Jets.
22/06/11 Corporate Jet Investor

IndiGo Selects Pratt & Whitney EcoPower Engine Wash

Paris: IndiGo has signed a long-term agreement with Pratt & Whitney to use the company's environmentally responsible EcoPower® engine wash service on the airline's fleet of Airbus A320 aircraft. Pratt & Whitney is a United Technologies Corp. company.
Through this agreement, IndiGo will receive approximately 200 washes annually on its growing fleet of V2500-powered A320s. The washes will be performed at the Mumbai International Airport.
"We selected EcoPower engine wash because of the unmatched environmental and financial benefits it offers," said Aditya Ghosh, IndiGo president. "This agreement also allows us to increase the operational efficiency of our growing fleet."
"IndiGo works hard to keep costs down and stay on schedule without compromising the customer's experience," said Lou Quattrocchi, Pratt &Whitney Product Line Management vice president. "EcoPower engine wash will help IndiGo continue to do this by decreasing its fuel expense and keeping its engines on wing longer."
IndiGo is India's largest low-fare airline with its headquarters in Gurgaon, Haryana, India and its Main Base in Delhi. The airline operates 259 daily domestic flights linking 26 destinations throughout India.
22/06/11 PRNewswire/Sacramento Bee

Eurocopter introduces its Bluecopter Technology to India

In a workshop organized by the Aeronautical Society of India on “Aviation Environment – Community Noise and Solutions”, Eurocopter introduced its two noise-oriented innovations, “Blue Pulse Controls” and “Blue Edge Blades”, from its Bluecopter® Technology programme which was developed to provide advanced technological solutions to lower acoustics and emissions for the protection of the environment.
In its participation in the workshop organized by the Aeronautical Society of India at the Hyatt Hotel in New Delhi today, Eurocopter India brought in its specialist, Francois Toulmay, to introduce Eurocopter’s noise reduction systems from its Bluecopter® Technology programme. From Eurocopter’s Research & Technology department, Francois is also part of the team working on the Green Rotorcraft platform in the EC Clean Sky Joint Technology Initiative.
The Bluecopter® Technology programme was introduced by Eurocopter, as a commitment to “continuously improve our processes to further reduce the impact of both our Group and our products and services on the environment”, as highlighted by Eurocopter President & CEO Lutz Bertling.
With reduction of community noise as the focus, Francois Toulmay introduced two noise-oriented innovations from Bluecopter® – Blue pulse controls and Blue edge blades.
Blue pulse controls - This active control system has the primary objective of reducing the system-inherent noise level generated by the interference of the rotor blade tip vortices from one rotor blade with the following blades. At the same time, the vibrations will also be reduced significantly in order to increase comfort of passengers and service life of sensitive components.
22/06/11 Business Standard

Wednesday, June 22, 2011

IndiGo to freeze Rs72,000 crore order for 180 planes today

Le Bourget, France: Budget carrier IndiGo could confirm a historic $16 billion order for 180 Airbus aircraft at the Paris Air Show on Wednesday, industry sources said.
The deal was announced in January but has been mired in further negotiations before it could be signed and go into the Airbus order book in a boost for parent EADS.
The deal is seen as the largest commercial jet order by number of aircraft but could be eclipsed by a roughly 200-plane order expected from AirAsia on Thursday.
Last week, IndiGo president Aditya Ghosh confirmed the deal in New Delhi at a press conference to announce its overseas flights.
He said the planes will supplement the 100 aircraft order placed at the time of the airline’s inception.
22/06/11 Reuters/Daily News & Analysis

Major Indian deal rumoured for Pilatus

The Pilatus aircraft manufacturer has reportedly received permission to export 75 military training aircraft to India in a deal rumoured to be worth a billion dollars (SFr840 million).
According to the German-language tabloid Blick on Tuesday, the deal will be announced at the Paris Air Show which started this week.
It was already known that Pilatus was bidding for the contract. At the end of February chairman Oscar J. Schwenk said a deal of such a size “only comes along every 20 years”.
Indian Air Chief Marshal P. V. Naik told this week’s edition of US magazine Aviation Week that the Swiss had offered the best price.
The magazine added that once the Pilatus deal was signed, some young Indian pilots would probably be sent to Switzerland for training.
21/06/11 Swissinfo.ch

Flights delayed as TIA runway in need of repair

Kathmandu: Flights at the country’s only international airport were disrupted for more than three hours today after a section of its runway wore out due to heavy rains.
Several flights were delayed while at least three flights were diverted. According to airport authorities, potholes in a section of 3,050-m stretch of the runway were spotted.
“Maintenance work was carried out last year. We understand there was some fault on the part of workers who had fixed the runway in the night,” said Dhruba Das Bhochhibhoya, Director, Tribhuvan International Airport Improvement Project. “We cannot overlay the affected area unless the rainy season ends.” But today’s was not the first instance of flight disruption due to runway repair at TIA. Since the onset of monsoon, the airport has already suffered the problem thrice. But Bhochhibhoya pledged to do the needful to fix the problem. While Qatar Airways and Jet Airways flights were diverted to Amausi International Airport, Lucknow, a China Eastern Airlines flight, which was forced to circle over Kathmandu sky for some time, was rerouted to Shahjalal International Airport, Dhaka, at around 8 am. Air India, SpiceJet, Jet Airways planes that were arriving in Kathmandu made a delayed landing.
22/06/11 The Himalayan

Boeing Begins Final Assembly of India's 1st P-81 Aircraft

Renton, Washington: Boeing began final assembly of the Indian navy's first P-8I long-range maritime reconnaissance aircraft this month at the company's Renton factory.
The P-8I, based on the Boeing Next-Generation 737 commercial airplane, is a variant of the P-8A Poseidon that Boeing is developing for the U.S. Navy.
The start of assembly work follows delivery of the plane's fuselage from teammate Spirit AeroSystems on May 29. Boeing workers have begun installing systems, wires and other small parts onto the fuselage. The P-8I's engines and wings will be installed later this summer.
"The P-8I is a result of a close partnership between Boeing's commercial and defense units to deliver the latest and best maritime reconnaissance capability to the world," said Dinesh Keskar, president, Boeing India. "This agreement highlights the true commitment Boeing has toward India."
Boeing was selected on the basis of a global tender by the government of India. The contract for procurement of eight P-8I aircraft, with an option for four additional aircraft, was signed on Jan. 1, 2009.
21/06/11 The Financial

American Airlines jet makes emergency landing in India

New Delhi: An American Airlines jetliner carrying 231 passengers has made an emergency landing at New Delhi's international airport, but no one was injured.
Richa, an American Airlines official, says the aircraft returned to Indira Gandhi International Airport about 20 minutes after taking off for Chicago at midnight Monday.
Richa says the pilot complained that the plane was having technical difficulties. The aircraft dumped the fuel it was carrying before landing.
21/06/11 Economic Times

Cathay Pacific launches freighter services from Chennai to Frankfurt

Chennai: Cathay Pacific Airways launched direct freighter services between Chennai and Frankfurt- the international centre for commerce, finance & transport. The bi-weekly service will operate on Wednesdays & Thursdays, in addition to the 4 freighter services Cathay Pacific currently operates from Chennai to Hong Kong. These freighters will continue onwards to Manchester on Wednesday and Brussels on Thursday, making Cathay Pacific Cargo online to three European destinations from South India.
Tom Wright, General Manager – India, Middle East, Africa & Pakistan said: “India is shining -a growing economic super-power and has always been a big focus for Cathay Pacific Cargo. We have grown in the country over the last few years and today we are the biggest freighter operator in India. Ever since we launched freighter services from Chennai to Hong Kong in 2006, the route has always performed well. With South India becoming the industrial hub of the country we are thrilled to commence freighter services from Chennai to Frankfurt.”
20/06/11 afaqs.com

Lufthansa Group airline to start India operations

Mumbai: Opening a new route, the British Midland International (bmi), a group airline of the German carrier Lufthansa , will start its India operations from the city of Amritsar in Punjab to London Heathrow. The airline will start this route from October this year, a statement from the company said.
The airline will operate three times a week and is offering promotional fares of Rs 39,428 for a return ticket on its economy seats. The airline will operate to Terminal One at Heathrow. British Midland International will use an airbus A330 type aircraft with 36 business class seats and 196 economy seats. The flights are scheduled to operate on Tuesday,.
21/06/11 Manisha Singhal/Economic Times

CAE Expands Global Footprint of Training Facilities and Simulators

CAE (Hall 3 C60) and Mitsui (Hall 4 F169) announced that they plan to establish a joint-venture training center in Japan for the new Mitsubishi Regional Jet (MRJ).
The Montreal headquartered-training provider announced last year that it would cooperate as an equal partner with the Japanese company to develop training for the MRJ under a 10-year exclusive program. The center will open in 2013. That same year CAE will add an MRJ simulator to one of its locations in Central America, which Mitsui may support. The MRJ is set to enter service in 2014 with launch customer Al Nippon.
CAE will build two 7000-series MRJ level-D, full-flight simulators (FFS), as well as integrated procedures trainers. The company will also develop courses for pilots, technicians, cabin crew, dispatchers and ground support staff.
Elsewhere in Asia, CAE is to expand its partnership with Asia’s largest low-cost carrier, AirAsia, and open a new training center in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The Asian Aviation Center of Excellence will provide instruction for airline personnel of all types throughout Southeast Asia.
The company also offers a multi-crew pilot license (MPL) program in conjunction with AirAsia. The initial class of 12 cadets completed its training this May in Toronto and were presented their MPL licenses by Transport Canada, a first under the new Transport Canada performance-based regulatory framework.
CAE is forging inroads into the Asian market. This March it announced a partnership with China Southern Airlines to expand its Zhuhai training joint venture by adding a 3000 Series S76C++ helicopter simulator. Several airlines in the region took simulators, and CAE Bangalore Training Centre became the first independent type-rating training organization approved by India’s Directorate General Civil Aviation (DGCA). CAE also signed a five-year contract with IndiGo to train ab initio pilots.
21/06/11 Liz Moscrop/AINonline

Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Mangalore crash: Did AI force tired pilot to fly?

Aviation India Demands Reopening of Air India Express Flight 812 Crash Inquiry

Mumbai: Air India seems to have tampered with its pilots' flight roster to keep under wraps a crucial detail about the Mangalore plane crash that killed 158 people on May 22 last year.
Capt Zlatko Glusica, who was commanding the flight that overshot the tabletop runway, was initially not rostered to operate the Mangalore-Dubai-Mangalore flight and it wasn't clear when he was informed about his flight and whether there was any coercion on part of the airline to get him to agree. It is a very significant detail that holds clues to the amount of sleep and rest Capt Glusica could have got before he stepped into the cockpit. The cockpit voice recorder data of the crashed aircraft showed Capt Glusica was fatigued.
____________________________
Read Also:
Reopen Mangalore Crash Investigation
Mangalore Crash: Yet Another New Evidence Surfaces
Mangalore Crash: An Inquiry That Ends with Photoshopping the Truth
An investigation built upon gravest of violations
A case that was settled eight months before the verdict
When evidence reached scrap metal shops
Air India Express flight 812: An investigation gone hauntingly wrong
Mangalore Crash Inquiry Report: A Desperate Attempt to Save the Skin of AAI Also
Mangalore Crash report- The hidden factors
Mangalore crash report – The “truth blanket
____________________________
The dead commander's son, Alexander Glusica, who is also a pilot, told TOI that his father, just back from vacation, appeared to have been called in at the last moment and the original crew roster, which he had downloaded from his dad's laptop did not have him marked to fly the Mangalore-Dubai-Mangalore route. He said he and his father always knew each other's email passwords.
Capt Glusica returned to Mumbai from Serbia after his break on May 18. He had downloaded the crew schedule onto his email account prior to that which shows he is not meant to operate any flight till 23 May.
"My father called me on my mobile phone on May 20 around 6.30pm IST, that is a day before he went for his last flight," said Alexander Glusica. "He said that he had not unpacked yet and was tired. If he had to operate a flight the next day, he would have told me. He always did, especially when it was a Dubai flight as he always shopped for my sister's kids from there," he added. The commander and co-pilot did shop in Dubai during the brief halt, according to the crash investigation report.
The son accessed his father's email account, zlatkoglusica@hotmail.com, only to find that the deceased pilot had downloaded the Air India Express roster titled "Flying Programme for the period 17- 23 May 2010". It has the entire list of Air India Express flights during that week and the names of pilots who have been rostered to operate them. It did not mention Capt Glusica's name for the May 21/22 Mangalore-Dubai-Mangalore flight IX 811/812.
Instead, under the commander's name in the column are the words "TRG". The roster mentions the co-pilot Capt H S Ahluwalia's name though. "Trg" stands for Training and it means the slot has been kept open for a Training Captain, that is an instructor, examiner or check pilot -- a senior pilot in the airline. Capt Glusica was not a Training Captain.
The aircrash report says after he reached India, the AI Express crew scheduling department "requested him if he could operate flight IX 811/812 on 21/22 May to which he agreed." It does not specify the date or time when the crew scheduling told him about the flight. The pilot reached Mangalore on the afternoon of May 19.
"The allegation that late Capt Gluzica was not rostered to operate flights from Mangalore to Dubai is denied. On returning from leave, he was posted at Mangalore, from which it is clear that he was aware of the flight roster," said an Air India spokesperson.
Air India does not use computerised programming for scheduling duties to its pilots. Instead, rostering is done with pencil, paper and eraser. A crew scheduling officer fills in the flight number against each pilot's name in a calender-column in a ledger using a pencil.
"It is very obvious that the Captain was not rested for the flight and he must have been called out in the last minute for the all-night flight. Air India Express does have the roster available online and I wonder why the Court of Inquiry has not accessed that," said Capt Mohan Ranganathan, an airsafety expert.
21/06/2010 Manju V/Times of India

Singapore Airlines and SilkAir offers special fares starting at Rs 25,000 for passengers travelling to USA

Kolkata: Singapore Airlines and SilkAir offers passengers an opportunity to visit A380 destinations like Hong Kong, Japan, Australia and USA at incredibly low prices starting from an all-inclusive fare of Rs 25,000 onwards from across 10 Indian cities. Passengers travelling on the USA route can also avail of exciting offers while in transit at Singapore Changi International Airport .
In a mediastatement issued on Monday, the airline said special economy class return airfares will be available in India for departures from 10 Singapore Airlines and SilkAir gateway cities like Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Bengaluru, Chennai, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Kochi, Trivandrum and Coimbatore. These deals are already available from June 15 and will be available till July 8 with travel validity from June 15 - October 31, 2011.
20/06/11 Anuradha Himatsingka/Economic Times

IndiGo to be represented by The Walshe Group in Singapore

IndiGo is India's largest and fastest growing airline, and is set to launch its international service with the first Singapore- Delhi flight on 15 September 2011, operating the latest Airbus A320 aircraft from Terminal 2. With the launch, the airline aims to further replicate its India success story, redefining its unique flying experience and brand value in the aviation industry. Singapore will be later connected with Mumbai as well.

The Walshe Group was established in 1976 and is one of the largest specialist airline and destination representation companies in Australasia, with several offices in Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong and Singapore.
20/06/11 eTravelBalckBoard

Siemens to better cargo handling at Delhi airport

New Delhi: Delhi Cargo Services Center (DCSC) has signed up Siemens Ltd to set up a state-of-the-art cargo handling equipment for the integrated cargo complex at the Delhi International Airport.
“The contract is worth Rs 165 crore, which is till date India’s largest cargo handling system contract, and Siemens will also maintain the system initially for a period of two years,” said a release from the company.
DCSC is a special-purpose vehicle formed between Delhi International Airport Ltd and Cargo Service Center India Ltd.
Siemens Ltd, in which Siemens AG holds 75 per cent of the capital, is the flagship listed company of Siemens AG in India. In India, Siemens is a leading provider of industry and infrastructure solutions with a business volume aggregating about Rs 12,000 crore and operates in the core business areas of Industry, Energy and Healthcare.
Siemens will outfit the main terminal with air cargo handling solution (MHS), which will include automatic storage and retrieval system, cargo workstation, pallet and container storage and handling system, all managed and controlled by high-level IT systems.
21/06/11 Business Standard

Monday, June 20, 2011

Indian neurosurgeon, wife killed in Ohio plane crash

Columbus, Ohio: A leading New Jersey neurosurgeon and his wife, also a doctor, were killed today when their single-engine plane crashed into an Ohio cornfield and burst into flames shortly after takeoff, authorities said.
Viswanathan Rajaraman, the 54-year-old pilot, and Mary J. Sundaram, his 50-year-old wife and the only passenger, were attempting to take off from Rickenbacker International Airport in Columbus when the incident happened just before 9 a.m., according to the Ohio State Highway Patrol.
The couple was returning to Essex County Airport in Fairfield, which they flew out of on Friday afternoon, according to the aviation website Flight Aware. It was not clear why they were in Ohio for the weekend. The couple lived in Franklin Lakes.
Rajaraman was one of the top doctors in New Jersey, specializing in brain and spine cancer. His loss was mourned today by staff at Hackensack University Medical Center, where he was co-chief of neuro-oncology at the hospital’s cancer center.
The doctor, known to colleagues as Vishy, was also the head of neuro-oncology at Valley Hospital in Ridgewood, according to the website for his practice, the North Jersey Brain and Spine Center. He was a clinical assistant professor at University Hospital in Newark, organized an annual neurooncology symposium and was involved in educating neurosurgeons in the developing world.
Sundaram was reportedly also a physician, but stopped practicing to raise the couple’s daughter, Kaavya Viswanathan, now 24. Reached at her family’s home last night, the young woman said she was too distraught to answer questions about her parents.
Originally from Madras, India, the family moved around the world. They spent some time in the United Kingdom before moving to the United States in the mid-1990s.
19/06/11 Ryan Hutchins/The Star-Ledger/nj.com

AI crash pilot shouldn't have been on flight: Son

The pilot who was at the helm of the doomed Air India Express flight that crashed in Mangalore last year was not suppose to fly, the Serbian captain's son reveals as he demands fresh investigation into the accident.
Claiming that he has discovered new evidence that could clear his father, Alexander Glusica says that according to the airline’s flight rota of that period – a copy of which he has acquired – his father, Captain Zlatco Glusica, was not supposed to fly on that day or the next few days.
____________________________
Read Also:
Reopen Mangalore Crash Investigation
Mangalore Crash: Yet Another New Evidence Surfaces
Mangalore Crash: An Inquiry That Ends with Photoshopping the Truth
An investigation built upon gravest of violations
A case that was settled eight months before the verdict
When evidence reached scrap metal shops
Air India Express flight 812: An investigation gone hauntingly wrong
Mangalore Crash Inquiry Report: A Desperate Attempt to Save the Skin of AAI Also
Mangalore Crash report- The hidden factors
Mangalore crash report – The “truth blanket
____________________________
The report from an Indian Court of Inquiry, published by newspapers across the world earlier this year, held Captain Glusica responsible for the crash. The report also said that the captain had slept for more than half the flight and woke up just before the tricky landing, as a result he was slow to react to the situation.
Dubai-based daily tabloid '7DAYS' quoted 26-year-old Alexander, who is also training to be a pilot, as saying that his father had complained of being overworked and that the airline’s policies not his father alone was responsible for the accident.
“I am 100 per cent sure that he was not planned for the flight. It is wrong to blame my father for everything. The investigation should be reopened and they should look into this vital factor,” Alexander was quoted as saying by 7DAYS.
Alexander’s claim are supported by a leading Indian aviation website, which has also called for the case to be reopened.
Aviation India claims to have obtained a copy of the ‘Flying Programme’ of Air India Express for the period May 17, 2010 to May 23, 2010, and Glusica’s name does not appear on it.
“What if Captain Glusica was informed of the flight only some hours before? What if he had not slept for the previous day not being aware of the sudden change in schedule?” it said.
19/06/11 Emirates 24-7

With fanfare, biofuels and rivalry, Paris Air Show kicks off

Paris: The biennial air show at Le Bourget, Paris doesn't officially start until Monday, but over the week-end, there is little doubt that the posturing and courting for business and headlines is well under way as the global aviation industry's titans landed their latest prized aircraft to much fanfare.
Already, it's clear that alternative energy sources are set to be a big theme of the 49th Paris Air show – where over 138,000 trade visitors are expected. Lausanne, Switzerland-based Solar Impulse kicked off the show with the arrival of its solar-only powered jet on Tuesday.
After a delayed start, the HB-SIA prototype – which is being billed as the ‘special guest' of the show – landed after a 16 something hour trip from Brussels, and is set to show its capabilities with daily flights, weather permitting of course.
Biofuel is also all the rage, with the US-based Honeywell completing the first-ever transatlantic flight of a plane on Saturday, partly powered by oilseed crop camelina.
The Gulfstream G450 jet made the journey from Morristown New Jersey, half powered by bio and petroleum based fuel – a mixture that saved it around five-and-a-half tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions, the airline says. It will shortly be followed by Boeing, which will use a 15 per cent camelina fuel to debut its 747-8 freighter plane on Monday. The company's new passenger jet, the 747-8 Intercontinental, touched down on Sunday morning.
19/06/11 Vidya Ram/Business Line

200 companies and above 80 delegations to attend Paris Air Show

Paris: Over 200 companies and more than 80 national delegations are attending this year's Paris Air Show , and that should mean a lot of conversation. Not quite, if what you have in mind is open discussions about products, strategies or likely collaborations. Most companies prefer to keep to themselves and many of the majors have even booked all their staff participants into one hotel, to lend an additional support for privacy and security.
Being an Indian in Paris this week, though, is a distinct advantage, as is being a Chinese. Every global player wants to know what these two countries are up to in the near term, and the interest has not ebbed despite the Indian government having already short-listed Eurofighter Typhoon and Dassault Rafel as the final contestants for the nearly $ 10-billion medium multi-role combat aircraft deal.
19/06/11 Joe A Scaria/Economic Times

Treading on thin ice at Paris air show

Paris: A cruise down the Seine is very pleasant on a bright, sunny Paris afternoon, but what is different this Sunday is that the cruises are mostly booked by the defence and aerospace majors who are treading on thin ice in terms of industry prospects as they ready themselves for the world's bellwether air show that begins at Le Bourget on Monday.
By the side of the Seine, Mercs, BMWs and Volkswagens drop top honchos of civil, military and transport aircraft majors and missile and radar makers of the world, and champagne glasses clink on board the cruise liners, but no one is pretending that all is well with their industry. And that, despite the industry betting on the emergence of India and China as big buyers in the military and commercial aircraft sectors, riding on their globally envious GDP growth trajectories.
As always, there is a buzz about what's the latest to expect at the air show, and this time it includes discussions on helicopters with wings, the copter that the US used to end the Bin Laden chapter, and what the Chinese are up to in civil and military aircraft, but the under-lying theme is essentially whether or not the air show will point to an uptick for the aerospace and defence sector.
It is customary for aerospace majors to be tight-lipped about their latest wares even as they seek to display some of their capabilities at the biggest bi-annual B2B event of the industry. In the commercial aircraft sector, the industry expects positive news with air travel becoming more accessible and affordable for large segments of people in Asia, led by India and China, and large orders already coming through for both Boeing and Airbus.
20/06/11 Joe A Scaria/Economic Times

Sunday, June 19, 2011

Indian low-cost airlines’ success on display

Mumbai: The success of India’s low-cost airlines is on display at the Paris Air Show, with a big order of Airbus aircraft from GoAir earlier in the week and more expected from Indian carriers at the show.
India’s budget carriers are thriving while the global airline industry is licking its wounds from economic recessions in the U.S. and Europe, turmoil in the Middle East, and surging fuel costs.
Beyond the buzz is a largely untapped domestic market stemming not only from India’s emerging middle class, but also a growing share of its 1.2 billion population that used to travel by trains, and other cheap means of transportation.
“In India, everybody has understood that the culture here is very cost-sensitive,” said Sharan Lillaney, aviation analyst at Angel Broking in Mumbai. “People prefer the low-cost airlines, which was where we saw huge 16%-18% growth in traffic last year.”
On Thursday, India’s GoAir said it has ordered 72 A320 Neo planes worth $7.2 billion. The Neo is a fuel-efficient aircraft that uses 15% less fuel than the A320. Read more on the Airbus order.
The deal, which topped industry analysts expectations for an order of about 50 aircraft, is the latest from an Indian carrier. SpiceJet Ltd. IN:500285 -3.25% ordered 30 Boeing 737-800s in November. IndiGo bought 180 A320 Neos in January.
18/06/11 MarketWatch

IndiGo plans Kathmandu -Delhi flight from August 4

Kathmandu : Fares on the New Delhi- Kathmandu flight are poised to dip to as low as Rs 5,000, to the joy of budget travellers, as India’s low-cost carrier IndiGo readies to start operations to Kathmandu with seven trips a week from August 4.
The Gurgaon-based India’s domestic airline, which announced it would go international from September with flights to Dubai, Singapore and Bangkok, can actually debut with Kathmandu in August, if Ministry of Tourism and Civil Aviation gives it a green signal.
President International — IndiGo’s general sales agent in Nepal — said Indian civil aviation authorities have cleared the New Delhi-Kathmandu flight. Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal will give final permission after the ministry gives it a go ahead.
With Nepal celebrating 2011 as tourism year with a target of drawing one million air-borne tourists, President International said it would like to see the New Delhi-Kathmandu flight kick off from August 4.
The flight will see brand new 180-seater Airbus 320s with emphasis on low fares.
Currently, Jet Airways and Air India fly between the two capitals of South Asian neighbours along with other Indian budget carriers JetLite and Spicejet.
18/06/11 The Himalayan Times

Chennai airport turns hub for illegal migrants to Malaysia

Chennai: When Malaysia is considering its largest-ever programme to legalise immigrants without papers, Chennai airport is seeing a steady increase of illegal migration.
The last of such incident came to light in the wee hours of Friday when the airport police arrested two men on trying to check into a flight to Malaysia using fake tickets. Chennai airport police inspector D Arockia Raveendran said the two passengers were cheated by an agent called Velmurugan in Singapore, who offered them a job there.
The men from Tiruchi and Vellore were desperately searching for a job in Malaysia. Marimuthu, who works as an electrician, and Udayakumar, a daily wage labourer, had paid Rs 10,000 to Velmurugan for the tickets. "They said Velmurugan's father collected the money and gave them print-outs of tickets sent from Malaysia. They were arrested after the airline officials found the tickets to be fake," said Raveendran.
The inspector said Chennai airport, said to be one of the safest gateways for illegal migrants in the country, has tightened immigration rules in the last two years, but such cases keep happening. "We come to know of the sad stories of labourers only when we arrest passengers for smuggling drugs and such banned materials," said a senior immigration official at Chennai airport.
18/06/11 Arun Janardhanan/Times of India

Airlines flout high court order: Travel agents to meet civil minister

Mumbai: Travel agents are perplexed as foreign airlines have stopped charging passengers airport/user development fee as per a recent Supreme Court order.
Also the airlines are not adhering to a one year old high court order which asked them to pay commission to travel agents. Tired of waiting for almost a year the agents have now decided to approach the civil aviation minister to get the order enforced.
“Foreign airlines are making a mockery of the Kerala high court order passed last year asking airlines to pay commission to travel agents,” said Rajesh Rateria, chairman, Travel Agents Association of India (TAAI). “All the airlines have issued us circulars asking not to charge airport development fee from passengers. But the same airlines are not acceding to the HC order of March 15, 2010,” he said.
In fact the airlines have asked the travel agents to collect their commission as transaction fee from passengers. “We are charging anywhere between Rs30 and 40 on domestic tickets while 2% in case of international ones. But why should the passengers pay the fees.
18/06/11 Naveeta Singh/Daily News & Analysis

Friday, June 17, 2011

Chennai airport turns hub for illegal migrants to Malaysia

Chennai: When Malaysia is considering its largest-ever programme to legalise immigrants without papers, Chennai airport is seeing a steady increase of illegal migration.
The last of such incident came to light in the wee hours of Friday when the airport police arrested two men on trying to check into a flight to Malaysia using fake tickets. Chennai airport police inspector D Arockia Raveendran said the two passengers were cheated by an agent called Velmurugan in Singapore, who offered them a job there.
The men from Tiruchi and Vellore were desperately searching for a job in Malaysia. Marimuthu, who works as an electrician, and Udayakumar, a daily wage labourer, had paid Rs 10,000 to Velmurugan for the tickets. "They said Velmurugan's father collected the money and gave them print-outs of tickets sent from Malaysia. They were arrested after the airline officials found the tickets to be fake," said Raveendran.
The inspector said Chennai airport, said to be one of the safest gateways for illegal migrants in the country, has tightened immigration rules in the last two years, but such cases keep happening. "We come to know of the sad stories of labourers only when we arrest passengers for smuggling drugs and such banned materials," said a senior immigration official at Chennai airport.
18/06/11 Arun Janardhanan/Times of India

Kalanithi Maran's Kal Airways pledges 2.07 crore more shares in SpiceJet

Chennai: Kalanithi Maran's Kal Airways Private Ltd has pledged an additional 2.07 crore shares in SpiceJet on June 3, as per the latest disclosure to the stock exchanges on Friday.
With this transaction, Kal has pledged a total of 9.09 crore shares, out of the 15.65 crore shares it holds in SpiceJet. In other words, 58% of its shares are pledged. Kal holds over 38% in SpiceJet.
The move comes after its shares got a hammering in the markets on June 2 when it emerged that the CBI was looking into certain decisions taken by Dayanidhi Maran when he was a telecom minister between 2004-07. Dayanidhi Maran is Kalanithi's younger brother and current Union Textiles Minister. This news shaved off 16% from SpiceJet's market price on that day. The brothers' other big business interest, Sun TV, incurred its single-biggest fall in a day.
18/06/11 Economic Times

Air Canada eyes daily flight to India

New Delhi: Air Canada has its eye on a major new route: the airline is considering starting daily flights to India by the end of the year, according to sales staff now on the ground in Delhi.
The two obstacles, they confided to The Globe, are first a shortage of planes ("China is using up all our fleet!") and second, a fear that demand won't be consistent enough through the year to make the routes (likely non-stop to Toronto from Delhi and Mumbai) viable.
Canadian tourism in India is picking up -- there were no fewer than 20 separate Canadian tourism events held in India last year to entice the industry, with Niagara Falls the number one draw. But tourists come in the relatively short season, December through March, before the temperatures head above 30C.
There is plenty of traffic in the family of Indo-Canadians coming and going, but they fly over once a year and stay "until the very last day of their six-month visa" -- so they won't fill planes. What Air Canada is looking to see is sufficient business travel to justify the route -- there are said to be dozens of Canadian companies poised to move into India, with one nervous eye on the country's rapidly involving but still Byzantine regulatory environment.
In the meantime, the best of India's airlines, Jet Airways, has a lock on the direct service to Toronto (although the flight stops in Europe for two unpleasant hours) and also serves Calgary, Edmonton and Vancouver.
17/06/11 Stephane Nolen/Globe and Mail

India - a lucrative commercial aerospace, defence destination: Deloitte

Bangalore A new Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu report estimates the Indian commercial aerospace market to absorb about 1,100 commercial jets worth $130 billion over the next 20 years, making it one of the most lucrative markets for the global aviation majors.
The report -focused on the global aerospace and defence sectors - points to the recent order placed by Gurgaon-based budget airline IndiGo for 180 Airbus A-320 aircrafts, estimated at $15.6-billion in January earlier in the year, and which has been cited as the largest in aviation history.
"Indian orders are being driven by forecasted annual Revenue Passenger Kilometre growth of 15% over the next five years and about 8.5% on average over the next 20 years, significantly higher than the forecast global growth rate of 5 per cent," the report states.
In recent months, India's domestic airlines have placed massive orders with global aerospace vendors such as Airbus, Boeing and Bombardier , as they embark on an aggressive growth strategy in what is often regarded as the fastest growing commercial aviation market in the world.
Separately on June 16, the Wadia group-promoted GoAir placed an order for 72 A-320neo aircrafts, in a deal valued at $7-billion with European manufacturer Airbus.
17/06/11 Biswarup Gooptu/Economic Times

Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Air India Express to fly to SAARC capitals

Air India Express (AIE) plans to operate flights to the capitals of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) countries and to new destinations in the Gulf. Besides India, the other SAARC nations are: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
At present, the low-cost carrier operates flights to all the cities in the Gulf, except Saudi Arabia. Its services have come as a big relief to non-resident Keralites in these countries.
In view of the new services, the airline has started recruiting more cockpit crew members. “The focus is on the operational bases of the AIE in the State — Thiruvananthapuram, Kochi and Kozhikode — and in adjoining Mangalore. The recruitment will also be for taking care of the future needs of the airline in Mumbai, Delhi and Chennai, and the augmentation of the fleet,” an airline spokesman told The Hindu.
15/06/11 S. Anil Radhakrishnan/The Hindu

Tuesday, June 14, 2011

Flydubai introduces flights thrice weekly on Hyderabad-Dubai route

Hyderabad: Low cost carrier fludubai introduced its thrice weekly flights from Hyderabad to Dubai to serve the growing budget travel market within the India-UAE region. The new route is the Dubai-based airline's second to India and expands the carrier's network to 37 operational sestinations across the Middle East, Asia, Africa and fringes of Europe.
It has already scheduled flights from Lucknow thrice a week.
"India is a key destination for flydubai and will provide a low cost alternative to the existing full service and other budget carriers operating in India. We target the business circle, tourists and largely the Indian expat community in the UAE," said Ghaith Al Ghaith, chief executive, flydubai.
Trade between the United Arab Emirates and India has grown to $ 43.4 billion from $ 180 million in the 1970s and over 1.8 million Indian expatriates make their livelihoods and careers in the UAE.
15/06/11 Economic Times

IndiGo’s overseas entry may trigger fare war

New Delhi: Budget airline IndiGo, run by InterGlobe Aviation Pvt. Ltd, will launch its international operations in September with highly competitive ticket prices that could trigger a fare war on the South-East Asian and West Asian routes.
IndiGo, the country’s third largest carrier by passengers with 240 aircraft on order, will offer 25,000 tickets at Rs.9,999 each for flights to Singapore, Bangkok and Dubai in a bid to woo passengers, said IndiGo president Aditya Ghosh.
“It’s not a small-time marketing gimmick. Even in Diwali and Dussehra you can fly to holiday destinations at these fares,” he said. Typically, fares get higher closer to the date of booking.
IndiGo’s first international flight on 1 September will be Delhi-Dubai, which will be followed by Delhi-Bangkok, Delhi-Singapore, Mumbai-Dubai and Mumbai-Bangkok.
Fares may crash 20-25% due to IndiGo’s entry into the international market, said Keyur Joshi, co-founder and chief operating officer of travel portal MakeMyTrip.
15/06/11 Tarun Shukla/Live Mint

Civil Aviation Minister Inaugurates Steering Committee Meeting of Cooperative Aviation Security Programme-Asia Pacific

Union Civil Aviation Minister Shri Vayalar Ravi has underlined the need of joint pooling of resources by the countries of Asia Pacific Region to develop a formidable wall of protection against terrorism and unlawful interference in Air transport system. Inaugurating the 8th Steering Committee Meeting (SCM) of cooperative Aviation Security Programme-Asia Pacific (CASP-AP) here today, he said this entire region has had a history of political turbulence in some form or the other for the last few decades, though there are exceptions too. Shri Ravi said these disturbances have affected our socio-political fabric and impacted our public services, including civil aviation as well. He said we are thus exposed to a fragile environment as far as security is concerned.
The Union Civil Aviation Minister said, “I think there is an element of indivisibility in security. The entire system has to be integrated in a manner that no weak link is left anywhere for a criminal or a terrorist to attack. Security cannot be dealt in fragments. If any nation is unable to adopt a foolproof system of civil aviation security, the entire region would become fragile”.
The Minister said the varying stages of economic development of the countries in this region have an impact on the adoption of technologies and systems. Best technologies come with a heavy financial burden. He said as most of the economies in this region are still developing, the states find it difficult to adopt expensive technologies. This leads to wide variations in defense systems and an utter lack of uniformity across states making us vulnerable.
14/06/11 Press Information Bureau

Air India Inks Network Deal With Slovenian Airline

Air India has entered into an agreement with Slovenian flag carrier Adria Airways, and the two will soon sign a code-sharing pact, a senior official of the airline says.
“The agreement will forge greater cooperation between Air India and Adria Airways in view of aircraft compatibility, with the fleet of Airbus and CRJ aircraft types, and complementary network,” the official says.
While Adria Airways will be able to access Air India’s network by generating traffic beyond Delhi, Air India will receive access to the Eastern European market.
“It will also provide for better operations and commercial viability, and contribute towards yield improvements,” the official says.
At present, Adria Airways provides feed over Frankfurt and Munich and its hubs from the Balkans to North America for 400,000 passengers annually.
The airline’s existing passenger potential between India and Eastern Europe is 130,000 travelers per year.
“With this agreement, both Air India and Adria Airways aim to tap this potential after shortly signing a code-share agreement,” he says.
Air India has also entered into an agreement with Slovenia’s Aerodrome Ljubljana.
14/06/11 Jay Menon/Aviation Week

Monday, June 13, 2011

Boeing MRO will actually be run by AI

Nagpur: Boeing has finally started building the much-touted $100 million dollar maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) depot at Mihan-SEZ. However, unlike general perception, it won't exactly be a Boeing MRO at Nagpur. In a change from the earlier plan of running the facility in a joint venture with Air India, now the aircraft giant will only build the infrastructure. Once the MRO is built and ready, Air India will take over to run the show.
In an e-mail reply to TOI's query, Air India said at the time of purchasing 68 aircraft from Boeing, the aircraft-maker undertook a commitment to invest up to $100 million for establishing a MRO facility in India. Initially, a joint venture was planned between Boeing and Air India, which was later transformed into the present arrangement.
Now, Boeing will finance, construct and establish the MRO, while Air India will operate the same. The work is in progress and expected to be completed by 2013. After this, the MRO will be able to take the work of Air India as well as other airlines.
The Air India spokesperson told TOI that the deal was renegotiated as it was more profitable for the national carrier to run the MRO on its own. The MRO will be carved out as a separate subsidiary of the company, hiving off the airline's maintenance and engineering department into the new entity. A cabinet note in this regard has already been prepared by the ministry of civil aviation.
14/06/11 Shishir Arya/Times of India

IndiGo to fly abroad from August, spur competition

New Delhi: IndiGo, India’s second-biggest airline by passengers carried, is expected to commence international operations by the first week of August.
The low-fare carrier plans five daily flights from Mumbai and Delhi each, connecting Singapore, Bangkok, Dubai, Kathmandu and Muscat.
An announcement on this is expected early next week.
IndiGo president Aditya Ghosh was travelling and did not respond to an SMS seeking details.
According to sources, the airline has already received necessary clearances from the ministry of civil aviation and will be joining peers such as Air India, Jet Airways and JetLite, Kingfisher Airlines and SpiceJet on these competitive routes.
The Gurgaon-based carrier is run by InterGlobe General Aviation owned by Rahul Bhatia.
The Delhi-Singapore leg already has three airlines competing - Jet, Kingfisher and Air India.
On the Bangkok and Dubai sectors, competition is expected again from Jet whereas SpiceJet and JetLite are already flying to Kathmandu. Air India and Jet also fly to Muscat.
An official at a full-service carrier said IndiGo’s arrival on the scene is unlikely to result in any large shift in market dynamics.
13/06/11 Sindhu Bhattacharya/Daily News & Analysis

One million aphrodisiac pills from India seized in Dubai

Dubai: The Dubai Customs has foiled an attempt to smuggle in one million restricted aphrodisiac tablets, weighing 850kg and worth USD 40,000, from India to the UAE.
Omar Ahmed Al Muhairi, Senior Manager of Air Cargo Operation Department, that the authority had received information about a cargo coming in from an Asian country.
The package raised the suspicions of inspectors at the Flower Section of the Free Zone Inspection Centre at the Dubai International Airport.
"The restricted pills, valued at around 150,000 dirhams (USD 40,000), were manufactured from Sildenafil which is an anti-erectile dysfunction medicine."
The suspected cargo was subjected to manual inspection and samples of the tablets were referred to the Department of Drug Control and Registration at the Ministry of Health.
The drugs have come from India, Khaleej Times reported.
13/06/11 Indian Express

Sunday, June 12, 2011

Saudia strands 300 passengers at Dammam airport for 17 hours

Dammam: A technical problem on an India-bound Saudia flight and a lack of attention on the airline’s part led to the stranding of 300 passengers for more than 17 hours with scant water and food at King Fahd International Airport in Dammam.
Saudi Arabian Airlines Flight SV771 originated in Jeddah and made a scheduled stop to pick up more passengers in Dammam before heading to Chennai in India.
After pulling out on the tarmac at 12:45 a.m. Thursday, the plane sat for about two hours before cabin crew announced the passengers would be offloaded so the aircraft could be repaired. A lack of communication between technicians and airline staff led to the passengers being crowded into a waiting area where they were forced to languor with little water and no food until 8 a.m. when they were served a piece of bread.
An airline spokesman said the passengers remained sequestered because they did not want to have the passengers go through immigration a second and third time and that the nearest hotels were many kilometers away from the remote airport.
Among the passengers were women with infant children; they were forced to starve and thirst along with the rest of the castaways.
11/06/11 Arab News

Carriers fight over Bay of Bengal, fire killer fares

Kolkata: The hooter has been sounded for what could turn out to be the bloodiest dogfight yet in the skies over Bay of Bengal. First SilkAir launched a scud to beat competition. Within hours, AirAsia replied in style, firing a battery of missiles to annihilate rivals.
Under fire, Thai Airways, Jet Airways, Kingfisher Airlines and Air India Express have dived for cover. But they may soon re-emerge, armed with the latest arsenal to counter the biggest threat since 2005. That was when Singapore Airlines, Malaysian Airlines and Jetstar Asia had launched a fare blitzkrieg that sent shockwaves through the industry.
While Singapore and Thai survived the battle and lived to fight another day, Malaysian Airlines and Jetstar Asia got hit so bad that they were sent into a tailspin. The carriers retreated from the trans-Bengal bay adventure the next year and a truce was sounded.
12/06/11 Times of India

Saturday, June 11, 2011

Air India defies odds, plans ‘unviable’ Melbourne flight

Mumbai: Air India plans to start a daily service to Melbourne from Delhi soon and has already received permission from the Ministry of Civil Aviation for this flight.
The carrier’s flight to the kangaroo land comes after two previous attempts—in June and September last year—to begin such a service were struck down by the ministry because it found the route unviable.
Can the ailing AI, still reeling from the after-effects of a crippling pilot strike as also the strictures put on it by oil companies, really afford to take up another international route where breakeven may not be quick? An aviation expert said that such routes take at least a year to break even so that AI’s finances would not be helped by daily flights to the Australian city just yet.
But a ministry official said AI has done its homework and the flight will do well. “A private low-cost carrier like IndiGo also starts flights on the assumption that 60% inaugural passenger load means the flight will break even.....IndiGo is scientific about these things. If IndiGo can do this, I think it’s only fair that AI is allowed to start flights on the same assumption of load factors. We have spoken to many airlines abroad and in India before permitting this service.”
He said that Australian carrier, Qantas, which runs a code-share flight with Jet Airways on the Mumbai-Singapore-Melbourne route at present, may be withdrawing from the Singapore leg.
11/06/11 Sindhu Bhattacharya/Daily News & Analysis

Airbus plans to create biofuel hub in India

Airlines have gotten initial approval to blend conventional fuel with biofuels from inedible plants, such as algae and woody biomass, reports the Air Transport Association.
Technical standards group ASTM International gave the airlines the go-ahead to incorporate biofuels into as much as 50% of the total fuel they use on passenger flights. The biofuels can be made from organic waste or non-food materials, such as algae or wood chips. Final approval is expected July 1 at the earliest.
Airbus SAS and Deutsche Lufthansa AG are planning to start a six- month trial in the coming weeks where one engine is powered 50% by biofuels from jatropha, camelina and animal waste.
Airbus and Boeing, which combined make about 80% of the world's passenger planes, plan to set up biofuel production chains across the world.
Airbus plans to create a supply hub in India where it would form partnerships with growers, transporters and refiners. Boeing is similarly negotiating with companies in the biofuels supply chain in South America.
10/06/11 SustainableBusiness.com

Air India Clearing Final Hurdles For Star Alliance Membership

Faced with a July 31 deadline to meet the requirements for joining the Star Alliance, representatives of Air India and the global airline group will soon meet with government officials to set the date for the national carrier’s formal entry into the 27-member partnership.
“In a meeting of the Star Alliance’s Chief Executives Board at Barcelona on June 3, the Star Alliance appraised the readiness of Air India to join Star Alliance by July 31,” an Air India spokesman says.
Air India Chairman and Managing Director Arvind Jadhav says, “Air India is looking forward to joining Star Alliance as scheduled.”
Lufthansa, a founding member of Star, recently said Air India needs to complete all formalities before the final deadline of July 31.
“The Star Alliance has set the time limit for Air India to become a full-fledged member. So, it is time for Air India to prepare by July 31 and meet all criteria. All the solutions need to be worked out by that day,” Carsten Spohr, CEO of Lufthansa German Airlines, said last month.
Star Alliance has certain minimum joining requirements, which involve development, testing systems and procedures to harmonize the product with those of other members.
The process of integrating Air India into Star Alliance is progressing well and Air India is looking forward to becoming a member within the targeted time frame, the spokesman says.
10/06/11 Jay Menon/Aviation Week

Plan for flight to Phuket

Low-cost carrier Thai Air Asia is planning to start a direct flight from Calcutta to Phuket, one of the most popular holiday destinations in Southeast Asia.
“We are studying the route for launching a direct flight. There is a great demand on the sector,” said Suresh Nair, the regional manager (India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka) of Air Asia. Thai Air Asia is a part of the group.
He added Air Asia would initially operate four flights a week to the beach destination in Thailand.
According to him, 44 per cent of the passengers who fly from Calcutta to Bangkok proceed to Phuket.
Somebody flying from Calcutta to Phuket now has to wait a minimum of two hours at the Bangkok airport to catch a connecting flight. A ticket on a direct flight is expected to cost about 30 per cent less.
Air Asia now operates daily flights to Bangkok and thrice a week to Kuala Lumpur.
11/06/11 The Telegraph

Stranded Keralites in Yemen reach Kochi

Nedumbassery: Keralites evacuated from strife-torn Yemen reached the Cochin International Airport here from Mumbai by Air India flight late on Friday. Around 49 Malayalis, majority of them women working in General Military Hospital, arrived here at 8.15 pm on Friday.
They were working with the Cardiac Department of the Hospital when the internal war broke out in Yemen. Fierce fighting were seen in the streets.
Thundering sounds of gun blasts were heard everywhere, says Joel, of Muvattupuzha, who reached here.
Even boys were seen carrying guns and firing at their will and pleasure, says Jinu Athirampuzha. Recalling the ordeal she added that nearby building were seen ablaze and the bodies of people were seen in large numbers on the streets.
The Indian Embassy officials had arranged tickets for the Keralites to reach India.
11/06/11 New Indian Express/IBN Live

New Scam: Consultant dupes travellers with huge discounts

The summer holiday season has exposed a new fraud in the travel market. A number of Indian expatriates who made travel plans for the forthcoming scorching months complain of being duped by a travel consultant.
He offered 'huge discounts on tickets' and disappeared after pocketing the money, customers alleged. Tickets worth Dh4,000 were given for as less as Dh1,700-Dh1,800.
Several passengers who booked tickets through this absconding agent are now trying to avail refund and seek alternative routes to travel.
Mohammed Nazir, Manager, Al Diyafa Travel and Tourism LLC, said an employee of the company has allegedly stolen LPO and other office material and sold tickets on the road offering huge discounts. “We have repaid 30 victims of fraud who came here yesterday with proper receipt. Today also we have paid money to some people. Most of them don’t have receipts for ticket bookings and the employee has been absconding,” he said.
Mohammed Fazal, an employee of Al Diyafa Tourism LLC, has apparently absconded after selling airline ticket to 200-odd Indian customers.
11/06/11 VM Sathish/Emirates 24/7

Rising fuel costs delayAirAsia X's break-even in India

Mumbai: Malaysia-based low-cost long haul airline, AirAsia X, will have to wait till the year-end to break even in its operations in India as it grapples with rising fuel costs. The airline recently completed its first year of operations from India.
“It normally takes around 12 months for a route to mature and break even. But the challenge for us now is to manage the high fuel costs. Therefore, we expect to break even by the end of the year,” Mr Arzan Osman Rani, Chief Executive Officer, AirAsia X, told Business Line.
AirAsia X is the low-cost carrier AirAsia's long haul arm. It operates four flights a week from Mumbai and daily flights from Delhi.
The high airport charges in these two cities are also affecting the growth of business for AirAsia X.
10/06/11 Debabrata Das/Business Line

Friday, June 10, 2011

Rambachan revives air service talks between TT and India

Trinidad and Tobago and India have already exchanged a copy of a model agreement on bilateral air service, but government ministers of both countries heightened the discussions once again.
Minister of Foreign Affairs Suruj Rambachan called on India’s Minister of Overseas Affairs and Civil Aviation Ravi Vayalar to look into the matter of co-sharing between Air India and Caribbean Airlines.
“On the Port-of-Spain/New York sector, this route will connect to India through the direct Air India service from New York.” Rambachan said. He noted civil aviation is considered as critical as better air links would facilitate trade and tourism ventures between both countries.
He noted these discussions have been ongoing since 2009 at the Asian Trade and Investment Mission was hosted in this country by the then Indian Commissioner. The two ministers met at the Learning Resource Centre at UWI at last week’s two-day diaspora conference organized by the Indian High Commissioner to TT Malay Mishra.
Rambachan said the diaspora conference is of importance as the Caribbean people are deeply concerned about the trade in small arms since approximately 70 percent of homicide are gun- related.
10/06/11 Seeta Persad/Newsday

Man sentenced for causing havoc while 'completely drunk' on flight

An airline passenger from Slough smashed a television screen after swigging from a bottle of vodka on a Heathrow-bound flight, a court heard.
Jasvir Binning, of Blair Road, had been downing vodka before and during the Air India flight and was completely drunk, Isleworth Crown Court was told.
The 45-year-old, who caused £4,000 damage, had to be moved away from passengers on September 23 and was met by waiting police when the plane landed.
He was given a 28-week prison sentence suspended for 18 months on Friday after pleading guilty to being drunk on a plane, criminal damage and failing to surrender.
09/06/11 Gareth McPherson/Maiden Head Advertiser