Airbus eyes production in U.S., India

Paris: Weeks before the first China-built Airbus rolls off the assembly line near Beijing, the European planemaker's top official has pulled out the map and targeted future jetliner production in the United States and India.
Airbus Chief Executive Tom Enders, writing 40 years after the birth of the first plane project by a four-nation European consortium, said Airbus must become global to stay competitive.
"We have to leave national sentiment behind us," Enders wrote in a column in Friday's edition of the Financial Times.
"Airbus will only remain competitive in the long term if it develops resources and markets globally and becomes a genuinely international company, with development and production also in the U.S., China, India and elsewhere."
Airbus agreed in 2006 to set up an assembly line for the A320 family of jets, its most popular model, at Tianjin in China to reduce costs and gain an edge over rival Boeing in one of the world's largest aviation markets.
The first plane will be delivered by end-June, the first time an Airbus has been assembled outside its two main host countries, France and Germany, supported by Britain and Spain.
India has pressed Airbus to consider opening a production line there also, but so far the European company has been tied up in domestic restructuring and a series of aircraft production delays, as well as fierce union opposition to offshoring jobs.
When India's civil aviation minister floated the idea of an Indian assembly line at an Airbus ceremony at the Paris air show two years ago, Airbus officials cautiously welcomed the concept but said the costs might outweigh the benefits.
30/05/09 Alibaba.com

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Air-India considers strategic alliance with JAT

Mumabi: Air-India is considering a strategic alliance with Serbia's state-owned carrier, Jugoslavenski Aerotransport (JAT), and may bid for a stake at a later stage, an official for the Indian airline said on Monday.
"We are conducting due diligence and the first step would be a strategic alliance," a spokesman for Air-India said.
"They are open to the idea of Air-India as a strategic partner, and we might then take an equity stake if we are able to agree on the valuation and sharing of profits," he said.
The two airlines had been in talks for several months, and the due diligence of the Serbian carrier was scheduled to be completed by the end of the month, the spokesman said.
"A joint venture or partnership will help us extend our footprint in Europe and we can consolidate routes in markets such as North America and Australia," the Air-India spokesman said.
04/06/07 Reuters/NDTV.com

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Jet Airways to begin Toronto-Delhi flights from Aug.

Toronto: Jet Airways will begin flights from Toronto to Delhi in August on a route that Air Canada has discontinued from this month.
Jet Airways (India) Ltd will begin five flights a week from Toronto through Brussels, destined for New Delhi beginning August 23, a senior General Manager for the airline, Abraham Joseph said.
The Indian carrier aims to deliver daily service by the end of October as part of a major push into North America, he said.
Jet Airways expects to get its licence to fly into Canada within the next few weeks.
Hemant Shah, President of Cubex India and leading aviation professional, who runs a pilot training school in Winnipeg said that it would help 710,000 citizens of Indian descent who have been demanding excellent customer service that matches international service standards, and boost trade links between the two countries.
31/05/07 PTI/The Hindu

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Maharaja in race to buy Serbian airline

Mumbai: After surviving all bids at privatisation, Air India and Indian Airlines, the two merging state-run carriers are bidding to buy controlling stakes in Jat Airways, Serbia’s national airline.
It’s the first time in its history that Air India is looking at buying another airline, let alone an international flagship. The only other contender to acquire Jat – formerly called Yugoslav Airlines – is Russia’s national carrier Aeroflot, which has already made a competitive bid for the offer.
V Thulasidas, who was on Tuesday appointed chairman and managing director of the merged airline, confirmed the move. “We have asked our consultants to look into the Jat Airways project,” he said.
Jat is expected to choose its partner for privatisation by June-end.
Sources from AI said that the Maharaja is looking at a controlling stake in the Serbian airline. Jat Airways CEO was in India early this year to discuss the proposal with AI.
31/05/07 V Manju/Times of India

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Pvt airlines may soon fly to West Asia

Mumbai: More domestic airlines are expected to fly to the Gulf apart from PSU carriers. The ministry of civil aviation (MoCA) may allow all airlines to fly international destinations, including the Gulf routes, if a carrier completes three years of operations. A policy in this regard, christened Vision 2020, will come before the Cabinet on Thursday for approval.
Currently, the Gulf region is reserved for national carriers Indian Airlines and Air India, along with its international low-cost carrier Air India Express for a period of three years, which expires in 2008.
Jet Airways and Air Sahara (now JetLite following the acquisition by Jet) — which have been lobbying for opening it up — would be the first airlines flying in these routes.
“The government is planning to relax the norms for the international operations to three years of operations and 20 aircraft in its fleet against the current five years and 20 aircraft. The new civil aviation policy envisages this relaxation is irrespective of international destinations,” said government sources.
This would mean that any airline which has completed three years of operations can fly on the Gulf route, which is considered a cash cow. If the Cabinet approves MoCA’s proposal, low-cost carrier Air Deccan can immediately fly Gulf, while Vijay Mallya-promoted Kingfisher Airlines and another Delhi-based budget carrier SpiceJet can make it to the Gulf destinations by May 2008.
31/05/07 P R Sanjai/Business Standard

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Time served, deportation for groping on a plane

An Indian computer engineer who groped female passengers during a London-to-Philadelphia flight in March and later caused a commotion in a courtroom here was sentenced yesterday to 69 days in prison, or time served.
Thirumurthy Nakka Boomaiah of Chennai, India, is expected to be deported. He had pleaded guilty to interfering with a flight crew and faced a sentence of as long as six months.
Boomaiah was arrested March 21 at Philadelphia International Airport after passengers and crew complained that he had rubbed the legs and genital areas of female passengers and thrown water in the face of a flight attendant who told him to stop. Passengers told authorities that after crew members strapped Boomaiah to his seat, he continued to shout obscenities until the plane landed.
During his first appearance before a federal magistrate in Philadelphia, Boomaiah was wrestled to the courtroom floor by marshals after he began to move toward a female clerk and shouted, "I am a man! I am a man!"
Government doctors initially found Boomaiah incompetent to stand trial. About a week later, they conducted further tests and determined that he had regained competency.
30/05/07 John Shiffman/The Philadelphia Inquirer, US

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Malaysian firm takes 'Touch & Go' to India

New Delhi: The “Touch & Go” ticketing system at Malaysian highways and car parks will be used in India, after a Malaysian-based company, Tenaga Group, clinched a contract to manage the automated parking management system at the Hyderabad International Airport that will be commissioned next March.
Tenaga Parking (India) Pvt Ltd, the Indian arm of Tenaga Group, secured the three-year contract to operate the car park facility, designed to accommodate 3,500 vehicles, in the face of tough competition from car park specialists from Australian, South Africna and Indian companies.
Under the deal, Tenaga will use the “Touch n Go” system at the airport, which is set to handle 12 million passengers a year by 2020.
Describing the project as a tough challenge for the company in India, where paid parking is a relatively new concept, Rashpal said Tenaga will use its Sri Lanka experience to implement the system in Hyderabad.
30/05/07 Business Times - Malaysia, Malaysia

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US plans $1.1 billion cargo plane sale to India

Washington: The Bush administration announced Wednesday a proposed sale to India of six Lockheed Martin Corp. (LMT.N: Quote, Profile , Research) C-130J cargo planes and related gear worth up to $1.1 billion in what would be the first modern U.S. military aircraft deal with India.
The sale would bolster a "U.S.-Indian strategic relationship that continues to be an important force for political stability, peace and economic progress in South Asia," the Pentagon's Defense Security Cooperation Agency said in a notice to Congress.
The C-130J Super Hercules would give India "a credible special operations capability that will deter aggression in the region, provide humanitarian airlift capability and ensure interoperability with U.S. forces in coalition operations," the notice said.
The C-130J is a U.S. workhorse in Afghanistan and Iraq. India has requested as many as six of them along with four four Rolls-Royce Plc (RR.L: Quote, Profile , Research) spare engines, eight AAR-47 missile warning systems and communications equipment, the Pentagon said.
The package's estimated cost was $1.1 billion, it said, including personnel training and U.S. government and contractor engineering and logistics support.
30/05/07 Reuters.uk, UK

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Hoax threat to AI flight: Man found guilty

Stop the plane from leaving Changi Airport now.A terrorist is going to make it crash and kill everyone on board.
This was the chilling threat made by an anonymous caller on 6 Nov last year regarding an Air India flight to New Delhi.
Thrice the caller delivered the threat.
Police immediately stopped the plane, the luggage was re-screened and the 73 passengers and crew members were interviewed.
The threats turned out to be a hoax and the plane was allowed to leave after nearly four hours.
The caller was Nanda Sudhir Kumar, 53, a Canadian who was on holiday then.
Yesterday, after a six-day trial which started in mid-April, District Judge Victor Yeo found Nanda guilty of making the three hoax calls. He is to be sentenced next Monday.
Nanda, who faced three charges under the United Nations (Anti-Terrorism Measures) Regulations, faces up to five years in jail, a fine up to $100,000 or both.
According to court papers, Nanda made the first threat to the Police Combined Operation Room at 3.17pm on 6 Nov, from a public phone in the Terminal 1 arrival hall.
He had gone to the airport to check on the flight schedule, especially for AI481 to Delhi.
He told the operator that the flight, which was to leave at 3.30pm, had to be stopped immediately to prevent a crash by a terrorist on board.
Nanda then took the MRT to the Singapore Expo, where he made the same threat from a public phone near Hall 3 at around 3.50pm.
The last threat was made at 4.38pm from a public phone at Block 12, Haig Road, where he had travelled to by bus.
In the last call, Nanda identified himself as the one behind the first two calls. He said: 'Okay, I phone two times already... one bad guy terrorist inside the plane... the plane will be crashed, did you stop the plane or not?'
31/05/07 Electric New Paper, Singapore

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Facing judge's subpoena, Air Canada agrees to participate in Air India probe

Ottawa: A reluctant Air Canada has agreed - under threat of subpoena - to co-operate with former Supreme Court justice John Major and offer its views on aviation safety at his inquiry into the 1985 Air India bombing.
Brian Gover, a member of the legal team for the inquiry, said Wednesday he's spoken to a senior Air Canada lawyer who has "assured us of complete co-operation" and agreed to work toward setting a date for the testimony.
The airline had rejected an earlier invitation to appear, but reversed course after an irate Major threatened to use his legal powers to force compliance with his wishes.
A key issue at the inquiry is whether domestic and international security practices have been reformed sufficiently over the last two decades to avert another tragedy like the terrorist attack on Air India that took 329 lives.
Peter Fitzpatrick, a spokesman for Air Canada, would not elaborate on the nature of the original dispute but said Wednesday the airline will now be "pleased to appear before the inquiry" and provided any useful knowledge it has.
Air Canada was the domestic agent for Air India at the time of the bombing, but Major indicated he's more interested in hearing the company's views on more general topics related to aviation security, such as passenger screening and baggage handling.
30/05/07 Jim Brown/Canadian Press/Canada.com, Canada

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Air India 'big-bang event,' court told

The Air India bombing was the crescendo in an international campaign by Sikh extremists that included nine earlier hijackings, the Ottawa inquiry probing the 1985 terrorist attack heard yesterday.
"Air India was the 10th and the big bang event as far as the Khalistan independence movement was concerned and, therefore, to that degree it was predictable," University of Manitoba professor Peter St. John testified. "We could anticipate that something might happen."
Prof. St. John began studying aviation security and terrorism after losing his best student and teaching assistant, 23-yearold Rahul Aggarwal, in the bombing.
His research showed him that for years before the Air India blast, there were cycles in terms of both hijackings and sabotage of aircraft that should have been an indicator to aviation authorities.
"You could see the movement gathering for something extreme," Prof. St. John said of Sikh separatists here. "I don't think that Canadian airport security or transport Canada or any of our security people were ready for Air India."
Prof. St. John, who has authored several books on aviation security, was part of a panel of three experts who testified at the inquiry as it began yesterday to examine airport security.
Rodney Wallis, an international civil aviation security consultant, explained he predicted a bombing like that of Air India at a U.S. conference in April, 1985, and made recommendations that could have prevented the attack.
"What I tried to do is warn that this is the danger -- we had to consider how do we cope with this," he said. "We pushed for passenger and baggage reconciliation."
30/05/07 Kim Bolan/CanWest News Service/National Post, Canada

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Young airlines may get to fly global routes

New Delhi: Airlines with less than the currently stipulated five-year domestic flying experience may soon be allowed to operate on international routes, benefiting carriers such as Kingfisher Airlines, Air Deccan and others with ambitions to fly to overseas destinations, but held back by the rule.
The civil aviation ministry has suggested that the rule be removed and approvals be granted on a case-by-case basis. This is part of the new civil aviation policy named ‘Vision 2020’ likely to be considered by the cabinet this week.
“If approved in its entirety, it will not be mandatory to have certain years of experience for plying international routes,” said a civil aviation ministry official, who asked not to be named because a final decision is pending cabinet approval.
The ministry is likely to give approvals for global routes based on the airline’s capacity and traffic on a given route, the official said. A similar arrangement works in the domestic sector with carriers allotted routes ahead of every winter and summer season.
Civil aviation minister Praful Patel, earlier this month, had said that the government was looking at reviewing global flight norms by the year-end given the number of foreign carriers coming into India under the various bilateral agreements. India has air services agreements with more than 100 countries, but since only a handful of Indian carriers fly abroad, they don’t often result in reciprocity.
30/05/07 Tarun Shukla/Livemint

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Draft aviation policy focus on AAI recast, connectivity & FDI

New Delhi: The Cabinet is scheduled to unveil the new civil aviation policy on Thursday which, among other things, makes out a strong case for restructuring the Airports Authority of India (AAI), improving domestic and international air connectivity and reviewing FDI norms in the sector to encourage investments.
Though the civil aviation ministry has for long thought of giving shape to a proper policy framework to regulate the sector, it is only now that it is being put before the Cabinet.
The NCAP contains a blueprint of the ministry’s roadmap for the sector, enunciated in a document christened Vision 2020. The paper is divided into six sections, each focusing on a separate theme. While the first chapter presents an overview of the current situation and emerging trends, air transport services, measures for enhancing affordability, airport infrastructure, safety regulations and civil aviation security form the thrust areas.
Realising that AAI had failed to live up to the expectations of the consumers by ensuring development of airports with state-of-the-art facilities, the document makes a strong case for revamping the body.
It reiterates the government’s commitment to put in place world-class airport infrastructure by building new airports and modernising/restructuring the existing ones, including revival of non-operational airports. It also exhorts the government to go in for multiple airports in larger metropolitan regions, such as Delhi and Mumbai.
30/05/07 Devesh Kumar/Economic Times

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Oman Air flies direct to India's 'Pink City'

Starting 1st June 2007, Oman Air will spread wings to reach its 8th destination in India.
The national flag carrier of Oman will operate direct flights connecting Muscat with Jaipur, the 'Pink City' via 4 flights a week (Saturday - Monday - Wednesday - Friday).
Jaipur is the fourth new destination to be launched by Oman Air within this year, after the successful inauguration of Chittagong in Bangladesh in May 1, as at 5 flights a week. Oman Air was the first foreign airline to operate to this sightseer city. Also, re-establish our operation to Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates, as per one flight daily.
The airline too inaugurated operations to Lucknow, India on the 3rd of May, as of 3 flights a week. The launch of these destinations come in line with Oman Air resulted plan to expand its network by increasing the number of international destinations. The company is in the process of implementing a strategy to upgrade services and propping up operations by bringing in wide body aircraft.
29/05/07 AME Info (press release), United Arab Emirates

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Thailand launches "shopper's airline" between Bangkok-Bangalore

Bangkok: Thailand's low-cost Nok Air announced Wednesday the launch of the world's first 'Shopper's Airline' flight between Bangkok and Bangalore, India.
Starting Thursday, Nok Air will operate daily flights from Bangkok to Bangalore, using a Boeing 737-400, with a capacity of 150 seats.
It will not only be the first international route for Nok Air, an affiliate of the national carrier Thai Airways International (THAI), but also the first flight to use the 'Shopper's Airline' marketing concept, airline executives claimed.
'Shopper's Airline,' bringing those who enjoy shopping for quality to Bangkok for the exclusive discounts available only for Nok Air passengers,' said the airline's chief executive officer Patee Sarasin.
The budget airline has joined hands with Thailand's The Mall Group, which operates some of Bangkok's most popular department stores such The Emporium, Siam Paragon and The Mall Department stores, to offer Nok Air passengers from Bangalore exclusive up to 50 per cent shopping discounts.
30/05/07 Monsters and Critics.com, UK

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India’s air cargo rates fall

International air cargo rates have fallen in India. The fall follows a surge in imports that has resulted in abundant capacity. Increasing competition is putting pressure on yields as carriers are forced to slash rates to fill bellyhold capacity.
"There has been an ingestion of huge capacity due to growth in imports and anticipation of an export boom which has resulted in supply surpassing demand, resulting in a rat race, and consequently a drop in yields," said Ravi Madhavan, cargo manager, Sri Lankan Airlines.
Besides an excess in supply, fuel surcharges are also more of a concern. "Fuel prices are a concern as they are volatile and account for a significant part of our operating expenses,” commented Blue Dart Express’ senior-vice president Tulsi Mirchandaney.
Yields in India’s domestic air cargo market have been flat or marginally up with the volume growth helping to compensate for the price falls.
29/05/07 Air Cargo News.net, UK

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Indian government agents targeted Sikh separatists

Indian government agents were flashing large amounts of cash around Vancouver in the months before the Air India bombing to get Sikh separatists to switch their allegiance, the Air India inquiry heard Tuesday.
Former Vancouver Police officer Don McLean, then part of the Indo-Canadian Liaison Team, testified that he was repeatedly told by sources that the Indian spies offered up to $10,000 to pro-Khalistan newspapers to get them to reject their position and adopt a moderate stance.
“The Indian government would send their agents in and they would have $10,000 to use to change the paper.”
McLean said it was obvious seeing some of the community media outlets when they had been approached because their views would shift dramatically from week to week.
The two-person Vancouver team had wide-ranging responsibility for everything from domestic problems within the community to temple elections.
But after Amritsar’s Golden Temple was raided by the Indian Army in June 1984, McLean said his team got more and more intelligence about violent Sikh separatists assaulting and intimidating moderates who spoke out against the Khalistan cause.
McLean testified the separatists “used threats and force in an attempt to accomplish that aim.”
Still, he managed to gather intelligence on some key militants including suspected Air India mastermind Talwinder Singh Parmar, which he passed on to both RCMP and the Canadian Security Intelligence Service.
In fact, it was McLean who heard through his sources around June 9, 1985 - just two weeks before the deadly bombing - that Parmar had warned congregants at the Malton temple not to fly on Air India because it would be dangerous.
After the bombing, McLean helped both the RCMP and CSIS with the investigation.
But he said he felt marginalized as the “token munie” – the only municipal police officer working on the case – and he soon went back to his work in Vancouver.
He criticized the way the RCMP was using standards methods, such as door-knocking, to try to get information from members of a community that feared police.
29/05/07 Kim Bolan/CanWest News Service/Canada.com, Canada

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Diplomat saw it all for India

Three days after S.J.S. Chhatwal landed in Ottawa on June 20, 1985, as India's high commissioner, Air India Flight 182, en route to New Delhi from Toronto and Montreal, was bombed, killing 329 people.
"I was still suffering from jet leg," he said.
"This news of the horrendous tragedy hit me hard. I was absolutely stunned and I didn't know which way to look."
Joe Clark, then minister for external affairs, invited Chhatwal to the June 24 condolence meeting at Nathan Phillips Square in.
"It was the saddest journey I ever took," Chhatwal says, describing his flight from Ottawa to Toronto with Clark.
In his 35-year diplomatic career, Chhatwal has attended a number of condolence meetings. But that one, he said, he'll never forget.
"I felt family members who turned up there were like corpses moving around," he says.
"My heart goes out in sympathy for those whose families perished in the tragedy," he adds. "I know some women whose entire families perished. I know of a man who too lost his entire family. A couple of years in Canada, he couldn't take it any more and moved out to do charitable work in India."
There are countless such stories to recount and cry about, Chhatwal says.
He has been retired for 17 years now but he's still cautious about weighing in on the ongoing inquiry.
"Yes, I read about it. I can't comment on the investigation. I was not part of it."
Unlike many of his colleagues, he's also unwilling to criticize the Canadian law enforcement agencies despite the recent disclosures at the Air India inquiry.
As for his life as a diplomat, dealing with crisis after crisis, he says he got used to it.
30/05/07 Ajit Jain/Toronto Sun, Canada

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Airport upgrade: GE Looks to Unite With India Firms

General Electric Co. is looking to team up with some of India's top construction companies to help the U.S. company win lucrative contracts as India upgrades its airports, a news report said Tuesday.
GE officials have begun talks with at least three Indian companies - Larsen and Toubro Ltd., Gammon India Ltd. and the GVK group, the Mint financial newspaper reported.
India is expected to spend about US$12 billion (euro8.9 billion) over the next 15 years in upgrading airports, according to a joint study by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry and Sydney-based Center for Asia-Pacific Aviation
The country's airports have failed to keep pace with a boom in air travel that has followed the country's rapid economic expansion, making traffic chaos and flight delays routine.
Airports at New Delhi and Mumbai, which handle more than two-thirds of international flights into India, are being modernized and expanded, while Bangalore - the country's technology hub - is building a new airport. Airports in several other cities are getting upgrades.
29/05/07 AP/Forbes, US

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Serbia airline takeover: Air India too made an offer

The government of Serbia said that it will privatise its national airline by the end of the year. Government officials said that Aeroflot has given the best price and offer for the airline which has promised to expand Jat Airways, modernise Jat’s fleet and promised it will keep jobs of everyone working in Jat which is 2,000 people. Jat Airways confirmed that last week it had extensive meetings with Aeroflot which looked at the airlines structure. Meanwhile Air India also made a serious offer for the airline but it also wants to make Belgrade Nikola Tesla (Serbia’s and Jat’s main hub) it’s European home while Aeroflot focuses more on expanding and growing Jat Airways.
Meanwhile Jat turns 80 in June. Will this be its last year as a state run company? Jat Airways in 2006 managed its best results in the last 16 years having the second most passengers transported out of all the Ex-Yugoslav airlines and being the only EX-YU profitable airline in 2006. 2007 looks even more promising passenger and money wise. The airline’s main problem is an ageing fleet of 10 Boeing 737-300’s and 4 ATR72 aircraft.
28/05/07 Luchtzak Aviation, Belgium

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Airport Show opens in Dubai

Massive airport development and expansion across the Middle East, Africa and Indian Subcontinent and the major issues affecting operators, local authorities, airlines and passengers, came under the spotlight Monday when the seventh Airport Show opened in Dubai.
According to research carried out by the organisers, Streamline Marketing Group, airport development and expansions worth nearly US$60 billion are currently taking place across the region, with US$ 20 billion in the UAE alone.
More than 500 suppliers – up 25% on last year – have been attracted to the three-day event at Airport Expo Dubai, including key projects such as the US$ 8.2 billion Dubai World Central International Airport, the US$ 5.5 billion New Doha International Airport project, the US$ 6.8 billion expansion of Abu Dhabi International Airport and the US$ 4.5 billion revamp of Dubai International Airport.
The suppliers represent three main areas – ‘Build’, which includes airport planning, design and construction; ‘Supply’, including technical systems and installations, security and lighting; and ‘Operate’, which includes ground handling, fuelling and air traffic control.
All exhibitors have pre-arranged meetings with buyers representing a record 30 civil aviation authorities from across the region, including Saudi Arabia, Morocco, Egypt, China and India.
Three conferences, focusing on aviation security, ground handling and air traffic control, run alongside the show for the first time this year and will be a major highlight.
29/05/07 ASIATravelTips.com, Thailand

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Sabah is aiming to attract more Indians

Kota Kinabalu: Sabah is aiming to attract a slice of the nine million travellers from India if it can secure direct air connection with the Indian sub-continent.
In this respect, Sabah Tourism Board (STB) Chairman Tengku Datuk Dr Zainal Adlin said it is important to ensure the success of the Travel Agents Federation of Indian (TAFI) Convention here on Sept. 6-9.
Some 1,000 outbound operators including Indian domestic and international airline representatives and senior managers of travel agencies are expected to attend the four-day convention.
He said the most ideal airline to create the link is national carrier Malaysia Airlines (MAS) although other airlines such as SIA, Silk Air or Indian Air could also provide the service.
"Having direct connectivity with India will not only benefit Sabah but also Malaysia as a whole.
"Therefore, the convention is important for Sabah and Malaysia as a beginning for more tourists from India in the future," he told a press conference by TAFI a Magellan Sutera Harbour Resort, here, Monday.
He said Sabah wants to make the air link soon as possible.
TAFI President, Praveen Chugh, who warmed up to the idea, said they would do their part in promoting Sabah as a destination to their people.
29/05/07 Daily Express, Malaysia

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India protests detention of film-maker in Malaysia

New Delhi: India has lodged a protest with Malaysian government over detention of an Indian film-maker there and asked it to ensure that such incidents do not recur.
The Indian High Commission in Kuala Lumpur has asked the Malaysian government to conduct an inquiry into the incident involving night-long detention of Sanjeev Mishra by immigration officials at the airport.
Mishra, who was accompanied by a German partner, was accosted by RELA personnel on May 14 night and bundled into a van that was full of Bangladeshis, sources told PTI.
He was not allowed to talk to anybody and was taken to Chowkit detention centre, they said.
In the wee hours of the next day, Mishra was able to talk to one of the local contacts who informed the High Commission. He was released in the early morning of May 15.
The High Commission has sent a letter to the Malaysian Foreign Ministry protesting the detention.
28/05/07 PTI/The Hindu

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Drop the secrecy, inquiry head tells Air India

Ottawa: The head of the Air India inquiry is taking the airline to task for trying to keep information about its internal operations from public view.
John Major says Air India may be a state-owned airline, but that doesn't give it any special status to claim exemption from public disclosure on grounds of national security or international relations.
The former Supreme Court justice wants lawyers for the airline and the Canadian government to go back and review documents to be tabled at the inquiry with a view to releasing more material.
Major is also criticizing Air India's counsel, Toronto lawyer Soma Ray-Ellis, for a media interview in which she claimed the airline was being scapegoated at the inquiry.
Major says Ray-Ellis is free to hold that view, but she should make her arguments at the hearings, not to journalists.
The inquiry is examining the 1985 terrorist bombing of Air India Flight 182 which claimed 329 lives.
28/05/07 Canadian Press/Canada.com, Canada

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Bartleman never told RCMP of Air India threat: inspector

A former RCMP inspector told the Air India inquiry Monday that he was never approached by Ontario Lt. Gov. James Bartleman about a specific threat against Flight 182 in the days before it was blown out of the sky.
Lloyd Hickman was the ranking RCMP officer at a June 18, 1985, meeting about Sikh extremism that Bartleman said he interrupted with intelligence about a threat to Air India for the weekend of June 22-23.
Bartleman rocked the inquiry earlier this month when he said he was brushed off by the senior RCMP officer, whose name he could not recall, when he tried to raise the specific threat that day.
Bartleman, then in charge of intelligence for the External Affairs department, said the moment was seared in his mind because of the rudeness with which he was treated by the RCMP member.
But Hickman said he would have remembered an encounter like the one described by Bartleman and it just did not happen.
"I only seen or met Mr. Bartleman once," he told inquiry commissioner John Major. "Certainly if he had called me out of a meeting to talk to me, I would have remembered that."
Bartleman's testimony contradicted the official government position of years that there was no specific warning against Air India Flight 182 on the weekend it was bombed, killing all 329 aboard.
Hickman, who worked in VIP security at the time, said there was no specific warning against Air India that he was ever aware of.
And he said if any young RCMP inspector had treated Bartleman the way he described, he would have been talked to and possibly had a reprimand placed on his file.
28/05/07 Kim Bolan, CanWest News Service/National Post, Canada

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El Al to begin fourth Mumbai-Tel Aviv flight

Mumbai: El Al Israel Airlines will introduce a fourth weekly Mumbai-Tel Aviv from October, it was announced Sunday. The new flight, to be operated by Boeing-767ER (extended range) aircraft, will depart Mumbai Sunday mornings.
In its endeavour to meet the 'highest standards of excellence', El Al is investing greatly in renewing and upgrading its equipment and infrastructure, the airline said.
This has included acquiring new aircraft, refurbishing business class seats,enhancing its frequent flyer programmes, and launching a new express track service that allows passengers to check in from the comfort of their homes.
The airline is also investing in design and upgrade of service areas and its prestigious King David lounges around the world.
Towards this, the Boeing-767ER aircraft on the India route will now be,installed with digital servers enabling improved viewing quality and enrichment of content matter in in-flight entertainment, the airline said.
Master chefs from Israel and chefs from Mumbai's Taj SATS Air Catering Ltd. have paid close attention to preparing meals to suit the Indian and Israeli palette, it added.
27/05/07 India PRwire (Press Release)

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Airways New Zealand CEO elected as Chair of Global Air Traffic Organisation.

Ashley Smout, CEO of Airways New Zealand, has been elected Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Civil Air Navigation Services Organisation (CANSO) for a third term of twelve months, at the Organisation’s Annual General Meeting in Kochi, India.
Mr Smout was appointed CEO of Airways New Zealand in 2002, and has since played a leading role in the development of global air navigation services over the last two years in his capacity as Chairman of CANSO.
CANSO is the international body representing air navigation services providers. Based in The Netherlands, its members control 60 percent of the world’s airspace and 80 percent of the world’s air traffic.
Mr Smout is supported by an Executive Committee including Eugene D Juba, Senior Vice President-Finance, Federal Aviation Administration (USA), Paul Barron, CEO of NATS (UK), Christoph Baubin, CEO and Chairman of Austro Control (Austria), Dr Shri K Ramalingam (Airports Authority of India), Eamonn Brennan (Irish Aviation Authority), Wrenelle Stander (ATNS South Africa), and Monte Belger (Lockheed Martin ATM, USA).
28/05/07 Scoop.co.nz, New Zealand

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Qatar Airways kicks off roadshow

Doha: Qatar Airways yesterday embarked on a Gulf-wide roadshow starting in Dubai promoting its forthcoming summer launches of flights to New York and Washington DC in the US.
Billed as the 'USA Roadshow Tour', the promotion includes a number of media briefings led by Qatar Airways General Manager (Commercial) Ali Al Rais. A series of gala dinners has also been lined up for invited guests, including tour operators, travel agents, corporates, members of Qatar Airways' Privilege Club frequent flyer programme, business leaders and local dignitaries.
The roadshow covers four cities - Dubai, Kuwait City, Manama and Doha. The show will travel to Kuwait tomorrow, Manama on May 31 and home in Doha on June 3, a release said yesterday.
The roadshow coincides with the launch of a
Qatar Airways Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Akbar Al Baker expressed his excitement over the new flights, which mark the airline's first move into the US market.
Across India, a number of promotional activities are planned beginning next week with a media briefing in Mumbai. The briefings will highlight Qatar Airways' connections through the airline's hub in Doha, and onward to New York and Washington DC.
28/05/07 The Peninsula, Qatar

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Akbar Travels to open 15 Gulf branches

Dubai: Mumbai-based Akbar Travels will open 15 branches in the Gulf to cash in on the growing travel between India and the region.
The ticketing and tour group began its UAE operations about eight months ago and is opening its first branch in Dubai today.
The group will target Indian workers for airline ticket sales on India-UAE routes, Akbar Travels general manager R. Kannan said.
The company also wants to expand its tour business in the UAE by selling packages for destinations worldwide.
It sees demand for student holiday packages among the Indian community and will promote medical tourism for expatriates.
The group gets a major chunk of its business selling air tickets to Indian workers.
It also operates buses between the southern state of Kerala and the international airport in the business hub of Mumbai.
28/05/07 Shakir Husain/Gulf News, United Arab Emirates

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Indo-Russian multirole aircraft deal on anvil

Moscow: India and Russia would sign the fifty-fifty deal for the joint development of multirole transport aircraft (MTA) within two months, an industry official has said.
"We have already identified sources of financing and worked out the business plan," president of Irkut Aircraft Corporation Oleg Demchenko was quoted as saying by Interfax military news agency.
MTA would be a fifty-fifty financing project between Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. (HAL) on one side and Russia's Irkut, Ilyushin and Rosoboronexport Corporations on the other to develop a hi-tech transport plane for the armed forces of the two countries with the eye on capturing a chunk of international market.
However, Russia's share in joint development work would amount to 65 per cent in MTA designed to replace aging Soviet-era Antonov fleet in service in the air forces of the both countries would be assembled simultaneously in India and Russia.
27/05/07 Zee News

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Thai drug mules caught in India

New Delhi: Two Thai women were arrested in India for trying to smuggle drugs to Thailand after smuggling capsules with the narcotics, police said on Saturday.
Identified only as Pranee and Nungrutai by authorities, they are in custody at a New Delhi hospital and the capsules are being flushed out of their stomachs. Thirty-four capsules have been recovered till now - one capsule can contain between 8 to 16 gms of contraband.
Police are not even certain of what drug they were carrying. The women were then taken to a court where the Customs took permission for medically examining the accused. "We are carrying out the flushing of capsules from their stomach," said a customs official. The process will probably take two to three more days, he said. A Customs official said 20 capsules had been recovered from one accused and 14 from the other.
Pranee (37) and Nungrutai (20) were arrested by Customs at the IGI Airport two days ago as they were crossing the customs check on their way to boarding a Thai Airways flight to Bangkok.
Officials are now trying to track down the missing links in the chain. But the accused do not appear to know much about the suppliers. "They have just been able to tell us that the men in Delhi who supplied them drugs were Nigerians. We are interrogating them and have gathered some leads. More arrests are likely," an official said.
27/05/07 Bangkok Post, Thailand

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Thai drug mules caught in India

New Delhi: Two Thai women were arrested in India for trying to smuggle drugs to Thailand after smuggling capsules with the narcotics, police said on Saturday.
Identified only as Pranee and Nungrutai by authorities, they are in custody at a New Delhi hospital and the capsules are being flushed out of their stomachs. Thirty-four capsules have been recovered till now - one capsule can contain between 8 to 16 gms of contraband.
Police are not even certain of what drug they were carrying. The women were then taken to a court where the Customs took permission for medically examining the accused. "We are carrying out the flushing of capsules from their stomach," said a customs official. The process will probably take two to three more days, he said. A Customs official said 20 capsules had been recovered from one accused and 14 from the other.
Pranee (37) and Nungrutai (20) were arrested by Customs at the IGI Airport two days ago as they were crossing the customs check on their way to boarding a Thai Airways flight to Bangkok.
Officials are now trying to track down the missing links in the chain. But the accused do not appear to know much about the suppliers. "They have just been able to tell us that the men in Delhi who supplied them drugs were Nigerians. We are interrogating them and have gathered some leads. More arrests are likely," an official said.
27/05/07 Bangkok Post, Thailand

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Soon, flying to US may get cheaper

Mumbai: Airlines, both domestic and international, are increasing the number of flights between India and the US, raising the prospect of a 5-10 per cent drop in fares.
Government-owned Air India has announced a non-stop flight between Mumbai and New York from August 1, four days before Jet Airways is to start flying from Mumbai to New York with a Brussels stop-over.
Continental Airlines, the world's fifth largest airline, will also launch daily non-stop flights between Mumbai and New York/Newark from October 31.
Continental is already operating a Delhi-New York non-stop service since 2005. While Delta Airlines is operating a non-stop Mumbai-New York flight, American Airlines has a non-stop service to Delhi-Chicago.
Vijay Mallya-promoted Kingfisher Airlines is also planning to start non-stop services between Bangalore and San Francisco, and Mumbai and New York, by early 2008.
"With the carriers like Jet Airways and Continental Airlines starting new services to the US (both from Mumbai), the fares are bound to fall by 5-10 per cent due to introductory and promotional fares," an executive of a Mumbai-based travel agency said.
26/05/07 P R Sanjai/Business Standard/Rediff

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DHL makes major move in India

DHL said a deal by its parent company will position it as the leader in international freight forwarding, supply chain management and customs brokerage in India.
Plantation-based DHL said the consolidated joint venture will combine the businesses of DHL Danzas Lemuir Pvt. Ltd. and Exel India Private Ltd., which recently acquired the contract logistics and customs house brokerage operations for general cargo from Lee & Muirhead Pvt. Ltd.
The consolidated logistics business is to trade under the DHL brand as DHL Global Forwarding for the freight forwarding business and DHL Exel Supply Chain for contract logistics.
The combination is to have more than 2,000 employees and 150 facilities.
DHL estimated the Indian logistics market as worth at about $45 billion today. By 2015, the company said it expects that market to be worth almost $122 billion.
25/05/07 South Florida Business Journal, US

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Thai airport police arrest pregnant drug runner from India

Bangkok: Thai airport police arrested a 30-year old pregnant woman who arrived on a flight from New Delhi with 50 packets of 600 grams of heroin in her stomach, news reports said Saturday.
The arrest was part of a region-wide crackdown on a Thailand-based drug smuggling ring that has resorted to using pregnant Thais as their 'mules' since they are exempted from X-ray scans at airports, said The Nation newspaper.
Two pregnant Thais were recently arrested by Indian police and 31 Thai pregnant women caught with ingested heroin have been arrested in China over the past four months, said Narcotics Control Board secretary-general Kitti Limchaikij.
26/05/07 Deutsche Presse-Agentur/Monsters and Critics.com, UK

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India to settle landing rights with Russia, Malaysia

New Delhi: India is working to resolve recent differences with Malaysia and Russia regarding landing rights and overflights.
A civil aviation ministry official here said no ban has been imposed on Malaysia Airlines flights as reported recently but admitted that the government was unhappy with Kuala Lumpur’s decision not to give landing rights to two of its carriers. He said there had been a misunderstanding.
“We didn’t issue any ban but we did ask why the two airlines (Air India Express and Air Sahara) were not allowed to land in Malaysia under the Asean agreement. We said that if our (Indian) carriers are not allowed (more landing rights) under the Asean agreement, then Malaysian Airlines should not also be given similar rights under the same agreement,” the official said.
A meeting has been scheduled on 14 and 15 June in Moscow in the wake of a near diplomatic row between India and Russia over passage rights for their respective airlines a week ago. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation had banned operations of Russian airlines, Aeroflot and Transco, in a tit-for-tat move after Russia’s decision to bar Air-India and Jet Airways flights over its airspace. Both countries stepped back from the confrontation and blamed the standoff on a “communication gap.”
25/05/07 Sanjay Singh/The Statesman

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Jet Airways ties up with Akamai for online services

New Delhi: Jet Airways has forged a partnership with Akamai Technologies Inc for accelerating content and business processes online.
The country's largest private airline will access Akamai's platform and leverage its services and expertise in online travel to ensure consistent services. This will be done by effectively delivering the airlines' content from Akamai's 21,000 servers located across 70 countries.
Jet's website attracts over five million page views and 1.5 million visitors per month, said airline's vice-president for marketing Gaurang Shetty. "Our website's performance is critical to our existing and future business activity as we continue to grow with our international flights," he said.
Akamai enables e-business initiatives and optimises the web presence for a number of other commercial airlines and travel companies.
25/05/07 UNI/Hindustan Times

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Thai Airasia to fly To India next year

Bangkok: Thai AirAsia will expand its routes in China by flying daily to Shenzhen from July 15 before going to Kunming by year-end, said its chief executive officer Tassapon Bijleveld said.
He said the Shenzhen route would become the airline's tenth international destination from here, and the third in China after Macau and Xiamen.
He said AirAsia Bhd would start daily flights between Kuala Lumpur and Shenzen on the same day.
Tassapon said the airline, which carried three million passengers in 2006 and targeting 4.2 million this year, hoped to increase its international destinations with the delivery of four more Airbus A320 this year out of 40 ordered.
"The airline will fly to more cities in China as well as exploring routes in India beginning next year," he said.
On the regional expansion, Tassapon said the Bangkok-Phnom Penh route would be increased to two daily while Hanoi would have three from the current two.
24/05/07 Bernama, Malaysia

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Patel seeks more FDI in aviation

New Delhi: The civil aviation minister, Mr Praful Patel, has asked British investors to participate in a big way in India’s aviation sector. He was addressing “Indian Infrastructure ~ way forward” a conference organised by the Indian Business Forum at the London Business School last evening.
Mr Patel said the Indian government was committed to reforms but it had to be inclusive. He said the civil aviation sector in India had undergone a sea change in the past few years. “Just two years back there were only 135 passenger aircraft catering to a one billion population, while today India has placed the largest order of aircraft ever,” he said.
24/05/07 The Statesman

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US travel agency owners plead guilty in airfare swindle

San Francisco: A man and his parents have pleaded guilty in San Francisco Superior Court to swindling travelers out of more than $90,000 by failing to issue airline tickets or provide refunds, District Attorney Kamala Harris announced today.
The Randhawa family - son Manjinder "Manny", and his parents, Iqbal "Paul" and Gurdev "Debbie" - operated M&K Travel Services Inc., which had offices in Fairfield, San Francisco and San Jose, according to prosecutors.
All three family members pleaded guilty to one felony count of grand theft. Paul Randhawa also pleaded guilty to one felony count of forgery, the district attorney said.
According to court documents, the Randhawas advertised discount airline tickets to India and other international destinations. Their victims paid them more than $90,000, but never received tickets or refunds.
24/05/07 CBS 5, US

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Hawaiian Airlines lays off 98 workers

Hawaiian Airlines today laid off 98 non-union employees and said it will not fill another 38 vacant positions as part of a companywide cost-cutting effort.
The move will save the state's largest airline about $4 million a year and comes as Hawaiian is facing soaring fuel prices and increased competition on its interisland and Mainland routes.
Hawaiian said the reductions — less than 3 percent of the company's total payroll but about 20 percent of the management staff — are driven more by changing consumer behavior than by low fares.
Hawaiian said the layoffs were the result of six months of study. The layoffs include 47 of its 224 management positions.
None of the jobs involves the airline's roughly 3,000 unionized workers, and about 40 percent of the layoffs are on the Mainland.
Dunkerley said the cuts include some 20 workers in Hawaiian's information technology division, which is in the process of being outsourced to vendors in India.
Founded in 1929, Hawaiian is the state's oldest and biggest carrier, with 3,493 employees, following today's cuts.
24/05/07 Rick Daysog/Honolulu Advertiser

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Women arrested at Suvarnabhumi Airport for smuggling heroin from India

Two Thai women were arrested Friday for allegedly smuggling in heroin bars into the kingdom from India.
Officials from the Office of the Narcotics Control Board and 191 emergency police stopped the women at the Suvarnabhumi International Airport.
The arrest followed the arrest of a Thai man and his sister on Tuesday for smuggling in heroin from India by swallowing 50 bars of the drug each. ONCB secretary-general Kitti Limchaikij said the two suspects disclosed that three Thai women would be hired to smuggle in more heroin Friday.
Kitti said officials monitored the airport and managed to arrest only two of the women but the other managed to sneak through the checking and got away.
Each of the women was found t to have swallowed 50 heroin bars each.
The two admitted that they were hired to smuggle in the drug to Bangkok and it would be later shipped to China.
25/05/07 Nation Multimedia, Thailand

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‘$2.27m Found on Capt. Ojedokun Approved’

Abuja: Nigerian Miltary may have approved the $2.27 million found on the Nigerian Defence Attaché to India, Navy Captain G. A. Ojedokun, for which he was arrested by Indian security agencies,
a senior officer in the Military who would not want his name in print yesterday clarified that the money was duly approved by the Ministry of Defence for certain projects earmarked for the Nigerian High Commission in India.
He said the money was part of an approval released for the project after the endorsement of the Defence Ministry, pointing out that the project was initially meant to be undertaken by the former Defence Adviser, also a Navy Captain, who is currently
attending the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies, in Kuru near Jos, Plateau State.
"Following the appointment of the new Defence Adviser, the cost of the project was reviewed downwards. From our discussions with the Ojedokun and investigations, we discovered that the officer was trying to return the money which is the balance of the original sum that was approved to the country.”
The senior officer explained that problems arose when he failed to declare that he had such an amount of money on him, which is normal international practice.
Explaining that the arrested Captain has since been released and has resumed duties at the Nigerian mission in India, the senior officer said the incident was blown out of proportion simply because it involved a diplomat.
When contacted for comments on the development, a senior official of the ministry who pleaded anonymity said “the Defence headquarters has set up a board of enquiry to further investigate the incident and unravel the circumstances surrounding it."
24/05/07 Juliana Taiwo/This Day, Nigeria

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2004 Kaua'i copter crash linked to Pilot error

New rules adopted this month to improve helicopter safety were generated by examining the cause of a 2004 crash on Kaua'i that officials determined was linked to pilot error.
A Bali Hai tour helicopter smashed into a steep mountainside on Sept. 24, 2004, killing the pilot and all four passengers.
A National Transportation Safety Board report on the crash said pilot Shankar Tummala, an India native recently from Michigan, who had been flying on Kaua'i only two months, was inexperienced in dealing with the island's changeable weather, and that an understaffed Federal Aviation Administration failed to notice some of his questionable route decisions and warn him.
The fatal crash was on Tummala's eighth flight of the day. He had been in the helicopter nearly eight hours at the time of the crash, had eaten a sandwich while in the pilot's seat and had been seen taking just one break to walk and stretch.
The report said Bali Hai had a policy that encouraged pilots to fly in questionable weather, encouraged them to stay on schedule and encouraged them to fly long hours.
Bali Hai Helicopter Tours went out of business after the crash.
"The operator's pilot-scheduling practices ... likely had an adverse impact on pilot decision-making and performance," the NTSB said in its accident probable cause statement.
Tummala's final flight, scheduled for 45 minutes, left at about 4 p.m. and was to cruise clockwise around the island over Waimea Canyon, the Na Pali Coast, Wai'ale'ale Crater and Manawaipuna Falls, the NTSB report said.
On the day of the accident, Tummala was the only pilot on duty at Bali Hai, and the customer service representative stated that the pilot appeared "fine" when he arrived at the office, the report said.
A passenger on the fourth tour stated that the pilot was "very nice" and "professional" and appeared relaxed as he narrated the tour.
Passengers on the seventh tour, however, stated that the pilot looked "extremely tired" before their flight and that he got out of the helicopter to stretch and walk around.
The NTSB report said the most basic cause of the crash was the 39-year-old pilot's error in flying into deteriorating weather and losing control of the Bell 206B aircraft. Radar indicated his flight grew increasingly erratic in the final 47 seconds of flight, as he flew blind in clouds in a manner the agency said was "consistent with pilot spatial disorientation."
24/05/07 Jan TenBruggencate/Honolulu Advertiser, Hawaii

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Sikh probe took wrong turn after Duncan blast

The investigation into Sikh extremists could have taken a "completely different turn" if CSIS agents had believed a 1985 blast in Duncan, B.C., involved explosives and not guns, a former CSIS agent told the Air India inquiry on Thursday.
Raymond Kobzey said he likely would have focused further on suspected Air India mastermind Talwinder Singh Parmar if he had known there was a possibility he tested an explosive device in the woods outside Duncan on June 4, 1985.
"Reflecting on this 21 years later, we would have treated the loud noise differently," Kobzey testified at the inquiry into the downing of Air India Flight 182.
Following the disaster, Kobzey said CSIS immediately notified RCMP that there could be a connection with the Duncan blast site. The RCMP sent an explosives sniffing dog to the site on June 28, where evidence of explosives was found.
"The significance of the Duncan blast came home to me at that moment," he said.
The flight exploded off the coast of Ireland on June 23, 1985, killing all 329 people on board. It had stopped in Montreal after leaving Toronto, headed for London's Heathrow Airport and then India. The explosives — allegedly planted by Sikh extremists — were loaded in Vancouver.
On the day of the Duncan incident, Inderjit Singh Reyat — the only person convicted in the bombing — took Parmar to the woods on Vancouver Island and demonstrated his ability to detonate an explosive.
CSIS agents, who had been trailing Parmar since early June because of his activism in the Sikh extremist community, followed the two men into the woods, but couldn't get close enough to see what caused the loud bang. The agents involved — Larry Lowe and Lynn Macadams — said they were greatly startled by the loud blast.
Lowe testified during Reyat's 1990 trial that he believed the loud bang was caused by a rifle and that he had searched the area for shells and shell casings.
Kobzey, who gained explosives experience while serving with the U.S. marines in Vietnam before joining CSIS, left for a two-week sailing vacation four days later, on June 8. He said that likely wouldn't have happened if the possibility of an explosion had been raised.
24/05/07 CBC News/CBC British Columbia, Canada

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Police slow in launching Air India probe: inquiry

Ottawa: A former Vancouver police intelligence officer said he was frustrated with how long it took for the police investigation into the June, 1985, Air India bombing to get started, noting it took three weeks before key Sikh suspects were even questioned by investigators.
Axel Hovbrender, who is now a superintendent with the Vancouver police, told a public inquiry that the task force investigation into the bombing, which claimed 329 lives, was like an impressive battleship that is slow to get going.
"Remembering back, it took about two or three weeks for them to do the things that I thought should have been done in the first week. And that was to interview in the first week individuals who most of us knew or who were in the intelligence field believed - were responsible for that tragic act," Supt. Hovbrender recalled yesterday.
"In the initial phases, I was feeling frustrated in relation to the lack - my perception - of any sort of movement in any sort of enforcement activity against those individuals."
The inquiry has already heard evidence of poor intelligence work in tracking Sikh extremists before the bombing. But this was the first time Commissioner John Major has heard about the flawed investigation after the tragedy.
As a member of the Vancouver Integrated Intelligence Unit in 1985, Supt. Hovbrender worked closely with the RCMP and the newly formed Canadian Security Intelligence Service. Based on information gathered to that time, Supt. Hovbrender said that, in early 1985, he put together a report on key Sikh extremists.
When the bombing occurred in late June, Supt. Hovbrender said he briefed investigators and senior police managers on the "main players" who, he believed, were responsible for the bombing. Noting strained relations between the two federal agencies, Supt. Hovbrender said he believed that he acted as "a conduit" between the RCMP and CSIS.
The officer also told the inquiry that, in retrospect, more resources should have been used, not only by CSIS but by all law enforcement agencies to shut down the Sikh extremists.
24/05/07 Jack Aubry/CanWest News Service/National Post, Canada

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India, Russia to discuss air services in mid-June

New Delhi: India and Russia will hold negotiate air services agreement on June 14 and 15 to iron out growing differences, Minister for Civil Aviation Praful Patel said.
Officials from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) and the ministry will visit Moscow to discuss the matters with their counterparts.
Recently, a row between the two countries was narrowly averted with the Russian side allowing Indian carriers to continue over-flights till June 15. India too has now allowed Russian airlines to fly to the country, relenting from the earlier position of banning Russian flights to India.
Indian officials say the Russian side was creating problems for over-flights for Air India and Jet Airways.
23/05/07 UNI/NewKerala.com

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Kerala flights signal growth Etihad's ambitions in India

Etihad Airways is set to expand further in the Indian market if it gets government approval, according to a senior official from the Abu Dhabi-based airline.
Geert Boven, Etihad's executive vice president sales and services, said that Bangalore, Chennai and Hyderabad were all 'in the airline's sights' as the carrier prepares to launch flights on 30 May to Thiruvananthapuram (Trivandrum) and 2 June to Kochi (Cochin).
Etihad held talks with the Indian authorities over new air rights in March, which resulted in the new Kerala routes and will enable Etihad to offer a total of 21 flights per week from Abu Dhabi to India.
Following the conclusion of the talks the airline has been working towards adding more Indian destinations to its expanding flight network which target the major cities in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.
The new three flights-per-week service to Thiruvananthapuram and four flights-per-week service to Kochi will join Etihad's established flights to Mumbai and New Delhi, with flights to the Indian capital going daily from 31 May.
Etihad is already experiencing high demand on the Thiruvananthapuram and Kochi routes, with aircraft seat sales averaging 80 per cent full planes.
24/05/07 AME Info (press release), United Arab Emirates

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Bahrain firm backs Kingfisher

Manama: Safe Flight Solutions (SFS), a knowledge process outsourcing company which has its corporate office in Bahrain, has signed an agreement with Kingfisher Airlines, aimed at preparing Kingfisher Airlines for the International Air Transport Association's (IATA) airline safety certification, said SFS chief executive officer Dr K S Pillai.
"Preparations include developing policy procedures and operational systems in eight different areas - flight operations, engineering, cabin operation, flight dispatch, cargo, ground handling and operational security," he told the GDN.
SFS, which also has its registered office in Doha, was formed in 2005 to provide customised services to the aviation industry within the Middle East, North Africa and the Indian sub-continent.
24/05/07 Gulf Daily News, Bahrain

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Plaza to manage lounges at Hyd Intl Airport

Hyderabad: GMR Hyderabad International Airport (GHIAL) has signed a deal with Plaza Premium Lounge of Hong Kong to maintain and manage lounges at the upcoming international airport at Shamshabad. The agreement is for a period of seven years from the date of operation of the airport.
Plaza Premium currently manages and operates 21 airport lounges in seven international airports including the Hong Kong International Airport and the Changi Airport in Singapore.
The Shamshabad airport lounge will be spread over 17,000 square feet. The services to be offered include a business centre, self-service buffet counters and drinks bar, limousine services and other guest services.
23/05/07 Business Standard

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Doomed jet left wide open

Ottawa: A former aircraft cleaner says he had no problem -- despite a supposed security dragnet -- getting aboard an ill-fated Air India jumbo jet, strolling through the cabin and plunking himself down in the cockpit to enjoy the view from the pilot's seat.
Brian Simpson told a public inquiry yesterday that he wasn't assigned to clean the plane during its stop at Toronto's Pearson airport on June 22, 1985. He just wanted to see what the empty 747 looked like from the inside.
His visit lasted no more than 10 minutes, but it illustrated a lax attitude about security at the airport, Simpson told the inquiry headed by former Supreme Court justice John Major.
Doors that were supposed to be shut were often left open, and access codes were sometimes scribbled on the wall next to electronic key pads that were supposed to bar entrance to unauthorized personnel, he recalled.
Simpson, who went on to become a lawyer and now works in film production, said he never saw any security guards or police posted at the door to the Air India plane or inside it.
Air India Flight 182 was supposed to be under heavy security because of fears the airline might come under attack from Sikh extremists.
24/05/07 The Canadian Press/Hamilton Spectator, Canada

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India agent warned Ottawa

Maloy Krishna Dhar warned the Canadian government.
"In April 1985 we got specific information that the International Sikh Youth Federation and the Babbar Khalsa -- both banned organizations in Canada now -- were planning to attack the Indian interests in Canada," says Dhar, who was the head of intelligence at the Indian High Commission in Ottawa. "We sent this information to the Canadian government in writing.
"Subsequently when we got information that Sikh militant leaders Talwinder Singh Parmar and Inderjit Singh Reyat were testing explosives in rural B.C., the information was conveyed to (Doug) French at the External Affairs verbally."
But that June, Air India Flight 182, en route to New Delhi from Toronto and Montreal, was downed off the coast of Ireland, killing 329 people. Parmar, who's now dead, is the suspected mastermind behind the bombing and Reyat pleaded guilty in 2003 to manslaughter.
More than two decades after his original warnings, Dhar, now 70, is the first former Indian official invited to testify at the Air India Public inquiry.
Dhar says there was "no point man" in the RCMP at that time dealing with Indian diplomats.
"But I did brief some RCMP officers about this information and sadly, if they haven't kept any record of our warnings, it is their problem and not mine," Dhar says.
"We, of course, presumed the Canadian civil aviation authorities (Transport Canada) had taken proper measures to tighten the security of Air India planes flying in and out of Canada to the Indian destinations," Dhar says as he keeps tabs on the inquiry from India. "But they were not doing it as it is now amply proved."
His testimony may have been shocking if not for the bombshells that have already come out of the inquiry.
Ontario Lt.-Gov. James Bartleman, who was at the time the director of security and intelligence for the foreign service, testified earlier this month he saw a classified document recording an electronic intercept that Air India would be hit the weekend of June 22-23, 1985.
A former Quebec provincial policeman told the inquiry the tragedy could have prevented if only the plane had not taken off before he and his sniffer dog had a chance to check all the baggage and go through the plane.
A top CSIS terrorism expert testified he predicted the bombing just days before.
23/05/07 Ajit Jain/Toronto Sun, Canada

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CSIS wondered whether Parmar could have been Indian agent

Ottawa: Canada's spy agency thought Talwinder Singh Parmar was probably a dangerous terrorist months before the 1985 Air India bombing - but it also toyed with an alternative theory that he could have been an agent provocateur working for the Indian government.
"He was an unknown (at the time)," Ray Kobzey, a former CSIS officer, testified Wednesday. "We needed to clarify what exactly we were dealing with here."
Kobzey wrote at the time that Parmar should be considered "the most radical and potentially dangerous Sikh in the country."
But he also noted, in the material marshalled to support the wiretap warrant, that some sources in the Indo-Canadian community thought he was actually an agent of the Indian government intent on sowing discord.
That wasn't as troubling as the possibility that he was plotting terrorist acts, Kobzey testified. But it was still a threat to Canadian national security.,
If Parmar had been an agent provocateur, he said, the danger would have been that he was "destabilizing the emigre community, creating problems within the community, fomenting unrest."
The suggestion that Parmar was an agent of Indian intelligence, with a hidden agenda to discredit Sikhs, has long since been abandoned by virtually all students of the Air India bombing.
But the evidence at the inquiry shows CSIS hadn't yet discarded the possibility when it began trying to get judicial authorization to tap his phone.
It turned out that it took five months to get the tap in place - not because of any resistance by the courts but because of bureaucratic problems within the security service.
The delay - previously noted by several witnesses - meant CSIS didn't get the pipeline it wanted into Parmar's activities until February 1985, four months before Air India Flight 182 was downed by a terrorist bomb.
24/05/07 Jim Brown/Canadian Press/Canada.com, Canada

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Suspects had clearance to airport months after Flight 182, probe told

Ottawa: Ten people suspected of ties to Sikh terrorist groups had ready access to sensitive areas at Vancouver International Airport more than a year after the Air India bomb plot, according to an intelligence report presented to a federal commission of inquiry Wednesday.
The 10 were identified in late 1986 when the Canadian Security Intelligence Service ran the names of the employees of an airport cleaning contractor against a database of people belonging to the International Sikh Youth Federation and the Babbar Khalsa organization.
This prompted CSIS officials to warn on Nov. 12, 1986, that this gap in the security screening of airport workers “could prove embarrassing and fatal” if any of the cleaners “become implicated in an incident similar to Air India Flight 182.”
Flight 182 was blown out of the sky 17 months earlier, on June 23, 1985, killing all 329 aboard. Investigators believe Sikh extremists planted the bomb in luggage that was checked in for a CP Air flight in Vancouver and then transferred to Air India in Toronto.
The federal inquiry heard evidence Wednesday of security lapses at the Vancouver and Toronto airports that continued for months after the bombing.
The post-bombing CSIS security report said the agency obtained the names of the 159 people working for the cleaning company at the Vancouver airport from a source whose identity remains secret.
The heavily censored version of the report that was made public Wednesday does not contain any of the names.
It says, though, that when the list of 159 was run against a database it produced “10 hits.” It said four names were linked to the International Sikh Youth Federation and seven with Babbar Khalsa.
24/05/07 Jeff Sallot/Globe and Mail, Canada

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India Wants To Clarify Flight Pact With Malaysia

New Delhi: India is ready to hold discussions with Malaysia to clarify the frequency of Malaysia Airlines (MAS) flights to Indian cities under its open skies policies.
An official from India's Civil Aviation Ministry told Bernama that the country did not impose any ban on MAS flights as reported in the papers lately but admitted that India was unhappy with Kuala Lumpur's decision not to give landing rights to two of its carriers.
"There was some misunderstanding. We did not issue any ban but we did ask why the two airlines were not allowed to land in Malaysia under the Asean agreement," said the senior director who declined to be named.
"We said that if our (Indian) carriers are not allowed (more landing rights) under the Asean agreement, then MAS should not also be given similar rights under the same agreement," he said.
Last week, leading local newspapers reported that the Indian Civil Aviation Department had issued a ban warning to MAS as retaliation to Malaysia's decision not to allow Air Sahara and the Indian Express to fly to Kuala Lumpur.
India nominated the two carriers to operate the Malaysian route and Air Sahara was planning to begin its Delhi-Kuala Lumpur operations last March.
23/05/07 P. Vijian/Bernama, Malaysia

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India, Russia to discuss aviation issues next month

New Delhi: With India and Russia coming too close to a diplomatic row over their civil aviation relations a week ago, the two sides will discuss the issues to resolve differences at a meeting in Moscow next month.
"Both sides will hold discussions on June 14-15 in Moscow on issues relating to overflights, landing rights and other aviation-related matters", Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel said in reply to questions here.
A diplomatic stand-off was averted at the last moment on May 15 when Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) prohibited the operation of Russia's airlines, Aeroflot and Transco, as a counter to Moscow's decision to ban Air India and Jet Airways not to overfly its airspace. Both countries went back on their decisions that night itself blaming the fiasco on a "communication gap."
Sources said Moscow's decision to bar Indian carrier's from overflying Russian airspace came due to differences over bilateral air traffic rights and its financial aspects.
Russia's decision to bar the two Indian carriers from operating their flights to London and other European destinations through the Russian airspace could have led to increase in travel time by about an hour and put a heavy burden on costs, especially in terms of additional fuel consumption.
As per a bilateral agreement reviewed last year, both countries have to allow their designated carriers to fly over their respective territories. It also allows operation of 12 frequencies between Moscow and Delhi and five between Moscow and Mumbai.
22/05/07 Zee News

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EADS, Jupiter in talks for freight aircraft conversion venture

New Delhi: European Aeronautic, Defence & Space Co., the parent of planemaker Airbus SAS, may tie up with India’s Jupiter Aviation and Logistics Pvt. Ltd to build the nation’s first facility that converts passenger planes into freighters.
The two companies are working out the final details of the venture, Ravi Narayanan, chief executive officer of Bangalore-based Jupiter Aviation, said in a telephone interview on 22 May.
A local conversion facility may help Air India Ltd, Deccan Aviation Ltd and local rivals implement their plans of altering passenger planes to cargo carriers. Airbus expects India to buy 134 freight planes by 2025 as demand for transporting goods by air rises in the world’s second-fastest growing major economy.
Jupiter Aviation is also in talks with EADS for converting passenger planes into mid-air refueling tankers, Narayanan said. The transportation logistics company, Airbus and state-owned Indian Airlines Ltd will start an aircraft maintenance venture in New Delhi from October.
22/05/07 Santanu Choudhury/ Bloomberg/Livemint

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EADS, Jupiter in talks for freight aircraft conversion venture

New Delhi: European Aeronautic, Defence & Space Co., the parent of planemaker Airbus SAS, may tie up with India’s Jupiter Aviation and Logistics Pvt. Ltd to build the nation’s first facility that converts passenger planes into freighters.
The two companies are working out the final details of the venture, Ravi Narayanan, chief executive officer of Bangalore-based Jupiter Aviation, said in a telephone interview on 22 May.
A local conversion facility may help Air India Ltd, Deccan Aviation Ltd and local rivals implement their plans of altering passenger planes to cargo carriers. Airbus expects India to buy 134 freight planes by 2025 as demand for transporting goods by air rises in the world’s second-fastest growing major economy.
Jupiter Aviation is also in talks with EADS for converting passenger planes into mid-air refueling tankers, Narayanan said. The transportation logistics company, Airbus and state-owned Indian Airlines Ltd will start an aircraft maintenance venture in New Delhi from October.
22/05/07 Santanu Choudhury/ Bloomberg/Livemint

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I-T sleuths release Nigerian diplomat after interrogation

New Delhi: The Nigerian diplomat, who was caught with 2.27 million US dollars at the Indira Gandhi International Airport in New Delhi, was released by the Income Tax department after his interrogation as he enjoyed diplomatic immunity, but the money was seized.
"We have released him after his interrogation. His explanation about the source of money was not satisfactory and that is why we seized the entire money," Director General of Income Tax (Investigation) SS Khan told PTI.
Khan said that the Ministry of External Affairs and other relevant authorities have been informed about the whole incident and for necessary action.
The I-T sleuths on Tuesday caught Captain GA Ojedokun, the Defence Attache of Nigerian High Commission in New Delhi with 2.27 million US dollars when he was going to catch a Lagos-bound Ethiopian Airlines plane.
22/05/07 Press Trust Of India/Hindustan Times

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Indian voted NRIs' favourite airline in UAE

Dubai: National carrier Indian has been voted as the most preferred airline of Indian expatriates living in the UAE, according to an opinion poll.
The airline received the 'Emirates Post Business Excellence Award' for winning more votes than Air-India, Emirates Airlines and Air Arabia in the poll conducted by Emirates Post.
"Indian has had an eventful ride in its Gulf operations. It started flying to the UAE with two flights a week to Sharjah in 1992. The operations have grown to 125 to the Gulf, 85 flights of them to UAE," Abhay Pathak, regional manager of Indian said after receiving the award here recently.
Thousands of respondents who cast their votes for their favourite products in 11 categories picked Indian, formerly known as Indian Airlines, as their favourite carrier.
Voting for the awards started on April 1 and an average of 1,200 votes were received per day through SMS and e-mails.
22/05/07 Financial Express

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CSIS man boasted Air India case would be solved

Ottawa: A top CSIS official insisted in the days following the Air India bombing that the fledgling spy agency had the information needed to help police crack the case, a public inquiry has heard.
But Bob Burgoyne, a former counter-terrorism officer, testified Tuesday that he thought Archie Barr, then deputy director of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, was likely just trying to boost morale with the statement.
"We're going to solve Air India,'' Burgoyne quoted Barr as telling colleagues just after Sikh terrorists downed Flight 182 in June 1985, killing 329 people.
Burgoyne, who then served on the Sikh desk of CSIS, said he interpreted the words to mean that "we had the knowledge base . . . a pretty good idea who the perpetrators were behind this.''
Former Supreme Court justice John Major, the head of the inquiry, interjected to suggest that Barr may have been delivering "a sort of rallying cry rather than a promise.''
"I believe so,'' replied Burgoyne. "The comment that he made, I believe, was probably to encourage us.''
CSIS had been created just a year earlier to replace the old RCMP security service, which had been heavily criticized for its excessive zeal -- and in some cases outright lawbreaking -- in the name of fighting Quebec separatism.
But the new spy service, largely staffed by ex-Mounties, came in for criticism itself following the Air India attack.
It's now known that CSIS had key suspects under surveillance before the bombing but failed to piece the puzzle together in time to head off the plot. The service was also slammed for erasing wiretap tapes that could have helped in the post-bombing criminal investigation.
22/05/07 Canadian Press/CTV.ca, Canada

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Satyam Inks Pact with Hawker Beechcraft

India’s fourth largest software exporter, Satyam Computer Services (News - Alert) Ltd, announced on Monday that it has signed a multi-year, multi-disciplinary service agreement with Hawker Beechcraft Corporation (HBC).
The contract calls for Satyam to provide high-end design, computer-aided engineering (CAE), analysis, product lifecycle management, and other services for the world's leading business, special-mission, and trainer aircraft manufacturer. The arrangement will enable HBC to fulfill orders more quickly and within appropriated budgets, while maintaining exacting quality standards, the company announced.
21/05/07 Pradip Bhatacharya/TMCnet

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Nigerian diplomat caught with $2.3m at IGI airport

New Delhi: A senior Nigerian diplomat was caught on Monday seeking to spirit away $2.27 million in cash.
Captain G A Ojedokun, defence adviser to the Nigerian high commissioner here was caught when Indian Airlines staffers handling the baggage on the early morning shift at the Indira Gandhi International Airport were alerted by the X-ray images of contents of his bag. When asked, the Nigerian tried to fob off IA employees saying the bag contained clothes only.
The suspicious baggage handlers, however, refused to let him go even when the protocol officer of MEA accompanying the diplomat strongly intervened on his behalf, citing diplomatic immunity and seeking a smooth passage for Ojedokun.
Ojedokun is being questioned by Income Tax and Enforcement Directorate officials, but would soon be let off because of the diplomatic immunity he enjoys.
Interestingly, the biggest-ever cash haul was made just a day before the new Nigerian high commissioner is scheduled to present his credentials to President A P J Abdul Kalam.
22/05/07 The News - International, Pakistan

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Three Nigerians arrested at Delhi airport

New Delhi: Three Nigerian nationals were arrested at Delhi's international airport, just before they were to fly out of India, for allegedly cheating many Delhites in a lottery scam, police said Monday.
Sleuths of Delhi Police's Crime Branch Sunday arrested the trio - identified as Obinna Emmaeml, Okey Ammezi and Ubagu Austin - from the Indira Gandhi International Airport for allegedly duping mainly south Delhi based people of millions.
According to police, they used to send emails from accounts lottery3@won.com, uk_lotto_office12@yahoo.co.uk and master12@planet.nl, informing the recipients that they had been selected in a 'Euro-Afro-Asian Sweepstakes Lottery Programme' held in Britain or Amsterdam or China and had won amounts ranging from Rs.10 million to Rs.20 million.
The victims were asked to deposit a bank draft of $525 in a foreign bank account if they wished to draw their prize. The victims were further demanded of $2,500 towards 'clearance and delivery taxes',' Deputy Commissioner of Police A.S. Cheema said.
21/05/07 India eNews.com

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Absence of quarantine facilities in airport poses a challenge to Customs

Chennai: The absence of separate animal quarantine facilities and kits to test exotic plants brought in by passengers at the Chennai international airport has been posing a challenge to the Customs.
As of now, whenever officials seize exotic plants or animals, they dispose them of using incinerators.
Customs officials say a large number of tourists, returning from a trip to the Southeast Asian countries, bring in a lot of `Feng-Sui' items, both plants and fish. As per the norms, such passengers have to obtain certificates for plants/seeds and the animal. For the plants/seeds, the passengers must get the `phyto-sanitary' certificate from the country from where they are bought or collected. As for animals, they should obtain a certificate that the animal is free from diseases such as rabies or leptospyrosis.
In the absence of such certification, the Customs authorities have to impound the consignment, quarantine it and subject it to laboratory tests before either granting or refusing permission. But, since there is no space available in the airport for storing the seized materials and there is no animal quarantine officer in the airport, the officials are forced to destroy the materials. The plant quarantine office is located close to the airport, while that of animal quarantine is located far away.
22/05/07 P. Oppili/The Hindu

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National Aviation Services acquires a majority stake in Indian ground handling services company

Kuwait: Kuwait's leading airline ground handling services provider National Aviation Services (NAS) has signed a landmark agreement with top Indian ground handling company Nova located in Mumbai India.
The agreement was signed by Managing Director Mr. Bara Al-Roumi of NAS and Mr. Sahil Mahta, Director of Nova, India at a signing ceremony at the NAS headquarters in Kuwait will give NAS more than 50% ownership of the Indian company and will enable it to effectively manage projects currently handled by Nova in India.
'Research indicates that passenger traffic into Indian domestic airports will increase to 45 million passengers by the year 2010 and the airlines operating within the country will have around 450 - 500 new aircrafts added to their respective fleets by then. This estimated growth in itself reaffirms our faith in the growing aviation industry in India and NAS along with Nova will definitely be looking towards achieving many milestones in the future' Business Development Director, Adel Al Askar said.
21/05/07 AME Info (press release), United Arab Emirates

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SITA Augments VHF for Indian Airports

Societe Internationale Telecommunication Aeronautique (SITA) is working with the Airport Authority of India (AAI) to deploy an additional 17 VHF ground stations at Indian airports that will allow Indian Airlines and AAI to exchange real-time data with aircraft.
This move taken by SITA will bring its AIRCOM network in India to 23 stations supporting India's national air fleet.
K Ramalingam, chairman of AAI commented, "AAI has pioneered the use of SITA's data link service in its oceanic airspace that covers the Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea. It is delivering operational benefits, enabled by remote airspace surveillance and data link communications between air traffic controllers and pilots."
SITA's AIRCOM network in India originally comprised of 4 VHF ground stations at Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, and Kolkata. In recent years, Jet Airways, Air Sahara, and Kingfisher have all became customers for AIRCOM Server.
ACARS also allows the uploading of weather and flight plans, and downloading of engine performance, data, etc.
21/05/07 CXOToday.com

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Chopra to head GE in India

New Delhi: General Electric Company (GE) has announced the appointment of Tejpreet Singh Chopra (TP Chopra) to the position of President & CEO for GE in India, succeeding Scott R Bayman, who has served with distinction in this role for 14 years. TP Chopra will be responsible for the strategic and overall leadership of all GE businesses in India.
TP Chopra is currently the President and CEO of GE Commercial Finance, India. Prior to this, TP Chopra was Senior Vice-President and Country Head - India for GE Commercial Aviation Services (GECAS), the commercial aircraft leasing and financing unit of GE. In 2005, he moved from the unit’s headquarters in Stamford, Connecticut, USA, to open the GECAS office in Delhi and has since arranged for more than US$1 billion in financing for India’s growing airline industry.
With over 20 years of experience, TP Chopra takes up the position of President & CEO, GE in India with effect from 01 June 2007, reporting directly to Ferdinando Beccalli-Falco President & Chief Executive Officer, GE International.
21/05/07 Economic Times

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Flood of startling revelations transforms work of Air India inquiry

Ottawa: When John Major began his inquiry into the 1985 Air India bombing, cynics wondered how he could possibly discover anything new about a tragic event so far in the past.
The former Supreme Court judge and his staff of lawyers have since provided a dramatic answer to that question, as witnesses step forward to tell stories they had kept to themselves for more than two decades.
‘‘In my heart of hearts I hoped we would have that,’’ says Jacques Shore, a lawyer for the families of the bombing victims. ‘‘When I spoke of that openly at the very beginning of the commission, people said I was being naive and maybe too hopeful.’’
In the last three weeks, however, the inquiry has heard startling testimony from:
—Former diplomat James Bartleman, who says he shared intelligence with the RCMP before the bombing indicating that Air India was about to come under attack, only to be told by the Mounties that they already knew about the threat and didn’t need his help to do their job.
—Former Justice Department lawyer Graham Pinos, who says he heard Mel Deschenes, a top CSIS anti-terrorist officer, predict just days before the attack that Sikh extremists would bring down a plane sooner or later.
—Former Quebec provincial policeman Serge Carignan, who says his sniffer dog never got a chance to check most of the baggage aboard Flight 182 because it took off before he arrived.
—Former Burns Security guard Daniel Lalonde, who says Air India’s security chief John D’Souza appeared anxious to get the plane off the ground for economic reasons, even if there hadn’t been a full-scale luggage check.
Shore sees the flood of testimony as a kind of psychological cleansing for many of the witnesses.
‘‘There was no place (until now) to unload the information that had been obviously sitting on these people’s minds for so long. People had to clear their conscience but there wasn’t an opportunity to do so.’’
He’s hoping the trend will continue this week as the focus shifts to surveillance carried out by the Canadian Security Intelligence Service on Sikh militants in the months preceding the June 1985 attack.
21/05/07 Jim Brown/The Canadian Press/The Amherst Daily, Canada

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GMR Hyderabad Airport ties up with IMRB

Mumbai: To ensure full utilisation of its new airport, GMR Group promoted GMR Hyderabad International Airport (GHIAL) has tied up with IMRB International to base its strategy on the potential for passenger traffic and cargo movement, specifically from identified spokes in the catchment region.
IMRB consultants will focus on the macroeconomic trends as well as insights from consumers and businesses in the region to suggest measures for achieving full utilisation of the airport within a year of commissioning.
The new Hyderabad International Airport with its modular design of the passenger terminal will initially cover 100,000sqm of floor space that would ensure rapid transit between its Domestic and International concourses. The runway is about 4.26 km which is supposed to be the longest in south asia.
The airport will be operational by March 2008.
IMRB has specialised units for Consumer research, Qualitative research and Business to Business research and research on Customer Satisfaction.
The partner companies of Kantar (Millward Brown, Research International and Henley Center) are present through IMRB International in India and the surrounding regions it caters to.
21/05/07 Business Standard

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India finalizing deal with Eurocopter, report says

New Delhi: India is expected to hold final negotiations with European consortium Eurocopter to acquire 197 helicopters for the army in a deal estimated to be worth close to 600 million dollars, a news report said Sunday.
Eurocopter, a subsidiary of the European Aeronautic, Defence and Space (EADS) company, is scheduled to hold talks with officials of India's Defence Ministry soon on the final price for the helicopters, PTI news agency reported.
Eurocopter plans to supply 60 helicopters off the shelf from its plant in France to be inducted into the Army Aviation Corps for surveillance, medium transport and casualty evacuation, defence sources were quoted as saying.
Another 137 helicopters are to be made under licence by India's state-run Hindustan Aeronautics Limited for which Eurocopter will transfer technology and also invest 30 per cent of the total value of the deal under India's new defence procurement policy, the sources said.
20/05/07 Monsters and Critics.com, UK

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Ethihad Airways to fly to Kerala from May 30

Thiruvananthapuram: Ethihad Airways, national airline of the United Arab Emirates, will begin operations to the State with the inaugural flight from Abu Dhabi to Thiruvananthapuram on May 30.
The airline will begin operations to the Cochin international airport at Nedumbassery from June 3. The flights from the Thiruvananthapuram international airport will be on Monday, Wednesday and Friday and those from Nedumbassery on Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Sunday.
The flights to Abu Dhabi from Nedumbassery will depart at 5.15 a.m. and from the Thiruvananthapuram international airport at 5.50 a.m. The airline will operate the flights using Airbus 330-200 in a twin-aisle configuration with 240 passengers in the Coral (Economy) and 23 in the Pearl (Business) zones.
The airline, which operates to Mumbai and Delhi, also plans to fly to Bangalore, Hyderabad and Chennai from October this year, when the winter schedule comes into effect.
E-ticketing, which was recently introduced, would be available from Kerala.
21/05/07 S. Anil Radhakrishnan/The Hindu

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Three Cypriots held with fake passports at Ahmedabad

Ahmedabad: Immigration officials at the Ahmedabad international airport have detained three Cyprus citizens who were about to board the afternoon Ahmedabad-London Jet Airways flight using fake passports.
An official who was here to train the Ahmedabad immigration staff noticed that there were no water marks in the passports of Alexandros Dimitrios (31), Mezynsky Jasek (18) and Jani Marusz (20), though their visas were genuine. Further scrutiny revealed that the passports were fake with some pages freshly stuck together.
During the last two months, five rich Punjabi youths and two Sri Lankans carrying bogus documents have been arrested in the city.
An airport official told Khaleej Times that Ahmedabad was increasingly being used as a transit point by illegal immigrants and their agents to sneak into the UK from where they easily enter the United States.
21/05/07 Khaleej Times, United Arab Emirates

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