Gupta gate: IATA couldn't say no to Jet Airways

Cape Town:  The International Air Transport Association (IATA) on Thursday admitted it does not have the regulatory authority to reprimand airlines that rent out their aircraft as charters.
IATA has 240 member airlines, which account for 84 percent of global air traffic.
The association's chief gave an overview of safety and financial constraints facing the industry ahead of its annual general meeting in Cape Town next week.
IATA CEO Tony Tyler confirmed the Jet Airways plane that landed at the Waterkloof Air Force Base was indeed a member of the association.
On April 30, Eyewitness News broke the story that the private jet carrying over 200 wedding guests landed at the Pretoria base.
The Department of Defence and the Police Ministry have launched internal probes to get to the bottom of the incident.
Tyler said he can’t intervene and said the South African Civil Aviation Authority would have been aware of the plane and its flight path.
Next week’s conference will focus on safety in the industry.
30/05/13 Giovana Gerbi/Eye Witness News

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Guptagate: flight plan confusion

Cape Town: Transport Minister Ben Martins has given Parliament a copy of the flight plan used by the Gupta family for the Waterkloof Air Force Base landing, but it has left some confused, the Cape Times reported on Thursday.
Democratic Alliance MP Ian Ollis reportedly received a reply to a parliamentary question from Martins on Wednesday, detailing the plan used by the Jet Airways plane which landed exactly a month ago.
According to the newspaper, he said the flight plan was: "FSSSZQZX FSSSYFYX FSSSFDPA FQBEZQZX FQBEYFYX FQBEFDPA FMMMZQZX."
This left some MPs scratching their heads.
"Like many speeches one hears in Parliament, the minister's reply on the flight plan is a lot of gobbledegook," Ollis was quoted as saying.
The jet landed at Waterkloof, carrying 270 guests for the wedding of Vega Gupta, 23, and Indian-born Aakash Jahajgarhia at Sun City.
The landing sparked widespread criticism and an investigation was launched.
30/05/13 enca

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Heathrow to crack down on noisy airlines

London: Heathrow airport has decided to impose fines of up to USD 1500 on airlines found guilty of breaking noise limits, as they try to garner public support for a controversial expansion of the busiest airport in Europe.
In an effort to make the surrounding residential area in south-west London quieter, the airport authority will rank the 80 airlines that use the facility according to how noisy their aircrafts are.
Fines for carriers that break maximum noise levels, which differ according to the time of day, range from GBP 500 to 1,000 (USD 1,500) per violation. Fewer decibels are allowed during the night.
Heathrow's two biggest airlines are British Airways and Virgin Atlantic, but it is also used heavily by major international flag carriers such as Air India, Lufthansa, Air France and Emirates.
"Heathrow is at the forefront of international efforts to tackle aircraft noise and, as a result, even though the number of flights has almost doubled since the 1970s, fewer people are affected by noise," said Heathrow chief executive Colin Matthews.
31/05/13 PTI/ZeeNews

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Pilatus may set up aircraft manufacturing facility in India

Hyderabad: Swiss aviation major Pilatus, which has a tie-up with IAF for trainee aircraft, is looking to set up a manufacturing facility in India for its PC-12 nine-seat airliner, a top company official said here.
The Swiss aircraft maker which will set up a training facility for its PC-7 MK-II aircraft as part of the agreement with the Indian Government, proposes to set up a support facility for its PC-12 aircraft, Vice-President of Pilatus Jim Roche said.
Currently Pilatus has two support facilities in Portugal and Poland for PC-12, Roche said.
"We see India as a large market for the future. We are in discussions with various companies on how we can expand the operations here in India to produce aircraft in India," Roche said on the sidelines of the function to induct Pilatus PC-7 Mk II into the IAF at Air Force Academy at Dundigal here.
31/05/13 PTI/Economic Times

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Madurai airport to handle foreign cargo

Madurai: Here is some good news for trade and industry in the southern districts of Tamil Nadu. The Central government has allowed international freight movement from Madurai airport.
According to Madurai airport director K. Sangaiah Pandian, the Union finance ministry has issued customs notification dated May 28, 2013 to handle cargo at the Madurai airport. “All types of goods right from perishable to industrial and textiles can be exported. And, there is no restriction on quantity either,” Pandian told Deccan Chronicle.
To start with, the international flights operating from and to Madurai are expected to haul belly cargo (cargo stowed under the main deck of an aircraft). However, the notification permitting “unloading of imported goods and the loading of export goods or any class of such goods” also means exclusive cargo flights could also be operated.
30/05/13 AR Meyyammai/Deccan Chronicle

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Don’t fly animals to their death, activists urge AI

London: Animal rights activists on Thursday held a protest outside the Indian High Commission here calling for Air India to stop “transporting animals to laboratories, where they are caged, cut into, poisoned and killed.”
Wearing jumpsuits and dog masks and holding signs that read, “Air India: Cruelty Shouldn’t Fly,” activists of the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) said the airline had “gone back” on its assurance.
31/05/13 Hasan Suroor/The Hindu

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Air Works to supply spares to Gulfstream

Bangalore: Leading aviation services provider Air Works India Engineering Ltd. will supply spare parts and components to civil aircraft maker Gulfstream Aerospace Corporation, a company official said Thursday.
As a third party MRO (maintenance, repair and overhaul) player, Air Works will also provide warehousing, custom clearance and delivery to Gulfstream customers from its warehouse adjacent to the Bangalore international airport at Devanahalli, about 40km from the city centre.
"By having inventory in India, we can expedite delivery of spares to domestic and in-transit customers, saving hours or even days," Gulfstream vice-president Derek Zimmerman said in a statement here.
The value of inventory is estimated to be $15 million in this calendar year.
"The arrangement with Air Works will lower costs for operators and reduce aircraft downtime on ground," Zimmerman asserted.
30/05/13  Business Standard

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Impersonation arrests puts Nigerians under airport scanner

New Delhi: Nigerian nationals are under the scanner at Delhi's Indira Gandhi International Airport after eight people from the country were caught in separate cases this year for impersonation, police and immigration officials said.
Security staff at the airport here are carefully scrutinising the appearance and documents of passengers from the African country to ensure they are not conned again, a Delhi Police official said.
The eight Nigerian nationals were booked under section 419 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) for impersonation after they were caught in separate cases this year.
An official explained that most Nigerians come to India for study and business purposes. Cases have come to light of some whose visas have expired using a friend's travel documents to go out of India, making sure their facial features somewhat resemble the person in the photograph, a police official told IANS under condition of anonymity.
31/05/13 Business Standard

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Indian team in running to develop 'silent' aircraft

London: A team of three aerospace-engineering students from India has been selected as one the finalists in a contest organised by Airbus to find a future aircraft with near-zero propulsion noise.
The team from Chennai's SRM University, comprising of Anita Mohil, Balakrishnan Solaraju Murali and Michael Thomas along with their academic mentor Sakhtivel Kasinath, is among the five finalists of a global competition organised by aircraft manufacturer Airbus and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO).
'Fly Your Ideas' - a biennial competition, was launched in 2008 with an aim to challenge students across the globe to develop new ideas for the eco-efficient aviation industry of the future.
29/05/13 Daily News & Analysis

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Indian students in finals of Airbus global contest

London: Three Indian aerospace-engineering students' ambitious plan to help create an aircraft of the future has taken them to the finals of a global competition floated by aircraft manufacturer Airbus and Unesco.
The team from SRM University, Chennai — consisting of Balakrishnan Solaraju Murali, Michael Thomas and Anita Mohil — is among the five teams that have made it to the finals of the 'Fly Your Ideas' contest that saw 6,000 students from 618 teams and 82 countries vie for the 30,000 euro top prize. The other four teams are from Australia, Brazil, Italy and Malaysia.
Ideas floated by students included planes powered by body heat, luggage floating on a bed of air and an aircraft running on liquid methane.
The Indian team's top-line idea is called "Engine air cooling system for noise reduction". Murali, Thomas and Mohil have found a way to reduced propulsion noise by modifying the shape of the jet exhaust using intelligent materials (shape memory alloys). These alloys are powered by harvested electricity generated by advanced thermoelectric materials using engine heat source.
29/05/13 Kounteya Sinha/Times of India

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CIAL trafficking case: Nine policemen to be arraigned

Kochi: The Organised Crime Wing of the Crime Branch is all set to arraign nine policemen  in the Nedumbassery Human trafficking case.
These police officers are under suspension  for assisting people travel abroad without proper documents from the Cochin International Airport Ltd. The department is also planning disciplinary action against two SPs and four DySPs.
According to sources in the Crime Branch, they have sought permission of the Home Department for arraigning the policemen.
“Currently a case has been registered against three persons including two policemen and one airline agent.
“The Director General of Police (DGP) had directed that legal procedures have to be completed before the case is handed over to Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
Once the written permission is received from Police Headquarters, we would file a report at Aluva Judicial First Class Magistrate for arraigning them,”sources said.
29/05/13 Toby Antony/New Indian Express

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CCI to probe why Air India's can’t get FDI by foreign airlines

New Delhi: Air India (AI) employees have always complained that the Maharaja faces discrimination against private airlines from the government.
Now this grudge has got an official form.
In a significant move, the Competition Commission of India (CCI) has admitted a complaint against the government's move to allow foreign airlines to invest in Indian carriers except AI.
The complainant, Delhi-based lawyer Ankit Jain, has said that such a move denies a level playing field to the national airline. A senior CCI official said, "The complainant has questioned this reported discrimination against AI and we are going to examine it."
In his petition, Ankit Jain has said that the government allowed foreign airlines to invest in Indian carriers as they are fund-starved and need not capital and expertise of the big global players.
28/05/13 Saurabh Sinha/Times of India

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Russia’s Aerospace Forces hold snap alert drill

Russia's Defense Minister ordered a snap combat readiness check of the nation's Aerospace Defense and long range and military transport aviation units on Monday, General Staff chief Valery Gerasimov said.
The alert exercise, part of a series of random checks of the Russian Armed Forces which began in February, also involved Air Force and Air Defense Forces units from the Western Military District, Gerasimov said during a teleconference, adding that the alert had been ordered by Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu.
A total of 8,700 personnel, 185 warplanes, and 240 armored vehicles are involved in the exercise, overseen by Col. Gen. Vladimir Zarudnitsky.
The exercise will include missile launches at the Ashuluk test range in the Volga area of Astrakhan, Zarudnitsky said.
27/05/13 Russia India Report

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Jet Airways, Etihad amend shareholder agreement

Jet Airways (India) Ltd and Etihad Airways have amended their shareholder agreement to address the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi)'s concerns about substantial management rights to the latter.
The document, part of Etihad's deal with Jet to pick a 24 per cent stake in the Indian carrier, will be signed in a day or two, a person aware of the development said, requesting anonymity.
One of the key changes ensures that Etihad will not have the unilateral right to terminate the commercial cooperation agreement and this right will now be held by both sides.
Also, the agreement has been re-worked to ensure there is no ambiguity with respect to special rights and veto powers. A source said neither sides could now exercise veto power or casting vote in board matters or resolutions. "The changes were carried out to show that the control is not passed on to Etihad following the investment," he added. The other changes pertain to powers of board members.
27/05/13 Business Standard

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Airbus A380 Operators Seek Entry to Indian Market

With increasing numbers of Airbus A380s in their fleets, Asian and Middle East airlines are growing impatient to start deploying the super-large widebodies on services to and from India. But the Indian government’s policy of sheltering national carrier Air India from competition is preventing carriers such as Lufthansa, Emirates and Singapore Airlines (SIA) from using aircraft larger than the Boeing 747 under the terms of existing air services agreements.
The number of Indians traveling abroad is set to rise from the current 15 million to 50 million by 2020, according to a study by Tourism Australia. “The increase in international traffic last year by 4 to 5 percent over the previous year is music to the ears of A380 operators as volumes are essential and India has the numbers,” said Kapil Kaul, CEO for South Asia with the Center for Asia Pacific Aviation.
For now, India’s civil aviation ministry continues to send mixed signals as to whether it will give clearance for A380s to be deployed on routes serviced by the country’s Jet Airways when its Abu Dhabi-based shareholder Etihad takes delivery of the aircraft from next year. This is adding to the confusion over the Indian government’s policy.
27/05/13 Neelam Mathews/AINonline

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SA, India face off in Gupta row

A diplomatic scuffle may be looming between the high commission of India and the South African government.
This as the directors-general's report into the Gupta plane landing scandal accuses an official in the Indian office of "manipulating" circumstances to enable a private plane chartered by the Gupta family to land at the Waterkloof Air Force Base last month.
On Tuesday, the high commission released a statement absolving itself of any wrong-doing.
In its statement, the high commission clearly contradicted statements made by Justice Minister Jeff Radebe last Sunday during a media briefing.
Radebe said an Indian high commission official used diplomatic channels - with the assistance of suspended chief of state protocol in the Department of International Relations and Cooperation Bruce Koloane - to obtain permission for the chartered Jet Airways plane to land.
27/05/13 Olebogeng Molatlhwa/Sowetan

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Jet Air to Buy More Boeing Planes as AirAsia Enters India Market

Jet Airways (India) Ltd. plans to order more aircraft to expand its fleet as the carrier prepares to fend off competition from Asia’s biggest budget airline that seeks to start operations in the country this year.
Jet is considering an order for Boeing Co. 737 planes, K.G. Vishwanath, the Mumbai-based carrier’s vice president of commercial strategy, told analysts in a conference call today. He didn’t disclose the number of aircraft or a timeframe.
The airline, which has agreed to sell a stake to Etihad Airways PJSC, will boost domestic seat capacity by as much as 8 percent a year as it takes delivery of 46 aircraft, ordered with Boeing earlier, over three years, Vishwanath said. The number of airline passengers in the country may triple to 180 million by 2021, the government has forecast, as more people are shunning trains for plane rides.
27/05/13 Karthikeyan Sundaram/Bloomberg.com

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Abu Dhabi second hub for Jet's US flights

New Delhi/Mumbai: The battle for the India-US aviation route is getting warmer, with Jet Airways setting up an alternative international hub in Abu Dhabi, from where it will fly to New York, Newark and Chicago.
The business plan is part of the commercial cooperation agreement between Etihad Airways and Jet Airways, in which the foreign carrier has agreed to take 24 per cent equity in the latter. The plan has been sent to the government for clearance.
Jet currently flies from India to Newark and Toronto via Brussels. The new flights would enable it to take government-owned Air India head on, as the latter connects the same three points through Delhi (direct to New York and Chicago) and Mumbai (direct to Newark and via Delhi to New York) in the US. The combination will also challenge the domination of Emirates among West Asian carriers over the lucrative Indian-US market.
26/05/13 Surajeet Das Gupta & Aneesh Phadnis/Business Standard

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Diamond heist on Jet Airways flight to Brussels

Mumbai:  The Mumbai airport seems to have turned into a hotbed for thefts-the latest incident being diamonds worth Rs 3.89 crore going missing from a consignment bound for Brussels in Belgium two weeks ago.
On May 13, a consignment of 24 packets of diamonds was sealed and sent as valuable cargo on Jet Airways flight 9W 228. But in Belgium, when the client collected the consignment, there were only 23 packets.
The flight's scheduled departure time was 1.55am, but it left only at 5am and the delay apparently played a part in the theft.
The Sahar police, who are investigating the case, in a letter to Jet Airways alleged that the airline's security personnel took the said valuable consignment from the airport's strong room at 11.50pm, but left it unattended for four hours during the flight delay.
26/05/13 Manju V/Times of India

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SpiceJet seeks to ride out domestic slump through international expansion

Budget carrier SpiceJet's battle to match spiralling costs of operations by raising airfares in the domestic market has made the airline seek growth opportunities through international expansion, where it expects higher returns than the local market.
The focus of the airline over the next few months is to grow its international operations to 20% (from the 11% it witnessed this quarter) by adding more overseas destinations to its network, which would use most of the eight new B-737 aircraft to be delivered to the airline this fiscal.
"Airfares in the domestic market are high enough and won't go higher than this. They are not meeting cost of operations and I would love to charge more. But it is the government which makes consumers pay more as it sees aviation as luxury and not essential infrastructure and doesn't improve the cost environment," SpiceJet CEO Neil Mills told ET.
26/05/13  Anindya Upadhyay/Economic Times 

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AirAsia India launch seen in Q4; may order 50 more jets

Monaco: AirAsia, which smashed order records for Airbus jets to become Asia's largest budget carrier, could buy another 50 planes as it targets aggressive expansion in India, Chief Executive Tony Fernandes said.
Discussion of an order for another 50 A320-family jets, worth $5 billion at list prices, comes weeks ahead of the Paris air show and five months after the Malaysian carrier added 100 jets to its order book to lift total purchases to 475 planes.
AirAsia plans to launch an airline in India in partnership with the Tata Group to cash in on rising demand for domestic air travel among India's expanding middle class. It would start with planes already on order but potentially trigger new orders.
"We're looking at putting in almost a plane every month. We decided that sometimes when we pussyfoot around it takes too long to catch up so we decided just to go for it," Fernandes told Reuters in an interview.
"We've bought a lot of planes but we're still short, we're still leasing planes at the moment, so I was right buying these planes, and we may have to put in another order...(for) 50 or something like that," Fernandes said.
25/05/13 Reuters/Economic Times

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Abu Dhabi flying rights deal with Cabinet for post-facto nod

New Delhi: The air services pact signed by India and Abu Dhabi in April, allowing a four-fold increase in weekly seat entitlements for airlines between the two destinations, has been sent to the Cabinet for 'post-facto approval'.
The pact helped seal the Jet-Etihad deal. The move to secure a Cabinet nod, a first for such a bilateral air services agreement, is learnt to have been initiated at the behest of the Prime Minister's Office.
In 2011, the CAG had criticised the expansion of flying rights given to airlines based in the Middle-East saying it went against the interests of state-owned Air India.
"The PMO wanted us to get it approved by the Cabinet. We have sent it for post-facto approval. As a result, the increase in bilateral entitlements pact will be kept on hold until the approval comes from the Cabinet," said a senior civil aviation ministry official.
25/05/13 Mihir Mishra/Indian Express

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Afghan national arrested with gold worth Rs. 40 lakh

New Delhi: An Afghan national has been arrested by customs officials for allegedly smuggling into the country gold valued at about Rs. 40 lakh at Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA) in New Delhi.
41-year-old Ahmad Fardin, a resident of Shahre-Mazar Sharif, had yesterday arrived from Kabul.
Customs officials intercepted him after he was moving towards the exit gate.
25/05/13 PTI/NDTV.com

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Jet Airways shareholders approve stake sale to Etihad

Mumbai: Jet Airways shareholders on Friday gave approval for sale of 24% equity to Etihad Airways but the airline management deferred the proposal to amend the company's article of association following protests from shareholders and objections from Securities and Exchange Board of India.
Jet Airways chairman Naresh Goyal will dilute 5% of his share holding in an offer for sale either on May 29 or 30. Goyal holds 80% in Jet Airways and the dilution is required to conform to Sebi's share holding norms. Vice president (investor relations) K G Vishwanath told share holders that totally there will be a cash infusion of $750 million (Rs 4,169 crore)  in both debt and equity as a part of the deal. This cash infusion will help the airline to reduce debt from $2.1 billion (Rs 11,500 crore ) to $ 1.5 billion (Rs 8,200 crore), he said.
Goyal told shareholders the relaxation of FDI rules was a game changer and the alliance with Etihad will enable Jet to increase network, reduce costs, improve profit and grow in a sustainable manner.
24/05/13 Aneesh Phadnis/Business Standard

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Malaysia Airlines adds daytime service to Mumbai

Kuala Lumpur : Malaysia Airlines is increasing its frequency from Kuala Lumpur into Mumbai to 12 times weekly effective June 3.
Following greater demand from the market, one additional service will be made to the current daytime schedule of services put in by the national carrier since September 2012.
Starting June, daytime services from Kuala Lumpur to Mumbai on flight MH174 will depart every Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday. Monday is the new day in the schedule, MAS said in a statement today.
 MH174 departs Kuala Lumpur at 9.20 am and arrives in Mumbai at 11.45 am. It returns as flight MH175 the same day, departing Mumbai at 12:40 pm, arriving Kuala Lumpur at 8.20pm.
24/05/13 New Straits Times

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Indian flight attendant jailed in Dubai for credit cards theft

Dubai: An Indian man working as a flight attendant for Emirates airline has been sentenced to six months in prison by a court here for stealing credit cards from two passengers and then using them to buy mobile phones.
The 28-year-old man, who has been identified only by his initials DT, was also fined 6,000 Dirhams and ordered to pay the same amount to the passengers he stole from.
The flight attendant stole from one passenger in business class who handed him his coat.
23/05/13 PTI/Business Standard

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Zambian woman held with 6cr drugs at Mumbai airport

Mumbai: The Air Intelligence Unit (AIU) arrested a Zambian national for smuggling drugs at Mumbai airport early on Thursday morning. The passenger was carrying six kilograms of amphetamine drugs worth Rs 6 crore. The drugs were concealed in thread bobbins. This is the second case of drug seizure in a week where the contraband was hidden in thread bobbins.
Mphakati Alice was on her way to Lilongwe in Malawi. She was checking in for an Ethiopian Airways flight in the morning when AIU officials intercepted her.  "The passenger (Alice) had collected the consignment from Mumbai. She has given some details of the people who handed the consignment to her. We are trying to trace them," said an AIU official.
24/05/13 Times of India

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Change in Jet Airways ownership as Tail Winds transfers shares to Naresh Goyal

Mumbai: Jet Airways has kickstarted the process for change in ownership structure of the airline. On Thursday, Tail Winds Ltd which controls 79.99% in the airline sold 2.51 crore shares to company chairman Naresh Goyal at Rs 570 per share in a deal valuing Rs 1433 crore.
Tail Winds which is 100% owned by Goyal is registered in Isle of Man and holds 6.90 crore shares in Jet Airways. As per the plans Tail Winds entire share holding will be transferred to Goyal and a few more transactions could take place to complete the process.
The change of ownership has been necessitated ahead of Etihad Airway';s investment in Jet Airways. Tail Winds is categorised as foreign entity and the government rules do not allow foreign holding in an airline beyond 49%. Etihad has agreed to pick up 24% stake in Jet Airways in a deal valuing around Rs 2060 crore.
On Friday, Jet Airways seek share holder approval for sale of preference shares to Etihad and incorporating new articles of association in an extra ordinary general body meeting. Proxy advisory companies like SES have asked share holders to oppose the move as it empowers Etihad to have a say in critical matters such as appointment of auditors, appointment of vice-chairman and removal of directors.
23/05/13 Aneesh Phadnis/Business Standard

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Serbian pilot's family waits for compensation

Mangalore: While all the families of the Mangalore air crash victims have received compensation as per the order of a division bench of the Kerala high court, the family of dead pilot Zlatko Glusica hasn't received any relief from Air India.
The family appointed lawyer and 812 Foundation president Yeshwanth Shenoy to get what is due to it. Shenoy told TOI the airline is delaying payment of compensation to the pilot's family. "Air India has even denied he is an employee," he added.
Shenoy has filed a claim on behalf of the family in the Mumbai labour court. He said as the family members are foreigners and don't have anyone to speak for them or take up their matter with Air India or aviation ministry officials, Air India is lax about doing anything for them.
Advocate and solicitor Hoshang D Nanavati from Mulla & Mulla told TOI, "Pilots do not fall under carriage by the Air Act. They're covered under workmen's compensation. The money has been deposited with the employees' commissioner who is supposed to distribute money to the affected."
23/05/13 Stanley Pinto/Times of India

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SEBI, CCI seek clarity on Jet-Etihad deal; may suggest changes

New Delhi: Abu Dhabi carrier Etihad’s Rs 2,058-crore stake purchase in Jet Airways has hit a regulatory air pocket, as regulators are seeking more clarity on the deal to ensure overall competition in the aviation market is not affected and interests of public shareholders and consumers are protected.
Separate clarifications have been sought on the deal, which involves a 24 per cent stake purchase in Jet by Etihad and is the first investment by a foreign carrier in an Indian airline, by capital markets regulator SEBI (Securities and Exchange Board of India) and fair trade watchdog CCI (Competition Commission of India).
While the queries raised by the two regulators are different, both of them are concerned about certain contours of the transaction that indicate a larger control of Etihad in Naresh Goyal-led Indian carrier despite the purchase of only 24 per cent stake, sources said.
23/05/13 PTI/Business Line

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AirAsia submits names of 6 directors of Indian venture for security clearance

Mumbai: Malaysian budget airline AirAsia has conveyed to the Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) that the CFO and COO for its Indian arm are both going to be Indian nationals and it has submitted the names of its six directors for obtaining security clearance from the Ministry of Home Affairs, as per an ET report. A security clearance for the board of directors is a prerequisite for AirAsia India to receive a No-Objection Certificate (NoC) from the MoCA to launch operations. The security clearance could take anywhere between a month to three or more. AirAsia India appointed an Indian CEO, Mittu Chandilya, to head AirAsia India on May 15 but the names of the CFO and the COO have not been decided yet.
“They have conveyed to us that the CFO and the COO are going to be Indians. But names of Board of Directors need security clearance irrespective of  nationality. We have to submit this list to Home Ministry and we plan to do it on Wednesday," a senior MoCA official said.
23/05/13 TravelBizMonitor

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RIL bags strategic military aviation tie-up with Boeing

New Delhi: India’s one of the richest businessman Mukesh Ambani’s $76 billion Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) has bagged a strategic military aviation tie-up with the leading US aerospace company, Boeing, in the field of offsets. That means Boeing will be sourcing 30% of its components worth hundreds of crores of rupees from the RIL.
Sources in the Defence Ministry confirmed to The Tribune on Monday that there was a signed Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in place between the RIL and nearly $80 billion-strong Boeing for the defence offsets programmes.
Since India’s capability in aerospace manufacturing is poor, it is expected that this tie-up could lead to capability build-up in the country in either manufacturing or services.
A Fortune 500 company, the RIL has so far dealt in the businesses of energy and material value chain. But it has been making aggressive moves for past two years to enter lucrative high technology manufacturing, especially in aerospace and homeland security businesses. Indian private sector military aviation segment is expected to touch nearly $100 billion by 2020.
22/05/13 Man Mohan/Tribune India

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Mockery of security: In and out of 4 airports in 3 nations with 2 live bullets

Mumbai: You might call this a slap in the face of security in these times of terror. A Delhi-based businessman, who was found with two live bullets tucked into his baggage, managed to saunter in and out of four airports in three countries over the span of last week without the cartridges being detected.
It was only at the fag end of his return trip that security officials at Mumbai airport spotted the bullets. They were found in a shaving kit in one of the bags that the businessman, Abhishek Jain, had carried on his tour to Colombo and the Maldives and back.
Jain has claimed that he carried the bullets unwittingly and inadvertently – something the police say is quite plausible.
However, the incident has set the alarm bells ringing. Security experts said this incident raises serious questions over security checks being carried out at airports in India and abroad.
23/05/13 Shahkar Abidi/Daily News & Analysis

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Competition Commission looking into Jet-Etihad deal

New Delhi:  Fair trade regulator Competition Commission is examining the over Rs 2,000-crore deal between leading carrier Jet Airways and Abu Dhabi-based Etihad Airways.
The Competition Commission of India (CCI) has received an application seeking approval for the proposed Jet-Etihad transaction.
"We are looking into the deal," a senior CCI official said.
Forging a strategic alliance, Jet Airways has decided to sell 24 per cent stake to Etihad Airways for about Rs 2,058 crore. The deal would mark the first investment by a foreign carrier in an Indian airline since the change in FDI policy.
22/05/13 PTI/Economic Times

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Youngest pilot flying around the world stops over in Mumbai

Mumbai: "Doing what you love is the easiest thing in the world," says the affable Jack Wiegand, all of twenty years of age. The young American pilot steered piloted his single-engine aircraft, Mooney Ovation-20, into Mumbai late on Tuesday evening.
The youngster, word 'easy' acquires a whole new meaning when applied to the case of this youngster who has a penchant for made it a habit of celebrating his birthdays by amassing record aviation feats, piloted his introductory glider flight on his 13th birthday. The following birthday, Wiegand became the youngest pilot at the Central California Soaring Club to solo a glider. On his 16th birthday, he soloed his first single-engine power plane. And when he turned 20 this month, Wiegand took off from his hometown in Fresno, California to circumnavigate the globe. His plan is to break the Guinness World Records title for the youngest person to fly solo around the world. In an age when one can turn an put an aircraft on auto-pilot after take-off, the challenge in flying solo presents itself comes when cruising over crossing oceans or when on encountering rough weather.
22/05/13 Manju V/Times of India

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Despite bribery charges, Agusta Westland continues to bid for new contracts

Mumbai: Anglo-Italian defence firm Agusta Westland continues to participate in bids to procure choppers for the Indian Navy and Coast Guard, despite the company being investigated over bribery allegations in another contract.
Agusta Westland remains in the running for the $200-million Coast Guard deal for 16 ship-launched helicopters. Agusta Westland has submitted bids for Naval Utility Helicopters of the Navy and twin-engine helicopters proposal of the Indian Coast Guard. The Government has said it has no plans to bar Agusta Westland from bidding for further aviation contracts, even though the company is under scrutiny in Italy and India. The earlier case refers to light helicopters for VIP transport.
Though India has put on hold the $733-million deal for 12 three-engine AW 101 helicopters signed in February 2010, better known as Agusta Westland VIP contract, because of bribery allegations, the Anglo-Italian aerospace company continues to bid for new contracts.
21/05/13 Amrita Nair-Ghaswalla/The Hindu

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Passenger dies after mid-air cardiac arrest

Kochi: An Irish national flying on Qatar Airways flight on the Melbourne-Qatar route died after he suffered cardiac arrest mid-flight on Wednesday morning. Even though the flight made an emergency landing at Cochin airport and the passenger was rushed to a nearby hospital he was declared dead on admission.
The body of the passenger identified as Raymond Mc Morrow (68) is being kept in the hospital mortuary after embalming. The airport sources old TOI here that they have already alerted Irish Embassy on the incident and was waiting for their feedback to decide on how the body could be sent back his home. The aircraft flew back to Qatar after the off-loading the passenger, the sources said.
22/05/13 T Ramavarman/Times of India

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Gulf Airlines engulfed in Indian fare dogfight, offer cheaper tickets

New Delhi: Middle-Eastern carriers have upped the ante to snare overseas-bound Indian travellers with lower fares this season, with Etihad and Emirates being the first to stir the market with discounts, much to the dismay of India's national carrier Air India.
On Sunday, Abu Dhabi carrier Etihad, which bought a stake in Jet Airways last month, quietly announced discounted fares for a limited period for travel to cities in the EU, US and Africa from various Indian cities. On Monday, arch-rival Emirates, the largest foreign carrier in India by market share, responded by offering network-wide savings of 8% to foreign destinations.
Air India fears the discounts are part of Etihad's long-term strategy of pulling fares down in order to capture a large chunk of Indian traffic to overseas destinations.
21/05/13 Anindya Upadhyay/Times of India

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Too many people in the airline business have an ego the size of an A380: Tony Fernandes

India's perception of low-cost carriers has been badly damaged and bruised by failed promises, said AirAsia Group CEO Tony Fernandes in an exclusive interaction with Entrepreneur magazine.
Not one to mince any words, Fernandes said that "too many people in the airline business have an ego the size of an A380."
"If we need to be successful in the Indian market, we need to be innovative. We have to do things that have not been done before," he said.
AirAsia Berhad has received an approval from the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) to invest into a proposed Indian joint venture airline together with Tata Sons Ltd and Arun Bhatia of Telestra Tradeplace Pvt Ltd.
The joint venture, where AirAsia would invest 49 percent, Tata Sons would invest 30 percent and Bhatia would invest the remaining 21 percent, would operate from Chennai, focusing on providing Tier II and Tier III city connectivity to travellers.
20/05/13 Ankush Chibber/moneycontrol.com

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Pratt & Whitney to source aircraft engine components from India for global ops

New Delhi: In what is indicative of growing relevance of Indian technological expertise, US-based aerospace engine manufacturer Pratt & Whitney is exploring opportunities to source components for its global operations from India.
Palash Roy Chowdhury, country manager (India), Pratt & Whitney, said, “We are in talks with several suppliers to source parts for aircraft engines from India for our global operations. Aerospace technology in India has mostly been isolated in public sector undertakings but with the offset rule coming into place a lot of private sector entities are investing in bandwidth in terms of developing talent as well as technological resources.”
The offset rule stipulates that in any defence contract valued at over Rs 300 crore with a foreign company, 30% of the contract value has to be ploughed back into India.
Most of it is accounted for as direct offsets like sourcing of equipment, software etc for the contract. Lately, all major corporate houses including Tata Motors, Ashok Leyland, Mahindra & Mahindra have started investing in developing capability in defence technology.
21/05/13 Sharmistha Mukherjee/Business Standard

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Consuls visit SA woman held in India

South African consular officials on Monday visited a South African woman held in Mumbai, India, for alleged drug trafficking, a Pretoria official said.
International relations spokesman Nelson Kgwete said the woman was confirmed to be a South African citizen.
"Her next-of-kin has also been informed of the arrest. She did not give permission for any further information to be shared with the media."
The woman was arrested when drugs were allegedly found in her luggage at a Mumbai airport.
"She was on her way to South Africa via Addis Ababa, flying on an Ethiopia Airlines plane," Kgwete said.
20/05/13 SAPA/The New Age

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Jet Looks at Amsterdam, Berlin, Paris for International hubs

Mumbai:Jet Airways (India) Ltd, India's second largest airline by passengers carried, is exploring plans to open at least two additional international hubs besides Abu Dhabi, following Etihad Airways PJSC's decision to acquire a 24% stake in the former for $379 million. It is looking at Amsterdam, Berlin and Paris for this purpose, according to two people close to the development. Jet Airways currently uses Delhi and Mumbai as local hubs and Brussels as an international hub. Two more international hubs will help Jet Airways offer its passengers more choices and competitive fares.
India allowed foreign airlines to invest in local ones in September, setting the stage for Jet Airways to sell a 24% stake to Etihad. Jet Airways plans to move at least one-third of its international operations through Abu Dhabi after it concluded the transaction with Etihad. In fact, it has already started connecting Kuwait from Kochi via Abu Dhabi.
20/05/13 Aviation Pros.com

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We Need an Independent Investigation Into Guptagate By the Public Protector

From the start, the investigation into the landing of the Guptas' chartered Jet Airways Airbus at AFB Waterkloof was a carefully crafted damage control exercise designed to protect President Jacob Zuma and members of his Cabinet from the political fallout generated by "Guptagate". It comes as no surprise therefore that the investigation effectively exonerated President Jacob Zuma and members of his Cabinet.
The Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development, Jeff Radebe, was at pains to point out that "no ministers were involved in this matter". He went on to say, "Members of the Executive were not required to issue instructions, did not issue any instructions, and did not create the impression that they ought to have issued any instructions".
However, with respect, the fact that some ministers sat on their hands and did not issue any instructions is part of the problem and should have been investigated.
The Minister of Defence and Military Veterans, Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula, received and turned down a request for landing rights at AFB Waterkloof.
19/05/13 All Africa.com

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The Great Gupta Farce

On the face of it, the South African government acted with unprecedented high speed to deal with the fallout over the landing of the Guptas’ private jet carrying wedding guests from India at the Waterkloof Air Force Base. Within three weeks of the show-stopper wedding of the niece of the Gupta brothers, Cabinet ministers trotted out to present to the public the findings of a government investigation. So far, so good.
The report by a team of directors-general contains some startling new facts about the landing of the jet and transport of the wedding guests to the Sun City resort. The full report is to be released in the coming week, according to Justice Minister Jeff Radebe, who heads the justice, crime prevention and security Cabinet cluster which commissioned the investigation.
The total deployment of government personnel during the operation was 194 people and 88 vehicles, according to the statement on the report’s findings read by Radebe. Another 296 private security officers were deployed at the expense of the event organiser. The organisers also deployed two fixed-wing aircraft and seven helicopters to ferry their guests from the base to Sun City. This was authorised as a package linked to the already-issued clearance for Flight JAI 9900 (the Jet Airways plane carrying the wedding guests), Radebe said.
20/05/13 Renjeni Manusamy/Daily Maverick

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Guptagate report shows manipulation, collusion and illegal blue lights

Manipulation of processes and collusion between officials led to the politically connected Gupta family being allowed to land their private jet carrying VIP wedding guests at Waterkloof Air Force Base last month, after having two requests for landing rights elsewhere turned down, Justice and Constitutional Development Minister Jeff Radebe said on Sunday.
“The breach in this instance was a consequence of manipulation by the responsible persons, who contemptuously manipulated the system to advance the wedding objectives at all costs,” he said.
Mr Radebe was presenting the findings of a team of seven directors-general of the justice and security cluster appointed in the wake of “Guptagate” to probe any wrongdoing in the matter.
He said: “We can state without any fear of contradiction no minister was involved, nor was (President Jacob Zuma).”
Mr Radebe added that the activities of some of those involved in the debacle had been driven by the “undesirable practice of the exercise of undue influence and abuse of higher office”, though he added that Cabinet members “were not required to issue any instructions, did not issue any instructions and did not create the impression that they ought to have issued any instructions”.
The issue has already led to the suspension of five senior government managers, three of whom are South African Air Force senior officers, along with eight Tshwane metro police officers and one South African Police Service reservist.
19/05/13 BDlive

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'Guptagate': SA/India relations not strained

Johannesburg: International Relations insists the Indian government has not requested a diplomatic apology following the Gupta jet debacle.
The Sunday Independent on Sunday reported that President Jacob Zuma should expect an angry reception when he visits India in two weeks' time.
Fingers have been pointed at Indian High Commissioner Virendra Gupta for the role he apparently played in the saga.
However, International Relation's Clayson Monyela said the relationship between the two countries was not under strain.
“The relations between India and South Africa are historic. They are friendly, strong and solid ... There are no tensions between the two countries.”
Eyewitness News broke the story on 30 April when around 200 Gupta weddings guests made a controversial landing at Waterkloof Air Force base in Pretoria.
The plane was ordered to leave the base and depart from OR Tambo International Airport two days later.
The wealthy family is said to have close ties with President Jacob Zuma.
20/05/13 Mandy Wiener & Gia Nicolaides/Eye Witness News

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Guptagate: Zuma and Co in the clear

Johannesburg: The names of President Jacob Zuma and other government ministers were used to push officials into allowing the Gupta family’s wedding guests to land at Waterkloof Air Force Base last month, but no members of the executive gave their say-so.
A team of directors-general appointed to get to the bottom of the Gupta scandal took sworn statements from implicated officials – among them chief of state protocol Vusi Koloane – which absolved the president and cabinet ministers of blame, Justice Minister Jeff Radebe told a media briefing on Sunday.
“We’ve got a statement from (Koloane) on record explaining himself on all these issues. That is why we are saying, without any fear of contradiction, that no minister was involved in this matter. The president was not involved,” Radebe said.
But the investigation had established that name dropping was “very bad” and had resulted in “the manipulation of the process” by people who “shared a common purpose and acted in concert”.
These included Koloane – who has been placed on compulsory leave – and the officer commanding movement control at Waterkloof Air Force Base, Lieutenant-Colonel Christine Anderson – who has been put on special leave.
Radebe said disciplinary processes would continue to determine “the guilt or otherwise of these individuals”.
20/05/13 Craig Dodds/IOL News

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Airline emissions deal may not come before EU deadline

Hope is fading for a global deal to regulate the airline industry's greenhouse gas emissions ahead of a fall deadline, even though failure could push the industry back to the brink of a trade war over the European Union's emissions trading system.
Last November the EU suspended its controversial scheme to force all airlines to buy carbon credits for any flight arriving in or departing from European airspace.
The scheme had pitted European states against China, the United States, India and others, who said it violated their sovereignty. The EU said it had to act, after more than a decade of inaction on the environmental impact of aviation.
European officials gave the United Nations' agency that governs aviation, the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), more time to craft a compromise in the form of a global regulatory regime.
19/05/13  Reuters/Economic Times

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Air India wants compensation for 787s not delivering 20% fuel savings

Mumbai: National carrier Air India has sought compensation from Boeing for Dreamliners not meeting the 20 per cent fuel efficiency claims as the airline could achieve only a tad over 17 per cent fuel economy by its six 787s, an AI source said here today.
"We have already sent a demand notice to Boeing seeking compensation for under-delivery of fuel efficiency as our six Dreamliners on an average gave us only a little over 17 per cent on the fuel efficiency front," the source said, without giving more details.
He, however, was quick to add that the airline is not looking at cash payback from the US company, but reduction in the final pricing of the remaining 21 Dreamliners that will be delivered to it by the end of 2016.
17/05/13 PTI/Economic Times

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Ranbir Kapoor: Declaring goods was my responsibility, made a mistake

Mumbai: Bollywood actor Ranbir Kapoor, who was recently detained and fined about Rs 60,000 at an airport for not declaring luxury goods, has said that he made a mistake and paid a price for it.
The 30-year-old actor, who had landed on May 4 at the Chhatrapati Shivaji international airport on a British Airways flight from London, walked away with branded goods in his luggage that required to be declared before the Customs authorities.
After the luggage was checked, branded goods such as perfumes, clothes and footwears worth about Rs one lakh were found.
Ranbir was detained for nearly 40 minutes and after the enquiry and verification of goods, he was fined about Rs 60,000 and let off.
18/05/13 PTI/NDTV.com

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Govt may oppose EU threat to fine Air India, Jet Airways

New Delhi: Govt is likely to oppose the reported European Union threat to impose fines on Air India and Jet Airways for not accepting EU's Emissions Trading Scheme (EU-ETS) and not reporting their emissions over European sky, officials said today.
Only these two Indian carriers, which fly to Europe, are likely to be slapped a total fine of around Euros 30,000, while eight Chinese carriers could face fines totalling Euros 2.4 million euros, they said.
Refusing to be cowed down to the EU threat, the officials, requesting anonymity, said the two Indian carriers operate a total of about 5-6 flights a day, while their European counterparts together operated 30-40 daily flights to India. On top of this, several European carriers overfly India for which they require permission.
The officials said India had the option of taking counter-measures which could "prove costly for European carriers."
17/05/13 PTI/Economic Times

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Aerospace Engineering Firm Quest Global's Changing Lanes

The skies over Bangalore’s Yelahanka airbase thundered with the sound of fighter planes, helicopters, turboprops and other aircraft. As the biennial air show—its 2013 edition in February is considered Asia’s biggest-ever aviation event—was in action, one aircraft had a different flight path: Business jet Embraer Phenom-100 made chartered flights to Belgaum. Perhaps it was the right time for Quest Global Inc to show potential customers that the aerospace hub it has been building is ready for take-off.
On the outskirts of Belgaum, nearly 500 km from Banglaore, is the 300-acre special economic zone (SEZ) set up by Quest. Driving through the beautiful landscape, it is difficult to believe it could soon be the most sophisticated industrial belt in the region. It is already notified as the state’s first precision engineering region. “You can walk away from this place with a finished [aerospace/automotive] product without stepping out of this facility,” says Aravind Melligeri, co-founder and chief executive of Quest Global Inc, the manufacturing arm of Quest Global Engineering. No other facility in India, other than state-owned Hindustan Aeronautics, can claim such a design-to-build capability in aerospace.
19/05/13 Seema Singh/Forbes India.com

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South African event manager held with drugs worth 13 crore at airport

Mumbai: The air intelligence unit (AIU) arrested a South African event manager on Friday for attempting to smuggle out 26 kg of drugs worth Rs 13 crore through Mumbai airport.
The passenger, Cicee Linten (36), was on her way to Maputo, Mozambique. Around 5.30am, Linten checked in at the Ethiopian Airlines counter at Mumbai airport. The AIU had received a tip-off that an African woman would attempt to smuggle out drugs. As Linten's profile matched the description of the suspected smuggler, an AIU team, led by assistant commissioner Sameer Wankhede, asked her to step aside for a personal check. Officials opened her bag and found around 580 bobbins. They took threads off the bobbins and discovered that about 50 gm of methaqualone was wrapped on each bobbin. ," said a senior customs official. The drug was neatly wrapped in plastic covers and wrapped around the bobbins. The tread was spooled around the bobbins after that.
18/05/13 Times of India

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‘Kuwait airlines intends to cover Srinagar’

Srinagar: Kuwaiti ambassador to India, Sami Muhammad Al-Suleiman, today said that Kuwait airlines intended to cover more destinations in India and Srinagar could be one of them.
 Talking to a delegation of Confederation of Indian Industry, J&K State Council, here today, the ambassador, who is presently in Kashmir, according to CII delegation, said that Kuwait airlines “intends to cover more destinations in India, and Srinagar could be one of them.”
 The delegation, according to Vice Chairman, CII, JK State Council, Asif Burza, discussed possibilities and opportunities of trade and tourism between Kashmir and Kuwait.
 Burza said: “We urged Al-Suleiman to recommend visit of Kuwaiti nationals to Kashmir.”The delegation welcomed the ambassador to Kashmir and proposed that “business delegation comprising travel and tourism traders from Kuwait should visit Kashmir and vice versa to promote tourism.”The CII delegation said such exchange of delegations could help promote Kashmiri products and destination in Kuwait.
17/05/13 Mukeet Akmali/Greater Kashmir

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Indian sentenced to three years for human trafficking

Washington: An Indian has been sentenced to three years of imprisonment on charges of trafficking immigrants from India into the United States, the department of justice said.
Kaushik Jayantibhai Thakkar, 33, along with Brazilian national Fabiano Augusto Amorim, was sentenced yesterday to serve 36 months in prison for their roles in smuggling undocumented migrants to the US for private financial gain, the acting assistant US attorney general Mythili Raman said.
In addition to their prison terms, Thakkar and Amorim were sentenced to serve two years of supervised release, as per the order of the US District Judge Ewing Werlein in the southern district of Texas.
On December 2, 2012, and January 4, 2013, respectively, Thakkar and Amorim each pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to bring undocumented migrants into the US for profit and to one count of unlawfully bringing two undocumented migrants into the United States for profit.
They worked together and with other co-conspirators to smuggle individuals from India into the United States, according to court documents.
18/05/13 PTI/Times of India

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Air India Seeks Dollar Loan to Refinance Rupee Debt

Air India Ltd., the carrier which pays more interest on its debt than any publicly traded Asian airline, plans to borrow $300 million from overseas to repay costlier rupee obligations, according to a company official.
The carrier is in discussions with two overseas lenders, including one in the U.K., said the official, who asked not be identified as the person is not authorized to speak to the media. The dollar-denominated loan will carry an interest rate of 300 basis points over the London interbank offered rate, the official said. The three-month dollar Libor rate was unchanged at 0.274 percent yesterday. That compares with about 10.5 percent the carrier pays for rupee loans, the official said.
The former monopoly, which paid 34.8 billion rupees ($634 million) as interest in the year ended March 31, is cutting costs and resuming Boeing Co. 787 flights to regain market share. Competition is intensifying on overseas routes after Etihad Airways PJSC agreed to buy a stake in Jet Airways (India) Ltd. Air India, bailed out by the government four times in as many years, needs to lure more customers to continue getting state funds, said Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh.
17/05/13  Karthikeyan Sundaram/Bloomberg.com

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Europe considers emission fines for Chinese and Indian airlines

Brussels: The European Commission said Thursday that Air China and Air India were among 10 Chinese and Indian airlines facing the prospect of fines and exclusion from airports in the European Union for refusing to comply with rules aimed at regulating greenhouse emissions.
The carriers are accused of not providing emissions data, as required by the European rules, and not participating in a permit system that entitles airlines to emit greenhouse gases in European airspace.
The volumes of carbon dioxide that the European Commission said the 10 carriers emitted through their jet engines in Europe last year was comparable to the emissions from burning about 130 rail cars of coal.
The commission said the eight Chinese carriers could face fines totaling 2.4 million euros ($3 million), and the two Indian airlines face total fines of 30,000 euros.
So far the emissions rules apply only to flights within Europe, and European carriers and most non-European airlines have complied. Still hotly debated, though, is the planned expansion of the system next January to include international flights in and out of Europe.
17/05/13 James Kanter/The New York Times/NDTV

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Boeing to fix 787 plane battery by month-end for Air India

US aircraft manufacturer Boeing will deliver one more 787 Dreamliner aircraft to Air India by month-end after fixing batteries in the high-tech plane, reports CNBC-TV18.
The flag carrier had to ground 787 aircraft in mid January after the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) insisted that airlines having acquired B737 from  Boeing would have to demonstrate the lithium ion batteries were safe before they could resume flying.
Sector regulator, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) also insisted on safety before the aircraft takes to skies. “The regulator is satisfied with our work,” said Dinesh Keskar, senior vice president, sales Asia Pacific, Boeing
Boeing is in the process of fixing batteries in over 50 787 aircraft from carriers across the globe following incidents of overheating in the batteries providing auxiliary power. Boeing has since worked to develop new battery housings to prevent a repeat of the incidents.
15/05/13 CNBC-TV18/Moneycontrol

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Gupta jet findings will be made public

Cape Town: There will be no attempt to keep secret a report into the illegal landing of a jet chartered by the politically-connected Gupta family at Waterkloof Air Force Base, acting Minister in the Presidency Edna Molewa said on Thursday.
Molewa and her Cabinet colleagues endorsed the preliminary findings of an investigation into how the family managed to land the plane at the national key point without executive authority.
She was briefing journalists following Cabinet's regular fortnightly meeting on Wednesday.
It was now up to the justice, crime prevention, and security (JCPS) cluster of ministries to release the findings to the public, she said.
JCPS chairman Justice Minister Jeff Radebe is in the country, but his colleagues in the cluster are in Russia on a working visit with President Jacob Zuma.
“He has to work with his colleagues to make the necessary pronouncements regarding these findings,” said Molewa.
“Even the preliminary findings would have to be subjected to that collective, so that there is a full appreciation and a decision to release these findings,” she said.
Radebe and the other ministers would decide in which form the outcomes of the probe would be made public.
16/05/13  Chantall Presence/IOL News

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International airports body urges caution over foreign investment in Ibrahim Nasir International Airport

Airports Council International (ACI), the global body representing the world’s airports, has advised its members to exercise caution before making any investment in the Maldives relating to Ibrahim Nasir International Airport (INIA).
In an email obtained by Minivan News dated May 8, ACI alerted its members that the Maldivian government is “in the process of transferring the Male’ airport to a wholly-owned subsidiary of MACL and may explore a sale of equity in this entity to another airport operator.”
“ACI members are advised to conduct due diligence while considering any investment in the Maldives, considering the latest developments, uncertainty of outcome of elections, the legal and financial risks of the current arbitration and the nascent legal framework,” the email states.
The cautionary note emphasises that ACI was “not taking sides with respect to the decisions made by the various parties”, and matter-of-factly outlines the government’s sudden termination of the concession agreement with the GMR-Malaysia Airports (GMR-MAHB) consortium to manage and upgrade Ibrahim Nasir International Airport (INIA).
16/05/13 Minivan News

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GMR to file technical bid for Philippines airport project

GMR Infrastructure, along with its partner Megawide Construction Corp, is all set to file technical bid for developing 17.5 billion peso ($425 million) Mactan-Cebu International Airport project in the Philippines, a senior company official has said.
GMR Infrastructure has three months to submit the bid documents as it was shortlisted in the pre-qualification bid.
"We will have to file technical bid first and later the financial bid for the project. We have three months time to submit the documents", the official told PTI.
All the seven groups who submitted the bid for the airport project were pre-qualified, according to reports in the Philippines media.
The financial bids will be opened on August 17 and a notice of award will be sent to the winner on September 17.
16/05/13 PTI/Daily News & Analysis

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London mayor showers praises on Hyderabad airport

London:  The airports in Delhi and Hyderabad have left London's charismatic mayor mesmerised and wanting to emulate India's growth in airport capacity so much that he has built up a case for a new four-runway airport in east London.
Boris Johnson, who was in India in November 2012, said he was mesmerised by India's airports - especially in Hyderabad and Delhi - and is now backing a new plan to expand London's airport capacity to accommodate new flights and more people coming into the city.
"London needs to catch up with India when it comes to aviation capacity. Heathrow has no space for new planes to land. It is already running at 98% capacity. London should learn from India on how to expand aviation space. I want to emulate India and create a new hub airport in the east of London," Johnson said.
A new airport in East London would greatly help the South Asian community who make for most of the population in the area. "A new airport will help increase the number of flights going to or coming from India," he said.
16/05/13 Kounteya Sinha/Times of India

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Qatar Airways seeks more traffic routes from India

New York: Qatar Airways, one of the world's fastest growing airlines, has sought more traffic routes and seats from India to serve two-tier cities, a top airline official has said.
Akbar-Al-Baker, the Chief Executive Officer told the PTI yesterday that Qatar Airways has exhausted all the traffic routes allotted by the Government of India.
He was here on the sidelines of "Educate a child", a global education program sponsored by the airline and Jazz@ Lincoln Center, New York.
"We hope Indian Civil Aviation authorities will give additional access to other Gulf carriers in India and if that happens we would like to operate more flights.
16/05/13 PTI/Economic Times

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First Boeing P-8I maritime patrol aircraft arrives in India

The first Boeing P-8I long-range maritime reconnaissance and anti-submarine warfare aircraft arrived May 15, on schedule, at India Naval Station Rajali. The P-8I is one of eight aircraft Boeing is building for India as part of a contract awarded in 2009.
“Boeing is proud to deliver this advanced aircraft to meet the Indian Navy’s unique maritime patrol requirements,” said Chris Chadwick, president of Boeing Military Aircraft. “The P-8I team, which includes our customer and Indian suppliers, has done a fantastic job working together, and we’re on track to deliver the next two P-8I aircraft later this year."
15/05/13 Skies

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From fashion to aviation: Who is Air Asia India CEO Mittu Chandilya?

A man of fashion, someone who admires Richard Gere and Amitabh Bachchan, will steer AirAsia’s new airline in India.
Tony Fernandes just named Mittu Chandilya as the new CEO of AirAsia India on Twitter.
Chandilya, an unknown name in India till now, has already attained much fame but not for any role in the corporate world – last November, he was chosen by the international men’s lifestyle magazine ‘August Man‘ as an A-lister.
According to a profile of Chandilya which Indian Express carried in November, he is a sharp dresser and won the coveted title of the “August Man A-Lister” after the magazine’s seven month long search . The magazine was searching for a man who wasn’t just good-looking but embodied the combination of “style, substance and success” in everyday life, the IE story said. Chandilya graced the magazine’s November cover.
The Express story says he “was chosen off the street, while he was finishing off a conversation outside a coffee shop”.
Looks like Tony has once again given Chandilya an off-the-street moment by asking him to steer this much anticipated airline because Chandilya’s linkedin profile makes no mention of any experience in the aviation sector.
Chandilya’s linkedin profile says his last job was Head of Services Practices for APAC, Egon Zehnder International which is a management consultancy firm. He joined Egon in October 2009 and previous employers include Ingersoll Rand and S.O.S. Among the languages he knows are Tamil and English besides Hindi, French and Chinese.
15/05/13 First Post

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Chennai's Mittu Chandilya will pilot AirAsia in India

Mumbai: He is just 33, which makes him one of the youngest head of an airline in India. Mittu Chandilya, who will take charge as the chief executive officer of AirAsia in India from June 1, has made his mark in the fashion world, too.
Last year, readers of August Man, a fashion magazine in Singapore, elected him for the A-list award for style and elegance from amongst 300 participants.
Chandilya, who had a brief stint in modelling before charting a corporate career, had said after winning the award that fashion had been in his "blood and spirit" through his mother.
The MBA degree holder has no aviation background.  "Mittu has always been a passionate follower of the aviation industry,'' Air Asia said in a statement. Chandilya’s last job was Principal and head of service practice at management consultancy firm Egon Zehnder in Singapore.
AirAsia group CEO Tony Fernandes is, however, more than convinced about his abilities. "Mittu is coming home to change Indian travel and make it affordable for all Indians to fly, " he tweeted. Fernandes also said he was an “outstanding young man with great entrepreneurial skills. He is very passionate about the low-cost carrier business and possesses the crucial understanding on how our business model work.''
 Fernandes is known to select executives from non aviation backgrounds to head his airlines. Azran Osman-Rani, CEO of AirAsia X was a senior director of television channel while heads of his airlines in Thailand and Philippines worked in Warner Music before joining aviation.
15/05/13 Aneesh Phadnis/Business Standard

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Singapore based Mittu Chandilya appointed CEO of Air Asia India

Mumbai: The board of Air Asia India on Wednesday appointed Singapore based Mittu Chandilya to head the operations of the company in India.
Air Asia's founder Tony Fernandes announced via his official twitter handle that the board appointed Mittu Chandilya as the CEO of the company.
"The board of Air Asia has appointed Mittu Chandilya as the CEO of the company. Mittu is coming home to change Indian travel and make it affordable for all Indians to fly", Fernandes tweeted.
Mittu Chandilya, 32, will be amongst the youngest CEO's to operate an airline in the country. Chandilya, educated at INSEAD in France, was formerly the head of services practices for Asia Pacific at Egon Zehnder International, an advisory firm with more than 420 consultants spread across 40 countries.
Earlier, putting speculations to rest, Fernandes had announced via his twitter account that he had selected the CEO for AirAsia India. He had tweeted from his official handle that the new CEO is a very smart boy from Chennai. "An amazing CV, will impress all", Fernandes had tweeted.
15/05/13 Economic Times

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AirAsia: The low-cost card may not fly in India

New Delhi: Low-cost carriers (LCCs) in India say they do not expect AirAsia to commit hara-kiri in the domestic skies, what with net average fares already in the low range of Rs 4,000-4500 per passenger. They point out that AirAsia would have learnt - from its not-too-successful debut in India through their international operations - that low-cost fares, which it offers in Malaysia, are unsustainable in India.
LCCs will, however, brace for average net fares to go down by 8-10 per cent because AirAsia is expected to begin operations with rock-bottom promotional fares for a few seats. "Such fares can only be promotional in nature in India and can't be sustained for long. Even we will bring down prices. But we are not worried," says a top executive of a leading LCC in the country.
But AirAsia's signature is its mega low-cost fare. For instance, it is offering two million seats for travel to Southeast Asia at fares which are available for as low as 30 per cent of its regular fare. Yet, for domestic passengers in India, there is no novelty in such a scheme anymore. After all, domestic LCCs have used a similar marketing tack to get passengers to fly in the lean seasons. SpiceJet kicked off a price war, a few months ago, by slashing fares for one-way travel across the country, down to a consolidated Rs 2,013, inclusive of all taxes. The offer of one million such one-way tickets for a limited period soon had other LCCs following suit.
AirAsia's challenge in establishing the brand in India is a classic one. Unlike Malaysia where it did not have competition from other LCCs, its new market has quite a few thriving players. It is entering when this indigenous competition already controls over 60 per cent of the market. So, for the late entrant, Fernandes' ambition to press 36 aircraft into operation by 2017-18, will still lend it a size that will only be a third of that of the biggest player, IndiGo. It will fly over 120 aircraft to as many as 40 cities by then.
15/05/13 Surajeet Das Gupta/Business Standard

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AI may fly economy intnl flights using Boeing 777 200-LR if sale plan fails

New Delhi/Mumbai: Air India may fly all-economy international flights using the eight Boeing 777 200-LR s the airline has in its fleet if a plan to sell the aircraft fails to take off.
A senior official at Air India said, “We have decided to sell the eight Boeing 777 200-LRs we have in our fleet. If we are unable to sell or lease the aircraft, we will fly them all economy on international routes.” Sale of the aircraft is the first option for the airline, which is already in talks with Boeing to find potential buyers.
Currently, Air India offers eight first class, 35 business class and 195 economy class seats on the Boeing 777 200-LR. The airline would have to reconfigure the aircraft to drop the first and the business class seats on its flights to fly all economy on mid-haul routes.
“The occupancy in business class is around 70-80%, at par with other airlines. However, the passenger load factor in first class is continuing to pose problems. The per seat cost is now heavy making operations unviable”, the official added.
14/05/13 Sharmistha Mukherjee & Aneesh Phadnis/Business Standard

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Foreign airlines keen on investing in Indian aviation: Ajit Singh

New Delhi: Upbeat over the Jet-Etihad deal and the proposed launch of Air Asia India, Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh on Tuesday said foreign airlines have realised the massive growth potential of the Indian aviation sector and were evincing keen interest in it.
With the government allowing foreign airlines to invest in Indian carriers, “it is clear that foreign airlines have realised the growth possibilities of the Indian aviation sector and are keenly interested,” he told reporters here.
Jet Airways has clinched a deal with Gulf carrier Etihad Airways, while IndiGo already has 49 per cent FDI, Mr. Singh said.
Caelum Investments, a US-based firm owned and run by former CEO of US Airways Rakesh Gangwal, owns 48 per cent of IndiGo. Other stakeholders include IndiGo’s parent company InterGlobe Enterprises which owns 51.12 per cent.
“While Air India has the best deal as they have the government as their bank, SpiceJet and GoAir remain to be taken-up. Only they can tell you (about their investment plans),” he said, adding that as far as Kingfisher Airlines was concerned, it was non-existent.
14/05/13 PTI/The Hindu

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Air India to Get Another 8 Dreamliners by December

The Minister for Civil Aviation , Shri Ajit Singh has said that out of six Dreamliners, two Dreamliners have already been modified for commercial operations and all 6 planes will be ready for operation by the end of this month. While addressing the mediapersons at a press conference here, he said Air India would get another eight Dreamliners by December this year. This will make the total availability of fourteen B-787 Dreamliner aircrafts with Air India by December, 2013.  The Minister said that the first commercial flight will restart from 15th May, 2013, for which all operational regulatory requirements have been complied with and all pilots have been subjected to the required checks before release for flight duties.  The first international flight is proposed to restart from 22nd May, 2013.Air India proposes to start the following new international routes with these B-787 aircrafts:-

• Delhi-Birmingham-Delhi                    w.e.f. August, 2013
• Delhi-Sydney/Melbourne-Delhi         w.e.f. August, 2013
• Delhi-Rome/Milan-Delhi                    w.e.f. October, 2013
• Delhi-Moscow-Delhi                          w.e.f. early 2014

           On the performance of Air India during financial year 2012-13, the Minister said the total revenue during the period has increased by about 9.6% from Rs. 14,714 crores in 2011-12 to Rs. 16,130 crores in 2012-13.Air India carried 14.05 million passengers in the year 2012-13 as against 13.40 million passengers in previous financial year, which shows a growth of about 5%. The net loss of Air India for the financial year 2012-13 has come down by about Rs. 2,261 (Net loss in 2011-12 – Rs. 7,559.74 crores in 2012-13 – Rs. 5,198.55 crores).  The EBITDA has improved by 2256 crores over previous year and it stands at Rs. 19.45 crores during the financial year 2012-13 [EBITDA in 2011-12 (-) Rs. 2236.95]. Passenger Loan Factor (PLF) has shown a great upward trend. For the whole network operation, the PLF stood 72.7% during 2012-13 compared to 68% during financial year 2011-12.There is a marked improvement in On- Time Performance ( OTP). The network OTP achieved during financial year 2012-13 has been 77.1% (domestic 80.2% and international 70.8%).
14/05/13 Press Information Bureau

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GVK hands over Bali airport project contracts

Present on the occasion were, state enterprise of the Indonesian Department of Transport, Angkasa Pura I, President Commissioner, Surajo Siswodihardjo; GVK President Project Development, Karthi Gajendran; Marketing Business Development Director, Robert D. Waloni; General Manager of Ngurah Rai Commercial SBU, Kenneth R. Guldbjerg along with other high level delegates from Angkasa Pura I, Dufry International Ltd and DFS.
GVK noted that, the pre-bid meeting that was held in Indonesia for the commercial concessions at the Bali international airport saw an overwhelming response from all over the world with participation from over 200 prospective bidders.
The bids culminated into selection of DFS and Dufry International, the first and second largest duty free operators respectively in the world. The deals with international majors have been signed for a period of 5 years. The retail and duty free awards will be followed by Lounge, Forex and F&B concessions.
13/05/13 India Blooms

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Aircraft imports grounded after govt scraps panel

Mumbai: At least 30 proposals seeking government approval for import of over 90 aircraft have been left unattended for the past few months as there is no system in place to process such applications.
In February this year, the ministry of civil aviation's Aircraft Acquisition Committee was scrapped by the government and the job of granting permission for aircraft imports was entrusted to the aviation regulator, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA). Ironically, the ministry-held committee was disbanded to cut short the time taken to get aircraft import permission. "But with the DGCA yet to form a committee that will review such applications, those who have applied for import permissions like airlines, flying clubs, aircraft charter operators and private individuals have been affected," said an aviation source. A senior official from the ministry of civil aviation said a separate cell, called the Aircraft Acquisition Cell (AAC), will be created in the Air Transport Directorate of the DGCA to handle import permissions.
13/05/13 Manju V/Times of India

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Indian student team enters global aviation competition finale

New Delhi: A team of students from a private Indian university is among the five groups shortlisted for the finals of a global competition to develop innovative ideas for a more sustainable aviation industry.
The team 'AVAS' from SRM University will compete in the third edition of the 'Fly Your Ideas challenge', organised by European aircraft-manufacturing consortium Airbus Industrie, a statement from the aircraft manufacturer said.
The team comprising Michael Thomas, Anita Mohil and Balakrishnan Solaraju Murali - all studying bachelors degree in Aerospace Engineering - would travel to France to present their ideas before a jury of Airbus and industry experts at Airbus' headquarters in Toulouse on June 12, it said.
The other teams making it to the finals are from Brazil, Australia, Italy and Malaysia.
13/05/13 Economic Times

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Jet Airways to launch Kochi-Abu Dhabi

The Cochin International Airport Ltd has announced in a notification on Saturday that Jet Airways will start operations in a new sector.
The airline will operate from Abu Dhabi to Kochi via Kuwait from 16 May, 2013. The flight, operated daily with a Boeing 737 aircraft, will start from Abu Dhabi and arrive in Kochi via Kuwait at 0810 hours, while it will return to Abu Dhabi via Kuwait at 1755 hours.
13/05/13 Krupa Vora/Travel Daily Media

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Jet's Kochi-Kuwait flight to be operational from May 16

New Delhi: Jet Airways today said it will launch its daily flights between Kochi and Kuwait from Thursday.
Jet Airways will introduce daily services from Kochi to Kuwait via Abu Dhabi, effective from May 16, a statement from the airline said.
The airline currently operates two flights between Mumbai and Kuwait and the new flight between Kochi and Kuwait via Abu Dhabi would be its first after the Jet-Etihad deal, in which the Abu-Dhabi based airline had picked up 24 per cent stake of the Indian private carrier.
Jet Airways would be operating its flight with Boeing 737-800 Next Generation aircraft.
13/05/13 Economic Times

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Customs officials in court over Hyderabad airport assault

Hyderabad: Things seem to be going from bad to worse at the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport, Hyderabad, as far as the conduct of customs officials is concerned. Eight customs officials are in the dock after they beat up a passenger coming from Muscat and snatched a gold chain from him.
The matter came to light when a city resident, P Narasaiah, lodged a complaint with the Airport Police. He told them that after he landed from Muscat he was detained by the customs officials who demanded a bribe.
13/05/13 Omar Farooq/Gulf News

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Aseman Airlines to operate a direct flight between Hyderabad and Iran's Mashhad city from June 30

Hyderabad: A direct flight between Hyderabad and Mashhad in Iran is set to take off from June 30, making it the first such service between South India and the Persian Gulf nation, a senior diplomat said today.
Hassan Nourian, Consul General of Iran in Hyderabad, said the twice-a-week flight, to be operated by his country's Aseman Airlines, would make it easy for tourists wanting to visit the second biggest Iranian city.
"Culturally and religiously Hyderabad is well connected with Mashhad. The direct flight will be advantageous for tourists, Indian businessmen, domicile Iranians and a large number of Iranian students in the city and southern parts of India," the envoy said at a press conference here.
"As per the schedule given to us there will be two flights a week from Hyderabad to Mashhad," Nourian said.
11/05/13 PTI/Economic Times

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Flight makes emergency landing in A’bad with dead Dutch national

Ahmedabad: A Dutch national reportedly going to Ho Chi Minh in Vietnam from Dubai in an Emirates flight no-EK-392 died in the plane moments before it landed at Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport Saturday afternoon.
Airport officials said the passenger, identified as 40-year-old Alle Jelle De Boer, had reported sick during the flight following which the captain requested the Air Traffic Controllers (ATC) at the city airport for an emergency landing around 1:30 pm.
Airport director R K Singh said the flight landed at the airport around 1:34 pm but the passenger was declared dead on arrival.
He said Emirates officials have informed the Netherlands embassy while the body has been sent for postmortem to find out the reason behind the death.
12/05/13 Indian Express

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MoCA likely to allow foreign airlines to fly A380 into India

Mumbai: Foreign airlines are likely to be allowed to fly Airbus 380, the world’s largest passenger aircraft, into India with the Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA), Government of India setting up a group to study and decide time slots for the aircraft at local airports. Nine airlines, including Etihad Airways PJSC, Emirates, Singapore Airlines and Deutsche Lufthansa AG, operate the wide-body, double-deck jets, which can seat as many as 525 passengers. “They are all asking for it,” said Ajit Singh, Minister for Civil Aviation, Government of India, referring to a slew of foreign airlines wanting to fly the jumbo jet into India’s modernised airports such as Delhi, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Chennai, as per a report by Tarun Shukla in Mint. Singh said he sees no reason why the A380 should not be allowed to fly in India.
So far, the A380 had been barred from flying commercially in India for fear that it could stretch the existing infrastructure at airports in the country and undermine local airlines that do not have the aircraft in their fleet. Yet, the A380 has made debut flights in India, been present at local air shows and made an emergency landing at Hyderabad on its way from Australia.
10/05/13 TravelBizMonitor

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London Mayor calls for more flights to India

London: The UK capital has some 'catching up to do', London mayor Boris Johnson has said, calling for more flights connecting the city with India to be an "open and welcoming city for Indians".
"We need better aviation capacity and more flights between London and India to ensure we are an open and welcoming city for Indians," he said.
"London needs to have a four-runway hub airport, along the lines that I saw in several Indian cities during my visit last year. Frankly, London has some catching up to do," said Johnson, addressing a gathering of senior British Indian politicians and business executives at an event hosted by the Indian Journalists Association (IJA) in London on Thursday.
Ironically, the mayor's comments came against the backdrop of an influential House of Commons Transport Committee rejecting his ambitious 'Boris Island' Thames Estuary airport plan in favour of an additional runway at Heathrow airport.
10/05/13 PTI/ZeeNews

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Macau International Airport operator hopeful on launch of Indonesia, India routes

The era of exclusive service sub-concessions at the Macau International Airport will be over at the end of this year, when contracts for general aviation, ground handling and in-flight catering expire.
But the number of operators of each sort of service at the airport in the future will depend on market conditions, Grace Cheang, senior assistant to the chairman of Macau International Airport Co Ltd’s (CAM) executive committee and director of the company’s finance and administration department, told Macau Business magazine.
The biggest doubt involves the general aviation services, currently handled by Macau Business Aviation Centre Ltd.
Ms Cheang says the government has hired a consultant to work out the best operating model for the future. A study is in progress and a decision should be made by next month.
Menzies Macau Airport Services Ltd does ground handling and aircraft maintenance, and runs air cargo and air mail services.
Ms Cheang says CAM and Menzies Macau are in talks about a new contract, but that other companies are also interested in doing this kind of work.
MCS-Macau Catering Services Co Ltd (Servair Macau) handles in-flight catering. It has little to worry about. Ms Cheang says its new contract is almost a done deal, as no other company has expressed an interest.
10/05/13 Macau Business Daily

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International, regional aviation hubs in India soon

New Delhi: Buoyed by the upswing in air traffic, the government is likely to give its nod to a wide- ranging policy to create international and regional aviation hubs in the country in the coming days.
The policy, which is likely to be considered by the Union Cabinet tomorrow, not only focuses on developing global airline hubs in India but also on establishing domestic regional hubs to cater to the emerging air traffic from non- metro destinations in remote areas, including the Northeast, official sources said.
India should take advantage of its geographical and locational suitability for foreign carriers connecting Europe to Southeast Asia or vice versa, they said, adding that creating ultra-modern airports to cater to the rising global traffic would have to be a top priority.
The Civil Aviation Ministry has already initiated steps like revisiting the policy and enhancing bilateral air service agreements with different countries.
08/05/13 PTI/Times of India

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Growing Air Connectivity of Indian Carriers to International Destinations

The Minister of State for Civil Aviation, Shri K.C. Venugopal informed Lok Sabha today that the allocation of traffic rights to an applicant airline for international operation on a particular sector depends upon the availability of such rights under the respective bilateral air services agreement. The Government has recently granted traffic rights to Indian scheduled carriers for operation on the following new international routes - Delhi-Rome-Madrid/ Barcelona, Delhi-Moscow, Delhi-Sydney/ Melbourne, Mumbai-Nairobi, Mumbai-Al Najaf, Lucknow- Al Najaf, Varanasi- Al Najaf, Mumbai-Jakarta, Mumbai-Zurich, Delhi-Tashkent, Mumbai-Ho Chi Minh City, Delhi-Ho Chi Minh City, Delhi-Macau.
This move is expected to give a major boost to Indian carriers and spur growth of the Indian civil aviation sector as a whole by considerably improving connectivity of Indian cities with international destinations.
The Government has received requests from eligible Indian carriers for operation on international routes. During the last three years Government has granted traffic rights to eligible Indian carriers for operation to the following countries: Afghanistan, Australia, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Belgium, China, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Iraq, Italy, Japan, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Macao, Maldives, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Netherlands, Oman, Philippines, Qatar, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Spain, Sri Lanka, , Switzerland, Tanzania, Thailand, Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Sharjah, USA and Vietnam.
08/05/13 Press Information Bureau

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South Africa fines Jet Airways in “Guptagate”

The South African Civil Aviation Authority has fined India’s Jet Airways R80,000 ($8,800) after a chartered Airbus A330 carrying wedding guests from India to Sun City landed at a nearby military airport without permission and proper paperwork.
The incident has locally become known as “Guptagate” as the charter was organized by the wealthy and politically connected Gupta family, owners of TNA Media in Midrand, South Africa.
According to the aviation authority, the aircraft landed at the Waterkloof air force base in South Africa on April 30 without prior written permission. Government officials required that the aircraft be moved to a civilian airport, in this case the OR Tambo International airport, where the aviation authority confirmed that the aircraft did not have a Foreign Operator Permit, a requirement for a civilian operation.
The aircraft did however conform to “all other safety related requirements such as a valid Certificate of Airworthiness, and its maintenance records were up to date”, officials say.
07/05/13 John Croft/Aviation Week

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Gupta landing permission sent to depts

Johannesburg: Copies of an SA Air Force document granting the Gupta jet permission to land at Waterkloof Air Force Base were sent to various departments weeks before, a report says on Wednesday.
The document was sent to the departments of home affairs and transport, and the SA Civil Aviation Authority (Sacaa), The Times newspaper reported.
The document, titled "RSA 05 External Clearance" and dated 9 April, was also addressed to the SA National Defence Force chief of joint operations Lieutenant General Derrick Mgwebi.
It reportedly cited a clearance code for the jet to land at Waterkloof on 29 April and authorised the jet to refuel at the base.
08/05/13 news24

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DGCA lifts ban on Dreamliner

New Delhi: Aviation regulator DGCA on Tuesday allowed resumption of operations of the Boeing 787 dreamliner aircraft, by issuing an order lifting the ban on operations of the aircraft in India.
The test-flights (without passengers) of Air India’s dreamliner aircraft are likely to start from Wednesday and Air India is hoping to resume flights with passengers from May 16.
Air India has so far taken possession of six dreamliners from Boeing out of a total order of 27 aircraft that was placed a few years ago.
The DGCA had in January this year, grounded Air India’s six Boeing 787 dreamliner aircraft following the emergency airworthiness directive iss-ued by the United States’ Federal Aviation Agency (FAA) that operations of the aircraft be “temporarily ceased”.
The FAA had then said there was a “potential battery fire risk” in the Boeing 787 dreamliners that “requires operators to temporarily cease operations”.
08/05/13  Sridhar Kumaraswami/Deccanm Chronicle

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GoAir scouts for partners to sell 49% stake

Mumbai: GoAir, part of the Nusli Wadia Group, has appointed investment bank JPMorgan to scout for a foreign strategic partner to buy up to 49% in the low-cost passenger carrier, four people close to the development said, signaling the eagerness of Indian carriers to source capital in order to scale up their operations. "GoAir is in talks with three to four overseas airlines from Europe and the Middle East to sell up to 49% stake," an investment banker with direct knowledge of the development said.
"The company is in talks with German carrier Lufthansa and Dubai-based Emirates and Qatar Airways, among others," said a second investment banker involved in the deal. "It is very early to divulge more details," he said. "As a company policy, the airline does not comment on market speculation," GoAir's spokesperson said. The Wadia family owns 100% of GoAir.
08/05/13 Sneha Shah, Manisha Singhal & Maulik Vyas/Economic Times

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New norms for NRIs at airport

Salalah: Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) travelling to India during this summer vacation should plan their baggage carefully, as they may have to fill a lengthy 21-question form on arrival as declaration of the assets they are carrying in terms of gold, cash and electronic goods. According to a report in Indian newspaper the Hindustan Times (HT), the customs department of India is preparing the new detailed declaration form, which a passenger has to fill out on arrival.
“The new form has 21 questions compared to the previous one which had just four queries. The proposal is awaiting approval from senior officials.” “Passengers arriving at the international terminal of Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport may soon have to declare the value of the jewellery they are carrying and wearing,” the report added. Quoting an Indian Customs official, the report said that the new declaration form has detailed questions on jewellery.
08/05/13 Kaushalendra Singh/Oman Observer

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Can Jet-Etihad deal revive media spends in the cautious airline market?

The Indian aviation sector is expected to be the third largest market by 2020 and is expected to handle 330 million domestic and 85 million international passengers by then. Post liberalisation, the sector has seen enormous entry of private players.
The aviation sector so far has not been very aggressive on the media spends side. The reason attributed by most experts is the lack of money. Sharan Lilaney, Aviation Analyst, IIFL mentioned, “This is a cash crunch sector. There is no money with the airlines. Whatever money comes is used in paying off debts. Hardly any money is spared for advertising.”
In September 2012, the government liberalised the FDI policy and allowed foreign airlines to buy up to 49 per cent stake in Indian carriers under the government approval route. The liberalisation has been made to open gates to additional avenues of finance for Indian carriers which are currently paralysed by mammoth operating costs and mounting debt.
08/05/13 Abhinav Trivedi/Exchange4media.com

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Airlines to share lounge space at Mumbai airport's new terminal

Mumbai: Air India, British Airways, Emirates and Lufthansa are set to lose their exclusive lounges with the Mumbai International Airport Ltd planning to have a common facility for all the airlines in the upcoming international terminal.
The new integrated terminal called T2 will open for passengers later this year.
Airport lounges offer business travellers and privilege customers exclusivity and comfort and airlines with a strong focus on premium traffic invest in developing lounges at their hubs and key airports around the world.
A few weeks ago airport executives informed the airlines about the plan to develop a common lounge and the affected airlines are resisting the move.
08/05/13 Aneesh Phadnis/Business Standard

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Trinidad regrets airport incident involving Indian envoy

Port of Spain: Indian High Commissioner to Trinidad & Tobago Malay Mishra has said he would prefer to put behind him an "incident" at the Piarco International Airport here last week when an immigration officer misbehaved with him, leading to the country/'s foreign minister expressing regret and promising corrective action.
The newspaper had contacted him for an update as The Sunday Guardian reported the incident after Mishra wrote to the paper to complain about it. The incident took place May 3 when Mishra was returning from a trip to Grenada.
According to the report, none of the passengers on board the flight were given immigration forms to fill up. On landing at Piarco airport, he went to the diplomatic queue for clearance and obtained a form. He was directed to a queue but found a No-Entry barricade there.
When he came back, an immigration officer shouted at him and told him to fill up the form. When Mishra said that he was representing a sovereign country, the officer told him that he was "misrepresenting" his country.
08/05/13 IANS/News Track India

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