First superjumbo Airbus A-380 plane lands in Delhi

New Delhi: The first superjumbo Airbus A-380 plane landed here today from Singapore with Singapore Airlines becoming the only global carrier to launch commercial flights of the 'big birds' to India.
The landing of the long-haul, wide-body and fully double -decker aircraft that can carry a total of 471 passengers, at the Indira Gandhi International Airport was preceded by a thunder storm and high-velocity winds that led to the diversion of 21 flights to nearby airports.
On landing, the superjumbo was given a 'water-salute' by the fire brigade at the airport run by the Delhi International Airport Limited (DIAL) which made special arrangements to handle the large number of passengers and their baggage.
The passengers were welcomed by the SIA staff with gifts and bouquets.
The SIA's aircraft has a total seating capacity of 471 seats with 399 in economy, 60 in business class and 12 first class suites.
Immigration and customs departments had made special arrangements for handling such a large number of passengers.
30/05/14 Times of India

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Hong Kong Airlines announces codeshare with Air India

Hong Kong Airlines today signed a code share agreement with Air India, one of the most extensive flight service providers in India.
Commercial Director of Hong Kong Airlines , Mr. Li Dianchun, attended the contract signing ceremony in Delhi and jointly announced the code share with Mr. Pankaj Srivastava, Commercial Director of Air India. Under the code share agreement, Hong Kong Airlines  will place its code (HX) on direct flights operated by Air India between Hong Kong and three cities including Delhi, Osaka and Seoul respectively.

The agreement enables passengers to book on Hong Kong Airlines  while with Air India as the operating carrier to an expanded network of destinations. Hong Kong Airlines  customers will be provided with even better access to key parts of India, Japan and Korea. They will be able to enjoy daily flights between Hong Kong and Delhi, a three times weekly flight (every Tue./Thu./Sat.) between Hong Kong and Osaka, as well as a four times weekly flight (every Mon./Wed./Fri./Sun.) between Hong Kong and Seoul, all to be served by Air India's latest Boeing 787 Dreamliner, which offers the ultimate in terms of passenger comfort with roomier cabins, larger electronically dimmable windows, a state-of-the-art In-Flight Entertainment System.
30/05/14 Aviation Tribune

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Air India Bribe Plotter, Sentenced To 3 Years In Prison

Toronto: An Ontario judge has sentenced Ottawa businessman Nazir Karigar to three years in prison for arranging bribes to public officials in India in a failed bid to win a $100-million security contract from Air India.
Justice Charles Hackland of Ontario Superior Court in Ottawa convicted Karigar in August 2013 for a conspiracy that dates back to 2005-2006.
In Friday's sentencing, Hackland said that had the conspiracy been successful, it promised payouts of millions in cash and stock options.
"This must be viewed as a serious crime," Hackland told the court Friday. "This was a sophisticated and carefully planned bribery scheme intended to involve senior public officials at Air India and an Indian cabinet minister."
The landmark bribery case is being watched closely by law enforcement and international business observers, as it marks the first sentence handed down against an individual under Canada's Corruption of Foreign Public Officials Act (CFPOA), passed in 1999.
"I think it's an appropriate sentence," said Crown prosecutor Moray Welch. "The deliberate nature of the crime, the huge amounts of money at stake and the rational approach taken by the accused - and the accused in other cases like this - required that a message be sent. If they are caught a prison term will follow."
"We're disappointed with that ruling," said defence lawyer Israel Gencher.
30/05/14 South Asian Observer

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Turkish Airport Stake Sale Props Up GMR Profit

Hyderabad: GMR Infrastructure reported nearly two-fold increase in its profit after tax  (after minority interest) at Rs 1,170 crore for the quarter ended March 31, 2014 as against Rs 579 crore during the same quarter a year ago. The rise in profit was a result of its 40 per cent stake sale in the Turkish Airport to Malaysian Airports Holdings BDH, which fetched the company Rs 1,659 crore.
Gross revenue for the fourth quarter increased by 12 per cent to Rs 2,961 crore from Rs 2,638 crore.
PAT for the financial year ended March 2014 dipped to Rs 10 crore as against Rs 88 crore a year ago. Gross revenue increased to Rs 10,653 crore from Rs 9,975 crore during the same period.
“We are now on a stable path with the right mix of assets, reduced debt levels and optimum cost utilisation. With our assets becoming operational and stabilising, we expect the performance to improve in the coming year. We are optimistic that there will be resurgence in the infrastructure sector and we are well poised to participate in this phase,” said GM Rao, Chairman, GMR Group.
Meanwhile, the company, which operates 8 power units, said gross revenue from power business stood at Rs 3,343 crore in FY14 as against Rs  2,430 crore during 2012-13. GMR is in the process of developing seven more power projects.
31/05/14 New India Express

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Dubai-based carrier 'flydubai' doubles its network in India

Dubai: Budget airline 'flydubai' will begin flights to three Indian cities, including Delhi, from Dubai next week, doubling the number of its destinations in India.
The Dubai-based carrier will operate four weekly flights to Delhi from June 1 and three weekly flights to both Kochi and Thiruvananthapuram from June 2 and 3 respectively. The new routes will bring the total number of Indian cities served by the carrier to six, including its existing routes Ahmedabad, Hyderabad and Lucknow.
"I would like to take this opportunity to thank the authorities for granting us the approval to operate these flights between Dubai and India," said Ghaith Al Ghaith, the Chief Executive Officer of flydubai.
"The two nations share a lot of historic and cultural ties and the new flights will increase the trade and tourism potential while enabling the Indian expatriate community in the UAE to travel home to visit friends and family more often," he said.
29/05/14 PTI/Economic Times

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‘Kuwait-Mangalore-Kochi Flight Hopefully Will Be Restored’

Kuwait: Following the cancellation of the Kuwait-Mangalore-Kochi flight, effective Feb 15, 2014, passengers flying this route feel that Air India Express has done them injustice.
They say at a time when most airlines operate extra flights to meet the increasing passenger demand, the national carrier of India has stopped flying certain Air India Express services from Kuwait and other Gulf states and also some domestic flights back home.
The Air India country manager Ajay Sinha, in an interview with the Arab Times sought to clarify the issue of the withdrawal of Kuwait- Mangalore-Kochi and other Air India Express flights saying the main reason was due to the expiry of the lease of some Air India Express aircraft which were operating on those routes. “Due to the above constraint, some of the nonprofit generating routes were withdrawn,” he said.
Sinha called the termination of this Kuwait-Mangalore-Kochi and other flights ‘unfortunate’ but since the management is in the process of leasing more aircraft, he was hopeful the discontinued flights including the Kuwait-Mangalore-Kochi flight will, once again, be restored possibly by year end. He added, the Kuwait Air India office is following up the issue with the management and has strongly recommended that the flight be restored.
Sinha called it an evolving process and the management evaluates which routes are profitable and which are not and if there is a potential for further improvement before flights on certain routes are restored.
28/05/14 Arab Times

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Jet Airways cements Etihad Airways link further, appoints Cramer Ball as new CEO

New Delhi: Jet Airways today announced the appointment of its new CEO, aviation specialist Cramer Ball, after its earlier chief quit in January.
The airline’s activities were since that time being managed by Director and Manager Gaurang Shetty, who will continue to lead it “till the requisite approvals are obtained and Ball assumes charge as the CEO,” said a Jet spokesperson.
Jet Airways’ last CEO, Garry Kenneth Toomey, had quit in mid-January, barely seven months after taking charge of the airline.
The Jet Airways Board of Directors has cleared Ball’s appointment subject to receipt of requisite government and regulatory approvals, including security clearance, the spokesperson said.
A highly-respected aviation professional, Ball has almost two decades of senior-level experience in the aviation industry under his belt.
27/05/14 PTI/Indian Express

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IndiGo, Emirates bag BIAL Pinnacle awards

Bangalore: Domestic air carrier IndiGo has bagged the BIAL Pinnacle Awards as Airline of the Year domestic. Emirates has won the award under international category.
Bangalore International Airport Ltd (BIAL), which operates Kempegowda International Airport, Bangalore celebrated its six years of operation with the inaugural edition of the BIAL Pinnacle Awards.
“Aimed at acknowledging and awarding star performances among various airport stakeholders in several capacities, the idea of the award is to perpetuate a culture of competition and excellence among all stakeholders at the airport, which eventually would have a telling impact on the performance of the airport as a whole,” a BIAL release said.
Others who bagged awards were: Airline of the Year (Cargo) AeroLogic. On Time Airline (Domestic) Jet Airways, On Time Airline (International) Thai Airways, Excellence in Safety (Airline) Emirates, Fastest Growing (Airline) Indigo, Flyer's Favourite Airline (Domestic) Spice Jet, and Flyer's Favourite Airline (International) Dragon Air.
26/05/14 Business Line

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Burney in search of family of sick Pakistani stuck at Delhi airport

Karachi: The human and civil rights organisation Ansar Burney Trust International in Pakistan is in search of family of a reportedly mentally sick Pakistani national stuck at Delhi Airport in India.
 Director of Ansar Burney Trust International, Shagufta Burney said that a little bit abnormal Pakistani national Lal Sham Passport number: B4527114 was travelling from Delhi Airport to come to Karachi on 26th May by PK273 even after getting flight boarding card, refused to enter the plane and also refused to travel while starting saying rubbish things, says a press release on Tuesday.
 The Trust was in search of his family in Pakistan so that it would be able to save him from any arrest or criminal case in India, since apparently he was looking mentally sick.
27/05/14 The News

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112kg of mephedrone seized at Larnaca airport

Authorities have seized 112 kilos of mephedrone at Larnaca airport that was meant to be re-exported to the EU, reports said on Tuesday.
Two men from Larnaca aged 35 and 50 were arrested to be brought before court on Wednesday.
Reports said the drug was found in containers stored at Larnaca airport.
State broadcaster CyBC said the substance came from India and was meant to be re-exported to the EU.
No other information was immediately available.
Mephedrone is a synthetic stimulant related to amphetamines and cathinone class drugs.
27/05/14 Cyprus Mail

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Emirates To Start A380 Mumbai Services In July

Emirates will start eagerly awaited A380 services to Mumbai from July 21.
EK500 and EK501 between Dubai and Mumbai will be up-scaled to a three-class A380 aircraft, with a capacity increase of 2,127 seats per week in each direction.
In addition, Emirates will deploy larger B777 aircraft to Delhi and Hyderabad to serve growing demand. Delhi will have 980 additional one-way weekly seats while Hyderabad will increase its capacity to add 672 one-way weekly seats.
The moves follow lengthy bilateral discussions between the governments of Dubai and India, which provide a phased increase of 11,000 seats for Dubai carriers. Emirates flew a ‘one off’ A380 to India in 2010, to mark 25 years of flights, and has been knocking on the capacity door ever since.
28/05/14 Dominic Ellis/Gulf Business

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Emirates Airline adding A380 service to Mumbai

Emirates Airline will deploy the Airbus A380 superjumbo on its Mumbai route from July 21 following discussions between the Dubai and Indian governments on increased capacity for the emirate’s carriers.
Dubai airlines will be provided an additional 11,000 seats each week in a phased manner.
Emirates will fly a three-class A380 to India’s financial capital, and will operate a Boeing 777 aircraft to Delhi and Hyderabad, it said.
Indian authorities had previously prevented the A380 from flying to the country in a bid to support Air India and prevent the national carrier from losing market share on international travel to rivals overseas. But after recent discussions the situation changed.
“A combined total of 3,779 one-way weekly seats will be deployed on Mumbai, Delhi and Hyderabad through these aircraft upgrades,” Emirates said.
The Dubai-based airline has been serving the Indian market since its inception in 1985. India is currently Emirates’ largest market, which it serves with 185 flights per week.
28/05/14 Shereen El Gazzar/The National

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Qatar Airways adds US flights, eyes Indian transit traffic

Qata Airways is retiming five US-bound services and introducing two new US destinations, as it attempts to lure more Indian travellers to connect at its new home at Hamad International Airport.
The carrier flies daily from Doha to Kolkata, and from tomorrow will offer connections of 50-60 minutes via the new Hamad International Airport to New York, Houston, Washington DC, Philadelphia and Chicago.
Flights out of Doha to Miami will begin on June 10 and Dallas, July 1.
According to the airline, passengers from Kolkata are likely to reach their US destinations in 21-24 hours and return flights have durations of 19-23 hours.
26/05/14 TTG Asia

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Air India plane to fly in Maldives president

New Delhi: When heads of SAARC nations fly in to attend Narendra Modi's swearing-in ceremony on Monday, one of them will come here on a plane rented from India! Maldives has chartered an Air India aircraft for President Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom to attend the grand swearing-in ceremony at President House.
AI often charters planes to Maldives whenever their top authorities have to fly out of the country on overseas visits as the island nation does not have big jets of its own.
"An Airbus A-320 with AI's flight crew and airhostesses will go from Delhi to Maldives' capital Male on Monday morning to fly the president here. The presidential delegation will return to Male on Tuesday and the plane will be back here same day. Catering has been done in accordance with protocol and as per the desire of the government of Maldives," said a source.
26/05/14 Saurabh Sinha/Times of India

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HC lets off NYPD cop held after bullets were found in baggage

New Delhi: A policeman from the New York City Police Department (NYPD), arrested at the Delhi airport in March for allegedly carrying three bullets in his luggage, has been let off by the Delhi High Court, which observed that he was not aware of the presence of the bullets in his baggage.
Manuel ‘Manny’ Encarnacion was arrested under the Arms Act for allegedly carrying live bullets in his baggage, soon after the diplomatic spat between India and US over the arrest of an Indian diplomat.
Manuel had approached the High Court with a plea to quash the FIR registered against him, claiming that he had not been in conscious possession of the bullets. He was granted bail soon after his arrest, but his passport had been impounded. During arguments before the court of Justice Sunil Gaur, Encarnacion’s lawyers argued that he had attended an official shooting training the day before his departure from New York to New Delhi and had packed his jacket in his luggage without being aware that the bullets were still in its pocket.
The court initially adjourned the hearing in the case to July, but later agreed to hear the plea earlier on the ground that Manuel could not be away from work for long.
25/05/14 Aneesha Mathur/Indian Express

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AI Dreamliner attempts take-off from Frankfurt twice, in vain

New Delhi:  The Boeing 787 Dreamliner's unending trouble with spoilers — speed retardation devices on the wings that move up and down — saw over 200 passengers supposed to fly from Frankfurt to Delhi on Thursday night taxiing out of the airport twice only to return to the aerobridge minutes later each time. The aircraft had to be finally grounded in Germany on Thursday night as by the time the problem was sorted, night curfew had kicked in at Frankfurt.
The problem started when AI 123 on Dreamliner (VT-AND) first taxied out of Frankfurt and a problem was detected with the spoilers. This device acts as a speed breaker on an aircraft and its actuators make it go up or down on wing tips during takeoff to alter drag and during landing to increase rate of descent. Without this important device perfectly functional, an airplane can't be allowed to get airborne.
"The problem was sorted out in about 90 minutes. By this time, the flight time duty limitation of the crew (maximum time that a crew is allowed to operate for) got keeping in mind the time spent on ground and the remaining flying time to Delhi. An exemption from the FTDL was obtained. And then the aircraft was ready to fly to Delhi. But it was not allowed to take off as the 9pm airport curfew time at Frankfurt may have been breached," said an official.
24/05/14 Saurabh Sinha/Times of India

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SpiceJet asks aviation ministry for 7,000 weekly seats to Doha; says minor stake sale close

New Delhi: SpiceJet, India’s second-largest low-cost carrier, has applied to the civil aviation ministry for 7,000 seats weekly to Doha – the capital city of Qatar, its CCO Kaneswaran Avili said on Friday at an event for the launch of its new in-flight menu. The move comes even as the loss-making carrier confirmed that it soon hopes to retire part of its Rs 1,516 crore short and long-term debt after a stake sale to an investor, with reports further indicating that Qatar Airways could be this mystery partner.
“We have been in discussions with an investor and sooner or later we will announce it. I cannot name the company right now. It will be a small stake sale and retiring some of the debt will give us the confidence to focus on re-building the airline,” Sanjiv Kapoor, SpiceJet’s COO said.
Industry sources indicated that officials from the state-run Qatar Investment Promotion Authority have indeed flown to India to hold talks with several airlines like SpiceJet and IndiGo, for possible investments. Incidentally, IndiGo had also made changes to its Memorandum of Association through a special resolution passed at a board meeting on April 26 that allows the company to form joint ventures or sell stake.
23/05/14 Indian Express

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SpiceJet not in talks with Qatar for slot sale: CEO

New Delhi:  SpiceJet has denied it is in talks with Qatar Airways for sale of slots. “This is completely baseless,” the airline’s CEO Sanjiv Kapoor told newspersons here on Friday.
In a statement to the BSE, the airline said, “We also confirm that there is no truth whatsoever in the scheduling of a meeting to discuss investment plans with Qatar Airways.”
Asked about SpiceJet’s plans of getting in a potential investor, Kapoor said the list of potential investors is “really small,” but declined to get into specifics of whether another airline or investor was interested in picking up a stake in the airline.
“The matter is being handled out of Chennai. Besides, the promoters are pumping money into the airline,” he said.
The airline posted a loss of over a INR 1,000 crore for fiscal 2014.
23/05/14 Ashwini Phadnis/Business Line

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Jet Airways Starts Third Delhi Flight From Kathmandu

Kathmandu: Indian private carrier Jet Airways has increased its frequency on the Kathmandu-Delhi sector by launching a third daily flight, the airline announced here.
The carrier now operates three daily flights on the Kathmandu-Delhi sector effective Friday and two daily flights on the Kathmandu-Mumbai sector.
Kathmandu is becoming an important market for Jet with ever growing number of migrant workers to the Gulf and other countries who use it for connecting flights to their destination countries.
"Nepali workers going abroad are the largest passenger base for us, but the number of corporates, tourists and passengers visiting friends and relatives flying with us are also growing," Samir Chada, country manager of Jet Airways in Nepal, said.
"Around 900 passengers from Kathmandu fly with the airline daily on an average. The five daily flights from Kathmandu are a landmark achievement for us," he added.
24/05/14 IANS/New Indian Express

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Fourth P-8I maritime patrol aircraft delivered to India

Washington: Boeing has delivered the fourth P-8I maritime patrol aircraft to India, which the aviation company described as a milestone.
In all India has placed orders for eight P-8I maritime aircraft.
The latest state-of-the-art maritime patrol aircraft departed from Boeing Field in Seattle and arrived May 21 at Naval Air Station Rajali.
“This marks an important milestone - the halfway-point for P-8I deliveries to India,” Dennis Swanson, BDS vice president in India, yesterday said.
“The programme’s success in the past year is really a testament to the great work between Boeing, the Indian Navy and industry,” he said in a release.
24/05/14 PTI/India TV News

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SpiceJet close to selling some overseas slots to Qatar Airways

Mumbai: Gulf carrier Qatar Airways is likely to invest in the debt-ridden SpiceJet by purchasing its parking slots overseas, sources said. Officials of the state-run Qatar Investment Promotion Authority are likely to meet the top brass of SpiceJet shortly, they added.
The Kalanithi Maran-promoted domestic airline had earlier this week said it was in "advanced stage of discussions" with an overseas entity for capital infusion. "A team of officials from Qatar Investment Promotion Authority is scheduled to meet the SpiceJet management in a day or two to discuss investment plans of Qatar Airlines," a source told PTI.
23/05/13 PTI/IBN Live

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AIE plans 3 more flights to Gulf

Kozhikode: Air India Express (AIE) is planning to introduce three additional flights from Kozhikode to the Gulf.
This was stated by K. Shyam Sundar, the newly-appointed Chief Executive Officer of the Air India Express, at a face-to-face organised by the Malabar Chamber of Commerce (MCC) at P.V. Sami Hall, here on Thursday.
The flights from Kozhikode to Bahrain, Doha and Dammam are dependent on availability of additional aircraft. “We wanted to obtain the additional flight on lease to operate the services, but it is very expensive,” he said.
The carrier is giving high priority for the refurbishment of the interiors of all the 17 aircrafts now being operated by the airline to various destinations.
Four of the aircraft have already been refurbished and such aircraft provide more comfort and a better ambience to the passengers, he said.
23/05/14 The Hindu

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Air India bribe plotter Nazir Karigar gets 3 year sentence

An Ottawa-area businessman convicted of arranging illicit payments for public officials in India in a bid to win a $100 million security contract with Air India received a three-year prison sentence today at the Ontario Superior Court in Ottawa.
The landmark bribery case of Nazir Karigar ihas been watched closely by law enforcement and international business observers, as it marks the first sentence handed down against an individual under Canada’s Corruption of Foreign Public Officials Act (CFPOA).
The Crown had asked for a four year prison term.
The defence was asking for a conditional sentence for Karigar, who was convicted of conspiring in 2005 and 2006 to bribe a government of India minister and officials at the state-owned airline in hopes of winning the contract for Cryptometrics Canada, a subsidiary of a U.S. company, to supply facial recognition technology.
The maximum Karigar could have received was five years in prison, although the law was recently amended for future prosecutions, raising the maximum to 14 years.
23/05/14 CBC, Canada

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To combat Gulf carriers, Lufthansa may fly A380 to India from October

New Delhi: German carrier Lufthansa plans to start services of its high-capacity twin-deck Airbus A380 to India starting October-November this year. Lufthansa's A380 super jumbo with 526 seats will both expand capacity and lower operating costs, helping it combat the rising challenge of Gulf-based carriers like Emirates and Etihad, who have cornered a large chunk of India's 45 million inbound and outbound annual (2013) international traffic.
Two civil aviation ministry officials told FE that officials from Lufthansa recently moved an application seeking the start of A380 services from the winter 2014 schedule. The move will require a ‘minor change’ in the Air Services Agreement (ASA) with Germany, with the current system of flights per week likely being changed to seats per week and allowing A380 operations. Lufthansa currently utilises 46 of the 69 flights per week allowed under the India-Germany ASA.
“Lufthansa recently gave an application to start A380 services. A minor change is required in the ASA, which we are discussing with the external affairs ministry. There will be no change in weekly seat entitlements to Germany, so we expect this to be done by June,” the official said.
22/05/14 Roudra Bhattacharya/Financial Express

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No premium charge for flying luxurious A380: Singapore Airlines

Mumbai: For those excited to travel the A380 jumbo jet from India aboard Singapore Airlines, here's more good news: the airline won't charge any premium for giving its most luxurious product, at least on the economy and business class. Passengers will also get an upgraded menu on board the biggest passenger aircraft in the world.
"We launched a flight midway and you are essentially giving the market a two months notice. I feel that we should not be in a position whereby we capitalize on that. It's great that the A380 is coming but we shouldn't disappoint our customers" David Lau, general manager Singapore Airlines, India told ET in an interview.
In other markets, "premiums are usually charged for superior cabin class products or seasonal peaks," he added.
22/05/14 Anirban Chowdhury/Economic Times

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Air safety rating: India's FAA upgrade plan could be delayed

New Delhi: The civil aviation ministry’s plan to approach the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in June for restoring the country's air safety rating to category 1 could get delayed by a few months.
This is because the domestic regulator, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), is behind its schedule of completing the hiring of 75 Flight Operations Inspectors (FOIs), a primary requirement for the upgrade. In fact, over 50% of the 613 sanctioned posts for technical staff at the regulator are still vacant.
A civil aviation ministry official told FE that a review meeting on the hiring of FOIs by the DGCA was held on Tuesday, and that the hiring of all 75 is likely to be done by May-end. In the first lot, DGCA has already hired 29 Senior FOIs and FOIs of the planned 75, while it has also received a further set of applications for the second lot of FOIs.
“Unless we feel we are completely ready and have our preparedness verified by another agency, we cannot go to the FAA seeking a fresh audit. We will take a call by month-end depending on where we stand on the hiring. The delays are happening both because it is tough to find the qualified people and also it takes time for them to finish their notice period at the current job and join the DGCA,” the official said.
21/05/14 Finacial Express

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DGCA to take up fire incident on Jordanian plane

Mumbai: The Director General of Civil Aviation is all set to take up a serious infraction of safety norms with its Jordanian counterpart after a fire was reported in the front galley of a Royal Jordanian aircraft flying Bombay-Amman, forcing to return to Mumbai international airport.
The incident took place aboard Royal Jordanian flight RJ 187, headed for Amman, on May 14 prompting DGCA to prepare an action report against the Jordanian national carrier under the Surveillance Oversight of Foreign Aircraft (SOFA).
"Flight RJ 187 took off around 6.30 am on May 14, but made an emergency landing 20 minutes later due to a fire on board. The Airbus 319 aircraft bearing registration number JY-AYN was accorded all emergency procedures and landed safely, following which the fire was doused," said sources at Mumbai airport.
The Air Traffic Control (ATC) informed DGCA of the incident, and DGCA officials conducted a spot investigation. Sources said the pilots were called in for extensive questioning, but didn't turn up initially. As they were not very co-operative, SOFA was applied under which it is mandatory for pilots to appear for detailed questioning, they added.
21/05/14  Bipin Kumar Singh/Mumbai Mirror

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Emirates cuts fares, other likely to follow soon

Mumbai: If you are planning a trip abroad, and have been waiting for a good deal, your wait might just be over.
Emirates, the Dubai-based carrier, has dropped fares to key routes globally from India by 10% for travel between June 1 and July 21.
Some of the destinations include flying to places like London, New York, Istanbul, Frankfurt, Johannesburg, Milan and San Francisco.
According to industry players and travel agents, other airlines, including the Indian carriers, are expected to respond to the scheme offered by Emirates.
"Emirates has announced a special one-week sale between May 19 and 25. Discounts of up to 10% are available for passengers booking economy-class fares for a range of destinations across Africa, Americas, Europe and the Middle East from any of the 10 Indian destinations Emirates flies from," the airline said in a release.
20/05/14 Daily News & Analysis

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IBS Software tooling up Gatwick airport operations

Thiruvananthapuram: IBS Software, a leading IT solution provider to the global air transportation industry, has implemented a series of airport collaborative decision-making (A-CDM) tools at London’s Gatwick Airport.
They will improve collaboration between airport partners, which will maximise capacity and service even while reducing emissions and operating costs.
They include an intelligent alert generator, alert distributor, departure planning information (DPI) message generation and processing and flight monitoring.
DPI messages supply the network operations centre with airport situational information direct from the A-CDM systems in order to update the real-time flight situation before take-off.
The tools complement software solutions from IBS that are already functional at the airport, a company spokesman said here. These cover areas such as departure control systems, ground handling, resource management, and baggage services, which help plan, manage and track flights and airport resource usage.
19/05/14 Business Line

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Air Canada eyes Asian expansion with Dreamliner launch

Toronto: Air Canada is beefing up its existing Asian routes to lure Canadian families, while making plans for new destinations to tap into the growing middle class in emerging economies such as China and India.
The country’s largest airline plans to announce Tuesday that it will deploy the 251-seat Boeing 787 Dreamliner on service between Vancouver and Tokyo’s Narita Airport, and also assign the 787 on the Vancouver-Shanghai route.
Air Canada has been relying on aging Boeing 767s, which each seat up to 211 passengers, on those two transpacific routes. But later this year, the carrier will begin bolstering its Asian schedule amid industry predictions that travel demand will surge in Asia over the next decade.
The long-term growth potential for Air Canada and other global carriers goes beyond the largest hubs.
“We’re not talking about the obvious Asian cities that have already been developed,” Air Canada chief executive officer Calin Rovinescu said in a wide-ranging interview aboard the Dreamliner during its launch flight from Everett, Wash., to Toronto.
“There are many cities in China where there are millions of people, and the middle class there is starting to fly for the first time, starting to afford air travel.”
19/05/14  Brent Jang/The Globe and Mail

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CIA withholding information on flight MH370, says former Malaysian PM Mahathir Mohamad

One of the most influential figures in Malaysia’s ruling party claims information about flight MH370 is being hidden and the Australian-led search for the plane off Western Australia is a waste of time and money.
Former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad said the plane’s disappearance on March 8 was “most likely not an ordinary crash after fuel was exhausted”.
“The plane is somewhere, maybe without MAS [Malaysia Airlines] markings,” he said. “It is a waste of time and money to look for debris or oil slick or to listen for pings from the black box.”
Dr Mahathir, 88, who was prime minister for 22 years from 1981, wrote in his personal blog he could not imagine that “the pilots made a soft landing in rough seas and then quietly went down with the aircraft”.
“Someone is hiding something. It is not fair that MAS and Malaysia should take the blame,” he wrote.
Dr Mahathir suggested the United States' Central Intelligence Agency had knowledge of the disappearance of the plane with 239 people on board but was not sharing it with Malaysia.
He also claimed that Boeing, the plane’s maker, and “certain” government agencies, have the ability to remotely take over control of commercial airliners such as the missing Boeing 777.
“For some reason, the media will not print anything that involves Boeing or the CIA,” he said.
In another blog last month, Dr Mahathir, who remains a power broker in the ruling United Malays National Organisation, questioned whether the plane crashed into the southern Indian Ocean and blamed Boeing for its disappearance.
19/05/14 Lindsay Murdoch/Sydney Morning Herald

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New book says missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 might have been shot down by mistake during a military operation

Flight MH370: The Mystery goes on sale today with the explosive theory, the first of doubtless many books to explore the disappearance of the missing Malaysia Airlines plane, which has confounded experts since March 8.
Written by Nigel Cawthorne, who states he may be Britain’s “most published living author” with 150 books to his name, the book canvasses the idea that the plane carrying 239 people was shot down by mistake during a US/Thai military exercise.
A Malaysia Airlines flight prior to departure at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport i
A Malaysia Airlines flight prior to departure at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport in May. Photo: AFP.
According to the theory, the mistake may have been covered up because authorities did not want any retaliatory attacks. Data that sent the search off in other directions - first to the Straits of Malacca and then on to the Southern Indian Ocean - was a ruse to cover up the reality, Cawthorne states in the book.
Cawthorne bases some of the theory on the eyewitness account of New Zealand oil rig worker Mike McKay, who said he saw a ball of fire in the sky from the rig he was working on in the South China Sea in the early hours of March 8.
“From when I first saw the burning (plane) until the flames went out (still at high altitude) was 10-15 seconds. There was no lateral movement, so it was either coming toward our location, stationary, or going away from our location,” Mr McKay told his employers in an email shortly after the incident.
Cawthorne’s theory still does not answer what happened to the wreckage of the plane.
19/05/14 News.com.au

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Flydubai adds 10 new weekly flights to India

Dubai: Flydubai is adding 10 new flights to India with four weekly flights to Delhi and three weekly flights to both Kochi and Thiruvananthapuram commencing in June.
The Indian expansion follows a recent change earlier to an air services agreement that will add 11,000 more seats on the Dubai-India route.
The Dubai-based discount carrier announced the new destinations earlier this month and on Sunday confirmed that the Delhi flights will start on June 1 and Kochi and Thiruvananthapuram on June 2 and 3, respectively.
Flights to Delhi will run on Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays. The three weekly Kochi flights will operate on Monday’s, Thursday’s and Saturday’s. Thiruvananthapuram flights will run on Tuesday’s, Friday’s and Sunday’s. Economy class return fares start between Dh875 and Dh950.
18/05/14 Gulf News

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Air India to Add Moscow, Milan, Rome to Its Network

New Delhi: State-owned Air India is looking to operate new international routes like Moscow, Rome and Milan in the coming months on its newly-acquired fuel-efficient Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft to gain market share.
"Our team is already in Moscow to take the mandatory approvals for the first flight between Delhi-Moscow. The approvals are expected shortly and services will start immediately afterwards," a senior Air India official told IANS here.
 According to the airline official, though the service will be started with the 747s due to climatic conditions, it will soon be shifted to 787s as more of these aircraft are expected to join the fleet in the coming months.
 Currently, Air India has 13 Dreamliners which are operated to domestic and international destinations. The airline expects its another 787 aircraft to arrive within this month.
 The highly fuel-efficient aircraft which utilises advance technologies like composite materials, newly-developed engine and advance avionics has been used to open new routes to United Kingdom and Australia.
19/05/14 India Times

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Gold seized from flyer

Coimbatore: Customs officials and a special preventive team from the Coimbatore Customs Commissionerate intercepted a passenger at the Coimbatore airport when he arrived from Singapore by a Silk Air flight on Friday night and detained him on charges of smuggling 253 grams of gold. The passenger concealed the gold inside a packet of dates. The officials said that the passenger was a frequent flyer.
The passenger has been identified A Mathiyazhagan,37, from Virudhunagar. On Friday night, he arrived at Coimbatore from Singapore by a Silk Air flight. He had brought few packets of dates from Singapore and these packets were wrapped by cello tapes.
18/05/14 Times of India

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MH370: Military radar data to be checked again

Kuala Lumpur: The authorities will revisit all military  radar data in its bid to track the flight path of missing Malaysia Airlines (MAS) flight MH370, including data from the northern corridor search area.
This, said acting Transport Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein, was to ensure that no stone was left unturned in their bid to locate the airliner, which had now been missing for 71 days.
The northern corridor, which was the initial search area when the aircraft first went missing on March 8, stretches from northern Thailand up to China, India, Pakistan, Nepal, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan up to the border of Kazakhstan.
Hishammuddin said, to date, all Asean countries had volunteered their respective radar information to aid in the search.
To a question on whether Malaysia would ask the remaining countries to provide complete raw military radar data, Hishammuddin replied in the affirmative.
"Yes, it is something that we are working towards. All Asean countries have provided us with their full data, and not just selected portions," he said.
However, he added that despite this, he did not believe that it would make much difference to the current situation.
"We plan to revisit both the northern and southern corridor data, but I don't think there will be much change."
Hishammuddin noted that it was unfortunate that MH370's journey appeared to have ended in the southern Indian Ocean, considered as one of the world's most remote areas.
"There are only two countries down there, Australia and Indonesia.
"Although Australia and Indonesia have given their full cooperation, the Indian Ocean is still massive and has never been explored by mankind.
17/05/14 Tasnim Lokman and Zarina Abdullah

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Movie based on Malaysia Airlines tragedy shopped at Cannes 0

Plans for a movie loosely based on the missing Malaysia Airlines plane mystery have been unveiled at the Cannes International Film Festival in France.
The investigation into the March disappearance of Flight MH370, which had been en route from the Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur to Beijing, China, is still ongoing, but local officials previously announced the plane is believed to have crashed in the southern Indian Ocean and that all 239 passengers and crew members are presumed dead.
The tragedy has inspired the story behind The Vanishing Act, a new film which is being promoted at Cannes. The producers claim the movie will tell "the untold story" of the missing plane - even though authorities in a number of nations, including Malaysia, Australia and China, have yet to find any evidence of aircraft debris or human remains.
Indian filmmaker Rupesh Paul will direct the movie, which he hopes to begin shooting in India and the U.S. in time for a proposed September release.
17/05/14 Toronto Sun

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Troublesome Indian passenger arrested in Sri Lanka

Colombo: An Indian national was arrested in Sri Lanka for alleged indecent behaviour while allegedly drunk, a media report said.
The unnamed man, 54, was arrested by the Bandaranaike International Airport Police in Colombo as he disturbed the fellow passengers and delayed the Mumbai-bound flight, local paper Daily Mirror reported on Friday.
17/05/14 IANS/ABP

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Gold haul at Dhaka airport

Three persons have been detained with 101 gold bars at Dhaka’s Shahjalal International Airport.
Those detained came on a flight of Biman Bangladesh Airlines around 9:30am on Saturday, customs department’s assistant commissioner Ishrat Jahan Ruma said.
They were identified as ‘Jainal, ‘Sabuj’ and ‘Roman’.
The Biman flight coming from Dubai initially landed in Sylhet.
The trio boarded the flight from Sylhet.
There have been a growing number of gold seizures over the past several months both at Dhaka and Chittagong airports.
Bangladesh is believed to be emerging as a conduit for contraband gold ultimately destined for India, where import curbs and rising demand drive up gold smuggling.
17/05/14  bdnews24.com

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Qatar Airways sharpens focus on India but IndiGo tie-up seems difficult

Mumbai: Qatar Airways interest in IndiGo, India's largest domestic airline, reflects the Gulf's carrier's strategic focus and its desire to increase traffic rights in India but an alliance between the two seems unlikely because of varying business models and IndiGo's sound financial position.
Last year Abu Dhabi secured 37,000 additional seats per week taking total to over 50,000 seats between the two countries. Two months ago India enhanced Dubai's seat entitlement by over 11,000 seats per week over the existing 54,000 seats. Qatar has virtually exhausted its entitlement of 24,000 seats per week and as a result Qatar Airways is unable to expand services to India. That is one reason for tapping for partners in India. Last year the airline held preliminary discussions with SpiceJet for a potential stake sale but talks fizzled out, said sources in the know.
IndiGo is India's most profitable airline (Rs 787 crore net profit in FY 2013) and has a market share of about 30 percent. It is also the fastest growing airline in India and is adding 9 Airbus A320 planes to its 78 aircraft fleet in 2014.
15/05/14 Aneesh Phadnis/Business Standard

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Singapore Air’s India Venture Eyes Flights Abroad If Rules Eased

Singapore Airlines Ltd. (SIA)’s Indian venture will fly overseas if the South Asian nation’s next government allows carriers that are less than five years old to operate internationally.
Aviation Minister Ajit Singh said in January that India is planning to scrap a rule that requires local airlines to have five years of domestic operations and 20 planes to start overseas services. Indian elections ended this week with votes counted May 16, leaving the decision to the next administration.
“When we initially applied to set up the airline, the 5-20 rule was very much there,” Sanjay Singh, a vice president for public affairs at Tata-SIA Airlines Ltd., said in an interview yesterday. “Now that it looks like the rule will be scrapped, we will definitely fly international.”
14/05/14 Anurag Kotoky/Business Week

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ew govt to review curbs on Indian airlines flying abroad

New Delhi: The next government is likely to take a fresh view on the issue of scrapping the 5/20 rule to allow Indian carriers to fly abroad, which was being pursued by the UPA government.
While Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh has been pushing hard to do away with the rule that allows only those air carriers to fly abroad which have flown within the country for five years and have a 20-aircraft fleet, official sources said the new government would have to take a call on the matter now.
A note on the issue had been sent in March to be put up before the Cabinet but it was not taken up. Since the decision regarding the 5/20 rule was taken by the Union Cabinet, any decision to modify or scrap it would have to be taken by the cabinet itself, the sources said.
The proposed full-service carrier Tata-SIA Airline has reportedly expressed willingness to operate to international destinations as soon as it is allowed to do so, in order to tap the sizeable business traveller market in India.
14/05/14 PTI/Financial Express

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Two more airlines to fly to Thiruvananthapuram

Thiruvananthapuram: Two more international airlines are set to operate to the Thiruvananthapuram international airport soon.
AirAsia, Malaysian low-cost airline headquartered in Kuala Lumpur, and flydubai, low-cost airline owned by the Government of Dubai, will commence operations by next month.
“We have allocated office space at the international terminal building for the two airlines and they are keen to commence operations soon,” Airport Director V.N. Chandran told The Hindu.
The airlines have expedited steps to complete the remaining formalities, he said.
The two airlines are among the many that had approached the Civil Aviation Ministry and the Airports Authority of India to commence flight operations to the city.
flydubai is to operate thrice-a-week on the Dubai- Thiruvananthapuram -Dubai sector.
The flights will offer seats in both business and economy classes.
AirAsia has sought a night-time parking slot at the airport.
14/05/14 The Hindu

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Jet Airways launches direct flight to Paris

Mumbai: Private carrier Jet Airways on Wednesday launched a direct flight service to Paris Charles de Gaulle airport from here which offers passengers greater connectivity and seamless travel to Europe via the French capital.
To begin with, the new flight will be operated four days a week but it will be converted into a daily service from June 26, the airline said in a release here.
14/05/14 PTI/The Hindu

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Foreign airlines go all out to woo the desi globetrotter

New Delhi: The times, they are a changing for the desi flyer. India's economic might is now forcing foreign airlines to deploy their best aircraft to the country, which was, for years, treated as a market for dumping second class products.
Last week, Singapore Airlines (SIA) and Emirates announced that they will fly the Airbus A-380 here and Lufthansa said it will fly the latest version of the original "queen of the skies" Boeing 747 to more cities in India. What's more, SIA has chosen the more luxurious version of its A-380s — which has suites (a notch above the first class in the other variant) — for the India flights.
The airline has configured its A-380s in two variants decision with economy and business being common to both but the top end having first in one and the uber luxurious suites in the other."India is a market with substantial demand for super luxury, premium products. We chose to go in for the A-380 with suites for the India market," David Lau, SIA's GM (India) said.
14/05/14 Saurabh Sinha/Times of India

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Gold Seized from Qatar Airways Crew

New Delhi: A Qatar Airways crew member has come under the scanner of customs officials for allegedly trying to smuggle into the country gold worth about Rs six lakh.
The accused, a woman crew of the airline, was intercepted by customs officials on her arrival from Singapore here last week.
"She was coming from Singapore as a passenger and she was not on duty. The passenger was stopped for checking and allegedly found carrying about 232 grams of gold," an airport security official said.
The value of the seized gold is about Rs six lakh, he said.
When contacted, India's office of Qatar Airways refused to comment on the matter.
14/05/14 PTI/New Indian Express

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230 turtles from India seized

Samut Prakan:  Customs officials seized 230 Hamilton turtles left by traffickers at Suvarnabhumi airport on Wednesday. The turtles were packed in four suitcases which arrived on IndiGo Airlines flight 6E077 from Kolkata. They were found unattended in the arrival area inside the airport.
The flight left the Indian city at 8.45pm on Tuesday and landed at the Bangkok airport on 0.55am on Wednesday, according to the airline website.
The baggage bore the names Hashamudd M, Dantsh Zafa, Shamsad SK and Wasi Akram, Customs Department deputy chief Paisal Cheunjit said.
The department estimated the value of the turtles at 1 million baht, although the price tag could be much more in the market.
14/05/14 Sutthiwit Chayutworakan/Bangkok Post

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Etihad money in kitty, Jet looks to get out of air pocket

Mumbai: The year-old partnership with Abu Dhabi's Etihad Airways would bring financial and operational benefits to Jet Airways but a rapid turnaround might be elusive, aviation experts said.
After the infusion of Rs 2,057 crore, Jet Airways is relatively stable financially, as it has pared debt. The alliance with Etihad also brings network benefits.
Jet Airways' focus in the first year has been on financial restructuring but the next few years could see changes in network. The rejig would involve flights that support its international network with a hub in Abu Dhabi, said an airline source familiar with the plan. It will result in Jet reducing domestic flights and closing small stations.
The investment in Jet is Etihad's largest acquisition. It also has stakes in Virgin Australia (19.9 per cent), Air Seychelles (40 per cent), Air Berlin (29 per cent), Aer Lingus (three per cent), Darwin Air (33 per cent) and Air Serbia (49 per cent). Etihad is negotiating with Alitalia to pick up a stake in the troubled Italian carrier.
13/05/14 Aneesh Phadnis/Business Standard

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Maharashtra urges Centre to allow ASEAN flights in Nagpur

Mumbai: The state has requested the Centre to allow flights from South East Asian countries to operate to and fro Nagpur, as according to state authorities, around 80,000 people from the Orange city travel to these countries every year via Mumbai, Hyderabad, Chennai and Kolkata.
Multi-modal International Hub Airport at Nagpur (MIHAN), a joint venture of the Maharashtra Airport Development Company Ltd (MADC) and Airports Authority of India (AAI), in a letter to the civil aviation secretary, has requested the Central authorities to allow airlines from Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand to operate via Nagpur.
"Data collected by us shows that there is sufficient traffic potential between Nagpur and ASEAN countries like Singapore, Thailand, and Malaysia. As per their estimates, about 80,000 passengers are already travelling yearly from Nagpur to these countries using gateways like Mumbai, Hyderabad, Kolkata and Chennai. This traffic can easily ensure a daily service and once that happens, more traffic will be generated leading to an automatic increase in flights," the letter by MADC chairman and managing director Tanaji Satre stated.
13/05/14 Chittaranjan Tembhekar/Times of India

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Emirates to fly A380 to India from July

Dubai: Emirates is taking the world’s biggest passenger plane into India with the airline announcing plans to operate the Airbus A380 to Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport from July.
Emirates will be the second airline to deploy the superjumbo into India after Singapore Airlines, which will start A380 services in May.
Earlier this year, India lifted a ban on airlines operating the A380 into the country. Only four airports, Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore and Hyderabad, are certified for A380 operations.
“Emirates plans to deploy an A380 on one of its existing daily services between Dubai to Mumbai, starting from July, and is working closely with Mumbai Airport authorities to make this deployment possible,” an Emirates spokesperson told Gulf News in an e-mailed statement.
“In addition we have plans to upgrade existing aircraft to larger capacity Boeing 777s to Delhi, Hyderabad and Mumbai starting from June 1. We will announce details shortly,” the spokesperson added.
13/05/14 Gulf News

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Etihad takes first-class route to Indian skies

Mumbai: While Etihad Airways may have only recently cleared the last hurdle to its stake acquisition in Jet Airways, it has already stepped up its India presence. Its aggressive sales pitch includes a new ad campaign around its first-class product, sponsorship of an IPL team and the launch of Boeing 787 flights to Mumbai by the end of 2014 or early-2015. Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has cleared the deal with Jet by clarifying that it does not need to make an open offer to Jet's shareholders.
Etihad has recently launched three-room first-class cabins (first by any airline) and suites on the Airbus A380 and Boeing 787. The A380 aircraft will fly to London and Boeing 787 to Washington DC, Dusseldorf and Mumbai.
Etihad's premium products are crucial to the Abu Dhabi-based airline's global ambitions, including a challenge to rival Emirates. Media reports have billed Etihad's premium push as a "luxury arms race" between the two West Asian airlines. Emirates already offers first-class suites, on-board shower and lounge on its A380 planes.
Currently, Etihad flies wide-body aircraft only on the Mumbai and Delhi routes. On the Mumbai route, Etihad flies the Airbus A340, which has 12 first-class seats - Etihad's only such route to India.
12/05/14 Aneesh Phadnis/Business Standard

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MERS Scare: CIAL Lacks Proper Monitoring System

Kochi: The Health Department is of the view that they are geared to face any challenge rising out of detection of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) cases, but the Cochin International Airport still does not have an efficient monitoring system to screen such cases.
 CIAL officials said that other than giving an instructions that passengers showing symptoms such as fever, sore throat are to be reported, no steps have been initiated in this direction.
 One of the private hospitals in the city has informed the health department of a suspected MERS case. “The team from the DMO office went to the private hospital to collect the swab of a 75 year old woman who has just returned from Saudi Arabia,” said an official with the Health department, on condition of anonymity.
 When ‘City Express’ contacted public health cell of the DMO office to know any suspected MERS case been reported, the official with the public health cell denied it.
13/05/14 New Indian Express

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Russia ready to continue helicopter deliveries for Indian Navy

Moscow: Russia is ready to continue deliveries for the Indian naval aviation, if it receives a request from the Indian side, the head of Russia’s biggest helicopter building company, Helicopters of Russia, said on Tuesday.
“As for the Vikramaditya aircraft carrier, this will undoubtedly be a decision by the Indian side. The holding company (Helicopters of Russia) will be ready to continue its program of Russian helicopter deliveries to India under a contract with Rosoboronexport,” Alexander Mikheyev said.
India has quite a large fleet of Ka-28/Ka-31 helicopters operational in the Indian naval aviation, he said.
“Correspondingly, if the Indian side will opt out for these helicopters in the future, we are ready to meet this request,” he said.
13/05/14 ITAR-TASS

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Jet, Etihad diluted pact to pass Sebi test

Mumbai: To ensure their deal passes muster with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi), Etihad Airways and Jet Airways have agreed to give up some of the initial arrangements. Among other things, they have dropped the requirement that Jet make Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) the exclusive hub for its flights to the Americas and Africa, to convince the market regulator the two airlines were not acting in concert and Etihad would not have joint control over the airline.
On Thursday, Sebi said Etihad's acquisition of a 24 per cent stake in Jet didn't warrant an open offer, as "effective control" remained with Indians and the Jet board of directors. Last year, Etihad bought the stake for Rs 2,057 crore.
Etihad and Jet have diluted parts of the commercial co-operation and shareholder agreements to gain the regulator's nod. These amendments came after Sebi served a notice to Etihad in February.
12/05/14 Business Standard

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‘We want to go to every airport in India’

Dubai-based low-cost airline flydubai is keen to expand operations to more cities in India. The airline feels that being able to connect to over 40 destinations which were not accessible from Dubai earlier offers a good value proposition for many markets, including India. In a free-wheeling interaction with Indian media, the airline’s Chief Executive Officer Ghaith-Al-Gaith, and Senior Vice-President Sudhir Sreedharan not only announced doubling of the destinations that flydubai operates to in India, but also stressed how flydubai is not in competition with another Dubai-based airline, Emirates. Edited excerpts from the interview.
When will the new flights start?
Sudhir: Very shortly. We're waiting for regulatory approvals. We have filed for 10 flights, four to Delhi and three each to Kochi and Thiruvananthapuram.
What will be the USP since you are a low-cost carrier?
Sudhir: We will be able to connect these points in India to our network within GCC, Saudi Arabia, Russia, CIS and Africa. We fly to about 48 places that were previously not connected to Dubai. These flights will provide an opportunity to Indian customers to reach them.
12/05/14 Ashwini Phadnis/Business Line

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Five more airlines set to move to HIA

Doha: Five more airlines will move their entire operations to Hamad International Airport on May 14 and 15, an official source said yesterday.
United Airways Bangladesh will begin operation from Doha at HIA on May 15, an airport spokesperson told Gulf Times.
The spokesperson confirmed that the following four airlines will also move their operations to HIA from May 14. They are Etihad Airways, Kuwait Airways, Sri Lankan and Royal Jordanian.
Following the soft opening of the airport on April 30, some 10 airlines are already operating from HIA. They are Biman Bangladesh Airlines, flydubai, Air Arabia, Iran Air, Air India Express, Yemenia, Pakistan International Airlines, Syrian Airlines, Pegasus Airlines and Nepal Airlines.
National carrier Qatar Airways said it would officially move to its new home at Hamad International Airport (HIA) on May 27.
India-based Jet Airways said it would also move its operations to HIA on May 27.
Designed to accommodate 30mn passengers annually, rising to 50mn upon full completion, HIA and Airport City (together comprising the NDIA project) span 29sq km, 60% on land reclaimed from the sea.
12/05/14 Pratap John/Gulf Times

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Govt pitches hard for Srinagar-Dubai flight

Srinagar: Hoping to attract prospective tourists from gulf countries, the state government is in touch with Government of India to initiate the process for making international flight services to Srinagar operative.
According to sources, once completed the proposal to start Srinagar-Dubai flight will be forwarded to the union civil aviation ministry for approval. The government has already received a proposal from Fly Dubai for direct flights from Dubai to Srinagar.
“The state government is already in touch with the Centre. There are a lot clearances needed but the government is very keen so that this service can be started soon and number of gulf tourists increases,” sources said.
“The government also has to see which airline will come forward to operate and then it can be carried forward,” they added.
Director Tourism Talat Parvez said a formal proposal will be put before the aviation ministry and that the defense ministry also has to be taken into confidence.
“We also have received a request from Fly Dubai to get permission from Director General Civil Aviation (DGCA). If not direct, but we can at least introduce connecting flights via New Delhi or Mumbai,” Talat told Rising Kashmir.
11/05/14 Saba Firdous/Rising Kashmir

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DGCA nabs US pilot working illegally with private airline since January this year

An American pilot was found illegally working with a private jet operator since January this year during a surprise inspection of civil aviation regulator DGCA last month.
The pilot, identified as Captain Edmond Danvers Clifford, had fudged with the validity of Foreign Aircrew Temporary Authorization (FATA), a mandatory permission for foreign pilots operating planes in India. Clifford was employed by Air One Aviation Pvt. Ltd, New Delhi, the DGCA said.
Based on the DGCA's written complaint, the Delhi Police on Saturday registered a case against Clifford under Section 466, 471 and 474 of the IPC. After taking legal advice, the police plans to arrest the pilot. Sleuths will also probe if there was involvement of any official of Air One Aviation Pvt. Ltd.
The plane, which was operated by the foreign pilot, was in service of various ministers of Uttar Pradesh and other party leaders as well for general election, an official said.
11/05/14 Ankur Sharma/Mail Today/India Today

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GeoResonance adamant MH370 is in Bay of Bengal

Kuala Lumpur: Geological survey firm GeoResonance Pty Lt, based in Adelaide, said it hadn’t suffered any backlash from issuing its public claim to have found the wreckage of MH370 in the Bay of Bengal.
“We cannot judge about awareness that our business has created. What we know for sure is that our claim has unearthed numerous pseudo scientists in the form of media commentators,” said managing director Pavel Kursa.
He said GeoResonance had consulted its clients before approaching the media with the MH370 wreckage claim and its clients had encouraged the firm to alert the authorities.
GeoResonance’s clients mainly comprise mining companies searching for minerals, oil and gas hidden deep under ocean floors.
Asked if there had been any new interest in the firm’s services since the claim, Kursa told The Rakyat Post: “We have only received invitations to scientific conferences.”
As to possible questions raised about the impact of the claim on its business reputation, Kursa said: “We are busy doing survey projects.”
Touching further on the MH370 wreckage claim, he said: “There are people who tried to discredit our technology without having proper knowledge of what the company does.”
10/05/14 Eileen Hee/Rakyat Post

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Last RMAF aircraft which takes part in search for MH370 returns home

Subang: The last Royal Malaysian Air Force (RMAF) C130 Hercules aircraft which took part in the operation to find the missing Malaysia Airlines (MAS) flight MH370, landed at the Subang RMAF base today at 11am.
The arrival of the aircraft, with 11 officers and 13 personnel, was received by RMAF First Air Division Commander, Major-General Datuk Azizool Arif Abdul Ghani, RMAF officers and families of the crew.  
Met by reporters at a reception ceremony, Azizool Arif said the aircraft left the Pearce Air Force Base in Perth, Australia at 11pm local time yesterday and stopped by in Jakarta, Indonesia, before continuing the journey to the Subang RMAF Air Base.  
"Three C130H from the number 20 RMAF squadron were sent to Perth to join seven countries in the effort to find flight MH370.
"Two aircraft had departed on March 28 while another on April 5. The two aircraft have returned home on April 30 with 19 officers and 35 personnel," he said.
He said they had shown a committed teamwork during the 42 days of the operation.
Meanwhile, Zubaidah Zahri, 41, the wife of pilot Major Mohammad Jafri Subuh, said she was thankful her husband had returned home safely.
10/05/14 New Straits Times

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Missing Plane Found? Nope, Some Experts Say Malaysia Airlines Flight MH 370 Likely Not Found for a While

“The fact they haven’t found anything after two months in this circumstance isn’t surprising,” Brad deYoung, who is a of oceanography at Memorial University in St. John’s in Canada told CBC News. “And if anybody was offering that ‘Yes we would find it quickly,’ then they’ve never done this before.”
“A lot of the talking heads on this — I saw a few people and I would just laugh when they would say things,” deYoung added. “Their enthusiasm and their expectation for success were completely unrealistic initially.”
He said that the plane can be found but it will be challenging to locate it. He cited the huge search area–across the Indian Ocean and possibly in the Bay of Bengal–as the largest problem in finding the plane, which disappeared March 8.
“I think the biggest challenge is they really don’t have a good fix on where [MH370] ended,” Mary Schiavo, who is an aviation analyst and a former inspector general of the U.S. Department of Transportation, told broadcaster. “No one went looking for the plane on a timely basis so they had any hope of finding where it went down.”
She added: “They certainly won’t find it in the next couple weeks or couple months. There’s lots of other places to look before I’d say it’s not possible to find it. I’m still hopeful that they will find it.”
According to a report from NBC this week, the Bluefin-21 submarine used to help search for the plane will again be used. The sub is owned by the U.S. Navy and is the only one searching for the plane in the Indian Ocean.
“We’re hoping it will set off later this week, possibly Friday,” a spokesman for Australia’s Joint Agency Coordination Centre was quoted as saying.
A few days ago, the European Aviation Safety Agency said it is proposing to improve aircraft flight recorders and underwater locating devices in response to the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370.
09/05/14  Jack Phillips/Epoch Times

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Girlfriend of missing MH370 passenger received death threats and suffered break-ins after plane disappeared

The girlfriend of a missing MH370 passenger has told how she has suffered nuisance phone calls, death threats and break-ins since the tragedy.
Sarah Bajc is among hundreds of distraught relatives trying to come to terms with losing her partner Philip Wood, 50, after the passenger jet disappeared n March 8 with 239 people on board.
But to compound her misery, sick trolls have been sending her abusive messages, calls and even death threats.
She has also had her apartment in Beijing broken into twice.
Ms Bjac told NBC News: "“It was just another straw on the camel’s back, very upsetting."
Two weeks after the plane went missing she received an instant message stating: "I'm going to come and kill you next."
Several pornographic images and "creepy" phone calls were also received from the same China-based number.
Speaking of the break-ins, Ms Bjac said: “Whoever came wasn’t very careful because I’m a real neat freak, so it was immediately apparent to me that some things had been moved.
“My housekeeper was out of town so it couldn’t have been her and I got home before my son got back. The password on my safe had been reset which happens when you try the wrong code three times."
Bajc added: “The second time was a couple weeks later and my neighbor saw two people leaving my apartment. I have no illusions of privacy here [in Beijing].”
Bajc is among 350 family members who have asked that raw radar data from MH370 be released for independent analysis.
10/05/14 Steve Robson/Mirror, UK

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Rerun? MH370 Searchers Head to Site of First 'Ping'

An Australian naval vessel carrying the Bluefin-21 underwater drone involved in the search for the missing Malaysia Airlines jet left port on Saturday on its second mission to scan part of the Indian Ocean where the longest sonar "ping" was heard over a month ago.
"They're headed back to ... the vicinity of the same area they were in to continue the search around the towed pinger locator detections that were made earlier last month," U.S. Navy Captain Mark Matthews told journalists at a naval base near Perth.
A signal was first located and heard for about two hours on April 5, some 1,000 miles northwest of Perth.
No trace of missing MH370 has been found despite the more than two dozen countries that have been involved in hunting for the flight that vanished from radar after taking off from Kuala Lumpur for Beijing with 239 people on board.
11/05/14 F. Brinley Bruton/Reuters/NBC News

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MH370 puzzle seen leading to out-of-court settlements - See more at: http://www.themalaymailonline.com/malaysia/article/mh370-puzzle-seen-leading-to-out-of-court-settlements#sthash.PnFfTYvD.dpuf

The lack of any evidence indicating what caused flight MH370’s disappearance raises a legal conundrum that is expected to force Malaysia Airlines into out-of-court settlements with angry next-of-kin, aviation law experts said.
More than two months since MH370 disappeared, no wreckage has been found to even confirm a crash, let alone apportion blame.
But relatives of the 239 people on board can still come after Malaysia Airlines because under international aviation law it is an airline’s responsibility to prove it was not to blame for an accident.
“On the surface, (Malaysia Airlines) is responsible,” said Jeremy Joseph, a Malaysian attorney specialising in transport law.
The “burden of proof” rests on the national carrier to clear its name, he added.
Under International Civil Aviation Organisation rules, next-of-kin in an air crash are entitled to an automatic minimum of about US$175,000 (RM564,847) per passenger, regardless of fault, payable by an airline’s insurance company.
But Malaysia Airlines is also vulnerable to civil lawsuits for potentially greater damages by hundreds of relatives already infuriated over the lack of information on the case.
The Beijing-bound plane disappeared March 8 and is believed to have crashed in the Indian Ocean. Theories on what happened include a terror act, rogue pilot action, or mechanical problems.
11/05/14 Malay Mail Online

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What happens to the airline food you don’t consume

Have you ever wondered what happens to unused/unconsumed food on airlines as sometimes nearly-full food trays go back into the food carts? Would airlines distribute it to the poor?
“Unfortuantely we can’t do that,'' says Jane Zdrojewski, Operations Manager, Emirates Flight Catering (EKFC), near the Dubai airport.
Because if the food has spoilt or become contaminated, it would be too much of a risk to take. “But what we will use are unopened biscuits which have not been in contact with the passengers and kept in storage. These we give to the the staff in the canteen.”
As we move through the sprawling facility with four huge kitchens, where about 135,000 meals are prepared daily, there are naturally questions on the breakage of the equipment pieces made of glass or porcelain. In flights in the Japanese sector, for example, lots of porcelain tea pots would be used.
She also gives us some interesting info on the manner in which wine is procured by major airlines. Naturally all leading wine companies would like to give an exposure of their product to customers, particular in the premier classes. So airlines get many labels from different wine makers at “for much less than you’d pay in supermarkets overseas, but its only a certain percentage of their wine stock”, she adds.
10/05/14 Rasheeda Bhagat/Business Line

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Dubai airport show to feature 30 innovations

Dubai: Airport executives will gather in Dubai this week for the 14th edition of the Airport Show held at the Dubai World Trade Centre from May 11 to 13.
Shaikh Ahmad Bin Saeed Al Maktoum, President of Dubai Civil Aviation and Chairman and Chief Executive of Emirates airline and Group, is expected to open the business-to-business (B2B) regional industry event, according to organisers, where 30 new technologies will be unveiled.
Airports in the Middle East are increasingly coming under focus following the emergence of the three big Gulf airlines; Emirates, Etihad Airways and Qatar Airways over the past three decades.
The three Gulf airlines are some of the largest in the world and carry millions of passengers through their geographically strategic hubs in the Arabian Gulf in Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Doha. However, traffic above the Gulf airports is becoming increasingly congested.
10/05/14 Gulf News

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Singapore Airlines A380 to serve India

Singapore Airlines customers flying to Mumbai and New Delhi will be able to experience the world’s largest aircraft from late May, with the deployment of the Airbus A380 on select flights.
The A380 superjumbo will operate daily to both Mumbai and New Delhi with effect from 30 May 2014, taking over from two daily flights that currently serve each city using smaller Boeing 777s. Another daily flight will continue to be operated with B777s. In total, 14 flights will serve each city per week.
For travel to India, passengers coming from Manila can choose from four daily flights to Singapore to connect conveniently to Mumbai and New Deli, while passengers coming from Cebu or Davao can fly to Singap ore via SilkAir. Passengers connecting through Singapore can also take advantage of the Singapore Stopover Package, which is inclusive of overnight hotel accommodation with roundtrip airport transfers for as low as USD35. Those traveling beyond Southeast Asia are also entitled to a SGD20 Changi Dollar Voucher that may be used at the different outlets in Changi International Airport.
“We have been keen to operate the Airbus A380 to India and are glad that the Air Services Agreement between Singapore and India now allows us to do so,” said Singapore Airlines Senior Vice President Marketing Planning, Lee Wen Fen.
03/05/14 Inquirer.net

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Ordeal of stranded Air India passengers ends

The ordeal of hundreds of Indian passengers who were stranded at Jeddah’s King Abdulaziz International Airport over the weekend following a technical snag on board an Air India flight bound for Calicut finally ended Saturday.
The flight, originally set for departure on Wednesday, was rescheduled for the following day, only to be delayed again until Friday and finally, Saturday.
Nearly 800 passengers traveling to the southern Indian city were stranded for days as result of the constant rescheduling.
The Boeing 747 flight was slated to depart at 12:15 a.m. on Wednesday, but developed a hydraulic snag that could not be rectified immediately, according to sources.
The delay created a domino effect when a Hyderabad flight, scheduled to fly out on Thursday night, was canceled and left on Friday evening.
Air India flew in two Airbus A320 aircraft from New Delhi and Mumbai to Jeddah on Thursday to ferry the stranded passengers, Air India Manager Feroz Khan told Arab News.
03/05/14 Irfan Mohammed/Arab News

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Changi airport honours Jet Airways

Changi Airport Group (CAG) honoured its top airline partners at the Changi Airline Awards 2013 held at the Pan Pacific Hotel Singapore where a total of 24 awards across six categories were presented to the airline community. The annual awards ceremony celebrates the partnership of airlines operating at Singapore Changi Airport and their contributions towards the growth and development of Singapore’s vibrant and world-class air hub.
Among the award-winning airlines, India’s Jet Airways was named Top Airline by Growth in Passenger Carriage (South Asia). Jet Airways currently operates 42 weekly services between India and Singapore, with two daily services each to Delhi, Mumbai and Chennai. In 2013, it registered a strong 27 per cent growth in passenger carriage compared to a year ago.
The airline’s growth has also been spurred by an increase in demand for travel to and from Chennai and Mumbai during the year – a second daily service was added for these cities in August and November respectively. These new services provided passengers travelling out from the Indian continent convenient and seamless connections to Singapore, and onwards to the rest of Southeast Asia, Australia and New Zealand.
02/05/14 Travel Trends Today

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Malaysia considers tip that MH370 may be in Bay of Bengal

Beijing: Days after authorities dismissed the idea that MH370 may be in the Bay of Bengal, a top Malaysian official said Friday he is considering the theory.
Acting Transportation Minister Hishammuddin Hussein said the tip could only be confirmed by sending vessels to the area, which is thousands of kilometers away from the official search area in the southern Indian ocean.
"But I just want to stress that by doing that, we are distracting ourselves from the main search," Hussein said Friday. "And in the event that the result from the search is negative, who is going to be responsible for that loss of time?"
Hussein did not mention any specific plans to send resources to the Bay of Bengal.
 Malaysia Airlines to close hotel centers
Photos: The search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 Photos: The search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370
 Why 4 hours to start MH370 search? New details from today's Flight 370 report
His comments came three days after the Australian company GeoResonance publicized its claim that it may have found the wreckage of a plane in the Bay of Bengal.
While GeoResonance said it's not sure whether the plane is MH370, the company said it has been pressing officials to take a look.
02/05/14 Holly Yan and David McKenzie/CNN

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Malaysia releases preliminary report on Flight 370 disappearance

Kuala Lumpur: Air-traffic controllers did not realize that Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 was missing until 17 minutes after it disappeared from civilian radar, according to a preliminary report released Thursday by Malaysia’s government.
Other information from the investigation into the flight, including audio recordings of conversations between the cockpit and air traffic control, the plane’s cargo manifest and its seating plan, also was released.
The government provided a map showing the Boeing 777’s deduced flight path and a document detailing actions taken by authorities during the hours of confusion following the jet’s disappearance. Many of the details have been previously disclosed.
The report noted that there is no requirement for real-time tracking of commercial aircraft and that the uncertainty about Flight 370’s last position made it more difficult to locate the plane.
The plane, carrying 239 people, went off Malaysian radar at 1:21 a.m. on March 8 while en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. Vietnamese air-traffic controllers began contacting Kuala Lumpur at 1:38 a.m. after they failed to establish verbal contact with the pilots and the plane didn’t show up on their radar, according to the five-page report, sent last month to the International Civil Aviation Organization.
The documents showed that Malaysian authorities did not begin an official search-and-rescue operation until four hours later, at 5:30 a.m.
01/05/14 Eileen Ng/Washington Post

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Dubai Airport 80-day runway closure; how does this affect you…

With the 80-day closure of two runways affecting flights at Dubai International Airport from May 1, passengers may have to revise travel schedules as several airlines shift operations to different UAE airports, or scale back capacity.
Dubai Airports has confirmed it has reduced the number of flights by 26 per cent to accommodate all flights on a single runway without disruption, with 17 airlines reserving slots for flights at the new Dubai World Central – Al Maktoum International Airport during the period.
While Emirates has stated the runway closure will affect 5,400 flights, flydubai will have a selected number of flights operating out of DWC.
Meanwhile, Indian carriers such as Jet Airways and Air India Express have shifted operations to Sharjah International to accommodate passengers over the peak summer period.
If you are booked to travel during this period, Dubai Airports CEO Paul Griffiths has advised in a statement for passengers to ensure they are aware which airport they would need to travel to.
Griffiths stated: “We are urging passengers to double-check with their respective airlines to confirm their airport of departure or arrival.”
Passengers who are transferring between airports will have to clear immigration and collect baggage at the arrival airport and will need to check if they need a visa to enter the UAE.
02/05/14 Bindu Suresh Rai/Emirates 24|7

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Missing teen spotted at airport, police say

Abbotsford police say they have video footage of a missing teen, but the mother of Manvir "Munny" Singh Sidhu is skeptical it's her son in the surveillance footage from Abbotsford airport.
The high-school student has been missing for more than 10 days.
Police yesterday said Sidhu, 17, was spotted last Thursday at the airport with an unknown male.
A male airline passenger was picked up at the terminal and left the airport with the two other men, police said.
Police also said the video was shown to members of the Sidhu family, who confirmed that Manvir Sidhu was one of the three males.
The teen's mom, Kasmir Kaur Sidhu, wasn't so certain, however.
Manvir Sidhu was last seen going to his second-floor bedroom at the family's Abbotsford home on the evening of March 30.
02/05/14 Vancouver Sun

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Workers stranded at HIA for hours

Doha: Many low-income workers from different Asian countries arriving here for the first time to take up new jobs were stranded for several hours at the newly-opened Hamad International Airport (HIA) yesterday as representatives of their companies did not come on time to receive them.
Most of the arriving passengers this newspaper spoke to praised the facilities and services at the new airport, the world’s newest aviation hub, which partially opened on April 30 with 10 budget-airlines operating from it. They include flydubai, airarabia, Nepal Airlines and Air India Express.
But one passenger was unhappy at his baggage arriving late.
“I travelled by flydubai yesterday from Dubai and my baggage came today (yesterday). When I enquired about my missing baggage, I was told that they were not loaded from the origin,” said Mohammed Nimer, an Arab national working in Qatar.
Nimer said it should be the responsibility of the airline to deliver the missing baggage to his address.
“Why should I come to the airport again in this scorching heat for other’s mistake,” he asked.
The stranded passengers, mostly Nepalese and Indian labourers, who remained held up at the airport without food for several hours looked exhausted after their journey by airarabia and flydubai, which do not offer complementary food to their passengers free of cost.
02/05/14 The Peninsula

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Workers stranded at HIA for hours

Doha: Many low-income workers from different Asian countries arriving here for the first time to take up new jobs were stranded for several hours at the newly-opened Hamad International Airport (HIA) yesterday as representatives of their companies did not come on time to receive them.
Most of the arriving passengers this newspaper spoke to praised the facilities and services at the new airport, the world’s newest aviation hub, which partially opened on April 30 with 10 budget-airlines operating from it. They include flydubai, airarabia, Nepal Airlines and Air India Express.
But one passenger was unhappy at his baggage arriving late.
“I travelled by flydubai yesterday from Dubai and my baggage came today (yesterday). When I enquired about my missing baggage, I was told that they were not loaded from the origin,” said Mohammed Nimer, an Arab national working in Qatar.
Nimer said it should be the responsibility of the airline to deliver the missing baggage to his address.
“Why should I come to the airport again in this scorching heat for other’s mistake,” he asked.
The stranded passengers, mostly Nepalese and Indian labourers, who remained held up at the airport without food for several hours looked exhausted after their journey by airarabia and flydubai, which do not offer complementary food to their passengers free of cost.
02/05/14 The Peninsula

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Flights to Dubai to be hit for 80 days due to runways' closure

Several flights to Dubai would be affected for 80 days from today due to the closure of two runways for upgrade, with Jet AirwaysBSE -3.07 % and Air India Express announcing shifting of most of their operations to neighbouring Sharjah and revising timings of some flights.
While Indigo and Dubai-based Emirates said they would slash some of their flights between India and the UAE city and reschedule some more, Air India said its Chennai-Dubai and Vishakhapatnam-Hyderabad-Dubai flights would be shifted to Sharjah.
In a statement earlier, Dubai Airports said all systems would undergo a comprehensive runway upgrade and repair during the 80-day period.
The work would lead to closure of the two runways alternatively - the southern runway from May 1 to May 31 and the northern runway from May 31 to July 20. The number of flights at Dubai was likely to be reduced by 26 per cent during this period.
01/05/14 PTI/Economic Times

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Boost for Indo-Nigeria travellers as Arik plans direct flights to India

If the plan by Arik Air Nigeria, West Africa’s largest carrier, to begin operating direct flights between Lagos and New Delhi, sees the light of day, trade between the two countries is expected to receive a massive boost with travellers from both countries getting seamless flights to their destinations.
The airline said during the week that it has begun exploring the possibility of introducing a direct service to India, following a recent visit from Ajjampur Rangalah Ghanashyam, the Indian high commissioner to Nigeria, to the airline’s headquarters in Lagos.
The High Commissioner was at the Arik Air Aviation Centre to explore opportunities on how to facilitate direct flights between Nigeria and India.
Presently, there are no direct flights between the two countries, with travellers currently forced to board connecting flights through Addis Ababa, South Africa or Dubai.
According to the High Commissioner, direct flights between Nigeria and India would boost business, tourism, save passengers flight time and reduce the stress of the journey.
“Direct flights are also important during medical emergencies, because direct movement of patients during emergencies would save a lot of lives,” he said.
01/05/14 Business Day

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GMR nets Rs.1,740 cr from divestment of Istanbul Airport

Bangalore: GMR Infrastructure, on Wednesday said it has received Rs 1,740 crore (Euro 209 Million) as culmination of divestment of its 40 per cent equity stake in Istanbul Sabiha Gökçen Uluslararasi Havalimani Yatirim, Yapim Ve Isletme A.S ("ISG") and LGM Havalimani Isletmeleri Ticaret Ve Turizm A.S ("LGM Tourism") to Malaysian Airports Holding Berhard ("MAHB") in terms of definitive agreements signed subsequent to the exercise of Right of First Refusal by MAHB under the existing shareholders agreement of ISG, on 23 December 2013.
This is the second major divestment of overseas assets by the GMR Group in over a year. This divestment helps the group in capitalizing on equity release of Rs 1,740 crore, in addition to reducing the proportionate debt of Rs1,412 crore carried in the balance sheet as well as guarantees to an extent of Rs 2,298 crore.
Commenting on this transaction, G M Rao, Group Chairman, GMR Group said, "This transaction signifies GMR's ability and consistent delivery in finding the best value for its assets and also to execute and complete a complex, cross boarder transaction at a time when the infrastructure segment is passing through a rough phase.
30/04/14 Business Standard

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Hamad International Airport welcomes first passengers

Qatar’s $15bn iconic Hamad International Airport welcomed first passengers in a soft opening yesterday, marking a new era in the country’s aviation history.
A Qatar Airways A320 aircraft (QR7450) was the first to officially land on the east runway of the airport around 11.30am yesterday and was greeted by a traditional “water salute”.
Onboard the inaugural flight to Hamad International Airport were  HE the Minister of Transport Jassim Seif Ahmed al-Sulaiti, Qatar Civil Aviation Authority chairman Abdul Aziz Mohamed al-Noaimi,  Qatar Airways CEO Akbar al-Baker and other dignitaries.
Following the soft launch, some 10 airlines, some of which are budget carriers, have moved their operations to Hamad International Airport.
They are: Biman Bangladesh Airlines, flydubai, Air Arabia, Iran Air, Air India Express, Yemenia, Pakistan International Airlines, Syrian Airlines, Pegasus Airlines and Nepal Airlines.
National carrier Qatar Airways will move its entire hub operations to Hamad International Airport on May 27.
01/05/14 Pratap John/Gulf Times

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Over 400 India-bound passengers stranded in Saudi Arabia

Riyadh: Over 400 India-bound passengers were stranded for many hours at a Saudi Arabian airport since early Wednesday morning as an Air India flight could not take off due to a technical glitch, a news report said.
Air India Flight AI962 was scheduled to leave the Saudi port city of Jeddah for Kozhikode in the south Indian state of Kerala at 12.15 a.m. on Wednesday, but got delayed due to a technical fault that led to passengers waiting for long hours at the King Abdulaziz International Airport in Jeddah, Saudi Gazette reported on Thursday.
A senior Air India official said the passengers would be flown on another flight at 12.30 p.m. on Thursday, the report said.
A technical fault was reported in the aircraft after it landed at the airport.
"On inspection after landing, the engineers could not pinpoint the precise cause of the glitch. Since we had completed all the procedures, our hope was that the flight could be ready for takeoff any moment," Saudi Gazette quoted Feroz Khan, manager of Air India, as saying.
01/05/14 IANS/India Today

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