Foreign investors should not control Indian airlines: Government

Mumbai: After allowing Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) by overseas carriers in their Indian counterparts, the government has put in place provisions to prevent Indian airlines from being controlled and managed by the foreign investor, as per a PTI report.
Several changes have been carried out in the existing rules or Civil Aviation Requirements (CARs), including one which clearly states that a passenger airline "shall not enter into an agreement with a foreign investing institution or a foreign airline, which may give such foreign investing institution or foreign airlines or others on behalf of them, the right to control the management of the domestic operator."
It also says that the foreign investing institution or entity including a foreign airline would not have more than one-third representation in the Board of the Indian carrier, official sources said. The amendments to the relevant CARs came in the wake of fair-play regulator Competition Commission of India stood by its observation about Abu Dhabi carrier Etihad Airways gaining joint control in Jet Airways (India) Ltd and "significant" rights to appoint directors with a 24 per cent stake purchase.
30/11/13 TravelBizMonitor

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India to up Qatar's airline seats quota under bilateral traffic rights

New Delhi:  India is set to increase Qatar's entitlement of airline seats under their bilateral traffic rights, a move that could help the Gulf nation develop Doha as a major regional hub for westbound traffic from India.
"Qatar would be the next country with whom we will revise the bilateral air service agreement," a senior official of the civil aviation ministry told ET. "We are just negotiating the final number for the enhancement in weekly seats, and it should be done soon." The official did not give a timeline for the pact.
Qatar has sought to enhance its weekly quota of seats under the pact to 72,600 from the current 24,800, which was nearly exhausted. Its national airline, Qatar Airways, is the fifth largest carrier of India's international traffic, with nearly 4% share of the 45 million passengers travelling to and from India in 2012-13, according to data from Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation.
"The demand for increase in seats with Qatar has mainly been from their side, as Qatar Airways has nearly exhausted its current entitlement, while Indian carriers only use around 10,000 weekly seats, so we will have to see what kind of an increase is actually required," the official said.
29/11/13 Debabrata Das/Economic Times

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Defence Minister replaces officer handling chopper scam, MMRCA deal

New Delhi: In a sudden development, the Defence Ministry has replaced a Joint Secretary, whose office is in-charge of handling the AgustaWestland chopper scam case and the multi-billion dollar 126 combat aircraft deal of the Air Force.
Defence Ministry's Joint Secretary and Acquisition Manager (Air) Upamanyu Chatterjee has been replaced by present J S (Establishment) Rajeev Verma for handling the office, sources said here.
Chatterjee, an IAS officer of 1983 batch, was given the additional charge recently after the sudden death of Arun Kumar Bal, who died of a heart attack while going for a walk.
The 1983-batch Maharashtra cadre officer has been involved in negotiations with the French Dassault Aviation for the Rafale combat aircraft deal and has handled the all-important AgustaWestland chopper deal, which is facing cancellation after bribery charges against it.
Ministry officials said the decision of replacing Chatterjee was taken he was of the same batch as his new reporting authority Asha Ram Sihag, the new Director General (Acquisition).
29/11/13 PTI/Daily News & Analysis

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Boost for diamond trade as AAI approves cargo on flights

Surat: Trains have been the conventional mode of transport for angadias to deliver precious diamonds from Surat to Mumbai and other destinations for last many years. This may soon be history as Airport Authority of India (AAI) has approved cargo services on passenger aircraft of SpiceJet from Surat. This would ensure that at least 30 per cent of diamond parcels are delivered in Mumbai in passenger cargo.
Around 30 courier boys employed with 12 angadia firms in the city carry diamonds worth over Rs 500 crore in the night trains namely Gujarat Mail and Saurashtra Express to Mumbai.
Though the courier boys are escorted by railway police and Railway Protection Force (RPF) personnel in the trains and at the railway stations, the fear of attacks by robbers is always there.
If the angadias are to be believed then the joint raids by the income tax (I-T) department and National Investigation Agency (NIA) in July 2013 have forced the angadias to think of delivering the valuable diamonds through other mode of transports.
29/11/13 Melvyn Reggie Thomas/Times of India

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AA-US Airways merger will have little impact in India

New Delhi: The merger of US Airways and American, which was cleared by an American judge on Wednesday, is unlikely to have much impact in the Indian market, according to Kapil Kaul, Chief Executive Officer, Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation (CAPA).
A federal bankruptcy judge cleared the way for the two American airlines to merge and create the world’s largest airline.
The tie-up was first announced in February. Agencies say that the new airline will operate 1,500 aircraft, with 600 more on order, and have an annual turnover of almost $39 billion.
It will offer more than 6,700 daily flights to 336 destinations in 56 countries and maintain all hubs now served by either carrier, while being a member of the Oneworld alliance.
Pointing out that the merger of the two airlines was on expected lines, Kaul felt that the impact is likely to be largely felt in the US market.
29/11/13 Business Line

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Air India bomb maker appeals 9-year perjury sentence

Air India bomb maker Inderjit Singh Reyat is remorseful about the bombing deaths and gained nothing by lying during testimony against his co-accused, his lawyer told the B.C. Appeal Court.
Ian Donaldson said Wednesday those are good reasons to cut short Reyat’s nine-year prison sentence for lying 19 times during the bombing trial.
Unlike other serious perjury convictions, Reyat did not concoct a false tale to exonerate anyone, Donaldson told the three-member panel.
The lawyer said Reyat merely didn’t tell the whole truth when he said, for example, he did not know the names of some key players believed to be involved in the plot.
Reyat — who has spent most of his adult life behind bars — was convicted of perjury in 2010 for his testimony as a Crown witness at the 2003 trial of Ripudamen Singh Malik and Ajaib Singh Bagri.
28/11/13 Vivian Luk/The Canadian Press/City News 

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‘No air defence zone near India border’

Beijing: China on Thursday said there was “no question” of it establishing an air defence identification zone (ADIZ) near its border with India. It pointed out that such zones are set up only by littoral countries in international airspace.
On Saturday, China announced the setting up of its first ADIZ — an area in international airspace within which countries monitor aircraft — which extends over the disputed East China Sea islands that are at the centre of a dispute between China and Japan. The Chinese government said aircraft that enter its ADIZ — which overlaps with parts of the ADIZ set up by Japan in 1969 — will be required to notify the authorities in advance about their flight plans. Failure to do so could trigger “emergency” responses from defence forces.
Following the setting up of the East China Sea ADIZ, China has said it will establish other zones “at the right time after necessary preparations” are completed.
28/11/13 Ananth Krishnan/The Hindu

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Indian Market Will Not Be Affected By American-U.S. Airways Merger

Bangalore: The Indian market is going to remain unaffected if the meager takes place between U.S. Airways and American, according to Kapil Kaul, Chief Executive Officer, Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation.
The U.S. government has given green signal for both the airline companies to merge and become world’s largest airline in the world. Once the tie up takes place there could be more than 1,000 aircraft released within a short period, reports Ashwini Phadnis of Business Line.
However, Kapil pointed out that U.S. Airways and American were expected to merge and he said that the US market will be impacted the most.
28/11/13 Silicon India

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Man held with foreign currency worth Rs 27 lakh at airport

New Delhi: A man was today arrested for allegedly trying to smuggle out foreign currencies--Euros and US Dollars--worth about Rs 27 lakh at the international airport here.
The accused, who hails from Delhi, was to board a flight to Bangkok. As soon as he arrived at the airport, his movements were watched and he was intercepted by customs officials.
"On examination of his baggage, it was found containing foreign currency in Euros amounting to 23,300 and USD 12,500 (equivalent to Rs 27.20 lakh)," a press release issued by the customs said.
28/11/13 PTI/Business Standard

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Competition watchdog shoots down Jet-Etihad plea on board size

New Delhi: The Competition Commission of India (CCI) has shot down Jet’s plea that the Commission’s order regarding the total board size of the airline after Etihad acquires a 24 per cent share in it was incorrect.
In its plea before the Commission, Jet and Etihad submitted that the total board size of Jet, after the deal will be 12 directors and not six shareholder directors as the order incorrectly stated.
In its November 12 order, CCI had said, “In such a case, Etihad’s acquisition of 24 per cent equity stake and the right to nominate two directors, out of the six shareholder directors, including the Vice-Chairman, in the Board of Directors of Jet, is considered as significant in terms of Etihad’s ability to participate in the managerial affairs of Jet.”
27/11/13 Business Line

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Lankans as carriers show new trend in gold smuggling

Kochi: The seizure of 10 kg of smuggled gold from 54 Sri Lankans arriving from Colombo at Kochi airport on Sunday indicates that the smuggling racketeers are frequently changing their modus operandi, senior Customs official say.
Because of the series of gold seizures in the recent past from those arriving from Dubai at the three international airports in Kerala, Customs and Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) officials had intensified their scrutiny of passengers from the Gulf sector. This seems to have forced the smugglers to look for airports in other countries and different airlines to dodge the enforcers.
Since all air passengers arriving from Dubai are natural suspects, Colombo is an easy alternative. Dubai-Colombo-Kochi seems to be the least risky smuggling route.
27/11/13 KPM Basheer/Business Line

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Airport operators in 7 countries vie for P17.5-B Mactan-Cebu project

Manila: Operators of international airports in the United States, France, Switzerland, Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea, and India will vie for the first airport project being auctioned off under the Aquino Administration’s public-private partnership (PPP) scheme.
Today’s opening of bids for the P17.5-billion Mactan-Cebu International Airport (MCIA) Development Project will serve as an “acid test” on the Philippine government’s PPP projects that the world will keep an eye on, according to the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC).
Operators of the Houston Airports System in the US, Aéroports de Lyon in France, Changi Airport Saudi Ltd. in Singapore, Incheon International Airport in South Korea, Malaysia Airports Berhad in Malaysia, Zurich Airport in Switzerland, and Indira Gandhi International Airport in India have teamed up with local and foreign entities in a bid to bag the transportation infrastructure project.
27/11/13 Kris Bayos/Manila Bulletin

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Govt won't take hasty decision on VVIP chopper deal

New Delhi: The Defence Ministry will not take any hasty decision and seek the opinion of the Law Ministry on the response given by the Anglo-Italian firm AgustaWestland, before taking any decision on the controversial VVIP helicopter deal, which may be scrapped eventually.
The company submitted its response to the Defence Ministry's show-cause notice on Monday – a day ahead of the deadline – but an official said the response and Law Ministry’s opinion would be studied first before any decision is taken on the contentious deal.
India had paid a substantial part of the Rs 3,700-crore deal and received three helicopters – two in VIP and one in cargo configuration – from the company. The money paid so far, is for six choppers.
26/11/13 Deccan Herald

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US Sikhs to report airport abuse by app

Sikh activists, fed up with being singled out at US airports, today launched an updated smartphone application to make it easier for passengers to file complaints.
The free, downloadable app called FlyRights lets travellers instantly send their concerns to the US Transportation Security Administration, which would then respond through its own channels.
Launched ahead of Thanksgiving, one of the busiest travel periods in the United States, the updated "FlyRights 2.0" also allows passengers to send copies of their complaints to their members of Congress, and it features maps that show which airports have the most troubling records.
27/11/13 PTI/Daily News & Analysis

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David Lau appointed GM of Singapore Airlines in India

New Delhi: Singapore Airlines (SIA) today announced the appointment of David Lau as its new General Manager in India.
He will take over from G M Toh on December one to manage the India operations of both Singapore Airlines and its full-service regional carrier SilkAir, a SIA release said.
27/11/13 PTI/Business Standard

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Malabar group director has direct links with gold smuggler, says DRI

Kochi: The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) on Tuesday submitted before the Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate (Economic Offences) that Malabar Group director T V Muhammad Ashraf has direct links with Shabas, the first accused in the Karipur gold-smuggling case.
It filed a report before the court arraigning Ashraf as the sixth accused in the case. The DRI submitted the plea before the court while it was considering the petition for Shabas’ custody.
DRI Special Prosecutor C P Udayabhanu submitted before the court that during the interrogation of Shabas, when he was intercepted in Bangalore, he named three persons who had purchased the gold and were involved in the case.
27/11/13 New Indian Express

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DGCA hires 20 pilots as inspectors to ‘save skin’

New Delhi: The very real threat of the US flight safety regulator downgrading Indian aviation has forced the government to hire full-time pilots from commercial airlines for the grossly-understaffed directorate general of civil aviation (DGCA) as flight operations inspectors (FOI).
Ten serving pilots — senior ones of the rank of instructor and examiners — are being taken on contract for a year at a monthly pay of Rs 10 lakh-12 lakh. An equal number of pilots grounded due to medical reasons or being over 65 years of age (maximum age of a commercial pilot) will be hired on a monthly pay of Rs 3-5 lakh.
These 20 FOIs — the regulator's costliest hires ever — will join DGCA's flight standards directorate. This is the first time that instead of taking pilots on deputation — and hence leading to charges of conflict of interest — the government decided to hire pilots full-time for the DGCA at market rates.
26/11/13 Saurabh Sinha/Times of India

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Madurai-Singapore flight possible only if Indian carriers evince interest: MP

Madurai: The Centre would permit air travel from Madurai to Singapore, Kuala Lumpur and Muscat only if Indian carriers evince interest in operating flights on this route and not otherwise, according to Virudhunagar Member of Parliament B. Manickam Tagore who is also a member of the consultative committee on civil aviation.
His statement is contrary to the claims made by a few trade bodies here that the decks had been cleared for operating Madurai-Singapore flight from January next.
Speaking to The Hindu over phone from Tiruchuli, he said that the Civil Aviation Ministry was particular in encouraging Indian airline operators to fly more international flights so that the country could earn foreign exchange.
“Our first priority goes to Air India followed by other Indian private airlines. We have been persuading Air India to operate the Chennai-Muscat flight via Madurai. Union Finance Minister P. Chidambaram, Union Minister of State for Commerce and Industry E.M. Sudarsana Natchiappan and I are keen on improving connectivity from Madurai to international destinations,” he said.
26/11/13 Mohamed Imranullah S/The Hindu

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Smuggling bust casts pall on jeweller

Kochi: The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) has made a breakthrough in a gold smuggling case, after it arrested a director of a jewellery chain in Kerala.
It informed the additional chief judicial magistrate, or ACJM, economic offences, Ernakulam, that evidence had been found against the chain.
Ashraf, director of the Kozhikode-based Malabar Gold, told sleuths he had bought 10 kg of gold from Shahabas, the kingpin of the smuggling racket. Shahabas, who had smuggled 39 kg through carriers, was arrested in Bangalore recently. The ACJM on Tuesday sent Shahabas to DRI custody for five days.
On Monday, DRI had raided the corporate office of Malabar Gold at Kozhikode. C P Udayabhanu, DRI advocate, said the group had been dealing in smuggled gold.  
26/11/13 George Joseph/Business Standard

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BHP cancels mine opening as Western Australia airport closes

AAP reported that global miner BHP Billiton has cancelled the opening of its Jimblebar iron ore mine due to the closure of Newman airport in the north of Western Australia.
Mr Andrew Mackenzie CEO of BHP, WA Premier Mr Colin Barnett, dignitaries and media were scheduled to travel to the Pilbara mine opening. But six Newman bound Qantas and Virgin Australia flights were cancelled after an emulsion treatment applied to the tarmac failed to dry and became sticky in the heat. A Newman Airport spokesman said the curing process had not occurred as quickly as planned and flights were cancelled to prevent a build up of emulsion on plane tyres and fuselages.
26/11/13 Steelguru

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Flyer caught with gold bar in rectum

Mumbai: A flyer was intercepted at Mumbai airport on Monday for attempting to smuggle in gold from Sri Lanka. He had concealed the gold in his rectum to hoodwink the Air Intelligence Unit of the Customs. He was intercepted on suspicion. The accused is an Indian who had flown in from Colombo. The flyer, whose name was withheld by AIU, was detained for checks. The metal detector gave him away. When quizzed, he confessed to carrying a gold bar in his rectum.
26/11/13 Times of India

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Smuggling on despite tight security

Trichy: The airport officials are leaving no stone unturned in catching lawbreakers, including smugglers. Recently, the airport acquired a special sniffer dog team comprising four dogs to boost security.
The senior officials from the customs department said the security at the airport is on par with the bigger ones. They pointed out that untoward incidents, including smuggling, could be averted if vigilance is high. Last year, a woman who tried to smuggle drugs into the country from Malaysia, was caught by intelligence officials, he said. On the issue of security nothing could be compromised. We follow the guidelines of Directorate General of Civil Aviation and the airport authorities to maintain stringent security, they explained.
26/11/13 Times of India

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Smuggling picks up in Trichy airport

Trichy: The airport here may not be drawing a large number of travellers as larger ones in metros, but it is witnessing a steady rise in smuggling cases. The regular seizure of contraband items, including drugs, of late points to a spurt in smuggling through the airport which serves the central districts of the state.
Senior officials from the customs department said gold smuggling is showing a steady rise after the government imposed severe restrictions on the import of gold.
Since March this year, at least five incidents of drug seizures were reported from the airport. Interestingly, most passengers caught with drugs were either proceeding to or coming from Malaysia, the officials said. A 25-year-old man was arrested at the airport on Sunday for possessing 1.75 kg of amphetamine, a psychotropic drug.
26/11/13 Harish Murali/Times of India

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Kuwait Airways chief suspended over Jet Airways plan

Kuwait: Kuwait has suspended the chairman of state-owned Kuwait Airways KA.UL in a dispute over his plans to buy five used aircraft from India's Jet Airways (JET.NS), which the company has since abandoned.
Kuwaiti newspaper al-Qabas quoted the Communications Minister Esa al-Kandari as saying he had suspended Sami al-Nisf after he announced plans to buy the used aircraft despite a government request to stop the deal. It said Nisf's deputy, Jassar al-Jassar, has been appointed as acting chairman.
Nisf confirmed on Monday that he had been suspended.
The plan to buy the used Airbus A330 planes was announced on Sunday, with the company adding that it would not affect a previous deal to buy new Airbus jets.
25/11/13 Ahmed Hagagy/Reuters

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India stands to gain from GE's digital business ramp-up, says John G Rice

Mumbai: Jack Welch, the former CEO of General Electric, didn't come to India in the late 1980s to sell outsourcing. He had jet engines and plastics on his mind. But meetings with top Indian government advisors and CEOs quickly convinced him about India's invaluable status as a low-cost, offshore destination for outsourced services. A series of decisions led to the creation of Gecis (today's Genpact) and the rest, as they say, is history.
Today, GE is also unrecognisable from the company Jack Welch ran in the late 1980s. From an industrial infrastructure powerhouse, it became a financial services giant in the boom years of 2002-2008 and is now on the threshold of another big change, a revolution in complex algorithms, sensors and communication that will make machines smarter and trigger big productivity gains. GE still makes those big machines that require millions of dollars of investment such as the wind and gas turbines, the jet engines that power the A380s and medical equipment which fight and detect cancer. But in the coming years, these machines will become smarter, be able to talk to each other and provide massive amounts of data for GE analysts to pore through and detect possible problems and dangers.
25/11/13 R Sriram/Economic Times

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India's Myanmar envoy bats for reciprocal flight service

Imphal: Noting that Tulihal Airport is officially in the international aviation map with the maiden landing of the Golden Myanmar flight from Mandalay recently, Indian Ambassador to Myanmar Gautam Mukhopadhyay expressed that it is right time for the Indian Airlines to chart out a plan for direct flight operation from Imphal to Mandalay as reciprocal gesture.
Speaking to The Sangai Express at Tulihal Airport today, Gautam also exuded confidence that the next few months would certainly see various positive development in the aviation sector in the region.
In addition to the need for minute study on whether there should be regular commercial flight service between Imphal and Mandalay the perspective of adding other routes should not be overlooked, mooted the Indian envoy adding that the quantum of demand from both sides is another important factor for sustaining the international flight service.
24/11/13 The Sangai Express/E-Pao

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Is DGCA headed for ICAO, Bangkok?

New Delhi: Is Arun Mishra, Director-General of Civil Aviation, headed to Bangkok as Regional Director, Asia-Pacific, International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO)?
Domestic industry sources say Mishra has applied for the UN post which is for a fixed four-year period.
The position opens at the end of the year, which is about the time when Mishra’s deputation at the Centre comes to an end.
The position involves overseeing ICAO programmes in 50 countries, extending from Afghanistan to New Zealand.
24/11/13 Ashwini Phadnis/Business Line

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DGCA takes corrective measures ahead of FAA audit

New Delhi: Threat of a downgrade looms large over DGCA as the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is scheduled to carry out a second safety audit next month, with the Indian aviation regulator rushing through a series of corrective measures pointed out by its US counterpart.
Two months after their first audit in which it raised several safety concerns, an FAA team would again hold talks with their counterparts from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on December 11, official sources said here.
Weeks after a safety audit of the DGCA by the UN-body International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), a four-member FAA team had in September carried out their first audit and raised concerns over 33 specific issues.
These included existence of large number of vacancies in top technical posts like those of Joint Directors General and Deputy Directors General, at a time when air traffic in India was growing at a rapid pace. DGCA had 421 employees till July this year as against sanctioned staff strength of 574.
24/11/13 PTI/Business Line

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89 kg of red sanders seized at Kochi airport

Kochi: Small logs of red sanders weighing 89 kg were seized from three Chinese nationals at the Nedumbassery International Airport here early on Saturday morning. The Air Intelligence Unit of the Customs Department here seized the logs worth around Rs.86,000 from Sheng Welping, Zheng Kaihong, and Xiao Fuyao.
Customs officials said the three foreigners had arrived in Bangalore on tourist visa and made their way to Kochi. They were scheduled to depart for Malaysia by a flight. The red sanders were kept in six bags in their checked-in baggage.
All three men had visited the country at least three times before. Customs officials are unsure whether they had smuggled red sanders on their previous trips as well. Department officials said that the foreigners did not speak English and thus, could not be interrogated. They were asked to pay a penalty of Rs.20,000 and the red sanders were confiscated by Customs.
24/11/13 The Hindu

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Madurai Malli on maiden flight to Dubai

Madurai: The maiden flight from Madurai to Dubai took off at 11.35 p.m. on Friday and what it carried apart from 158 elated passengers is something that provides the authentic scent of the soil – ‘Madurai Malli,’ a jasmine variety with Geographical Indication tag.
The Airports Authority of India (AAI) could not have chosen a better day to inaugurate a stall to sell ‘Madurai Malli’ at the departure end of the airport terminal building than Friday when the airport was all set to begin night operations with the introduction of a direct flight to Dubai.
Union Minister of State for Commerce and Industry E.M. Sudarsana Natchiappan inaugurated the stall given on lease to S. Nagarathinam and Sons, one of the leading exporters of jasmine from here. The firm had obtained rights to sell the flowers inside the terminal building for three years.
Passengers could purchase 1.5-metre flower strand packed in a colourful box for Rs.100 each.
23/11/13 Mohamed Imranullah S/The Hindu

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US, Indian aviation regulators to hold talks

New Delhi: Two months after raising certain safety concerns with DGCA, a team from US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) will arrive here next month to hold discussions on the corrective measures being taken by India in this regard.
Weeks after a safety audit of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), a four-member FAA team carried out a similar audit in September and raised concerns over several vacancies, including top posts of joint directors general and deputy directors general, at a time when air traffic in India was growing at a rapid pace.
22/11/13 PTI/Indian Express

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Need more flying rights to bring A-380: Emirates

Dubai: Indian flyers' wait for the Airbus A-380 may prove to be an endless one. While the government is now planning to allow foreign airlines to fly in the super jumbo here — three years after Delhi got the A-380 compliant terminal 3 — Emirates has said it will need more flying rights into India to do so. Since granting additional seats to Gulf carriers is a political hot potato, it remains unsure when the aircraft will finally be deployed for regular commercial flights.
"If I put a 519-seater (seating capacity of Emirates' A-380) into Delhi and they (Indian government) do not increase capacity (for us), then I need to cut frequency of existing flights. If (by deploying A-380) I can do one flight a day, then it does not make sense. If they allow us to grow capacity, seat count and put in the A-380 into Delhi and Mumbai, then we will do it very, very quickly," Emirates president Tim Clark told TOI, adding, "We have been planning to fly the A-380 from the day we got the first plane and that happened over five years back."
23/11/13 Saurabh Sinha/Times of India

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Etihad, Jet – what of the rest?

In an important development for the airline industry, a five-member majority (Chairman and four members) of the Competition Commission of India (CCI) cleared the purchase of 24 per cent stake in Jet Airways by the Abu Dhabi-based Etihad Airways.
One member, Anurag Goel, dissented. It is also not clear whether the CCI relied on public opinion to arrive at its conclusions.
When assessing a merger, the CCI first determines a relevant market, or the market affected by the merger. In this case, the CCI has held that the relevant market would be for international air passengers as Etihad does not operate in the domestic market.
22/11/13 Manas Kumar Chaudhuri/Aditi Gopalakrishnan/Business Line

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Jet Airways cancels its daily service from Chennai to Colombo

Colombo: India's largest domestic airline Jet Airways announced today that it will cancel its daily service between the Southern hub at Chennai and Sri Lanka's Colombo international airport.
The longstanding daily one hour-twenty-minute flight operated with Boeing 737-800 equipment will be cancelled from 3rd January, 2014.
However, the domestic carrier will continue to serve Colombo from its largest hub at Mumbai.
India's aviation observers say the Jet Airways' decision is a bit of a surprise, given that the India-Sri Lanka market, especially with regards to inbound medical tourism at Chennai, remains robust.
However, Sri Lanka's souring relations with India, especially with the state of Tamil Nadu, has seriously affected the number of Sri Lankans travelling to Chennai for tourism.
22/11/13 ColomboPage

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First flight from Myanmar lands in Imphal

Imphal: Imphal on Thursday put itself on the global aviation map with the landing of Myanmar's private airliner, Golden Myanmar, at Tulihal airport.
Adding glory to the historic flight, a 10-day Manipur Sangai Festival kicked off here showcasing the state's rich cultural heritage, indigenous food, sports and packed with a bunch of entertainment programmes. This is the biggest tourism festival in the state.
The Union cabinet had recently given its nod for upgrading the Tulihal airport in the Imphal West district to the status of an international airport and the new global air route operation is a part of the bilateral air service agreement inked between India and Myanmar last year.
Carrying around a hundred delegates, including chief ministers of Myanmar's Saigang and Mandalay regions, Tha Aye and Ye Mint, and cultural troops of the neighboring country, the charter flight from the eastern sky landed here around noon amid heavy security.
22/11/13 Times of India

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Air India serves chicken to veg passengers on London flight

Mumbai: Chicken morsels found in vegetarian meals served on Air India's London-Birmingham sectors have not only set off complaints from passengers, but have the potential of delaying flights, as the food packets are now being checked by the crew before they are loaded, to ensure that those labelled as vegetarian are indeed vegetarian.
After two separate incidents of chicken turning up in vegetarian meal trays at London and Birmingham, Plane Catering, the Heathrow-based agency appointed by Air India to supply it meals at both airports, is now re-inspecting the food it provides for flights operated by the national Indian carrier.
Crew complaint reports have been filed on several occasions-on November 7 (AI-119) and November 9 (AI-116), an airline official said. On flight AI-116 of November 9, six out of thirteen vegetarian meals contained chicken in place of paneer.
22/11/13 Aditya Anand/Mumbai Mirror

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Six airlines likely to operate from Thiruvananthapuram

Thiruvananthapuram: Six airlines, including four from abroad, are completing the formalities to operate flights to and from Thiruvanthapuram international airport.
The first among the six to operate to the State capital will be Gulf Air, the national carrier of the Kingdom of Bahrain. The airline will resume its direct flights from December 15 in the Bahrain-Thiruvananthapuram-Bahrain sector after a gap of over three years.
Air Asia; RAK Airways, the national airline of Ras Al Khaimah in the UAE; Malindo Air, based in Malaysia and headquartered in Petaling Jaya; had approached the Airports Authority of India (AAI) expressing interest to operate to Thiruvananthapuram. The Bangalore-based ABC Airways and Vijayawada-based Air Costa had also approached the authorities seeking permission to fly to the city.
Gulf Air, which suspended its flights to the State capital in July 2010 citing low profitability in the Thiruvananthapuram-Bahrain- Thiruvananthapuram sector, will operate five weekly flights in the sector.
22/11/13 Anil Radhakrishnan/The Hindu

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Poet to give reading at TRU on Air India tragedy

B.C. poet Renée Saklikar, who lost her aunt and uncle in the Air India bombing almost 30 years ago, will give a public reading at TRU next week.
Saklikar will read from her newly published work, Children of Air India: un/authorized exhibits and interjections (Nightwood Editions, 2013) on Nov. 28 from 1 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. in Room 2742 of TRU’s Old Main Building.
The debut collection is a deeply personal exploration of what it means to be Canadian and lose loved ones to an act of mass murder.
“She’s a fresh, new voice in Canadian poetry,” said Tom Friedman, a TRU English instructor who has included the book among readings for a course on history and Canadian literature.
21/11/13 Kamloops The Daily News

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Madurai - Dubai flight service to take off on Friday night

Madurai: After a long struggle, Spicejet's daily flight to Dubai will take off from Madurai Airport at 11.35pm on Friday night. This is the second international flight service to be launched, after the Mihin Lanka services between Madurai and Colombo launched last year.
The Madurai - Dubai flight will land in Dubai at 2.20am the following day and the return Dubai - Madurai flight will take off from Dubai at 3.50am and land in Madurai airport at 9.45am on Saturday. To mark this new flight service, a 36 member tour delegation from Tamil Nadu Chamber of Commerce and Industry will fly to Dubai on the launch flight and tour Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Cairo. The delegation will participate in the SIAL Middle East Food Processing Exhibition in Abu Dhabi later. They have also planned an interaction with Emirates Airways at Cairo to promote two-way tourism, said S Rethinavelu, senior president of the chamber.
The chamber has been persistent in its efforts to introduce direct flights from Madurai to Singapore, Malaysia, Abu Dhabi, Kuwait and other international destinations.
22/11/3 Times of India

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Nextant Aero Confident It Can Land Business in India

Nextant Aerospace has big expectations for the Indian market for its 400XTi light jet and G90XT twin turboprop, which are respectively remanufactured Beechjet 400A/400XPs and King Air C90s. In fact, India has the largest entry-level jet fleet in Asia (17 percent of the $1.7 billion market), and deliveries in this segment have doubled over the past five years.
Arun Sharma, managing director for Aviators, Nextant’s sales agent in India, asserted to AIN this week at the Dubai Airshow that both Nextant models offer the best value for their price. For the $4.95 million 400XTi, he is targeting customers who have orders pending for new entry-level jets but haven’t yet taken delivery. “We’re asking them to take a pause and look at the value proposition of the 400XTi,” Sharma said. “The unfavorable exchange rate in India erodes the value for brand-new aircraft, and the 400XTi–with its 2,000-nm range with four passengers–is an ideal airplane for the region.”
21/11/13 Chad Trautvetter/AINonline.com

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Gold seized at Coimbatore airport

Coimbatore: Customs officials seized gold estimated to weigh 1.42 kg and worth about Rs. 40 lakh, from a passenger from Sharjah at the Coimbatore airport on Thursday.
The passenger, aged around 30 and a native of Kerala, had travelled to Coimbatore on the Air Arabia flight from Sharjah that landed here at 3.30 a.m.
Customs officials said that the passenger was stopped and his baggage searched, based on intelligence inputs.
The gold had been concealed in various ways. The officials said aluminium-coated 24-carat gold moulded in the form of beading, inch-tape roll and belt buckle were found.
The officials said 109 gm gold, with aluminium coating to avoid detection, was in an inch-tape case, nearly 120 gm in the shape of a horse shoe in the watch that the passenger was wearing, another 109 gm as the belt buckle and the rest as two rows of beading inside the suitcase.
22/11/13 The Hindu

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2 Indians held with 5.5kg gold at Dhaka Airport

Two Indian nationals were arrested with smuggled gold bars weighing 5.5kg and foreign currencies at Shahjalal International Airport on Saturday morning, said officials from the Customs Department. The arrested are Jignesh Kumer and Dinesh Mongi Lal. Qamrul Hasan, assistant commissioner of the Customs Depart said the Indian nationals were arrested after they arrived at the airport at 4:30am on an Etihad Airways flight, the national airline of the United Arab Emirates. Customs sources said Jignesh was arrested around 5:30am in the Green Channel area while Mongi Lal was arrested at around 7:30am. Later on customs officials also seized 86,000 Dirham and 36000 Indian Rupees from their possessions. Talking to the Dhaka Tribune, Customs official Qamrul said, “The detained Indians had boarded the flight which was on the Dhaka to Kolkata. They might have arrived in Dhaka to hand over the gold bars to somebody else.”
22/11/13 Kailash Sarkar/Dhaka Tribune

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VistaJet in talks to start domestic ops in India

New Delhi: Scheduled foreign carriers aren’t the only ones making a beeline to enter India. Foreign non-scheduled operators, too, are considering tapping the latent traffic potential in the country. The latest in the fray is Zurich-based business jet operator VistaJet Holding SA, which has initiated talks with the Indian government to start operations in the country.
Thomas Flohr, founder and chairman, VistaJet, said, “VistaJet will continue to increase international flights to and from India, as there is strong demand for these services. Once the company gains critical mass, we will move forward with offering domestic flight services within India, as was the case with Russia, Nigeria and China, where VistaJet has opened an office in Beijing. VistaJet is already engaged in discussions with the Indian government regarding the process to establish operations within the country.”
“Discussions (are on) on several levels regarding a local presence in India,” Flohr said, declining to share any details of the investment the company would need to commence general aviation services within India and the specifics of negotiations with local partners. According to Indian foreign direct investment norms, a foreign non-scheduled operator has to form a 74:26 partnership with a domestic partner to launch operations in India.
21/11/13 Sharmistha Mukherjee/Business Standard

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24 Kgm gold found in Jet Airways' plane toilet at Kolkata

New Delhi: A cleaning crew member has found gold in the toilet of a plane belonging to an Indian airline. The 24 gold bars were found stashed in the aircraft's toilet compartment.
The plane belonged to Jet Airways and was being cleaned at the Kolkata airport on Tuesday upon its return from Patna. The plane was apparently heading to Kolkata from Bangkok.
"The cleaning staff of the airport were going though their routine duties and found two bags in the toilets of the plane," director of the airport B.P. Mishra told AFP.
The 24 one-kilogram gold bars "have not been claimed by anyone. No arrest has been made," senior customs official R.S. Meena told AFP. The value of the haul is estimated to be about Rs.70 million.
21/11/13 India Today

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Agusta’s defence fails to satisfy govt

New Delhi: Faced with cancellation of the Rs 3,546-crore deal for 12 VVIP helicopters, aviation major AgustaWestland on Wednesday told the defence ministry that it was not involved in any wrongdoing to secure the contract.
Top executives of AgustaWestland, the UK-based subsidiary of Italian conglomerate Finmeccanica, also told the MoD that they had nominated former Supreme Court judge B N Srikrishna to represent it in arbitration proceedings against the government since they were left with no other option.
But both the moves failed to cut much ice with the MoD, which has set a November 26 deadline for the helicopter-manufacturer to respond with a detailed written reply to its final cancellation show-cause notice. Joint secretary (air acquisitions manager) Upamanyu Chatterjee, accompanied by other officials, heard the three executives of the AgustaWestland on Wednesday.
21/11/13 Times of India

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Dassault Aviation Set to Deliver First 2000S Business Jet in India

Dassault Aviation is preparing to deliver its new Falcon 2000S business jet into the important Indian market, following certification by the Indian airworthiness authorities.
The 2000S was certified on November 1st, continuing a process that began in the spring of 2013 with the receipt of FAA and EASA approvals. The aircraft has already been certified in Brazil, Mexico and Turkey, and Dassault expects approval from the Canadian authorities shortly.
The 2000S also recently received EASA and FAA steep approach approval, paving the way for its operation at London City Airport in the heart of London.
Dassault has delivered 10 Falcon 2000S business jets since aircraft deliveries started in April. The first aircraft to be based in India is set for delivery to a customer in Bangalore next month.
21/11/13 Saint-Cloud/PR News Wire

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Duo detained at airport

Hyderabad: Two persons from Kerala were detained by customs officials at RGIA on Wednesday night for evading duty on banned tobacco product gutka and cloth meant for making burqas. They arrived in the city by an Air India from Dubai. Customs officials said during luggage checking they found thousands of gutka packets and cloth running into several meters in luggage belonging to Abdul Khadeer and Salim Abdullah.
21/11/13 Times of India

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First FDI infusion by Indian airline: Rs 2,069 crore Jet-Etihad deal finally takes off

Mumbai: The Rs 2,069 crore rpt Rs 2,069 crore Jet Airways deal with Etihad Airways finally took off on Wednesday with Naresh Goyal becoming the country's first airline promoter to receive foreign investment by selling 24 per cent stake to the Abu Dhabi-based carrier.
The two airlines jointly announced the completion of the Rs 2,069-crore (USD 380 million at the rupee rate on the day the deal was announced on April 24 this year) transaction under which Jet transferred 2.73 crore equity shares, aggregating to 24 per cent of its paid-up equity capital, to Etihad.
The announcement came after a board meeting of the Indian private airline at the Jet headquarters here this afternoon, which lasted for over an hour. The board also approved sale of the Jet Privilege Frequent Flyer Programme (JPMiles) business to its subsidiary Jet Privilege Pvt Ltd as a going concern on a slump sale basis. The JPMile deal will involve Etihad pumping in USD 150 million for a 50.1 per cent stake in the venture. The finalisation of the deal came over a week after fair trade regulator Competition Commission of India (CCI) approved the acquisition of stake in Jet by Etihad, clearing the last hurdle for first such deal in the country's aviation sector, where most players are facing tough time.
20/11/13 PTI/Deccan Chronicle

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DGCA gives nod to landing of Myanmarese airliner at Tulihal

Imphal: To mark the maiden landing of an international airliner, the Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) under the Ministry of Civil Aviation, Government of India has approved the Myanmarese private airliner, Golden Myanmar to land at Tulihal Airport here on November 21 after its elevation to an international airport.
More than 100 delegates from Myanmar including the Chief Ministers of Mandalay and Sagaign Regions would be on board the chartered flight of Golden Myanmar to attend the Sangai Festival.
According to a highly placed official source, the approval has been given by the DGCA in view of strengthening the goodwill mission between Myanmar and India.
The flight is scheduled to arrive at Imphal Airport at 10 am on November 21 and depart on the same day.
However, the same airliner would land at Imphal Airport for the second time on November 24 and ferry back the Myanmarese delegates.
19/11/13 E-Pao

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Nextant Aerospace Bullish on Entry-level Business Aircraft in India

Dubai: Nextant Aerospace has big expectations for the Indian market for its 400XTi light jet and G90XT twin turboprop, which are respectively remanufactured Beechjet 400A/400XPs and King Air C90s. In fact, India has the largest entry-level jet fleet in Asia–17 percent of the $1.7 billion market–while deliveries in this segment have doubled over the past five years.
Arun Sharma, managing director for Aviators, Nextant’s sales agent in India, said both Nextant models offer the best value for their price. For the $4.95 million 400XTi, he is targeting customers who have orders pending for new entry-level jets but haven’t yet taken delivery. “We’re asking them to take a pause and look at the value proposition of the 400XTi,” Sharma told AIN. “The unfavourable exchange rate in India erodes the value for brand-new aircraft, and the 400XTi–with its 2,000-nm range with four passengers–is an ideal airplane for the region.”
19/11/13 Chad Travtvetter/AINonline

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Florida businesses eye Mideast aviation bonanza

Tucked near the back of one of the world's largest airshows is a modest pavilion for the state of Florida, where a handful of businesses are trying to get a piece of the billions being invested in the aviation industry by wealthy Arab governments.
Facing stagnation and even economic downturn back home, 11 Florida companies are hawking aviation equipment and training services at the Dubai Airshow, located in a sprawling Arabian desert site that will soon be home to the region's newest mega-airport.
The industry's most lucrative deals are increasingly being inked in the Middle East, and the biennial airshow gives businesses a chance to promote their products globally. Nearly $200 billion in deals have been announced over the first two days. Florida, which has more than 2,000 aviation and aerospace companies operating there, is the only U.S. state represented.
The Florida businesses really are small fish among the 1,055 exhibitors _ including the biggest names in defense and civil aviation _ in the airshow's massive exhibition hall, which is about the size of seven American football fields.
"We like to think we are very aggressive in promoting our target industries," Manuel Mencia, the senior vice president of International Trade & Business Development at Enterprise Florida, said. "We feel the Middle East has great potential for Florida and Dubai is a great gateway to Southeast Asia, especially India."
19/11/13 AP/Daily American.com

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What you must know before flying abroad

Recently, Indian travellers had to spend a night at a European airport when their connecting flight from the US to India was cancelled. So, what should a traveller expect these days?
Different countries follow different rules for passengers transiting through their airports. Take, for instance, the UK, which possibly has the most complicated visa system.
It requires passengers from some countries — including those from India transiting through its airports on connecting flights to Europe and the Caribbean — to have an Air Side Transit Visa (ASTV), which has to be issued in the country of origin. If a passenger comes under this category, he needs an ASTV irrespective of whether he is entering the UK or just connecting from one flight to another without leaving the airport.
The idea is to prevent asylum seekers from entering the country. You don’t need ASTV — or any other UK visa — if you are connecting to either the US or Canada through a British airport without a break in journey. This essentially means that you do not leave the airport between flights.
20/11/13 Ashwini Phadnis/Business Line

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Bird that has been on an eight-month wait-list to fly back

Mumbai: A mummified bird, part of a spectacular exhibition mounted at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya in conjunction with the British Museum earlier this year, will finally be allowed to leave the country in the next few days, nearly eight months after the rest of the exhibition moved to Singapore.
The exhibition titled 'Mummy: The Inside Story', which cost Rs 3 crore and saw over 3.2 lakh footfalls, concluded on March 24, but the mummified bird, an Ibis, was not allowed to leave the country with the other exhibits as it did not have a CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) certificate.
So, while the other 110 objects, including human mummies, were sent by air to Singapore, the Ibis mummy was sealed and stored in the museum at Fort.
The Ibis is an endangered bird and was last spotted in 1891. As per international protocol governing transport of endangered species, all import, export, re-export and introduction of such articles requires CITES approval. Though the Ibis displayed at the exhibition was mummified 3000 years ago, the stringent CITES protocol put it in the 'endangered species' category.
20/11/13 Reema Gehi & Bipin Kumar Singh/Mumbai Mirror 

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Delhi airport operator seeks US expansion

The operator of New Delhi's revitalised airport says it hopes to enter the United States if the world's largest economy moves to privatise its ageing network.
New Delhi's Indira Gandhi International Airport, once notoriously cramped and lacking in amenities, expanded in 2010 by building the world's eighth largest terminal, which sprawls for four square kilometres and has allowed a more than doubling of passenger traffic.
The terminal was built in 37 months -- a major achievement in a country where infrastructure projects routinely are delayed for years -- through a public-private partnership headed by the Bangalore-based GMR Group.
Indana Prabhakara Rao, chief executive officer of the Delhi airport, says the company is making known that it is interested in investment in the US, where virtually all airports are publicly owned.
"As and when airports come open for private participation, we are there to get into this," Rao said on a recent visit to Washington where he was taking part in US-India aviation talks.
"We have expertise from end to end, from concept to commission, operation to maintenance," he said. "We are a global player. We are not a domestic player anymore."
19/11/13 Shaun Tandon/AFP/The West.com.au

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Tanzanian 'mule' dead after Mumbai Police arrests for smuggling cocaine

Mumbai: The Air Intelligence Unit (AIU) of Mumbai Customs is on a sticky position on the death of one Tanzanian national.
 After getting a tip-off, officials of Mumbai customs and Narcotic Control Board (NCB) arrested three Tanzanian nationals at Chatrapati Shivaji International Airport for attempting to smuggle cocaine by ingesting capsules.
 Out of these three, two were mules who were flying on Ethiopian Airlines Flight 610, which landed early in the morning, were taken in for questioning. After five hours of questioning, these men had still not admitted to anything.
 Source says, officials offered these foreigners food and water, a common trick. Drug mules who ingest capsules always refuse to eat or drink because sudden bowel movements rupture the capsules leading to death. If the man refused, they would know for sure that the person is smuggling drugs. One of them ate the offered food.
 "One man ate the omlette pao offered to him. Later, all three were taken to the court, but the person who had eaten food resisted and tried to escape. In a scuffle, he collapsed outside the court. He died of a sudden cardiac death, typical of a cocaine overdose," an officer said on request of anonymity. He was carrying 20-25 capsules in his body.
19/11/13 Virendrasingh Ghunawat/India Today

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Trainee pilot from Andhra dies in US plane crash

Hyderabad:  A trainee pilot from India has died in a plane crash at Hooks Aiport in the US.
Chamakura Karthik, from Kurnool district in Andhra Pradesh, was killed when single-engine Cessna burst into flames after a crash at Hooks Airport in Harris County, Texas, on Sunday evening.
According to the airport officials, the Cesna 172 crashed into a hangar as the pilot was attempting to return to the runway after some engine problem. Karthik's trainer also died in the accident.
19/11/13 IANS/NDTV.com

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Saudi low-cost carrier plans expansion into Europe, Asia

Saudi low-cost carrier FlyNas formally known as Nas air will start flights to Europe and Asia early next year, its holding company’s chief told Al Arabiya News on the sidelines of the Dubai Airshow on Monday.
While the carrier currently flies to 23 destinations across the Middle East, it will start flying to India, Pakistan and Iran and Europe in March or April 2014, according to Sulaiman bin Abdullah al-Hamdan, The group CEO of Nas holding.
At the airshow, al-Hamdan greeted Saudi Prince Fahad Bin Abdullah, head of the country’s general authority for civil aviation.
Prince Fahad Bin Abdullah attended the show to inaugurate the new Airbus A320 plane, which will be part of FlyNas's new fleet.
18/11/13 Nada Altuwaijri/Al Arabiya News 

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India Set To Cancel AgustaWestland Deal

India has decided to cancel a scandal-tainted chopper deal with Anglo-Italian AgustaWestland,
prejudging the outcome of a meeting on Wednesday (20 November)  between company executives and Defence Ministry officials to discuss the contract, three sources said.
The decision draws a line under a dispute that has embarrassed a government heading into elections under a cloud of corruption scandals, and could re-open the contract to rivals, including United Technologies Corp's Sikorsky Aircraft, EADS' Eurocopter and Lockheed Martin.
 Scrapping the 560 million euro deal to buy 12 helicopters for top politicians will not necessarily lead to New Delhi blacklisting the firm, sources have said, a move some officials fear would set back efforts to modernise the military.
However, it closes a chapter of the struggle by AgustaWestland, a division of Italian defence group Finmeccanica, to keep the contract alive.
19/11/13 Business World

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India, Russia to hold naval, air force exercises

Moscow/New Delhi: India and Russia will hold joint naval and air force exercises next year.
The decision was taken at the 13th meeting of the India-Russia Inter-Governmental Commission on Military Technical Cooperation (IRIGC-MTC) held in Moscow Monday.
The two countries also agreed to "expand the range of their strategic partnership in a significant manner".
According to a defence ministry statement, the IRIGC-MTC meeting was co- chaired by Defence Minister A.K. Antony and his Russian counterpart Sergey Shoigu.
The meeting was held two days after the commissioning of the much-awaited aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya into the Indian Navy.
18/11/13 IANS/daijiworld.com

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Indian-origin US woman alleges harassment at IGI airport

Jalandhar: Levelling serious allegations against immigration and police officials at IGI airport in Delhi, an Indian-origin woman of US has stated that she was detained in a room where there was no woman officer and was threatened, besides being asked personal and offending questions.
US-resident Rupinder Kaur, who is also filing an affidavit with US embassy in New Delhi about her mental harassment by Indian officials when she landed at IGI Airport on September 29, has also alleged in a written complaint that the male officials gave her "unprofessional looks" and kept on visiting the room one-by-one where she was detained.
"They asked me very personal questions such as who fathered my daughter and my 'intimate relations' with Harmandeep Rai, who accompanied me in the journey. I felt embarrassed and completely shocked that these questions had nothing to do with my identity. I was intentionally forced to stay there for more than three hours. Each immigration agent kept repeating the same questions such as if I am a runaway and who fathered my daughter. Later, they told me that I am free to go as they could not find anything to hold me any longer," she alleged.
17/11/13 Times of India

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NRI assaulted, humiliated by immigration officials at Delhi airport

New Delhi: An NRI doctor from California and his woman friend, who is a nurse, were humiliated by immigration officials at Indira Gandhi International Airport on September 29, a media report said quoting his letter sent to the prime minister and NRI Cell in Delhi.
 Harmandeep Rai, who belongs to Jalandhar in Punjab, runs a rural health clinic - Urgent Care - in California, English daily Tribune reported.
He along with his woman friend Rupinder Kaur had come India for three days to visit Golden Temple in Amritsar.
He has alleged that on arrival, the duo went to the immigration counter where he was cleared to leave, but Rupinder was stopped by the official at the counter.
 Harmandeep waited for Rupinder for an hour but when she failed to show up, he enquired from an immigration official who told him to wait for another 30 minutes, said the report.
 Two hours later, an immigration official accompanied by his two collegues - Vikas Bhushan and Jaipal - allegedly told Harmandeep that the information on Rupinder's passport matched with that of someone else.
After a while, two men in uniform  approached Harmandeep and told him to come along to meet their senior officer. On the way, at least eight men, possibly immigration officials, pushed Harmandeep into a room, he claimed.
 "They started slapping, kicking and punching me. They forced me on the floor and told me ‘murga ban’. They left and after 20 minutes, a man came and apologised to me for the incident.
18/11/13 Daily Bhaskar

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Air India 747 Jumbo returns to Jeddah due to technical glitch

Mumbai: An Air India 747 jumbo flight from Jeddah had to be flown back to the airport of origin after its pilot saw an signal indicating a technical glitch with the door.
"The pilot saw a door sign and the aircraft was flown back to Jeddah' said a spokesperson at the airline.
"However it was a false alarm," she added.
The delay however caused the Jeddah-Hyderabad- Mumbai flight to skip a leg and land at Mumbai 4 hours late.
15/11/13 Anirban Chowdhury/Economic Times

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Man hides gold worth Rs 1-cr in AI plane loo

Mumbai: An ingenious smuggler from Sri Lanka almost managed to sneak in gold bars worth Rs 1 crore, which he had concealed inside the lavatory of the Dubai-Mumbai-Goa Air India flight AI984 that landed at the Mumbai International Airport at 4 am Thursday.
Officials from the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) and the Mumbai customs, who had a tip-off about the consignment, screened the passenger and his baggage but found nothing.
However, the alert cabin crew pointed to a flyer in the business class, Sri Lankan national, Mohideen Yaseer, 51, saying he spent most part of the Dubai-Mumbai journey in the lavatory.
15/11/13 Bipin Kumar Singh/Mumbai Mirror

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Running a JV airline in India a challenge: Singapore Airlines CEO

Mumbai: Singapore Airlines (SIA) chief executive Goh Choon Phong has said running a successful joint venture airline in India will be a challenge.
“By no means do we think this is going to be a walk in the park. The venture being set up in India will have its challenges. We are all familiar with some of the challenges in India. It’s a very competitive market domestically, and for a new start-up, the current rule says one has to operate for five years and have a fleet of 20 aircraft before you’re allowed to go abroad. And, we all know how competitive the domestic market is. Therefore, it is going to be a highly challenging venture to actually make it work,” Phong said.
“We don’t take it (challenges) lightly. But of course, if we did not have confidence to make it work, we wouldn’t have been there. As with any venture, there will be risks. But we believe that is acceptable, given the potential and the benefits we see this venture eventually bringing in.”
15/11/13 Business Standard

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Empire Aviation Looks East of India

Dubai-based aircraft sales and aircraft management specialist and operator of the region’s largest fleet of business jets,Empire Aviation Group, which has been a subsidiary of Air Works India Engineering since 2012, is looking to expand support to the booming Southeast Asia market. A strategic tie-up is to be announced in the first quarter of 2014, Paras Dhamecha, executive director at Empire Aviation, told AIN.
Empire started its services in Bangalore early this year and is now taking “the Air Works marriage forward,” said Dhamecha. As markets in Indonesia, Malaysia, Hong Kong and Thailand boom, he added, “we will create an international brand east of India–not China. Southeast Asia and Hong Kong are active [markets]…Our focus is to support that growth, while not physically being there.” He refused to elaborate further, however.
15/11/13 Neelam Mathews/AINonline

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Afghan on business trip goes missing from IGI

New Delhi: A 40-year-old Afghan national, who was invited by an Indian businessman to invest in his garment business, has reportedly gone missing under mysterious circumstances after landing in India.
The victim, identified as Ishanullah Sahak, a paediatrician by profession, was last seen coming out of Gate No. 6 of the Indira Gandhi International Airport on November 11. His family approached the police same day, but the Delhi police is yet to register their complaint.
Ishanullah’s brother Mohammed Ahram, who lives in Meerut, said his brother who has visited India several times was lured into garment business by an unknown person.
16/11/13  Atul Krishan/Asian Age

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Russo-Indian Brahmos Co-Op To Be Extended

The contract between India and Russia to cooperate on the Brahmos supersonic cruise missile expires in February next year but is likely “to be renewed indefinitely by the end of [this] year,” an Indian Ministry of Defense (MoD) official, who did not wish to be identified, told AIN. “We’re partners. It’s not for us to divulge,” Shivathnu Pillai, CEO and managing director of BrahMos Aerospace, told AIN.
Earlier this year, the Indian Navy tested a highly maneuverable, warship-based version of the Brahmos. The surface-to-surface version has a top speed of Mach 2.8, and 290 km range with GPS/Glonass mid-course guidance. It is being prepared for service with two regiments of the Indian Army and eight warships of the Indian Navy. An upgraded Block III version with steep-dive capability was demonstrated to the Army for mountain operations, Minister of Defense A.K. Antony told Parliament in April.
15/11/13 Neelam Mathews/AINonline

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Air India to offer special discounts on National Day

Muscat: Air India has announced special rates to destinations in India to celebrate the 43rd National Day of Oman, airline officials informed yesterday.
The special fares have been provided for passengers flying to Delhi, Chennai, Hyderabad, Bangalore and Mumbai.
According to airline officials, those who wish to take advantage of the offer must purchase tickets by November 30 and should travel by March 31, 2014, except for Delhi and Chennai.
The final date for outbound travel to Delhi is November 30, 2013 and Chennai is December 10, 2013.
16/11/13 Times of Oman

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Singapore Airlines CEO says running an airline in India will be a challenge

Mumbai: Singapore Airlines (SIA) chief executive officer Goh Choon Phong has said it will be a challenge to run a succesful joint venture airline in India.
"By no means do we think that this is going to be a walk in the park. The venture, setting up in India, will have its challenges. We are all familiar with some of the challenges in India. It's a very competitive market domestically, and as a new start-up the current rule says that one has to operate for five years, and to reach a fleet of 20 aircraft before you're allowed to go overseas. And we all know how competitive the domestic market is, and therefore it is going to be a highly challenging venture to actually make it work,'' SIA's chief executive officer said on Wednesday in an interaction with analysts.
Last month the Foreign Investment Promotion Board gave its nod for the Tata-SIA airlines. Singapore Airlines will hold 49% stake in the airline and balance 51 will be held by Tata group. An initial investment of $ 100 million will made in launching full service airline with a hub in Delhi. The Tata-SIA venture is the third foreign direct investment proposal to receive FIPB nod after the government relaxed FDI norms last year.
G C Phong however expressed confidence as the airline had found the right partner in the Tata group and current environment conducive to investment and growth. "We believe that we have the best partner we could find, someone we know for a long time, which is Tata Sons,'' he said.
14/11/13 Aneesh Phadnis/Business Standard

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Ramco strengthens its global footprint

Ramco Systems announced addition of consultants and boutique firms as business partners in North America strengthening their presence for HCM products in the region along with its ERP and Aviation Suite of offerings.
Virendar Aggarwal, chief executive officer, Ramco Systems  said, ''Manu organizations are battling with legacy HR systems that do not address the new age needs of its employees. We are excited with the initial success of our HCM product in regions such as middle east and are gearing up for strengthening our presence in US. We believe there is a market opportunity for cloud based HCM and would like to capitalize on the same.''
14/11/13 myiris

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Four kg of smuggled gold found on aircraft in Chennai

Chennai: An ingenious attempt to smuggle gold hidden under a seat of an aircraft, was thwarted by officials of the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) at Chennai airport on Wednesday. Two persons, including a Sri Lankan national, were arrested.
The officials seized four kilograms of gold, valued at Rs 1.21 crore. Explaining the modus operandi of the smugglers, a DRI source said one person had brought the gold from Dubai to Chennai and kept it under the cushion cover of a seat. The location of the seat was then passed on to another person who took the same flight while it was operated in the domestic sector and removed the gold from under the seat.
14/11/13 P. Oppili/The Hindu

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Indonesia state firm plans Java airport JV with Indian firm

Jakarta: Indonesia's state-owned PT Angkasa Pura I plans to partner with India's GVK Power & Infrastructure next year on a project to build a second airport in the central Java city of Yogyakarta worth up to $700 million, said the head of the Southeast Asian firm.
GVK is expected to be the first foreign firm allowed to own a major stake in an Indonesian airport, as the government looks overseas for help in funding much needed infrastructure.
Indonesian airports are barely coping with a surge in passenger traffic, trying to catch up with airlines, like Garuda Indonesia and privately held Lion Air, that have placed unprecedented plane orders.
"Our cooperation with GVK from India on the Yogyakarta airport will be the first foreign joint venture," Angkasa Pura's President-Director Tommy Soetomo told Reuters. "We are still preparing the master plan."
The deal has yet to be finalised and must be approved by Angkasa Pura's shareholders, he said. GVK's share in the joint venture will not be more than 49 percent.
13/11/13  Fathiyah Dahrul and Randy Fabi/Reuters/New Indian Express

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AIE dismisses airhostess facing gold smuggling charge

Kochi: Air India Express (AIE) airhostess Hiromasa V Sebastian, arrested along with her accomplice on the charge of smuggling six kg of gold from Dubai, has been dismissed from the airline, company sources said today.
They said AIE has terminated the services of Sebastian, who had joined the airline on Nov 15, 2011, invoking a clause in her job contract that there would be immediate dismissal in case of detention or arrest by police or customs or for indulging in any criminal activities.
Kozhikode-based Sebastian and her friend were arrested on November 8 at the Karipur International Airport by Directorate of Revenue Intelligence officials after they were found in alleged possession of the gold, kept concealed, on arrival from Dubai by an AIE flight.
13/11/13 PTI/Business Standard

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Customs, DRI step up vigil on gold smugglers

Kochi:  Customs officials at international airports are struggling to catch up with the ever-changing modus operandi of gold smugglers who have gone on an overdrive following the hike in import duty on gold to 10 per cent.
Smugglers have become “very smart,” employing new communications technologies for their activities, a senior Customs official pointed out. New technologies also offered the smugglers a range of new possibilities for concealing the contraband.
There has been a spurt in gold smuggling in Kerala’s three international airports after the government increased the import duty on gold. Dubai, a major global gold trading centre, is the main source of gold smuggled into India.
Low prices, lack of any restrictions on gold purchase and easy air connectivity to Indian destinations made Dubai the favoured city of smugglers.
13/11/13 Business Line

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Are birthdays the trigger point for decisions on Jet-Etihad deal?

Are birthdays the trigger point for decisions on Jet-Etihad w Delhi: Are birthdays in some way linked to the Jet-Etihad deal? On Tuesday, just as the 10th birthday celebrations of Etihad Airways were under way, came the news that the Competition Commission of India had given its nod to the Gulf-based airline’s buyout of a stake in Jet Airways (India) Ltd.
This was the last major clearance the two airlines needed before approaching the Civil Aviation Ministry for procedural approval, which is a basic formality.
But this is not the only birthday celebration marking the deal. The Foreign Investment Promotion Board, the nodal agency for approving foreign direct investment proposals, finally gave its clearance to the deal on the 54th birthday of Naresh Goyal, the promoter of Jet Airways, on July 29.
One can only hope that the airlines will not have to wait till November-end, when the birthday of James Hogan, CEO, Etihad, falls, for the deal to be completed.
13/11/13 Ashwini Phadnis/Business Line

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Manipur writes to DGCA for allowing chartered flight at Imphal

Imphal: Manipur writes to DGCA for allowing chartered flight at ImphalImphal: Manipur government has written to the Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) to allow landing of chartered flight from Myanmar to Imphal airport in connection with the forthcoming 'Sangai Festival,' official sources said today.
'Chief Ministers' of Sagang and Mandalay regions in Myanmar along with about 100 members of a delegation would land at Imphal on November 21 and 24 in connection with the 10-day festival beginning from November 21.
Sources said Myanmar-based airlines 'Golden Myanma Airlines Public Co. Ltd' (GMAPC) would bring the foreign delegates but the state was yet to receive any reply so far from the DGCA. The union cabinet had recently decided to upgrade the Imphal airport to international standards but official notification in this regard was yet to be issued.
13/11/13 Business Standard

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Kerala drops plans to airlift workers from Saudi Arabia

Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala has abandoned plans to charter flights from Saudi Arabia to bring back overstaying workers.
The state’s minister for non-resident affairs, K C Joseph, said the authorities were forced to abandon the plan to operate special flights from Riyadh, Jeddah and Dammam due to inadequate demand.
“We need at least 150 passengers to charter a flight. But the applications we received were far below that number,” the minister, who is currently in Sidney, Australia, said in a statement issued here yesterday.
The government decided to operate chartered flights from November 20 to airlift stranded expatriates after the deadline for legalising the job and residence status under the Nitaqat (naturalisation) law ended on November 3.
Separate advisory committees of expatriate volunteers were formed in the three Saudi cities to collect applications from those who registered at the Indian diplomatic missions before the deadline expired.
13/11/13 Ashraf Padanna/Gulf Times

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NIIT Tech wins contract from Sao Paolo International Airport

New Delhi:  IT solutions company NIIT Technologies said it won a contract to implement a cargo handling system at Sao Paolo International Airport in Brazil.
The Noida-based company will establish a single-platform system that will cater to all performance and operational needs of the cargo terminal at the largest international airport in Latin America, NIIT Technologies said in a release.
13/11/13 Times of India

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DRI seeks info on Air India staff after busting gold rackets

Chennai: The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) has asked Air India for detailed information on certain employees in the Gulf sector after investigations linked the carrier's staff to two recent cases of gold smuggling into the country.
These employees include aircraft cabin crew members, flight engineers and ground handlers who were involved in the two flights on which DRI made two large seizures.
In the first, on October 7, investigators found a huge stash of gold biscuits weighing 32 kg and worth close to Rs 9.5 crore hidden in a toilet abutting the cockpit, when an Air India flight from Dubai touched down in Chennai. In another bust three days later, DRI officials arrested an Air India Express flight attendant at Calicut airport on Sunday and seized gold bars worth Rs 1.84 crore from her.
13/11/13 Arun Janardhanan/Times of India

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Jet-Etihad deal gets Competition Commission's nod

New Delhi: The Competition Commission of India (CCI) has given its nod to the Jet Airways-Etihad deal, paving the way for the Abu Dhabi-based airline to acquire 24 per cent in the Indian carrier. In its order issued on Tuesday, CCI ruled the proposed combination “is not likely to have appreciable adverse effect on competition in India”.
The majority order, passed by CCI chairman Ashok Chawla and four members, said the approval can be revoked if information provided by Jet and Etihad is found to be incorrect at any time. One CCI member, Anurag Goel, dissented with the majority view.
The anti-trust body’s clearance means that both sides can go ahead with the transaction. According to sources, Etihad's investment in Jet Airways is likely to be completed in the next 15 days. Jet Airways’ chairman Naresh Goyal will sell six per cent stake in the airline in an offer-for-sale to bring down his shareholding to 51 per cent according to the Securities and Exchange Board of India’s (Sebi) order. The stake sale to Etihad will happen subsequent to that sale.
The Rs 2,060-crore deal and the increase in traffic rights to Abu Dhabi had generated a lot of controversy and political opposition, leading to litigation.
12/11/13 Business Standard

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Air India, Adria Airways ink codeshare pact

New Delhi: Air India and Adria Airways today signed a codeshare agreement which would help Indian travellers fly seamlessly to the Slovenian national carrier's wide network in Europe and North America.
The agreement was signed by Air India CMD Rohit Nandan and Adria President and CEO Mark Anzur in the presence of visiting Slovenian Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Karl Viktor Erjavec and Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh at the Ministry headquarters here.
Terming the agreement as one of strategic significance to Air India, Nandan said both carriers would fly into each other's countries in the next couple of years as they further expand their global operations.
He also sought Adria's support in Air India's renewed bid to gain membership of Star Alliance, expressing hope that the global airlines' grouping would take a decision on the matter "very soon".
A member of Star Alliance, Adria, along with other airline partners in Star Alliance, offers access to a global network of 27 airlines with more than 21,900 daily flights to 1,328 airports in 195 countries.
12/11/13 PTI/Business Standard

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Bearskin Airlines crash: Pilot from Mississauga always wanted to fly

The family of one of the pilots who died in a Bearskin Airlines crash Sunday in northern Ontario says he wanted to fly planes from an early age.
From his early roots in India to his life growing up in Mississauga, Aniruddh Sawant thought about little else but flying.
On his Twitter page, the 25-year-old described his interests this way: “Make music. Fly planes. Eat food. Repeat.”
Sawant and Captain Peter Traczuk, 34, were among five people to die when the twin-engine Metro Fairchild turboprop crashed after declaring an emergency on approach to Red Lake’s airport.
Two passengers survived.
Younger brother, Sid Sawant, said music and flying were Aniruddh’s twin passions.
Sawant, who had relocated to Winnipeg to work for Bearskin, spent his teen years in Mississauga after the family moved to Canada about 18 years ago.
Sawant went to Cawthra Park Secondary School in Mississauga and enrolled in the arts, which kindled his love of music.
Sawant was a long-time member of the 845 Avro Arrow Squadron air cadet program in Mississauga until he was 18, when he obtained both his gliders pilots licence and his private pilots licence.
12/11/13 Curtis Rush/The Star.com

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Air India says Jet Airways, Etihad Airways deal anti-competitive

New Delhi: National carrier Air India has expressed concern over the alliance between Jet Airways and Abu Dhabi's Etihad Airways.
Air India believes the enhanced bilateral rights given by India to Abu Dhabi will result in additional international passenger traffic being diverted to the Jet Airways, Etihad Airways combine.
The Competition Commission of India (CCI), which is currently evaluating the deal, had sought the national carrier Air India's views on the deal.
In April, the aviation ministry more than tripled the number of weekly seats allocated between India and Abu Dhabi to 53,000, which is to be done over three years.
Of this, 24,000 seats have already been allocated for the winter schedule from October 2013 to March 2014.
12/11/13 Financial Express

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Bhutan Airlines to start Kolkata flights next month

The airline will start daily flights on the Bangkok-Kolkata-Paro-Kolkata-Bangkok route later this month, after completing formalities with the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA).
“We are eager to begin services to Kolkata that is evolving as an important market for tourist traffic to Bhutan,” Ugyen Tenzin, Commercial Director of Bhutan Airlines was quoted as saying by the Times of India.
Currently, Jet Airways operates two daily flights to Bangkok while Thai Airways, IndiGo and AirAsia have a daily operation, whereas Druk Air is the only airline operating on Kolkata-Paro sector.
11/11/13 Travel Daily Media

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India tempts Qatar with airline bilaterals carrot to secure cheaper LNG

New Delhi: After allowing Abu Dhabi a near fourfold increase in bilateral airline seat entitlements, the Centre is likely to do the same for Qatar. India, though, is looking to extract concessions in the form of a discount on LNG supplies from the West Asian country in lieu of any increase in the cap on the number of flights between the two nations.
National security adviser Shiv Shankar Menon has proposed that India seek a discount on LNG supplies from Qatar as a precondition to allowing its national airline an increase in weekly seat entitlements, a move that could potentially help Qatar Airways earn close to $200 million over 10 years.
At a meeting on October 29, Menon suggested that India’s Petronet LNG (PLL) negotiate a long-term price for an extra 3 million tonnes of LNG from Qatar’s Ras Laffan Liquefied Natural Gas (RasGas) to “match the concessions” that could arise from the increase in seat sharing with Qatar Airways. At a meeting of the ministries called by the PMO, the civil aviation ministry had been instructed to work out details pertaining to the number of seats that could be increased, said a senior civil aviation ministry official who attended the meeting. Present at the meeting were officials from the petroleum and natural gas and the external affairs ministries as also officials from the department of industrial policy and promotion.
12/11/13 Mihir Mishra, Amitav Ranjan/Financial Express

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Despite glitches, Air India bets big on Boeing Dreamliners

Mumbai: Despite the current technical glitches with its Boeing Dreamliner 787s, Air India is betting big on the aircraft and plans to deploy them on more than 40% on its international operations by March 2014, said two senior executives in the airline. Air India currently operates about 25% of its 335 weekly international services on the Dreamliner. The total number of services would go up to 350 by end of March 2014. AI's current fleet size (excluding Air India Express which has 21 aircraft currently and Alliance Air which has 10 aircraft currently) is 99 aircraft (62 narrow body and 37 wide body). Its fleet size would go up to 103 aircraft by end of March 2014. Air India is also in the process of selling out five Boeing 777-200 Long Range aircraft to Abu Dhabi-based Etihad Airways as a part of its fleet restructuring plan.
The airline has so far received 10 of 27 ordered Dreamliners and will receive four more by March 2014. The remaining will be delivered by March 2015.
11/11/13 Anirban Chowdhury/Economic Times

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Women seen to be key carriers in Kerala gold smuggling rackets

Thiruvananthapuram: A series of reports of gold smuggling into India, mainly carried out by rackets operated by Keralites, has one common feature: A good number of the carriers of smuggled gold into India are women from northern Kerala. In one case, a Keralite woman and her two daughters are suspected to be part of a smuggling ring.
Over half a dozen women have already been caught smuggling gold into the country, including an air hostess and a former assistant manager of a bank. Police suspect that more and more women are taking the plunge into the smuggling business for to make quick money.
Gold smuggling turned into an attractive proposition following the federal government’s decision to hike the import duty on gold to 10 per cent, with the aim of containing the government’s current account deficit. In the past few weeks alone, over 60kg of gold is estimated to have been taken into custody by the department of revenue intelligence officials from the three airports in the state during smuggling attempts.
10/11/13 Akhel Mathew/Gulf News

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Jet-Etihad Deal: Air India's views may only delay nod

Mumbai: National carrier Air India's views on the Jet Airways-Etihad equity deal may delay, although not stall, the antitrust regulator's clearance to the proposed alliance, a person close to the development has said. Jet plans to sell 24% stake to the Abu Dhabi-based carrier in a deal that will bring $600 million to the airline in equity and soft loans. The proposal has been cleared by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs and is awaiting approval from the Competition Commission of India (CCI).
The regulator, which had sought Air India's opinion on the deal's impact on the Indian aviation market, plans to take up the case for review on Monday.
According to a senior Air India executive, the airline has told the CCI that the allocation of seats, as per the terms of the deal, would drive most of the Indian traffic to Etihad.
11/11/13 Anirban Chowdhury & Maulik Vyas/Economic Times

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Aviation ministry allows more flights to Middle East, SE Asia, SpiceJet primary beneficiary

New Delhi: The civil aviation ministry has allowed Indian carriers to increase the number of flights to destinations in the Middle East and South East Asia.
SpiceJet, which has huge international expansion plans, is the primary beneficiary of the ministry’s move.
The other airlines are IndiGo, which has got permissions to launch flights to Dubai, and connect Singapore from Kolkata and Chennai. These flights will be in lieu of flights from Delhi and Mumbai that IndiGo stopped because of aircraft limitations. IndiGo flights to Singapore from Delhi and Mumbai with Airbus 320s were not profitable for the airline.
Jet Airways too, has got permissions to launch a daily flight to Dubai from Kochi.
These permissions were given to enable Indian carriers to match international rivals in terms of utilisations of foreign flying rights out of India.
11/11/13 Mihir Mishra/Financial Express

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4 airlines seek nod for international operations from Bhubaneswar

Bhubabeswar: Ten days after the Biju Patnaik airport here was accorded international status by the Union Cabinet, four airlines approached the airport authority to start international operations.
The international carriers are Qatar airways for Abu Dhabi, Silk Air for Singapore, Indigo for Bangkok and Fly Dubai for Dubai. All these are direct flights, airport sources said.
"We have spoken to airline officials. We have called their representatives to hold further discussions as regards the timing, parking, routes and other facilities," airport director Sharad Kumar told TOI on Sunday.
He said it would take two weeks to complete the formalities to give the airlines the permission for starting the operation. On a rough estimate, at least 180 passengers would fly to Bangkok every day and 150 passengers each to Dubai and Singapore would fly from Bhubaneswar, he added.
11/11/13 Riyan Ramanath V/Times of India

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Poet’s new book communes with the ghosts of the Air India bombing

Vancouver: Renée Saklikar was 23 when her aunt and uncle visited Canada for the first time. Her aunt, a gynecologist, and her uncle, a surgeon, were in the United States for a medical conference and decided to visit family up in the Vancouver area. Then, missing their young son back home in India, they decided to go home early. They flew out of Montreal in the early hours (GMT) of June 23, 1985, on Air India Flight 182.
Their death in that flight’s bombing, and that of all 329 people on board, was devastating to Saklikar, who later became an advocate for victims’ families. A lawyer by training who turned to writing and poetry later in life (and is married to B.C. NDP leader Adrian Dix), Saklikar has just published a searing work of what she calls docu-poetry. It imagines the simple lives and violent deaths of all on board the doomed flight, in particular the 82 children under the age of 13. Children of air india: un/authorized exhibits and interjections is informed by Saklikar’s personal losses and her extensive research into the tragedy.
In this book, her first, facts meet fiction with devastating scenarios, such as what the plane ride was like: An eager boy in the back row awaits a tour of the cockpit; a mother tires of her demanding little son, dressed in OshKosh overalls.
10/11/13 Marsha Lederman/The Globe and Mail

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Health screening for Haj returnees at Bangalore airport

Bangalore: The Karnataka Health Department, based on an advisory received from the Union Ministry of Health, has been screening all Haj pilgrims returning after their sojourn in the Middle-East.
In coordination with the authorities of the Bengaluru International Airport Limited, the screening process is being enforced on the passengers arriving here from Saudi Arabia for symptoms of the Middle East Corona virus (MERS-CoV).
Geetha Nyamagowda, Director, Department of Health and Family Welfare, said that the screening procedure had been on since November 5 and would conclude on November 13 , when the last batch of pilgrims would arrive. “We have a screening unit at the airport where we are checking the pilgrims for fever, cold, cough and respiratory problems.”
11/11/13 The Hindu

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1 more held for smuggling gold

Mumbai: In the second consecutive case of gold smuggling at the Mumbai international airport, an Indian passenger was held with gold bars worth `70 lakh on Saturday morning. He was arriving from Dubai.
Muhammed Kunnapara from Kozhikode in Kerala, who arrived from Dubai in Emirates flight 504 early on Saturday morning, was held with 2.55 kg of gold bars. The 22 gold bars, weighing 116 grams each, were cleverly hidden in the batteries of an electric fan and radio. He was arrested for smuggling under the Customs Act. Meanwhile, the three members of a family who were arrested for allegedly smuggling gold worth around `1 crore by moulding it into belt buckles and bracelets at the Mumbai airport on Thursday night, were mere carriers and were tapped by smuggling rings to transport the contraband, their interrogation has revealed. The accused, who were holding a Mauritius passport include a husband wife duo, their 9-year-old son and the husband’s cousin. They were arrested for smuggling but were released on bail on Friday.
10/11/13 Parth Satam/Asian Age

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Air India air hostess, friend smuggled 32 kg gold

Kozhikode: Air India air hostess Hiromas Sebastian and her friend Rahila Chellai, arrested on Friday in connection with the smuggling of six kg of gold through the Calicut International Airport at Karipur, were involved in smuggling 32 kg of gold worth Rs 11 crore in the past five months, according to the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence officials.
The duo also smuggled gold through Kochi and Chennai international airports, the officials told reporters here on Saturday.
They said that the two were only carriers and that the actual persons behind the smuggling racket remained still at large. “There is no evidence that Hiromas Sebastian had used her position as an air hostess to facilitate smuggling,“ said an official. Rahila Chellai, who initiated Hiromas into the network, had reportedly smuggled over 40 kg of gold on various occasions.
10/11/13 Deccan Chronicle

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It was BJP, which compromised in Kandhar: Shukla

Kanpur: Reacting to Narendra Modi's statement in Bahraich that Congress was fielding Indian Mujahideen against him, Union minister Rajiv Shukla reminded the BJP that it was not Congress but the BJP that compromised with the terrorists in 1999's Kandhar plane hijack.
"BJP compromised with dreaded terrorists and not the Congress after the hijack of Indian Airlines IC-814 flight to Kandahar. BJP should be answerable to its cowardly act and not Congress," said Shukla.
Shukla further said that his party was one of the worst sufferers and had lost two big leaders, including Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi, to terrorism. But BJP bowed before them, he added.
10/11/13 Times of India

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Tyres deflate, Air India flight stuck in Tashkent

New Delhi: Air India's flagship flight, the non-stop Delhi-New York daily, had a double whammy in store for its 200-odd passengers on Saturday. Soon after leaving the Indian airspace, a cabin crew reported sick and then the pilot decided to divert to the nearest airfield-Tashkent.
While landing there, as many as four tyres of the aircraft (AI 101) got burst or got deflated that left the Boeing-777 and its passengers stranded there. While the crew member was luckily not found to be very ill by the Uzbek doctors who checked him, passengers had to spend several hours at the transit lounge of Tashkent airport.
Directorate General of Civil Aviation has ordered a probe into the landing that left four tyres out of breath or air in this case! It has sought a report from the airline into all details of the landing.
10/11/13 Times of India

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Haj pilgrims may sue Air India for flight cancellations

Gaya: Haj pilgrims of the state plan to sue Air India for frequent cancellation of special Haj flights, alleged ill treatment in flight, lack of transparency and other violations of the rights of air passengers.
According to Haj Committee chairman Anisur Rahman Qasmi, several Haj pilgrims have approached him with complaints of last minute flight cancellations, denial of food and beverages during delayed flights and keeping the pilgrims in virtual captivity for nearly seven hours at the Lucknow airport. The committee will back the pilgrims in their legal battle against Air India, said Qasmi.
A few days back, Haj pilgrims were stranded at Lucknow airport for several hours. They were neither allowed to come out of the plane nor were eatables served to them inside the plane. A few of the stranded pilgrims being diabetic had to face anxious moments.
10/11/13 Abdul Qadir/Times of India

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'India needs to open up aviation more'

Doha: Qatar Airways is looking at a bigger pie of the Indian aviation market but wants India to open up the sector more. "I am very greedy for India. I would love to have more flights to India... but the Indian aviation market needs to open up more," Akbar Al Baker, the CEO of Qatar Airways, told TOI.
The national airline of Qatar already operates to 13 destinations in India. "We are already committed to India. In my country, India has the single biggest country population. So, it is a very important market for us," Al Baker said.
But he also warned that China is going to be the biggest aviation market and is going to overtake India.
China is a very strategic region for the airline and it is planning additional flights to the country, he said after joining 'oneworld', an alliance of 13 global airlines.
09/11/13 Rajesh Menon/Times of India

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VA, Austrian airways among top five flights to depart from Mumbai on time

Mumbai: If you are travelling by Virgin Atlantic, Austrian airways, South African airways or United Airways, your flight is most likely to depart from India on time. As per the recent data by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), these airlines are among the top five airlines which depart on time. Mihin Lanka is another carrier which is punctual, shows the data. With the exception of Virgin Atlantic, which has a departure OTP of about 96% from Indian airports, the other four airlines have departed on time on all occasions they took-off from the city.
When it comes to international arrivals, KLM, Korean airline, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan airlines have a 100% OTP. Mihin Lanka is also among the top five. Officials said that some of these airlines operate once a day or one every few days.
09/11/13 Chinmayi Shalya/Times of India

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Dreamliner glitches: Boeing expert team flying to India

New Delhi: A Boeing team of experts would be flying to India to assess the situation arising out of a series of faults in Air India's Dreamliner aircraft, even as the airline insisted that the aircraft is safe.
"There are no safety issues involving the Dreamliner. There were some glitches, which are being worked out," Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh told PTI here.
He said a team from Boeing would be coming to India to assess the situation and help Air India in fixing the problems occuring in the Boeing 787 fleet.
The Minister said he had discussed these issues with Boeing officials during his recent visit to the US.
Boeing engineers are already working with their Air India counterparts following the recent incident involving cracks in the cockpit screen of a Dreamliner.
08/11/13 PTI/Economic Times

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6 kg gold seized from 2 women including an air hostess at Karipur airport

Malappuram: In another major gold haul, Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) officials on Friday seized gold bars weighting 6 kg from two women, one of them an air hostess of Air India, at the Karipur airport on Friday. With this, the total quantity of gold seized at this airport in recent months has touched 37 kg.
The DRI officials from Kozhikode trapped the women at the airport following a tip-off. V.S. Hiramasa, 24, from Pulpalli, Wayanad, and Rahila Cherai, 32, from Thalassery landed at the Karipur Airport at 6 a.m. on Friday on an Air India Express flight from Dubai, wearing jeans, with the gold bars tied to their loins. The DRI officials found the gold bars, estimated to be worth Rs. 1.84 crore, after several rounds of questioning. The DRI is investigating the wider links of the gold carriers. The officials said the women were working as agents of a gold smuggling racket.
08/11/13 The Hindu

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