Mid-air scuffle: AI clean chit to pilot, says air hostess habitual complainant

New Delhi: Showing surprising alacrity, Air India on Friday dismissed the complaint filed by air hostess Komal Singh that she was molested by a commander in the course of a spat on board IC 884 on October 3 while flying from Sharjah to Delhi.
The mid-air scuffle involved commander Ranbir Arora, co-pilot Aditya Chopra on the one hand and Singh and her friend, flight purser Amit Khanna. What appears to have helped a five-member panel to make up its mind on the complaint is an alleged history of indiscipline and habitual levelling of charges against colleagues by Singh, Khanna and their friend Chhavi Agarwal, also an airhostess.
The panel had senior women executives and a member of an NGO as members.
The airline, however, clarified that only the charge of molestation was found baseless and that the cockpit fight is being dealt with as a serious safety issue n which action would be taken against the guilty.
While 24-year-old Komal said she was "shocked" by this verdict and has pinned her hope for justice on the ongoing police and national commission for women probes, the probe panel claims to have found some past instances of alleged indiscipline by Komal, Amit and a third airhostess, Chhavi Aggarwal, who was on IC 884 that may have helped AI arrive at the conclusion within a month.
``From April 16 to 19, 2009, these three did as many flights on Calicut-Doha-Bahrain, return sector and Calicut-Delhi routes. The cabin crew supervisor on these flights filed a complaint against Komal's 'indiscipline and careless attitude'. A month later, these three filed a joint complaint against her," said airline sources.
Komal, on her part, questioned why did the airline not take action if these issues were considered to be so serious. "Yes, Amit, Chhavi and I are friends. If we three while on duty together are a problem, why did AI not separate us? When we go on a flight together, we need company to pass time and so play badminton, chess and have dinners to keep ourselves busy. .." she said. Konal, who hails from Nainital, added that she will continue to work in the airline.
31/10/09 Times of India

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HAL team for Ecuador to assist copter crash probe

New Delhi: The Hindustan Aeronautical Limited (HAL) has rushed a team of senior specialists to Ecuador to assist investigations in the crash of an India-made helicopter.
The sale of a fleet of helicopters was India’s first major defence exports outside its neighbourhood and, if handled well, could open up opportunities in other Latin American countries.
The HAL backed the Dhruv, the advanced light helicopter (ALH), also being inducted into the Indian armed forces.
The company said the copter ensured the safety of the crew and occupants. In the Ecuadorian crash both pilots ejected to safety.
It referred to the extensive flight testing and evaluation by potential users of 80 ALHs over 39,000 hours on difficult missions such as the Siachen glacier, search and rescue in all terrain, suggesting that the crash was an aberration.
31/10/09 Sandeep Dikshit/The Hindu

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Asia-Pacific carriers record positive growth

New Delhi: The worst may be over for the Asian airlines including those from India, which have recorded the ‘most significant improvement’’ in passenger traffic last month by recording positive growth against negative growth in August.
Bucking the global trend, “Asia-Pacific carriers recorded the most significant improvement from minus 1.6 per cent in August to plus 2.1 per cent in September,’’ the International Air Transport Association (IATA) said.
The overall passenger demand “is now 5 per cent better than the low point reached in March 2009, but 6 per cent below the peak recorded in early 2008,’’ IATA said in its latest global air traffic analysis.
Noting that three factors were influencing this growth, the IATA report said, while the Government’s stimulus packages in the major economies were driving production increases, the Asia-Pacific region’s banking system was relatively strong and its consum ers were not as burdened by debt as those in Europe and the US.
30/10/09 PTI/BusinessLine

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CFM Intl to set up training facility at Hyd airport

Chennai/ Hyderabad: GMR Hyderabad International Airport Limited (GHIAL) has signed an agreement with aircraft engine manufacturer, CFM International (CFM), to establish a new CFM56 maintenance training centre to support its customers in the South Asian region.
CFM International is a 50:50 joint venture between Snecma (SAFRAN Group) of France and General Electric Company(GE) of the United States. The agreement signed on Thursday cements a memorandum of agreement executed in January 2009.
The training centre, which will commence operations by late January 2010, will be located in the GMR Aerospace Park, being developed in the exclusive 250 acre aviation SEZ, that forms part of the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport complex.
31/10/09 Business Standard

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Network overhaul at Brazil's 11 Airports

Bangalore: Infraero, the government-run airport administration for Brazil, has selected 3Com and its H3C enterprise networking solutions to provide the network infrastructure for its network upgrade project for 11 of the main airports in the country. The aim of the initiative is to increase the performance and security of the airport's wired and wireless networks to support the increasing demand of passengers and employees.
Infraero estimates that by using 3Com's H3C enterprise networking devices it will achieve a 100-fold increase of performance on data, voice and video applications used for flight information systems,air traffic control, surveillance and IP telephony systems.
More than 800 networks points distributed between 11 airports are planned for the first phase of the project.
30/10/09 CIOL

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New Zealand's India Trade Mission to showcase aviation training; safety and maintenance capabilities

Mumbai: A country whose national symbol is the flightless Kiwi bird, New Zealand is a high flyer in international aviation and is playing a major part in the development of the sector in India.Kiwi businesses are now training pilots on behalf of Indian airlines;maintaining the safety of Indian aircraft; and providing technologiesthat will help India spread its wings as a leading international player.
From Monday 2 November through Friday 6 November, a thirteen-member Trade Mission headed by peak trade body Aviation New Zealand and comprising leading Kiwi business figures will visit Delhi, Mumbai and Chennai to meet with regulators, the Indian business community and the press.
“The mission aims to deepen aviation business ties between our two countries and highlights New Zealand’s surprisingly large role in helping India realise its future in the skies,” says John Nicolson, CEO of Aviation New Zealand, the peak trade body for the industry.
“Our presence also underlines the international confidence in the strength and commercial opportunities afforded by India’s aviation market.”
Accompanying Mr Nicholson is a consortium that will supply ready-to-fly pilots to meet the requirements of specific Indian airlines and help ease India’s chronic shortage of airline-quality aviators. The consortium members are Kevin England, CEO of Air Hawke’s Bay; Ian Calvert, CEO of CTC Aviation Training; and Chris England, CEO of International Aviation Academy of NZ.
New Zealand is also offering to increase the number of Indian aircraft engines it services through the Christchurch Engine Centre, represented in the delegation by Sales Manager Steve Robinson. And air travellers in India already enjoy the results of the high-tech secure baggage handling systems provided by Glidepath, whose Regional Sales Manager, Rajesh Kalra, will be part of the Mission.
Offering expertise and technological solutions to address Indian needsin maintenance, support and skilled staff are Jennifer Lund, Aviation Training Sales at Air New Zealand Airline Training; and Mike Lynskey, Director Business Development at ASPEQ. Software solutions provided by
Superstructure Group (CEO Ted Thomas) will help reduce and address human errors to improve safety on the ground and in the air.
The visit is the second Mission to India by Aviation New Zealand. Since the first was held in May 2008, New Zealand successes here include growing numbers of kiwi-trained pilots working for Air India and other carriers. Indian graduate students have also taken up work as commercial instructors in New Zealand
There has been a rise in the volume of Indian aircraft engines serviced at the Christchurch Aviation Centre. Kiwi-designed baggage and security systems have been installed in Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata with work in progress at Kochi and Indore.
New Zealand has been in international aviation from the beginning when on 31 March 1903, Kiwi inventor Richard Pearse may have successfully flown and landed a powered aircraft some nine months before the Wright Brothers.
More than 800 aviation business now flourish in New Zealand, exporting goods and services worth around NZ$800m (Rs27.8bn) annually, including sophisticated IT and manufacturing enterprises. The country manufactured its 1,000th aircraft in September 2009.
Aviation is a vital industry for an island isolated from the world. This insular geography isolation also makes New Zealand an excellent destination for training pilots and the country’s varied terrain and uncluttered, open airspace mean it is currently host to more than 100 Indian students at 15 flight training centres.
For interviews or further information contact:
Dehli – Sudha Palit, 09810 521 149, sudha.palit@nzte.govt.nz; Mumbai – Daljit Singh Kohli, 09870 124 445, daljit.singhkohli@nzte.govt.nz.
30/10/09 PRESS RELEASE/Trade Mission, New Zealand

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Chinese engineers detained at airport

Kolkata: Twenty-three Chinese engineers were detained at the Kolkata airport on Thursday for hours on their way back to China. These men had fled after a 100 metre under-construction chimney of Bharat Aluminium Company Limited (Balco) collapsed on September 23 trapping around 50 people underneath in Korba.
"They were detained during the immigration check of the Jet Airways flight to Dhaka, as a look-out notice had been issued. However, after talking with the concerned administration, we got a clearance and they were released," said DC Security Control Shakil Ahmed.
30/10/09 Times of India

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'Air India has punished the victim'

Delhi: The Air India enquiry committee constituted to investigate a mid-air scuffle on a Sharjah-Lucknow flight early this month has chargesheeted air hostess Komal Singh, who had reportedly leveled molestation charges against two pilots.
Sources in the airline said the air hostess has been punished for flouting company rules. "Komal Singh has been chargesheeted for speaking to the media against company policies. She has also been accused of insubordination, disobeying seniors," said a senior official working with the airline, wishing anonymity.
The Air India spokesperson could not be contacted despite repeated attempts, email and text messages.
Even while Singh remains tight-lipped about the verdict, other air hostesses and women employees of the airline are accusing the management of being biased.
"Komal Singh was the victim. She was sexually harassed on duty by her seniors. But the enquiry committee has chosen to punish her instead. She is being victimised because she is a woman," said a senior Air India air hostess, wishing anonymity.
Confirming the chargesheet, Singh's sister Poonam Singh said, "We were expecting the enquiry committee and Air India to be fair. But they have punished the victim," said Poonam.
Interestingly, flight purser Amit Khanna, who had got into the scuffle with Flight Commander Ranbir Arora and his co-pilot Aditya Chopra, has also been chargesheeted for the same reasons by the committee.
On October 6, Air India had constituted a five-member committee, headed by a senior woman official, to examine the charges of sexual harassment leveled by Singh against the two pilots. The committee also included the member of an NGO.
29/10/09 Surender Sharma/MiD DAY

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Dhruv helicopter crash; HAL team in Ecuador

New Delhi: The Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) has asked its team in Ecuador to look into the reasons behind the crash of a Dhruv helicopter during a military parade in Quito today in which two pilots were injured.
"Our team is stationed in Ecuador to support their Advanced Light Helicopter (ALH) fleet and it is looking into the reasons behind the crash," HAL spokesperson Anantha Krishnan said over phone from Bengaluru.
"We don't have any further details of the incident," he added.
After the crash, Ecuadorian authorities grounded their fleet of the remaining six ALHs, a report from Ecuador said.
The chopper was destroyed in the accident and the crew members, who had trained in India, were injured, it added.
28/10/09 PTI/Daily News & Analysis

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Dhruv crash to hit HAL's fortunes

Bangalore: Ecuador on Tuesday suspended use of Hindustan Aeronautics Limited's (HAL) Dhruv helicopters after one of the aircrafts crashed during a military parade in Ecuadorean capital Quito.
The advanced light helicopter (ALH) was flying in formation with two other choppers during the 89th anniversary celebrations of the Ecuadorean Armed forces when it suddenly veered off course and slammed to the ground. The helicopter was completely destroyed.
According to local media reports, the helicopter caught fire and crashed. Another report said the accident happened when its pilot tried an aggressive manoeuvre and lost control. No one was hurt, but the pilots were rushed to Quito's military hospital.
But the crash is bad news for HAL. The helicopter is one of the seven that Ecuador obtained from India in 2008 for Rs2,140 mn. As a result of the accident, Ecuador has suspended the use of the remaining six Dhruvs, one of them used by Ecuador president Rafael Correa.
29/10/09 Bhargavi Kerur/Daily News & Analysis

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Continental joins Star Alliance, but Air India waits on tarmac

Newark: US carrier Continental Airline has become the 25th member of Star Alliance even as Air India continues its struggle to put its systems in order to join the world's oldest, largest and most comprehensive interline pact.
The formal induction of the US carrier was announced at a ceremony at the swanky Newark Liberty International Airport here Tuesday, attended by the top brass of all the member 25 carriers, besides Air India.
With the formal induction of the new member, the Star Alliance network will operate more than 19,500 flights every day from as many as 1,071 airports in 171 countries.
The main rivals of Star Alliance are OneWorld, led by American Airlines and British Airways, and the SkyTeam, led by Air France-KLM and Delta Air Lines. Prior to joining the Star Alliance, Continental was a member carrier of the Sky Team.
Air India has been wanting to join Star Alliance as it entails numerous benefits such as improved product offering, better service standards, access to new markets and premium customers, and partnership with leading global carriers, resulting in enhanced revenues.
This apart, the Flying Returns scheme of Air India would also be integrated with the frequent flier programmes of other members, where miles earned on one carrier can be redeemed with any of the other member airlines.
28/10/09 IANS/Economic Times

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AI starts direct Chennai-Muscat flight

Chennai: Air India has introduced direct flights from Chennai to Muscat and Bhubaneshwar and has re-introduced the Chennai-Ahmedabad flight in its winter schedule. Two new services - Kochi-Chennai-Bangalore and Kochi-Bangalore-Chennai - have also been introduced.
The Chennai-Ahmedabad service will be operated via Hyderabad two days a week. The flight (IC 981) will leave Chennai on Thursdays and Sundays at 4pm, reach Hyderabad at 5pm, leave Hyderabad at 5.50pm and reach Ahmedabad at 7.30pm.
The Chennai-Muscat service has been made direct, thereby reducing travel time. IC 923 will henceforth leave Chennai daily at 7.25pm and reach Muscat at 8.40pm (local time), said a press release.
Air India has also decided to operate its service (IC-993) on the Chennai-Kuwait sector via Mumbai. On Tuesday, the flight will leave Chennai at 4.15pm, reach Mumbai at 6.05pm, leave Mumbai at 7.05pm and reach Kuwait at 9.05pm. On Saturdays, it will depart from Chennai at 3.25pm, reach Mumbai at 5.15pm, leave Mumbai at 6.15pm and reach Kuwait at 8.15pm (local time).
29/10/09 Times of India

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Ahmedabad-London airfare Rs24k, for Delhi Rs24k

Ahmedabad: It was a rude shock that awaited Amdavadis returning home after spending Diwali holidays in the north. They had to pay nearly the same fare to fly from Delhi to Ahmedabad as they would have paid for flying to London!
Though the vacation rush has now eased somewhat, airfares continue to tilt northward. Even on Tuesday evening, one-way fare to Delhi was in the unusually high range of Rs15,000 to Rs20,000.
Gaurang Dave, a city-based businessman, returned to Ahmedabad from Hyderabad a couple of days back. When his original flight was cancelled at the last moment in Hyderabad, he decided to buy a ticket from another airline which charged him a whopping Rs28,000 for a ticket to Ahmedabad.
In a similar manner, the chief executive officer (CEO) of a leading publishing house in the city had to pay on Tuesday Rs24,000 for round tickets to Delhi and that, too, with a stoppage in Jaipur. In normal days, the airfare doesn't cross Rs9,000 to Rs10,000.
Even for October 29 flights, Spice Jet was offering on Tuesday, one-way tickets between New Delhi and Ahmedabad for Rs20,435. Strangely, the Kingfisher Airlines' Mumbai-London ticket was available for a little less -- just Rs20,333.
28/10/09 Daily News & Analysis

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AI pilots threaten to go on strike again

New Delhi: AI’s executive pilots have again held out a threat to go on strike and chakka jaam if the management fails to pay their salaries for August and September by November 1.
“We are going on strike if they (management) do not pay all our salaries’ dues and flying allowances for August and September by this month end and if foreign pilots are paid before us this time. There is no question of accepting even a one rupee salary cut,” Captain V K Bhalla, senior executive pilot, (AI), who led pilots’ strike last month told Financial Chronicle. The decision by pilots was announced after AI chairman and managing director Arvind Jadhav’s meetings with executive pilots on Tuesday ended inconclusive. “The CMD has told the pilots that the company does not have sufficient funds to clear all their dues,” an AI official said on the condition of anonymity.
Civil aviation ministry’s joint secretary and AI board member Prashant Sukul and E K Bharat Bhushan, financial advisor along with other senior ministry officials, were also part of the deliberations with pilots.
AI spokesperson confirmed the meeting. “Yes, we had a round of meetings with the executive pilots. None of the employees’ unions, though, was part of it,” Jitendra Bhargava, executive director (corporate communications) AI said without divulging details.
27/10/09 Parul Chhaparia/mydigiatlfc.com

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Desi-videshi row may ground Air India

New Delhi: The current attempts at cost cutting, including wages, in cash-strapped Air India-Indian Airlines have now taken a desi versus videshi turn. Pilots of erstwhile Indian Airlines have threatened to go on strike if expats get paid in full again, before the desis get their flying allowances — that account for 75%-85% of the total pay — of last two months.
IA pilots met the airline management in Mumbai on Tuesday and told them that their flying allowances for August had not been paid and September’s allowance would also become due on November 1. On the other hand, they pointed out that the 200-odd expat pilots in AI, AI Express and Alliance Air are regularly getting their $14-15,000 (Rs 6.5-7 lakh) pay every month without any cut or delay. ‘‘If in November, the management again pays the expats without giving us our dues, there will be a strike. An Indian IA commander gets about Rs 2.5 lakh per month as flying allowance while the basic salary is up to Rs 15,000. For two months, this allowance has not been paid. IA has 900-1,000 pilots. If in this situation, expats get their full pay before we get our dues, there will be a chakkajaam,’’ said Captain V K Bhalla, who spearheaded the recent pilots’ strike. He also met the management on Tuesday.
28/10/09 Saurabh Sinha/Times of India

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Now, fly non-stop to Doha from Dabolim

Panaji: With an objective to capitalize on the winter holiday season, Qatar Airways launched scheduled direct flights from Doha to Goa on Monday morning.
Flight QR 224 from Doha arrived at the Dabolim International Airport early this morning with a delegation of airline officials onboard led by Qatar Airways chief executive officer Akbar Al Baker.
After Sri Lankan airlines, Qatar Airways is only the second foreign airline to start a direct international flight to Goa. Presently, national carrier Air India has direct flights from Goa to Dubai and Sharjah.
Qatar Airways is among three airlines in the world with a five-star ranking for service excellence. The ranking has been given by Skytrax, an independant airline industry audit.
28/10/09 Times of India

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Outbound tourist traffic from India poised to surpass inbound traffic

Singapore: The just-concluded ITB Asia 2009 in Singapore, Asia's largest tourism fair, provided pointers suggesting that outbound tourism traffic from India would surpass the inbound traffic.
"If it is not already happening, outbound traffic from India will surpass its inbound traffic. With the growing prosperity of middle-class Indians, more and more of them are venturing into far-flung destinations such as Switzerland
, UK and the USA in the West, and Japan, Singapore and other destinations in the East.
"On the other hand, more and more foreign tourists are getting turned off by the outrageously priced hotel rooms in India, the rampant corruption in every aspect of life in India, the pollution, noise and fear of terrorism," said Juergen Matthiesen, a Swiss tourism expert based near Basel.
Hotel prices in India, many experts said, are "completely unrealistic" and will hit the general tourism flow to a country that, otherwise, offers many cultural and historic attractions and a diverse landscape. India's hotel prices compare unfavourably even with top destinations such as the US and Britain, not to mention other destinations such as Thailand, Singapore or Malaysia.
Some experts were privately saying that the "Incredible India" campaign -- huge "Incredible India" billboards have been mounted in subway stations in Singapore or at other strategic locations in Frankfurt, London or New York -- raised expectations of tourists visiting India, who came back with poor impressions of the country, mainly because of the very high hotel room prices.
27/10/09 IANS/Economic Times

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Three Lankan nationals detained at Chennai airport

Chennai: Three Sri Lankan nationals, who were about to board a flight to Colombo on Tuesday, were detained at the Anna International Airport here, when it was found that they had illegally entered the country sometime back.
Mohd. Ashrat (22), Mohd. Irshad (24) and Rushmi (21) were the trio about to board a Jetlite flight to Colombo early this morning. The immigration officials on suspicion, detained them and verified their passports.
It showed they had landed at Thiruvananthapuram Airport two years ago, and the immigration seal affixed on the passport found to be fake.
28/10/09 Gopal Ethiraj/Asiantribune.com

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Petition launched for direct flights between Birmingham and Punjab

A campaign has been launched to lobby for direct flights between Birmingham and the Punjab in India.
At present the only way to get to Amritsar in northern India is via Heathrow Airport.
Now a petition, started by long-term campaigner Jas Sansi, is calling for the direct flight to be restored after it was cancelled by Air India in October 2008. The campaign has been backed by city council leader Mike Whitby.
Bilateral agreements between the Indian and UK governments currently restrict who can operate flights between the two countries.
After signing the petition, Coun Whitby vowed to support the campaign, starting with a visit to India to meet with the country’s civil aviation minister.
“There is little doubt that there is huge demand for flights to be reinstated from Birmingham to the Punjab,” he said.
“The connection is key to our status as a global city and the impact will bring long-term benefits to every citizen, business and community within the city regardless of ethnicity.”
Mr Sansi said the move would not only benefit the Indian community, but also the city as a whole and the environment.
27/10/09 Gregg Evans/Birmingham Mail, UK

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HC directs Kingfisher to pay dues to German firm

Mumbai: The Bombay high court directed Kingfisher Airlines Ltd on Monday to pay Rs3.6 crore to Lufthansa Technik Services Pvt. Ltd by 5 November for using its Indian equipment during July, August and September. Lufthansa Technik has sued Kingfisher Airlines for non-payment of dues. The next court hearing is on 6 November.
The German company, which provides aircraft maintenance services, has filed a similar case against the airline in the Delhi high court.
27/10/09 NewsWire18/Live Mint

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700 AI flyers stranded at Paris airport for over 10hrs

New Delhi: Over 700 passengers of three Air India flights, from India to various destinations abroad, spent over a day in Paris after they were diverted to the Charles de Gaulle airport on Saturday morning due to bad weather over Frankfurt. With none of them carrying transit visas, the passengers were stuck at the cramped airport for close to 10 hours before government intervention helped them get accommodation in hotels.
According to sources, when the three AI flights — Delhi-Frankfurt-Chicago, Ahmedabad-Frankfurt and Mumbai-Frankfurt-Newark — landed at the airport, French authorities reportedly asked airline officials to keep passengers on board as they were expecting the weather to clear up any time. But when that did not happen, the passengers were deplaned and made to sit inside the terminal, which was bursting at the seams with passengers from several other diverted flights, apart from its own traffic. Even restaurants ran out of food, but passengers could not be shifted as they did not have the requisite transit visas.
‘‘We were kept at the Paris airport for over eight hours without food and then suddenly transferred to a hotel where we didn’t get our luggage...,’’ said Deepak Gupta, a passenger on board AI 127 from Delhi to Chicago.
27/10/09 Neha Lalchandani/Times of India

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Shahid caught up in US airport drama

New Delhi: Like Shah Rukh before him, Shahid Kapur too has had to spend some involuntary time with US immigration officials who stopped his valet Mohammed Manjoor Allam at the New Jersey airport recently. Instead of leaving the old man to his fate, Shahid decided to stay back and go through the grind with him.
Shahid was in the US alongwith co-star Anushka Sharma, choreographer Ahmed Khan and other members of the unit to shoot for Parmeet Sethi's untitled venture being produced by Aditya Chopra. While the team had no problems during the first leg of their filming in Philadelphia, Allam was asked to step aside for questioning at the New Jersey airport. The session with Allam reportedly went on for 90 minutes. Allam has been taking care of Shahid since childhood and has travelled extensively with him all over the world. However this was his first visit to the US.
According to reports, Shahid sat through the entire session with him and even helped answer questions on his behalf, since Allam is not comfortable speaking English.
Shahid is the second major Bollywood star in recent months who has been held up at a US airport due to immigration problems. Earlier legions of Shah Rukh Khan's fans were outraged when the actor was detained at at Newark airport.
26/10/09 NDTVMovies.com

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New Air India flight to New Delhi

Manama: Air India Express will start operations from Bahrain to the Indian capital, New Delhi, from October 26.
Flights to New Delhi, which will initially be via Doha and Mumbai, depart Bahrain at 3.30pm, Air India Bahrain and Jordan manager Meenakshi Mallik said.
'The flights will be every Monday, Thursday and Saturday, and will be operated on a Boeing 737-800,' she said.
The national capital becomes the carrier's fifth destination to India from Bahrain.
It already operates to Calicut and Cochin daily, Trivandrum twice a week, Mangalore thrice weekly and a Gulf Air code share daily flight to Bangalore, said Mallik.
26/10/09 Trade Arabia.com

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1.4 kg gold seized at Chennai airport

Chennai: In what could be a grim reminder of the age-old practice of gold smugglers, Chennai Airport Customs last week arrested two "carriers" --
one, an Indian and the other, a Sri Lankan -- for smuggling 1.489 kg of 24-carat pure gold bars, concealed in their rectum. They had arrived from Colombo. In two other cases, customs officials had seized one kg of gold jewellery being smuggled in by two passengers travelling in the same sector last week.
In the latest case, the culprits had wrapped the bars in carbon sheets to escape from metal detectors, but landed in the Customs net owing to intelligence inputs. "Our officials found two passengers Mohammad Israth of Kandy in Sri Lanka and Mohammad Shahul of Ramanathapuram in Tamil Nadu in uneasy postures and hence picked them up for questioning. Showing no resistance, they admitted to carrying gold in their rectum," said R Periasami, commissioner of customs.
In the past 20 days alone, the Chennai Airport Customs has seized 7.5 kg of gold bars and jewellery from passengers who evaded paying customs duty.
27/10/09 K Praveen Kumar/Times of India

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Qatar Airways to probe wrong India map in presentation

Panaji: Qatar Airways Monday said it will hold an in-house inquiry after a map of India it displayed during a presentation here had a large part of Kashmir missing.
Asked about the misrepresentation of India’s sovereign borders in the map, the airline’s chief executive officer (CEO) Akbar Al Baker said: ‘We will ask the corporate communications department to look into it.’
The map distinctly showed India minus the area of Pakistan-administered Kashmir. Earlier, in an attempt to parry a query from the media about the insensitive and incorrect representation of India’s geographical boundaries in its presentation, Baker had said that it ‘was not a political map’.
26/10/09 Indo Asian News Service/Trak.in

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Indian Federation of Travel Agents at home in Thailand

The Travel Agents Federation of India held their annual convention in Chiang Mai on October 22-25, 2009. In a landmark tie-up between the Travel Agents Federation of India (TAFI) and Tourism Authority of Thailand, Pradip Lulla, president of TAFI, and Chattan Kunjara Na Ayudhya, director of TAT New Delhi office on behalf of TAT, organized the Travel Agents Federation of India Convention 2009.
Indian travel agents and tour operators that attended the TAFI convention in Chiang Mai were wowed with Chiang Mai. From Doi Suthep to the Panda family, the city has met and surpassed the expectations of the delegates attending the convention.
Following the convention, from October 25–28, delegates had the opportunity to participate in a three-night familiarization trip to 10 destinations in Thailand and beyond. Destinations in the planned itinerary were Bangkok, Pattaya, Hua Hin, Phuket, Chiang Rai, Cambodia, Vietnam, and the Philippines.
The city and its administrators did an excellent job of welcoming the Indian market to Chiang Mai. It is poised to boost visit Chiang Mai, as well as Northern Thailand form the Indian sub-continent.
The convention theme was “Breaking Barriers - Believe to Achieve,” and the business sessions and speakers were aimed at preparing agents for a tough and challenging business cycle as agents prepared to live with zero airline commissions.
26/10/09 eTurboNews

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Withdrawal of popular flights by Air India stuns pilots and other employees the airlines

Chennai: The withdrawal of a few ‘popular’ flights by Air India in its latest winter schedule ‘due to poor load viability’ has stunned the pilots and other employees of the airlines. Among the flights withdrawn as per the schedule that is effective October 25 is IC 997/998 in the Calicut-Doha-Bahrain sector, which the employees point out enjoyed an average occupancy of 80 to 85 per cent.
The factsheet clearly states that during the past six months 80 to 85 per cent of the seats were filled. “Even in the 20-minute journey from Bahrain to Doha, the flight had a 55 per cent occupancy. There is no rationale behind the withdrawal of this flight that was doing so well,” said a senior Air India official.
Industry insiders point out that Air India has withdrawn from sectors that had good patronage in the past, too, letting private airlines capture the business. An year ago, IC-975 operating in the then Coimbatore-Cochin-Sharjah route with an average seat factor of 80 per cent was withdrawn and Air Arabia that came in on that route is now doing roaring business, an official said. “Similarly flights from Chennai to Coimbatore were withdrawn and private carriers have benefited out of that,” an aviation expert said. It is this kind of rescheduling on domestic and international sectors that had brought the airline to the present state, an official told Express.
26/10/09 Mamta Todi/ExpressBuzz

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Foreign pilots a burden on AI, says guild

Bangalore: The Indian Pilots’ Guild (IPG), which represents around 450 pilots engaged in international operations and belonging to the National Aviation Company of India Limited (Air India), has proposed that the national carrier renegotiate the contracts of the nearly 175 foreigners employed by AI.
According to the guild, a renegotiation of the contracts — each of the expatriate pilot is paid around $13,500 for 21 days of availability per month — on local terms and ensuring a higher monthly utilisation could help the ailing AI save Rs.75 crore a year.
Stating that the contracts of foreign pilots — who chiefly fly AI’s Boeing 737s and 777s — are a financial burden, the guild questioned the need to provide them five-star hotel accommodation costing up to Rs.7,150 a day round the year, return business class tickets to commute anywhere, and chauffer-driven transport even when they are on non-flight duties.
In a letter, dated October 14 and addressed to the convener of the ‘Board Sub-Committee for Review of PLI (productivity linked incentives) and Flying Related Allowances,’ the IPG said the cost-to-company of these foreigners is phenomenally high compared to the average Indian pilot, despite their being junior to every Indian in the seniority list.
26/10/09 Ravi Sharma/The Hindu

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Krishna flags off first batch of Haj pilgrims from Mangalore

Mangalore: Union External Affairs Minister S M Krishna flagged off the Haj connecting flight to Calicut from Mangalore airport. This is the first time Haj pilgrims from coastal districts of the state have flown to Jeddah directly from Mangalore after the Bajpe airport was added to the list of 18 destinations across the country from where direct flights are operated to Saudi Arabia by national carrier Air India and Saudi Arabia Airlines.
"About 700 pilgrims are going on Haj from this airport in six batches of 115 each daily till Oct 30. A special camp has been opened near the airport to facilitate the smooth passage of Hajis to Mecca and Madina in Saudi Arabia," Krishna told about 1,000 people, including relatives, friends and community leaders who assembled for the grand event.
Until now, Haj pilgrims from coastal and northern regions of the state had to fly to Jeddah or Riyadh in Saudi Arabia from Bangalore, Kozikode in Kerala and Hyderabad in Andhra Pradesh.
"We are providing connectivity to Haj pilgrims from across the state from Bangalore, Mangalore and Hyderabad. Pilgrims from northern districts such as Gulbarga and Bidar will fly out of Hyderabad, those from coastal and central districts from Mangalore and southern districts from Bangalore," Krishna said.
Noting that direct flights from Mangalore would help the pilgrims to avoid the menace of private tour operators, Krishna said there was an urgent need to check irregularities committed by middlemen in the guise of helping them in the exercise.
26/10/09 Mangalorean.com

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Love-struck Lankan woman creates a scene at Chennai airport

Chennai:A love-struck Sri Lankan woman, who came to India two years ago with a fake passport in search of her lover she worked with in Kuwait and was jailed, on Saturday created a flutter at the Chennai airport when she resisted deportation, forcing a Colombo-bound plane to leave her behind.
Police said Hanifa Nisha Rani, who was jilted by an Andhra co-worker in Kuwait, came after him with a fake Indian passport and was arrested in Hyderabad. Subsequently, a court sentenced her to three years in jail. Thanks to her good conduct, the sentence was reduced to two years and a court in Kadappa directed that she be deported to Sri Lanka after issuance of an emergency visa.
Two policemen from Andhra Pradesh brought her to Chennai to be sent to Colombo. However, after getting the boarding pass, Rani refused to go and even tore the travel documents.
She pleaded with police officials and airline staff to allow her to stay in India so that she could continue the search for her lover. The police team took Nisha to the Sri Lankan deputy high commission in Chennai.
25/10/09 S Murari/Asiantribune.com

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Two Russian paragliders injured in Himachal

Shimla: Two Russian paragliders sustained injuries after they crash-landed in the high mountains of Himachal Pradesh, an official said Sunday.
“Two Russian paragliders were injured Saturday evening in a paragliding accident in Kangra district,” Subdivisional Magistrate (Baijnath) K.K. Saroch told IANS.
He said the paragliders - Mikhil and Dennis Kulikov - took off from Billing for Bir, lost their way due to strong winds and had to crash-land.
“Both sustained pelvic and leg injuries and were admitted to a private hospital. Their embassy in Delhi has been informed about the accident,” he said.
Earlier, paraglider Dimitri was injured in a similar accident in the area Oct 18.
Bir-Billing, about 300 km from Shimla, is considered one of the finest aero sports sites in the world.
The Himachal Pradesh Tourism and Civil Aviation Department (HPTCAD), the organiser of the annual pre-world cup paragliding championship at Bir-Billing, has decided not to hold the meet this year as it’s refurbishing the site.
25/10/09 IANS/Thaindian.com, Thailand

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India to become hot destination for Dragonair

Guangzhou (China): Hong Kong-based airline Dragonair is upbeat about the Indian market as it believes that the country has a good mix of corporate, trade and leisure passengers to drive demand.
Dragonair Chief Executive Officer James Tong said that India is one of the countries that Dragonair sees has big potential because there are corporate travel as well as leisure one, especially from Hong Kong.
The airline, which is a member of the Cathay Pacific Group, launched a daily passenger service to Bangalore in July last year, but early this year, following the economic slowdown, it cut down the service to four times a week.
25/10/09 Ramnath Shenoy/Press Trust of India

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Air India announces winter schedule

Nedumbassery (Kochi): Air India will start operating flights under its winter schedule from October 25, said AI Deputy Manager(CC)Aby George here on Wednesday.
Air India Express will operate 42 flights from Kochi every week, including daily flights to Dubai, Doha, Bahrain, Abu Dhabi and Sharjah as well as five flights to Muscat, two flights to Kuwait, one flight to Al Ain and three flights to Salalah every week, in addition to three flights to Mumbai.
Air India will operate five services to Riyad, three flights to Dammam and five flights to Jeddah. In the domestic sector, Air India will operate one flight to Hyderabad and seven flights to Mumbai every week.
There will be daily flights to IC-coded segments Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad and Coimbatore. The summer schedule did not have IC coded operations to Hyderabad and Coimbatore.Among the IC-coded sectors, there will be two daily flights to Chennai, against the previous schedule of three flights a week, and two daily flights to Bangalore.
25/10/09 ExpressBuzz

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Painted grasshopper from India stopped at UK airport

Airport officials in London have stopped an unusual stowaway from entering the country after a painted grasshopper was found on a flight from India.
Inspectors from the Food and Environemnt Research Agency are caring for the colourful insect after it was intercepted at Stansted Airport.
Since being discovered, the 6cm-long uninvited guest has been taking advantage of the hospitality rapidly eating its way through a cabbage plant at the agency's laboratory.
Fera's Sharon Reid, who identified the painted grasshopper, said: "...a single insect like this wouldn't be able to reproduce and is unlikely to survive in our UK climate."
Fera warned this was not always the case with non-native insects - which could potentially cause an outbreak that would damage UK crops or horticulture.
The species, which has a voracious appetite, is a pest in Pakistan and India where it damages food crops including aubergine, citrus, potatoes and tomatoes.
23/10/09 Metro.co.uk, UK

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Fake Viagra pills from India seized at Miami International Airport

U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers at the Miami International Airport intercepted 21,600 counterfeit Viagra pills that weighed a total of 50 pounds.
During the inspection of a shipment from India that was in transit through the United States, Customs officers became suspicious of a number of boxes containing a large number of pills.
Samples sent to a Customs import specialist group for further examination were found to be inconsistent with authentic Viagra.
23/10/09 Miami Herald, US

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Boeing to deliver aircraft worth $14 billion in 4 yrs

Bangalore: Boeing expects to see breakeven in the Indian commercial aviaiton industry in the next six months. The commercial aviation industry in India has been reeling under the losses of over Rs 8,000 crore.
Speaking to FC on the sidelines of the Frost & Sullivan Growth, Innovation and Leadership summit, Dinesh A Keskar, President of Boeing (India) said, “Growth possibility for the commercial aviation market in India will return in 6 months. This possibility of growth will be lead by three key drivers, which are, correction in the situation of aircraft overcapacity, reduction in fuel prices and upturn in the economy. Further the up coming tourism season will also help the industry.”
According to Keskar, the low fare airlines such as Indigo and SpiceJet will see positive signs in the business soon. Also with full service carriers such as Kingfisher Airlines and Jet Airways moving 60 percent of their seats to low fare model under Kingfisher Red, JetLite and Jet Konnect services, they too will achieve turnaround in the near future.
23./10/09 Urvashi Jha/mydigital fc.com

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Birmingham bigwigs to file petition for direct flights from Punjab

London: Leading figures from within Birmingham's business, government and ethnic communities will join together next week to launch a petition to the Indian government for the re-establishment of direct flights between Birmingham and the Punjab.
Leader of Birmingham City Council, Mike Whitby, will be joined by internationally famed musician Apache Indian, and other leading figures from within the Indian community to launch the petition on Monday.
Launching the petition alongside Cllr Whitby and Apache Indian, will be Bhai Sahib Mohinder Singh, Chairman of Guru Nanak Nishkam Sewak Jatha, Daljit Singh Sahota, President of the Indian Overseas Congress and Jas Sansi, the petitioner.
More than 60,000 Indians live in Birmingham alone, with hundreds of thousands more living within the catchment area of its airport.
Direct flights between the two city were historically in place and proved very popular, operated by Air India
. However they were cancelled in October 2008, not because of a lack of demand, but because the airline took a decision to prioritise filling empty slots at Heathrow.
23/10/09 ANI/Newstrack India

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Upper Class seat: Virgin taking legal action against Jet Airways

Virgin Atlantic, the pioneer of several improvements in seat design over the past 25 years, yesterday won the latest round in its fight to protect the exclusivity of its Upper Class seat.
Virgin spent £50 million designing its Upper Class product, which was introduced in 2003 and has been copied by rivals. Upper Class is Virgin’s equivalent of business and first class on other carriers.
The unusual Herringbone design was sold to other airlines by Contour, the Welsh seat manufacturer that built Virgin’s Upper Class product.
Virgin claimed that it owned the patent on the seat design and took Contour to court to stop it making any more copies. Virgin’s argument was initially rejected, but the Court of Appeal yesterday upheld the patent application. An injunction is likely to be filed against Contour to prevent it making any more of the seats.
Virgin is taking legal action against Delta, Air Canada and Jet Airways, which all bought the Herringbone seats from Contour. Cathay Pacific is facing legal action after buying similar seats from another manufacturer.
If Virgin’s legal action is successful, these airlines could be forced to strip their planes of the seats, which would be incredibly expensive as it can take months to refit a single plane.
23/10/09 David Robertson/Times Online, UK

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International Airlines to Expand in India Despite Aviation Market Downturn

Global airlines AirAsia and FlyDubai are set on expanding its India operations despite a downturn in the overall international global aviation market.
Both airlines are bullish on the future potential of the India market. Airbus Industrie forecasts that the India and China market will account for 31 percent of total aircraft demand in the next 20 years.
AirAsia will launch direct flights to Kolkata, Kochi and Thiruvananthapuram from Kuala Lumpur by November in addition to its ongoing flight to Trichi launched last year. FlyDubai has also laid out expansion plans in India until 2011 with pending applications to operate flights to Chandigarh, Coimbatore and Lucknow reports The Financial Express.
International carriers will be able to drive revenue in India by offering competitive prices that boost passenger numbers. Hong Kong-based Cathay Pacific in India is offering affordable holiday packages beginning at Rs 43,241 to attract more consumers.
Samara Capital principal consultant Raj Halve told The Financial Express: “India has a growth story with consumers ready to spend on their travel. Being a developing country, airline operators find a huge potential to enhance revenues.”
23/10/09 2point6billion.com

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Global aviation cos eye India to outsource maintenance work

Bangalore: Maintaining aircraft is costly business. Consider this. If a plane needs to be serviced it has to be flown into specific maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) hubs, which could cost the airlines around $4,000 per hour.
Labour costs are equally exorbitant — as high as $55 to $60 per man-hour in South East Asia and the Middle East, compared to the $30-35 per man-hour in India.
The global aviation industry, caught in a thick air-pocket, is trying to cut costs by increasingly looking to outsource their maintenance and overhaul work to India.
This has opened a plethora of opportunities for small companies such as Air Works, Varman Aviation, Jupiter Aviation and IT giants like Wipro, who are actively chasing outsourcing contracts, as Indian commercial aviation MRO alone is expected to reach $1.06 billion by 2015 .Experts from Frost & Sullivan say the maintenance cycle and MRO service requirements in India are expected to grow at a CAGR of 13.5% between 2009 and 2015.
Wipro Technologies has come to an understanding with All Nippon Airways (ANA) of Japan for three years to deliver material management system. With a fleet of 209 aircraft, ANA is the first airline in the world to procure the Boeing 787 Dreamliner. Wipro has undertaken the task of transforming its legacy material management system to support the new fleet, in line with the expansion of its business at Tokyo’s Haneda Airport with its upcoming fourth runway in 2010.
23/10/09 Peerzada Abrar/Economic Times

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First international chartered flight to land at Magdalla airport

Surat new chapter in the city's aviation history will be written on Friday when an international chartered flight from Luton airport will land at Magdalla, signifying Surat's growth in the last two decades.
Despite a Rs 50,000-crore industrial belt at Hajira and a diamond industry with a turnover of Rs 65,000 crore, the city has never been seen as an aviation destination.
Senior officials of corporate houses at Hajira had to travel by road either from Mumbai or Ahmedabad to reach the diamond city. A European diamond trader preferred to complete his work in Mumbai rather than visit Surat as then he would have to travel four hours in a cab.
But now with a corporate house bringing in its top officials from London to Surat directly by a chartered flight, things will change dramatically. The journey from Luton to Magdalla airport will be completed in eight hours by the private aircraft of the corporate house when it lands here at 8.30 am on Friday.
22/10/09 Himanshu Bhatt/Times of India

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HAL wins contract to supply flaperons for Boeing 777

Mumbai: State-owned aerospace firm Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) has signed an agreement with Boeing to supply flaperons for the Boeing's 777 series commercial jetliners. It is understood that HAL will supply 600 units of flaperons to Boeing which will be delivered in phases by 2019.
Indian carriers have already ordered a total of 36 Boeing 777s. This includes 23 from Air India and 13 from Jet Airways.
The 777 flaperon is a complex composite assembly that is instrumental in controlling the airplane’s maneuverability in flight. Referred to as a 'control surface', flaperons work both as an aileron to control roll and as a flap to control lift.
Boeing's relationship with HAL date back to 1991.
22/10/09 Business Standard

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Indian-born director Mira Nair became fascinated with Amelia Earhart

Growing up in India, Mira Nair didn't know much about pioneering American aviator and Atchison, Kan., native Amelia Earhart.
"For me, she was a person on a postage stamp," the filmmaker said in a phone call from her New York production office. "That was it.
"Of course I learned about her when I came to this country to study. But I only really began to understand her in an emotional way when I was hired to make this movie about her. Then I looked at all the newsreel footage, and that's what really got me hooked."
What she saw, Nair said, was a woman who kept her eyes on what excited her: flying.
"And though she was living in the public eye - always getting medals and climbing in and out of airplanes while camera crews recorded it - there was a consistent humility about her.
"Humility, you know, is not a particularly American sensibility. But here was this woman who had enough madness to dream big, to achieve her goals systematically, but also to achieve them with humility and to go through life with a kind of grace."
Nair said she hoped she captured some of Earhart's spirit in "Amelia," the biographical film starring Hilary Swank that opens Friday.
"Amelia" is her first film about a real historic person, and she found it particularly challenging.
"I must say it was my most difficult film. I wanted it to reflect Amelia's epic story. It's daunting to make a biography of an iconic person in a flesh-and-blood way. In Amelia's case, she's very elusive, and it was hard to capture that enigma and her non-hysterical sense of cool."
Earhart's many accomplishments so popularized flying that she was a major force in the establishment of commercial aviation, Nair said.
22/20/09 Robert W Butler/McClatchy Newspapers/KansasCity.com

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With secy abroad, FIPB defers Jet QIP nod

New Delhi: The Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) has deferred a proposal by Jet Airways seeking permission for raising capital up to $400 million through the QIP route.
In its meeting held on October 9, details of which has been revealed to DNA Money, FIPB recommended deferment after the ministry of civil aviation requested for it because its secretary was abroad and no decision could be taken in his absence.
click here
A Jet spokesperson said the company has not heard anything from the FIPB officially and hence would not be able to offer comment. The next FIPB meeting is scheduled for October 30.
After the FIPB clearance, Jet's proposal will need a Union Cabinet nod. Any proposal involving an inflow of more than Rs 600 crore needs cabinet approval.
In its current form, Jet's proposal involves issue of fresh share to domestic and foreign institutional investors (FIIs).
Jet has acknowledged in the proposal that the move would raise foreign direct investment (FDI) in the carrier beyond the permitted 49% cap for scheduled air transport services.
22/10/09 Sindhu Bhattacharya/Daily News & Analysis

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Paramount rebuts Gecas’ claim on lease dues

New Delhi: A financial dispute has broken out between Chennai-based Paramount Airways and aircraft lessor GE Commercial Aviation Services (Gecas). While Gecas has asked DGCA to deregister three Embraers leased to Paramount for alleged default on payments, the airline says the company owes it money and is not refunding that. The airline has a fleet of five Embraers.
Airline MD M Thiagarajan said: “Gecas has $15 million cash deposit from us. Our maintenance caution deposit is also with them and we are eligible for refund of that. They are not refunding that. We have been telling them either you refund or you adjust it against rental. Still there is no rental overdue. The sum of $200-300,000 being claimed as due from us ridiculous.” He added that the planes cannot be deregistered on the principle of “natural law”.
22/10/09 Times of india

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SilkAir flies daily to Hyderabad

Kota Kinabalu: SilkAir has increased its flight frequency between Singapore and the Indian City of Hyderabad from five times weekly to daily, starting 20 October.
The regional wing of Singapore Airlines began flying between Singapore and Hyderabad on 15 June 2009 and has received strong support from customers and experienced good load factors over the past four months of operation.
Hyberabad, located in Andhra Pradesh, is the airline's fourth Indian destination after Thiruvananthapuram, Kochi, and Coimbatore.
With the increased flight frequencies between Singapore and Hyderabad, SilkAir now operates a total of 40 flights weekly between Singapore and India.
Apart from that, the airline which was voted as the Best Regional Airline (Southeast Asia) in the 2009 Skytrax World Airline Awards, will be increasing the frequency of its flights between Singapore and Kathmandu (Nepal), Phuket (Thailand), and Kunming (China).
22/10/09 Daily Express, Malyalsia

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We followed rules of code-sharing: Swiss Air

Swiss the terms of the code-sharing agreement when it asked Kanta Sethi (79) to buy a new ticket to travel from Zurich to Mumbai after she suffered a paralytic stroke, said its spokesperson on Wednesday.
The Switzerland airline had told Sethi that the Air India ticket she had booked under the code-sharing agreement became invalid owing to her medical condition, which, according to them, is a clause mentioned behind the ticket.
Sethi was returning from Zurich where she had suffered a stroke when the airlines refused to accept her Air India ticket and asked her to buy a new ticket, which cost her Rs 2.75 lakh.
Though Sethi did not lodge an official complaint at the Zurich airport or with the Swiss Air authorities, the airlines sent an e-mail clarification to Hindustan Times explaining the protocol after her family narrated their experience to Hindustan Times.
22/10/09 TopNews

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Air India to operate two flights from Kolkata to Medina

Mumbai: According to a UNI report, Air India will operate daily two special flights from Kolkata to Medina for Haj pilgrims using A747-400 aircraft from October 23, 2009 to November 13, 2009. R Srinivasan, Airport Director, Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose International Airport, Kolkata said that a total of 10,575 pilgrims from Kolkata will fly to Medina with 420 passengers leaving daily. Pilgrims from Patna and Ranchi will also travel to Medina via Kolkata. The first batch of 420 pilgrims from the Bihar capital arrived yesterday by air. A total of 5,706 pilgrims from Patna will travel through Kolkata till November 2, 2009. Pilgrims numbering 2,630 from Ranchi will be arriving in Kolkata between November 2, 2009 and November 13, 2009. Exclusive arrangements have been made for Haj pilgrims, including a separate AC terminal,
21/10/09 TravelBizMonitor

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Red carpet for foreign airlines, red light for desi ones

Indians are now among the world's biggest travellers but this has hardly helped our home-grown airlines, thanks to the government's lop-sided policy that appears to favour foreign airlines over desi ones. As a result, in region after region, the lion's share of seats are taken up by foreign carriers while the Indian carriers are left with a fraction.
The reason for this pro-foreign bias is a cabinet decision to allow only those Indian carriers to fly abroad that have an experience of flying for five years and has a fleet of at least 20 aircraft. However, foreign carriers can fly into India even if they are start-ups and have just one or two aircraft.
Check this out. Mihin Lanka is a two-year-old Lankan airline with just one plane, and it flies into Varanasi, Gaya and Tiruchirapalli. RAK Airways is another two-year airline from UAE with two planes. It flies to Delhi, Mumbai and Chennai. Bangladesh's United Airways, is two years old, has three planes, and flies to Kolkata. There are several such examples.
In contrast, Spicejet started in 2005 and has 19 aircraft but can't fly abroad. Nor can Indigo which started in 2006, has a fleet of 22, and holds the best on-time record among Indian aviation companies. It's the same story for Paramount and Go, both four-year old airlines. Never mind that they fly longer routes within India than many overseas routes -- the Delhi to Trivandrum route, for instance, is longer than Mumbai to Dubai -- but they can't still fly overseas.
The net result: the seat entitlement of foreign airlines has gone up from 22.8 to 77.5 million seats per annum from January 2004 to December 2008 -- an increase of 239.5%. The beneficiaries of this largesse include little-known new airlines like Air Arabia, Tiger Airways, Jazeera and Air Asia.
21/10/09 Saurabh Sinha/Economic Times

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Jet Airways to raise funds worth USD 400 mn

Jet Airways, one of the leading private airline services in India, today said that the company is planning to raise funds for an amount not exceeding USD 400 million in the course of one or more domestic and/or International offerings.
The company has proposed to raise funds by way of qualified institutional placement /global depository receipts , foreign currency convertible bonds and other securities as considered appropriate.
Besides meeting working requirements of the company, Jet Airways plans to use the funds to capitalize the company adequately.
20/10/09 Myiris.com

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Distress in mid-air, Huma in Chennai

Chennai: Former Pakistan captain Wasim Akram’s wife was Tuesday admitted to Chennai’s Apollo Hospital after her condition worsened midway through her flight to Singapore, forcing the air ambulance to make an emergency landing in the city.
Huma was being flown from Lahore to Singapore for neurosurgery to remove three tumours from her brain.
As the air ambulance was flying over India her condition worsened and the doctor accompanying the patient wanted her admitted in an emergency ward at the earliest since reaching Singapore would have taken another four hours. The pilot immediately contacted the Chennai air traffic control at 4pm and his request was relayed to the civil aviation authorities in Delhi since it was a Pakistani aircraft.
When the civil aviation and external affairs officers learnt about the identity of the patient and her condition they cleared the aircraft for emergency landing and also issued temporary visas to all eight persons aboard.
The plane landed at the Chennai airport at 4.20pm and a waiting Indian Airlines ambulance transported the patient to the hospital in central Chennai.
Huma is accompanied by husband Wasim, her brother, a doctor, a nurse and an attendant.
21/10/09 The Telegraph

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AI to fly all-economy to Gulf

Mumbai: As part of its route rationalisation and cost-cutting measures, Air India plans to replace its twin-class aircraft with all-economy ones belonging to low-cost subsidiary Air India Express on some Gulf routes from the end of this month.
“As part of our route rationalisation plans some of the flights which are currently being operated by erstwhile Indian Airlines on sectors like Bahrain and Doha, will be operated by our low-cost subsidiary, Air India Express,” Air India sources said here.
Airbus A320 planes, which are currently being flown on these routes, would be replaced by planes with all-economy configuration flown by Air India Express, they said.
“There is a huge potential for economy class traffic on these routes. Replacing a full-service carrier with a budget carrier will definitely help us in enhancing our revenue,” the sources said.
Air India has already effected these changes in its winter schedule starting from Sunday, they said.
21/10/09 Press Trust of India/Business Standard

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Foreign airlines under regulator's scanner over agents fee

New Delhi: The aviation regulator, Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), is investigating whether foreign airlines that refused to pay commission to travel agents have violated its norms, a senior official said Tuesday.
"We are looking into the matter and will find whether the foreign carriers have flouted norms," said the DGCA official, who did not wish to be named.
Travel agents across the country have strongly opposed the foreign airlines' decision to pay zero-commission and introduce a transaction fee-based model, where the traveller paid a fee of Rs.250 onwards and as high as Rs.5, 000 per ticket to the ticketing agent.
They complained that their earnings would be reduced under the fee-based regime.
DGCA has asked the foreign airlines to explain their views in this matter.
20/10/09 IANS/Economic Times

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Drunk pilot delays AI flight to New York by 45 min

Mumbai: In the wee hours of Monday, a commander on Air India's Mumbai-New York flight failed the breathalyzer test, delaying the departure of the 'zero-delay' flight by 45 minutes. Air India flight AI-141 was to depart at 0045 hours, but it eventually took off at 1.30am due to 'operations delay'.
"One of the four pilots of the flight failed the breathalyzer test conducted by the airline doctors as part of the pre-flight checks. He was derostered and replaced by Capt Ramalingam," said a source. AI spokesperson did not comment on the incident. It was not known whether the airline sent the pilot for a blood test for confirmation of alcohol.
According to sources, between July 2008 and 2009, 29 pilots failed the breath analyser tests, most of these instances taking place during festivals and New Year.
Air India's ultra long haul Mumbai-New York flight is what the airline calls, a "zero-delay flight". It means the airline's operations department sees to it that Boeing 777-200 LR that does the 15-17 hour non-stop flight from East to West, crossing about 11 time zones always takes off on time.
20/10/09 Manju V/Times of India

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'US-chartered aircraft carrying military cargo not following procedures'

New Delhi: Eyebrows are being raised at the repeated instances of US-chartered aircraft carrying military cargo being detected flying over Indian territory or airspace without obtaining requisite permissions.
"They are not following proper well-documented procedures... It seems somebody, probably the chartering companies, are cutting corners in the misplaced hope that it will not matter,'' said a senior IAF officer on Monday.
This came even as the US-chartered Boeing 767 aircraft carrying 189 marines from UAE, which was grounded at the Mumbai airport on Sunday for entering Indian airspace without getting mandatory military clearance, finally took off for its earlier destination of Bangkok on Monday after an all-clear signal.
"US is airlifting lot of equipment and troops in and out of Afghanistan through chartered planes. Some come into our airspace without getting the mandatory clearance, which is the norm across the world for aircraft carrying military cargo or troops,'' he added.
The Boeing 767 had been ordered to land in Mumbai on Sunday morning after it was found that it only had civil aviation clearance but not the AOR (air operation routing) clearance required from IAF despite having military equipment and soldiers on board.
"The aircraft, belonging to North American Airlines, should have had a military call-sign instead of the civilian one. It was asked to land at Mumbai after this discrepancy was noticed,'' said another official.
20/10/09 Times of India

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US plane with marines takes off

Mumbai: The Bangkok-bound chartered US plane carrying 189 American marines, which was grounded at the Mumbai airport for flying over Indian airspace without getting mandatory military clearance, took off today after an over 33-hour halt.
"The aircraft took off for Utapao in Bangkok from Mumbai International Airport at 1734 hours," a Mumbai International Airport Limited (MIAL) spokesperson told PTI here. The aircraft left after spending 33 hours and 42 minutes at the Mumbai airport.
It was ordered to land in Mumbai yesterday after it entered Indian airspace without mandatory permission.
19/10/09 Press Trust of India

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Last-minute fare hike for Haj

New Delhi: The Centre today hiked the Haj airfare by Rs 4,000 to Rs 16,000, a day before the month-long pilgrimage begins, while adding Ranchi and Mangalore to the list of embarkation points.
The last-minute fare increase, cleared at a cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, sparked concerns it could inconvenience the pilgrims and organisers.
Sources in the Haj Committee of India said the hike had come late and bookings had already been made at Rs 12,000, last year’s rate. The rest of the amount will now have to be recovered from the pilgrims, they said.
Under the subsidy scheme in force for Haj, even after each pilgrim pays Rs 16,000, the rest of the airfare will be borne by the Centre.
The inclusion of Ranchi and Mangalore, meant to benefit pilgrims from Jharkhand and Karnataka, will take the number of embarkation points to 19, an official spokesperson said. The civil aviation ministry will be responsible for facilitating the travel for the pilgrims sponsored by the Haj committee, the spokesperson said, adding they will be travelling by Air India, Saudi Arabian Airlines and National Air Services (NAS) of Saudi Arabia.
19/10/09 PTI/The Telegraph

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First international flight to take off from Indore airport tomorrow

Indore: The first ever international flight from the city airport will take 200 Haj pilgrims to Jeddah in Saudi Arabia, officials said today.
The Air India flight will take off around 6am from the Devi Ahiliyabai Airport tomorrow and reach its destination at around 11.30am, Air India airport manager DV Gadgil told PTI today.Airport director Vivek Upadhaya said that this would be the first time that a direct international flight was being operated from the airport.
19/10/09 PTI/Daily News & Analysis

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Air India to offer service to New Delhi from Dulles

Air India said Monday that it is planning to offer service to New Delhi from Washington Dulles International Airport starting Dec. 1.
The airline said in a statement that a flight will depart Washington at 12:10 p.m., stop at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport, and continue nonstop to Delhi, arriving at 4:45 the following afternoon.
19/10/09 Sholnn Freeman/Washington Post, USA

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Travel agents may get their pie from foreign airlines

New Delhi: The aviation regulator has ruled that foreign carriers should pay commission to ticketing agents, sounding the death knell for a fee-based system initiated by foreign airlines last November.
The decision by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) will benefit about 2,400 travel agents in the country as the 3% commission they used to receive from the airlines was much higher than what they charge travellers as transaction fee. This will also benefit the customer, who will escape paying the transaction fee, and may also force the agent to share a part of his commission.
“We have found that the foreign airlines’ decision to withdraw the commission system is not in compliance with the law,” said an official with the regulator. “In the past, Air India and Jet Airways had introduced zero-commission systems, but they had to reinstate the 3% commission to agents,” he said, requesting anonymity. In all, 14 foreign airlines, including Lufthansa, Air France, British Airways and Qatar Airlines, had resorted to a zero-commission regime last year and introduced a transaction fee-based model wherein the traveller pays a fee of Rs 250-Rs 5,000 per ticket to the agent, depending on the relative bargaining power of the parties.
More than 85% air travellers in the country book their tickets through travel agents.
19/10/09 Nirbhay Kumar/Economic Times

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Chinese airline set to fly in by year-end

Kolkata: With Kolkata airport on the verge of being modernized, several international airlines are showing interest to start new flights from the city. Air China is all set to start direct services by the end of this year. It will be the seventh international carrier to start operation in the city in the last two years.
Kolkata airport director R Srinivasan said Air China delegates are expected to chalk out the details of their schedule and announce the launch of their new flights on Monday.
At present, Air China operates from Delhi to three Chinese destinations Bejing, Shanghai and Chengdu. Low-cost Chinese carrier China Eastern already connects Kolkata with Kumling four days a week.
Last week, Air Asia announced its direct flight from Kolkata to Kuala Lumpur from November 19. The other airlines that started operations in the last two years are Kingfisher, Jet, Air India Express, Best Airline and United Airways.
Two major airlines British Airways and Gulf Airline withdrew their operations and others reduced their frequencies three years ago. Even Etihad Airways and Qatar Airways are planning to restart some flights.
19/10/09 Times of India

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Cleared by India, US military plane leaves

Mumbai: The chartered US military aircraft which was detained for over six hours Sunday and finally cleared to leave around 3 pm, has left today, airport sources revealed.
The aircraft, which was ordered to land by the Indian Air Force (IAF) after a discrepancy in its call sign (identification), was cleared by all the relevant Indian departments and security agencies on Sunday afternoon.
However, there arose a dispute over payment of certain charges by the aircraft to the Air Traffic Control (ATC) on Sunday afternoon, delaying its departure.
When the pilot of the Boeing 767 North American airliner was unable to make immediate arrangements for the cash through its local ground handler, the ATC refused to grant it permission for take-off, the sources said.
The pilot then offered to pay the charges - the amount is not disclosed yet - by credit card, which too the ATC declined. Since there was already more than four hours' delay in the expected time of departure, the pilot extended his permissible duty hours. As per international norms, pilots can fly for a certain number of hours only and then they must get a break, the sources explained.
Later on Sunday evening, the pilot in consultation with the US embassy in New Delhi and the US Consulate in Mumbai, decided that all the people on board - 205 US Marines and a few crew members would take a night halt in Mumbai.
19/10/09 Indo-Asian News Service/Hindustan Times

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Police guard hotel accommodating stranded US marines

Mumbai: Security has been beefed up in and around a five-star hotel in the western suburbs where over 200 passengers of the US aircraft checked in after their plane was ordered to land at the airport here today, police said.
A Bangkok-bound chartered US plane in which American marines were among the 205 passengers was ordered by authorities to land at Mumbai airport for flying over Indian airspace without getting the mandatory military clearance.
"Necessary security measures have been taken to ensure the safety of all the passengers," Deputy Police Commissioner Brijesh Singh said.
However, he refused to disclose the name of the hotel due to security reasons.
18/10/09 Press Trust of India

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Look who have been ‘grounded’

Mumbai: The Marines have landed — er, been made to land — on the shores of Mumbai.
A Boeing carrying the world’s most storied fighting force was asked to land at Mumbai airport by the Indian Air Force (IAF) today after it emerged that the plane did not have permission to ferry troops over the country.
The plane, belonging to North American Airlines, had been chartered by the US Navy to carry 205 passengers, including some Marines, from Fujairah in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to Utapao in Bangkok.
The plane, sources in Mumbai air traffic control said, had a civilian call sign from the directorate-general of civil aviation but did not have the mandatory air operation routing clearance from the IAF.
The routing clearance — AOR in aviation parlance — has to be procured by every foreign plane flying through Indian airspace with military equipment or personnel.
“To top that, some Marines on board were also carrying submachine guns and Glock pistols,” said a CISF officer who had inspected the plane. A source in the US consulate in Mumbai said: “The necessary clearance may have been overlooked inadvertently by the plane as the Marines were going on a holiday to Bangkok.”
The US military central command has a programme called R&R (rest and recuperation) meant for both civilians and combat personnel attached to the defence department. The consulate source added that there was nothing unusual about the presence of weapons as the Marines usually carry light arms even on R&R trips.
Soon after the plane was made to land at 7.52am, diplomatic levers started moving. The plane was eventually cleared for take-off around 2.30pm by the IAF and the civil aviation authority.
However, an IAF source said the departure had also been delayed because Myanmar — the plane will enter that country’s flight information range while flying to Bangkok — has sought clarifications related to clearances.
18/10/09 The Telegraph

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‘India can be a hub for air traffic in future’

Berlin: As the aviation industry today is facing enormous challenges because of rising fuel costs and the necessity of using energy sustainably, international aviation experts believe that India has the potential of becoming an air traffic hub in future.
During the ongoing ‘Asia-Pacific Weeks (APW) 2009’ in Berlin – the German capital, some renowned aviation experts said that India may be a key strategic hub for air traffic in future.
Werner Heesen, the former Director South Asia for German airlines Lufthansa said that despite infrastructural problems at Indian airports the future of Indian aviation industry seems bright. “Yes, there is a problem of infrastructure but Hyderabad and Bangalore airports have already been commissioned and a new run-way prepared in New Delhi.”
Lufthansa flights go to New Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Kolkata and now to Pune as well.
Heesen, who remained in India from 2003 to 2008, said he witnessed many positive changes in Indian aviation industry during his five year stint there. “India started opening doors to liberalization and country’s economy has contributed a great deal in the development of this industry.”
18/10/09 Gowhar Geelani /Rising Kashmir

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Plane Makes Emergency Landing After Man Suffers Stroke

Chennai: An Etihaad Airlines flight made an emergency landing at the Chennai Airport here Sunday to save the life of a passenger who had suffered a heart attack while the plane was in midair.
The 55-year-old passenger Ismail flying from Abu Dhabi to Kuala Lumpur was immediately rushed to a private hospital from the airport. The flight took off after the passenger had been taken off for medical aid.
18/10/09 IANS/Daijiworld.com

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India clears grounded chartered US marine plane

Mumbai: The Indian Air Force gave clearance to detained US military chartered plane to fly out from Mumbai on Sunday afternoon. Now the DGCA will decide when it will take off.
Earlier, the US aircraft with 205 American marine commandos on board was made to land at Mumbai airport for allegedly violating the Indian airspace.
The chartered plane was on its way from Fujiriah in UAE to Bangkok, an airport official said. The aircraft was using a civilian call sign, officials said.
Soon US authorities got in touch with relevant officials to resolve the issue.
18/10/09 Zee News

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US plane with marines made to land in Mumbai

Mumbai/New Delhi: An American chartered aircraft with 205 passengers, including US marines on board, was forced to land at Mumbai airport today for alleged violation of the Indian airspace.
The plane was on way from Fujiriah in the UAE to Bangkok, a Mumbai International Airport Limited spokesperson said.
"A US aircraft with 205 passengers, including its crew and US troops on board was made to land in Mumbai while overflying Indian airspace as there was some confusion about its call sign," he said.
The aircraft landed at Mumbai airport at 7.52am and has been parked at a remote bay, he said, adding all passengers are on board the plane.
Giving details of the incident, IAF spokesperson Wing Commander T K Singha told PTI in Delhi that the aircraft is a US military chartered Boeing 767 plane belonging to North American Airlines.
"It is a transport aircraft, which was going to Utapao in Bangkok from Fujiriah in UAE. It had civilian clearance from directorate general of civil aviation to fly over Indian airspace. However, it was carrying military personnel, for which the aircraft should have obtained Air Operation Routing clearance (AOR), needed for a military aircraft," he said.
"Once it entered Indian air space, the IAF ordered the aircraft through radio communication to land in Mumbai, to which it complied with. An inquiry is on in the matter."
"We are aware of the situation, and are in touch with relevant officials to resolve this issue, which is a routine matter," a US embassy spokesperson said in Delhi. This is the fourth such incident of a foreign aircraft violating Indian airspace since June this year.
18/10/09 PTI/Daily News & Analysis

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Air India Express introduce a new destination from Doha

Doha: In order to meet the growing demand from Doha to the Northern part of India, Air India Express will introduce Delhi as a new destination effective 26th October, 2009, three times a week. The Mumbai flight will be extended to Delhi and the passengers from Doha to Delhi will travel without disembarking at Mumbai on the same aircraft.
From Delhi, Air India express will offer a flat add-on of QAR.150/- one way on Air India or Indian Airlines domestic flights to places like Amritsar, Srinagar, Varanasi, Patna, Lucknow etc.
A similar offer already exists over Mumbai to places like Baroda, Ahmadabad, Hyderabad, Chennai, Goa etc. In fact, over Mumbai or Delhi which are our gate way points, passengers can connect to any one destination in India at a flat add-on rate of QAR. 150/- one way on our services.
18/10/09 Iqbal Manna/Mangalorean.com

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Qatar Airways fulfils Sikh dream of by flying to Amritsar

Qatar Airways' maiden flight to the northern Indian state of Punjab landed in the holy city of Amritsar, that house the Sikhs Holiest Shrine Harmandar Sahib (Golden Temple) this morning heralding the beginning of huge route expansion over the next seven weeks.
With Diwali - the festival of lights - celebrated by Hindus and Sikhs around the world on October 17, the arrival of flight QR 298 from Doha to Amritsar was a welcome sign ahead of the festive season.
Qatar Airways Chief Executive Officer Akbar Al Baker led an official delegation of international media onboard the packed inaugural flight to Raja Sansi International Airport on the outskirts of the colourful city Amritsar, where the Golden Temple is home to the Sikh religion.
Passengers flying from North America, Europe, Africa and the Middle East to Doha have excellent onward late evening connections to Amritsar, a route Qatar Airways is operating four-times-a-week non-stop from the capital of the State of Qatar.
The launch of dedicated scheduled flights, using a two-class Airbus A320, meets high demand for seats to Amritsar before Diwali and ahead of the busy winter holiday season. The airline is offering 12 seats in Business Class and 132 in Economy.
16/10/09 The Sikh Times, UK

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Jet Airways JetPrivilege to welcome four new partners

Mumbai: Jet Airways JetPrivilege, India’s largest frequent flyer programme, will enhance its impressive list of programme partnerships to include four new partners- Delta Airlines, Standard Chartered Bank India, ABN India and Punjab National Bank.
Delta Air Lines is the world’s largest airline, flying to 368 destinations in 66 countries and serving more than 170 million passengers each year.
JetPrivilege members may now earn and redeem JPMiles on all flights marketed and operated by Delta Airlines, with immediate effect. Similarly, Delta Airlines’ SkyMiles members may now earn and redeem their miles on all flights marketed and operated by Jet Airways.
Platinum and Smart Miles Titanium credit card holders of ABN AMRO Bank, a leading multinational bank in India can now convert their Platinum Miles and Smart Miles to JPMiles by simply making a call to the ABN AMRO Phone Banking. One Platinum/Smart Mile can be converted to one JPMile in multiples of 1000.
Punjab National Bank Global Credit Card holders may now covert their card reward points into JPMiles, with 2 card reward points equaling 1 JPMile.
Standard Chartered Credit Card holders may also convert their reward points on the Platinum, Gold, Executive and Classic credit cards into JPMiles. While Standard Chartered Platinum Elite, Platinum Rewards and Manhattan Platinum members may earn 100 JPMiles for every 120 reward points, Gold, Gold Rewards and other card members may earn 100 JPMiles for every 170 reward points.
According to Sudheer Raghavan, Chief Commercial Officer, Jet Airways, “The addition of our new partners stands testimony to our commitment to bring extensive value to our Jet Privilege members, in some of the more significant areas of their lives. We are indeed proud of our new partnerships.”
16/10/09 PRESS RELEASE/Jet Airways

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Want justice, says AI airhostess

The 24-year-old airhostess with Air India, who accused a pilot and his co-pilot of misbehaviour in mid-air, said on Wednesday that all she wanted was justice.
The pilot of IC-884 Ranbir Arora and co-pilot Aditya Chopra were accused of molestation and assault in flight while it was flying over Pakistan on October 3.
The mid-air scuffle on the Sharjah-Lucknow-Delhi flight also reportedly involved flight purser Amit Khanna. The pilot and the co-pilot were called for questioning by Delhi Police on Tuesday evening and were later arrested. The two were, however, later released on bail.
Talking to Hindustan Times, the airhostess said: “The offences are bailable and that is why they were released but I want justice from everyone - the police, Air India management and the National Commission for Women (NCW).” The airhostess of the government owned airline has lodged a complaint with the NCW. She was called for an enquiry by the commission on Wednesday.
“Now I want justice from all of them,” she said.
Her uncle Sanjay Jain expressed his dissatisfaction with the government’s inaction. “The NCW is working on the issue but the government has done nothing,” he said. “The accused are out on bail and no other action has been taken against them.” He said his niece’s parents who live in Himachal Pradesh were unwell, but “we will go to any length to get justice”.
15/10/09 TopNews

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SpiceJet plans to fly overseas

New Delhi: Low-cost carrier SpiceJet Airlines, promoted by a group of investors led by the Kansagra family and Delhi-based Ajay Singh, is working on a plan to start international operations next year, making it the third private Indian carrier after Jet Airways and Kingfisher to fly overseas.
The airline qualifies for international operations from June next year after it completes five years of domestic operations, the minimum stipulated by the government.
The airline plans to fly mainly to Saarc countries, south-east Asia and select west Asian routes rather than long-haul routes, such as London and New York as Jet and Kingfisher have done. “We are planning our international launch carefully and will fly only on routes that we think are under-served or have potential for more flights,” said Sanjay Agarwal, chief executive officer, SpiceJet, in an interview to Business Standard.
Agarwal explained that the airline would start operations in sectors in which SpiceJet’s Boeing 737 fleet can fly.
On competition from low-cost carriers in west Asia like Fly Dubai and Air Arabia Aggarwal conceded that while the competition is tough, their strategy would be to service markets that are still under-served from India. These routes could include Riyadh and Dammam in Saudi Arabia . Aggarwal also pointed out that routes like Mumbai-Kathmandu, Chennai-Singapore are still viable and provide potential for growth.
15/10/09 Surajeet Das Gupta & Mihir Mishra/Business Standard

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Heathrow Airport warns passengers to check their terminal

Passengers travelling from Heathrow Airport should check the terminal that they are flying in and out of, airport officials have said.
A number of airlines are moving terminals in the next month and this means that travellers may depart from one terminal but arrive at another.
Jet Airways is one of the airlines that has already moved from the terminal and now operates from terminal four.
The reason for the airline movements is the closure of Heathrow Airport's terminal two – which will take place on November 26th.
It is closing to make way for major renovation works.
Work has already begun on demolishing the existing Queen's building.
At a cost of £1 billion, the new terminal will be the home of Star Alliance.
14/10/09 Graham Greenaway/BookFHR.com

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AirAsia announces 3 new India routes from KL

Mumbai: AirAsia has announced that it will commence its daily direct flights to Kolkata, Kochi and Thiruvananthapuram (Trivandrum) from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in November 2009 respectively. Following a successful launch from the South Indian city of Trichy last year, AirAsia now offers the people of Kolkata, Kochi and Thiruvananthapuram the pleasure of flying to Kuala Lumpur for an unbeatable all-inclusive fare from as low as INR 1499 (RM 129) all in fares one way respectively for the booking period from 15th to 20th October, 2009 for the travel period from 12th November 2009 to 31st July 2010 for Kochi, from 16th November 2009 to 31st July 2010 for Thiruvananthapuram (Trivandrum) and from 19th November 2009 to 31st July 2010 for Kolkata. Promotional seats are limited and available on first-come, first-served basis and made exclusively available online via www.airasia.com and mobile.airasia.com.
AirAsia launched its first route to Trichy, India which is situated in the South Indian state of Tamil Nadu on December 1, 2008, and is the first airline in South East Asia to fly direct to the city. The launch of the first frequency to the city recorded an overwhelming response with an average load factor of 85% which led the airline to increase its 2nd frequency to the city with AirAsia’s 2nd direct daily flight on 1st September, 2009. To date, AirAsia has carried over 100,000 guests to and from Trichy.
AirAsia Regional Head of Commercial, Kathleen Tan said, “Today, AirAsia is reiterating its commitment to the Indian market with the launch of three new routes- Kolkata, Kochi and Thiruvananthapuram (Trivandrum), the first airline to launch 3 cities in India in one day. While most airlines are cutting back during these tough economic times, AirAsia is aggressively expanding its India route network as we believe there is robust demand in low fare travel. The three new India destinations are colourful cities with rich historical and cultural traditions. We believe our low fares and outstanding innovative services, will definitely open up new markets, stimulate new travel demand and enable more people to fly with us; thus promoting tourism which is beneficial for the economies of both countries.”

“It has been an ongoing and sustained effort for AirAsia to provide the best service with unbelievable low fares to our guests. With the introduction of the three new routes, connectivity to the three cities to and from Kuala Lumpur direct will bridge social ties and promote new connectivity via our hub in Kuala Lumpur as a gateway to over 130 routes in Asia, including the ones served by Airasia X, its long haul affiliate to Australia (Gold Coast, Perth, Melbourne), China (Hangzhou, Tianjin, Chengdu), Taipei, London and Abu Dhabi, bringing the well known brand on to a global stage” concluded Kathleen.
It is now more convenient than ever to fly to Kuala Lumpur from Kolkata, located in the East Indian State of West Bengal and Kochi & Thiruvananthapuram, both located in the South Indian State of Kerala. Moreover as compared to other budget carriers, the route network offered by this award-winning airline is the most extensive in the region. This will translate into a low-cost yet efficient travel experience for guests who would benefit from using the LCC Terminal in Kuala Lumpur to connect to other regional ASEAN cities or long haul sectors serviced by AirAsia X. To add value, under GoHoliday at goholiday.airasia.com, guests may choose their holiday lodgings from over 50,000 hotels across Asia, Europe, India, Australia, Sri Lanka and China including ground transfer options and fantastic tour packages.
Kuala Lumpur is an exciting and bustling metropolitan city and the center and symbol of Malaysia's rapid rise as an economic powerhouse. This includes amongst others the modern buildings of the Golden Triangle, massive shopping malls, rocket-like Petronas towers which rise above the city and driverless trains that glide across the city. Yet nestled amidst the high-rises, it still offers a glimpse of its colorful heritage and a taste of traditional, exotic Asia. With a blend of unique cultures, great variety of food and world-renowned attractions such as KLCC Twin Towers, Genting City of Entertainment often frequented by families, Sunway Lagoon water park, the Telaga Tujuh Waterfalls located in the Langkawi islands, Taman Negara National Park, a major wildlife reserve, both Malaysia and Kuala Lumpur are renowned as perfect year-round holiday and business destinations. Guests are also spoilt for choice as there’s more than just Malaysia under the AirAsia network, with flights to exotic destinations across the ASEAN countries and beyond via our hubs in Malaysia (Kuala Lumpur, Kota Kinabalu), Thailand (Bangkok, Phuket), and Indonesia (Jakarta, Surabaya, Bandung, Bali).

Flight Schedule KUALA LUMPUR – KOLKATA
Flight No. Destinations
(Flights from/to) Depart Arrive Frequency
AK 323 Kuala Lumpur Kolkata 14:30 15:50 Daily
AK 324 Kolkata Kuala Lumpur 16:35 22:55 Daily

Flight Schedule KUALA LUMPUR – KOCHI
Flight No. Destinations
(Flights from/to) Depart Arrive Frequency
AK 203 Kuala Lumpur Kochi 14:50 16:30 Daily
AK 204 Kochi Kuala Lumpur 17:00 23:50 Daily

Flight Schedule KUALA LUMPUR – THIRUVANANTHAPURAM (TRIVANDRUM)
Flight No. Destinations
(Flights from/to) Depart Arrive Frequency
AK 295 Kuala Lumpur Trivandrum 06:20 07:50 Monday,Wednesday,
Thursday,Friday,Saturday
AK 296 Trivandrum Kuala Lumpur 08:30 15:00 Monday,Wednesday,
Thursday,Friday,Saturday
AK 295 Kuala Lumpur Trivandrum 05:20 06:50 Tuesday,Sunday
AK 296 Trivandrum Kuala Lumpur 07:40 14:10 Tuesday,Sunday
14/10/09 PRESS RELEASE/AirAsia, Malaysia

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Mid-Air Scuffle: BJP MP Seeks Action

New Delhi: Criticising Air India for not taking any action against the pilot and co-pilot for allegedly molesting an air hostess on a flight, cricketer-turned-BJP MP Kirti Azad today asked the Centre to act against the "guilty".
Claiming that this was not the first case, he said on earlier occasions too the airline management had not taken any action against the pilots even after they being found guilty.
He also asked the DGCA and Ministry of Civil Aviation to take action against the pilots for leaving the cockpit unmanned, risking the lives of passengers and crew members.
14/10/09 Outlook India.com

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Airhostess assault: AI pilots held, bailed

New Delhi: Ten days after an airhostess levelled charges of assault and molestation against the two pilots of an Air India flight, the pilot and co-pilot were arrested on Tuesday evening. They were released on bail almost immediately.
The pilot, Commander Ranbir Arora, and co-pilot Captain Aditya Chopra of Air India flight IC-884 were arrested under IPC Sections 354 (outraging modesty of a woman), 323 (physical assault), 509 (word, gesture or act intended to insult modesty of a woman), read with 34 (common intention).
The police have questioned crew members, pilots and passengers of the front row of the Sharjah-Lucknow-Delhi flight to know about the mid-air scuffle. According to an officer, the police also went by the medical examination report of the airhostess, which showed she was assaulted.
The officer said that in the FIR lodged at IGI Airport police station, the airhostess had said Arora and Chopra tried to molest her and when she resisted, she was pushed outside the cockpit. “She had sustained bruises and injuries on her hand,” the officer said.
About molestation charges against the duo, Air India spokesperson Chandra Kumar said, “They came out clean in our internal inquiry.”
14/10/09 Indian Express

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