AI, Jet operate flights as per schedule to and from Mumbai

New Delhi: Air India (AI) and Jet Airways operated flights out of terror-struck Mumbai as per their normal schedules, but Kingfisher clubbed a few of its flights from and to the western megapolis.
“All Air India flights, both domestic and international, have operated normally as per schedule. Normal schedule of our flights will be maintained,” an Air India spokesperson said.
A Jet Airways spokesperson also said that their flights in and out of Mumbai would operate in accordance with their normal schedule.
However, their Kingfisher Airlines counterpart said that one flight each on Delhi-Mumbai, Bangalore-Mumbai, Hyderabad-Mumbai and Nashik-Mumbai sectors have been combined with other flights on the same routes.
27/11/08 Livemint

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NACIL, SATS in JV to provide ground-handling services at four major airports

Mumbai : In a bid to consolidate its leadership position in the Rs 3,000-crore airport ground-handling services sector, the board of National Aviation Company of India Limited (NACIL) — which operates national carrier Air India — has approved a proposal to provide ground-handling at four major airports through a joint venture agreement with Singapore Airlines arm, Singapore Air Terminal Services (SATS). This JV will provide ground handling and cargo services at the country’s premier airports in Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai and Kolkata.
Speaking to The Indian Express, an Air India spokesperson said the idea behind the move is to exploit the company’s core competencies and explore business opportunities.
According to a senior NACIL official, the airline which earns over Rs 700 crore annually by providing ground-handling services to international carriers is all set to expand its base in the segment. NACIL has also been providing ground-handling services at the new Hyderabad and Bangalore airports under a joint venture agreement with SATS.
The new ground-handling regulations of the civil aviation ministry that will come into effect in January 2009 allow for only three service providers at the country’s six major international airports.
27/11/08 Shashank Shekhar/Indian Express

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Air India, Egypt Air in talks for code sharing, parking

Mumbai: National Aviation Company of India is in talks with Egypt Air for a tie-up that may include sharing of code and parking base. “We are in the process of tying up with Air India.
It will be finalised once Air India gets the membership status in Star Alliance,” said a senior Egypt Air official.
Ahmed Wasfy, regional manager of Egypt Air in India told ET, “The company is analysing code sharing agreement with an Indian carrier but I can’t divulge the name at this point of time.” Nacil is expected to get a ‘membership’ within a few months, Egypt Air is a member already. The code sharing agreement will help both the airlines to attract more passengers with minimum investment on infrastructure, said an analyst working with a domestic brokerage. “India is a huge market and many passengers from Egypt visit India. India will have more travellers in the coming years,” said Mr Wasfy. Egypt Air runs four direct flights a week between Mumbai and Cairo.
26/11/08 Mithun Roy/Economic Times

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Air India reduces fares, cuts transaction fee

New Delhi: Air India on Tuesday cut fares effective tomorrow. The airline cut the transaction fee of Rs 350 that was introduced last month. Earlier, Air India had decided to reduce airfares by 12%, which was likely to be implemented in mid-December.
Currently, an Air India Mumbai-Delhi flight ticket costs around Rs 6,895, which includes Rs 3,150 as base fare and Rs 3,745 as taxes and service fee.The quantum of fuel surcharge, which is the main component of an air ticket after the basic fare, varies from 45% to 60% of the total cost of a ticket.
The price of aviation turbine fuel (ATF) has come down to Rs 39,767 per kilolitre (KL) compared with Rs 41,417 per KL last November.According to government data, air traffic grew by only 2.3% between April and August compared with 38%, a year earlier.
An aviation expert said higher fares have scared away passengers. Airlines have increased fares five times since early this year, stating that ATF prices have shot up, but now when ATF prices have actually come down drastically, carriers are giving other excuses to get more reliefs.
25/11/08 Economic Times

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Raghu Menon: Dealing with challenges at Air India

Outside Air India's headquarters in Mumbai are advertisements that talk of the "New Air India", of a fleet that is finally being modernised and of new in-flight service standards. And indeed there is much that is new as the carrier has been going through a major transformation over the past two years. It has been inducting new aircraft for the first time in well over a decade, has introduced new long-haul flights and in-flight products that are getting decent reviews, has been merging its operations with the former Indian Airlines, is modernising IT systems and is preparing to join the Star Alliance.
In reality it is all long overdue, as Air India had been stagnating for so long. With aggressive new privately owned players nipping at its heels the national carrier would have been doomed to fail unless sweeping change finally took place. Chairman and managing director Raghu Menon is the first to admit that the change process should have started long ago, but as he puts it: "It is better late than never."
"The words 'New Air India' do have meaning because it is only after a very long time that we are able to offer a product that can match any other airline," he says. "We would have been in trouble. The fleet delays were so long that perhaps the ­airline had given up hope of ever getting new aircraft. This should have been much earlier but we are very happy that this important decision was taken. It was the first big change and now there is so much more that is ­happening."
India's air transport market has itself seen massive change over the past five years, since Air Deccan was launched as the country's first low-cost carrier. Its success led to the launch of many more airlines, which in their fight for market share brought airfares down sharply, resulting in huge growth in demand. At the same time the government opened up air services agreements to allow foreign airlines to operate more services to India, and began modernising airport infrastructure at last.
26/11/08 Nicholas Ionides/Flight International

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Air India, Jet flights diverted from Bangkok due to protests

New Delhi: Four flights of Indian carriers to Bangkok were diverted today as Thai anti-government protestors stormed the Suvarnabhumi International Airport disrupting flight operations there.
Two Air India flights to Bangkok, one from Delhi (IC-853) and another from Mumbai (IC-693), were diverted and landed at Utapao airport, about 90 nautical miles off Bangkok.
An Air India spokesperson said the passengers were then transferred by road to Bangkok.
Jet Airways flights from the two cities to Bangkok, 9W-064 and 9W-062, were, however, diverted back to Kolkata, from where they returned to their originating points of Delhi and Mumbai, an airline spokesperson said.
Outbound flights at the Bangkok airport were also affected since last night as hundreds of demonstrators -- some masked and armed with metal rods -- broke through police lines and spilled into the passenger terminal, reports said.
25/11/08 Press Trust of India

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AI, Kingfisher set for reduction in fares

New Delhi: Facing flak over giving relief to airlines without any reduction in fares, the government has now decided to lead by example. While State-run Air India is working on a plan to cut fare by 12-15% from next month, Kingfisher Airlines has decided to follow that move. The Vijay Mallya-led airline said on Monday that it will reduce fare soon and also ensure that there is no job cut despite a downturn.
And, fares could head south for two more big reasons that were announced on Monday — possible lowering of sales tax on jet fuel and likely removal of the steep transaction fee of Rs 350-10,000 being levied on each ticket by AI and Jet.
FM P Chidambaram said government will table a Bill in Parliament's coming winter session to grant aviation turbine fuel (ATF, jet fuel) the declared goods status by amending the Central Sales Tax Act. Currently some states levy as much 30% sales tax and the average rate is 21% across the country.
If the Bill is passed by both Houses of Parliament, then airlines' operating cost could reduce by a 20% and fare cuts of 10 to 15% become imminent.
And finally, the full service Indian carriers met travel agent associations on Monday in which they indicated the transaction fee of Rs 350-500 on each domestic and Rs 1,200-10,000 on international ones could be withdrawn from their direct sales channels. Agents complained that the system of transaction fee implemented after these three airlines stopped giving commission on ticket sales from November 1, was not working out and demanded they revert to the old system.
25/11/08 Times of India

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AI, Spicejet likely to reduce fares

Air India (AI) is expected to reduce air fares by 12%, bringing it into effect by December. “The fare cut will be introduced first on the domestic route,” said an official.
“It might include reduction in fuel surcharge as AI does not levy congestion surcharge,” he said.
“A decision on fares could be expected shortly. There is a need to stimulate the market by making more people fly,” said Jitendra Bhargava, AI spokesperson.
Following in its footsteps would be Spicejet. “A decline in jet fuel prices is enabling the carrier to reduce fares and attract more passengers,” said Ajay Singh, director, Spicejet. “We are reviewing the fare cut and will announce it shortly,” confirmed an official. Kingfisher Airlines maintained it will go for a fare cut only if the aviation turbine fuel was placed under “declared goods” category.
25/11/08 Daily News & ANalysis

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Air India Gets Six Bids For $1 Billion Loan To Buy Airbus Planes

New Delhi: Air India, the nation's flag carrier, said Monday it has received six bids to raise a $1 billion loan to fund the purchase of 21 Airbus planes
"The bids are currently under evaluation," Jitendra Bhargava, Air India's executive director for corporate communications, said. "We will be taking a decision soon."
Bhargava declined to disclose the names of the bidders.
S. Venkat, Air India's executive director in charge of finance, said Nov. 20 that the bidders included a consortium of U.K.-based Barclays PLC. and Germany's state-owned development bank KfW. Deutsche Bank AG is also one of the bidders, Venkat said.The carrier will likely finalize the loan in the next two or three weeks, Venkat had said.
Air India, run by the National Aviation Co. of India Ltd., was formed after the merger of state-run Indian Airlines and Air India in August 2007.Nacil inherited an order placed in 2005 for 111 planes - 68 Boeing and 43 Airbus - valued near $15 billion at list prices.
Nacil has so far raised more than $3 billion to buy 38 planes and expects the remaining 73 to join its fleet by 2012.
24/11/08 Santanu Choudhury/Dow Jones/EasyBourse.com, France

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AI to raise Rs 1,000 cr for working capital

New Delhi: Faced with severe liquidity crunch, national carrier Air India plans to raise another Rs 1,000 crore from banks and financial institutions to meet its working capital needs. Air India, operated by the government owned National Aviation Company of India (NACIL), will thus increase its working capital limit to Rs 13,550 crore by the end of this fiscal.'
Air India is also raising long-term credit of about $3.5 billion (Rs 17,500 crore) through a consortium of banks to buy aircraft.
Air India has taken the private finance route to meet its financial and operational needs. The government is still to provide the much-awaited bailout of Rs 4,000 crore (Rs 1,300 crore equity and Rs 2,700 crore soft loan) as it wants to know the airlines’ fund-utilisation plans.
But the government has stepped in as guarantor for Air India’s working capital needs to lower the cost of funds. A top airline official confirmed the proposal. “The government will give 0.5% as guarantee to banks for the entire Rs 1,000 crore loan,” he said on condition of anonymity.
NACIL's working capital has increased since it came into being. The working capital limit, when the merger of Air India and Indian Airlines took place, was Rs 6,500 crore. This was subsequently raised to Rs 8,000 crore, Rs 9,500 crore and finally Rs 12,550 crore earlier this year. The Rs 1,000 crore loan proposal is part of the airline's plans to become profitable in three years. Its financial advisor Accenture had suggested a working capital limit of Rs 14,000 crore.
25/11/08 Chanchal Pal Chauhan/Economic Times

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Air India to cut fares by 12% in December

Mumbai: As civil aviation minister Praful Patel’s plea turned into aggression, state-owned carrier Air India decided to reduce airfares by 12%, which is likely to be implemented in mid-December. An internal National Aviation Company of India (NACIL) team, which runs Air India, is planning a 12% cut in fuel surcharge in the domestic metro routes first, and then across the country in early January. A senior Air India official confirmed this to ET.
“A decision has been taken, and will be send for approval soon,” said an Air India official on condition of anonymity. When contacted, Air India executive-director Jitendra Bhargava said: “A decision on fares could be expected shortly. There is a need to stimulate the market by making more people fly.”
The 12% reduction in fares would be in fuel surcharge, which now stands as high as Rs 3,100 in metro routes compared with Rs 1,350 last November. Airlines had imposed the fuel surcharge on fares following the surge in crude prices.
If Air India decides to pass on the benefits of ATF prices by slashing fuel surcharge by 12%, then the airfare in the Mumbai-Delhi sector could come down to Rs 6,068 inclusive of taxes.
The price of aviation turbine fuel (ATF) has come down to Rs 39,767 per kilolitre (KL) compared with Rs 41,417 per KL last November.According to government data, air traffic grew by only 2.3% between April and August compared with 38%, a year earlier.
An aviation expert said higher fares have scared away passengers. Airlines have increased fares five times since early this year, stating that ATF prices have shot up, but now when ATF prices have actually come down drastically, carriers are giving other excuses to get more reliefs.
Praful Patel has asked carriers to cut fares in response to the government’s support to the industry on Saturday at a summit in Delhi. ET had first reported in its November 7 edition that Indian carriers are under pressure to act as the aviation ministry wants them to pass on the benefits of a series of measures announced by the government to bail out the beleaguered industry.
24/11/08 Mithun Roy/Economic Times

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Air India steers clear of flotation

New Delhi: State-run Air India has joined other top PSUs in deferring initial public offers (IPOs) because of the meltdown in the stock markets.
Other state-owned firms likely to defer their IPOs include NHPC, Oil India, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL), Coal India, RITES, State Bank of India (follow-on offer) and Ircon International, according to senior officials.
However, stock markets are demanding public floats by blue-chip PSUs to revive the interest of retail investors.
Analysts referred to the Maruti issue in 2002, which the government successfully held at a time of a downturn.
Chambers, too, are rooting for IPOs by state entities. Assocham president Sajjan Jindal has asked the government to push for such issues.
The government had looked to earn up to Rs 25,000 crore in the current financial year by divesting small stakes in state-run companies, according to finance ministry officials.
Its aim was to raise money to shovel cash into social sector projects and revive sick PSUs.
Besides the Air India issue, the officials said, the government was also banking on the BSNL and NHPC issues.
23/11/08 Jayanta ROy Chowdhury & R Suryamurthy/The Telegraph

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AI's 'humanitarian gesture' raises security concerns

Mumbai: A day after Air India (AI) called back its Mumbai-Nagpur flight to accommodate a passenger on humanitarian grounds on Friday, questions were raised about how dilligent airline officials are while conducting checks on passengers boarding an aircraft.
The AI flight IC 629 took off from Mumbai without a checked-in passenger and had to return to take him back. According to AI claims, the flight was called back on humanitarian grounds as it was urgent for the passenger to reach Nagpur.
However, the fact that the passenger, who finally did take the Nagpur flight, had earlier boarded an Ahemdabad-bound flight by mistake, clearly indicated that neither the boarding passes were checked properly by airline employees nor was their head count accurate, a source said. Moreover, though the AI claimed to have turned the flight back to accommodate only one passenger, the load count their pilot gave to the Air Traffic Control (ATC) indicated an addition of seven more passengers.
All these things pointed at a skewed calculation on the part of AI employees, said security officials. These officials as well as traffic controllers said the incident showed that boarding passes were not properly checked while allowing passengers on board.
On Friday, Jitendra Bhargava, executive director, AI had told TOI that they did not conduct a head count of passengers on all flights. Security officials, said it wouldn't have been hard to spot a missing passenger if the count was conducted properly.
The passenger load figure provided by the Nagpur flight pilot raises further doubts. Usually, before a flight is given clearance for take-off, the pilot has to specify the number of passengers onboard. According to ATC sources in Mumbai, the flight took off with 91 passengers initially. The second take-off it made was with 97 passengers.
23/11/08 Chinmayi Shalya/Times of India

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Air India calls back flight to carry passenger

An Air India flight for Nagpur was called back to Mumbai, when it had gone half way, to accommodate a passenger, who was travelling to Nagpur to attend his ailing wife but missed it due to a goof-up at the Mumbai Airport on Friday .The flight was called back purely on humanitarian grounds as the passenger's wife was in a 'serious condition' and the flight was the last one in the day, an Air India official said. “We called back the flight, IC 629, only on humanitarian grounds as the passenger told our staff that his wife was seriously ill and it was important for him to reach Nagpur," the official said.
The passenger, whose identity has not been revealed, missed the flight after he mistakenly boarded the bus at the airport, meant for Ahmedabad flight. "When he reached the aircraft and displayed his boarding pass, staff told him it was for Nagpur flight and which had already left," the official said.
The flight which had originally taken off from Mumbai Airport at around 7 PM, left at 8.40 PM after picking up the passenger.
22/11/08 Times Now.tv

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Direct Haj flights from Aurangabad

Aurangabad: The 100-year-old Chikalthana aerodrome joined the category of international airports as the civil aviation minister Praful Patel flagged off the first direct flight — carrying a batch of 200 Haj pilgrims — to Jeddah from Aurangabad, on Friday.
When chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh inaugurated the sprawling terminal building armed with modern amenities he commented, this was perhaps the country’s first ultra-modern airport. Also present to grace the occasion were many state ministers, MPs, MLAs and prominent industrialists from the Marathwada region.
Deshmukh also said that the direct flights will not only benefit the Haj pilgrims but would also help in the development of the Marathwada region, particularly for industries and agriculture. Now the farmers of this region will be able to send their products directly to various destinations around the world.
Chikalthana airport controller, Vivek Upadhyay, said, that although the flights for Haj pilgrims to Jeddah had started operations in 2006, the flights were being operated via Nagpur or Mumbai. He also stated that flights to Singapore and Dubai would be operated from Aurangabad from February 2009.
22/11/08 Arif Shaikh/Daliy News & Analysis

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Himachal CM requested civil aviation minister to continue flights

Shimla: Prem Kumar Dhumal, Chief Minister has requested the Civil Aviation Ministry to continue the Delhi - Kullu flights and withdraw its decision to discontinue these flights.
Dhumal discussed the matter with Shri Raghu Menon, Air India Chief Managing Director at New Delhi and told him that while the private airlines are earning huge profits on this air route but on the other hand, the Air India is suspending its flights on the excuse of the losses. He said that the coming winter season is likely to witness a sharp increase in the high spending tourists visiting the State on this air route. He added that regular flights on this route can only win the confidence of the passengers.
He termed the decision of Air India as unfortunate and told that it does not behove the national carrier like Air India to suspend its flights merely finding the excuse of losses on particular route.
22/10/08 Bijender Sharma/PunjabNewsline.com

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Air India may give wings to Reliance Fresh

Reliance Fresh, the retail venture of Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) is seeking to acquire one of ageing cargo aircraft of National Aviation Company of India Ltd (Nacil)—formed by the merger of Air India and Indian Airlines—to service its network of retail outlets.
While both companies have denied any such plan, a source close to the developments said RIL is open to either buying or leasing one aircraft from Nacil’s fleet. Reliance Fresh is likely to invest more than Rs 25,000 crore over the next four years in its retail business.
The reserve price for each of the older Boeing aircraft in Air India’s stable is approximately $60 million, while that of old Airbus aircraft is pegged at $20 million each. Of the 147 aircraft in the Nacil fleet, eight are freighters (all from Air India), including four Boeing 737-200s and four Airbus A310-300s. Reliance Fresh wants to source its aircraft from among these.
Jitendra Bhargava, executive director (PR), of Air India said, “Though we have earlier sold one of our freighter aircraft to India Posts, RIL has not approached us as of now. But in future if they approach us for the purchase of our aircraft, we will consider the proposal.” An RIL spokesperson also denied that the company had talked to Air India for the purchase of any cargo airliners.
21/11/08 Shaheen Mansuri/Financial Express

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Air India defers IPO; will borrow $1 billion to buy 21 Airbus jets

New Delhi: Air India has deferred a planned initial public offering until global financial markets rebound and air travel demand picks up, a senior executive at the state-run airline said Thursday.
India's flag carrier also plans to finalize a $1 billion loan in the next two or three weeks to fund the purchase of 21 Airbus planes, S. Venkat, Air India's executive director in charge of finance, told Dow Jones Newswires in a telephone interview.
"We have to strengthen our balance sheet," he said. "Our cash flow should be good before we go in for an IPO."
A senior finance ministry official, who asked not to be named, had said in August that Air India may complete its IPO by February 2009.
The worldwide credit crunch has made it difficult for airlines, including Air India, to raise funds, even as they struggle to cut costs by deferring delivery of new planes, freezing recruitment and consolidating among themselves. Many airlines worldwide have been hit by falling demand for air travel as the global financial crisis widens.
The benchmark Bombay Stock Exchange's sensitive index plunged 58% since January, in line with falls in other major stock markets. Shares of airline companies such as Jet Airways (India) Ltd. and Kingfisher Airlines Ltd. were among the worst hit as higher fuel prices and fares choked demand in the world's second-fastest growing major economy.
Indian carriers are estimated to post combined losses of $1.5 billion in 2008, the biggest in the world after those of U.S. airlines, the International Air Transport Association said recently.
20/11/08 Santanu Choudhury/MarketWatch

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Barclays May Fund The Air India Fleet Expansion Plan

Indian flag carrier Air India has stated today that it is raising funds to buy 23 new aircrafts and is discussing the funding options with a consortium of UK-based Barclays and promotional bank for German and European countries KFW, and also with Deutsche Bank.
The proposed deal is expected to be finalized soon. This loan will have a sovereign guarantee and is thus expected to help the airline access finer rates. Usually, the dollar denominated loans to companies are currently pegged at the London-Interbank offered rate (Libor) plus 1,000 basis points (10%).
With a government guarantee, the rate could drop to Libor plus 450 or 500 basis points. Indian national carrier Air India is buying 23 Airbus A319s/320s, for which orders have already been placed with the European aircraft manufacturer.
20/11/08 The Sikh Times, UK

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New suspects to be named in Air India bombing

A controversial human rights group in Punjab plans to release a report this weekend identifying new suspects it claims have confessed to the 1985 Air India bombing.
Sarabjit Singh Verka, of the Punjab Human Rights Organization, says group investigators travelled the world, interviewing more than 100 people in several countries with knowledge of the bombing.
Verka said they found more than one suspect "from the movement" who have admitted they were involved in the June 23, 1985, bombing plot centred in B.C. that killed 329 people aboard Flight 182 over the North Atlantic and two baggage handlers at Narita Airport in Japan.
"The movement" is a reference to the struggle for Khalistan, a separate Sikh nation some want carved from India's Punjab.
Verka said his group has been trying unsuccessfully to share its findings with the RCMP investigators from the Air India Task Force who are currently in Punjab interviewing potential witnesses.
The Canadian police, he said, are refusing to meet with the organization except with Indian officials present - something Verka says is unacceptable.
Verka wouldn't say more about the report or those purported to be the new suspects, but said the research paper will be publicly released "for the victims' families."
"We are having a meeting this weekend and then we will release it," he said in a telephone interview from Punjab.
Verka provided copies of e-mails between himself and task force investigator, Insp. Bart Blachford, about the request for a meeting.
In his e-mail, Blachford says that a senior official of the Punjab group, Justice Ajit Singh Bains, and his son, Rajvinder, had agreed to meet the RCMP along with India's Central Bureau of Investigation.
"The RCMP received permission from the Indian Govt. to meet with the PHRO, in the presence of the CBI. Initially you and your father were in agreement to meet with the RCMP in Chandigarh under those conditions," Blachford wrote.
"In a followup call with Cpl. [Dan] Sandhar and after speaking with your father, you and your father decided that you would not meet with us under the condition that the CBI be present at the meeting. Nor would you meet with us to discuss the situation. We have advised the CBI that no meeting will take place at your request." Blachford also said the RCMP would still like a copy of the report "in order to advance our investigation into the bombing of Kanishka," which is the name Air India gave the doomed airliner.
But Verka told The Sun that the human rights organization has lost faith in the RCMP because of its close relationship with Indian authorities and will give them nothing.In a subsequent e-mail to Blachford, the group denied there had been an agreement to meet with the CBI present.
The PHRO, which has maintained close separatist ties since it began in 1985, has stirred controversy in connection with the Air India probe before.
20/11/08 Kim Bolan/Vancouver Sun/Canada.com, Canada

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