GMR Aviation Academy appointed as Airport Council International’s Global Training Hub for the Asia Pacific Region

Hyderabad: GMR Hyderabad International Airport Limited (GHIAL) and Airports Council International, (ACI World) Geneva, have signed an agreement for the appointment of the GMR Aviation Academy as a Global Training Hub for the Asia Pacific region.
The agreement was signed in Hyderabad today, by Mr. Kiran Kumar Grandhi, Business Chairman, Airports, GMR Group and Ms. Angela Gittens, Director General, ACI World.
Through this agreement, the GMR Aviation Academy will facilitate ACI’s training opportunities that help develop managerial and operational standards, and spread knowledge of best practices throughout the world’s airports.
Commenting on the occasion, Mr. P. Sripathy, CEO, GHIAL said, “Considering that the other such training hubs within Asia Pacific are located at Dubai in the UAE, Incheon in South Korea and Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia, the GMR Aviation Academy will provide an ideal training venue, not just for the professionals from within the airports in India, but also from those in the SAARC countries.
“And with twelve new greenfield airports that will be coming up, and a majority of the existing 126 airports that are operated by the Airports Authority of India which will be upgraded, there will be a substantial increase in the number of requirements of adequately trained staff that are employed by airports, their suppliers and the different service providers.
“The GMR Aviation Academy will be geared up to provide the best, professional training that the qualified instructors from ACI will impart here in Hyderabad”, Mr. Sripathy added.
Ms. Angela Gittens, Director General, ACI World, who made a presentation on “Forging a vision of sustainable aviation”, said that, “Simply put, airports are capital intensive businesses highly dependent on economies of scale. Even in a downturn airports have to invest to provide capacity for the future. And user charges may have to increase.
“I note that India has some of the lowest user charges in the world but India has also lagged behind in providing capacity. Now that India is indeed providing the capacity the airlines and the communities need, it is only natural that user charges will have to rise, at least in the short term”, she added.
Airports Council International (ACI), the voice of the world’s airports has 1700 member airports. ACI Global Training was established to make training opportunities more accessible, and help develop managerial and operational standards at its member airports worldwide.

28/11/09 PRESS RELEASE/GMR Hyderabad International Airport Ltd

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Chennai airport expansion, Sriperumbudur greenfield to be delayed

Chennai: The ongoing expansion of existing airport and the proposed second airport at Sriperumbudur may get delayed if Airports Authority of India (AAI) is not able to eliminate the bottlenecks the projects face.
The existing airport's development will be hit if defence authorities did not vacate the 19-acre land adjacent to the international terminal immediately while tardiness of International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) in completing a techno-economic feasibity study is delaying the Sriperumbudur airport.
Confirming the fears, AAI chairman VP Agrawal said that AAI may not be able to complete the project on time if the defence land is not held up. "We are planning to take up the issue with the defence secretary," he said.
Though the land was formally handed over to AAI in July, defence authorities are refusing to vacate a transmitter building located in it. AAI has also built a RS 3-crore transmitter station at an alternative site.
"The ongoing expansion works (building two new passenger terminals, a flyover in front of the terminals, extending the secondary runway and building a bridge across Adyar river to extend the runway) are progressing at a rapid pace and could be completed next year. But, delay in getting the defence land will impact the expansion works," said Agrawal after inaugurating a 303-metre walkalator that connects domestic and international terminals at Chennai airport on Friday. The walkalator built at a cost of Rs 12 crore helps passengers to access aero bridges of both the terminals.
Agrawal said that the financial condition of AAI would not impact the ongoing airport expansion works at Kolkata and Chennai.
28/11/09 Times of India

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Sri Lanka - IndiGo extends aircraft maintenance contract to SL

India’s low-fare airline, IndiGo, has contracted SriLankan Engineering to carry out major maintenance programmes on its fleet of aircraft in 2010, following the success of a similar programme on 12 of its aircrafts this year.
The 2010 programme is expected to include ‘C-checks’ on 10 Airbus A320 aircrafts at SriLankan Engineering’s hangar complex at the Bandaranaike International Airport. SriLankan Engineering has already completed 12 of 13 C-checks this year on IndiGo’s Airbus A320 fleet. C-checks are mandatory maintenance programmes which are carried out periodically on every commercial aircraft.
Sri Lanka’s National Carrier has made a significant investment in recent years to transform its aircraft maintenance arm, SriLankan Engineering, and position it as a Maintenance, Repair, and Overhaul (MRO) institution of choice in the South Asian region. SriLankan Engineering specialises in Airbus aircraft, with the SriLankan fleet being comprised of A320, A330, and A340 aircraft.
27/11/09 ISRIA

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Green flights: Airlines go for biofuels

The humble blue-green algae, the innocuous jatropha plant and the fast-growing camelina could well power a 735,000 lb plane soon. And airlines, plane manufacturers and engine companies have joined hands to see that these biomass sources oil the wheels of aviation as early as 2013 along with fossil fuels.
The International Air Transport Association’s goal is to see that alternative fuels form 10% of aviation fuel consumption by 2017. Boeing foresees them being used regularly within 3-5 years, while Airbus believes that by 2030, up to 30% of aviation fuel will be alternative.
Aviation is responsible for 2% of carbon emissions, but unlike other sectors such as power and ground transport, it doesn’t have alternative energy sources such as wind, hydro and electricity. Besides, almost 40% of an airline’s costs go towards fuel. It therefore makes good business sense to commercialize sustainable fuel sources, says Dr Dinesh Keskar, president of Boeing India. ‘‘Sustainable biofuels unlike other energy sources, meet the unique requirements of aviation jet fuel,’’ he says. These include having the correct energy density, freezing points and high energy content per unit weight and volume.
‘‘Any biofuel used,’’ says Paul Nash, head of New Energies at Airbus in Toulouse, ‘‘should be able to work on all aircraft types, new and old and without the need to modify either the aircraft or the engine and be able to mix with existing jet fuel.’’ And the aviation industry is only interested in those sources that don’t compete with food or fresh water resources or lead to land use change, explains Keskar. These are called second generation biofuels.
The best biofuels, says Charlie Miller, vice-president, International Corporate Communications at Boeing, are algae, jatropha, halophytes and camelina.
Says Alok Adholeya, director of Biotechnology and Management of Bioresources Division at The Energy and Resources Institute, Delhi, India has good resources for algae. ‘‘We have a large coastline of over 7,000 km where algae can be grown. This, along with sunlight and flue gas (a pollutant from industries) can be used to produce this fuel on a continuous basis.’’ Algae can produce 15-300 times more oil per acre than conventional crops, such as rapeseed or soybeans.
26/11/09 Shobha John/Times of India

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Essar Oil to get into ATF retail

Mumbai: Essar Oil, the oil refining and marketing company from the Essar group, is all set to start retail sales of aviation turbine fuel (ATF) in the next 6-9 months.
S Thangapandian, chief executive officer - marketing, Essar Oil, on Tuesday said the company will set up refuelling stations in Gujarat and Rajasthan. It is also planning to set up an ATF dispensing station in Jamnagar by January, for which it is expecting an approval in the next 2-3 weeks. The company has a setup in Jamnagar.
"We will be supplying and distributing ATF at Ahmedabad, Rajkot, Udaipur and Jaipur airports in the next 6-9 months. We have got approvals from Airports Authority of India to set up ATF stations in these four cities," he said.
"We will spend Rs 45-50 lakh on each bowser that will be used in these airports, and including the rental charges of the airports and locations we will spend close to Rs 1.5-2 crore on each site," Thangapandian said.
"We are planning to install two bowsers at each location; each bowser has a capacity of 10,000 litres, which is enough for a few days requirement."
25/11/09 Ramiya Bhas/Daily News & Analysis

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Delayed Saras aims for 2011 approval

National Aerospace Laboratories is gearing up to fly the third Saras twin-turboprop prototype next year and hopes to clinch certification for India's first indigenous transport aircraft in 2011.
Development of the 14-seat twin-turboprop pusher has been marred by a series of delays since its launch in 1991, including the fatal crash in March of the second prototype.
According to the head of NAL's centre for Civil Aircraft Design and Development M S Chidananda, the weight of the third prototype - PT3 - is being reduced by around 500kg (1,100lb) "through great use of composites and by fine-tuning the structural design and optimising some of the on-board systems". This will bring the aircraft closer to the desired weight of 7,100kg.
The fully production conforming aircraft will be powered by two 1,200hp (895kW) Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A-67A turboprops.
24/11/09 Radhakrishna Rao/Flight Global

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'In principle' approval for 12 greenfield airports: Patel

New Delhi: Government has given "in principle" approval for the establishment of 12 greenfield airports for public use in various parts of the country, the Rajya Sabha was informed today.
The Airports Authority of India is constructing a new greenfield airport in Pakyong in Sikkim at an estimated cost of Rs 309 crores of which government is financing 90 per cent and rest 10 per cent is being funded through AAI's internal resources.The scheduled completion date of this project is January 2012, Patel said.
The other greenfield airports, which have got 'in principle' approval from the Steering committee, set up as per the new greenfield airport policy, are Mopa in Goa; Navi Mumbai and Sindhudurg in Maharashtra; Kunnur in Kerala; Bijapur, Shimoga, Hassan and Gulbarga in Karnataka; Dabra Airport in Gwalior and Durgapur in West Bengal.
Apart from these, the government has also decided to construct two other greenfield airports in Cheithu in Nagaland and Itanagar in Arunachal Pradesh.
24/11/09 Press Trust of India/Business Standard

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Airports at Nizamabad, Ramagundam unlikely

Hyderabad: The Indian Air Force (IAF) has objected to two proposed regional airports at Nizamabad and Ramagundam, saying commercial planes may disturb the movements of fighter jets.
“We received a letter from the IAF that the proposed airports may disturb their plane movements at Bidar and Hakimpet airfields,” a senior official of state infrastructure and investments department said.
Rajasekhara Reddy-led government in 2008 had proposed to set up regional greenfield airports at Orvakal in Kurnool, Jakranpalli in Nizamabad, Ramagundam in Karimnagar and Tadepalligudem in West Godavari.According to the senior official, the government had to cancel the expression of interest (EOI) called last year due to the poor response from bidders.
As per the new terms, the lease period for land will be for 30 years. It also offered VAT exemption and discount in land registration fee with an offer to lease 1500 acres of land to each airport.
24/11/09 Times of India

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New air charter firm's fares equal to biz class of airlines

New Delhi: It claims to be the country’s first low-cost air charter operation. It will offer destinations either not connected or with limited connection, but at the same fare you would pay for a business class ticket. All you have to do is to ensure there are three customers travelling together on its Cirrus aircraft (which has three seats).
Aviation enterpreneuer Manav Singh, who owns Club One which offers aircraft on fractional ownership, and Uttam Kumar Bose, former CEO of Air Sahara, today launched Air Car, the country’s first low-cost air charter, with Delhi as a base. Initially, the charters will fly out of Delhi and service cities within a 500 km radius. Said Manav Singh, the chairman, “Air Car is 50 per cent cheaper than any available air charter service currently operating for similar distances and is priced competitively to a business class ticket of an airline.”
While a business class traveller of an airline has to pay around Rs 10,000 for a journey from Delhi to Chandigarh and back , he can charter a three-seater aircraft at Air Car for Rs 60,000 for three people, which amounts to him paying the same fare per passenger. Additionally, Singh adds, the passenger saves on journey time, as he is not constrained to the scheduled flights run by airlines.
And, passengers can commute to places not connected by airlines.
24/11/09 Business Standard

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Goa airport contract to Chinese firm cancelled

New Delhi: A Chinese connection may mean that passengers flying in and out of Goa’s tiny Dabolim airport may have to wait longer for a world-class terminal.
The Airports Authority of India (AAI) first awarded the Rs 320-crore contract for building the integrated international-cumdomestic airport to an Indian company that had tied up with a Chinese firm to show the experience to bag this prestigious contract.
However, as per government unstated policy, work on sensitive sites should not be awarded to a Chinese company. The Dabolim airport is a naval airfield whose civil enclave is used by passengers to fly in and out of Goa. Given the sensitivity of this defence site, the AAI realised this ‘oversight’ , it recalled the contract and is going to start the process afresh.
On its part, the navy is learnt to be in favour of Dabolim’s expansion. The existing Dabolim passenger terminal is unable to meet the traffic growth that Goa has witnessed over the past few years and on holidays the security check queue for passengers flying out begins near the arrival area itself. The issue of Goa’s new airport has been caught in a massive political crossfire.
Interestingly, the Chinese connection is also learnt to have come to light when local Congress MP Francisco Sardinha raised the issue with the AAI.
24/11/09 Economic Times

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GVK Power: Raising stake in Bial is a well-timed move

The intent behind GVK Power and Infrastructure Ltd’s (GVKPIL) plan to buy out Larsen and Toubro Ltd’s (L&T) 17% stake in the Bengaluru International Airport Ltd (Bial) is to gain a controlling stake in the airport management.
GVKPIL is just completing the formalities on the 12% stake in Bial that it recently bought from Zurich Airport at Rs485 crore. For this, it paid a premium of Rs95 per share. This is not without reason. Bial holds great potential for future growth, given that it already handles more cargo and passengers than its southern counterpart in Hyderabad. According to Isaac George, chief financial officer, GVKPIL, “the quality of passengers is good, with a high average spend per passenger, due to the IT/BPO (information technology/ business process outsourcing) crowd.” This would only improve as the economic recovery gains momentum.
Also, stakeholders in Bial have a revenue sharing agreement of only 4% with the government (Airports Authority of India), unlike Mumbai where it is around 39%. The buzz in industry circles is that GVKPIL is also interested in increasing its stake from the present 37% in Mumbai International Airport Ltd, or Mial. South African company Bidvest Group Ltd holds 27% of Mial.
GVKPIL’s intent to increase stakes in both Mumbai and Bangalore is well timed as air traffic in the second quarter of fiscal 2010 rose 3% over the year-ago period, with passenger traffic rising by 10%. In fact, this was after a contraction during the last four quarters.
Another positive in the airport business is the monetization of real estate in the airport entity.
Even before this monetization, fiscal 2010 will see stronger revenue growth and profit before tax as airports ride the economic recovery and benefit from higher tourist traffic.
22/11/09 Manas Chakravarty, Mobis Philipose, Ravi Ananthanarayanan and Vatsala Kamat/Live Mint

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AAI re-issues Dabolim tender

Panaji: Airport Authority of India has re-issued the tender for construction of an integrated terminal at the civil enclave, Dabolim, at an estimated cost of Rs 197.53 crore barely four days after a controversy broke out over the "scrapping" of the original tender.
"The tender has been released by our Delhi office and the job has been re-tendered without any change in the size and scope of the terminal building and other infrastructure being undertaken for upgradation of Dabolim airport, Goa," an AAI official said.
Meanwhile, Goa airport director Paul Manickam again clarified on the tender process.
22/11/09 Times of India

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DHL signs security partnership with Air India

Mumbai: DHL, world's leading logistics company announced today that its freight forwarding division DHL Global Forwarding has signed a security partnership with Air India-SATS, Bengaluru.
The security partnership aims to develop standard operating procedures that support and fulfill customers’ security requirements.
According to the partnership program memorandum of understanding, DHL Global Forwarding will work together with Air India-SATS and agree on standard operating procedures (SOP) for high-value and high-risk air cargo, to share best practices and information on crime trend.
Air India-SATS is a joint venture company between National Aviation Company of India (NACIL) which is branded Air India now and Singapore Airport Terminal Services (SATS).
20/11/09 Business Standard

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AirAsia launches new flights to three Indian cities

Sepang: AirAsia is set to be the most connected non-local airline in India with nine new destinations.
Three new flights to the Indian cities of Kochi, Kolkata and Trivandrum were launched in Kolkata yesterday, adding to AirAsia’s existing destination of Tiruchirappalli, which was launched last year.
The low-cost airline also operates flights to China, Indonesia, the Philippines, Myanmar, Vietnam, Thailand, Laos, Singapore, Taiwan, Cambodia, Brunei, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Australia, United Kingdom and the Middle-East.
Flights to Kochi and Kolkata will operate daily while there will be two flights to Trivandrum operating two or five times weekly.
AirAsia CEO Datuk Seri Tony Fernandes also announced three more flights to Chennai, Bangalore and Hyderabad starting from April next year.
The three cities would be connected to Kuala Lumpur, with an extra flight to Chennai from Penang.
Fernandes also said that there would be flights to Mumbai and Delhi towards the end of the year by AirAsia X.
21/11/09 Shaun Ho/The Star online

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India may join US, EC to liberalize aviation sector

New Delhi: India may join seven other nations and the European Commission which have signed an agreement to liberalize state control, enabling their airlines to access foreign capital and seek mergers and acquisitions worldwide.
Two top global aviation bodies, ICAO and IATA, appealed to governments, including that of India and China — both growing aviation hubs — to follow suit and allow open market access to their airlines, soon after the signing ceremony of the pact Monday in Montebello, Canada.
The signatories to Multilateral Statement of Policy Principles on implementating bilateral air service agreements (ASAs) include major players like the US, Singapore and UAE, besides Europe, which together constitute 60% of the global aviation sector.
The ceremony, broadcast through teleconference, took place in the presence of the president of the International Civil Aviation Organization, Roberto K Gonzalez, and his IATA counterpart Giovanni Bisignani.
Maintaining that some countries had sought more time on the issue, Bisignani said in his recent discussions civil aviation minister Praful Patel had said the Indian government wanted more time to formalise the agreement.
India had approved the idea which was mooted by the International Air Transport Association at its annual meeting in Istanbul last year.
Besides the mounting losses of the airlines, primarily due to high oil prices, the 65 year-old bilateral system of ASAs “restrict how airlines can do business in ways that no other industry faces,” Bisignani said.
17/11/09 PTI/Live Mint

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Steering committee for Mopa reconstituted

Panaji: The government has recently reconstituted the steering committee for the new international airport at Mopa. While chief minister Digambar Kamat is the chairman of the steering committee, minister for panchayats and Dhargalim MLA Manohar Azgaonkar is the vice-chairman and North Goa collector Mihir Vardhan is the member secretary. Vardhan is also the director of Mopa airport.
Vardhan, who issued the notification for reconstitution of the steering committee, said that the committee is the apex body for all policy decisions concerning the new Mopa airport, its construction, funding, etc. "Only this committee can push forward the Mopa airport," he said.
Vardhan said that although the committee would have held its meeting by now, it has been delayed due to the upcoming International Film Festival of India.
17/11/09 Times of India

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Paramount may buy 8 turboprop planes for up to $250 million

Mumbai: Chennai-based full business class airline Paramount Airways Ltd could be the only Indian carrier to place orders for planes at the five-day Dubai Air Show that ends on 19 November. The airline plans to sign an agreement to buy at least eight turboprop planes at an estimated cost of $230-250 million (around Rs1,070-1,163 crore).
Turboprop planes are manufactured by Canada’s Bombardier Inc. and Airbus SAS subsidiary ATR.
These small planes, with seat capacity ranging from 40 to 70, will be deployed to connect smaller cities such as Cooch Behar (West Bengal), Agatti (Lakshadweep Islands), Salem and Tuticorin (both in Tamil Nadu). Bigger planes in Paramount’s fleet, including five Embraer aircraft made by Brazil’s Empresa Brasileira de Aeronáutica SA, cannot land on the airport runways in these cities.
“The carrier is evaluating options between Bombardier’s Q400 and ATR’s 600 series of turbo planes. Initially we would be leasing eight turbo planes and (they) would be later replaced with new ones. The new planes would join the airline’s fleet between January and May,” said a senior Paramount Airways executive, who didn’t want to be named.
“These planes will be having all business class configuration like the existing Embraer planes. The funding for these planes would be done with the help of European credit agencies,” the executive added.
If bought, Paramount Airways will have two types of aircraft in its fleet. “We have no plans to phase out Embraers. The reason behind opting (for) turboprops is because certain smaller markets demand smaller planes and there are operational restrictions at these smaller airports,” said the second airline executive cited earlier.
With five planes, Paramount Airways, which was launched in October 2005, flies to 16 destinations across India and operates 72 flights daily, carrying 3,600 passengers. According to DGCA, the carrier had a 1.5% market share in October.
15/11/09 P.R. Sanjai/Live Mint

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Belgaum SEZ mulls unit for aero-engine components

Bangalore: The special economic zone (SEZ) focused on aerospace in Belgaum, North Karnataka, could soon have a facility to produce components and sub-assemblies for aero engines.
The new facility alone could generate revenues of $50 million per year for the next five years, said Aravind Melligeri, chairman and co-founder of QuEST Global, the engineering services and manufacturing company that is developing the SEZ through Aerospace Processing India (API), its joint venture with Canada's Magellan Aerospace Corporation.
The company is trying to create an aerospace precision engineering and manufacturing ecosystem at the SEZ, spread over 300 acres. It has so far invested Rs 150 crore on the SEZ, which became operational in March this year and currently houses engineering services, precision machining and sheet metal facilities.
Meanwhile, QuEST Global has tied up with Farinia GEIE, a French foundry and forging company, to establish an aerospace forging facility at the SEZ.
The company has also bagged an order to manufacture metallic parts and assembly work for the Airbus A-350XWB flap track structure from Belgium's SABCA. The contract for the A-350XWB programme is worth $100 million over the next 10 years. Melligeri said the order would be executed at the Belgaum SEZ.
Global aerospace majors like Snecma and Magellan are already outsourcing from India and others like Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Thales, Pratt & Whitney, Bombardier and Rolls Royce are setting up base in the country.
16/11/09 Praveena Sharma/Daily News & Analysis

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India’s first Aerospace SEZ launched

Belgaum: The global aerospace engineering & manufacturing major, QuEST Global has formally launched India’s first aerospace precision engineering & manufacturing ecosystem - the QuEST Global Special Economic Zone (SEZ) in Belgaum, Karnataka. The company has signed MOUs with 3 major players in the aerospace manufacturing space - SABCA (Société Anonyme Belge de Constructions Aéronautiques), Magellan Aerospace Ltd. and Farinia SA.
The SEZ was formally unveiled today by the Hon’ble Chief Minister of Karnataka, Sri B.S. Yeddyurappa and Hon’ble Union Minister for Civil Aviation, Sri Praful Patel.
The QuEST Global SEZ offers complete ‘design-to-build’ services, enabling an end-toend
aerospace supply chain ecosystem. QuEST Global’s SEZ is spread over 300 acres of land. The company looks at establishing partnerships to bridge the capability gaps in the aerospace industry and to provide ‘Built-to-Suit’ facility for the aerospace industry suppliers. The SEZ is focused towards providing world class infrastructure with major focus on aerospace industries. An initial investment of RS 150 crores has already been made in this SEZ.
“This is a special day for Karnataka. Bangalore is perceived to be the India hub for the aerospace sector, and today the QuEST Global SEZ in Belgaum has opened up newer avenues to attract foreign investors in the manufacturing space as well. We are now poised to offer international level expertise with competent local talent and corporate commitment,” ’said Hon’ble Chief Minister of Karnataka, B.S. Yeddyurappa on the occasion.
“The Indian aviation industry is being watched closely by all global majors and is on a steady growth path. We fully support the vision of entities like QuEST Global, who by setting up this project have displayed their commitment towards growing not only the economy, but also the development of local areas, “said Hon’ble Union Minister for Civil Aviation, Praful Patel.
“We, at QuEST Global had envisioned setting up India’s first aerospace precision engineering & manufacturing ecosystem to provide ‘design-to-build’ solutions. The SEZ will benefit North Karnataka region to a large extent. We are looking forward to create more than 7000 jobs locally and infuse $500 million to the economy in the coming 10 years. This ecosystem at SEZ will provide an ideal platform to help our customers & partners in discharge their offset obligations,” said Aravind Melligeri, Co-founder and Chairman, QuEST Global.
The SEZ currently houses an engineering services facility, a precision machining facility, sheet metal facility within the Aerospace Processing India (API) unit. The API is a joint venture (JV) with Magellan Aerospace. The JV runs as an independent operating company, providing approved aerospace treatments that are not readily available in India.

QuEST Global Manufacturing has signed a MoU with Belgian aerospace major, S.A.B.C.A to manufacture metallic parts and assembly work for the Airbus A-350XWB Flap Track Structures. S.A.B.C.A primarily focuses on space, civil aviation and defense. This contract extends the relationship from the current A-380 manufacturing to the Airbus A-350XWB.
The current deal is worth $100million over the next 10 years for the Airbus A-350XWB program.

QuEST Global has signed a MoU with Magellan Aerospace limited to evaluate to set up a new dedicated facility in the QuEST Global SEZ, Belgaum to manufacture components and subassemblies for aero engines.
“Magellan has been our first partner since the SEZ became operational with the setting up of
the API (Aerospace Processing India). The extension of this partnership will look to set up an
Aero-engine focused manufacturing facility that will achieve US $50million per year revenue
in year 5 of operations,” said Aravind Melligeri, Chairman & Co-founder, QuEST Global.
14/11/09 PRESS RELEASE/QuEST Global

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Next Saras prototype by 2010-end

Bangalore: Eight months after the crash of NAL's second prototype of Saras aircraft on the city's outskirts, the inquiry report is still not out.
However, NAL on Saturday announced that the third prototype will be ready by the end of 2010.
M S Chidananda, head of the Centre for Civil Aircraft Design and Development, said HAL will manufacture the aircraft at its Kanpur facility. The Indian Air Force has expressed interest in acquiring 15 Saras aircraft.
Saras is a multi-role light transport aircraft -- ideal for feeder airlines, executive transport, air ambulance and other community services -- designed and tested by NAL.
15/11/09 Times of India

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