Airbus pitches for wider seats in economy class

New Delhi: Passengers flying economy class with Air India on its long-haul routes of Delhi-New York and Delhi-Chicago are likely to have better sleep quality if one were to go by a new study conducted by the London Sleep Centre.
The study shows that a mere 1 per cent increase in the width of economy class seats, to 18 inches (45.72 cm), can help improve sleep quality, especially on flights of over 13 hours.
According to website SeatGuru, the seat width on the Boeing 777-300 Extended Range that Air India uses on these two routes is 18 inches.
Currently, Air India is the only Indian carrier that operates such long-duration flights.
Its Delhi-New York flight takes 15.30 hours and the return, 14.05 hours. Similarly, the daily Delhi-Chicago-Delhi service takes 16 hours and 14.25 hours, respectively.
Read news in full 30/10/13 Ashwini Phadnis/Business Line

Air India MRO to start operation next year

New Delhi: National passenger carrier Air India's maintenance repair and overhaul (MRO) facility in Nagpur will become operational by the second quarter of 2014, Global aircraft manufacturer Boeing said Wednesday.
"The facility (MRO) will become operational by the second quarter of calender year 2014. The hand over of the facility (to Air India and Boeing) will be done by the end of this quarter or the next,” said Dinesh Keskar, senior vice president, sales, Asia Pacific and India, Boeing Commercial Aircraft.
According to Keskar, the facility will be handed over by Larsen and Toubro (L&T), who have been contracted to build the MRO, after the commissioning of key facilities and equipments like water, electricity and pressurized systems.
Read news in full 30/10/13 IANS/New Indian Express

US companies eager to invest in India's aviation sector

Washington: Top US companies are eager to invest in India's booming aviation sector's various fields, from security to building new airports, with recent changes in regulatory environment "encouraging" them, American officials have said.
Though top Obama Administration officials urged the Indian Government to address its concerns with regard to some of the key policy issues, it also praised the recent measures taken by Delhi.
"Indian aviation is experiencing dramatic growth across the board, from the emergence of new carriers to a growing middle class ready to take travel by air. Recent changes to regulatory environment are another encouraging sign," US Transportation Secretary Anthony Fox said at the India-US Aviation Summit here yesterday.
"Those changes send a signal to private industry that the Indian government increasingly recognises the needs and interests of business," Fox said.
Read news in full 31/10/13 PTI/Business Standard

787s are safe aircraft, company keeping watch: Boeing

New Delhi: US aircraft major Boeing said Wednesday its latest technologically advanced B-787 is a safe aircraft and the company is keeping a watch over every problem faced by the plane.
"It's a machine, we did our best to design it, but something happens... But it is a safe airplane, it has never caused issues with the safety of passengers," said Dinesh Keskar, senior vice president, sales, Asia Pacific and India, Boeing Commercial Aircraft.
"We have a operations control centre in Seattle which monitors every 787 aircraft in flight. We get to know about what is happening to every 787 in flight."
Keskar was replying to a question over a large belly panel of an Air India's 787 which fell off as the plane landed at Bangalore airport on October 12. The aircraft had taken-off from New Delhi carrying around 150 passengers.
Read news in full 30/10/13 IANS/Business Standard

Sahara group in race to run Amausi airport?

Lucknow: The Sahara group has reportedly shown interest in running Lucknow's Chaudhary Charan Singh Airport at Amausi. According to reliable sources, the company has examined the assets and liabilities of the airport for which request for quotations (RFQ) would be issued by the ministry of civil aviation. GMR, which looks after the Indira Gandhi International airport in New Delhi, is another company in the race to run the airport once it is provatised.
According to AAI sources, the RFQ was to be issued to select companies on October 18. But now it has been postponed till November 12. Sources said the extension comes in the wake of a clause which states that the company interested should not have a case pending in any court of law in India or abroad. The civil aviation department was examining legal prospects for the same after which request for proposals (RFP) will be issued to these companies.
Read news in full 30/10/13 Pankaj Shah/Times of India

Peru, India mulling air link

Lima: Peru's National Tourism Chamber (Canatur) said the South American nation is studying the possibility of establishing air connections with India via Panama.
If possible, Air India could open fights from New Delhi to Lima and other regional capitals via Panama, Xinhua quoted Canatur head Carlos Canales as saying Tuesday.
Indian Vice President Hamid Ansari was in Peru Oct 26-28 to participate in free-trade talks with Peru's foreign ministry.
"One of the most important points of the negotiating process is air connectivity between India and Peru," said Canales.
Read news in full 30/10/13 New Indian Express

Air India all set to procure 19 A320 planes

New Delhi: The ailing Air India seems to be headed for more turbulence with plans to take on lease 19 Airbus A320 planes at a time when the economy is sluggish and the aviation sector is going through a downturn.
Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh appears to have given the goahead to the national carrier for following a similar policy that was adopted under Praful Patel's tenure when Air India expanded its fleet size although the aviation market was going through a slump. The airline has ended up being crushed by a debt of over Rs.45,000 crore and accumulating huge losses.
Patel had defended the order for 111 new planes as essential for taking on the competition but the Comptroller and Auditor General of India's (CAG) subsequent audit report had termed the move "as a recipe for disaster".
It seems the 'Maharaja' has not learnt a lesson despite the costly mistake and is going ahead with plans to splurge money on leasing more aircraft when there is excess capacity in the market and airlines are piling up losses.
Read news in full 30/10/13 Sanjay Singh/ Mail Today/India Today

Fog returns, low visibility at IGI airport

New Delhi: The first snowfall of the season over the Himalayas is expected within the next couple of days with the first western disturbance after the monsoon likely to affect northwest India between October 31 and November 1. Meanwhile, as winds weakened over the region, light fog and smog returned to Delhi and visibility at the airport fell to a low of 600m on Tuesday.
Met officials said that low visibility conditions were likely to remain for at least another two days. "There are light westerly winds prevailing over Delhi at present which have led to a drop in temperature. The conditions are ideal for development of fog and smog. Visibility at the airport has also come down by 30-40% from 1,000m-3,000m on Monday to 600m-1,500m on Tuesday," said R K Jenamani, director in-charge, IGI Met.
Read news in full 30/10/13 Times of India

Paris airport ordeal for Indian fliers

Mumbai: When Jay Shah (24), a business professional, boarded the Air France flight AF 17 from JFK Airport, New York on October 9, he had no inkling of the ordeal that awaited him. He and his fellow passengers were not only stranded for more than 24 hours at the Charles De Gaulle Airport, the largest airport in France, but they also claim to be ill-treated by the airport staff on the basis of their ethnicity.
First their connecting flight to Mumbai from Paris was delayed and then cancelled apparently due to technical issues as cited by the airline officials. A delay or cancellation of flights require the airline to provide passengers with two free phone calls, free meals, free accommodation and compensation for the ordeal, according to European law.

SpiceJet, Jet Airways candidates to buy Boeing 737 MAX aircraft

New Delhi: Dinesh Keskar, senior Vice-President of Boeing said today that SpiceJet and Jet Airways are candidates for buying 737 MAX aircraft.
Last year, SpiceJet was in advanced discussions to order 30-40 Boeing 737 MAX aircraft the Centre for Asia-Pacific Aviation (CAPA) had said.
Read news in full 30/10/13 Business Line

Tata-AirAsia crew to train in Malaysia

New Delhi: The Tata-AirAsia joint venture (JV) low-cost airline is proving to be a unique one for Indian aviation authorities . The JV has told the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) that its training facility for all crew — pilots, cabin crew and engineers — will be in Malaysia.
This will be first instance of an Indian airline having its training base abroad. The DGCA has decided to send its team to the airline's training facility in Malaysia. This team will examine the set-up and then certify it so that the people trained from there can work on the LCC's Indian-registered aircraft.
The DGCA has formed a two-member team to examine the documents submitted by the Tata-AirAsia LCC. "Flight operating manuals, air worthiness and documents relating to other areas have been submitted . We are examining them. The process of granting the schedule airline permit (read licence) to this airline may take about one-and-a-halfmonths ," said sources.
Read news in full 28/10/13 Saurabh Sinha/Economic Times

Al Maktoum International-India routes a possibility

Dubai: European-low cost carrier Wizz Air could one day fly to India using Al Maktoum International at Dubai World Central as a hub.
József Váradi, Chief Executive Officer of Wizz Air, said on Sunday at the opening of Al Maktoum International that flying into India was “certainly something being evaluated” by the airline.
“We had discussion with India. Nevertheless, this is still premature,” he told Gulf News at the opening of Al Maktoum International on Sunday.
Wizz Air, a Hungarian no-frills airline, flew 12 million passengers across 290 routes in 35 different countries last year. The airline currently has 17 operational bases in nine Central and Eastern European countries.
Read news in full 27/10/13  Alexander Cornwell/Gulf News

High Net Worth individuals hike stake in Kingfisher

New Delhi: High net-worth individuals (HNIs) continued their buying spree in Kingfisher Airlines shares in September quarter, even as the carrier remained grounded for over a year after its licence was suspended.
However, small investors (individuals with shares worth over Rs 1 lakh) and foreign institutional investors (FIIs) reduced their respective exposure to beleaguered airlines in the quarter that ended September 30.
They raised their stake in the cash-strapped company to 20.3 per cent at the end of the September quarter from 19.52 per cent in the preceding three months, as per stock exchanges data.
HNIs have been raising their respective stakes in Vijay Mallya-led Kingfisher since April-June quarter of 2012.
Besides, the latest shareholding data of Kingfisher shows that the number of HNI shareholders have also increased considerably during this time.
Read news in full 28/10/13 PTI/The Hindu

Govt scraps airport project in Kanpur

Lucknow: The state government has scrapped the airport project proposed in Kanpur Dehat following its decision to provide 50 acres of land to the Airports Authority of India (AAI) to develop a civil enclave at Chakeri Air force station in Kanpur city.
The decision was taken at a meeting held between Chief Secretary Jawed Usmani and officials of several departments, including Civil Aviation.
Usmani is learnt to have directed officials to send a request to the Union Ministry of Defence to equip the Chakeri airport with facilities for night landing of flights.
The Chakeri airport is under the control of Ministry of Defence and the Airport Authority of India (AAI) uses the Ministry's building and other set-ups to operate flights.
Read news in full 27/10/13 Lalmani Verma/Indian Express

Tata is open to buy a stake in Air India

New Delhi: The wheel may eventually turn a full circle. Decades after the private Tata Airlines was renamed as Air India and subsequently nationalised by the government as the national carrier, the Tatas have indicated that they could consider investing in Air India in case it is privatised in the years to come.
In case that happens, it would mean that the Tatas may consider picking up stake in an airline which once belonged to them. It may be recalled that civil aviation minister Ajit Singh had recently said that cash-strapped national carrier Air India can be privatised if the “public, government and Parliament agree” on it.
Just recently, the Tatas had announced the proposed launch of their very own “world-class full-service airline in India” in which Tata Sons would have the majority stake of 51 per cent, with Singa-pore Airlines owning the remaining 49 per cent.

AI's market share, passenger revenue grow in Q2 of 2013-14

New Delhi: It is good news for Air India in the second quarter of this financial year with its market share, passenger revenue, load factor and on-time performance showing considerable improvement.
While the national carrier's passenger revenue was up 22 per cent -- at Rs 3,332 crore in July-September as against Rs 2,732 crore in the same period last year, its market share grew 1.3 points from 18.5 per cent during the same period in 2012 to 19.8 per cent, according to official data.
Its average network occupancy factor was higher by 3.8 percentage points at 72.5 per cent compared to 68.7 last year. While its domestic occupancy factor was higher by 8.7 points, it was higher by 1.6 points on the international sector.
Air India's domestic passenger market share rose by 1.3 points from 18.5 per cent during July-September in 2012 to 19.8 per cent this year, the data showed.
Read news in full 27/10/13 PTI/Business Standard

Air-India Express adds three more flights to Muscat

Muscat: Air-India Express is rationalising its Oman-India flight routes on the Kerala sector from October 27 to offer more convenient connectivity to passengers, a senior official of airlines in Muscat, told the Times of Oman.The proposed winter schedule from October 27 will now have three extra flights from Kozhikode to Muscat.
"We are raising the number of flights from Muscat to Kozhikode from four to seven. The arrangement will continue with only a brief halt in the months of November and February when the number of passengers is low," he said.
There will be one direct flight to Salalah and another via Kochi, he added. "As for the other routes, the old schedule will continue. The Air India schedule will also remain unchanged," he said.Giving details of the plans for the region, he said that Air India Express will also operate daily flights from Kochi to Dubai.
Read news in full 27/10/13 Rejimon K/Times of Oman

Jet Airways bets on business class travel again

Mumbai: Jet Airways is reconfiguring its Boeing 737 fleet to add extra business class seats ahead of Tata-Singapore Airlines plans to launch a full service airline. The airline also plans to cut down flights on loss making domestic routes and is stopping  all services to Bhubaneswar as a measure to arrest losses. The airline posted its worst ever consolidated loss of Rs 998 crore for second quarter of the current fiscal.
Jet Airways and subsidiary JetLite have 70 narow body Boeing 737s of different variants and are flown on domestic routes, Gulf and South East Asia.  Thirteen planes from JetLite fleet and a few planes in Jet Airways fleet  have eight business class seats. These planes will be reconfigured to add four extra business seats thus increasing the premium segment seating.  A few Boeing 737s have 16 and 28 business class seats at present.

No wings for foreign flights

Chandigarh: The Indian Air Force (IAF) has crashed the foreign dreams of two private airlines from the city airport, unwilling to give the go-ahead to international flights from the terminal on technical grounds.
Last month, Director General Civil Aviation (DGCA) accorded permission to Indigo and Spice Jet to operate international flights for Dubai from the existing terminal of the Chandigarh airport subject to approval of the ministry of defence (MOD). The MOD, which controls the airbase, had sought opinion from the air headquarters. The permission was required because IAF handles the technical area like runway and air traffic control (ATC).
Sources confirmed to TOI that the air force authorities expressed its inability to handle international flights on account of its tight schedule of handling its operational flights from the local airbase sorties for the strategically important Ladakh area.
Read news in full 26/10/13 Ajay Sura/Times of India

Diwali passenger traffic higher this year despite high airfares

High Diwali fares don't seem to have deterred the Indian traveller from flying out for a holiday. The passenger traffic during Diwali is likely to register a small but positive growth of about 6-8% during Diwali this year, compared to the same period last year, estimates by an online travel portal show. Promotional fares offered by airlines around July and August have helped keep passenger volumes high this season, feel experts. This may, however, not translate into profits for airlines.
Based on the current booking, passenger traffic for the Diwali festival season, from November 1-10, will grow by 6-8% compared to last year. The boost to travel also came from the fares which, after a 30% upward spiral in September, have stabilized and haven't risen dramatically. However, most significant bookings seem to have happened during August when domestic carriers offered tickets at throw-away prices for an advance booking.
Read news in full 27/10/13 Chinmayi Shalya/Times of India

SpiceJet plans gradual global expansion, to add Dammam and Kuala Lumpur as destinations

Bangkok:  Aiming to expand its international network gradually, no-frills carrier SpiceJetBSE 2.46 % today said it would add two more global destinations, Dammam and Kuala Lumpur, by March next year along with increasing frequencies on certain foreign routes.
"We are going to start operations to Dammam (Saudi Arabia) and Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) within this financial year. We are currently working on the financial details and also trying to increase frequencies to certain existing destinations," SpiceJet's Senior Vice President (Commercial) V Raja said here today.
Asked whether SpiceJet was in talks with any foreign carrier for investment in its equity, he said these were "only reports", but added that "if there is a good proposal which is economically and commercially good for us, it will be wrong not to look at it".
Read news in full 27/10/13 PTI/Economic Times

Delhi Aerocity a boost for the aviation sector: experts

New Delhi: Delhi Aerocity, a 43-acre hospitality and commercial district near the Indira Gandhi International Airport, is finally seeing the light of the day and is expected to usher in volumes and growth for both the aviation and hospitality industries.
Expected to ultimately house 16 luxury hotels and commercial spaces, it was conceived and approved as a part of the Delhi Airport master plan five years ago.
“The hospitality district of the Aerocity offers quick access to the airport, besides being centrally located between the business areas of Delhi and Gurgaon,” Rajiv Chib, associate director of PricewaterhouseCoopers said. “It is thus a logical extension of any major international airport and needs to be made functional at the earliest.”
Chib’s views were corroborated by national carrier Air India, which made the IGI airport as its hub way back in 2010.

Airlines woo passengers with regional film fare

India’s growing reputation as one of fastest growing aviation market in the world has led foreign airlines to give special attention to regional films on their flight entertainment system.
These airlines are now increasingly buying movie rights of regional films to boost the passenger loyalty.
Sajid Khan, country head, South African airways said, “We are trying to give passengers the latest dose of regional films in several Indian regional languages”. The airline officials say that since Mumbai is the only centre from where the airline operates at present, the movie menu has strong Marathi language film listings.
Another airline, Emirates Airways recently got access to use popular Marathi films like Balak Palak, Premachi Goshta, Satrangi Re and Shaala.
These airlines are now increasingly buying movie rights of regional films to boost the passenger loyalty.
Reazd news in full 27/10/13 Shanhkar Abidi/Daily News & Analysis

Air India cabin crew union threatens management with "non-cooperation"

New Delhi: Air India's cabin crew union has threatened the airline management with non-cooperation and accused it of "intentionally creating industrial unrest in the airline to favour private airlines" during the festive season.
In a letter to Air India CMD Rohit Nandan, President of the All-India Cabin Crew Association, Ashwini Ullalkar, accused the management of not honouring mutually agreed upon agreements and implementing the recommendations of the Dharmadhikari Committee report on the rostering of cabin crew.
AI and AICCA are at loggerheads over the rostering of flights for cabin crews as per Directorate General of Civil Aviation norms on Flight Duty Time Limitation (FDTL), following the recommendation of the Dharmadhikari Committee.
Read news in full 25/10/13 Economic Times

Immigration proves a pain for flyers at international airport

Mumbai: When Sudhir Shah (name changed), a media professional, arrived at Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport (CSIA) after a long flight from Europe, all he wanted was a smooth immigration and customs procedure. A jet-lagged Shah wanted to rush home to get some proper rest.
However, after waiting in the queue for some time, an immigration officer asked him to move to a neighbouring counter. But after he was half-way through at the counter, another officer asked all the passengers queuing up there to move to another counter. This infuriated all and they insisted on knowing the reason for the closure of the counter. In her reply, the officer said she had to go the washroom and as there was a staff crunch she had no other option but to ask the passengers to shift to the neighbouring counter.
Read news in full 26/10/13 Shahkar Abidi/Daily News & Analysis

Fresh off AirAsia, Singapore Airlines triumphs, Ratan Tata eyes Air India

New Delhi: Industry leader Ratan Tata today expressed interest in the possibility of privatisation of Air India, saying he would be very happy to look at it whenever it happened.
"As an when it happens, we would be very happy to look at it," the Chairman Emeritus of the Tata Group said when asked whether he would be interested if Air India was privatised.
Ratan Tata's comments came weeks after Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh said it was his personal opinion that the government should not be in service sectors like airlines or hotels and any future regime could consider privatisation of Air India, as the government would not give any more funds to the airline after it completed equity infusion of Rs 30,000 crore till 2021.
Tata was speaking to reporters after he, along with Singapore Airlines CEO Goh Choon Phong and Tata-SIA Airlines Chairman Prasad Menon, met the minister.
Read news in full 25/10/13 PTI/Indian Express

FIPB nod: Tata-Singapore Airlines to fly with many advantages

New Delhi: From the day Tatas first announced their intention to partner long time friend SIA for launching a full service airline in India, almost everyone associated with the airline industry has welcomed this move.
In fact, the Ministry of Civil Aviation is expediting some decision which will be of immense benefit to the new airline almost immediately after it is operational: 1) The ministry will shortly move a Cabinet Note which seeks to lift the five year mandatory restriction on domestic airlines before they are allowed to fly overseas. Tata-SIA will be the biggest beneficiary if this rule is amended since its business will get the necessary fillip from quickly beginning overseas operations. 2) The ministry is also hopeful of some reduction in taxation on jet fuel by Maharashtra. Since Delhi and Mumbai airports account for almost two-thirds of all ATF purchased by Indian airlines, a reduction in ATF prices at Mumbai will be of immense benefit to all existing airlines as well as to new entrants like Tata-SIA.

Nod for Tata SIA Airlines sending out positive signals: analysts

Aviation industry analysts have welcomed the government's approval to Singapore Airlines' proposal to start an aviation venture with Tata Sons.
"Welcome news. This sends our very positive signals to the global investor community," Amber Dubey, partner and head for aerospace and defence at global consultancy KPMG, said in a statement on Thursday.
Earlier in the day, Economic Affairs Secretary Arvind Mayaram said the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) has cleared the Tata-SIA proposal.
When contacted, a Tata Group spokesperson said the company is still awaiting a formal communication from the government in this regard.
Expressing confidence that Tata SIA Airline Ltd has the potential to be among the top three airlines in India by 2015, Mr Dubey said the government now must do away with the rules that bar domestic carriers from flying international unless they complete five years of operations and have 20-aircraft fleet.
Read news in full 25/10/13 PTI/NDTV.com

Ratan Tata meets Anand Sharma after investment board's nod to airline venture

With the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB( giving approval to the Tata-Singapore Airlines joint venture to start a full-service carrier, Tata Group Chairman Emeritus Ratan Tata today met Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma.
Ratan Tata was accompanied by Singapore Airlines (SIA) CEO Goh Choon Phong and Tata SIA Airlines Chairman Prasad Menon.
While Ratan Tata declined to comment, sources in the ministry said the meeting was a courtesy call.
Yesterday, Ratan Tata along with Phong had also met Finance Minister P Chidambaram after the FIPB cleared the venture. The Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) gave its green signal to Singapore Airlines to start a full-service airline in partnership with Tata Sons entailing an initial foreign investment of $ 49 million.
Read news in full25/101/3 NDTV.com

Tata-SIA airline venture flies past FIPB hurdle

New Delhi: The Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) on Thursday cleared a proposal by Tata-Singapore Airlines (SIA) to start a full service airline in India.
Economic Affairs Secretary Arvind Mayaram said the proposal was cleared without any riders. Now, Tata-SIA would have to secure security clearance from the home ministry, as well as an approval from the civil aviation ministry, along with an air operator’s permit from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation.
On September 19, Tata Sons had tied up with SIA to launch Tata SIA Airlines Ltd, a full service carrier in India, at an initial investment of $100 million.
On Thursday, Ratan Tata, former chairman of Tata group, met Finance Minister P Chidambaram, after the government cleared the proposal.