Vijay Mallya appears before court

Bangalore: Liquor baron Vijay Mallya on Thursday appeared before Special Economic Offences Court in the City following summons by the court seeking his personal appearance in a case pertaining to non-payment of taxes.
Mallya appeared before the court in connection with a complaint filed by the Income Tax department for not paying Rs 266 crore in form of tax dues of Kingfisher Airlines. He explained the reason for delay in remitting the tax dues. Mallya also applied for bail in this connection. The court, which heard his bail plea, granted him conditional bail.

Aviation Ministry working on quick boost to the sector

New Delhi: The Civil Aviation Ministry is working on a short-term strategy to re-energise the sector.

“We feel that Aviation, as a sector, is nowhere near its potential. We are setting some goals to realise it,” Ashok Gajapathi Raju, the newly appointed Civil Aviation Minister, said at a press conference called to announce the entry of Air India into Star Alliance. The Minister, however, declined to get into specifics, saying these will be laid out in the next few days.

Last Saturday, the Minister was present at a meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi where issues relating to infrastructure, including aviation, were highlighted. He said while a number of issues, including Air India, came up at the meeting, no decisions were taken.

SpiceJet, IndiGo catch up with AirAsia, trigger a fare war in Indian air space

Mumbai: More then a decade back, just a few hours before Air Deccan, India's first lowfare carrier, was to launch its Mumbai-Ahmedabad flights with a fare of Rs 1,500, national carrier Air India slashed its own fare on that route to Rs 1,400, down from Rs 4,000.
A few months later, both Air India and Jet Airways, then the market leader, dropped fares by a third after Air Deccan introduced Rs 4,000 round fares on its new Delhi-Srinagar flight.
Both Jet and Air India were selling at a huge discount: thousands of rupees below their per seat cost. But the strategy was simple: slash prices to keep your share of passengers. Marketshare first, margins and bottomlines later. Not much has changed since then.

Choppers to be high-flyers in Assembly polls this year

New Delhi: Freak helicopter accidents of the recent past have failed to hit demand for air services in the coming Assembly elections in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh.
Such is the demand that in Madhya Pradesh the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Opposition Congress had booked 16 helicopters, even before the polling dates were announced. And, it is expected to peak after the last date of withdrawal of nominations, as this is the time when parties actually engage in aggressive campaigns.
Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan are likely to generate the highest demand for helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft, primarily because of their size - Madhya Pradesh has 230 Assembly seats, while Rajasthan has 200. Chhattisgarh, where polls will be in two phases, is also set to see substantial use of aircraft, as a major area there is affected by Naxalism and many regions are still not motorable. Business Standard couldn't independently verify the exact number but the three states are expected to see 20-25 choppers pressed into service.
Read News In full 19/10/13 Sahil Makkar/Business Standard

CVC seeks report from Aviation Ministry on Jet-Etihad deal

The Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) has sought a “factual report” from Ministry of Civil Aviation on a complaint of alleged corruption in the Rs 2,058 crore deal between Jet Airways and Abu Dhabi’s Etihad Airways.

New aviation regulator with more teeth gets Cabinet nod

New Delhi: Air fares could go up as the new aviation regulator, the Civil Aviation Authority, comes in with the right to levy a cess on air travel.

AirAsia X Has Second-Worst Malaysia Trading Debut in 12 Months

AirAsia X Bhd., the long-haul arm of Asia’s biggest budget carrier, had the second-worst trading debut in Kuala Lumpur in a year after raising 988 million ringgit ($310 million) in its initial public offering.

Gulf could handle up to 4 more low cost carriers - analyst

As Oman considers launching up to two new airlines, a leading aviation analyst said the region’s market could accommodate up to four more low cost carriers.

Oman seeks bidders for new low-cost carrier

Salalah: Oman expects as many as four investors to compete for a licence to operate a new low-cost airline to challenge regional carriers flydubai and Air Arabia and lure business travellers and tourists to the Sultanate.

Jet-Etihad deal fiasco: What it means for Jet

Mumbai: The secrecy behind the Jet-Etihad deal and the way it was announced within moments of seat enhancement agreement signed between the two countries had the stink of controversy. And you do not need a canine’s ability to smell a controversy in this deal.