New airline to touch down

Bhubaneswar: ABC Airways, an aviation company based in Bangalore, has received the nod of Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) and the Airports Authority of India (AAI) to start its services from here.
The company will run two flights — one in the morning and another in the evening — between Bhubaneswar and Bangalore from January next year.
ABC Airways is a subsidiary of the Bangalore-based ABC Aviation and Training Services Private Limited. Promoter Rajesh Ebrahim is a commercial pilot and this will be a new venture.
“The private company is promoted by Rajesh Ebrahim will fly Embraer 170 aircraft to Bangalore and operations will start around January next year,” Biju Patnaik Airport director Sharad Kumar told The Telegraph. The airline has three Embraer 170 aircraft in its fleet.
Read news in full 01/10/13 Bibhuti Barik/Telegraph

Red alert: Airstrips may be used for terror attack

Mumbai: Intelligence agencies have sounded a terror red alert over the possible use of any one of Maharashtra's 24 unused or little-used airstrips to launch unmanned light aircraft laden with explosives.
The alert has been shot off to all security agencies, which have been asked to monitor unused air strips against launch of attacks on civilians and military establishments. The city's Juhu airport and the international airport are also under the scanner.
The two-page intelligence alert, issued on September 21, specifically mentions names of airports that require tighter security.
"There is a likely threat of utilization of unused air strips by anti-national elements to launch lightweight airplanes with an aim to target civilian and military establishments of key importance," the alert communication stated. It further listed names of all such airstrips in Maharashtra .
Read News In FULL 01/10/13 Mateen Hafeez & Manju V/Times of India

Airport operation to be hit from Oct 14 including in Mumbai

Mumbai: Air traffic and passenger safety at major airports in the country, including in Mumbai, may get severely affected from October 14. The communication, navigation and surveillance (CNS) officials have refused to man the new equipment that have been placed after expansion of navigation infrastructure.
The officers’ association of the Air Navigation System took the decision following civil aviation ministry’s rejection of a proposal seeking increase of manpower to handle these equipment.
dna had reported on September 12 about a letter written by the association to civil aviation minister Ajit Singh, pointing that their demand of recruiting more staffers in the CNS department should not suffer due to cost-cutting.
Read news in full 01/10/13 Daily News & Analysis

Ozar airport terminal to be ready by December

Nashik: The airport terminal at Ozar, about 20 km from here, is scheduled to be ready by the end of December.The state government and Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) are jointly upgrading the airport at a cost of Rs 80 crore. The bhoomi pujan of the state-of-the art air passenger terminal building at Ozar airport, which is being constructed on HAL's land, was performed on January 2, 2012. The memorandum of understanding (MoU) between the government and HAL was signed in March 2011.
Speaking to TOI, Rakesh Sonawane, assistant engineer (grade-1) of public works department (PWD) of the state government, said, "The proposed terminal is under construction and will be ready by December-end. The project is estimated to cost Rs 80 crore, of which the state government and HAL are spending Rs 70 crore and Rs 10 crore, respectively."
Read news in full 01/10/13 Tushar Pawar/Times of India

Tata-Singapore Airlines might need to review business model: CAPA

Mumbai:ata Sons and Singapore Airlines' business plan to launch a full service airline in the country, which was submitted to Foreign Investment Promotion Board for approval last month, might need to review its strategy and model, says a Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation (CAPA) report released on Tuesday.
The report said the Indian domestic market was a low fare market with very little price differentiation between full service carriers and low cost airlines.
Pointing to the fare wars that were bleeding the full service airlines as they competed with budget carriers despite a higher unit cost of at least 50 per cent, the CAPA report said: "Domestic industry viability cannot be restored until full service carriers restructure."
Read news in Full 01/10/13 Manisha Singhal/Business Today

Jet Airways signs codeshare agreement with Garuda Indonesia

Singapore: Jet Airways, India’s premier international airline, and Garuda Indonesia, the national carrier of Indonesia, announced the signing of a codeshare agreement, open for sale for travel effective 4th October 2013.
Under the codeshare arrangement Jet Airways will place its marketing code on Garuda Indonesia’s flights between Singapore and Jakarta. In turn, Garuda will place its marketing code on Jet Airways’ operations between Singapore and Mumbai, Delhi and Chennai. The codeshare will provide more choice for customers between India and Indonesia, by offering seamless and convenient connections over the international gateway of Singapore.
Furthermore, both carriers announced the launch of a full-fledged frequent flyer partnership. With this, Jet Airways’ JetPrivilege and Garuda Indonesia’s Frequent Flyer members will enjoy the benefit of frequent flyer mileage accrual and redemption on not only the codeshare routes but the entire network of Garuda Indonesia across Indonesia and beyond as well as Jet Airways' unmatched pan-India domestic and international networks.
Read News in full 01/10/13 Theodore Koumelis/Travel Daily News

'India a 100% budget market'

New Delhi: The domestic air travel in India has all but become a 100% budget market, despite Jet Airways and Air India remaining full service carriers (FSCs).
According to the Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation (CAPA), fares of AI and Jet are 'close' to the fares offered by low cost carriers (LCCs).
"Domestic aviation has shifted to an almost 100% low fares market. While India's LCCs have a domestic market share of 63%, passengers flying on full service airlines (Air India and Jet) pay close to LCC fares in economy class. As a result, India is virtually a 100% low fares market," said CAPA.

Airlines from India to soon resume their ops to Africa: Anand Sharma

Johannesburg:  Airlines from India will soon resume their operations to Africa, Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma said today.
Air connectivity and visa related issues were the two major matters which were discussed in the 2nd India-Africa Business Council (IABC) meeting here. It was co-chaired by Bharti group Chairman Sunil Mittal. Ficci is the institutional partner for this meeting.
"I can assure you that you will see again the resumption of flights to Africa by the Indian carriers, private also. We have identified. Jet was flying until recently to South Africa. Air India will also resume flying to Africa in 2014. This has been communicated to me," Sharma told reporters here.
Sharma, who is here for the third India-Africa Trade Ministers meeting, said that businessmen will travel only when there will be a better air connectivity.
Read News In full 01/10/13 PTI/Economic Times

Doctor body threatens FIR over flight diversions

Mumbai: Following a series of back-to-back bad experiences with Jet Airways over two days last weekend, a body of medical practitioners has threatened to file an FIR against the airline. They have also sought intervention by the civil aviation regulator.
The matter pertains to Sunday's Jet Mumbai-Jodhpur flight 9W315, which could not land at its destination. "The pilot could not land the aircraft; it took off when it was barely 100 feet above the runway," said Dr I S Gilada, president of AIDS Society of India, in a statement to the media.
Read News in fullb01/10/13 Times of India

First night plane lands in Bagdogra

Calcutta: The first night flight passengers entered Bagdogra airport to the beat of drums at 7.30 this evening.
SG 944, a SpiceJet flight from Calcutta carrying 48 passengers, among them the north Bengal development minister Gautam Deb, was 20 minutes late, but that did not dampen the enthusiasm of tour operators and locals at the airport.
“It is a red letter day for Bagdogra and north Bengal. For several years, we wanted night landing and finally it has happened,” Deb said.
Residents across north Bengal as well as neighbouring Sikkim have been waiting for years for night-landing flights to start.
On July 1, the Indian Air Force gave its assent to the Airports Authority of India (AAI) to run flights till 10pm.
Read News In full 01/10/13 Avijit Sinha & Bireswar Banerjee/Telegraph

Pankaj Srivastava takes over as Air India's Commercial Director

New Delhi:  Senior Air India hand Pankaj Srivastava today took over as Commercial Director of the national carrier whose operational and financial performance has started looking up now.
Srivastava took over the mantle following the superannuation of G D Brara, who had earlier served the airline in several important positions.
After joining the airline in 1983, Srivastava rose in the management ranks especially in the commercial department. He was also responsible for sales and marketing as the General Manager responsible for the entire Air India network.
Read news in full 01/10/13 PTI/Economic Times

GMR, GVK can bid for six airports' privatisation

New Delhi: The government has allowed airport operators GMR and GVK to bid for the six airports to be awarded in the second phase of airport privatisation.
Recently, leading companies that attended the pre-application discussions had expressed concern as GMR and GVK already had two airports each in their portfolios, after successful bids, the companies might end up operating four airports each and, hence, run a duopoly between them.
The companies had said while a new entity could win only up to two airports and only one among Kolkata, Chennai and Ahmedabad, there was no such bar on GVK/GMR. While GMR operates the airports in Delhi and Hyderabad, GVK manages the ones in Bangalore and Mumbai.
“GMR and GVK can each be awarded a major airport and a minor one, in the event of a successful bid. There were some arguments that they should be excluded. We have decided to allow them to participate in the bidding process,” said a senior government official associated with the tendering process.
Read news in full 30/09/13 Sharmistha Mukherjee/Business Standard

SBI’s exposure in Kingfisher Airlines under CBI lens

New Delhi: State Bank of India is under Central Bureau of Investigation’s lens for its large exposure to failed Kingfisher Airlines.
“We are examining the borrowing from one public sector bank and investigation is in progress,” a CBI official told Business Line when asked about the status of CBI’s probe in the Kingfisher Airlines matter.
The 17-bank consortium, led by SBI, had an exposure of around Rs 7,000 crore to KFA. Of this, SBI’s exposure was close to Rs 1,700 crore. But in recent months the consortium partially offloaded the shares kept as collateral by the Vijay Mallya-controlled Kingfisher Group.
The consortium had realised about Rs 1,000 crore from the sale of shares, it is learnt.
The investigations are in the early stages, said the CBI official.
Read news in full 30/09/13 Business Line

Indigo's profits are not surprising, competitor's survival is

Mumbai: Competitors and sceptics have been doubtful about Indigo’s year ending figures. This, at a time when the aviation sector has been bleeding losses quarter after quarter.
Critics not entirely convinced about Indigo's numbers say that the company generates profit by entering a sale and lease back deal with aircraft manufacturers, However, Indigo has now disclosed its operating profit figures which stood at Rs 1,758 crore on an operating margin of 18.6%. This number is calculated before taking sale and lease back benefit. Au contraire, Jet Airways reported an operating margin of 7%, while SpiceJet was barely profitable at operating levels.
What needs to be compared, is the long term sustainability of the airline. This is where Indigo differs from the others. The airline’s closest competitor was Spicejet. But a new CEO appointed by the company’s new owners – The Marans of Sun TV Network – managed to pull the airline down into losses. Indigo, on the other hand, in cricket parlance, has stuck to its basics by taking singles. The airline did not enter the price war when every other airline was rooting on Kingfisher’s fall to earn numbers and it continues to stick to its operating format.

Will the DGCA be able to save its face on October 23?

Huge embarrassment for the DGCA as the Bombay High Court has put the Indian Aviation regulator to notice. The matter pertains to the Writ petition that was filed by the All India Cabin Crew Association maintaining that the regulator itself flouts the rules and norms set up for the Indian skies thereby putting in danger the lives of the passengers and crew alike. On October 23 the court will hear the case. Such is the discontent that the petitioners even pleaded that interim relief be provided so that further violations can be stopped. Headlines Today is in the exclusive possession of the copy of violations and the letter written by the AICCA to DGCA after the court order. The letter states that the AICCA is ready to face the regulator on October 23.