Local women wrap Mumbai Airport's Terminal 2 in quilts

Mumbai: Art knows no barriers. Hundred-and-fifty quilts that adorn 2,000 sq ft of the recently inaugurated T2 terminal of the Mumbai International Airport Pvt Limited (MIAL) bears testimony to this statement. Designed by 35 women of the Samrat Ashok Nagar area in Chakala, Andheri, this artwork titled Wrapping the Runway is 200 feet broad and 11 feet high and is a part of India Global, one of the six thematic compositions of the art programme titled Jaya Hai that is on display at T2.
The artwork is the brainchild of Rajeev Sethi, scenographer and principal curator of GVK. He got the idea for roping in locals for this project and giving them an opportunity to display their talent when he saw some quilts (godhadis) designed by them drying on clotheslines at Samrat Ashok Nagar in Andheri East. He found these quilts unique and approached the residents expressing a willingness to buy them. Sethi says, "Godhadis fit perfectly in the theme of India Global, depicting to the world our rich cultural heritage in terms of handicrafts."

Two US airlines suspend code share deal with Jet

New Delhi: Indian carriers have started to feel the heat after the US Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) downgraded the country’s aviation safety rating. A day after India’s airline safety rating was revised below that of Pakistan’s, United and American Airlines suspended their code share agreement with Jet Airways, according to a Bloomberg report.
An SMS sent to Jet Airways spokesperson did not elicit any response. The FAA downgrade implies that the civil aviation authorities do not meet the safety guidelines stipulated by the International Civil Aviation Organisation.  India’s airline safety is now Category II, at par with countries like Zimbabwe, Paraguay and Indonesia. Pakistan has Category I status.

Air India, Jet Airways hit hard… flights to US to be affected

US authorities have downgraded India's aviation safety rating, citing a lack of safety oversight, meaning the country's carriers cannot increase flights to the world's biggest aviation market and face extra checks for existing ones.
Jet Airways and state-run Air India, the only two carriers that fly from India to the United States, will be hit by the downgrade. Air India has 21 weekly flights between India and the United States, while Jet has seven.
Hours after the FAA downgrade, United Airlines said it would suspend a marketing pact with Jet, with effect from Saturday. FAA rules bar US carriers from code-sharing arrangements with airlines from countries that have been downgraded.

Aviation safety downgrade not related to row over envoy: US

Washington: The US downgrade of India’s aviation regulator had “absolutely nothing” to do with the controversy over an Indian diplomat whose arrest led to a major international dispute, a senior US official said.
“This absolutely had nothing to do with the ongoing case of Dr Khobragade,” State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf told reporters on Friday when asked if the US action would hurt efforts to restore ties with India after their worst diplomatic spat over the December 12 arrest of Devyani Khobragade, India’s then deputy consul general in New York.
“Again, this was a regulatory decision,” she said referring to the US Federal Aviation Authority’s downgrade of the safety ranking of India’s Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) from category-I to category-II rating.

Spice jet restores air services from Mysore city

Mysore: Once again the city got its air connectivity restored with the Spice Jet ATR plane taking off from the air port here on Saturday. Mysore MP Vishwanath flagged off the first flight of the Spice jet plane from the Mysore's Mandkalli airport.
Earlier the Kingfisher airways which used to operate its flight thrice a week stopped its services six seven months ago owing to losses suffered by the company. It was also said that the air services to Mysore from Bangalore are not profitable and this was the reason the private air service operators were reluctant to operate their services from Mysore. However , after negotiations and persuasion by the state government and MP Vishwanath with the private airways, Spice jet came forward and agreed to operate its services six days a week. People from city can now fly directly to Chennai via Bangalore or they can travel to Bangalore or to other destinations from Bangalore by connecting planes.

Chandy hopeful of pursuing Air Kerala

Kochi: Chief Minister Oommen Chandy on Saturday said that the State government would pursue the proposed Air Kerala project if Union Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh’s declaration doing away with the twin-conditions for starting international airline operations becomes a reality.
He was delivering the inaugural address at a function to mark the laying of the foundation stone for the new international terminal at the Cochin International Airport Limited (CIAL) at Nedumbassery near here. Mr. Chandy said that the proposed airline had been a longstanding demand of Malayali expatriates. The Union government’s stipulation setting five years of domestic operations and a fleet of a minimum 20 aircraft had put the project on the backburner. If these conditions were removed, then CIAL would take the project forward, he said.

Tit-for-tat rule for diplomat access to airport lounges

New Delhi: Foreign diplomats of countries where Indian dignitaries have to pay for lounge access at airports will now have to do the same here. Aviation minister Ajit Singh has ordered the Airports Authority of India (AAI) to make available free lounge access only on a reciprocal basis.
The move comes after the airport passes of US diplomats were withdrawn following the controversy surrounding Devyani Khobragade, an Indian diplomat accused of visa fraud in New York.
"There are countries which charge to give lounge access to our dignitaries. So far, we had been giving lounge access to foreign dignitaries for free. Now, we will do so on a reciprocal basis and I have asked AAI to make lounge access available for a charge," Ajit Singh told TOI.

Survey work on expansion of Jaipur airport runway begins

Jaipur: After a wait of nearly two years the survey for the runway expansion work at Jaipur airport started on Saturday. The civil work would begin from March 1 by an Udaipur-based firm and Airport Authority of India (AAI) is aiming at completing the work by July 2015 to accommodate big international aircrafts.
The runway will remain closed from 9.30-11.15 am and from 2.50-3.50 pm during the first phase of work from February 1-March 31. These slots are taken just to ensure that minimal number of flights have to be rescheduled. "These are the slots when we merely have three flights. Two Air India flights from Delhi to Mumbai via Jaipur and one flight to Ahmedabad were rescheduled," said SN Borkar, director, AAI, Jaipur.

Customs probing link between rise in gold smuggling and export of date rape drugs

Mumbai: Customs officials are probing a possible link between the sudden spurt in the smuggling of gold into the country, and the illegal export of date rape drugs. The investigation was triggered by a more than three-fold increase in seizures of smuggled gold, with this month's being the largest in the past decade.
In the last financial year (up to January '13), the total seizure of gold amounted to 54 kg. The total seizure during the same period this year is 182 kg. This month alone, customs seized 57 kg, which has surpassed the cumulative figure of the last financial year. "Gold smuggling is on a rise compared to the figures in last many years. The current month's seizure is the highest in the past 10 years," said Milind Lanjewar, additional commissioner of customs at Mumbai airport.

Indian pilots not allowed to leave airport at Lahore

Lahore: Three Indian nationals, employees of Qatar Airways, were denied permission by FIA Immigration officials to stay at a local hotel after their flight’s transit stop at Lahore was extended due to poor visibility caused by foggy weather.
Under the IATA rules and practice of the aviation industry, it is a normal procedure that in case of an extended delay at a transit spot where the flight / cabin crew need to be moved to a hospitable facility till the flight can resume its course, the airline requests the immigration department to issue a letter of permission which is in a way considered a short-term visa.
This situation is mostly avoided at the majority of major airports which have hotels and other facilities built within their premises. The Allama Iqbal International Airport, however, does not have such an arrangement; therefore, the flight / cabin crew stay at hotels outside the airport premises in these circumstances.
It is not the first time that the crew of a flight has had to stay at a facility outside the airport in Lahore and there have been innumerable incidents where the relevant authority provides permission to the airline after necessary paperwork.

No recruitment in DGCA since 1998

New Delhi: Indian aviation, flaunted as a sunshine sector during the UPA-1 regime, has now become an international embarrassment. Still, the US downgrade of Indian aviation safety ranking is being seen as a last-ditch attempt to get the Indian government to move on strengthening the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA).
Since 1998, there has been no recruitment in DGCA. It was only in the past few months, when the sword of the FAA downgrade came too close, that the government took some last-minute steps. But all of them are on paper and implementing them will still take a long time.

Bangalore's Famed Plane-Maker Finally Cracks Engineering in 10 Years

Bangalore: Ten years after he enrolled for his dream engineering course, Mohd Muzakkir Sharief, the wiz kid who hit international headlines for his plane-making skills, has finally cleared all his papers. A student of Bangalore's H K B K College of Engineering, Muzakkir, now 33-years-old, married, and on his family way, cleared two of his backlog sixth semester subjects -- Heat and Mass Transfer and Mechanical Vibration -- during the exams conducted by Visvesvaraya Technological University recently. After 10 years of marathon struggle, Muzakkir has an aggregate of 57 per cent in Mechanical Engineering.
Speaking to Express on Thursday, an elated Muzakkir said that his entire teaching staff and friends were finally relieved to hear the good news. "I took sweets to college and everyone kept telling me that I would become someone in life. I always wanted to be a winner, but couldn't crack the engineering code in four years. I had to fight serious health issues, including TB," he said. He made close to 15 attempts to clear his mathematics papers.

IndiGo launches six new flights

Chennai: Low-cost airliner IndiGo has introduced six new flights on its route connecting various destinations with effect from February 1.
The daily schedule would witness addition of a new non- stop flight between Delhi and Bagdogra, non-stop flight between Kolkata and Bagdogra and Bangaluru-Chennai, non-stop flight between Chennai-Kolkata, ninth non-stop filght between Mumbai-Bangalore and one stop flight between Chennai and Bagdogra via Kolkata, IndiGo said in a statement.

How FAA air safety downgrade impacts Indian carriers

The Federal Aviation Administration in the United States downgraded India’s aviation safety ranking from Category I to Category II, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation said Friday. A Category II ranking means DGCA does not meet international civil aviation standards in areas of “technical expertise, trained personnel and record keeping”. The downgrade will impact Indian carriers such as  Jet Airways and Air India, which fly to the US, barring them from expanding their services further in the world’s biggest aviation market, till further notice. Apart from impacting US expansion plans of Indian carriers present there, the downgrade also affects code-sharing agreements that companies of Category II countries may have. Such a rating for a country may lead to other troubles for its carriers as their flights may be subjected to closer scrutiny and checks, which could lead to difficulty in adhering to schedule. Leasing and borrowing costs for such carriers could also go, putting further stress on their balance sheets.

FAA decision to downgrade India disappointing: Ajit Singh

New Delhi: Commenting on the United States Federal Aviation Administration's decision to downgrade India's aviation safety ranking, Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh on Friday described the decision as disappointing and surprising.
"It is very disappointing and also very surprising. If we look now, we are in compliance with 95 percent of the issues they had raised. Their report has not into taken account things that have happened since then. It is based only on what the situation was in December," Singh told media here today.
"FAA's report is based on their visit in December when seven issues were outstanding out of 31. Based on that they said, we have complied with 75 percent of the issues. Therefore, they have downgraded us to Category Two," he added.