Air India Express wrapping up Kuwait –Mangalore flights?

Kuwait: More than 100,000 expatriates from Coastal Karnataka, Mangalore &Northern parts of Kerala are disappointed to hear that Air India Express is wrapping up its flight services to KUWAIT – MANGALORE Sector from 15th February, 2014 throwing the travel plans of the passengers into disarray.  Prominent Coastal Karnataka NRIs here in Kuwait said that by deciding to wrap up their services to Mangalore route, Air India Express has put the passengers in trouble and the travel woes of Indian Expats in Kuwait are surely going to worsen in the coming days during the summer season in 2014 as the summer vacation for thousands of school going children starts during the month of June.

Unmetric Takes a Look at Social Media Habits of Aviation Brands and International Airlines with Indian Presence

Unmetric, a company that asks whether brands are social enough, looked at the social media habits of top Indian aviation brands and international airlines with an Indian presence on major social platforms.
According to a release, in total, 10 airlines were analyzed. The analysis found that on Facebook, all 10 brands have an active presence, seven are using Twitter, two are on YouTube and two have a presence on Pinterest. Amongst the aviation brands included in the analysis, Jet Airways and SpiceJet are the only airlines present on all four platforms.
The company reported that on Facebook, Jet Airways received the highest Unmetric score of 49. The Unmetric score is the first ever sector aware social media benchmark score normalized to 100, with various qualitative and quantitative metrics to rank a brand against competitors. Jet Airways also commands the largest fan base on Facebook with close to 1,140,000 fans, followed by SpiceJet which has close to 530,000 fans.

Tata-SIA applies to civil aviation ministry for NOC

New Delhi: The airline joint venture between the Tata Group and Singapore Airlines (SIA) has reached its second stage with the company applying for a No-Objection Certificate (NOC) to the civil aviation ministry on Thursday.
"We have received their proposal seeking an initial NOC for the airline venture. We will send names of all board members to the home ministry for security clearances and go through the proposal," said a senior civil aviation ministry official.
The members on the board are Prasad Menon, also the chairman of the company, and Mukund Rajan, both nominated by Tata Sons, the third, Mak Swee Wah, is the initial director nominated by Singapore Airlines.

AirAsia India set to begin with 5 aircraft, in first quarter

Chennai: Just as Ratan Tata had dreamt of making the Nano a family car, especially for families compelled to travel on two-wheelers, the Tatas’ low cost aviation venture, AirAsia India, a joint venture between Air Asia Bhd (49 per cent), Tata Sons (30 per cent) and Telestra Tradeplace (21 per cent), will target “first-time travellers”, AirAsia India Chairman S. Ramadorai told Business Line in an interview.
Compared to the Tatas’ other aviation venture, Tata-SIA, this budget airline, which will operate point-to-point flights mainly from Tier-II Indian cities, has been slower on the takeoff. “But the moment the clearances come, we have done all the background work and will be ready to take off immediately.”
This budget airline, he says, should be ready to operate flights by the “first quarter of 2014, or even by February or March if the clearance comes”. The airline is yet to get the operating permit from the DGCA.

Air India top guns Boeing 777-200 LR to be sold for scrap

New Delhi: The throwaway price at which national carrier Air India (AI) has decided to sell its five Boeing 777-200 LR (long range) planes to Etihad Airways has raised eyebrows.
The planes, purchased just six years ago, will be sold for a meagre Rs 2,135 crore, which works out to Rs 427 crore per plane.
The price at which the Maharaja will sell the planes is a mere onethird of Rs 1,400 crore spent on purchasing each.
AI is reported to have lined up another three Boeing 777-200 LRs in its fleet for sale after it got the government nod to sell the other five. The Boeing 777 LRs were meant to fly for the next 25 years, then- civil aviation minister Praful Patel had told the government in August 2004, when the deal was finalised for ordering 111 Boeings and Airbus for the national carrier.

Airports Authority of India granted accreditation by UN agency International Civil Aviation Organization

New Delhi:  Airports Authority of India (AAI) has been granted accreditation by the UN agency International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) for facilities to enhance airport safety.
The state-run airports body received the ICAO's Trainair Plus accreditation certificate and membership plaque from ICAO, following an inspection of its Fire Training Centre (FTC) in October, an AAI release said, adding AAI Chairman VP Agrawal received the certificate and the plaque.
Read News in full 28/12/13 PTI/Economic Today

Etihad contemplates paying Rs 1 crore fine slapped by CCI

After the Competition Commission of India (CCI) slapped Etihad with a penalty of Rs 1 crore , the Abu Dhabi airline is now considering paying the entire sum. The CCI had slapped a Rs 1 crore penalty citing non-disclosure of specific information while getting regulatory approvals. The information mentioned was pertaining to the Jet Airways  -Etihad deal with respect to the Heathrow slots. There were three landing Heathrow slots that Jet has sold to Etihad as a part of the deal. This had been done before the 24 percent equity sale had happened and the slots were essentially meant to be leased back to Jet Airways . Hence the legal team is now going through all the details, but they are likely to be making the penalty.

Air India to resume Vadodara-Delhi flight from Jan 8

Vadodara: After a long gap, state-run carrier Air India has decided to recommence daily morning flights between Vadodara and  New Delhi from January 8.
The flight will depart from Vadodara at 0835 hours and arrive in New Delhi at 1010 hours. The incoming flight will leave the national capital at 0625 hours and arrive in the city at 0800 hours, Usha Jecob, Station Manager of Air India, told PTI here today.
She said "the morning arrivals would give passengers the benefit of a full working day both at Delhi and Vadodara."
"The flight will offer convenient connections to international sectors and also various important Indian cities," Jecob said.

Ailing Aviation Industry Gears Up With Capacity Expansion

Bangalore: Mounting losses apart, the year 2013 has been one of the more interesting years for the civil aviation in India. With three major deals — Jet-Etihad,  Air Asia and Tata-Singapore Airlines ­—  the capacity expansion in the Indian skies will prove beneficial to the ailing sector.
However, all is not well and good as major domestic players have reported mounting losses amid increase in taxes and ATF (aviation turbine fuel) prices among other operational expenses.
Interestingly, carriers have started to connect Tier II and III cities to major domestic and international destinations promoting flying as a viable mode of transport.

Indian civil aviation finds comfort in overseas investment deals

India's civil aviation industry, which faced turbulence due to high operating costs in 2012, found some comfort this past year due to a slew of overseas investment deals that helped restore confidence in the sector.
"This has been a flat year with minimum growth. However, with the intent of the Tatas and AirAsia on entering the Indian market has definitely paved the way for future growth in the sector," Ankur Bhatia, executive director, Bird Group, told IANS.
"In 2014, we are looking forward for establishment of a civil aviation policy, rationalisation of taxes on jet fuel and growth in the regional aviation space," said Bhatia, who is also a member of the Confederation of Indian Industry's panel on civil aviation.
Abu Dhabi-based Etihad Airways became the first foreign carrier to invest in the Indian sector. It bought a 24% stake in Jet Airways for Rs.2,069 crore ($380 million).
Read news in full 27/12/13 IANS/Business Standard

Joint secretary Kumar proposed as new DGCA

New Delhi: The aviation ministry has proposed the name of its joint secretary Prabhat Kumar as the next Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) to PM Manmohan Singh-headed cabinet committee of appointments (ACC). Kumar is a 1985 batch IAS officer of UP cadre. Current DGCA Arun Mishra will demit office after four days.
The ministry's last-minute action of finally proposing a name for the post, that will otherwise fall vacant on December 31, came after realizing the fact that leaving DGCA headless and giving joint charge of it to an official at this stage could lead the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) downgrading the Indian aviation safety oversight system. The FAA just finished auditing the DGCA and will decide next month if India should retain its top billing or be downgraded to sub-Sahara Africa levels.
Read News in full 27/12/13 Saurabh Sinha/Times of India

19-year-old trainee pilot dies in crash

Nagpur: Nineteen-year-old trainee pilot Sohail Ansari died after the single engine Diamond 40 aircraft he was flying crashed near Chhindwara. The aircraft owned by Indira Gandhi Rashtriya Uran Academy (IGRUA) was reported missing on Tuesday.
IGRUA, which is based in Fursatganj airfield, Uttar Pradesh, brings its students and aircraft to Gondia every winter due to unfavourable flying conditions in the northern part of the country during this time. Ansari was flying solo from Gondia to Pachmarhi when the accident happened.
The remains of Ansari's body were found in the buffer area of Satpuda Tiger Reserve. According to sources, Ansari, who had 140 hours of flying behind him, was on his first cross country solo flying on Tuesday afternoon when his plane crashed.

Promotional offers may not improve margins of airlines

Mumbai: It is that time of the year when the domestic airlines have again come up with offers to attract passengers during the lean season beginning January 2014. While it may boost sales during the period, however, it will not help much in easing out the pressure on the margins, feel the industry.
SpiceJet has announced the launch of 30 days advance purchase offer on a million seats by giving discounts up to 65 per cent with fares starting from Rs 2,157. GoAir also has come up with a similar 30-day advance purchase Christmas offer starting from Rs 3007. Even Air India has introduced attractive 5 discounts on all domestic fares sold by website valid till January 15, 2014.
Read news in full 26/12/13 Soumonty Kanungo/mydigitalfc.com

Jet Airways to start two more flights to India from Qatar

Doha: Jet Airways, India’s second largest carrier, will resume its Calicut flight and start an additional flight from Doha to Mumbai. But these flights will probably be possible only with the opening of the new airport (Hamad International) as there are no free-time slots in the existing airport, a senior official of the airline said yesterday.
“We have three daily flights from Doha to India’s three strategic cities — Delhi, Mumbai and Cochin, and with the latest announcement, Mumbai will get an additional frequency from Doha and the second one will fly to Calicut, which will be our fourth destination in India from Doha, and second in the southern Indian state of Kerala,” Anil Srinivasan, Country Manager (pictured), told The Peninsula.
Asked about the date of these additional flights, he said: “This can be any day. In fact, we have been waiting for time slots for long. But I think this will be possible only with the opening of the HIA or if we are allotted evening slots in the existing airport.”
Read news in full 26/12/13 Mohammad Shoeb/The Peninsula

Father of Indian killed by hijackers seeks justice

Gurgaon: The father of an Indian killed by terrorists who hijacked an Indian plane to Afghanistan on this day in 1999 wants the killers to hang -- and wonders why it has not happened so far. "We want the hijackers to be prosecuted in India and hanged under Indian law," said an emotive C.P. Katyal, who lives with his wife here in Haryana. And Katyal feels that the Indian political class has failed him -- and similar victims of terror attacks. His son Rupin Katyal was one of the passengers of the Indian Airlines flight 814 which terrorists linked to Pakistan hijacked Dec 24, 1999 after it had taken off from Kathmandu.
Rupin Katyal and his wife Rachna, who married only earlier that month, were returning from their honeymoon when the Pakistan-based militant group Harkat ul-Mujahideen took over the aircraft with 176 people on board.
Read news in full 25/12/13 First Post