Singapore Airlines to buy 39 Boeing planes for $13.8 bn
Singapore Airlines (SIA) announced today an order for a total of 39 Boeing passenger planes worth $13.8 billion as part of its growth plans for the next decade. The carrier said in a statement that it had signed a letter of intent with the US manufacturer for 20 777—9s and 19 787—10s, with options for six more of each aircraft, bringing the total to 51 if exercised. “Today’s major order for widebody aircraft enables us to continue operating a modern and fuel—efficient fleet, providing the SIA Group with additional expansion opportunities to ensure that we retain our industry—leading position,” chief executive Goh Choon Phong said in a statement. Johnny Bower Jersey
Govt doubles highways target to 15,000 km in next fiscal
The government has set a target of constructing 15,000 km of highways in the next financial year, 50 per cent more than that in the current fiscal. The road transport and highways ministry expects to construct a record 8,000 km of highways this fiscal, even as that will be 2,000 km short of the target. Officials said 5,000 km of highways were constructed between April and December 2016, at 18.5 km a day on average. However, they said, the pace always remains subdued during the monsoon months and picks up during the last quarter. In the last fiscal, the ministry built nearly 6,100 km of highways, higher than 4,410 km in the previous year. The budget for 2017-18 has earmarked nearly Rs 12,000 crore more for the ministry for the next fiscal, compared to the revised allocation of Rs 52,446 crore for the current year. Besides, the ministry has been allowed to raise another Rs 59,000 crore through National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) bonds during the next fiscal. Brett Hull Jersey
143 SEZ developers get more time for projects: Nirmala Sitharaman
During the last three years and the current fiscal up to January, the Commerce Ministry has granted more time to as many as 143 developers of SEZ (special economic zone) to complete their projects, Parliament was informed today. Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that some SEZs developers have sought additional time for the execution of their projects for various reasons including adverse business climate due to global recession, delay in approvals from statutory bodies and delay in environmental clearance. “During the last three years and the current financial year (up to January, 2017), BoA (Board of Approval) has granted more time to 143 developers of SEZ across the country to complete their projects,” she said in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha. BoA is a 19-member inter-ministerial body headed by the commerce secretary. These zones are export hubs, outbound shipments which account for about 23 per cent of the country’s total exports. They enjoy certain tax and other benefits including exemptions from central sales tax, service tax and exemption from income tax for 15 years. Replying to a separate question, the minister said as many as 141 SEZ which have been approved are yet to be developed. As on December last year, 206 SEZs are operational. She informed that the maximum numbers of operational SEZs (units which have started exports) are in Tamil Nadu (36), Telangana (27) followed by Maharashtra (26), Karnataka (25) and Andhra Pradesh (19). Exports from these zones during April-December 2016 stood at Rs 3.58 lakh crore. It was Rs 4.67 lakh crore in 2015-16. Replying to a separate question, Sitharaman said as per reports available, some exporters are found to have “artificially inflated” their exports to avail financial benefits during the last three years. “The regional office concerned has taken appropriate action under Foreign Trade (Development & Regulation) Act, 1992 as amended including cancelling the duty credit scrips and imposing penalty in such cases,” she added. JK Scott Authentic Jersey
Indian skies safest; action taken against erring pilots: Raju
Asserting that Indian skies are the safest in the world, Civil Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju today said there will be no compromise on safety and security and action is being taken against erring pilots. The Minister told the Lok Sabha that three instances had come to the notice of aviation regulator DGCA where fake documents were submitted for getting pilot licences and action was being taken. “There will no compromise on safety or security… Indian skies are the safest in the world,” Raju said during Question Hour, adding that India is also the fastest growing domestic aviation market. During the last three years and the current year, only one case came to the notice of DGCA on December 15, 2016 in which a pilot of Air India had flown an aircraft with a lapsed licence and was immediately suspended, Raju said. To a query about instances of submitting fake documents for pilot licences, the Minister said there were three cases in the last nearly four years. While two instances happened in 2016, one pilot was disqualified from holding licence through an order on February 7, 2017, he added. Various steps are taken by the DGCA to detect forgery in obtaining pilot licence such as “inclusion of item for checking pilot licenses system during the audit or main base inspection of airlines”. Responding to a supplementary question, Raju said it is a fact that some aviation training institutes are not maintaining the standards and efforts are on to ensure that such things do not happen. “Improvement is a continuous process,” he added. To another question, Raju said the issue of congestion at airports is being taken care by the Airports Authority of India. Kyle Wilber Jersey
Air Works on the block as top investors look to exit
Air Works, a Gurgaon-based aircraft maintenance and repair service provider that paints a third of all planes produced by Airbus as per specifications of the airlines buying them, is on the block. Top investors such as Punj Lloyd Aviation and GTI Capital, which together own majority stake in the company, are looking to exit the business in the next twelve months, Air Works managing director Vivek Gour said. “We have long-term investors and it is our mandate to provide them liquidity,” he told ET. The company expects to be valued at Rs 2,000 crore, Gour said. “The management will continue to retain its stake in the company post any secondary sale of shares by investors,” he said. Gour and certain members of the senior management team collectively own a 20 per cent stake in the company. Air Works claims to be the largest independent flight maintenance and repair organisation (MRO) in India. It provides maintenance services to carriers such as SpiceJet and Vistara at its facility in Hosur, on the outskirts of Bengaluru. GMR is the only other service provider that maintains aircraft for third parties. Air India and Jet Airways have in-house aircraft maintenance arms. Air Works also provides transit checks at 14 airports for multiple foreign carriers. Founded in 1951 by PS Menon and BG Menon, the company has grown through acquisitions since Gour’s appointment as the head of its business in 2010. It acquired a controlling stake in Air Livery, the largest aircraft refinishing company in Europe in 2010, along with its painting facility in Toulouse, France, located next to Airbus’ manufacturing site, as part of its purchase of Aero Technique Espace four years ago. Air Works recorded revenues ofRs 650 crore for the year ended March 2016. Experts see big scope for third party flight MROs in the country where air traffic is rising rapidly. “Over 90 per cent of aircraft maintenance work is presently outsourced by Indian carriers due to onerous taxes in India. Once local regulations ease, domestic service providers will see their business grow substantially,” said Amber Dubey, head of aerospace and defence at KPMG. According to estimates compiled by the International Air Transport Association (IATA), India will be among the five fastest growing civil aviation markets in terms of passenger traffic additions by 2034. Air Works, meanwhile, is in the process of signing a contract with Rolls Royce for maintenance and repairs of helicopters fitted with the latter’s engines. Before joining Air Works, Gour was chief financial officer at IT services firm Genpact. He also sits on the board of Nasdaq-listed Makemytrip. com. Julian Edelman Womens Jersey
‘No fixed limit for VGF in regional air connectivity plan’
Government today said the limit has not been fixed for viability gap funding to airlines under the regional connectivity scheme. Minister of State for Civil Aviation Jayant Sinha told the Rajya Sabha that an airline operator is expected to start services under the scheme within six months after award of the routes. The ambitious scheme — which seeks to connect unserved and under-served airports — provides for Viability Gap Funding (VGF) to the participating airlines. It is to be funded by the Centre as well as the state government concerned. In a written reply, Sinha said the government intends to make regional air connectivity affordable by providing financial support in the form of VGF to meet the gap between the cost of airline operations and expected revenue on such routes. “There is no fixed percentage of VGF in the scheme at present,” he noted. According to the minister, the VGF amount would depend on the stage length and “VGF cap for operation through Category I fixed wing aircraft (aircraft with seating capacity of less than 20 seats) ranges from Rs 2,470 for 150 kilometres to Rs 5,730 per RCS seat up to 500 kilometres”. Nikita Zadorov Jersey
Air India expected to post improved profit for 2016-17: Government
Having reported an operating profit of Rs 105 crore for 2015-16 fiscal, Air India is expected to post an improved operating profit margin this year as well, even as liquidity constraints continue to impact the smooth performance of the national carrier, government said Tuesday. Air India, over the years and especially since the implementation of the turnaround plan, has been constantly improving its operational as well as financial performance, Minister of State for Civil Aviation Jayant Sinha said in a written reply in Rajya Sabha. In the financial year 2015-16, the company posted an operating profit of Rs 105 crore, he said, adding, “In the financial year 2016-17 also, the company has been steadily improving its all-round performance and it is expected that the company would again post an improved operating profit margin in the current fiscal also.” Raekwon McMillan Jersey
Low-cost carriers to remain profitable, but domestic industry may go in the red: report
Indian Airlines are expected to report combined losses to the tune of USD 250-300 million as against an estimated profit of USD 122 billion in the previous financial year, according to an industry report. The downward pressure on yields, combined with cost creep, is expected to push the consolidated industry back into the red for the 12 months ending March 2017, the Sydney-based aviation think-tank, Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation (CAPA), said in a report released here on Wednesday. “IndiGo, Jet Airways, SpiceJet, GoAir and Air India Express are all expected to remain profitable for the full year (FY17), but at levels lower than in FY2016, while losses are projected to increase at Air India, AirAsia India and Vistara. At a total industry level, losses could reach USD 250-300 million,” the CAPA India Aviation outlook FY2018 report said. IT has also projected higher losses for the next fiscal at USD 380-450 million. Ramik Wilson Authentic Jersey
Over 6000 violations by aviation companies in 2016: DGCA
Aviation watchdog DGCA has come across over 6,000 violations related to compliance by aviation companies last year, the government said today. Another 233 such violations were detected during the random survey (surprise checks) by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) as part of its annual surveillance programme, Minister of State for Civil Aviation Jayant Sinha said in a written reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha. “During 2016, violations observed under planned and non- planned surveillance by DGCA were 6,310 and 233 respectively,” he said. In case of violations observed under planned surveillance during 2017, the requisite data was not available at present, but, “in case of violations observed under non-plan surveillance during 2017, the number is 30,” Sinha said. As part of its aviation safety mechanism, DGCA conducts frequent surveillance checks on airlines, non-scheduled operators as well as airport and Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (MRO) operators to ensure that the standard demonstrated at the time of issuance of aviation documents such as approval certificate, license, rating, among others is maintained on a continuous basis. Ereck Flowers Authentic Jersey
‘Profitability Is More Important Than Market Share’
After a great turnaround, SpiceJet is now entering a new growth era, SpiceJet chairman and managing director Ajay Singh tells Ashish Sinha. Seven continuous quarters of profits and best passenger load factor; how are things now for SpiceJet? So far, so good. Given the place from where we came — when the airline was shutting down — we have come a long way. Today, we have one of the best on-time performances (OTP) and the highest load factor of 92 per cent for 19 months in a row. We are in a good position. What did you do to make things right? The very first thing was to instil confidence in everybody that the airline will continue to fly and not shut down. We had to give the confidence to our business partners, travel agents, employees and everybody connected with the business that the airline will stay and prosper. That is how we started restoring confidence. We decided that there won’t be any more cancellations going forward. We made it a point to tell everyone which flights were flying and which were not. I wanted to be honest with everybody. I wanted to put operations back in order. We had to ensure that the planes were not going to be taken away by the lessors. We took aircraft on wet lease. How bad was the financial situation in those days? It was very bad. We were in a situation where immediate payables of around Rs 2,200-2.300 crore were hanging on our head. It was clear that the money could not have been paid right away. So, I asked everybody to give me some time before I could start paying back. We had to make a timetable. I got tremendous support from lenders as many felt that since I had done this before, I would be able to do it again. I told everyone that I will not be asking for more. But I also told them that I will freeze the current payments and pay on a day-to-day basis. The very first task was to keep all the aircraft flying. For that we needed money, for aviation turbine fuel (ATF), and salaries of employees. The basics had to be done. So, we started doing those things right. Omri Casspi Womens Jersey