SpiceJet to lease planes for Udan flights
SpiceJet Ltd will lease more planes to fly under the government’s Udan regional flying scheme and connect six additional stations, chairman Ajay Singh said in an interview. “There will be some planes required for RCS (regional connectivity scheme),” Singh said, adding that over the next one-and-a-half years, the airline could take on lease as many as 10 planes, some of them for this scheme. SpiceJet operates 343 average daily flights to 45 destinations, including 39 domestic and six international ones, using 32 Boeing 737NG planes for national and international routes and 17 Bombardier Q-400s for short-haul flights. The flights under RCS could be to six stations, starting summer. “We should be starting RCS flights by June or July,” Singh said, adding that there would be single flights to these stations “and then we will see how it goes”. Singh said he would fully support the government’s Udan scheme. “It’s an important national programme,” he said, adding that “there will be commercial viability (as there will be exclusive rights on a route for the first three years).” Clark Griswold Womens Jersey
Air India to complete procurement of all 27 Dreamliners by October: Jayant Sinha
Air India will complete the procurement of all the 27 Dreamliners by October, 2017 as per the contract, MoS for Civil Aviation, Jayant Sinha said in a written reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday. “Air India has acquired 23 Dreamliners progressively from September, 2012 to January 9, 2017. The Dreamliners aircraft have experienced technical reliability issues, since induction into Air India fleet. These issues, however, do not affect the safety of the airplane due to the system design and inbuilt system redundancy. Further, system improvements are incorporated as a part of reliability enhancement process and the glitches have significantly reduced,” the minister informed the Upper House. Sinha said one B787-8 aircraft will be delivered in July this year, two B-787-8 aircraft by August and one B787-8 aircraft by October, 2017, the minister said. Sinha further informed that in compliance with the provisions of Operation, Management and Development Agreement (OMDA), Delhi International Airport Private Limited (DIAL), the developer of Delhi’s IGI airport has reviewed and updated the airport’s master plan in 2016 in consultation with the Airports Authority of India. Kelechi Osemele Authentic Jersey
Indian airlines flag foreign ownership concerns
Officials of India’s SpiceJet and Jet Airways have told the country’s Civil Aviation Ministry they object to foreign players setting up airlines in the country. The news comes two days after Gulf carrier Qatar Airways said it plans to set up a new carrier in India. Alexei Kovalev Authentic Jersey
Pratt & Whitney reiterates its India commitment
“We are addressing the queries and working with partners to resolve the issues,” says Palash Roy Chowdhury, managing director (India) for Pratt & Whitney (P&W) dismissing the criticism around its controversial PW1100G engine that’s powering some Airbus A320neo aircraft of IndiGo and GoAir. There are billions of dollars at stake for P&W, the US-based aerospace engine maker, after its engine – PW1100G – based on geared turbofan (GTF) technology started developing snags one after the other. “Indian carriers have been early adopters of this technology,” says Chowdhury. A series of incidents over the past two months has raised doubts on the safety of P&W engines. According to reports, there are six incidents involving A320neos using P&W engines which have developed glitches, including a fire on the tail of a GoAir flight. Following which, the aviation regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) ordered boroscopic inspection of 21 Airbus A320neos (IndiGo’s 16 and GoAir’s 5) Eric Berry Jersey
No foreign carrier applied to start fully-owned domestic airline: Minister
The central government has not received any application from foreign airlines to start a domestic passenger carrier through the 100 per cent FDI (Foreign Direct Investment) route, Minister of State for Civil Aviation Jayant Sinha said on Wednesday. The minister gave the information in reply to a question raised about Qatar Airways’ plan to start a fully owned domestic passenger carrier in partnership with an institutional investor on the sidelines of an industry event here. Earlier, Qatar Airways had said that its plan to set up an airline in India along with Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund. Under the current rules a foreign airline can only invest up to 49 per cent in domestic airline. However, in partnership with an institutional investor, the foreign airline can invest and set up a 100 per cent owned domestic passenger carrier. The minister elaborated that the government was considering stakeholders’ views before framing any policy that allows for 100 per cent FDI into domestic airlines. “There are various opinions on this matter of 100 per cent FDI. We are considering what the Indian airlines through FIA (Federation of Indian Airlines) are saying,” Sinha told reporters. “Of course, the government’s policies are such that we do welcome 100 per cent FDI but we are working through the exact registration process and all of the appropriate policies around that,” Sinha added. Jacob Josefson Womens Jersey
Centre working on ‘appropriate policies’ for 100 percent FDI in airlines in India: Minister
Union Minister Jayant Sinha today said the government is working on “appropriate policies” related to 100 per cent FDI in airlines, amid local carriers opposing the move. The Minister of State for Civil Aviation also said the Ministry has not yet received any formal application from any airline with respect to 100 per cent FDI. His remarks come against the backdrop of Qatar Airways recently announcing its plans to set up an airline in India after the Indian government allowed 100 per cent foreign direct investment in the airlines segment last year. The Federation of Indian Airlines (FIA) — comprising Jet Airways, SpiceJet, IndiGo and GoAir — have been vociferous about their opposition to foreign entities being allowed to invest in local carriers. “There are various opinion on this matter of 100 per cent FDI. We are considering what the Indian airlines through FIA are saying. Of course, the government’s policies are such that we do welcome 100 per cent FDI but we are working through the exact registration process and all of the appropriate policies around that. That is under evaluation,” Minister of State for Civil Aviation Jayant Sinha told reporters here. Noting that the policy to allow 100 per cent Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in domestic airlines is “probably not appropriate”, SpiceJet CMD Ajay Singh said that such kind of policies must be allowed on a reciprocal basis. “If an airline of a particular country wants 100 per cent FDI in our country then they must also be prepared to give 100 per cent FDI in their own countries… If that is not allowed then it is an unfair situation and it is not a level playing field,” he said. He also noted that there is a huge shortage of airport infrastructure and foreign airlines entering the Indian market would add to that burden. Cam Ward Jersey
Kalpataru Power Transmission to scale up business to beat slowdown
Kalpataru Power Transmission, which has so far enjoyed a strong foothold in engineering jobs for the power transmission sector, is scaling up its business in pipeline and railways-related jobs to offset the slowdown in domestic orders. The company expects to grow at 15-20 per cent with operating margins of around 11 per cent in the current fiscal to March and in the next year 2017-18, managing director Manish Mohnot told ET, in an exclusive interview. “Things are moving much better in the international market than in India. We have not seen much orders coming from Power Grid Corporation of India in the last six months, but we expect it to change in March and early first quarter of 2017-18,” Mohnot said. The company’s order book was worth Rs. 8,300 crore as on December-end, which included 55 per cent of international orders, 33 per cent domestic power transmission jobs, and 12 per cent of orders from the pipeline and railway sectors. The international business primarily comes from African countries and the company aims to expand its presence in the continent. “In the international market, we have projects worth Rs . 4,0005,000 crore to be bid between now and May, on the domestic front it is the same number. Railways is a big number, in the next two months we want to bid for orders worth Rs. 5,000-6,000 crore, and pipeline would be a few thousand crores. As per tendering, we are on track for the next six-seven months,” Mohnot explained. “Our revenue mix earlier was 90% from transmission and 10 per cent from pipeline and rail. Share of pipeline and railways has already increased to 15 per cent and getting into next year, we expect it to be 20-25 per cent. Clearly, the growth in these new businesses is and will remain higher, but transmission would continue to be our most significant business,” he said. The company said it is favourably placed as the best bidder for orders worth over Rs. 3,000 crore. The fledgling businesses were also reporting significant improvement in margins and has a robust order pipeline. “Railways has a big order pipeline and we want to bid for orders worth Rs. 5,000-6,000 crore in the next two months; in the pipeline business, it would be worth a few thousand crores. We are on track for the next six-seven months as far as tendering goes.” The company , which is currently executing two projects under the public-private partnership model, will continue to explore more projects and will also look for financial partners for these projects. “It is a competitive market and at times we do see irrational bids.If we look at Kalpataru’s philosophy, our focus is profitability.We don’t participate in it unless it is strategic,” Mohnot said. Julien Gauthier Womens Jersey
PFC signs pact with MSEDCL for Rs 3,000 crore loan
State-run Power Finance Corporation (PFC) today said it has signed a loan agreement with Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Co (MSEDCL) for financial assistance of Rs 3,000 crore. This assistance will help MSEDCL meet its operational requirements within the working capital eligibility allowed under the UDAY scheme. The loan will help MSEDCL clear its outstanding power purchase liabilities also, PFC said in a statement. The loan document was signed by S L Pimpalkhute, Director (finance), MSEDCL, in the presence of Rajeev Sharma, CMD, PFC. Tom Jackson Authentic Jersey
ONGC may shift proposed basin from Tripura to Assam
State-owned ONGC may shift its proposed new basin to Cachar in Assam from Agartala, where initial work had already begun last year. The ONGC board is likely to take a decision on the upcoming second basin of North East in the next six months. “Cachar has lot of accrues, but the area is less explored. So we are looking at the possibility of setting up the basin in Cachar and may shift it from Agartala,” ONGC Director (Onshore) Ved Prakash Mahawar told PTI here. He, however, clarified that no final decision has been taken yet on shifting the proposed basin to Assam. Asked by when a decision is expected, Mahawar said: “The Board may decide on this in the next six months.” In December last year, the Director had said that ONGC was working on to launch a new basin in Agartala by the end of this year to focus more on exploration of oil and gas in North East. He had informed that construction work was going on as there was no proper building to start functioning of a ‘basin’ in Agartala. “We are discussing about setting up a basin in Agartala. Director of Exploration and I visited Agartala around five months ago. We checked the facilities. Currently work for creation of workstation is going on,” Mahawar had said then. ONGC’s North East operations is divided into two areas — Assam Shelf from Jorhat to Duliajan and Assam Fold Belt from Silchar to Agartala. Silchar is the headquarters of Cachar district of Barak valley in Assam. Assam Fold Belt has mainly gas, while there are both oil and gas in Assam Shelf. While exploration is being done only by Assam-Arakan basin based at Jorhat, the production is divided by three Assets — Assam Asset at Nazira, Jorhat Asset at Jorhat and Tripura Asset at Agartala. Basin’s job is to discover or explore oil and gas, but it does not produce anything. On the other hand, an Asset exploits or produces and sends the products to refineries. Last fiscal, ONGC’s production in Assam was 0.9 million tonnes and this year it is targetted to reach the figure of 1 million tonnes. Devin McCourty Authentic Jersey
Tangedco cuts losses by Rs 2,000 crore in one year
Tangedco’s losses have come down by nearly Rs 2,000 crore over the past year, the discom having ended this financial year with a loss of Rs 3,675.76 crore. It has seen a 5% increase in sale of power due to which the revenue has increased by Rs 2,000 crore and the cost of fuel has also reduced due to availability of local coal. The financial position of the discom is considerably better after a record loss of Rs 13,500 crore in 2013-14. With the debts being taken over by the government under the Uday scheme, the discom is hopeful of a break-even in 2017-18, mainly due to the interest cost coming down. “In our budget estimates we thought we will end the year with a loss of Rs 6,374.17 crore in 2016-17. But due to better fuel price and sale of power, our loss has come down by half of what we had anticipated,“ a senior Tangedco official told TOI. Apart from better sale of power and lower fuel price, Tangedco has also got better subsidy from the government. “Soon after the AIADMK took charge after the assembly election, the then chief minister J Jayalalithaa announced 100 units free for domestic consumers. Already power is being supplied free to farmers and huts. For all these, we get subsidy from the government and this year we received Rs 8,621 crore as subsidy against Rs 7,695 crore last year,“ said the official. Purchase of power from private thermal, wind and solar power companies has increased only by 2.87%. “There was better demand in the last year and Tangedco supplied power without any shortage. But the company purchased power from a lower tariff and more wind power was evacuated during the season. All these helped to lower the purchase cost,“ the official said. The accounts will be presented to the Tangedco board after getting its nod. The year ahead is promising for Tangedco. “The interest cost in the coming year will be lower by more than Rs 1,000 crore as the debt has been taken over by the government under the Uday scheme. This alone will bring down the loss and we are also hoping to lower the fuel cost,“ said the official. On the expenditure side, the company will have to allocate Rs 700 crore for 7th Pay Commission for Tangedco employees. “The unions have started working on the new pay commission but it will be finalised only after the committee set up by the government for its employees submits its report,“ he said. Xavien Howard Jersey