Defer higher air navigation charges at Indian airports: IATA
Global airlines body IATA has urged the government to defer implementation of revised air navigation charges at various Indian airports saying there was “complete lack” of consultations with stakeholders in this regard. The charges for airport services as well as those related to air navigation at non-major aerodromes have been revised effective December 16, 2016. Referring to the increase in Air Navigation Services (ANS) charges at all airports and airport services charges at non-major aerodromes, IATA said it is deeply disappointed by the “complete lack of user consultation and transparency before arriving at this proposal”. In a recent letter to the Civil Aviation Ministry, IATA said this is particularly surprising given that significant conversations with Airports Authority of India (AAI) had indicated that full and thorough consultation with stakeholders would be undertaken prior to any such changes. International Air Transport Association (IATA) has also requested that the “implementation of these increases is deferred indefinitely and that the relevant agencies enter meaningful negotiation with affected stakeholders”. According to the grouping, fees and charges can only be set realistically through a detailed and structured cost assessment process involving consultation with all affected stakeholders. “This must be a robust process in order to reach consensus between the service provider and airlines as business partners. IATA believes that at least a four-month notice of revision should be given to airlines and their representative organisations,” the letter said. IATA, which represents over 265 airlines from across the world, said increases in charges without proper consultation has the potential to rapidly erode competitive advantage and potentially jeopardise growth prospect of tourism industry as well as of wider Indian economy. Generally, airports serving less than 12 lakh passengers annually are considered as non-major and charges for these aerodromes are fixed by Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA). Most of the non-major aerodromes are owned, managed and operated by government-owned AAI. It levies charges for services, including route and terminal navigational landing fee, as well as parking. In the letter to Civil Aviation Secretary R N Choubey, IATA Regional Director (Safety and Flight Operations) for Asia Pacific said that airport and air navigation service charges must be in line with ICAO tenets. Copies of the letter, dated December 9, have also been sent to AAI Chairman Guruprasad Mohapatra and DGCA chief B S Bhullar. Pat Lafontaine Womens Jersey
Air India operational losses down 70 per cent in 9 months
Air India has continued to improve its financial performance, reducing operational losses by 70 per cent to Rs 161crore for the first nine months of the currrent fiscal ending December 2016, aided by higher ancillary revenues and higher contribution from subsidiaries. The airline reported a 10.6 per cent increase in operating revenues atRs 15,828 crore, according to its unaudited numbers. Its expenses increased 7.6 per cent to Rs 15,990 crore. “The increase in revenues on the back of higher cargo and excess baggage earnings and increased contribution from subsidiaries helped Air India reduce losses by over 70 per cent during the first nine months of the current fiscal,” a senior Air India executive, who did not want to be identified, said. The airline has to improve further to achieve its target of Rs 1,000 crore in operating profit in the current fiscal. The national carrier had, for the first time since the merger of Air India and Indian Airlines, reported an operating profit of Rs 105 crore in FY16. The performance is likely to be reviewed by the Prime Minister’s Office today. The meeting may also discuss allowing the national carrier to recruit more people and a proposal to increase the retirement age of employees to 60 from 58. This will be the PMO’s second review of Air India’s performance. Los Angeles Rams Authentic Jersey
Japan ready to associate in development of Chennai and Varanasi
Japan has decided to associate itself with India in developing Chennai, Ahmedabad and Varanasi as smart cities. During a meeting of Japanese Ambassador to India Kenji Hiramatsu with Union Urban Development Minister M Venkaiah Naidu here today, he said, Japan is “quite interested” in urban development initiatives of the government and decided to be a partner, an official release said. Responding to Naidu’s observation about the need for speedy action, the Japanese envoy said “We would like to match the action oriented approach of the government under Prime Minister Narendra Modi.” Meanwhile, British High Commissioner Dominic Asquith also met Naidu and discussed converting into action the MoU signed between the two countries on cooperation in urban development sector. The MoU was signed during the recent visit of British Prime Minister Theresa May to India. Asquith said institutionalising “Government to Government cooperation” for smart city development has huge potential. So far, various countries have come forward to be associated with development of 15 smart cities. These include United States Trade Development Agency (USTDA) for Visakhapatnam, Ajmer and Allahabad, UK for Pune, Amaravati and Indore, France for Chandigarh, Puducherry and Nagpur and Germany for Bhubaneswar, Coimbattore and Kochi. Deonte Thompson Authentic Jersey
States to be judged on their performance in providing logistical support to companies
The government is bringing back a scheme to help states build their export infrastructure by providing financial support. The proposed Trade Infrastructure for Export Scheme (Ties) will supplement states’ efforts to create export infrastructure. “We are devising means to fund states’ infrastructure requirements for trade,” said commerce and industry minister Nirmala Sitharaman at the second meeting of the Council for Trade Development and Promotion here on Thursday. The government had done away with a similar scheme called the Assistance to States for Infrastructure Development of Exports (Aside) in 2015. The minister said that 17 states have aligned their export strategies ith the Centre’s foreign trade policy. The commerce department, along with others, will also map the export potential of various states. Logistics rankings In addition to annual ease of doing business ranking of states, the industry department will now rank them on their performance in providing logistical support to companies. The exercise will begin this year and aims to give potential investors an idea of what to expect from a state in terms of logistics when they take their investment decisions. “We will rank states on their logistics readiness. There can be little progress on trade facilitation unless states are prepared with plans to manage logistics well, create a logistics hub and have trained manpower to handle it,” Sitharaman said. The ranking will be based on the actual performance and not merely on the presence of logistics in a state. It will also be based on public feedback. GST refunds On commerce ministry’s request to keep out of the goods and services tax ambit the imports of capital goods used as input for exports, Sitharaman said the finance ministry has assured that 90 per cent of the refunds made for claims under such schemes would be made within a week’s time and interest would be paid in case of delays. The commerce ministry had on January 3 sought tax exemptions for import of raw material under the Advance Authorisation Scheme and import of capital goods under Export Promotion Capital Goods authorisation scheme. It had requested an outright initial exemption for exporters rather than making them pay taxes first and then seek refunds, as refunds usually take six to eight months. James White Jersey
Govt officials seek zero import tax on LNG in Budget 2017 – document
India’s energy and environment ministries want the government to scrap an import tax on liquefied natural gas (LNG) and impose a levy on use of pet coke and furnace oil to promote cleaner fuel, they said in a presentation to Prime Minister Narendra Modi. India is the world’s third largest emitter of greenhouse gases and relies heavily on coal, gas and oil imports to meet its energy needs and fuel its economic expansion. Its energy consumption is bound to grow as it targets 8-9 percent economic growth from around 7 percent in 2016/17. To cut the country’s carbon footprint, New Delhi wants to raise the use of gas in its energy mix to 15 percent in three to four years from 6.5 percent now. LNG imports, which account for 44 percent of gas use in the country, are duty free only if shipped in for the power sector. At a meeting with Modi on Wednesday, top officials from the power, coal, mines, oil and gas, renewables and environment ministries made a series of demands and suggestions ahead of budget on Feb. 1, in a presentation seen by Reuters. The group asked for a tax on furnace oil/pet coke to promote use of biofuels. They also sought continuation of tax incentives and benefits for the renewable energy sector beyond March. In late October, Modi set up 10 groups of senior officials to “undertake a critical review” of the government’s work in a number of areas, including energy, transport and agriculture. India, the world’s third biggest oil consumer, has also tasked its state-run oil companies to set up ethanol plants at 12 locations within a year. Among other “key planned actions”, the group has asked for long-term loans and introduction of interest subsidies of 4 percent in six months for hydro projects with more than 100 megawatts (MW) of annual capacity. To curb diesel consumption, India wants to raise the number of electric vehicles on roads to 7 million by 2020 from just around 20,000 now. The group proposed the use of electric vehicles in public transport and for government vehicles within three years. The bulk of goods in India are transported by road in diesel-guzzling trucks because of higher rail freight costs that compensate for low passenger fares and account for about two-thirds of railways’ revenue. To further restrict diesel use, the panel proposed indexing passenger fares in railways to fuel costs, within a year. Ethan Westbrooks Womens Jersey
Union Budget 2017: Allow private airport operators to raise funds via tax free infrastructure bonds, says FICCI
Union Budget 2017 should facilitate private airport operators to raise funds by allowing them to issue tax free infrastructure bonds, recommends FICCI. In its pre-Budget 2017 memorandum, the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) said, “To facilitate the private airport operators to raise funds, it is recommended that they should also be allowed to issue tax free infrastructure bonds to the public.” “Further, the investments in these bonds should be notified for the purpose of claiming deduction under Section 80CCF of the Act by restoring section 80CCF in the Act,” it said. FICCI also urged Finance Minister Arun Jaitley that the deduction limit under section 80CCF of the Act for investment in infrastructure bonds should be increased from Rs 20,000 to Rs 50,000. According to Aviation minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju, the domestic aviation sector is on an “upswing”. “Indian aviation industry is on the upswing and today stands at an inflection point in its chequered history. We have recorded an exceptional growth in the past two years,” he said last month. Domestic air passenger growth has been more than 20 per cent for nearly two years while local carriers are also embarking on significant fleet expansion plans. Scott Wilson Authentic Jersey
GMR cites ‘execution challenges’, may exit Navi Mumbai airport project
The Navi Mumbai Airport project has run into trouble, days before the January 9 deadline for submission of financial bids, with at least two bidders — GMR Airport Ltd and MIA Infrastructure — among the four short-listed companies expressing concerns over likely delays in project execution. The companies have written to the City and Industrial Development Corporation (CIDCO), the project’s implementing authority, saying pre-development work, site preparation and rehabilitation of project-affected people (PAP) is yet to be completed. In separate letters, they have urged CIDCO to extend the deadline for submission of financial bids and sort out the problems before deciding on a fresh deadline. The four companies — GVK Mumbai International Airport Pvt Ltd (MIAL), GMR Airport Ltd, MIA Infrastructure (a joint venture of Tata Realty and Vinci Concessions of France) and Zurich Airport-Hiranandani Construction consortium — need to submit financial bids as per the deadline. J.J. Watt Womens Jersey
India to play hardball for equitable share of slots at foreign airports
India may make allocation of slots for its airlines an essential part of any bilateral treaty signed in future. This is after hectic lobbying and repeated complaints by airlines that they were being overlooked in terms of peak time slots. According to sources in the civil aviation ministry, there has been a mutual consensus between the civil aviation and external affairs ministry that countries showing interest in increasing seat allocations will be pushed to give slots to Indian carriers of their choice. “We are a big market in terms of passengers; a lot of foreign airlines want to expand in India, there is no fault if we intend to play according to our position of strength,” says a senior civil aviation ministry official. “There is a consensus in the ministry that we need to be more vocal about our carriers,” added the official. Indian carriers have long been complaining that not getting slots in foreign airports hampers their scheduling, hence curbing the viability of profitable overseas operations. Pat Lafontaine Authentic Jersey
Indian aviation takes off but growth weighs on airports
After a long rough patch, Indian aviation is finally booming, but that burst of growth is now taking a toll on the industry’s infrastructure. High operating costs, intense competition and the collapse of Kingfisher Airlines had weakened both business and civil sectors in previous years, but recently the Indian market has turned a corner into the world’s fastest growing, largely thanks to supportive government policies. India is currently the sole bright spot in Asia’s aviation sector, Neil Book, CEO at the largest independent aviation firm JSSI, told CNBC’s “Squawk Box” on Wednesday. Private jet sales are up and the emerging middle/upper classes have witnessed double-digit growth rates in travel, he explained. The upper middle class made up 8 percent of the population in 2015, and is set to hit 12 percent by 2020, according to Boston Consulting Group. Meanwhile, the ultra-high net worth population–defined as those whose net worth exceeds $50 million–stood at 178,000 in 2016 and will increase 57 percent by 2021, estimates Credit Suisse. Unlike his predecessors, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has loosened industry restrictions that are set to increase new aircraft deliveries as well as in-service and used business jets, Book continued. Dustin Pedroia Jersey
Delhi airport authority collected Rs 9,450 crore extra charges from IGI flyers since 2014
Are passengers flying in and out of Delhi paying much more than they should? And will the extra charges collected by airlines from the passengers and paid to Indira Gandhi International Airport — a total of around Rs 9,450 crore in just over three years — ever be refunded to flyers? These questions have been raised by the Airports Economic Regulatory Authority (AERA) in a petition filed before the AERA Appellate Tribunal (AERAAT) over Delhi International Airport Pvt Ltd (DIAL) continuing to charge the higher charges pertaining to the first control period, or a stipulated five-year term, from April 1, 2009 to March 31, 2014. AERA had lowered the airport’s charges by a steep 96% for the second control period that came into force from April 1, 2014 and will go through to March 31, 2019. While this should have meant cheaper flights to and from Delhi, DIAL opposed the implementation of the lowering of charges at various legal forums and continued with the higher earlier rates. The case is yet to be decided. A concerned AERA recently moved AERAAT, saying, “The appellant is charging aeronautical tariffs as per the first tariff order, which has higher tariff than the second tariff order. Under the second tariff order, the target revenue to be recovered by the appellant is Rs 7,709.61 crore (approximately) and the aeronautical tariff has been fixed on that basis. However, from April 1, 2014 to June 30, 2016, the appellant has already earned revenue of Rs 7,257.15 crore (approx) which is about 94.13% of the target revenue for the second control period.” The petition added that DIAL which was currently recovering an estimated Rs 300 crore per month, would have accumulated around Rs 17,157.15 crore by the end of the second control period in March 2019. This would represent an excess of Rs 9,447.54 crore against the target revenue of Rs 7,709.61 crore. AERA warned that it would not be possible to have this excess amount refunded to passengers from whom it was collected, thereby creating an “irreversible and uncontrollable situation”. DIAL is recovering monies in excess of the projected revenue, thus defeating the whole purpose of fixing the aeronautical tariffs, the regulatory authority charged. In response, a DIAL spokesman said, “The tariff determination for the first control period was done in 2012 based on various principles adopted by AERA. Being aggrieved with certain principles adopted by AERA, DIAL filed an appeal in AERAAT in 2012. The decision on the aforesaid issue is still pending adjudication. This has led to recovery of tariff much lower than the rightful entitlement under the concession. In the meantime, AERA has used the same principles to determine the tariff for the second control period. We are awaiting judgement of AERAAT on the issues. Once these are resolved, DIAL expects material recalculation of target revenue of first and second control periods and as a consequence does not expect significant over-recovery accruing to DIAL.” For the second control period, DIAL had sought a 42.6% hike in aero charges, but AERA had brought them down by 96.08% in December 2015, leading DIAL to challenge the decision in multiple legal forums. While requesting the tribunal to decide on the issue expeditiously, AERA reasoned that the large amounts involved in airport projects are public money and every attempt should be made to safeguard such funds. AERA determines airport charges for major airports for five-year terms called control periods. Based on these, airlines have to pay airports and accordingly set passenger fares. Scott Harrington Womens Jersey