SpiceJet extends premium lounge service to three more airports
Budget carrier SpiceJet today expanded its premium lounge service to three more domestic airports including Varanasi. The Gurgaon-based airline already offers premium lounge facility to its fliers at airports in Delhi, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Kochi. SpiceJet has opened its new premium lounges, Club One Class Lounge at Jaipur, Varanasi and Guwahati airports, offering its customers a host of services, the airline said in a statement. Apart from comfortable seating, the lounge offers an array of facilities which include complimentary wi-fi access , flight information screen, televisions, and newspapers/magazines. The service which is available only at the domestic departure terminals of these three airports will also offer a fixed menu of eatables to be served during the operational hours of the lounge which would include soft beverages, vegetarian/non-vegetarian starters and desserts, SpiceJet said. Dennis Smith Authentic Jersey
Government to soon announce measures to curb high airfares: Minister
After months of deliberations, the government is finally going to announce a mechanism soon to curb high airfares and unveil a new civil aviation policy to address all major issues affecting the sector. Minister of State for Civil Aviation Mahesh Sharma said the civil aviation policy will lay out a roadmap to make India a leading player in the sector which is growing at over 20 per cent currently. The policy will be placed before the cabinet within two weeks. He said government’s priority is to improve infrastructure and it is investing around Rs 15,000 crore in 2016-17 in upgrading of the existing airports and setting up new ones. On fixing airfares, he said Prime Minister Narendra Modi was very keen to have an upper cap on the ticket price and government would announce the measures while taking views of the airlines and that it would be by consensus and not through any regulation. “We are in the process of adopting certain measures to cap ticket price. But we are trying to do it by consensus and not by regulation. Our Prime Minister also envisions that fares be kept in control,” Sharma told PTI in an interview. Airfares usually go up by around 40-50 per cent during the festive seasons and vacations. The airlines had faced severe criticism when the fares had even touched as high as Rs 50,000 for a one way ticket between Bengaluru and Delhi during the Chennai floods in December last year. The fares had gone up significantly during the recent Jat agitation as well. Aviation regulator DGCA had last week said that discussions need to be held with airlines before any decision on fixing upper cap on ticket prices. “If a capping of airfares is required, then we will have to have discussions with them (airlines),” Directorate General of Civil Aviation Chief M Sathiyavathy said. On the civil aviation policy, which is hanging fire since for a long time, the Minister said majority of the issues were sorted out. India is currently ranked ninth in the global aviation market and it is aspiring to become third largest by 2025, Sharma said. The Minister said the basic thrust of the aviation policy will be to expand growth of the sector. “We wanted to make it a fool proof policy that is why we went through repeated meetings.” He said the policy will address all the pending issues including the 5/20 norm, regional connectivity scheme and the ground handling issues. Under 5/20 norm, a domestic airline cannot fly overseas unless it has completed five years of operation on local routes and has a fleet of 20 aircraft. Garrett Grayson Jersey
Your Rajdhani ticket not confirmed, book on Air India
Train passengers, who could not take their journey because of unconfirmed ticket, will now be able to fly Air India flights at the fare that will be similar to AC first class fares of trains. Air India Chairman and Managing Director Ashwani Lohani today said that the airline has entered into an agreement with IRCTC, which will sell those tickets. “Any passenger, who could not get a confirmed ticket, will be given option of booking in Air India flights over the next twenty four hours. The fares will be AC first fares for AC first class passengers and AC II passengers will be charged AC II fares plus Rs 1,500,” Lohani said. He added that the facility is, as of now, being launched for Rajdhani trains. According to Indian railways website, an AC I ticket on Mumbai Rajdhani would cost Rs 4,750 one way. A passenger booked in AC II of Rajdhani express will have to pay the fare – one-way fare for the AC II cabin cost Rs 2,865 – plus Rs 1,500 for the flight ticket on Air India. Allen Robinson Authentic Jersey
Bonanaza for flyers: Domestic airfares 25-35% cheaper; international tickets down 15-20%
Fare wars are still on, much to flyers’ delight. Airfares are now 25-35% cheaper from a year earlier on domestic routes and 15-20% to international destinations, despite this being the peak travel season. Executives at carriers such as Vistara, SpiceJet and Air India said IndiGo had taken the lead in dropping fares this time, forcing competition to follow. If true, this would be a clear shift from the nofrills airline’s usual strategy of staying away from fare wars. IndiGo, though, denied any change in its pricing policy. The average domestic fares in the April-June quarter have decreased by up to 35% on certain domestic routes and up to 16% on international routes,” said Diwakar Pareek, vice-president of online revenue at travel portal MakeMyTrip. The fares have dropped even for last-minute bookings, said John Nair, head of business travel at travel agency Cox & Kings. Derek MacKenzie Womens Jersey
New civil aviation policy faces delay over auction proposal
The new civil aviation policy that seeks to ease the rules for airlines to fly overseas and radically increase regional air connectivity will have to wait, as the Prime Minister’s Office has ordered to go slow on it. The civil aviation ministry had discussed the new policy with other ministries such as finance, home, external affairs and commerce and even prepared a note to be presented before the Cabinet to seek its approval. But lack of consensus between the two civil aviation ministers and among senior officials of the ministry over a key proposal — auction of rights for foreign airlines to fly into India — has probably led the PMO to throw the spanner in its works, people in the know said. “Our Cabinet note is ready and we were about to send it when the PMO asked us not to send it till further orders,” said a senior aviation ministry official, who did not want to be named. A section of the aviation ministry, including Cabinet minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju, wants auction of bilateral rights to bring in transparency in the allocation, the official said. “The other section that includes junior minister Mahesh Sharma and officials are, however, opposed to any kind of auctioning of bilateral rights, as no other country in the world does it,” the official added. Currently, bilateral rights are negotiated between two countries and the increase in allocation is decided on the basis of demands made by the airlines from both negotiating countries. Government officials in the know of the matter said the external affairs ministry, which has a major say on bilateral traffic rights as the policy involves foreign governments, has approved the aviation ministry’s proposal to conduct auction. When asked, aviation secretary RN Choubey said the ministry had not sent the Cabinet note on the policy yet as “internal discussion are continuing”. But, he denied any involvement of the PMO. “No instructions have been given by (the) PMO,” Choubey said in an SMS response. The information officer for the PMO, Sharat Chander, didn’t respond to SMSes sent to him. When called, Chander said he will get back but didn’t respond until press time on Wednesday. While the differences are over whether or not to auction the bilateral rights, the delay in clearance of the new aviation policy would also affect the government’s plan to abolish the so-called 5/20 foreign flying rule. According to this rule, an Indian carrier will have to fly in the domestic sector for at least five years and have a fleet of 20 aircraft to fly international. The aviation industry is divided on the issue of its abolition, with airlines like Jet Airways, IndiGo, SpiceJet and GoAir — they got permits to fly overseas after operating five years in the domestic sector — opposing the proposal and newer carriers Vistara and AirAsia India favouring its abolition. According to the new rule that proposes to replace 5/20, airlines must allocate 20 aircraft or 20% of their total fleet of aircraft, whichever is higher, to the domestic sector if they wish to fly overseas, ET had reported first on March 9, 2016. The draft of the aviation policy released late last year also sought to make millions more fly by limiting airfares to.`2,500 per hour on short routes and making hundreds of mostly unused airports and airstrips in small cities and towns operational. Chris Hubbard Womens Jersey
Mumbai airport Customs better than global counterparts: Survey
A Finance Ministry-sponsored survey has revealed that 69 per cent respondents at the Mumbai airport Customs rated their experience as “better or somewhat better” than other international airports. In a first of its kind survey, CBEC had engaged L N Welingkar Institute of Management, Mumbai (WE School), to conduct a survey of ‘passenger satisfaction’ levels of Customs clearance process at the Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport in Mumbai, one of the largest in terms of international passenger traffic in India. Asked to rate their experience, “69 per cent rated their experience with the Mumbai airport Customs as better or somewhat better than other international airports, 15 per cent rated on par and about 16 per cent felt it was worse”, the ministry said. The sample size of the survey was 731, duly representing demographics, nationalities and profession, among others. The study found that passengers are sensitive to the time they spend on the entire Customs clearance process. In the case of Green Channel passengers, threshold time is ‘up to 15 minutes’ while in the case of Red Channel passengers, threshold time appeared to be in between 15-29 minutes. Pre-arrival self-calculation/assessment and payment of Customs duty levied, dedicated Customs clearance channel for those international passengers who have connecting domestic flights to board, ease of Customs clearance process at the airport are some of the important recommendations. Among findings, the respondents appreciated the improvement in Customs clearance process over the years. Thirty five per cent mentioned that the clearance process has drastically improved while 37 per cent felt that there is a marginal improvement. According to the passengers, three areas that require major improvement are access and availability of information, speed of process and greater transparency of duty assessment process. “Customs assessment for TV and jewellery appeared to be less widely known and are two commodities causing maximum discord,” the survey found out. Roman Josi Womens Jersey
Punjab and Haryana HC summons secretary of Civil Aviation Ministry, AAI chairman
IRKED WITH the repeated failure of the Central government authorities to make it clear to the court the exact date of starting international flights from Chandigarh International Airport, the Punjab and Haryana High Court has summoned the secretary of Civil Aviation Ministry and chairman of the Airports Authority of India. Directing both the officers to remain present in the court at 10 am on May 30, a division bench comprising Justices S S Saron and Gurmit Ram remarked, “You are under misconception that we are begging you to start international flights. Just make a statement that [international] flights cannot be started. Each time you come and make fool of everyone.” The court was addressing Assistant Solicitor General of India Chetan Mittal. “We are just bothered that public money [spent on construction of international airport] should not be wasted,” the court said. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had on September 11, 2015, inaugurated the Chandigarh International Airport on which around Rs 1,400 crore had been spent but no international flight is operational from Chandigarh so far. Raising a serious question, Punjab’s Advocate General Ashok Aggarwal alleged a “serious nexus” in Delhi resulting in delay of starting of international flights from Chandigarh. “Entire issue is being stage-managed by some person from Delhi. We know who is affected. It is a time-table game in airlines industry. A gentleman at Delhi says if you start flights from Chandigarh, XYZ is affected. Everyone knows it,” submitted Aggarwal. The Advocate General submitted that the Punjab government has spent a huge amount on construction of the international airport and Delhi airport caters to around 40 per cent of the international passengers from Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and even Jammu and Kashmir. He said if the international operations are started from Chandigarh airport, it would also reduce huge traffic from Delhi roads every day. Petitioner Mohali Industries Association’s senior counsel Puneet Bali argued, “It needs to be probed by a high- level independent authority like the CBI or the CVC. Somebody is taking calls somewhere. It really needs inquiry.” He added, “Rs 1,400 crore has been spent on international airport and now every airline is coming here saying we can’t fly. Have they (central government authorities) not done homework earlier?” Addressing the Assistant Solicitor General of India, who informed that the proposal for relaxing the rules for the domestic airlines to start international operations is with the Cabinet but even then private airlines are not showing interest, the court said, “We are damn bothered about what airlines are doing.” During the arguments, the counsel appearing for the IndiGo airlines submitted that though they have got the customs clearance from Punjab, customs authorities in Delhi have not given them clearance to uplift duty-free liquor since March 29. The two airlines that have applied to the authorities and could start international operations in near future from Chandigarh are Air India and IndiGo. Jet Airways and Spice Jet have made it clear that as of now they have no plans to mount international flights from the Chandigarh airport. However, Go Air, Air Asia (India) and Vistara have submitted that they are not eligible to fly on international routes as per the existing rules. Jet Airways has also submitted that the cost of operation of international flights is very high and for Chandigarh-Canada-Chandigarh, it would be approximately Rs 2.6 crore for a round trip. “As passenger load is very less, it is not commercially viable,” it has submitted. Jet Airways has also raised various issues regarding operational constraints at Chandigarh airport like CAT-III Instrument Landing System for operations during foggy season, unavailability of Approach Landing System, closing of operations at airport between 8 pm and 7.30 am. Jarrett Allen Jersey
Scoot launches flight operations in India
Scoot, the long-haul budget arm of Singapore Airlines, today launched its operations in India with flight services to Chennai and Amritsar from Singapore. The airline will operate a daily direct service to the Tamil Nadu Capital from Singapore with a 335-seater Boeing 787-800 aircraft while Amritsar would have three-times-a-week operations service with a 375-seater B787-900 plane. Besides, it has already announced to launch services from Jaipur from October this year. On the Chennai-Singapore route, Scoot will take place of SIA’s another subsidiary airline Tigerair which has been operating 12 flights a week with narrow-body aircraft. “India is one of the fastest growing aviation markets in the world. Guests from India can now fly to amazing destinations in our Asia-Pacific network through the Singapore hub, as well as onward with Singapore Airlines, SilkAir and Tigerair in the SIA Group portfolio,” Chief Commercial Officer for Scoot and Tigerair, Leslie Thng said. Scoot also plans to scale up frequency from Amritsar to four times a week, starting July 2. Jeremy Hellickson Authentic Jersey
VRL Logistics chairman Vijay Sankeshwar plans to start air carrier from Bengaluru
Vijay Sankeshwar, chairman of VRL Logistics, is finalising plans to start a regional air carrier from BENGALURU, which may result in the birth of a second airline from the city after the launch of the now-defunct Air Deccan 13 years ago. Sankeshwar and his son Anand Sankeshwar will invest about Rs 1,300 crore in the airline venture over the next three years, putting in Rs 300 crore in equity and raising debt for the balance amount. They will run it independent of VRL Logistics. “We currently hold 69% in VRL Logistics. (We) will dilute 8-10% and use that money to invest in the aviation business,” Vijay Sankeshwar told ET. The Union Cabinet is expected to clear the national civil aviation policy on Wednesday , which is likely to offer a slew of sops to regional airlines in the form of exemptions such as airport charges, service tax on tickets, and excise duty on aviation fuel. Vijay Sankeshwar said he was looking at having a fleet of 8-10 aircraft and that he had not yet decided on the type of aircraft or pricing. “We are still working things out and have to get regulatory approvals. We have not yet started negotiation with manufacturers,” he said. The businessman said he saw huge potential in the regional aviation business as air connectivity in southern India is sparse. “There is no proper air connectivity to places such as Hubballi or Belagavi. We may introduce services like BengaluruChennai, Bengaluru-Tirupathi, Chennai-Coimbatore, etc. We will limit our operations to the 2-3 neighbouring states,” he said. VRL Group, founded 40 years ago in Gadag in North Karnataka, is a formidable player in the logistics space with a pan-India presence. The company owns a fleet of 4,253 vehicles and caters to both the logistics and passenger service markets. The group also publishes a Kannada daily. India’s low-cost aviation pioneer GR Gopinath hailed Sankeshwar’s plans to start a regional airline, saying having more carriers would do a world of good for air travellers. But he also said that despite the huge potential that exists for regional airlines in India, the industry needs sweeping reforms. “Our fundamental aviation regulations date back to 1930s, and, as a result, only about 70 million domestic tickets are sold, translating to 30 million fliers. We have several airports in India without any flight service,” Gopinath said. Sankeshwar’s announcement turned investors in VRL Logistics nervous on Tuesday and several rushed to sell their holdings in the firm. The stock lost 20% of its value and hit the lower circuit on BSE and NSE on a day when the benchmark Sensex index closed up 75 points. VRL Logistics chief financial officer Sunil Nalavadi clarified to the stock exchanges that the company had no plans to commence an airline and that the promoters would float a separate company in their individual capacities for their aviation business. The airline will be run by a professional chief executive. Tom Seaver Authentic Jersey
Airlines seek weather updates ‘well in advance’
Airlines today urged the Civil Aviation Ministry to help put in place a mechanism for providing weather updates “well in advance”, a day after more than two dozen flights to the national capital were diverted due to inclement weather conditions. A host of issues, including about weather forecast system, were discussed during a meeting of executives from domestic airlines and airport operators with Ministry officials here today. Sources said the airlines sought the Ministry’s help to have a system at the major airports whereby they can get information about “weather conditions well in advance”. Getting an update at the earliest would help in minimising disruptions to flight schedules, they added. In the wake of bad weather, more than two dozen flights to the Delhi airport were diverted and many others delayed yesterday. During the meeting, the airlines proposed utilisation of unused airports in the vicinity of major aerodromes for landing purpose in case of emergency situations and diversions, sources said. Besides, the carriers have sought expeditious clearance with respect to new directors and crew members, they added. Among others, there were deliberations on increasing the facilities for night parking of planes at various airports. Representatives from the Federation of Indian Airlines (FIA), Airports Authority of India (AAI), Air India and operators of Delhi and Mumbai airports, among others, are believed to have participated in today’s meeting. Jet Airways, SpiceJet, IndiGo, GoAir and Jet Lite make up the FIA. Airlines are facing issues at various airports, including at Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata. They vary from congestion to delay in getting ATC clearance which are adversely impacting the on-time performance of many carriers, sources had said. Among others, at Chennai and Kolkata airports, airlines are facing infrastructure constraints, mainly since terminal capacity has not kept pace with the increase in aircraft movements. Aleksi Heponiemi Jersey