Don’t transfer shares till next date: Delhi HC to Spicejet
Delhi High Court today directed Spicejet to not issue or transfer its shares to a third party till the next hearing of Sun Group Managing Director Kalanithi Maran’s plea for issuing him stock warrants in the airline as per a sale purchase agreement of 2015 which led to change in ownership of the carrier. “Till next date of hearing the respondent (Spicejet) is restrained from transferring the shares and issuance of the share,” Justice Manmohan Singh said. The court gave the interim order after senior advocate Kapil Sibal and Rajiv Nayar , appearing for Maran, claimed that he should be protected till the time warrants are not issued in his favour. Spicejet opposed it, saying the warrants can be issued only after approval has been received from Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE). The court, however, observed that some balance has to be struck between the parties. “You (Spicejet) do not transfer the share,” the court said and asked the carrier to file its reply on the decision taken by the BSE and Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI). Under the sale purchase agreement (SPA), Maran and his KAL Airways had transferred their entire 350,428,758 equity shares (58.46 per cent stake) in the airline, to its co-founder Ajay Singh. According to the SPA, Maran and KAL were to receive the redeemable warrants in return for around Rs 679 crore that they were to give to the airline towards operating costs and debt payment, the petition has claimed. Maran and his airline have alleged in their plea that despite giving around Rs 579 crore to Spicejet, the carrier failed to issue them the warrants or allot them tranche 1 and 2 of Convertible Redeemable Preference Shares and the amount was not utilised for paying statutory dues due to which they were also facing prosecution. Spicejet had earlier told the court that the change of ownership was effected as a rehabilitative measure to address the liability of Rs 2,000 crore incurred by the airline when it was under the management of Maran. It had also claimed that every penny has been utilised towards operations and discharge of liabilities. Reid Duke Authentic Jersey
Air India rolls out red carpet for corporates, leisure travellers
State-run Air India has begun rolling out special facilities for corporate fliers as it turns to this lucrative segment to shore up its sagging bottomline. “At Air India, the focus is on fliers now and on improving customer services to attract as many fliers as possible. Our focus is on providing special facilities for corporate fliers, as yields from corporate fliers are the maximum,” a senior executive of Air India said, requesting anonymity. According to the executive, the national carrier is offering corporate fliers services like helpdesk at key airports, lounge facility, improved on-time performance and a huge global network that is complemented by the Star Alliance’s global network. “We will be launching a lot of new flights to complete our connectivity between two key cities and further increase our connectivity to attract business fliers, who prefer a same day return,” the executive said, adding that company executives fly all year round, helping airlines fill seats even in the non-peak season. But it’s not just the corporate fliers who can look forward to more facilities. The executive quoted earlier said, “At the same time, we are also announcing a lot of offers for leisure travellers.” The airline claims a large number of leisure travellers come to them because they offer 25 kg of free luggage in the economy class of domestic flights. All other airlines offer 15 kg of free luggage for domestic class passengers. According to the executive, Air India is set to announce offers for honeymooning couples in a bid to push business class seats. The national carrier is also looking at increasing connections between smaller cities through its regional subsidiary — Alliance Air . “We have called a meeting of transport secretaries of all states on Thursday (May 19, 2016) to discuss connectivity within states. We will offer them flights if they provide us viability gap funding for the losses we make,” the executive said. Doug McDermott Jersey
Smile on face will be a good thing: AI chief tells staff
With rising instances of Air India facing flak for indiscipline and indifference, the airline’s chief Ashwani Lohani has asked the staff to be “courteous and polite” to passengers and said wearing a smile would be a “good thing”. In case there are delays in flights, both cockpit and cabin crew should keep passengers in the loop by providing them information about the reasons for the delay at “timely intervals”, Lohani said. The Air India Chairman and Managing Director said the check-in agents should be periodically counselled to interact with passengers politely. “Their attitude should be positive with a problem solving approach. In fact, all the staff of Air India or its ground handling agencies should be regularly counselled to be courteous and polite,” he said. In a lengthy message, Lohani has sought to sensitise the employees to ensure that passengers have a “good experience” with Air India, especially at a time when the carrier is looking to bring about a turnaround in its fortunes. This comes against the backdrop of multiple incidents in recent times, ranging from controversies involving people with disabilities to bad quality of food , to quarrels among staff, resulting in flight delays. “The cabin crew should greet the passengers while emplaning and deplaning with a ‘namaskaar’ as was the tradition. A smile on the face and conversing sweetly and politely without an iota of irritation would be a good thing,” Lohani said. During Aircraft on Ground (AOG) or progressive delay exceeding 30 minutes, Lohani said, the airport manager and the station manager should immediately reach the site and attend to the passengers. “There should be adequate communication to the passengers and their boarding/lodging needs should be taken care of without delay,” he said, adding that station manager and airport manager have to be proactive and positive with a problem solving approach. Further, he said the “quality of food has to be good” and that special checks need to be done on supplies by chef air. According to him, the captain of a flight should often connect with passengers during the journey and, at the end of first address, using the words ‘Jai Hind’ would make a tremendous impact. Anders Lee Womens Jersey
Low cost airline Air Pegasus to scale up operation
Low cost airline Air Pegasus, part of Decor Group of companies, is planning to scale up its operation in South India by operating more flights to more cities The company launched its daily flight between Bengaluru and Kochi on Wednesday. Kochi is the second city in Kerala and seventh in South India for Air Pegasus in its second year of operation. Air Pegasus managing director Shyson Thomas said the company plans to connect Goa and Bengaluru in June. Further, Tuticorin, Belgaum, Rajahmundry, Goa and Pondicherry are on its radar. Currently it operates in Thiruvananthapuram , Bengaluru, Madurai, Chennai , Mangalore and Hubli Air Pegasus is banking on the demand for IT professionals and the rise in industrial and food processing activity in Kochi to boost traffic . “ A second flight will be operational soon,” said Thomas, adding that Cochin International Airport Ltd. has agreed to exempt Air Pegasus from parking charges at the airport. Adam Oates Jersey
Cheaper options for flying abroad: Aviation policy grounds 5/20 rule for airlines
New entrants into the Indian skies will get to the lucrative overseas market relatively more easily and air travellers could look for more — perhaps cheaper — options in flying abroad and improved regional connectivity in the domestic sector. These and various tax sops for investors in India’s underdeveloped maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) infrastructure are the highlights of the country’s first comprehensive civil aviation policy likely to be approved by the Cabinet shortly. Currently, under the so-called 5/20 rule, domestic airlines can fly abroad only when they have acquired a fleet of at least 20 aircraft and have flown in India for five years. However, sources privy to the final draft of the policy — the initial version was put up for public comments more than six months ago — said once the 20-aircraft fleet is ready, these airlines could start flying out of the country, subject to the caveat that one-fifth of the capacity is deployed for domestic operations. The new policy, which would also give foreign airlines the opportunity to increase their flights out of India thanks to a provision to auction unused traffic rights under bilateral pacts. While domestic airlines, often not able to fully use these rights, are worried that their market share could shrink as a result of the move, the government reckons that a liberal policy would benefit air travellers. Besides, the policy would also permit “open skies” between India and SAARC nations and countries beyond 5,000 km radius of Delhi, doing away with the restrictions on traffic rights. The policy, analysts say, is likely to bring cheer to passengers from smaller towns as it caps the fare at R2,500 per flying hour, thanks to a viability gap funding. Although the initial proposal was to levy a 2% cess on metro routes to finance the VGF, this, sources said, has been dropped. “We could raise money through auctions of ‘bilaterals’ but a final decision in this regard has not been taken yet,” a top government sources said The proposal to dilute the 5/20 rule has divided the sector with new airlines like the Tata Sons-promoted AirAsia India and Vistara backing it while the older domestic airlines like IndiGo, SpiceJet, GoAir and Jet Airways opposed it citing unfair advantage to new airlines. Ratan Tata, chairman emeritus of the Tata Group, had chipped in, calling the rule protectionist and monopolistic. “The abolition of the five-year rule would allow newer airlines to join older ones in flying abroad on routes that are more profitable,” Amber Dubey, partner, KPMG told FE. “The proposed changes in bilateral rights usage would indicate the country’s intention to eventually move to a completely liberalised ‘open sky’ policy. The auctioning method would ensure that there are more seats and options available to the travellers, thus bringing affordability,” Dubey added. While the policy seeks to encourage airlines to fly to under-served and unserved destinations, it also has a focus on developing no-frills airports at unused airstrips across the country. Identification of such routes would be subject to state governments’ forgoing value-added tax on aviation fuel. Service tax on tickets on regional flights may be removed. Industry experts say that these proposals, if implemented, would provide the much-needed affordable connectivity to travellers besides incetivising smaller aircraft fleets. Further, the policy intends to cut down taxes associated with MRO companies. This would ensure that a significant portion of nearly Rs 5,000 crore annual MRO business attributed to the country is brought to the country. Due to excessive taxation in the country, only 10% of the potential business is currently transacted locally while the rest is outsourced to neighbouring countries. “It will be clarified that MRO, ground handling, cargo and ATF infrastructure co-located at an airport will also get the benefit of ‘infrastructure’ sector, with benefits under Section 80-IA of Income Tax Act,” the draft policy had said. Additionally, there was also a proposal to exempt service tax on MRO output services. However, sources said, the finance ministry has shot down the proposal, saying it would result in disruptions in the Cenvat chain. “With the incentives proposed in the policy, the MRO sector would become affordable. This will attract not only domestic but international carriers as well, which currently fly empty planes to Dubai, Singapore, Sri Lanka and Malaysia for these services,” Abhay Krishna Agarwal, partner, infrastructure, EY, told FE. The ease of doing business is also envisaged to be enhanced by allowing airlines to enter into code-share agreement without prior government approval as is the current norms. A code-share agreement between two airlines allows one airline to sell seats on a flight run by another airline with the airline code and flight number of the marketing airlines. This helps in seamless connectivity for passenger Reggie Nelson Jersey
Cabinet leases AAI land at Indore airport for development of centre for perishable cargo
The Cabinet today approved a proposal for leasing out land parcel owned by Airports Authority of India (AAI) for setting up a centre for perishable cargo at Indore airport. “The creation of Centre for Perishable Cargo is expected to cater to the employment needs of the local population and has significant employment potential. A total number of 113 persons will be required to manage the CPC,” an official release said. For setting up the CPC, land measuring 1,500 square metres would be leased out to MP Warehousing Logistics Corporation (MPWLC) by AAI. The centre is to be established by MPWLC at Devi Ahilya Bai Airport , Indore, under public private partnership model. The leasing out of the land would help Madhya Pradesh government promote its agriculture and horticulture sectors. According to the release, Madhya Pradesh government’s proposal to have such a centre comes in the backdrop of huge demand of export of pharmaceuticals, poultry products and horticulture products in Malwa region in the state. “This centre will be a state of art facility… It will provide a world class facility under one roof to cater to all requirements of the traders and maintain the quality of produce,” the release said.Cabinet approves l The Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi , gave the approval for leasing out land at its meeting. Geronimo Allison Jersey
IndiGo appoints Rohit Philip as Chief Financial Officer
IndiGo today announced the appointment of former United airlines executive Rohit Philip as Chief Financial Officer effective July 18, 2016. “Rohit will report to Aditya Ghosh, President and Whole Time Director and he succeeds Pankaj Madan who is leaving IndiGo to pursue other interests,” the airline said in a release. “We are fortunate and excited at Rohit joining the IndiGo team. His enormous and varied experience and understanding of the airline industry will greatly strengthen our team as we continue to build a world class, national air transportation network,” IndiGo President Aditya Ghosh was quoted in the release. Rohit will be joining IndiGo from Xerox Corporation based in Norwalk, USA , a leading global document management and business services company where he served as Corporate Vice President & Treasurer. Earlier, Rohit had worked at United Airlines for 17 years where he was Senior Vice President, Corporate Strategy and Business Development. At United he also held various other senior executive roles including Vice President – Financial Planning and Analysis; Assistant Treasurer – Corporate Finance; and Vice President – Finance & CFO, Mileage Plus Holdings Prior to Xerox, Rohit was the President and Group CFO of Anand Automotive Limited, a leading Auto components supplier in India, the release said. Rohit is a 1995 MBA from Cornell University and a 1992 mathematics graduate from St Xavier’s College, University of Mumbai . Brandon Fusco Jersey
Singapore Airlines’ India-bound flights move to Terminal 3 at Changi airport
Singapore Airlines (SIA) has moved its India-bound flights to Terminal 3 at the Changi Airport in the city state, replacing Terminal 2. The South-East Asian full service carrier, which also holds 49 per cent stake in Vistara along with Tata Sons who owns majority 51 per cent, flies to six Indian airports from Singapore. “From May 17, all Singapore Airlines flights to India & South Africa will depart from Terminal 3,” according to the airline’s website. Flights operated by SilkAir will remain at Terminal 2, along with all Singapore Airlines flights from Singapore to Dhaka, Colombo, Male and Dubai, it said. In India, SIA operates to NEW DELHI , Mumbai , Bangalore Kolkata, Chennai and Ahmedabad. Indian passengers accounted for a little over six per cent in the overall passenger traffic growth at Changi airport last year. Bernie Kosar Jersey
Gujarat urges Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju to connect Kandla to Delhi, Mumbai by air
Gujarat Civic Finance Minister Saurabh Patel has written to Union Civil Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju , requesting him to introduce Air-India flights on the Kandla-Mumbai and Kandla-Delhi routes. “Lack of air connectivity is hampering development of Kandla, which houses Kandla Port and entire eastern region of Kutch district which has been booming with industrial and commercial activities,” Patel said in a letter to Raju. “Kandla’s poor air connectivity has a negative impact on the Port and SEZ, hampering the movement of high value goods. With the Mundra SEZ, the air services from Kandla becomes imperative,” Patel said. The nearest airport to Kandla is at Bhuj at a distance of about 60 kms. From Bhuj, Air India runs a single flight while Jet Airways operates two flights a day, which is inadequate to meet the ever increasing demand of about 3,000 medium and large-scale industries located in Kandla, he said. “The air traffic is so high in the region that these three flights find it difficult to meet the passenger demand. It compels them to either go to Rajkot or Ahmedabad to catch flights for Mumbai and Delhi ,” Patel said. He said the two routes will be profitable for the national carrier as there are no other airline services operating on them. A delegation of Federation of Kutch Industries association (FOKIA) and Kutch Timber Merchants Association will meet chairman and managing director of Air India Ashvin Lohani in Delhi and put forth their request. Sam Koch Womens Jersey
Aviation policy to go before Cabinet; 5/20 rule under lens:Srcs
The much delayed aviation policy may be put before the Cabinet on Wednesday to review the 5/20 rule. The clause, which restricts the domestic airlines to fly overseas only after five years of operation, may be removed. But the clause for provision of 20 aircraft before flying overseas is likely to stay. The policy may also help boost regional connectivity by providing sops to airline companies to fly through nonviable routes. Connor Cook Womens Jersey