Supreme Court imposes Rs 10 lakh fine on SpiceJet for offloading disabled flyer
The Supreme Court on Thursday directed budget airline SpiceJet to pay Rs 10 lakh as damages to a flyer, suffering from cerebral palsy, who was forcibly offloaded in 2012, saying the manner in which she was deboarded depicts total lack of sensitivity. The apex court noted that the disabled flier Jeeja Ghosh was not given appropriate, fair and caring treatment which she required with due sensitivity and the decision to de-board her was uncalled for. On our finding that SpiceJet acted in a callous manner, and in the process violated Rules, 1937 and Civil Aviation Requirements (CAR), 2008 guidelines resulting in mental and physical suffering experienced by Ghosh and also unreasonable discrimination against her, we award a sum of Rs 10,00,000 as damages to be payable to her, a bench comprising Justices A K Sikri and R K Agrawal said. Ghosh was offloaded from a SpiceJet flight on February 19, 2012 from Kolkata when she was going to attend a conference in Goa hosted by NGO ADAPT (Able Disable All People Together), the second petitioner in the case. The apex court said the decision to offload Ghosh was taken by the airlines without any medical advise or consideration and her condition was not such which required any assistive devices or aids. “Even if we assume that there was some blood or froth that was noticed to be oozing out from the sides of her mouth when she was seated in the aircraft (though vehemently denied by her), nobody even cared to interact with her and asked her the reason for the same. No doctor was summoned to examine her condition. Abruptly and without any justification, a decision was taken to de-board her without ascertaining as to whether her condition was such which prevented her from flying. This clearly amounts to violation of Rule 133-A of Rules, 1937 and the CAR, 2008 guidelines,” the bench said. Phillip Gaines Jersey
Bangalore’s Aequs Aerospace to supply titanium machined parts to Airbus
Airbus on Thursday said that it has contracted Bangalore’s Aequs Aerospace to supply over 100,000 titanium machined parts for the A320neo (new engine option) programme. These parts will be delivered to the Airbus plant in Toulouse, France where they will be assembled onto the pylon structure, used to mount engines on the aircraft wing. Aequs will make the parts at its aerospace machining facility at Belagavi, Karnataka. It was purpose-built to manufacture aerospace machined components for Airbus. Airbus annual procurement from India in 2015 was over $500, up 15% on 2014. Overall, Airbus’ procurement from India has grown 16 times in the last decade. Cameron Meredith Womens Jersey
Vistara, AirAsia may soon fly abroad as key ministries support abolition of 5/20 rule
Vistara and AirAsia will soon be able to fly abroad as all key ministries have supported abolition of the five-year 20-aircraft rule that airlines had to meet before commencing international operations. The aviation ministry had sought response from ministries such as finance, home, external affairs and commerce on the proposed new civil aviation policy, before sending it to the Union Cabinet for approval. Abolition of the 5/20 rule was one of the key proposals in it. “Comments from ministries are in support of the abolition of 5/20. The Cabinet note, which has the approval of both ministers (Cabinet Minister Ashok Gajapati Raju and junior Minister Mahesh Sharma), is likely to be sent by the end of this week,” said a senior civil aviation ministry official, who did not want to be named. According to the proposed rules, 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 abolition of the minimum time requirement will mean Vistara and AirAsia India, which were launched in 2015 and 2014, respectively, will not have to wait five years for flying abroad, as long as they have a fleet strength of 20. At present the airlines, both part-owned by the Tata Group, have nine and six aircraft, respectively. Government officials in the know also said the external affairs ministry has approved the aviation ministry’s proposal to conduct auction of bilateral traffic rights. The support from the external affairs ministry on auctioning the bilateral is crucial, as it HAD created a rift between both the aviation ministers as well as officials of the aviation ministry. Government officials in the know said minister Raju and a few senior ministry officials wanted auctioning of bilateral rights to bring in transparency in the system of allocation of bilateral rights, as allocation of bilateral rights has created a lot of controversy in the past. Bud Dupree Womens Jersey
Civil Aviation Minister to review Air India performance on May 16
Civil Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju will review next week the performance of Air India, which is expected to have eked out “operating profit” last fiscal after being in the red for a decade. The minister will be reviewing the “operational and financial performance” of the national carrier on May 16, according to senior officials. The review meeting, likely to be attended by Raju’s deputy Mahesh Sharma and Civil Aviation Secretary R N Choubey along with other senior officials, comes ahead of the second anniversary of Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led NDA government at the Centre. A senior official at the airline said the minister will be taking a review after nearly six months. The last such meeting took place in November last year. The Civil Aviation Secretary takes a review of the carrier every fortnight, he added. Grappling with tough market conditions and intense competition, Air India has been registering losses for quite some time, but the airline’s performance has improved in the last few quarters. “Air India’s all-time performance has increased. This year, it is making profit, which is the first time in the last 10 years. It is making an operating profit. Air India is doing good work,” Raju had said in Parliament last week. The carrier is expected to post an operating profit of Rs 8 crore in 2015-16. In March, Sharma had said the airline is “expected to earn operating profit of Rs 8 crore as compared to the operating loss of Rs 2,636.18 crore in the previous year”. “This is the first time that the company is going to achieve operating profit since its merger in 2007-08,” he had told the Rajya Sabha. Air India ran up losses to the tune of Rs 5,859.91 crore in 2014-15. The improvement is anticipated mainly on account of a steep fall in the jet fuel price, which accounts for 40 per cent of an airline’s operating expenses. In 2012, the government had extended a Rs 30,231-crore lifeline to the national carrier under a turnaround plan stretching over a period of nine years to keep it afloat. This equity infusion includes the financial support towards repayment of principal as well as interest on government-guaranteed loans taken for aircraft acquisition by the airline. As per the 2012 Turn Around Plan (TAP), the government will infuse Rs 18,929 crore for repayment of government- guaranteed loans/interest till 2010-21. Michael Hutchinson Authentic Jersey
Inspection to be carried in Chennai airport after several complaints received
Civil Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju today ordered Airports Authority of India (AAI) to carry out an inspection of the Chennai Airport, which has seen over 40 incidents of collapse of glass panels, granite slabs and false ceiling since 2013. The government-run airport operator has also been asked to fix the maintenance issues at the earliest, Raju said in a tweet today. “Recd (received). several msgs (messages) on maintenance issues at Chennai airport. Passed orders for inspection by senior officers and immediate rectification,” Raju tweeted. The Chennai airport was upgraded and modernised by the AAI in 2013 at an investment of over Rs 2,000 crore. The airport is, however, facing multitude of problems both relating to structural as well as maintenance issues. Last month alone, three incidents of a portion of false ceiling crashing down were reported at the airport. Alex Cappa Jersey
Air India flying high on State Assembly elections
The Assembly elections in Assam, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Puducherry are helping Air India in its bid to become profitable, giving it a financial bonanza, albeit one underwritten by the taxpayer. The airline is expected to rake in about ?23 crore for the 32 special charters that it is operating to transport security forces from one corner of the country to another to ensure that the election process passes off peacefully. Air India has already flown 32 special charters and is likely to operate three more till May 16 when votes are cast in Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry, ending the poll process in these States and Union Territory. The airline has deployed its Airbus A-320 aircraft for these charters flights. Sources told BusinessLine that the aircraft were chartered only for a particular flight between various cities from which the forces need to move. “No airline will agree to keep the aircraft out of commercial service for the entire duration of the elections,” a senior official said. The Election Commission has deployed over 32,000 personnel from Central police forces in Tamil Nadu, while 12,000 will be deployed in Kerala for the polling on May 16. The majority of the forces were airlifted from Kolkata to the two States after being deployed in West Bengal and Assam. Nearly 80,000 CPF were deployed in West Bengal. The process of electing State Assemblies started in March when the Election Commission announced that Tamil Nadu and Kerala as also Puducherry will go to polls on May 16. It also announced that West Bengal would have a six-phase poll starting on April 4 and ending on May 5, while Assam would have a two-phase poll on April 4 and 11. Counting of votes will take place on May 19. Brooks Orpik USA Womens Jersey
31 Complaints Regarding Air India’s Food Quality: Aviation Minister Mahesh Sharma
The number of complaints regarding the quality of food served on Air India’s domestic flights has down to 31 in the previous fiscal from 34 in the year-ago period, Rajya Sabha was informed today. In the month of November 2015, the complaints regarding the food quality did not account for even three per cent of the total 252 complaints received by the Government-run airline during that period, according to the data given by Minister of State for Civil Aviation Mahesh Sharma. As per record, the total number of 252 complaints were received in November last year on the domestic network of Air India and out of these complaints only six were related to quality of meals, Sharma said in a written reply. The Minister, in his reply, also said that punitive actions is taken, based on the gravity of complaints after they are received. Air India uplifts in-flight, meals from reputed caterers, who also cater to other international and domestic airlines, Sharma said adding, surprised meat checks are carried out at the airline’s premises to monitor uplift of meals with regard to quality, quantity, taste, presentations and eye appeal. Besides, periodic hygiene audits are also being carried out at caterer’s premises to improve the quality of meals. Dale Weise Womens Jersey
Now, Cial makes ‘aviation history’ with a museum
The long overdue aviation museum was inaugurated at the Cochin International Airport Ltd (Cial) on Monday. The facility is close to the CIAL Academy and the newly-constructed international terminal. The Polish jet, PZL TS-11 Iskra, used by the Indian Air Force to train pilots is one of the highlights at the 1.2 lakh sq ft museum. The aircraft has been specially brought from the air force base in Secunderabad. “The aviation museum has been a cherished dream. It’s a little-known fact that Cial was planned, built and run on public-private partnership (PPP). The airport is a novel idea in infrastructure development. The entire history of the airport can be found in ‘CIAL Pavilion’ on the lower level of the museum,” said V J Kurian, managing director, Cial, after inaugurating the museum. The pavilion has panels on the history and construction of the airport, a model of a GSLV satellite, provided by the ISRO, among other showpieces. The ISRO pavilion on the museum’s upper level includes models of aircraft, from the Wright Brothers’ first craft to ‘Kitty Hawk’, and an aerospace section with an audio-visual gallery. Peyton Manning Jersey
3 bidders get security nod for new Mumbai airport: Government
The Home Ministry has given security clearance to three bidders for new Mumbai airport and denied two others, Lok Sabha was told today. The Ministry of Home Affairs has conveyed security clearance in respect of GMR Airports Limited, MIA Infrastructure Pvt Ltd and (iii) Mumbai International Airport Private Limited for the new Mumbai airport, Minister of State for Home Haribhai Parathibhai Chaudhary said in Lok Sabha. It denied security clearance in respect of consortium of Voluptas Developers Pvt Ltd and Zurich Airport International AG, Switzerland, he said in his reply to a written question. Chaudhary said while conveying security clearance for the new Mumbai airport, the Home Ministry has raised some doubts and issues in respect of GMR Airports Limited and Mumbai International Airports Private Limited and had shared certain inputs, having no bearing on national security, with the Ministry of Civil .. Herman Edwards Womens Jersey
GetMore at affordable rate: Jet woos the Indian customer
“Get More at affordable rates,” is the message that Jet Airways is keen to push among price conscious Indian travellers as it seeks to consolidate its position in the domestic market. The airline is also hoping that its latest campaign which unveils on Tuesday on digital and social media, radio, out of home, print and television will also “convert” more passengers to fly on its aircraft. While emphasising that its fares were competitive, Colin Neubronner, Senior Vice President, Sales and Marketing, Jet Airways, said that if fares charged between the various domestic airlines are broken down the difference between them is about ? 200-300 on a one-way ticket. “But the actual monetary value that Jet Airways provides in terms of the food and beverage that we serve is about $3. For those who are members of our privilege miles programme they get miles on flights whether it is long or short haul which gives an adjusted value of $6. Then there is the lounge (the cost of) which has gone up tremendously. If you add up $3 from the food and $ 6 from the miles and $ 11 from the lounge you save $ 20 which is about ? 1,300. What our consumer gets is four times of the ? 200-300 price differential,” Neubronner told BusinessLine. The campaign will focus on almost everything including the fact that the airline offers over 20 special meals, regional and international cuisine, hot beverages, a wide network with over 600 daily flights and a free baggage allowance. Belson Coutinho, Vice President, Marketing, added that the objective of the campaign is not only to reinforce the service message among existing customers but also to target those who are prone to comparing fares before making a decision on which airline to fly. Besides, the airline is also hoping to attract youth, students and other segments. “It is too difficult and too early to say how many will convert,” Coutinho said, when asked how many more passengers does he think will start flying with Jet Airways as a result of the campaign. The latest campaign comes in the back drop of the airline’s December 2014 strategic decision to move away from multiple sub-brands like JetLite and JetKonnect and offer a standardised product offering across its fleet. The move has seen premier and economy cabins being standardised across its Boeing 737 fleet among others changes. Tom Brady Womens Jersey