Government bats for Air India, says ‘zero accident’ due to maintenance
Coming to the defence of the beleagured Air India, government today rejected the perception about the state carrier being the “leader in emergency landings” and asserted that there has been “zero accident” due to poor maintenance. Civil Aviation Minister Ashok Gajpathi Raju told the Rajya Sabha that every safety proceedure is followed in the Air India as “no deficiency” would be allowed in flying Indian aircrafts. He said the performance of Air India has improved and it is making profit for the first time in 10 years. “It is unfair to say that Air India is the leader in emergency landings… I do not go into Air India bashing at all. It is unfair to say this,” Raju said while replying to questions in which opposition members voiced concern over emergency landings by the planes of the state carrier. “During the last two years and the current year, a total of 120 incidents of emergency landing due to medical emergency and technical reasons have been reported to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA). Out of the 120 incidents, 102 were due to medical emergency and 18 due to technical reasons,” the minister said. Of the 120 incidents of emergency landing, 23 are attributed to Air India and the rest to other airlines, he said. “We follow every safety procedure for all airlines including Air India. We can’t risk people’s life. No deficiency will be allowed to in flying Indian aircrafts in the sky,” he said. Replying to a question by Congress leader Ambika Soni, the Civil Aviation Minister said all incidents due to technical reasons investigated by DGCA and Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) and safety recommendations emanating from the investigation reports are followed up for implementation with the concerned agencies so as to prevent recurrence of similar incidents in future. He also asserted that Air India is making profit “for the first time in last 10 years” even as he stated that the aviation safety rating of India was downgraded during the UPA regime, a remark which drew sharp reaction from Congress members. “Air India’s all-time performance has increased. This year it is making profit, which is the first time in last ten years. It is making an operative profit. Air India is doing good work,” Raju asserted. Kenny Stills Jersey
Jet fuel pricing: FIA to meet Dharmendra Pradhan against ‘opaque’ pricing
Domestic airlines body FIA is likely to meet Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan tomorrow over the alleged “opaque” pricing of jet fuel by oil marketing firms and seek government’s intervention in resolving the issue. The Federation of Indian Airlines (FIA) during the proposed meeting is also expected to raise other related issues, including oil companies alleged failure to bring down ATF prices in line with the reduction in crude prices since 2014, sources said. Any upward or downward revision in aviation turbine fuel prices directly impacts air fares as fuel costs account for over 40 per cent of an airline’s operating cost. FIA is a body of four established domestic private airlines — Jet Airways, IndiGo, SpiceJet and GoAir. “There is lack of transparency in deciding ATF prices by the oil companies. We have raised this issue with them in the past but as it remained unresolved, we want the government to look into the issue now,” a source said. Sources said to discuss the issue, FIA has sought a meeting with Pradhan, which is likely to take place tomorrow. Significantly, the jet fuel price was yesterday hiked by 1.5 per cent, which came on the back of a steep 8.7 per cent or Rs 3,371.55 per kl hike on April 1. Prior to that, rates were hiked by steep 12 per cent, or Rs 4,174.49 on March 1, which led the four major airlines to seek deferment of payment of increased amounts. “Because of lack of transparent pricing mechanism, airlines are made to pay much higher prices for jet fuel in India compared to countries like Singapore. FIA will be taking up this issue as well with the government,” the source said. Akeem Spence Jersey
Financial bids invited for proposed Navi Mumbai airport
City and Industrial Development Corporation (Cidco) has invited financial bids for the proposed Navi Mumbai airport, the financial stage before the much-delayed project is awarded, a person familiar with the matter said. “The Request for Proposals (RFPs) were sent out to the three shortlisted bidders on Friday. As of now, they have to respond by the first week of September but we may extend that by a month,” the person said, adding “in any case, we firmly hope the project will be awarded latest by end of October.” Three companies — GMR Infrastructure, Mumbai International Airport (MIAL) and Mia Infrastructure — are currently in the fray for the project. An alliance of Hiranandani Group and Zurich Airports had been among the shortlisted bidders, but was subsequently disqualified. The company, or alliance, which proposes the highest revenue share with City & Industrial Development Corporation (Cidco), the state-run nodal body for the project, will win the mandate to develop and operate it. MIAL is a subsidiary of GVK and currently runs the Mumbai International Airport, while Mia Infrastructure is a joint venture between Tata Realty & Infrastructure (TRIL) and French company Vinci Concessions. Cidco on April 11 received the approval for issuing RFPs for the project monitoring and implementation committee — an agency formed by the civil aviation ministry for faster implementation of projects — and the state government cabinet. Cidco holds 26% of the special purpose vehicle, and had commenced the first stage of the two-stage bidding process by issuing RFQ on February 5 last year. The Rs 14,573-crore project is seen as a crucial alternative to the congested airport in the city. The government had initially approved setting up the airport in 2007, but ran into several environmental and land acquisition problems. The airport will span an area of 2,867 acres with a terminal building of 5,23,000 square meters and two runways. DeAndre Washington Authentic Jersey
Auction fails as no bidder turns up for Kingfisher brands
Auction of brands and trademarks of Kingfisher Airlines turned out to be a damp squib today as lenders failed to attract a single bidder for sale of these pledged assets at a reserve price of Rs. 366.70 crore in their efforts to recover unpaid loans from beleaguered Vijay Mallya. This is the second failed attempt by the 17-bank consortium led by state-run behemoth SBI to recover some money from Mallya, after an earlier auction of Kingfisher House — the erstwhile headquarters of the long-defunct airline — met with a similar fate, with no bidder coming forward. The items on sale during today’s e-auction included the Kingfisher logo as also the once-famous tagline ‘Fly the Good Times’. The other trademarks on sale included Flying Models, Funliner, Fly Kingfisher and Flying Bird Device. The reserve price for the trademarks was kept at Rs. 366.70 crore, which is not even one-tenth of the price at which it was pledged as a collateral for the loan. Sources, however, said the reserve price was “too high” for any bidder to come in. “There were no bids, possibly because the reserve price was considered very high. Though the reserve price was set much lower than its original valuation at the time of taking the brand as collateral, people still found it to be high,” a banking source said. The online auction began at 11:30 am and lasted for an hour without any success. It was conducted by SBICAP Trustee Company on behalf of lenders under the Sarfaesi Act. The Kingfisher brand itself was valued at over Rs. 4,000 crore by Grant Thornton when the airline was at its peak. In its annual report for 2012-13, KFA said that at its peak, it was the largest airline in India, with a five-star rating from Skytrax. The airline’s brand had been registered separately from the Kingfisher beer trademarks. A senior banker said, “The interest for this auction could have been from existing airline operators, but no one will come. It is better to start a new airline company than to buy this brand and revive it.” In a previous attempt at recovery of dues, which have ballooned to over Rs. 9,000 crore after taking into account the interest component, the banks had conducted an auction of Kingfisher House last month, but did not find any takers at a reserve price of Rs. 150 crore. Sources said the lenders might now try to lower the reserve price in both the cases in their future efforts to sell these pledged assets. Shelby Miller Womens Jersey
Surat’s Ventura AirConnect awarded intra-state flight operations
Marking the celebrations of Gujarat Foundation Day on May 1, the Chief Minister Anandiben Patel on Saturday handed over a commitment letter to Surat-based airline Ventura AirConnect to start intra-state flight services connecting Ahmedabad with major cities of the state. The airline has won the state government’s tender to launch intra-state air connectivity. “We have got intimation from the Ministry of Civil Aviation and DGCA to restore our permission and we will be back to sky in the next few days. We have won the tender to provide intra-state connectivity in Gujarat,” said Kartikey Garasia, CEO, Ventura AirConnect, airline owned by a group of Diamond merchants from Surat with company name Diamond Aeronautics Pvt Limited. The company is expected to provide services for 3 years with government subsidy of Rs. 22,900 per flying hour for monthly 200 hours. At the Gujarat Air Show in Ahmedabad on Saturday, the chief minister Patel handed over the commitment letter to the airline, which operates a fleet of 9-seater Cessna (single turboprop) 208B Grand Caravans. In 2015, it started flights to connect Surat with Bhavnagar and Rajkot in Saurashtra but later its services were suspended for security reasons. However, the same will be resumed with increased number of flights connecting Ahmedabad with other key cities of the State. “Post the award of the tender, now Ahmedabad will be connected to Bhuj/Kandla, Surat, Keshod, Porbandar and Rajkot. The city of Surat will be connected to Rajkot, Bhavnagar and Jamnagar. These are initial routes and we plan to add more in future. The flight timings will be published once appropriate permission for parking slots at particular airports are received,” Garasia informed. The company has also laid out plans to increase fleet size by adding three more aircrafts. The company is confident of getting sufficient traffic to operate for more than 400 flying hours a month. T. J. Carrie Authentic Jersey
How IGI Airport moved from 101 rank to world’s best
In four years, the Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport is expected to contribute 22.2% to Delhi’s GDP. Also on cards by 2020 are an expanded Terminal 1D and a brand-new swanky Terminal 4 as it looks to cement its place among the world’s best. Over the last few years, the IGI has added many feathers to its cap. Come Tuesday, it turns 10 as a private entity. Ever since it broke the shackles of government control in 2006, the airport has grown by leaps and bounds in more ways than one. Sample this: Over the last decade, the IGI has seen an increase of almost 2 lakh in air-traffic movement, catering to nearly 32.2 million more passengers. An airport that had a global ranking of 101 in 2006 made the summit in 2014 (in the 25-40 million passengers per annum category), and hasn’t relinquished the spot since then. Also, the IGI handles the highest passenger and cargo volumes in the country. It serves 120 destinations through 50 international and nine domestic passenger airlines. In addition, there are four international and two domestic freighter airlines. Delhi International Airport Limited (DIAL), the GMR-led consortium that runs the IGI, cites a recent survey by the National Council of Applied Economic Research to drive home its point. At an estimated Rs 29,470 crore, the airport contributed 0.45% to the national GDP and 13.53% to the Delhi GDP in 2009-2010. DIAL expects this amount to go up even further to Rs 90,950 crore by 2020. The consortium has submitted its master plan to the aviation ministry for approval. It proposes to demolish the Haj Terminal (Terminal 2) and make Terminal 4 operational by 2020. Also, a fourth runway would double its flight operation capability. One casualty of all this would the Hotel Centaur, though. “The IGI master plan was prepared in 2006. It’s revised every 10 years,” said DIAL CEO IP Rao. Rao took TOI through the airport’s decade-long journey. In 2007, it figured among the worst airports in terms of Airport Service Quality (ASQ). “Now, it ranks as world’s No. 1, a spot that it has held for two consecutive years — 2014 and 2015,” Rao said. Rao attributed this achievement to a “dedicated and consistent” customer-focused approach. “The alignment of all stakeholders, including the airlines, CISF, customs, immigration, ground handlers, support services and others, has had an important role to play (in the success).” The task of providing a “world-class” airport in an extremely tight timeline of 37 months wasn’t an easy task, though. “When DIAL took over, there were several hurdles. Nearly 1,000 families were residing on the airport premises for over five decades,” said Rao. Another tough ask was to enhance capacity at terminals 1 and 2 with minimum interruption to existing operations. Getting rid of encroachments and acquiring the required machinery and manpower were a few other challenges. In developing the cargo facilities, IGI took all stakeholders-airlines, handling agents and freight forwarders — on board. The same goes for Aerocity, which has emerged as a preferred hospitality and commercial hub for NCR-Delhi. Technology, of course, has had a vital role to play. Rao elaborated: “Take, for example, the Airport Operations and Control Centre (AOCC), a state-of-the-art facility that allows operations from a remote and secluded facility.” The airport is also keeping pace with the need to go green. “We have put in place advanced pollution prevention infrastructure and set up rainwater harvesting plants apart from running eco-friendly vehicles to ferry passengers,” Rao said. Skal Labissiere Authentic Jersey
AAI eyes overseas markets for its in-house e-billing solution
Airports Authority of India (AAI) planning to aggressively tap overseas markets for its in-house developed ‘e-billing’ solution that can be used by air navigation and airport services providers. The fees collected through this solution, which would help entities in data gathering, e-invoicing and collection of tariff from airlines at a single place, accounts for almost 35 per cent in AAI overall revenue. As part of its efforts to expand its revenue stream, the national airports operator is scouting for opportunities overseas to sell its niche product. Developed in-house, the electronic billing solution for data, e-invoicing and collection of tariff from the airlines is being used by AAI for several years now. Considering its reliability and performance over a period of time, AAI is now looking to provide the system in overseas markets, AAI Member ( Finance) S Suresh said told PTI. AAI has already made a brief presentation to the aviation authorities of Cambodia and Indonesia. “They seem to be keen about it,” he said. Over the years, the system has been augmented to provide for a comprehensive e-billing system for data gathering, invoicing and collection in one place. “This is also the first time that AAI will be pitching its product in overseas markets,” Suresh noted. Recently, AAI had entered into a preliminary pact with the International Air Transport Association (IATA) for providing a comprehensive e-billing solution to air navigation service providers and airport service providers for data gathering, e-invoicing and collection of tariff from airlines. The airports operator expects to post an all-time high revenue of Rs 10,000 crore in the last financial year (2015- 16). During this period, the profit is anticipated to be around Rs 2,000 crore. The estimated eight per cent growth in the topline which stood at Rs 9,285 crore in 2014-15 would be on the back of surge in passenger traffic and aircraft movement. A “Miniratna’ enterprise, AAI owns 125 airports in the country and out of them, 95 are operational. Ethan Pocic Authentic Jersey
Flying from IGI Airport gets cheaper
Flying out of IGI Airport here has got cheaper from today with the discontinuation of the development fee being charged from each passenger for the past several years. Delhi International Airport Limited (DIAL), the joint venture company which runs the IGI airport, was allowed to levy Rs 100 per flight as Development Fee (DF) from passengers flying on domestic routes and Rs 600 from those flying to international destinations. The airports tariff regulator Airports Economic Regulatory Authority (AERA) had in February issued an order directing DIAL to discontinue DF from May 1, after having allowed it to levy DF through a December 2012 order. Citing the average monthly collection of Rs 30 crore as DF, the AERA had in its order in February said the total sanctioned DF amount of Rs 3,415.35 crore was likely to be recovered by April 30, 2016. To cover the financial gap in developing the airport, the allowable DF was determined at Rs 3,415.35 crore. Last month, Directorate General of Civil Aviation ( DGCA) had also asked all airlines operating from Delhi to refund the development fee charged from passengers flying out of the IGI Airport on the tickets booked for journey beyond April 30. DIAL is a joint venture between GMR group, Airports Authority of India and Germany’s Fraport AG. Rigoberto Sanchez Authentic Jersey
Airline passenger traffic zooms by 85%, rate of mishandled bags halves since 2003
Since 2003, global airline passenger traffic has zoomed by 85 percent reaching around 3.5 million in the last calendar year. Given the growth in traffic, one could be forgiven for assuming that baggage-related issues would have risen proportionately. But a report by SITA, a global leader in air transport communications and IT solutions, seems to dismiss that hypothesis. According to the SITA Baggage Report 2016, the rate of mishandled bags was 6.53 bags per thousand passengers in 2015, which is less than half of what it used to be in 2003. And it is said to be the lowest rate recorded in the aviation industry as per the report, which also talks about a 10.5 percent drop in the rate of mishandled bags in 2015 as compared to 2014. A mishandled bag has been defined as a delayed, damaged or pilfered bag which is recorded by either an airline or its handling company on behalf of the passenger. Globally, about one in five passengers carry only carry-on luggage, while a majority of passengers check-in at least one bag. In 2015, the average check-in baggage was 1.2 bags per passenger. “The baggage statistics for 2015 are very encouraging, however, in total, mishandled bags still cost the industry $2.3 billion last year. While this is a 3.75 percent reduction from 2014, it is clear that this must remain an area of focus for the industry,” said Francesco Violante, CEO, SITA. The company has been a pioneer in providing baggage tracking and tracing solutions for the air transport community for more than 20 years. More than 200 airports and 500 airlines across the world use SITA’s baggage management solutions. “Its proprietary BagMessage system delivers more than 2.5 billion messages between airline departure control systems and automated baggage systems annually. And more than 2,800 airport locations use WorldTracer, SITA’s system which traces mishandled bags globally,” read the report. In absolute terms, the total number of mishandled bags in 2015 was 23.1 million, down by almost 5 percent from 24.3 million in 2014. “Taking into account the increase in passenger numbers in 2015, this means the mishandling rate has dropped to 6.53 bags per thousand passengers–a 10.5 percent decrease from the previous year,” the report said. In 2003, the rate of mishandled bags was 13.2 bags per thousand passengers, while in absolute terms, the total number of bags mishandled was 24.9 million. In 2007, the absolute figure had peaked to 46.9 million. Read more: http://forbesindia.com/article/special/airline-passenger-traffic-zooms-by-85-rate-of-mishandled-bags-halves-since-2003/43131/1#ixzz47DcWS9k5
CCI ‘watched silently’ as airfares rose exorbitantly, says Parliament panel
The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance has pulled up the Competition Commission of India (CCI) for watching silently airlines charging exorbitant fares during the recent Jat agitation in Haryana and also from passengers in general who have to make last-minute bookings. In a report tabled in Parliament on Thursday, the committee sought to know the government’s preparedness to proactively intervene in instances of cartelisation, price parallelism and abuse of dominance especially in the wake of new business models such as electronic and mobile commerce. “CCI, which is empowered to examine anti-competitive conduct not only in India but also on acts taking place outside India, watched silently and only now on being pointed, CCI has woken up and has informed that the issue of abnormal rise in airfare is currently under consideration of the Commission,” the report states. The committee said that it would like to be apprised of the outcome in the case at the earliest. In February, during the Jat agitation, the price of air tickets in certain routes from Chandigarh was exorbitantly high for some time. Earlier, there have been concerns expressed from various quarters, including from parliamentarians, that air tickets were priced very high during certain periods. The committee added that it would like to be apprised of the ministry’s efforts in a system which can proactively intervene in cases of cartelisation, price parallelism and abuse of dominance especially when new business models like e-rail, e-commerce and m-commerce will come. Further, the committee has sought to know preparation of CCI as a watchdog to intervene where the government has/will allow 100-per cent foreign direct investment in e-commerce in the interest of consumers. According to the report, CCI has received 680 cases and out of them, 582 have been decided, 49 are pending and 69 are stated to be under consideration of the Commission. Of the 377 merger filings received, decisions have been taken only with respect to 353 cases. Taylor Hall Womens Jersey