DGCA mulls easing aircraft import norms; import of planes up to 18 years old may be allowed
Domestic airlines might soon be allowed to import aircraft that are up to 18 years old, with aviation watchdog DGCA proposing to ease the norms as government looks to boost regional air connectivity. Currently, local carriers are not allowed to import aircraft that are more than 15 years old. For making the relaxation, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has proposed changes to a more than two-decade old regulatory framework pertaining to aircraft imports. The proposal to relax the aircraft import requirements comes at a time when the government is in the final stages of preparing the new aviation policy that would focus on improving regional air connectivity, among other areas. The watchdog has proposed that pressurised aircraft that are to be imported should not have “completed 18 years of age or 50 per cent of operating cycle”. A pressurised aircraft is one which is equipped to handle cabin pressure at an altitude of above 10,000 feet. Besides, such aircraft should not have completed “15 years of age or 75 per cent of design economic life or 45,000 pressurisation cycle”. These norms, once in place, would be applicable for use in scheduled, non-scheduled and general aviation operations. With respect to unpressurised aircraft, the decision on whether to give approval for import or not would be taken on a case to case basis after complete examination of the record of the particular aircraft being procured. Normally, DGCA does not allow import of unpressurised aircraft that are more than 20 years old. “Aircraft intended to be imported for air cargo operations shall not have completed 25 years in age or 75 per cent of its design economic cycles or 45,000 landing cycles,” the regulator said. Changes are being suggested to the Civil Aviation Requirement (CAR) related to ‘Age of aircraft to be imported for scheduled/non-scheduled including charter, general aviation and other operations’. This CAR was issued way back in 1993. The latest amendments have been proposed after detailed consultations amongst technical experts in the DGCA. Frank Clark Womens Jersey
Centre, Bihar government agree to resolve Patna Airport upgrade issues
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar may differ politically, but their governments at the Centre and state have reached a common ground to resolve the issues surrounding Patna airport. As part of the solution, a new terminal will be built at the existing airport in Patna in the first phase and the airport, in the second and final phase, will be eventually shifted to an Air Force base in Bihta near Patna, where the state government will acquire 70 acres of land. The central government will invest Rs 1,200 crore in building terminals at both the existing and the proposed airport. While the new terminal at the existing airport is likely to come by 2018-19, the new terminal at the Bihta airport is likely to come by 2019-20. Patna, along with Jammu and Leh airports, have been termed unsafe for flight operations by the aviation regulator and the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) has raised concerns over it in its audit. “The process to build the new terminal will begin immediately after the state government provides land near the existing airport. There’s nothing that can be done to expand the runway at the existing airport and the airport will eventually be shifted to an Air Force base in Bihta. The state government will send a proposal now,” said a senior aviation ministry official, who did not want to be identified. The plan was decided after aviation secretary RN Choubey, Joint Secretary (airports) Arun Kumar and Airports Authority of India (AAI) chairman S Raheja met Bihar’s chief secretary and other state officials in Patna. According to the plan, the state government will provide about 10 acres of land near the existing airport to build the new terminal. “The state government owns about 10 acres of land near the existing airport. This land will be given to AAI in a swap deal, wherein the airport operator will give the state government a 10 acre land parcel inside the city for the land near the airport. AAI will build a new terminal with a capacity of 3.0 million passengers per annum,” said the official. The capacity of the existing terminal at Patna airport is 0.5 million passengers per annum and the airport witnessed a 32% surge in the total number of passengers travelling during April-February 2015-16 compared with the same period a year ago. The airport is also likely to cross the annual 1.5 million passenger limit to become a major airport (according to rules, any airport that caters to over 1.5 million passengers annually becomes a major airport). Under the second phase, the airport will be shifted to Bihta airbase. “The state government will acquire 70 acres of land near the Bihta airbase to construct a new terminal for passengers. The state government will also have to widen connecting roads to the proposed airport,” said the senior official. The Bihta airbase has a 9,000 feet runway and is spread across an area of 9,000 acres. Leo Komarov Womens Jersey
Changi, AAI looking for mutually acceptable terms: Mahesh Sharma
Union Minister Mahesh Sharma today said efforts are being made to work out “mutually acceptable” terms for AAI and Singapore’s Changi Airport with respect to operating Ahmedabad and Jaipur airports. The latest development comes after Airports Authority of India’s (AAI) terminated discussions following its assessment that the Changi Airport’s proposal would not be commercially viable. The proposal to have Changi Airport to operate and maintain Ahmedabad and Jaipur aerodromes was mooted during Modi’s visit to Singapore in November 2015. “We have conveyed (to Changi Airport) that their terms and conditions are not favourable. We have asked them to make the conditions mutually acceptable,” Sharma, the Minister of State for Civil Aviation, said today. He said AAI would go ahead only if the proposal is “suitable” and in case that does not materialise, then an alternative would be looked at. According to sources, Changi Airport was allegedly demanding a very high share in revenues from the two airports which was not acceptable to AAI. With regard to Ahmedabad and Jaipur airports, AAI had inked a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Singapore Cooperation Enterprise (SCE) during Modi’s visit to the island nation. In January, the Union Cabinet had also given its ex-post facto approval to the MoU. Earlier this month, an AAI official said it could not reach “mutually agreeable terms” with the Changi Airport on the proposal. SCE had nominated Changi Airport for the proposed project. Changi Airport Group (Singapore) Pte Ltd runs the Changi airport in Singapore. Under the MoU, both parties were to cooperate in planning and development of Ahmedabad and Jaipur airports besides other aspects including traffic and commercial development, service quality and operations and management. Globally, limited O&M (Operation & Maintenance) contract models are prevalent for the entire airport operations, the statement said, adding the AAI has no previous experience in awarding O&M contract model of terminal buildings to other entities. De’Vondre Campbell Jersey
Air India to focus on higher revenues, not trimming staff costs: Senior official
Seeking a turnaround in its fortunes, Air India is looking to augment revenues rather than trim staff expenses even as it battles tough market conditions and financial woes. The national carrier, which is surviving on a staggered Rs 30,000 crore bailout package, has around 19,000 employees, including over 1,500 pilots and about 6,000 people on contract. A senior official said the airline is looking at various options to increase revenues and that there are no plans to cut down costs related to staff. “Air India’s staff is around 12 per cent of the total expenses…It might be an easy way to slash expenditure by withdrawing or doing away with certain perks given to employees but that will not help in the long-term,” he noted. The Government-owned airline’s annual wage bill stood at Rs 3,100 crore in the 2014-15 fiscal as against Rs 3,600 crore in FY 2011-12 by abolishing productivity-linked incentives as per the Department of Public Enterprises (DPE) guidelines. Significantly, the carrier had early last year announced a slew of cost-cutting measures including reduction in reimbursables by 10 per cent and abolition of posts from non-operational areas besides other measures to rein in the spending and return to break-even. The use of expensive hotels or five-star hotels for stay during travel or holding events has been restricted unless it is unavoidable and the budget for such activities has been reduced by 10 per cent as part of the measures…These cost-cutting measures are part of a two-pronged drive to speed up our return to the break-even status,” Air India had said. The sale and lease back of aircraft would be a good option that would help in better revenue management. Besides, the focus is on flying more number of people, introducing new routes, improving efficiency and services, the official said. Sale-leaseback is an arrangement in which an owner sells an asset to a leasing firm and, at the same time, leases it (as a lessee) on a long-term basis to retain exclusive possession and use. This frees capital tied up in a fixed asset, while the lender obtains a guaranteed lease. Currently all its 21 dreamliner Boeing 787-800 planes in its fleet are operating under the sale and lease back arrangement. Buoyed by substantial improving in operational performance, Air India expects to have an operational profit of Rs 8 crore in the financial year ended March 31, 2016. It would also be the first time since the merger of Air India and Indian Airlines that the national carrier would be reporting an operating profit. The airline was expected to trim its losses by around 40 per cent to Rs 3,529.80 crore in the last financial year. “Air India 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,” Minister of State for Civil Aviation Mahesh Sharma had informed Parliament last month. The flag carrier, however, had a total debt burden of Rs 51,367.07 crore, including Rs 22,574.09 crore outstanding on account of aircraft loans, as on March 31, 2015. The national airline was extended Rs 30,231 crore lifeline by the government in 2012 under a turnaround plan stretching over a period of nine years to keep it afloat. The Government has already infused Rs 22,280 crore in the carrier as part of this financial package till the last fiscal. Derrius Guice Womens Jersey
Government working on proposal to invest Rs 6,000 crore on regional airports
The aviation sector is set to get a leg up with the government working on a proposal to invest Rs 6,000 crore this fiscal year to revive and develop 75 regional airports, which currently see little activity. The civil aviation ministry will soon send a formal proposal to the finance ministry and both have already discussed the matter at a recent meeting, a senior aviation ministry official said. “The project will be implemented by the Airports Authority of India,” the official told ET, speaking on the condition of anonymity The proposal is in line with the government’s stated plan to take flying to the masses, by boosting air connectivity to small cities and towns, and subsidizing fares to such destinations. In his budget announcement in February, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had said the central government would partner with states to develop some of these airports to improve regional connectivity. These facilities “can be revived at an indicative cost of Rs 50 crore toRs 100 crore each”, he had said. But the aviation ministry official said the government’s estimate is a little low. “Even AAI (Airports Authority of India) feels that each airport cannot be revived in just Rs 100 crore and the allocation should be more.” Analysts said the government should look at the viability of an airport before investing money in reviving it. “The government would want to provide infrastructure for air connectivity to as many points as possible, which is a laudable objective,” said Sanjay Sethi, who runs Nector Consulting and was head of the infrastructure group at Kotak Investment Banking. “But at the same time, it would not make sense to develop or revive airports in areas which do not have the potential for new flights. Only those airports should be developed where there is a viability.” The proposal is in sync with the plans outlined in a draft of the aviation policy made public late last year. The government wants to fix fares on regional flights, to a maximum of Rs 2,500 for flight lasting an hour, to attract more people to fly. The rest of the cost would be met through a viability gap fund. The National Civil Aviation Policy 2016 is likely to be taken up for clearance by the Union Cabinet this week. K.J. Wright Jersey
DGCA mulls easing aircraft import norms; import of planes up to 18 years old may be allowed
Domestic airlines might soon be allowed to import aircraft that are up to 18 years old, with aviation watchdog DGCA proposing to ease the norms as government looks to boost regional air connectivity. Currently, local carriers are not allowed to import aircraft that are more than 15 years old. For making the relaxation, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has proposed changes to a more than two-decade old regulatory framework pertaining to aircraft imports. The proposal to relax the aircraft import requirements comes at a time when the government is in the final stages of preparing the new aviation policy that would focus on improving regional air connectivity, among other areas. The watchdog has proposed that pressurised aircraft that are to be imported should not have “completed 18 years of age or 50 per cent of operating cycle”. A pressurised aircraft is one which is equipped to handle cabin pressure at an altitude of above 10,000 feet. Besides, such aircraft should not have completed “15 years of age or 75 per cent of design economic life or 45,000 pressurisation cycle”. These norms, once in place, would be applicable for use in scheduled, non-scheduled and general aviation operations. With respect to unpressurised aircraft, the decision on whether to give approval for import or not would be taken on a case to case basis after complete examination of the record of the particular aircraft being procured. Normally, DGCA does not allow import of unpressurised aircraft that are more than 20 years old. “Aircraft intended to be imported for air cargo operations shall not have completed 25 years in age or 75 per cent of its design economic cycles or 45,000 landing cycles,” the regulator said. Changes are being suggested to the Civil Aviation Requirement (CAR) related to ‘Age of aircraft to be imported for scheduled/non-scheduled including charter, general aviation and other operations’. This CAR was issued way back in 1993. The latest amendments have been proposed after detailed consultations amongst technical experts in the DGCA. Saquon Barkley Jersey
Tell us by May 4 if flights to Shimla will be launched: Supreme Court
The Supreme Court (SC) on Thursday heard Air India’s plea in relation to launching of routes in non-metropolitan sectors, and in particular to Shimla’s Jubbarhatti airport. The matter comes as an appeal from a Himachal Pradesh Court order on December 7, 2015, directing Air India to begin scheduling flights to Shimla airport. The SC directed the competent authorities to tell it by May 4 whether air services to the Himachal Pradesh capital would be launched and warned of issuing an order if the answer is “no”. “If ‘no’ is the categorical answer, we will pass an order against those responsible for this,” the Bench said. The Bench also criticised the government’s approach in regulating flight schedules across sectors and drew attention to the obligation of providing 10 per cent of flights to Category-II routes as are deployed in Category-I sectors, according to the route dispersal guidelines. The court has listed the matter again on May 4 and directed the Civil Aviation Ministry and other competent authorities to tell the Bench before the next hearing whether air services to the Himachal Pradesh capital would in fact be launched. Fred Biletnikoff Jersey
Rule tweaked to boost flights to HP, Uttarakhand
The government has amended the route dispersal guidelines to enhance air connectivity to Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand. Under these norms, airlines should deploy 10 per cent of their metro routes’ capacity on category-II routes to Jammu and Kashmir, the northeast, Lakshadweep, and Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Further, one per cent of the capacity on metro routes has to be deployed within Kashmir and the northeast. The government has now included airports in Himachal Pradesh (Shimla, Kullu and Dharamshala) and Uttarakhand (Dehra Dun) in the category-II routes. These airports were on the category-III list with all other non-metro routes. More destinations in category-II routes will make it easier for airlines to comply with norms. The move comes against the backdrop of an ongoing petition on the lack of air connectivity to Shimla and the Supreme Court criticising the government on the issue. Air India stopped operations to Shimla in 2012 and there are no scheduled flights to the city. Shimla airport runway can handle only an ATR-42 aircraft. No other scheduled airline flies ATR-42-type of plane at present. Air India Regional (Alliance Air) connects Delhi with Kullu and Dharamshala with ATR-72 aircraft. Apart from Alliance Air, IndiGo, Jet Airways and SpiceJet fly to Dehra Dun. In February, the ministry told the Supreme Court that Air India could lease ATR-42 aircraft to start a service to Shimla. But that would require viability-gap funding from the state government to bridge the gap between costs and revenue. The government also said Air India did not have a spare ATR-42 aircraft and hence it would have to take these on lease to start flights to Shimla. Harry Carson Womens Jersey
Scoot India chief: Looking at a flight network out of Chennai, not just to Singapore
Passengers from Chennai will soon be able to fly into Singapore for a one-way fare starting under ?4,500 while a one-way trip to Sydney will be available for under ?15,000. Scoot, the low-cost, medium-haul arm of the Singapore Airlines Group is to start daily services from Chennai to Singapore from May 24. On the same day it will also launch a three-times-a-week flight between Singapore and Amritsar. Bharath Mahadevan, Country Head, Scoot India, spoke to BusinessLine on the airline’s plans in India including offering drop-dead fares every Tuesday just to stimulate the market. When does Scoot start flying to India? We will fly daily into Chennai from Singapore from May 24 apart from launching a three-times-a-week flight between Singapore and Amritsar on the same day. We will go up to four-times-a-week between Amritsar and Singapore from July 1. Besides, from October 2 we will launch a three times a week Singapore-Jaipur flight which will increase to four times a week from October 28. What aircraft will you be deploying? On the Chennai route we will deploy a Dreamliner Boeing 787-800 which offers 21 premium economy seats and 314 economy seats. Jaipur will be the same aircraft while in Amritsar we will deploy the 787-900. The aircraft that we will operate to Chennai is being delivered this week while the one that we will operate to Jaipur is being delivered on September 25. Has there been an enhancement in the India-Singapore Air Services Bilateral agreement which is allowing Scoot to start operations to Chennai? There is no enhancement in the Air Services Bilaterals between India and Singapore. In Chennai we are taking over the flight from Tigerair It will cease operations from Chennai from May 24. Jaipur and Amritsar are part of the 18 points which were exchanged between India and the Association of South East Asian Nations as part of the `Open skies’ agreement in 2003. Will Tigerair withdrawing and Scoot taking over the Chennai route see an enhancement of seats on offer on the route to Singapore? A marginal increase of about 300-odd seats a week. Why the decision for Tigerair to withdraw and Scoot to come into India? Tigerair is 100 per cent owned by Singapore Airlines. To tap synergies there are certain markets where long haul aircraft like a B 787 would work economically better than a narrow body aircraft like the Airbus 320 which Tiger operates. Purely in terms of economics because cost per seat is lower. Also in terms of cargo. Chennai is a huge cargo market for Singapore Airlines. The 787 is better suited to carry cargo. A narrow body aircraft cannot carry that much cargo. How much will the cargo capacity go up out of Chennai? The published capacity of a Boeing 787 is 10 tonnes. We should be able to carry 14-15 tonnes on average per flight. Tigerair is a narrow body so it is not even comparable but the published capacity is about 2 tonnes per flight. Will Singapore Airlines continue to serve the Chennai market after Scoot begins operations? Singapore Airlines has a daily flight which will continue. So apart from Singapore Airlines, its 100 per cent low cost arm will also operate daily from Chennai? Correct. What will the difference be between Scoot and Singapore Airlines flights? In terms of aircraft, we both operate wide-body aircraft. But Singapore Airlines is a completely full service carrier with in-flight entertainment, network connections they have out of Singapore, food and wine and other things. It has a full-fledged business class out of Chennai. We do not call ourselves a low cost carrier because we operate what we call a long haul wide-body aircraft. When we operate long haul we cannot have the same seat pitch, the same traditional low cost offerings. We need to offer the same comfort that the long haul carriers offer. But what we do is unbundle the pricing so if a passenger wants alcohol or in-flight entertainment or food he buys it. In Singapore Airlines it is all included in the price. So if a person buys a base price ticket on Scoot it will not include food, inflight entertainment and liquor? That is correct. Will free baggage be part of the base ticket? We are starting off with a base fare of $64 (?4242 at ?66.29) all inclusive out of Chennai to Singapore one-way that has only cabin baggage (7 kg) and the seat. If a person adds check in baggage and meal how much more will the fare become? Baggage is $20 per sector (?1,326) and meal is $ 12 per sector (?795). How much lower will this be versus a base ticket on Singapore Airlines? Including alcohol and baggage it will be 40-50 per cent lower depending on the sector. Our focus is not Singapore Airlines but Malaysian, Jet Airways, Thai Airways and so on. What is the passenger profile from Chennai? In Chennai, we are looking at changing strategy. Tiger was mainly looking at passengers going to Singapore while we are looking at building the network. So we are looking at passengers going beyond to Australia, Taipei, Korea and Japan. We are looking at both corporate and leisure. Our fares to Australia start at $169 (?11,203) to Gold Coast one-way all inclusive and $189 (? 12,529) to Sydney. We are looking at a network out of Chennai and not just to Singapore which is what a traditional low cost airline will focus on like Tiger and IndiGo. Patrick Roy Jersey
Vistara, TCS enter into strategic partnership for IT services, airport infrastructure support
Full service airline Vistara has entered into a strategic partnership with TCS for a broad range of information technology services, including application maintenance services and airport infrastructure support. Vistara is a joint venture between Tatas and Singapore Airlines. The carrier and Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) have entered into an agreement for a “long term strategic partnership”. “TCS would provide a broad range of IT services in the area of IT management, application maintenance and application development to help Vistara achieve its goal in customer experience, operational excellence as well as cost leadership,” Vistara said in a release today. As per the agreement, TCS would manage the operational aspects of the airline’s IT including application maintenance services, network maintenance, end user computing and airport infrastructure support. Among others, both entities would develop “state-of-the art digital solutions which can be taken to other airlines, leveraging TCS’ prior track record in this area for Singapore Airlines and other leading global airline brands”, the release said. Vistara CEO Phee Teik Yeoh said TCS has been a key technology partner for the airline since its start. “Both parties will now see greater synergies as the expanded partnership will extend many benefits to Vistara from TCS’ vast airline domain capabilities as well as help us leverage its world-class technology and innovation competency,” he noted. The airline operates around 400 weekly flights. Marcus Peters Authentic Jersey