Number of passengers denied boarding a flight doubled in past 1 year
As per the PTI report, Just a week after a passenger of an allegedly overbooked United Airlines flight was removed forcibly from the aircraft in Chicago, US, the Indian government’s air traffic data has revealed that incidents of passengers being denied boarding by domestic airlines have doubled in the past one year. However, procedure specified by aviation watchdog Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) seeks to ensure that people are unlikely to be taken out of the plane like David Dao, the passenger on the United Airlines flight. A total of 18,242 passengers were not allowed to board aircraft between April 2016 and February 2017, the government data said. This is an increase from 10,561 passengers who were not allowed onboard aircraft during the same period in the preceding year. According to the data for 2016- 2017, more than 80% of the passengers affected were those who flew Jet Airways and 14% were Air India fliers. Dave Robinson Womens Jersey
Airlines should be allowed to overbook seats: global airlines body IATA
Carriers should be permitted to continue with the overbooking practice as seats in a flight are a time sensitive and “perishable” product, global airlines body IATA said today. Against the backdrop of American carrier United Airlines forcibly evicting a passenger recently — an incident that sparked a global outrage — the International Air Transport Association’s (IATA) said the practice of overbooking flights is an important tool for managing inventory. “Airlines should be allowed to continue long-established overbooking practices. The airline business is unique in that once a flight takes off, the seats on that flight are no longer available for sale; it’s a time-sensitive, perishable product,” the grouping said in a statement. Overbooking refers to airlines allowing passengers to book seats in excess of available capacity. IATA also noted that airlines can, with a degree of certainty, overbook a flight considering the number of no-shows expected. While stating that some governments are considering regulations which would restrict the overbooking practice, IATA said it is an economically important activity that should not be denied to the carriers. If the practice of overbooking is stopped then consumers might lose access to more flexible fares that are available, it added.
Lufthansa says starting local airline in India a ‘misadventure’
Deutsche Lufthansa AG said starting a domestic airline in India, the world’s fastest growing aviation market, will be a “misadventure” because of high jet fuel taxes and the cost of operations. Lufthansa’s comments come weeks after Qatar Airways Ltd. said it plans to start an airline in India with as many as 100 planes, as the Gulf carrier looks for a bigger share of a market projected to sell half a billion domestic tickets in a decade. Singapore Airlines Ltd., Etihad Airways PJSC and AirAsia Bhd. have also bought stakes in local carriers buoyed by an emerging middle-class flying for the first time. “You only go make business when you have business plans which give you hope that you can be very successful,” said Wolfgang Will, a senior director for South Asia at Lufthansa, “And I did not hear up to now of any domestic airline in India making a lot of profit.” Lufthansa has a history of running an Indian airline. It was part of a partnership that ran ModiLuft, which was grounded in 1996 after disputes over payments with the German carrier, creditors, oil companies and the Airports Authority of India. The airline’s permit was later used by two entrepreneurs to start SpiceJet Ltd., now India’s second-largest budget carrier. Lured by an expanding market, more airlines are coming up in India. At least 43 businesses have applied to Indian regulators in the past two years to start some form of passenger air transport service in what’s projected to be the world’s third-biggest aviation market by 2020 and the largest by 2030. The increase in local traffic — estimated to reach half a billion in a decade — has outpaced all other markets for 23 straight months. Fuel Costs Still, the nation is home to some of the world’s costliest jet fuel, mainly due to provincial taxes of as much as 30 percent and cut-throat competition that forces airlines to sell tickets below cost. Aviation turbine fuel in India costs 70 percent more than it does abroad, and has led to the shuttering of as many as 17 airlines in the past two decades, according to a research paper by KPMG and The Associated Chambers of Commerce of India. Indian carriers lost money every single year for a decade before posting a combined profit of $122 million in the year ended March 2016, helped by a crash in oil prices, according to Sydney-based CAPA Centre for Aviation. The industry is set to report losses of as much as $750 million in the two years ending March 2018, according to CAPA estimates. Petr Mrazek Jersey
Delaying an Air India flight can cost you a fine of up to Rs 15 lakh
After the Shiv Sena MP snub, Air India is going all out on unruly passengers with a new set of rules that includes steep fines. The airline, according to a TOI report, is planning to fine Rs 5 lakh for delaying a flight up to an hour; Rs 10 lakh for delay between one and two hours and Rs 15 lakh for delaying beyond two hours. “Recent incidents of unruly behaviour and assault on AI employees by passengers (whether VVIP or otherwise) have caused severe damage to the morale of employees. Even a hotel has right of admission reserved. AI must have a procedure for handling unruly passengers,” said an official. The airline took this step after three cases of high-handedness by MPs in past one year, the latest and the most-talked about was Shiv Sena MP Ravindra Gaikwad’s action who beat up a 60-year-old staffer with sandals. Not just that, the national carrier plans to provide more autonomy to its managers at airports under a stricter framework being prepared to deal with unruly fliers. Since the incident of Gaikwad, the national carrier as well as the government have been exploring ways to bolster the existing mechanism to rein in unruly passengers. Providing more autonomy for Air India managers at airports, stronger mechanism to report incidents of untoward behaviour and possibility of seeking monetary compensation from the unruly flier are being looked at under the new framework, airline officials said. “The draft guidelines, which have been prepared with the assistance of Air India’s legal department, are now with the CMD Ashwani Lohani for his approval. Once we get the go-ahead from him, we will make them public,” one official said. According to the official, under the new guidelines, the airport manager would be empowered to take any “action” against a passenger showing unruly behaviour either onboard or on the ground without waiting for approval of the Chairman and Managing Director. “The draft guidelines also have a provision for seeking financial compensation from any such passenger for the loss of revenue if the flight is held up due to such incidents,” the official added. Duke Dawson Jersey
Flying overseas from India becomes cheaper as airfares fall
Flying on overseas destinations such as London, Singapore, Sydney, Kuala Lumpur from India became cheaper this summer with airfares going down up to 28 per cent amid capacity addition on international routes. The entry of foreign carriers including Brussels Airlines have also helped the airlines keep their ticket prices lower in April this year compared to same period of 2016, Tour and travel firm Cox & Kings said in a study. As per the study, the airfares for a Delhi-London journey came down to Rs 31,800 in April this year as against Rs 39,497 in the same month last year, a drop of 19 per cent. Similarly, airfares from New Delhi to Singapore also dropped by 22 per cent to Rs 22,715 in April this year from Rs 29,069 in April 2016. “Our research has indicated that fares this summer have been cheaper compared to the same period last year,” John Nair, Head of Business Travel at Cox & Kings said. The ticket prices for Mumbai-Kuala Lumpur saw the sharpest decline with airfares going down by 28 per cent to Rs 20,377 from Rs 28,342, it said. Airfares on Mumbai-Dubai route declined 11 per cent while Mumbai-Paris and Mumbai-Hong Kong route saw a drop of three per cent each this summer as compared to April last year, the report added. The ticket prices for Sydney from Mumbai decreased 16 per cent to Rs 60,345 from Rs 72,169. The key factor behind this is the increase in capacity from India thereby leading to increased competition amongst airlines, he said. “This has resulted in fares coming down. Secondly, airlines have also reduced fares due to a decrease in fuel prices,” he added. New airlines such as Brussels Airlines has entered India while Ethiopian has increased capacity. Besides, African nation Rwanda’s national carrier Rwanda Air has also started its flight services from Mumbai to Kigali. According to the report, even Air India’s flights to Madrid which started operations in December last year have become very popular amongst Indians. Tyson Alualu Jersey
Air India plans stricter framework to tackle unruly fliers post Ravindra Gaikwad incident
Air India plans to provide more autonomy to its managers at airports under a stricter framework being prepared to deal with unruly fliers. Since the incident of Shiv Sena MP Ravindra Gaikwad assaulting an Air India staffer last month, the national carrier as well as the government have been exploring ways to bolster the existing mechanism to rein in unruly passengers. Providing more autonomy for Air India managers at airports, stronger mechanism to report incidents of untoward behaviour and possibility of seeking monetary compensation from the unruly flier are being looked at under the new framework, airline officials said. “The draft guidelines, which have been prepared with the assistance of Air India’s legal department, are now with the CMD Ashwani Lohani for his approval. Once we get the go-ahead from him, we will make them public,” one official said. AAccording to the official, under the new guidelines, the airport manager would be empowered to take any “action” against a passenger showing unruly behaviour either onboard or on the ground without waiting for approval of the Chairman and Managing Director. “The draft guidelines also have a provision for seeking financial compensation from any such passenger for the loss of revenue if the flight is held up due to such incidents,” the official added. Officials also said the airline has changed the log book entry format to ensure that exact reason for delay in flights are recorded rather than having generic explanations. Now, all details, including the specific reason for the delay, especially in cases of unruly passenger behaviour would be furnished in the eventuality of a flight failing to depart on time due to an unruly passenger, one of the officials said. The government is planning to come out with a ‘no fly’ list as part of stronger measures to deal with unruly behaviour by individuals on board flights. Following the Gaikwad incident, Air India and other domestic airlines had barred him from flying with them. The ban was later revoked. JC Tretter Jersey
Late-night flights in limbo over MIA security shortage
Airlines and passengers from the coastal region seem to be big losers as Mangaluru International Airport is struggling to find security personnel for late-night flights. Dakshina Kannada MP Nalin Kumar Kateel has sent in a complaint to Union minister of state for home affairs Kiren Rijiju, saying non-availability of Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) personnel was affecting flight operations in the night. CISF director general OP Sharma has rejected the MP’s charge, and said the question of “non-cooperation from the CISF” did not arise. He was responding to this story which appeared on TOI online first on Tuesday. He said: “Our personnel are performing their job despite heavy odds. This situation will ease once the ongoing recruitments to this force are completed.” The MP has said the CISF has shifted some personnel and gadgets from MIA to other airports, without informing the Airports Authority of India. Currently, the CISF mans the airport in two shifts: From 5am to 1pm, and 1pm to 9pm. This has put flights operating beyond this schedule in a limbo. Jet Airways introduced a 10.50pm flight on November 1 last year, and there were no hitches until the CISF informed AAI that it cannot provide security for this schedule citing shortage of personnel. The CISF has 203 personnel at MIA against the sanctioned 226. Quoting a Bureau of Civil Aviation Security circular, the MP said the CISF must work two extra hours to handle flights operating immediately outside of their eight-hour shift. The manpower the CISF has sanctioned as an interim measure on November 30 has also not been adhered to, the MP has said in the letter. This has led to discontinuation of the Jet flight from April 15. IndiGo’s plan to operate a 9.40pm flight could also come unstuck, Nalin has said, urging the minister to sanction manpower for additional hours to keep the airport alive until the last flight. CISF’s additional director general (airport sector) Dharmendra Kumar told TOI over phone from New Delhi the AAI’s request for the sanction of a third shift is pending with the civil aviation ministry for the past six months. “We’ve already curtailed leave, training, weekly-offs of our personnel. A third shift will add to their stress,” he said. The officer said the move to utilize the international terminal to accommodate domestic passengers was stopped following objections from customs officials. He promised a solution in two months. Kumar said no government employee should work beyond eight hours. In reality, he said, CISF personnel sometimes put in 11 hours as they report to the armoury at 4am before getting deployed at MIA by 5am — which is two hours before the first flight departs at 7am. The officer said he would apprise the MP and minister Rijiju of the ground reality. Joe Klecko Womens Jersey
Air India asks lenders to cut interest rates on loans
Saddled with total debt of around Rs 46,000 crore, Air India has written to 16 of its lenders to cut interest rate on its loans by up to 2 percentage points, in line with the reduction in rates in the market. The airline is also in talks with state-owned infrastructure company NBCC and Ministry of External Affairs to sell around 98 of its properties spread across India and some overseas. While reduction in interest rates reduce its costs, monetisation of assets would help pare it short-term borrowings. If bankers accept its request, it would bring down its interest cost to around 8.5 per cent from over 10 per cent at present, a senior Air India official said. “This would result in annual savings in interest costs of about Rs 200 crore on loans of around Rs 15,000 crore. We have written to around 16-17 banks and to the consortium leader State Bank of India. The banks have so far not responded and they usually take their time,” the official said. The airline has asked the banks to align the rates on loans to the marginal cost of funds based lending rate (MCLR) plus a reasonable spread not exceeding 50 basis points. This is expected to lower interest rate which is presently linked to the base rate. Base rate, which is based on average cost of funds, for banks is typically higher than the MCLR. SBI’s one-year MCLR for instance is 8 per cent, compared with a base rate is of 9.10 per cent. The airline earned an operating profit of Rs 105 crore in 2015-16. “We expect to post similar level of operating profit in 2016-17,” the official said. Reduction in prices of Aviation Turbine Fuel (ATF) helped the airline boosts its operating performance as total costs incurred on ATF reduced to Rs 5,845 crore in 2015-16, as compared to Rs 8,449 crore in 2014-15. But the burden of servicing the debt, which totalled Rs 46,000 crore at the end of March 2016, led to the airline incurring net losses. Its net loss narrowed to Rs 3,836 crore in 2015-16 as compared to Rs 5,859 crore in 2014-15. The airline’s total revenue was Rs 20,524 crore in 2015-16, while total expenses were Rs 24,361 crore in 2015-16. Despite high losses accumulated over the years, the carrier has survived under a financial restructuring and turnaround plan funded by the Centre. Under the plan, Air India will get equity infusion of Rs 42,182 crore over the period from 2011-12 to 2031-32, which is linked to a number of performance parameters. Till 2015-16, the Centre had infused equity worth Rs 22,280 crore. To raise resources through monetisation, the carrier has submitted a list of 38 properties to NBCC for direct sale. The airline is also in talks with Ministry of External Affairs to sell properties in Hong Kong and state capitals of India. Air India has forwarded a list of 60 properties that it wants to sell to MEA. Against the annual assets sale target of Rs 500 crore, Air India has so far been able to sell only four flats at Sterling Apartments, Mumbai and land at Coimbatore at value of Rs 88 crore and Rs 19.81 crore respectively. It expects to get another Rs 91 crore annually in rental income through leasing of office space at the Air India building in Nariman Point in Mumbai. Kevin Faulk Authentic Jersey
Govt sets up inter-ministerial panel to monitor UDAN
The government has set up an inter-ministerial committee to monitor the regional air connectivity scheme UDAN which seeks to make flying affordable by connecting unserved and under-served airports. Besides, the panel would be responsible for coordination among stakeholders, including state governments, for “time bound” implementation of the scheme. The Civil Aviation Ministry has already awarded 128 routes connecting 70 airports to five airlines, including SpiceJet and an Air India subsidiary, under the scheme UDAN (Ude Desh Ka Aam Naagrik). Chaired by Civil Aviation Secretary, the ‘Inter-Ministerial Monitoring-cum-Coordination Committee’ would have representations from the ministries of finance, defence, home as well as petroleum and natural gas, as per a notification. Airports Authority of India (AAI) Chairman, representatives from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), BCAS (Bureau of Civil Aviation Security) apart from officials of airlines and states concerned would also be part of the panel. If required, the panel’s chairperson can co-opt any officer or expert, according to the notification issued by the Civil Aviation Ministry. The committee would be responsible for “overall monitoring of the schemes of promotion of regional connectivity by way of revival of unserved and under-served airports/airstrips and RCS-UDAN”, it added. In the flights operated under RCS, around 50 per cent of the seats would have a fare cap Rs 2,500 per seat/hour. In the flights operated under RCS, around 50 per cent of the seats would have a fare cap Rs. 2,500 per seat/hour. Apart from various incentives, the operators of such flights would be extended viability gap funding — for which money is partly raised through a levy of up to Rs. 8,500 on flights operating in major routes like Delhi and Mumbai. The viability gap funding would be in place for three years for the airlines concerned from the date of starting operations in a particular UDAN route. Other benefits include zero airport charges for the operators and three—year exclusivity on the routes. Delano Hill Jersey
Govt sets up inter-ministerial panel to monitor UDAN
The government has set up an inter-ministerial committee to monitor the regional air connectivity scheme UDAN which seeks to make flying affordable by connecting unserved and under-served airports. Besides, the panel would be responsible for coordination among stakeholders, including state governments, for “time bound” implementation of the scheme. The Civil Aviation Ministry has already awarded 128 routes connecting 70 airports to five airlines, including SpiceJet and an Air India subsidiary, under the scheme UDAN (Ude Desh Ka Aam Naagrik). Chaired by Civil Aviation Secretary, the ‘Inter-Ministerial Monitoring-cum-Coordination Committee’ would have representations from the ministries of finance, defence, home as well as petroleum and natural gas, as per a notification. Airports Authority of India (AAI) Chairman, representatives from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), BCAS (Bureau of Civil Aviation Security) apart from officials of airlines and states concerned would also be part of the panel. If required, the panel’s chairperson can co-opt any officer or expert, according to the notification issued by the Civil Aviation Ministry. The committee would be responsible for “overall monitoring of the schemes of promotion of regional connectivity by way of revival of unserved and under-served airports/airstrips and RCS-UDAN”, it added. In the flights operated under RCS, around 50 per cent of the seats would have a fare cap Rs. 2,500 per seat/hour. Apart from various incentives, the operators of such flights would be extended viability gap funding — for which money is partly raised through a levy of up to Rs. 8,500 on flights operating in major routes like Delhi and Mumbai. The viability gap funding would be in place for three years for the airlines concerned from the date of starting operations in a particular UDAN route. Other benefits include zero airport charges for the operators and three—year exclusivity on the routes. Ted Ginn Jr Jersey