Navi Mumbai airport bids extended yet again to Feb 13
The dogged Navi Mumbai airport plan further delayed with the implementing agency Cidco for the second time today extending the deadline for submitting bids to February 13 as it received only one bid from the GVK-led Mumbai International Airport. The second extension comes after the authority deferred the deadline for receiving bids for RFQ (request for qualification) for two weeks on January 9. “Today we received only a single bid from GVK (which anyway has the first right of refusal being the operator of the Mumbai airport). Therefore, we have given a further extension to all the three bidders to submit their bids till February 13. This is the last extension,” a Cidco official told PTI. The airport project has been in the work for over a decade but has not moved ahead even now. The main hurdles being the land acquisition, which has been completed only half needed for the crucial aeronautical activities. The City and Industrial Development Corporation (Cidco), which is the nodal agency for the over Rs 16,000- crore international airport project, had short-listed four consortia — GMR, GVK, Hiranandani groups and Tata Reality. Devin Harris Womens Jersey
Indian Civil Aviation Driven By Low Cost Domestic Market
Domestic and international Indian air traffic has increased and would have been higher if fuel prices had been lower, a top industry consultant said. Kapil Kaul, CEO – India and Middle East for consultancy firm Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation (CAPA) said domestic air traffic grew faster than international. For the first time in years, Indian carriers saw modest profit of $122 million, mostly owing to low fuel prices. “The impact of fuel price on profitability is estimated at about 12 per cent,” Kaul said at the NewsX – Sunday Guardian Defence and Aerospace Summit in New Delhi on Wednesday. “Amongst the top 20 LCCs (low-cost carriers) in the world, IndiGo was the fastest growing over the last 12 months with seat capacity up almost 28 per cent year on year,” he said. IndiGo is leading CAGR among the local LCCs. From FY 2002 – FY 2017 this rate was 48.2 per cent. “This is something to be proud of as Indians,” Kaul said. Jet Airways was the only airline to see lower costs, all others saw an increase. Last 10 year’s traffic growth has been more than the growth achieved in last 50 years. Isaiah Oliver Authentic Jersey
Centre committed on a full-fledged airport in Arunachal Pradesh : Ashok Gajapathi Raju
The Centre is committed for bringing a full-fledged airport in Arunachal Pradesh, Union Minister for Civil Aviation Ashok Gajapathi Raju said on Thursday. Minister Raju said a central team had recently surveyed both sites at Karsingsa and Hollongi, which were proposed for the airport and the Ministry was waiting for the report. This report he said will be forwarded to the state government for a final call and expressed optimism that work on the airport would begin soon. Mr Raju interacted with officials of the state civil aviation department in presence of Chief Minister Pema Khandu, Deputy chief minister Chowna Mein, Chief Secretary Shakuntala D Gamlin and Principal Secretary Satya Gopal at Itanagar on Thursday. Going through a presentation made by the department seeking operationalisation of a civil terminus, Raju assured he would have a meeting with the agencies concerned like DGCA and resolve all pending issues. The state government has been requesting the Centre to allow use of civilian terminus at various ALGs coming up in the state, which were under the control of the Air Force. The state government, which was planning to run commercial ATR flights for about three months on experiment basis, also requested the Minister to give one time relaxation to some stringent rules. Raju suggested the state government to look for possibilities in bringing cargo flights as the state has immense potential in horticulture, floriculture and medicinal plants, the release said. Malcolm Jenkins Authentic Jersey
Air India puts 57 ‘overweight’ crew on ground duty
Cracking the whip on its over-weight cabin staff, the government-owned Air India has temporarily taken off 57 crew members from flying and put them on ground duty. These cabin crew members, including air hostesses, have been told to “shape up” within a stipulated time frame, failing which they would be grounded permanently, Air India sources said. Air India has over 3,800 cabin crew members, of whom more than 2,500 are women. Out of the total cabin crew strength, around 2,200 members are on permanent rolls. As per norms of aviation regulator DGCA, the cabin crew has to be declared as ‘fit’, ‘temporary unfit’ and ‘permanent unfit’ by designated doctors through their periodic medical examination. “These cabin crew members were found over-weight during the periodic review and told to get fit for flying in a particular time frame. However, as they failed to do so in the stipulated time, they have been taken off from flying duties last month and given ground jobs,” a source said. This is the second time in last over a year-and-half that the national carrier has taken such an action against its bulky cabin crew members as in September 2015 also, it had taken off 125 such employees from flying duty after they failed to maintain weight as per the mandatory norms. As per the DGCA’s regulations, a Body Mass Index (BMI) of 18-25 is normal for a male cabin crew, while for a female it is 18-22. A BMI of 25-29.9 for male crew is considered overweight and 30 and above is obese, while for females BMI of 22-27 is overweight and 27 and above obese. The BMI is a measure of body fat based on height and weight that applies to adult men and women. As per the norms, a cabin crew member found overweight is deemed temporarily unfit and given three months to reduce weight. A cabin crew can continue with flying duty for up to 19 months with the temporarily unfit tag, but if he or she fails to reduce weight to meet the required BMI during this period, he or she will be deemed permanently unfit. Teemu Selanne Authentic Jersey
Ashok Gajapathi Raju urges Arunachal Pradesh government to explore possibilities for cargo flights
Civil Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju today asked Arunachal Pradesh government to explore possibilities of bringing in more cargo flights as the state has immense potential in horticulture crops, floriculture and medicinal plants. Addressing the ‘Digi Dhan Mela’ at Indira Gandhi Park here, the Union minister also expressed optimism that the state government would settle the issue of finding sites for the Green Field Airport in the state capital. “We have gone around a ‘ding-dong’ battle for selection of the site for the proposed green field airport in the state capital,” Raju said in a lighter vein. He said a central team recently surveyed both the proposed airport sites at Karsingsa and Hollongi and his ministry is waiting for the report. Raju said the detailed report and its submissions would be then forwarded to the state government for a final call and hoped that work on the airport would begin soon. “Please exploit the forward looking policies of the state as well as central government for your own benefits,” he said. Referring to cashless transactions being promoted by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Union minister said, “Dishonesty which is pulling down the country could be eliminated through digital economy.” He said it was necessary that the country moved along with the government and they should work together for a better future. Claiming that over Rs 40,000 crore was deposited in ‘Jan Dhan’ accounts across the country post-demonetisation, Raju said no rich man contributes to the nation but only the poor through their hard earned money. “Quality of life needs to be improved and for this we need to contribute as well,” he said. He said unlike the previous regime, now Indian citizens with Aadhaar card could open a bank account without any hassle. “Digital transaction has made life easy for the people. Your pocket can be picked, phones can be lost but not your thumb through which you can easily make cashless transactions,” he added. Referring to cashless transactions being promoted by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Union minister said, “Dishonesty which is pulling down the country could be eliminated through digital economy.” He said it was necessary that the country moved along with the government and they should work together for a better future. Claiming that over Rs 40,000 crore was deposited in ‘Jan Dhan’ accounts across the country post-demonetisation, Raju said no rich man contributes to the nation but only the poor through their hard earned money. “Quality of life needs to be improved and for this we need to contribute as well,” he said. He said unlike the previous regime, now Indian citizens with Aadhaar card could open a bank account without any hassle. “Digital transaction has made life easy for the people. Your pocket can be picked, phones can be lost but not your thumb through which you can easily make cashless transactions,” he added. Sami Vatanen Authentic Jersey
43 more airports to see regular flights: Jayant Sinha
43 more airports in India will see regular flights, says Minister of State for Finance Jayant Sinha. He was addressing a press conference after regional air services bidding process started. Soon 118 airports will see regular flights from 75 at present. “Hope to have first regional flight in February as several airports like Jaisalmer and Coochbihar are ‘ready to go’,” the Minister said. He termed the Government’s move to make regional flying cheaper in regional areas as a ‘game changer’. 16 airports in South India, 32 in Western India, 21 in north, 12 in east and 11 in north-eastern regions are proposed to be connected under the regional air connectivity scheme. The bids for routes will be decided by February 3. Joffrey Lupul Womens Jersey
Report : Indian airports, airlines to ramp up IT spending in 2017
Airlines and airports in India are expected to rapidly ramp up spending on new technology over the next three years to keep up with surging growth that is expected to position India as the world’s third largest aviation market, ahead of the UK, in 10 years’ time. The spending predictions come from SITA, a specialist in air transport IT and communications. According to SITA’s 2016 India IT Trends Benchmark study, released at the India ICT Aviation Forum 2016 in December, all airlines in India expect to see IT budgets increase in 2017 compared to 2016. This contrasts markedly with global airline confidence on future IT budgets, with just over half expecting an increase while around a third anticipate no change in 2017. The remainder globally are braced for lower budgets. Airports in India are similarly positive about IT spending, SITA says, with 80% of airports expecting an IT budget increase in 2017 over 2016. This compares to 58% of airports globally who expect an increase next year. Foremost among the priorities of Indian airports, according to SITA, is handling the huge passenger volumes efficiently. That means self-service technologies are in high demand and the majority of Indian airports (83%) plan major passenger self-service programmes in the next three years. One area of significant growth is self-service bag-drop, with more than 80% of airports expecting to put in place assisted self bag-drop systems. Benson Mayowa Womens Jersey
Indian aviation is growing but it’s straining airports: Why 1 in 4 flights are getting delayed
The fastest growing aviation market across the globe continues its struggle infrastructure and performance metrics of its airlines. Data released by DGCA show not a single airline managed to operate one in four flights on time from four of India’s busiest airports last month. This, when India’s airlines carried close to 10 crore passengers in 2016, with 12 consecutive months of above 20 percent growth. The delays have been increasing as traffic grows. SpiceJet managed average on-time performance of just 70 percent across Bengaluru, Mumbai, Delhi and Hyderabad airports in December and this was the best on-time performance by any airline during December. As expected, Air India fared the worst with at least four in 10 flights getting delayed. And others fared only marginally better, getting almost every third flight from these airports delayed. Traditionally, flying in and out of Mumbai has been the biggest bane for any airline due to massive congestion at this airport. Well, in December, Air India did not get even half its flights on time at this airport and even market leader IndiGo barely managed to get 50 percent of its flight on time here. So when the government goes ga-ga over impressive traffic growth in the skies and talks of India becoming a global leader in aviation, it must consider developing a robust airport infrastructure too to keep pace with this kind of growth. India’s aviation traffic almost doubled in the last six years. Airport capacity hasn’t. Infrastructure has failed to keep pace with traffic growth fueled by rising incomes and affordable fares. Sonny Milano Womens Jersey
11 bidders, 45 initial proposals for regional air services
Eleven bidders have submitted 45 initial proposals covering more than 200 Regional Connectivity Scheme routes under the UDAN scheme which seeks to encourage common people to fly. “The initial proposals cover 65 airports, of which 52 are unserved and 13 underserved,” the Ministry of Civil Aviation said in a statement. January 16 was the last date for submission of initial proposals for operations under the UDAN scheme. Classification An airport at which there are no more than seven scheduled commercial flight departures a week is termed as an underserved airport while an ‘unserved airport’ is one at which there have been no scheduled commercial flights during the last two flight schedules approved by the DGCA. Globally, airlines follow a summer and winter schedule, with the summer schedule running from the last Sunday in March to the last Saturday in October. The winter schedule runs from the last Sunday in October till the last Saturday in March of the following year. The Ministry’s attempts to get the common man to fly at low rates is unlikely to take off before March or later this year as the last date of submission for counter bids for the initial proposals is February 1. Officials indicated that apart from operators importing aircraft, it has to be ensured that the airports are operational, and the flights have to be marketed. List of airports All this is likely to take a few months. An operator is allowed 90 days from the time the route is awarded to launch flights. In October last year, while announcing the Regional Connectivity Scheme, the Ministry of Civil Aviation in its RCS document gave a tentative list of 16 underserved airports/airstrips in the country, which included Aggati in Lakshadweep Islands, Car Nicobar (Andaman Islands) and Bhavnagar (Gujarat). It also gave a tentative list of 398 airports/airstrips that were unserved. They included 13 in Karnataka, 12 in Tamil Nadu, including Vellore, Tambaram, Salem, Hosur and Chettinad, and one in Kerala (Chillari). The routes or networks will be awarded to the bidders who quote the lowest requirement for the viability gap funding (VGF) against such routes. To be able to seek this subsidy, an operator has to price its tickets for a one-hour journey of approximately 500 km on a fixed wing aircraft or for a 30-minute journey on a helicopter capped at ?2,500. Ty Rattie Womens Jersey
Air India to bid for 23 new routes under RCS
Poised with the Regional Connectivity Scheme (RCS) of the National Civil Aviation Policy, Air India is set to bid for connecting 23 routes with the Union Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA). Some of its existing routes would also be brought under the ambit of the RCS, said CMD Ashwani Lohani. Additionally, to keep pace with the growing competition in the international airspace, by March 2020, the national carrier will be inducting 100 more aircraft, including few Boeing 787 in 2017, some Boeing 777 (in Q1, 2018),13 new wide-body planes in next two years and 12 A320 neo aircraft are expected in 2017, taking the total aircraft count from 132 to 232. As a member of Star Alliance, to be more competitive in the international airspace, the airline has a slew of measures planned. The carrier has come up with a tentative wish list of six new destinations to offer connections in 2017. These destinations are Washington (USA), Toronto (Canada), Tel Aviv (Israel), Stockholm (Sweden) or Copenhagen (Denmark), African region and Frankfurt (Germany). Separately, to offer enhanced connectivity, flight frequencies will be increased to Madrid, Sydney and Melbourne. Going ahead in the year, the long neglected subsidiary Alliance Air will be given a push to post profits from the current financial year, and the reach of Air India Express will be expanded. 2018 will again see the addition of another six new destinations to the carrier’s network, affirmed Lohani. For the RCS to gain ground, Air India would require 20 more ATRs and to service this influx of additional aircraft and new routes, the carrier would need 200 new pilots, Lohani said. Therefore, the recruitment process of pilots has been set in motion already, he revealed. In this regard, the fleet size will be expanded by 23 ATRs, taking the total count to 72 by December 2017. Ha Ha Clinton-Dix Womens Jersey