What Air India should do to retain its lost glory
Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapati Raju in his inimitable way is attempting to bring back the glory that Air India once commanded. But more interesting is the kinship that Raju, a scion of the royal family of Vizianagram, finds with the airline’s iconic mascot: The Maharaja. Raju, in a nostalgic mood, has been regularly tweeting classic pictures of the Maharaja from times when Air India was in all its glory — the sole Indian airline that was a symbol of the luxuries that only the rich and eminent were able to afford. In the last week of August, Raju tweeted a 1960s promotional poster of the airline done in the style of a Mughal painting. It showed the Maharaja, with his turban and twirly moustache, proudly seated atop an elephant. His entourage includes attendants on foot and horseback, some of them playing Indian musical instruments. The entourage even has two flying peacocks overhead. The caption said: There is an Air about India. The Maharaja was most ingeniously used when the carrier introduced a new route. One of the posters from the “retro Air India” collection, as Raju calls it, shows the Maharaja as a Russian Kalinka dancer when the airline started flying to Moscow. Another shows him speed boat surfing in Australia with the boat replaced by two mermaids. In yet another, the Maharaja is being carried like a prey, hands and feet tied, by two lions in the jungles of Nairobi. Kyle Turris Womens Jersey
Chandigarh airport embarks on global journey
At 5.15pm on Thursday (Sept 15), Chandigarh International Airport actually became international as a flight from Sharjah landed with 128 passengers onboard a 186-seater plane. At 6.35pm, an Air India Express plane carrying 182 passengers to Sharjah departed too, this being the first flight from this airport to a foreign destination. Union civil aviation minister P Ashok Gajapathi Raju said on the occasion that government-owned carrier Air India will start a flight to Singapore by March. Air India chairman Ashwani Lohani added Bangkok to the list. These will be thrice a week. Immediately next up, from September 26, IndiGo airlines will start a daily flight between Chandigarh and Dubai. Wayne Gretzky Womens Jersey
Airlines urge government to cap GST rate at 15%
Airlines have asked the government to set the goods and services tax (GST) at 15% and retain existing tax exemptions to avoid fare hikes. GST, which aims to economically unify the country, will subsume most of the indirect taxes levied by the centre and the states including excise duty, service tax, value-added tax, entertainment tax and luxury tax. The tax is expected to be implemented next year. The current rate of service tax is 14% and adding Swachh Bharat Cess and Krishi Kalyan Cess, airlines pay 15% tax. “Under no circumstance should GST exceed 15%,” said an airline official, who did not wish to be named, referring to the submission made to the government last week. “It would hamper growth in the fastest growing aviation market in the world.” Airlines expect a 9-15% increase in airfares if the GST is set higher. A group of airline officials met state finance ministers and aviation ministry officials last week to convey the implications of the new regime to the sector. Most of India’s airlines have been making annual losses over the past few years and some are loaded with high debt. A plunge in fuel prices from a peak of $140 a barrel has seen some airlines report profits in the last fiscal. Fuel makes up of about 40% of their total cost. Cheaper fuel has allowed airlines to offer fares that are sometimes cheaper than railway fares in premium trains. Airlines have, therefore, also requested the government to exempt them from paying duty on fuel surcharge component of the airfare. Most airlines typically mention the amount of fuel surcharge on every ticket, which is part of the overall price. “This is based on the reason that duty has already been paid on ATF (aviation turbine fuel) and the same has not been allowed as credit. Hence, levying GST on that portion of fare will result in double taxation,” said another airline official, who too declined to be named. Airlines also want certain exemptions to continue. For example, they way want the current policy of no service tax on journey starting from or terminating in north-east and those from Jammu & Kashmir. They want a continuation of no service tax on payment of aircraft lease, import of aircraft, on aircraft parts and its repair and maintenance. They also don’t want new taxation on sale of passenger air miles and loyalty programmes as is being proposed under GST. Terrell McClain Authentic Jersey
Air India plans to reach out to pilots who had quit
Air India plans to reverse poach senior pilots and commanders, who had switched to other Indian and foreign airlines earlier and on whom the state-run carrier had spent a lot of money to train them. As part of the strategy to hire over 500 pilots, the public sector carrier would also focus on hiring those who had left it in the past for various reasons and moved to other carriers, sources said. The move, which has the “consent” of Air India Chairman and managing Director Ashwani Lohani, is aimed at saving both money and time as these already trained pilots can be deployed for operations immediately, they said. Air India has already offered jobs to 13 pilots it had sacked for participating in a two-month strike in 2012, sources said, adding most of them were “considering” the proposal though three pilots are not willing. As many as 173 Air India pilots have resigned from the national carrier since 2012 till last year, with most of them being those operating the narrow-body Airbus A320 family of aircraft, as per official figures early this year. A recruitment drive to hire 534 A320 pilots is currently on. Air India also needs around 150 wide-body pilots to expand its international operations further, including planned flights to Washington and several European destinations. “We have immediate requirement of around 150 wide-body pilots, besides the over 500 pilots being hired for the A320s, for medium and long haul operations. If we take back those pilots who have left us in the past, we will not only be saving huge cost on training them but also save a lot of time which goes down in the induction process,” sources said. At present, the cost of training a pilot for an Airbus A320 family of planes stands a little over at Rs four lakh per pilot while the type rating cost per pilot comes to nearly Rs 23 lakh. While those who join the Dreamliner fleet from B-777 wide-body planes are imparted a 4-5 week training costing around Rs 25 lakh per pilot, pilots coming from the narrow- body planes (A320 family) are given a three-month training at a whopping cost of Rs 80 lakh per pilot, according to sources. “We have not been able to finalise the Washington and other proposed international flights because of shortage of B-777 and B-787 pilots only. If the plan to hire such pilots materialises, we can commence these destinations in a short time,” they said. Madrid, Barcelona, Copenhagen and Stockholm, besides Washington, are the destinations that Air India is looking at as part of its international expansion plans, Air India Director for Commercial Pankaj Shrivastava had said sometime back. Deryk Engelland Authentic Jersey
Digital transformation enhances travel experience at Bengaluru airport
Digital transformation has paved the way for enhanced travel experience at Kempegowda International Airport, Bengaluru (KIAB). Bangalore International Airport Limited (BIAL) has stepped up the game by committing to a futuristic and innovative vision of The Smart Airport – a digitised, seamlessly connected and intuitive airport that is positioned as the ‘Gateway to South India’. In the first phase, the unique and exclusive features of the app include: Flight information and Flight tracking- offers real-time flight status updates One-touch WIFI connect – No repeat input of OTP and user-details, the details once shared as a first time user, will connect a passenger to Wi-Fi automatically when at the airport Navigation with Google Indoor Maps- Easy navigation through the airport using the Google Indoor Map feature Must Try (F&B) and Must Buy (Retail) – Experience the airport retail and F&B Contextual notifications, powered by Beacons – Receive relevant notifications based on your location Feedback – Allows user to share feedback about their airport experience using the BLR Airport app BIAL in collaboration with ThoughtWorks, a global technology company, on Friday announced the launch of the BLR Airport app, as part of its digital platform offering. Through the digital platform bouquet of services, BIAL aims at revolutionising the travel experience at the Kempegowda International Airport, Bengaluru (KIAB) through a combination of digital technologies that include the Internet of: things, people, services and data. The airport will build on its existing technological capabilities to engage with its customers and provide integrated services across various touch points. The newly built digital platform’s innovative potential will keep adapting to the Bengaluru airport’s evolving digital needs. Through these efforts BIAL aims to future-proof its airport operations and services by making meaning of the abundant digital data available and create a more personalized, just-in-time travel services. Ibraheim Campbell Jersey
Indian flyers display rude behaviour: UAE report
The probe by the UAE aviation authorities into the crash-landing of an Emirates flight at Dubai last month has shown Indian flyers in poor light. Flight EK-521 was flying from Thiruvananthapurm in Kerala to Dubai on August 3 with 282 passengers -of which 226 or over 80% were Indians -when the aircraft burst into flames minutes after landing. The preliminary report by UAE General Civil Aviation Authority talks about “passenger behaviour and carry-on baggage” during the crucial sec .. “The cabin crew members stated that when the aircraft got impacted and slid along the runway, passengers started to unfasten their seatbelts and stand up. An announcement was made for the passengers to remain seated. When the aircraft came to rest, some passengers were screaming, grabbing their belongings, and asking the cabin crew members to open the doors,” the report says. “The cabin crew members followed the operator’s safety instructions that prohibit passengers taking their carry-on baggage during an evacuation, and they instructed the passengers to leave their bags behind. However, several passengers evacuated the aircraft carrying their baggage. Footage of the evacuation showed a number of passengers outside the aircraft with their baggage,” the report adds. While panic in such situations is normal human behaviour, several crew members and pilots of Indian carriers and even some crew of foreign airlines that fly abroad say Indians are by and large seen as flyers with “special behaviour” -a euphemism for displaying not-so-good behaviour in air. First timers are, however, not seen as the only `troublesome’ desi flyer. “The behaviour of scores of frequent flyers is also not good. They hanker for free liquor so much that crew has to firmly deny them more drinks. Their behaviour with the crew is also not appropriate as they can be rude to airhostesses,” said another pilot. New England Patriots Jersey
Transaction advisors appointed for Dholera Airport: DMICDC
Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor Development Corporation (DMICDC) today said it has appointed transaction advisors for the greenfield Dholera Airport in Gujarat. The advisors have been “tasked with analysing and evaluating various plans, including detailed project report prepared by Airports Authority of India and suggesting a suitable mode of implementation,” DMICDC said in a statement. PricewaterhouseCoopers Pvt Ltd in consortium with Airport Planners and Design Consulting Pvt Ltd and SPA Legal, has been named transaction advisors for the airport which will be built over 1,426 hectares,” it said. The airport will serve the logistical requirement of a key node — the Dholera special investment region of the Delhi- Mumbai Industrial Corridor (DMIC). This region is being implemented by the Centre in partnership with the government of Gujarat and is being designed as a global hub for economic activities, equipped with world-class infrastructure and civic facilities. It said the airport project is being managed and executed by a special purpose vehicle, the Dholera International Airport Company Ltd. All necessary approvals including a no objection certificate from the Ministry of Defence, site clearance from the Ministry of Civil Aviation and environmental clearance have already been obtained, it added. An aviation zone and MRO facility has also been planned over 2,500 hectares of adjacent government land, it said. India’s ambitious USD 90 billion DMIC project is aimed at creating mega industrial infrastructure along the Delhi-Mumbai Rail Freight Corridor. Japan is giving financial and technical aid for the project, which will cover seven states totalling 1,483 km. Willie Brown Authentic Jersey
HAL gets membership of APAQG with voting rights
Hindustan Aeronautics Limited today said it has been conferred the prestigious membership of the Asia-Pacific Aerospace Quality Group (APAQG) under the category ‘Full Member with voting rights’. This makes India the seventh nation to join the APAQG under TRHE International Aerospace Quality Group (IAQG). The other nations of APAQG are China, South Korea, Taiwan, Indonesia, Singapore and Japan, the company said in a release. “HAL is now a part of Global Quality team dedicated to bring improvements in the Aerospace Quality. The company can participate in international forums and contribute to the development and revision of current and new quality Standards,” HAL CMD T Suvarna Raju said. “The membership enables HAL to have access to various Quality System Standards and other guidelines developed by IAQG,” he added. The IAQG is an international non-profit cooperative global organisation that brings aviation, space and defence companies together to deliver more value at all levels of the supply chain. It establishes and maintains Quality Management System standards (9100 series) and controls the certification system. The IAQG comprises Americas (AAQG), Europe (EAQG) and Asia-Pacific (APAQG) sectors. To become a part of IAQG, HAL has to be a member of APAQG and then graduate to IAQG as a voting member by virtue of being an OEM in India, the company said. HAL participated in the Council meeting recently held at Zhuhai, China and made a presentation to the APAQG members and the Council on the company’s activities with thrust on quality management, it added. Adam Gotsis Womens Jersey
AirAsia India achieves gross profit breakeven in April
AirAsia India, the joint venture low-cost carrier of Tata Sons and Air Asia, has achieved gross profit breakeven in April while targeting its next milestone of cash flow positive and turn EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation) breakeven by 2018-end, said its Chief Executive Amar Abrol. Claiming an aggressive plan of acquiring planes and hiring pilots and crew, he said they expect to receive second round of promoters’ funding by month-end to work towards reaching 20-mark in planes fleet before 2018. “Funding has been secured. We have been GP (gross profit)-positive since April, the month the new management team came into being,” Abrol told ET in Hyderabad on Wednesday. “The next port of call is to get to cash-flow positive. The next year is massive for investment to get 10-12 aircraft which we can get over the next couple of years. Over the strategic framework of next three years, by 2018-end, we will get to EBITDApositive.” Abrol said the low-cost carrier, with the country’s highest load factor of 85%, is currently working on aggressively hiring pilots and cabin crew to train them. The airline is also looking at availability of planes in the open market for lease, apart from analysing the viability of entering certain Indian cities that were already overcrowded by domestic and global airlines. On the delay in entering Mumbai, he said, “Mumbai is very slot-constrained at this point of time. Moreover, it has to make sense for us from a commercial perspective. It has to make sense if there is enough demand and whether the current incumbents are meeting or not meeting that demand.” While highlighting that there is an opportunity for some 330 pairing of routes connecting various Indian cities with A320 airplanes, Abrol said AirAsia India will go to a city only if it makes commercial sense. “Mumbai will make commercial sense with the right time and product,” he said, without elaborating on the kind of product being worked out for Mumbai. Indicating that AirAsia India’s Mumbai check-in may get further delayed, he said, “Right now, there are slot constraints and apparently there is some huge amount of repair and maintenance plan for the first quarter of 2017 at the Mumbai airport from the runway perspective. Once that is sorted out, we will start working with the airport authorities there and start looking for slots.” “When we go into Mumbai, we will go into Mumbai with a full plan so that we are able to capture a significant market share,” he said On the limitations on availability of the planes, Abrol said AirAsia India currently operates single aircraft fleet, A320s. “Within that we need to make sure that the plane is in good working condition,” he said, adding that AirAsia India was also evaluating the model of mixed aircraft fleet. “We are constantly evaluating whether we will have mixed aircraft fleet as well or not.” Phil McConkey Womens Jersey
Unscheduled flights from Russia can get visa for 7 days on reciprocal basis
Ahead of Home Minister Rajnath Singh visit to Russia, India has given a nod for a temporary landing permit (TLP) to crew members of unscheduled flights and ships from Russia, on reciprocity basis. A TLP allows crew members of scheduled/unscheduled flight to enter India without a valid visa and can be granted up-to 7days. Singh is slated to visit Russia on September 18-21 and will meet his counterparts. New Delhi and Moscow are expected to sign multiple bilateral agreement on narcotics, security and international cooperation during this visit. The landing permit for sailors and crew members was curtailed in 2010 following reports of overstay and misuse of the facility. Several foreigners from Russian countries availing TLP later found their way to Goa, claimed officials. A senior government official told ET, “We have also allowed TLP for Cargo flights after Moscow said they are providing such facilities to our seamen and crew members. It is on reciprocal basis.” Officials said that there have been thousand instances of violations of visa policy by Russian tourist in the past who came on TLP or tourist visa and stayed for years. Foreigners from Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) too came to India and got settled in Goa and Pune. Many of them were later found to be involved in drug trade, trafficking and other criminal acts. The home ministry recently eased the tourist visa on arrival (TVoA) for 150 countries including Russia allowing visitors to obtain a visa to visit India online within 3 days. Unlike a normal tourist visa, a TvoA is non-transferable and issued for 30 days. Hines Ward Womens Jersey