Air India Jul 2016
Twenty-nine Air India employees, including six airhostesses, will soon join the national carrier in the cockpit as pilots. These employees, currently working as cabin crew, aircraft engineers and dispatchers have got the rare opportunity to fly aircraft thanks to Air India chairman Ashwini Lohani’s idea of grooming in-house talent. These 29 who will soon receive their letters of intent (LOI) and join as trainee pilots on a five-year contract, qualified the technical knowledge test held on July 2. In a letter informing them of their successful selection, Vikas Gupta, senior manager (personnel), said that the candidates would now undergo an endorsement course before joining the cockpit. Of the 29, eight are deputy chief cabin crew members, 14 are senior cabin crew members, one is a senior aircraft engineer and two are from flight dispatch. An assistant manager in the commercial department will also be joining the national carrier as a trainee pilot. Air India officials informed that a similar practice of grooming employees like loaders, baggage handlers, and cabin crew to become pilots was initiated by Malaysiabased budget airline, AirAsia’s Tony Fernandes. Sam Bradford Authentic Jersey
Government is attempting to take the fuss out of flying – but airlines won’t let the plan take off
India might be the fastest developing economy in the world but 98% of the country’s citizens have never been inside an aircraft. The Narendra Modi government is trying to change that. Apart from connecting remote locations with aircrafts, the air travel regulator has been ushering new policies that will make it more attractive for travellers to fly. These policies range from faster redressal of complaints to lower charges levied on excess baggage or cancellation. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation which acts as a regulator for the aviation sector in India recently introduced a new civil aviation policy and has mandated that airlines follow its new passenger-centric rules. Behind these rules is the philosophy that airline operators shouldn’t harass or extort money from travellers in the name of extra charges – something that even the so-called budget airlines have resorted to do. DGCA has taken a stand and mandated that airlines will be charged harsher penalty than before on cancellation or delays of flights. For instance, about 1% of all domestic flights in the country are cancelled each year, causing great inconvenience to customers and a financial drain for the operator. In 2015, Jet Airways paid Rs 3 crore in compensation to passengers while Air India ended up paying a hefty Rs 13 crore. Now, this amount will go up substantially. Starting August 1, airlines will have to shell out upto Rs 10,000 per passenger on cancellation or delay in a flight beyond two hours. Moreover, carriers that deny boarding permission to passengers will have to pay Rs 20,000 in damages to the passenger. These measures are not only aimed at providing customers with fair compensation but could also end up enforcing discipline amongst the carriers. Over the three month period between March to May, almost one in five domestic flights was delayed. The ratio was even higher for state-owned operator Air India which saw 25% of its flights failing to reach on-time, according to data collected at the four metro airports of Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata. Jordan Jenkins Jersey
Airport devpt: Collector seeks legal opinion on FRA certificate
The district collector has sought the opinion of legal experts on whether a Forest Rights Act certificate (FRA) is necessary to acquire land for the airport’s expansion. The project office of the integrated tribal development agency had said that the FRA certification is not necessary for the pending airport proposal. The airport needs some 10 hectares of forest land from Gadmudshingi village. Before its acquisition, a certificate is necessary to ascertain that no violations have been committed under the act. The agency had said that as there have been no such cases, the FRA certificate is not necessary. District collector Amit Saini, who also heads the district aviation committee set up to clearing the pending issues of the airport, however has sought legal opinion to clarify the issue. “I need legal opinion because it is a tricky issue and I need to check all sides before going ahead for commencement of the airport. Generally, the state commissioner for tribal development issues a certificate regarding Forest Rights Act violations. In Kolhapur’s case, I need to check whether the certificate from the agency would be sufficient. If yes, then we can go ahead and speed up the procedure of land acquisition. If I need to obtain a certificate from the tribal commissioner, I will have to initiate communication accordingly,” Saini said. Patrick Mahomes II Jersey
Aviation on cusp of vertical take-off
When real estate tycoon Niranjan Hiranandani of the Hiranandani Group was asked during a seminar organied by Indian Merchants’ Chamber (IMC) four years back to talk on “what needs to be done to bailout the Indian aviation industry”, the businessman was quick to reminisce his early days when he had to call someone in the Prime Minister Office (PMO) for cancelling and rescheduling of his air ticket. “It used to be a huge task then for even trivial things like booking or cancelling an air ticket,” Niranandani said. “The industry has certainly come a long way since the pre-liberalisation days. I can recollect during those days people would literally beg for getting plane seats, especially during emergency situations,” said Devesh Agarwal, a Bengaluru-based aviation expert and blogger. Speaking to dna, Agarwal, a frequent flier, recounts as how when his grandfather took seriously ill during early 1990s, his father drove all the way to Chennai during the night (roughly about six hours) to catch flight next morning from Chennai. “There were hardly three flights from Bangalore then.” he said. “Also, these fares then used to cost a bomb as a result of which it was away from reach of common man.” Experts say the industry has since then come a long way with flights lined up every few hours on most major and non-major routes. With India’s GDP forecast to grow at around 7.5% in FY2017, aviation industry consultant CAPA expects double-digit traffic growth of around 8-10% for international and close to 15% for domestic sectors. This would result in international traffic increasing to 54-55 million passengers and domestic traffic to around 80 million. Domestic traffic could rise higher if airlines engage in extended periods of aggressive pricing. The number of fliers was about 7.27 million passengers in 1994-95. Eric Weddle Authentic Jersey
Navi Mumbai airport to start operations by December 2019, says minister
Mumbai’s air gridlock may start easing in the next four years. The Centre on Thursday said the Navi Mumbai International Airport, which is to act as the aerial bypass to the choked-to-capacity Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport, may start operations by December 2019. Minister of state for civil aviation Jayant Sinha told Lok Sabha , “Selection of concessionaire on public-private partnership basis shall be finalized by December. All major clearances have been obtained, 160 hectares have been acquired… Phase-I of aircraft operations with capacity to handle 10 million passengers per annum is expected to commence by December 2019.” Cidco, the agency overseeing the project, expects construction work to begin on the site by the end of next monsoon or in a little over 13 months. Cidco VC and MD BhushanGagrani told TOI that the agency was working in three areas simultaneously so that the late-2019 target could be met. “The request for quotation work is over. We have issued financial bids to the three shortlisted companies (led by Tatas, GVK and GMR). By September-end, we should be ready with the concessionaire.” Bud Dupree Jersey
High court rejects Mumbai firm’s petition on air taxi
In a major jolt to Mumbai-based Supreme Transport Organisation Private Limited, Madhya Pradesh high court dismissed its petition challenging the decision of the Madhya Pradesh tourism department, which cancelled its agreement for running air taxi service in the state after the company failed to start operations in the given time. The tourism department had also blacklisted the firm. Finding the deed of state tourism department to be right, division bench of high court comprising Justice SK Seth and Justice HP Singh dismissed the company’s plea on Tuesday. In the plea, the petitioners told the court that on February 4, 2015, Madhya Pradesh State Tourism Development Corporation (MPSTDC) invited tenders for running air taxis in the state. MPSTDC and Supreme Transport also signed an air service operator agreement on April 23, 2015. Their company also purchased 9-seater aircraft for starting the service, the petitioners said.
Light Helicopter Replacement – Confusion Prevails
The Cheetah /Chetak replacement programme continues to flounder despite the Government to Government agreement between India and Russia for the supply of 200 Kamov- 226T light helicopters under the Make in India Policy. Presently there is no clarity on as to how this project will move forward and both sides seem to be struggling to meet the challenging ‘Make in India’ requirement of building 50 per cent of the helicopter in India. While the Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) has been designated as the nodal agency for this critical programme along with Russian Helicopters there are a number of complex issues involved which need to be addressed in order to move ahead. The recent statement of Russian Helicopters that they are working with HAL to iron out the various contentious issues and that the signing of the contract is likely by year end is a positive development but it’s likely transformation into realty seems a distant dream in the current situation. The complexities involved in this project are far too many and one will have to wait and watch as to how these will be addressed and get resolved eventually. Given the track record of other such crucial Government to Government deals like the Army’s M777 Howitzer and the Airforce’s MMRCA Rafale projects, which are still nowhere near closure despite a period of three to four years having elapsed, the prospect of concluding a contract for the Ka-226 project by end of the year does not inspire much confidence. Vernon Hargreaves III Womens Jersey
Owners oppose land acquisition for airport runway expansion
A forum of landowners from Karipur, Kondotty, Pallikkal and Nediyiruppu in Malappuram district has opposed the move to acquire land for the expansion of the Calicut International Airport. It announced at a press meet in Kozhikode on Tuesday that a protest march would be taken out on July 26 to the land acquisition office at Karipur. The announcement appeared timed to coincide with the meeting Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan had called on July 20 in Thiruvananthapuram with the officials, elected representatives and chambers of commerce in Kozhikode and Malappuram districts to break the impasse on airport development, particularly land acquisition. While the organisations in Kozhikode had hinted at opposition to the acquisition from some sections in these areas, the forum came out openly on Tuesday to argue that the expansion of the airport through such huge land acquisition was unwarranted. Forum chairman C. Mohammed Ali alleged there was a unilateral attempt to acquire land, without any consultations with the owners. For various developments at the airport, land had been acquired 12 times and people had to relocate. Many of these people would have to relocate again if more land were to be acquired. Ronald Leary Womens Jersey
‘Hybrid till’ model to determine future airport tariffs: Minister
The government on Tuesday said that future tariffs at all airports will be calculated on a “hybrid till” basis. According to Minster of State for Civil Aviation Jayant Sinha, the “hybrid till” model will be used to ensure uniformity and level playing field for all airport operators. “As per the National Civil Aviation Policy (NCAP), 2016, to ensure uniformity and level playing field across various airport operators, future tariffs at all airports will be calculated on a ‘hybrid till’ basis, unless otherwise specified for any project being bid out in future,” the minister informed parliament. “It is also provided that 30 per cent of non-aeronautical revenue will be used to cross-subsidise aeronautical charges,” Sinha said in a written reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha during the question hour. The “hybrid-till” model is used to ascertain aeronautical charges at airports. The model permits airport operator to include a portion of its income generated through non-aeronautical side of activities with those of aeronautical ones to calculate the total earnings. The operator generates revenue by charging aeronautical activities such parking, housing and landing (PHL) of aircraft. It also earns revenue from non-aeronautical streams like duty free shops, food and beverages (F&B) outlets, vehicle parking and advertisements. Based on the total earnings from the “hybrid-till” model, aeronautical rates are then decided by Airports Economic Regulatory Authority (AERA). Paul Krause Authentic Jersey
Airport official didn?t make racist remarks, finds probe
Days after a woman from Manipur alleged that she was subjected to racist comments by an immigration officer at the Indira Gandhi International Airport, an internal inquiry conducted by the Bureau of Immigration has found the official not guilty of any such act, a highly placed government source told The Hindu. The immigration official only asked general questions, the inquiry found. The woman, Monika Khangembam, who was travelling to Seoul, South Korea, had posted on her Facebook post on July 9: “The bloody racist immigration desk at it again! Looks at my Passport and says, “Indian toh nahi lagti ho”. I get that all the time so don’t react much to it but then he goes on, “Pakka Indian ho?” with a smirk. I still don’t react. What really got me was when he said, See… You yourself need to know your Indianness. How many States are there in India?” Following this post, the Minister of External Affairs (MEA) tweeted that she was sorry to know of the incident and though immigration was not a subject dealt with by her Ministry, she would request her colleague Home Minister Rajnath Singh to look into the matter. Minister of State (MoS) Kiren Rijiju had also ordered a probe into the incident. The source said that the inquiry panel analysed footage from the Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) cameras installed at the immigration desk and even recorded the statements of independent witnesses. Another woman passenger, who was present at the adjacent immigration desk, will also be questioned now. “We conducted an inquiry and found that the official only asked her one question — to name the States Manipur shares its boundary with. It is not unusual for immigration officials to ask such questions. We take these complaints seriously and last year we even dismissed an official when a complaint made against him by a woman was found to be genuine,” said the official. Ryan Shazier Authentic Jersey