Boeing, Airbus duel for $12 billion order from revived SpiceJet
Two years ago, SpiceJetBSE -1.59 % Ltd. was fighting for survival as creditors retreated and oil companies refused to refuel its airliners.Today , the world’s biggest planemakers are wooing the recovering Indian budget carrier for a potential blockbuster order worth about $12 billion. Boeing Co. and Airbus Group SE are locked in a battle to supply SpiceJet with as many as 100 planes, and both are offering aggressive discounts in negotiations that have intensified in the past few months, according to people with direct knowledge of the talks, who asked not to be identified as the discussions are private. A win would be key for Boeing, with the U.S. manufacturer lagging behind its Euro pean rival in India’s burgeoning budgetairline market, one of the key sources of industry growth globally . Segment leader IndiGo and the local units of Singapore Airlines Ltd. and AirAsia Bhd., which fly only Airbus jets, have squeezed Boeing’s prospects in a market where air travel is growing at a pace faster than in China or the U.S. “Losing SpiceJet would be a big blow to Boeing,” said Amber Dubey, a New Delhibased consultant heading aerospace at KPMG. SpiceJet Chairman Ajay Singh “knows this and hence is perhaps having interesting conversations with both.” RAMPING UP The Indian discount airline needs to ramp up its 43-plane fleet quickly to pose a meaningful threat to IndiGo, which controls 38.5 percent of the market and flies 108 aircraft. IndiGo’s owner, InterGlobe Aviation Ltd.,has placed orders for 430 Airbus A320neo planes, with a target to build a 1,000-jet fleet eventually. A SpiceJet spokesman confirmed that Singh is attending this week’s Farnborough Air Show in the U.K., but declined to say whether an order announcement is imminent. SMALLER PLANES “We will continue to work with them on the fleet needs and look forward to delivering their first 737Max,” Dinesh Keskar, Boeing’s senior vice president for sales, said in an e-mail. ” Airbus enjoys 70 percent market share in India and most Indian carriers are growing their business with us,” said Airbus spokesman Justin Dubon. “We’d be delighted to help SpiceJet too.” Bombardier Inc., which is enjoying a revival with its C Series narrow-body jet starting service and winning a benchmark deal with Delta Air Lines Inc., is in a separate race for more than 50 smaller planes that SpiceJet is buy ing. The Canadian aircraft producer will be competing against Brazil’s Embraer SA and the Avions de Transport Regional, or ATR, joint venture of Airbus and Italy’s Leonardo-Finmeccanica SpA. At least eight budget carriers dot Indian skies, where air travel grew more than 20 percent last year,according to the International Air Transport Association. GoAir Inks $7.7-b Deal with Airbus GoAir, fifth-biggest carrier by passengers travelled in the country, announced on Tuesday a preliminary agreement with European planemaker Airbus to buy 72 A320neos in a deal worth about $7.7 billion at current list prices. The deal will help continue GoAir’s growth, the airline said in a statement, and built on its existing order for 72 of the same aircraft which it made in 2011. “The new aircraft will help us in unlocking new domestic routes while providing a springboard for continued international network expansion in the years to come,” Go Air CEO Wolfgang Prock-Schauer said in the statement. Bobby Ryan Womens Jersey
HAL signs joint venture with Safran for helicopter MRO
Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) and Safran Helicopter Engines have agreed to establish a support centre in India for national and international rotorcraft customers. An agreement to this effect was signed on Monday by DK Venkatesh, Director (Engg, and R&D), HAL, and Bruno Even, CEO-Turbomeca, at the ongoing Farnborough International Airshow (July 11-17, 2016) in the presence of T Suvarna Raju, CMD-HAL and Philippe Petitcolin, CEO-Safran. This new centre will provide Maintenance Repair and Overhaul (MRO) services for Safran TM333 and HAL Shakti engines that powers HAL-built helicopters. Safran Helicopter Engines and HAL will provide their customers with a first-class service including optimized engine availability. With over 1,000 engines, including 250 TM333 and 250 Shakti, India’s armed forces are one of the largest operators of Safran-designed helicopter engines. Shakti is the Indian designation for the Safran’s Ardiden 1, co-developed with HAL and produced under licence. T Suvarna Raju, CMD-HAL, said, “The JV reflects the close relationship established over many years between HAL and Safran Helicopter Engines. It places both partners on an ambitious path towards world-beating customer support in the field of engine MRO. The joint venture will provide the impetus for the ‘Make-in-India’ initiative since around 1000 Shakti engines are likely to fly in the coming years”. Serge Maillé, Safran Helicopter Engines Executive Vice President for Strategy and Development, commented “this joint venture marks a new step in the long-lasting and fruitful partnership between Safran Helicopter Engines and HAL. We are extremely proud of the continued confidence placed on us by HAL. Together we are committed to delivering world-class support to our customers, both in India and throughout the region”. Shakti is fitted to HAL’s ALH-Advanced Light Helicopter (Dhruv) and has been selected to power the HAL-designed Light Combat Helicopter (LCH). The new Light Utility Helicopter (LUH), a three-ton single-engine chopper under development is also fitted with a Turbomeca engine. Denzelle Good Authentic Jersey
Airports to be ranked on passenger feedback
Passengers’ rants or raves about services provided at India’s major airports could soon actually make an impact with the airports’ economic regulator putting in place a new system to monitor the ground operations and service standards. The carrot for the airport operators: those with high ratings for services could get to charge higher tariffs as an incentive. The Airports Economic Regulatory Authority (AERA) that came into existence in 2008, has so far been focused on its responsibility of setting airport tariffs, but will now assess their performance on the ground for 16 major airports as well. The regulator will rate airports based on parameters such as cost efficiency, entry time, security clearance, check-in and boarding facility, among other services at airports. A critical component of the rating would be passenger feedback. “As a part of our mandate, we have a major item we have not looked at so far which is setting and monitoring performance standards of airports. We want to make airports attractive and efficient and plan to monitor the service levels of airports,” AERA Chairman S Machendranathan said. Josh Bynes Womens Jersey
PIL filed in Delhi HC against arbitrary airfares
A plea was filed on Sunday in the Delhi High Court for capping airfares across the country so that customers are not fleeced arbitrarily by airlines. The PIL urged the court to direct the authorities to frame “guidelines so as to put a cap on airfares and prevent the private airlines here from charging arbitrarily, irrationally and exorbitantly for air flights”. Advocate Amit Sahni, in his plea, which is likely to be heard next week, stated that he had filed an RTI application seeking information regarding airfares and Ministry of Civil Aviation replied that these are not controlled by the government. Citing recent Jat agitation in Haryana, which reportedly forced some passengers to pay over Rs 90,000 for their journey, the plea said if there would have been a cap, the airlines could not charged such huge amount. “The private airlines companies have fleeced people even in emergent situation and government has stood as a mute spectator regarding the same,” the plea said, adding there is “urgent need to regulate the upper limit of airfares so that the private airlines could not fleece their customers as per their own wish.” Anthony Tolliver Jersey
Air India may lose privilege of being sole carrier of government staff if Cabinet note goes through
Loss-making Air India may soon lose the privilege of being the sole carrier of government employees. The civil aviation ministry is preparing a Cabinet note that will allow them to opt for the cheapest fare, regardless of carrier. Currently, government employees can only use other carriers if there is no Air India option. “The finance ministry, in one of the review meetings, has asked us to abolish this rule mandating Air India for official flights,” said a senior aviation ministry official, seeking anonymity. “We are preparing a Cabinet note, which should reach the Cabinet for approval in 15 days.” Air India, in the midst of a government bailout programme, may not have too much sympathy among some members of the government. Cabinet Minister M Venkaiah Naidu recently vented his ire on Twitter about missing a meeting 10 days ago because his Air India flight was delayed. The current rules mandate all central government employees should fly Air India on official trips. In case a destination is not connected by Air India, the official has to apply for an exemption from the civil aviation ministry. Ken Crawley Womens Jersey
Will Jigajinagi help fulfil the demand for an airport in Vijayapura?
Will the long pending airport project of the district get finally realised with MP Ramesh Jigajinagi joining the Modi Cabinet? This is the question lingering on people’s minds here after the MP of the district got elevated to the position of Minister of State in NDA government recently. Since the airport project comes under Civil Aviation Ministry of the Union government, locals expect that the Minister of the district serving in the Union government will use his authority to get the project implemented. It may be noted that Vijayapura, which is one of the prominent tourism districts of the State for having numerous world-famous monuments, needs an airport to boost its tourism that has still not been tapped fully. Considering this, the government in 2010 had signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with a private firm to develop the airport here. The government had granted 727 acres of land near Burnapur village for the project that had estimated to cost Rs. 100 crore. Jeff Petry Womens Jersey
Civil Aviation Ministry gets ready for a green take-off Plans 146 MW of solar-power generation at airports; 30 MW already in pipeline
The Union Minister of Civil Aviation Sh. Ashok Gajapathi Raju today reviewed the progress of energy and water conservation measures at Airports Authority of India (AAI) airports across the country. The important review meeting was attended by Minister of State Sh. Jayant Sinha and Secretary of the Department, besides Chairperson AAI and other senior officers. Airport Directors of 12important airports also attended the deliberations so that they could be sensitized to implement these initiatives at their respective airports. During the meeting, the Airport Director, Jaipur dwelled at length on the energy conservation measures recently undertaken at the airport. These include maximum use of LED lighting, installation of efficient air-conditioning equipment, provision of energy efficient pumps and motors, a roof top solar power plant of 1 MW capacity and a 1.8 MW ground-based solar power plant under implementation. All Airport directors were encouraged to adopt similar initiatives, some of which have a payback period of as low as two years. AAI has already installed solar power plants at 16 airports with a total capacity of 5.4 MW. So far, 51 lakh energy units have been generated from these plants leading to a reduction of 4,600 metric tonnes in carbon emissions. By December 2016, additional 24.1 MW of solar power plants will become operational at 11 more airports. Infact, the perspective plan of AAI targets augmenting the solar power generation to 116 MW by including 16 more airports. The status and scope of water conservation, water-recycling and sewage treatment plants at the airports was also deliberated upon. AAI is already using re-cycled water for horticulture, fire-fighting and air-conditioning requirements at several airports. The Union Minister directed the Chairman AAI to provide similar infrastructure at all airports under his jurisdiction.It may be recalled that in June 2016, the Ministry of Civil Aviation and the AAI were honored with the National Excellence Awards 2016 by Govt of India in Ministry and PSU category respectively for taking outstanding steps towards use and promotion of solar energy. Sh. Raju appreciated the efforts of AAI and conveyed that not only should our airports be self-sufficient in energy and water requirements, but we should now look at feeding power to the national grid as we have sufficient open spaces available. He also directed that an airport-wise action plan on both energy and water conservation should be developed by AAI within one month. Sh. Jayant Sinha also appreciated the efforts at Jaipur airport and advised AAI to go ahead with its ambitious program in a structured. Jim McMahon Womens Jersey
International airport to be set up in Hisar: Hayana Finance Minister
Haryana Finance Minister Capt Abhimanyu on Friday said the state government has decided to establish an international airport in Hisar. This will ensure development of the area alongwith nearby areas and provide employment opportunities to youth. This was stated by the Finance Minister while addressing a public meeting in village Pali in Narnaund Assembly Constituency, said an official release. He said in this year’s budget, a provision of Rs 75 crore has been made for Civil Aviation Department and Rs 50 crore has been allocated especially for development of airport in Hisar. He said a consultant has been appointed to prepare a detailed report. It would soon submit its report. Darcy Tucker Womens Jersey
Himachal’s 1st instrumental landing tech at Kangra airport
Kangra Airport is set to become the first in Himachal Pradesh to have an instrument landing system. Airports Authority of India has approved the installation of devices which will reduce minimum visible runway length for any plane landing at the airport from 5,000 to 2,400 metres. he Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has fixed the minimum visible runway length for any plane landing at Kangra airport at 5,000 metres, due to which many flights could not land during monsoon, as the weather remains misty in this season. The equipment is also expected to reduce the cancellation of flights to the tourist destination considerably. Kangra airport manager Parwinder Tiwari told TOI that the device — Doppler Very High Frequency Omni Range (DVOR) — has been sanctioned for this airport, and the process to install the device has started. “The length of the runway is 1,372 metres, and the width is 30 metres. This airport falls in category II (c). Two types of aircraft — ATR-72 and Q-400 — at present are connecting this airport with the national capital. But earlier, we could allow them to land only if the runway is visible to them from at least 5,000 metres,” said Tiwari. However, the Himachal government had imposed a 5% entry tax on the equipment being brought here for reducing landing visibility criteria. But now, the government has decided to waive the entry tax on the equipment. In the absence of the said system, navigation authorities had made some modifications at the manual end to cope with bad weather. “We used to inform the Delhi sector for flight take-off only when reports were for clear weather and visibility. It has reduced cancellations, but delay in flights was normal during the monsoons,” he said. Sammy Watkins Jersey
Airport’s trump card for security
In a bid to deal with identity-related security breaches, Airport Authority of India is planning to introduce biometric access control and badging systems at the Chennai Airport. The airport director Deepak Shastri told City Express that biometrics system would be introduced by next year. The system would regulate employee access throughout the airport and help keep unathorised people out of restricted areas. The airport is now being manned by Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) personnel, who manually check staff’s identity cards. It is learnt that the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security is planning to do away with these manual checks and provide its personnel with a secure contactless card, which will have a biometric template for multi-factor authentication. This system can use eye pupils or fingerprints for biometric access. The contactless card will be fool-proof and impossible to replicate, thereby putting in place a mechanism to monitor or control movements of personnel and vehicles into the airport. The doors and access points can be accessed only by authorised personnel after they have been identified by the system. The authentication of the cardholder will take place at the backend access control system. All successful or unsuccessful attempts will be recorded in the database server. Erik Karlsson Jersey