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    Aviation News May 19 2011


    Kerala CM reduces fuel prices, will Tarun Gogoi do the same

    Guwahati: The new chief minister of Kerala, Oommen Chandy, who assumed office yesterday after winning the assembly elections, announced a sales tax cut on the recently hiked petrol price. He declared that his new government has decided to waive the sales tax on the hiked portion of the petrol price, which would bring the price down by Rs.1.22 per litre.
    It is to be noted that the oil marketing companies had recently increased the petrol price by Rs.5.39 per litre. The reduction in sales taxes in Kerala is expected to bring some relief for the public. Chandy’s stand with petrol prices, immediately after assuming the role of the chief minister has been taken in high spirits by the public and is considered as a welcome move. However the economists are raising concern as the state’s revenue would come down by around 131.94 cores with the cut in sales taxes.
    The stand by the newly formed Kerala Government has set up an example for the rest of the governments recently formed in the other four states.
    19/05/11 Times of Assam

    viation joint secy meets pilot unions

    Mumbai: A top civil aviation ministry official today met unions of pilots and ground engineers as a part of the reconciliation process, and discussed some of the pending issues such as better utilisation of pilots as well as aircrafts.
    Joint Secretary Prashant Sukul met two pilots bodies - the Indian Commercial Pilots Association (ICPA) that represents over 800 pilots of the erstwhile Indian Airlines who went on a 10-day strike late last month and the Indian Pilots Guild; and the Air India Engineers Association - here.
    Though the Air India Chairman and Managing Director Arvind Jadhav was in the town, he did not attend the meetings. During their strike, ICPA had demanded Jadhav's ouster and a CBI probe into alleged corruption at the national carrier.
    ICPA President Captain Rishab Kapur told PTI that meeting with Sukul focused primarily on better aircraft utilisation.
    "Now the average utilisation of an aircraft is only 9 hours, and we want it to be raised to at least 12 hours to begin with, which should be raised further gradually," Kapur said.
    When asked whether Sukul agreed to the demand, Kapur said the ministry did not make a firm commitment, but only promised to consider it. Kapur further said this was the least the management could do to help revive the ailing carrier.
    19/05/11 Press Trust of India/Business Standard

    Aaron’s last post: Can’t wait to reach M’lore

    Every year in May, Aaron Joel Fernandes’ aunt and grandmother used to eagerly await his return to Mangalore after spending summer vacations with his parents in Dubai. But last year, the 16-year-old was among the 158 people who perished when the Air-India flight from Dubai crashed on landing at Man-galore airport. The family is yet to come to terms with his death.Bangalore Mirror met Aaron’s father, Fredrick Fernandes, who has come from Dubai to his family home in Jeppu. He said, "Aaron was bored at Dubai airport. The flight had been delayed by almost an hour. He was whiling away his time surfing the internet. The last thing he did at the airport in Dubai was update his Facebook status to ‘Getting bored in the airport. Can’t wait to reach Mangalore’.”Fredrick works for an automobile company and his wife Nirmala for an insurance company in Dubai. Aaron stayed with his aunt, Juliet, and grandma, Alice Fernandes, in Mangalore. He was a commerce student at the St Aloysius College in Mangalore. His younger brother, seven-year-old Aiden, lives with their parents in Dubai.The family has planned a special mass on May 22 at 11.30 am at St Rita Church in Mangalore.
    19/05/11 Deepthi Shridhar/Bangalore Mirror

    Air India Express IX 812 debris stored in Kenjar valley

    It took not less than three months to fully clear the debris of the ill-fated Dubai-Mangalore Air India Express IX 812 from the valley where it had plunged on May 22 , 2010. The remains have been stored in a corner of the Kenjar Valley, just 900 metres away from Mangalore airport and about a kilometre away from the crash site. It (the debris) lies there like a big junkyard, well-guarded behind strong walls and gates.
    There could be thousands of parts of the aircraft exposed to the saline weather of the coastal area on a plot that belongs to the Airport Authority of India (AAI).
    "The work of the Boeing (manufacturer of the plane) inspectors was long over with the debris but it still bears thetestimony to the horrific accident and will be stored there for we do not how many more years,” said an AAI official on duty at the yard of the twisted wreck of the plane.
    It is mandatory to create a ‘memorial of the wreck’ in the nearest point of the crash. The wreckage of Air India Kanishka Flight 182 is stored in Vancouver even today, 20 years after the crash as the Royal Canadian Mounted Police is still investigating the case and it is still needed for a future trial.
    20/05/11 M Raghuram/Daily News & Analysis

    Kerala high court may hold key to compensation to Air India Express crash victims

    Mangalore: The compensation issue to the passengers who perished in the horrific air crash of Dubai Mangalore Air India IX 812 has reached a flash point. There is one case of compensation which holds the key in the suit filed in Kerala high court in Ernakulum. This case has been filed by the Mangalore crash victims’ family association for Abdul Salam who lost his son in the crash.The hearing has been completed and has been posted for judgment at least two months before the court closed for vacation on April 20, 2011. But a judge, who was to deliver the judgment, had abstained from giving the judgment following which the Kerala high court had assigned the case to another judge.The new judge has also had two rounds of hearing and has posted it for judgment after the vacation without specifying the date.
    The court will open on May 22 (incidentally on the same date one year after the crash) and the association is trying to secure the judgment on the same day.
    "This judgment will be a path-breaking event; it may set precedence for all further compensation issues in IX 812 crash case. Abdul Salam had been offered a compensation of ¤35 lakh by the Air India which he rejected on the advice of the association, on the basis of Montreal convention,” said association vice-president Varadarajan.
    The association was finding it difficult to engage advocates who are knowledgeable with the Montreal convention, carriage by air act and other nuances of the air crash compensation procedure.
    19/05/11 M Raghuram/Daily News & Analysis

    Airport cargo unit lacks facilities: FIEO

    Chennai: Federation of Indian Export Organisation has expressed serious concern on the congestion and delays in clearance happening at Chennai’s airport cargo complex.
    Exporters in the southern region complain that they are facing inordinate delay in clearance of cargo at the Chennai Airport for the last two months.According to Walter D’Souza, regional chairman, FIEO - Southern Region, exporters of leather, engineering and electronics and components products are facing serious problems in their inventory as they are depending on just-in-time delivery schedules of production."Apart from the issues related to non-availability of adequate space for cargo handling due to renovation works, there is acute shortage of trained manpower for handling the cargo operation as well as shortage of handling equipment.”

    "It has been noticed that import cargo is not stacked properly, dumped all over and there is no segregation of cargo, which has affected the traceability of consignments,” the letter from the federation said.The federation also said that the newly appointed private agency is not capable of handling due to inexperienced manpower and lack of adequate handling equipment.D’Souza has urged upon the Airport Authority of India (AAI) to take immediate steps to reduce the day-to-day traceability issues and appoint efficient ground handling agencies for handling Air Cargo operations with adequate handling equipment immediately.
    19/05/11 ExpressBuzz

    Jet Airways ties-up with Future Group

    Jet Airways is partnering India’s largest retailer Future Group and footwear brand Pavers England for JetPrivilege, its frequent flyer program. This is part of a move to attract more customers and provide exclusive offers to its members. While it has partnered with Future Group’s EZone and e-commerce arm Futurebazaar.com, it also has tied up with the international premium leather footwear brand Pavers England. JetPrivilege members can earn one JPMiles for purchase of Rs 100 and above at each of the EZone stores or online at futurebazaar.com. Similarly, members can earn 10 JPMiles for every Rs 100 spent on any purchase made at any of the Pavers England exclusive stores in Delhi’s Select Citywalk mall, Khan Market, Mumbai’s airport and the Oberoi Mall, at the international airport and InOrbit Mall in Hyderabad and in Chennai’s domestic airport and Express Avenue mall.
    19/05/11 FashionUnited

    Is AI duping pilots and putting fliers at risk?

    Mumbai: Something is rotten in Air India. Despite repeated warnings by the civil aviation regulator, the national carrier continues to flout air-safety norms on pilot fatigue. In April, five flights were operated by pilots who exceeded flying time permitted per shift.Air India informed the pilots that the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) had waived the maximum flight time rule for the flights. But the director-general said he was not aware of the matter.
    The maximum time at flight controls for a two-pilot crew required to perform more than one landing is nine hours. This is to prevent transient fatigue, a condition experienced after a period of work.So, if a flight is likely to extend beyond nine hours, the airline has a legal responsibility to roster a third pilot. About 800 passengers were flown on the five flights, operated from April 7-18. The aircraft flew on sectors among Hyderabad, Calicut and Dammam; the nine-hour rule was breached during the India-return legs.
    As per the flight plan, the aircraft were to complete both legs of a journey in nine hours. The plan was rigged because it undermined the influence of factors like head wind, weather and air traffic congestion.
    19/05/11 Manju V/Times of India

    Air India scheme triggers airfare war

    Mumbai: National carrier Air India's promotional scheme offering reduced fares has triggered a price war among airlines, bringing cheers for holiday travellers.
    Airfares have dropped sharply on most routes as airlines compete to woo vacationers.
    "Fares would have been at least 25-30% higher if Air India had not dropped fares drastically, a race that all airlines have joined," said Sunny Sodhi , vice-president (air product) at online travel company Yatra.com.
    Air India had launched the promotional scheme earlier this month to make up for the crippling effects of a 10-day pilots' strike it has emerged from.
    The sharp fall in ticket prices has belied expert forecasts of a steep rise in fares during the peak summer holiday season.
    Tickets are hard to find between May 15 and June 20 when most schools in the country are closed for the annual summer break. The high demand and limited availability of seats leads to costlier tickets.In contrast, tickets this season are going south. For example, a one-way ticket from Delhi to Amritsar for travel on May 27 is available for 1,600 now. Tickets on this route are priced 5,000 onwards for most of the year.
    19/05/01 Anindya Upadhyay/Economic Times

    AI plan to shift staff may save 50% on pay

    New Delhi: Air India’s (AI’s) plan to shift employees to its proposed strategic business units (SBUs) will bring down its annual salary burden by almost half to Rs 1,569 crore. The struggling state-owned carrier spends Rs 3,100 crore a year on wages and salaries.
    It plans to have two subsidiaries, one on ground handling (GH) and another on engineering, and shift around 18,000 staff from the parent company.
    "The GH subsidiary will take 7,465 people and the engineering subsidiary will hire 10,481 people without changing any terms and conditions. The shift will shift a wage bill of Rs 931 crore to the engineering wing and over Rs 600 crore to the GH wing,” said a senior civil aviation ministry official, who did not want to be identified.
    The formation of the SBUs will need the Cabinet approval. "We are pushing and want it to happen soon,” the official said.
    AI is also scouting a global partner for its engineering subsidiary. It already has a ground handling joint venture with Singapore Airport Terminal Services, Air India SATS Airport Services (AISATS).
    Its earlier plan to shift staff to AISATS did not fructify because the subsidiary refused to take staff on existing terms and conditions. It preferred to hire on contract and on Wednesday, only 10 per cent of its staff are from AI.
    AISATS operates in the Hyderabad, Bangalore and New Delhi airports. Ground handling at all other airports will be handled by the new subsidiary. It will offer services to AI that will be 50 per cheaper compared to what it will charge other airlines.
    19/05/11 Mihir Mishra/Business Standard

    Firemen rewarded Rs100 for saving lives of victims in Air India Express IX 812 crash

    Mangalore: The heroic efforts of firemen in the Air India Express IX 812 crash too have gone unsung. After nearly a year, their efforts were labelled as ‘nothing extraordinary’.
    The fireman’s manual on aircraft disasters and fires depicts a burning aircraft as a bomb waiting to explode. The oxygen tubes, the helium-filled gadgets, and the hydraulic systems are full of highly combustible material which gives firemen only 160 seconds to carry out any rescue operation.
    "It is called ‘2.5 minute window’. Within this time, the fire will travel through the tubular structure of the plane engulfing the entire passenger area. Attempts to save lives will have to be made within that time,” said regional fire chief of Mangalore HS Varadarajan.
    "The IX 812 crash happened in a valley where approach was difficult but our vehicle reached there in eight to nine minutes of the crash. The first gush of aqua film forming foam was administered within 13 to 15 minutes of the crash. But, by that time, fire had engulfed the entire plane and the broken parts of the belly had strewn around in three different places and had turned into mounds of fire,” he said.
    "We were criticised for using the AFFF. But it is the only material that can extinguish high intensity fire ignited by highly volatile material like aviation turbine fuel (ATF). Any water sprayed on the burning plane will just evaporate even before it reaches the target area,” said Varadarajan who had fought fire in the 1999 Bangalore air crash and another in Yelahanka air base.
    To carry out effective rescue and recovery operations in anemergency situation, it is necessary to cordon off 500 metres around the crash area.
    18/05/11 M Raghuram/Daily News & Analysis

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