Jet Airways flight made to go-around
New Delhi: A Jet Airways
flight was forced to make a go-around at the IGI airport on Wednesday
night when the pilot spotted another aircraft on the runway as 9W-309
was preparing to land. The aircraft on the runway had landed just before
the Jet Airways flight and had not been able to clear the runway on
time.An Emirates flight also made a go-around on Thursday afternoon.
While airport sources said that this too was due to the runway being
occupied, airline sources said that it was due to strong winds on the
approach path."The Jet Airways flight from Mumbai was approaching to
land on the new runway at 9pm. The pilot spotted another aircraft on
the runway and informed the air traffic control. The flight did a
go-around and landed at 9.25pm," said an airport official.Sources
said that the number of go-arounds due to runway being occupied by other
aircraft was a recurrent problem at the IGI airport. At a meeting held
recently with the civil aviation ministry, airlines, air traffic control
and Delhi International Airport (P) Ltd among other stakeholders, it
was discussed that more rapid exit taxiways were required at the new
runway as aircraft were taking too long to vacate the runway.
20/05/11 Times of India
We’re jobless, but Air India hiring: Pilots
Mumbai: The battle
between the Indian Commercial Pilots Associaton (ICPA) and national
carrier Air India (AI) is hotting up. While the airline recently
advertised for recruitment of pilots for its subsidiary Alliance Air,
the ICPA has termed it as waste of public money as its members are
underutilised and can be used for flying Alliance Air aircraft Airbus
320 and Airbus 330.On Thursday, the ICPA had a meeting with AI board
of directors and joint aviation secretary, Prashant Shukul. "Why does
Air India need pilots for their existing fleet of A320 family airplanes
when their utilisation is less than 55 hours and contrary to what was
decided in the meeting with you on May 7, where you had very clearly
stated that every effort will be made to increase the flying so
thatpilots are utilised at least for 75 hrs,” said the ICPA. AI has
total 1,600 pilots out of which 850 are from erstwhile Indian. While the
AI commanders fly for 80 hours per month, erstwhile Indian pilots are
utilised for 49 hours to 55hours maximum. This greatly reduces the
Indian pilot’s salary.
The ICPA also expressed the willingness to
operate other Boeing aircraft of AI if need be. "Now both the airlines
have a common code, have common aircraft manual. Recruiting expats is a
scam,” it said.
Moreover, globally aircraft utilisation is 13 hours while the ICPA alleges that in AI it is nine hours per day.
20/05/11 Naveeta Singh/Daily News & Analysis
Fuel cost spike lands Jet in red
Mumbai: After posting
profits for three successive quarters, India's largest airline by market
share, Jet Airways, reported a net loss of Rs 124.5 crore for the
2010-11 fourth quarter. A 50 per cent increase in fuel costs led to a
fall in margins and resulted in the loss.On a year-to-year basis,
the airline reported a small profit of Rs 9.6 crore on a standalone
basis compared to a loss Rs 467 crore in 2009-10, but the results were a
dampener as analysts expected the airline to post better figures.Revenues
were up 14 per cent at Rs 3,288 crore, while passenger figures grew 15
per cent. However, this was subdued by 51 per cent increase in fuel
costs in the fourth quarter over the same period last year. In the
backdrop of spiralling crude oil prices, Jet Airways spent Rs 1,279
crore on fuel which was Rs 443 crore higher than same period last year.
As a consequence the airline's operating margins took a hit and halved
to Rs 343 crore.
Jet Airways and its low cost arm JetLite command 25
per cent of market share in passenger traffic. JetLite's losses widened
to Rs 166 crore from Rs 75 crore in the fourth quarter in 2009-10 and
operating margins, too, declined. Its Ebitda (earnings before interest,
taxes, depreciation, and amortisation) was Rs 26 crore as against Rs 119
crore for the same period last year. In its results analysis Jet
Airways said that it carried out cost control measures and route
rationalising exercise, which resulted in substantial cost saving.
20/05/11 Business Standard
Highway in the sky
New Delhi: On Wednesday
and Thursday, the Delhi airport could have been mistaken for Delhi
roads. On these two days, around 300 passengers narrowly escaped serious
mishaps. On Wednesday, a mishap was averted at the Delhi Airport, after
a Jet Airways aircraft — with nearly 150 passengers on board — had to
abort landing at the last moment because another aircraft was present on
the runway.The incident happened around 9pm, when the Jet Airways
flight from Mumbai (9W 309) was descending to land on the runway of the
Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport. The airport at that moment
was witnessing heavy congestion due to bad weather conditions caused by
strong wind movement.
As the aircraft was preparing to land, the
pilot found movement on the runway and informed the Delhi Air Traffic
Control (ATC). The ‘movement’ was another aircraft, of an international
airline, which was supposed to take off from the runway but couldn’t do
so because of strong winds. It was trying to vacate the runway.
With
the runway not clear, the ATC asked the Jet pilot to abort landing and
make a 'go-around'. The aircraft climbed up again and landed later after
hovering for some time.
Meanwhile, an Emirates flight carrying 153
passengers could not land at the IGI airport due to unstable wind, which
resulted in air pressure on Thursday. Flight EK516, from Dubai, was
scheduled to land at 2.40 pm.
19/05/11 Hindustan Times
Promotional fares help draw more passengers to Air India
Chennai: Air India is
picking up business. Promotional fares have helped the airline, badly
affected by the recent 10-day strike by its pilots, achieve upto 85%
seat factor in economy class in domestic sectors between May 9 and 19.The
low fares have led to stabilisation of prices, which skyrocketed during
the strike, in the market. "Following the 10-day disruption, these
competitive special fares were made available on 107 sectors across the
network," said an Air India spokesperson.The airline hopes the
increased seat factor will lead to a substantial increase in its market
share. "There are good bookings because of the holiday season," said an
official.
The seat factor, 68% on May 9, increased to 80% the next day and stayed above 83% until May 19.
20/05/11 Times of India
Delhi airport's cargo handling capacity set to rise
Istanbul: Delhi airport's
cargo handling capacity is set to witness a major jump by 2012-end with
the total overhauling of its existing infrastructure. Celebi Holding,
the Turkey-based company that enjoys monopoly rights of cargo handling
in Delhi at present, is working to completely modernize facilities with
addition of automated systems, efficient equipment and systematic
storage.The company, which also provides ground handling services to
some airlines in both Delhi and Mumbai, has bid for the same at Kochi
and Ahmedabad airports. Announcing its intention to invest an additional
around $100 million in India, Celebi Holding chairman Can Celebioglu
said: "The company has already invested about $140 million in Delhi and
Mumbai till the end of 2010. We have been in talks with several airlines
for ground handling and will add Thai Airways to our list of customers
this year. India has tremendous potential for growth in the aviation
sector and while we are handling mostly international flights right now,
we would also like to work for the domestic sector."
The company is
providing ground handling services for Kingfisher Airline's domestic
operations in Mumbai, and for some Jet Airway's and Air India's
international flights in Delhi. Celebi also services Turkish Airlines,
Lufthansa and Air France flights in Delhi and Mumbai. It is handling
32,000 flights out of the two cities at present, excluding the few AI
flights from Delhi. Other than India, Celebi is handling cargo and
warehousing facilities at major airports in Hungary and Germany,
including 37% of the entire cargo market in Turkey.
20/05/11 Neha Lalchandani/Times of India
IA hijacker's name missing from most wanted list given to Pak
Jalandhar: Gajinder
Singh, who was involved in the hijacking of an Indian airlines passenger
plane to Pakistan in 1981, had figured in the most wanted list of 20
handed over by India to Pakistan in 2002, but his name is missing in the
latest most wanted list of 50 terrorists.After his name was
mentioned by the government in the list of 20 most wanted terrorists,
following the attack on Parliament, his party Dal Khalsa had written to
the MHA demanding Gajinder`s name should be dropped as he had already
undergone trial and sentence for 14 years, in Pakistan for the offence.The
Dal Khalsa spokesperson Kanwarpal Singh, when contacted, said: "We did
not receive any reply from the MHA and now are surprised to see that
this time his name has been dropped from the list of most wanted."However
,it has never been explained that how his name was included in the
earlier list and how his name has been excluded, said Singh.Interestingly
the name of Gajinder, who is reportedly staying in Pakistan, has been
retained in the Sikh black list even as the names of other four
terrorists in the most wanted list of 50 have been taken off the black
list.
20/05/11 IP Singh/Times of India
Reports of near-misses in Delhi untrue: Airport authority
New Delhi: Slamming
recent media reports of alleged lapses committed by the air traffic
control (ATC) at the international airport here, the Airports Authority
of India (AAI) Friday said aviation operations in the national capital
were the safest in the world.The reaction by AAI came after reports
that the Delhi ATC had given permission to a Jet Airways flight from
Mumbai to land even though an aircraft was present on the same runway it
was supposed to land on.
'It was far away and had not received
permission to land as we knew there was another plane on the runway. We
are not blind or out of our mind to give this sort of permission,' a
senior ATC official told IANS.According to senior AAI officials, the
two incidents on Wednesday and Thursday were caused by strong winds
which prevented the landing of Jet Airways flight 9W309 from Mumbai and
the Emirates flight EK516 from Dubai.'If there is strong wind on the
runway, we deny the approaching aircraft permission to land as it would
cause major technical problems. This is all procedure which ensures
safety, I do not understand why media is saying that by denying them
landing we jeopardised the passengers safety,' V. Somasundaram, board
member of the air navigation service (ANS) told IANS.
The senior ATC official said that all such reports were part of a malicious campaign run by private airlines.
20/05/11 IANS/Sify.com
Air safety radars to be operational soon
Mumbai: Minor paperwork
is the only formality left before the Mumbai airport’s air traffic
managers begin tracking every airfield movement without straining their
eyes. The surface movement radar (SMR), critical for congested airports
such as the city airport, was being run on an experimental basis. This
trial run ended successfully earlier this week.
"It would be
operational soon after the necessary paperwork at the Delhi headquarters
is completed,” said an Airports Authority of India (AAI) official
requesting anonymity.
Air safety experts feel that a SMR would make
the air traffic control’s (ATC) work simpler by ensuring proper
coordination between ground and air traffic. At congested airfields such
as Mumbai, these radars are necessary to avoid accidents. The ATC
radars can trace flights above 500 metres but there is no device to
monitor their movement as soon as they come close to the ground.In
addition to this, there are flights taxiing for take-offs and about 500
vehicles comprising catering vans, oil tankers and airline coaches
plying on the airfield.Registration numbers of these vehicles would
be fed in the radar system, which will throw digital images of their
airfield movement on the ATC official’s monitor. "At night and during
cloudy days when the visibility drops, the radar would ease our
pressure,” said an ATC official requesting anonymity.
20/05/11 Soubhik Mitra/Hindustan Times
AI pilots willing to fly other aircraft
Mumbai: A section of Air
India pilots met the Civil Aviation Secretary Prashant Sukul on Thursday
and indicated they are willing to fly a different fleet of aircraft to
increase their flying hours. These pilots had gone on a 10-day strike in
late April to demand equity in pays with the erstwhile Indian Airlines
pilots.Pilots also claimed that the ministry has promised to pay
their pending salaries of March in the next 48 hours. During the
meeting, the pilots indicated they are willing to fly other aircraft
besides the A-320, which is a legacy of Indian Airlines.
"The
government is looking at ways to increase the aircraft utilisation on
the domestic sector and we have told the government that we are willing
to be shifted to other aircraft as well. Pilots are willing to undergo
training and get the type certification for B-737, B-777, B-787,” said a
source. One of the reasons for pilots going on strike was because the
flying hours had been reduced which resulted in reduced salaries, unlike
the erstwhile IA pilots who were paid a fixed salary for 80 hours of
flying. Currently, because of reduced aircraft utilisation of the A-320
fleet, Air India has around 100 sets of pilots who are unutilised. "We
have suggested to either increase the aircraft utilisation of A-320 or
shift some pilots to other fleets,” said a pilot. The average aircraft
utilisation per day on a domestic fleet for Air India is around nine
hours, much less than the global average of around 13 hours.
20/05/11 Indian Express
Complicated duty laws confuse flyers
Mumbai: Minissha Lamba
might be the latest in a long line of celebrities caught carrying
undeclared valuables through the airport's green channel, but the
infraction is not limited to the glamorous set. Even the common man in
India is frequently stumped by the rules on how much cash, jewellery or
liquor one is allowed to bring back from abroad or permitted on domestic
flights.There is an upper limit on the currency passengers can take
with them when travelling abroad. A flyer can at the most carry $5,000
besides Rs 15,000 in cash; the rest must be in the form of traveller's
cheques. When returning, the limit is $5,000 and anything above has to
be declared to customs officials.
There are rules on jewellery too.
Jewels purchased in India can be taken out of the country free of duty,
provided the Indian flyer first gets them evaluated at the Diamond Plaza
Clearing Centre. Before flying out, the passenger should declare these
valuables to the customs, which in return gives an export certificate.
20/05/11 Chinmayi Shalya/Times of India
Hasan Ali got Rs 14 crore as kickback for a Boeing-Air India deal: ED
Mumbai: Hasan Ali Khan ,
said to be the country's biggest tax evader , had made a killing as a
consultant when he had earned a commission of US $ 11.5 million for a
Boeing deal with Air India in 1986-87. At the exchange rate then, the
amount works out to over Rs 14 crore not a small sum considering that
the Bofors kickback was of Rs 64 crore and brought down a government.This
startling information is part of a 2007 Enforcement Directorate (ED)
Case Information Report filed as an annexure in the 1000-plus-page
charge sheet filed recently by the ED in a special court under the
Prevention of Money-Laundering Act against Khan and his associate
Kashinath Tapuriah.
The civil aviation minister at that time was
Jagdish Tytler. The report says that as consultants of Boeing Commercial
Airplane Co, Seattle, USA, an amount of US $ 11.5 million was earned as
commission from the sale of two Boeing 727 aircraft to air India in
1986-87. The deal was worth US $ 230 million.
The charge sheet
mentions that the amount was not repatriated to India by RM Investments
& Trading Co, a firm owned by Tapuriah. The charge sheet, however,
does not specify who among the accused earned the commission.There
are clear-cut indications of corruption money involved in mega
transactional deals representing commissions (which appear to be
illegal) received on sale of Boeing Aircrafts held by Air India. It
involves loss to the exchequer, the ED has said.
20/05/11 Rebecca Samervel/Times of India
Air India's Rs 20,000-cr debt recast by June-end
New Delhi/Mumbai: Air IndiaAir India said on Thursday it is in "final
stages" of discussions with banks for restructuring Rs 20,000 crore of
debt and expects to complete the formalities by end-June.According
to the plan, a portion of the debt will be converted into long-term
loans at fixed rates of interest with the remainder being converted into
cumulative redeemable preference shares which will be redeemed after 15
years.
For banks, to avoid a default from Air India-- reeling under
accumulated loss of nearly Rs 16,000 crore over three years -- the only
option is to agree to restructuring lest they will be further burdened
with a huge amount of non-performing loans.The restructuring will
help the airline save at least Rs 600 crore in interest costs and boost
liquidity, spokesman K. Swaminathan wrote in an email response to a
Reuters query.Air India has set a target to enhance its revenues by
Rs 5000 crore and also to reduce costs by Rs 4,000 crore a year, post
the restructuring, according to its website.Of the 26 lenders, at least four with whom Reuters spoke expressed concern about the restructuring package.
"They
are asking for large number of concessions, longer period, more amount
to be converted into cumulative redeemable preference shares and at
lesser rate of interest," said one of the lenders, who did not wish to
be identified.
19/05/11 Reuters/Business Standard
