Aviation News May 20 2011

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