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FINNAIR BULLISH ABOUT INDIA ALL-CARGO AIRPORTS READY TO ROLL? April 2007

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EDITOR-IN-CHIEF’S NOTE

What’s the policy, Mantriji?

S

O WHAT’S changed so spectacularly in the last one year for civil aviation minister Praful Patel to revisit his Gulf policy?

It was only 12 months back—during a review of the civil aviation policy draft—that the ministry had proposed extension of the public sector monopoly over Gulf routes till 2010. The idea was to give Indian (Airlines) and Air India a couple more years of free run on this lucrative sector. However, the policy was recently reviewed and the edict is that private carriers should be allowed to operate Gulf flights from next year.

The sudden change in the government stance is no surprise. There have been too many such flipflops in the past (the last spectacular instance was the ruckus over the proposed decision to increasing navigation and landing charges at major metros, which came under fire in the Delhi High Court during a PIL hearing on airlines levying congestion charges) for one to believe that this policy has been well thought out.

If the logic is that the merged new national carrier will now have the muscle to take on the competition, then, perhaps, this thought has come a whit too late in the day. Merged or otherwise the two entities had enough firepower to take on all comers from Day One. The only problem was aircraft. The two airlines didn’t have enough planes to fly into the Gulf.

Indian, which began operations long after AI into the Gulf, has often admitted privately that it could fly into the Gulf from at least half a dozen more stations, but was hampered by lack of aircraft. Of course, you could lease them. But the lease during the past two years have shot through the roof and aircraft aren’t waiting parked to be picked up.

So if the logic is that the new aircraft are arriving and, therefore, the merged new airline can take on all comers, then it’s completely flawed. For one, the aircraft are arriving one by one and as they arrive they replace old and ageing ones and also serve to replace expensive leased aircraft. Clearly, most of them will go into existing routes barring, maybe the odd aircraft that looks at pulling in traffic from some

CRUISING HEIGHTS April 2007

additional stations.

What has happened in the past 12 months that could have prompted the government to revisit a policy that it revisits whenever convenient?

Most critical is the piling losses of the private sector carriers. Both Jet and Sahara are bleeding (as are all the others) and the Gulf route is a great milch cow that can generate huge profits (both Indian and Air India make their highest numbers from these routes). The idea, therefore, is to give them an opportunity to make some money.

Jet will be getting new aircraft in the next one year and will be conveniently placed to redeploy its resources on the short-haul sector. While the 777s fly to Europe and the US, the 737s can move into the Gulf and the Bangkok-Singapore jig.

So much of traffic rights have been given away to the likes of Emirates, Etihad and Qatar that Indian and Air India or even the combined entity will simply not be able to use these rights. So, the best way out of the present situation will be to allow the private sector players to go abroad.

Now that the decision has been made—and the draft policy redrafted again—Praful Patel can still make the best of it if he can persuade Jet and Sahara to do what he has often done with Indian and Air India. Last year, he had AI do a PuneDubai flight. And he had Indian do NagpurBangkok operations (to be fair he persuaded Air Arabia and Qatar to start operations from his hometown as well). Maybe he should persuade Naresh Goyal to do Kolkata-Dubai operations and Sahara to fly from Nagpur to Abu Dhabi. He could even ask them to fly from Visakhapatnam, Lucknow, Indore, Jaipur, Bhopal and the vast Indian heartland.

If he does that he will achieve two objectives.

For one, he will open up this country well and truly for world-class overseas travel and give the Gulf carriers a run for their money. More important, by his own admission, our major airports are congested. This step will signal that he isn’t adding to the pressure by allowing new flights from Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore.

Lastly, no one will say he is trying to please friends at the cost of a larger, more holistic policy.

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Off the cuff

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Tough luck, mate Britons travelling to the USA are increasingly under scrutiny these days. According to a report in The Telegraph, Britishers could have their credit card and email accounts inspected by the United States authorities. This follows a deal struck by the European Union and Washington.

By using a credit card to book a flight, passengers face having other transactions on the card inspected by the American authorities.

Providing an email address to an airline could also lead to scrutiny of other messages sent or received on that account. The extent of the demands were disclosed in “undertakings” given by the US Department of Homeland Security to the European Union and published by the Department for Transport after a Freedom of Information request.

About four million Britons travel to America each year and the released document shows that the US has demanded access to far more data than previously realised. Not only will such material be available when combating terrorism but the Americans have asserted the right to the same information when dealing with other serious crimes.

This heightened security regime follows the moves taken by the US authorities after 9/11. They demanded that airlines provide comprehensive information about passengers before allowing them to land. This, however, triggered a dispute that came to a head in 2006.

On one hand, airlines were told they must provide the information, on the other they were threatened with heavy fines by EU governments for breaching European data protection legislation.

In October last year, the European Union agreed to put an end to all the obstacles and in came the new rules.

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contents

SKY-HIGH ENTERTAINMENT

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Music, movies and games at 30,000 feet in the air. That's the name of the wooing game that airlines, both domestic and international, are playing. Passengers today have personal seatback systems that contain virtually hundreds of choices along with a wide variety of television programmes to keep themselves entertained through the duration of a flight.

ALL-CARGO AIRPORTS READY TO ROLL? p26 The civil aviation ministry is framing a policy for development of airports exclusively for cargo operations. The proposal is expected to give a much-needed boost to the air cargo segment, which has lagged behind even as the Indian aviation sector has witnessed double-digit growth.

CRUISING HEIGHTS April 2007

PERSPECTIVE

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Air Deccan has been in the news lately.

Cruising Heights talked to the low-cost carrier’s CEO, Warwick Brady, for his views on the overbooking controversy, his plans to take Air Deccan to a status similar to that enjoyed by Ryanair and the new systems he has been putting in place.

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ARTICLES NEWS VIEWS EDITS INTERVIEWS CLIPPINGS TRAVEL & TOURISM PROFILES NEWS DIGEST

CRUISING HEIGHTS K. SRINIVASAN Editor-in-Chief

TIRTHANKAR GHOSH Managing Editor

R. KRISHNAN Consulting Editor

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NEWS DIGEST

INTERVIEW

RUCHI SINHA PRADEEP JHA Layout Artists

BHART BHARDWAJ

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Taina Tornstrom, Finnair's Director for the Indian Subcontinent, is delighted at the response to their Delhi operations. Encouraged, she speaks about the airline's plans to expand it operations in India.

BACK PAGE

SHIVANGI SHARMA Editorial Coordinator

The year has been a horrible one for Airbus Industrie, as the delay to its A380 super-jumbo programme has led to a US $1.01 billion, or 768 million euros, fourth-quarter loss. What is hurting the aircraft giant is that its new A350 XWB is five years behind its rival Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner, which has already notched up 464 firm orders.

SPECIAL FEATURE ON AAI p39

Art Director

Propelled by the Government's 'Look East' policy, the Airports Authority of India has taken the initiative to transform the Northeast into a gateway of India. The AAI has planned to spend Rs. 158 cr on upgradation and improvement of facilities in the East and Northeast during the 10th Five Year Plan.

RAJIV SINGH

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Captain Gopinath pulled off a coup of sorts when he got the Dalai Lama to bless and inaugurate the newlylaunched Air Deccan flight to Kangra.

Plus Kingfisher chief Vijay Mallya teams up with ace speedster Ralf Schumacher

GLOBE TROTTING p24 A new study has revealed that older pilots actually show less decline in their aviation skills over time than their younger peers.

CRUISING HEIGHTS April 2007

H.C. TIWARI

Consulting Photographer Gen. Manager (Admn.)

RENU MITTAL Executive Director

Editorial & Marketing office: Newsline Publications Pvt. Ltd. C-15, Sector-6 Noida-201301 Telfax.: +91-120-4257701-03 All information in CRUISING HEIGHTS is derived from sources we consider reliable.It is passed on to our readers without any responsibility on our part.

Opinions/views expressed by third parties in abstract or in interviews are not necessarily shared by us. Material appearing in the magazine cannot be reproduced in whole or in part(s) without prior permission. The publisher assumes no responsibility for material lost or damaged in transit. The publisher reserves the right to refuse, withdraw or otherwise deal with all advertisements without explanation. All advertisements must comply with the Indian Advertisements Code. The publisher will not be liable for any loss caused by any delay in publication, error or failure of advertisement to appear.

Published by K. Srinivasan 4C Pocket-IV, Mayur Vihar Phase 1, Delhi 110091 and printed by K. Srinivasan at Nutech Photolithographers, C-74, Okhla Industrial Area, phase-I, New Delhi 110 020 Vol 1 No 11 Nandu Manjeshwar reported for the special feature, AAI on the fast track in the East and Northeast.

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PERISCOPE

How cute...

“

“You [Praful Patel] are the most popular minister.”

Lok Sabha Speaker SOMNATH CHATTERJEE appreciating the prompt replies given by Patel to a volley of questions in Lok Sabha on modernisation and upgradation of airports across the country.

LETTERS TO EDITOR

THE BUDGET this time, as far as aviation is concerned, was actually zilch.

Your hard-hitting editorial conducted a fine postmortem. What I fail to understand is that is the finance minister actually taking us to be people who cannot comprehend what he is up to?

Sumit Kalra, on email

THE SPECIAL REPORT on Managing the Merger (March 2007 issue) was a real good peek into what is actually going on between Praful Patel, Air India and Indian. I fully well agree with you that Praful is trying his level best to get the staffers of both the airlines to relax and get out of their nervousness, but when read in the light of your editorial ‘Maybe Roses Were Inappropriate’ (February 2007 issue), I have got totally confused. Although you have presented an impartial analysis of the situation, I guess only when the merger actually takes place, will things become clear.

Akshay Jain, Mumbai

I APPRECIATE the way the Hon’ble High Court of Delhi came down upon the civil aviation ministry. I am very sure that the ministry would have succeeded in its move had it not been for the bad timing that the Hon’ble High Court of Delhi was hearing another PIL on congestion charges. It appears as though sheer providence has intervened to help the travelling public at large.

Thank god.

Kalpana Agnihotri, New Delhi THE COLLECTION of news items in the Globetrotting section this time (March 2007) were really interesting ones. I especially liked the way in which the French pilot had the hijacker fooled and overpowered. The best part was that the passengers in the aircraft fully cooperated with the pilot in overpowering the hijacker.

Jyoti Kashyap, on email All correspondence may be addressed to Editor, Cruising Heights,C-15, Sector-6, Noida-201301 OR mail to newslinepublications@rediffmail.com

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Boeing’s bearings “In this particular case, misery doesn’t love company [referring to Airbus’ own troubles].

We wish [Boeing] well, to get an airplane out the door on time. ... Despite our extensive experience in delaying aircraft programmes, we don’t have any particular inside knowledge about the 787 programme.”

Airbus SAS chief operating officer, JOHN LEAHY, taking a friendly jab at Boeing on the rumours that the Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner might be delayed by up to six months.

Any targets?

“We are developing a scheme that will enable all of our employees to sell tickets for an adequate compensation. Of course, this will not be at the cost of their work.”

Chairman and managing director, Air-India, VASUDEVAN THULASIDAS on Air-India’s planning to introduce a scheme that will allow its employees, besides travel agents, to sell tickets.

Wah Wadia “Looking at the value proposition, i.e., high salary and good lifestyle, even I wouldn’t mind switching and becoming a pilot.”

GoAir managing director JEH WADIA on the lucrative pay packets offered by airlines to pilots.

Rubbing salt...

“Global warming and changing climatic conditions are a worldwide concern today. These energyefficient and environment friendly [rail] systems would go a long way in alleviating these concerns.”

Union Minister of Railways LALU PRASAD YADAV taking an indirect jab at budget airlines, which are under fire for their contribution to global warming.

CRUISING HEIGHTS April 2007

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Our airports

Our guests

A total of 9,77,031 (prov) foreign tourists visited India during January and February 2007, while the figure was 8,51,458 for the corresponding period in 2006 and 7,55,821 in 2005.

India earned Rs 6303.46 crore (prov) in foreign exchange during January and February 2007, while the earning was Rs 5358.05 crore for the corresponding period in 2006 and Rs 4669.38 crore in 2005.

All the airports in the country handled 90.44 million passengers during the calendar year 2006, compared with 67.95 million handled during the same period in the previous year.

Domestic passenger traffic stood at 65.69 million during January-December 2006, registering a growth of close to 42 per cent over the previous 12-month period.

In December 2006 alone, the airports handled 9.48 million passengers, while during the same month in the preceding year it was 7.24 million passengers.

COLD STATS

Source: Airports Authority of India

Source: Press Information Bureau

LOOKING GLASS

I asked the Calculated Landing Time, not for a mid-air COLLISION time...

Moving base “The brutal truth is that countries such as China, India and Russia are making it clear to Airbus and to US rival Boeing that if they want their business they are going to have to provide Airbus work in their country.”

Editor of online publication Air Transport Intelligence KIERAN DALY on work on the Airbus to move outside Europe in future to countries like India, Russia and China.

Dime a dozen?

“Indian flying schools only churn out pilots with a commercial pilot licence (CPL) or private pilot licence, and they hardly possess the expertise to fly the sophisticated aircraft of today’s airlines.”

Boeing’s Senior VP of sales, DINESH KESKAR, on the acute shortage of pilots in the country and their plans to recruit foreign pilots.

CRUISING HEIGHTS April 2007

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OFF THE RECORD

Star cast

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HE DINNER AT THE Taj was to say ‘goodbye’ to Ajay Prasad, who has retired at the end of January as the civil aviation secretary. And the host was the chairman of the Airports Authority of India K. Ramalingam. But it was a dinner with a difference. The AAI chairman decided it would be a good idea to get together several of Prasad’s predecessors to the dinner. So one had the rare occasion when, apart from Prasad and his successor Ashok Chawla, there were Ravindra Gupta (who was the secretary when the Kandahar hijack took place), P.V. Jaikrishnan (who served in more sedate

times and was briefly chairman AI), and Zafar Jung coming together at the rooftop restaurant at the Taj. The only one missing in the frame was Prasad’s predecessor K.

Roy Paul. The peripatetic Paul was as usual out of town. Clearly it was an evening full of bonhomie and happiness. The AAI chief also chose to invite the private sector bosses and had Kiran Kumar Grandhi and Srinivas Bommidala at the do. And the entire top brass of both the civil aviation ministry and the AAI were there in full strength. And the effervescent Kanu Gohain was all over the place. Minister Praful Patel had plenty of good things to say about Ajay Prasad and it was clear from the latter’s remarks that it was a two-man mutual admiration society. As the stars twinkled and the spirits soared, there was laughter and joy and those tough days, when the AAI and the ministry and the AAI and GMR were at loggerheads, looked a million years ago. Such eons away.

Bidding adieu: Scenes from the farewell party

CRUISING HEIGHTS April 2007

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OFF THE RECORD

Bali tales

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S HE star struck or is it that he is struck with the stars? The latter looks a tad possible, considering he stays on Napean Sea Road, calls them his personal friends and enjoys their company. No surprise. That’s the choice of more than half of India and Praful Patel belongs to that majority.

So there he was to keep the company of his friend Subhash Chandra, of Zee TV, at its annual cine awards jamboree and flying them into Genting was the peripatetic Vijay Mallya, Kingfisher chief, who went to the Malaysian highland resort before flying Mr and Mrs Mantri to Bali for a brief holiday.

McNerney’s flying visit

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OEING CHAIRMAN, president and chief executive officer W. James McNerney, Jr, was on a

whirlwind tour of the country, flying into Mumbai first and later into Delhi to catch up with aviation bosses, ministers and the

prime minister. Accompanying him on the trip was the company’s senior VP Dinesh Keskar. Those in the know say the trip wasn’t really about the airline business (Keskar has already sold a record number to Air India as well as the private sector), but had more to do with Defence. Amongst those who McNerney met during the course of his India visit were V. Thulasidas (with whom he had dinner in Mumbai), civil aviation minister Praful Patel, vice chairman of the Planning Commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia (see picture above) and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. Interestingly, Air India will receive the first of its 777s this month from Seattle.

Bzzz…zzz…zzz…

The file is moving: Caught in a minor turbulence, Major Tyagi’s file to take over as the head of Pawan Hans is finally believed to be moving for the final round of clearances at the ACC level.

This GM (logistics) at ONGC had a few hiccups along the way, but they have turned out to be minor in nature and Tyagi could be in the hot seat sooner rather than later.

Unwell Thulasi: All the tension of the merger and the running around seems to

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have finally got around to AI CMD Vasudevan Thulasidas. The good man was bedridden for nearly a week and a half in late March. A diabetic, who has been unusually particular about his health, it is evident that all this DelhiMumbai shuttling does him no good.

Maybe he should take it easy for a while.

Dubai, here I come: Abhay Pathak has much to be pleased about. Vishwapati Trivedi’s Officer on Special Duty

CRUISING HEIGHTS April 2007

(OSD) has been appointed as the next RD (Dubai) to replace Pankaj Shrivastava.That Pathak enjoys the confidence of the CMD goes without saying. He couldn’t have pulled off the job or got into his secretariat without the CMD’s nod. Interestingly, Pathak has joined in Dubai as an understudy to Pankaj, who is expected to return home in the next few weeks. To use the Virgina Slims advertising catchline: You’ve come a long way, baby. In Pathak’s case a long way from Goa.

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PERSPECTIVE

I check in, you deliver!

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HE NEW ground-handling policy formulated by the ministry of civil aviation has already become unpopular with the domestic airlines. No surprise. Once the policy is notified, they will lose even their right to self-handling.

At the head of the protest are Jet, Sahara and Kingfisher. Sources state that even Indian is very unhappy with this development notwithstanding its forced marriage with Air India and a foreign spouse, SATS, which was the original suitor chosen by Indian but later forced to share with Air India.

In a meeting with civil aviation secretary Ashok Chawla, they argued that they should be allowed to continue with the business they had been carrying on all these years. While it is a moot point if the

“We do not overbook nor do we doctor figures” Air Deccan COO Warwick Brady rubbishes claims of overbooking

Ten Questions

Q

TV channels claim that Air Deccan is a serial offloader of passengers. Is that true?

A

Air Deccan does not overbook nor does it doctor any figures. Air Deccan closes check-in counters 30 minutes prior to departure. This is done to ensure that the flights leave on time. If passengers report beyond the counter closure time, they are not allowed to board the flight and they lose their money.

Q

Did you ever report 161 passengers and check in 180?

A That is absurd. Why would we do that? To earn a few pennies? We had a total passenger load of 180 passengers, out of which 10 did not turn up in time. The flight took off with 170 passengers on board.

Q

There is an instance of a passenger being offloaded midway on his flight, and being overcharged by the ticket booking staff. The passen-

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ger was charged for four tickets, while he had asked only for one. His credit card details were taken on phone by the ticket booking staff and he was told that the system hasn’t been able to process the request. Is this true?

A There could be systemic or connectivity errors, which could lead to the request not being processed on the front end but payment being processed at the back end. This is not typical of Air Deccan alone, but generally with e-commerce sites. In all such cases at Air Deccan, the refund team verifies the request and processes the claims.

Q

Q

Q

DGCA has now ordered a probe*?

A We of course welcome the probe, as they would be able to independently audit the bookings and procedures.

If there are any glitches in our system, we would be glad to improve. * The DGCA has completed the probe and the report is expected to be out shortly.

CRUISING HEIGHTS April 2007

A copy of the passenger manifest is submitted to the Airports Authority of India, Bangalore, for the calculation of PSF. This document is meant to be a sacrosanct piece of paper, but clearly isn’t. According to TV reports, several versions are being circulated by your airline.

A The copy of the passenger manifest submitted to the Airports Authority of India is the checked-in manifest. There is only one version. The checked-in manifest will not have any duplication of passengers nor will it reflect the no-show passengers.

We are not too sure what multiple reports are being talked about.

There have been reports that a passenger on a Delhi-bound flight was not allowed to travel even after his boarding pass and ticket were issued. The passenger has alleged that he was forcibly taken off the plane in a bid to pave way for a VIP passenger.

A Unlike other airlines, ours is one airline that has the full inventory

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government will revise the policy, civil aviation minister Praful Patel seems to be firm that if these airlines want to participate in the ground-handling business, then they should hive off that business from their main business of running the airline and separately bid for ground-handling jobs.

Jet Airways has close to 5,000 employees involved in various ground-handling activities, Air Sahara has 2,000 and Indian has as many with a director in-charge of ground support division. If reports are to be believed, many of the employees have got the jitters and are petitioning MPs and other influential persons to intervene on their behalf.

It is not that they are worried about losing their job, but the very fact that there could be an upheaval and they could end up

available on the Web and we do not have a term called VIP in our booking system. So, VIP is no reason to offload a passenger.

Q

And how do you explain this story from Kolkata: His marriage was deferred at least by a day because of the reported communication gap between the travel agent and the staff of Air Deccan. Mr Dipen Chatterjee was scheduled to go to Agartala from Kolkata by an Air Deccan flight, but could not because the number of boarding passes issued to passengers was more than the number of seats in the aircraft.

A Mr Dipen Chatterjee’s tickets were cancelled by his travel agent (inadvertently, we presume), and that was why we could not allow him to board the flight. In fact, as a goodwill gesture, we offered him and his wife return tickets to any Air Deccan destination to celebrate their wedding!!!

Q

When you came in from Ryanair, the idea was that systems would be put in place and the sort of things mentioned above would not happen. Why are they happening? Is it a personnel failure? Systemic failure or did these incidents not happen?

A Air Deccan has come a long way since I have been here. Gopi had a grand vision and I came to help him get the operations in place. We have more than

with a different company has them worried.

Their present employers, the airlines, aren't too unhappy with this lobbying on the side.

They are looking for a way out as well.

What is even more interesting in the policy is the right of managing the baggage, or what is called the ‘Baggage Reconciliation System’, which has been left to the management of the airport developer. For example, GMR is developing the airport in Delhi and building a new one in Hyderabad. Once the bids for ground handling is finalised and given, the new ground-handling agency will be allowed to receive the baggage of the passengers till he checks in.

Once the baggage moves on the conveyor belt and gets deposited in the common hold area on the ground floor before being

transported to the aircraft, it becomes the job of the airport developer to do the baggage reconciliation.

The airport developer is the one who will float the tender and is the tenderer as well. To a passenger, the agency that receives and dispatches the baggage to the aircraft is the ground handler. Since the airport developer has decided to do baggage reconciliation, the main handler who receives the baggage from the passenger and checks it in has no role to play after the check in. So what happens if the baggage does not arrive at its destination?

Will he blame the first ground handler or the second who does the baggage reconciliation?

What do you say, Mr Praful Patel?

doubled the fleet since then, opened up a host of destinations and have worked at getting the operations on time, and presently I am happy with the change that has been brought about. Most of the issues that are popping up are related to technology—we have now migrated to a new system and once the same settles down, we hope to overcome most of these issues we are facing.

Q

When can we have an Air Deccan that’s as good, if not better than Ryanair or Easy Jet? A We are on the way to getting there.

If the infrastructure were in place, then you probably would have had it earlier.

Ryanair does not battle for basic issues, like parking slots and other requirements; it concentrates on the operational issues. Now that the government is investing a lot of time, money and resources on infrastructure development, you sure will see a lot of improvement.

Q

Lastly, a word on your on-time performance and the decision to end the congestion charge.

A Our on-time performance has improved dramatically; we are at 98 per cent within one hour. The idea of the congestion surcharge was to highlight to the government the issues being faced by the airlines. Now that we have made the point we have removed it.

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New norms

Accordingly, the paid-up capital norms for operating five aircraft above 40,000 kg (Boeing and Airbus) increased from Rs 30 crore to Rs 50 crore. Beyond this, for every five aircraft added, the additional equity requirement would be Rs 20 crore. The paid-up capital norms for operating five aircraft below 40,000 kg,

IT WAS ALWAYS known and it was always coming. Earlier the likes of Air Sahara and Jet wanted to keep out competition. Later the new ones joined the gang to keep out competition. Now the sheer difficulty to either take-off or land or even hover in the sky for longer periods than the actual flight time has compelled the ministry of civil aviation (MOCA) to raise a new kind of entry barrier by upping the capital requirement of new would-be airlines wanting to do business. According to a decision taken by MOCA and notified, the minimum equity capital requirement of carriers to start has been raised. Since it will seem very uncompetitive and discriminatory, MOCA has raised the investment bar for the existing players as well, describing them as those wanting to continue operations.

like Embraers and Bombardiers, has been increased from Rs 10 crore to Rs 20 crore.

Beyond this, for every five aircraft added, there is an equity requirement of Rs 10 crore. Once the paid-up equity has been

CRUISING HEIGHTS April 2007

increased to Rs 100 crore, there would be no further need to increase equity. Carriers can start operations with one, instead of three aircraft, but the fleet has to be increased to five in a year.

Significantly, the concession that a scheduled airline can have only 10 per cent of its paid-up capital at the time of NOC has been withdrawn. This means the intending applicant will have to come up with full money upfront to get his NOC and not raise money once he gets the permit. This will definitely eliminate non-serious players. In this context, it may be pointed out that at least two carriers are waiting in the wings to get permission to fly.

They are Star Aviation (a member of Al Ghuriar group) and Premier Airways, to fly by brand Easy Air, being promoted by US-based NRIs.

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Panvel calling WORK ON MUMBAI’S second international airport is all set to start once the Union Cabinet gives its approval, which is expected sometime this month. Should the clearance come as expected, then the work on the second international airport in Mumbai is likely to be completed by 2013 or just around the time when the existing Mumbai airport being modernised and upgraded by GVK is on its way to saturation. According to Deepak Kapoor, Joint Managing Director of CIDCO, global tender for starting work on the second airport

located at Navi Mumbai has all been finalised. Passenger traffic is expected to touch 90 million by 2030 and the second airport will be needed to meet an extra 50 million passengers that the existing two airports in Mumbai will be unable to handle.

IL&FS has given the proposed airport an internal rate of return of 17 per cent in a

best-case scenario and 14 per cent if cost escalations are included. The new second airport will be built on the same principle as Hyderabad or Bangalore. While the private consortium that wins the bid will hold 74 per cent, 13 per cent will be held by AAI and 13 per cent by CIDCO. The entire airport and ancillary services complex being developed by CIDCO is expected to come up eight kilometres from Panvel on a total land area of 2,053 hectares at village Kopar, on the outskirts of Mumbai.

Of the total land, 1,140 hectares have been reserved for core airport area, 470 hectares for commercial activities and 443 hectares for other activities. CIDCO has planned a new connectivity to the airport from Mumbai that will ensure that the maximum travel time between the city and the airport (including South Mumbai) is not more than 40 minutes.

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“We want Taina Tornstrom, Finnair’s Director for the Indian Subcontinent, is delighted at the response to their Delhi operations. As they get ready to launch their Mumbai operations, she spoke at length to K. Srinivasan about the airline’s plans to expand its operations in India and told him why travelling to Helsinki, for connectivity to Europe, is a better option than Frankfurt or London.

I

t has been a time of growth and expansion for everybody these last ten years. Finnair has entered the market rather late?

I first came here ten years ago. In that sense we were planning, but we were looking more at China those days. We started Beijing in 1988 and then we came to Shanghai, Guangzhou, Hong Kong, and somehow we put more emphasis on China. I think it is a good time to come back now. We operate an A340 to Mumbai and MD-11 to Delhi.

That is as of now. However, it will be more and more of the Airbus family, and by 2010 we will be phasing out the MD-11.

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to grow in India” What sort of load factor are you getting on your flights to Delhi?

We are happy. Last year in January, it was the third month of our operation and we were over 85 per cent. We have been very happy.

We have tie-ups with British Airways, with Iberia, in Spain. So we are in partnership.

What about business?

Business class, I believe we still have to improve it because the business traveller needs a daily product. With Delhi coming into daily operations it should improve.

With just three flights a week, it is not really possible to (scale) Business class operations…

It makes a lot of sense, seven-and-half hours into Finland and then connections all over the globe from there, which is at least two hours nearer than London. How many cities do you connect in the US and Canada?

In US, all year-round, we connect only New York. But we are in the same alliance—oneworld—with American Airlines. We operate just JFK ourselves. We have summer operations there to cities like Toronto, but they are seasonal operations. But all year-round we have a daily New York.

What about Europe?

We do over forty destinations ourselves and we also have partnerships in Europe.

“

We would love to show the passengers from India not only Finland, but also the whole of Scandinavia...

We would love to let them stop and look around or at least use Helsinki airport as a gateway.

“

Why only five flights to Mumbai?

Well, actually we had applied for five slots because we had no aircraft to put on the seven slots.

Most global carriers, like American Airlines or Emirates or Lufthansa, look at India’s potential overseas traffic and use the hub-and-spoke model to fill their planes. That doesn’t seem to be Finnair’s model.

We are actually not even targetting the US that much. It can be full of traffic, maybe seasonally. We look at ourselves as a carrier between Europe and Asia.

This is our strategy. We would love to show them not only Finland, but also the whole of Scandinavia. We know that first-time travellers don’t go to one country. They love to go and visit all of it. So we would love to let them stop and look around or at least use Helsinki airport as a gateway.

But why should I take Finnair, as opposed to Lufthansa or Air France or British Airways? What is the USP? Because we think we offer good value for money for what you pay and what you get.

Your tickets are not cheaper. Your services are almost on par?

At least we think our service is very good value for money and in Business class we offer lie-flat seats. The competition doesn’t necessarily do it from India, in fact most of them don’t ... that is definitely an advantage. Then Helsinki, as a gateway, when compared with London or Frankfurt, is small but very smooth, everything under one roof. So people like changing aircraft in Helsinki.

So you think that you offer things that others don’t, as a gateway and in terms of services in flight?

Yes, we think we offer good service, good

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value for money, superior service in Business class due to our lie-flat seats, short flight time—seven-and-half hours only— and a very good airport to change aircraft.

Are you looking at other cities in India to expand operations?

We are looking a little south. Could be Chennai, could be Bangalore, we haven’t really decided. Even our bilateral has to be renegotiated because in our bilateral we have only Mumbai and Delhi. Yes, we want to grow in India.

Are you also looking at Fifth Freedom from India?

No. Actually we have changed our strategy a little during this year because earlier we used to have a few flights like Helsinki-Bangkok-Singapore and in Europe we were operating similarly. This is all history now. Wherever we go, we

“

I think from India the biggest segment is the business travel, but everything has a little mix because we have seen that Indian business travellers like to combine business and pleasure

“

You also mentioned the fact that you have Indian cabin crew? How many of them have you hired?

We are now hiring 13 for Mumbai, we have 6-7 for Delhi and there is another course taking place at Helsinki for another six. We will have a (combined) base of 26 in the two cities. Thirteen here and 13 in Mumbai. They will be based in Delhi.

So there are two on every flight—one in Business and one in Economy. We have our own catering division and they are Ambassador Catering in India, who are our partners. They have trained cooks in Helsinki and they cook Indian meals.

operate only non-stops, point-to-point.

So Helsinki-Bangkok-Singapore is now history. We used to operate HelsinkiBangkok-Hong Kong; now we operate Helsinki-Hong Kong non-stop.

Why have you changed your strategy?

From the customer’s point of view, this is what the people want and it is much more cost effective.

How crucial is Asia to your overall business?

Asia is around 30 per cent of our business.

We have three cities in Japan—Tokyo, Osaka and Nagoya. Then we have four cities in China—Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Hong Kong. We have Bangkok. And now two cities in India.

What are your plans in the next 12-14 months in India?

I think during the next 12 months we will be daily to Mumbai. Delhi would already be daily. In one year from now, we would be having daily both to Mumbai and Delhi and then we could move forward.

You will be happy with what numbers in your first year of operation? Is there any potential for consistent tourist traffic?

The numbers are very encouraging, so we are confident that the numbers will be quite good. Of course, being an airline our number can differ a little from the tourist numbers because their numbers are to Finland as a whole. People like to visit several places and we also carry tourists who are going beyond the northern part of Europe, to Central Europe. Moreover, the tourist traffic is very seasonal from India, the peak season being April. I think for the winter tourist we have to work a little hard ...

What sort of traffic are you carrying at the moment from here?

I think from India the biggest segment is the business travel, but everything has a little mix because we have seen that Indian business travellers like to combine business and pleasure. They like to stay over, spend a weekend in Helsinki—a new place they haven’t been to—so I think the main and the biggest segment is business.

And the outbound?

Well, traffic originating from India is this, but the traffic originating in Scandinavia is business and leisure groups. And they come during the winters because India summers are too hot. When summer begins here, it is the Indians who move

out.

CRUISING HEIGHTS April 2007

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NEWS DIGEST

Aggressive marketing

W

E HAD only heard of an aggressive Dubai-based Emirates wanting to suck passengers out of India and deposit them in various important Western destinations, particularly in the UK and the US. A competition of sorts is now emerging from Abu Dhabi-based Etihad. According to an MoU signed between India and the UAE on March 15 this year, the number of flights between Abu Dhabi and India has been increased from the present 10 a week to 21 a week. Director General of UAE’s Civil Aviation Authority, Mohammed Ganem Al-Gaith and R.K. Singh, joint secretary, ministry of civil aviation, signed the agreement.

As per the deal, Etihad Airways, Abu Dhabi’s national carrier, will increase the frequency of its Abu Dhabi-New Delhi flight from the current thrice a week to a daily service from June.

Besides, it will add two more destina-

tions—Kochi and Thiruvananthapuram.

The flight to Thiruvananthapuram began from March 31, while that to Kochi from June 3. The 21 flights authorised to Etihad is less than half the number of flights Emirates has been authorised to operate between Dubai and various Indian destinations. One of the main reasons is the firstcomer status of Emirates soon after the only and earlier predecessor representing the entire UAE—Gulf Air—shrunk following various emirates setting up their own airlines. Moreover, Emirates has also become a leading airline in the world with flights to every important destination in the world, west or east.

As reported earlier in March, the decision of Emirates to connect new destinations in the US is being watched keenly by the aviation industry, as it will give an additional opportunity to passengers in India to reach out to newer points in the US via Dubai, where Emirates is headquartered. It is against this background one needs to see the expansion plan of Etihad, a fairly new entrant in the business of airlines. So it will be seen with great interest as to how much

The tail of the Centaur WHOEVER SAID that corporate identity is the commercial visual image that a company projects to its public, may not have had Air India’s new version of the Centaur in mind.

The Centaur, which, incidentally, is a stylised version of Sagittarius, the ninth sign of the Zodiac, has been Air India’s logo. It symbolises

movement and speed. Now that the merger with Indian is coming, there are many who feel that the Centaur logo should be changed.

According to Sujata Keshavan Guha, managing director of Ray and Keshavan, the Centaur does not make any sense. Why on earth should a Greek

CRUISING HEIGHTS April 2007

of the westbound Indian market is taken away by Etihad. One of the non-UAE but nevertheless a leading carrier from the Middle East is also sharpening its plan to tap the Indian market vigorously—Qatar Airways.

The airline launched its daily service between Doha and Chennai—the airline’s sixth Indian destination—in the last week of March. But that’s not the story. Come June, the airline will begin its direct service between Doha and New York. A few months later, it will fly between Doha and Washington DC, non-stop. It also intends to introduce flights from Doha to Geneva and Stockholm this summer. It believes that it gives Indian public travelling to the US a good choice of travel, via Doha. The economy fare between Chennai and Doha is priced at around Rs 21,000, excluding taxes.

Between Chennai and New York the fare is Rs 36,560, plus taxes.

That’s akin to doing an Emirates on Emirates!

mythical creature be an Indian icon when there are so many in our culture?

There is another interpretation, too.

Ashwini Deshpande, founder director and principal designer of Elephant Strategy + Design, said that the sliced or enlarged portions of the Centaur on the tail of a plane looks like a Chinese character.

We might be cosying up to the Chinese, but our standard-bearing international carrier cannot be confused for a Chinese airline. After all, why can’t we settle for something Indian?

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NEWS DIGEST

Airbus: mixed bag

T

WO IMPORTANT news clips from Airbus Industrie. The bad one first. Major delays in the A380 super-jumbo programme has led to a US $1.01 billion, or 768 million euros, fourth-quarter loss in 2006, which has been described as the worst year in the European plane builder EADS’ history, according to its co-chief executive officer Louis Gallois. “It is clear.

It was the worst year for Airbus in its life.”

The other co-CEO Tom Enders said, “The company needs innovation, more focused innovation.” They said the problems at Airbus would continue to be felt through 2007.

In the last quarter of 2005, EADS made a profit of 405 million euros.

But with two A380 super-jumbos making successful transatlantic flights, the programme is right back on track. One more reason for the hurting financial performance of Airbus is the delay in the launch of A350XWB programme. The rescheduled official launch of A350 in December 2006 is reportedly progressing smoothly. Finnair PLC has signed a firm contract for eleven of these planes and Airbus is in talks with

22

other airlines about converting 93 outstanding A350 orders for the wide-body model. However, the new A350XWB is five years behind its rival Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner, which has already notched up 464 firm orders.

While there were no Indians on the transatlantic crossing of the A380s, Ashwini Phadnis, of the Hindu Businessline, travelled on the flight from Frankfurt to Hong Kong. His reaction: “fantastic.” He was joined there by four other Indian journos, who were taken on a hour-long

tour over Hong Kong to tell them more about the A380. The flight from Frankfurt took off late in the evening and the journey was made through the night, landing at 11 am, local time Hong Kong.

The HK flight is part of a series of technical route proving flights, with two earlier ones having been made to New York and Los Angeles. While at HKIA, the

CRUISING HEIGHTS April 2007

super jumbo will go through a series of facility trials, including parking at aerobridges, connecting to fixed ground power and receiving pre-conditioned air. Ramp services, such as catering, line maintenance and aircraft refuelling were also tested.

From its start in Toulouse, France, on November 13, the current technical route proving exercise will see ten different airports visited in four trips by the time the testing is complete: Singapore and Seoul, and Hong Kong and Narita being Trips

One and Two, respectively. The third trip will take the aircraft to Guangzhou (November 22) and Beijing and Shanghai (November 23).

The fourth and final trip will take the A380 around the globe, via both poles. It will depart from Toulouse to reach Johannesburg on November 26, and then fly over

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Open season

ag

the South Pole en route to Sydney, where it will arrive on November 28.

From Sydney, it will fly across the Pacific to Vancouver (November 29) prior to returning to Toulouse via the North Pole.

During this technical route proving exercise, the A380 will have to demonstrate that it can be turned around as per normal airline operations. Tests will cover, amongst other things, checks on standard aircraft maintenance and behaviour, as well as typical airport operations and compatibility. These will include monitoring functions, such as bridge docking, cleaning and catering, refuelling and boarding procedures.

Five development A380s have now flown. Four aircraft, one of which is powered by the Engine Alliance GP7200 engine, are now actively involved in the intensive flight test programme, which has already reached over 730 flights and 2,300 flight hours.

The fifth aircraft is undergoing cabin installation in Hamburg. Firm orders

and commitments for the A380 currently stand at 166 aircraft for 15 customers.

There was plenty of hoopla at both the LA and New York touchdowns of the plane that preceded the Hong Kong journey. An identical A380 landed in New York within minutes of the Los Angeles touchdown, which was the first on US soil. The New York flight was the luxury version, with a plane filled with company executives, guests and the media. The Airbus that landed in Los Angeles was virtually empty of people, with 22 crewmembers, but full of added instrumentation for the test flight.

Los Angeles (LAX) had fought to host the pivotal moment in US aviation history. LAX was promised the first flight if $49 million in improvements were made at the airport. Airbus then announced this year that it planned to land the jumbo jet in New York, instead. LAX officials sent a strongly worded letter to company executives in Toulouse, and Airbus relented.

CRUISING HEIGHTS April 2007

THE US and European Union have reached an Open Skies agreement that will give airlines of both greater freedom to choose transatlantic routes and potentially revise the fares downwards. The American Transportation Secretary Mary E. Peters said the agreement would offer more choice and convenience to American consumers. The agreement intends to allow European airlines to fly from anywhere in the EU to any point in the US and vice versa while shedding rules that restrict how much fares are carriers allowed to charge from passengers. Air travel in Europe and the US accounts for 60 per cent of global air traffic and ambitious EU-US Open Skies agreement will allow more airlines to fly the lucrative transatlantic route, which is likely to be incentivised at private airlines level by offer of cheaper tickets.

It is estimated that once the deal is implemented it will lead to an extra 25 million people to travel on transatlantic flights. As on date, just about 50 million passengers make that trip annually. But there is already a demand for postponing the implementation of Open Skies by at least five months. British transport minister has voiced concern that the new deal may adversely impact the UK carriers, like BA and Virgin, as it would open up London’s Heathrow airport to more airlines, exposing Virgin and BA to more competition in their own main airport.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who, in the past, ordered sharing of common resources—army and air force—in Iraq, has now sought a five-month delay and also said it should have the automatic termination right in case the US does not engage fairly.

It appears the US has not agreed to automatic termination talk. It may be recalled that slots in Heathrow are not offered easily by BAA and often these have to be bought or swapped with other carriers. For instance, Jet Airways had to pay for the slots it got at Heathrow. However, its flights from Mumbai to the US, beginning July-August 2006, are supposed to be via Brussels (Belgium). It also remains to be seen how Air India meets the new challenge of heavy traffic on EUUS transatlantic route.

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GLOBETROTTING

AT A GLANCE

Any takers?

WHEN MR A. SRINIVAS got his dates mixed up and flew a week before his scheduled date of flying, no one noticed it.

He should have been on Air Sahara’s February 18 flight from Delhi to Kochi, but took the flight on February 11, instead.

Airport security officials looked at his e-ticket and waved him in. At the ‘crowded’ Sahara Airlines counter, he presented his ticket for flight number S2 147. He was asked if he had baggage to check in. When he said no, he was asked his seat preference, and he opted for an aisle seat. He got his boarding pass to fly to Kochi. Only when he arrived there, three hours later, did he realise he had made a mistake. Of course, Air Sahara was tight-lipped about the incident.

Age improves flying

A

NEW STUDY shows that older pilots actually show less decline in their aviation skills over time than their younger peers. Dr Joy L. Taylor and colleagues say that like expert chess players and musicians, highly skilled pilots have built expertise that can offset the loss of certain skills that comes with aging.

Their findings have implications for understanding the competence of all older workers, not just pilots, they add.

At the Stanford/VA Aging Clinical

Shooting grounds pilot Research Centre, in Palo Alto, California, Taylor and her team followed 118 pilots, ranging in age from 40 to 69, for three years. The pilots were divided into three levels of expertise based on their Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) rating.

They were tested annually for air-traffic controller communications, traffic avoidance, scanning instruments, approach to landing, and summary flight score. The most expert pilots scored highest on tests of flight performance, and showed the least decline in their skills over time. Their performance was particularly strong in communication and approach to landing.

Medal after 41 years RETIRED LIEUTENANT COLONEL BRUCE CRANDALL, 74, a former US Army helicopter pilot, received the Congressional Medal of Honour, the nation’s highest military award, 41 years after he repeatedly flew into the middle of an enemy attack in Vietnam to deliver supplies to soldiers on the ground and evacuate wounded fighters.

President George W. Bush awarded the decoration to the retired pilot at a White House ceremony recently, calling him a “daring pilot, a devoted soldier and a selfless leader” for his actions during a battle in a remote area of Vietnam’s la Drang Valley.

24

CRUISING HEIGHTS April 2007

WHEN THE flight attendant took drinks for her pilot and co-pilot of a Boeing 777 en route from London to Osaka in December, the 45-year-old Japan Airlines pilot briefly seated her in his seat, placed her hands on the controls and photographed her. The aircraft, six hours into the flight after it took off from Heathrow airport, was on autopilot at cruising altitude and safety was not affected.

Calling the episode as imprudent behaviour by employees, JAL removed the 45-year-old pilot and 28-year-old attendant from flight duties. The 34-year-old co-pilot, who was also in the cockpit, also got a reprimand for failing to intervene.

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Tipsy Fergie offloaded

Booze piles up at airport

SINGER STACY ANN FERGUSON, better known as Fergie, was not allowed to board a Virgin airline flight from Los Angeles to London for being heavily drunk. The 31-year-old lead singer of the Grammy Award winning band, The Black Eyed Peas, argued with the airline staff and had to be pulled away by friends. She was drunkenly ranting at staff but could barely string a sentence together. As a result, the flight was delayed for an hour as her luggage was removed.

BOTTLES OF booze are piling up like never before at Miami International Airport. The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) says it collected more than nine tonnes of oversized bottled items at the airport from October through January. Hundreds of airline passengers each week returning from Caribbean vacations try to go through Miami’s security checkpoints carrying bottles of alcohol only to be told that they cannot carry the spirits for security reasons. Last summer, TSA adopted a policy that limits passengers to carrying only small bottles of liquids in airplane cabins. The restriction took effect after authorities disrupted an alleged plot by British terrorists to blow up U.S.-bound jets with liquid explosives. The problem is bewildering because travellers can take bottles of liquor on flights by packing them in checked luggage. Surprisingly, no one does it.

Piper stripped in Waterloo airport IN 2001, a 1973 Piper Seneca experienced engine trouble during a flight, and its owner, Jerry Dwyer, made an emergency landing at Waterloo Regional Airport (ALO), in Iowa. For the next five years, it remained there for repairs. Last year, Dwyer was shocked when he noticed parts of his aircraft were missing: first an engine and propeller, then the landing gear, seats, autopilot, the radios, and then the entire instrument panel.

Dwyer has now filed a lawsuit against the ALO airport board; the FBO, Livingston Aviation; and the man charged with stripping the aircraft, John Nocero of Cedar Falls, Iowa. On his part, Nocero admits he took some parts, but told the judge he believed the aircraft had been

abandoned. He also stated he had received permission to remove the equipment from an employee at Livingston Aviation, where the plane had sat. This is however disputed. ALO officials insist they have tried to

get Dwyer to remove the dilapidated Piper from their property since 2002 through a series of notices. That process had been suspended pending the criminal investigation. The Seneca was removed last year.

Ghost flights raise fury

SriLankan compensates V. SASIDHARAN, a native of Kollam, had booked two baggages, weighing 20 kg and 42 kg by paying additional charges for excess baggage, on a Dubai-ColomboThiruvananthapuram flight. When the flight arrived at Thiruvananthapuram airport, the baggage weighing 42 kg was found missing. Sasidharan reported the matter to the airport manager, who, in turn, issued a Property Irregularity Report (PIR). However, when the missing baggage was not delivered even after repeated pleas, Sasidharan filed a complaint at the Valiathura police station. He claimed that the items lost included a digital camera, mobile phone, computer, CD player, DVD, calculators, watches, wall clocks and costly textiles. He had also lost all his valuable certificates.

The airlines said it was not responsible for the loss of valuable and would pay only $20 each a kilogram as compensation. Sasidharan countered that on that particular day passengers were not allowed to carry hand baggage owing to security reasons. The Permanent Lok Adalat, after hearing both sides, fixed the total compensation at Rs 1,43,673.

British Mediterranean Airways has been described as “extravagant and irresponsible” by environmental groups for flying an empty passenger jet from Cardiff to Heathrow and back six times a week for the past five months simply to retain a runway slot at the London airport. The 124-seat British Airways Airbuses, under contract to BMed, have flown the 240-mile round trip six times a week since last October, with each flight producing more than five tonnes of carbon dioxide. The flights were not advertised and did not appear on arrivals or departures boards.

David Richardson, chief executive of BMed, said the company had explored other options for retaining the slots, including leasing them to another airline or using smaller aircraft, but found that flying an Airbus to Cardiff and back every day was the best option.

Every single one of the 1,250 daily landing slots at Heathrow are allocated to airlines, and is jealously guarded by their holders, but can be awarded to a rival if they are not used regularly. A slot can be withdrawn from an airline if it is not used at least 80 per cent of the time over a six-month period, and will then be reassigned by an independent body that coordinates take-off times. Alternatively they can change hands for upwards of £10 million.

CRUISING HEIGHTS April 2007

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AIR CARGO

Now, dedicated

CARGO AIRPORTS With the civil aviation ministry deciding to establish all-cargo airports around the country, stakeholders in the air cargo industry are looking forward to encouraging growth. But, will they be feasible, asks Tirthankar Ghosh.

L

ONG considered the unattractive child of the aviation sector, air cargo has suddenly acquired a status it could not have dreamt of a few years ago. Today, with the economy booming, air cargo is on a high and every stakeholder in the sector is waking up to opportunities. It is at this juncture that the civil aviation ministry has proposed to frame a policy for the development of airports exclusively for cargo operations. A welcome measure indeed, if and when such airports are established, the air cargo sector would receive the much-needed boost it has been hankering after for a long time.

Civil aviation minister Praful Patel has often gone on record to say that the country lags in air cargo and that steps have to be taken to improve the situation.

He has indicated that the government was looking at liberalising the air cargo sector and has raised the foreign direct investment limit from 49 per cent to 74 per cent.

There is also a move to allow foreign airlines to pick up minority stakes in dedicated cargo operators. With the development of these all-cargo airports scheduled to attract substantial private investment in the cargo segment, the civil aviation ministry has already started identifying the requirements of the different sectors— from perishable goods to the FMCG segment—for the formulation of the policy.

These airports will, of course, be in addition to Nagpur, which is being developed as a cargo hub, and established in the country’s major business centres.

Under the new policy on cargo, a centre for perishable cargo would be established, which would ensure movement of perishable cargo at the airports. Coupled with the plans to set up cold storage chains at major airports, these centres would go a

26

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long way to enhance the flow of fruits, vegetables, flowers, etc., to the rest of the world.

Indian and Jet Airways, with DHL, Blue Dart Express and First Flight taking up express delivery, primarily handle air cargo within the country. Low-cost airlines, such as Air Deccan, GoAir and SpiceJet, have been showing interest in air cargo services. Deccan’s Captain G.R. Gopinath, for example, feels that modern agriculture, trade and industry would underscore the necessity of air cargo/freight services.

Speaking to CRUISING HEIGHTS, Gopinath mentioned, “We are actively strategising to begin low cost cargo operations with the conviction that transporting apples from Kashmir to Chennai at

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Deccan’s Captain G.R. Gopinath feels that modern agriculture, trade and industry would underscore the necessity of air cargo/freight services

the lowest possible cost would give a much needed boost to our primary economy. The process for floating a new subsidiary dedicated to air cargo services has begun with the approval of the Company Board.” One could expect the air cargo operations of the low-cost carrier to start in the next few months.

The cargo move by Air Deccan would utilise its fleet to the maximum. “Given our huge network and operating bases,” Capt Gopi said, “the cargo operations would be a natural offshoot. Our company has 40 planes flying to 60 centres and eight operating bases spread across the country.”

It is not merely Air Deccan that is interested. There are many waiting in the wings to start dedicated cargo services.

The figures are encouraging enough: air cargo in India has nearly tripled, from 4.9 lakh tonnes in 2000-01 to over 14 lakh tonnes in 2004-05.

The government, on its part, has started taking the right steps for the improvement of the air cargo trade. At Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport, infrastructure developments, like airconditioned public waiting halls, the truck dock area of the Centre for Perishable Cargo (CPC), the modification of cargo terminal with facility to maintain ambient temperature, etc., have been completed.

Even at Amritsar airport, the construction of a modern air cargo terminal and a temporary CPC have been commissioned. And at Kolkata airport, Phase I of Integrated Cargo Terminal for export operation, at a cost of Rs 49.66 crore, has been commissioned.

Web-based EDI in export cargo processing has been implemented on 100 per cent basis at Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai airports. The Cargo Service Centre has been permitted to operate reefer dollies for moving perishable cargo loaded in a container from the CPC to the aircraft bay without levying any additional charge on airlines or the trade.

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ith the right mix of infrastructure, investment and geography, local economies would get a big lift from air cargo. Take the case of a virtually nondescript village, called Obetz, in Ohio, USA. Not long ago, there were only houses and farms. However, in the past few years, the ‘bedroom community’ of Obetz has been transformed.

Warehouses and industrial parks have sprung up from the fields.

Behind this explosive economic growth is air cargo or, more specifically, the rejuvenation of Rickenbacker Airport, CRUISING HEIGHTS April 2007

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a former military base, into an all-cargo airport. Such all-cargo airports have started mushrooming all over the US. Analysts have also found a word—aerotropolis—to describe the cities that have suddenly come into the spotlight because of these cargo airports.

The recent development in and around airports stems from growth in the air cargo industry, brought on by larger airplanes, ‘just-in-time’ delivery and e-commerce. As the economy has become more global, companies are manufacturing, storing and distributing goods at cost-efficient points around the world, and using planes to tie up all those facets together. For airports that profit from landing fees, air cargo is big business. But the effects of the air cargo economy go far beyond airport boundaries.

Often, air cargo draws industries such as goods distribution, logistics and light manufacturing.

The Obetz story began sometime in 1979, when it was decided to revive the old military base and invite the air cargo industry. More than $72 million were spent on the airport from 1981 to 1991. The investment started paying off in 1985, when Flying Tiger, a major international air forwarder, chose Rickenbacker as a hub. Subsequently, Flying Tiger was bought over by FedEx and there was a slump. But since then, things have improved. Today, the 5,000-acre airport is one of the largest publicly owned allcargo airport in the world. To top it all, the airport has spawned 13 industrial parks and

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Goods, say cargo forwarders, fly around the world just like rivers.

One cannot have a giant air cargo centre located on the upper branch of a river stream.

Cities also need to be located near interstate highways, because air cargo and road transportation industries are so closely connected.

CRUISING HEIGHTS April 2007

of course thousands of jobs.

Not surprisingly, many other areas in the US started looking at proposals to develop similar all-cargo airports. This despite the fact that most air cargo comes through the country’s largest passenger airports: Hartsfield in Atlanta, JFK in New York and Dallas-Fort Worth, in Texas. Take the case of Memphis. As the headquarters of FedEx, Memphis has attracted industries, all intent on sending their products out in the shortest possible time. A few features are necessary for the air cargo industry and these are long runways and good road and railway connections. However, the other factors for successful air cargo are extremely area specific. For example, a city needs to be located in the path where cargo is going. Goods, say cargo forwarders, fly around the world just like rivers. One cannot have a giant air cargo centre located on the upper branch of a river stream. Cities also need to be located near interstate highways, because air cargo and road transportation industries are so closely connected.

However, there are a few drawbacks that have to be kept in mind. Maintenance and construction are needed almost constantly to keep up with cargo demand. Cargo flights occur mainly during the night, and residents are not usually too keen on the noise from loud planes landing and taking off.

Whatever the drawbacks, the growth opportunities in air cargo have also fuelled airlines to look away from the metros and

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Nagpur faces hurdles E

VEN as the civil aviation ministry decided in principle that exclusive all-cargo airports would be established in the country, the much-hyped Nagpur cargo hub was in the eye of a storm. Reason: the civil aviation ministry is reluctant to hand over the proposed 3,310 hectares of land for the industrial and transport hub project to the Maharashtra Airport Development Corporation (MADC). The understanding was that the land would be handed over to the state government at a nominal cost of one rupee.

The quid pro quo was that the civil aviation ministry would waive off stamp duty as well as other taxes, which would be levied for the modernisation of Mumbai airport. In fact, a draft MoU was also drawn up. The transfer of the airport was considered a mere formality. However, the move was stalled with the civil aviation ministry hardening its stance.

The Multimodal International Hub Airport, or MIHAN, project at Nagpur is being developed by Maharashtra Airport Development Corporation, of which chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh is the chairman. Conceived as a special purpose vehicle, the project includes an SEZ, a captive power plant, a health city, road and rail terminals, an international school and residential area on 3,600 hectares of land.

The project envisages large investments from international companies. The centre plans to resolve the issue through intergovernmental, inter-ministerial and intra-ministerial consultations. On its part, MADC has planned to upgrade the length of the Nagpur Airport runway from 3,200 metres to 4,000 metres and the capacity of terminal building from 400 passengers to 1,200-1,500 passengers. The company is also planning to provide space to airline operators for maintenance, refurbishment and overhauling purposes. According to R.C. Sinha, vice chairman and managing director, MADC, with major international clients visiting Nagpur, the airport needs to be upgraded

at greenfield airports, like Mangalore and Hyderabad, to tap the huge potential. Not too long ago, Vasudevan Thulasidas, chairman and managing director, Air India, had mentioned that “aviation cargo has huge potential that needs to be tapped. Airport infrastructure will work in the right direction”.

Vijay Kondath, President of the Air Cargo Agents Association of India (ACAAI), was clear that infrastructure had to become a priority area. He pointed out that there were as many as 55 airlines operating out of India. To top it all, many more had shown interest to start services to the country. In such a situation, he said, issues of infrastructure had to be addressed first.

It is time then for all-cargo airports to become a reality. The country, in fact, possesses all the necessary ingredients to become an international super cargo power.

It is in such circumstances that the government decided to establish the world-class cargo hub in Nagpur.

Everyone in the exim trade, especially the freight forwarding community, hoped that

Artist impression of the facilities at the proposed cargo hub in Nagpur

or else the MIHAN project would lose its marketability. Sinha has wide experience and has a record of implementing large infrastructure projects, like the CIDCO city near Mumbai, the Mumbai-Pune Expressway and around forty flyovers in Mumbai.

MIHAN has put in place a development plan that will utilise the unique location of Nagpur as the geographical centre of the country. The state government, too, has been doing its bit to prop up Nagpur: sales tax on aviation fuel was reduced to make the airport an attractive night parking and refuelling facility. However, till the civil aviation ministry takes the decision to hand over the land, things will not move.

With the right mix of infrastructure, investment and geography, local economies would get a big lift from air cargo. The virtually nondescript village of Obetz in Ohio, USA, is a case in point.

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work on the project would progress in double-quick time. The project, however, has run into rough weather (see box). The reason for the stoppage of work: the insistence of the civil aviation ministry and the Indian Air Force of not handing over their respective airfields, the Nagpur Airport and the Gajraj base, for the project to the Maharashtra Airport Development Company (MADC).

Nagpur will come in time, but till then the government must move fast for the allcargo airports. Perhaps, we could look at Dubai’s example. From a simple trading post it has become a sophisticated international city and it is all due to cargo. Today, the city-state’s cargo facilities handle more than 20 freighters a day. To top it all, Dubai airport sees a fully laden Boeing 747 turn around in 90 minutes.

The country possesses Dubai-like ideal locations. With world-class infrastructure and convenient connections to major trade routes, these all-cargo airports would strengthen India’s position as a

global cargo hub.

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CARGO NEWS Emirates SkyCargo honours Delhi agents THE DUBAI-BASED Emirates SkyCargo honoured its Delhi agents. As with everything else, Emirates outdid itself at the awards ceremony.

One of the most looked-forward-to events in the local cargo industry, the Emirates SkyCargo awards night was presided over

by Pradeep Kumar, vice president, cargo revenue optimisation, who flew in from Dubai for the event. The event is an important part of the Emirates SkyCargo awards calendar and an opportunity to recognise all cargo agents for their tremendous contributions in supporting the ongoing success of the award-winning carrier.

Speaking on the occasion, Kumar pointed out that, over the years, the carrier had developed “strong relations with the agents in Delhi” and the awards ceremony was recognition of their hard work and commitment to Emirates SkyCargo. “The awards,” he said, “are a testimony of our gratitude to them.”

Later speaking to select media invitees, Kumar also mentioned that ever since the carrier launched its cargo operations, “Our single-minded philosophy has been to ensure that Emirates SkyCargo customers receive all the benefits of modern and up-todate logistics management techniques.” Emirates SkyCargo was delighted to honour and thank its partners who had helped the car-

Satnam Singh (extreme left) of Amrit Sea Air Exports receives his award from Pradeep Kumar (centre)

rier achieve this objective.

Emirates SkyCargo has been in service since 1985. Since then, it has steadily built a reputation as an innovator in the industry. For its flexibility and service, the carrier has received numerous international awards. One of the most important of these awards has been the ‘Best Cargo Airline to the Indian Subcontinent’ for seven years.

Cathay Pacific introduces more freighters a week to Europe CATHAY PACIFIC has added a total of 11 extra flights each week to Amsterdam, Frankfurt and Manchester from India. With these extra services, the number of freighter flights operated to Europe every week has increased from 25 to 36, a rise of almost 50 per cent. Moreover, these flights further strengthen Hong Kong’s position as one of the world’s leading airfreight hubs.

According to Ron Mathison, director and general manager, cargo, Cathy Pacific, Europe is an important cargo market for Hong Kong and these additional flights would strengthen Cathay’s presence in the continent. Further, these enhanced services would also help to meet the demand out of

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Hong Kong and the Mainland, while boosting Hong Kong’s status as a hub.

Six flights will follow a Hong Kong Dubai-Manchester-Amsterdam-DubaiHong Kong pattern, departing from Hong Kong six days a week. Cathay Pacific already operates a freighter service to Manchester, with eight flights a week.

However, Amsterdam will be a new freighter destination for the airline, its 32nd till date.

Cathay Pacific is committed to building Hong Kong as an airfreight hub by strengthening its freighter fleet. The airline currently operates a fleet of 17 freighter aircraft.

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DTDC launches subsidiary for intra-city consignments AIR EXPRESS and DTDC recently announced that they had launched SMS Courier Ltd in Pune.

The subsidiary has been set up for speedy intra-city deliveries and mass mailing activities. This service, which was available in the six metros, has made its entry into Pune as well. All consignments within the city of Pune will be delivered by the next day if booked at any of DTDC’s branch offices or franchisees in that city through SMS Courier.

DTDC chairman and managing director, Subhasish Chakraborty said that SMS Courier would be useful to organisations dealing in large volumes of intra-city consignments like banks, financial institutions, insurance companies and cellular operators. The newlyformed subsidiary would ensure timely deliveries even to the remotest areas of the city”.

Huge investments on infrastructure and technology upgradation has been done along with a high-end scanning, tracking and billing system in the 1,160 sq feet branch office in the city. It will act as an enhanced support and interaction point for its large number of franchisees in the city.

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Lufthansa ramps up freighter flights ALONG WITH Cathay Pacific, Lufthansa Cargo, too, is going bullish about Asia. The carrier is increasing its freighter frequencies to Dallas, Sao Paulo and Shanghai in the summer timetable. New destinations in the summer flight schedules are Lahore and a direct connection from Cologne through East Midlands (UK) to Wilmington (USA). Cargo customers will also benefit from changes bearing on airfreight in Lufthansa passenger services. Additional belly capacities will come on stream from Lufthansa’s introduction of passenger flights to Busan (South Korea) and extra frequencies to Caracas, Denver and Shanghai.

Lufthansa Cargo is operating scheduled flights in summer to and from Lahore, in Pakistan.

These services will be laid on ex Frankfurt in combination with Bangkok. New in the timetable is a direct connection from Cologne through East Midlands to Wilmington. This service will be operated within the framework of the existing intercontinental joint venture with DHL. Aside from network changes in Lufthansa Cargo’s freighter services in the summer timetable, the Lufthansa passenger business is also extending its route network. Of interest to cargo customers are the increased frequencies in passenger flights to Caracas, Denver and Shanghai as well as the new passenger services offered to Busan in combination with Seoul.

Scott Price is PBEC chairman SCOTT PRICE, chief executive officer of DHL Express—Asia Pacific, has recently been elected as the new chairman of the Pacific Basin Economic Council (PBEC). Price was elected at PBEC’s recent annual general meeting in Hong Kong, and assumed office with immediate effect. He has succeeded Azman Hashim, Malaysia’s AmBank Group chairman.

As chairman of PBEC, Price will be responsible for leading the oldest independent business association covering Asia Pacific, the membership of which comprises executives from economies bordering the Pacific rim and beyond.

At the same meeting, Dr Vachara Phanchet, chairman of Scott Price, CEO—Asia Pacific, DHL Express addressing a the Sittipol Sales recent press conference in Mumbai Group of Companies—one of Thailand’s leading industrial and global trading groups and a member of Thailand’s National Legislative Assembly—was elected vice chairman of the organisation.

Air cargo up by 9.4 per cent during April-December 2006 AIR CARGO movements in five international airports (Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, Kolkata and Thiruvananthapuram) have reached 6.4 lakh tonnes (international) and registered a growth rate of 9.4 per cent during April-December 2006, compared with the same period of the previous year. In April-December 2006, import cargo surged by 19.6 per cent and export cargo showed a decline of 1.3 per cent against the same period of the previous year.

CRUISING HEIGHTS April 2007

RFID technology tracks containers across seas ORACLE AND Savi Technology, a Lockheed Martin company, have teamed up to provide a critical information link to track in real time the location of cargo containers shipped from Hong Kong to Japan. The work has just been completed as a pilot project initiated by GS1 EPCglobal, the not-for-profit standards organisation driving adoption of the Electronic Product Code to improve supply chain performance.

The milestone project was the first time that real-time information generated from active, battery-powered RFID tags on sea containers was exchanged with EPC Information Services (EPCIS), a draft GS1 EPCglobal standard enabling trading partners to communicate in a common computer language on objects moving throughout the supply chain.

The communication interface with the EPCIS Server and Repository was enabled through integration of Oracle Sensor Edge Server, a component of Oracle Fusion Middleware, as well as Savi Site Manager operating software and active RFID tag and data collection systems.

“Reading RFID tags produces a vast amount of data all along a supply chain, and Oracle Sensor Edge Server is an essential part of capturing, interpreting and validating such a mass of information,” said Peggy Chen, principal product director, Oracle. “Because of the wide variety of participants in a supply chain, open standards are essential to give all authorised people visibility of all of the critical events involved in the chain. Oracle has been working with EPCglobal for some time in the development of standards. Software, such as Oracle Sensor Edge Server and Oracle Sensor Data Manager, can work very effectively in this complex heterogeneous environment.”

Oracle and Savi achieved the interface as part of Phase One of the GS1 EPCglobal Transport and Logistics RFID Pilot, which is a two-phase project involving a number of companies using EPCglobal standards to enable greater transport visibility across stakeholders, countries and continents.

“We’re very pleased to be part of the first team to demonstrate a working system using active RFID and EPCglobal’s EPCIS standard as part of this important pilot,” said Fraser Jennings, Savi Technology’s vice president of Standards and Regulatory Activities.

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COVER STORY

SKY-HIGH

ENTERTAINMENT

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Music, movies and games at 30,000 feet in the air—that’s the name of the wooing game that airlines, both domestic and international, are playing. Passengers today have personal seatback systems that contain virtually hundreds of choices along with a wide variety of television programmes to keep themselves entertained through the duration of a flight, as Preeti Verma Lal found out.

S

POILT FOR CHOICE. That’s what comes to mind when today’s air traveller takes a seat on a domestic or international flight. The pampering starts right away. First, the refreshments and then the entertainment. Airlines, in fact, are vying with each other to offer the very best in onboard entertainment.

This was not the case a few years ago. Earlier, a long-distance flight often ended with a creak in the nape, for they craned their necks to watch the movie on the common giant screen. Often the sound crackled and the picture got blurred, but the air traveller had no options. Flying, then, was not such a fun, they all chorus now; for, now the common giant screen is archaic and A peek into the future: Journalists and other VIPs enjoy in-flight entertainment aboard Airbus’ super airliner, A380 during its technical route proving exercise

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Creating an entertainment pack I

N-FLIGHT ENTERTAINMENT has changed significantly since 1921, when the first in-flight movie, Howdy Chicago, was shown, recounts American Airlines’ Nisha Maharaj. Air travel saw a phase during which feature films were shown on regularly scheduled commercial flights, using TV monitors and cassettes, enabling flight attendants to change movies as needed.

In 1989, American Airlines made its first fleet-wide installation (B767) of in-seat video in First class (Avicom). Since then, the entire air-travel entertainment industry has been revolutionised, with customised upgrades and offerings to passengers.

The movie selection process follows a set procedure that most air carriers resort to. American Airlines, for example, has a number of, what Nisha Maharaj referred to as, “filters along the way”. A team from the company’s media house, Spafax, screens the films available, based on a criteria set by the airline.

“This reduces the amount of time American has to spend viewing films, as Spafax has assisted with that first—and most timeconsuming—task. In addition, the move to digital means that more movies are available to airlines than in the past.

“On flights to Delhi, flown on American’s 777 aircraft, American offers Bollywood hits in Hindi, like Woh Lamhe, Jaan-e-Man and Vivah...as they settle in for the duration of their flight. On longer flights we offer recent Hollywood hits”

Nisha Maharaj Regional Manager, Indian Subcontinent American Airlines

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The steps adopted by American Airlines in the selection of movies, for example, is the same that is used by most other international airlines.

American selects movie titles on a monthly basis and works approximately 60 days in advance. In fact, it has just completed the selection process for June.

Many international carriers work with Spafax (a third-party airline entertainment vendor) on its in-flight entertainment programming.

Spafax communicates directly with the movie studios to determine what titles are available. Movie titles are made available to all airlines at the same time. The new titles are generally available to American, for example, approximately two months after their release.

Spafax performs a preliminary review of the movie options and provides the carriers with a shorter list for consideration. The list is then reviewed by the airline for final selection.

individual screens with controls in the passenger’s hands is the norm. And entertainment has stepped beyond movies—now there are interactive games (you can even play golf amidst the feathery clouds), you can pick from the blues to the rap, you can call in for Clark Gable from the entertainment menu, you can rack your brains on Who Wants to be a Millionaire and hone your language skills by picking up the basics of a language. The best bit is you don’t have to depend on the matronly crew head for the choices; the options are innumerable, but the choice is yours. As the aircraft revs up into the air, you can pull on the earphones and fly happily ever after…

But isn’t flying about reaching the destination? Why is there such a premium on entertainment now? Neha Lidder Ganju, Marketing Manager India, Virgin Atlantic, has the answer. “We know that people don’t travel on a flight purely to see the in-flight entertainment, but we understand it does make a large difference to the entire flight experience,” she says. “Having such a varying amount of entertainment at their fingertips enables passengers to have an enjoyable time and if the passenger has enjoyed this experience, they will think of it when it comes to choosing who will they fly with again,” Ganju puts it across as a specialised marketing tool.

After all, look at the number of people flying today. The International Air Transport Association (IATA) fact sheet, November 2006, points out that the annual industry growth in passenger traffic was at 6.7 per cent. According to World Air Transport Statistics (WATS), the industry’s most comprehensive reference guide, the top 10 CRUISING HEIGHTS April 2007

airlines in the world flew approximately 2,07,836 thousand passengers in 2005. And the numbers certainly show no regression: January 2007 saw 74.9 per cent seat occupancy globally. With airlines offering better efficiency and competitive fares, not only are more passengers taking to flying, they are also becoming more demanding. Competitive fares, however, are not enough— airlines are pulling rabbits out of their hats to attract more flyers and that is where the importance of entertainment plays a role.

A lot of that is due to advances in technology (see box). Gone are the days when the format was analog, now all in-flight entertainment is digital. Using on-screen menus, at the touch of a button, customers

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Gizmos and hi-tech@Mile-High Club W

ITH THE whole world going digital, in-flight entertainment, too, is well and truly on the same path.

The Dubai-based Emirates, for example, has teamed up with computer pioneer Apple to offer seamless iPod integration with its in-flight entertainment systems.

The move will be a first for the airline’s passengers, who already enjoy more than 600 channels of in-flight entertainment on its award-winning in-flight entertainment system. The world’s first on-board iPod integrations will enable passengers to use the portable devices to enjoy their own choice of music and videos, including full-length feature films, on their seatback screens.

Emirates’ integrated iPod seat connection is scheduled for introduction from

are able to select their entertainment. They can pause or stop the programming whenever they like and even fast-forward and rewind, preventing them from missing crucial parts of the programme when food is served or when they want to stretch their legs. In most airlines, you do not have to fret over making your choices after a movie or a song ends. If you are flying British Airways, you can compile a customised list from CD tracks or choose from audio books, ranging from fiction to educational titles. Beyond that you do not have to bother about jarring music or book, everything that is piped is entirely of your liking.

Hitesh Patel, Executive Vice President, Kingfisher Airlines, which was the first to

Music to ears: Emirates’ passengers will soon be able to enjoy personal music and video iPod entertainment through seamless integration with the airline’s in-flight entertainment systems

bring in entertainment on domestic flights in the country, puts it rather matter-offactly, “We’re bringing the living-room couch into our cabin. Even at 30,000 feet, no one needs to miss a minute of the news, games or favourite show, live via satellite.

It makes me very proud that Kingfisher Airlines’ passengers are the first to experience this over the Indian skies, just as they would at home.”

Look at Virgin Atlantic. In 1989, it became the first airline to offer its Business class passengers individual TV screens. Its pioneering streak did not stop there. In 1991, Virgin introduced a six-channel system and an individual seatback or seat arm TV. Today, of the four million passengers that the airline carries, nearly two million experience the V-Port system, which, according to research, has enhanced customer satisfaction by nearly 30 per cent.

With so much happening on those LCD screens, is it any surprise that Virgin has the World Entertainment Association’s Best Overall In-flight Entertainment, Best Inflight Entertainment Guide (info), Best Single Audio Programme, Best Single Special Purpose Video and Best In-flight Video Programming awards in its kitty?

In the wide variety of entertainment packages available mid-air, however, it is movies that rule the roost. That explains why the entertainment wings of all airlines brainstorm the most on the choice of movies. Air India offers movies in four languages and the picks are taken from Hollywood, Bollywood and regional hits. “We offer choice of movies to passengers in First class and Executive class at no extra cost. Of course, the all-time favourites in CRUISING HEIGHTS April 2007

mid-2007 and it will also provide a constant power source to ensure that passengers’ iPods are charged for the duration of their flights. According to Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al-Maktoum, Chairman and Chief Executive, Emirates Airline and Group, “The iPod integration keeps us at the cutting edge of entertainment technology, and together with our existing inflight systems will significantly enhance the enjoyment of flying with Emirates for thousands of our passengers who travel with their iPods.” Greg Joswiak, Apple’s vice president of Worldwide iPod Product Marketing, couldn’t agree more, “There is no better travelling companion than an iPod—customers can take their music, photos, TV shows, Podcasts and movies with them everywhere they go.”

“The iPod integration keeps us at the cutting edge of entertainment technology, and with our existing in-flight systems will significantly enhance the enjoyment of passengers who travel with their iPods”

Sheikh Ahmed Bin Saeed Al-Maktoum Chairman and Chief Executive, Emirates Airline

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Film fest in the skies

F

OR those who take their films seriously, Virgin Atlantic recently launched a Film Festival in the Sky. The move is meant to showcase new film-making talent onboard. Over the next four months, the carrier will screen 14 specially selected short films on its in-flight entertainment system. Passengers can watch the films during their flight and then vote until the end of June to compile a shortlist of six films that will be shown onboard for a further three months.

During this time, the finalists will be assessed by a panel of highly respected industry figures and a winner and two runners-up will be chosen. These three filmmakers will have their films screened onboard for a further three months. The overall winner will have his/her film shown onboard to a potential audience of five million passengers. According to Lysette Gauna, Head of Brand for Virgin Atlantic, “Through this new initiative our passengers will not only get a chance to see the best in new film-making but they will also help the celebrity judges give the next Mike Leigh or Shane Meadows their first step up the ladder. We are delighted to be working with the National Film and Television School and supporting new up and coming film talent.”

“We know that people don’t travel on a flight purely to see the in-flight entertainment, but we understand it does make a large difference to the entire flight experience”

Neha Lidder Ganju Marketing Manager India Virgin Atlantic

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repertoire are classic Hindi movies,” says the official spokesperson of Air India.

American Airlines, which started its Delhi-Chicago service just over a year ago, is well aware of the Indian traveller’s love for movies and entertainment. Says AA’s Nisha Maharaj, Regional Manager, Indian Subcontinent, “On flights to Delhi, flown on American’s 777 aircraft, American offers Bollywood hits in Hindi, like Woh Lamhe, Jaan-e-Man and Vivah.” She also pointed out that passengers are offered a feature film as “they settle in for the duration of their flight. On longer flights we offer recent Hollywood hits, though the airline occasionally features classic films to provide passengers with variety. For example, in October 2005, American featured the classic Young Frankenstein and received a very positive response from customers.”

That is not all: The airline offers complimentary entertainment on all audio/ visual-equipped flights (aircraft include 737, 757, 767, 777 and A300). All the video programming on AA flights begin with the award-winning magazine-style programme: CBS Eye on America. Says Maharaj, “Four unique programmes are offered monthly (changed biweekly). Each programme is approximately an hour and a half in length and is offered in both English and Spanish to all our customers. The programme is offered on over 29,000 flights monthly, with a passenger reach of over 4.4 million.”

On Lufthansa, the spread includes a list of 30 films in eight languages and on Singapore Airlines, it is not merely the list of movies that is decided, the USP is the LCD CRUISING HEIGHTS April 2007

screen. In fact, Singapore has created KrisWorld, which, it claims, is the most powerful and advanced in-flight entertainment system (IFE) in the world. KrisWorld offers more than one thousand on-demand options, as well as features not found in other IFE systems. These include 100 inflight movies, including the latest blockbusters and a diverse selection of international movies.

For Virgin, its high in the movie section was the premiere of Bend it Like Beckham during the Football World Cup. For the passengers, it was exhilarating to watch a movie mid-air that had not hit the theatres on earth. Screening is not enough; some airlines even pay attention to children watching movies that they should not. For example, if you want to doze off and want to ensure that your child does not watch a movie not meant for his age, you can make a parental blocking request with the cabin crew.

There’s more to entertainment, however, than movies. That is the common refrain of gaming enthusiasts, who, if they had their way, would carry their joysticks to heaven as well. Heaven might be a far call, but airlines certainly could not have ignored the burgeoning clan of gaming freaks. Singapore Airlines offers more than 90 games, which, they promise, would be progressively increased to 130 in all categories, and run away with the honour of having the most extensive offered by a commercial airline. The choice comprises a wide variety of arcade, board, puzzle, leisure and sports games and the new highperformance 3D games. On Malaysian Airline’s menu are 40 games, while British Airways has 20. The list certainly seems to be growing each day.

If gaming enthusiasts cannot be coldshouldered, neither can those with literary proclivities. If you do not want to read the latest bestseller amidst the din of snores and conversations, just plug in and listen to your favourite book. Audio books are fast becoming a regular chapter in the package.

If you think learning a language is serious business and can be done only in a classroom, you are wrong. Ask any airline pundit and he will tell you that learning can be done anywhere, even at an altitude of 30,000 feet. Going by that adage, most airlines have not only touch-screen instructions in various languages, they also offer language learning services that are divided usually into four main lesson categories: numbers, dates, words and dialogue. So, if you are flying from Korea to New Delhi, you can learn to say namaste while still onboard. Singapore Airlines offers this service in a whopping 22 languages.

Whatever they do, no airline can afford

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Good times in Indian skies, too K

INGFISHER PROMISES to bring the living-room couch into its cabin and it does. But it is not the only one to do so. Even the low-cost pioneer Air Deccan has its own brand of in-flight entertainment. Unlike Kingfisher’s video on every seat, Air Deccan has TV monitors in their Airbuses.

However, Kingfisher has taken entertainment in the domestic skies to a new pitch. The airline provides 10 channels of music, 16 channels of live Hindi and English TV (satellite TV which features channels like Zee News, NDTV 24 x 7, CNN-IBN, CNBC TV18, Zee Music, VH1, Discovery, Zee Café, Cartoon Network, etc.), five channels of classics (like the 1983 cricket World Cup) and movies.

It is working to instal live TV and the process will be completed by August. The video monitors also show moving maps, games and, of course, all that Kingfisher is all about.

As for music, the carrier’s audio system belts out a combination of English Rock, English Jazz, English classic, while the Hindi channels are a mix of new film songs, songs from the 1960s, 1970s, 1980s and Hindi ghazals.

The fun and games are not for adults only. There is interesting stuff for children, too. The Cartoon Network is part of Kingfisher’s 16 live TV channels.

to ignore the little kids of the world. On a long haul, children do not pull the blanket over their heads and snooze; they need to be entertained. As such, all airlines have a separate kids category. Air India boasts of a special audio channel for children and their pet animation films, while Virgin banishes boredom with the kids backpack, K-iD. If they have their own seat, they’ve got their own 10.4-inch seatback TV and on most of Virgin aircraft that means dedicated kids’ channels—V.Tots (for pre-school), V.KiD (for 5- to 11-year olds) and V.T (for teens).

For younger children, there’s Baby IQ, which is geared towards the development of children’s language skills and creative faculties.

To know what’s on offer, you do not have to wait till you board the flight and tighten the seatbelts. With Internet becoming a powerful communication tool, each airline has its entertainment schedule listed in cyber space. All you have to do is type in-flight entertainment and name of the airline you intend to fly in the search box and within seconds scroll the list of movies offered in that particular month and even the following month. The categories are neatly divided into audio, movies, interactive games and kids. For example, if you select Radio on the Malaysian Airlines website, you would know that Channel 81 has continuous instrumental music, Channel 82 is jazz, Channel 83 is classical and Channel 84 serenity. But what if none of them is music to your ears? What if you are looking for Malay hits or Korean crooners? You surely will not be disappointed, for Channel 85 has Malay Hits, Channel 86 has Mandarin Mix, while

Channel 87 is dedicated to Japanese collection. The travel agent might not have told you so, but the website would inform you that one radio channel is devoted entirely to verses from the Quran. The Singapore Airlines website says all about the entertainment menu—the KrisWorld video service offers comedy, bulletin, documentary, learning, fashion, sports, the biggest TV soaps and the most daring reality shows.

If so much mulling and moolah is being poured into keeping the passengers entertained, could awards be far behind?

Awards for best in-flight entertainment have been instituted and airlines taxi to get that top slot. These awards are not handed over in a jiffy. The Skytrax research included 12,24,356 eligible interviewees and stretched over a ninemonth period. According to Peter Miller, Director, Marketing, Skytrax, “The importance of in-flight entertainment (IFE) to a typical long-haul passenger continues to grow, and the quality is now a very strong, determinant factor. This is particularly applicable in the Economy class. When one is cramped in a smaller Economy class seat on a 14-hour flight that the quality of IFE comes under the real microscope... You can’t sleep that well, so you turn to the IFE.” So now you know why even the youngest of air travellers are always ready to pack their satchels and fly and you know how they are pampered. The same is the case with adults. So, while little Prayag has Pokemon for a friend, his father has Bond—yes, James Bond—

for company.

CRUISING HEIGHTS April 2007

In addition, one of the classic broadcast channels of the five channels is Hungama TV, which is dedicated to children.

“We’re bringing the living-room couch into our cabin. Even at 30,000 feet, no one needs to miss a minute of the news, games or favourite show, live via satellite.”

Hitesh Patel Executive Vice President Kingfisher Airlines

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April 2007

CRUISING HEIGHTS S P E C I A L

S U P P L E M E N T

O N

A I R P O R T S

A U T H O R I T Y

O F

I N D I A

AAI on fast track in

Eastern Region Looking ahead

Kolkata airport

Strides in N-E

Radar to GAGAN

The Airports Authority of India is committed to develop Kolkata and the airports of the Northeast, says AAI Chairman K. Ramalingam in an exclusive interview. The Chairman unveils the modernisation plans. P42

The AAI is going all out to upgrade the passenger terminal at the Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose airport and within the next few years, Kokata’s airport will undergo a total makeover.

P46

Connectivity is of utmost importance in the Northeast and AAI will be spending Rs 158 crore to make that happen. The aim is to transform the Northeast into a gateway of India.

P52

Working day and night, AAI ensures safety for air travellers and aircraft. Marching with the times, the communication and navigation wing of the AAI is all set to bring in GAGAN, for navigation from the sky. P60

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AAI: LOOK EAST

AAI’s fast track to the East and Northeast The immense potential of the East and Northeast has started bearing fruit with the government’s ‘Look East’ policy. The need of the hour is more connectivity and the Airports Authority of India has taken the initiative to transform the Northeast into a gateway of India. The AAI has planned to spend about Rs 158 crore on upgradation and improvement of facilities in the East and Northeast during the Tenth Five Year Plan.

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‘Northeast conectivity a top priority’ Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel outlines his vision for the Northeast have time and again spoken about my dream of connecting India, small and big airports, so that people can travel seamlessly from one part of our country to another. Networking the beautiful states of the Northeast with each other and with the rest of the country is part of this agenda.

It is with this aim in mind that we have decided to construct an airport in Sikkim, the state’s first, and identified sites for two more in Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh, besides permitting a new airline to launch air services in the region.

I

The Airports Authority of India has prepared a detailed project report for construction of a greenfield airport in Sikkim at an estimated cost of Rs 340 crore, while sites for one each near Kohima and Itanagar have been identified for construction of airfields for turboprop ATR-72 operations.

If aviation has to grow,

then infrastructure must be put in place We are now making up for the lost time and I have no doubt in my mind that when the present plans for the region are completed connectivity in the Northeast will improve enormously.

It is a time when aviation is not just for an elite few.

The domestic aviation secCRUISING HEIGHTS April 2007

tor had witnessed a 50 per cent increase this fiscal year. By conservative estimates, we will have an annual compound growth of 25 per cent for the next ten years, which is one of the highest in the world. I am certain that the eastern part of our wonderful country will play a prominent role in this extraordinary growth.

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AAI: LOOK EAST “AAI is committed to develop airports

IN THE EAST” Propelling the government’s ‘Look East’ policy forward is the Airports Authority of India. K. Ramalingam, AAI chairman, spoke at length about AAI’s plans in the east.

In the Tenth Plan, the eastern region has been allotted Rs 225 crore. Is it enough for modernisation of the aviation infrastructure?

The thought, or should I say the concept, of modernisation came up much later. The process and planning of improvements take place much before a Five Year Plan is drafted. Therefore, the planning for the Tenth Plan (200207) took place much earlier and was included in the Plan. The amount you have mentioned is only for improvement of facilities, such as terminal building, fire safety and enhancement of a few navigational aids related to Kolkata airport.

In addition we have incurred Rs 91.25 crore towards capital investment of other airports in the eastern region. New terminal buildings have come up at Gaya and Port Blair. Expansion of aprons and runways, including strengthening, has been completed at Bhubaneswar, Gaya and Patna.

The terminal buildings at Bhubaneswar, Patna and Ranchi have been modified. Our aim is to increase the capacity to accommodate at least 500 passengers in these terminal buildings. The work on new control tower-cumtechnical block is under way at Gaya.

Bagdogra is an important airport for tourists visiting Darjeeling, Kalimpong and Sikkim. Here, too, a lot of work is being carried out: a new terminal building has been commissioned and a new apron to accommodate an additional three aircraft, to the existing three, has been undertaken. An aerobridge for boarding passengers has also been planned.

As you can see important developments are taking place in the smaller airports in the eastern region.

Isn’t modernising an airport highly technical in nature? Will AAI be able to cope with the huge burden?

At the outset, let me correct the word 'Burden' with 'Responsibility’, as AAI has never felt that building infrastructure for the nation is burden to the organisation. The fact that AAI is managing so many airports is in itself a gargantuan task and that too for the past quarter of a century and more. How do you think we manage so many airports? It is because we have a team of officials who are trained and have the requisite skills, knowledge and atti-

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tude in specific areas and they are dedicated to the task. Of course, I admit, there may be a few glitches here and there that get highlighted, but it happens all over the world; but the important factor is that we are aware and are constantly improving ourselves. If you see the overall picture, AAI has been performing well tirelessly all these years.

‘Modernisation is a must for Kolkata’

Fog seems to be the bane of many airports in India and Kolkata, too, had its share of problems last winter.

What has been planned to overcome this recurring problem?

We have installed Cat-II lighting system at Kolkata. The instrument landing system (ILS) provides azimuthal guidance by localiser and vertical guidance by glide path. Having an ILS is not a panacea; the pilots, too, have to be trained and equally competent to make use of the ILS. In poor visibility, ILS comes to the fore in aligning the aircraft to the extended centreline of the runway. That means, during the approach, the aircraft has to be close enough to the airport, which, under normal circumstances (when visibility is good), the pilot would be able to recognise the airport and the runway alignment.

There are many more navigational aids, other than ILS, that are used to ensure safety of flying aircraft.

It appears that airspace is getting congested. How would you describe congestion and the measures taken by AAI for safe flying?

For many, when they look at the sky, it may look empty, but for us it is full of flying objects. The aircraft fly at such heights that they are not visible to the naked eyes and AAI is fully engaged in ensuring their safety.

In the eastern region, that is over Kolkata’s flight information region (FIR) airspace, international aircraft movements

What is the status of Kolkata airport?

The fact is Kolkata’s airport is growing in both passenger and aircraft movements, which registered a 22 per cent increase in the last accounting period. The domestic passenger traffic shot up by 28 per cent (36,64,548 passengers) and international traffic was an impressive 16 per cent (7,42,247 passengers) over the previous accounting period. Kolkata airport, indeed, is growing fast and AAI will be involved in the upgradation and modernisation of this premier airport in the east.

While the major airports in Delhi and Mumbai are in modernisation spree, then why is Kolkata’s airport on the backburner?

Your perception is wrong. Modernisation of Kolkata’s airport is being undertaken by AAI on time-to-time basis and AAI is constantly improving the infrastructure and other facilities, namely, Apron works, which includes development of new parking stands both in contract and remote, reconstruction of existing parking stands to improve efficiency, extension of secondary runway and linking with the main runway to derive synergy at a cost of more than Rs 50 crore. Improvement to facilities and infrastructure includes construction of canopy, ceremonial lounge, new check-in counters, flooring, conveyor belt, expansion of security hold, etc. at a cost of Rs 15-20 crore. Cargo infrastructure works include construction of integrated cargo complex, construction of cargo apron, provision of Elevated Transport Vehicle (ETV) at a cost of about Rs 100 crore. Construction of terminal building: International architectural design competition in respect of International Terminal Building has already been conducted and terminal design has been selected. Design for domestic terminal building (Module II) has also been selected. Once taken up, these two projects will involve an investment of over Rs 800 crore. In India today we manage 127 airports, which includes 15 international airports and 80 domestic airports. I would like to add, this apart, we are responsible for communication, navigation and surveillance and air traffic management over the entire sovereign airspace of the country and also oceanic airspace.

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AAI: LOOK EAST ‘Real growth in aviation is in least connected places’ Accessibility to the Northeast remains a problem and the only succour seems to be aviation. Has AAI given any thought in improving the conditions in the Northeast region?

AAI continues to lay emphasis on development of airport infrastructure at airports in the Northeast Region.

During the Ninth Plan an amount of Rs 133 crore was spent and during the Tenth Plan, an outlay of Rs 158 crore has been outlined for the Northeast Region.

To promote civil aviation in the Northeast Region, AAI has also given 25 per cent waiver on landing and parking charges at all the AAI airports in the

Northeast Region since April 2003.

A major revamp has been undertaken in the Northeast region. Today all the airlines are making a beeline for the northeastern airports.

Things could not have been better and will grow in the future. Yes, there was a slump in the 1990s after the closure of Vayudoot and there were no suitable aircraft at that point in time and thus out of 22 airports only 11 were operational.

There are eleven nonoperational airports in the region and is there any proposal to revive them?

As I mentioned earlier, after the closure of Vayudoot flights to these

increased by 23.3 per cent (9,878 aircraft) and domestic by 13.4 per cent (56,414 aircraft). In Kolkata alone, it is 9,250 and 42,299 international and domestic aircraft movements, respectively. This is not taking into account cargo aircraft movements, which is yet small in comparison.

Managing such massive aircraft movements is a 24-hour task throughout the year.

We use a number of highly sophisticated instruments that are short range, long range and global positioning systems in an integrated and seamless manner.

Radars are indispensable in modern aviation. In equal measure, voice communication is important: very high frequency (VHF) up to 200 m and high frequency (HF) for a longer range is used between pilots and controllers of air traffic at the airport. We also use what is called controllerpilot data link communication, in which communication satellite and GPS are engaged for global coverage.

It is pertinent to mention here that secondary surveillance radars (SSRs), mono-

44

MANAGING SUCH MASSIVE AIRCRAFT MOVEMENTS IS A 24-HOUR TASK THROUGHOUT THE YEAR. WE USE A NUMBER OF HIGHLY SOPHISTICATED INSTRUMENTS...

CRUISING HEIGHTS April 2007

pulse secondary radars (MSSRs) and distance measuring equipment (DME) are part of the larger navigational network. In fact we are moving into next-generation navigation in collaboration with ISRO. This project is called GAGAN (GPS-aided GEOS Augmented Navigation) and is an India-specific tailor-made project. The trials conducted so far have been extremely encouraging. It is a giant leap in navigation for India.

How has this turnaround come about?

There are two factors for this turnaround.

Firstly, up-gradation of existing eleven airports and, secondly, availability of smaller, appropriate aircraft. The second factor is also aided by the private airlines entering the northeastern skies and if I may use the cliché grab a slice of growing aviation pie.

As of date, 275 flights crisscross inter- intranortheast region. Guwahati, of course, remains the hub for the region.

In recent years, Alliance Air is doing

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eleven airports, they were closed due to non-availability of suitable aircraft. In the interim, four states have contracted Pawan Hans to operate helicopter services.

Arunachal Pradesh and Meghalaya have opted for Dauphin (10 + 2 capacity), while Sikkim and Tripura have gone in for Bell (5 + 2 capacity) helicopters. Jagson Airlines operates two MI-17 helicopters exclusively for Arunachal Pradesh.

Two private airlines have shown interest in operating within the region. The government has given initial no objection certificate to Sky King Aviation to operate exclusively within the region. A proposal from Surya Air is under consideration.

Our intention is to improve connectivity further in the Northeast region. The future growth, or the real growth in aviation, one would experience is in least connected places. yeoman service in the Northeast. The central government is also assisting it with an annual grant of Rs 35 crore. This is a social responsibility that we owe to the Northeast region.

These eleven operational airports are spread across five states. All have been upgraded. The works were undertaken under various accounting heads during the Tenth Five Year Plan. An amount of Rs 125.45 was granted under capital investment, NEC grant of Rs 64.62 crore and a budgetary support of Rs 50.17 crore.

New terminal buildings have been constructed at Agartala and Lilabari, and work is in progress at Dibrugarh. Some of the major works completed during the Tenth Plan were expansion of terminal building of Guwahati, strengthening and extension of runways suitable for A320 at Agartala, Dimapur, Lilabari and Imphal, and expansion of aprons at Agartala, Guwahati and Imphal.

A few of the works in progress at Silchar are strengthening and extension of

DURING THE 10TH PLAN, EXPANSION OF TERMINAL BUILDING OF GUWAHATI, EXTENSION OF RUNWAYS AT AGARTALA, DIMAPUR, IMPHAL, ETC WERE COMPLETED CRUISING HEIGHTS April 2007

runway to 7,500 feet, extension of apron, new link taxiway, isolation bay, night landing facility and an ILS on a budget of Rs 33 crore.

Guwahati airport is going through a major revamp. Apart from expansion of the terminal building, isolation bay and link taxiway, at an estimated cost of Rs 15 crore, are under progress. The works during 2006-07 planned are new link taxiway, aprons for six A321 and six ATR-72 and extension of runway from 9,000 feet to 10,170 feet, as well as a new fire station for Cat IX at an estimated cost of Rs 5 crore.

Are there plans to connect remaining three states of the NE Council?

Yes. A few greenfield airports have planned in Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland and Sikkim.

A detailed project report has been prepared for Pakyong airport, in Sikkim, and sent to the Planning Commission for perusal. The estimated cost, including land, is Rs 340 crore. This airport is meant for ATR-72 operation.

A consultant to prepare a techno-feasibility report for an airport at Bandardeva, close to Itanagar, in Arunachal Pradesh, has been appointed. We are awaiting the report.

Likewise a greenfield airport at Cheithu, near Kohima, in Nagaland, is being considered. A consultant for preparing the techno-feasibility report has been appointed. All these airfields are meant for ATR-72.

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AAI: LOOK EAST

Kolkata’s airport of

joy No longer can irate passengers complain about the facilities at the Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport. The AAI is going all out to upgrade the airport and the passenger terminal.

W

hat is in a name? Calcutta. Kolkata. Kalikata. Never mind the name tag. It is an exuberant city irrespective of how you prefer to call it. It is the city of joy. But how far has this joy percolated down to the passengers travelling in and out of Kolkata’s airport? In the past, one often heard from irate passengers flying in and out of Dum Dum airport that the airport ought to be named Dumb Dumb airport derisively. The airport is now named after India’s most patriotic leader, Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose (NSCB International Airport).

The flight information region (FIR), headquartered in Kolkata, is responsible for all aircraft movements within its allotted airspace. Rather than getting into technicalities it is best described by naming airports,

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for better understanding, by the airspace over which Kolkata FIR provides air traffic services ensuring safety. It starts from Bagdogra (northwest Bengal) and extends to Patna and Gaya (Bihar), to Ranchi (Jharkhand), Bhubaneswar (Orissa) and till Port Blair (Andaman & Nicobar Islands).

The airspace is not rigid but seamless.

As aircrafts fly from one FIR airspace and into the next, the air traffic services are automatically taken over by the next FIR depending on the aircraft’s flight path (Kolkata FIR is always in contact with nine other FIRs around its airspace). This is guided by the United Nation’s International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) directive worldwide.

In 2006-07 aircraft movements over the eastern region (Kolkata FIR) have risen

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sharply. International aircraft movements increased to 9,878, a jump of 23.4 per cent, and domestic touched 56,414, registering a 13.4 per cent increase. These figures do not include cargo traffic movements. There are two essential components to meet this increasing challenge: one, infrastructure on the ground, which is tangible, and, two, air

traffic services comprising communication, navigation and surveillance (CNS) and air traffic management (ATM), which are absolutely intangible to an air traveller.

The usual refrain has always been the poor quality of infrastructure, meaning terminal buildings and facilities within or access to it or even car parking facilities.

IN 2006-07 AIRCRAFT MOVEMENTS OVER THE EASTERN REGION HAVE RISEN SHARPLY: INTERNATIONAL INCREASED TO 9,878 AND DOMESTIC TOUCHED 56,414 The air traffic services, the unseen, that make air travel safe from take-off till landing at the destination are hardly noticed by air travellers. Just tickle your memory about disruptions or delays of flights out of Kolkata or, for that matter, in Delhi and a few airports in North India, in the past winter months. Was it because of ground-based infrastructure, or describing it bluntly as ‘brick-and-mortar’ works? No. It was due to the lack of the unseen—CNS and ATM. More about it later.

Let us get to the ‘brick-and-mortar’ issue first and why it is needed also. The passenger traffic to Kolkata has increased manifold in recent times. International passenger movements in 2005-06 touched 7,42,247, an increase of 16 per cent, and the domestic increased by 28 per cent, at 36,64,548. The figures for the current fiscal are yet to be computed and, going by the past performance, as an indicator, then the growth is estimated to be higher. The peak hour capacity, within terminal buildings, for domestic and international passengers are 1,700 and 490, respectively.

There is no denying the fact that Kolkata’s terminal building is splitting at seams. During the Tenth Plan, Kolkata airport received Rs 224.2 crore. The developmental works carried out so far could best be described as cosmetic not in consonance with long-term vision. A few of the major works completed so far have been expansion of international terminal building, modification to the domestic terminal building, expansion of apron and strengthening of runway, and installation of Cat-II lighting facilities.

Kolkata’s main runway alignment is 01R-19L measuring 3,627 m. The secondary runways, too, is parallel, at 01R-19L, but its length is only 2,499 m and there is a proposal to extend it by 400 m (provided the extra land needed is made available) and a link taxiway.

Kolkata had a humble beginning in 1942, though the first plane, DC-3, to land here was in 1924, whereas commissioning of first terminal building was in 1970. In 1995, first domestic terminal building was commissioned and a new arrival hall for interna-

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AAI: LOOK EAST

tional passengers was inaugurated in 2000.

Arrival and departures from Kolkata have increased several fold in the past three years. Over-flights in Kolkata FIR airspace, too, have increased phenomenally. Aircraft movements in Kolkata airport alone registered a massive 22 per cent increase in 200506 over the corresponding previous year: international aircraft movements in the year were 9,250 and that of domestic were 42,299.

There is tremendous strain on both runways and terminal buildings. There is dire need to upgrade ground facilities and modernise the airport, and, for unfathomable reasons, which is neither resource constraint nor techno-feasibility, the project is yet to take off. It is well known in aviation circles

that Kolkata was shunned by international airlines and domestic growth was stunted in the previous two decades. But things are changing for the better, as the figures prove.

Today, eleven international airlines touch Kolkata and domestic growth is equally impressive, as seen though arrival and departure of aircraft and passengers.

Currently the works in progress are nine international and six domestic parking lots, strengthening of secondary runway and integrated cargo complex (export wing has been put into operation). The planned future works are development of Rs 225 crore Phase I international terminal (departure) building, construction of domestic terminal building (Module II) and a corridor connecting the metro station and terminal building.

BRIEF HISTORY OF NSCBI AIRPORT — KOLKATA

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1924

First aircraft “Dakota – 3” landed.

1942

Had a very small beginning with a primitive airstrip.

1960-69

This airport occupied an important position with 0.5 lacs passenger traffic, the highest among MUMBAI, DELHI & CHENNAI airports

1970

Commissioning of first Terminal Building for operation. Major world air carriers like Japan Airlines, Panam Airlines, Air France, Qantas Airlines, Swiss air and Cathay Pacific were operating at this airport.

1975

Commissioning of first Cargo Terminal in the country.

1995

Commissioning of New Domestic Terminal Building and Renaming of the airport as “Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport” (April).

2000

Commissioning of New International Arrival Hall (September).

2006

Export wing of Integrated Cargo Complex (July) .

CRUISING HEIGHTS April 2007

In fact there is a good scope for cargo traffic, especially of perishable variety, considering that many northeastern states’ produce is not able to reach the markets due to lack of quick access, and Kolkata could be a convenient hub. Fruits and flowers grow abundantly but have not been exploited on commercial scale. Kolkata has 24,000 mt capacity for perishable goods apart from 2,25,000 mt for general goods. It is hoped that the integrated cargo complex would alleviate the woes of exporters from the northeastern states.

In the Tenth Plan, Rs 91.25 crore was allotted for improvements of other airports within Kolkata’s operational region. Bagdogra is a busy airport during the tourist season since it caters to the tourists visiting Darjeeling, Kalimpong and Sikkim. A320 and Boeing 737 can operate out of this airport, and on the navigational front it has Doppler-VOR and distance measuring equipment (DME). The other facility is apron for three Boeing 737-800 and is being increased to accommodate six. Currently the terminal building is modified. An aerobridge is being planned. The Indian Air Force, too, uses the airfield.

A new terminal building in Gaya is coming up to accommodate 500 passengers. This destination is popular with the Buddhist circuit travellers. Now that the Buddhist circuit is becoming popular, there is need for a major revamp to receive chartered flights of heavier aircraft and also extension of runway to 9,000 feet, but the hitch is in making the land available. ILS for runway 10-28 is being installed. On navigational front it has Doppler VOR, DME and non-directional beacon (NDB). Apron for A320 exists.

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2,743 m, by another 450 m, thereby strengthening it to take heavier aircraft, keeping in mind international operation. A new international complex is likely to come up. On the navigational side, it is supported by ILS, DME, NDB and Doppler VOR. A mono-pulse secondary surveillance radar has been set up at Behrampur, south of Bhubaneswar, and is undergoing operational trials. Additional parking stands are being added.

A new terminal building has come up at Port Blair on south Andaman Island.

Although Port Blair has the longest runway, at 3,269 m, amongst all airports in the eastern region, there is a problem as well—a hillock at one end of the runway forces land-

TRAFFIC TRENDS AT KOLKATA AIRPORT

The work on expansion of runway at Patna airport has been undertaken and also that of apron. The terminal building is also modified. The present capacity is for only 300 passengers. It has the shortest runway length—1,954 m x 45 m—in the eastern region. On the navigational front, it is well equipped with ILS, Doppler VOR and NDB. The terminal building at Ranchi can accommodate 200 passengers and is being expanded to hold 500 passengers. The runway—2,713 m x 45 m—is fit for Airbus and Boeing aircraft. Currently, it has aprons to hold two A320 and one Boeing 737. In the near future, it will be expanded for seven aircraft. The airport has ILS, Doppler VOR, NDB and DME. Bhubaneswar is the busiest airport, second only to Kolkata, in the eastern region. It is planned to extend the present runway, of

ing and take-off from one end only. The Andaman Islands are known for sudden and frequent freaky weather conditions that make landing or take-off very difficult.

At present there are only two aprons for two A320 aircraft and needs to add a few more provided the Tri-Service Command, headquartered at Port Blair, approves, since security of the islands rests with it. There is pressure from Indian and international tour operators on the government seeking permission for chartered flights to Port Blair.

The Tri-Service Command is the final arbiter.

F

lying today may be fun when the aircraft is cruising at an altitude in excess of 30,000 feet. Wright brothers, too, had their share of fun flying for the first time unhindered over an open grassy land. Ask the pilots today? In most places in the world— Delhi, Mumbai, London, Paris or New York—the airfield is literally in the middle of the city. It is not flying at 30,000 feet that is

THE NEED OF THE HOUR IS MODERNISATION OF KOLKATA AIRPORT AND IT OUGHT TO GET MORE ATTENTION THAN IT RECEIVES AS OF NOW.

Artist’s impretion of the Kolkata airport after modernisation.

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AAI: LOOK EAST

AAI’s eastern focus With the air transport sector growing at an average of 7 per cent per annum, six eastern airports will see massive changes Port Blair

Bhubaneswar

Ranchi

Gaya

Patna

Bagdogra

Progress report AIRPORTS

PARTICULARS

Port Blair

Construction of new terminal buildings Works planned: Expansion of existing apron for four additional aircraft Key concern: NOC from Navy for extension of apron; Removal of obstructions (hillocks)

Gaya

A new terminal building complex to accommodate 500 passengers at a time (250 arrival + 250 departure) put into operation Expansion of apron and runway Installation of ILS on runway-10 Construction of new control tower-cum-technical block Key concern: Additional land required for extension of runway to 9,000 ft

Bhubaneswar

Strengthening and extension of runway by 1500 ft.

Installation of MSSR Radar at Behrampur. [The radar has been installed and is undergoing operational trails.]

Work planned: Construction of additional parking stands with associated taxiways New international terminal complex

Patna

Expansion of apron and runway Modification of terminal buildings Key Concern: Additional land required for construction of isolation bay and other operational requirements Removal of obstructions in approach of Runway 25 and Runway 07; acquisition of land will also be required in case of runway reorientation

Ranchi

Work planned: Expansion of terminal building to handle 500 passengers at a time Expansion of apron to increase aircraft parking capacity from three to seven aircraft

Bagdogra

Work planned: Expansion of the existing apron from present three aircraft parking capacity to six aircraft Expansion of the terminal building with provision of passenger boarding bridge

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a problem, but landing or take-off that puts strain on the pilots, since obstructions are galore, a few natural and mostly man-made, such as high-rise buildings. Visual identification becomes difficult and the pilots have to rely increasingly on navigational aids.

Kolkata airport experienced delays and disruption to air traffic past winter due to fog. Columns of newsprint were used in describing how unprepared Kolkata was in dealing with such contingency. The pet theme was ILS or the lack of it. Kolkata now

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has Cat II lighting system. For the uninitiated it suffices to know that ILS is a precision approach/landing system to assist the pilot in homing onto the centre line.

In thick fog, when visibility reduces to zero, ILS of any category will be of little assistance. Since ILS defines a single approach path only, along the extended runway centre line, at a fixed angle of descent, the system lacks ability to guide aircraft on curved approaches. Such approaches are increasingly becoming order of the day due

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to air congestion over the airspace at busy airports, such as Kolkata, Delhi or Mumbai.

The global positioning system (GPS), once considered ultimate in finding one’s own position without reference to visual landmarks, seems to have a chink in certain parameters. The Airports Authority of India (AAI), in collaboration with Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), has developed GPS-aided GEOS Augmented Navigation (GAGAN). The GAGAN system would be a few steps ahead of current space-based navigation system in use. The trials so far proved encouraging.

GAGAN project’s total electron content (TEC) receiver will be set up at Bhubaneswar, Gaya and Port Blair. The Northeast region, too, will have TEC receivers at Guwahati and Shillong and in addition Guwahati will have Indian Reference Station (INRES).

Next time when you fly and land safely at your destination, just pause for a moment to understand that your safe journey was possible because of unseen staff of CNS and AAI, working tirelessly 24 hours a day in front of large consoles.

The need of the hour is modernisation of Kolkata airport and it ought to get more attention than it receives as of now. The work that is being done now, is not the solution. Even now many have to travel to either Delhi or Mumbai for connecting some of the major airlines that still do not touch Kolkata. It is hoped that the committee constituted for modernisation of the airport would give green signal to AAI entrusted with job soon.

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AAI: LOOK EAST The government’s ‘look east’ policy is aimed at transforming the Northeast into a gateway of India.

Spearheading the move is the Airports Authority of India.

A

SSAM, the state known for verdant greenery and wooded hills and the mighty Brahmaputra river meandering through its landscape, is located south of Eastern Himalayan range. The state broadly consists of Brahmaputra and Barak river valleys and Karbi Anglong and Cachar hills, covering a landmass of 78,438 sq km.

The Northeastern states are euphuistically called Seven Sisters, and Assam is surrounded by the rest of the seven sisters— Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland and Tripura. Many of these were carved out of Assam. The state is home to the mighty one-horned rhino at Kaziranga National Park and magnificent tigers at Manas National Park, and both parks are included in the World Heritage

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Connecting Assam and Northeast

TO THE COUNTRY

Sites. It is also the last wild habitat for massive Asian elephants.

When one talks about Assam, it is tea that comes first to the mind. The state’s share in India’s total production is over 51 per cent and its share in the world is 34 per cent. Guwahati Tea Auction Centre is extremely active, and prospective buyers come from all over the world during the auction. Brahmaputra and Barak valleys are the main tea producing centres.

The airport at Guwahati is the main entrepot for the Northeast region and is connected directly by state-owned and private air carriers with Delhi and Kolkata, and a few through hopping flights from Bagdogra (near Siliguri), in northern part of West Bengal.

Assam has been on the aviation map since World War II when British and Indian troops marched along, defeating Imperial Japanese forces en route, through Nagaland, Manipur and onwards to Burma (now Myan-

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mar) till Malaysia and Singapore. The British built several temporary airstrips for their fighter and transport aircraft to support the ground forces. Many of them, like Guwahati, Jorhat or Dimapur, later became full-fledged airports in Independent India, though the subsequent development was rather slow.

In the 1970s, six stations—Dibrugarh, Guwahati, Jorhat, Lilabari (North Lakhimpur), Silchar and Tezpur—were served by Indian Airlines (now Indian). In 1980s, the air connectivity increased to 18 stations from the previous 12. This time Vayudoot joined Indian, with smaller aircraft, to supplement flights. After the closure of Vayudoot, services to Arunachal Pradesh and Meghalaya were suspended due to lack of appropriate aircraft.

Assam, the largest state, has had economic head start over other Northeastern states. Thus, connectivity, whether by road, rail or air, is far better. From historical perspective, too, the developmental activity

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since the Raj has been along the Brahmaputra valley. It was tea from 1840s, followed by oil find at Digboi four decades later. The industries that were set up then were primarily to meet the demands of these two sectors.

The growth of aviation in this region was at par with the growth in the rest of country and the impetus was World War II. The latter development was to cater to the two main sectors-tea and oil. On the industrial front, apart from oil refineries, there are only small and medium enterprises (SMEs) that find market in rest of the Northeastern states.

The state’s natural resources, such as gas, coal and granite, are yet to be exploited on a commercially viable scale.

Notwithstanding inadequacies on other

operated by Pawan Hans Helicopters Limited under the aegis of state governments, like Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Tripura and Sikkim (Sikkim is now included in the North East Council), and Jagson Airlines operating two MI 17 helicopters under contract with Arunachal Pradesh. It is understood that two more airlines have sought permission to operate exclusively within the region.

These developments augur well for aviation sector in general and the Northeast in particular. Now Guwahati appears on the international flight map. Indian operates flights between Guwahati and Bangkok.

Infrastructural development is keeping pace to meet the new challenges. In the Tenth Plan, capital investment was in the region of Rs 158 crore. In addition the North East Council received a grant of Rs 64.62 crore and a budgetary support of Rs 50.17 crore. At the meeting of the Committee on

extremely busy for AAI. At Silchar, the runway extended to 7,500 ft and strengthened and will have new link taxiway, isolation bay, night landing facility, extended apron and instrument landing system (ILS). The total cost of works is estimated at Rs 33 crore. At Lilabari, the runway is being extended and strengthened for A320 operation and a new terminal building is being constructed. ILS is also being installed on runway 04.

Dibrugarh has a new terminal building

TODAY, THE NORTHEASTERN REGION IS SERVED BY EIGHT AIRLINES, OPERATING 275 FLIGHTS A WEEK, TOTALLING A CAPACITY OF 81,810 SEATS economic fronts, the growth of aviation has been impressive. Although the focus is on Guwahati’s airport, the other airports within the state, too, have received reasonable funding. There is surge in passenger traffic to Guwahati as well. Of late, tourism is gaining momentum, especially tourists heading for wildlife reserves—the one-horned rhino, in Kaziranga, is the biggest pull.

Route dispersal guidelines issued in March 1994 were to avoid isolation of Northeast region. That is past. Now the airlines are making concerted efforts to fly to the Northeast since increasing passenger traffic is a good incentive. While Alliance Air is leading the pack, in number of flights a day/week with jet and turboprop aircraft, other airlines are not missing the chance, but their only limitation currently is availability of suitable aircraft in their inventory.

Today the region is served by eight airlines, both state-owned and private, operating 275 flights a week, totalling a capacity of 81,810 seats. Add to this helicopter service

Infrastructure, held in June 2006, the Prime Minister stressed, “Development of airports in the NE Region must be taken up by AAI on priority basis.”

Guwahati airport is being given a facelift. This includes expansion of terminal building on airside and provision of a canopy on city side at an estimated cost of Rs 12.40 crore, an isolation bay and link taxiway costing Rs 15 crore. Other works planned are link taxiways, new apron for six A321 and six ATR-72 at an estimated cost of Rs 35 crore and a new fire station for Cat IX, costing Rs 5 crore. More importantly, the runway is being extended from the present 9,000 ft to 10,170 ft. The Terminal Buildihng is suitable to handle 1200 domestic and 300 international passengers at a time. The expandiosn and modification of the terminal building is in progress.

The Guwahati Airport is suitable for AB 300 class of aircraft and is equipped with Ground Lighting Facilities, ILS, MSSR, Radar, etc. The apron can accommodate six aircraft of the AB 300 type at a time.

The fiscal 2006-07 seemed to be

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that cost Rs 54.5 crore. Work on expansion and new taxi links, at a cost of Rs 17.64 crore is underway. Extension of runway to 8,000 ft and strengthening has been stopped temporarily due to landslides.

Air traffic services (ATS) are of utmost importance in the region due to increased air traffic in terms of domestic flights as well as over-flights by international airlines. ATS constitutes two components: communication, navigation and surveillance (CNS) and air traffic management (ATM). In the past two years, CNS projects completed at Guwahati were Doppler-VOR, NDB and VCCS. Two significant ongoing projects are DSCN and futuristic GPS-aided GEOSaugmented Navigation (GAGAN) project’s INRES (Indian Reference Station) and TEC (Total Electron Contents).

The internal security at Guwahati airport is bolstered through closed-circuit TV. The future project includes replacement of existing radars by technologically improved latest versions. All in all, the future of aviation is bright in the northeast region and Guwahati is leading the growth.

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AAI: LOOK EAST Dibrugarh Airport

AAI makes big strides IN THE NORTHEAST In the Tenth Plan, the AAI will end up spending Rs 158 crore in the enhancement and development of airport facilities in the eight sister States of the Northeast. There are 12 operational airports (Dibrugarh, Guwahati, North Lakhimpur, Imphal Dimapur, Agartala, Jorhat, Silchar, Tezpur, Lengpui and Itanagar) in the region.

Some of the work undertaken by AAI is as follows:

DIBRUGARH: New terminal building to accommodate five hundred passengers at a time, expansion of apron and strengthening and extension of runway.

SILCHAR: Strengthening and extension of runway, construction of isolation bay, link taxiway and new fire station.

Some of the work likely to be undertaken in the current financial year includes the following:

54

LILABARI: Installation of ILS.

DIMAPUR: Removal of obstacles for commissioning of ILS.

AGARTALA: New control tower-cum-technical block, expansion of apron and additional link taxiway.

Between 2006 and 2011, AAI will spend close to Rs 454 crore for the development of the airports in the Northeast, including Rs 215 crore on a major upgradation of Guwahati airport.

There are also plans to develop three Greenfield airports in the North East Region, which are as follows: 1. Paykong Airport (Sikkim) for ATR aircraft. The estimated cost is Rs 350 crore.

2. Chiethi Airport (Nagaland) for ATR aircraft. The estimated cost is Rs 150 crore.

3. Itanagar for ATR aircraft. The estimated cost is Rs 120 crore.

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A

RUNACHAL PRADESH, biogeographically, is located in the Eastern Himalayan region. Its biodiversity is unparalleled in the Indian subcontinent. The state is repository to some of the rare flora and fauna, found nowhere else.

The terrain is quite complex, rising from 50 m to 7,000 m, divided by fast flowing rivers forming deep gorges abutted by high wooded ridges. The highest peak is Kangte, 7,090 m, in West Kameng district.

The capital, Itanagar, is at an altitude of 530 m. The state covers an area of 83,743 sq km.

Although road connectivity exists, the state is yet to achieve the same degree of comfort level as found in other Himalayan states, like Himachal Pradesh or Sikkim. High rainfall, ranging from 1,000 mm in higher reaches to 5,750 mm in the foothills, spread over eight to nine months a year, is one of the causes for disruption in the road links and the other being overflowing of rivers.

In 1980s, air connectivity to the state was provided by Vayudoot, and the stations linked were Along, Daparizo, Pasighat, Tezu and Ziro. The air link was discontinued after the closure of Vayudoot a decade later and since Indian Airlines (now Indian) did not have appropriate smaller aircraft to take on Vayudoot’s service, air service to the state has remained suspended. Now four states within the Northeast region have opted to utilise Pawan Hans Helicopter’s services and Arunachal Pradesh is one of them. It has contracted one Dauphin (10 + 2 capacity) to serve the state. Jagson Airlines is operating passenger services under contractual agreement with two 26seater MI 17 helicopters.

A couple of private airlines have shown interest in operating within the region. The central government has granted initial no-

objection certificate to Sky King Aviation and proposal of Surya Air is being evaluated.

Alas, none of these two will ever operate out of Arunachal Pradesh in the near future due to inadequate infrastructure on the ground.

M

ANIPUR, literally meaning ‘a jewelled land’, nestles deep within the lush-green corner of Northeast India surrounded by blue hills, with an oval-shaped valley in the centre, covering a landmass of 22,327 sq km. Its rich art and traditions and a large dollop of nature’s pristine glory makes the state quite unique. The state capital, Imphal, is at an altitude of 790 m

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above mean sea level.

Polo finds its origin in Manipur and the modern-day polo is only a slightly modified version of the original. Polo is still played passionately in many towns of Manipur.

Unlike other polo playing nations, here players own their ponies, which, in a way, add to their stature in the society.

Tourism is the mainstay in the state’s economy. Loktak Lake, appearing like a sea, is a famous tourist attraction. There are a few floating islands in the lake and can be seen moved around by fishermen for their daily catch. Keibul Lamjao National Park is the last natural habitat for the marsh dwelling Sangai, a brow-antlered deer. This park is the only floating wildlife park in the world.

Manipur figured prominently during World War II, when British and Indian forces evicted Imperial Japanese forces.

The War Cemetery, at Imphal, for the British and Indian forces killed, a reminder of their ultimate sacrifices during the war, is set in a serene ambience, but only betrays the tumult of war days. The airstrip was constructed to support the Allied forces as they moved forward. In later years this airstrip was developed as a full-fledged airport by the AAI, which is capable of handling AB-320 type of aircraft. The apron can accommodate three A-320 aircraft and one ATR at a time. The airport has ground handling facilities, including ILS. It has VOR/DME facility, too, however, not fit for night operation.

Currently 32 flights are operated per week by Indian, Alliance Air, Jet Airways and IndiGo serve Imphal. Indian and Jet Airways directly connect Imphal to Kolkata. Guwahati and Imphal are connected by Indian, Jet Airways and Air Deccan.

Intra-NE connectivity is also good. At ten flights a week, Air Deccan has the highest number of flights to Imphal.

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AAI: LOOK EAST

M

EGHALAYA,” said Sardar Patel, the Iron Man amongst Indian leaders of yesteryear, “is land for gods to live in. Its air, its natural scenery, its pure atmosphere, its sweet water would attract even gods.” Nature has blessed Mehalaya with abundant rainfall, sunshine, virgin forests, high plateaus, tumbling waterfalls, crystal clear rivers, meandering streams and, above all, sturdy and hospitable people.

Tucked away in the hills of eastern sub-Himalayas, the state covers a landmass of 22,429 sq km. The average rainfall varies between 2,500 mm and 4,000 mm, while Cherrapunjee receives 12,000 mm, and Shillong, just 56 km away, gets only 2,200 mm. As the name suggests, Meghalaya’s sky is never without a cloud cover.

Meghalaya attained full statehood in 1972, and Shillong, the capital, is located at an altitude of 1,498 m. Incidentally, Shillong was the capital of Assam from 1874 till 1972.

Shillong Peak, at 1,965 m, is the tallest mountain peak in the state and an excellent picnic spot. With such abundance of rain, waterfalls are dime a dozen. Cherrapunjee (also called Sohra) is the wettest spot on planet earth and a must-visit spot.

Waterfalls, such as Bishop and Beadon Falls, Crinoline Falls, Elephant Falls, Spread-Eagle Falls and Sweet Falls, dot the state.

Vayudoot, with its small turbo-prop aircraft, served Meghalaya till its closure in 1990s. Of the two airfields -- Tura and Shillong -- Shillong is served through an airport at Umroi village, 30 km from Shillong. The airport belongs to AAI. Alliance Air operates the Kolkata-Shillong sector and the aiprot apron can accommodate two ATRs. The present terminal building of 50 passengers capacity is planned to be upgraded to 150 passengers aling with other associated works. The construction of the permieter road is in progress. Tura now is non-operational due to lack of suitable aircraft to operate out of it. The state utilises Pawan Hans Helicopter’s Dauphin (10 + 2 capacity) helicopter for passenger traffic. It is likely that Tura would come again on the aviation map once the two airlines that have proposed to operate within the Northeast region become functional.

east region.

The hills are steep with deep gorges, rivers at the bottom flowing either to the south or the north. The average height of the hills is 1,000 m and the highest peak, Phawngpui (or Blue Mountain) is 2,210 m.

Mizoram has salubrious climate—winter temperature ranges from 11o C to 21o C and the summer temperature never exceeds 29o C that too only at a few places.

It rains heavily during monsoon, which is from May to September, and the average rainfall is 2,500 mm.

Aizawl is the capital of Mizoram. The state’s two airports are Aizawl (Turial) and Lengpui, 45 km away to the northwest.

Since the closure of Vayudoot, Aizawl airport has become non-operational. Alliance Air, Indian and Air Deccan fly to Mizoram.

In fact connectivity to Mizoram has improved considerably in the past two years, both in terms of intra and inter Northeast. Lengpui is the state government-owned airport; however, air traffic services, consisting of CNS and ATM, rest

M

IZORAM was formed in 1987 and is the twenty-third state of the Indian Union. It is south of Silchar (Assam) and sandwiched between Myanmar in the east and Bangladesh in the west having 722km-long international boundary. The landmass of the state is 21,081 sq km. It has the most variegated hilly terrain in the North-

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CRUISING HEIGHTS April 2007

with AAI. ILS cannot be set up here due to the close proximity of hills. Direct Satellite Communication Network (DSCN) is set up to coordinate air traffic services.

N

AGALAND, too, like the other ‘Seven Sisters’ of the Northeast region is hilly, but, perhaps, with a bit of difference: its hills are less craggy and more open, its plains gentler and rivers less turbulent.

The early Western visitors, rather soldiers of fortune would be more apt, have been less charitable in their description of people of these hills.

The Nagas are, indeed, quite colourful in their attire. One would find people from towns, like Kohima or Dimapur, more Westernised than their brethrens in the hinterland. The true beauty of Nagaland is in its hinterland. Add colourful attire and culture and it is a heady mix to experience.

Fond of song and dance, a visitor would be

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surprised to observe that these are performed without a single musical instrument. The beat is rhythmic, catchy and blissful in its simplicity.

Nagaland suddenly appeared on the national radar during World War II, when Imperial Japanese came right up to Kohima, the present state capital. The district collector’s residence was where all the action took place—the Japanese forces were clinging onto one side of the hill slope, while the British and Indian forces clung to the opposite slope. Mortars and grenades were lobbed by both like tennis balls. It is history now.

That very hill now has the finest war cemetery amongst the Commonwealth Grave Commission’s cemeteries around the world. Many of the descendants of those buried here still come every year, and are called ‘pilgrims’, to lay wreath.

There is a brass plaque on each headstone bearing poignant messages. Sample this: “For the world he was a soldier, for us he was the world,” on a 19-year old Scot’s headstone. Do not miss to stand under the cherry tree that survived the war, and still blooms, and get photographed. And also next to a roughly hewn stone with an inscription: When you go home, tell them of us; for your tomorrow, we gave our today.

Dimapur is the only airport in the state developed since World War II. The airport belongs to AAI and is fot for operation of B-737-700 and AB-320 with dual tandem main undercarraige in instument meteorological conditions. Airport is equipped with ground lighting facilities: ILS (under commisioning), DVOR, DME and PAPI. The terminal building can handle 500 passengers at a time. It now has instrument landing system. Presently work on DSCN is being carried out. There are plans to set up Doppler-VOR. In short, the airport will have most modern air navigation system.

During the Tenth Plan, the runway was extended and strengthened for A320. The terminal building, too, has received a facelift. There is also a proposal to develop one greenfiled airport in the state and Chiru.

T

RIPURA is truly located in the remotest corner of Northeast region and is surrounded by Bangladesh (accounts for almost 84 per cent of its border) on all sides except for a small stretch in the northeast by Assam and Mizoram. Agartala is the state capital. The land area is 10,492 sq km, of which 60 per cent is forested.

The economy is agrarian based, the main crops being rice, sugarcane, jute and potato and plantations of tea and rubber. The average rainfall is 2,100 mm and Kamalpur receives about 2,855 mm.

The agro-climatic condition is ideal for orange, pineapple, litchi and cashew, and

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AAI: LOOK EAST Greenfield Airports STATES like Arunachal Pradesh and Sikkim do not have direct air connectivity currently. As regards Gangtok and Kohima, state capitals of Sikkim and Nagaland, respectively, they have to rely on airports some distance away. The following Greenfield airports in the Northeast region are being assessed: Arunachal Pradesh Banderdeva, close to the state capital Itanagar, seems to be technically feasible for ATR-72 aircraft. A consultant is

being appointed for techno-economic feasibility study.

Nagaland The site at Cheitu has been chosen for ATR-72 operation. A consultant has been appointed for techno-economic feasibility study. Survey is in progress.

Sikkim Pakyong, west of Gangtok, has been selected for ATR-72 operation. A detailed project report has been prepared and forwarded to the Planning Commission for further deliberation.

The estimated cost is Rs 340 crore.

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the state, of late, is encouraging food processing to counter lack of quick accessibility and long distances to the markets in transporting the fresh produce. The central government has taken several initiatives to popularise the food-processing sector here.

Other than agriculture and plantations, handloom weaving is the single largest industry, an inherent homegrown tribal culture. Tripura is abundant in natural gas and a number of gas-based industries have sprung up. ONGC is exploring gas here since 1972. Tourism sector has potential to develop, with many ancient Hindu and Buddhist temples around, with the only hindrance being easy accessibility to the state itself.

Out of the four airfields in the state, only Agartala is operational and the remaining three, Kailashahar, Kamalpur and Khowai, are non-operational ever since Vayudoot’s closure. Agartala is connected to both Kolkata and Guwahati by regular flights. Indian, Alliance Air, Jet Airways, Air Deccan and Kingfisher fly to Agartala. A few of infrastructural improvements during the Tenth Plan period were a new terminal building, extending and strengthening of runway for A320 and expansion of apron.

Works planned are building a new control tower-cum-technical block, expansion of apron and additional link taxiway for four A320 aircraft.

On communication, navigation and surveillance (CNS) front, DME-LP has been provisioned. The works on Direct Satellite Communication Network (DSCN) and DATIS (for weather and climatic update) were implemented last year. CCTVs are also being set up for airport security.

S

IKKIM is, perhaps, the tiniest state amongst North East Council’s states, covering only 7,096 sq km. What it lacks in land area, it makes up in height. Mount

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Khanchendzonga, at 28,516 ft, is the third tallest peak in the world. There are other peaks, too, though may not match Khanchendzonga in height but do well in grandeur. It is often said in lighter vein that a four-hour drive in the state can transport a person through three climatic zones, from tropical to temperate to alpine.

The modern history of Sikkim begins in 1642 when Phuntsog Namgyal was crowned as Chogyal (or king) in West Sikkim’s tranquil Yuksum valley. Today, Sikkim is a sought-after tourist destination and offers something for everyone and everything to a connoisseur. The state is the biggest repository of orchids (500) and rhododendrons (29) varieties in the country.

The flower show, what was once an annual affair, is now spread throughout the year in Gangtok’s White Hall, just below Palace Ridge Park.

Gangtok, the state capital, is a picturesque hill town. There are a number of old monasteries decorated with exquisite frescos on the walls. The visitors normally make a beeline for Rumtek monastery because it is closest to Gangtok. Go beyond and visit Pemayangtse or Sanga Choling monasteries located in an enchanting scenic setting. Avoid monsoon season since Sikkim receives copious rainfall.

The economy is basically agrarian based, but tourism is the biggest revenue earner. It also grows cardamom and its production is highest in the country. Sikkim was not in the original list of ‘Seven Sisters’ of the North East Council, and was included through an amendment (68 of 2002) dated 20th December 2002.

Sikkim does not have any airport in its territory, though there are many helipads in different parts of the state. It has to rely on Bagdogra (near Siliguri) 120 km from Gangtok. National Highway 31A connects Bagdogra with Gangtok. A proposal to build a greenfield airport has now been initiated (see box).

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The AAI’s vigilant eye

IN THE SKY The communication, navigation and surveillance wing of the AAI works through the day and night to ensure that air travellers and the planes they are flying in have a safe journey. A look at how the AAI strives to move on the fast track to upgrade its radar and surveillance facilities.

C

ONGESTION in the airspace? As you look up, what you see is a clear blue sky, a vast expanse till the horizon and, perhaps, a bird or two chirping

as they fly and you are befuddled at the word congestion.

Ask the personnel, who look after communication, navigation and surveillance (CNS) of Airports Authority of India (AAI), the meaning of congestion and reasons for it. An air traveller steps out of air-conditioned comforts of an airport

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lounge, gets into the aircraft and lands safely at the destination. But the traveller knows little that the safe journey is courtesy CNS and air traffic management (ATM).

CNS + ATM = ATS. This is not exactly a simple mathematical equation, but goes beyond to the digital and elec-

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AAI: LOOK EAST

From RADAR to

GAGAN

A

IR TRAFFIC MANAGEMENT has assumed immense proportions since the first radar (radio detection and ranging) was put into use at the beginning of World War II. It is the humblest of equipment in comparison to an array of equipments used for air traffic management.

Today it encompasses a comprehensive communication, navigation and surveillance (CNS) system. Alas, if we had this system a decade ago then we would not have had that massive collision between aircraft over the airspace of Haryana or clandestine arms dropping in Purulia, West Bengal. In short the system oversees safety for flying aircraft and, importantly, ensures security and integrity of the country's sovereign airspace.

An array of ground-based and spacebased equipments is deployed. Instrument landing system (ILS) has certain limitations and hence ICAO has requested member nations to develop microwave landing system (MLS) for multiple approach paths. Air-to-ground and ground-to-ground communication is through very high frequency (VHF), VHF digital voice, high frequency long range and satellite. In the ground-based nonprecision approach, the equipments used are non-directional beacon (NDB), VHF omni range (VHF-OR), Doppler-VOR (DVOR) and distance measuring equip-

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ment (DME) and precision approach is with ILS. The surveillance radars used are primary surveillance radar (PSR), primarily used in the airports and for air route surveillance. The secondary surveillance radars (SSRs) are conventional SSR, mono-pulse (MSSR), Mode-S SSR and automatic dependent surveillance (ADS).

The global positioning system (GPS), once considered ultimate in finding one's own position without reference to visual landmarks, seems to have a chink in certain parameters. The Airports Authority of India (AAI), in collaboration with Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), has developed GPS-aided GEOS Augmented Navigation (GAGAN).

Despite agreements signed with other world agencies, GAGAN is entirely indigenous and the satellite will be launched from India. It has seven reference stations that would collect measurement data and pass it on to the master control centre. GAGAN project's total electron content (TEC) receiver will be set up at Bhubaneswar, Gaya and Port Blair. The Northeast region, too, will have TEC receivers at Guwahati and Shillong and in addition Guwahati will have Indian Reference Station (INRES).

The GAGAN system would be a few steps ahead of current space-based navigation system in use. The trials so far have proved encouraging.

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AAI: LOOK EAST tronics world invisible to an air traveller.

The air traveller's woes are confined to access to the airport building and the comforts within, car park or similar such things, which are truly ‘brick-and-mortar’ issues. The real big issue is safe and riskfree air travel. The former is tangible and inconveniences are perceptible; the latter, being invisible, no one understands the need for air modern traffic service.

And that includes our policy makers!

Does any one today remember the massive air accident that occurred almost a decade ago over the landscape of Haryana involving two airlines and the fatalities? This certainly would not have happened if only our planners understood the need for modern CNS system. In that accident, one of the pilots lied blatantly about cruising altitude and the flight path. A modern CNS system would have immediately detected the pilot’s lie and corrected the course.

AAI’s major chunk of earnings is through air traffic services (ATS), and in terms of percentage it is almost 60 per cent of the total revenue, estimated at approximately Rs 4,000 crore. But the share of CNS + ATM is a paltry 15 per cent and the rest goes to brick and mortar in sprucing up airports. In the Northeastern region, the terrain demands ATS of the highest order. At many northeastern airports, 11 operational currently, CNS is still not up to the desired level and has to

INDIA PROVIDES AIR NAVIGATION SERVICES OVER 2.8 MN SQ NAUTICAL MILES OF AIR SPACE. THIS IS MANAGED

BY FIVE FLIGHT INFORMATION REGIONS. gear up to meet the global standards, considering the steadily increasing volume of aircraft movements.

India provides air navigation services over 2.8 million sq. nautical miles (NM) of air space, which includes 1.8 million sq. nautical miles of oceanic air space. This is managed by five flight information regions (FIRs) from headquarters located at Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata and Guwahati.

Kolkata and Guwahati are responsible for flights (including over-flights) to and from the east and the southeast, as mandated by International Civil Aviation Organisation, a UN body.

Everyday, almost 700 flights crisscross airspace over these two FIRs and of these 500 are over-flights. The Northeast is a rough, mountainous terrain and though international flights would be cruising well above the mountain ranges, yet ATS has to remain vigilant for flights separation and safety of flying aircraft. It is a round-the-

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clock operation.

One notices steady increase in aircraft movements in the Northeast. In 2004-05, domestic aircraft movements were 32,967, while international were only 52. A year later, in 2005-06, internationals jumped to 290 and growth in domestic was a modest 33,746. It is estimated that in 2006-07 it would rise by five per cent. In view of this, importance of CNS + ATM can never be underplayed.

Yes, Northeast region requires equal attention to both air traffic services and airport infrastructure. One sector cannot be paid more attention at the expense of the other. There are more flights to the Northeast today than ever before, and the infrastructure has to cope with additional demands and so do the air traffic services, avers a senior official.

CNS works, in the Northeast region, are progressing at a fast clip. By this yearend, many of the airports will be equipped with instrument landing systems and Doppler-VOR. The region is gearing up for futuristic GPS-aided GEOS Augmented Navigation-GAGAN-a joint project of AAI and ISRO. Indian reference station (INRES), of GAGAN, will be located at Guwahati, while total electron contents (TEC) receiver will be based at Guwahati and Shillong.

Air travellers to the Northeast will have a new experience, both on the ground as well as in the air.

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N AT I O N A L Singapore Airlines touches Bangalore daily SINGAPORE AIRLINES has announced the commencement of daily flights from Bangalore to Singapore, up from the current six flights a week. The new service came into effect from March 28. To commemorate this occasion, the airline has offered its customers discounts ranging from 23 to 41 per cent on current economy fares to key locales in Indonesia, Philippines, China, Australia and New Zealand, besides Singapore. This offer also includes a free stopover at Singapore while flying in and out of any of the destinations. The bookings for this offer must be made before April 15 and is valid for outbound travel till May 31.

CNS India 2007 seminar A SEMINAR on Emerging Trends in Communication Navigation & Surveillance in Civil Aviation was jointly organised by The CNS Officers’ Guild and The Aeronautical Society of India recently at India Habitat Centre, New Delhi. The one-day seminar was inaugurated by K. Roy Paul, IAS, Member UPSC and former secretary of civil aviation. A.K. Chopra, joint director general of civil aviation, Ashok Bhushan, secretary general, Aeronautical Society of India, and Suresh Chandra, executive director, CNS—operations & maintenance, AAI, were also present on the occasion along with other eminent scientists and professionals of the field, from India and abroad. In his inaugural address, K. Roy Paul stressed the need to encounter the challenging tasks on account of the new concepts that are emerging for seamless navigation of the growing air traffic, air space management and CNS systems. The seminar aimed to bring the global K. Roy Paul (centre) inaugurating the CNS India 2007 seminar experts in the field of CNS from around the world and showcase latest trends in aviation, avionics and other navigation and guidance philosophies. It also reviewed the progress of India towards achieving the global plan initiatives, in tune with the rest of the world.

In the seminar, Airports Authority of India was entrusted the responsibility of providing Air Traffic Services (ATS) over complete Indian Airspace (over 2.8 million sq nautical miles) and has also been made responsible for providing passenger amenities and other aerodrome facilities at 127 civil airports and 25 civil enclaves.

GHIAL signs agreements for finances GMR HYDERABAD INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT LTD (GHIAL), which is developing the international greenfield airport at Shamsabad, has recently executed financial agreements for borrowing Rs 718 crore from three banks: Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank,

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Andhra Bank and Vijaya Bank.

This investment is for creation of additional facilities, common fuel farm and business hotel in the airport. The extra amenities being created include more aircraft parking stands, rapid exit taxiways, full-length parallel taxiway and additional office space for airlines, extra cargo terminal space, additional car parking for passengers and public, extra immigration desks, self-check-in kiosks and bus gate lounges. The money would also be used to finance installing additional security equipments for meeting the safety standards of BCAS. The company had initially planned to handle seven million passengers, but decided to augment capacity to 12 million passengers per annum keeping in view the tremendous growth in air traffic from Hyderabad in the last few years. As a result, the total project cost went up to Rs 2,478 crore from the earlier estimated figure of Rs 1,760 crore. While the rupee term loans of Rs 200 crore are being extended by Andhra Bank and Vijaya Bank, Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank would extend the remaining Rs 518 crore, in US dollars, in the form of external commercial borrowing (ECB). The ECB has a repayment moratorium of two years from the date of commencement of the airport operations, and the repayment schedule is spread over 14 years thereafter.

Kingfisher News Connects Agatti to most major Indian cities: The airline has announced the launch of its direct flights to Agatti from Kochi and stopover flights from most major cities in India. With the launch of this new route, Kingfisher Airlines will be operating 158 flights across 29 cities.

Announces Mega Mile Move Offer: The airline has announced a mega offer for all frequent flyers across airlines in India—the Kingfisher Airlines Mega Mile Move (MMM) Offer. To enrol for this offer, the guest just has to show a statement of their current FFP. Upon enrolment, the member will also enjoy instant tier matching. Along with the miles that the member will ‘move’ to King Club, he will also earn regular King Miles on all flights taken on Kingfisher Airlines. The offer gives the member an opportunity to earn as much as 1,00,000 bonus miles in just 10 months.

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Indian connects Delhi and Patna WITH EFFECT from March 10, Indian and its subsidiary Alliance Air have together begun operating a daily early morning flight on the Delhi-Patna-Delhi sector from Monday to Saturday.

On Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays the service will operate with an A320 aircraft, whereas on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays the flight will be operated with a B-737 aircraft. The flight will take off from Delhi at 0625 hrs and reach Patna at 0750 hrs.

On its return leg the flight will leave Patna at 0830 hrs and arrive in Delhi at 0955 hrs.

Jet Airways’ new flight JET AIRWAYS has commenced a new international flight between Ahmedabad and Heathrow London with two flights per week from April 3. This will be enhanced to three flights per week from May. Ahmedabad will be the fourth city in India that will be linked with London Heathrow by Jet Airways following receipt of regulatory approvals from the Government of India. At present, London Heathrow is served with twice daily flights from Mumbai, once daily from Delhi and six times a week from Amritsar.

IndiGo starts new services THE LOW-FARE domestic carrier recently started operating its eighth A320 by commencing daily non-stop services on DelhiMumbai and Delhi-Chennai sectors. IndiGo will also use this aircraft to connect Jaipur to Guwahati via Kolkata. At present, the airline is offering non-stop services from Delhi to Mumbai, Chennai, Bangalore, Kolkata, Goa, Guwahati, Hyderabad, Pune, Vadodara and Jaipur. The airline currently operates 52 daily flights with a fleet of eight A320 aircraft and flies to 13 destinations, including Delhi, Bangalore, Chennai, Goa, Guwahati, Imphal, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Kolkata, Mumbai, Nagpur, Pune and Vadodara.

Laurent Recoura, Jim Summerford and Tim Kennedy announcing the commencement of the Mumbai-New York flight

Continental to connect Mumbai and New York CONTINENTAL AIRLINES has announced it will launch daily non-stop flights between Mumbai and New York/Newark effective October 31 (westbound), subject to government approval. The airline is operating a Delhi-New York non-stop service since 2005.

Mumbai will be the 30th city in Continental’s transatlantic route network.

AA shifts its Asia Pacific call centre to India AMERICAN AIRLINES has announced the shifting of its Asia Pacific call centre operations to India, from Australia. The airline has appointed Bird Information Systems Pvt Ltd (BIS), a technology provider of automated aviation and travel related software solutions, to provide call centre services for travel related queries of its customers in India and the

Asia Pacific region. This agreement follows an earlier City Ticket Office (CTO) agreement, which American Airlines had signed with the Bird Group last year. While the outsourced City Ticket Office operations run from Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Bangalore, the outsourced call centre operations run from Delhi.

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I N T E R N AT I O N A L Etihad plans new flight

ETIHAD AIRWAYS plans to start non-stop flights from Abu Dhabi to both Brussels and Toronto from June 1. The flight schedule to Brussels will start from June 1, with flight EY055 departing from Abu Dhabi on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 1.35 pm and arriving in Brussels at 6.45 pm, local

time. The service will also carry the SN code of Etihad’s partner, Brussels Airlines. The return flight EY056 will depart from Brussels at 10.10 pm on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, arriving in Abu Dhabi at 6.55 am the next day. The first non-stop service to Toronto starts on June 2, with flight

EY141 departing from Abu Dhabi at 2.05 am on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays and arriving in Toronto at 8.40 am the same day. The return flight, EY140 will depart from Toronto at 10.20 am on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, arriving in Abu Dhabi at 7.45 am the next day.

Lufthansa News Expands lounge amenities: The airline is showcasing a new Senator and new Business Lounge at Berlin-Tegel Airport. Costing around 100 million euros, both lounges have been completely refurbished over the past few months and are now inviting prospects for Lufthansa frequent flyers as well as First and Business-class passengers to unwind in restyled interiors. The lounge re-openings at Berlin-Tegel Airport are just two of a series of refurbishing projects and new buildings at numerous airports around the globe. The Lufthansa lounge network encompasses close to 600 lounges and is one of the biggest worldwide. Work on a new First class lounge at Munich Airport began in November 2006, and is scheduled to open in the late summer of this year. Further lounge projects are in the pipeline in New York and Paris as well as at other airports.

Creates children’s menus: TV chef Ralf Zacherl will be presenting imaginative culinary creations in the children’s in-flight menu from May. Martian—a dish—has a face made of mousse and strawberry purée. Chocolate buttons form the eyes and two liquorice sticks the aerials. Sweet Butterfly is a pancake with curd cheese filling and vanilla sauce. Alongside the sweets, Zacherl has come up with appetising main dishes specially suited to young tastes and adventurously named, such as Snake Noodles in a Tomato Jungle, which is none other than spaghetti in tomato sauce with peas, maize and vegetables. Tiger Tail is a pancake filled with chicken and

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vegetables as well as fish fingers with savoy cabbage and potato purée. Six

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children, tutored

by Zacherl, were chosen to help prepare and taste the new menus.

Other children of diverse nationalities were given the chance to try out the new menus for Lufthansa and indicate their preferences.

From May, the childrentested menus will be offered free to young passengers under twelve on all Lufthansa long-haul flights.

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Heathrow’s Terminal 5 to open in March 2008 THE £4.3 BILLION state-of-the-art airport terminal, scheduled to open on March 28, 2008, will help British Airways to modernise and grow its business at Heathrow. Capable of handling 30 million customers a year, the new terminal is five times the size of Terminal 4 (British Airways’ current main long-haul base). There are five levels in the main building, each the size of 10 full-size football pitches. On the top level (departures) there will be 96 self-service check-in kiosks and 140 customer-service desks (including 96 fast bag drop facilities). British Airways will open five new lounges for premium customers to use. The lounges will cover around 15,000 sq m (around two football pitches). The baggage system will be able to handle up to 12,000 bags per hour and has 18 km of baggage belts to transport the luggage around the terminal.

More than 20,000 trees, shrubs and plants are being used to landscape the area around Terminal 5. More than 80 per cent of waste generated at Terminal 5 will be recycled.

Open Skies agreement approved EU COUNCIL OF TRANSPORT MINISTERS has unanimously approved the EU-US ‘open skies’ agreement, effective March 8 (five months later than originally proposed). The agreement is subject to US Senate approval and individual EU states exercising suspension rights if no progress is made after four years. The agreement is set to be signed during the EUUS Summit on April 30. EU Transport Commissioner, Jacques Barrot, forecast the deal would boost transatlantic services by 50 per cent (from 50 million to 75 million) over five years and could trigger consolidation among European airlines.

Gulf Air records growth

THE AIRLINE has announced that it has seen a dramatic increase in its premium class booking during the second half of 2006, with some sales figures already showing up for the year 2007 as well. The airline says it has seen nearly four per cent growth in Business class passenger segment in the second half of 2006 over the same period in 2005, with over 2,09,000 passengers choosing to fly Gulf Air Business class. The airline has already registered a three per cent growth in January 2007 vis-àvis the same period in 2006, while an impressive 8.5 per cent growth in the first fourteen days of February over the same period last year. Overall, the airline has already seen 4.5 per cent more Business class passengers travelling since the beginning of 2007 compared with the same period in 2006.

MRH90 performs successfully EUROCOPTER RECENTLY undertook successfully the initial flight of the first MRH90 produced and assembled in Marignane, France. The Australian programme comprises the acquisition by the Australian Defence Force (ADF) of a total of 46 state-of-the-art helicopters, as well as the associated support for a ten-year period. This maiden flight of MRH90 MSN 01 (Manufacturer Serial Number) took place at Eurocopter’s flight test centre in Marignane and lasted an hour and thirty minutes.

The MRH90 is the Australian variant of the world’s most advanced helicopters in the ten-tonne class, provided by NHIndustries (a cooperative industrial consortium comprising Eurocopter, Agusta and Fokker). Australia chose the MRH90 over competing types as part of a programme to modernise and rationalise its military helicopter fleet.

The MRH90, a fly-by-wire, all-composite construction, medium-lift helicopter with highest crash-worthiness standards, was chosen ahead of the US-built UH 60M Black Hawk.

Bird enters hospitality THE BIRD GROUP, under its wholly owned subsidiary, Bird Hospitality Services (BHS), has announced its foray in the hospitality business with Dusit Hotels and Resorts, Thailand. Under this joint venture, Bird Hospitality Services will develop six, 4- to 5-star hotels, which will provide Dusit the possibility to manage or franchise several hotels in India. The first three properties, projected to open within 2010, are in Delhi, Goa and Rishikesh; and the next three by 2013 will be in Pune, Amritsar and Jaipur. The total investment in the hotels from Bird Hospitality Services is approximately over $200 million.

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TRAVEL & TOURISM

ITC’S WHOLLY owned chain Fortune Park Hotels has opened its second property, the Fortune Chariot Beach Resort at Mamallapuram, in Chennai. The resort, built on a 47-acre plot, is owned by A.R. Madan Gopal and R. Ravi, directors of Hotel Radha Pvt Ltd. Personally designed by

the two directors, the Fortune Chariot Beach Resort takes its name from the ancient stone carvings of five ‘rathas’, or chariots, on the Mamallapuram beach. The resort offers four exclusive sea view suites, four deluxe cottages, 28 wellappointed Fortune cottages and 34 standard rooms.

More Indians visit Korea

Kohli honoured at ITB

KOREA TOURISM ORGANISATION (KTO) has announced that, for the year 2006, Korea has recorded 62,531 Indian tourist arrivals, thereby registering an overall growth of 42.7 per cent as compared with previous year’s arrival figures. An average package cost to Korea, including airfare and land package, costs INR 60,000 onwards for a five-night-four-day visit.

Going further on its promotional plans, the Korea Tourism Organisation recently organised the ‘Korea Travel Conference, 2007’ to position Korea as one of the most exciting yet unexplored standalone tourist destinations in Southeast Asia.

RAM KOHLI, of Creative Travel, was honoured this year by ITB, with the body conferring on him its highest recognition of ITB—the ITB GOLDEN PIN. This recognition was given to Kohli for his long-standing support to ITB. He was the first Indian to attend the first ITB in 1966.

ITB, the world’s largest tourism fair held each year in March in Berlin, was held for the first time in 1966. The function was attended by many distinguished tourism personalities from all over the world, including Dr Busche—the first Director General of Messe Berlin, tourism ministers of Pakistan and Sri Lanka, heads of various international tourism boards and the top management of PATA, including President and CEO Peter de Jong.

Easyhotel to open in Dubai EASYHOTELS AND Holiday Inn Express are set for opening an Easyhotel in Dubai in early 2008. Based on a model already launched in Europe, the property is to be sited in the densely populated Al Karama district, close to the Dubai World Trade Centre and Sheikh Zayed Road strip. It is one of six planned for the emirate. The property is being developed by Istithmar Hotels, which has the master franchise for easyHotel.com in the Middle East, the Levant, North Africa, India and Pakistan. The company is investing more than $400 million over the next five years, to build 38 easyHotel.com properties in 17 countries. Each hotel will contain between 80 and 120 rooms. The first easyHotel opened its first hotel in London in August 2005 and a second one in Switzerland in September 2005. It offers short-stay travellers a safe and quality option at around £40 a night in Central London, about half the price of other branded budget hotels.

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Delhi Tourism announces IT programmes AS PART of its ongoing commitment to make Delhi a world-class tourist destination, Delhi Tourism, in association with Cyber Learning, has

Indians spend US $1.93 trillion

launched two certification programmes to impart the citizens of Delhi the skills of the information age. The certification programmes are Microsoft Office Specialist Certification and Internet and Computing Core Certification.

These courses are highly accepted and recognised in the IT market worldwide and provide excellent placement opportunities.

VISA INTERNATIONAL recently released the global Commercial Consumption Expenditure (CCE) measurement for 2006 that shows business and government spending in the Asia Pacific region grew seven per cent over 2005 expenditure.

Using the CCE index, a standardised metric to track business and government spending globally, Visa Commercial calculates global CCE in 2006 to be US $66.7 trillion. Asia Pacific spend accounted for US $17.0 trillion. India was ranked third in size of total spend, with US $1.9 trillion. The top five Asia Pacific markets in size of total spend in 2006 were Japan (US $5.3 trillion), China (US $4.2 trillion), India (US $1.9 trillion), South Korea (US $1.9 trillion) and Australia (US $1.1 trillion).

MISCELLANEOUS Top Gun NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC CHANNEL is airing, from April 9 to 13 (Monday to Friday) at 10 pm, a five-episode series featuring the ultimate thrill of air combat. Titled Top Gun, the programme traces the evolution of aerial combat in true ‘Think again’ style, showcasing stories that are untold, footage that is unseen and thrill that is unmatched.

The five-episode feature includes: Air Plane to Air Power (April 9): The transformation of the planes from being just a “eye in the sky” to that of aerial fighters.

Bombs Away (April 10): Bred and brought up during wars and conflicts, demands on plane’s performance rose. Demands that would lead to dramatically improved aerodynamics to unleash terror from the heavens.

Jet (April 11): The birth of the jet blurred the lines of distinction between the roles of fighters, bombers and attack helicopters. Warfare would never be the same again.

Age of Stealth (April 12): Stealth is the mantra and the F-22 Raptor embodies it. It can fly for long periods, break the speed of sound, strike and be gone in a second. But not only is it fast, the Raptor is almost invisible to radar. The warplane has come of age.

Lost Fighter Planes (April 13): On a day that changed the course of the Second World War, fighter pilot Sergeant Ray Holmes—in a dogfight over London—spotted a German bomber making its approach to Buckingham Palace, home of King George VI. Realising the danger, and having run out of ammunition, Holmes made the extraordinarily brave decision to ram the German bomber with his own plane. Watch an exclusive interview with Sergeant Holmes, now 89 years old.

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A Tibetan odyssey

IT MUST sure be described as a coup of sorts that Captain Gopinath got the Dalai Lama to bless and inaugurate the new Air Deccan flight into Kangra via Pathankot. Giving them company was Praful Patel and Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh. We hear there is a gentleman in faraway Hollywood who is delighted at the turn of events. Not that Richard Gere can’t hire a private charter. But with Air Deccan, he now has a daily option.

What a man!

Hello,

Ralf

NOW WHAT’S Ralf Schumacher doing with Vijay Mallya? Simple. Promoting the Toyota F1 team whose ranks Kingfisher has now joined. The multi-year partnership will see the

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Kingfisher brand on the Toyota vroom machines. And if Mallya has his way then Rajpath could be a second Monte Carlo for the Formula One circuit.

Anyone buying his formula? Not yet.

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HE WARMS the cockles of your heart with his never-say-die spirit, his infectious positiveness and his zest for life.

That’s Miles Hilton-Barber for you. Blind for about twenty years, this fully qualified microlight pilot embarked on a 13,000-mile flight from London to Sydney some weeks back. He is relying on revolutionary speech-output technology to access his flight instruments and navigate the microlight. Barber was recently in Mumbai, a stopover en route, where he gave motivational speeches to raise part of the £1 million he hopes to raise for his favourite charity, Seeing Is Believing.

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