Cruisingheights

BUMPY ROAD AHEAD FOR JET AIRWAYS IN LIFE AFTER ETIHAD

Cruising heights www.cruisingheights.in

june 2013 I `90

Falcon Flies at

50

More than 2,250 Falcons are flying today: a testimony to Dassault’s passion for excellence

Overtures in the Gulf

Will Qatar’s wooing melt Emirates?

Battle of the widebodies

Boeing, Airbus are pitching B777X and A350 in the Gulf

EBACE hopes for better times

Business of business aircraft readies for a comeback

editor-in-chief's note

Where are the connections?

I

4

Cruising Heights June 2013

on the Gulf airlines acquisition spree on pages 42-44).

In many ways the fact of the matter is that India simply does not have enough direct connections to entice passengers to fly Indian. For a Chennai traveller wanting to travel ‘Indian’ to Paris, the two options are to go to Delhi or Mumbai and take the connection on Air India after a wait of several hours or simply take Air France or the Middle Eastern Airlines and travel in comfort from their hometown.

While I may cry hoarse about seat allocation, bilaterals, airports going waste, etc., the thumb rule in any journey is passenger comfort and passenger experience. I am afraid on that score unless there are more point-to-point services and more connections, we will keep losing to every hub and to every airline that can give you that experience.

wikimedia commans

n the last week of May at Doha international airport, as I made my way from the air-conditioned bus to immigration, K Srinivasan there was just a handful of us getting off to go into the city. Almost threefourths of the load, in fact more, got off when the vehicle stopped to offload passengers at another terminal for ‘passengers with onward flights’. Most of those who got off were Indians and the Airbus 330 was a full flight from Delhi.

It was a 9.20 a.m. flight from the National Capital. If you take the early morning flight that arrives into the Qatar capital around 6.15 am, you will probably get a ‘Bharat Darshan’ at the airport. In the span of close to 45 minutes you have nearly 10 flights arriving in from all parts of India disgorging their loads — over 90 per cent are packed off into other flights to Europe, Americas, Africa and other parts of the world. This is what you call a ‘hub’. Ditto for Abu Dhabi (now even more so after the JetEtihad deal) and Dubai.

It’s something that cuts at the very heart of creating a hub for Indian passengers from the hinterland in the gateway cities of Mumbai/ Delhi/Hyderabad/Chennai and Bengaluru. We have the airports here as well as in Kolkata to cater to any surge in traffic or the complexities of transferring passengers across flights. Then, why is it that we haven’t succeeded and the Gulf is grabbing all the eyeballs so to speak?

Frankly, it has nothing much to with the airports (excepting the charges that has been a huge bone of contention between them and the airlines), and more with the fact that there aren’t too many flights to destinations from India. In fact, we have a situation where Kingfisher has shut down, Air India has a limited package and Jet has actually deleted a city or two (one flight into New York being one example).

You also have the situation where Air India wants to put six of its 777s on the block (for want of being able to put enough passengers on board) and Emirates with 175 777s wants Boeing to get the new 777X off the ground so that it can order at least a 100 of them. You can say the same for Etihad and Qatar (see our story

delightful shopping: Flyers at the duty free area in Doha International Airport that serves as a hub for flights to the US, Europe and Africa

srini@newsline.in

Grab that seat A new research by British Airways recently pointed out the most popular

contents

seats on a standard Boeing 747 aircraft. The findings have apparently provided flyers, who are always in quandary about choosing seats in a plane that are best suited to them, a huge relief. The four pairs of seats, 51B/51C, 52B/52C, 51H/51J and 52 H/52J, are the most commonly chosen in economy class, according to the research. Window seats are generally favoured over aisle ones registering six per cent more bookings. Aisle seats are more popular at the front Dassault Aviation

and window seats are more popular at the back.

The research also indicated a fondness for selecting a seat on the right hand side of the aircraft (facing the nose). When choosing, 54 per cent of economy consumers chose to sit on the right against 46 per cent choosing to sit on the left. Amazingly, the most popular seats in First Class are the two right at the front, 1A and 1K and

The Falcon at Fifty

p30

Five decades ago, Marcel Dassault conceived and launched the Mystère-Falcon 20 — the first true purpose-built business jet. In the years that followed, more than 2,250 Falcons of 20 different models have been delivered to 82 countries around the world.

Today, the same passion and excellence that the company founder instilled for the first Falcon can be seen in each plane that is built. A close look at what keeps the Falcon flying?

in Club World (Business Class), the upper deck is popular, especially with regular flyers who grab the seats at the back of each section, 62A and K and 64A and K, the research showed.

Sara Dunham, British Airways’ Head of Retail and Direct Channels, said, “Most people like the idea of turning

dmm.travel

Off the cuff

cover story

left when they get on a plane, but it looks like the majority favour the right hand side when it comes to choosing their seat. There are lots of theories why people favour the right hand side: there are more right handed people, we automatically tend to turn right, but the truth is we don’t know for sure.”

6

news digest

p16

London Mayor Boris Johnson praises Indian airports of Hyderabad and Delhi even as the Pakyong Airport project in Sikkim gets delayed. Mangalore Airport clocks passenger traffic of one million in 2012-13.

Cruising Heights June 2013

spotlight

p42

B777X and Airbus’ A350 are pitted against each other. While one is still to get to the drawing board, the other has progressed ahead but the manufacturers of both are wooing carriers in the Gulf.

contents

cover story

articles news views edits interviews clippings profiles news digest

CARGO

Cruising Heights

p59

Volume VIII n No 1

The Sultanate of Oman is opening another gateway for India, specifically aimed at cargo and logistics. The COO of Free Zone Sohar (FZS), Neelima Vyas, recently hosted a Middle East investors meet to woo more Indian investors and manufacturers.

cms.ukintpress.com

Editor-in-Chief

net express AERO-ENGINES

p45

Pratt & Whitney and TES Aviation Group has entered into an agreement to build new engines from the material of PW4000-100 engines. Plus, PW Scramjet engine sets world record by making the longest-ever supersonic combustion ramjet-powered flight and GE Aviation opens up a 3,40,000 sq ft facility in Ellisville, US.

p51

Gatwick Airport switches to cloud computing resulting in scrapping of 200 servers; Dubai International Airport introduces 14 new e-gates; and, InterGlobe unveils tech tool for the Indian market. Plus an exclusive interview of Christopher Juneau, Senior Director Marketing APAC, Concur Technologies.

SNIPPETS

p68

K SRINIVASAN Managing Editor

TIRTHANKAR GHOSH Group Consulting Editor

R KRISHNAN Consulting Editor

Nandu manjeshwar Senior Sub-Editor-cum-Reporter

punit mishra Correspondent

trishit rai Chief Visualiser

ajay negi Designers

Mohit kansal, nagender dubey, chanderjeet Design Consultant

artworks Picture Editor

Pradeep chandra Photo Editor

HC Tiwari Staff Photographer

hemant rawat Director (Admin & Corporate Affairs)

Rajiv Singh Director (Marketing)

Rakesh gera Manager (PR)

Ashutosh Mishra Sr. Executive (Coordination)

Alka goswami

back page

p74

Sleeping pods are fast catching up at airports across the world. These pods are basically shortstay, pay-by-the-hour micro-hotels and generally comprise a fold-out table, TV, internet connection and power plug.

GoAir signs agreement with Airbus for Sharklets and IndiGo President Aditya Ghosh pays a visit to SOS Children’s Village. In the international section, AirAsiaX records a strong growth in the first quarter of 2013 while Cathay introduces six world-class wines.

BUMPY ROAD AHEAD FOR JET AIRWAYS IN LIFE AFTER ETIHAD

CRUISING HEIGHTS www.cruisingheights.in

JUNE 2013 I `90

FALCON FLIES AT

50

cover

More than 2,250 Falcons are flying today: a testimony to Dassault’s passion for excellence

smh.com.au

OVERTURES IN THE GULF

Will Qatar’s wooing melt Emirates?

BATTLE OF THE WIDEBODIES

Boeing, Airbus are pitching B777X and A350 in the Gulf

EBACE HOPES FOR BETTER TIMES

Business of business aircraft readies for a comeback

Photo: dassault aviation

design: artworks

The total number of pages in this issue: 72+4

8

Cruising Heights June 2013

Subscription

Ashna Pandit, (9650433044) Charu Sharma , SMITA PANDEY Executive Director

renu mittal For advertising and sales enquiries, please contact:

+91-9810030533, 9810159332 Editorial & Marketing office: Newsline Publications Pvt. Ltd., D–11 Basement, Nizamuddin (East), New Delhi –110 013, Tel: +91-11-41033381-82 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. Owned and published

by K Srinivasan 4C Pocket-IV, Mayur Vihar Phase–I, Delhi–91 and printed by him at Nutech Photolithographers, B–240, Okhla Industrial Area, Phase–I, New Delhi–110020.

CRUISING HEIGHTS The right stuff, all the time, on time

Save upto

nline O e b i r c s b Su ingheights.in

20%

.cruis www

on subscription

Subscribe today!

CRUISING HEIGHTS

SAVE `648/FOR 36 ISSUES

India’s best known aviation monthly from Newsline Publications Pvt. Ltd.

Please accept my subscription of CRUISING HEIGHTS NAME______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ADDRESS___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ PH. NO.________________________________________________ PAYMENT

CASH

CHEQUE

E-MAIL___________________________________________________________ CHEQUE/DDNO. ______________________________________________

DRAWN ON________________________________________________

CREDIT CARD NO. _____________________________________________

DATE_____________________________________________________

SIGNATURE ____________________________________________________

No. of Issues

Newsstand Price

Discount

You Pay

` 1080/-

10%

` 972/-

` 108/-

24

` 2160/-

15%

` 1836/-

` 324/-

36

` 3240/-

20%

` 2592/-

` 648/-

Cheque / DDs should be drawn in favour of NEWSLINE PUBLICATIONS PVT. LTD. Send your subscription to Newsline Publications Pvt. Ltd., D-11 Basement, Nizamuddin (East), New Delhi -110 013 Contact: +91-11-41033381-82, e-mail: ashna@newsline.in

You Save

12

“ periscope

A big deal “The music and airlines businesses are tough but I've been successful in them.”

Tony Fernandes, AirAsia Chief Executive on the airline business

In a fix “Fifty years from now, I believe British Airways will still be flying from a tworunway hub at Heathrow. The world will move on, and the UK will get left behind.”

Willie Walsh, British Airways Chief Executive on the idleness of Heathrow Airport

letters to editor

Back to the Future (May 2013) was well-written and insightful while providing a sneak peek into the READY TO aviation bilateral ties with the Arab RUMBLE world. There is no doubt that Etihad Airways’ stake in Jet Airways will change the business dynamics of the aviation industry in India in one way or the other. India-UAE signing an MoU on air services comes close on the heels of that. I don’t think that the enhancement in the present seat capacity between India and the Arabian countries is justifiable. The consequences of the MoU will have far-reaching effects on the Indian aviation.

Ram Swarup, Ludhiana INDIAN AVIATION NEEDS MORE POLICY INITIATIVES: TONY TYLER

CRUISING HEIGHTS www.cruisingheights.in

MAY 2013 I `90

It is now Etihad's turn to suck Indian traffic with plenty of help from Naresh Goyal

MALLYA’S CURTAIN CALL? As all doors close, chances of Kingfisher flying again vanish

HELI-HOP TOURISM

Choppers are being used for adventure and religion

SPOILT FOR CHOICE

Course of action “With our recent acquisition of a 24 per cent stake in Jet Airways, we will certainly be growing our presence in the region to meet the increasing demand for travel to and from the Indian subcontinent.”

Novel in-flight ideas to enhance the flying experience JAMES HOGAN President and CEO Etihad Airways

I enjoyed reading the story on heli-tourism Choppers for Change (May 2013). Indeed, heli-tourism has a long way to go in the country but it holds great potential. India’s tourism sector can get a major boost through heli-tourism. It will open up a world of new possibilities for travellers who wish to see far-off places like the Himalayas. For example, one can have the facility of visiting religious places such as Badrinath, Kedarnath, Yamunotri and Gangotri by availing the helicopter pilgrimage tours in India. It was nice to know that Eurocopter is beefing up operations to give the muchneeded fillip to improve the heli-tourism scenario in India.

Sanjeev Mahapatra, Orissa

Testing Times for Air India (May 2013) pointed out the grave difficulties that the ailing carrier is encountering these days. Air India’s revival seems a distant dream, as the story suggested. Now, the carrier also faces an uphill task to stave off Jet-Etihad challenge. Air India’s grip in the international market is under threat due to liberal grant of traffic rights even as the carrier suffers from other perennial problems. This, despite the fact that the ailing carrier got a whopping infusion by the Ministry of Civil Aviation as part of the turnaround plan even as the carrier’s total debt stands at about `43,000 crore.

Ajit Shah, Vadodara

James Hogan, Etihad Airways President and Chief Executive on acquiring a stake in Jet Airways

Gospel truth “We will examine the Jet-Etihad agreement.”

Ashok Chawla, Chairman, Competition Commission of India (CCI) on the recently concluded Jet-Etihad deal

Keep going “Indian carriers without strong global partners may find the going tough. With less than 1 per cent of Indians flying, high cost of operations and growing competition, we may see some consolidation in the next 12-24 months.”

Amber Dubey, Partner and Head-Aviation, KPMG India on the vulnerability of Indian carriers without the strong global partners

All correspondence may be addressed to Editor, Cruising Heights, D-11 Basement, Nizamuddin (East), New Delhi -13, OR mail to cruisingheights@newsline.in

10

Cruising Heights June 2013

Doom and gloom “As to the lipstick, we had no problems but somehow low-level managers put together a paper without asking us and that became a big issue.”

Temel Kotil, Turkish Airlines chief on the controversial order that supposedly came from his office ordering cabin crew to stop using red lipstick and nail varnish

Aviation intelligence company OAG, unveiled the top 10 airports around the world as measured by annual seat capacity growth. And, it was no surprise that Dubai International Airport emerged as the fastest growing airport in the world adding more than 756,000 seats in the last year.

John Grant, Executive Vice President, OAG, said, “Dubai International Airport’s consistent increase in capacity over the last decade has been largely driven by the growth of Dubai-based carrier Emirates. Over the last 12 months alone, the airline has added nine new destinations, which equates to nearly 22,000 additional seats every day. Capacity has also increased significantly on a number of existing routes, including the Dubai International-London Heathrow service, which became an all-A380 operation in December 2012.”

Dubai International Airport was followed by Malaysia’s Kuala

Lumpur International which added 552,000 seats over the last 12 months. The third spot was notched by Atatürk Airport which added 529,000 seats between April 2012 and April 2013.

A look at the top ten airports: 1. Dubai International Airport: 756,000 seats 2. Kuala Lumpur International Airport: 552,000 seats 3. Ataturk Airport: 529,000 seats 4. Soekarno-Hatta International Airport: 473,000 seats 5. Benito Juarez International Airport: 458,000 seats 6. Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport: 439,000 seats 7. Oslo Airport: 410,000 seats 8. Incheon International Airport: 384,000 seats 9. Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport: 356,000 seats 10. Sao Paulo-Guarulhos International Airport: 350,000 seats

cold stats

To the top, quietly

Looking glass

On moral grounds “We are only requesting the Government of India to give us additional flying rights taking into consideration the growing air traffic and have no other plans in that country.”

Akbar Al-Baker, CEO, Qatar Airways, which has exhausted all the traffic routes allotted by Indian Government

Raising eyebrows “Why is the Government of India continuing to relax bilaterals? This is an area that needs to be probed.”

Sitaram Yechury, Chairman, Parliamentary Standing Committee on Transport, Tourism and Culture on the relaxation behind the bilateral air agreements by the Indian Government

Cruising Heights June 2013

11

traffic data

IndiGo to the

top-again A

s per the passenger traffic data for April 2013 from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), the total number of domestic passengers carried by scheduled domestic airlines in the month of April 2013 was 5.07 million as compared to 5.09 million in April 2012, a drop of 0.27 per cent.

Passengers carried by domestic airlines during January-April 2013 was 202.89 lakh as against 203.60 lakh during the corresponding period of previous year —

thereby registering a growth of -0.35 per cent.

Low-cost carrier IndiGo continued with its dominance of the domestic market with a market share of 29.8 per cent in April 2013. It was followed by Jet Airways and JetKonnect (22.6 per cent), SpiceJet (19.5 per cent), Air India (19.2 per cent), and GoAir (8.9 per cent).

The passenger load factor in the month of April 2013 improved mainly due to seasonal traffic. The highest pas-

 MARKET SHARE OF SCHEDULED DOMESTIC AIRLINES Mantra JetLite 0% 5.60%

IndiGo 29.8%

Air India (DOM) 19.20%

Go Air 8.90%

Jet Airways 17%

Spicejet 19.60%

 PASSENGER LOAD FACTOR OF SCHEDULED DOMESTIC AIRLINES

12

Cruising Heights June 2013

senger load factor was obtained by IndiGo at 83.8 per cent (it was 79.0 per cent in March), Air India 78.9 (domestic) per cent (March:80.9 per cent), GoAir's was 79.5 per cent (March: 77.1 per cent), JetKonnect 71.0 per cent (March: 71.0 per cent), SpiceJet's was 75.0 per cent (March: 76.1 per cent), Jet Airways 69.4 per cent (March: 71.3 per cent).

IndiGo led the airlines in the overall on-time performance in March 2013 at six metro airports — Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Bengaluru and Hyderabad — with 95.6 per cent. The other airlines that followed were: Jet Airways and JetKonnect 93.4per cent, SpiceJet 86.2 per cent, GoAir 95.1 per cent and Air India (Domestic) 90.9 per cent.

IndiGo's on-time performance at Bengaluru was 95 per cent; 95.3 per cent at Delhi, 95.7 per cent at Hyderabad, 93.6 per cent at Chennai, 97.5 per cent at Kolkata and 97.5 per cent at Mumbai. Jet Airways and JetKonnect's on-time performance at Chennai was 98.7 per cent. At other's airports it was: Kolkata (95.0 per cent), Hyderabad (95.7 per cent), Bengaluru (90.5 per cent), Delhi (87.9 per cent) and Mumbai (98.2per cent).

GoAir flies to only five of the six metro airports. The carrier's on-time

 capacity VS DEMAND Demand (RPK)

Capacity (ASK)

0.4 -0.2

-7.5 -3.8

-5.3 -4.2

-3.8 -3.9

-5.9 -7.3

-7.0 -12.0

-1.3 -7.7

-15 -25

-4.8

-8.8

-5

-0.5 -4.8

-0.3

5

5.8

2.9

9.5

15

5.1 8.8

25

Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr Year over Year

 ON-TIME PERFORMANCE Scheduled Domestic Airlines OTP at Six Metro Airports 86.2

SpiceJet

Jet Airways+JetKonnect

93.4

GoAir

95.1 95.6

IndiGo 0.0

20.0

40.0

60.0

80.0

100.0

 PASSENGER COMPLAINTS OF SCHEDULED DOMESTIC AIRLINES Air India (Dom)

1.9

Jet Airways

1.7

JetLite

1.4 1.3

IndiGo Spicejet

1.2

Go Air

0.3

Mantra 0.0

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

1.0

1.2

1.4

1.6

1.8

2.0

No. of Complaints/10,000 Pax Cruising Heights June 2013

• Total number of complaints (April 2013) - 678 • Number of passenger related complaints - 1.4 per 10,000 passengers carried

performance at Mumbai was the highest at 98.6 per cent. In the other four metros: at Delhi, 93.0 per cent, at Kolkata, 80.0 per cent, Bengaluru, 96.6 per cent and Chennai, 94.2 per cent.

Spicejet's on-time performance at Kolkata was 92.0 per cent. The carrier's performance at Hyderabad was 87.2 per cent, Delhi (78.2 per cent), Bengaluru (76.6 per cent), Mumbai (90.5 per cent) and Chennai (95.8 per cent).

Air India's on-time performance at Kolkata was 88.5 per cent. The carrier's landings and take-offs at the other metros were: Hyderabad (88.4 per cent), Bengaluru (92.4 per cent), Delhi (93.3 per cent) and Mumbai (90.7per cent).

The number of passenger complaints recorded by scheduled domestic airlines in April 2013 was 678. The number of passenger-related complaints was 1.4 per 10,000 passengers carried. Air India (Domestic) had one of the highest number of passenger complaints at 1.9 followed by Jet Airways (1.7), JetKonnect (1.4), IndiGo (1.3) SpiceJet (1.2), and GoAir (0.3) The reasons for the cancellations were: reactionary (73.1 per cent), airport ( 0.8 per cent), Wx ( 1.9 per cent), ATC ( 1.6 per cent), miscellaneous (1.8 per cent), passengers related ( 1.7 per cent), ramp ( 0.5 per cent), technical (11.0 per cent) and operational (7.5 per cent). n

OTP (%)

90.9

Air India (Dom)

13

showcase

Finnair has designs Finland’s national airline has taken the flying experience more than a few notches higher with the launch of designer textiles and tableware from the iconic house of Marimekko.

Preeti Verma Lal takes a close look at the creations

I

n a first in its 90 years, Finnair has collaborated with Marimekko, the iconic Finnish design and fashion house, for its textiles and tableware which became available from May 15. Marimekko for Finnair tableware and textiles have been designed to accommodate the special requirements of commercial aviation. The Business Class tableware is made of special light-weight porcelain which helps Finnair reduce aircraft weight, thus contributing to fuel efficiency and a lighter carbon footprint.

As an emblem of the design cooperation, a Finnair Airbus 330 with a blueforest livery based on the Marimekko print Metsänväki (‘forest dwellers’) was unveiled in Helsinki on May 8. Joining

a sister aircraft painted in Marimekko’s Unikko (‘poppy’) print which was launched last October, the Metsänväki A330 will fly from Finnair’s Helsinki hub to the airline’s 13 Asian destinations plus New York. ”With our Marimekko cooperation, we want to bring timeless yet modern Finnish design to the travel experience of Finnair customers,” said Anssi Komulainen, Senior Vice President, Customer Service. “Our Business Class customers will enjoy their in-flight meals from tableware tailor-made for Finnair by Marimekko, and Marimekko napkins, blankets, pillows and head rest covers will be introduced during summer. The same classic prints are featured in Economy Class paper cups, headrest covers, fleece blankets and pillows.”

on you

The Marimekko for Finnair collection was designed according to the airline’s needs by Marimekko designer Sami Ruotsalainen in collaboration with Kristina and Emma Isola, in original Marimekko patterns by Maija Isola. The blue, green and grey colours and the classic prints used in the collection tell the story of Finnish nature and the views seen when looking down from an aircraft window. As part of the collaboration, a selection of Marimekko for Finnair items is also available for purchase, both through in-flight sales and the Finnair PlusShop.

“The Metsänväki print by Kristina Isola is a strong statement about the Finnish spirit and the forest-inspired energy that makes Finns tick. The print combines

the majesty and fairytale-like magic of the Finnish forest. This makes it an ideal greeting from Finland, carried on the blue and white wings of Finnair around the world,” says Minna Kemell-Kutvonen, Creative Director at Marimekko.

On the unveiling of the Metsänväki A330, Finnair also announced the launch of its new signature menu that will be available on all Finnair routes from September 2013 onward. Finnair has roped in two top Finnish chefs, Pekka Terava and Tomi Bjorck, to upgrade the menus both in the business as well as economy classes.

The menu will be influenced by the purity of Finnish nature ingredients besides bringing in the best of modern Asian cuisine. “My chosen ingredients are meant to

reflect the passion in Asian cuisine,” says Bjorck whose menu is inspired by Thai and Japanese cuisine. Terava, who owns signature restaurants in Finland, picks seasonal vegetables, wild game and fish for his dishes.

In September 2013, Finnair will also add a new Airbus 321ER aircraft into its fleet. It plans to introduce full flat seats across the aircraft. Passengers boarding on Finnair long haul flight on November 1, 2013, will get a special Finnair 90-years edition of Donald Duck. Every member of Finnair staff will also receive this special edition Donald Duck. Besides, Finnair has also commissioned a special poster by a well-known Finnish graphic designer Erik Bruun. n

news digest

Can Qatar and Emirates be friends ?

Q

atar Airways CEO Akbar Al Baker has said he is ‘always open’ to the possibility of an alliance with Dubaibased Emirates Airline. Talking to the media, both at the Arabian Travel Market and onboard the relaunched 787 flight between Doha and Dubai, Al Baker said: “We are always open (to an alliance with Emirates Airline). I think now the closeness between Emirates and Qatar Airways will really make a very strong airline. I think this was my vision long time ago.

We have such a huge potential, so it’s apparent that Qatar Airways and Emirates should get together and work even more closely on the commercial side. It would be a pleasure for both of us to put hand in hand. Together, we could make a formidable force in the aviation industry.”

Al Baker pointed to Emirates’ recent alliance with Australian rival Qantas as an example that the Dubai airline was open to integration. “You never know: Did you ever expect only one year ago that Emirates and Qantas would get together? Things in aviation can move fast. Integration of Emirates and Qatar Airways will benefit this region and will make the two airlines even stronger than they are today.” Talking about other alliances in the region, he said: “I believe Emirates and Qantas is an alliance.

Etihad Airways and Air Berlin, and now Jet Airways is an alliance. They may not much be intervention, but is a kind of alliance between these carriers. Most of the airlines around the globe will be part of an alliance at

certain time is my belief.”

Will that ever happen?

Unlikely.

The chances of that happening appear to be slim. When Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, President, CEO and Chairman, Department of Civil Aviation, Emirates Group and Chairman, Dubai World, was asked that question, he said: “We are always talking.” The Airline’s President, Tim Clark had felt that an alliance was “highly unlikely”. But he had said some time back: “We’ll act on any opportunity where we see the partnership adding value. We can look at any partnership where the airlines' chemistry matches similar to the deal signed with Qantas. Anything is possible.”

However, last year Clark said an Emirates-Qatar alliance would have “seismic repercussions in the aero political framework. “You put the two together and you would face the most formidable international airline group that has ever been formed. That's why it will never happen,” he was quoted saying by Aviation Week.

In another move last month, however, Clark has said he would not rule out an alliance with German national carrier Lufthansa. This, in spite of Emirates’ anger over years of disagreement with Germany over landing rights. The Dubai-based carrier has, for years, been involved in a bitter dispute with the German government over the right to fly to Berlin, on top of four other German cities. “It has been a difficult time but we move on and you never say ‘never’ to any bilateral commercial agreement that can be sustained over a period of time,” Clark said at the Arabian Travel Mart.

Clark said relationships in the international aviation industry were changing rapidly and if Lufthansa modernised, Emirates would consider an alliance.

“The way the alliance structures (and) the relationships are starting to unglue (is changing the industry). Who would have ever have thought that Air France, one of the bastions of per-determinism with regard to the Gulf carriers would open its doors and set up a codeshare with, in this case, (UAE national carrier) Etihad?

“Things are changing and if you see an adaptation or a change in the business models of these legacy players, then anything is possible. But as long as their business models remain as they are, and I would say I’m not being too disingenuous (by saying this), rooted in years of — decades of — practices that are still evident today, it’s very difficult for them to consider perhaps doing business with the likes of Emirates,” Clark said bluntly and added, “but it’s not impossible, things are changing, anything is possible. And as long as somebody in Lufthansa stands up and says ‘It’s a good idea to deal with Qatar, it’s a good idea to deal with Emirates and Etihad then you may find there’s a mesh of ideas. And maybe this could be the beginning of something”.

But there were a few kind words too: “But you have to remember that the German government has been particularly generous to Emirates and the carriers in the UAE because it allows us to fly to four points in Germany of our choice under a full open skies arrangement.

There are not many cities and countries in Europe that offer that. So it’s pointless trying to pursue and paint them into a corner of perhaps being a little bit difficult, because they’re not; they have been very generous.”

moves to unite: While Qatar Airways CEO Akbar Al Baker (left) is keen to build a strong force in the Gulf, President, CEO and Chairman, Department of Civil Aviation, Emirates Group and Chairman, Dubai World Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum (right) wants to keep the dialogue going

Akbar Al Baker

16

Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum

Cruising Heights June 2013

news digest

Mergers have hit alliances A irline mergers are making a huge dent in the overall functioning of the three multilateral airline alliances: oneworld, Skyteam and Star Alliance. The three alliances are in the process re-inventing their business strategies to counter the challenges posed by airline mergers. Their new test will be to hang on to members and fill in the few remaining gaps in their areas of operation, probably through tie-ups with Low-cost Carriers (LCCs).

The consequences of the recent mergers of LAN and TAM Airlines in Latin America and American Airlines and US Airways in the US are being meticulously

Hogan hails codeshares and equity

E

tihad Chief James Hogan speaking at the Vlerick Marketing Colloquim in Brussels recognised the importance of codeshare and equity alliances in effectively serving the European region by the Gulf carriers especially by Etihad Airways. “We serve Europe through codeshare or equity alliances with 18 partners, delivering strong benefits to all of the carriers and more choice for travellers, and we continue to look for opportunities to build upon these relationships.

The growing number of passengers being delivered to Europe by Middle Eastern carriers is boosting European tourism and local airline traffic,” he said.

James Hogan

SkyTeam launches

S

kyTeam recently enhanced its Global Meetings product to offer more convenience when organising international events. The new features include an online self-booking tool, enabling delegates to book discounted travel on any of SkyTeam’s 19-member airlines through a dedicated portal on SkyTeam.com, as well as increased discount levels. SkyTeam is also working on a number of additional features for its Global Meetings product that will be introduced later in the year.

The Global Meetings product is free to use and has been designed to simplify the process of organising travel to international meetings, conventions and conferences. To qualify, the event must have 50 or more attendees travelling by air from a minimum of two countries – other than the country in which the event is taking place. Organisers can register their event for the Global Meetings product from two months to five years in advance by visiting SkyTeam.com. In addition to the new online booking tool, other benefits offered by SkyTeam’s Global Meetings product include: a wide range of fare

Star lounge to open mid-August

S

tar Alliance's new lounge at Los Angeles International Airport will kick off in mid-August – a bit later than the previously announced date of May. Star Alliance has said that its lounge was inspired by a contemporary interpretation of modernist LA architecture of the 1950s and 1960s. The lounge will be managed by Air New Zealand but open to all Star Alliance airlines operating out of Tom Bradley International Terminal including Lufthansa, Singapore Airlines and Swiss Air. It will be three times the size of Air NZ's existing Koru Lounge at LAX T2.

18

evaluated by the airline alliances. Aviation consultant John McCulloch, Senior Principal at the Seabury Group noted that the “traditional alliance footprints are just about done now, with the exception of India and Africa, and we will see more adjustments from one alliance to another as the game is played out with mergers.”

Star CEO Mark Schwab acknowledged that airline mergers would have an impact on the alliances.

Referring to the loss of TAM in Latin America and US Airways in North America, he said: “We lost 28 small and medium-size destinations, so it is not that big of an impact,” said Schwab.

Cruising Heights June 2013

Star launches navigator iPad app

S

tar Alliance recently became the first airline alliance to introduce a customised iPad app. The alliance has expanded its mobile device offer by introducing the customised Navigator app that complements the existing iPhone app and is a continuation of the Alliance's strategy of providing easy mobile access to its products and services. The hallmark

of the new tool is an interactive 3D globe which visually depicts the 27 airline networks of more than 21,900 daily flights covering 1,329 world-wide destinations. New to any Star Alliance web or mobile offer is the "My Trip" feature which enables customers to store and monitor their Alliance flight itineraries and is only available on the Navigator iPad app. Using the app, customers can also access a variety of Alliance travel services such as Flight Search, covering flight schedules for all Star Alliance member airlines; Flight Status tracking any Star Alliance member airline flight and Lounge Finder providing details of the more than 1,000 lounges offered by Star Alliance and its member airlines.

online booking tool discounts off the applicable fares of SkyTeam’s 19 members’ published fares on more than 15,400 daily flights; an enhanced Productivity Reward Program – offering organisers one free ticket on any member airline for every 50 attendees that travel with SkyTeam to their event -- and the possibility for delegates to earn miles with any SkyTeam airline loyalty programme.

“International event organizers can choose SkyTeam with confidence knowing delegates can arrange their meetings from 1,000 worldwide destinations via our new online booking tool,” said Mauro Oretti, SkyTeam’s V P (Sales and Marketing).

Codeshare Qatar to codeshare with IndiGo

Q

atar Airways is in talks with budget carrier IndiGo for a codeshare partnership. “There is already an approach between the management of the two airlines. Yes, we are talking to IndiGo to see how we can strike a relationship with them. IndiGo is an airline that is not for sale. We only want to do a codeshare partnership with them. And

Q

we want to get into a situation where we work together because they are the best airline in India today,” said Qatar Airways CEO Akbar Al Baker.

“I am in touch with IndiGo’s co-founder Rahul Bhatia. And we hope that we will be doing this soon. We have very high regards for IndiGo. I think it’s the most efficiently run airline.”

Emirates-JetBlue to tie-up

JetBlue Airways and Emirates Airline will soon be entering into bilateral codesharing. Under the expanded agreement, JetBlue will place its B6 airline code on all flights currently operated by Emirates between the US and Dubai International Airport as well as between New York's John F Kennedy International Airport (JFK) and Milan, Italy.

Thierry Antinori “As Emirates continues to expand its presence in the US market, our partnership offering with JetBlue provides customers with convenient connections from its extensive network to our seven US gateways, including our twice daily A380 service non-stop from JFK to Dubai,” said Thierry Antinori, Emirates' Executive Vice President of Passenger Sales Worldwide. “Offering a boost to tourism and added convenience for inbound travellers, the codeshare also gives Emirates' customers a new choice of destinations with the benefit of a single combined ticket.”

SAA codeshares with Etihad

E

tihad Airways and South African Airways (SAA) signed a MoU letting the two airlines to introduce a comprehensive range of codeshare and interline air services as well as explore synergy and efficiency opportunities. Under the initial codeshare agreement Etihad will place its EY code on 10 SAA routes from Johannesburg to destinations across South Africa and the African continent as well as South America. SAA acting CEO Nico Bezuidenthout said after announcing the partnership, “The codeshare agreements would grow the carrier’s revenue, with initial expectations that the Etihad partnership would add about $11 million a year to revenue.”

Cruising Heights June 2013

19

news digest

Fines for India-China carriers Air China and Air India might be among 10 Chinese and Indian airlines facing the prospect of fines and exclusion from airports in the European Union for refusing to comply with rules aimed at regulating greenhouse emissions, as noted by the European Commission.

The European Commission observed that the 10 carriers that discharged emissions in Europe last year was comparable to the emissions from about 130 railway trains running on coal. The commission

said the eight Chinese carriers could face fines totalling €2.4 million while the two Indian airlines face total fines of €30,000.

Connie Hedegaard, European Union’s Commissioner for Climate Action, said, “It’s not so that when we make our European laws, then we say they count for everybody except for Chinese and Indians — and that is no different in the aviation sector. It shows how controversial and difficult it is to get to the adequately ambitious outcome we need in global aviation.”

Connie Hedegaard

Airport policy questioned 5.9 per cent rise in international air traffic The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Transport Tourism and Culture recently raised eyebrows over the closure of the HAL Airport for commercial flight operations because of the opening of the Bengaluru International Airport (BIA) in 2008. The Committee wants the central government to emerge with a clear-cut policy on new airports being constructed within 150-km radius of the existing one.

“The proposed Greenfield airport in Aranmula is about 120 km from Thiruvanathapuram and 90 km from Cochin where there are international airports.

Moreover, the Cochin International Airport and Thiruvananthapuram Airport are brand new airports and there is no scope for saturation of capacity in these airports in the near future,” the committee said in its report.

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) said that air passenger travel grew by 5.9 per cent in March compared to a year earlier, boosted by emerging markets. IATA’S Director General, Tony Tyler, said regions such as Latin America, the Middle East and China had shown robust expansion. However, developed markets were seeing relatively little growth.

Tyler said, “Strong demand for air travel is consistent with improving business conditions. Performance, however, has been uneven. Mature markets are seeing relatively little growth, while emerging markets continue to show a robust expansion.”

He also said that the US budget cuts caused by the financial drop-off and other economic squabbles could have inflicted flight delays and cancellations of travellers, inducing real damage to the economy.

AI to lease 19 A-320 Tony Tyler

JetKonnect NGs phased out At the end of their service life, two young Boeing 737NGs arrived at a Wales-based part-out shop. The aircraft, under 15 years old, are among only 30 NG-model 737s to have retired so far. Many of those retired aircraft left the fleet when Malev of Hungary closed operations in February of 2012 and its fleet was liquidated. The aircraft, which are believed to have gone to ECube Solutions at St Athan, near Cardiff, UK were in

20

service with JetKonnect. Boeing last month released a study arguing that the retirements seen in recent years are a jinx, and that while Airbus A320 and Boeing 737NG trends have turned up in the ordinary retirement age, each aircraft type is veering like its predecessors’ 25-year average. “Survival curves for Next Generation 737s and A320s are behaving like those of the previous generation,” Boeing said.

Cruising Heights June 2013

Air India is planning to lease 19 Airbus A-320 aircraft. At the airline’s recent board meeting, the proposal was finalised in which it was decided that the 19 Airbus A-320s will replace the same number of A-320 aircraft being phased out. The aircraft being phased out were purchased as part of an order placed by Indian Airlines in 1989; 14 of the A-320s being phased out are owned by Air India, while five were leased. While the owned aircraft will be put up for sale, the leased ones will be sent back. The introduction of the leased capacity, which is expected to begin in the third quarter of this fiscal, will see a rise in the number of seats being offered by the airline. Each of the aircraft being phased out have 144 to 168 seats.

Archaic air traffic rules must go Gary Chapman, Emirates Group Presi- air traffic control systems. “The politics of dent of Group Services and Dnata, lashed demonising the aviation industry about fuel out at governments worldwide for follow- burn, I think is way over the top,” Chapman said during a recent panel discussion at a ing archaic air traffic rules that conference. “In reality the improvements induce wastage of 10 per cent have been phenomenal in terms of CO2 of fuel. He said that governemissions and the productivity and ments were wrong to demoimprovements that have been nise the air travel industry made over the years, over environmental worinvestment in technolries because they conogy, new aircraft, (and) tributed to higher CO2 Gary Chapman emissions through useless improved fuel burn.”

Survival blues for PIA The four new airlines which were given approval by Capt Nadeem Yusafzai, during his tenure as Pakistan’s Director General Civil Aviation Authority has been in the eye of the storm.

Among the new airlines is Rayyan Air, owned by two Indians, Nithin Merchandani and Capt Nadeem Yusafzai

Jaidip Merchandani.

The approvals have brought two former MDs of Pakistan International Airlines (PIA), Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and Capt Aijaz Haroon, come under the scanner. Abbasi, according to a Pakistan daily, who had become a millionaire in no time started his own airline and was now living in a villa in Manchester. He runs an ‘airline catering’ business. Capt Nadeem Yusafzai, meanwhile, has plans to open a new airline, for which permission was granted during his tenure.

Virgin uniforms gets a revamp Virgin Atlantic recently unveiled that it was collaborating with British Designer Vivienne Westwood to re-design its red uniform. The collaboration between the two British brands is a long-term partnership, which will witness a total revamp of the costumes across all spheres.

Richard Branson, President, Virgin Atlantic, said on the partnership, “Virgin Atlantic has a distinct spirit and from a design perspective we continually try to challenge the norm and stand out from the crowd. Our current uniform has been around for more than 10 years and we have seen other airlines start to copy it. When we were choosing the designer for this project, we wanted to work with a group of people who share our spirit of adventure, who believe in challenging the status quo and creating something truly memorable.”

Vivienne Westwood

Ex-IATA boss pushes for Heathrow expansion At a launch event for his autobiography, Giovanni Bisignani strongly advocated the idea for a new runway at the London hub.

“Heathrow is losing and losing position – it will be a major problem. In 1990, Heathrow had 277 destinations.

Now you have 200. It will be falling in a couple of years to 150 destinations. The loss of the London hub’s connectivity could also hit London hard. Heathrow is a key player in the economy of this nation, which is substantially based on the financial sector. Unfortunately… you don’t have the leadership to understand what has to be done,” he was quoted as saying.

26 per cent profit SriLankan Airlines, the islandnation’s national carrier, has recorded a 26 per cent increase in the number of passengers from the Middle East this year in comparison to 2011-2012. During 2012-2013, SriLankan Airlines has carried 463,999 passengers from nine destinations in the Middle East compared to 342,290 passengers during 2011-2012. Overall, passenger traffic from the Middle East has contributed the second highest revenue to the national carrier’s network, next to the Far East. Nishantha Wickramasinghe, Chairman of SriLankan Airlines, said “that the airlines recognizes the Middle East as one of the fastest growing markets. The recent increase in traffic can be attributed to both the domestic and leisure segments.” He also said that the “opening of the new Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport serves to strengthen our position in South Asia, as we work towards establishing a regional aviation hub, offering academic and training centres that will eventually expand to serve the region,” Wickramasinghe said.

Richard Branson

Cruising Heights June 2013

21

`800 cr of equity infusion

ggage th

350

eft

of b a

news digest

cases

According to the Indian civil aviation ministry, roughly 350 cases of baggage theft were reported from international and domestic airports in India ever since 2010. There were 105 such cases of which, 35 were from Mumbai airport, followed by Delhi with 26, Hyderabad 14, Kolkata seven, six Cochin, five Jaipur,

three each from Chennai and Calicut, two each from Coimbatore and Bagdogra and one from

30 mn

seats a month Low-cost carriers Ryanair, EasyJet and other European airlines offered more than 30 million seats for the first time in May. According to a report published by flight schedule data provider OAG, low-cost carriers have added more than 20 million seats to their market share in 10 years, against an increase of 2.8 just million seats by full-service competi-

31

people held

22

Raipur. 2011 year saw 126 such cases, Kolkata had maximum with 32, followed by Delhi with 31, Mumbai 28, Cochin nine, Hyderabad eight, Calicut seven, Jaipur four, two each in Chennai and Port Blair and one each at Aizwal, Ahmedabad and Thiruvananthapuram.

However, cases came down in 2012 to 86 all over India. Of these, a maximum of 24 was reported from Delhi, 22 from Mumbai, 11 Cochin, Hyderabad nine, six each in Jaipur and Kolkata, three in Thiruvananthapuram, two each in Agartala and Raipur and one in Indore.

tors. OAG Executive Vice President John Grant said, “The trend has driven former flag-carriers including Air France-KLM Group and Deutsche Lufthansa AG to revamp short-haul operations in a bid to stave off no-frills peers. Still, in mature markets like Europe and the US, the rapid capacity growth of the low-cost sectors appears to have plateaued.”

Police recently detained 31 people in the famous $50 mn diamond heist at Brussels Airport finally touted as one of the biggest jewellery robberies in history. “It’s the only person that we can say at this stage that could have participated in the events on the tarmac,” said Jean-Marc Meilleur, the prosecutor’s spokesman. “Among those arrested in Belgium, at least 10 are known to the court, including for armed attacks. They are part of the Brussels criminal underworld.”

Police got hold of large sums of money, luxury cars and stolen diamonds from the suspects who are aged from 30 to 50 years old.

Cruising Heights June 2013

`800 crore was recently disbursed to Air India as part of the turnaround plan for the revival of the cash-strapped national carrier. A senior official at the Ministry of Civil Aviation was quoted as saying, “We reviewed the performance of the airline and are satisfied with the feedback we have received. Since the Finance Bill is yet to be passed, as per norms we have released 16 per cent of the budgeted amount to Air India.”

Of the `800 crore disbursed, `500 crore would be

6,000 to be hired

Emirates will enroll 6,000 people on its rolls over the next five years to meet its fast-track expansion plan. “Of this, we intend to recruit between 900 to 1,000 UAE nationals, as part of our UAE National Development Programme,” Chapman, who supervises the operations of Emirates Group’s human resources said. “We have recruited 850 Emiratis last year and would like to see an increased number of them on our payroll in the coming years.”

`3,034,571

worth of jewellery lost Thobeka Madiba-Zuma, wife of South African President Jacob Zuma lost jewellery worth `3,034,571 on an SA Airlink flight she had taken from Nelspruit to OR Tambo International Airport. The lady claimed that 36 pieces of exclusive jewellery in a Clarins

1.5 hrs skyride everyday The Directorate of Aviation, Madhya Pradesh, recently reported that between 2008 and 2012, Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan flew for about 3,000 hours: an average of about 1.5 hours a day. Of these, 2,200 hours of air travel was embarked upon in state-owned aircraft and helicopters. Out of the total 3,671 hours of sky ride undertaken by around 81 VIPs including the Chief Minister and other leaders between January 1, 2008 and December 31, 2012, Chief Minister Chouhan’s share was around 2,200 hours. The state government possesses three helicopters and an aircraft for official purposes.

allocated to clear outstanding dues of oil companies.

The left over resources would be used for payment of interest on non-convertible debentures (NCDs) issued last year. The remaining amount of `4200 apportioned to Air India would be released on a quarterly basis.

Earlier in 2012, the Cabinet had approved a turnaround strategy for Air India while permitting equity infusion of `30,000 crore over a period of nine years from 2012-13. The government had also decided to give a guarantee for carrier’s debt restructuring plan.

$150bn worth aviation projects

In a bid to tap Iraq’s aviation potential, global aviation industry giants will be in Iraq to explore opportunities. The experts have forecast that Iraq will be witnessing investments to the tune of $150 billion. Iraq’s Minister of Transport Hadi Al Ameri said the

$500,000 left at airport checkpoints

iraq

government had a clear foresight and plan to build world class facilities as well as a strong policy for reconstructing Iraqi Airways as an international airline.

cosmetic case were stolen from her bag while in transit. “After we arrived (in Bloemfontein), we rushed for dinner. That was when I opened my suitcase for the first time and realised the make-up bag with all my exclusive jewellery was gone,” she said.

The demand was, nevertheless, brushed aside by SA Airlink’s Head Rodger Foster.

Valuables worth $500,000 were left at airport checkpoints across various airports across US, according to the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) of US. That’s about $45,000 more than the amount left behind in 2011, according to the Transportation Security Administration (TSA). Miami International Airport, McCarran International in Las Vegas and O’ Hare International Airport in Chicago collected the largest amounts — at least $22,000 each.

Spokesman for TSA, David Castelveter said, “Actively seeking out a person who left behind loose change presents logistical challenges. To the extent we can return loose change, including bills, we do.

There have been circumstances where our officers noticed that someone had left money behind, sought out that individual and returned it. Passengers must file a claim within 60 days to recover money left at a TSA checkpoint.”

$300 million IPO uled for July 10 on Bursa Malaysia.

Fernandes, who declined to divulge the details of the IPO due to regulatory compliance was quoted as saying that a roadshow to promote his airline business would start in the second week of June with retail investors being his primary target. “Going to do a much larger retail offering to give back AirAsia X is contemplating a $300 million Initial Public Offering (IPO) in something to the thousands of people Malaysia to fund expansion of its routes who flew and supported us. Roadshow will start in the second week of June. throughout Asia. AirAsia X would sell 790.12 million shares in the initial pub- I will go on the road to meet retail investors,” Tony Fernandes said. lic offering (IPO) with listing sched-

Cruising Heights June 2013

23

news digest

‘Chennai needs additional airport’ A

viation experts concede that the way Chennai is growing, it might need another Greenfield airport as the present new domestic terminal at the airport will reach a saturation point by 2015 and not by 2017 as anticipated.

“After a lull in January and February, the passenger flow has increased from March this year.

The queues at every counter are similar as it used to be in the old domestic terminal. The new premises are not going to be good enough for 2015. We need to plan a new airport or start working on the closed old terminal, so that it could be put back for passengers use in three to four years,” a senior airport official said.

Echoing the same sentiments, Airports Authority of India (AAI) Chairman V P Agrawal agreed that the state government should immediately decide on the Greenfield airport at Sriperumbudur. “The Greenfield airport must come. I am planning to meet the state Chief Minister and the Chief Secretary to impress upon them the need to start working on the new airport now. The existing airport cannot cope with increasing capacity. At most we can manage till 201718. The state government should make a request to the civil aviation ministry for a new airport.”

V P Agrawal

24

Emulate Indian Airports — T

he Airports in Delhi and Hyderabad have left London’s charismatic mayor mesmerized and wanting to emulate India’s growth in airport capacity so much that he has built up a case for a new four-runway airport in east London.

Boris Johnson, who was in India in November 2012, said he was mesmerised by India’s airports — especially in Hyderabad and Delhi — and is now backing a new plan to expand London’s airport capacity to accommodate new flights and more people coming into the city.

“London needs to catch up with India when it comes to aviation capacity.

Heathrow has no space for new planes to land. It is already running at 98% capacity. London should learn from India on how to expand aviation space. I want to emulate India and create a new hub airport in the east of London,” Johnson said.

A new airport in East London would

greatly help the South Asian community who make for most of the population in the area. “A new airport will help increase the number of flights going to or coming from India,” he said.

Johnson had special praise for Hyderabad’s new airport. “When in Hyderabad, I saw this amazing Aerotropolis and I want to do the same in London,” he said. Aerotropolis is a new urban form placing airports in the centre with cities growing around them. He has already appointed “a mighty team of experts” to help develop his airport hub plans.

The Rajiv Gandhi International Airport (RGIA) commenced commercial operations on March 23, 2008. With an initial capacity of 12 Million Passengers Per Annum (MPPA) and 100,000 tonnes of cargo handling capacity per annum, the airport plans to increase its capacity to accommodate over 40 MPPA. RGIA has been adjudged as the 2nd best Air-

MIAL to build apartments M

umbai International Airport (MIAL) and the government will soon be engaging in a first-of-its-kind barter deal among them. MIAL has been asked by the Central Public Works Department (CPWD) to put up a new tower at Hyderabad Estate on Nepean Sea Road, an office building in Kane Nagar near Dadar and a 50-apartment block near the airport in return for evacuating a 13-acre airport land, where the department had 278 houses and a few godowns for 50 years.

A senior official was quoted as saying that the government colony near the airport had a built-up space of 1,67,174 sq ft, and as per the arrangement, MIAL would rebuild as much space for the CPWD in the three locations.

He said the government was faced with a severe shortCruising Heights June 2013

age of homes for its senior officers in Mumbai, where real estate prices have shot up in the past few years. “A block of apartments on Nepean Sea Road, another 50 apartments near the airport and an office building — all for free — is what we thought is a damn good idea,” the senior CPWD official was quoted as saying.

Pakyong Airport might see delay

— Hyderabad and Delhi at the top port in the world for the same year, in the 5-15 Million Passengers Per Annum (MPPA) category

by ACI. The Brown field development of Indira Gandhi International Airport in Delhi commenced in January 2006 with a capacity to process 37 million passengers per annum.

The ultimate capacity of the Airport is 100 million passengers Per Annum (MPPA) and 2.3 million tons of cargo per annum. IGIA has been ranked 2nd in 25-40 Million Passengers Per Annum (MPPA) category in the World in the Airport Service Quality (ASQ) Awards announced by the Airports Council International (ACI) for 2012.

Boris Johnson

Ahmedabad Airport sees slump S

ardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport in Ahmedabad registered a major fall in business. From April 1, 2012 to February 28, 2013, the airport witnessed a drop of 16.2 per cent in domestic traffic, as compared to the corresponding year.

There were about 6 lakh less passengers using the services of Ahmedabad

airport, in the 11 months of the financial year 2012-13: there were only 30.69 lakh travellers who travelled by air from Ahmedabad in comparison to the 36.64 lakh in the 11 months in 2011-12. The decline of 16.2 per cent was the largest in the entire country as far as international airports go. In February 2013, there were 2.95 lakh travellers against 3.36 lakh in February 2012.

Airport officials were quoted saying the “airport has been seeing a dip in the domestic fliers this year, because of mainly two reasons — steep increase in the airfare and one of the primary airlines withdrawing its operations. Several destinations which had good air connectivity in the morning and evening have been cut off and hence, people have started moving by trains.”

Cruising Heights June 2013

gg2.net

N

ortheastern region’s first Greenfield airport at Pakyong in Sikkim will be delayed for some more time. Reason: the portion of the funds earmarked for the airport has been diverted for construction of the Tirupati airport. The airport has been left only `32 crore in its kitty after Airports Authority of India reportedly diverted `10 crore for development of the airport at Tirupati. Earlier, the budgetary support to AAI for the Pakyong project was slashed to `42 crore from `280 crore sanctioned in 2012-2013.

Chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Transport, Tourism and Culture, Sitaram Yechury, was quoted as saying that the committee had suggested to the Central Government that such a severe cut in budgetary support for airport infrastructure development of the country would definitely slow down the ongoing projects, especially in the North East. The Pakyong project was sanctioned by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs in 2008. The `264-crore project has already missed its first deadline of 2012.

The airport is now likely to become functional by the end of December 2014.

25

news digest

Mangalore Airport achieves magic figures M

angalore Airport recently witnessed the passenger traffic figure of one million in 2012-13: a substantial hike from 0.87 million in 2011-12. It was a growth of 17.67 per cent.

J T Radhakrishna, Director, Airports Authority of India, Mangalore region, was quoted as saying that the airport handled 0.76 million domestic passengers and 0.26 million international passengers during 2012-13.

“We are expecting more than 10 per cent growth in passenger traffic during

T

he deadline for Anna International Terminal at Chennai Airport to start operations again went up further. The newly-constructed international terminal at the Chennai Airport was to open for business from May 15 but it did not. In the face of mounting pressure to get the massive steel-and-glass edifice open, AAI staff are working hard to clear all obstacles on the operations side.

“There are several meetings that are being conducted in this regard in Delhi and we are hopeful of working things out and opening doors soon,” said Airport Director H S Suresh. Citing the acute shortage of workforce for all three agencies — Customs, immigration and CISF, Suresh said, “For immigration alone, we need at least 30 more people to begin operations and we have asked for that number.”

Another AAI official said that the authority was working out a strategy to accommodate the needs of the airlines and hopefully a section of them would agree to operate from the new terminal soon.

26

the current financial year. Mangalore airport had recorded a growth in passenger traffic in 2012-13. The airport, which was operating three flights a day, is now operating 20 flights a day.”

The total number of passengers who travelled by international flights was 2,67,984 (1,21,427 arrivals and 1,46,521 departures), an increase by 7.12 per cent. Similarly, the total number of passengers who travelled by domestic flights was 7,64,653 (3,84,753 arrivals and 3,79,900 departures) an increase by 21.8 per cent.

Again on the backburner

Cruising Heights June 2013

Not among top 100 A

ccording to a survey by Skytrax, World Airport Survey, Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport does not find a place in the top 100 airports of the world as the recent survey by Skytrax revealed. The airport did not even find a place in the top 10 Asia region categories including best domestic airports, best premium airports and best low-cost airports. The survey was based on 12.1 million feedbacks by airline customers across the world. India’s other airports such as Hyderabad’s Rajiv Gandhi International Airport ranked 65, Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport ranked 69 and Bengaluru International Airport ranked 73 in the survey. Besides Hyderabad which improved its ranking from 77 in 2012, both Delhi and Bengaluru too slipped in their rankings.

A MIAL spokesperson said the services and facilities at the airport were being upgraded. “For the last three years, CSIA has been receiving awards from prestigious organisations like Airports Council International. Ever since GVK has started upgrading the airport, there has been a vast change in facilities and services,” she said.

Terminal 2 goes ahead with development plan C

hhatrapati Shivaji International Airport (CSIA)’s upcoming Terminal 2 recently received a serious jolt after a recent security audit by Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) found it compromising on the safety issues. However, an airport official

was quoted as saying that all the approvals were in place. “At the T2 terminal, we are trying to reduce the time taken for security and immigration checks by adopting best international practices and technologies,” he said.

Dharamsala flights resumed

Arunachal Airport location settled E

nding the stand-off between the Arunachal Pradesh government and the Banderdewa Circle Intellectual Forum (BCIF), the Guwahati High Court directed the state government to continue with the original site of the airport and not shift it to another place. Chief Justice A K Goel while hearing the PIL filed by Taniang Kipa ruled out the government’s move to shift the location of the airport from Karsingsa to Hollongi.

G Chief Justice A K Goel

T

he Parliamentary Standing Committee on Transport, Tourism and Culture in its report cited that severe cuts in the budgetary funds to AAI would hit current airport modernisation projects, particularly those in the North East.

The committee also rebuked the Planning Commission for bringing in a new procedure demanding additional approvals for all projects mentioned in the plan, Sitaram Yechury

The airport official added that the new system which already was in place at Hong Kong and Seoul Airports would save the passenger of having to dispose of several things like gels and shampoos which may not be allowed in the handbag. These things could be transferred into the check-in baggage. This would not have been possible if the security check was done first.

‘Airport projects would be hit’

aggal Airport of Dharamsala recently started operations after a hiatus of eight months with the arrival of the Air India passenger flight on May 15 from Delhi. This was the first routine air service to any airfield of Himachal Pradesh since October last year after Kingfisher ceased its operations. “It is very good news, efforts are being made to resume flights from other airports of the state as well,” the State Urban Development Minister, Sudhir Sharma, was quoted as saying.

saying that this was acting as a deterrent thereby holding up construction of new airports and other crucial infrastructure projects. Sitaram Yechury, Chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Transport, Tourism and Culture said, “Such a drastic cut in budgetary support for the airport infrastructure developer of the country will definitely slow down the ongoing projects, especially in the Northeastern region.”

Cruising Heights June 2013

27

news digest

Seating Preference: On paid basis Rows 1 and 2 `400 Rows 3 to Rows 6 `300

Food: On paid basis (can be booked with e-ticket or purchased in the air) ‑According to news sources

Free Baggage Allowance: 15kgs Extra baggage: `250 per kg

*Fare Rules: Basic fare, Fuel charges, and Service tax, UDF, PSF and ADF Cancellation Charges: 100 % on basic fare if airline is not informed one hour ago

Seating Preference: On paid basis Rows 1 & 2 `400 Rows 3 to 6 `300 Window/Aisle seat `200 Middle seat `100

Premium seat in rows 1,12,13: `500 Window/aisle seats rows 4-11 and 14-30: `200

Food: On paid basis (can be booked with e-ticket or purchased in the air)

Free Baggage Allowance: 20kgs Extra baggage: `100 per kg

Free Baggage Allowance: 7kgs

**Fare Rules: Basic fare, Fuel charges, and Service tax, UDF, PSF and ADF Cancellation Charges: 35 % to 100 %

Air India air india express

Air India

Seating Preference: On Paid basis

Food: Pre-set meals in addition to soft beverages

*Fare Rules: Basic fare, Fuel charges, and Service tax, UDF, PSF and ADF Cancellation Charges: `1000 per customer, per sector (inclusive of service tax)

INDIGO AIRLINE

Seating Preference: On paid basis (Revised charges effective May 22, 2013) Row 10 `750 Row 11 to 15 `400

Food: On paid basis (can be booked with e-ticket or purchased in the air)

Free Baggage Allowance: 15kgs Extra baggage: `250 per kg

*Fare Rules: Basic fare, Fuel charges, and Service tax, UDF, PSF and ADF Cancellation Charges: `200 to `2,000 (depending on flight to flight)

JET AIRWAYS

Seating Preference: No extra charges for preferential seating

Food: On paid basis (can be booked with e-ticket or purchased in the air)

Free Baggage Allowance: 20kgs Extra baggage: `250 per kg

*Fare Rules: Basic fare, Fuel charges, and Service tax, UDF, PSF and ADF Cancellation Charges: `1260 to NIL

JETLITE

PAY UP OR YOU DON’T FLY

It is a new regime out there in the skies. Welcome to the era of unbundled fares. Simply put, unbundling is the way of separating as many cost components in air travel as possible — baggage, seating, meals (our domestic carriers have stopped at that) — and selling them apart from the basic fare. Even the uncomfortable middle seat is going for a price…

Seating Preference: On paid basis Online advanced seat selection: `50 per seat selection

Free Baggage Allowance: 20kgs Extra baggage: `250 per kg

Cancellation Charges 25 % to100 %



SPICEJET

Seating Preference: On paid basis

LEGEND UDF: User Development Fee PSF: Passenger Service Fee ADF: Airport Development Fee NOTE: * Any changes in existing taxes, duty, fee, charge or surcharge, will not be paid if they are levied after the ticket is bought and before the journey has been completed. ** Any change in existing taxes, duty, fee, charge or surcharge, will be charged separately.

**Fare Rules: Basic fare, Fuel charges, CUTE charge, Service tax, PSF, UDF and ADF

Online advanced seat selection: `50 per seat selection

Food: On paid basis (can be booked with e-ticket or purchased in the air)

Free Baggage Allowance: 20kgs Extra baggage: `250 per kg

*Fare Rules: Basic fare, Fuel charges, CUTE charge, Service tax, PSF, UDF and ADF Cancellation Charges: `1000 to NIL

graphics: nagender Dubey



Food: On paid basis (can be booked with e-ticket or purchased in the air)

GOAIR

cover story

Dassault@50: Continuity

HEADY OPERATIONS: (Top) John Rosanvallon President and CEO Dassault Falcon Jet (extreme left) talking to visitors at the Le Bourget facility, (Main photo) a Falcon 2000LX, and, (top right) an inside view of the assembly line

L

ast December, Eric Trappier was named as the new Chairman and CEO of Dassault Aviation, the French aviation giant that runs a unique military and civil programme side by side with great success. The group’s international Executive Vice President 53-year-old Trappier succeeded Charles Edelstenne. He is the chosen one to take Dassault to the next level. For India,

30

it may be of some interest that Trappier played a key role in marketing the Mirage in the mid-eighties and Rafale fighters worldwide including to India.

But that’s not the point. The underlying theme in the handing over the baton process at Dassault is continuity. Edelstenne had spent over 50 years at the company. Trappier arrived at Dassault as a young engineer more than a quarCruising Heights June 2013

ter century-plus ago. He hasn’t worked anywhere else and it’s unlikely he ever will. As he told me during an interview in April, “I am not the only one in Dassault to have spent my whole working life here. There are many, many others.

Most of us have spent our life in this environment, it’s like family. Aircrafts is in our genes.”

It’s ditto for John Rosanvallon

by change

Preserving a heritage yet moving on and keeping in tune with the rapid technological innovations is in Dassault Aviation’s DNA. K Srinivasan visited the aviation major’s facilities in France and was struck by the dedication, commitment and loyalty of all those working there

President and CEO Dassault Falcon Jet, who cut his teeth as a young management graduate selling Falcon Jets to the Americans and is now more American than French and operates from Tetterboro (New Jersey). It’s a singular recognition of how important has been America both for the Falcon’s growth and its history. Ditto again for Olivier Villa, Senior Vice President, Civil Aircraft, Dassault

Aviation. When I asked him about life outside Dassault, he smiled and said: ‘Unthinkable.’ For him it was simply a way of life; they woke up and went not to work every day, but actually to have a good time.

Interestingly for Trappier, while the sale of the Rafale to India will mean the opening of several new and exciting markets across the BRIC (Brazil, Russia, Continued on Page 33 Cruising Heights June 2013

31

cover story



1951: Marcel Dassault, Founder of Dassault Aviation



1965: Jacqueline Auriol, French Aviator in one of the Dassault jet

1963: Dassault Aviation unveils Mystere 20 jet

A

s it moves to focus on the next 50 years, Dassault’s core focus is to create an aircraft that will be at the cutting edge in terms of being ‘green’.

That would mean three key elements:  Make the Falcon family greener;  More electric; and  More digital.

The essence of this environmental odyssey, if one were to use that term, is reducing the noise footprint. The company hopes that by the benchmark year of 2025, their aircraft would be 20dB quieter than they were in 2000. In fact, a full team of engineers is working on new aeroacoustic computation techniques that have evolved over the last decade.

At the other end of the spectrum, the company is focussing on the carbon footprint — reducing fuel burn and carbon dioxide emissions. Engi- ready to roll: neers are working on extended lami- Dassault Falcon 7X in nar flow wings that have proven to the assembly line be aerodynamically efficient. How much can they really enlarge it is the challenge. The greater the enlargement, the lesser the drag. Scores of tests on the present aircraft including the 7X has have shown their engineers

32

1971: Engineers of Dassault Aviation in Falcon 20 freighter

1970: Falcon 10 jet in the skies



The Green Falcon



1976: Falcon 50 jet zooming Liberty in New York



where the transition occurs between the two—laminar and nonlaminar—flows. Will the company be able to get on top of the manufacturing involved in achieving this? If indeed they do, the saving on fuel (both burn and emissions) could be as much as six to nine per cent. The general assessement is that the SMS (Super Mid-Size) will have all this.

There is also an attempt to not just lower the carbon footprint in select areas, but make the whole aircraft, a ‘tomorrow product’ so to speak. That would mean the aircraft being green as a whole through its entire lifecycle. One area where some advances are being made is the electricals of the aircraft known as the More Electric Falcon project. The idea is to achieve efficiency between what’s installed on the aircraft in terms of energy usage and what’s actually consumed. This will help lower weight and lesser consumption as well. Again it’s at least a decadeplus away from ramping up to the benchmarks the company has internally set for itself.

That apart there is also Dassault’s Digital Falcon for innovating in the cockpit that will prepare it for the nextgen traffic management modernisation programmes. That could well mean less pilot workload and lower operating costs.

One exciting new area will be the flush multifunction antenna developed for its Neuron UAV. It is likely that it will find utility on the Falcon. Considering it’s a military product at the moment there is really no attempt to elaborate on it.

Cruising Heights June 2013

pa



1984: Dassault Falcon 900 on its way for the first take-off

ast Statue of

1996: Dassault announced Falcon 50 EX to replace the Falcon 50

1993: Dassault Falcon 2000 was built in association with an Italian firm, Alenia



11



2013: With deliveries beginning in 2014, Falcon 2000LXS will replace 2000LX

2005: Falcon 7X touted as one of the best Falcon jets ever





Continued from Page 31 India and China) nations, he cannot forget that it’s the Falcon business that is at the heart of Dassault Aviation today. Almost 70 per cent of Dassault Aviation’s turnover comes from its Falcon jets or its Business Jets division. It is unlikely to taper off anytime soon. If anything, the ratio is likely to continue for years to come; slowly but surely, the company has moved being viewed essentially as a military superstar to one that shines brightly in the business jet firmament.

This is only reaffirmed by the fact that almost half of its customers come from the rest of the world and that would mean addressing a wide variety of challenges from across the globe, particularly the needs of the BRICS nations.

One of the unique advantages that the company has is that its design office (a state-of-the-art workplace in St Cloud, Paris) creates for defence and the spin-off has huge implications in the civil value chain as has been seen in the evolution of the Falcon from the 900 to the 7X. Not just that, the Dassault factories like the ones in Mèrignac and Martignas near each other in the city of Bordeaux produce both civil and military aircraft from the same shop floor.

Jérôme Camps, an engineer at Dassault Aviation’s main design centre, is a master in presentation. And his presenta-

tion of the CATIA, 3-D proprietary software was exhilarating. This software is now the industry standard and has even found application widely outside the industry. The Boeing 777 was the first aircraft designed in the US using the CATIA software. US Automobile companies include giants like Ford routinely use the software to upgrade their models. You can literally project a 3-D model of any of the

Falcon jets and go to the aircraft’s fuselage or skin to feel and look at what’s inside and how to structure it. What it’s done is seminal. It helps you trash paper drawings and real mock ups. The 7X, for example, was the first aircraft to be completely certified based on its 3-D design. It is not just that it helps engineers across plants to work real time. A consequence is that the final design went to the production tooling

ahead with technology: The Dassault Centre at the Le Bourget Airport, their biggest centre worldwide

Cruising Heights June 2013

33

cover story

down memory lane: Eric Trappier, Chairman and CEO, Dassault Aviation speaking at the 50th anniversary celebrations. On his right is the restored Mystère-Falcon 20 that made its first flight on May 4, 1963

The numbers F

or the first quarter of 2013, Dassault’s business jet deliveries dropped but the company expects shipments to improve throughout the year and remain on track to reach its best figures in the three years. The anticipation is that they will deliver 70 Falcons this year, up slightly from the 66 in 2012 and 63 in 2011. The backlog too, is building up and is now at over 107 aircraft in 2012.

Furthermore, the new orders were more than the cancellations and included 58 positives last year.

At the core is the best-selling Falcon that accounts for 45 per cent of Falcon sales over the past two years.

The 2000 has a market share of 40 per cent of the sales. With both the Falcon 2000S and Falcon 2000LXS receiving certification in March, it is likely to improve its sales performance.

Deliveries of the 2000S started immediately in April, while the LXS should begin in the second half of the year. The 900 LX does about 15 per cent of the overall sales and continues to be an important cog in the Falcon wheel.

General Aviation generated 70 per cent of Dassault’s 3.9 billion euros or $5.1 billion, in revenue last year.

34

stage straightaway with no need for trial asked by Pan Am boss Juan Trippe fittings. to find the right aircraft to equip Pan It’s also helped the company continuAm’s new executive aviation division. ally work with its peers in Europe. The Lindbergh wired back: “I’ve found the nEUROn, an armed drone demonstrabird!" tor, was built by an European consortium Since then, Dassault has produced 20 lead by Dassault using the same CATIA different Falcon business jets, culminating platform. It’s also the same software that in the super-luxurious, high-tech Falcon 7X. developed the Rafale.

Today, more than 2,250 “50 years of pasFalcons have been delivsion and innovation” in ered to 82 countries many ways represents around the world. Its the essence of what Dasfleet has surpassed 16.2 sault stands for. For the million hours of flight employees of Dassault, time — testimony to the it’s a way of life. For its reputation for quality and design team and engiperformance that the FalJérôme Camps Olivier Villa, neers, it is a continuing con family has acquired Engineer, Senior VP, series of opportunities to Dassault Aviation Dassault Aviation within the aviation comramp up to the next level munity. and provide what they There is no doubt that believe is the best general aviation aircraft the man who started it all, Marcel Dassault in the world. had a stroke of genius in him. For someone As it celebrates the 50th anniversary who was deported by the Germans during of its first business jet, the Mystère-FalWorld War II to the Buchenwald concencon 20 that made its first flight on May tration camp, Marcel Dassault came back 4, 1963, it’s time to look back and look after the war to completely energise and ahead. The first jet was based on technolorestart his company, Avions Marcel Dasgies designed for the Mystère IV fighter. sault, now the Groupe Industriel Dassault, It bore more resemblance to an and make it what it is today. airliner than to an executive aircraft As Eric Trappier said: “Marcel Daswhen the Mystère 20 started rolling sault has been a part of our DNA. We are off the assembly line in Bordeauxborn with the legend of Marcel Dassault.

Merignac, France on April 1, 1963.

He died. But we are still with the legend of The first flight on May 4, 1963 was witthe Dassault family involved in this businessed by a Pan Am delegation headed ness. They trust in aeronautics and they

by Charles Lindbergh. He had been trust and love their people.” n Cruising Heights June 2013

focus

Jet pins hope on Etihad deal The last quarter for Jet Airways has been bad and a number of factors have led to losses.

Jet, however, is optimistic: Etihad’s acquisition will bring it immediate revenue growth

I

f it is any consolation to the shareholders of Jet Airways, the country’s second largest carrier by number of passengers lowered its losses: from `1,230 crore in the previous year to `485.5 crore this year.

But that can hardly be a soft blow since Jet’s net sales went down 2.96 per cent to `3,921.92 crore.

Experts point out that the fourth quarter results are usually weak for domestic airlines. That is, perhaps, why Jet unleashed special fares — as low as `2250 for a oneway journey — and put two million seats on more than 450 daily flights across 57 destinations on sale for six days. Did the move pay off?

The fourth quarter (Q4) is traditionally a weak one for domestic airlines after a preceding quarter that’s strengthened by the festival and holiday seasons. Jet Airways had in February launched special fares as low as `2,250 for a single journey across its domestic network, about 50 per cent lower than the regular rate. To stimulate the market, Jet Airways put two million seats on.

Hameed Ali, acting Chief Executive Officer (CEO) at Jet Airways said that sluggish economic conditions and high airfares had resulted in a decrease in demand and capacity. The release sent out by the carrier mentions that operating results for the quarter was impacted due to high fuel prices, rupee depreciation and increase in cost of operations. Temporary slowdown in demand resulted in capacity reduction and this has led to aircraft being on ground.

While a few of them were redeployed to profitable international routes, the impact of the planes being grounded for the quarter was `903 mn. There were instances of aircraft on ground during the year; the impact of this for the year was `1,889 mn.

The result also included onetime exceptional items amounting to `3,102 mn. This was mainly due to maintenance events, payroll arrears, SFIS reversal on account of expiry of licence and loss on exchange fluctuation.

Said Hameed Ali, “Sluggish economic scenario and high yields have resulted in decrease in market demand and capacity. Rupee depreciation, high fuel prices, increase in landing and navigation costs and increase in cost of operations including impact of onetime cost and aircraft on ground has impacted the quarterly results.

As India’s premier airline, we continue to strive in our endeavour to enhance our guest experience through various strategic marketing and customer-friendly initiatives. This will help us to achieve customer delight, which in turn will further help Jet Airways build its industry benchmarks of service excellence and quality, with convenience and comfort.”

The revenues from Jet’s domestic operations of `16,028 mn accounted for 40.2 per cent of total revenues. Seat factors remained at around 74.8 per cent for Q4 FY13 versus 77.1 per cent for Q4 FY12. Capacity in terms of ASKM of 3,188 million in Q4 FY13 versus 3,493 million in Q4 FY12.

As for international operations in Q4 FY13, revenues from International operations of `23,877 mn accounted for 59.8 per cent of total revenues. Achieved seat factor was of 84.4 per cent in Q4 FY13 versus 86.0 per cent in Q4 FY12.The EBITDAR margins were at 16.5 per cent in Q4 FY13 versus 12.6 per cent in Q4 FY12.

Projecting the outlook for the future, Jet pointed out that rupee depreciation and

Cruising Heights June 2013

increase in cost of operations, especially landing and navigation costs will continue to be a cause of concern. Significant increases in landing and navigation charges at key metros will lead to airlines passing on the costs to the passenger, which may affect the passenger growth in the short term.

The demand growth is expected to climb up to a 10-12 per cent range. As against this, capacity increases were expected to be moderate in the industry. Meanwhile, the carrier said that it would cut costs and improve productivity. Initiatives such as enhancing ancillary revenues, discontinuing loss making routes, sale/sale and lease back of aircraft would help in the medium to long term, according to the release. International business continued to show healthy trends which were reflected in the seat factors. The carrier said it was selectively adding flights to profit-making markets such as Gulf and Middle East and ASEAN routes.

Coming to the Jet-Etihad deal, the release said it would bring immediate revenue growth and cost synergy opportunities for both the airlines and would help strengthen Jet Airways balance sheet.

It said that key cost benefits and synergies in fleet acquisition, maintenance, joint purchasing opportunities for fuel, spare parts, equipment and catering supplies, as well as external services such as insurance and technology support would come through. Other areas of co-operation would include joint training of pilots, cabin crew and engineers, as well as maintenance of common aircraft types and consolidation of guest loyalty programmes. In addition, the alliance would bring significant guest benefits with expanded code sharing, creating a combined network of 140 destinations, according to the release. n

35

focus focus

Jetihad: The journey begins From its beginnings in 1993, Jet Airways has indeed come a long way. Led by the inimitable Naresh Goyal, who has piloted the carrier through times good and bad and often ploughed a lonely furrow to get things his way, the coming days could be tough. cruising heights looks at Jet’s road ahead…

Deterrants In SEBI’s cross-hairs Capital markets regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has sought clarification on the Jet-Etihad deal in order to guarantee that general competition in the aviation market is not affected and the interests of public shareholders and consumers are protected. This, even as Jet Airways promoter Tailwinds Limited, has upped UK Sinha the ante to seek an exemption from SEBI to divest equity shares of the company in order to comply with the minimum 25 per cent public floating requirement prior to the proposed preferential allotment of shares to Etihad Airways. Jet Airways Chairman Naresh Goyal buys 29 per cent stake in Jet Airways from Tail Winds Ltd.

Judgment call Fair trade watchdog Competition Commission of India (CCI) too has sought clarification on the Jet-Etihad deal. CCI Chairman Ashok Chawla was quoted, “They have filed for the approval for the merger and we are examining the deal.” CCI’s job is to ensure a level playing field for all players in any sector and it will examine if the deal will Ashok Chawla entail Etihad getting substantive control in Jet and, if so, what its bearing will be on other airlines. Most merger and acquisition deals require approval from the CCI.

Management rejig blues Though Jet and Etihad have said that effective control will remain with Indian nationals, with Naresh Goyal as non-executive Chairman, reports indicate that there could be changes in Jet’s senior management with Etihad’s nominees: CEO Nikos Kardassis may be replaced by Bahrain national Hameed Ali, COO, Jet Airways, who played an important role in the deal going through and CCO Sudheer Raghavan could also be replaced by an Etihad appointee. Jet has withdrawn the control clauses related amendments it had proposed sometime ago in the share sell agreement to Etihad Airways. The clauses could have awarded management rights to Etihad. The company, however, deferred to seek shareholder approval to amend its ‘Articles of Association’.

focus

Future ahead Gets moving

Schiphol Airport

Tegel Airport

Charles de Gaulle Airport

In order to scale up the operations ahead of the Jet-Etihad deal, Jet Airways has identified three international hubs: Amsterdam, Berlin and Paris. It has been confirmed that Jet will be transferring its hub from Brussels to Amsterdam. According to news reports, two more international hubs will help Jet Airways offer its passengers more options. An aviation expert was quoted as saying, “It makes sense for Jet Airways to open more international hubs, considering Eithad Airways has got a wide network and equity investments in other airlines.”

Change of pace There are reports that Jet will be ordering 200 Boeing, Airbus planes at the forthcoming Paris Air Show. Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation (CAPA) estimates in its India Aviation Outlook 2013-14, “We expect a further order for over 50 A320neos which will be utilised by its low cost subsidiary, JetKonnect. Jet Airways was earlier in negotiations for over a year to acquire 100 A320neos, however, it now looks likely that the order will be split across manufacturers. Jet is therefore expected to announce a total order for over 100 aircraft in Paris. The longer term order could be as high as 200, however we expect that it will be announced in phases.”

It has been a momentous year: Jet has completed 20 years of operations in the skies from its humble beginning as an Air Taxi Operator on May 5, 1993. In celebration, it has announced various deals and offers. The carrier said in a statement, “Undeterred by its humble beginnings, Jet Airways even in its formative years challenged and changed the concept of guest satisfaction, constantly evolving and continuously innovating to create the legend of India’s most preferred domestic airline. Benchmarking itself with the best, not in the country but internationally, both in terms of inducting the latest technology in terms of new aircraft and also service, both on the ground and in the air; thus, enabling its staff to deliver a new and superior air travel experience.”

infographics: nagender Dubey inputs by punit mishra

Forging ahead

business aviation

EBACE

promotes safety T

his year’s focus on safety began even before EBACE kicked off officially. A one-day EBACE Safety Workshop well ahead of the show provided critical safety information corresponding directly to human performance. “We’ve always had a focus on safety at EBACE,” said Brian Humphries, President of the European Business Aviation Association (EBAA). “Eight out of 10 aviation accidents are caused not by mechanical failures, but by human failures.

This workshop focuses specifically on human performance issues. The point is, this workshop will challenge you to change the way you think about aviation safety.”

In addition to the Safety Workshop, the EBACE Cabin Crew Symposium was also held on the same day.

The programme dealt with cabin-specific issues relevant to safety, security, service and training. There were additional safety-focussed education sessions offered free as part of EBACE registration. Further, at the EBAA Safety of Flight Awards ceremony, that highlighted the continued focus on maintaining and improving safety best practices at the companies’ flight departments, four European companies were recognised for their commitment to safe operations. The awards were presented in conjunction with the 2013 European Business Aviation Safety Workshop, a traditional component of EBACE that challenges common perceptions about industry safety and best practices, while emphasising human factors in addressing critical safety information and training issues specific to the European region.

“I believe it’s also important that, during each year’s EBACE event, we not only work to enhance our approach to business aviation safety, but also take a moment to recognise companies with a long-standing commitment to safety, as shown in their decades-long records for safe light,” noted Humphries. “That’s why EBAA created these awards, and we’re delighted to recognise these outstanding companies with an award today.”

38

On the rebound

W

ith 52 aircraft appearing in the largest static display in European Business Aviation Convention & Exhibition (EBACE) history, this year’s event at the Palexpo and the International Airport at Geneva from May 21 to 23 was buzzing with activity. The atmosphere was one of optimism and rightly so. Coming as it did after a long period of recession, when the organisers — the National Business Aviation Association (NBAA) and European Business Aviation Association (EBAA) — declared EBACE 2013 a success, the business aviation industry would collectively have expressed a sigh of relief. If the turnout was any indication — while there were 12,353 attendees walking through the doors of the show, there were 460 exhibitors showing their wares and services — the show was indeed a sell-out. The turnout, however, was slightly lower than last year when there were 12,638 attendees from 99 countries and some 491 exhibitors. The show’s static display area, Cruising Heights June 2013

10 per cent larger than that of 2011, had presented a record-setting 60 aircraft.

Fabio Gamba, CEO of the EBAA, addressed the opening session of EBACE 2013. Government policies, outdated infrastructure and the slack economy were some of the main issues he addressed. Other speakers included NBAA President and CEO Ed Bolen; Patrick Ky, Managing Director, SESAR JU (Single European Sky ATM Research programme Joint Undertaking); Daniel Weder, CEO of air navigation service provider Skyguide; and via recorded video message — Siim Kallas, Vice President of the European Commission and its Commissioner for Mobility and Transport.

The essence of the session can be well described by these words from Gamba, who emphasised that people who use business aviation were generally high achievers and optimists showing a willingness to roll up their sleeves and solve problems. He demonstrated: “As frustrated as we may be with current conditions, I’m

At par with last year’s record setting numbers and with more than 50 aircraft on display, this year’s top business aviation meet, EBACE 2013, was the perfect destination for the ‘business of business aircraft’. A report

HEADY OPERATIONS: Swiss manufacturer Pilatus Aircraft revealed its new twin-engine jet, the PC-24, at EBACE. It will be the first business jet with the ability to use very short runways, hard or dirt, with a cargo door as standard. (Below) A view from the aircraft display at EBACE

convinced of an exciting future ahead. But for it to materialise, we must lay out the essential conditions for that to occur.”

Bolen said that from US business aviation users, the biggest concern about Europe is, “How are we going to comply with ETS (the EU’s emissions trading scheme)? It doesn’t make any sense as we see it.”

The important matter of business apart, aircraft manufacturers took pains to showcase their new planes. Bombardier Aerospace, for example, returned this year with the first production Learjet 75 jet. Alongside the debutante were three other jets: the Challenger 300, Challenger 605 and Global 6000. Boeing Business Jets (BBJ) too displayed a BBJ 3 for the first time. The range of the BBJ 3 exceeds that of other business jets in its class. It can fly 4,900 nautical miles; more than 1,500 nautical miles (three hours) farther than its direct competitor. The airplane, based on the 737-900ER, was outfitted with its custom VIP interiors at Jet Aviation in Basel, Switzerland. The BBJ 3 is currently for sale, so the exterior remains ‘green’ or unpainted, ready for a

livery to be selected by a new owner. “The BBJ 3 range advantage is the reason why it has outsold its direct competitor by sevento-one,” said Capt. Steve Taylor, President, Boeing Business Jets. “Our customers demand airplanes with great performance, enabling them to conduct business around the world.”

Dassault Falcon presented a full lineup of long-range large-cabin executive jets and the lineup featured the recently certificated Falcon 2000S, Dassault’s new entry level jet, along with the Falcon 900LX Cruising Heights June 2013

long-range aircraft and the top-of-the-line Falcon 7X. The show also highlighted the EASy II advanced avionics suite, FalconCabin HD+ entertainment system and FalconBroadcast airborne health monitoring service, which in the first half of 2013 were expanded to all new Falcon models.

The Embraer Lineage 1000 on the static line at EBACE 2013 was sold to Belgium’s FlyingGroup. Ernest Edwards, President of Embraer Executive Jets, and FlyingGroup CEO Bernard van Milders, climbed aboard to celebarate the sale of the first ultra-large cabin Embraer Lineage 1000 delivered in Belgium. According to van Milders “this is the first for FlyingGroup to have a large category business jet in our fleet. It gives us long-range capabilities and, for the owner, who has a family that travels with him, it gives the ability to travel in a spacious cabin very comfortably and arrive after a long flight rested and ready for whatever comes his way.”

Honeywell highlighted the operational benefits and momentum of its Retrofit, Modification and Upgrade (RMU) technologies at Geneva. Having recently completed the first delivery to the Middle East of its alldigital, full-High Definition (HD) Ovation Select Cabin Management System (CMS) on a Boeing Business Jet (BBJ), Honeywell is currently fitting the system on TAG Aviation's new Bombardier Global 6000 aircraft in partnership with Jet Aviation St. Louis.

Delivery of the aircraft is expected in 2014.

EBACE attendees got the chance to experience a fully functioning mockup of the FAA and EASA-certified Ovation Select system, which is scalable and customisable to retrofit any business jet.

Airbus announced at the event that it had created a concierge support team for its ACJ customers worldwide, called C4you. The C4you team would dispatch the required equipment for servicing, or the equipment and factory-trained engineers if that was necessary, to supervise or even perform the necessary maintenance.

The Middle East Business Aviation Association and its members, realising that Solid recurrent training was at the core of any safety management system, chose EBACE 2013 as the venue to announce a new member benefit: MEBAA Total Training Service, a package designed specifically for MEBAA by Emirates-CAE. The optimism continued throughout the show, leading Ed Bolen to remark: “just like last year, EBACE has proved to be of great value to the business aviation community. It has been a place where the industry has rallied together, made new announcements and set a positive tone, all of which has the business aviation community looking forward to the future.” n

39

business aviation

Bizjet decline in business capital It is an irony of sorts that the business capital of the country has been witnessing a steady decline in the number of private jet fliers. According to statistics from the Mumbai airport operator, the number of passengers being ferried in and out of the city by private jets has been steadily going down.

The sector, incidentally described as an emerging one, saw

a continual drop at the early part of this year — a trend being carried forward since FY 2010 and 2011, when flight movements were reduced by almost a thousand.

The trend, however, has slowed the expansion plans of several private jet operators and resulted in concern among luxury travel investors in India. Business jet owners say that the decrease can

be attributed to the increase in parking charges, laws surrounding general aviation, and dull economic sentiments.

Rohit Kapur, President of the Business Aircraft Owners’ Association was quoted as saying that the “Mumbai airport charges severe penalties to foreign business jets parked for more than 72 hours and domestic jets using the facility for more than two days”.

ainonline.com

New suppliers for Gen-2 E-Jets

More suppliers of important systems for the second-generation E-jets by Embraer, expected to go into service in 2018, have been named. Moog has been selected for the fly-by-wire control system, consisting of flight control computers and all of the hydraulic actuators of the primary surfaces, spoilers, and ground spoilers.

Rockwell Collins has been selected to supply the horizontal stabiliser control system. The control system for the flaps and slats, consisting of electronic controls, mechanical actuators, a power transmission unit, torque tubes, and sensors, will be supplied by Liebherr, which has also been chosen for the Air Management System (AMS) comprising the engine bleed, deicing, air conditioning, and cabin pressurisation systems.

40

NetJets gets first Phenom 300 The first of up to 125 Phenom 300 light jets has been delivered by Embraer Executive Jets to the Berkshire Hathaway company, NetJets, in a recently-held ceremony.

The aircraft will join NetJets’ worldwide fleet of more than 700 light, midsize and large-cabin aircraft.

“The NetJets delivery is a significant milestone in the Phenom 300 programme,” according to Ernest Edwards, President, Embraer Executive Jets. “NetJets’ $1 billion order came just a year after the aircraft entered service. It was a significant validation that Embraer Executive Jets had delivered to the market an aircraft that meets NetJets increasingly demanding requirements for safety, comfort, economics, performance and reliability. We are especially pleased that we will begin producing the NetJets’ Signature Series

Cruising Heights June 2013

Phenom 300s on the Melbourne production line in 2014.”

On his part, Jordan B. Hansell, NetJets Chairman and CEO was pleased to partner with Embraer “to deliver our customers the NetJets Signature Series Phenom 300” that he referred to as an outstanding light-cabin jet designed exclusively for NetJets. “The high-performance aircraft is ideally suited to our customers’ needs for safety, reliability, interior comfort and operating efficiency. The addition of the Signature Series Phenom 300 will expand the unparalleled offerings and capabilities of the NetJets global fleet.”

The delivery was part of an order that included 50 firm orders and 75 options, signed in October 2010 creating a partnership that would develop into the NetJets’ Signature Series Phenom 300.

Global tour for King Air 350ER Demonstrator The Special Mission King Air 350ER demonstrator aircraft by Beechcraft Corporation has embarked on a year-long global tour to showcase the King Air’s unique special mission capabilities.

The aircraft is scheduled to visit more than 15 countries on six continents, and will fly an estimated 80,000 miles.

“We discovered through a similar tour last year that the best way to demonstrate the performance, versatility and low operating costs of the King Air 350ER is to take the aircraft around the world,” said Dan Keady, Beechcraft Senior Vice President, Special Missions. “Experiencing the aircraft firsthand makes it easy for governments, military and commercial customers to see why the King Air is the ideal aircraft to address the unique challenges of most special mission operations.” The King Air 350ER demonstrator aircraft is a standard Extended-Range (ER) airplane,

which includes additional fuel capacity and increased capability landing gear allowing for 2,500 nautical mile range and take-off weight of 16,500 lbs. The aircraft’s interior configuration highlights a fully functioning medical station complete with medical oxygen, vacuum and pressure, a medical cabinet and a side-facing, three-place couch for doctor/medical attendants.

Beechcraft services centres develop further

Bombardier expands maintenance capacity

The factory-owned Hawker Beechcraft Services facilities are now authorised installation centres for the CenTex HALO 250 gross weight increase modification for Beechcraft King Air 200 aircraft, Beechcraft Corporation’s Global Customer Support organisation has informed.

The HALO 250 conversion adds 920 pounds of payload capacity by increasing the maximum takeoff weight of King Air 200-series aircraft from 12,500 pounds to 13,420 pounds. CenTex Aerospace, Inc. of Waco, Texas, developed the modification and received FAA certification in October 2012.

“This is a much-anticipated model for many owners eager to have room for more passengers plus baggage with full fuel, while also adding new safety systems,” said Christi Tannahill, Beechcraft’s Senior Vice President, Global Customer Support.

HALO 250 offers a normal category Supplemental Type Certificates (STC): A supplemental type certificate is a type certificate issued when an applicant has received US’ Federal Aviation Administration approval to modify an aircraft from its original design.

Three new lines of maintenance for Q400 and Q400 NextGen turboprops have been opened

by Bombardier at its Tucson, Arizona aircraft service centre.

The new lines are housed in an existing hangar space at Tucson’s 1,146,901 sq ft service centre, complementing existing maintenance capabilities for Q-Series aircraft at Bombardier's facilities in Bridgeport, West Virginia and Macon, Georgia.

Within the past year, Bombardier has secured several long-term heavy maintenance contracts with North American carriers seeking to maximise their operational efficiency.

Bombardier's line and heavy maintenance offering for commercial aircraft is designed to maximise quality and return-to-service speed within a competitive, predictable cost structure. The facilities are backed by Bombardier's 24/7 technical help desks, in-service engineering teams and support staff deployed around the world.

Toronto's FPI to train for Bombardier CRJs Toronto-based FlightPath International (FPI) has been appointed as the Authorised Technical Training Provider (ATTP) for Bombardier’s CRJ Series commercial aircraft , Challenger 850, Challenger 870 and Challenger 890 business jets aircraft technical training. The appointment expands on an existing training agreement, under which FPI has worked with Bombardier

to provide technical training since 2011.

Under the ATTP agreement, FPI instructors will deliver aircraft technical training courses for the mentioned aircraft at their newly opened Toronto facility and at operators’ locations, as required. The expanded agreement has already taken effect and Bombardier and FPI are closely working together to ensure a seamless transition for all operators.

Cruising Heights June 2013

Hawker 400XPR winglet testing Flight tests for the winglet component of its Hawker 400XPR upgrade programme have been announced by Beechcraft Corporation.

The Hawker 400XPR upgrade package offers several factory-approved airframe modifications to significantly improve performance, operating cost and resale value. The upgrade combines the superior aerodynamics of genuine Hawker winglets and the increased power of the Williams International FJ44-4A-32 engines along with optional Rockwell Collins Pro Line 21 avionics and a number of system enhancements. Importantly, the XPR enhancements are the exclusive factory-designed, engineered and supported upgrades available for the Hawker/Beechjet 400.

The Williams International FJ44-4A-32 engine certification and Hawker winglet certification are on track for completion in the third quarter of the year and Hawker 400XPR deliveries beginning in the fourth quarter.

41

spotlight

Big is best for the Gulf

It's a virtual war out on the desert sands. Pitted against Boeing's proposed B777X is Airbus' A350. Both planes and their manufacturers are wooing carriers in the Gulf that seem to have developed an unquenchable thirst for planes

B

oeing has taken the first big step towards a next generation long haul 300-plus seater by announcing its long-awaited 777X wide-body jet. It did so by discussing price, schedule and other details with big ticket customers like Emirates and Qatar Airways.

The move follows a Boeing Board meeting that has apparently green signalled a proposal to discuss and take orders from airlines for the new fuel-efficient jet, which could include folding wing tips to increase wingspan. It is expected that Boeing will announce the aircraft at this month’s Paris Air show to attract enough orders before formally launching the programme.

The 777X is a planned successor to the industry’s most popular wide-body aircraft, which seats more than 300 passengers. The original 777 was introduced in 1995 and is the last new plane Boeing developed before the 787.

The new version, with the working title of 777X, is a twin-engine, long-haul air-

craft capable of carrying up to 400 passengers. It will be in direct competition with the Airbus A350 scheduled to enter service next year. Between the two aviation giants there is a potentially $30 billion market waiting to be carved out.

The 777’s biggest customer Emirates — the largest 777 customer with a fleet of 175 jets — has been saying for long that the sooner Boeing introduces the 777 replacement, the better. Now that the 777X is being offered to customers, the next step could begin within 12 months, making the end-of-decade delivery schedule feasible and realistic.

Industry insiders believe that Emirates will start with a huge advantage as far as the 777X goes. For starters, it has been relentlessly pushing Boeing to freeze and finalise plans for this aircraft. And now that’s happened, they could reap the rewards in the form of early preferential delivery slots.

The manufacturer is believed to have been given the go-ahead by its board to begin

selling a new version of the long-range 777 jetliner.

It’s clear that Boeing has acted on the Emirates perspective in fast tracking the 777-8X and 777-9X family. Boeing is now offering a new 400-seat version of the 777, known as 777-9X, and also a 777-8X which would have the longest range of more than 9,300 nautical miles (17,200-km). According to original plans reported earlier this year, the initial launch was not due till mid2014. However, with a huge demand for the 300-plus 777 family and the general ‘ifs and buts’ that airlines have shown for the smaller Airbus A350-1000, Boeing decided to move the launch nearly a year ahead. All three Gulf carriers — Qatar (a launch customer for the A350), Emirates and Etihad — have ordered a huge number of the nextgen Airbus widebody aircraft.

Qatar Airways CEO Akbar Al Baker said that he expects the first batch of the 80 Airbus A350s it has on firm order to be delivered in the second half of 2014. “We

BEEFING UP FOR OPERATIONS: First section for A350 XWB MSN1 arraives in the final assembly line in Toulouse, France

have not been notified of any delays yet and we hope there won’t be any. If there are delays, we are already looking at interim lift by ordering additional A330s,” he said.

The baseline A350-900 is already behind schedule although Airbus Chief Operating Officer-Customers John Leahy is on record that the final product is something much better than what was originally conceived. That could well mean that the stretched A350-1000 may not be ready by its scheduled date of 2017. Boeing hopes to capitalise on this with the bigger 7779X with service entry just before the end of the decade. The new 777X is likely to be offered in two or three versions with a longer body, carbon-fibre composite wings and GE engines.

Qatar’s Al Baker told journalists recently that he was keen to order Boeing’s upgraded 777 when it is officially launched.

“They have given us a presentation and when they launch their aircraft we will be very interested,” he told the media. “We

are very interested in the new 777X aircraft being developed by Boeing. We are looking at anywhere between 40 and 50 aircraft of the type,” he said. He said that the airline would replace its existing fleet of 45 Boeing 777s — in operation and in the pipeline — (including 777-ERs-extended range and 777-LRs-long range) with the new type.

Qatar Airways has 33 777 aircraft with nine left to be delivered. Asked if there were any talks with Boeing, Al Baker said: “Yes, Boeing has presented the aircraft to us — they have presented the specifications. We have not gone into detailed discussions with them, but we will be doing it imminently.”

He added that the 777Xs will be offered somewhere “between 2020 and 2022”.

However, when asked about the carrier’s existing fleet of 777 aircraft, Al Baker said he was not happy with the engine performance from the General Electric (GE) engines. “We have issues with the G90 (engine). We are not happy with them... GE knows about it… the on-wing performance

of the engine,” he said. The General Electric GE90 engine is a family of high-bypass turbofan aircraft engines built by GE Aviation exclusively for the Boeing 777.

Notwithstanding Al Baker’s reservations, Boeing announced earlier this year that GE had been chosen as its engine partner for the development study on the 777X. “This decision to work with GE going forward reflects the best match to the development programme, schedule and airplane performance,” said Bob Feldmann, Vice President and General Manager, 777X Development during that announcement and added: “We are studying airplane improvements that will extend today’s 777 efficiencies and reliability for the next two decades or longer, and the engines are a significant part of that effort. Our focus is on providing the most competitive offering to our customers in the large twin aisle market.”

If that’s one side of the story, Qatar, on the other side is keen to order another

spotlight

“We are planning to place an order this year of at least 50 aircraft. We are currently talking to both Boeing and Airbus on this deal.”

Gaith Al Gaith

Chief Executive, FlyDubai 10 to 15 Airbus A330s. “We are talking to Airbus for extra A330s,” Akbar Al Baker told reporters and added that Airbus will have to ‘sharpen their pencils’. What he meant, perhaps, was fast track improvements on the A350 and make sure that the supply chain on the A330 production goes forward glitch-free. The 330s are expected to fill the gap caused by the delay in Boeing’s 787 Dreamliners. “We are talking to Airbus about A330s to fill in the gap that the Dreamliner delays have caused Qatar Airways... Anywhere between 10 and 15 (aircraft).” However, there was no move to cancel the Dreamliners said Al Baker and added that Qatar Airways might order additional units. “On the contrary, we may order additional Dreamliners because we have purchase rights for another 30,” he said.

The A330 is seeing the sort of boxoffice heat that’s in a way reflective of the state of affairs with the Dreamliner. The 787 production delays have waylaid most of Boeing’s well thought out plans which

44

includes a new 320-seat stretched 787 that it believes will eclipse the A330’s appeal.

Boeing is looking for a prominent customer like Qatar to launch the stretched Dreamliner, code-named 787-10X, which it believes will appeal to airlines that do not need the range of other new jets but want the lower fuel costs of the 787’s lightweight design.

Qatar's decision to look at more A330s does not mean it will ignore the 787-10X, a design concept which Baker has praised for promising low seat-mile costs, but highlights the tough battle being fought between old and new technology at the smaller end of the widebody jet market.

Meanwhile, in Dubai, Emirates said it would replace a major part of its 777 fleet with Boeing’s new 777X offering. “It’ll be a large order,” the airline’s president Tim Clark told reporters, without specifying the number of planes he plans to order. “I’m not saying we'll be buying 175 of them (777X) but we need to replace (the 777s) from 2017,” said Clark. He added that Emirates would be looking at both the 8X

“The final product is something much better than what was originally conceived.”

John Leahy

COO-Customers, Airbus

Cruising Heights June 2013

and the 9X version of the 777X. The 350seat 777-8X is expected to be the world’s longest-range jetliner.

Abu Dhabi-based Etihad Airways is not far away in the aircraft acquisition game. On a high after acquiring a stake in the Naresh Goyal-led Jet Airways, Etihad decided to ramp up the capacity of its daily Abu Dhabi-New York flights with a wi-fienabled Boeing 777-300ER from June 1, 2013. In addition, the carrier placed orders for 90 aircraft, of which 14 will join the fleet in 2013. Of this, 40 will be Boeing 787s, making it the single largest order for Dreamliners.

However, despite the interest, airlines are also concerned whether the problems with the Dreamliner may result in Boeing’s other programmes being pushed back. “The cash outflow must be quite difficult to manage,” said Clark. “The cash exposure is a tricky one and they are also trying to get the other programmes out of the door... An aircraft that they thought could cost $6 to $10 billion is now more than $20 billion.”

The halt to Dreamliner flights has cost Boeing an estimated $600 million and forced it to halt deliveries.

Meanwhile, FlyDubai, the Emirate’s budget carrier, is negotiating with Boeing and Airbus for at least 50 aircraft, possibly at the Dubai Airshow in November.

FlyDubai, set up in 2009 at present flies to 57 cities with a fleet of 29 Boeing 737 aircraft delivered so far out of the 50 on firm orders.“By 2015, this order will be exhausted when we will need additional aircraft — the way we are growing now.

So, we need to make fresh orders for delivery beyond 2015,” Gaith Al Gaith, Chief Executive of FlyDubai, told Gulf News in an interview.“We are planning to place an order this year of at least 50 aircraft,” Gaith said, when they would be signing the deal at the Dubai Airshow in November. “We are currently talking to both Boeing and Airbus on this deal. n

aero engines

Creating new engines from scrap P

The material consumption agreement with TES Aviation Group is a great example of Pratt & Whitney’s increased focus on serving and helping the environment in a better way. The company has taken the initiative in such activities to provide its customers with low cost aircraft engines by using re-cycled materials instead of using new materials.

TES Aviation Group, a market leader in engine asset management has a global engine portfolio of 900 engines, across all engine types, has partnered Pratt and Whitney to supply low cost engines to their customers.

deagel

ratt & Whitney and TES Aviation Group have recently entered into an agreement for the material consumption of PW4000-100 engines to build new engines. Under the agreement Pratt &Whitney and TES Aviation Group will work together to consume material from ‘PW4000-100’ engines that have been displaced from recently retired Airbus A330 commercial aircraft fleets. The agreement includes material purchasing, component repair and serviceable material installation on PW4000-100 engine overhauls at Pratt & Whitney’s Singapore-based, Asia engine overhaul facility.

recycled parts: Scrap from the pw 4000100 will be used to manufacture new engines

Larger turboprop engines

Ready for first flight test

pw

ge

Lasers building jet engines

S

afran group engine makers — Snecma and Turbomeca — have revealed ambitious studies of a potential new powerplant to compete against General Electric and Pratt & Whitney. The engine is targeted at a power range up to around 5,000 shp, which is far larger than any previous turboprop made by Turbomeca.

If launched, the engine would compete head-on with similarly-sized project turboprops already outlined by P&W, the dominant player in the regional market, and by GE, which is evaluating a possible commercial spinoff of its recently developed GE38 military turboshaft.

However, Safran’s big turboprop plans, like those of its competitors, remain subject to the indefinite launch proposals of the airframe manufacturers. Bombardier’s proposed Q400X turboprop plans remain relatively low while it focuses on sales of the current product and developing the CSeries. Snecma’s growing ambitions to expand into new market segments along with Safran, has initiated production of TP400-D6 turboprop and flight tests of the Silvercrest engine.

begin ground trials until September 2013, and will start test flights in 2014.

Many of the operators that have ordered the A320NEO are eagerly waiting to see the flight-test results. According to data released by Airbus, the two engine makers are virtually close as Leap1A engine has been selected for almost 630 A320NEOs, while the PW1100G has been chosen for 590 aircraft. However, engines for more than 900 aircraft are yet to be announced.

G

E Aviation has introduced a new innovative method of building jet engines at its newly opened plant in Alabama, US: through laser beams. Workers at this brand new GE Aviation plant will be using lasers to drill tiny cooling holes in jet engine blades made from heat-resistant super-alloys that serve inside the high pressure turbine which is one of the most critical and sophisticated components in a jet engine. GE has invested $75 million in the plant and in its state-of-the-art lab. The GRC lab has one of the most powerful lasers in North America. At 20 kilowatts, it is 50,000 times more powerful than a DVD burner.

Cruising Heights June 2013

Snecma

P

ratt & Whitney’s engine for mainline single-aisle airliners are about to be put to the acid test as the first PW1100G for the Airbus A320NEO is prepared for flight.

The first flight tests, due to begin by June 2013 on one of Pratt’s two Boeing 747SP flying test beds, will be critical in assessing fuel consumption, operability and overall performance. The PW1100G is the first of the newgeneration mid-thrust turbofans to fly. The competing CFM Leap-1A from the alliance of General Electric and Snecma, is not due to

45

aero engines

LEAP-1B design to be frozen E

R

G

eneral Electric has warned airlines and operators using its GE 118 jet engines on the Boeing 777s that they need fixing. The developments have come in after two incidents in which engines shutdown happened during flight. GE said that the problem was with a gearbox inside the GE 118 engines that were built between September 2012 to March 2013. The two in-flight shutdowns of the engines — one on an Aeroflot flight in February 2013 and other one on an Air China flight in May 2013 — happened due to gear separation within the gearbox. In both the cases, the aircraft were able to continue flying using the power from the other engine.

But GE said there were 25 jets in service that had the faulty gearbox in both of the engines, and those jets would need to be grounded and fixed before flying again.

P

ratt & Whitney-Rocketdyne, the rocket-engine manufacturer, has recently developed a J-2X engine with a stub-nozzle extension at simulated altitude conditions and is heading towards the full-motion testing of the J-2X engine, which is designed to power passenger space shuttles to space.

NASA has selected the J-2X as the upperstage propulsion for the evolved 143-ton (130-metric-ton) Space Launch System (SLS), an advanced heavy-lift launch vehicle. The test series with the stub-nozzle extension was a very successful event, according to Walt Janowski, the J-2X programme manager of Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne division.

USAF

46

777 engines need fixing

PW engines for passenger spaceflight

nasa

olls-Royce has been awarded a $35 million contract extension for repairing and overhauling of T56 engines on US Navy aircraft. The services contract covers depot-level repair of the T56 Series III engine modules to support fielded P-3 and derivative aircraft, as well as T56-powered C-130 and C-2 aircraft.

The repairs will take place at RollsRoyce Engine Services Oakland, US (RRESO). In addition to T56 repair and overhaul, RRESO services AE 1107C, F405 and M250 engines for other military customers.

Rolls-Royce offers a suite of services, tailored to each customer’s needs. It has service contracts in place with all US military branches and provides support through its new Defense Operations Center in Indianapolis, providing 24/7 realtime engineering assistance for operators of a variety of aircraft powered by RollsRoyce engines.

test completed: CFM International has announced that it has completed the design freeze of its LEAP-1B engine

msn

Re-engineering of T-56 engines

over the next six months. Parts manufacturing for the LEAP-1B engine will then be accelerated and will deliver the first engine in early 2014. The LEAP1B engine is on schedule for CFM flight testing in 2015 and engine certification in 2016. The 737 MAX is scheduled to enter service by 2017.

Design freeze for the LEAP-1A/ LEAP-1C variants was achieved in June 2012. The first full LEAP engine, the LEAP-1A, is currently being built and is on schedule to begin ground testing by 2013-end.

Achieving design freeze is a significant step in the Leap-1A programme.

cfm

mbraer has announced it has selected Pratt & Whitney’s PurePower Geared Turbofan engine as the exclusive power for its new second generation of the E-Jet aircraft family.

CFM International has announced that it has completed the design freeze for its advanced LEAP-1B engine, the exclusive powerplant for the Boeing 737 MAX, which is due for its first full engine test in mid-2014.

This milestone is effectively the point at which the engine configuration is set or will be frozen. This has now allowed CFM to finalise and release detailed engine design drawings, which it will do

Cruising Heights June 2013

Focus on ‘Copters

P50

spreading wings

innovative push

Pawan Hans will be providing services to IITs. And also starts services in Arunachal Pradesh

US Navy unveils first squadron that combines combat helicopters with UAVs

bell

K M Kishan

P48

AN AFFAIR TO REMEMBER: (Clockwise from top right) Congress MLA Mohammed Tausif Alam (in the middle) with Bihar CM Nitish Kumar who attended his marriage; Tausif Alam briefing Nitish Kumar and; Bell 407 helicopter which was used by Congress MLA Mohammed Tausif Alam for his wedding; (inset) Congress MLA Mohammed Tausif Alam

Home they brought the bride — in a chopper

I

Bihar’s politicians have a penchant for doing everything in style — including marriages. The recent marriage of Tausif Alam was one such event in which a chopper played a major role

t is one thing when a celebrity A-lister hires a chopper to ferry his bridegroom-son to his marriage but it is quite something else when a MLA does it. And, Congress MLA Mohammad Tausif Alam from Bahadurganj in Bihar did it in style. He completed his wedding and boarded the Bell 407 from his village for the departure ceremony known as ‘rukhsati’.

Hired supposedly for a whopping `15 lakh — that, according to the MLA, “my

friend Khwaza Shahid of Barsoi (in the adjacent Katihar district) arranged the helicopter (from the Delhi-based Aryan Aviation) for me. I have no clue how much he hired it for”— the chopper made the 25-km trip from Barbatta to Alam’s Gorgaon village in Bahadurganj.

The marriage would not have made headlines had it not been for the top-heavy invitees who attended the ceremony. There was Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, Cruising Heights June 2013

who flew in from Patna. Others among the one lakh-odd guests were the Bihar Congress Legislature Party chief Sadanand Singh, BJP MP Syed Shahnawaz Hussain and former Union Minister of State for Home Mohammad Taslimuddin. The huge turnout led the MLA to comment: “I am so popular in this area that I had no option other than to organise such a grand feast. It is thanks to Allah’s benefaction that it went off so well.” n

47

Focus on ‘Copters

New chopper services in Arunachal Pradesh

Pawan Hans to provide services to IITs elicopter company Pawan Hans may soon be providing helicopter services to two IIT campuses. Pawan Hans officials said that they had got queries from IIT Kanpur and IIT Manali to operate services from their campuses to neighbouring cities to facilitate the movement of people.

The chairman and managing director of Pawan Hans, Anil Srivastava, said that IIT Kanpur had asked for helicopter services from their campus to Lucknow. Sim-

ilarly, IIT Manali had also requested for services from the campus to Chandigarh.

With very few flights to Kanpur Airport and the IIT Campus being an hour away, Pawan Hans received the request for services to Lucknow, which is better connected by air to other parts of the country.

Pawan Hans is also planning to facilitate regional connectivity between Tier-III cities. A plan on regional connectivity has been submitted to the Ministry of Civil Aviation.

48

us army

Cruising Heights June 2013

acing criticism in the aftermath of the April 2013 helicopter crash at Tawang, the government-run Pawan Hans Helicopter Limited (PHHL) has announced that two new choppers would be introduced for service in Arunachal Pradesh. Executive Director Sanjiv Bahl said that orders for two new 24-seater, MI-172 helicopters had been placed and were expected to be delivered by December 2013.

Four pilots, who will man the new helicopters, had been selected for training.

I

Marine One chopper project revived

dlr

pawan hans

H

F

n a move that could be a boon for Sikorsky Aircraft, the Navy said it could award a contract next year to Sikorsky for the Marine One helicopter project meant for the President of the United States. The Navy has published the final set of rules for a new fleet of presidential helicopters.

The Navy's latest effort to buy new presidential helicopters has come following mounting pressures on military budgets. The Navy posted the final request for proposals for the new Marine One helicopter in May 2013 and has set August 1 as the deadline for the proposals to be submitted.

The contract will be awarded in the third quarter of fiscal year 2014. Sikorsky and Lockheed Martin are teaming up to offer a bid on the Sikorsky S-92 helicopter. The last attempt by the Navy to buy Marine One helicopters was scrapped after the anticipated costs were seen to be too much.

Focus on ‘Copters

MilborneOne/wikipedia

Bell introduces versatile platforms

F

ive Bell Helicopter aircraft were displayed at the Aero Expo in San Pedro Totoltepec, Mexico, including three corporate-configured Bell 407s, as well as a Bell 429 and a Bell 412, both configured for offshore oil and gas operations.

There are remarkable opportunities for growth in the helicopter industry in Latin America and at the AeroExpo, Bell signed purchase agreements for seven aircraft, demonstrating the growing demand for reliable rotorcraft across all segments.

The Bell 407, 429 and 412 are three versatile platforms that have been met with interest throughout the world. The Bell 407 integrates reliability, speed and manoeuverability with a cabin configurable for a variety of missions from air medical to oil and gas operations. Its Rolls Royce 250-C47B turbine FADEC engine delivers exceptional high performance with the ability to cruise at 140 knots. The 407 has a spacious cabin which seats up to six passengers or can be reconfigured for specialised equipment.

The Bell 429 delivers exceptional speed, range, hover performance and enhanced safety margins. The Bell 429's state-of-the-art fully-integrated glass cockpit hosts two or three multi-function displays, dual digital autopilot and an integrated electronic data recorder. Last, the Bell 412 is a daily workhorse in the most extreme climates around the world. With its Pratt & Whitney PT6T-3D Twin Pac engines, the Bell 412s offer reliability with 4,000 and 5,000 TBOs respectively.

Silent helicopter engine noise F

of noise inside the engine has not previously been possible because the relevant measurement technology was not available but after many hurdles and difficulties, the measurement technology has been innovated.

The technology helps to measure high pressures, high temperatures, large temperature variations and limited space for installing microphones inside the engines. By using the probes and temperature sensors that has been developed by DLR, DLR have been able to carry out research in the hot gas area of a turbine for the first time, and thus taken acoustic measurements of the helicopter engine.

Cruising Heights June 2013

urocopter’s ability to integrate unmanned flight capabilities into its helicopter family has been validated by an Optionally Piloted Vehicle (OPV) demonstration programme, which used an EC145 to fly routes that included deployment of an external sling load and a representative observation mission. Eurocopter is now positioned to pursue OPV flight capabilities for its product line of light, medium and heavy-lift helicopters. These rotorcraft can be flown by pilots or in an unmanned mode.

After an automatic takeoff, the EC145 flew via multiple pre-programmed waypoints, during which the helicopter performed a mid-route hover to deploy a load from the external sling.

Eurocopter

dlr

or the first time, researchers at the German Aerospace Centre, DLR, have been able to carry out noise measurements inside a helicopter engine. Researchers from the Division of Engine Research at the DLR Institute of Propulsion Technology used new hot gas microphone probes to investigate the processes responsible for noise generation in the helicopters.

Hot gas microphone probes is a development, being carried out by DLR researchers.

Previously, noise reduction in helicopters is based on the properties, configuration and number of rotor blades. A great deal of optimisation has taken place in this area in recent years. Investigating the sources

Unmanned EC145 on offer E

49

Focus on ‘Copters

sikorsky

2,200+ choppers for China by 2022

hanghai-based Avia-Tek aviation consultancy has forecast that around 65 civil helicopters will be delivered to the Chinese rotorcraft market during 2013, bringing the total number of airframes in China to 435. In its annual report of 2012, Avia-Tek had pointed out that the Chinese civil market would have 357 helicopters by the end of 2012.

The exact number, however, was 370 in 2012. Avia-Tek’s 2012-2022 forecast sees civil helicopter numbers increasing to 1,564 by 2020 and 2,209 by the end of 2022, representing a CAGR of 19.6 per cent during the period. Co-founder of Avia-Tek Todd Siena said that in China while European OEMs (Original Equipment Manufacturer) were currently the leading turbine suppliers in terms of value and units, the piston market was the domain of Robinson and Sikorsky.

EC donates light helicopter to Chinese University F

uture generations of Chinese aviation technicians will benefit from hands-on training experience with an EC/AS-350 helicopter donated

by Eurocopter China to the Civil Aviation Flight University of China (CAFUC).

The chopper is to be located at the CAFUC campus in Guanghan, Sichuan Province as part of the Eurocopter-supported training courses for students who will seek qualification as helicopter technicians while pursuing aviation industry careers.

The donated helicopter will provide a fullscale training tool, where students get to receive both ab-initio and type-rating prac-

50

First Manned/Unmanned Helicopter Squadron T

he US Navy recently introduced its first squadron that combines combat helicopters with unmanned aerial vehicles at an air base near San Diego, US. The squadron of about 140 sailors, called the Magicians, will work off coastal combat ships that are smaller and faster than destroyers and aircraft carriers. The new approach combines MH-60 Romeo helicopters the Navy currently uses with the MQ-8 Fire Scout, a Northrop Grummanbuilt drone that looks and launches like a helicopter. The unmanned aircraft is controlled by two “pilots” on the ground or from a ship up to 110 miles away.It can stay in the air for at least eight hours, compared to the helicopter's maximum air time of 3.3 hours. The Navy has been testing tical training. It will offer trainees with the rare opportunity to not only be trained on structural maintenance and repairs, but will also learn final assembly of a real helicopter which will include assembling of rotor blades, main gearbox and other dynamic components. The donated helicopter is the most popular lightweight turbine helicopter product line in China, with about 36 in operation till date.

The cooperation was initiated in 2011, and aims to train around 120 Chinese helicopter technicians annually by 2015. The training schedule also includes a ‘train the trainer’ scheme — with Eurocopter educating CAFUC instructors in both China and at the company’s training academy in Germany, allowing the university’s personnel to be certified at the highest international standards.

Cruising Heights June 2013

the Fire Scout since 2007 and deploying it since 2009, using it for counter-narcotics operations and for military operations in Afghanistan. In 2012, two of the drones crashed in separate incidents, and the Navy briefly grounded its Fire Scout fleet. Another was shot down over Libya in 2012. Northrop Grumman is looking forward to see how the Navy uses the Fire Scout and already has an upgraded version in the pipeline.

Ka-226T for Olympics A

light multipurpose helicopter, Ka226T, developed by the Russian Helicopters company has taken part in test search and rescue missions as part of preparations for the Winter Olympic Games to be held in Sochi, Russia, 2014. The test flights of Ka-226T which was equipped with a medical module took place in the Krasnaya Polyana region near Sochi in May 2013. Flights were conducted with medical personnel from the Southern Regional Centre for Emergency Medicine. The aim of these test flights was to train pilots and rescue personnel for rescue missions and medical help in case of any emergency during the Olympic game.

The flights were conducted according to some of the more likely scenarios that may occur while providing safety during the Winter Olympic Games in 2014.

russianhelicopters

S

Net Express

Cruising heights

d i g i ta l t r e n d s f o r t r av e l l e r e x p e r i e n c e

airbus\c brinckmann

Power to the passenger In the age of consumerism, airlines find it mandatory to provide power connections to energy-hungry fliers, who have a host of devices indispensable to their existence

I

t is not just about power on land, but about power in the skies — literally.

Fliers are demanding more control.

Gone are the days when passengers would need power for merely running portable DVD players that would deter them from paying for an in-flight movie. Today, they need it to run a host of devices that have become part and parcel of their lives.

Till 2006, in-seat power was useful, but not vital, to meet the needs of the iPod-toters and laptop-luggers. Cut to 2013, thanks to the ever-increasing number of smartphones and tablet users since then, power connections are high up on the requirement list. Today, Virgin America, has every seat in the 53 planes in its fleet provided with the facility of both standard and USB power sockets, making it the only domestic

airline to provide power to all passengers.

This can be credited to the fact that none of its planes are more than seven years old.

Alaska Airlines, which already offers wi-fi on nearly all overland flights, recently said that it would spend $100m by the end of 2014 to upgrade its seats. The seats will come with power outlets in all classes, though their slim design will also allow Alaska to squeeze more passengers into economy (without apparently reducing legroom). In addition, Alaska will also take the opportunity to add a system to deliver entertainment streaming over wi-fi, increasing passengers’ interest in keeping their gadgets powered.

However, the quest for power is in no way limited to the aircraft. The Port of Seattle, which operates the Seattle-Tacoma Cruising Heights June 2013

(Seatac) airport, one of Alaska Airlines’ hubs, recently put out a $2m tender to add 650 new electrical outlets to the airport.

These initiatives have become necessary in a scenario where waiting areas have turned into holding rooms with passengers clustering on the floor around power jacks, even justifying the enormous cost of such technological upgradation.

Presently most International airports in India provide free wifi connections. At Bangalore International Airport (BIAL), all that one has to do is send a SMS to 56677 to get a password for use of the net for an hour. In the Hyderabad airport, Tata Indicom provides free wifi for 45 minutes while at Delhi Airport, the facility is provided by Airtel.

India’s largest airport, Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport (CSIA), has installed Ruckus ZoneFlex 7300 series 802.11n smart Wi-Fi access points throughout its international and domestic terminals and is initially offering free multimegabit Wi-Fi services to millions of passengers that transit the airport every year.

INSIDE

52

interview Christopher Juneau, Senior Director Marketing APAC, Concur Technologies

54

Gatwick moves to cloud Gatwick airport is acquiring much needed features through cloud

56

dubai gets more e-gates Dubai International airport is expanding its smart e-gate system

51

Net Express

d i g i t a l

t r e n d s

f o r

t r a v e l l e r

e x p e r i e n c e

“Companies must be agile towards Indian market�

Christopher Juneau, Senior Director Marketing APAC, Concur Technologies, on what makes India so unique relative to other markets and the fact that the Indian corporate travel market is changing rapidly.

What is your take on the Indian market and how do you see it growing?

The Indian Corporate Travel Market is maturing rapidly and companies are looking to adopt global best practices regarding how they procure and manage their travel programmes. This has resulted in growing interest in the use of On-line Booking Tools (OBT) for their employees to book travel on-line.

As for unique features there are many, but the one which makes India so unique relative to other markets is the large percentage of market share owned by the non-GDS carriers, or Low Cost Carriers (LCC). By some estimates it represents 50-plus per cent of the Indian domestic capacity.

What is the support of Low Cost Carrier content for corporate clients in Concur Travel and how will it add value to clients?

Corporates see great value in their employees flying in Low Cost Carriers, both from a price and service standpoint.

Many corporates have already negotiated corporate fares; so, having the ability for corporate employees to utilise Concur Travel for online booking and access to this LCC content is a key requirement.

This is why Concur made it a top priority to deliver the ability to book LCCs within Concur Travel, including the support of corporate fares. We leverage our Concur T&E Cloud platform and our partnership with Cleartrip to access this content.

hemant rawat

Corporates see great value in their employees flying in Low Cost Carriers, both from a price and service standpoint

52

Cruising Heights June 2013

Concur, as we know, will enable the booking of non-GDS Indian hotel content for its corporate clients within Concur Travel. Can you elaborate further about this development?

Another unique requirement of the Indian Corporate Travel Management space is the large percentage of non-GDS

d i g i t a l

t r e n d s

f o r

hotels throughout India. Again, we have leveraged our Concur T&E Cloud and partnership with Cleartrip to access their substantial inventory of non-GDS hotels.

What benefits would corporate employees gain through these additional facilities?

The benefits are numerous but the primary benefit is that in one location employees can book all of their travel requirements on-line, with Concur Travel. This gives corporates greater control to ensure their employees book travel in policy and they have visibility into the whereabouts of their employees should disaster strike (both natural or manmade).

How do you see the future of GDS? The GDS plays a key role in the travel ecosystem. They will continue to evolve and deliver value within the travel supply chain.

People still rely on personal communications in India. In such a scenario, do you think the travel agent will lose his value in coming times?

With more travel bookings online, the role of the travel agent will change, but it is as important as ever. They are a key element in the support of travellers throughout their business trips. I think this presents a great opportnity for travel agents to deliver other forms of new services to enhance the experience of the traveller and the support of their corporate clients.

Any specific challenges/difficulties which the Indian market poses?

The Indian corporate travel market is changing rapidly... more than any other market. So, companies such as Concur must be agile to address the requirements of the Indian marketplace.

One of the biggest challenges that I have experienced worldwide is that I feel that corporates often underestimate the capability of their employees to upgrade technically.

What are the growth plans of Concur Technologies in India. What more is it going to offer us in the coming times?

Concur will continue to invest in India in various areas in the coming months. These comprise additional sales professionals, additional marketing professionals, focus on expanding our travel partner network.

We will continue to enhance the services we deliver to our Indian clients and deliver new services unique to the Indian marketplace. n — Nidhi Sharma

t r a v e l l e r

e x p e r i e n c e

Net Express

Pack your internet travel bag For the traveller, your smartphone or laptop web browser holds the magic to an incredible experience

B

eing well-organised always leads to more productivity, and today where holiday web surfing has become indispensable to the smart and connected traveller, a web browser packed with smart features can make travel lighter, easier and more enjoyable. Right from travel research and saving money on the go, to sharing your favourite holiday snaps, your smartphone or laptop’s web browser holds the magic to an incredible experience.

To begin with, travel research can be made easy with the help of tab stacking, which is a better way to organise the different webpages when you have lots of tabs open in your web browser, enabling you to group them by topics, urgency or however you wish. Group together your hotel options or sightseeing ideas to keep them organised. For example, in the Opera web browser by Opera Software, simply drag one tab on top of another to stack them.

TV travel guru Ian Wright says: “The more you travel, the fewer things you pack into your luggage; only the really handy stuff makes the cut. That's where smart browsing for travel comes in. With Opera, you're able to save costs, find your current location and even share photos from the camera in your device. And, it definitely doesn’t take up too much space in your suitcase.”

Moreover, if you want to travel in secret, with the private browsing mode in your computer's web browser, for example, to surprise your partner with a dream holiday or even squeeze in extra vacation planning time at work, right-click an open tab to select a private tab or even a whole private window, and get ready to surf in stealth.

Cruising Heights June 2013

If you hate to browse on your mobile or laptop using a crowded Wi-Fi hotspot or sluggish connection, then give your travel browser a boost with a compression feature that crunches the webpages you visit by up to 90 per cent -- loading fewer megabytes to save you time and cash.

Get it in the Opera Mini browser for your mobile, or by activating "turbo" mode in the Opera browser for your computer, to slash your data consumption and surfing costs while roaming.

Even while travelling, you still expect fast and easy access to the web content you need, then with Speed Dial, a set of unlimited visual bookmarks in your web browser's start screen, you're always just one click away from your favourite websites and handy online travel resources.

Whether you're on your phone, tablet or laptop, Speed Dial will get you to your top sites in a flash.

For the purpose of accessing the bookmarks saved on your home computer, even when you're on the road with just your phone or mobile device, use a browser that allows you to synchronize your bookmarks, speed dials, passwords and more across your computers, tablets and mobile phones. With Opera Link, you have access to these from any Opera browser, and you never need to leave important information behind while travelling.

For those who want to see where they are on an online map, or want to get a list of nearby hotels and restaurants, the geolocation feature in your laptop or mobile browser comes to the rescue, detecting your location and providing you with handy info, like localised search results.

To activate the service, simply agree to the terms and conditions shown the first time you visit a website requesting geolocation information (for example, Bing Maps or Hotels.com).

Further, if you have got your own blog or travel website, use your web browser to save time and data when posting pictures. Opera allows web applications to access your computer's built-in webcam.

What does that mean for you? Even while you're on the road, you can easily share your webcam's photos to keep your friends and followers updated.

53

Net Express

d i g i t a l

t r e n d s

f o r

t r a v e l l e r

guidepal.blob.core.windows.net

Gatwick moves to cloud

London’s Gatwick airport has formalised a plan to shift the airport away from the typical data-centre model rife with servers and applications to instead acquiring needed features through cloud services.

As the airport proceeds with its plan to go from three data centres to one by the end of 2016, Michael Ibbitson, Chief Information Officer of London Gatwick

said: “We’ve taken 200 servers out.

Gatwick, which serves more than 34 million passengers each year, now is today using a dozen cloud-based services, including Amazon in Ireland, Box, ServiceNow and Yammer. In addition, Gatwick is working directly with a core airline-industry application supplier, UFIS Airport Solutions, to develop a cloud-based version of its products, says Ibbitson. Since this cloud approach is generally all quite new for airports, it's being watched in the industry to see how it flies.”

Gatwick has turned to the cloudbased identity management service from Okta for the purpose of managing and controlling how the airport's employees make use of these cloud-computing services. This system lets the security manager centrally manage, provision, and de-provision single sign-on access to cloud services for Gatwick’s staff.

Wego enhances airline network Travel metasearch engine Wego has partnered with eight new European low-cost airlines, providing Wego users across the company’s 50 customised sites, available in 30 languages globally, access to thousands of fresh routes and airfares operated by Spain’s rapidly growing Vueling Airlines, French XL Airways, British Monarch, Air Berlin and Brussels Airlines, Latvian airBaltic AS, Turkey’s Pegasus Airlines and Icelandic WOW air.

“We’re so excited to welcome these key European carriers into

Wego’s extensive airline inventory,” stated Dean Wicks, Chief Flights Officer for Wego.

“Tourism to the Baltic regions and the exotic magnetism of destinations around the Mediterranean are becoming more frequently sought out by both long and short haul travellers,” explained Wicks. “Incorporating these popular airlines who offer extensive European connections and availability at a budget price will help heighten interest and makes a valuable addition to our users’ itineraries.”

e x p e r i e n c e

InterGlobe launches

India tech tool InterGlobe Technology Quotient (ITQ), a strategic business unit of InterGlobe Enterprises recently launched Travelport’s technological tool Travelport Rooms and More for the Indian market.

The product offers smarter, more efficient and evolved booking services to travel agents and is aimed at improving travel agent’s productivity through the availability of a wide variety of hotel booking options in the hospitality domain.

J B Singh, CEO, InterGlobe Technology Quotient said, “India is an extremely important evolved market for ITQ and and we see great business potential here. Internet penetration and easy access to information has empowered the consumers, they are now looking for quicker turnaround to book their flights and hotel rooms. Emerging trends such as these have helped sync the launch of Travelport Rooms and More in line with the need for technologies that allow travel agents to increase efficiency, save time and ensure accuracy in booking.”

According to Travelport’s Niklas Andréen, GVP Hospitality and Partner Marketing, “The time was right to invest in a number of useful upgrades and we are a firm believer in understanding our customer’s needs.”

J B Singh

Niklas Andréen

Baggage tracking mobile app by Unisys

nbcnews.com

A series of major updates to Unisys’s ‘Baggage Reconciliation System’ (BRS) including a mobile app to help passengers collect their bags — has been announced by the company. The app, available on both iOS and Android devices, will provide real-time relevant information about passengers’ bags.

Passengers can be sent alerts to inform them when their bags have been loaded onto the

54

Cruising Heights June 2013

carousel belts; even when and from what carousel their bags will be available. Olivier Houri, President and General Manager for Global Transportation, Unisys: “The BRS helps ground handlers process arriving baggage quickly, providing a better customer experience for air travellers while helping airlines and airports utilise their resources more efficiently.”

Uday India

OR

SUBSCRIBE ONLINcvv http://udayindia.in/subscription.php

subscription@udayindia.in

d i g i t a l

Skyscanner special

for India

Travel research site Skyscanner, which entered the Indian market nearly a year ago, plans to offer price comparisons between flights, trains and buses by next year.

Ewan Gray, Director-Asia Pacific, Skyscanner, said, “We are interested in offering comparisons between various forms of transport such as flights, buses and trains. We are in the research stage and may start offering these to Indian consumers by next year. At present, the company offers this service in Europe. The fact that there were nearly 15 million bus bookings in India last year, shows the potential the country offers for travel search.”

Skyscanner already offers price comparisons between flights, hotels and car rentals in India. The Website earns fees from flights and hotel partners if a consumer does a booking based on its research. India is among its fastest-growing sites in terms of the number of hits it gets.

Gray also claimed that the company had the largest number of Facebook followers in India. He said nearly 60 per cent of its traffic in India came from mobile phones.

Skyscanner is now focusing on strengthening its partnerships with Indian travel aggregators, airlines and hotels.

“Aviation marketing saw challenges in 2012 in India and there is now less capacity and air fares are high, which means there are fewer deals being offered. This makes us important for consumers looking for cheaper fares,” he said.

56

t r e n d s

f o r

t r a v e l l e r

Dubai Airport to get more e-Gates Dubai International airport’s Terminal 3 is expanding its smart e-gate system with 14 new e-gates becoming operational in a month’s time, taking the number of smart e-gates to 28, according to the IT and electronics solutions company emaratech.

The smart e-gate system, which went operational at the Dubai International airport’s Terminal 3 from the year’s start, was engineered by emaratech.

This e-gate system and the technology behind it were the centre of attraction at the recently-held 13th Airport Show which was opened by Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, President of Dubai Civil Aviation Authority (DCAA), Chairman of Dubai Airports and Chairman and Chief Executive of Emirates Airline and Group.

According to Sunil Gulia, Technical Manager, emaratech: “The smart e-gate system has already seen close to 70,000

Make

it a million

Online travel company MakeMyTrip recently announced the completion of one million app downloads across mobile platforms – Android, iPhone and Blackberry. MakeMyTrip is the first Indian OTA to reach this milestone and also, the company had became the first Indian OTA to launch an iPhone app in May 2012. It launched an app for Android platform in June 2012, while the Blackberry app was launched in 2011.

Amit Somani, Chief Products Officer, MakeMyTrip said: “With greater smartphone uptake, and more people accessing the Internet on mobile we identified an opportunity to fulfill traveller needs on the mobile platform. We have a fully-enabled WAP site for mobile browsers, but the app experience is definitely more seamless and fluid. The success of our mobile apps is a testimony to the response to initiatives on this platform.”

Cruising Heights June 2013

e x p e r i e n c e

passengers registering since its implementation. The number of times the gate has been used is actually much higher since there are regular passengers who travel on a weekly basis or even more frequently.

We want to improve the performance and so there is a lot of monitoring going on right now. Once it is stable, we will think of implementing [smart e-gates] in the other terminals as well.”

3.bp.blogspot.com

Net Express

smart move: Dubai Airports had unveiled a new Smart e-Gate system at Terminal 3 He added that there are plans to add the system in the Departure Section of Terminal 3 as well, but only for the registration purposes.

Near & Dear

by klm Emirates will enroll 6,000 people on its rolls over the next five years to meet its fast-track expansion plan. “Of this, we intend to recruit between 900 to 1,000 UAE nationals, as part of our UAE National Development Programme,” Chapman, who supervises the operations of Emirates Group’s human resources said. “We have recruited 850 Emiratis last year and would like to see an increased number of them on our payroll in the coming years.”

A i r

C a r g o

&

L o g i s t i c s

Cruising heights www.cruisingheights.in | June 2013

OMAN GETS READY

hemant rawat

Once the Sohar Free Zone starts operations, another major gateway in the Gulf will open for Indian manufacturers and traders

Chennai's cargo woes

Competition power

Performance toppers

Labour troubles create obstacles to airport's growth

AMI introduces air cargo wholesaling

Celebi, Emirates, Lufthansa and DHL win awards

Last in/first out

TRENDS Cargo problems

C

rock Chennai

hennai has been facing major air cargo problems. This, despite the fact, that the number of carriers using the airport has seen a steady rise. While AAI has provided the facilities, the airport has been facing labour problems. Result: at the time of going to press about 1,000 tonnes of in-bound cargo has piled up at the international airport.

Air cargo stakeholders point the finger at Bhadra International, the company in charge of cargo operations saying that clearing of goods now takes around 4-5 days from the usual day or two. Over the last few months, the cargo handling situation has gone from bad to worse with the ground handlers demanding a rise in wages and an improvement in working conditions. In fact, so bad was the situation that Airports Authority of India (AAI) was forced to suspend cargo operations for three days. With cargo piling up at the airport, leading manufacturers are worried that there could be a disruption in the supply chain of automotive and electronic components. Bharat Thakkar, President, Air Cargo Agents Association of India (ACAAI), said that while the shutdown by AAI was a ‘big shame’ for Chennai, the just-in-time inventory system of major manufacturers at Chennai — Nokia, Hyundai, Ford and many others — would go haywire and even affect production. In the long term, he said, this would have a direct effect on exports and imports from the city.

The automotive manufacturers will, perhaps, be the most affected. Chennai, which is on its way to becoming the ‘Detroit of India’ boasts of car giants like Ford, Renault-Nissan, Honda, Hyundai and others. Ford India has targeted export of 25

per cent of its total vehicle capacity from Chennai. While the vehicle capacity at Chennai and the plant coming up in Ahmedabad will total 440,000 per year, the company will manufacture around 610,000 engines. Meanwhile, Honda Cars India will be exporting diesel engine parts to Asian and European suppliers from its Chennai plant and Apollo Tyres has chalked out plans to ship to ASEAN (Association for South East Asian Nations).

Air cargo tonnages have been going up over the years in Chennai and over the last couple of years, the cargo terminal has seen double-digit growth.

It was not without reason that with the increase in volumes and lack of warehouse space, both ACAAI and the Chennai Custom House Agents Association (CCHAA) have been pushing to start Air Freight Stations at locations away from the airport.

Carriers from around the world have seen the potential of Chennai. Last year, around this time, China Airlines launched its bi-weekly freighter service to Chennai — the only direct cargo flight between Chennai and Luxembourg — leading its Senior Vice-President Brian Chou to comment that “this is a very valuable route”. The Taipei-Kuala Lumpur-Chennai-Luxembourg service has fuelled the Indian export-import business and it was started after seeing the “strong demand from Chennai”, according to China Airlines.

Before China Airlines, in March 2012, Air China Cargo launched freighter flights from Shanghai to Chennai on the Shanghai-Chennai-ChongqingShanghai route. It was the first cargo route to South Asia and Southeast Asia from Air China Cargo and enhanced the carrier’s capacity into the Asia Pacific market.

“The CNS Partnership Conference is not just about coming to cement a deal and network; it is also about seeing how other people are faring, and in this business climate even learning how best to survive… I want people to realise in order to make this industry more compeititive and, in plain language, work better, everybody needs to play a part and not leave it for others to carry the burden.”

Des Vertannes

IATA Head of Cargo

58

Cruising Heights June 2013

As summer temperatures mount, one of the major challenges that freight forwarders and air cargo operators face is the difficulty in maintaining the quality of perishable exports especially pharmaceutical products and drugs. More important is the fact that while temperatures can be maintained at the airport — from the cargo terminal to the plane — the same cannot be done in the long journey from the manufacturing unit to the packing centres and lastly to the airport cold rooms.

A way out has been found by DuPont, the US-based global science company. It has developed a special air cargo cover that can be used to protect materials during carriage to airports for long haul flights. Made of a special material known as `Tyvek’ at DuPont’s Knowledge Centre (DKC) in Hyderabad, these covers are used to envelope large cartons containing perishable products.

These covers can be made in different sizes and they have the ability to provide safety and temperature control to ensure that the perishable goods in the cartons are not affected even if they are held up for longer periods.

The DKC has contacted a number of pharma companies and exporters to provide the product. “We are working with pharma companies to meet their demands in refrigeration. Our tested Tyvek, with necessary additives foots the bill”, according to Homi Bhedwar, head of the DKC.

cargo

Another Gulf door opens...

It is now the turn of Oman to open another gateway for India. This time, however, the gateway happens to be specifically aimed at cargo and logistics, as Tirthankar Ghosh found out

BEGINNINGS OF A MULTI-MODAL HUB: The Port of Sohar will become a gateway for transshipment, exports and imports. Photo shows containers at the port.

T

he Sultanate of Oman is gearing up to establish what will in course of time become a multimodal hub at par with Dubai and others in the Gulf. The hub will take quite a while. Meanwhile, the developers of Free Zone Sohar (FZS), the largest free trade zone of Oman and one of the Gulf Cooperation Council’s (GCCs) modern Free Trade Zones adjoining the port of Sohar, are leaving no stone unturned to ensure that the ambitious project is completed.

A team led by the Chief Operating Officer of FZS, Neelima Vyas, recently hosted a Middle East investors meet to woo more Indian investors. In fact, Indian corporates have already sunk in $250 million, more than half of FZS’s total expected investments of $450 million.

Located around 230-km north-west of Muscat, Sohar is the Sultanate’s third largest city and an emerging economic centre. While the port of Sohar, a deepwater

“The airport will be for passenger as well as for trade.

And you can receive the 777...

We believe that because there is so much industrial base in that area, it will have a lot of cargo-related airport movement — especially when you look at ad valorem cargo.”

Neelima Vyas

COO, Free Zone Sohar Cruising Heights June 2013

industrial seaport in operation since 2004, is a key component of Sohar’s expanding economy, the nearby Freezone Sohar is becoming increasingly vital as well. Managed by the Sohar Industrial Port Company (SIPC) — which also operates the Port of Sohar — and owned by the Sohar International Development Company, a joint venture between the Port of Rotterdam in the Netherlands, India-based SKIL Infrastructure and the Omani government, the FZS covers an area of 4500 hectares. The first phase of the FZS is scheduled to be completed by 2014.

“Indeed, you could say we are the new kid around the block. We are serious developers,” stressed Neelima Vyas. The FZS is quasi-government: 50 per cent is owned by the government of Oman and the remaining 50 per cent by the Netherlands government represented by the Port of Rotterdam. Obviously, a lot of trade that is Europe-bound going will go to the Port

59

cargo

of Rotterdam.

What could be a worrying factor for Indian aviation and air cargo stakeholders is the fact that FZS is constructing an airport capable of handling widebodies like the B777s. Once the airport starts operations, India will have another Gulf nation acting as a gateway in much the same way as Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Doha or Sharjah does today.

Sohar, according to Neelima Vyas, would not be competing with Dubai. Commenting on the proposed airport, the COO said: “Air connectivity (with Sohar), it is already there on ground. An airport is being constructed and this will be operational next year — Q4 — and yes, it will be multi-modal.” She also pointed out that “we are looking at railways coming through”. The GCC has not had great connectivity till today. It will be in two phases.

One will connect all the GCC countries and “I think it will become a game changer” and another that will connect the different places in Oman” “we are going to have North-South rail connectivity. The government is looking within the country for railway connectivity and the FZS is like the gateway: the Freeport and Freezone sits in the centre as an industrial belt. We have got the port. It is already an operational deepwater port, then there will be the airport, and there will be rail connectivity with the

60

rail freight station inside the port and Free Zone.”

As for the airport, Vyas said that the “infrastructure will cope for passenger as well as for trade. And you can receive the 777, the latest aircraft. We believe that because there is so much industrial base in that area, it will have a lot of cargo-related airport movement — especially when you look at ad valorem cargo.” But she was quick to point out, “You will have passenger. We foresee this will be more in the initial phase where there will be regional air travel” because there is already a hub like Dubai. Dubai is 170-km away and “we have got Muscat, the capital of Oman, which is 240-km away. You do not want to look at another big hub coming up and competing with each other,” she said. Vyas went on to say that in time, Sohar could become a hub. “I would say give it five years or ten years before one could look at that (Dubai) kind of hub concept,” she

(

What sets Free Zone Sohar apart from similar special economic zones is that investors are partners. What is given to them are long-term incentives and benefits that is derived from the concession agreement with the government.

Cruising Heights June 2013

(

PORT AND FREE ZONE GO HAND-IN-HAND: While the deepwater seaport of Sohar has been in operation since 2004, it has become a key component of Free Zone Sohar

emphasised. She also said that “if you see how the FZS is being developed, it is clear that it is a hub for Middle East, North Africa, and, of course, the Asian subcontinent as well.” The port area has three major industrial clusters which are already operational and “we have got 40 million tonnes per annum already moving out. We have investments from practically all over the world. You could say, it is like a mini United Nations and you see even the finished product going out whether you look at GCC, you look at India, it is going into Europe as well as the UAE,” said Vyas.

Elaborating on Sohar as an investment destination, Vyas said that India had emerged as a global economic superpower and Indian companies were looking at supplying their products to all possible geographies. ‘Sohar’, she stressed, “with its strategic location in the Upper Gulf just outside the Straits of Hormuz, overlooking the western part of the Indian Subcontinent, offers immediate access to the world’s major shipping lanes, helps avoid increased insurance premiums and is an ideally located trans-shipment hub between the east and the west. Coupled with the most modern warehousing and logistics handling facilities with renowned global cargo handlers Steinweg for general cargo, Odfjell/Oiltanking for liquid cargo and Hutchison Whampoa OICT for containers; Sohar serves as an excellent base to distribute products to a customer base of nearly two billion consumers.”

Touting the fact that Sohar was unique, COO Vyas said that it was not a port where “trade or box comes in and box goes out.

We have a huge industrial captive area and we have got industries all on long-term basis: beyond 25 years. That is how $15 billion had been invested in Phase 1, in the port area.”

She went on to elaborate that the FZS’s development was in the midst of Phase 1 comprising about 500 hectares of which “160-180 hectares had already been signed up by clients”. The FZS developers had the whole 4500 hectares and “what we are only doing is managing the development in phases which is our responsibility.”

What sets FZS apart from similar spe-

(

BOOST FOR INDUSTRY: Indian investors have already set up huge units in the Free Zone and more are expected in the future

single processing system for procuring all permits, approvals and licences, according to the Port of Sohar.

Vyas and her team have high expectations from Indian investors. With bilateral trade between India and Oman touching $5.2 billion in 2010-11 and with over 1,527 Omani-India joint ventures across 13 socio-economic sectors, the COO was confident that the strong business ties between the two countries would generate active interest in Indian companies to invest in the Free Zone. While large Indian companies like Jindal Steel & Power, Larsen & Toubro, Tata Minerals, Indsil, Metkore, Cabrol, Sunpetrochem have a significant presence in Sohar, several other companies like Parthfoils, amongst others, are in the process of setting up manufacturing facilities. She said: “We do believe that there is a lot of synergy between India and Oman.”

One could look at it from a geographical perspective and the proximity between the

With bilateral trade between India and Oman touching $5.2 billion in 2010-11 and with over 1,527 Omani-India joint ventures, the COO was confident that the strong business ties would generate active interest in Indian companies to invest in the Free Zone.

Cruising Heights June 2013

(

cial economic zones is that “investors are, in a way, our partners. What we do is we give them long-term incentives and benefits which we derive from our concession agreement with the government”.

That allows investors as well as the FZS authorities to look more creatively: it is not just industries and downstreams but establishment of specialised niche clusters.

Among these clusters are renewable energy and activities that may not be typically belonging to a Free Zone but those that can complement the need of the country like education and healthcare. “These are the areas that we want to explore and we are looking at specialized areas to set up in the Free Zone,” said Neelima Vyas.

FZS would like Indians to set up educational institutions. “We want education because you have so much of industries, you need to constantly enable enhancement of education and this could be from the primary stages to industry-specific requirements. We have been looking at India because India is strong in education, from the professional education perspective,” said Vyas. Additionally, she also mentioned that with a large expat population in the area, there was a demand for primary and basic education. The other sectors that FZS expected investments from were processed food and agri produce.

“Oman is a nett importer of food but that is also true of the GCC. In that scenario, we are looking to develop niche clusters of food, agro processing and pharmaceuticals,” informed Vyas.

Investors at Free Zone Sohar are typically downstream steel manufacturing and logistics firms. Those which operate out of the Free Zone gain a number of benefits such as 100 per cent foreign ownership and a simplified Customs duty of 5 per cent when moving products out of the free zone to sell in Oman or another GCC country. In addition, all free zone investors also receive a 10-year corporate tax holiday (corporate taxes are usually around 12 per cent in Oman). This holiday can be extended to 20 years for those firms that reach a 50 per cent Omanisation level, with the minimum Omanisation level set at 15 per cent. A further incentive includes a

two countries along with trade that has consistently grown over time. She mentioned that there were corporate captains of Indian origin who had moved to Oman quite some time ago. “They are Omani residents and have been contributing to the economy — whether it is industry or trade.

We have also seen Indians — white as well as blue-collared workers — in Oman.”

“At the end of the day, you want to see healthy cooperation between both the countries. Indian investments in the port and the Free Zone area …you could say it has formed a large percentage of the investment basket.” She gave the example of Jindal which had set up a very sophisticated steel plant. Larsen & Toubro had two operational units: one was a modular fabrication yard manufacturing complex heavy marine offshore-related rigs, platforms, etc. The other one was into heavy engineering: building nuclear reactors, power plants and gas turbines. “Typically in the Free Zone, we have seen very good Indian investors in ferro-alloys. They have signed and finalised with us.” Vyas also mentioned that Oman mined and exported chrome but with “an Indian investor setting up a ferro-chrome processing plant — it goes operational next month — Oman will be processing chrome. And we have a second Indian investor in ferro-alloys who should also go into construction. We have seen very positive Indian investments.” n

61

cargo

‘Air Menzies International will provide its clients the power to compete’ Trevor Saldanha, Regional Vice President, AMI, on the new concept of air cargo wholesaling launched for the first time in India hen Air Menzies International (AMI) recently introduced its trade-only air cargo wholesaling business in Mumbai — incidentally, a first for India — many in the industry were completely unaware of the concept. Wholesaling in the cargo business has been relatively unknown, perhaps, because it was only limited to co-loading among cargo agents. With the opening of its office in Mumbai, AMI will be handling airport to airport traffic. It also hopes to enhance imports from its 21 locations in the US, UK, Europe, South Africa, Far East and Australasia.

(

Cruising Heights met Trevor Saldanha, recently-appointed Regional Vice President to find out why AMI chose to set up the India operations. India, he pointed out, was a growing market and was fast becoming a major player in the global trade arena.

As for the timing of AMI to step into India Saldanha said that though the air cargo business had slowed down in India, it was not alone. In fact, the business had slowed down globally. He went on to say that the Indian air cargo market had potential and that was why AMI had set up the India office. Excerpts from the interview:

“AMI has now opened its 22nd office in Mumbai and has already commenced handling of Imports from its various offices.”

Trevor Saldanha

Regional Vice President, AMI

Why did Air Menzies International (AMI) choose to set up an India division? Have you plans to broadbase the activities of AMI by opening offices in other parts of the country?

India is a growing market and is fast becoming a major player in the global trade arena. With the liberalisation and opening up of the Indian skies, the air cargo sector has been provided with a much needed boost and several international airlines have deployed new/additional capacity to and from India. Infrastructure is also being developed simultaneously, albeit a bit slowly, to make the Indian aviation sector efficient and globally competitive.

With 21 offices already operating all over the world, we felt that the time is ripe for AMI to introduce its globally successful Neutral Wholesale Air Cargo Consolidation Service in India.

Accordingly, AMI has now opened its 22nd office in Mumbai and has already commenced handling of Imports from its various offices spread out all over the world.

The export service is due to commence shortly. Once the Mumbai operation settles down, we plan to establish our AMI offices in Delhi, Chennai, Bengaluru and Hyderabad as well, so that we can provide our services to forwarders on a pan-India basis.

(

W

AMI has introduced the air cargo wholesaling concept to the Indian market for the first time.

Can you please explain how the system works?

‘Airfreight Wholesaling’ is the process by which freight agents can purchase space through an intermediary (‘wholesaler’), generally at lower rates than are offered by the airline itself. This is achieved either: • By the wholesaler consolidating

62

Cruising Heights June 2013

many small shipments into a single booking, taking advantage of the lower rate per kilo offered by airlines for larger shipments, and then effectively sharing the resultant saving with its customers in the form of lower rates; or, • By combining dense cargo and volume cargo on the same airline pallet, in order to maximise the chargeable capacity of the pallet without exceeding its physical weight limit. As most airfreight is ‘volume’ (that is, its volume is greater than the usual airline conversion ratio of 6000cc per kilo) it is charged by volume rather than weight. Skilful combination of dense and volume cargo can reduce the average volume: weight ratio of cargo on the pallet, resulting in more capacity, and a lower cost per kilo — part of which saving is then passed back to the wholesaler’s customers.

Consolidated airfreight shipments also benefit from lower minimum charges than those imposed by airlines. Normal airline minimum charges can often make a small shipment prohibitively expensive.

Air cargo consolidation and wholesale activity in India has so far been restricted only to co-loading among freight agents.

AMI will be introducing the company's renowned neutral air cargo wholesaling concept to the Indian market for the first time. Customers can be comfortable in the knowledge that AMI guarantees neutrality and has no direct dealings with shippers or consignees, so their relationships are therefore safe. We give our clients the power to compete; we are never their competitor.

Neutrality — in other words, the deliberate distancing from any commercial dealings with shippers — has always been the core ethic of AMI, and a very strong selling-point. From the beginning, when AMI first entered the market, a number of full-service freight forwarders have offered ‘co-load’ services to smaller agents. But the underlying potential threat of an agent's customer being approached by its supplier who was also a competitor, has led many agents to give greater support to AMI.

between the airlines and forwarders. This facilitates forwarders to become more competitive, thereby providing them with a new platform to increase their business.

AMI being ‘Neutral’ gives them the much needed peace of mind that their shippers/ customers will not be poached and hence they can concentrate on growing their business instead of being worried about how to prevent their customers from being swayed away. As our CEO Stephen Koller rightly says: “This is an exciting new development for AMI, in a market whose potential is simply vast. We are confident that AMI's rates, neutrality, global reach, and customer-focussed professionalism will ensure its success. AMI will enable customers to succeed in ways that will change the face of airfreight in India”.

What kind of tonnages do you expect to do?

During his recent visit, IATA chief Tony Tyler said that if India wanted to be an important global player, we would have to be a strong participant in two key programmes: Secure freight and e-freight.

In your view, are we ready to be participants in the two programmes?

Being a new concept being introduced for the first time in India, we would not like to put a finger on any numbers at this stage.

However, having surveyed the market and spoken with a wide spectrum of forwarders, most of them are excited and have wholeheartedly welcomed the entry of AMI. We are very optimistic of successfully launching our business in the Indian market, as we have done elsewhere in the world.

AMI is a valuable intermediary

The air cargo business has not been good over the last year. How do you see it growing?

Yes, not just in India, but globally too, the air cargo business has not performed up to expectations. The aviation sector has been particularly affected as a result of high costs and low yields, resulting in poor performance by several airlines and some forwarders as well. The good news however is that, by offering more competitive services AMI can help its customers win more business from other modes of transport.

We believe that the Indian air cargo market will grow well and this is one of the main reasons why we decided to set up shop in India, so that we can also support this growth. With the several unique advantages that air cargo Consolidation provides, we see an immense opportunity to be able to deliver value added services to our customers and strengthen them to compete more effectively, thereby growing our own business in the process. Being strongly customer focussed, we are well aware of the fact that we need to help our customers grow their business, if we want to grow ours. It is this spirit of true partnership that has endeared us to our customers and brought us loyalty over the years.

Well, India is definitely taking small but sure strides to get there as soon as possible.

Security is a global concern and all countries are united in their resolve to eliminate this threat by introducing adequate security measures that prevent untoward incidents, Cruising Heights June 2013

while at the same time maintaining cost and service efficiencies to the best extent possible. E-freight is also an area where we in India are now beginning to gear up, so that we are on par with the rest of the world and do not get left behind. A lot of work has already been done, but we still have miles to go before we can claim to be fully ready to participate. There is however encouraging progress and this is a good sign. AMI is a technology driven company and we have made substantial investments to ensure that our software and systems are among the best in the world. As an organisation, we welcome these two programmes, as this is clearly the path to the future which all stakeholders will have to eventually follow.

Air cargo in the country has not grown as it should due to a variety of reasons — the foremost being the lack of infrastructure. How have you tackled the problems?

In most developing nations, infrastructure is still a major bottleneck and India is certainly no exception to this. While we are taking giant strides in technology and manufacturing to compete with the best in the world, our major challenge remains lack of adequate infrastructure. A visit to the air cargo complex in Mumbai is indeed an eyeopener. One is really left wondering how everyone manages to get their work done despite the several challenges caused on account of inadequate infrastructure. Lack of space, illegal encroachments that cannot be easily removed due to political pressure and the congestion of traffic are just some of the major hurdles that are difficult to overcome. Despite all of this, a world class passenger terminal is currently being built which has already won several accolades from all over the world, an elevated road connecting the international airport directly to the Western Express Highway is almost ready and several other steps are being taken to make the best of a bad situation. So, there is still hope.

As far as AMI is concerned, our Mumbai office is near the international airport and the air cargo complex. We are, therefore very much in the vicinity. Our customers can reach us easily, as most of them are also located nearby. Being a company with a very strong IT backbone, we have also installed adequate hardware and use our global software programmes to ensure that the service we provide our customers in India compares favourably with what we provide all over the world. Our communication facilities are world class and we are fully equipped for all eventualities to ensure a truly delightful experience for all our customers in India as well. n

63

cargo jottings DTDC completes another acquisition

DTDC Courier and Cargo recently announced the acquisition of Bengaluru-based Nikkos Logistics Pvt Ltd with a majority stake in the company. The new company will be called DTDC Nikkos International Logistics Pvt. Ltd. with DTDC owning 70 per cent and the rest 30 per cent with Nikkos Logistics Pvt Ltd.

the state government.”

“The construction will have to be done keeping in mind the nature of the goods to be exported as special enclosures would need to be made for storage of dangerous goods like chemicals and injections and provision would have to be made for a customs office,” he stated

DHL opens multi-modal link

ONE MORE IN THE KITTY: Senior Officials of DTDC and Nikkos Logistics Pvt Ltd formalising the deal

“The acquisition lets DTDC to combine its strength with Nikkos to penetrate and consolidate its presence globally. Tapping on opportunities will further enable more feet on street, robust infrastructure and quality delivery capabilities for DTDC around the globe,” said Abhishek Chakraborty, Executive Director of DTDC. The acquisition complements and expands DTDC’s strategy to offer complete end-to-end logistic solutions to customers in the national and international markets. Nikkos logistics solutions will help expand DTDC’s network by linking the domestic offerings globally and vice versa.

Commenting on the development, Kochat Narendran, Director said, “DTDC group with global presence and being one of largest domestic logistic player combined with Nikkos network and international expertise could be the key factor for change in the Indian logistic arena with local expertise and global reach in supply chain solution.”

OPERATIONAL EFFICIENCY: A Mercedes car being loaded into the DHL freighter

Raipur gets cargo terminal

0ur airport recently got the nod from Airports Authority of India (AAI) to develop a cargo terminal. Anil Rai, Airport Director, Raipur airport, confirming the move said the AAI had decided to renovate the old terminal building into an air cargo centre. However, he added that the size of the cargo complex was yet to be decided.

He said, “The space available in the erstwhile arrival area of the old terminal building would be utilised for setting up the cargo terminal but work would start only after information regarding the quantum of exports expected from the state is made available by

BEAUTIFUL EDIFICE: An outside view of the façade of Raipur Airport

64

DHL Global Forwarding recently introduced a second routing option for customers keen on capitalising on its existing road/rail multi-modal overland service connecting Asia and Europe. Chengdu-based customers in particular can now board DHL's once-aweek service departing every Friday from Chengdu to Europe along China's West Corridor rail line through Kazakhstan and via DHL's intermodal hub in Malaszewicze, Poland.

The new weekly service comes as an addition to DHL's already successful daily service — departing from Shanghai and running along the trans-Siberian North Corridor — with a transit time difference of up to 8 days. In turn, the new service also offers greater cost and CO2 emission reductions.

Kelvin Leung, CEO, Asia Pacific, DHL Global Forwarding, said, “Customers are increasingly looking to DHL to handle their shipments between China and Europe and demand for our original daily rail/road multi-modal service out of Shanghai has increased substantially since we launched it in 2011. This prompted us to

seek ways to grow and enhance this service not only to cope with rising demand but to prepare ourselves for future demand as well.”

The company attributes the success of its road/rail multi-modal service to its pioneering and unique features as well as its ability to meet the growing demand for flexible and environmentally friendly solutions in the market.

“DHL is the only forwarder offering regular, daily rail departures to and from China via our intermodal hub in Malaszewicze, Poland. We provide a true door-to-door service by picking up goods from any location in China and offering last mile delivery by truck or rail to anywhere in Europe out of Malaszewicze via DHL EUROCONNECT,” explained Leung. “Now, we can offer more capacity between China and Europe thanks to the additional weekly service along the West Corridor.”

Ushers unique Green Transformation Lab: DHL is partnering with Singapore Management University (SMU) to accelerate the evolution of sustainable logistics across Asia Pacific with the launch of the Green Transformation Lab. This S$2 million initiative hosted at the SMU School of Information Systems on the University's city campus, will focus on the creation of innovative solutions to help organisations transform their businesses towards sustainable green growth and drive beneficial change in supplychains across the region. This joint DHL-SMU initiative

Cruising Heights June 2013

will fulfill its mission through education, research and best practice development.

Bruce Edwards, Global CEO, DHL Supply Chain, said, “DHL has long recognised the need for supplychains in Asia Pacific to adopt more sustainable logistics models. 'Green' momentum is growing amongst policy makers, companies and consumers but more can be done to spearhead the application of Green solutions throughout the supplychain. The Green Transformation Lab will help these organisations move beyond measuring and planning by creating more sustainable solutions for companies and supplychains that lead to large-scale adoption and subsequent economies of scale.”

Transports new Mercedes S-Class: DHL recently transported the latest generation of the Mercedes S-Class to its international premiere in Hamburg. Transported straight from the MercedesBenz plant in Stuttgart, Germany to the suburb of Finkenwerder in Hamburg, Germany the luxury sedan was flown in an A300-600 DHL freight aircraft. In Hamburg, the new vehicle was unveiled for the first time to approximately 700 customers, Retailers and Journalists.

Calogi unveils Inter-Airport RFS Solution

Calogi recently tied-up with Pan Airport Logistics (PAL) for the provision of an e-commerce and operations solution which allows the online management of road feeder services between airline, handling agent and RFS operator. The new solution, c-Road, allows PAL to manage transportation of both originating and intransit shipments electronically.

The component allows Road Feeder Service (RFS) operators complete visibility of the shipments allocated to them through a standard interface with the ground handling system. With c-Road, operators can publish schedules, manage capacity and volume, produce load plans, and send booking lists to cargo terminal operators with access to several management information statistics. The solution also provides operators with comprehensive information on volumes handled by customer and origin or destination as well as payments and any discounts offered by the handling company. “c-Road, the road feeder services module, is another critical feature that has been developed after listening to our customers,” said Patrick Murray, Head of Calogi. “The Calogi portal prides itself on being a one-stop-shop to harness business opportunities for our subscribers and the agreement with Pan Airport Logistics is another step towards our vision of a fully integrated business environment for the air cargo supply chain.”

“Central to the successful delivery of PAL’s services is an indepth understanding of today’s aviation issues and an unwavering commitment to identify solutions that produce economic value,” said Christian Berquier, General Manager of Pan Airport Logistics.

awards Celebi is best ground handling company

Çelebi Ground Handling Company recently bagged the coveted “Ground Handling Agent of the Year-2012” award by GMR-IGI during the GMR-IGI Airport Awards recently organised in New Delhi. The selection of award winners were based on various performance parameters collected, audited and vetted by KPMG auditors along with DIAL team for entire year.

This award is the recognition toward the immense contribution and outstanding performance by Celebi Ground Handling at the Indira Gandhi International Airport, New WELL DONE: Celebi officials posing for the Delhi. Prabhakara Rao, CEO, photo-op after the winning the award Delhi International Airport Ltd, handed the award trophy to Taner Sari, CEO, Celebi Ground Handling at the ceremony.

Commenting on this ocassion, Taner Sari, CEO, Celebi Ground Handling said, “I am honoured and thrilled at the same time to receive this prestigious award. This recognition is the result of consistent performance and hard work of the team at Celebi.”

SkyCargo: Cargo Airline of the Year 2013

Emirates SkyCargo recently won Cargo Airline of the Year 2013 at Air Cargo News’ awards. The airline was also named Best Middle East Cargo Airline for the 25th consecutive year.

Emirates SkyCargo received the accolade at the 30th Cargo Airline of the Year awards, which took place at the Lancaster London Hotel, UK. The event recognises excellence in the cargo, freight and OFF TO FLYER: Ram Menen (left), logistics business and is Emirates Divisional Senior VP, Cargo, speaking after receiving the award known as the ‘Oscars’ of the industry.

“These awards are voted for by our industry and this success would not be possible, without their support. We will continue to focus on delivering the highest levels of service to our best ability,” said Ram Menen, Emirates Divisional Senior Vice President Cargo.

Lufthansa is Europe’s best cargo carrier

BANG ON: A Pan Airport Logistics truck during the operations

Lufthansa Cargo has again been voted Europe’s best cargo carrier. The customers in the air freight industry, who were questioned in the ballot, thereby confirmed their high regard for the airline. The British Air Cargo Media Group has conferred the prestigious award for 30 years. “This renewed distinction bears out the constant high quality which we offer to our customers,” noted Thomas Egenolf, Director-Italy, Malta, UK and Ireland, Lufthansa Cargo who accepted the award at the presentation ceremony in London. He added, “We will do our utmost to continue pursuing that objective. We are systematically investing further in our products, our network.”

Cruising Heights June 2013

65

globetrotting n 

How you feeling?

n 

In a Tampa International Airport-bound flight in the US, a bizarre incident took place. Latrese Janelle Brantley was on a JetBlue flight from San Juan, Puerto Rico to Tampa when she began acting silly. The woman became violent while attacking employees.

As she left the plane, two JetBlue employees went up to help. But Brantley became belligerent tugging one employee and punching the other. Sensing the situation, the flight attendants and some bystanders eventually pushed Brantley to the floor until airport police officers arrived to arrest her.

This is really interesting and amusing! A man became so adventurous that he tried to enter an airport through the sewer system. The incident happened at Albuquerque airport, US. Robert Mondragon crawled through the sewer system and popped up in a manhole on the tarmac thereby eliciting strong security measures at the airport.

Mondragon was detained after he approached a freight area and was caught by UPS employees who called the police. Authorities at the airport claimed that Mondragon was confused, tired, thirsty and looking for a way out of the drainage system.

n 

Stubborn as a mule

Judgmental error

Believe it or not, a Sri Lankan Appeal Court Judge caused a minor fracas at Bengaluru airport. The judge who was returning home after attending a conference verbally abused his fellows and even attacked one with a bottle of water.

The incident happened at the Business Lounge of the airport when the Judge created a huge scene by allegedly lambasting several Judges in abusive language shocking passengers nearby. He also scolded his colleagues both in Sinhala and English for more than 10 minutes before hitting one of them with a water bottle.

The Judge went into fiery temper when he learnt that his baggage had been mistakenly left behind. This happened when the judge tried to pick up a trolley while outrunning others as soon as the bus reached the airport. His colleagues had not touched or taken out the bag bearing in the mind the fiery temper of the Judge.

n 

End of story

This is really funny. A man was caught trespassing after driving on an airport taxiway. The lunatic 36-year-old Ruben Martinez Jimenez was later arrested in a secure hangar at Dallas Love Field airport, US. According to police, Jimenez came near a Fixed Base Operations building at the airport around 6:20 pm. When the operator opened the vehicle gate to determine what was needed, Jimenez drove

66

Cruising Heights June 2013

his vehicle past the employee and onto the taxiway. The employee immediately alerted the Dallas Police Department, Texas, US and officers arrived within minutes. The suspect was caught in one of the hangars and detained. Dallas police officials said, “At no time were any passenger aircraft threatened by the suspect’s actions.” Later on, the suspect was held at the Dallas County Jail on $250,000 bond.

n 

In a jiffy

A security inspection turned out awful for a senior police officer who was conducting a security audit of the Juhu Airport, Mumbai.

He drove on to the runway without prior permission, causing concern to airport authorities thereby threatening operations at the airport.

Chhering Dorjee, the DCP, said he was inspecting the area as part of Operation Sagar Kavanch. “There is a huge threat perception and I was... with my

n 

Morning, noon, and night

In a bizarre incident, an Australian Federal Attorney-General was caught redhanded after he refused to turn his phone off on a Qantas flight. As a result he was reminded about airport safety rules by an Airport Security Manager.

Mark Dreyfus was checking his emails during take-off when he was spotted by a flight attendant. In fact, a spokesperson from Dreyfus's office confirmed the incident, “He was reminded by a passenger and a flight attendant to turn

n 

staff. I did not enter the runway. I refused to let in ONGC employees later as they did not have airport passes. I have been asking them to get passes made. How is one to know which employee should be allowed entry and which shouldn't?”

“We immediately raised an emergency alarm and a security officer rushed to the runway to get the vehicle out at earliest,” Juhu airport authorities were quoted as saying.

his phone off and he complied with this request. The Attorney-General was met on arrival by an airport security manager who reminded him of the rules.”

Later on, it was also discovered that the Captain of the flight had also spoken about the matter to Mark Dreyfus after he refused a Flight Attendant's request to switch off the phone. The spokesperson also mentioned that “the Attorney-General regrets the incident and apologised to the passengers and to airport security.”

Oh my gosh

In a faux pas by an airliner, a wrong dead body was dispatched to the grieving family. Delta Airlines which was to ship the body of Stanley Williams, who died when he was hit by a car trying to cross the road, sent the wrong body much to the horror of the grieving family.

“It's hard enough that you have to bury one of your loved ones, and then to find out that the airline screwed up and prolonged the process… it's crazy, it's unbelievable,” Stanley’s friend Josette Cerutti was quoted as saying. “He's resting, but not at peace.”

Delta Airlines later on issued a statement apologising to the family, saying they deeply regretted the unfortunate situation. "We are investigating the matter and will work closely with the family during this difficult time," a Delta spokesperson said.

n 

In a flash

Watching a movie in a flight proved disastrous for a family. A Baltimore-bound United Airlines flight from Denver was sidetracked and a local family removed from the plane after the parents protested about the subject of an in-flight movie.

The Parental Guidance-rated detective film Alex Cross was shown on the plane. The parents believed the movie was inappropriate for their 4 and 8 year old boys. “Alarmed by the opening scenes, we asked two flight attendants if they could turn off the monitor; both claimed it was not possible,” the parents were quoted as saying. “Throughout these interactions the atmosphere was congenial, no voices were raised and no threats, implicit or explicit, of any kind were made. The flight continued without incident, while my wife and I engaged our children to divert their attention from the horrific scenes on the movie screens.”

Cruising Heights June 2013

67

snippets

domestic Airlines

GoAir, Airbus sign Sharklets agreement GoAir has signed a letter of intent with Airbus to retrofit five ship-sets of Sharklets for the airline’s in-service A320 aircraft.

This upgrade is scheduled for 2014. Sharklets are newly designed wing tip devices which improve the aerodynamics and performance of Airbus aircraft, cut fuel burn by up to four per cent and reduce CO2 emissions.

“Our Sharklet-equipped aircraft delivered new from Airbus have already exceeded expectations, and given this outstanding performance, we have determined it makes perfect sense to move forward with retrofitting our in-service A320 fleet with Sharklets,” said Giorgio De Roni , CEO of GoAir. “The Sharklets are a valuable enhancement to an already superb aircraft — contributing both efficiency and environmental benefits.”

Tom Williams, Airbus EVP Programmes said that GoAir’s decision to retrofit its in-service fleet with Sharklets would make them India’s first airline to do so. “GoAir is a valued customer and this decision is another example of Airbus working with customers to enhance efficiency for their operations.”

Flies smart with Ramco: GoAir recently announced that it had successfully gone live in record time on Ramco’s Aviation Maintenance & Engineering (M&E) suite of software for its 15-strong plane fleet across 21 base stations. The go-live marked Ramco’s web-based Series 5 M&E software and Ramco ePublications,

seamlessly integrating with GoAir’s existing Flight Operations ARMS system and SAP Financials. Integration with ARMS has helped GoAir create journey logs automatically whereby users get to know of flight schedules in advance, thus enabling better aircraft planning. Ramco’s integration with SAP financials has helped in smooth flow of transactions between the two systems.

Giorgio De Roni, Chief Executive Officer, GoAir, said that with the successful go-live of Ramco Aviation Suite, “we embarked on adopting Ramco’s web-based M&E software to help us meet regulatory requirements, efficiently monitor the fleet, have better inventory control and bring about cost-effectiveness.

Within 200 days of project kick-start, both teams at Ramco and GoAir have ensured a smooth go-live and also ensured seamless integration with the existing system. This is a truly remarkable achievement and we look forward to fully leverage the power of the system as we grow further.”

Virender Aggarwal, CEO, Ramco Systems, said: “Ramco’s implementation at GoAir has set new records of being one of the fastest go-live of Aviation M&E solution, and this is indeed a momentous occasion for all of us. With the right products and market spread, our focus is now on building features around customer needs.”

airbus

Flights to connect Varanasi with Bihar

An outside view of the Varanasi Airport

In a unique initiative, a private operator will for the first time be connecting Varanasi to three cities in Bihar. The service, that will be run by SkyFisher Airways, will start either by the end of this month or the first week of June, officials said.

68

The 12-seater aircraft would make to and fro flights connecting Patna, Gaya, Bhagalpur and Varanasi in its first phase, they said.

Vishal Kashyap, General Manager, SkyFisher Airways said: “The plane will be able to accommodate only nine passengers and the rest three seats will be reserved. In the second phase of flights, Varanasi, Ranchi, Darbhanga, Raxaul and Kathmandu have been included.”

Air fares from Varanasi to Patna, Gaya and Bhagalpur would be in a range of `3,500 to `4,000, he said.

Cruising Heights June 2013

No long credit period The International Air Transport Association (IATA) decision to reduce the payment cycle of agents to airlines from the current fortnightly to a weekly basis from July 1 is going to end the long credit periods which air travellers booking tickets from travel agents would get. This means that agents will have to sell tickets for cash or ask for payment within a day or two.

While the move will help the financially-strapped airline industry, travel agents are clearly unhappy. “Agents will have to stop giving credit and need to collect cash for ticket sales in a maximum of two to three days. Small players who survived on credit facility will now go out of business,” said Delhi-based Ambey Travels head Anil

GVK-CSIA celebrates Passenger Day

IndiGo visits SOS Children Village

As GVK-CSIA recently completed seven years of taking over operations at Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport (CSIA) in Mumbai, passengers were treated to a number of surprises through the day at the airport. A series of unique initiatives were organised to commemorate the occasion.

The celebrations began with the arrival of 30 children aged between 10-15 years from Umang, a renowned NGO, at the domestic terminal 1B for an educational tour of CSIA. In addition, a special red carpet experience was rolled out for passengers at every entry and exit point at both departures and arrivals across all domestic terminals and arrivals at the international terminal.

Passengers were also encouraged to leave their comments, feedback and good wishes prior to boarding their flights. Specially designed chocolate boxes bearing a thank you message were distributed to all departing passengers at CSIA. Additionally, GVK-CSIA ran #FlightBuddy a unique contest on Twitter, that was supported by updates on Facebook as well.

Passengers were asked to name their flight buddy and offer reasons for wanting to fly with him/her. A majority of passengers also posted real-time images and feedback through the day on both Facebook and the CSIA website.

planelandings.com

celebrating milestones: The celebrations of GVK-CSIA completing seven years of taking over operations at CSIA in Mumbai

IndiGo President Aditya Ghosh along with his team recently visited SOS Children’s Village to aid the SOS members with social activities. The aim of the event was to create awareness amongst the employees and deepen their engagement in matters concerning the state of children and recognising their needs and abilities towards building a future generation.

The IndiGo team conducted two separate sessions for the kids.

For the young adults, senior members of the IndiGo team organised a career counselling talk where the children got the opportunity to find out more about the airline business. In another part of the village, the grooming and customer services coaches from inspiring dreams: Aditya Ghosh, IndiGo had a fun-filled President, IndiGo, distributing prizes at the hour with the younger SOS Children's Village girls running them through the importance of personal hygiene and cleanliness.

The children too voiced their thoughts and asked questions regarding the working of IndiGo, its employment structure and other areas of scope.

Aditya Ghosh, President, IndiGo, said, “IndiGo Reach is our initiative to always stay connected to the larger community.

As we chase our dreams, we also hope we can bring many more closer to their dreams. It is our endeavour to generate job opportunities to help people improve their own lives and of their loved ones. ”

Cruising Heights June 2013

vijay seth

Kalsi. Benson Samuel of the multinational Riya Travels also said that credit facility may now be extended only to corporates and not to individual buyers.

Presently, agents make payments of tickets sold from the first to the 15th of every month on the 30th day of that month. Under the new system, payments for tickets sold from the 1st to the 7th will have to be made on the 15th of the month and this cycle will repeat in the second fortnight of the month.

Furthermore, Jet and Air India will reportedly be reducing the 1 per cent commission they pay to agents to zero, another move that may increase the grievances of the travel agents.

“In Sri Lanka and Nepal, agents get a 5 per cent commission on ticket sales. So a person issuing a Delhi-Mumbai ticket on an Indian carrier in these places will get that commission. Some big travel agents are now opening branches there for this reason,” said Kalsi.

69

snippets

international airlines

AirAsia X on growth path

Asia’s long-haul, low cost carrier AirAsiaX Berhad has recorded a strong growth in the first quarter of 2013, carrying 0.65 million passengers, a growth of 20.9 per cent over the same quarter in 2012 for its continuing routes.

In terms of passenger traffic, AirAsiaX Berhad recorded 3.3 billion Revenue-Passenger-Kms (RPKs) for Q1-2013 whilst capacity was recorded at 3.9 billion, resulting in a load factor of 84 per cent and solidifying its position as the second-largest low-cost carrier in Southeast Asia, after AirAsia Berhad. RPKs and ASKs increased by 21.7 per cent and 26.7 per cent, respectively in comparison with the same quarter in 2012 for continuing routes.

Azran Osman-Rani, CEO of AirAsia X said, “This year AirAsia X will continue to focus on increasing capacity in our identified core markets including Australia, China, Taiwan Korea, and Japan.

The addition of seven aircraft in 2013 will see AirAsia X expand further in the long-haul segment across Asia Pacific. Our move to KLIA2 this year will also provide us the right infrastructure and enhanced ground facilities needed to support our growing network and feeder traffic for better connectivity within the AirAsia Group.”

Indian student team finalists A student team from SRM University is one of the five teams selected by Airbus to compete in the third edition of the Fly Your Ideas (FYI) challenge. The other teams making the final are from Australia, Brazil, Italy and Malaysia. Team AVAS will now travel to France on June 12, 2013, to present their ideas to a jury of Airbus and industry experts at airframer's headquarters in Toulouse, France. The winning team will receive a prize of €30,000 and the runners up €15,000.

The winners will be announced at an exclusive ceremony at UNESCO’s headquarters in Paris on June 14, 2013. UNESCO has given its patronage to the global competition which challenges students worldwide to develop innovative ideas for a more sustainable aviation industry for the future.

The finalists were chosen out of 618 teams from 82 countries and over 6,000 students. The proposals had to cover one of six themes identified by Airbus as key 21st century challenges for a greener aviation industry.

Team AVAS successfully passed through the eliminating rounds to get to the final with their proposal for reduced propulsion noise thanks to jet exhaust shape modification using intelligent materials, specifically, shape memory alloys. These

Turkish makes giant purchase

Nonstop daily between DFW-Seoul American Airlines recently launched its daily nonstop service from Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport to Incheon International Airport, Seoul, marking the airline’s first flight ever into South Korea. American will serve the route originating from DFW’s International Terminal D utilising Boeing 777-200 aircraft with three classes of service.

“The new daily service to Seoul aboard American Airlines represents more outstanding news for travellers in Dallas/Fort Worth and for DFW Airport,’ said Jeff Fegan, CEO of DFW Airport. “At DFW, it is our mission to deliver a world class travel experience for visitors to Dallas/Fort Worth as well as to expand our region’s presence and visibility around the globe, and this new service from our great partners at American will help bring more business and leisure travellers and economic opportunities.”

“South Korea’s continued growth as a key business market has created increased demand for direct travel to and from the region,” said Chuck Schubert, American’s VP, Network Planning.

70

Star Alliance member Turkish Airlines is progressing strongly with its growth plans by adding 117 Airbus airplanes to its fleet, as announced by the airline’s Board of Directors.

According to the decision of the Board Directors, 25 A321, 4 A320 NEO, 53 A321 NEO and options for 35 additional A321 NEO will be delivered by 2015.

With the deal of these new aircrafts, the fleet number of Turkish Airlines will reach to 375 in total, including cargo airplanes. The average fleet age will decrease to five from its current figure 6.6, by the end of 2020.

Five new destinations: Turkish Airlines recently added operations to five new destinations, comprising Isparta (Turkey), Santiago De Compostela (Spain), Valetta (Malta) and Salzburg (Austria) following the addition of Friedrichshafen to its growing network. The roundtrip flights between Istanbul and Isparta (Turkey) are operated three times per week on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.

World-class wines by Cathay

for Airbus competition

alloys are energised by harvested electricity generated by advanced thermoelectric materials using engine heat source. The team is composed of three Indian students, Michael Thomas, Anita Mohil, and team leader Balakrishnan Solaraju Murali, all studying for a bachelors degree in Aerospace Engineering at SRM University.

Emirates' onboard smoking lounge As Dubai-based airline Emirates debuts a shisha lounge on select jumbo jets this month, premium passengers travelling on the carrier will be exempt from the no-smoking policy .

The new service is set to debut on the carrier’s fleet of Airbus A380 aircraft and will be offered to Emirates’ business and first-class passengers. Passengers can pre-order a shisha — also known as a waterpipe, hubble-bubble, hookah or narghile — from the onboard menu and retire to the lounge for a post-meal smoke.Waterpipes could loosely be described as the Middle Eastern version of the postdinner cigar, passing flavored tobacco through bubbled water which is then smoked through a pipe and hose.

Emirates says it's introducing the Signature Shisha Lounge to enrich the flying experience for Middle Eastern passengers, but also to introduce the Arabian custom to foreigners. Meanwhile, the new service risks inviting controversy given that shisha pipes carry what some medical authorities describe as a misleading reputation for being a recreational and harmless form of smoking.

According to the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, the tobacco is no less toxic in a hookah pipe.

Contrary to belief, nor does the water filter out toxic ingredients found in the tobacco smoke. In fact, the CDC estimates that due to the way shisha pipes are smoked and shared — frequency of puffing, depth of inhalation, and length of smoking sessions — a typical, onehour long session could be tantamount to inhaling 100 to 200 times the volume of smoke inhaled from a single cigarette.

Cathay Pacific Airways has introduced six worldclass wines from Saint-Émilion, Bordeaux, France, to the First Class wine list. Following the success of the 1855 Bordeaux Classification wine promotion, launched last May, the airline has continued to search for premium Bordeaux wines for its premium passengers. Passengers in First Class now have the chance to appreciate half-adozen carefully selected topquality wines from Saint-Émilion in addition to the regular First Class wine selection.

The latest round of wine selection features six premium wines from Saint-Émilion, each being selected to show a different aspect of the important terroir of the area. The collection includes prestige wines from up-and-coming Grand Cru producers to the renowned Premier Grand Cru Classé.

Cathay Pacific GM Inflight Services James Ginns said: “Our catering team from time to time selects promotional wines for our premium passengers, offering them the chance to taste wines of special styles or from wineproducing areas they might not have tried before.”

BA’s offers for N America, Canada

British Airways has launched some offers exclusively for its Indian customers to some of the best destinations in North America and Canada in the World Traveller and Club World cabins. The allinclusive fares start at only `64,698 for tickets for outbound travel until July 31, 2013.

Christopher Fordyce, Regional Commercial Manager, South Asia, British Airways said: “The United States is the largest market for British Airways outside the UK. With our extensive flight network connecting over 200 destinations with American Airlines, we are delighted to bring this fantastic offer to our Indian customers who will be able to explore the best of USA and Canada whilst enjoying our seamless travel experience at our award winning home Terminal 5 at Heathrow.”

Cruising Heights June 2013

71

snippets

TRAVEL & TOURISM

Aamod Resorts launches Tethys

Aamod Resorts is all set to expand its roots of out-of town locations with the launch of a 20 room resort in Narkanda, Shimla which is located on NH-22 in an area surrounded by the villages, apple orchards and dense forest cover.

Tethys Resort, situated at an altitude of 9000 ft., is the most accessible skiing destination in India and also provides a platform for a wide range of adventure activities including white water rafting on the Sutlej, mountain biking, camping, nature walks, horse riding.

Gaurav Jain, Director, Aamod Resorts said, “The launch of our new property is not merely a business extension but takes the Aamod experience to a more exotic location in an endeavour to redefine our traveller’s holiday experience. Aamod Tethys offers a wide variety of natural and adventure activities in a clean, crisp environment.” Nearby Hatu Peak (6 kms from resort and at a ht. of 11300 ft) affords magnificent views of the upper Himalayan ranges of Dalhousie, Dharamshala, Manali, Kinnaur and even Uttaranchal.

Tune Hotels opens in Ahmedabad International hotel chain, Tune Hotels has marked its India entry with the recent opening of the 100-room Tune Hotel Ahmedabad.

“We look forward to offering travellers to Ahmedabad an unbeatable proposition that combines great savings with a great comfortable stay and in a location that is annexed to the newest Shopping Mall in Ahmedabad. Our business model is designed to take care of the needs of travellers in India looking for great comfort without paying exorbitant rates,” said Mark Lankester, Group CEO of Tune Hotels.

“Ahmedabad is an amazingly vibrant city in the fast growing state of Gujarat and we are looking to welcome both business and leisure travellers. We are very excited about this hotel as it marks our brand’s very first entry into India’s very exciting hospitality market. The Tune Hotel Ahmedabad aims to serve both domestic travellers and visitors from abroad, especially members of the large non-resident Indian (NRI) community from Gujarat settled in places like the US, Britain and the Gulf, who may already have had prior knowledge of the brand in the five countries we are already present in” he said.

To celebrate the opening of Tune Hotel Ahmedabad, online bookings are now accepted with attractive all-inclusive room charges that start from as low as `599. The arrival of Tune Hotels in India will also introduce new green ideas to hotel stay. “We at Tune Hotels pursue a conscious policy of being environmental-friendly by optimising use of available resources, reduction of waste and by introducing processes that save on energy consumption. Our guests have endorsed our operations that encourage lifestyles that protect the environment,” Lankester said.

Mark Lankester

Air Arabia’s experiential trip Russia

E-Visa initiative by Turkey

Air Arabia, in association with Marriot Hotels and Aqua Sun, a Russian destination management company, organised an experiential visit to the exquisite lands of Russia for some of their key business partners in India. The six-day familiarisation trip (FAM trip) covered the Moscow and St Petersburg and was offered to ten leisure agents and MICE operators from leading companies like Kuoni, Cox and Kings, Thomas Cook, Vacation Exotica etc, so as to give them a complete Air Arabia experience complete with first-rate services such as the 32 inch seat pitch new horizons: Air Arabia's and the extraordinary experiential trip to Russia for business class lounge key partners in Sharjah. The airline which enjoys a presence in the MICE, VFR, and Leisure segments, is looking to further strengthen its presence in the leisure and MICE segment.

The Turkish Government has launched an online visa system (e-Visa) which replaces ‘sticker’ and ‘stamp-type’ visas formerly issued at the border gates and enables tourists from 94 countries to obtain a visa in a few minutes. As a result, applicants just need to log on to www.evisa.gov.tr, provide the requested information, (if the application is approved) make online payment and download their e-Visa.

After a successful application, the e-Visa would be emailed to the applicant. Applicants must print out their eVisa, show it to airport officials and customs officers and carry it with them at all times during their travel.

Indian citizens can benefit from this new initiative provided that their passport has a minimum of six-monthsvalidity, they hold necessary documents related to their travel purposes and hold a valid Schengen visa or a valid visa from any of the OECD member countries or a valid residence permit in these countries, and they are travelling for the purposes of tourism or business/ commercial negotiations.

72

Cruising Heights June 2013

Amazing evenings with Azamara

Emirates Holidays makes new ties

The destination-immersion cruise line Azamara Club Cruises, recently inaugurated its new industry-differentiating inclusive programme AzAmazing Evenings — authentic, exclusive and bespoke night touring events that are inclusive for all guests aboard every Azamara voyage. Launching with each of the two Azamara’s cruise ships, Azamara Quest and Azmara Journey 2013 Europe season, along with the new AzAmazing Evenings events, guests will also enjoy more inclusive onboard amenities including boutique wines, international beers and select standard spirits in the ships’ bars, lounges and restaurants when open.

Emirates Holidays, the tour-operating arm of Emirates airlines, and TUI India, the tour operating arm of Le Passage to India, an India based destination management company, recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding under which TUI India will be the Preferred Agent for Emirates Holidays in India.

The MoU announced by Marc Bennett, Divisional Senior VP, Emirates Destinations and Leisure Management, Arjun Sharma, MD, Le Passage to India and Jeannette Linfoot, Director of Tour Operations — New Markets, TUI Travel PLC., aims to provide customers with competitively-priced, quality holiday experiences.

“This exclusive agreement between TUI India and Emirates Holidays in India is just the start of many joint initiatives which will be forthcoming on a global basis. As creating ties: Jeannette Linfoot, Directwo of the largest companies tor of Tour Operations, New Markets, TUI in the global Travel Sector, Travel PLC with Marc Bennett, Divisional we see great advantage from Senior VP, Emirates Destinations & Leisure Management signing the partnership leveraging the strength of both the Emirates Group and TUI Travel PLC to create opportunities and added value to our customers and our respective businesses”, commented Linfoot.

“Our partnership with Emirates Holidays will combine the knowledge and expertise of both the companies to deliver quality holidays to Indian customers”, said Sharma.

“India remains a key source market for Emirates Holidays — and our partnership with TUI India, is a testament to our continued commitment to present a wide range of holiday options to discerning Indian travellers,” said Bennett.

amazing experiences: A look inside the Azamara Club Cruise

“AzAmazing Evenings offer experiential exposure to destinations around the world by capturing the region’s many colours and flavors. These bespoke experiences showcase authentic and exclusive opportunities that allow guests to imbibe the best of local life”, said Ratna Chadha, Chief Executive Officer, TIRUN Travel Marketing, India Representative for Azamara Club Cruises. She further added, “Azamara’s unique value proposition of longer stays, more overnights and night touring on every voyage is what makes an AzAmazing Evenings event possible.”

Emirates shares a smile with Arsenal Emirates airlines recently unveiled a new phase of its glob- them to learn some new footballing phrases.” al ‘Share a Smile’ campaign in partnership with Arsenal Football Ligue 1 Champions sponsorship renewed: Emirates and 2012Club. With the help of Emirates’ multilingual cabin crew, Arse- 2013 Ligue 1 Champions Paris Saint-Germain have announced a nal players MikelArteta, Lukas Podolski, WojciechSzczęsny and new sponsorship deal, granting the airline a five-year extension Theo Walcott share some well-loved football phrases in their own to their partnership with the Club until the end of the 2018-2019 languages whilst showing off their footballing skills in a series of season. The announcement was recently made by Thierry Antilight-hearted videos. nori, Emirates Executive Vice President Passenger Sales World“Emirates and Arsenal have wide and Nasser Al-Khelaïfi, President been working together since 2004 of Paris Saint Germain, during a press and constantly look for new and inconference held in Parc des Princes Stanovative ways in which to extend our dium in Paris. partnership”, said Boutros Boutros, This agreement strengthens the reDivisional Senior Vice President, lationship between Paris Saint-Germain Corporate Communications, Emirand Emirates and gives to each partner ates. “This is the first time we have the opportunity to achieve worldwide worked with the team in this way brand recognition, simultaneously and we hope the videos bring some enhancing the image of each partner smiles to football fans around the love for football: Arsenal team members Lukas Podolthrough increased global awareness,” world, as well as perhaps helping ski, MikelArteta, WojciechSzczęsny and Theo Walcott said Al-Khelaïfi.

Cruising Heights June 2013

73

Back page

Now boarding: World’s tiniest hotels A re you one of those fliers who feel uncomfortable trying to sleep on a flight because of the narrow seats in coach class?

Well, the next time you have a few hours in hand and want to catch up on your sleep before the next flight, hop into one of the new sleeping pods that are fast catching up at airports across the world. Meant for the in-transit travellers who don’t want to shell out for a full night’s board in a hotel, these pods are basically short-stay, pay-by-thehour micro-hotels.

Known by different names — Napcabs at Munich, SnoozeCubes at Dubai, Minute Suites at Hartsfield-Jackson Airport and Philadelphia and Yotel at Amsterdam, Heathrow and Gatwick — these sleepboxes have standard fixtures and fittings. These sleeping pods generally comprise a fold-out table, TV, internet connection and power plug. Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport for example, has installed new pods that are

74

temperature-controlled and come with a bed, a TV, and WiFi, rentable for periods starting at 15 minutes and lasting for hours.

It supposedly cleans itself with UV lights between uses and has an arm that changes the bed linens. Another company, Cabinotel, is offering a competing product.

One drawback is that these sleeping pods do not come with washrooms and travellers hiring these on the airport concourse have to use the general toilets inside the terminal. Presently, Yotel’s Japanese style cabins at Amsterdam Schiphol, Heathrow or Gatwick do offer monsoon showers.

Dream & Fly, a Spanish firm, however, hopes to change that by introducing a more elaborate version with space for an ‘ensuite’. Modular pods called ‘Bubbles’ have been designed by the company in three different sizes (three, five and 10 metres square). While the five metre square pod ‘Simple Bubble’ has no space for a bathroom, the seven metre square pod, ‘Single

Cruising Heights June 2013

New Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International has moved in this direction with ‘Sam’s snooze at my space’ that also offers the facility of sleepboxes

IT's SNOOZE TIME: Inside views of sleeping pods at various airports

Bubble’ offers shower facilities and the largest pod room, ‘Family Bubble’, provides a sofa bed, baby changing facilities, and a bathroom. Alfred Sextl, the firm’s Commercial Manager, said: “We have already presented our Bubbles product to several airports on the Iberian Peninsula, in Central Europe and South America and we have also received first enquiries from airports in Asia.”

Commenting on the future of sleeping pods, Raymond Kollau, founder of trend watching agency airlinetrends.com said: “In my view, sleeping pods will remain a niche service, mainly available at airports where passengers transit to long-haul flights, but where (flight) frequencies are still relatively low, so transit times for passengers are longer.”

Incidentally, New Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International has moved in this direction with ‘Sam’s snooze at my space’ that also offers the facility of sleepboxes. n

RNI No. DELENG/2006/16897, Postal Reg. No. DL(E) 01/5294/2012-14, Publication Date: 1st of every month, Posting Date: 8-9th every month