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EDITOR-IN-CHIEF’S NOTE

Wanted : An Incredible change

T

HE other day I had the opportunity to meet Ms. Rathi Vinay Jha, one of India's most respected civil servants and a former Union Tourism Secretary. Soon after retirement, Ms Jha took over as Secretary General of the India Chapter of the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) and also continued as the head of Fashion Design Council of India (FDCI). But the WTTC was a short interregnum. These days she is wholetime into fashion and textiles: her first love considering the years she had spent in the business.

But this column is not about her, but her recent experience as a tourist. Rathi Jha went on a short holiday to Aurangabad and returned home distressed. It was during her time that huge structural changes had been made (when Jagmnohan was the Tourism Minister) to give a complete facelift to several national treasures including the Ajanata and Ellora at Aurangabad, the Buddhist complex at Bodh Gaya and the Red Fort complex.

What this meant was a complete regeneration of the area surrounding the heritage site, removing of all encroachments, well-laidout walkways, neat and clean toilet facilities and a host of other amenities including F&B facilities, souvenir shops, etc. The idea was to provide the tourist who spent money and travelled all the way to Aurangabad and beyond with not a grand destination but a wonder ambience to soak in the spirit and enjoy themselves.

Alas, all that seems to have gone for a complete nought. The toilets run by Bindeshwar Pathak's Sulabh Sauchalaya were stinking (actually Mr. Pathak should think of some alternative business considering he has milked every ounce of publicity he can from these bathrooms and they are now nothing but replicas of stinking corporation run loos) and the whole ambience had gone for a toss.

Is this the Incredible India we want to promote?

Some years back a friend of mine on a visit to India had expressed serious reservations about the campaign. He said that India was Incredible and

CRUISING HEIGHTS January 2007

the campaign was well, to put it mildly, outstanding. He said that the campaign made people want to take the first flight into the country, but once they arrived they were disappointed and in many cases "deeply upset" and he put it in the right perspective when he said: "You see, what you see is not what you get."

Be it Pushkar, Allahabad or Ujjain there is something fundamentally wrong with the manner in which we look at our treasures. There is complete indifference on the part of the local population whose only interest seems to be to milk the tourist. They couldn't care about hygiene, good facilities for the visitors or giving those who are paying through their nose the privilege of a pleasant experience.

Some years ago this came into sharp focus at an industry seminar when one of the tourist association notables (I think it was Subhash Goyal) made a long speech about new destinations and asked Indian Airlines to wake up. IA's then Commercial Director Anil Goel was incensed to say the least. He stood up and in a forthright nononsense riposte mentioned Aurangabad and recalled how IA had gone to the region when it wasn't even part of the travel agent's map. "We have invested our years in developing the destination," said Goel angrily and added, "and we are constantly looking to add to the menu." May we add that more routes have been opened in the last five years than in the past 50 and the rapid growth of aviation means more passengers, more destinations and more flights.

Sadly it's not just about Aurangabad or Pushkar or Anil Goel and Amitabh Kant. Goel developed routes and sold them well and Kant promotes them here and abroad (in fact, he makes them look brilliant). The point is: Do we need to tell our countrymen that a clean toilet and a friendly environment make not just good hygiene but also good business sense.

For India to be incredible, this incredible change must infuse my fellow countrymen and women.

1

Off the cuff

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Americans Fight to safeguard privacy

A controversy is threatening to engulf the United States. It stems from the X-ray imaging process that has been started by the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) The TSA is apparently using the century-old Xray technology in an innovative manner. Instead of scanning personal belongings and stepping through a metal detector, passengers are virtually "stripped" by a Backscatter X-ray machine.

The TSA has been testing various technologies and the one that stands a good chance of being put into service is the backscatter technology. Backscatter will be able to detect non-metallic devices and objects, as well as weapons or other harmful objects that a passenger may be carrying on his or her person.

The backscatter process is meant to reveal any potentially concealed weapons. So far, so good. But what it also does - and herein lies the root of the controversy -- is provide a glimpse of the passenger's nude body. Those who regard their privacy as more important than security have posed questions on whether the sight of exposed bodies would spark voyeurism or whether such measures are less invasive than the traditional pat down?

The TSA, however, has been quick to douse fears about the nude images.

On its website, it has pointed out that any images captured by the Xray camera would be erased from the screen. "The capability of printing, storing or transmitting the image is not available to the Transportation Security Officer operating the system," the website has noted.

contents

BACKENDERS TAKE CENTRESTAGE p22

Airlines have started adding more muscle to their backend operations to keep travellers informed up-to-theminute. The crucial part played by the backenders became apparent when fog and bad weather disrupted air journeys.

A peek into the work that is being done by airline call centres.

GLOBE TROTTING AIRCARGO

p30

The composite cargo and passenger hub at Nagpur will take quite a while to start operations. Till then, the Indian airfreight industry will remain hampered by the lack of a proper cargo village in the country.

CRUISING HEIGHTS January 2007

p20

‘Fly me to the moon’, could soon be a reality with Virgin Galactic preparing future space travellers. To facilitate space travel, 45 adventurous travel consultants are being trained in the USA to become "Accredited Space Agents".

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

CRUISING HEIGHTS K. SRINIVASAN Editor-in-Chief

PERSPECTIVE p13

INTERVIEW

p10

Qatar Airways CEO Akbar Al Baker is definitely a man in a hurry. With a clear business plan, the QA chief is bullish about India and has chalked out a blueprint to take his carrier to the top.

Air India and Indian's entry into the Star Alliance received a setback when the Executive Board decided to put the carriers' application on hold. And, it was all because some Air India top brass shot their mouths off to proclaim that the Alliance membership was in their pockets.

TIRTHANKAR GHOSH Managing Editor

R. KRISHNAN Consulting Editor

SHIVANGI SHARMA Editorial Coordinator

RUCHI SINHA PRADEEP JHA Layout Artists

BHART BHARDWAJ Art Director

H.C. TIWARI Consulting Photographer

RAJIV SINGH Gen. Manager (Admn.)

RENU MITTAL

SNIPPETS NEWS DIGEST

p17

In its first-ever joint initiative, the Sri Lanka Tourist Board with the Sri Lanka Convention Bureau and SriLankan Airlines as well as the MICE industry partners have started an aggressive campaign to target the middle segment, high-yielding corporates and conference travellers from India.

p38

Indian (Airlines) has at last launched its e-ticketing services. In keeping with its commitment to provide convenience and speed to passengers, the national carrier has adopted the globally accepted system of e-ticketing or electronic ticketing.

BACK PAGE

p44

Infosys Chief Mentor V Narayanamurthy caused quite a stir when he landed in Jaipur in the company of another distinguished Kannadiga, Captain Gopinath of Air Deccan.

Executive Director Editorial & Marketing office: Newsline Publications Pvt. Ltd. C-15, Sector-6 Noida-201301 Telfax.: +91-120-4257701-03 All information in CRUISING HEIGHTS is derived from sources we consider reliable.

It is passed on to our readers without any responsibility on our part. Opinions/views expressed by third parties in abstract or in interviews are not necessarily shared by us.

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

Published by K. Srinivasan 4C Pocket-IV, Mayur Vihar Phase 1, Delhi 110091 and printed by K. Srinivasan at Nutech Photolithographers, C-74, Okhla Industrial Area, phase-I, New Delhi 110 020 Vol 1 No 8

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India extraordinary

PERISCOPE

“We have 5-6 destinations here on our radar but no decision has been taken yet. Currently, Asia accounts for 20 per cent of Lufthansa's revenues.

India is the second largest market in the Asia-Pacific region. We operate to six Indian destinations, compared to four destinations in China. In revenue terms, India is ahead of China.”

“

Lufthansa's Executive Vice-President, Marketing and Sales, THIERRY ANTINORI on destination India

LETTERS TO EDITOR

CRUISING HEIGHTS (December 2006) was a mine of interesting information. While your correspondents reported about the arrival of the new Boeing plane for Air India (The Maharaja gets his first new flying steed), the cover story on Groundhandling made some ground-breaking revelations. Notwithstanding the government's desire to open up the skies, precious little seems to have been done on the ground. The absence of clear-cut policies about ground handling only point out to the lack of groundwork by the ministry.

V Rameswar, Hyderabad

OFF THE RECORD (December 2006) made interesting reading. If reports are to be believed Air India chief Mr V Thulasidas seems to be doing a fine job, given all the constraints and the mindset of the staff who have to be reminded time and again that there is competition all around. If the airline does not perform, it will perish and the onus will not be on Mr Thulasidas but on those who run it.

R Basu on email YOUR Bzzz,zzz,zzzz mentioned that a small airline like IndiGo has been attracting the most number of aviation professionals. That only goes to show how focused these small players in the big world of aviation are. Their business plans have been worked out meticulously indeed!

Jaspal Ahuja, New Delhi

THE STORY that should attract the eyes of the powersthat-be is the one on Delhi International Airport Ltd (Off the Record). The press conference, addressed by Srinivas Bommidala, which DIAL held to showcase the future Delhi International Airport Terminal, highlighted the fact that the Airports Authority of India were nowhere in the picture. A sad event indeed for an organization, which continues to manage most of the airports of the country.

Ramanathan K, Bangalore All correspondence may be addressed to Editor, Cruising Heights,C-15, Sector-6, Noida-201301 OR mail to newslinepublications@rediffmail.com

4

Going global “We will commence flights to New York in August and later to San Francisco and Toronto. By the end of 2008 or early 2009 we expect to operate to Toronto from Delhi. Besides, the carrier is looking to fly to the African continent, mainly to South Africa and Kenya in the later part of 2007.”

Jet Airways CEO WOLFGANG PROCK-SCHAUER, on the airline's global plans

Welcome Tata !

“Tata's investment would be symbolic.

Apart from the financial aspect, we will ask it to participate through its managerial experience and network. It is not a strategic investment - purely a financial one. There will not be any board-level representation in SpiceJet.” Spicejet Director AJAY SINGH on the Tata's investing in his company.

Mumbai dreams

“All the technical clearances for the new airport have been received. Almost 74 per cent of the land required for the new airport has been identified and acquired. We plan to have an airport that would have a terminal area of 2.5lakh sq.m. and a cargo area of 1-lakh sq.m. The new airport would be able to handle 50-55 million passengers annually.”

Maharashtra Chief Minister VILASRAO DESHMUKH on the new Greenfield airport in Navi Mumbai.

Glorious days “The last induction of a new aircraft was in 1996 when we had Boeing 747-400 and we have been struggling with old aircraft. With today's induction of a brand new Boeing 737-800 for our sister concern Air-India Express and the deliveries to come in the next few months, we are preparing ourselves as a force to reckon with in the global aviation space.”

Air India CMD VASUDEVAN THULALISIDAS on the arrival of the first aircraft of the new AI fleet.

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COLD STATS

Of the new flights introduced in 2006, the route with the largest seat offering was the domestic service between Tokyo Haneda and Osaka Kobe in Japan, which offered 773,871 seats on 3,853 flights.

The longest scheduled route flown in 2006 was between Newark (EWR) and Singapore (SIN) with an elapsed time of 18 hours and 40 minutes. The flight is operated by Singapore Airlines using an Airbus A340-500 to cover the 9,523 miles (8,275 nautical miles; 15,325 kms).

The shortest scheduled route flown in 2006 was between Papa Westray (PPW) and Westray (WRY) in the United Kingdom with an elapsed time of 2 minutes. The flight is operated by Loganair to cover 8 nautical miles or 14 kms.

OAG (a global travel and transport information company ) has calculated that the world's scheduled airlines — including Low Cost Carriers — offered a record 3.3 billion seats (3,297,362,597) on 28.2 million flights (28,240,490) during 2006. That represents an average daily offer of over 9 million seats on 77,371 individual daily flights.

Low Cost Carriers around the world offered a total of 549,078,161 seats in 2006 on 3,815,204 flights.

Within the US the capacity share of the Low Cost Carriers was 27 per cent, slightly more than Europe where the offer was 24 per cent. In the Asia/Pacific region, Low Cost Carriers offered just 9 per cent of the total number of seats on offer by scheduled airlines in 2006,

LOOKING GLASS

Airbus tales “We were earlier planning to fly the aircraft for the Bangalore air show. But that airfield is too small.

So we plan to get the aircraft to Mumbai and Delhi early next year. The A-380 will definitely be here in the next couple of months…We estimate that there is scope for at least 54 large Airbus A-380 variety of aircraft in the Indian market till 2025.”

Airbus Chief Operating Officer (Customers) JOHN LEAHY on the A380 plans to fly into India and the numbers they hope to sell

"The delays do not affect out operational plans. We will fly A-380 on the international routes, but these services will be started much earlier, once we get deliveries of our Airbus A350-800 wide-bodied aircraft by next year."

VIJAY MALLAYA, Chairman Kingfisher Airlines

CRUISING HEIGHTS January 2007

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OFF THE RECORD

A final marathon!

AS THE good man prepared to retire at the end of January 2007, after nearly two years in the hot seat, he decided that it was time for one long cross-country (sorry, it should be cross-continental) fling before he packed his bags and went home. We are talking about Civil Aviation Secretary Ajay Prasad who used the month of December for a record number of bilateral talks. Soon after he finished with Singapore in Delhi, he got ready for a visit to Cambodia for a set of bilaterals before proceeding westwards. Now, why does Ajay Prasad love bilaterals?

Clearly many of them can easily be handled by his loyal deputy R K Singh. But till the time of writing, we found that he still preferred to lead the team. And Praful Patel doesn't want to say no to him. After all, Mantriji must be happy that his Secretary has been more than loyal fulfilling every diktat of his. But will he offer him a sinecure after his retirement?

Well there are many stories in the air. The fundamental equation is in place; it is just a question of Mantriji wanting to push his case. Will he try hard enough? Time to wait and watch.

Bzzz.zzz.zzzz

Secretary kaun?

SO WHO will be the new Secretary in the Mantralaya when Mr Ajay Prasad packs his bags January end? Several names are doing the rounds and we present you with the list in order of precedence: V Thulasidas: the Air India Chairman is a savvy 1972 batch officer from the Tripura cadre.

He is hugely connected in the capital across the political spectrum and his friends in high places. Biggest advantage is the three years spent in Air India.

6

Understands Civil Aviation and can easily move from Mumbai to Delhi. The question is does Mantriji want him in the corner office?

Yashwant Bhave: This 1972 batch civil servant from the Maharashtra cadre is equally well connected. His father was the former Chief Secretary of Maharashtra.He is very close to Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar in whose Ministry he is now posted as the Secretary, Consumer Affairs. The point is: Will Bhave be shifted in just two months (he moved to the Krishi Bhawan job in the first week of November)? Bhave is scheduled to stay for a full two years.He was earlier in Telecom Ministry and prior to that in the IT Ministry.

T Nand Kumar who is at present with the Jarkhand government. Nand Kumar is highly rated by Pawar who has interacted with him earlier. He also has a full three years to go.

CRUISING HEIGHTS January 2007

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Hum Hain Na! IT was a perfect Hum hain na sequence.

Mantriji loved it and AAI Chairman S Ramalingam made it plain that when it came to the airport business he was no less than Shahrukh Khan. It all happened at Jaipur's Sanganer Airport where Praful Patel and Vasundharaje Scindia were present for the foundation stone laying ceremony of the new airport block.

Jaipur is the part of the blitzkrieg that the AAI and Mantriji hope to unleash this year to set the non-metro traffic rolling through spanking new airports. In fact, if reports are to be believed, then PP has asked the AAI to give a calendar for the foundation stone laying ceremonies across the country. They are believed to be preparing a huge list that will virtually see the Minister criss-crossing the country laying stones all through this year. He was there at Aurangabad on the ninth and he is going to Ahmedabad on the 21st.The AAI Chief told the Minister that in exactly one calendar year he would ensure that the Jaipur building was ready for inaguration. Mantriji was pleased as punch and he said: "Usually policies and projects are put in place by one Minister and the inauguration is done by another." But not so in his case.

The sarkar seems to be stable and Praful Patel may well cut the ribbon next January in Jaipur. Unless, of course, he decides that it makes sense for him to privatize this airport as well.

Why not, why not CIVIL AVIATION Minister Praful Patel believes in rewarding people who say 'yes' to him without batting an eyelid. But as he tries to explain time and again, it's not because he isn't a democrat (“I am willing to listen to every other argument”), but because he wants a well-defined policy to be "implemented and not hijacked". Well, in many cases it goes well beyond policy into issues of detail that's best left to the babus, but who is to argue with Mantriji.Amongst those who are in the new year's honours list of the Minister include: S C Mishra, former member (planning) at the AAI for going beyond the call of duty in the line of intense fire to serve the supreme commander. In any issue, Mishra stood steadfast to deliver. He could well end up in the Aero Economic Regulatory Authority (AERA). Well, it is the Ministry's equivalent of the Ashok Chakra.

Next on the list for the honours list is Kanu Gohain.But the DGCA DG still has some way to go. So let's wait and watch when he is called to receive his medal.

Tyagi at Pawan Hans But there are others who are also lobbying to get in a good word with those who matter.Unfortunately for thm bothPraful Patel and Sharad Pwar are so bogged down with municipal elections in the state that they have little time to look at canidates.What’s the odds therefore.To put it simply,Bhave breasts the tape just slightly ahead of Thulasidas.But in the days to come it could go the other way too.That’s what always happens in a sprint.

R.K. TYAGI who is the General Manager (Logistics) at the ONGC has been cleared to be the next Chairman and Managing Director of Pawan Hans. Should be no surprise to antyone considering that the ONGC is the single biggest business partner of the country’s public sector chopper company. It must be a record of sorts that the Ministry of Civil Aviation has pushed the process and ensured that the PESB selects a suitable candidate. Full marks to R K Singh – holding charge of the job since the time Sridhar resigned and went on an ICAO assignment to Africa – who wanted out of the job as soon as possible. The file is going through the bureaucratic labyrinth and it is expected that Tyagi should be in the hot seat by the middle of February.

So low profile is the Pawan Hans assignment – though,one of the most profitable – that there are few ripples in the bureaucratic corridors on this job.

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OFF THE RECORD

Where did you holiday?

AFTER a tough year of losses and climbing numbers, it was time to party and boy did they do that well: Bruce Ashby was back home in the US for Christmas and New Year and returned to the capital and a pile of work in the first week of January. Captain Gopinath went underground for a week around Christmas with his family. It must have been a rare chuutti for the low-cost messiah. He is better used to calling his passengers his family and himself the patriarch of an ‘Udipi hotel in the sky’ who likes nothing better than spending time in their company at 35,000 feet of course. Indian CMD

Vishwapati Trivedi went to Indore and then flew down to Dubai with his family to ring in the New Year. Siddanth Sharma too, was off during the new year (Spicejet sources state he was in the hills) and the man for all seasons Vijay Mallaya first spent a gala new year at Kingfisher villa in Goa but before and after the event he was out of the country vacationing with his family. No one knew where he was, but they could be in touch on email. Mallya is a great one for email. Which finally brings us to the badhshahs of Mumbai: Air India Chairman V Thulasidas and Naresh Goyal of Jet. The AI Chairman was very much in the city tending to the Maharaja and Goyal, well, his comrades tell us that 'work is a holiday' for the good man!

Punjab woes THE Punjab election is certainly not good news for the Ministry of Tourism and Culture.

Say what you may but the fact of the matter is that Minister Ambika Soni is a die-hard politician who has spent one year plus as a minister but thirty-plus years in the business of politics. So, each time there is a crisis or an election, the netas make a beeline to her residence.

After all, she is close to 10 Janpath and Mrs. Gandhi has implicit trust in her judgment. It's no different this time. All those opposed to Amrinder Singh or in his bad books are camp-

8

CRUISING HEIGHTS January 2007

ing outside the lady's house leaving her with little time for her bread and butter work. So much so that there was little time with the lady to look at the Incredible India campaign waiting to be released globally across TV screens and theatres. There were four of these films and the Ministry of Tourism was trying its best to get her to see them. To be fair to her, it's not that she wasn't interested, it's simply that the people of Punjab wouldn't leave her alone. Meanwhile, Amitabh Kant continues in his perch as JS Tourism. If reports are to be believed, Kant will now stay till the budget is over which means till June this year.

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INTERVIEW

“I wear Akbar Al Baker, Qatar Airways Chief Executive Officer, is a visionary in the airline business.

Over the last five years, his airline has not only grown in strength but is also one of the only three five-star carriers in the world. He spoke to R Krishnan and K Srinivasan on what makes Qatar Airways fly high.

What do you mean when you say Qatar Airways a mature airline?

I do not want to talk about others but when I say we are a mature airline, I mean we are an established airline. We have a strong network, we have a good amount of aeroplanes and we are a responsible airline. We don't believe in doubling traffic and doubling capacity while undermining other people. We grew gradually. When we started (our flights to) Cochin, we started with an Airbus 319. We could very easily have started with an Airbus A 320 or an A 321 but we started with a 319. There was less capacity. (We wanted to) see how the market grows, grow the demand and then add additional capacity to the market. We have very close relationship with the top level in Air India and Indian Airlines. We try to grow in a market along with the national carrier - not undermine the national carrier. Soon, Air India Express will come to Doha. We welcome them because they will also use our airport.

For me, it is an additional

Photo Courtesy: Qatar Airways

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only one hat” source of revenue.

You said that Qatar Airways flies to 70 cities across the world. In terms of passengers carried in a full calendar year, what will the figure be like?

In the current calendar year, which ends in March 2007, we will have carried nearly 8.3 million passengers. Qatar's population is only 10 per cent of what we carry (smiles)…

Is India a great place for upcoming airlines like Qatar Airways? Your freighter requirements are based on the sub-continental angle, one presumes. Is India factored into it?

The entire network requirement is a factor, not any one significant reason. Every country regardless where we are from…every country where we want frequencies we have to buy aeroplanes to be able to translate our plans into action I said in the press conference (held recently) that we were supposed to operate flights to Nagpur this year but we now have to postpone it to next year. Not because we don't want to go or we have had second thoughts. But we do not have aeroplanes.

Out of the total fleet capacity, the number deployed to India is very small. For example, we come 30 times a week to India but we go four times a day to London. So, we go 48 times to one destination while we are coming 30 times to five destinations in India.

We go seven times a day to Dubai, five times a day to Kuwait, five times a day to

Are you emulating the Emirates model?

Bring in huge numbers from the subcontinent and put them on flights to Australia or London…What sort of model is yours?

No we are not emulating anybody. Our aim is to make Doha an efficient international hub. Dubai is the same but it has a different strategy of how to achieve that.

“

Every airline that is in our region is a competitor for me.

Actually, we are giving everybody competition because we are so innovative…We are only one of the three airlines rated five-star and, of course, we are upsetting all our other competitors who have been wanting to know why they are not getting the same rating.

“

Like Emirates and Etihad, you obviously see a great future in connecting people from India to the rest of the world…

Even if anything (untoward) happens, the Indian economy would still grow at 7.5 per cent. I am very confident about the future of India and I am very proud because I studied here. The growth is very impressive - no matter what happens. In the next ten years, I expect, India to grow at 10 per cent. Maybe China will be the only other country to grow at a faster pace but whatever may happen, you will still grow. Perhaps, I am too optimistic at 10 per cent … but even if you take somewhere between 7.5 per cent and 10 per cent, the growth is good.

Abu Dhabi, twice a day to Muscat and seven times a day to Bahrain. 60 per cent of our passengers network-wide are flying beyond.

Who do you think will give you more competition: Emirates or Etihad?

Every airline that is in our region is a competitor for me. Actually, we are giving everybody competition because we are so innovative. Nobody has a product that can equal Qatar Airways. You can sample it for yourself.

We are only one of the three airlines rated five-star and, of course, we are upsetting all our other competitors who have been wanting to know why they are not getting the same rating.

Any other privately owned airline in your place would have crashed long back. You have survived acquiring more and more aircraft, maintaining and improving the services for the last 15 years simply because of the financial muscle and the backing that the state provides you. In the next five years you will continue to make losses. How do you sustain yourself?

We survive because we have very deep pockets.

Because it is government-funded?

You know what the government does for me? Nothing.

Then where do you get the money from?

The airline has internally generated source of cash. We have subsidiary incomes, which fuels the cash flow requirement of the airline. The subsidiaries are: the airport, the ground handling, the duty-free, aircraft catering, the liquor distribution, and the advertisements…

All this can only buy you one air-

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INTERVIEW

“I wear Akbar Al Baker, Qatar Airways Chief Executive Officer, is a visionary in the airline business.

Over the last five years, his airline has not only grown in strength but is also one of the only three five-star carriers in the world. He spoke to R Krishnan and K Srinivasan on what makes Qatar Airways fly high.

What do you mean when you say Qatar Airways a mature airline?

I do not want to talk about others but when I say we are a mature airline, I mean we are an established airline. We have a strong network, we have a good amount of aeroplanes and we are a responsible airline. We don't believe in doubling traffic and doubling capacity while undermining other people. We grew gradually. When we started (our flights to) Cochin, we started with an Airbus 319. We could very easily have started with an Airbus A 320 or an A 321 but we started with a 319. There was less capacity. (We wanted to) see how the market grows, grow the demand and then add additional capacity to the market. We have very close relationship with the top level in Air India and Indian Airlines. We try to grow in a market along with the national carrier - not undermine the national carrier. Soon, Air India Express will come to Doha. We welcome them because they will also use our airport.

For me, it is an additional

Photo Courtesy: Qatar Airways

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only one hat” source of revenue.

You said that Qatar Airways flies to 70 cities across the world. In terms of passengers carried in a full calendar year, what will the figure be like?

In the current calendar year, which ends in March 2007, we will have carried nearly 8.3 million passengers. Qatar's population is only 10 per cent of what we carry (smiles)…

Is India a great place for upcoming airlines like Qatar Airways? Your freighter requirements are based on the sub-continental angle, one presumes. Is India factored into it?

The entire network requirement is a factor, not any one significant reason. Every country regardless where we are from…every country where we want frequencies we have to buy aeroplanes to be able to translate our plans into action I said in the press conference (held recently) that we were supposed to operate flights to Nagpur this year but we now have to postpone it to next year. Not because we don't want to go or we have had second thoughts. But we do not have aeroplanes.

Out of the total fleet capacity, the number deployed to India is very small. For example, we come 30 times a week to India but we go four times a day to London. So, we go 48 times to one destination while we are coming 30 times to five destinations in India.

We go seven times a day to Dubai, five times a day to Kuwait, five times a day to

Are you emulating the Emirates model?

Bring in huge numbers from the subcontinent and put them on flights to Australia or London…What sort of model is yours?

No we are not emulating anybody. Our aim is to make Doha an efficient international hub. Dubai is the same but it has a different strategy of how to achieve that.

“

Every airline that is in our region is a competitor for me.

Actually, we are giving everybody competition because we are so innovative…We are only one of the three airlines rated five-star and, of course, we are upsetting all our other competitors who have been wanting to know why they are not getting the same rating.

“

Like Emirates and Etihad, you obviously see a great future in connecting people from India to the rest of the world…

Even if anything (untoward) happens, the Indian economy would still grow at 7.5 per cent. I am very confident about the future of India and I am very proud because I studied here. The growth is very impressive - no matter what happens. In the next ten years, I expect, India to grow at 10 per cent. Maybe China will be the only other country to grow at a faster pace but whatever may happen, you will still grow. Perhaps, I am too optimistic at 10 per cent … but even if you take somewhere between 7.5 per cent and 10 per cent, the growth is good.

Abu Dhabi, twice a day to Muscat and seven times a day to Bahrain. 60 per cent of our passengers network-wide are flying beyond.

Who do you think will give you more competition: Emirates or Etihad?

Every airline that is in our region is a competitor for me. Actually, we are giving everybody competition because we are so innovative. Nobody has a product that can equal Qatar Airways. You can sample it for yourself.

We are only one of the three airlines rated five-star and, of course, we are upsetting all our other competitors who have been wanting to know why they are not getting the same rating.

Any other privately owned airline in your place would have crashed long back. You have survived acquiring more and more aircraft, maintaining and improving the services for the last 15 years simply because of the financial muscle and the backing that the state provides you. In the next five years you will continue to make losses. How do you sustain yourself?

We survive because we have very deep pockets.

Because it is government-funded?

You know what the government does for me? Nothing.

Then where do you get the money from?

The airline has internally generated source of cash. We have subsidiary incomes, which fuels the cash flow requirement of the airline. The subsidiaries are: the airport, the ground handling, the duty-free, aircraft catering, the liquor distribution, and the advertisements…

All this can only buy you one air-

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INTERVIEW liquor - we buy services from these companies at the prevailing market prices. So, the airline is properly run. There are no hidden goodies to the airline. Though it goes from this pocket to that pocket, you are measuring the airline correctly. For example, if you start subsidising ground handling or catering, then it gives you a false perception of the airline.

H.C. Tiwari

Your mantra then is to have a positive cash flow?

Until we start making profits. Don't forget that we are building our asset base. We started with zero assets. Today, the airline is worth a lot of money because we have so much assets.

12

“

Unlike everywhere else where a government floats half of some entity to the private sector, (for us) it is the other way round. We were a completely privately-owned airline. Five years ago the government became a shareholder. This is why we are independent from the government.

We run as a private entity.

“

craft…not a whole fleet I am not giving seats free. The airline is capitalized. The aeroplanes you are buying - you are not paying (for them in) cash. You are paying over a 12-year period. The depreciation is only a book entry. The shortfall in cash flow is generated by… As long as you have a positive cash flow, regardless of what you lose, your nose will be above the water. This is what the policy of the government is. And for me as a CEO, I do not want to beg the government for money. The airline is kept alive. When we have a deficit in our cash flow, it (the shorfall) is generated by our subsidiaries.

We get very cheap finances. The only thing that the government has done is give me sovereign guarantees for my loans.

You see, unlike everywhere else where a government floats half of some entity to the private sector, (for us) it is the other way round. We were a completely privately-owned airline. Five years ago the government became a shareholder. So the government bought shares in a private company. This is why we are independent from the government. We run as a private entity.

The government is the single largest shareholder, holding 50 per cent in the company.

Five individuals and institutions hold the rest. The government became a shareholder and what it brought with it to the airline is give sovereign guarantee to our debts. So, when we negotiate loans, we negotiate very, very cheap because there is 100 per cent security. The government rating is Aplus. So we take full financing - both commercial and ECA - and whatever is the shortfall in our cash flow requirements is generated by our subsidiaries. But we are very efficient in the way we run our subsidiaries. Though it is 100 per cent owned by the airline - catering, ground handling,

CRUISING HEIGHTS January 2007

The innovations that you have made what has been the real cutting edge?

Well, it is the focus of the airline management has towards the passenger. Tell me which airline - were you to complain to the CEO -- would you get the CEO to pick up the telephone and talk to you? Or, the CEO to personally investigate and reply. The complaint is not put into the dustbin or given to a clerk to answer. And this is our secret. We are a big airline but we always make sure that once a passenger has highlighted something to the senior management, it is followed up. And if we get a complaint from a passenger that these are five letters he has written and never got a reply, somebody will lose his job.

Who is expanding my airline? It is the passenger. If I upset you, you won't come and then who will pay for my salaries? We are blessed with not having unions. Everybody has a contract, everybody has to perform.

There are checks and balances for every individual in the airline.

The 777 you referred to. Which variant is it: the 200 LR or the 300 ER? 300 ERs and we have 200 LRs and we have 200 LRs-F. We have 40 airplanes on order. The first and second are 777 - 300 ERs. The first is in November 2007 and the third in March of 2008. The (lot of )40 airplanes is split between LRs and ERs. The LR-F is extra.

Your A 380 is delayed. Will that make you put your India plans on hold?

We are not going to operate the 380s in India.

You wear too many hats. Does it bother you? When I was in Doha, I was told that you visit the airport at midnight for an inspection. You look after the airline, tourism, etc., I only wear one hat: my Arabic one. If you plan your work, there is plenty of time.

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INTERVIEW liquor - we buy services from these companies at the prevailing market prices. So, the airline is properly run. There are no hidden goodies to the airline. Though it goes from this pocket to that pocket, you are measuring the airline correctly. For example, if you start subsidising ground handling or catering, then it gives you a false perception of the airline.

H.C. Tiwari

Your mantra then is to have a positive cash flow?

Until we start making profits. Don't forget that we are building our asset base. We started with zero assets. Today, the airline is worth a lot of money because we have so much assets.

12

“

Unlike everywhere else where a government floats half of some entity to the private sector, (for us) it is the other way round. We were a completely privately-owned airline. Five years ago the government became a shareholder. This is why we are independent from the government.

We run as a private entity.

“

craft…not a whole fleet I am not giving seats free. The airline is capitalized. The aeroplanes you are buying - you are not paying (for them in) cash. You are paying over a 12-year period. The depreciation is only a book entry. The shortfall in cash flow is generated by… As long as you have a positive cash flow, regardless of what you lose, your nose will be above the water. This is what the policy of the government is. And for me as a CEO, I do not want to beg the government for money. The airline is kept alive. When we have a deficit in our cash flow, it (the shorfall) is generated by our subsidiaries.

We get very cheap finances. The only thing that the government has done is give me sovereign guarantees for my loans.

You see, unlike everywhere else where a government floats half of some entity to the private sector, (for us) it is the other way round. We were a completely privately-owned airline. Five years ago the government became a shareholder. So the government bought shares in a private company. This is why we are independent from the government. We run as a private entity.

The government is the single largest shareholder, holding 50 per cent in the company.

Five individuals and institutions hold the rest. The government became a shareholder and what it brought with it to the airline is give sovereign guarantee to our debts. So, when we negotiate loans, we negotiate very, very cheap because there is 100 per cent security. The government rating is Aplus. So we take full financing - both commercial and ECA - and whatever is the shortfall in our cash flow requirements is generated by our subsidiaries. But we are very efficient in the way we run our subsidiaries. Though it is 100 per cent owned by the airline - catering, ground handling,

CRUISING HEIGHTS January 2007

The innovations that you have made what has been the real cutting edge?

Well, it is the focus of the airline management has towards the passenger. Tell me which airline - were you to complain to the CEO -- would you get the CEO to pick up the telephone and talk to you? Or, the CEO to personally investigate and reply. The complaint is not put into the dustbin or given to a clerk to answer. And this is our secret. We are a big airline but we always make sure that once a passenger has highlighted something to the senior management, it is followed up. And if we get a complaint from a passenger that these are five letters he has written and never got a reply, somebody will lose his job.

Who is expanding my airline? It is the passenger. If I upset you, you won't come and then who will pay for my salaries? We are blessed with not having unions. Everybody has a contract, everybody has to perform.

There are checks and balances for every individual in the airline.

The 777 you referred to. Which variant is it: the 200 LR or the 300 ER? 300 ERs and we have 200 LRs and we have 200 LRs-F. We have 40 airplanes on order. The first and second are 777 - 300 ERs. The first is in November 2007 and the third in March of 2008. The (lot of )40 airplanes is split between LRs and ERs. The LR-F is extra.

Your A 380 is delayed. Will that make you put your India plans on hold?

We are not going to operate the 380s in India.

You wear too many hats. Does it bother you? When I was in Doha, I was told that you visit the airport at midnight for an inspection. You look after the airline, tourism, etc., I only wear one hat: my Arabic one. If you plan your work, there is plenty of time.

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PERSPECTIVE

Not so starry!

It is a big blow for Air India and Indian: their entry into the Star Alliance has been postponed. All because the Alliance's top brass were upset with the announcements by some in Air India's management who jumped the gun in virtually proclaiming to the world that the Star Alliance membership was in their pockets.

S

ometime in early December last year, the Star Alliance Executive Board met in the city of Istanbul in Turkey to review applications from several airlines from across the globe. Istanbul was the right location. The Alliance was about to approve Turkish Airlines’ membership as the twenty-first member of the global network and it made sense to have their meeting in this most magnificent of cities. If Turkish joined the alliance, Brazil's ailing Varig that has now been taken over by a new set of investors made its exit as it goes through a process of restructuring.

In the Indian context, though, the major surprise was the decision of the Executive Board to put on hold what was seen as a 'done deal' and review its entire set of options for the subcontinent. The 'done

In the Indian contest, the major surprise was the decision of the Star Alliance Executive Board to put on hold the entry of Air India and Indian into the Alliance.

CRUISING HEIGHTS January 2007

deal' one is talking about is the reported entry of Air India and Indian into the Star Alliance post the merger.

Star had been in extensive talks with AI for months and had spent time with the Indian Jaan Albrecht, CEO, top brass in Star Alliance November last year as part of the induction exercise. So, why this sudden u-turn?

Apparently, the Star alliance top brass were angered by a few announcements in the past several weeks from top AI hon-

13

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PERSPECTIVE

Jet Airways chief Naresh Goyal

chos that they were going to be joining the network. The indication given was that it was a ‘done deal’. Senior officials at Star

were apparently embarrassed by the announcement when the full Executive Committee had yet to meet and consider the recommendations of the management team. So, at Istanbul while Turkish entered and Varig exited, the Indian option was reviewed and put on hold.

Astonishingly, the Star Executive Committee went one step ahead and decided that its first option for the Indian market would be Jet Airways and Naresh Goyal.Only and only if Naresh turns down their request would they go forward in their talks with AI and Indian. Will Naresh Goyal bite? To tell you the truth, he is unpredictable. In a number of airlines including British Airways, Cathay Pacific, Emirates, Gulf Air, KLM, Kenya Airways, Northwest, Saudi Arabian Airlines, Swiss International, Qantas and Qatar Airways one can have a 'through check in' if flying

by Jet. It's virtually like creating one's own network. Of course, it can never be the

same as joining an alliance where you integrate your system and your membership programme and consolidate it into one.

For AI and Indian, this should come as one big blow. After all, one of the prime reasons for the merger was the global leverage that this gargantuan airline would achieve. While the merger process continues, the Star Alliance membership is on shaky grounds. Of course, there are two other options for the country's national carriers: Sky and One World. But that would mean going back and beginning from scratch. Is there any other option?

Clearly, Air India supremo V Thulasidas was aware of the Star Alliance thinking and made it plain during a recent conversasation that Air India or the merged entity could join a global alliance. No, he did not want to be drawn into a discussion on which alliance. "I have always said we will join an alliance. Which one, I have

never spelt out," he said.

Is that right?

M

r. Sanjay Narayan left the Ministry of Civil Aviation in November last year. The ostensible reason for quitting was the fact that he wasn't empanelled as an Additional Secretary. As Joint Secretary, this Maharashtra cadre officer was on the Board of Indian Airlines (briefly), Pawan Hans and Airports Authority of India. He was on the board of the Green-

14

field airports coming up at Hyderabad and Bangalore and was the Ministry's pointsperson for all issues concerning not just these two airports, but every other issue connected with the Ministry of Civil Aviation and airport development in India.

As JS, he drove the privatization process for the two major gateways in the country - Delhi and Mumbai - after Naseem Zaidi had moved to ICAO as CRUISING HEIGHTS January 2007

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PERSPECTIVE

India's representative there. He was the key official in the entire process of privatisation and dealt with the various private sector giants who participated in the process. When GVK and GMR were finally awarded the contract, he was the one who liased with them on a day-to-day basis. He was the one who drove their case at the AAI Board and he was the one who arm-twisted the reluctant AAI to fall in line. And he was the one who organized the cloak-and-dagger signing ceremony at the Ashoka Hotel where the AAI top brass were herded like cattle and the Minister arrived without his convoy. But as his admirers put it: it was all for a good cause, better airports in Delhi and Mumbai.

Of course, all this endeared him to Praful Patel. The two had a bit of a frosty relationship ever since he had entered Rajiv Gandhi Bhawan. For one, he wasn't Praful's choice for the job, but his boss Sharad Pawar's choice. Moreover, his case for the appointment was turned down once and PP had to fight that much harder to make sure he was able to join the Ministry.

Also, during the Sushma Chawla regime at IA, Sanjay had got into a bit of a tangle over her appointment and that led to his summary shift from that portfolio to manage other pending issues. But he was like a battering ram on the airport issue and virtually brought the AAI to their knees. And that wasn't all; he delivered on the Gondia Pilot Academy and the handing over of Nagpur Airport to the Maharashtra Gov-

16

Friends together: Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel (centre) with G V Krishna Reddy (extreme left), Chairman, GVK, the promoter of the joint venture company, Mumbai International Airport Limited (MIAL), and Ajay Prasad (extreme right); (inset) Sanjay Narayan.

Sanjay Narayan has joined MIAL and will be station in Delhi to look after their interests. From one side of the fence, he has moved to the other side of the line of control.

CRUISING HEIGHTS January 2007

ernment. No wonder, by the time he was ready to leave, Praful had left the past behind and was actually sorry that he was leaving.

The next question that everyone asked was simple: where was Sanjay headed? Was he joining InterGlobe (whose boss Rahul Bhatia is a friend), or was he moving elsewhere? Well, the answer is now available: Sanjay Narayan has joined the Mumbai International Airport Ltd (MIAL) and will be stationed in Delhi to look after their interests. From one side of the fence, he has moved to the other side of the line of control. In fact, just the other day he was at a meeting with Civil Aviation Secretary Ajay Prasad representing MIAL and Prasadbabu didn't bat an eyelid. It was business as usual as far as he was concerned.

What the honorable Secretary had conveniently forgotten was the fact that his own department had taken action to have P S Nair who was formerly with the AAI from being on the DIAL (Delhi International Airport Ltd) Board or have anything to do on a day-to-day basis with the Delhi privatisation process. The GMR guys were issued a notice on the subject and they were forced to send Nair packing to the other side of the border and operate quietly from Gurgaon. Not so for Sanjay Narayan.He will be staying and operating from Delhi's tony Jor Bagh area and his civil service comrades will entertain him because he belongs to the brethren. If only Nair had been an IAS! Why hasn't MIAL been issued with a similar notice and why was Narayan allowed to attend the meeting?

One can understand both Nair and Narayan (one surreptiously and the other openly) working for DIAL and MIAL. But is it fair? You first set the benckmarks, argue the case, and pass judgment and then hop across to sup with the winner.

There is no doubt that there are two sets of laws that operate in Rajiv Gandhi Bhawan.One for the haves and one for the

have-nots!

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NEWS DIGEST

Initiatives to overcome shortage of hotel rooms THE government is well aware of the shortage of hotel rooms in the country.

Minister of Tourism and Culture Mrs Ambika Soni recently informed the Rajya Sabha that there was an acute shortage of hotel rooms, especially in major tourist destinations and metro cities like Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore. The shortage is usually experienced during the peak tourist season – October to March – every year. She ascribed the reason to the increase in foreign and domestic tourists.

To tide over the crisis, the Ministry of Tourism has launched a scheme of Bed & Breakfast asking house-owners to provide accommodation for the benefit of tourists. The main requisite of the scheme is that only those home-owners, who are able to offer a minimum of one room or a maximum of five rooms of prescribed specification are eligible to apply for this scheme. The idea is to provide a clean and affordable place for foreign and domestic tourists and an opportunity to stay with an Indian family to experience local customs and traditions and relish authentic local cuisine.

In addition, with the ministry of tourism expecting a tourist growth of 12-15 per cent per annum till 2010, there is a projected demand of around 30,000 hotel rooms in the NCR and Delhi to accommodate tourists and visitors to the Commonwealth Games 2010. Mrs Ambika Soni mentioned in the Rajya Sabha that the Ministry of Tourism had been in regular touch with various land-owning agencies of Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, the Indian Railways, the Airports Authority of India etc. to allocate more sites for hotels and also to adopt annual rental payment in place of outright auction of plots to promote budget hotels.

The tourism ministry has advised all state governments to deploy tourist police at important tourist destinations for the safety and security of all visitors, especially those from abroad.

Sri Lanka woos Indian MICE THE ISLAND'S Tourist Board together with the Sri Lanka Convention Bureau and SriLankan Airlines has augmented MICE initiatives in India.

In its first-ever joint initiative, the Sri Lanka Tourist Board with the Sri Lanka Convention Bureau and SriLankan Airlines as well as the MICE industry partners has started an aggressive campaign targeting the middle segment, high yielding corporates and conference travellers from India.

At the conclusion of its roadshow in Delhi and Mumbai, Mr. Haniffa Ishak, Chairman, Sri Lanka Convention Bureau, who led the Sri Lankan MICE delegation comprising hoteliers and tour operators laid an ideal platform for both Indian and Sri Lankan agents to broaden there business opportunities. In these B2B interactive sessions, 10 top-notch Sri Lankan travel agents and tour operators, interacted with more than 400 Indian companies. The focus of these B2B interactive sessions was to provide a greater impetus to MICE traffic and strengthen ties with the Indian travel trade fraternity. The Sri Lanka Convention Bureau has proposed the creation of a new distribution network in the India market, which favours MICE movement out of India.

Commenting on the India market Mr. Udaya Nanayakkara, Chairman, Sri Lanka Tourist Board said that India was the leading producer of tourism to Sri Lanka with 110,453 arrivals till October 2006, accounting for 19.8 per cent increase as compared to last years figures. For the year 2006, Sri Lanka hoped to achieve more than half a million tourists, for the fourth consecutive year from all over the world. With more than 14,000 hotel rooms available on the island, along with stateof-the-art facilities for conferences, conventions and exhibitions, Sri Lanka was ideal as a MICE destination.

Elaborating further on the recent India roadshow, the board chairman mentioned that the initiatives brought about by his organisation along with the Sri Lanka Convention Bureau, Sri Lankan airlines and MICE industry partners have taken the Sri Lanka message of wooing a greater chunk of Indian tourists with its world CRUISING HEIGHTS January 2007

class amenities and hospitality. "Our theme, 'Sri Lanka as a destination for corporate travellers' was well received by the Indian travel fraternity, in our B2B sessions. With these recent India roadshows we successfully broadened our business potentialities and horizons providing greater impetus to future opportunities" Elaborating on the plans for the India market, Mr. Haniffa Ishak, Chairman, Sri Lanka Convention Bureau said that India accounted for 20-25 per cent MICE movement with a total of 28000 MICE visitors to Sri Lanka in 2005-06. With the total 113,323 tourist arrivals to Sri Lanka, India remained the potential source market accounting for 25 per cent of the MICE

trade. With many state-of-the-art convention centres and facilities, Sri Lanka was the MICE destination to be in. The 'Meet in Sri Lanka' programme of the Sri Lanka Convention Bureau aims to further enhance MICE traffic from India.

Through this programme, the Sri Lanka Convention Bureau would offer competitive incentives in terms of discounted accommodation rates, competitive airfares with group check-in facilities and lucrative add-ons to the MICE itinerary.

There were many factors, which enhanced the Sri Lanka MICE product.

Among these were the close proximity with India, good air-connectivity from all key Indian metros and increasing trade and investment relations. The convention bureau further aimed to focus on widening the distribution network in tier-II Indian cities, with region-wise customized products.

Tourism is the fourth-largest foreign exchange earner for the Sri Lankan economy and India was the foremost contributor in terms of tourist arrivals with contribution of over 20 per cent.

17

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NEWS DIGEST

Hindi-Chini Bhai, Bhai!

India and Portugal for closer ties PROF. Isabel Pires De Lima, Portuguese Minister of Culture called on the Minister of Tourism & Culture Mrs Ambika Soni. During their meeting both ministers agreed that the Cultural Exchange Programme, which was signed recently in the presence of the Portuguese President and Prime Minister of India would be made operational soon.

Both the sides also agreed that collaboration between India and Portugal in the field of museums and libraries would be taken up on a priority basis. The visiting Minister offered her country's expertise to India in the area of museumology

A Chinese delegation led by the Vice Chairperson of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, Madam Liu Yandong called on the Union Minister for Tourism and Culture, Smt. Ambika Soni, in New Delhi on January 8, 2007.

INDIA AND CHINA are to actively work towards early realization of reciprocal establishment of each other's Cultural Centres in accordance with the Memorandum of Understanding signed between the two countries in Beijing in 2003. The two sides would undertake concrete consultations on the time and modalities for reciprocal organization of "Festival of India" and "Festival of China" This emerged during the discussions the Union Minister for Tourism & Culture, Mrs Ambika Soni had during her visit to Beijing, with the Chinese Minister of Culture Mr. Sun Jiazheng on bilateral cultural cooperation.

During the meeting, the two sides agreed to impart further momentum to the comprehensive development of official and people-to-people exchanges and assigning a proactive role to culture in the development of India-China relations, in the spirit of the Joint Declaration between China and India issued during the visit of Chinese President Hu Jintao to India

18

in New Delhi in November 2006.

The two sides expressed happiness and satisfaction over the celebration of the India-China Friendship Year in 2006, and the cultural exchanges carried out by both sides under this programme. They also welcomed the organization of the "Treasures of Ancient India" Exhibition in four cities of China as a good channel of communication and friendship between the peoples of the two countries.

It was noted with satisfaction that the construction of the Indian-style Buddhist shrine in Luoyang and the restoration work at the Xuanzang Memorial Hall in Nalanda were progressing smoothly and were both expected to be inaugurated next year.

During her stay in China, Mrs Ambika Soni inaugurated the largestever exhibition of Indian art in China, the "Treasures of Ancient India" along with Executive Vice Foreign Minister of China, Mr. Dai Bingguo, besides meeting top political leaders of that country.

CRUISING HEIGHTS January 2007

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and both the sides discussed about starting training programmes in the museum sector.

The Cultural Exchange Programmes between the two Governments for the years 2007-2010 envisages among other things implementation of initiatives designed to strengthen the cultural cooperation, particularly in the fields of fine arts, archives, architectural heritage, archaeology, photography, films and audio-visual. Both the countries also agreed to promote translation of representative contemporary literature of both countries on reciprocal basis.

Both countries would explore the possibility of exchanging one writer during the timeframe of the programme.

The Indian side will invite Portu-

Page 15

gal to take part in the 12th TriennaleIndia to be held in 2008. Both sides will encourage the participation in each other's international film festivals and the organization of a film week in each other's country. Both sides will exchange TV programmes depicting various facets of life and culture in each country. The programmes could be broadcasted to mark each other's national days. Both sides will promote, through Governmental organizations responsible for sports and sporting federations and organizations of both countries, the cooperation in the field of sports, namely in the areas of training and updating of human resources and interchange of experts and sports practitioners.

The Portuguese Minister of Culture, Prof. Isabel Pires de Lima called on the Union Minister of Tourism and Culture Smt. Ambika Soni, in New Delhi on January 12, 2007.

Initiatives in the NorthEast THE government is concentrating on developing tourism in the Northeast. To begin with, the Indiatourism Offices Overseas had undertaken a series of promotional activities to promote the tourism products of the country, including those of the North Eastern States in the important tourist generating markets. These activities include advertising in the print and electronic media, participation in international travel fairs and exhibitions, arranging India seminars, workshops and road shows, etc. Visits of tour operators/media representatives from overseas to some of the North-Eastern states had been sponsored under the Hospitality Scheme of the ministry.

In addition, space within the India pavilions set up by the ministry in important Travel Fairs like the WTM in London, ITB in Berlin, ATM in Dubai and PATA Travel Mart had been provided to the North Eastern states. To build infrastructure, an Institute of Hotel Management & Catering Technology had been set up at Guwahati. Also, a scheme of Capacity Building for Service Providers had been launched to impart training to the unorganized sector of the hospitality business.

Heritage monuments for shoots IN ANOTHER move that will foster growth in tourism, the government has been planning to open up heritage monuments for private purposes. In a written reply in the Rajya Sabha, the Minister of Tourism and Culture, Mrs Ambika Soni said that requests from the film world had been received for shooting at protected monuments. These were permitted after examination of the script.

CRUISING HEIGHTS January 2007

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GLOBE TROTTING

A Virgin move FOR THOSE who would like to spice up their air travel, Sir Richard Branson is ready with his countdown to take passengers to space.

And 50 persons have signed on to be the first group of commercial space travellers.

Quite sometime ago, he had announced that his Virgin Group would promote the development of the world's first privately funded spaceship for commercial travel.

The technology was owned by a

Paul Allen company called Mojave Aerospace Ventures (M.A.V.) and was originally developed to fulfil Paul Allen's vision of building the world's first privately funded, reusable space vehicle ('SpaceShipOne'). The licensing deal with M.A.V. could be worth up to £14 million ($21.5 million) over the next fifteen years depending on the number of spaceships built by Virgin.

On his part, Sir Richard has formed Virgin Galactic, a new company, which will become the world's first commercial space tourism operator. It is expected that around £60 million ($100 million) will be invested in developing the new generation of spaceships and ground infrastructure required to operate a sub-orbital space tourism experience. Over five years Virgin expects to create around 3000 astronauts and the price per seat on each flight, which will include at least three days of pre-flight training, is expected to be around £115,000 ($190,000). Virgin expects to get customers since till today the cheapest space tourism experience in government-built and taxpayer-funded spaceships cost over $15,000,000 per seat.

20

Specialist travel agents for space travel IMAGINE an advertisement tagline to be: "Fly me to the moon". Well, that could well be the punchline for accredited space travel agents who are being trained by Virgin Galactic for future space travellers.

Along with Virtuoso, 45 adventurous travel consultants are being trained by Virgin Galactic to become "Accredited Space Agents" – the first and only consultants in North America who will be allowed to reserve seats aboard Virgin Galactic's suborbital space flights.

When Virgin Galactic was ready to bring their pioneering travel venture to the North American market, they recognized the important role that travel agents would play in the sales process and they sought to work with just one agency network – Virtuoso – whose consultants are renowned for selling experiential travel. In August 2006, Virgin Galactic named leading travel company, Virtuoso, as their exclusive retail travel group for North America. Since then, the two organizations have been working together to match the right con-

Nepal reaps fruits of peace THIS is one big 'Thumbs Up' for peace.

The moves by the N e p a l e s e government to smoke the peace pipe with the Maoists have brought about a muchneeded boost to tourism in the land-locked Himalayan kingdom.

Visitors` inflow to Nepal by air for the month of November 2006 recorded an

sultants with this unique programme, vetting applications from 120 would-be Space Agents. The select group of consultants will go through a comprehensive education programme in their quest to become "Accredited Space Agents." Training will take place in early 2007 and, once accredited, agents can begin reserving seats, with the first flights launching in late 2008.

increase of 6.9 per cent compared to the same period last year. The number of Indian visitors too saw an increase.

Of the 29,407 visitors entering Nepal during November, the major market segments for the month were Indians (23 per cent), Japanese (11 per cent), British (8 per cent), Americans (6.8 per cent) and Germans (5.9 per cent). Travel trade sources in Nepal predict that with the signing of a peace accord and a way forward for permanent peace and settlement, there will be encouraging increase in booking for the coming months.

Travel hotspots for 2007 FORGET the wars or even the fear of terrorism. Americans have started planning their 2007 vacations, as Orbitz Insider points out. According to Heather Leisman, director of merchandising for Orbitz, vacation-planning should have started early or else "you might get caught in the rut of doing the same old" routes. In fact, Orbitz Insider has picked the 2007 hotspots. Here's the list: New Orleans, Louisiana, Alaska - on a cruise ship, Valencia in Spain, Krakow in Poland and Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam.

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High on champagne ON NEW Year's Eve, 44 Lufthansa aircraft worldwide were in the air, heading for destinations as far afield as Cape Town, SĂŁo Paulo, Istanbul, Helsinki, Bangkok and Guangzhou in China.

These aircraft carried more than 8,000 passengers, who spent New Year's Eve in a Lufthansa aircraft. Although travellers had to forego the pleasure of popping champagne corks and setting off fireworks, the 550 or so cockpit and cabin crew on duty did their utmost to make the turn of the year as pleasant as possible for passengers -- and also offer them a glass of bubbly. Three flight operations managers at the Operations Control Centre at Frankfurt monitored the flights to ensure they arrived safely and punctually at their destinations. Passengers on board enjoyed the unique opportunity to marvel at fireworks from the air while drinking a toast to the New Year.

No Bible on Saudi flights, we’re British DISCRETION being the better part of valour, a British airline has banned its crew from taking the Bible into Saudi

Arabia for fear of upsetting Muslims. bmi bosses have asked staffers to take the Koran instead.

Obviously, the move has not been liked at all by the staff. In fact, a middle-aged stewardess has decided to sue the carrier for religious discrimination at an industrial tribunal due to take place this year. In the meantime, however, bmi has taken action by dropping her from flights to Saudi Arabia. Apparently the bmi directive is based on the British Foreign Office's advice that nonIslamic religious material was not permitted in Saudi Arabia although in truth, the Saudis never enforce the rule.

Mystery of lost airline luggage AUTHORITIES have been trying to figure out how dozens of pieces of luggage belonging to air travellers ended up in a trash bin behind a Houston pet store. FBI special agent Rolando Munoz said 68 pieces of luggage from various international flights were discovered. He said the luggage was turned over to Continental Airlines to sort out.

The bags belonged to travellers at George Bush Intercontinental Airport, said Sgt. Dana Wolfe, a spokeswoman for the Harris County Sheriff's Office, which first responded to the luggage report. She said tags on the bags showed some of the travellers were going to or from London and Dubai. A spokeswoman for Continental said she didn't know if the contents of the bags were stolen.

Conversations with God, courtesy Israir IT HAS to be the Israelis to think of placing the first-ever authentic Torah Scroll in a commercial plane. For the uninitiated, a Torah Scroll is the holiest book within Judaism. It has to be written by a sofer, who is a specially trained scribe.

In the beginning of this year, Israir Airlines became the first airline to maintain a Torah Scroll on board. The "Sky-Torah", as it has been named, has been handwritten especially for the airline and is meant to

enhance the prayers of those who are in the skies, praying in the closest place to God in the world. Keeping a traditional Torah Scroll, on an aircraft was the idea of Rabbi Shlomo Elharar, Chief Rabbi of Colombia, South America. The Torah was welcomed on its way to Israel with a grand celebration at JFK Airport's Terminal 4. It was carried under a traditional "chuppah", with singing, dancing, live music, children and important Rabbis and dignitaries in attendance.

Tagged for the flight THE WORLD of airport security has gone crazy with reports that research is underway to introduce the electronic tagging of passengers at airports. The prototype technology is to be tested at an airport in Hungary, and could, if successful, become a reality in two years. The tagging project, known as Optag means that each passenger will be issued with a tag at check-in and a reader would detect where the passengers were located within the airport. The project will also be investigating a range of other airport security tools to help detect terrorism.

The issue has raised several questions. Those who value their personal freedom point out that all passengers are not criminals. It has also brought into focus something that the authorities have not thought of: what happens if someone were to lose the tag? Would he be delayed from getting on the plane or would he have to be retagged?

CRUISING HEIGHTS January 2007

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COVER STORY

MORE MUSCLE

TO BACKEND OPERATIONS All airlines -- and that includes Indian and Air India -- have started concentrating on keeping customers happy. More than providing facilities in the air, air carriers have strengthened their backend operations to ensure that fliers receive up-to-the minute news about delays, reports Preeti Verma Lal.

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COVER STORY

MORE MUSCLE

TO BACKEND OPERATIONS All airlines -- and that includes Indian and Air India -- have started concentrating on keeping customers happy. More than providing facilities in the air, air carriers have strengthened their backend operations to ensure that fliers receive up-to-the minute news about delays, reports Preeti Verma Lal.

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COVER STORY

O

nce upon a time, not too far in the hoary past, there was a nightmare titled flying. A passenger would buy an airline ticket and beseech the Lord to make the flight depart and arrive on time. But everyone -- perhaps even the Lord - needed arrival and departure information. So the passenger would dial one number that would keep ringing and ringing… No one answered. Or, if it did, the airline representative asked you to dial another number. And the passenger rang again…and again. No one answered. As a last resort he'd take a cab to the airport and wait unending hours in the crowded lounge. Between sipping coffee and cursing his fate, he wished if only the airline had better information services. If only…

And the nightmare continued.

That was in the hoary past. Ah! How things have changed. Need information about a holiday package? Dial a number.

Want to book your ticket? Dial the same number. Have queries about departure timings? Well, dial the same number.

Can't speak English? Try Kannada. Or Assamese. The airlines representative would speak your tongue. Bothered about the fog disrupting your early morning flight? Don't. Even before you would rub sleep off your limpid eyes, the airline would have sent you an SMS about the delayed flight and the scheduled time of departure.

Ah! How easy is flying now. No more unending hours at the lounge, no more fretting about that much-needed information. Everything is simple and meticulous. And they all work efficiently.

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We are the only airline which exhaustively communicates all schedule changes/ updates with its passengers by sending out SMSs...

We recently became the only airline in India to implement Credit Card Masking, an enhanced security system that enables the caller to make credit card payments to the more secure IVR (interactive voice response), instead of the call centrs agent.

- Vijaya Menon, Head Corporate Communications, Air Deccan CRUISING HEIGHTS January 2007

Ask Anita Khurana, Commercial Director, Indian, about this incredible 'makeover' and she would trace the beginnings for you. In each city, Indian, the largest domestic carrier, had three offices: marketing, reservation and one at the airport. Add to it the innumerable travel agents who issued airline tickets. Every time a passenger had to enquire about departure timings, he would flip through the Yellow Pages and dial a number. That is where his nightmare began -- his call would be diverted from one office to another and since there weren't too many

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lines at the airport office, the passenger would have to dial again and again.

"It was an extremely disjointed arrangement and we decided to resolve it.

But as a PSU we had various roadblocks -- there was a long official procedure that had to be followed and even at the end of it we could not have possibly hired so many people. We knew backend operations was a massive task and we had to tread very carefully," says Khurana.

After a lot of brainstorming, Indian decided what it wanted: a centralized, single-window system with a toll-free phone

number for inbound and outbound information, bookings, and enquiries. That was almost two years. Today, Indian, has a near-flawless single-window system which is available 24 x 7.

For the caller/passenger it might be a simple 1407 number that spews all information, but walk into Stracon, the backend office of Indian at Okhla, New Delhi, and you would see how much effort goes into making 1407 work efficiently. Sitting in hundreds of cubicles with noise-cancelling headphones snaked around their head are hundreds of Customer Service CRUISING HEIGHTS January 2007

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COVER STORY

Backend services INBOUND: Passengers call up the contact/toll-free number to enquire about:

Arrival/Departure information

Schedule and seat availability

Fares

Reservation/confirmation/cancellation

Information on new promotional schemes

Information on holiday packages

Tele Check-in for executive class passengers and FFP members

Dial-a-Ticket (Where passenger can book, pay online through Master/Visa credit and get ticket in the form of itinerary receipt on e-mail, fax and courier at doorstep) OUTBOUND: Where the call centre calls up passengers in case of:

Flight delay/ change in schedule

Inform FFP members regarding new schemes/new flights introduced through e-mail.

Inform all agents regarding introduction of new routes/flights etc.

Inform agents regarding change in fares/rules etc.

Inform passengers, whose mobile contact number is incorporated in the PNR, regarding flight delay/disruption information by activating SMS Push Service.

SMS Service:

The Push Service where passengers of all affected flights are informed automatically about disruption.

The Pull Service where the passenger have the facility to request for Arrival / Departure information on their flights through SMS. Representatives (CSR). In all, they speak 12 different languages and handle about one lakh calls a month. That's no mean feat considering that each CSR answers more than 50 calls a day, each call lasting an average of 2.5 minutes. And remember, not every caller is polite and patient. Handling a boorish caller can be tough, systems can slow down but even then the percentage of human error at the Indian call centre is a miniscule .01 per cent.

Such efficiency sounds absolutely unbelievable, but the rigorous selection and training process explains it all. "Raw hands are never hired; the basic qualifications we look for is fluency in the language plus a degree or experience in the hospitality industry," says Amit Bhargava, Chairman, Operations, Stracon, which happens to be one of the largest backend solutions company in the country. Once they are selected, the candidates undergo a three-week training and much before they go live they are incubated for a few days on the functional floor. "The trainers of the vendor facility are trained at Indian's Central Training and Marketing College, Hyderabad. If need be we also hire voice and accent trainers from outside," adds Khurana. All this for one simple thing: to keep the customer happy.

However, it is not Indian alone that was bitten by the backend bug. Indian, of

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With stiffening competition and fierce pricing wars in the sky, even new entrants have adopted the Call Centre method. Go Air launched its Call Centre in November 2006 at Thane, Mumbai. The facility packs 200 employees who handle 8000 calls a day answering usual queries about reservations, changes and cancellations, queries and issues, travel agent calls and home delivery of tickets.

CRUISING HEIGHTS January 2007

course, outsourced it, but Air Deccan has an in-house centralized backend office on Cunningham Road, Bangalore. Says Vijaya Menon, Head, Corporate Communications of Air Deccan, "To supplement our web-enabled reservation system and to cater to the growing demand for ticketing and communication facility, we launched our backend operations in September 2003. The Call Centre has 275 employees working in three shifts, round the clock handling 15,000 calls a day to provide individual focus and attention to our passengers and their requirements."

Initially, Air Deccan did flirt with outsourcing "but," according to Menon, "the high cost of outsourcing, however, nudged us to launch our own in-house call centre, the first of its kind in India."

With stiffening competition and fierce pricing wars in the sky, even new entrants have adopted the Call Centre method. Go Air launched its Call Centre in November 2006 at Thane, Mumbai. The facility packs 200 employees who handle 8000 calls a day answering usual queries about reservations, changes and cancellations, queries and issues, travel agent calls and home delivery of tickets. However, unlike the Indian office that has the ability to handle 12 languages, Go Air, right now, offers these services only in Hindi and English.

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IndiGo follows a similar pattern. They have an outsourced, centralized, singlewindow facility in Gurgaon where 50 employees take about 2,000 calls regarding flight status, bookings and making calls in case of departure delays or change in flight schedules. "We have six aircraft in service today, with 13 destinations, and we are taking delivery of a brand-new Airbus A320 every four to six weeks over the next few years. Traffic is going up, so are call volumes each month," says Bruce Ashby, President & CEO, IndiGo. On an ordinary day, these dedicated and easily accessible phone lines might seem like a blessing but when winter sets in and the fog starts to blanket the world, these helplines are nothing short of a miracle. Ask any flyer and he would tell you how his itinerary -- and his world -- gets completely disrupted by the fog. Flights get delayed for hours a stretch, flights get cancelled, flights get diverted and you don't know when you would depart, arrive or where you would land if the flights are diverted. When they see traces of fog some people avoid flying, but not everyone can.

Call up Stracon's Bhargava on a foggy day and you would know he is fretting

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IndiGo’s Call Centre contributes significantly... not only by offering and explaining our fares, but also by contacting passengers when there are flight disruptions to avoid frustrations at the airport.

- Bruce Ashby, President & CEO, IndiGo

CRUISING HEIGHTS January 2007

about the delays and throwing instructions about SMSs that have to be sent to flyers much before the flight departure timings.

He hates to see the inconvenience of flyers and as the operations head he makes sure that all flyers are informed. "That is why it is extremely imperative for passengers to provide their mobile numbers when booking a ticket; it makes their life and our jobs easier," he adds. Most call centres escalate their CSR count to deal with the disruption that the fog causes. Go Air has a dedicated fog helpline (1800223001), so does Air Deccan. "This enables us to provide constant information and updates to our passengers regarding their flight status," explains Deccan's Vijaya Menon. For IndiGo, the fog season has been the busiest. "Not only are there more days with flight disruptions of some sort, requiring more outcall activity, but also there are many more calls from passengers checking flight status," says Bruce Ashby.

All this has the airlines laughing away to the bank and the passenger smiling on his way home. For customer satisfaction is the latest leitmotif for all airlines. Based on the customer feedback, all airlines are pumping in resources and innovating to ensure not just customer satisfaction but

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also loyalty. So important is this feedback for Go Air that they outcall approximately 300 passengers per day, who have flown with GoAir, for Call Satisfaction and Customer Satisfaction scores. They measure customer satisfaction by C-SAT scores that have continuously improved monthon-month.

But none of them are sitting on their laurels or even being complacent about their achievements. Khurana is satisfied with the glory that Indian is, but she is constantly brainstorming with her team to upgrade the services at the call centres.

Not only is she aiming to initiate a personalized calls service for frequent flyers and club members but she is in a hurry to make these facilities available to the international caller/passenger also. But between these big plans, she never forgets about quality. Is it any surprise then that at the Indian call centre supervisors randomly barge calls to know whether CSRs are following the guidelines to the last S? Not one to be left behind, IndiGo is planning to expand the scope and reach of the call centre operations on a massive scale. The focus will be in terms of seat inventory and also increased range of offered services. As Ashby contends, "We first hit the skies in August 2006, so we do

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As a PSU we had various roadblocks -- there was a long official procedure that had to be followed... We knew backend operations was a massive task and we had to tread very carefully.

- Anita Khurana, Commercial Director, Indian

not have a long history, but as we add more airplanes and destinations to our network, we would keep expanding."

No one is happier these days than the passenger who has bought an airline ticket and beseeched the Lord to make the flight depart and arrive on time. And lo! The Lord answered his prayers. Even the Lord knows how to handle glitches -- he calls the dedicated call centre phone line. The nightmare called flying is dead. Enjoy the

dream flight!

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AIRCARGO INFRASTRUCTURE

A cargo village in India

FOR THE WORLD The composite cargo and passenger hub at Nagpur will take quite a while to start operations. Till then, the Indian airfreight industry will remain hampered by the lack of a proper cargo village in the country. It is time the civil aviation ministry started planning cargo villages in Delhi or other metro cities, reports Tirthankar Ghosh.

T

he economy is booming, exports are rising but the one question that keeps on popping up whenever aircargo is discussed is: will India be able to seize the opportunity that looms large on the horizon? Nowhere is the potential so apparent as the exim trade, the ripple effects of which are felt in the air cargo sector.

Long considered the step cousin of the passenger sector, air cargo continues to be neglected. The neglect is specially felt in infrastructure – or rather the lack of it.

Freight forwarders, airline representatives and those connected with the trade are unanimous that if the facilities existed at our gateway airports, the air cargo sector would have shown better results. It is no wonder that these infrastructure inefficiencies led Jean-Pierre De Pauw, Dnata Cargo Senior Vice President to comment not too long ago: "We're thriving on the inefficiencies of the area around us."

Those were strong words indeed. But they speak volumes about the cargo industry in the region: spanning across the Middle East into Africa, India and even SouthEast Asia. R Vijay Kondath, President of the Air Cargo Agents Association of India (ACAAI), was clear that infrastructure had to become a priority area. He has his reasons. Witness the data put out by the Airports Authority of India (AAI) on the total freight traffic handled by domestic airports. The total tonnage increased by nearly 10 per cent during April-March 2005-06, compared to 2004-05 fiscal: total freight traffic reached 14,03,944 tonnes during April-March 2005-06, compared to 12,80,270 tonnes in the same period in 2004-05.International freight traffic too, showed impressive growth: 11.7 per cent

30

at 920,150 tonnes during April-March 2005-06, compared to 823,608 tonnes in 2004-05.

Kondath pointed out the existing environment. There were as many as 55 airlines operating out of India. To top it all, many more had shown interest to start services to the country. In such a situation, he said, some issues had to be addressed.

A cargo village, which would be a part of the Nagpur cargo hub would synchronise the day-to-day operations of the air cargo industry.

According to industry experts, if every agent were to find space at the cargo village, there would be efficiency in operations.

CRUISING HEIGHTS January 2007

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Taking his point further, the ACAAI president said that the government should permit the establishment of private bonded warehouses to decongest the existing air cargo complexes. "The infrastructure should be similar to the cargo village in Dubai," he said.

It is time then for a Cargo Village. The country, in fact, possesses all the necessary ingredients to become an international super cargo power. At different points of time, international airlines have offered help to construct a "cargo village" so that all exim formalities can be completed under one roof. But such moves have often remained on paper.

Notwithstanding these efforts, it would be worthwhile to find out what constitutes a cargo or a freight village. The classic definition mentions: "It is a cluster of high quality buildings used for industrial, intermodal, distribution, and logistics functions. These building are located within a secure perimeter where a range of support services are provided to tenant firms and their operations. Such a village must focus on transportation, intermodal operations, and logistics activities, and should be located close to intermodal transport links like airports. Though there may be multiple tenants in a cargo village, either owning or leasing their buildings,

Page 7

management of operations and direction of support services should be in the hands of one organization or entity."

Although the concept of the international cargo village has not yet taken shape in the USA, there are a number in Europe. Among them are:

Bremen, Germany - Distribution Centre (Guterkehrszentren - GVZ) Rungus, France - Sogaris Freight Village Barcelona, Spain - Zona Actividaes Logisticas Toulouse, France - Eurocentre Dubai, UAE - Dubai Logistics Centre

I

t is in such circumstances that the government decided to establish a worldclass cargo hub in Nagpur. Everyone in the exim trade, especially the freight forwarding community, hoped that work on the project would progress in doublequick time. The project, however, has run into rough weather. The reason for the stoppage of work: the insistence of the Civil Aviation Ministry and the Indian Air Force of not handing over their respective airfields, the Nagpur Airport and the Gajraj base for the project to the Maharashtra Airport Development Company (MADC). The MADC demanded that the Photos : Courtesy TNT

CRUISING HEIGHTS January 2007

Why a Cargo Village in Delhi?

Delhi possesses the inherent strength to sustain a global cargo village. To begin with, its position as the capital city gives it enough leverage. It is also the only metropolis, which is well-connected to the catchment areas of the north.

What then are Delhi's plus points?

Excellent location Proximity to the Northern markets Transportation connections and access Developable space The project will be able to get the interest and support from all levels of government and the private sector

Nagpur airport be handed over to it so that work could be undertaken.

The Maharashtra government, in accordance with a tripartite agreement between the state, the Civil Aviation Ministry and the IAF, was to provide additional alternative land to the IAF for relocating the Gajraj base, but has not acquired the land yet. The Civil Aviation ministry deferred the handing over and minister Praful Patel asked the Maharashtra Government and MADC to acquire the land adjoining the existing airport and settle the issue of alternative land for the Gajraj base of the IAF. The MADC is a special purpose government vehicle floated for the implementation of the project. It is believed that the Nagpur project would cost around Rs 1,000 crore, which will also include the construction of an adjacent Special Economic Zone (SEZ).

In addition, Nagpur airport's existing airstrip would be upgraded to handle third-generation aircraft. Also, the terminal building would be expanded and aerobridges put in the first phase of development that is scheduled for completion in 2009.

The second phase of the project, slated to be completed by 2035 would involve building a second airstrip and a new terminal building. The SEZ would have facilities for IT companies, finance and banking service providers, a jewellery park, textile zone and export facilities and would contribute substantially to the growth of air traffic from the airport.

A cargo village, which would be a part of the Nagpur cargo hub would synchro-

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AIRCARGO INFRASTRUCTURE

nise the day-to-day operations of the air cargo industry. According to industry experts, if every agent were to find space at the cargo village, there would be efficiency in operations. In fact, the two Greenfield airports – in Hyderabad and Bangalore – have earmarked separate spaces for air cargo operations. Land for cargo complexes have been set aside and tenders to build these complexes have been floated.

W

hile work goes on at Nagpur, the government would do well to plan the establishment of a cargo village in Delhi, which would facilitate the huge exim traffic from north India. Such a village, incidentally, would maximize the benefit of the country's economy and make optimal use of the city. The cargo village concept integrates with existing needs and plans and will not only provide a cutting edge to the area's potential but also boost employment. In fact, the project can serve as a model for future development.

Perhaps, it is time we took a leaf or two out of Dubai's example. From a simple creekside trading post to a sophisticated international city, Dubai has come a long way in a remarkably short time.

Today, the city-state's cargo facilities handle more than 20 freighters a day. To top it all, Dubai airport sees a fully laden Boeing 747 turnaround in 90 minutes. All this is testament to Dubai Cargo Village's state-of-the art handling facilities and

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Perhaps, it is time we took a leaf or two out of Dubai's example. From a simple creekside trading post to a sophisticated international city, Dubai has come a long way in a remarkably short time. Today, the city-state's cargo facilities handle more than 20 freighters a day.

To top it all, Dubai airport sees a fully laden Boeing 747 turnaround in 90 minutes.

CRUISING HEIGHTS January 2007

excellent administration.

An ideal location and dedication to efficiency has meant that the Dubai Cargo Village has played a vital part in Dubai's continuing growth. The city-state's economy has been based on trade since the early 1800s. The discovery of oil in the Sixties did not change this. Today however, the non-oil sector contributes more than 60 per cent to the economy and a lot of the exim trade is handled by the Dubai Air Cargo Village (DACV).

With world-class infrastructure and a location convenient to major trade routes, Dubai is ideally positioned as a global cargo hub. Located half-way between the major east-west trading routes linking the Far East and Europe, Dubai is geared to accommodate the growing north-south trade too. Additionally, its location near the Indian subcontinent's 1.3 billion population gives Dubai access to a market larger than that of the European Union or the North American Free Trade Agreement.

Dubai's developers believe that transportation networks in the region as well as changes in the political composition of the world mean that the city state also can serve as a gateway to the countries of the Gulf region, Eastern Europe, the former Soviet bloc, Turkey, western Africa, and South Africa.

The DACV, which handles a large share of the traffic, was established in 1991 to handle all cargo operations of Dubai International Airport. However, with ever-increasing cargo traffic, the car-

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go building, which was designed to handle 250,000 tonnes per annum, was saturated.

It was expanded in 1995 to handle 350,000 tonnes per annum. In 1999, the Cargo Village again surpassed capacity and had to deal with an excess of 490,843.112 tonnes. The total freight handled in 1999 showed an increase of 11 per cent and the trend shows no signs of slowing down. Forecasts indicate that there will be a need to provide facilities to handle up to two million tonnes by 2014 and 2.7 million tonnes by 2018.

What is important is that Dubai, with all its facilities -- Port Rashid and Jebel Ali Port; the Jebel Ali Free Zone Authority (JAFZA), which is surpassed in size only by Hong Kong; Dubai International Airport; and the Air Cargo Village – spell a composite picture. Success of the huge free-trade zone sets Dubai apart from neighbouring competitors, such as Fujairah in the UAE and Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

Although JAFZA may once have been regarded as a "white elephant" by the rest of the trading community, it is now attracting multinational corporations because of the facilities it offers. The zone provides manufacturers with 274,405 square metres of open and covered storage space, much of which is temperature-controlled. Many companies, including manufacturers of electronics, cars, textiles, apparel and construction materials use the zone for light manufacturing or assembly, then re-export products to other markets around the world. Port Rashid has developed a reputation for sea-air distribution. Cargo on an arriving ship can be transferred to Dubai International Airport's Air Cargo Village (DCV) three miles away in as little as four hours.

According to industry-watchers, the greater region in reach of Dubai – that is the Middle East, Africa, the southern CIS countries and the sub-continent – can expect higher growth. This is particularly true of India, which can realistically expect to secure a very significant share of the US $110 billion global outsourcing market by 2010. Perhaps, what is important is that the Indian subcontinent and China also are expected to generate huge airfreight volumes using Dubai as a transit point. In fact, both countries are ideally placed vis-a-vis Dubai. The only hindrance is that the facilities in the two countries have to be upgraded to match international standards.

P

erhaps, that is why the reason for the urgency on the part of our government to get work started on upgrading infrastructure connected with the aviation sec-

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Dubai could be our example

D

ubai's expansion plans have been created with an eye to 2030 and the growing market and consumer demands.

The Jebel Ali plan is only a part of the massive infrastructure expansion plans conceived by the Dubai authorities. In fact, along with the port enhancements, a new airport has been planned for the city state. The new Dubai International Airport, a world-class gateway, will be situated to the north of Dubai city. The project will be the creation of Dubai Logistics City, a massive one-stop multi-modal logistics hub that would serve as the central cargo station for the Middle East and a major gateway for international trade.

When completed in 2015, the $10 billion airport will feature six runways and a host of terminals capable of handling 12 million tonnes of cargo and 120 million passengers annually. The airport, the Dubai authorities have forecast, will become the largest in the world.

The first phase of the project will become operational in 2007 and the first stage of construction is to develop the airport as a major cargo gateway through the creation of the Dubai Logistics City (DLC). The DLC will be built next to the new airport and have direct apron and runway access, within a huge free trade zone. The DLCity aims to make long-haul transshipment easy. The logistics project is half complete and will be joined to the existing ocean port at Jebel Ali. The port, incidentally, handles 60 per cent of all Middle East imports and is the effective half of the DLC multimodal platform.

The plans for the new airport include provision for accommodating a variety of users and that includes the integrators who will develop their own facilities. There will be enough space for at least 16 separate cargo terminals, each around 130,000 sq feet. The terminals will be able to handle different types of freight, such as perishables and sea-air traffic.

The investments that will be required for such a massive project will come from investors around the world. Already, DLC has started discussions with more than 150 companies for investments. The first to be tapped were manufacturers and logistics service providers in south-east Asia.

Dubai's own logistics catchment area now stretches beyond the Arabian Gulf to India, Africa and the southern states of the former Soviet Union. Naturally, Dubai has acquired its status as the world's third largest port for re-exports after Hong Kong and Singapore.

The person who can be credited for Dubai's remarkable growth is Issa Baluch, former president of FIATA. Baluch is believed to be behind the development of the sea-air concept through Dubai. According to Baluch, Dubai's plan is to focus on those markets that are foreign investment-friendly, capitalize on growing exports out of China, and concentrate on the trade lanes of Asia-Africa. Accordingly, air cargo road feeder services out of Dubai to the Gulf states and other countries of the Middle East are being enhanced. Dubai-watchers believe that the city-state's intent is quite clear. It wants to become number one in the logistics sector. In fact, the extent of its logistics prowess can be gauged from the fact that despite the burning heat prevailing through the year, Dubai is preparing to open the Flower Centre, which will speed the flow and transfer of cut-flower traffic through Dubai's international airport.

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AIRCARGO INFRASTRUCTURE

Win-win project A cargo village provides a range of benefits. These include: Providing a competitive advantage to firms operating in the village through increased efficiency, improved delivery time, combined operations Reducing business costs by sharing security, maintenance, and other operation costs Improving business efficiency by maximizing the use of information technology and logistics services Reducing truck vehicle miles traveled and traffic congestion thereby improving air quality in urban areas Creating new jobs Redeveloping abandoned or underutilized properties.

tor. According to civil aviation minister Praful Patel, in the next three years airports in the four metros would see a big jump in the number of domestic and international flights they handle. Patel said that while Mumbai was likely to handle 46,805 international and 118,177 domestic flights in 2005-06, these could touch 50,081 and 127,631 respectively, in 200607, and 52,585 and 1,35,289 the next year.

The trend should be the same for Delhi too. From 41,482 international and 90,411 domestic flights in 2005-06, the capital's airport may need to handle 44,800 and 97,644 movements in 2006-07, and 47,936 and 103,503 flights in 2007-08.

Chennai too, is projected to handle 19,922 international and 47,434 domestic flights in 2005-06 and this is projected to rise to 21,914 international and 52,178 domestic flights the following year. For 2007-08 it could be 23,667 and 57,395 respectively.

Bangalore is also seeing much growth. It is projected to handle 8,369 international and 54,375 domestic flights in 2005-06 rising to 9,875 and 60,900 the following year, and to 11,060 and 66,990, respectively in 2007-08. With such a boom, these flights would translate into more cargo.

What is heartening to note is that the

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What is heartening to note is that the move to set up a cargo village is gaining ground.

Both within the government and outside, there is a sense of optimism, which stems from the fact that a core group on aviation has been formed at the behest of the civil aviation minister Praful Patel.

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move to set up a cargo village is gaining ground. Both within the government and outside, there is a sense of optimism, which stems from the fact that a core group on aviation has been formed at the behest of the civil aviation minister Praful Patel.

Meant specifically to address issues related to aviation, the core group has attracted the attention of the air cargo industry. Senior members of the air cargo industry, who have been inducted into the group feel that the forum could be the perfect platform to highlight the problems faced by the industry. The importance that the civil aviation minister attaches to the air cargo industry can be gauged from the fact that members of the air cargo industry are part of the core group.

The air cargo sector feels that some of the areas that it would like to use this forum to delve into could include: Developing India as a regional air cargo hub (international gateways, cargo villages, forwarders' bonded air cargo terminals).

Air Capacity Technology in cargo handling.

EDI in air cargo Meeting trade / customer needs (logistics costs, simplified processes, transit time) Government monopolies Process improvement - performance parameters Monitoring performance Aviation security Industry professionalism and training

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AIRCARGO

WORLD CARGO NEWS Dnata Cargo Dubai Terminals gets a new name DNATA CARGO opened the door to a new era in 2007 with FreightGate: a fresh generic identity for its growing portfolio of cargo terminals at Dubai International Airport and elsewhere in the Emirate's expanding business sectors.

The FreightGate name will number Dnata Cargo's seven terminals, beginning with FreightGate 1, currently the Main Cargo Terminal at Dubai Airport; through to FreightGate 7 at the upcoming Dubai World Central International Airport, scheduled to open mid-2008.

The other Dnata Cargo terminals are: FreightGate 2, the Express Handling Centre at Dubai Cargo Village; FreightGate 3, Economy Cargo Terminal at the Freezone Logistics Centre (FLC); FreightGate 4, Agents' Terminal at FLC; FreightGate 5, Premium Cargo Terminal at FLC; and FreightGate 6, the Offline Terminal at Jebel Ali Freezone.

Commenting on the new name, Kevin Ennis, Vice President Cargo Business Development Dnata Cargo, said that the FreightGate name provided a consistent corporate identity across the portfolio of terminals, which each address the different needs of various customer communities.

The FreightGate roll-out came as Dnata Cargo geared up for the opening of the FLC third phase (FreightGate 5) which will triple annual throughput capacity to 500,000 tonnes and offer streamlined importexport services, combined with the innovative soon-to-be-launched CALOGI (Cargo Logistics International) e-commerce web portal.

CALOGI will create a "virtual" business environment for a wide variety of cargo industry players, enabling them to complete all their transactions in cyberspace without leaving the comfort of their office, or even their home.

Dnata Cargo provides a broad range of products and services to meet the diverse needs of more than 100 airlines operating through Dubai International Airport, and serves 1,000 cargo agents based in Dubai.

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Emirates Group Security joins hands with DHL EMIRATES Group Security and DHL Global Forwarding have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) in Strategic Air Cargo Security Partnership, a DHL Global Forwarding initiative.

As one of DHL's preferred air carriers, Emirates Airline is one of the first airline partners to join this pro- Robert Larson, Senior Vice-President and Head of Global gramme. The aim of this Security DHL Logistics shakes hands with Dr. Abdulla Al security partnership Hashimi, Divisional Senior Vice President Emirates Group programme is to work Security after the MOU signing at Emirates Group Security together and to agree on head quarters. standard operating procedures (SOP) for strengthening security throughout the hanhigh-value and high-risk air cargo, to share dling chain. It was incidentally Emirates and best practices and information on crime DHL that were among the first in the UAE trends and to partner in lobbying towards and Middle East to attain the TAPA (Techauthorities. Commenting on the new partnology Asset Protection Association) certifinership programme, Dr. Abdulla Al Hashication. The new partenership was another mi, Divisional Senior Vice President, Emiprogramme that embodied the symbiotic rates Group Security, said that the Emirates relationship between major players and Group had always been committed to stakeholders in the cargo industry.

Qatar Airways bullish on India QATAR AIRWAYS recently announced a huge expansion of its operations across India with the launch of two new routes and the introduction of additional capacity on existing services.

Beginning April 2007, Chennai and Ahmedabad will join Qatar Airways' burgeoning Indian network, which already includes non-stop services from Doha to Mumbai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Cochin and Trivandrum.

According to Qatar Airways Chief Executive Officer Mr. Akbar Al Baker, India was one of the carrier's key markets. "2007 will be yet another year of

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huge growth for Qatar Airways – a year in which we celebrate a milestone 10th anniversary of operations". The expansion will also be felt in the air cargo sector since the carrier has announced an order for two 777 Freighters from Boeing. The two new B777-200 freighters will complement the 14 B777-300ERs and six B777-200LRs already ordered.

Qatar Airways' first B777-200 freighter will be delivered to the airline in 2009 to coincide with the opening of the New Doha International Airport, which will have world-class freight facilities that will enable it to handle 750,000 tonnes of cargo per annum during its first phase of development.

The B777-200F will be used primarily on Qatar Airways' Far East and European routes and will be supplemented by Airbus A300-600F freighters that operate on regional routes feeding the airline's Doha hub. "While the cornerstone of our success has been focused on our passengers, we also recognise that the 777 Freighter brings asset value to our fleet as we address a growing regional freight market," said Mr Akbar Al Baker.

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NATIONAL AVIATION NEWS Indian logs on to e-ticketing NATIONAL carrier Indian has launched its e-ticketing services.

In keeping with its commitment to provide convenience and speed to passengers in their transactions with the airline, Indian has adopted the globally accepted system of e-ticketing or electronic ticketing. The facility of e-ticketing will be available initially for travel between metro cities: Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai, Hyderabad and Bangalore. Later, it will be extended to all stations on the airline's network.

Amadeus is the IT service provider for Indian's e-ticketing services. Indian's recent tie-ups with Global Distribution Systems Amadeus and Galileo, apart from Abacus, will also help in expanding the e-ticket distribution window. A large number of travel agents would be able to issue e-tickets on Indian, thus covering a much larger passenger base.

Anita Khurana of Indian and Ankur Bhatia, Amadeus here to launch on E-Ticketing Landscape.

The system of e-ticketing will also facilitate easy interlining.

However, this advantage will be available to the passengers of Indian at a later date. A passenger can make multiple bookings on both Indian and other carriers, including international. So, a passenger wanting to fly Indian from Mumbai to Chennai and then onwards to Melbourne by another airline can buy an e-ticket for travel on all the sectors (provided the other airline have e-ticketing arrangements) through a single window. Simply put, he can

buy an e-ticket for the entire itinerary and vice-versa through Indian's booking offices or travel agents, or even on-line.

Jet’s "check-in while walk-in" at Mumbai TO EASE the check-in process, Jet Airways has added yet another customer-oriented solution of "check-in while walk-in" (Roving Check-in agent) at Mumbai whereby a passenger can be checked-in by the agent with the help of a hand-held interface device and a hip printer. This new initiative, which will facilitate the airline's discerning passengers as also the airport staff will supplement the kiosks as well as the existing check-in counters of Jet Airways. The Roving Agent is like a check-in counter on the move. This will help Jet Airways to improve customer service by processing passengers even before they reach the check-in counters, effectively bypassing long queues.

Using this solution, the mobile agent can quickly access and verify the travel reservation details of the passenger, complete check-in functions and generate a boarding pass, either Club Premiere or Economy, and book them on their choice of seats. This facility would be introduced at the Metro airports first, followed by some of the other airports, which are facing infrastructurerelated challenges.

More frequent flyer alliances from Jet FROM DECEMBER 1, 2006, Jet Airways has forged frequent flyer alliances with Air France and South African Airways. It has also partnered with "Worldhotels", which has over 500 properties worldwide, with telecom service provider Sim Airways to stay connected with the world with one international roaming number, and Avis, the car rental provider with whom the partnership has

Jet Airways signs contract with CAE for Boeing 777 and Airbus A330 simulators IN PREPARATION for the induction of wide-bodied aircraft into its fleet this year, Jet Airways signed a contract with CAE, a world leader in providing simulation and training solutions to commercial airlines, for supply of Boeing 777-300ER (Extended Range) and Airbus A330 simulators. In addition, the Canadian-based company would provide a CAE Simfinity Integrated Procedures Trainer (IPT) for the Boeing 777-300ER aircraft as well as a CAE Simfinity Maintenance Flight Training Device (MFTD) for the A330 aircraft.

CAE has already manufactured and supplied the two Boeing 737 new generation simulators currently operating at the Jet Airways training centre at Mumbai. The B737NG simulators, and the new B777-300ER and A330 simulators, all feature the CAE Tropos visual system. The carrier's fleet expansion plans of wide-body aircraft is scheduled to commence in April 2007 when deliveries start of the 10 brand new Boeing 777-300ER aircraft and 10 Airbus A330 aircraft.

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gone global with over 5,000 car rental locations to choose from.

Jet Privilege members can now accrue and redeem JP Miles by flying Air France from Bangalore, Chennai, Delhi, Mumbai and onwards to 185 destinations across the globe. Similarly, Jet Privilege members taking South African Airways flights from Mumbai to Johannesburg can get themselves conveniently connected to 34 cities in 25 countries, and access to over 20 South African domestic routes.

Delhi/Kolkata and Bangkok are a flight away JET AIRWAYS has launched direct daily flights from Delhi and Kolkata to Bangkok, the 50th destination on the airline's network, effective January 23, 2007.The carrier will operate these flights with a brand new Boeing 737-800 aircraft with winglets. Speaking about the launch of these new flights, Jet Airways Chief Executive Officer Mr. Wolfgang Prock-Schauer said that Bangkok would be the 50th destination on Jet's network and its third destination in the ASEAN Region.

As part of its inaugural offer, Jet Airways has introduced a special return airfare of Rs 6,500 on the Kolkata-BangkokKolkata sector for a two-month period while Economy class fares start at Rs 13,500 on the Delhi-Bangkok-Delhi sector. The return airfare for Club Premiere for the Delhi-Bangkok sector ranges from Rs 28,500 to Rs 38,000 while on the Kolkata-Bangkok sector it is between Rs 18,500 and Rs 26,000. These fares are exclusive of taxes. The carrier has also announced a companion free offer for Club Premiere passengers on the Delhi-Singapore-Delhi sector and Delhi-Bangkok-Delhi sector until March 31, 2007.

Additionally, there is a special fare for a family of four travelling together in Economy Class on this sector.

Air Deccan is best no-frills carrier AIR DECCAN was recently judged as "The Best Domestic NoFrills Carrier" by Galileo Express Travel Awards 2006. The award, according to Capt. G.R Gopinath, Managing Director, Air Deccan was an endorsement of the Air Deccan vision of enabling every Indian to fly and was an encouragement for Air Deccan's pioneering efforts in making air travel more affordable and accessible than ever before.

The Galileo Express TravelWorld Awards 2006 is instituted

by Express TravelWorld, a travel business magazine, and Galileo India. The Galileo Express TravelWorld Awards recognize signif-

icant innovation and outstanding contribution in the Indian travel, tourism and hospitality industry.

'Credit Card Masking System' from Air Deccan AIR DECCAN has recently introduced the Credit Card Masking System, an enhanced security system, at its call centre. Since Air Deccan follows a paperless booking system, with 10 per cent of its total bookings made through its call centre, it is an important point of purchase for passengers. Using this system, credit card payments can now be made through IVR (Interactive Voice Response) instead of the call centre agent. The IVR will procure the credit card details without any manual interaction, thus allowing the caller to provide his credit card details to a more secure system.

The airline began operations in August 2003 with one aircraft and 500 calls hitting the call centre everyday. Today, this number shoots up to 25,000 on peak days with an average of 15,000 calls per day. The 276-strong workforce at the 24/7 call centre manage to convert approximately 70 per cent of the callers to passengers.

IndGo enhances route network INDIGO recently took delivery of its sixth brand new Airbus A320 aircraft. Speaking to mediapersons shortly after taking delivery of the aircraft, Bruce Ashby, President and CEO, IndiGo said that within a span of five months of launching IndiGo's revenue operations, the carrier had taken delivery of its sixth Airbus A320 aircraft.

The carrier recently started daily nonstop services between Delhi and Goa and Delhi and Jaipur, and also announced the opening of bookings for a new nonstop daily service between Delhi and Kolkata commencing February 3, 2007.

The airline has received CAT-III approval from the DGCA to operate in fog conditions.

With over 40 per cent of its pilots already trained to operate in low visibility conditions, IndiGo will be able to maintain significantly better operations during the fog season this winter. All the brand-new Airbus A320 aircraft that the carrier operates are equipped with CAT-III equipment. Operating in CAT-III mode, trained IndiGo pilots can depart and arrive when visibility is 200 metres or more, as opposed to 500 metres in CAT-I, or normal operations.

GoAir introduces ‘Seat of Fortune’ contest GOAIR announced its "Seat of Fortune" contest in December last year. The contest is a simple lucky draw on each of the flights that GoAir operates. Three lucky winners are awarded a free return ticket each, on a sector of their choice. The contest is valid from January 15, 2007 to March 31, 2007.

The lucky draw comes on the back of GoAir announcing its GoUnbelievable fares where there were fares ranging from Rs 0 to Rs 1,499 on various sectors. GoAir has been the pioneer in innovative marketing strategies that give the passenger the best available deals and rewards. Commenting on the contest, Jeh Wadia, Managing Director GoAir said that the contest was a celebration of having completed a successful year in the aviation business. GoAir, according to him, had always innovated and would continue to do so.

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INTERNATIONAL AIRLINES NEWS Virgin Atlantic flies in world’s longest jet VIRGIN ATLANTIC AIRWAYS announced the arrival of the maiden Airbus A340-600 flight into India. The carrier is the only airline operating the A340-600 in India. At 247ft (75.3m) long, the A340-600 is longer than any other commercial plane. The aircraft is part of a $4.7 billion (£2.5 billion) order for 25 aircraft, fitted with Rolls Royce Trent 500 engine series.

Joe Thompson, Country Manager, Virgin Atlantic commented that bringing the new Airbus A340-600 to India demonstrated the carrier's commitment to Indian passengers. The A340-600 offered a great flying experience – and with almost 30 per cent more seats onboard. In addition, the A340-600 offered the most advanced inflight entertainment system, providing passengers in all cabins with up to 300 hours of video-on-demand to watch or listen to what they want and can start, pause or rewind their chosen movie, TV show or CD. Alternatively, there is also choice of between 20 video channels along with 14 audio channels and 15 Nintendo games and a quick-find search facility.

The Upper Class cabin is fitted with Virgin Atlantic's revolutionary Upper Class Suite – a comfortable reclining leather seat for take-off which converts into a fully-flat bed with a proper mattress for sleeping – and all of Virgin Atlantic's signature innovations, including the popular on-board bar and in-flight beauty therapy area, while the new seats for both Premium Economy and Economy passengers are some of the roomiest in the world. The Virgin Atlantic A340-600 features some of the most vibrant and creative design concepts ever seen.

Once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to become an astronaut SIR Richard Branson’s has announced the Double Miles - Double Smiles offer as a part of its on-going frequent flyers’ unique initiatives for its Upper Class members on its India-London sector.

This extra-generous offer enables the Upper Class flyer to earn double miles much faster and might just give a chance to convert their earthly miles into space miles and earn a trip to space to join the 100-mile high club!

Flying Club members can not only spend their miles on reward flights, upgrades and limo transfers but also on car hire, hotel breaks, holidays, helicopter flights, space travel on Virgin Galactic and an exciting range of leisure activities. For a trip with Virgin Galactic into space, members will need to earn two million Flying Club miles on Virgin Atlantic flights to be able to redeem them.

KLM introduces “branded” menus KLM ROYAL DUTCH AIRLINES has revamped its in-flight catering product worldwide including brand new route-specific menus for India flights. The overall changes in catering will affect KLM's World Business Class and intercontinental Economy Class product, as well as KLM Europe Select aboard KLM and KLM

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cityhopper flights. KLM passengers ex-India will specially benefit as the airline will introduce new route dedicated food concepts and menus onboard flights between India and Amsterdam. The improvements in the catering service were prompted by surveys conducted among passengers, assessing their needs and ratings of inflight products.

The new products were developed in collaboration with leading gastronomic experts.

Passengers will now be able to choose from new Indian menus developed in collaboration with renowned London-based Chef Andy Varma, the driving force behind the Vama Group and owner of the famous restaurant, The Indian Room, in London.

Lufthansa expands services to the USA NEXT summer, Lufthansa passengers will have a wider choice of flights to the United States. Additional daily nonstop flights to Denver and Detroit will be offered to supplement Lufthansa's already extensive route network in North America. The increase in the services to Denver and Detroit will enable Lufthansa to offer its customers two flights a day, at different times, explained Dr. Holger Hätty, member of the Airline Board, Lufthansa German Airlines. "This will give passengers much greater flexibility when combining flights. For business travellers, this will mean big time savings."

Emirates enhances India business CLOSE on the heels of its recently launched eight-flights-aweek service to Bangalore, Emirates Airlines inaugurated its brand new 5000-sq ft office in the city. The new office, Emirates' fifth in south India, adds to the airline's tally of 19 offices across the country. Providing the ultimate pre-flight experience, the spectacular flagship outlet introduces a onestop Travel Shop addressing the needs of Emirates' business and leisure travellers, premium passengers, frequent-flyer members and potential holiday-makers.

The carrier has expanded its presence in the country last year having launched services to Thiruvananthapuram, Kolkata and Bangalore. The moves by Emirates have come at a time when India seeks to enhance its links with the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) to attract more Arab investment.

At the new office inauguration gala bash: Emirates' Executive Vice President Commercial Operations Worldwide Ghaith Al Ghaith presents Karnataka Chief Minister with a piece of cake as Mrs. Swamy, Salem Obaidalla and Emirates ' cabin crew look on.

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By linking its key destinations in North America to both its Frankfurt and Munich hubs, Lufthansa can offer its customers 29 routes to 19 destinations in the USA and Canada, and thus operate the largest route network from Europe to North America.

For the first time, Lufthansa would be flying nonstop from Munich to Denver, making it the tenth North American destination to be served from its hub in southern Germany. From March 31 this year, flights to Denver will be operated daily from Munich as well as from Frankfurt. From Denver, the hub of Star Alliance partner United Airlines and one of the most modern and user-friendly airports in America, Lufthansa passengers can fly to about 100 destinations throughout North America.

Munich-Denver is the latest new route to be included in the 2007 summer timetable following Lufthansa's recent decision to launch services to Seoul and Busan in South Korea from its southern hub.

AA celebrates one year of Delhi-Chicago non-stop AMERICAN AIRLINES launched its first Delhi-Chicago non-stop flight on November 17, 2005 after the signing of the Indo-US Open Skies agreement. Since then, it has completed a year of Delhi-Chicago non-stop service, recording an impressive 58 consecutive departures till date.

To commemorate this achievement, Don Langford, Managing Director, Customer Services - Europe & Asia, American Airlines, presented a special trophy to the American Airlines Airport Team at IGI Internation-

British Airways' exclusive 'Executive Challenge' golf cup THE 3rd British Airways 'Executive Challenge'golf tournament was held in Bangalore on October 28, 2006. Held across four cities – Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore and Kolkata – the annual tournament is an exclusive event organised by British Airways for its frequent flyers and Executive Club members. The tournament was partnered by Diners Club International and Citigold and was cosponsored by Tourism Andalucia, ITC Welcomgroup and Ballantine. Senior bureaucrats and corporate honchos with a common passion for golf, attended the tournaments held in Bangalore, Kolkata on November 18, 2006 and Mumbai on November 25, 2006. The Delhi tournament will be held sometime early this year. Participants competed in three handicap divisions with handicaps adjusted on the Double Peoria System using '12 hidden holes'.

Singapore Airlines signs agreements with Airbus SINGAPORE AIRLINES has signed agreements with Airbus for purchase of a further nine A380s, with six more options, and the lease of 19 A330-300s. The agreements confirm the order announced by Singapore Airlines on July 21, 2006. Deliveries for the additional nine A380s (following the ten ordered in 2001), will begin in January 2010 and complete in early 2011. The first delivery of the A330-300 will be in January 2009, with all 19 being delivered by October 2010. Singapore Airlines also has reached settlement with Airbus on issues relating to delays in deliveries of the A380. The terms of the purchases and settlement are confidential between the parties. Singapore Airlines Chief Executive Officer, Chew Choon Seng, said the Airline now looked forward to delivery of the first Airbus A380 in October 2007.

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Head, Carlson Wagonlit Travels - winner, flanked by Nisha Maharaj, Don Langford and Vinita Bhatnagar from American Airlines

al Airport. AA also recognized and awarded trophies to the top 10 travel agents for the year 2006.

In the first year of its operations in India, American Airlines has witnessed very encouraging load factors even in off-peak season. The DelhiChicago non-stop route has received an excellent response from the business and corporate fraternity in India and USA. A majority of American's key corporate clients in both countries including GE, Intel, Dell, IBM, Boeing, etc. frequently use the airline's unmatched connectivity between 125 cities in USA and 26 cities in India (via the codeshare with Air Sahara). The reduced flying time and convenient flight timing helps these companies’ employees make most of their working day and increase overall productivity. According to Nisha Maharaj, Regional Manager - Indian Subcontinent, American Airlines would utilize the services of prominent sports personality Vijay Amritraj to promote the Delhi-Chicago route in India and USA. In addition, the carrier was looking at several innovative campaigns to promote the route.

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Highflying women take to the skies with SriLankan Airlines TWO aspiring young women have joined SriLankan Airlines to become commercial pilots. The two received their wings as junior first officers recently, making them only the second and third female pilots of Sri Lanka.

Chamika Rupasinghe and Roshani Jinasena's entry into commercial aviation also signifies SriLankan Airlines' efforts to attract individuals with high academic qualifications. Rupasinghe, a Graduate of the University of Sri Jayewardenepura and a final year Chartered Institute of Management (CIMA) student, recalls being laughed at when she was about ten years old, for her ambition to fly. She joined the SriLankan Airlines family in February 2000 as a stewardess hoping to one day pursue her dream.

Ms. Roshani Jinasena has a BSc Honours in Business Management from the University of Surrey in the United Kingdom.

AIRPORT NEWS MIAL inaugurates ‘India’, the new rapid exit taxiway at CSIA AS PART of its efforts to upgrade the runway system at the Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport (CSIA), Mumbai International Airport Pvt. Limited (MIAL) recently inaugurated the new Rapid Exit Taxiway called India. The first three aircraft to use the new rapid exit taxiway received a ceremonial shower welcome from MIAL. India is An aircraft is showered with water as a symbolic gesture to located at a distance of mark the inauguration of the new rapid exit taxiway India at 2200 meters from the the Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport threshold (beginning of the runway) and will enable landing aircraft to exit the runways rapidly, thus reducing the runway occupancy and facilitating quick surface movement of the aircraft. This will result in saving approximately two minutes of time per aircraft movement. The opening of the new rapid exit taxiway marks the successful completion of the first step of the work undertaken to upgrade the airside infrastructure at CSIA. The other major activity to be accomplished was the upgradation of the runway approach lights to CAT II level.

GMR DIAL to absorb all AAI employees at IGI airport THE Board of Directors of Delhi International Airport (P) Limited (DIAL) has approved the proposal for the absorption of all general employees of Airports Authority of India (AAI), working at Indira Gandhi International Airport, New Delhi.

According to the 'Operation, Management and Development Agreement' (OMDA), signed between AAI and DIAL, DIAL is to make an offer of employment to a minimum of 60 per cent of AAI employees based at IGI Airport during the Operation Support Period. The terms of the offer would be no less attractive in terms of salary and position, than the existing terms of employment. DIAL has decided to extend the offer to 100 per cent of the AAI employees based at IGI Airport, New Delhi.

The attractive and fair offer would not only incentivise over 2300 AAI general employee to exercise their option but would also mitigate and eliminate the uncertainty in their minds and would address concerns about their future career with IGI. The DIAL management is confident that the offer will help speed up the modernisation process. The process of training and upgrading skills of all employees to match up to the technological advancement and ambitious target to achieve 3.5 Airport Service Quality ASQ will accelerate the process of converting the airport into a world class one before the Commonwealth Games in 2010.

Changi Airport achieves new record

Getting her private pilot's licence at 17 while awaiting her Ordinary Level results, Ms. Jinasena said she then knew that flying a commercial airliner was to be her future. Both women said they had to overcome a number of hurdles, starting at home, in convincing their parents to let them pursue their ambition. A considerable number of parents in SirLanka view aviation as a full-time vocation that would interfere in the family life of a young woman.

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SINGAPORE Changi Airport's status as an air hub received a boost with improved connectivity in the northern winter season 2006, which began on October 29, 2006 and continues to March 24, 2007. Changi Airport now handles a record number of more than 4,160 weekly scheduled flights, an increase of 168 flights compared to the same period last year. The yearon-year growth can be attributed to the strong expansion of operations by both existing airlines and new airlines at Changi Airport.

The key regions that contributed to the growth included South East Asia, North Asia and South Asia. There has been a net increase of almost 120 weekly flights to destinations in South East Asia, including Phuket, Jakarta and Kota Kinabalu. These flights were launched by TigerAirways, SilkAir and Malaysia Airlines.

Connectivity to North and South Asia also went up, particularly to Hong Kong and Taipei in North Asia and Delhi and Chennai in South Asia.

Seven new airlines also joined the Changi family in 2006. They were Shanghai Airlines Cargo, Egypt Air, Cebu Pacific, South African Airways, Air India Express, Jetstar Airways and Air Madagascar.

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TRAVEL & TOURSIM NEWS Cleartrip offers Indian, IndiGo and Deccan tickets at attractive offers CLEARTRIP, the travel portal with a mission to make travel simple, has integrated Air Deccan on its travel booking platform from December 21, 2006. Cleartrip and Air Deccan have entered this relationship, with an aim to leverage the technology platform to offer a superior value proposition to consumers, in terms of price and convenience of user interface.

In a related move, Cleartrip also announced a 15 per cent discount on all Indian Airlines' flight bookings made on its website. The special offer is valid for travel until the end of January 2007 or for the first 1000 customers.

The e-travel portal also announced a 20 per cent cash back scheme on all IndiGo flight bookings. The offer was valid for travel until January 15, 2007 for the first 1000 customers.

Speaking of the tie-up, Sandeep Murthy, CEO - Cleartrip, said that Cleartrip was determined to offer value propositions to its customers through tie-ups with partner airlines. These exciting offers would further Cleartrip's commitment to provide additional value and thereby make travel simple for customers.

Travelport and Worldspan merge to create leading travel solutions company TRAVELPORT LTD. AND WORLDSPAN, L.P. has reached a definitive agreement to merge Worldspan into a subsidiary of Travelport to create a leading global travel solution provider.

Jeff Clarke, Chief Executive Officer of Travelport believes that increasing cost pressures on travel suppliers and agencies combined with the strengthening of alternative distribution channels, such as supplier direct channels, continue to influence how travel is purchased. The merger will create a more effective and efficient travel distribution provider and will ensure that the company is better positioned to meet the evolving needs of customers, the travel suppliers, travel agencies and end-consumers.

As the travel industry continues to grow at a substantial rate, travel suppliers and agencies require the technology and networks capable of handling the increased demand. Competition in the travel distribution industry has increased, driven in part by travel bookings via alternative travel distribution channels. According to Forrester Research, more than half of US travel bookings are already processed through alternative non-GDS channels. Globally, sales from supplier direct websites are expected to continue to grow as airlines encourage direct bookings through frequent flyer programmes, exclusive fares and potentially through removal of content from the GDSs. The combination of Travelport and Worldspan addresses the increasing demands of the travel distribution industry and supports the need for costeffective and efficient GDS offerings.

The merger builds upon the complementary strengths of the two companies, which will benefit existing and future customers, allowing them to address an increasingly competitive marketplace, according to Rakesh Gangwal, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of Worldspan.

Currently, more than 750 travel suppliers, 63,000 travel agencies and millions of endconsumers globally benefit from the travel distribution services provided by the two organizations. The transaction brings together two companies with global footprints and a proven track record of customer service and technology leadership. Worldspan will further augment Travelport's global breadth and diversity and will enhance Travelport's technology platform, in particular in the online distribution segment. In addition to the numerous customer benefits, Travelport and Worldspan expect the proposed transaction to deliver financial benefits capitalizing on natural operational synergies. The initial integration focus will be on consolidating technology and administrative operations resulting in near-term cost savings of approximately $50 million.

Le Passage to India launches Luxe India AT THE recent International Luxury Travel Mart (ILTM) at Cannes in France, Le Passage to India Tours & Travels launched a new brand, "Luxe India", to attract upmarket tourists to the country. The company had also launched "ICE" (Integrated Conference and Events Management) recently, in addition to their earlier brand of "Go India Journeys" for targeting niche markets.

According to Arjun Sharma, Managing Director, Le Passage To India. Luxe India was very well received at ILTM by the buyers. The new product of Le Passage to India offers a complete luxury experience through the dedicated "Le Concierge" service". It aims at giving a toll-free number to the visitors to seek any information from their personal concierge on fine dining restaurants, choice of wines, art exhibitions, yoga, Ayurveda centres, visits to private art galleries, shopping and any tours to places they may want to visit. The personal concierge will keep in touch with the visitors wherever they may be to check how they were enjoying their visit.

Amadeus e-Travel wins eight awards at the 2006 WÂł Awards AMADEUS, global technology partner to the travel and tourism industry has received four silver awards in the travel category of this year's WÂł Awards, the highest number of awards ever seen in this category, and four silver awards in the 'best of structure and navigation' category. Judges selected Finnair.com, Qantas.com, Icelandair.com and Air Canada.com as winners, demonstrating Amadeus' ability to work successfully with airlines to deliver creative excellence to online end-users.

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Mr. Murthy comes to Jaipur THERE is plenty of drama surrounding Infosys Chief Mentor V Narayanamurthy.That he has an iconic status goes without saying. Add to it dollops of charisma and humility and you have the perfect recipe for a great event wherever Mr Murthy goes.

The other day, Mr Murthy decided to go to Jaipur in the company of another distinguished Kannadiga, Captain Gopinath of Air Deccan.The occasion was the inaugural Bangalore-Jaipur direct A 320 service of Air Deccan.Considering that the state government has set up a SEZ on the outskirts of the city and the fact that Wipro, Infosys and several others have begun operations in the city, it was viewed as a matter of time before Gopi made his move. Can't you see the glint in his eyes?

Flying into the sunset

O

ne press release put it perfectly: Even good comeback stories eventually have an end.

For the McDonnell Douglas DC-10, the story of its improbable return to public acceptance after a series of crashes and even a temporary grounding is nearing its conclusion. Northwest Airlines, the last US operator of the DC-10 in scheduled passenger service, is transitioning to the Airbus A330, a newer, more efficient plane packed with the latest in passenger comfort and entertainment features. It flew its last DC-10 in international service on October 29 last year and its last domestic flight was on January 8.

With that, the era of scheduled passenger service aboard three-engine jumbo jets will close. Of course, that's from the US perspective. Planes in operation outside the US will take a while to fade out.

More than three decades ago, the

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DC-10 helped introduce travellers to the era of twin-aisle, wide-body jets. It was introduced about the same time as its

less-successful look-alike, the threeengine Lockheed L-1011 Tri-Star, and the larger, more successful Boeing 747. The three big airplanes provided passengers CRUISING HEIGHTS January 2007

with more comfort and stability and also expanded international air service by giving carriers the ability to fly longer distances. Coming on the heels of the narrow-bodied 707, it was a huge relief for passengers wanting more comfort and luxury.

The 747, with its distinctive bump nose that houses a second seating deck and the cockpit, got most of the attention when the widebody jet era began. But many believe the smaller, more versatile and more fuelefficient DC-10 was, in some regards, better suited to the air travel market in its heydays. It made its debut in August 1971. It was typically configured for about 250 passengers.

The 747s were typically configured for about 370 passengers, making it so large that it served only the biggest cities. Talking about it in one news interview Bob van der Linden, air transport curator at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, said: "Because of its smaller capacity, the DC10 introduced wide-body service to a lot more markets than did the 747."

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