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EDITOR-IN-CHIEF’S NOTE
Some introspection, please...
C
an there be any redemption for Indian aviation? Well, if the downturn peters off, as many believe it will in two quarters from now, then there could be less financial anxiety for an industry about to lose close to Rs 8,000 crore this year. But redemption, forget it. It’s difficult to believe that anyone can be redeemed unless they are willing to look within, and examine the follies they committed, the excesses they indulged in, and the mistakes they made along the way as they came right to the edge of the cliff. Listening to some of the heavyweights in the airline business last month, it was evident that introspection was the last thing on their minds. If anything, it was everyone bar themselves who was to blame for their woes. Even a reasonable man like Saroj Dutta, who is a doyen of the airline business in this country, lamented that airports had raised their fees at a time when they should actually be reducing their charges. He rued that the states weren’t sensible enough when it came to taxing aviation fuel. He laughed at the low fares and the general overcapacity that had flooded the market. He is right — overcapacity is one hell of a problem. And a particularly painful headache for Jet Airways. Well, why did you order all those A330s and 777s, Mr Dutta? At least you are lucky and have managed to lease them out. Everyone hasn’t been so fortunate. He mentioned the Delhi-Shanghai-San Francisco route, and how it bled so badly that they had to withdraw the service. But do you remember, Mr Dutta, that your own Chairman, the redoubtable Naresh Goyal,
CRUISING HEIGHTS May 2009
pulled out all stops to ensure that the government cleared Chinese cargo airline, Great Wall of China, to fly into India, so that the reciprocal permission for the Shanghai route would find approval with the Chinese authorities? Inspite of their reservations, the government decided to be persuaded by Mr Goyal, and the approval was announced when Manmohan Singh visited China last year. And now, months later, you have dusted and put the service on the backburner. Jet announced a high-profile collaborative arrangement with Kingfisher Airlines in October last year that was to see two of India’s biggest legacy carriers come together and fight the recession jointly. The sceptics were right when they said the collaboration was a great photo opportunity and nothing more. Just weeks later, Kingfisher started operations on the London route in direct competition with Jet, and the whole world laughed. If Messrs Saroj Dutta and Company want people to take them seriously, they need to introspect and acknowledge honestly that they are half the problem. Avarice is not a Wall Street phenomenon. A large chunk of the problem, be it the SaharaJet deal, the huge order book or the everexpanding route map, was a part of the ‘first mover syndrome’ — an irresistible urge to capture space before the other guy blinked an eyelid. At the end of the day, it translates into avarice — a greed to grab market share, make more money, have the most planes and the most routes. Introspect, Mr Dutta. Honestly acknowledge that you people too are part of the reason why we have a problem. I have no doubt in my mind, redemption will follow.
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US airports to see all Despite protests about the invasion of privacy, the US Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is going ahead with its plans to have whole-body imaging at US airports. A New York Times report said all passengers will go through the whole-body imager, the kind that provides an image of the naked body. The TSA had earlier decided to use these whole-body scanners only on travellers who trigger the metal detector alarms. Testing is on at 19 airports in the US and so far the response has been good, said the TSA. Costing between Rs 50 to Rs 85 lakh each, the millimeter-wave technology machines, as these scanners are known, resemble phone booths. They direct radio waves that penetrate the clothing of a passenger standing inside them to reveal concealed weapons, explosives,
liquids, metals, ceramics, plastics, money, drugs or other contraband. The TSA has ruled out any negative health effects of the use of this technology on the human body, saying that the beams of radio frequency energy directed at passengers by these machines are 10,000 times less powerful than a cell phone transmission. Seeking to allay privacy fears, TSA said the passenger's face is blurred by millimeter-wave security features, and security officers are placed at a distance from the machines and cannot identify passengers visually.
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GOPI JUGGERNAUT READY TO ROLL p30 Juggling is what LCC pioneer Captain G R Gopinath is becoming adept at: he is contesting the Parliamentary elections, writing a book and even finding time to roll out his Deccan Express Logisitics. A detailed look at DEL’s plans, what started it all, and how it aims to bring apples from Kashmir to Kanyakumari in a day.
OFF THE RECORD
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The recent appointment of the financial advisor in the aviation ministry E K Bharat Bhushan to the post of CMD of Air India has set tongues wagging. A close look at the behind-the-scenes moves that led to the appointment. CRUISING HEIGHTS May 2009
NEWS DIGEST
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Despite the downturn, both Boeing and Airbus are confident of business doing well in the current year, but are apprehensive about what the next year will have in store for them. Plus: When the Pawan Hans top brass took to the train.
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ARTICLES NEWS VIEWS EDITS INTERVIEWS CLIPPINGS TRAVEL & TOURISM PROFILES NEWS DIGEST
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CRUISING HEIGHTS Editor-in-Chief
K SRINIVASAN Managing Editor TIRTHANKAR GHOSH
Consulting Editor R KRISHNAN
Senior Editor
FOCUS
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Turkish Airlines seems to be unfazed by the global recession, and has ambitious plans for the future in the air cargo industry.
Etihad Airways CEO James Hogan believes the airline is well insulated from the effects of the recession, and looks forward to the coming period.
RENU RANGELA
Reporter PUNIT MISHRA
Design RUCHI SINHA PRADEEP JHA RAVINDER GUSAIN
Photo Editor H C TIWARI
Director RAVI SHARMA
Gen Manager RAJIV SINGH
GM (Business Development)
GLOBETROTTING SPOTLIGHT
Kevin Rudd is caught on the back foot over a fracas with a RAAF cabin stewardess. And what a déjà vu Hillary Clinton's first overseas trip as US Secretary of State turned out for media persons.
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The IPL has come as a shot in the arm for the travel and tourism industry in the country. Countering the downturn, the travel and tourism sectors will reap gains from selling South Africa.
BACK PAGE SNIPPETS
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Malaysia Airlines has regained its No. 1 position as ‘World’s Best Cabin Staff, while India has got its first 6D show in Agra. All this and more.
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The story of the daring courage of a man who flew his family to safety when the pilot of the Air King 200 they were flying in suddenly collapsed mid-flight.
CRUISING HEIGHTS May 2009
ANUJ SAHNI
Subscription JAYA SINGH
Executive Director RENU MITTAL Editorial & Marketing office: Newsline Publications Pvt. Ltd. C-15, Sector 6, Noida 201 301 Tele: +91-120-4145555 All information in CRUISING HEIGHTS is derived from sources we consider reliable. It is passed on to our readers without any responsibility on our part. Opinions/views expressed by third parties in abstract or in interviews are not necessarily shared by us. Material appearing in the magazine cannot be reproduced in whole or in part(s) without prior permission. The publisher assumes no responsibility for material lost or damaged in transit. The publisher reserves the right to refuse, withdraw or otherwise deal with all advertisements without explanation. All advertisements must comply with the Indian Advertisements Code. The publisher will not be liable for any loss caused by any delay in publication, error or failure of advertisement to appear. Owned and published by K Srinivasan 4C Pocket-IV, Mayur Vihar Phase-I, Delhi-91 and printed by him at Nutech Photolithographers, B-240, Okhla Industrial Area, Phase-I, New Delhi 110020 Volume IV No 1
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Set to ‘boomerang’
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India is suffering from slowing demand, high costs and poor infrastructure. The air traffic control is still “weak”. If these issues are not fixed, it will become a “boomerang story”.
IATA Director-General GIOVANNI BISIGNANI on the scenario in the key Asian aviation markets.
LETTERS TO EDITOR
The cover story, First among firsts (April ’09) made pleasant reading. The Hyderabad International Airport has indeed come a long way in the past one year. The airport has gone through a remarkable transformation, thanks to its developers. Surely, the airport could not have emerged so strong without the support of the public-private partnership (PPP) model. The same can be said about the Bengaluru International Airport. Both airports are growing stronger day by day, thereby making their presence felt not only in India but also in other parts of the world. I am sure that these airports would further pinnacle success in the near future. Ram Ghai, Jammu April 2009
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Illustrations: Rajeev Kumar
The guest column by Kapil Kaul, On the threshold of a new growth era (April ’09) brought out some interesting aspects of Praful Patel’s tenure as civil aviation minister. Kapil Kaul, through his incisive writing, has drawn out facts which clearly show that Praful Patel has done a remarkable job indeed as the civil aviation minister. His policies have done wonders for Indian aviation’s prospects and would continue to reap rich dividends for the industry in the future too. His vision for Indian aviation has been clearly exemplified in the column. Kudos to Kapil Kaul for bringing out such remarkable facts about Praful Patel’s ministry. Shyam Mohan, Jaipur
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Creating waves... But not enough to ride on! (April ’09) was interesting to read. The Cargo Village at Bengaluru International Airport would give the much-needed support to the ailing air cargo industry in India. As a matter of fact, the Cargo Village would become a base model for other airports to follow. The air cargo industry in India is going through a rough patch and needs a fillip. I am sure that creating more and more Cargo Villages like these would expand the horizons for the air cargo industry. In the coming years, these Cargo Villages would certainly make India a vital air cargo hub. Hemant Rao, Hyderabad
Struggling to survive At present we are finding ways of survival. We are considering cutting down in areas which we had never thought we would need to. Jet Airways’ Executive Director SAROJ DUTTA on the various cost-saving measures being considered by the airline to tide over the current situation.
Changing times I expect to see more consolidation not only in Europe, but all over, around the world... and more bankruptcies too...
KLM CEO & President PETER F HARTMAN on the aviation industry scenario in these times of economic recession.
Where the future lies Our position is that travel as an industry is evolving and changing the practice (of zero commission for agents) is the direction of things in the future. Singapore Airlines General Manager India FOO CHAI WOO on the airline’s stand on no commission for travel agents.
Will they sustain? The airlines are offering special fares as air travel has come down and all measures to prop it up failed. It has to be seen how long these promotional fares are sustainable. Amadeus India Managing Director ANKUR BHATIA , reacting to Jet’s offering of wide range of fares.
All correspondence may be addressed to Editor, Cruising Heights, C-15, Sector 6, Noida 201 301 OR mail to cruisingheights@newsline.in
CRUISING HEIGHTS May 2009
LCCs on the right path The LCCs in India did not exist five years ago. Now they have expanded to corner as much as 50 per cent of the market share. SpiceJet CEO SANJAY AGRAWAL on the possibility of the airline breaking even in the near future.
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Pets on air
aircraft, the seats of which would be removed. In fact, the carrier's website — petairways.com — mentions that a variety of aircraft ranging from turboprops to Boeing 727 jets would be used. From the moment a pet is dropped off at a Pet Lounge, the pet will be under the care of trained Pet Attendants. The planes will be fully-lit, climate-controlled and have the proper level of fresh air circulation that pets require. Pets would be able to take pets (or ‘pawsengers’) with them but no humans would be allowed in the main cabin. Depending on transit time, Pet Airways would offer pets on board toilet facilities, food and water, during stops.
COLD STATS
The downturn has turned out to be an opportunity. A new airline, Pet Airways, will be launched in the US on July 14, 2009. Pet Airways — where dogs, cats, or other pets travel in the main cabin, not in cargo — founded by Alysa Binder says it would start by serving five cities in the United States: to and from Denver, New York, Washington, Chicago and Los Angeles. Based in Delray Beach, Florida, Pet Airways would expand its services to 25 cities in the United States. A one-way flight would costs around $149.It is accepting reservations for the first New York-Los Angeles flight on July 14, 2009. On offer will be a pets-only cabin service in a 19-seat turboprop
LOOKING GLASS Look out... Ooops! Caught you two napping on the job...
Hike possible If there is another hike in ATF… Kingfisher will pass the increased cost to consumers because the airline cannot absorb this cost. Kingfisher Airlines Chairman VIJAY MALLYA on the possibility of a further hike in jet fuel prices.
No hike Our low fares will continue. Air India spokesperson JITENDRA BHARGAVA as oil companies hiked aviation turbine fuel.
CRUISING HEIGHTS May 2009
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OFF THE RECORD
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What a
mess!
What a mess!
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Praful Patel
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Photos: H C Tiwari
Raghu Menon
f Arvind Jadhav takes over as the next Chairman and Managing Director of Air India — and the odds seem to be in his favour — he will be the seventh CEO to head India’s national carrier (the Air India-Indian Airlines combine) in the course of five years that Praful Patel has been at the helm as Civil Aviation Minister at Rajiv Gandhi Bhawan. He has bid goodbye to Sunil Arora, Sushma Chawla and Vishwapati Trivedi (at Indian Airlines), Vasudevan Thulasidas and Raghu Menon at Air India. And if you count the interregnum, with Bharat Bhushan Nair presiding for the moment, it will be a revolving door for six. It’s clear that continuity has been a huge casualty at AI. If one of the reasons for the high marks that Praful Patel gets as Civil Aviation Minister is the continuity that having one man at the top for a clear term brings to the job, then why is it that Mantriji wasn’t able to bring the same clarity to the most important public sector unit under his charge? Ironically, the man who has now got the boot, Raghu Menon, wasn’t even in the shortlist. When a search committee was established to find a successor to Vasudhevan Thulasidas, those on the list then were Arvind Mayaram and Arvind Jadhav. Praful Patel said `no’ to both and convinced the Prime Minister that it would be best to go with someone who has an idea of Air India. His surprise choice for the job was Raghu Menon, then an Additional Secretary and Financial Advisor in the Ministry. His logic was that Menon was an insider. He had been earlier Joint Secretary in the Ministry, and on the Board of AI as a government nominee; he later returned as AS to the same job (rarely do civil servants return to the same Ministry to the same job. In fact, it’s unprecedented. It only shows how well Raghu jelled with Praful). The irony is that Menon, who had earlier applied for the top job at Indian Airlines and was rejected, hadn’t even applied this time around. And here he was called and offered the job on a platter. That was in March 2008.
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OFF THE RECORD So how is it that Raghu Menon has fallen so much out of favour in 12 short months? So much out of favour that the government takes the unprecedented step of sacking him in the middle of the election season, appoints a selection committee under the Cabinet Secretary, and finalises a new man for the job. There are many who believe that Menon’s exit was not based on one single issue, but grew out of a wide cocktail of issues that have built up over the months. But it came to a head over two key issues — the controversial Air India-SATS ground handling deal, and the appointment of Sunil Kishan as the next RD (North India). Perhaps, on the SATS deal, Menon’s argument was that Air India was a loser in the entire JV. How could they go ahead with an agreement that could affect the revenue generated by the ground handling services that was being offered by AI historically to other airlines, and also pay for the services offered by the new JV to service their own operations across the country, and further pay a commission on top of it all to the JV partner for these services. This, when one doesn’t know how many employees are to be retained and which way will things go on the whole ground handling policy in the coming months. There are, however, others who disagree with this perspective. One of them was candid and blunt: “I am afraid this cannot be an issue. The five major air-
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ports in the country are in private hands, and two more are being modernised. The airport operators want the airlines to get out of this business and offer the contracts to companies. So a JV is the only way forward. In any case, nothing has been finalised on the JV and one is still negotiating with SATS,” said one senior AI official. At least the Menon camp has been floating this as the key driver for his exit, saying that “the sacrifice of a job was better than a stint with the CBI or CVC.” These insiders argue that Raghu Menon has paid the price for showing some backbone and independence in decisionmaking that was not to the liking of the Ministry (read Minister). And they say that this was not the only issue on which he had differed with the Ministry. The appointment of a new Regional Director (North) was another sore sticking point. Menon appointed Sunil Kishen, who is at present the Executive Director (Projects) as well MD of Alliance Air (the decrepit, nonfunctional former regional arm of Indian Airlines) to replace D S Kohli, the present RD who retires April-end. Kishen, a former General Manager in the Indian Airlines Commercial department, has made a monumental mess of the PSS system that was to help integrate the reservation systems and bring some semblance of commercial stability by integrating the codes (AI and IA under which Air India still continues to fly) into one unified AI code. That still hasn’t happened and Air India has more or less lost out its Star Alliance deal. The airline has taken several extensions to fix the outstanding issues for its integration into the global alliance, and continues to dole out valuable foreign exchange to the Frankfurt headquartered alliance with no process in place. Sunil Kishen was driving that initiative. But because that job was based out of Mumbai, Kishen managed to use his contacts to take over as the head of Alliance — a nothing job. But what it offers Kishen is the comfort of operating out of Delhi in a secure sort of way. At the moment, he shuttles to Mumbai each week and comes back to the capital when it should actually be the other way round. What seemed to have angered some people, both in Air HOTBED: Air India headquarters in Mumbai
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Anita Khurana
India in particular and in the Ministry, was that Menon chose to push ahead with the appointment of Sunil without taking the Ministry into confidence. Historically, the RD (North) has been one position that has always been a Ministry nominee. After all, he is their point person with the Ministry
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OFF THE RECORD for most issues, and deals with civil servants and politicians on a day to day basis. But Kishen wasn’t a Ministry nominee. “Let me put it this way. Sunil Kishen was the nominee of the ED (Commercial) Deepak Brara, and Menon readily acceded to his request. In fact, the relationship between the two is that of a CEO and COO. (Just two weeks back, when Secretary Madhavan Nambiar travelled to Europe, he wanted Raghu Menon to be around, so the AI CMD went to Frankfurt and London, and he asked Deepak Brara to accompany him. Deepak’s tour programme note said it all: ‘Accompanying the CMD’.” “It was the Good Friday-Easter weekend in Europe, so one wonders what they got, down in the cold confines of Europe, during this long holiday break? While one heads the company, the other runs it and what Deepak wants, Deepak gets,” said one senior AI official. Anyway, to cut a long story short, Menon issued orders for Kishen, and was forced to rescind it less than 24 hours later. Vinita Bhandari and Sunil Kishen may finally be forced to pack their bags and shift to the AI headquar-
E K Bharat Bhushan
Arvind Jadhav
ters lock, stock and barrel. But are these the only issues that are responsible for the ouster of Raghu Menon? The general feeling is that Menon cannot be blamed for the crippling financial woes of Air India that has
K M Chandrashekhar
a long history to it. But it is indeed true that his leadership in the last 13 months produced no confidence in the government to bail AI out. As one senior secretary, who was formerly in Civil Aviation and now works elsewhere in the government, said: “How do you expect the state to dole out crores when the CEO is applying for another job in the government. What sort of vote of confidence is that on the airline, or for that mater the CEO?” This senior official was alluding to the fact that Menon was one of the applicants in the first round for the top job at Aera (Airport Economic Regulatory Authority). In fact, there are reports that Cabinet Secretary Chandrashekhar told Menon that what he had done wasn’t appropriate. After all, the ACC appointment was sacrosanct and he was attempting to M Madhavan Nambiar leave a key responsi-
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Captain Sharma
bility and move elsewhere. As one observer sarcastically commented: “It’s like Ravi Kant applying for a top job at Hyundai or Honda while driving the Nano project at Tata Motors. Ratan Tata would sack him, pronto. For that one reason alone, Menon should have been sacked two months back.” As Air India prepares to function under a temporary CEO and readies for a new CEO, the general inference in the industry is that the airline has now become a basket case and there is really no redemption in sight. The loads are dipping, and its market share is also continuously falling. Unlike the Sensex that goes up and down, there is only a bear run as far as AI goes. The personnel policy has been torn to shreds with a philosophy to reward favourites and throw the rulebook in the dustbin. One great example is Deepak Brara. He is now an invitee on the Board when he wasn’t even approved by the Public Enterprises Selection Board (PESB) to be a Board level nominee. He is virtually a full fledged Board member without the sanction, and no one likes it. Why, all commercial personnel, whether in ground handling or cargo, come under his jurisdiction and his colleagues feel cut up and angry at the inequity of it all. And no one is asking any questions of Accenture, the Air India consultant who has made such a monumental hash of the whole merger process. They are almost through with their consultation and should walk out unscathed. If PWC (PriceWaterhouse Coopers) is paying a price for Satyam, shouldn’t Accenture have a price to pay for the AI-IA torpedo that it has unleashed? In the strict sense of the word, there is no real criminal defalcation on the part of Accenture. You could at best call it a misadventure in consultancy. The tragedy is that Raghu Menon has lost his job, but Accenture continues to prosper. There is no accountability for the mess they have caused.
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Cross Connections
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LEADING THE WAY: Captain Gopinath has shown the way, it’s time now for others to follow.
H
e didn’t set up a call centre, because the costs would have been prohibitive and he could well have ended up waking up
the Election Commission. But Captain Gopinath sent SMS, emails and used a battery of volunteers drawn to the charisma of his ‘Udipi Hotel’ concept, be it in flying, transporting goods or contesting elections, to campaign for him in the latest general elections. Gopinath has said time and again that he could easily have countered his opponents’ spending binges by splurging on his own campaign. “But if my political life starts with a lie, I’m as bad as the others,” he said. Running a lowbudget campaign “is not impossible, but it is difficult,” he admitted. But the good Captain was disappointed: the apathy of voters in India’s tech hub was astonishing. Only a little over 45 per cent of the six million elec-
Chunav
samachar torate in three Lok Sabha constituencies cast their ballot on April 23. The 2.03 million voters in Bangalore South, touted as a prestigious constituency with the electorate a mix of the educated and rich as well as low-income groups, were the worst: just 44.73 per cent of them turned up at the polling booths. His volunteers were as diverse as the people who flew Air Deccan. There was Abdul Sait, an ardent fan of Gopinath’s budget airline, and Badari Narayan, an outsourcing industry worker volunteering for the Gopinath campaign. But come Election Day, the voters chose to picnic at home. Anyway, Gopi has had the courage to venture. May others too follow him. CRUISING HEIGHTS May 2009
he Bombay High Court has stayed a warrant restraining Sahara’s move to attach some movable properties of Jet Airways over the past few weeks. All this is in connection with their dispute over an income tax liability. The Court held that a status quo would be maintained and that the movable properties already attached by Sahara would remain so. The court also ordered Jet Airways to file an undertaking on April 3 that it would not create any third-party interests in any of its assets and properties. This effectively means that Jet Airways cannot sell JetLite to a third party. Jet Airways had agreed to buy Sahara Airlines in April 2007 Rahul Bhatia for Rs 1,450 crore. It paid about Rs 900 crore in the same month and started operating it as a low-cost carrier. The remaining Rs 550 crore were to be paid in four equal instalments of Rs 137.50 crore each. One Jeh Wadia of the clauses in the agreement between the parties, according to Jet’s counsel Janak Dwarkadas, was that if a tax liability of over Rs 50 crore arose for the period before the filing of the consent terms, Sanjay Agrawal the same would have to be borne by Sahara. When a tax liability of Rs 107 crore arose, the Naresh Goyal-promoted airline had paid only Rs 100.50 crore as the first instalment after deducting the tax liability in March last year, to which Sahara Airlines did not raise any objection. However, in March this year, when Jet did the same, Sahara claimed a default when Jet did the same, Sahara claimed a default when Jet did the same, Sahara claimed a default
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The
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‘vanishing’trick this had its “desired” effect, with many potential passengers, and those who had already flown once or twice, choosing to travel by rail once again. As we said, even after the fuel prices dropped one third of what they were, and fares are at least 50 per cent lower than what they were in JulyAugust 2008, the passengers have still not come back. According to the DGCA, Indian carriers carried 39.40 million passengers on the domestic sector during 2008-09, as compared to 43.97 million passengers in 2007-08. An analysis of figures released by DGCA shows that the worst hit were the second and third quarters of fiscal 2008-09, when passenger traffic dropped by 16.28 per cent, and then by another 17.39 per cent, after the first quarter saw a marginal 4.25 per cent growth. In the fourth quarter, that is January-March ‘09,
INFRASTRUCTURE
NEWS...
Delhi’s new terminal open to public The new domestic departure terminal at Delhi airport has been thrown open to the public. With the commissioning of terminal
the passenger traffic growth fell by 12.23 per cent. This was during the months beginning January 2009, when all the airlines reduced fares by as much
Photo: H.C. Tiwari
espite the steep fall in aviation turbine fuel prices to mid2005 levels, the passenger traffic growth refuses to rise. It is not just that money has disappeared, but also air travellers, who seem to have applied some kind of vanishing cream on themselves. During fiscal 2008-09, Indian carriers actually reported a loss of 10 per cent in domestic passenger traffic growth, compared to fiscal 2007-08. This is largely explained by skyrocketing fuel prices, beginning June ‘08 and rising continuously till October 2008, when crude prices fell to $147 a barrel. While prices have, since, fallen to one third of their peak, that is around $47 per barrel, resulting in a decline in aviation fuel prices, the damage done to costing of domestic carriers (as also aviation worldwide) is still to wear out. As Saroj Datta, Executive Director of Jet Airways, articulated recently at the Routes Conference in Hyderabad, “airlines are still paying for the fuel they bought from PSU oil companies those days.” In a way, the cascading effect is yet to play out fully, notwithstanding much lower fuel prices today. When the fuel prices zoomed, airlines had no alternative but to hike fares sharply, and
Naresh Goyal
Vijay Mallya
1D, airlines have begun shifting their operations to the new terminal in a phased manner. According to Delhi International Airport Limited, which is managing the airport, the new domestic departure terminal will raise the domestic departure capacity of Delhi airport to 10 million passengers per year. The new terminal will house Jet Airways, JetLite, Kingfisher Red, Indigo and Spicejet. Kingfisher Airlines, which is currently operating from terminal 1A, will also move to 1D. GoAir and Jagson Airlines will shift from terminal 1B to 1A, while Air India and MDLR Airlines will continue to operate from 1A. Terminal 1D is quipped with the modern four-level in-line baggage handling system. It has 72 check-in counters and 14 security channels to ensure quick processing.
Advanced screening equipment for Cochin New terminal ID
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In a bid to improve the security network, as also the passenger baggage screening system, the Cochin International Airport (CIAL) is set to replace its X-ray machines with state-of-the-art screening equipment within four months. According to reports, the new machinery, named “in-line
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as 50 per cent, and by 82 per cent in the the ultimatum from PSU oil companies case of the Maharaja on specific sectors. to pay up its ATF bill dues rocked it The oldest among the private hard. Last heard, Kingfisher was carriers, Jet Airways has been struggling seeking another extension to pay back badly to keep itself up. Last heard, it its Rs 1,000 crore dues to the oil had warned staff that those who had companies. It is not Kingfisher alone. been asked to be relocated would have to do so at their own expense, and should they not relocate then they will have to fly out of the company. This rule has also been applied to pilots. Jet Airways is, in fact, trying to gather most of its staff in Delhi and Mumbai to cut costs etc. It has already decided to stop any further expansion on foreign destinations. Jet has swiftly moved to sign code share agreements with KLM and a few others, to at least get the Kingfisher Airlines Jet Airways benefit of flying the first leg to Europe. Kingfisher Airlines is still to regain Even Jet owes money to oil companies, its ‘Good Times’, which looks like a though the amount is less than Mallya’s mirage to even its mirage-basher boss fuel debt. Dr Vijay Mallya. Kingfisher has put in The Maharaja is indeed on way to the cold storage all its plans to connect wear the proverbial Emperor’s clothes. as many foreign destinations as The fact that it has not been wearing any possible. We are told that after literally clothes, especially since the famous struggling hard without the whiskey August 2007 merger of AI and IA, is high, the airline has just managed to get known to everyone. some funds from the banks. GoAir is still in the process of But even as it struggled to do this, becoming ‘Gone Air’, with its imported X-ray facility” and purchased from Germany, will allow screening of baggage simultaneously with the completion of check-in formalities. It will also help ease the long passenger queues during rush hours. The Cochin airport equipment, to be installed at the domestic and the international passenger terminals at a cost of around Rs 10 crore, will generate up to five images of a screened article, as against two images by the existing X-ray machines. With the inline X-ray system, security officials could easily find out even small-sized items hidden in bags, and in case of any trace of explosives, a warning would be issued immediately.
Award for Chennai airport The Chennai airport has bagged the Airports Authority of India (AAI) Chairman’s Award for Innovative Excellence for maintaining unity power factor for the year 2008-09. The airport has also
CEO having already exported himself, putting in his papers just two days after he addressed a press conference in Delhi to assure the media (we don’t know about the travelling public) that GoAir is very much there. That leaves IndiGo and SpiceJet. The former is slowly seeing its market share being cut by the latter. SpiceJet, on the other hand, is on record to say that it has enough cash in the bank and is current on all important heads like fuel bill, wages, lease charges etc. With no outstandings, little wonder that SpiceJet gets into news every fortnight for wanting to buy off some airline, or at lease go for an alliance. Frankly, if Spice wants to lose its sting, it is welcome to buy, merge, ally or consolidate. The fact that the vision is unlikely to be clear for some more time is evident from the lack of response to the one month apex fares announced by even the full-service carriers. Both Jet and Air India are offering Mumbai-Delhi-Mumbai or Delhi-Mumbai-Delhi at below Rs 3,000 for the coming vacation season. Perhaps it is only the mirage of good times that is holding them back in business.
received a commendation certificate from the Tamil Nadu Electricity Board (TNEB), which provided an incentive in the form of reduction in the power charges to the airport every month. The reduction in the charges ranged between Rs. 4.79 lakh to Rs.5.60 lakh per month. K Natarajan, Airport Director, said that the airport is powered on 33 KV line from TNEB. As per the regulations of the electricity board, the power factor system needed to be maintained more than 0.90. Whenever power factor is maintained less than 0.90 the consumer has to pay penalty to the TNEB. However, the Chennai airport was able to maintain the unity power factor on its main feeder and received an incentive of Rs59.60 lakh from the TNEB during 2008-09. Chennai airport Continuous monitoring and control of all electrical parameters of the ten 11 KV sub-stations, scattered all around the airport, was one of the key factors behind this, said Natarajan.
CRUISING HEIGHTS May 2009
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NEWS DIGEST
T
he good news first : Both Airbus and Boeing expect to deliver the same amount of aircraft this year as last, largely because airlines are unlikely to cancel or push back orders for aircraft due for delivery this year, given that they have paid about half the cost of these airliners with their down payments and progress payments. The bad news begins next year: Cashstrapped customers will increasingly seek either to delay or cancel orders for
No longer in
aircraft they can no longer afford, or negotiate more favourable terms with the manufacturers. The current cycle is proving more challenging than previous ones, largely because of the credit crunch. Industry analysts estimate a $10bn to $30bn shortfall in funding needed to support 950 to 1,000 Airbus and Boeing deliveries. Yet the two big makers are insisting the shortfall will only involve $4bn to $5bn. France, for example, has offered €5bn
the queue
Switching off lights during non-rush hour, use of energy efficient lamps such as LED and CFL, energy efficient airconditioning plants and using ‘Variable Frequency Drive’ in air holding units, were some of the power saving methods adopted by the airport to maintain the unity power factor, he said.
Kolkata gets new landing system Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose International Airport at Kolkata is getting a new and advanced Instrument Landing System (ILS). The new system, manufactured by US firm Thales, would replace the Category-2 (CAT-2) ILS, which has been in place at the Kolkata airport since 1993. Installed at a cost of Rs 88 lakh, it is an advanced version of CAT-2 and will ease maintenance and repair work in case of Kolkata airport technical faults. The US
14
($6.5bn) in loans to help airlines buy Airbus aircraft. Both manufacturers admit that the big test will come next year, and they are bracing for more customer deferrals and cancellations. But they remain relatively optimistic that the cycle will turn and pick up in 2011, hence their resistance to making sweeping production cuts in 2010. They have so far only announced 5-10 per cent production cuts in
manufacturer will provide spare parts, amounting to over 10 per cent of instrument cost, for future replacements. ILSs help aircraft in landing in poor visibility conditions, particularly during a fog. The new system is also compatible for upgradation to CAT-3 level. The existing system may be transported to the Srinagar airport to be installed there later.
Bengaluru airport wins Routes award The Bengaluru International Airport has won the Routes Asia Airport Marketing Award in a contest with four other airports in the sub-continent. The airport, since it started operations, has already attracted seven new international connections as a result of its solid infrastructure and sustained marketing efforts. BIAL considers it a major achievement for an airport to keep its route network and traffic base stable, let alone secure new routes, in the current economic scenario. Ashutosh Chandra, Head — Airline Marketing, BIAL, received the award from Gerard Brown, Group Sales Director, Routes Development Group of the UK, at the recent Routes
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IVRCL, a Rs 3,000 crore group, is a name to reckon with in infrastructure, construction and real estate sectors in the country. IVR Prime Urban Developers Limited is a 100 per cent subsidiary of IVRCL and has successfully completed the prestigious Hill Ridge Township at Gatchi Bowli, Hyderabad. Many other projects are in various stages of implementation at Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad and Pune.
IVRCL Infrastructures & Projects Limited is making a foray into Noida in a big way with grand plans, both in residential as well as SEZ sectors:
Beautiful modern townships at 118, 119 and 121 Sectors of Noida
Residential blocks with world class modern amenities, including Gymnasiums, Club House and sports facilities
2, 3 & 4 Bedrooms Appartments with highend specifications
Development of IT SEZ at Sector 144
IVRCL INFRASTRUCTURES & PROJECTS LIMITED
Corporate Office : 8-2-596, 4th Floor, IVRCL Towers, Road No. 10, Banjara Hills, Hyderabad - 500 034 Ph.: +91-40-2335 2961 / 2962 / 2963 Fax: +91-40-2335 4482 e-mail: info@ivrinfra.com Delhi Regional Office : P2, Ist Floor, Green Park Ext., New Delhi-110016 , Ph.: 011-41001049
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Photo Courtesy: Boeingmedia.com
NEWS DIGEST
The Boeing 787 Dreamliner factory in Everett, Wash
their various aircraft ranges next year. Most industry watchers believe this is wishful thinking. Cycles in the boom-andbust civil aircraft business are long, and the manufacturers will probably be forced to cut production by 20 per cent to 30 per cent, if not by as much as 40 per cent, according to a UBS study. What a remarkable dip! At the height of the aviation boom worldwide, about 18 months ago, if you wanted to take a Boeing 737-800 NG or B777 on lease, the response would have been, ‘No Sir, please wait. You are in the queue.’After the global meltdown, the pendulum has swung to the other side, though not for Boeing’s original bread and butter Boeing 737s. It came out with the first list of job cuts some months ago. Now it is planning
Ashutosh Chandra, Head Airline Marketing, BIAL, receives the award from Gerard Brown, Group Sales Director, Routes Development Group, UK
another. Boeing Commercial Airplane orders have been seriously hit in 2009. With the global slowdown-triggered fall in air traffic, most airlines have cut flights, and some have delayed orders and delivery of new jets. The money market continues to be very tough and potential buyers are unable to access easy finance. This is rather strange at a time when the market is abuzz with the news that lease rentals have fallen by nearly 33 per cent, as compared to, say, 18 months ago. What this means is you don’t get money to buy a new plane, and if your are able to buy a new plane you are not able to do a sale-leaseback as the plane cannot be sold at a premium, which helps to substantially cushion the lease-back charges. It is indeed a chain effect. So, with the
Asia conference in Hyderabad. BIA, a venture of Siemens, L&T, Unique Zurich, and minority partners Airports Authority of India and KSIIDC, started operating on May 24, 2008. The award is judged by the primary customers of airports — the airline network planning community, BIAL said.
Further expansion at Pantnagar The Pantnagar airport in the Kumoan region of Uttarakhand would be expanded further for the operation of Boeing and Airbus aircraft, in view of heavy industrialisation and tourism potential in the area. This follows completion of work on the new runway, which is
16
market continuing to be tight for potential buyers to get loans for new planes, Boeing has decided to reduce the monthly production of its twin aisle B777 to five planes from seven, starting June 2010. Boeing also said it will delay earlier plans to slightly raise production of its Boeing 747-8 and 767 planes. However, the production of Boeing 737 and the long-awaited Dremaliner B787 will remain unchanged. The latter may be ready for a test flight in the next few months. Deliveries of 787 are scheduled for only 2010. But there are issues with the Dreamliner. Already this year, a Russian carrier, a Dubai leasing company, and a Hong Kong businessman have called off purchases of 32 Dreamliners, worth more than $6 billion altogether. Australia’s Qantas, which ordered 65 Boeing 787s, may cancel 15 of them. And Japan’s All Nippon Airways, which ordered 50 in 2004, is facing such heavy losses with the collapse of trans-Pacific air travel that Moody’s Investors Service has put a negative outlook on its long-term debt. That, in turn, could hamper the airline’s efforts to obtain funding to buy the jets. According to a long piece in Conde Nast, airlines could seek as much as $4 billion in compensation for losses linked to delays, and Boeing is not expected to make any money on the first 100 or so Dreamliners it delivers. Some carriers, weary of waiting for the Dreamliner, bought or leased planes from Boeing’s biggest rival, Airbus SAS, a European consortium. “We’re pretty fed up,” says the chief executive of one major carrier that ordered
now 4,500-feet long. The Airports Authority of India carried out the modernisation work at a cost of Rs 75 crore. “The first phase of the work has been completed and now, under the second phase, the Pantnagar airstrip would be expanded to 7,000 feet,” according to a top official. The government has already acquired the land for the purpose. Companies like Nestle and Bajaj Auto already have operations here.
Tiruchi to get ATC tower As part of the modernisation programme at Tiruchi airport, a 35 to 40 metre high air traffic control tower is likely to come up here. Airport Director S Sreekumar said the Airports Authority of India has taken up massive development and modernisation of 35 nonmetro airports, of which Tiruchi airport is one. A terminal building has already been built at the airport, he Tiruchi airport
CRUISING HEIGHTS May 2009
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NEWS DIGEST 15 Dreamliners. “We’ve got no clarity basically too late to do anything but from Boeing.” finish building the aircraft and then How serious is the problem can putting it in storage. be gauged from the fact that in the “If someone is going to defer an first three months of 2009 (January to airplane in 2009, and I don’t know if March), Boeing received orders for you are going to hear about that or not, just 28 airplanes, compared to 289 in because we have the capability of the same three months of 2008. This building 18 airplanes now, we haven’t was largely due to the cancellations worked things out with all the airlines. and changes made in the orders for 32 But an airplane that you might hear Boeing 787 planes. But no orders for being deferred in 2009, if you hear it, B767, B747 and B777 have been would be an airplane that is probably ANDREW SHANKLAND JOHN LEAHY Head of Marketing at Airbus Airbus COO cancelled so far in 2009. The diverse going to be built and put in storage, backlog of aircraft to be delivered and then the airline is just going to numbers 3,500 planes. have to come to grips with that,” But, speaking at the New York Bloomberg quoted Leahy as saying. Air Finance Conference, Randy If A380 customers want to defer Tinseth, Vice President of Marketing production, that would be easier. for Boeing’s commercial airplanes Leahy notes since the airplanes aren’t unit, and Andrew Shankland, Head built, there’s more flexibility in the of Marketing at Airbus, said they system. The Airbus position on continue to work closely with cusholding firm on 2009 A380 delivery tomers to be sure that firm contracts positions also applies to other aircraft will be carried out. types. If customers say they want to Shankland said Airbus expects defer orders, they have to focus on RANDY TINSETH STEVEN UDVAR-HAZY to deliver about the same number of Vice President of Marketing aircraft not yet built or in build — International Lease Finance for Boeing’s commercial Corporation Chief Executive aircraft in 2009 as the 483 it delivwhich effectively means 2010 or later airplanes unit ered in 2008, consistent with the delivery positions — and that they company’s outlook at the beginning of this cargo traffic falling more than 20 per cent. pretty much have to take 2009 slots. year. Tinseth declined to give a specific But his boss and Airbus COO John But both large aircraft makers have been forecast ahead of Boeing’s plan to report Leahy told analysts in the early part of April steadfast in brushing off comments from the quarterly earnings and provide a business that Airbus may be forced to put the A380s International Air Transport Association. And update. Both executives declined to specu- in storage this year if customers aren’t ready International Lease Finance Corporation late on deliveries in 2010. to take delivery of the asset. Chief Executive Steven Udvar-Hazy feels Shankland said Airbus expects world Although Airbus is officially sticking that production rates will need to be slashed economic growth — which drives air traffic to its target of building 18 A380s this year, 30 per cent. “The industry has never — to recover in the first quarter of 2010, and Leahy admitted the number of aircraft to experienced this phenomenon where we to increase by 4 per cent to 6 per cent in go to customers could be lower. Leahy have a recession on a global scale,” Udvar2011. The industry expects air passenger said not all airlines are onboard for their Hazy says. “No airplane is immune from the traffic to fall by 8 per cent this year, with scheduled 2009 deliveries, but that it is operating environment we’re in.” pointed out. Speaking at a function to mark the Foundation Day of the AAI, he said the AAI has incurred a capital expenditure of Rs 1,980.23 crore during 2007-08 for developing the infrastructure of the airports. The AAI has appointed a consultant to examine and submit a report on the feasibility of operationalising 32 non-functional airports in the country. It has also taken up a major communication systems and air traffic management project, christened GAGAN (GPS Aided Geo Augmented Navigation), in association with the Indian Space Research Organisation.
Mangalore airport posts Rs 7.5-cr profit Mangalore airport, a major non-metro airport in Karnataka, has made an operating profit of Rs 7.5 crore during 2008-09, as against the operating profit of Rs 8.61 crore for 2007-08. The airport, which recorded a loss of Rs 2.83 crore in 2005-06, made an operating profit of Rs 83 lakh in 2006-07. MR Vasudeva, former Airport Director of Mangalore Airport and present Airport Director of Coimbatore Airport, revealed this at a meeting organised by Kanara Chamber of Commerce and
18
Industry (KCCI) in Mangalore. The operation of international flights from Mangalore, which began in October 2006, has contributed to the growth of Mangalore Airport, he said. Malaysia-based Air Asia has shown interest to operate flights to Mangalore Mangalore airport either from Singapore or Kuala Lumpur, he added. Speaking on the occasion, Srinivas S Kamath, President of KCCI, said that the airport, which was handling around 2.5 lakh passengers a year some years ago, is now handling more than 7.5 lakh passengers. He hoped that the numbers may reach 1.5 million passengers after the commissioning of the integrated terminal building at the airport.
CRUISING HEIGHTS May 2009
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AIRBUS MOVES: Airbus and the China Aviation Suppliers Import and Export Group extended an agreement for a training and support centre in Beijing.
John Leahy argues the market is more robust, and recently insisted that production levels for Airbus will likely remain at around 480 units for the next two years, matching last year’s output. The downside risk to that number is 10-15 per cent, he says, insisting Airbus will not see deliveries fall below 400 units per year. Leahy suggests that Udvar-Hazy’s comments are driven in part by selfinterest: if Airbus and Boeing build fewer aircraft, lease rates are likely to rise. Nevertheless, at a recent meeting of independent aircraft traders and leasing companies in the US, 45 per cent said they expect up to a 3 per cent market contraction this year; 31 per cent expect more than 3 per cent. While 43 per cent said they expect the airline industry to emerge from the trough of the current recession next year, 30 per cent predicted that won’t happen until 2011. The big problem remains the lack of aircraft delivery financing, says Airbus CEO Tom Enders. That situation could worsen this year before it improves, Enders says, adding that he’s hopeful there will be signs of improvement in a few months. Exacerbating the problem is the fact that big leasing companies, which usually have helped prop up aircraft makers during a downturn, are sidelined by their own problems, referring to ILFC and General Electric’s Commercial
Aviation Services arm. The challenge for Airbus and Boeing is that even as they trim output, they must be ready to ramp up again rapidly. While airlines are deferring 2009 and 2010 slots, many want to push those aircraft out only a year late, creating a potential bow-wave in 2011. But deferring only a year may not be possible, Leahy notes, since those production slots are spoken for. Airlines may face the prospect of taking delivery in 2010, or deferring and not getting equipment until 2013 or so, he warns. Meanwhile, the scope of Airbus’ aircraft activity was expanded on April 15 with the formal integration of Airbus Military as a new business unit. Airbus Military brings more than 4,500 highly skilled employees into the Airbus team, and was created from the former military transport aircraft division of Airbus parent company, EADS. This business unit is in charge of a full product line of military transport aircraft — from the CN-235 and C-295 tactical transports to the A330-based Multi-role Tanker Transport (MRTT) and the A400M multi-role airlifter. Airbus Military’s responsibilities also include any future military derivatives of Airbus civil aircraft, and any potential new military transport developments pursued by the company. Even the most informed outsiders frequently lack comprehensive and direct CRUISING HEIGHTS May 2009
knowledge of what’s happening at Boeing — including about its development programmes, the 787 and 747-8. Unfortunately, the seemingly insatiable appetite for any information about those programmes has given rise to Web postings and social media sites that distribute rumors or details without ample — or sometimes any — of the context that would aid understanding of what’s really going on. Some of these sites use official sounding titles and designs in an attempt to enhance their credibility. There are many examples of “exclusive” postings claiming to have just heard certain information from “sources.” These reports often claim to have inside information about production plans or progress, orders, deliveries, cancellations, or development programme milestones — that often turn out to be incorrect. The good news from Boeing is that on April 16, 2009, it achieved a new milestone when it delivered its Boeing 737 NG — number 60,000 — to the International Lease Finance Company, which in turn has leased it to Norwegian Air Shuttle ASA — the largest low-fare airline company in Scandinavia, flying across Europe, North Africa and Middle East. As on date, the unfulfilled orders for B737 NG exceed 2,200 planes, valued approximately $163 billion in list prices.
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NEWS DIGEST
A
ir India has successfully carried out major 2C Check for the first time on an Airbus A330, saving substantial foreign exchange, as the plane need not now be sent to an MRO abroad. The 2C Check was carried out with in-house expertise, and it also did a test flight after that in April 2009. Air India has, on date, two A330s on lease. The 2C Check involves major component removal, inspection and installation, structural inspection and detailed operational/functional checks of the system, which are carried out every 36 months. While Air India is in the process of setting up two MROs — one with Boeing in Nagpur and another with EADS in Delhi — its existing engineering facilities in Mumbai and Delhi have been carrying out major checks up to C and D (heavy maintenance visits) on
Check.
20
It’s done!
CRUISING HEIGHTS May 2009
A319, A320, A321 and A310 aircraft, including its freighter version, and B747-300, -400, B 777-200 and B 737800 NG phase checks. This capacity was recently expanded to carry out C checks on B777 aircraft, and now A330. Air India’s engineering facility has been recognised as a certified repair shop by both FAA and EASA. Air India has also been certified by DGCA as an approved CAR-145 maintenance organisation with effect from January 1, 2009. Meanwhile, Air India has extended its power plant maintenance agreement with SR Technics to include CFM International CFM 56 engines. The two sides already have a servicing deal, with SR Technics maintaining CFM 56 &B engines for Air India Express, which operates B737-800s. The new agreement will be enlarged to include
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CFM56-5B engines used by the erstwhile Indian Airlines’ Airbus planes. According to SR Technics, there are 27 A320s in the fleet, which will increase to 43 by next year. Air India already has a cooperation agreement with Pratt Whitney for maintaining PW 4000 engines. Recently, Deccan Express Logistics, promoted by Deccan Aviation promoter Capt G R Gopinath, has tied up with Air India for providing line maintenance and technical handling support to his three-plane A310 fleet, which he acquired from Air India and sent to Airbus headquarters in Toulouse for conversion into freighters. As per the agreement, Air India will provide end-to-end engineering support to Deccan Express Logistics fleet and its operations.
Page 23
A
weighty issue!
U
nited Airlines recently announced that obese passengers may have to pay the price for two seats when boarding the plane. However, United Airlines said that this will only happen in case the passenger could not be relocated to an empty seat. According to a statement from United Airlines, obese passengers will be moved from their seats by stewards if they are unable to lower the armrest
United Airlines
Ryan Air
CRUISING HEIGHTS May 2009
and buckle a seatbelt with an additional extension cord. The steward will try to move the obese passenger to two empty seats on the same flight, at no additional cost. However, if there are no seats available in the flight, the passenger will have to change the ticket to the next available flight and purchase a second seat for that flight. This move was a result of complaints being received by the airline from its passengers about discomfort while sitting next to obese passengers. United Airlines said, “The new policy was created for the comfort and wellbeing of all our guests onboard, some of whom do not have a comfortable flight because the person next to them infringed on their seat.” Well, passengers seem to agree with this move. In an online poll conducted by Ryanair, the LCC giant that calls it the ‘fat tax’, asked passengers to come up with a winning “cost reduction” idea. The results are as follows: 29 per cent — Excess fees for very overweight passengers 25 per cent — €1 for toilet paper, with O’Leary’s face on it 24 per cent — €3 to smoke in a converted toilet cubicle 14 per cent — Annual subscription to access Ryanair.com 8 per cent — €2 “corkage” fee for passengers who bring their own food onboard.
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The
Mumbai initiative
I
t must have been quite a sight to see a band of chopperwallas standing at New Delhi Railway station to get on the Rajdhani Express to Mumbai. Normally, this band of committed Pawan Hans officials zip around the country upgrading their network and beefing up and expanding operations. Amongst them was the company Chairman and Managing Director R K Tyagi. And he was leading the team to the launch meet of all the Task Force coordinators and members at Mumbai in early March. But why by the Rajdhani? Being a group event, it was decided that all the coordinators and members of Task Forces from Delhi would travel by train to Mumbai. Helps saves costs
22
CRUISING HEIGHTS May 2009
and also enhances camaraderie. Teambuilding capabilities on show! Well, how did this Task Force get built? Now that’s a long story. To keep pace with the accelerated growth and business opportunities and impending challenges, a need was felt to have an in-depth study and analysis of the
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organistion climate in Pawan Hans, so as to pin-point the areas needing special attention and to have in place developmental interventions. Keeping this in view, an organisation-wide survey was undertaken with the help of multi-dimensional tools, like HRD climate survey by a proven and tested questionnaire and one-toone interactions with senior executives of the company. The HRD climate survey questionnaire was administered to 144 employees, belonging to different disciplines and categories at Corporate Office, Northern Region, New Delhi and Western Region, Mumbai, representing 18 per cent of total work force. In addition to HRD climate survey, a professional competency profiling of senior executives was also undertaken by having detailed one-toone interactions. Later, a feedback workshop was conducted, where the results of the HRD climate survey were shared with participants, both at Delhi and Mumbai, during late 2008. During the feedback workshop, each participant was requested to identify 10 most prominent weak areas out of the SWOT analysis presented during the workshop, which he/she would like to be addressed on priority. Each of the participants was also requested to suggest one name of the employee whom he/she considers will be most appropriate for being a member of the Task Force in each of such areas, in working out the solutions of such problem areas. In all, 96 responses were received during these workshops, based on which seven areas have been identified to be tackled towards the first ‘Priorities for Action’, based on the intensity of the responses. The priorities were really interesting: To review and work out 5-year Corporate Plan and 2-year Operational Plan. To consider other emerging opportunities. Repair/Maintenance Systems and Infrastructure. Training and Development Polices: Statutory Training Induction and Orientation Training(all disciplines/levels) Developmental Training and Qualifications Upgradation(all disciplines/levels)
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Organisational Climate Building Policies and Systems Inventory Management and Control Systems Socio-Cultural Development and Campus Beautification Office Systems, Decisions Support, MIS, Operational/Functional Technology and Work Practices Upgradation Based on the nominations received during the workshop, a Task Force was constituted, detailing out the
A NOVEL EXPERIENCE: Ne For the Pawan Hans team travelling to Mumbai by Rajdhani train, it was a change they will not forget in a long time.
CRUISING HEIGHTS May 2009
scope, coverage and members who would work on the areas identified as Priorities for Action, and also to submit their recommendations. Next, a coordinators’ meet was held in February. This was followed by initial Task Force meeting in late February, wherein the Task Forces had meetings among themselves about the problem areas to be tackled by them. It was a culmination of all these meetings, to launch a meet of all the Task Force coordinators and members, that everyone was travelling to Mumbai. “It was a unique experience to travel in train for all the Task Force members and Heads of various departments of Corporate Office, including Northern Region Head, since most of the officers had not travelled in the train for a long time,” said Tyagi, adding that “we were all the better for this wonderful experience.” Tailpiece: R K Tyagi kicked off team-building exercise in the train by inaugurating games like Chess, Ludo, Snake & Ladder, Puzzle, Mind-teaser, Cards etc. The Task Force members
and HODs, enjoying the journey along with games, were pleasantly surprised when a box of ‘Mathura Ka Peda’ was distributed to add flavor to the journey. At 21:00 hour, after dinner was served by the Railway Authorities, an intense discussion among the HODs and Task Force members took place on general as well as professional topics. Post the Mumbai initiative, the Task Force members from now onwards are known as ‘Change Agents’ in Pawan Hans.
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The argument of infrastructure shortage was selectively applied only against the would-be new entrants, and existing players were given a free hand 24
I
n early April 2009, the Ministry of Civil Aviation called representatives of various domestic airlines to review their operations, particularly the foreign routes. The idea behind the meet was to ensure that they did not compete with each other and aligned their flight schedules in such a manner that it was a win-win situation for all. The airlines were apparently told to get rid of their excess capacity on both foreign and domestic sectors, besides cutting down the transit time to reduce operational costs. As a word of caution, Rajiv Gandhi Bhawan babus told them that any flight of two Indian carriers should avoid reaching the same destination at the same time, and also not start a connecting flight from there to another destination at the same time. Instead, emphasis should be on synergising and rationalising operations in terms of routes and capacity deployed. The airlines were informed that this could be done by October 2009, so that effective implementation could take place by the 2010 summer schedule. One of the reasons for this informal meeting was also to decide the preparedness of the airlines, once the upgraded Delhi and Mumbai airports open for commercial operations by March 2010. What the policy-makers may have had at the back of their minds was how to deal with a situation that could emerge earlier than expected, should additional capacity become available in these two newly modernised airports. On the face of it, such caution seems to suggest that the current economic meltdown will end by the third quarter of 2009, and a solid economic movement forward from then on will bring a new lease of life to dying airlines. It is indeed a good idea that some kind of advance planning has begun in the Indian aviation sector, where all those initially responsible (in some way or the other) for the present mess — like creating excess capacity — have indirectly admitted to their lack of vision. So when Jet Airways Executive Director Saroj Datta said at the March ‘09 Routes Development Conference in Hyderabad, “I admit we made mistakes”, it was like a new opening, or even writing a new chapter in the Indian aviation history. STILL NO ENTRY: But this will have to change to ‘Please Enter’ if the Indian aviation industry is to tide over the current mess.
CRUISING HEIGHTS May 2009
I remember the days when a big industrial house wanted to start a domestic airline with technical participation by a well-known South East Asian airline. The then expat CEO of Jet Airways told newsmen that it was not fair to induct such big players, and domestic carriers should be allowed to operate for 10 years before FDI was allowed. At that time, the other players were Sahara, Damania and NEPC, all of whom are since dead and gone. Incidentally, one of the big mistakes which Datta might have had in his mind was the totally unwise acquisition of Sahara Airline, which India’s liquor baron Vijay Mallya reenacted a little later, nearly bringing his airline, Kingfisher, to the ground. The same Ministry of Civil Aviation blocked entry of many new players, with the plea that there was serious infrastructure shortage and it could not afford to be lax on safety and security issues. Additionally, the Ministry even sought to know the carriers’ business plans, as it apparently did not want a repeat of companies starting airlines and vanishing the next day. Fair enough. But the argument of infrastructure shortage was selectively applied only against the would-be new entrants, and existing players were given a free hand to acquire as many planes as they could fly across the country — horizontally, vertically, diagonally, and what have you. And those who got permission to fly to foreign destinations worked overtime to acquire a large
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number of the best aircraft in the shortest possible time. Like many other sectors, including the stock markets, the aviation industry was also riding on 9 per cent GDP growth. But when fuel prices hit the roof, airlines understood that their calculations and projections were wrong. When that was followed by the global economic meltdown, which also engulfed the Indian economy, the existing domestic carriers realised that they had made a blunder. This was largely true for the full-service carriers and to some extent the LCCs. So, we were talking of capacity. Who was responsible for the massive increase in capacity of Indian carriers? Obviously the babus at Rajiv Gandhi Bhawan, in close consultation with the existing players themselves. The fact that the shortage of available infrastructure never crossed the minds of either the babus or the existing players was of course not surprising or strange. Today, we are seeing the effects of that profligacy. Jet Airways is doing everything to cut capacity, even if it means leasing as many wide bodies it has as possible. It is going to do the same with some of its narrow bodies. Kingfisher Airlines has already deferred the delivery and induction of its much-publicised A340500s, and also a few A 320s. This is in addition to those aircraft of which the lease had been terminated before the due date. The impact is now slowly engulfing one of the LCCs, which is finding that it is no longer easy to do Sale-Lease-back of its newlyacquired aircraft, as margins have disappeared following the glut in the market. With aircraft manufacturers beginning to either cut back or adjust their production schedules in line with the deferments by their big airline clients, not only have lease rentals fallen, even the margins available in Sale-Lease-back have become unattractive. The only knight in the not-soshining armour is Air India, which has said that it is not cutting either
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capacity or deferring delivery of its aircraft. For instance, the Indian part of Air India is phasing out its old A320s during fiscal 2009-10. In the same period, it would be getting 30 new aircraft comprising both A319s and A321s. The Air India part of NACIL will go ahead with its planned induction of wide body jets. Due to the sovereign guarantee provided by Air India, several foreign banks have queued up to lend $1.06 billion to NACIL, to enable the carrier to buy wide body planes like B777-200 LR, B777-300 ER, B737-800 and one GE engine. The comfort in the form of guarantee provided by the Indian government will enable NACIL to raise 85 per cent of the loan through the US EXIM Bank. The State Bank of India has said it is ready to provide the entire loan on its own. Till date, NACIL has raised $3 billion to fund its aircraft acquisition programme. The private airlines, therefore, made a mistake in their enthusiasm to become big players overnight. They are now struggling with overcapacity. Air India got a chance to renew its fleet after two decades and cannot even entertain thoughts like over-capacity. If we look at the capacity deployed on foreign routes, the observation of Prashant Sukul, Joint Secretary in the Ministry of Civil Aviation at the recent Routes Conference that “we need to pause and look” at various recent bilateral agreements, made perfect sense for the present mess. It is true that Indians need a choice to fly. One can justify the massive capacity increase and induction by the Gulf carriers. But the situation has become so funny that Indian carriers have begun to lease planes to Gulf carriers to save their bottom lines, even as the same leased aircraft are being used to uplift Indians from India to far off destinations via Gulf to Europe and the US, which Air India is desperately trying to corner. As for Jet, the day of reckoning has come; witness the round of massive salary cuts. Kingfisher Airlines, drained of all finances, is now hovering over the local ponds looking for its erstwhile “King of Good Times”. Who will survive till October 2009 at the earliest, and March 2010 at the latest, is difficult to predict? But, certainly it could be time for new players with deep pockets to enter, if the ‘No Entry’ board outside Rajiv Gandhi Bhawan is repainted with the words, ‘Please Enter’. You cannot wish for costs, be it lease rentals or fuel price, lower than what are prevailing today. Assuming the new entrants are prevented, what will the existing players do, should the costs in terms of lease rentals and fuel prices rise again? Join the Indian Railways, perhaps. Now that is a thought they could well pursue! (Veteran journalist and long time aviation watcher R Krishnan is Consulting Editor at CH. He can be reached at rkrishnanji@yahoo.com.) CRUISING HEIGHTS May 2009
The private airlines made a mistake in their enthusiasm to become big players overnight. They are now struggling with overcapacity 25
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GLOBETROTTING
AT A GLANCE
‘I’m human too,’ Rudd tells stewardess
What the devil!
AUSTRALIAN Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has apologised to a RAAF cabin stewardess he reportedly reduced to tears on a flight recently. Rudd admitted he had “a discussion” with the stewardess because the meal he wanted was unavailable, but he did not remember her being in tears. “All of us are human, I’m human, I’m not perfect,” he
LOUISIANA’S governor Bobby Jindal is faced with an unusual problem. Flights to and from Alaska continue to be affected by continuing eruptions at Mount Redoubt, about 110 miles from Anchorage. And there are some who believe Jindal should be getting down on his knees and praying for the end of the volcanic fires and ashes, perhaps sacrificing a virgin goat in the process, since science is not high on his priority
said. “If I upset anybody on that particular flight, I’m sorry, I apologise for it.” This was not the first time Rudd was embroiled in an incident like this. In June last year, he became “extremely irritated” when the only food on offer on a flight was gourmet sandwiches, rather than a hot meal.
High-pitched support AS PART of its 25th birthday celebrations this year, Virgin Atlantic is launching PitchTV, a scheme designed to provide support to budding entrepreneurs. People with business ideas will be able to record a video pitch and upload it to a Virgin website, where it will be viewed and rated by the online community on a monthly basis. The video submissions that receive the most votes will be
S
Déjà vu!
o what, do you think, it is like travelling with the US Secretary of State around the world? That’s Hillary Rodham Clinton, no less, we are talking about. The lady has just completed her first overseas trip since taking office. And the media persons who accompanied her had much to say about the trip. The Secretary of State, along with the Vice President, the First Lady, key members of Congress and sometimes the President, flies on a C-32 aircraft — an Air Force version of Boeing 757 for civilian use. Usually, there are 13 seats allotted to media persons. However,
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duly acknowledging the widespread media interest in Mrs. Clinton’s maiden voyage to Asia, the State Department made a departure from norm to allot three extra seats to the press corps this time. During the flight, Mrs. Clinton decided to brief toward the end of the first leg, so it was time for a meal and some entertainment, for which there are small screens for every two rows on either side of the aisle in the plane. For some reason, they played “Juno,” a morethan-a-year-old movie the media persons had seen on a trip with Mrs. Clinton’s predecessor, Condoleezza Rice. Now that’s called déjà vu! CRUISING HEIGHTS May 2009
shown on Virgin Atlantic flights on PitchTV, which will be introduced as part of the airline’s in-flight entertainment offering. Virgin Atlantic president Sir Richard Branson said: “When I was starting out, I wish I could have had the chance to pitch my business ideas directly to people who could help make my ambitions a reality. We can now make that happen for you.”
Forced to quit for being attacked GULF Air has fired one of its flight attendants because the woman had visible scars on her body. The irony is that she got
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That’s no way out, man! FED UP of waiting on the tarmac at Kennedy Airport, a man tried to open a jet door and get out. Authorities said
60-year-old Robert McDonald, of England, faces reckless endangerment charges for opening an emergency exit hatch as the plane waited out an hours-long delay at JFK. Flight attendants stopped him from fully opening the door and activating the emergency chute. McDonald was arrested.
these scars in a vicious attack during a layover in Kuala Lumpur. The recovery process took six months but she was left with several scars on her body. And when she went back to Gulf Air to join duty, she was asked to quit because they have a rule against visible scars on their flight attendants. She was told she would be suspended if she came back to work. Since she had no choice, she quit.
No answers for this one
Catastrophic disobedience
Piss off, will you?
IT WAS a big price to pay for what she thought was a small disobedience. A woman who disobeyed warnings to remain seated during a turbulent flight has ended up being paralysed. And her doctor says the injuries are the same type as the late Christopher Reeve. “She is paralyzed from the nipples to her toes,” said the spinal surgeon who was treating her. The woman was one of two passengers and one crew member on the flight who were injured mid-flight. It was not immediately known if she will be able to walk again.
A 28-YEAR-OLD man was sentenced to three weeks in jail for urinating on a 66-year-old woman during a Continental Airlines flight recently. Jerome Kenneth Kingzio was sentenced after pleading guilty to assault charges in a court in Honolulu. The victim was headed to Hawaii for a scuba diving vacation and was watching an in-flight movie when Kingzio stood up and began urinating on her. He had been drinking on the flight.
Hey, that’s my luggage! WHAT DO you think happens to lost airline luggage? It gets sold to companies that auction off the bags and its contents. But here’s one person who has decided to make your lost luggage an art project — and try and return it to you. The owner of IsThisYourLostLuggage.com buys bags at auction and takes photos of bags and their contents, hoping people will recognise their stuff.
Illustrations by Rajeev Kumar
list. Jindal is known to deny evolution, and has previously reported a personal experience in casting out demons, saying he performed an exorcism on a devil-possessed friend that also cured her of cancer. One now hears of Jindal the devilchaser holding off on planning any campaign trips to the great state of Alaska till he sees if the sacrifice of the virgin goat appeases the angry Mount Redoubt Volcano god.
A MAN in a pickup truck crashed through a fence gate at the Fort Smith airport at Arkansas, drove 100 yards and attempted to reach a parked airplane. The man, 28, would not have gotten anywhere after reaching the tarmac — the plane was missing its propellers. Witnesses told police that the man said he needed to “get to Israel” and that he had “all the answers.” The man was arrested and taken to jail.
Stopped, exposed, caught A BRAZILIAN woman was refused entry to the UK when she arrived at Newcastle Airport with luggage containing only Tshirts, a dressing gown and lingerie. UK Border Agency officials said they suspected the 32-year-old of being involved in the sex industry. She had arrived on a flight from Geneva on April 4, the agency said. Airport staff became suspicious when she could not say what she would be doing in the UK, other than “seeing Newcastle city centre”. Checks revealed the woman had been refused entry to the UK at Belfast City Airport three months earlier. She sought to conceal this by replacing the passport containing the refusal stamps with a new Brazilian passport, the agency said.
CRUISING HEIGHTS May 2009
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GUEST COLUMN
Flying high even in
TOUGH TIMES James Hogan
The current global economic downturn notwithstanding, Etihad airline’s growth story is intact, and in fact surging to new levels of success week on week, month on month, year on year.
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The air travel industry has long been a barometer of economic downturn and in a recession, the industry can expect to face increasingly tough times 28
was last here in the United States in September. It was a tumultuous time, to say the least — in fact I was here the week that Lehman Brothers collapsed and Merrill Lynch was bought out by Bank of America. I remember going down to Wall Street to be interviewed by Maria Bartiromo of CNBC, and being metaphorically welcomed with open arms. “It’s great to talk to someone who’s got some good news,” she said, “I feel like this week of bad news is never going to end.” Of course, the air travel industry has long been a barometer of economic downturn and in a recession, the industry can expect to face increasingly tough times. Companies cut business travel, consumers cut back on discretionary expenditure and there is constant pressure on the industry. This time, more than any other, I think the industry can regard itself as having had the roughest ride of all. For the last few years, we have all been fighting the impact of record oil prices, contributing to more than $5 billion in losses across the industry in 2008 alone. Even in such difficult times, however, one can feel the sheer excitement of the plans coming out of the Gulf, which is witnessing the development of a movement that is redefining the aviation industry. In recent years, Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Qatar have each realised the critical importance that a successful aviation sector can deliver to an economy. Each has invested in its own airline, and in the associated infrastructure required by a successful airline, and each has created truly outstanding air travel experiences for consumers. I keep saying ‘the Gulf’ but in covering these topics, I will focus on Abu Dhabi, the home base of Etihad Airways. Abu Dhabi is the largest of the seven Emirates that make up the UAE, and the city of Abu Dhabi is the nation’s capital. In the UAE alone, oil and gas sectors accounted for 70 per cent of GDP in 1975. The same figure was 30 per cent in 2005, and this trend towards diversification is accelerating.
Investing in aviation Why has aviation been such an important part of that economic diversification strategy? CRUISING HEIGHTS May 2009
Well, I always like to point to four key reasons. The first is the critical importance of travel and tourism to a growing economy, and the other three are, in the words of all the best real estate agents, location, location, location! Let’s start with location. Abu Dhabi is fortuitously positioned to take advantage of new travel and trade patterns, of new aircraft technologies, and of new tourism markets within and outside its borders. Abu Dhabi sits perfectly between East and West, a convenient stepping stone for flights from Europe to the Indian sub-continent, to the Far East and to Australasia. And if you look within our immediate catchment area of a few hours’ flying time, we’re reaching hundreds and hundreds of millions of new air travellers in the growing economies of the Indian sub-continent and — just a bit further on — China and the other Asian powerhouse economies. So, even if no passengers ever chose to stop in Abu Dhabi, we could run a strong and globally competitive airline, simply on the high levels of transfer traffic we see through this growing hub. This ‘growing hub’ is an airport which saw nine million passengers in 2008 and has a new Terminal 3 coming up, which will extend capacity to 12 million. And work is already under way on a major new terminal which will extend capacity beyond 20 million in the medium term. But the fact is that increasing number of passengers do choose to stop in Abu Dhabi. Little wonder, as current investments under way in the city’s travel and tourism infrastructure include the Louvre Abu Dhabi, a new Guggenheim Museum, a new Formula 1 racing circuit which will host the finale of the 2009 season, a new Gary Player golf course to add to the European Tour-hosting Championship course, and more than 80,000 new hotel rooms planned over the next 20 years. All of this in addition to fantastic hotels and resorts already in place, including the world’s most luxurious hotel, the Emirates Palace, and growing business and conferences and exhibitions infrastructure. When you add all that, it gives reason enough for our own rapid growth. In just five years, Etihad has grown from a standing start
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IN EXPANSION MODE: Etihad Airlines is well insulated from the effects of the global meltdown.
to 42 aircraft, serving 50 destinations and carrying more than six million passengers. That represents the fastest growth of an airline in the history of commercial aviation.
Developing in the current environment How will we be affected by the recession? That’s a question that every business is facing today — and particularly one facing every airline. No business, and no airline, can be immune to the current global financial situation and that includes Etihad. However, we are very well inoculated and I believe we can look forward with cautious optimism to the coming period. And why do I say that? First, we are a growing business, still on the upward curve of expansion and development. In 2008, we launched six new routes including Beijing and Moscow, and in 2009, we have already announced plans for new routes such as Melbourne, Athens and Istanbul. During 2008, we added five aircraft to our fleet, and in 2009, we welcome another 10 to take us to 52 aircraft in total. Those aircraft are part of an ambitious expansion plan which will see us add more than 100 aircraft to the fleet over the coming 12 years. So we are very much in the growth phase of our life. But we are growing with a commercial focus. In 2008, we increased our load factors by seven percentage points to 75.5 per cent — a level which would be welcomed by many more mature carriers — and we increased our yield by 19 per cent over 2007. In 2009 and 2010, we expect to see further improvements in these figures, helping us reach our goal of break-even by 2010. A major reason for this growth, and for our ability to improve loads and yields even in the
current downturn, is the diversity of our customer base. We have large customer segments in many different areas: premium long and short-haul business travellers; leisure travellers going to and from different geographies; very large VFR levels; labour traffic from Asia and the Indian subcontinent into the Gulf; and the regular religious pilgrimage traffic into Saudi Arabia from across the world. Further, we are situated in one of the most attractive markets in the world. Abu Dhabi has had strong GDP growth rates over the last five years, and even in the current global environment, is expected to see continued growth. And fourth, we have no legacy issues — and that means we can move fast to react to events. All of these factors are helping us move from the start-up investment phase into sustainable profitability, which is one of the critical targets set by our shareholders. At this point, let me nail one myth. We are a government-owned carrier but we have been established and have to run as a commercial business. We get no state-funded handouts — no help with oil subsidies, for instance, or deeply discounted landing charges at our home airport. We hedge fuel. We go to the markets in Europe as well as to our local banks to raise money. We run on a commercial mandate. Yes, the Government of Abu Dhabi has invested heavily in the business, but as a business investment on which it expects to see a return. (The author is CEO, Etihad Airways. He was speaking at a luncheon meeting hosted by the International Aviation Club, Washington, in February, 2009.) CRUISING HEIGHTS May 2009
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COVER STORY
JUST IN
TIME
The unputdownable Captain G R Gopinath is ready to roll out his Deccan Express Logistics. A complete logistics outfit, DEL will span the length and breadth of the country, and even fly shipments abroad to fulfill the Captain's dream of delivering fresh apples from Kashmir to Kanyakumari in a day. TIRTHANKAR GHOSH met Captain Gopinath and his team of dedicated professionals to put together this report.
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ervous jitters on the eve of a new business launch? Do not expect Captain Gorur Ramaswamy Iyengar Gopinath to show it, even if he were going through any. Affable and easily approachable, Captain, as he is so well-known around the country, was busy campaigning for a seat in Parliament, even as he kept in touch, on his everbeeping Blackberry, with the top management of his new venture: Deccan Express Logistics (DEL). Parliament, however, was priority number one. The election had come — to use a phrase from the logistics business — “just in time”, and Capt Gopi was unwill-
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READY TO ROLL: Capt. Gopinath poses for a photograph with his core team.(L-R) Ashok Sharda, Head of Air Operations & Planning; Simon Church, Head of Sales & Service Assurance; Jude Fonseka, CEO; Ravi Acharya, Head of HR; D P Hemanth, Dy. COO; and Capt. P Philip, COO-Aviation.
ing to let the opportunity go. He had been deeply touched by “the brazen attacks of terrorism — the Mumbai attacks of 26/11 and many more, the communal attacks on communities across the country and those by the self-proclaimed moral brigades on helpless women”. Unable to take it any longer, Capt Gopi had jumped into the political fray, firm in his belief that if he did not do anything, he would be blamed for bringing the nation “precariously close to becoming a failed state with a nation of weak citizens watching helplessly, even as all that we cherish gets destroyed”. The foray into politics, however, is another story. For Captain, sensitivity and action go hand in hand. The son of a
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COVER STORY village school teacher from a remote village in Karnataka, Capt Gopi is well aware of the dreams and aspirations of a common Indian. Hence, the desire to do something that would better the lives of the man on the streets. He has tried it ever since he quit the strait-jacketed life in the army to start silk cultivation on a barren piece of land. It was, as he refers to it today during an almost hour-long car journey from his home in the heart of the city to Bengaluru airport, “a labour of love”. “Manufacturing silk is like cycling. You only cycle, you get no money — it (sericulture) was very intensive,” he remembers those early days when he slept in a tent braving the heat and the rains. Even in those days of hard labour, he tried out innovative eco-friendly methods, guided only by his own belief that he could make a difference. And, it did: the methods he adopted got him the ‘Rolex International Award’ in 1996. Anyone else would have rested. Not Capt Gopi. He first started a helicopter charter company, and on August 25, 2003, the country’s first no-frills airline, Air Deccan, capturing not only every Indian’s dream to fly but also bringing about a change — unlike any other the nation had seen — in the aviation business.
In a brilliant masterstroke, and one that any corporate honcho would be proud of, the Captain has managed to convince some top names in the industry to join him
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oday, on the eve of another big-ticket launch — DEL, the end-to-end logistics solutions outfit — Capt Gopi can hardly contain his enthusiasm. DEL is a natural child of Air Deccan, he says with conviction. “In many senses, it is a child of (Air) Deccan. I say it is a child of Deccan because of the nightmare and frustration of the logistics of (maintaining) Air
MISPLACED PRIORITIES: FedEx and other major players have been focussing on taking India to the rest of the world, not bringing India to India.
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Deccan (aircraft).” He reveals that while running Air Deccan, it had becoming increasingly clear to him that a gap — “which was totally non-existent” — needed to be plugged. “We had FedEx, we had UPS and Blue Dart/DHL. But their focus was taking India to the rest of the world, not bringing India to India,” he says. In a brilliant masterstroke, and one that any corporate honcho would be proud of, the Captain has managed to convince some top names in the industry to join him. There is the iconic Ram Charan, whose duty will be to advise CEO Jude Fonseka (erstwhile FedEx) and the operations team regularly. To ensure that DEL lives up to his own vision, the team of professionals that he has assembled at his Bengaluru office have more than 100 years of combined global and Indian express transportation and logistics experience. Jude Fonseka is ready to ensure the fruition of Capt Gopi’s vision: “For many years, the East was dependent on the West,” he says. “Today, the country’s growth has enabled us to return the favour. To sustain India’s growth, inter-dependency of Tier-1, Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities will be just as crucial as the inter-dependency of the global economy. Transportation can accelerate this inter-dependency by enabling a larger segment of cities to be a part of this growth. Our goal is to be the catalyst of that change.” Very like Captain Gopi. Every move is well thought-out and structured for maximum returns. It is not that he had not received proposals to start a cargo service from colleagues and friends in Air Deccan, but as he put it, “I did not want to take my eyes off (Air) Deccan at that time. I couldn’t even afford to blink, it was so critical. I was totally immersed in that business. I had no other life…” Around that time, “many people told me,” says Capt Gopi, peering out from his car window to look at the rapidly-changing Bengaluru landscape, “Captain, they told me, we must start a cargo airline, let’s do something together... All the cargo freight forwarders came to us and said we will handle it for you.” The Airbus engine was the spark, but the flame had already been lit in Capt Gopi’s mind. “Building a supply chain, all people will tell you, is an organisational capability along with a knowledge base,” he says. He had acquired knowledge about the way things moved, thanks to the circuitous path his Airbus engine had to take to travel from Delhi to Kolkata (see And Gopi created DEL…), but he had to know more. His lack of finances — he was operating Air Deccan on the tightest of budgets — came in handy.
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He learnt that airplane spares could reach Mumbai from anywhere in the world in 24 hours. But from Mumbai to reach any of the small airports touched by Air Deccan, like Rajamundhry, Ludhiana, Jammu or even Guwahati, would often take anywhere from a week to 10 days. Express majors like FedEx would bring a spare part to Mumbai, but from there it was anybody’s guess when it would reach its destination. For Air Deccan and Capt Gopi, logistics became very important since there were 45 planes which were touching 67 cities. With that thought doing circles in his mind, his Eureka moment came soon after he sold his shares to Vijay Mallya’s Kingfisher. “I think the timing was right,” he says. “I said,” he recounts, “my God, in this country you can’t move an engine from Delhi to Kolkata. While China has 98 aircraft in cargo, Europe has 128 in express logistics, but India has about five. A country as great as ours, with a $1.1 billion emerging economy, growing at 7 to 8 per cent of the GDP, surely we should have had more aircraft. More so now, with the government’s policy of SEZ, which favours industry in rural areas… Look, he says, counting out examples on his fingers. Existing businesses are moving out of Mumbai into the interiors: Asea Brown Boveri has gone to Nasik, TVS is going to Mysore, Firodia has gone to Himachal Pradesh. And then comes the clincher: “Jamnagar, Ludhiana, Rajamundhry, Coimbatore, Cochin…none of the cities ever see a cargo aircraft.” Convinced about his plans, Capt Gopi told himself, ‘You can’t go wrong’. The country, he says, needs such connectivity. “It is like arteries and veins pumping blood to the heart. The industry is the heart. That requires a supply chain. It takes only one part to go missing in that machinery for all your production lines to come to a halt. Most industries that are automated require a supply chain, and that requires better aircraft.” Deccan Express Logisitics has been in the making for quite a while. Why the delay to start? The youthful D P Hemanth, Deputy Chief Operating Officer, has a ready answer: “A project this size takes a long time to implement.” The size that DEL is talking about is all-India, but then, as Hemanth puts it, “All India is correct, but then all-India is a very vast terminology. The top 24-odd cities contribute to about 80 per cent of the GDP of this country. Naturally, that is where the majority of the business lies. Among them, the top seven or eight cities cover about 60-odd percent of the GDP. Our intention is to provide connectivity to
THINKING BIG: This is the kind of modern warehouse facilities that Deccan Express Logistics is looking at.
TOP BRASS: Anantharaman, CFO (left) and Saddha Gunasekara,CIO, are among Capt. Gopi’s core team at DEL.
Express majors like FedEx would bring a spare part to Mumbai, but from there it was anybody’s guess when it would reach its destination CRUISING HEIGHTS May 2009
17-20 per cent of the GDP-generating areas of the country in a 24-48-72-hour time plan. We are obviously more focussed on the manufacturing sector, and to some extent on services.” Express logistics is not just delivering next day or overnight; express logistics is the ability to build a supply chain into industry both ways — supply and back. Simply put, it means that the parts and goods have to reach the manufacturer or consumer when they want it. So, Capt Gopi and DEL will be injecting adrenaline in the speed of the business cycle and increasing it by “15-20 or 30 times”. The cost of logistics alone for any manufacturing industry in the country, says Capt Gopi, is about 38 per cent. “A good supply chain brings it down by 20 per cent. That is what Deccan Logistics wants to do — build business which is totally, virtually non-existent”. He points out that he plans to cater to different spaces. The only space that express logistics has catered to till today is high-value. But the votary of the Common Man wants to penetrate below that strata. “I have always felt the need to build the right environment for equitable growth in this country, but one can’t do it, well, alone. If everybody does it together, you’ll do well.” To ensure that millions of the middle class have the purchasing power, DEL would stimulate demand. A portion of each of DEL’s planes would be carrying goods from farmers, at lower than the usual rates. That, says Capt Gopi, is good business sense, “not just an altruistic thing. Good business becomes good if you make others do well. So, I want to allocate a portion of
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And Gopi created DEL… Unable to make time for an interview, the ever-busy Captain G R Gopinath invited CRUISING HEIGHTS to take an hour-long “working” car ride from his home to Bengaluru airport, where he was rushing early in the morning to catch a flight to Mumbai.
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hree years ago, an incident happened which triggered off (the move to start Deccan Express Logistics). I had a flight from Delhi to Kolkata, from where it was going to Guwahati and returning to Kolkata. The flight was via Bagdogra. I was very hands-on and very focused (about Air Deccan). I knew about every aircraft and every flight. I could sit anywhere, and I could make out who’s boarding which flight. I knew the name of the passenger, and whether he had bought his ticket through the Internet or through a travel agent or even at the airport. And even what was the load on the aircraft. It was like watching a live video without the pictures. I got a report that the DelhiKolkata flight had lost an engine mid-flight. This was not uncommon. The pilot was flying on one engine with a full load of 180 passengers. The flight was going to land in Kolkata and I was keeping my fingers crossed. In those days, Deccan made it to the TV and news everyday, for good reasons and bad. The good reason was that we were conquering the world — conquering everyday, as we were making people’s lives simpler. Everybody loved us for our fares, and the fact that we were everywhere. The bad news was that once someone bought tickets and the flight got cancelled, it was a huge disruption in his life and a major disappointment. We were not spared when we took one wrong step. I was waiting for something to happen. And when the plane landed, people started boarding. We had automatic boarding…We did not want to waste time at airports because aircraft make money flying, not standing on the ground. So, the moment they landed, there was automatic movement, so that in 30 minutes we could fly out. The passengers were already in
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the bus. But then they were told to go back because the engineer found that a bird had been sucked into the engine. So that day, the aircraft could not fly. It had to be replaced with a new engine costing $15 million. Fortunately, we had a spare engine in Delhi. We also had a second engine, which was in Bengaluru. As it always happens with Murphy’s law, it happened with this aircraft. We could not keep 60
engines (for our planes); that would be $1 billion. So the best thing to do was get better logistics. However, we never saw this (better logistics) happen. Engines have to be stored in an air-conditioned environment; otherwise you lose the warranty. So we had to move the engine in some kind of controlled temperature. Our feel-
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ing was that in three or four hours the engine would be at Kolkata. At the most, we would have to cancel the freight we took. When news about the flight being cancelled was announced, all hell broke loose. In Kolkata, the passengers were very aggressive… breaking counters etc. That was one issue, but more important was (how) to move the engine. Through the whole day we were unable to make out how to move the engine. We contacted Blue Dart and others, and they said they would let us know only after seeing the engine. Meanwhile, we were also trying to move the engine on our own aircraft. Our technical guys told us that even though an aircraft could carry 20 tonnes of weight, they did not think the engine, which weighed five tonnes, could be accommodated. They did not know whether it could be put in the hold, and even if it did enter, there were technical issues like whether the floor would support the weight of the engine or not. At the end of the day, we came to one conclusion: nobody could move the engine in India. We tried other means, like contacting Dubai for a heavy-duty plane, but they told us to pay a deposit in advance because the aircraft had to come empty and go back empty. ‘Give us $250,000 advance and we’ll give you a quotation.’ Delivery, they said, would take three days. We could not move the engine by truck because of the bad roads and we would lose the warranty. Even so, it would take 7-10 days. I’ll cut the story short. It took us six days to move that engine from Delhi to Kolkata. I moved it first from Delhi to Singapore, and then from Singapore to Kolkata. Not one person came to tell me then, ‘We will move the engine the best way. Use us. Or, if we can’t do it, nobody else can.’ Air Deccan had to get into all the logistics details. But those six days were a nightmare.
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space for perishables.” Always a hands-on person, Capt Gopinath, unlike many Indian corporate honchos, has his own style of running the business, notwithstanding the fact that he has fingers in many pies: Deccan Aviation (the helicopter charter unit, his farm where he now cultivates coconuts and sundry other crops, and much more). He believes in delegating responsibilities. While at Air Deccan, the low-cost carrier company he founded, he knew that “two years down the line, I'd have the ability to set up another company. At some point, I understood that we’ll need a CEO, so that I could distance myself from the physical management of the company”. He got himself a COO, who ran the outfit though he continued to handle the running of the company on a day-to-day basis. Capt Gopi has apparently learnt from his mistakes at Air Deccan. As for DEL, he said, it will certainly not be run “like old family-owned businesses…When you are a first-generation entrepreneur,” advises Capt Gopi, “the only way you can grow in size and scale in three, four or five years is to dilute and bring in equity. You can build a company on a size which is scalable and have a societal impact.” That is why he has brought in people who know the business like Jude Fonseka to run the logistics outfit. He points to the reach and power that DEL will have. Today, it is possible to send packages from Mumbai to Delhi in a day, but “if you want a package to be sent from Mumbai to Guwahati, it will take 10 days. And if you want something to be sent from Ludhiana to Tirunelvelli, it may take 20 days. What I'm trying is simple: if you give me a package in Manchester it should reach Coimbatore the next day, or a packet from Cincinnati in the USA should reach Guwahati the next day,” he explains. For the moment, however, DEL is concentrating on putting the brick and mortar in place. By the end of the year, the outfit will have six planes “and twice the reach of Blue Dart”, confides Capt Gopi. That will be achieved because Blue Dart’s focus is different. “My focus is to integrate the smaller towns with the larger network in the metros. I’ve also created this hub-andspoke, with Nagpur as the hub. The reason I went to Nagpur is because the place is ideal for me and is also suitable for my overall strategy as it is in the centre of India. In two, or at most two-and-a-half hours, DEL’s planes can reach the concerned cities,” he says with conviction. To the common man, it might look a little funny to send a package from Ludhiana to Delhi via Nagpur. Logistically it does not make sense, but that is what will happen. Captain Gopinath knows that his aim of
HUGE CAPACITIES: (above) The inside of an A310 freighter. Capt. Gopinath’s vision is to develop a huge network of such capacities across the country.
To ensure that millions of the middle class have the purchasing power, DEL would stimulate demand. A portion of each of DEL’s planes would be carrying goods from farmers, at lower than the usual rates CRUISING HEIGHTS May 2009
ensuring cargo deliveries across continents in a day would only be possible when international cargo aircraft start flying to Nagpur. But that is part of his long-term vision — which, he says, might be something that is not reachable. “My vision,” he points out, “is a completely revolutionary one — of doing business in the Indian context wherein the cost of manufacturing any product, and then the cost of sending it to the shelves, will come down dramatically.” Speaking about end results, D P Hemanth voices what his CEO would say: “We ultimately will be an integrated carrier of the country. Which means we will do small express packages, we’ll do the doorto-door express freight, we will do the LTL (less than truckload) and we will do, where required, airfreight.”
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EL will have to make its presence felt from the day it starts operations. And everyone in the top echelons of the outfit agrees that it will be challenging. D P Hemanth, standing in for his immediate boss, Jude Fonseka, put it rather simply: “Like in any other business, be it a five-star hotel or a top class airline, people don’t like to break down their door to give them business. They always like to test it out.” Unlike a passenger airline or a hotel, in the transportation business, “we are put through a bigger fire test,” says Hemanth. Manufacturers with large footprints — like a Nokia or a Tata or a Toyota, whose growth depends on their logistic efficiency — would normally start by giving certain sectors to DEL. Once they are satisfied, they’ll increase business. “That perfectly suits us, because if I did business, I would do it the same way. I would do it in my company to make sure any new players in the market are tested for their efficiency. Whatever we claim, we need to put it on the
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COVER STORY ground,” says Hemanth. The divisions within the organisation are well-demarcated. There is express, freight and domestic cargo. The units are headed by those who have been in the game for years in diverse countries. They have brought in not only their rich experience but also their contacts and their network. Above all, as Hemanth puts it, they have all brought in “some credibility”. The company itself is all-encompassing and its activities are totally segmented. There is the head office team, the executive management team and the four profit centres in the North, East, South and West. Each of these profit centres has its own head, who oversees the functional teams of sales, operations, finance, collections, etc. The head office too has its own departments of marketing, finance, sales, technical, engineering, aviation, etc. Each profit centre head reports to D P Hemanth, who in turn reports to CEO Jude Fonseka. Hemanth, incidentally, also has direct responsibility for operations.
An artist’s impression of nose docking by freighters at an airport.
By the nose
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eccan Express Logistics’ Nagpur project is a huge one. It contains the first nose dock in this part of the world; in fact, other than the US, there are no nose docking transportation hubs anywhere in the world, as of now. The nose docking system is unique. Like the aerobridges, which reduce the logistics and speed up the disembarkation-embarkation process for passengers, the system clears goods faster in the case of cargo planes. The nose dock operates in a dedicated cargo terminal. The nose of the plane actually goes into the terminal. The front cargo door opens to let in the ramp with a rolling conveyor, on which the containers move out. This cuts down on the turnaround time of the aircraft. The system is especially useful in a hub-and-spoke concept. Says Deputy COO D P Hemanth: “The nose dock will provide us control over the airplanes: loading, unloading, fuelling — the fuel hydrants can be activated and planes can be fuelled as we do a container swop. Such a design has become optional because Nagpur will be a hub.” A file photograph of the Korean Air Cargo facility at JFK airport in New York. The facility in Building 9 has two “Nose Docks” on the ramp, one of which is seen here docked to an aircraft.
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DCRUISING HEIGHTS May 2009
The route planning has been done with a lot of thought. When a route is decided, the DEL top brass takes a look at the market and comes out with a business projection. Then, the sales, operations and profit centre heads put their heads together and find out if there is competition and what it is doing. Based on their findings, a route plan is worked out, mentioning the need to fly to the concerned destinations. “If the competition does something, we need to do the same in order to first match and better them,” says Hemanth. The route is then handed over to the planning people, who come up with the best schedule. That schedule is then sent to the aviation department, which sees how an aircraft can be rotated to fit the schedules and the route. Lastly, after the route is settled, the aviation in-charge finds out whether the airport in which the plane will land will have an empty slot or not. And if the plane does get a slot, how fast can it be unloaded for the goods to be sent by surface transport (“Remember,” Hemanth says, “most cities have embargos on trucks plying within the city during the day. That has to be kept in mind when we are clearing the goods”). All this to ensure that the customer gets his packages on time. As far as the customer is concerned, what DEL will provide is what Hemanth termed as “one unit”. The customer “will get air product, door-to-door freight, as well as the lighter packages, and any further business activity, like integration, under one cohesive unit. And if he wants to know about his shipment, it will be one point of contact, one call center and one website. He doesn’t have to call any of the four divisions to get that.” The seamless working that DEL will see when operations start will be entirely due to a completely new and comprehensive software that has been specially designed by an in-house team. A year-anda-half in the making, the software for the trace-and-track system, for example, has a wide variety of features. The main information system at Bengaluru will be connected to devices — which will inform which trucks are on the road and which are off, how far they are from a destination — like the GPS systems, PDAs, warehouses and the main hub at Nagpur. Using technology like RFID, cameras, mobile phones and SMS, DEL staffers will be provided exact and real-time information. In addition, software has also been designed for loading an aircraft, keeping track of the weight and balance. Complexities apart, the single most important factor that will be kept track of will be quality assurance. Heading the unit is Australian Simon Church (erstwhile
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Timed for success
viation will, perhaps, play the most important role in DEL strategy. Pushing the connectivity through is an old Air Deccan hand, Captain Preetham Philip. As Chief Operating Officer, Capt Philip handles the aviation portfolio with the kind of nimbleness that often characterises an army general. His “weapons”: three A310s — each capable of handling 39 tonnes — and three ATR72s, each with the ability to ferry five tonnes. He is in the process of setting up the foundations, as he explains. The business of moving DEL’s cargo would require, initially, six aircraft, stationed in the cities of Ahmedabad, Hyderabad and Kolkata. Departure timings would be crucial for the business. As Capt Philip put it, “We need to give the latest possible departure from the major metros, and the earliest possible arrival times. So, late night departures and early morning arrivals are a must.” Like a juggler who has perfected his art, Capt Philip has effectively played around with the timings within the network. It has been planned in such a way that the smaller ATRs, servicing the Tier-2 cities, reach their destination around 10:40-11:00 pm. The A310s will then pick up the cargo brought in by the ATRs and fly out to reach Nagpur by 2 o’clock early in the morning. The return flight from Nagpur would reach the three metros around 6:00 am everyday, providing enough time for the surface teams to pick up the packages for delivery. While one of the A310s will do the AhmedabadMumbai-Nagpur sector; another will take care of KolkataDelhi-Nagpur; and the third one Hyderabad-ChennaiBengaluru-Nagpur. As for the ATRs, one will be positioned in Patna to service the Patna-Lucknow-Nagpur route, the second will fly between Guwahati and Kolkata and the third will fly in the south: Thiruvanthapuram-Cochin-Coimbatore-Bengaluru. Others may have failed with the ATRs, but Capt Philip has unshakeable faith in them. He believes that ATRs perform quite well if they are used for six or seven hours at a stretch. Short sec-
FedEx). “I think there are a lot of very good things that are likely to be implemented, like measuring and monitoring. My plan for the entire service level is to create a little game, or a score card, for each individual department. So, having a score card that measures on a monthly, quarterly, almost on a yearly basis, different measurement levels — everything from the pickup service levels within a certain time, clearing the octroi at state checkposts, all the way through to the delivery — will ultimately help everyone maintain a very high customer experience.” Indeed, the sky is the limit. Driven by Captain Gopi’s vision, the DEL team points out, the outfit could go for coastal shipping or inland waterways in the future. “All of this is part of a larger plan,” says Hemanth. “One, it is environmentally friendly and, second, it will see adequate tapping of certain resources in the country.
A 310 Ahmedabad-Mumbai-Nagpur Calcutta-Delhi-Nagpur Hyderabad-Chennai-Bangalore-Nagpur
ATR 72 Patna-Lucknow-Nagpur Guwahati-Calcutta-Guwahati Trivandrum-Cochin-Coimbatore-Bangalore
tors like Guwahati-Kolkata-Guwahati or Patna-LucknowNagpur are admirable for these planes. In addition, they will only be used for five days in the week (Monday-Friday), with the weekend being kept free for maintenance. As for spares in case of an eventuality, DEL’s aviation boss believes that it will be “a bit challenging in terms of mobilisation of spares and other things. It is going to be tough…” One thing that Capt Philip is sure of is that he would not like his planes to get caught in a situation similar to the one that his boss, Capt Gopi faced with the Airbus engine.
Complexities apart, the single most important factor that will be kept track of will be quality assurance CRUISING HEIGHTS May 2009
Worldwide, use of inland waterways is very popular and also encouraged by the government. But, for whatever reason, we haven’t tapped that resource very well. And then we have one of the largest coastal lines in the country…All these are opportunities that exist in the country. Somebody has to go and do that.” Unfazed by the downturn, Capt Gopi remarks that things often do not go according to plans: “It usually goes short of your plan, or exceeds your expectations,” he points out. As for the economy, nothing fundamentally has changed in the country. What has changed is the perception of the market, which in turn has brought down the stock market and the financial crisis. Otherwise, says the Captain, the country’s economy is as robust as ever. “From that point of view, I’ve had to tweak my plans, adjust the goals and targets…” Best of luck, Captain!
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GUEST COLUMN/ CARGO
Multiple partners
ONE LANGUAGE Ravi Mathur
Efficient operations in Transport and Logistics across the globe require a high degree of interoperability, which the GS1 model helps achieve through standardisation of processes and definitions.
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hransport and Logistics is the lifeline that sustains global trade. Because of the critical requirement of efficiency in operations across facilities of multiple channel partners, separated by vast geographical distances, the issue of interoperability acquires great significance for this sector. ‘Interoperability’ is the capability to run business processes seamlessly across organisational boundaries, and to ensure time-bound progress of goods through the supply chain. End-to-end traceability, security and safety of shipments are required by buyers and suppliers, mandated by regulatory authorities and made possible by interoperable solutions.
Transport & Logistics standards
GS1 standards provide an integrated solution for identification of the logistics units, automated data capture and electronic data interchange 38
Modern transport and logistics companies function in a hi-tech environment, marked by an incessant flow of physical goods and related information. Standardisation and synchronisation of these elements is vital for ensuring interoperability. Standards act as a common global language, which is understood by all trading partners across the globe. GS1, a global standards-based organisation, has facilitated the development of multi-modal standards for the Transport and Logistics sector in collaboration with companies like FM Logistic, Frigoscandia Distribution, GEFCO, Geodis, Firmenich, DHL International, etc. GS1 standards provide an integrated solution for identification of the logistics units, automated data capture and electronic data interchange. Using a standard approach to the numbering and bar coding of trade items and logistics units delivers benefits of speed, accuracy and cost savings in the processes of handling and distribution of goods throughout the entire supply chain. These benefits are enhanced when the GS1 identification standards are applied in Electronic Data Interchange. These benefits include: Seamless international supply chain management Accurate information on the logistics units, trade items, services and locations Reduction in manual entry efforts Facilitation of improved traceability of goods CRUISING HEIGHTS May 2009
and shipments Reduction in compliance costs of trading part-
ners GS1 creates international and multi-sectoral standards, and helps to overcome barriers of international commerce created by national and industry specific standards. In defining the business processes, transactions and standards, GS1 aligns with UN/CEFACT standards that already exist or are under development. This ensures further interoperability with trading partners active in other industries.
RFID standards To promote adoption of RFID (Radio frequency identification) technology and EPC (Electronic Product Code) standards in the Transport and Logistics sector, GS1 EPCglobal has set up a Transport and Logistics Services (TLS) Industry Action Group. The Group deliberates on important issues related to transportation, business functional requirements/specifications of internal processes and Import Export clearance. Using the EPC Network, the identification, location and condition of physical supplies can be tracked in real time and communicated to all trading partners. Various projects are underway to exploit optimally the use of EPC/RFID technology for such mission-critical applications as track and trace, container security, asset management etc. Port of Busan is deploying RFID to help secure and expedite shipments, while the Hong Kong airport has implemented a luggage tracking system which will greatly improve customer satisfaction and security, besides significantly cutting the airport’s operating costs.
Improving interoperability With exponential increase in global trade, the actors in the supply chain (manufacturers and material suppliers, retailers, logistic service providers and carriers) are moving towards more integrated and collaborative relationships. To provide further impetus to this collaborative movement, GS1 has launched the GS1 Logistics Forum, which comprises leading industry players like DHL Exel, Schenker, GEFCO, FM Logistic, Unilever, Procter &
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Gamble, etc. Among other things, the GS1 Logistics Forum addresses the issue of interoperability — one of the major challenges to a successful global logistics solution. In a globalised environment, trading partners are faced with different business scenarios and data interchanges, especially when they move into more advanced interactions with Logistic Service Providers. Therefore, these partners need solutions based on common business processes, common communication and identification solutions, to be able to overcome barriers of interoperability and scalability. These solutions will lead to more transparency of operations and visibility of the flow of goods, and ultimately eliminate unnecessary costs. The foundation for these solutions is the development of a framework of common business processes and related data communications interchanges, and driving alignment on all levels of these interoperations — from master data alignment to financial settlement. This framework is the Logistics Interoperability Model (LIM) developed by the GS1 Logistics Forum. The scope of LIM covers Transport and Warehouse Management, and includes activities associated with the movement of goods from the material supplier to the manufacturer, to the retailer, using logistic service providers, and includes the return of goods. LIM spans the following business functions: Procurement; Planning; Warehousing; Transport; and, Financial settlement. LIM envisages a seven-step model to achieve interoperability. The entire process begins with an ‘Interoperation Agreement’. It defines the operational and tactical elements between Logistic Services Provider and Client; the roles and responsibilities as well as parameters and targets that have to be defined. This is followed by ‘Master Data Alignment’, where definition of the items, locations and routing codes used in the logistics execution is such as to ensure that both parties have the same and unambiguous understanding of this basic supply chain information. The ‘Logistic Services Conditions’ describes the commitment between the Logistic Service Client and the Logistic Service Provider on execution of the agreed service around warehousing, transport, or both, for a given period and at the stated rate/price. Planning focuses on future activities in relation to warehousing or transport and aims to ensure capacity for the fulfillment of requested services. For warehousing capacity, this applies to the storage volume and resource capacity. For transportation capacity, this applies to transport volumes and timings. Capacity planning is driven by the monthly and/or weekly forecasted shipments/pallets/ picking, until the actual demand (shipment) is released to the Warehouse and or Transport Provider via a delivery instruction (for transport booking, order picking, packing and loading). In some cases,
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CREATING ‘INTEROPERABILITY’: GS1 provides the capability to run business processes seamlessly across organisational boundaries through the use of bar codes and RFID in transportation of goods.
actual planned shipments are available to increase forecast accuracy. Warehousing is the receipt, storage, and preparation of products for customer delivery on the basis of orders. It also includes all involved administrative activities. It covers the control of stocks including traceability in the warehouse. The return flow of products and materials in the supply chain is also included, like product recalls and reverse logistics for empty pallets or crates. Transport is the movement of goods from factories to warehouses or depots (collection), the movement of goods from warehouses to the customer delivery locations (delivery) and the monitoring of these movements. With respect to transport modes, the LIM model aims to be mode-independent, so it can be applied to road, rail, ocean and air. Focus is on continental transport modes. For road transport, this includes Full Truck Load (FTL) transport, Less Than Truck Load (LTL) transport and Parcel distribution. Financial Settlement covers the process from where the services are delivered to the Logistic Services Client, to the confirmation of payment by the Logistic Services Provider. Financial settlement takes place based on the actual volumes/ weight of the goods serviced, according to the Logistic Service Conditions. Financial settlement differs depending on whether the invoicing process is triggered by the Logistic Services Provider (traditional invoicing) or by the Logistic Services Client (self-billing). (The writer is CEO, GS1 India, a standardsbased not-for-profit organisation promoted by the Ministry of Commerce and Indian Industry to spread awareness and provide guidance on adoption of global standards in Supply Chain Management by the Indian Industry.) CRUISING HEIGHTS May 2009
In a globalised environment, trading partners are faced with different business scenarios and data interchanges 39
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Downturn?
What downturn? Turkish Airlines continues to be well on track with its plans, with both passenger and cargo traffic growing at the expected pace, notwithstanding the current downturn in the industry. Turkish Airlines Cargo Senior Vice-President Atilla Lise talks to Tirthankar Ghosh about the airline's progress and future plans in the air cargo industry.
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here is no stopping Turkish Airlines. The global recession seems to have had no impact on its operations — the airline carried 3.1 million passengers in the first two months of the year, a rise of 9 per cent from a year earlier, according to company sources — emphasising just what the carrier’s CEO, Dr Temel Kotil, had told CRUISING HEIGHTS, a few months ago. Dr Kotil had said that there had been no reduction in the carrier’s growth plans. “If we stop growing, we are dead…every year if we grow about 25 per cent in revenue and 15 per cent in passengers, we will be alive…” He had also said, “We know what we are doing.” That the management of the carrier has been doing the right things is becoming apparent, if the passenger figures are any criteria. It is not that cargo has lagged behind. In the first two months of this year, cargo-mail increased 3.4 per cent to 28,839 tonnes. It is little wonder that Atilla Lise, Senior Vice-President, Turkish Airlines Cargo, bubbled with enthusiasm when talking about the Indian market. Speaking on the sidelines of an event organised to honour Turkish’s top air cargo agents in India, Lise gave the feeling that his management had understood that India possessed the potential to become a top-grosser in the years to come; hence, the need to develop the market. Almost rubbishing the downturn in the global economy and its effects on developed countries, Lise pointed out that while “the economic recession is affecting almost each and every airline, Turkish Airlines Cargo has not been impacted to that extent.” The magic of maintaining growth in the depressed atmosphere was simple: “We are still offering the right capacity and the right frequency to the market. As we do not have over-capacity, we do not need to cut capacity for the moment. If you look at our cargo traffic, we are at the right stage and doing
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Vignettes from Turkish Airlines’ annual award function. (bottom, centre)The airline’s Cargo Senior Vice-President Atilla Lise addressing the gathering at the ceremony.
CRUISING HEIGHTS May 2009
very well. We managed eight per cent growth in volume, and 24 per cent growth in revenue in our cargo segment due to high yield cargo in 2008,” said Lise. As for the development of new markets, Lise was forthright: “We are increasing our frequency and also exploring newer destinations.” Citing the case of India, he pointed out, “We were operating four flights per week to Delhi and three a week to Mumbai in 2008. At present, we have daily flights to Mumbai and Delhi. But, if you look at our competitors: they have been offering a capacity which is more than the market’s requirement. That is why they are having difficulties now.” The reason for THY’s (Turkish Air-
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lines’) success, he emphasised, “We are at the right place at the right time.” Not content with the loads from Mumbai and Delhi, Turkish Cargo has made arrangements with bonded carriers to bring in goods from other parts of India. Aware that South Indian destinations like Hyderabad and Bengaluru provided opportunities for cargo growth, Lise said that the airline, through its GSA, had arrangements with certain carriers. In addition, Turkish was “working very closely with a couple of Indian carriers to set up special prorated agreements which will be in place very shortly”. Dwelling at length on the Indian operations, Lise said that “though the economic condition is not so good, we have increased our flights. Also, we have changed our aircraft from A310 to A330. Our flight frequency has increased more than two-and-a-half times. With support from our GSA, Accent Air in India, and their dedication, we have been able to achieve this.” Given the present upbeat scenario, so far as Turkish Cargo was concerned, Lise mentioned that “we are thinking about starting freighter services from Mumbai, possibly in the third or fourth quarter of this year — provided the situation is right.” If that happens, it will enhance the current twice-a-week freighter service from New Delhi to Istanbul, and it would also increase the loads from the present
‘We have good capability’ Atilla Lise speaks about THY's potential. How much of a difference has joining Cargo 2000 made to your cargo? Has it increased your cargo? Turkish Airlines became a member of Cargo 2000 in January this year. Joining the Cargo 2000 programme will lead to improvement of the quality of air cargo service by minimising irregularities, enable better time management during transportation cycle, and will further enhance sustainable and reliable air cargo services throughout the Turkish Airlines network. According to the Cargo 2000 requirements, we have to complete all the formalities, and currently we are in the process of satisfying these requirements. Hence, we are currently at the transition stage and thus cannot give any indicative figures at this stage. Having said that, we do believe that Cargo 2000 will help increase our cargo traffic in the next six months. What is your network capability on passenger and cargo? Currently, we are operating 115 international destinations on an online basis and 35 domestic destinations. Altogether, it becomes 150. It means we have a very good capability. For example, Eastern Europe is a strange market. There are several small cities within a limited area. As Turkish Airlines, we are serving all of these destinations daily. It means we are not only carrying passengers but also cargo. Most of the European Airlines are bringing cargo to their hub in their country, and then sending the cargo to Eastern European cities by trucks. Wherever we need more cargo capacity, we supplement with our four freighters A310. We are currently in all European cities where there is a good potential of cargo. In Germany, we are flying to Frankfurt and Cologne. In Holland, we are flying to Maastricht. Other cities include Paris, London, Zurich, Milan and Madrid. There are the seven big European countries which have big cargo potential and Turkish Cargo has scheduled freighter services to those countries. Additionally, we have freighter service to Almaty, Tblisi, Moscow, Telaviv, Dubai, Damascus, Amman, Beirut, Cairo, Algeirs, and Casablanca. Of course, Turkish Cargo is flying to New Delhi with A310 freighters since 2005. Currently, Turkish Cargo has 20 scheduled freighter destinations and is flying to those destinations regularly.
CRUISING HEIGHTS May 2009
belly-hold and freighter capacity, which is 300 tonnes per week. “The load factor on an average is 90 per cent,” Lise informed. Turkish’s freighters come via Almaty to India. “We have a lot of incoming load to Almaty from Central Europe and other parts of the world. Unfortunately,” said Lise, “there is not much load to India. Therefore, we are flying to New Delhi via Almaty in order to support the load factor and revenue to India on freighters.” He was candid when he said that in comparison to India, “we get much better pricing from Central Europe to Almaty”. India, he pointed out, “is a very challenging country on pricing, especially on inbound, as there is so much of capacity available.” Despite this, he said, Turkish was keen to explore more opportunities in the country. Other than Indian destinations on Turkish Cargo’s radar, Lise said that growth in volumes/revenue would come once the full potential of Istanbul as a hub is recognised. “As far as cargo is concerned we have an advantage over passenger. Istanbul’s position is unique. Located between Asia and Europe, between Europe and the Middle East, between Europe and North Africa, between CIS countries and North Africa or the Middle East; Turkey is in the centre.” The air cargo traffic flow is mostly from the Far East to the US, Europe or within Europe, and all of this traffic circulation intercepts with Turkey. As for Turkish Airlines’ cargo traffic figures, “more than 45 per cent of the traffic is transiting through Turkey. The rest 55 per cent of air cargo traffic comprises 25 per cent export and 30 per cent import. The reason why we are managing this 45 per cent is simply because Istanbul is en route for most of the cargo,” said Lise, and quickly pointed out that “most of the cargo that we get is cleared on the same day or makes its way out within 3-4 hours at the most”. Istanbul airport is within four to five hours of more than 70 destinations in Europe, CIS countries, Middle East and North Africa. In addition, Turkish’s fleet structure gives the carrier the muscle to move: “We have narrow bodies and wide bodies, of which the number of narrow bodies is larger than the wide bodies. The reason behind this is the four-hour flying distance within which we are able to serve a wide number of destinations. Instead of offering one big aircraft, we offer smaller aircraft more densely. This gives us so much transit capacity,” said Lise.
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CARGO JOTTINGS Government looks to boost pharma exports WHEN the Lufthansa freighter landed for the first time at the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport in Hyderabad on April 6, 2009, not only did it enhance its reach into another industrial region in the country, but also became the first airline to offer a
from July 2008 onwards, and has been so successful that more than 45 per cent of all air cargo transactions (import and export) between the Dubai air cargo industry players and the seven FreightGate air cargo facilities operated by Dnata in Dubai, are conducted on Calogi. The number of subscribers and transactions is reported to be increasing dramatically. Patrick Murray, Head of Calogi, said that Calogi was different from other community portals because it had been developed with small to medium sized agents and airlines in mind. “Because of our focus on small to medium sized agents and airlines, Calogi also ensures a level playing field for all stakeholders — something we believe can only be to the benefit of our industry. Membership fees have been kept deliberately low and will not be an entry barrier to even the smallest players in the supply chain,” he said. Calogi is not just a supply chain logistics solution, but a change management programme which promises to improve the speed at which the industry conducts business. The seven Dnata FreightGate cargo facilities in Dubai have also benefitted from increased levels of agent automation, and by a reduction in their workloads and improved efficiency.
Pharma exports is the next big thing for the Indian freight industry.
Chennai airport douses Nokia plans
freighter service to the south Indian metro. The weekly two-way freighter flight to Hyderabad from Frankfurt will augment the capacities already available on Lufthansa passenger flights. The freighter will be taking back pharma consignments as well as solar panels — both manufactured in Hyderabad. Hitherto known basically for perishable and hi-tech exports, Hyderabad is gradually becoming an increasingly important hub for pharmaceutical manufacturers looking to distribute drugs and biotech goods worldwide. That pharma products can become the mainstay of India’s exports has been acknowledged by the government, especially because India has the highest level of FDA approvals outside of the US. In March this year, the government issued an administrative order which provided details about setting up of pharmaceutical zones in the country. The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare followed that up, recently, by holding consultations with airport developers from Delhi, Mumbai and Hyderabad — the three metros which see 90 per cent of the country’s pharma business. Among those that the Health Ministry talked to about setting up dedicated cargo zones to handle the import and export of pharma products were GMR in Delhi and Hyderabad and GVK in Mumbai.
NOKIA, the top mobile telephone manufacturer in the world, took a calculated risk when it set up its tenth manufacturing plant at Sriperumbudur near Chennai in 2006. The multinational braved infrastructure problems to start the plant. But today, the same problems have become a major concern for Nokia. The problem is with the cargo facility at Chennai airport. Often, the company has had to keep its hi-tech components on the tarmac because of lack of storage space at the cargo terminal. As a result, the multinational manufacturer has had to slow down its expansion plans. All it is hoping for is the enhancement of facilities at the cargo terminal. The company's top management is worried that if the situation does not improve, it will tarnish India's image as a manufacturing alternative to China.
Ground-breaking air cargo logistics portal in Middle East A NEW and revolutionary cargo community portal, Calogi, which has saved the Dubai forwarding community an estimated AED 3.5 million, is now being made available across the countries of the Middle East. Calogi is a self-service web-based portal designed to serve the information processing needs of the local supply chain community. Aimed at simplifying the air cargo business, Calogi enables local supply chain stakeholders to seamlessly interact with each other. Information is entered once by the originator and used throughout the shipment lifecycle. The system was released in stages to the Dubai community Patrick Murray, Head of Calogi
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Domestic carriers move to woo cargo DOMESTIC airlines are looking to cargo to boost their depleting revenues, now that there are fewer fliers. News reports point out that most domestic carriers have started ramping up their cargo handling capacity and expanding their cargo network.
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LCC SpiceJet, for example, had started its cargo business sometime ago. Its carriers fly in cargo to 14 destinations — the latest being Goa - and have plans to include Jammu after the summer season. According to Samyukt Sridharan, Chief Commercial Officer, SpiceJet, the cargo capacity per day had been hiked from 85 tonnes to about 110 tonnes. Cargo’s revenue contribution is 3.5 per cent and has been increasing steadily. By the end of the year, the carrier expects the revenue to stabilise at 4.5 per cent. Among the other players, there is Paramount Airways which has started cargo services. The Chennai-based airline, which can handle around 100 tonnes per day, hopes to see cargo contributing around 14 per cent to its total revenues. Along with SpiceJet, another LCC, GoAir is going ahead with its cargo plans. With its brand new aircraft and new routes, the carrier expects cargo to start contributing about 10-11 per cent to the airline’s total revenue from the current 5 per cent.
DHL Express demonstrates green commitment IN an effort to support global initiatives that seek to reduce the impact of business on the environment, DHL Express sent
Emirates fans out across Africa AFRICA'S international links will receive a significant lift with Emirates starting flights to Angola, its 17th African destination. The Dubai-Luanda service, which begins August 2, will operate three times a week. This is the second new route into Africa to be announced by Emirates this year. Flights to Durban in South Africa start October 1. An Airbus A330-200 will serve the route, which will help support the nation's oil-led boom, the emerging tourism market and the thousands of migrant workers, many of whom are from China. Tim Clark, President, Emirates Airline, said that the new Luanda flight will provide enormous potential to develop air travel into Angola, alongside the assistance the carrier can provide for interna-
its first carbon-neutral express shipments from Africa on the occasion of the first anniversary of the Climate Neutral Network (CN Net) of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). The trophies, which are made of recycled glass with recycled metal stands, were shipped from Nairobi, Kenya, to the 86 cities, associations and companies around the world that currently form UNEP’s CN Net. DHL expanded its service offering to temporarily include Gogreen services, which are currently not part of the standard DHL portfolio for Africa. Through its Gogreen service, DHL Express offers carbon-neutral shipping to its customers, thereby meeting the demand for more environmentally responsible products and services. Using two custom-built patented tools — a Carbon Calculation system and a Carbon Management system, DHL can assess the carbon emissions created by a customer’s shipment, identify the most appropriate abatement projects, coordinate the offsetting of emissions, and then, in conjunction with an independent third party, issue certificates that detail the annual carbon offset data for that customer. Customers can use these certificates to prove their contribution to countering the effects of climate change. Deutsche Post DHL is the first global logistics company to join CN Net. This is a good indication of DHL’s commitment to stay at the forefront of the logistics industry’s efforts to lower emissions and improve its carbon efficiency, despite the economic crisis. tional trade through Emirates SkyCargo. The timings of the flight from Dubai allow good connectivity with arrivals from Emirates' points in Asia and Australasia. Meanwhile, the flight coming into Dubai provides smooth connectivity with all Emirates' departures to Europe, the Middle East and the Americas. Emirates SkyCargo will provide up to 12 tonnes of cargo capacity in the belly-hold of each aircraft, with imports expected to include consumer goods, electronics, telecommunications products and oil-related equipment and spares. Perishables, such as fruit and flowers, are expected to feature amongst exports. Emirates SkyCargo being handled from an Airbus A330-200, which will serve the Dubai-Luanda route when it starts on August 2 this year.
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FIREWALKERS INC
As fuel prices touch the stratosphere, airlines owners get edgy. It’s like walking on hot coals: they are cutting costs, dropping routes and wondering what to do next
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FIREWALKERS INC
As fuel prices touch the stratosphere, airlines owners get edgy. It’s like walking on hot coals: they are cutting costs, dropping routes and wondering what to do next
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SPOTLIGHT
1.
JOHANNESBURG AIRPORT
2. CENTURION
3. DURBAN
4. BLOEMFONTEIN
t in the arm for the sagging fortunes sho a as me co s ha ue ag Le er mi Pre The Indian venue to South Africa has the of g ftin shi The s. tor sec m ris tou d of the aviation an d tour operators and, as recent an rs rrie ca of s gie ate str g tin rke ma tested the reports Anupama Sushil. m, the for up g kin loo be to m see s ng reports suggest, thi
T
he Indian Premier League (IPL), a huge cricketing extravaganza, has been the most talked-about event in the past one year, and has only grown bigger this year. While the event was to take place in the country, its shift to South Africa has, by no means, reduced the hype and the hoopla. To top it all, it has been able to usher in good news for the travel and tourism industry: indeed a glimmer of hope in these days of recession. The IPL’s projected revenues add up to around Rs 800 crore in the five weeks that the matches will be played. Tour operators should be the happiest lot. All of a sudden, South Africa is the hottest destination for Indians, with nearly 70 per cent of the package sales coming from companies that are sponsors or planning to take their employees for ‘off-sites’ to South Africa. Travel business watchers estimated that at least 6,000-7,000 cricket buffs could visit South Africa in the next two months. One of the first companies that started making attractive tour packages for various
Air pax up!
Thank you, IPL
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6.
KINGSMEAD STADIUM
destinations in India, where the matches were to be played, indianhotelreview.com, had to completely shift its focus. After a hurried effort to strike alliances with hotels and logistics in South Africa, the company is now offering an attractive package deal, including a ticket for the final match priced at Rs 73,000 per person, and it claims the offer to be about Rs 10,000 less than what other e-travel sites like makemytrip.com are offering. “We expect a good response as it is a holiday season and there is an added attraction of the IPL,” says Ankit Rastogi, business head, indianhotelreview.com. There have to be rigorous marketing efforts involved, as the event has just started and people are looking at buying packages for the semi-final and final matches. Each travel company is trying all means of promotions, be it print, online or television. The downturn, however, is acting as a dampener. Prices of packages have certainly gone down because of the downturn and the sudden increase in competition in selling the same itineraries by all. The South Africa Tourism Board, on its part, is looking at it positively, as this will encourage more and more people to visit their country. SOTC, which is the official partner for the event, has floated packages from Rs 60,000, which include accommodation, match tickets, airfare, and sightseeing with Kingfisher Airlines. South Africa, which is on the gaining side, has decided to operate a bigger Airbus 340 aircraft from its South African Airways fleet only for the IPL event, to increase the connectivity between both the countries from major cities. The ripple effects of the IPL moving to South Africa will be felt by the Gulf airlines and, of course, South African Airways. Among the airlines that will profit the most are Etihad Airways, Emirates Airlines, Qatar Airways and South African Airways that have direct connections from India to the two major cities of Johannesburg and Cape Town. Unfortunately, the Indian national carrier, Air India does not operate any flights to the region. One of the largest travel agents in the country, Akbar Travels, has a complete package with flights to Johannesburg, hotels in South Africa, cricket match tickets — all for Rs 61,555 only.
7. NEWLANDS STADIUM
8. KIMBERLEY BIG HOLE
ur of South African HOT FAVOURITE: Cricket is the flavo tourism this season.
South Africa, here we come
Prices of packages have certainly gone down because of the downturn and the sudden increase in competition in selling the same itineraries by all CRUISING HEIGHTS May 2009
Travel companies like Cox and Kings have packages for Durban Getaway (three days and two nights at Rs 17,988 per person), Cape Town, Johannesburg and Sun City (seven days/six nights at Rs 65,674 per person) and a package for Cape Town, Knysna, Sun City, Pretoria, Kruger National Park and Johannesburg (12 days, 11 nights at Rs 1,20,270 per person). According to Ashutosh Mehere, Cox and Kings Vice-President, there has been a flood of inquiries, most of them for the semi-finals and finals. It is certain that no one will be there to watch the entire series of matches; they will only be watching a few, and that too of teams they have an interest in. These factors do reduce the chances of travel queries to turn into actual bookings.
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DOMESTIC AIRLINES AI wins PATWA award
Jet may further cut capacity
AIR India has won the prestigious PATWA award as Best Asian Airline from Europe to India. The award ceremony was held at Berlin on March 13, 2009 during the ITB, and was attended by a large number of diplomats,
JET Airways, which has already reduced its capacity on international routes, has said that it may further reduce capacity by 8-10 per cent. Saroj Dutta, Executive Director of Jet Airways, said recently that reduction in capacity was essential to increase yields in a challenging environment. Last year, the airline reduced 12 per cent of its capacity. Dutt further told reporters that talks with Kingfisher for collaboration were on. “We Saroj Dutta are working on cooperating in some specific areas. I can’t give a timeline,” he said. Offers variety of fares to woo passengers: Jet Airways has integrated airfares into five different categories, depending on time of flights, as it looks at propping up its falling passengers load factor. A senior Jet Airways official said, “Passengers are slowly returning to air travel. Different fare structures will give different flying experience in terms of comfort to our passengers.” This is the first instance of a full-service carrier offering such a wide variety of fares. Joins JetLite in offering low fares for advance booking: Jet Airways and its subsidiary JetLite will offer all-inclusive fares, starting from Rs 2,071 for the former and Rs 1,722 for the latter, for domestic travellers booking tickets 30 days in advance. The offer is applicable from March 24, Jet said in a statement. These fares, however, do not include Airport Development Fee, User Development Fee or Passenger Service Fee. JetLite passengers will also have to pay an additional transaction fee, over and above the other charges, it added. Gets ready to fly to Srinagar: Jet has announced its decision to launch a daily service on the Delhi-Srinagar sector. A statement said the airline will operate Boeing 737 aircraft on the sector, with a dual-class configuration. JetLite, the carrier’s subsidiary, has also introduced a new, daily service on the Delhi-Srinagar and Mumbai-Srinagar sectors, respectively. While JetLite will connect New Delhi and Srinagar with a daily, direct service, JetLite will fly daily between New Delhi and Srinagar, via Jammu. JetLite will, thus, connect New Delhi with both Jammu and Srinagar with the new service.
Deepak Brara, Commercial Director (centre) and Ratan Bali, Regional Manager-Central Europe (left), both of Air India, holding the award.
state professionals, tourism ministers and media from all over the world. The award was presented by Sujit Banerjee, Secretary of Tourism, Government of India. PATWA is the biggest travel writers’ organisation representing members from all over the world. It aims at promoting professional development of Travel Writing and Travel Communication. PATWA also supports promotion of tourism and maintains adherence to the fundamental principles of UNESCO and of the UN World Tourism Organisation. Introduces summer special fares: In a move that will bring cheer to air travellers, Air India has announced summer special fares from March 27, 2009. These special fares in four levels — Rs 1,891, Rs 2,276, Rs 2,611 and Rs 2,901 — are available in 148 domestic sectors in the Air India network. The fares include Passenger Service Fee (PSF). However, passengers will have to pay User Development Fee (UDF) as applicable in certain airports. The tickets have to be bought 30 days in advance and are non-refundable. These special fares are available till June 30, 2009.
GoAir looking at funding options LOW-COST airline GoAir is looking at options for raising about $400 million to acquire 10 Airbus A320 family aircraft by 2012, to double its fleet strength. “At the moment, we are looking at all options for financing the 10 aircraft deliveries, planned till 2012; the option of sale and lease-back, as also direct bank finance,” an official told a press conference. Meanwhile, the airline is set to expand its footprint by covering Amritsar, Bengaluru and Chandigarh. With the launch of these flights, the number of cities reached by the airline will increase to 11.
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SpiceJet mulls international services LOW-COST airline company SpiceJet Ltd is looking at launching international services when it becomes eligible in May 2010. The airline is also looking at the option to tap the potential in Tier-II and Tier-III cities. “It will take three months to get enough data to take a view on that,” said Sanjay Agrawal, Chief Executive Officer of SpiceJet. The company registered a
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growth of 12.5 per cent in February this year, against less than eight per cent in September last. SpiceJet was the largest carrier out of Delhi. “We feel that we could tap 8-10 per cent of the 15 million passengers trains carry every day,” he said, pointing out to 1.30 lakh passengers the airlines carry a day. The airline would introduce four more flights soon in Hyderabad-Ahmedabad and Hyderabad-Bengaluru sectors. Appoints senior managers: SpiceJet has announced the appointment of senior level managers in key positions within the company to strengthen its core team. Shilpa Bhatia joins the company with over 15 years experience in Strategic Planning, Sales and Business Development, key Accounts Management and Team Management. Manish Koul, General Manager-Airport Projects, comes with over 14 years of experience in international and domestic aviation industry. His earlier assignments Manish include sucShailender Shilpa cessful stints with Indigo airline, IBM Daksh, Cambata Aviation and KLM Airlines. Shailender Khanna, General Manger — In-flight Services Department, brings with him 11 years of rich expeGitanjali Tribhuvan rience, from aviation and non-aviation companies. Prior to SpiceJet, he has worked with Indigo, IBM Daksh, TMI and Jet Airways. Gitanjalli Bhattacharya has joined SpiceJet as General Manager-Customer Service (Process and Planning). She has more than 10 years of experience in BPO Operations, Process Migration and Business Development. She has earlier worked with Tech Mahindra Limited, ABM AMRO, American Express and GE-Capital. Tribhuvan Prakash, Senior Manager — Training In-flight Services Department, has over 14 years of experience in the field of Training and Development, and has worked with Indigo, Sahara Airline, ModiLuft and Hilton International Kensington. Introduces ‘Home Away Insurance’: SpiceJet has launched ‘Home Away Insurance’ for all its customers in collaboration with Tata AIG. This innovative scheme, with a cover of upto Rs one lakh, covers damage, disappearance or destruction of furniture, clothes, electrical equipments etc. on account of burglary at the passenger’s residence while he/she is away on personal travel trip. ‘Home Away Insurance’ is available free of charge to all who book through spicejet.com.
Announcing the launch of this new policy, Samyukth Sridharan, Chief Commercial Officer, SpiceJet said, “Customer comfort remains the core of all the services that we offer. Home Away Insurance is a new step taken in this direction. Now SpiceJetters can go on a personal vacation without any worries. This insurance will ensure that their household goods are secured while they are enjoying with friends and families.” Starts breakfast service: SpiceJet has announced the launch of a breakfast menu, available for sale on all flights that
depart before 9.30 am. The single type continental breakfast tray is available at a discounted price of Rs 100 if it is preordered at the time of booking the ticket. The same is available on board for Rs 130. These hygienically packed breakfast trays comprise light croissant (breakfast roll of buttery puff pastry), a portion of seasonal fruits, fruit yoghurt, fruit juice, butter and jam. Guests can finish their healthy breakfast with hot tea/coffee (served with cookies) for an additional payment of Rs. 20.
Kingfisher ties up with Citibank Cards KINGFISHER Airlines has inked an agreement with Citibank Cards, which allows members of its ‘King Club’ holding the bank’s cards to redeem their points for flights on Kingfisher Airlines or its partner airlines. “The association will benefit members of King Club, the frequent-flyer programme of Kingfisher Airlines, and Citibank cardholders who are King Club members,” Kingfisher Airlines said in a statement. “King Club has been constantly expanding the range of partners so that King Club members have varied opportunities to earn King Miles and earn their free flights faster,” Kingfisher Airlines’ King Club General Manager Anshu Sarin said.
IndiGo in talks with SAA INDIGO, the country’s largest low-cost airline by market share, is in talks with South African Airways (SAA) — South Africa’s flag carrier — for a possible tie-up, following its aborted attempt to partner with Virgin Airlines. The Delhi-based carrier recently wrote to the union civil aviation ministry, seeking permission to enter into code-share agreement with international carriers. The aviation ministry has given its goahead to the private carrier. As IndiGo started its domestic operation in August 2006, it has to wait for nearly two years to spread its wings internationally. However, the new ministry guidelines allow local carriers to virtually fly abroad, despite restrictions. The flight for foreign destinations would be shown on the ticketing system of the domestic carrier. Goes ‘mobile’: IndiGo has launched the flight status service on mobile. The service will enable passengers to check flights status on mobile by sending an SMS of their flight details to a short code. With the launch of this service, IndiGo enhances the hassle free experience for its passengers. They can now send an SMS by typing “ST” (space)<3 digit flight number> (space)<date as ddmm> to 566772 to check their flight status. An automated SMS will be received by the passenger in return with the details of flight departure and arrival. Speaking on the launch the service, Aditya Ghosh, President of IndiGo said, “In line with our endeavour to best serve our customers, we have introduced this quick and convenient flight status service, where passengers can stay connected and apprised when on the move.”
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INTERNATIONAL AIRLINES SriLankan cuts India flights IN what is being considered the largest such exercise by any single foreign carrier for the sub-continent, SriLankan Airlines has cut over 50 per cent of its flights to India. Over the last couple of months, SriLankan has reduced 54 flights out of 100 to India, thereby closing down four stations in the country. “We decided to reduce the number of flights as we were not making money on these routes,” SriLankan Airlines manager for Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, Sharuka Wickrama-Adittiya, was reported saying. The airline now flies to six cities as against the earlier 11. Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation’s Chief Executive Officer for Indian sub-continent and the Middle-East, Kapil Kaul said SriLankan Airlines has carried out such an exercise because it wants to lower its dependence on India. Turning green worldwide: SriLankan Airlines has commenced transforming its worldwide operations into environment-friendly ‘Green Flights,’ becoming the first airline in South Asia to ‘make a full and unconditional commitment to environmental conservation.’ Flight UL 557 from Colombo’s Bandaranaike International Airport to Frankfurt on March 21 was the first ‘Green Flight’ in the region, a press release issued by the airline said. The concept involves a comprehensive range of measures to make flights as environment-friendly as possible by minimising fuel consumption, carbon emissions and noise levels.
Air Asia X increases London frequency BEGINNING July 1, 2009, Air Asia X will increase the frequency of its flights between London, Stansted and Kuala Lumpur to a daily service. Since its inaugural flight in March, the low-cost long haul airline has operated five times a week between Stansted and Kuala Lumpur, but unprecedented passenger demand has now led to the introduction of a daily service. To mark the occasion, AirAsia Azran Osman-Rani X offered one-way fare from as low as RM499 (£149*) exclusively through online booking from April 21 to 23, 2009 at www.airasia.com for the travel period beginning July 3, 2009 to January 31, 2010. AirAsia X CEO Azran Osman-Rani said, “Our aim has always been to open up travel for all. The popularity of the London-KL route is further testament to the pent-up demand for long-haul travel, provided the fares are low and the quality is high.” Air Asia plans to expand operations: The Malaysian lowcost airline, Air Asia, not only plans to launch a second daily service between Kuala Lumpur and Tiruchi from October this year but also plans to expand its footprints around the country. “We are looking at expanding to India in 2009-10.While we
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will fly 14 times-a-week from October this year between Tiruchi and Kuala Lumpur, the airline is in the last stages of determining which other sectors it should operate to in India,” the airline’s Network Management officer Subashini Silvadas was reported saying. In addition, Air Asia X, a subsidiary of Air Asia, will look at operations in to Mumbai and Delhi.
Air Arabia offers special fares AIR Arabia has introduced special holiday fares from across 12 destinations in India to its international network of 46 destinations in 22 countries. The lowcost carrier announced its return fares of Rs 18,525 to Egypt, Rs 23,085 to Turkey, Rs 19,950 to Jordan and Rs 22,088 to Kenya to Athens Air Arabia will launch services to Athens from April 21 and is offering a special return fare of Rs 25,223 to its patrons in India, said a press release. All fares are inclusive of taxes and surcharges and exclude airport user fees, service tax and agency handling charges. Air Arabia is offering return fares of Rs 10,973 to the UAE. The airline has also launched service to Goa from April 16.
Druk Air to start flights from Bagdogra ROYAL Bhutan airline Druk Air, popular known as the wings of Dragon, is going to launch twice-a-weekly service from Bagdogra (Sikkim) to Bangkok. According to the new schedule, flights will take off from Bagdogra on Tuesday and Saturday and return on Wednesday and Sunday. Passengers from Bagdogra will get enhanced connectivity from Bangkok to several destinations across North America, Europe, Asia and West Asia. The 114 passengers will fly by A319 Air Boeing with enough cargo space. According to CEO Tandin Jamso, Druk Air, which celebrated its silver jubilee last year, has decided to buy one more Boeing aircraft, and one at least will be taken on lease. Though they are running seven linkages with India, Bangladesh, Nepal and Thailand, attempts are on to expand Druk Air services to Hong Kong, Singapore and many other places like Delhi, Mumbai and Chennai.
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Emirates has new communications head
EMIRATES has appointed Boutros Boutros as its new Divisional Senior Vice President, Corporate Communications. Coinciding with the start of the company’s new financial year on April 1, Boutros, previously Emirates’ Senior VP - Media Relations, Sponsorships and Events, officially took over from Mike Simon. In his new role as head of Corporate Boutros Boutros Communications, Boutros will oversee all marketing and communications activities across the globe for the 40-plus businesses under the Emirates group umbrella, a remit which includes Advertising, Sponsorships, Events and Merchandising, Media Relations and Internal Awareness, Internet Communications, along with Passenger Communications and Visual Services. Takes you on a journey through India: Emirates is advancing its service on Indian routes with the launch of its unique ‘Journey Through India’ campaign. Focussing on three crucial elements — in-flight food and beverage; in-flight product; and cabin crew management — the programme seeks to ensure the airline exceeds the expectations of its Indian passengers through regionalisation of the product on Indian routes. Initiatives under the ‘Journey Through India’ campaign are featuring on Emirates’ flights to Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Calicut, Chennai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Kochi, Kolkata, Mumbai, and Thiruvananthapuram. The menu on all routes and in all classes has been created to meet the regional preferences of Indian travellers. In-flight entertainment has also been regionalised and now offers routespecific boarding music and reading material. Over 10,000 of Emirates multi-cultural crew are improving their knowledge of India through route-specific booklets, online training courses and briefings prior to each flight. Is main sponsor of IPL Punjab team: Emirates has strengthened its commitment to the cricket world and to India by becoming the main sponsor of the Kings XI Punjab IPL team. The Kings XI Punjab is one of the eight competing cricket franchisees of the Indian Premier League, based in Mohali, representing a huge catchment area of Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Team Captain Yuvraj Singh with Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir. Preity Zinta. Owned by actress Preity Zinta and businessmen Ness Wadia, Karan Paul and Mohit Burman, the Kings XI Punjab is captained by cricket sensation Yuvraj Singh and coached by former Australian all-rounder Tom Moody. The squad line-up includes a number of legendary players such as Brett Lee, one of the world’s fastest bowlers, Sri Lankan pair Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara, Indian all-rounder Irfan Pathan, wicket-keeper James Hopes and Durban-based Yusuf Abdulla.
Virgin launches Deskmate IN yet another move to make flying hassle-free and comfortable for its customers, Virgin Atlantic Airways has launched the Virgin Atlantic Deskmate for its travel trade partners. This interactive widget can be downloaded onto your desktop in seconds and instantly keep you updated on everything going on at Virgin Atlantic. The new Virgin Atlantic Deskmate helps you book flights
faster than before and even keeps you informed of new fares and Red Hot deals. Virgin Atlantic DeskMate can also be used for a personalised photo blog for you to share your favourite holiday pictures and other memorabilia. It also provides an opportunity to take a break from work by participating in fun contests and quizzes like the ‘Star Performer of the Month’.
Malaysia Airlines is ‘World’s Best Cabin Staff 2009’ MALAYSIA Airlines has regained its No. 1 position as “World’s Best Cabin Staff” in the latest global online survey by Skytrax. This is the sixth time the airline has been given this recognition since 2001. The 2009 World Airline Awards are based on the annual World Airline Survey by Skytrax, which was conducted between August 2008 and March 2009.
Malaysian Airlines’ cabin staff celebrate the honour.
Focused on the quality of onboard customer experience, the survey also looked at the “soft service” provided, including cabin staff friendliness, enthusiasm and attentiveness, sincerity, as well as consistency in service delivery, in addition to the usual general service efficiency. Malaysia Airlines’ Operations Director, Dato’ Tajuden Abu Bakar accepted the award at the first ‘live’ World Airline Awards ceremony at Hamburg, Germany.
Cathay wins ‘Airline of the Year 2009’ award CATHAY Pacific Airways has been named ‘Airline of the Year’ in the World Airline Awards, run by the London-based Skytrax research organisation — the third time it has taken the honour in the past 10 years. The airline was also named Best Airline Asia in 2009. The awards were presented to Cathay Pacific at the Aircraft Interiors Expo in Hamburg, Germany, where Skytrax was celebrating the 10th anniversary of the World Airline Awards. Cathay Pacific has been a consistent winner in the World Airline Awards, taking the Airline of the Year honour in 2003 and 2005, and winning plaudits for its Hong Kong lounges and in-flight products. In the 2008 awards, the airline took the Best First Class title following the introduction of its groundbreaking new cabins.
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SNIPPETS SAS Group signs pact with Amadeus SAS Group and Amadeus have signed a 10-year technology partnership for the provision of a new generation passenger service system. Adoption of next-generation technology will support the SAS Group’s move towards cost efficiency and an enhanced capacity to respond effectively to a fast-changing and competitive marketplace. Amadeus will implement the new technology platform for the SAS Group of airlines through a phased migration process which will start in 2010. Through the partnership, Scandinavian Airlines, Widerøe and Blue 1 will adopt the full Amadeus Altéa Customer Management Solution to manage their global sales and reservations, inventory and departure control processes. The SAS Group of airlines will also adopt the Amadeus e-commerce suite of solutions, to support their commercial websites and drive online sales alongside their existing e-commerce systems.
Bahrain Air launches second Indian destination
BAHRAIN Air, a private national carrier located in Bahrain and the first Premium service carrier with affordable fares, operating within MENA countries and to the Indian sub-continent, touched down at the Calicut International Airport on April 2, 2009. Welcoming the inaugural flight at Calicut International Airport, carrying an official delegation from the company led by B K Majmudar, Director of Corporate Planning and Commercial Operations; Bahrain Air held a press conference and a gala dinner at Kadavu Resorts. Addressing the guests present at the press conference, Majmudar expressed his appreciation for all the support and cooperation that had been extended to Bahrain Air. He further said, “There are around 300,000 expatriate Indians in the Kingdom of Bahrain and a large number of them are citizens from Kerala. Thus, our service to Kozhikode is an expansion
Singapore stopover for $1 Singapore Airlines, together with the Singapore Tourism Board (STB) and Singapore Changi Airport, will offer all its customers the Fabulous Singapore Stopover Package for just $1 for the first night stay in Singapore. Aimed at stimulating tourism during this economic downturn, the Fabulous Singapore Stopover package offers Singapore Airlines’ customers an opportunity to stop over in Singapore for almost nothing. The Stopover package covers exclusive deals on hotel accommodation, airport transfers and entry to some of Singapore's leading tourist attractions. Customers will each be given $10 Changi vouchers, which they can use to pay for purchases at the many retail and food and beverage outlets at Changi Airport. They can also take advantage of free ground transfers to and from Changi Airport and unlimited use of the Singapore Airlines’ “Hop-On Bus” — an air-conditioned bus service that allows customers to visit over 20 major attractions in Singapore. The package also includes free admission to attractions including Sentosa Island, Singapore Zoo, Malay Heritage Centre, National Orchid Garden, Peranakan Museum, Singapore River Bumboat Tour and Jurong Bird Park.
A view of Singapore Marina-Merlion.
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Scenes from the launch of Bahrain Air’s inaugural flight at Calicut International Airport.
into the lucrative market of India, mainly the southern region, to serve the increasing demand, particularly from the Indian community residing in the Kingdom of Bahrain and the other GCC countries. We hope to serve passengers across the board, be it the business traveller, the leisure traveller or those visiting their families.” Further he added, “We are very pleased to be able to serve the large Indian community by way of offering affordable and comfortable means of travel to and from Bahrain and Kozhikode.” After due market research, the schedule that has been finalised, to suit the convenience of both business travellers and regular passengers, includes three weekly flights on the Bahrain-Kozhikode route. On the occasion, Ashok Fenn, President and CEO, InterGlobe Air Transport said, “We have shared a successful association with Bahrain Air since they started operations in India back in 2008 and today, it gives me great pleasure to welcome their second run of operations in India. With our collective efforts, we are confident to establish a strong presence in the Indian subcontinent, and be recognised as a preferred product to Bahrain and beyond.” Recently, Bahrain Air also celebrated its inaugural flights to Kathmandu — its second destination in the Indian sub-continent and Abu Dhabi — its second destination in UAE.
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TRAVEL & TOURISM ‘India in Motion’ at Agra ‘INDIA in Motion’ — the first 6D show in India — offers a 45minute interactive film on ‘India now and then’, at the Big Cinema in Agra. The movie shows the history of India from the times of Ashoka’s empire, to the creation of masterpieces during the Gupta dynasty, to the coming of the Mughals, entry of the Portuguese and the British, the struggle for independence by Mahatama Gandhi, to the latest Bollywood cultures and mixes. The smart motion seats, with shakers and special effects like breeze, water spray and smoke, makes the entire visual experience come alive. Narration by noted Seeing India in 6D. Indian actor Anupam Kher further leaves the audience spellbound. The show can be seen at Big Cinema, Cinema Park Agra, just a five-minute drive from the Taj Mahal, and adjoining The Trident hotel.
Cruising to luxury with STIC STIC Travel Group, leading travel service providers in India and South Asia, recently organised a visit to Holland America Line’s cruise ship for the Mumbai travel agents and partners. Premium cruise liner Holland America Line’s signature class ship ms. Rotterdam was docked at the Mumbai port for two days from March 24, ‘09. Leveraging on the opportunity, STIC Travel Group, GSAs for Holland America Line in India and Sri Lanka, hosted about 30 local travel agents and travel partners onboard the ship. Richa Goyal Sikri, Director, Group Business Development, STIC Travel Group, said, “The idea behind such activities is to provide everyone an indepth understanding of all aspects of the product, and to experience first hand the luxury, opulence, and grandeur of Holland America Line.” The cruise liner had entered India on March 23, ‘09 and its first halt was at Goa port. The very next day, the ship sailed into Mumbai and was docked for the next two days. This sailing is a part of the ongoing Holland America Line’s Grand World Voyage, which is a 128-day roundtrip Ft. Lauderdale, Los Angeles itinerary, covering 39 ports across five continents.
and the Orangutans — is the largest state of Malaysia. Its colourful history, ancient rainforests, intricate rivers, beautiful beaches and the amazing diversity of its indigenous people make it a mesmerising holiDelhites had a taste of Sarawak. day destination. Home to the UNESCO World Heritage Mulu National Park, as well as the famous Niah and Bako National Parks, Sarawak is an eco-adventure land, which is just great for trekking, caving, mountain climbing, kayaking, rafting and diving.
Galileo allies with Cox and Kings GALILEO has signed a strategic business agreement with Cox and Kings India Ltd (CKIL) to distribute, manage and book travel management services for its customers in India. The tie-up, effective April 1, 2009, will enable Cox and Kings to use Galileo as its preferred technology partner for booking and servicing all its customers. While Galileo will be able to further strengthen its pan India presence through this alliance, Cox and Kings will have easy access to a larger and more accurate content through the Galileo core systems. Galileo aims to spread its network with Cox and Kings’ widespread presence across key cities in India, such as Mumbai, New Delhi, Chennai, Bengaluru, Kolkata, Ahmedabad, Kochi, Hyderabad, Pune, Goa, Nagpur and Jaipur.
Niagara Tourism on India Mission NIAGARA Tourism & Convention Corporation, Niagara USA, recently organised India Mission 2009 in Mumbai and Delhi. John H. Percy, President and CEO Niagara Tourism & Convention Corporation, led the delegation that included Elizabeth Davis, Director of Sales, Niagara Tourism & Convention Corporation and Brad Billard, Director of Marketing Promotions, Whirlpool Jet Boat Tours. The objective of the Mission was to meet travel partners to discuss and explore opportunities to promote Niagara USA as a preferred leisure destination for Indian travellers. Besides showcasing Niagara USA, the presentations also included new product updates. The networking dinner presentations in Mumbai and Delhi were well attended by senior executives from the travel industry.
‘Sarawak Night’ sizzles TRADITIONAL Sarawak dances by Malaysian and Indian dancers set Delhi on fire at the Sarawak Night, organised by the High Commission of Malaysia, jointly with Tourism Malaysia, Malaysian Airlines and the Sarawak Tourism Board. An initiative to introduce Malaysia’s eastern state of Sarawak as a tourist destination in India, Sarawak Night brought to life the region’s rich cultural tapestry through colourful costumes and evocative dances. The evening also offered guests an opportunity to sample the sumptuous array of Malaysian cuisine. Sarawak, the ‘Land of Hornbills’ — the fabled White Rajahs
Niagara Tourism delegation with travel partners in India.
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SNIPPETS Mauritius Tourism sponsors weekend race
FOR the third consecutive year, Mauritius Tourism Promotion Authority sponsored the prestigious Mauritius Cup Trophy 2009 for the weekend horse race held at Mahalaxmi Race Course in Mumbai. Horse racing is one of the key marketing initiatives under ‘Me & Mauritius’ campaign to attracting HNI sports patrons to Mauritius. Amidst the huge crowd of equestrian sports enthusiasts, the Mauritius Cup Trophy 2009 was presented to the winner, Nina M. Lalvani. The presence of the elite segment of sports aficionados at the venue has proven that this annual event has grown enormously over the years with more people attending from all over India.
getaway will be marketed and promoted in the Indian sub-continent by TRAC Representations India Pvt. Ltd. These islands offer a diversity of tourism products, including activities like underwater adventures with diving at reefs, snorkeling, fishing, sailing, wellness and rejuvenation, besides being an ideal spot for weddings and honeymoons. Defining the British Virgin Islands’ natural aspects are 60 islands; selective private islands can be owned exclusively for required durations and personalised vacations. For the ultimate in natural luxury, islands such as Peter, Guana and Necker have exclusive resorts that epitomise privacy and quiet elegance, with supple spa treatments and well-appointed accommodations.
Shopping, Malaysian style!
Nina M. Lalvani with the Mauritius Cup Trophy 2009.
Horse racing is unarguably one of the most popular sports in Mauritius. Champ de Mars is one of the oldest and the sole racetrack in the Southern Hemisphere, organising some of the best races held in Mauritius today. “The weekend race serves as a right platform to target a new segment of travellers for destination Mauritius by reaching out to the Indian crème-de-la-crème, therefore positioning the destination as a experiential luxury getaway,” said Rajeev Nangia, Associate Director, TRAC Representations.
Tourism Malyasia on Formula One high KUALA Lumpur is scorching with excitement as Tourism Malaysia brings a delightful line-up of activities, courtesy the 2009 Formula One Petronas Malaysian Grand Prix. High-speed guzzling cars, sharp turns, screeching sound of tyres and loads of high octane drama, besides the opportunity to experience all this live at the circuit — the occasion provides all this and more. With the F1 awareness level at an all time high, and the proposed F1 track to be soon developed in India, Malaysia’s Sepang International Circuit is the closest Premier F1 circuit in Asia offering an opportunity to Indian racing enthusiasts to experience the action live. Bringing the fans closer to the F1 fraternity and SIC, the 2009 Formula One Petronas Malaysian Grand Prix celebrations are planned as a combination of race excitement and entertainment.
BEYOND the air-conditioned comforts of super-sleek mega malls in the major towns of Malaysia, there is another category of retail “mall” that is off the beaten track. These are the colourful markets of Malaysia. Petaling Street — at the centre of Kuala Lumpur’s original Chinatown — is the place that never sleeps, offering adventurous visitors the pleasure of a walk any time of the day or night. Petaling Street is not open for the traffic. While most parts of Kelantan wind down their activities by evening, Wakaf Che Yeh, or Che Yeh Market, in Jalan Kuala Krai, Kota Bharu, bustles 24 hours a day. This open-air trading area, occupying about a quarter acre, is the stage for Kelantan commerce, with everything being sold in bulk at wholesale prices.
Join the Jamaican spring magic IT’S the ultimate spring break vacation for the tired mind, body and soul. Every year, Jamaica offers a relaxing Spring Break with amazing outdoor party environment that is unmatched and simply captivating. By just grabbing an ice cold Red Stripe, and laying out on the beach soaking up the Caribbean sun, visitors can experience every nuance of Spring Break Jamaican Vacation. With palm fringed pristine white sand beaches, alluring turquoise waters and open air beach parties, Jamaica is one of the hottest spring break destinations in the world. From snorkeling to parasailing, scuba diving to windsurfing, to exploring enchanted rainforests, from climbing Dunn’s River Falls, to just vegging out with friends at a midnight beach bonfire — there’s more to do on or under the water than you could ever imagine. Dining in the evening at one of the elite restaurants or hotels in Jamaica is a must for visitors in order to savour the flavour of the Jamaican culture.
British Virgin Islands target Indian HNIs IN its bid to target the Indian HNIs seeking experiential luxury holidays, the British Virgin Islands has forayed into the Indian outbound market. Positioned as nature’s little secret, this niche
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covered in forests and coastal areas that are made up of stunning white palm-fringed beach, flat plains and limestone ridges, there are plenty of places to look for adventure in Langkawi. It offers visitors a world of holidaying opportunities from relaxed beach holidays, spa breaks, golf outings or exploring the history and ancient culture of the islands.
Make the most of summer
Come, coast the sun
RANAKPUR, with its rich architectural history and pristine natural beauty, is the place to be this summer. And to ensure that you make the most of your summer vacation, WelcomHeritage Maharani Bagh Orchard Retreat, Ranakpur has announced its 2009 Summer Package. The package includes a cottage for two priced at only Rs.5999/- for 2 nights and 3 days, inclusive of a double room with American Breakfast, bed tea and taxes.
SHIMMERING white sands with a bright sunny climate, frothy waves playing on the tunes of winds, clear blue skies and enchanting sunsets — the captivating beauty of Costa del Sol in Spain, which is popularly known as the “Coast of the Sun” or “Sun Coast” attracts more than eight million tourists from all over the world every year. The region, situated between two lesser known coasts: Costa De la Luz and Costa Tropical, features beautiful landscapes, rugged coastlines, and important historical values. It is very famous for its weather with approximately 300-320 days of sunshine per year and an average temperature of 22ºC. The Costa del Sol has great diversity which has something to offer to everyone — young, old and families.
The swimming pool at Maharani Bagh Ranakpur beckons.
A shimmering harbour in Puerto Banus, Costa del Sol, Spain.
Going live with IPL FOR those who can’t make it to the grounds, Hard Rock Café is screening the excitement of the IPL Season 2 live for all its patrons. In association with the world acclaimed Tiger beer, Hard Rock Café is offering cricket fans the ultimate viewing experience, with the Hard Rock ‘stadium’ staff handing out props to the cricket buffs to cheer their team on. Also available in these rocking hours from 4-8 pm are great Caught in Olympic fever. offers on combos of Tiger beer and snacks menu at close to 50 per cent discounts. Understanding the gripping nature of IPL, cricket fans can also avail of the Tiger Tanks (3.5 litres of Tiger beer) for an uninterrupted IPL experience. To make the experience more engaging and enthralling, the cricket fanatics would have a chance to compete in various contests and win some exciting prizes.
99 Magical Islands in the Sun LANGKAWI — the ancient land of myth and magic, replete with vibrant flora and fauna under the tropical sun, on the banks of warm clear waters, with a gentle sea breeze caressing the soul. Now imagine visiting this exotic setting and joining in air trekking from tree to tree, cave explorations, island hopping and feeding live baby sharks. Langkawi is the perfect getaway destination for families or friends looking for a pleasant holiday. A tropical paradise, Langkawi is a cluster of 99 islands. With two-thirds of the islands
Located near the famous Jain Temples of Ranakpur, the resort has village style thatched roofs and pillars decorated with beautiful terra-cotta friezes from Mollela — a nearby district famous for its terra-cotta art. Since Mount Abu is also fairly close, it is possible to drive up to see the Dilwara Temples and compare the architecture of the two important Jain pilgrimage sites. Summer deals from Welcom Heritage: Welcom Heritage Hotels offers the perfect motivation to head to the hills this summer and choose its various properties in Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir for a stay. In Himachal, accommodation starts Rs 5,999 and goes up to Rs 39,960 in a variety of properties, that include Grace Hotel, Dharamsala; Judge’s court at Pragpur; Solang Valley Resort in Manali; The Chalets Naldehra; The Taragarh Palace in Palampur and Woodville Palace, Shimla. Moving further up to the ‘Heaven on Earth’, the Gurkha houseboats in Srinagar are available at Rs 7,999 and The Shambha-La, Leh-Ledakh are available in deluxe category rooms at Rs 7,599 and 9,999. All the packages are under the American plan that includes breakfast and one major meal.
ITC Mughal Agra’s ‘Kaya Kalp is ‘the best’ IN yet another feather on its cap, ITC Mughal Era’s ‘Kaya Kalp — The Royal Spa’ has won three awards at the 5th anniversary of AsiaSpa India. The awards were to recognise and applaud the Achievers in the spa industry. ITC Mughal Agra won the awards for the ‘Best New Spa in India’, ‘Best Interiors’ and ‘Best Spa Marketing.’ Earlier in September 2008, Kaya Kalp — The Royal Spa, was also singled out by UK’s Tattler Magazine as the World’s Best City Spa. At Kaya Kalp — The Royal Spa, the spa experience is spread across more than 99,000 square feet. Widely recognised as India’s largest Spa, it follows Mughal tradition in its extensive use of greenery and water and interiors embellished with stone latticework, mother of pearl, inlay and mirror work. Among the important experiences offered is ‘The Royal Mughal Hamam’ —
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SNIPPETS
Club Mahindra opens new resort
Offering Mughal style spa experience.
India’s first luxury hamam . Spread across the country, ITC’s Kaya Kalp Spas can now be experienced at ITC Sonar at Kolkata, ITC Kakatiya in Hyderabad, ITC Windsor at Bengaluru and ITC Maurya in Delhi.
Experience luxury at Grand Sarovar Premiere ENJOY great-value luxury weekend break at Grand Sarovar Premiere, Mumbai. Relax and rejuvenate your mind, body and soul, while also doing some retail therapy. The weekend package from the hotel includes accommodation on twin sharing basis; welcome drink; buffet breakfast and lunch/dinner at the multi-cuisine restaurant; complimentary usage of swimming pool and gymnasium; complimentary bottle of mineral water placed in the room, and a lot more. One child below 8 years can be accommodated in the parent’s room at no additional cost, without extra bed. Grand Sarovar Premiere is Goregaon’s first 5-star boutique hotel with an attached shopping mall offering premium brands.
MAHINDRA Holidays & Resorts India Ltd., (MHRIL), promoter of India’s dominant lifetime holiday brand — Club Mahindra Holidays, has expanded its resort bouquet in the North with the latest addition of Club Mahindra Whispering Pines, Gables Mashobra in Shimla, Himachal Pradesh. Situated at a height of over 7,000 feet, Mashobra offers holiday goers the unique combination of adventure and serenity, set in an ambience of lush forests, valleys and mountains. As part of the famed Shimla Reserve Forest Sanctuary, this town is home to a variety of flora, fauna and wild life. Mashobra is easily accessible from Shimla, which is just 15 kms away. Club Mahindra Whispering Pines has been redone in contemporary style, offering 67 spacious rooms and apartments with commanding views. The facilities include Kennedy House — a multi-cuisine restaurant that offers Club Mahindra’s signature delectable a la carte and buffet spread, Tea Bliss the coffee shop, Cosy Nook the bar, holiday activity centre, gymnasium and the expansive SevenSeas spa lounge.
Fortune Hotels get into expansion spree AFTER the success of its management model, Fortune Hotels plan to take on the ownership model soon. “There are a few ITC owned land areas available in Bengluru and Coimbatore, and we want to utilise them to make our own hotels to strengthen the Fortune brand further,” said Suresh Kumar, President, Fortune Hotels, at the opening of Fortune Inn Grazia in Noida. The hotel is the chain’s second, after Gurgaon, in the NCR region. The 42- room property is aimed at the business segment in the area. The group plans to take the total number of Fortune hotels in the NCR region to seven by 2010. The other five hotels are being planned at Manesar, MG road, Chhattarpur and near Akshardham Temple close to the Commonwealth Games village. The chain will build about 100 hotels in total by the year 2012. Expanding footprints in the NCR region and other parts of the country through different models.
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Banyan Tree connects with Bollywood BANYAN Tree Phuket recently hosted Bollywood star Deepika Padukone for a stylised fashion feature shoot. The picturesque Bang Tao beach of Phuket provided an idyllic frame, aptly encapsulating the true holiday spirit. This was Banyan Tree’s first-ever connect with an Indian film celebrity. Talking about the shoot, Deepika Padukone said, “Though I went on work, it felt more like a holiday and that’s when shoots are more special.” She further said, “My mother came with me and we spent three days together in a beautiful villa with a private jacuzzi and pool overlooking
the lagoon at Banyan Tree”. The award-winning Banyan Tree Hotels and Resorts first launched in Laguna Phuket, Thailand, in 1994, offering intimate retreat experiences with its own signature blend of romance, rejuvenation and exotic sensuality, which is perfectly reflected by a young style icon like Deepika Padukone. Offers special promotion in China: To celebrate its new makeover and the completion of its expanded inventory, including new deluxe and spa suites, Banyan Tree Lijiang has unveiled a special promotion to encourage travellers to experience this culturally authentic city of Yunnan for themselves. The special offer is on direct bookings starting from April 12, 2009, and the bookings are valid for stays till December 31, 2009. To cater to the growing demand for upmarket travel experiences in the Yunnan region, Banyan Tree Lijiang has added 34 new suites and villas to its extensive Naxistyled resort grounds. This includes 22 deluxe suites, eight two-bedroom spa sites and four two-bedroom jet pool villas, bringing its total inventory to 122. Banyan Tree Phuket had a date with Bollywood recently with Deepika Padukone going in for a fashion feature shoot at the resort.
Afro-Arab leagues bond over lunch AMBASSADOR of Arab Republic of Egypt to India, Dr Mohamed Higazy hosted a luncheon recently at his residence for the Ambassadors of African and Arab leagues in India. The informal meet was aimed at strengthening the bonds between the Dr. Higazy (second from left) with the Afro-Arab Ambassadors. countries that share common concerns, including that of Palestine. The luncheon was well attended by around 35-40 ambassadors representing the various nations in the leagues.
Marriott Group turns 10 in India MARRIOTT Group, which has emerged as one of the top hospitality brands in the country, has announced its 10th anniversary celebrations this year. Marriott properties in India will be offering exciting stay and pamper packages, especially for their loyal client base across the nation, during the year. The Marriott Group’s six properties, spread over Mumbai, Goa, Hyderabad and Chennai, have designed special anniversary
packages in line with the needs of their customers. A package of two nights or more across all the Marriott properties in India will entail a complimentary amount of Rs. 3,000, solely for the purpose of in-hotel indulgence for all guests. The special offers within this package include spa and massage treatments, the choice to dine at any of the fine dining restaurants within the hotel, irresistible cocktails at the lounge bar, complimentary airport transfers and much more.
Thomas Cook partners Kingfisher for IPL THOMAS Cook has partnered with Kingfisher Airlines, the official airline and travel partner to the DLF Indian Premium League Season 2, to provide unique fan packages to the rainbow city in this season. This alliance IPL fans have got the opportunity of a will offer all IPL fans in lifetime with the Thomas Cook-Kingfisher India the opportunity to packages. fly to international grounds and a lifetime experience of yet another exciting and affordable vacation. According to a release, the IPL packages by Thomas Cook are extremely affordable and value for money. These include air fare, airport transfers, stay, location sightseeing and match tickets.
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SNIPPETS Clarks Inn to add four properties in Delhi
THE Clarks group of hotels is set to launch four new properties under their sub-brand, Clarks Inn, over the next six months in Delhi and the NCR region. The first hotel is scheduled to open in June 2009 in Lajpat Nagar. Three other properties located in Kaushambhi, Faridabad and Gurgaon will open in the coming months. Giving details about the properties, Suneel Rawat, General Manager, Operations-North, said: “We are going to launch the Clarks Inn Lajpat Nagar property with 26 rooms and conference facility in June this year. As for the other properties, we have a management contract and all the four properties will be managed by us.” The group will also be opening a property in Bareilly in October 2009, he added. “We want the brand to grow and we know that these properties will help us increase the brand visibility,” stated Rawat.
Ramada Plaza Delhi officially opens THE Ramada Plaza, Delhi, a 419-room property offering a mix of luxury rooms, suites and service apartments, has opened officially. Adding service apartments to the mix may prove to be the unique selling proposition for the hotel in the long run. Categorised as a four star hotel, once the Ramada adds Lutyen’s, the multi cuisine coffee shop; Jasmine, offering Szechuan and Cantonese cuisine, Onyx Bar, the pool and a spa, it is aiming to upgrade to the five-star category soon. With an investment of over Rs 100 crore, the property has been completely revamped, changing the entire look and feel of the hotel, said Ashok Mittal, director, Ramada Plaza and director Litolier group. “We are also planning a 350 room hotel in Mumbai at Andheri -
Kurla which will be ready in the next two year and have purchased land in Goa too for a similar venture,” added Mittal, who acquired the Ramada Delhi in 2002. The investment in all the three hotels will be around Rs 1,000 crore. “While we are associated with Ramada brand right now, we are still open to associations with any other international hotel brand in the future,” he said.
Join in ‘limitless’ fun Discover the Limitless, with Le Meridien Jaipur. The hotel has come out with an exciting package, valid till July 31, 2009, which seeks to rejuvenate the senses, even as it stimulates and engages guests in the most memorable of experiences. Beginning Rs 5,999 per night for a deluxe room for two, the package includes a tongue-tickling signature breakfast, choice of lunch or dinner (with unique dine around concept), complimentary massage therapy at the spa, theatre, games, and lots more. An evening Haat bazaar with traditional art performances add to the exotica of the experience.
Van Dam re-appointed at Palace of the Lost City
Herman and Reinhardt join The Claridges
Sun International has re-appointed Chris Van Dam as General Manager of The Palace of the Lost City. Van Dam returns to Sun International with a wealth of new experience; he successfully opened the 639-room Sahara Sun Sands and Oasis Hotel in Port Ghalib, Egypt in November 2007, and then in July 2008, he moved to Turkey, where he managed the famous 770-room Rixos Premium Belek, a resort located on the Mediterranean south of Turkey. Known as an innovator and trendsetter within the hospitality industry, Van Dam was earlier appointed General Manager of The Palace of the Lost City in July 2004. Prior to his tenure at The Palace, 41-year-old Van Dam was Hotel Manager of Sun International’s Royal Livingstone Hotel in Zambia.
Herman von Treskow has joined The Claridges Surajkund, NCR, as Senior Vice President-Operations & Project. Herman comes with a rich experience of over 30 years in the luxury hospitality industry in Asia, Europe and the US. In his current position, Herman will be spearheading the hotel operations at The Claridges, Surajkund. Additionally, he will be overseeing the Project portfolio, Herman von Treskow ensuring adherence to quality standards and schedule, towards the completion of Phase II of the hotel. Herman’s last appointment was with Kempinski Group, where he had been successfully running Kempinski Hotels in Munich, Frankfurt, San Francisco and Berlin. Dirk Reinhardt has joined The Claridges, New Delhi as Director - Food & Beverage. He comes with over 13 years of experience in the international hospitality industry. In his current position, Reinhardt will be responsible for smooth running of the food and beverage operations which encompasses a multi-cuisine restaurant, three specialty restaurants, a bar, executive lounge, in-room dining and banquet operations. With his international experience and cross cultural exposure, he will focus on enhancing service standards and introduce global practices in the food and Dirk Reinhardt beverage department.
Chris Van Dam
The Palace of the Lost City.
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Ramada Plaza Delhi promises a new experience in luxury.
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Country Inn launches its biggest hotel MAGNUM Ventures Ltd. and Country Development & Management Services Pvt. Ltd. (CDMS) have announced the soft opening of Country Inn & Suites By Carlson Sahibabad in the National Capital Region (NCR). The property, with 216 rooms, has become the largest among the Country Inns & Suites in India and also a first of its kind “all vegetarian cuisine” hotel in the NCR. The hotel boasts of comfortable guestrooms and suites, as well as a selection of food and beverage choices. “This is an important milestone in our India growth plans,” said Ranjan Bhattacharya, managing director, CDMS. Praveen Jain, director of Magnum Ventures Ltd., the owning company of Country Inn & Suites By Carlson Sahibabad said, “We are pleased to be embarking on this partnership with CDMS, and together, look forward to setting new benchmarks in service delivery and hospitality in Sahibabad.”
(L-R) Praveen Jain, MD-Magnum Ventures (fourth from left), along with his brothers, Ranjan Bhattacharya, MD-CDMS, Sanjeev Pahwa, VP - CDMS and (extreme right) Manoj Nandkeolyar, Regional Manager-CDMS; and (left) a view of the hotel.
An evening in Austria AUSTRIAN Airlines recently hosted a ‘Grand Austrian Evening’ for the travel fraternity at Delhi. Top agents were honoured and rewarded by Dr Herbert Koschier (General Manager-South West Asia) and Ramesh Marwah (Deputy Country Manager-India) for their continued support and performance on Austrian Airlines. The highlights of the evening included live performances by the world famous ‘all women’ group, ‘Rondo Vienna’ and Bollywood playback singer Krishna. Glimpses of the Grand Austrian Evening that left Delhi’s travel fraternity captivated.
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‘Buddy, it’s over!’ I
t’s all about “focused fear and adrenaline.” That’s what, says 56-year-old Doug White, helped him, along with instinct and prayer, land safely after the pilot of the plane he was travelling lost consciousness and later died. When pilot Joe Cabuk suffered a heart attack right after take-off, White knew he needed help — from experts and from above. To his credit, he did have a pilot’s licence, but the fact remains that he had never flown the faster, larger Air King 200. But with no other option in hand, he did what he never imagined he ever would. Actually flew Air King 200 and managed to land it safely at Florida International Airport. To say that the situation was not very conducive to his ‘act of courage’ would be an understatement. His wife was trembling, his younger daughter broke out in tears and his elder one actually threw up. But White remained calm and collected. Recalling those moments of horror, White says that 10 minutes into the flight, when the plane was at around 4,000 to
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Doug White remained calm and collected through the unexpected ordeal.
5,000 feet, he realised something was wrong with Cabuk, a retired Air Force pilot and instructor. “I knew we were in trouble,” said White, adding that the plane was on autopilot and kept ascending thousands of feet higher. He then turned to the one thing he knew how operate on the Air King 200 — the radio. “I need some help quick,” White told Miami air traffic controllers after CRUISING HEIGHTS May 2009
declaring an emergency. According to the National Air Traffic Controllers Association, the moment the transmission from the plane came through, every controller working in that jurisdiction area joined in the effort to help White. Once they got White on the right heading, one controller at the Miami air traffic control center stepped in to coordinate the rerouting of all aircraft in the area. Another called a friend, who was a certified pilot in the King Air, for technical advice. White remembered asking controllers about the runway. “I told them, ‘I need the longest runway you got in Florida,’” White said. As White approached the runway, a controller said his descent looked good. “It ain’t over till it’s over, friend,” White responded. After a period of silence, White came back on the radio and in a relieved voice said, “We’re down buddy. Thank you.”
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RNI NO. DELENG/2006/16897 Posting Dt. 3-4/05/09 Reg. No. DL(E) 20/5294/2009-11