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SEPTEMBER 2006
Rs 60
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EDITOR’S NOTE
What’s the delay?
I
t must come as a huge relief to Naresh Goyal and Jet Airways that the UK government has given them a clean chit in the recent anti-terror operation launched by the London police and Scotland Yard. In an unusually forthright letter addressed to Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel, the British High Commissioner to India, Sir Michael Arthur, unequivocally stated that Jet Airways was free to fly to England. “I have checked this out with responsible authorities in London and can confirm that there are no such concerns (about aviation security and terrorism) with regard to Jet Airways, who remain welcome to fly to the UK. Indeed we have always found them to be cooperative airline partners and Jet has met the security measures we require.” What is most welcome about the missive is the fact that the letter was a suo moto communication from the High Commissioner. It was a follow up to a spate of bad publicity for the airline, with reports of one its employees being picked up for the terror conspiracy to blow up planes across the Atlantic. The employee was later released and reinstated by Jet. In sharp contrast to the speedy response of the British authorities is the waffling in Delhi and Washington on Jet’s alleged links with the underworld and its source of financing. Surely both the governments have spent enough time and money in putting Jet through the scanner. So why the delay in deciding one way or the other? The Americans are clear that India is still to respond in totality to their request for details on Jet. Back home, the Civil Aviation Ministry has washed its hands off by stating that it has forwarded the matter to the Ministry of
CRUISING HEIGHTS August 2006
Home Affairs, which is to take a considered opinion on the subject. North Block saying nothing. It’s astonishing that India’s Number One airline, in terms of market share, and one of the best in service has to encounter this turbulence on a day-to-day basis. What makes it even more astounding is the fact that most industry watchers describe Naresh Goyal as the savviest and smartest operator in the business. He knows every bureaucrat and politician who matters and has been able to get his way nine times out of ten. Then why is the tenth steeplechase such a tumbling block? Why can’t we have a verdict one way or the other and either let Naresh Goyal soar or defend his honour? Not fit for a king: It is delightful news that Air Sahara President Alok Sharma wants to put the airline back where it was before the takeover fiasco: 12 per cent market share. Some of the new routes that the airline has announced are also most inventive, to say the very least. There is some energy and fizz after the initial inertia. It’s also a motivating factor for its staff, which was leaving in droves. So what next? A bit of professionalism, maybe. The other day Sahara Chairman Subroto Roy was returning to Lucknow from Delhi and the airline’s top bosses decided in a fit of excitement that it wasn’t appropriate for Saharashri (as they prefer to address him) to travel in a CRJ to the UP capital. So they offloaded passengers from a 737 and rescheduled that aircraft to Lucknow. It was at great inconvenience to passengers, but who cares! The tragedy is that poor Saharashri may not even be aware of what is being done in his name. Surely this is no way to garner market share. And, hey, what’s wrong in flying by a CRJ to Lucknow?
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Off the cuff
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Hello, Tibet
contents MAKING SENSE OF
Nyingchi Airport recently began operations—a Boeing 757 landed on September 1. Nyingchi Airport, the third civilian airport in Tibet after Lhasa and Qamdo, has a 3,000-metre runway and is surrounded by mountains. It was completed in April this year. Built at a cost of 780 million yuan (US $96.18 million), including investment by the General Administration of Civil Aviation of China (CAAC), the airport is 2,949 metres above sea level, lower than the other two civil airports, with a designed annual passenger flow of 1,20,000. Because of its location, the airport is considered difficult to fly into. Meteorological records show it will have about a hundred operational days a year. This comes close on the heels of the trans-province rail network that China has built into Tibet. And it is right next to India. The Airports Authority of India is doing a huge amount of work in the Northeast to get airports in the region upgraded and capable of receiving bigger aircraft. That's just one part of the story. It's time the civil aviation ministry woke up to the fact that the Northeast is abysmally poorly connected, and if indeed it has to join the mainstream then you require not just functional airports but a major hub also that will be useful to the region not just for passenger traffic but for the huge amounts of cargo that needs to move into the region. A classic case of an airport opening up an entire region is the magnificent journey into Leh. Flying into the barren valley is an experience by itself. But just that one airport has helped connect Ladakh not just to Kashmir alone but also to the rest of the country. The number of tourists and adventure seekers who go to Ladakh each year is only on the rise. There are lessons from both Ladakh and Nyingchi: connectivity. Unfortunately it can't fit into a good business plan. But some things never fit into a business plan. They fit into the national interest!
ALLIANCE?
p22
Indian's subsidiary, Alliance, is going through a rough patch. But MD Deepak Brara is giving a push to make it viable and profitable.
OFF THE RECORD
p7
Everyone is in the news. But everything is off the record, for the moment! CRUISING HEIGHTS September 2006
SPECIAL REPORT Boeing Vs Airbus battle hots up for dominance in the Indian market
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ARTICLES NEWS VIEWS EDITS INTERVIEWS CLIPPINGS TRAVEL & TOURISM PROFILES NEWS DIGEST
CRUISING HEIGHTS K. SRINIVASAN Editor
R. KRISHNAN Consulting Editor
ANAMIKA VERMA Editorial Coordinator
DUSHYANT PARASHAR
p32
CONVENTION DIARY
The annual TAAI and IATO jamboree has just concluded. Plenty of fizz and hoopla. But does it mean anything apart from hot air?
NEWS DIGEST
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Jet tales and Spicy plans amidst rising fuel prices
Creative Director
BHART BHARDWAJ Art Director
RAJESH KUMAR BHOLA Designer
RAJIV SINGH Gen. Manager (Admn.)
RENU MITTAL Executive Director
YES MINISTER
Editorial & Marketing office: Newsline Publications Pvt. Ltd. D-11, Nizamuddin (East) New Delhi-110 014 Tel.: 41825250/51, Fax: 41825496
p30
Praful Patel and Ambika Soni tell Parliament what's happening in civil aviation and tourism
GLOBETROTTING p28 A not-so-virgin autobiography!
SNIPPETS
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A star-studded alliance plus Hospitality Awards plus PATWA seminar plus Jet gifts a car
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.
BACK PAGE
Published and edited by K. Srinivasan 4C Pocket-IV, Mayur Vihar Phase 1, Delhi 110091 and printed by K. Srinivasan at Nutech Photolithographers, C-74, Okhla Industrial Area, phase-I, New Delhi 110 020
Requiem for an airport
Vol 1 No 5
CRUISING HEIGHTS September 2006
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“
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PERISCOPE
“We
No fare war here
are now competing with air traffic. So, we have reduced the fare for first class and air-conditioned two-tier coaches. Fully airconditioned 'garib raths' would be launched for the poor and the fares would be kept at Rs 600 only.”
Making hay while... “China
and India together have resulted in an almost 20 per cent growth in per hourly costs of pilots abroad.”
LETTERS TO EDITOR
The Special Report, Will it be an Express Alliance with Air India, (August 2006) made a very interesting reading. The author has indeed raised some valid points that require pondering upon. I am eagerly awaiting your next issue to read the Alliance Air perspective. The civil aviation scene in India has suddenly become quite interesting, even more than the regular K... soaps, if I may be permitted to say so. Nandini Vashisht, New Delhi
The Back Page (August 2006) this time was not quite up to the mark. The items chosen by you were not that crisp and crunchy as they are in the previous issues. Have you run out of news or ideas? I am sorry to be blunt, but I believe in calling a spade a spade. On the other hand, your editorial this time was an excellent one. The perspective offered by you was, I must say, unique. Even I, personally, was against giving AAI a chance, but you have made me sit up and think. No, this is not to balance out my earlier criticism; the editorial was indeed thought provoking. Gurvinder Singh Deol, Ambala
The flight path of IndiGo trailed by you as the cover story, Taking Off, (August 2006) was quite interesting to read. Although the airline is no different from the other LCCs, somehow, I have a gut feeling that this airline is bound to top. This may be due to the influence of the article on me. After reading Ashby's interview, the professional touch becomes visible in every move that the airline is making, not as is in a typical mom-and-dad store. Richard Sharma, on email
“So
KAPIL KAUL, CEO, Indian Subcontinent and Middle East, CAPA On the arrival of pilots from foreign countries following downsizing by airlines
Point to be taken even if they [pilots] are from Vietnam or Brazil, we will take them. If our software engineers can work abroad, why can't ex-pat pilots work here?” CAPT G.R. GOPINATH, Air Deccan chief On the government's extending the tenure of foreign pilots from one to three years
Beware...
“Why
just airsickness bags? We are looking at almost everything inside the aircraft from aisles to toilets and baggage racks. If you stand long enough inside our aircraft, we will paste an ad on you, too.” JEH WADIA, Director, Wadia Group On the airline trying to increase its ad revenue
No way… “How
can you say they [Air India and Indian] are looting? It's the only public sector, which comes up with help whenever we are in emergency. It was the public sector flights, which cancelled regular flights and went to pick up Indians from Lebanon. Who else would do it?” PRAFUL PATEL, Civil Aviation Minister On Lok Sabha MP A.P. Abdullakutty's demand for cheaper airfares for Keralites in Gulf
All correspondence may be addressed to Editor, D-11, Nizamuddin East (basement) New Delhi - 110 014 OR mail at newslinepublications@rediffmail.com
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LALU PRASAD YADAV, Railway Minister On plans to upgrade select railway stations to global standards
CRUISING HEIGHTS September 2006
Fat in the fire “When I had joined, I weighed 70 kg. As per the new rule they wanted me to reduce to 52. Even Aishwarya Rai at my height weighs more than 60.” PRERNA CHATURVEDI, pilot, IAF On being dismissed from service for being overweight
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Who has how many
Birds in Indian skies
Indian commercial airlines operate 1,147 flights on daily basis. Jet Airways: 335 Indian: 254 Air Deccan: 219 Sahara Airlines: 106 Kingfisher Airlines: 96 SpiceJet: 48 Air India: 31 GoAir: 21 Paramount: 20 Alliance Air: 11 Air India Express: 6
COLD STATS
The number of aircraft owned by the 12 airlines in India are: Indian Airlines: 58 Jet Airways: 55 Air India Limited: 37 Deccan Aviation: 33 Sahara Airlines: 29 Alliance Air: 15 Kingfisher: 15 Air India Charters: 7 Blue Dart (Cargo): 7 SpiceJet: 6 GoAir: 3 Paramount: 2
LOOKING GLASS
Maharaja's new clothes “Last time, when Air-India tried experimenting with its look, it was not well taken by the consumers.”
V. THULASIDAS, CMD, AI On AI's cautious approach in acquiring new looks
Cool... “Being
a frequent flyer I deserve respect at least as a passenger... I have lived my life with dignity and don't need to threaten people, as alleged.” AMISHA PATEL, actor On her alleged raging temper and bad behaviour at Mumbai airport
CRUISING HEIGHTS September 2006
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FEEDBACK
WE ARE DOING WELL!
Our August 2006 cover story IndiGo Dream has been a sellout with tremendous industry feedback, almost unanimously positive. Almost everyone noticed the Kane and Abel angle in the story and felt it was appropriate. But Amadeus, which competes with Rahul Bhatia's Galelio in the marketplace, is unhappy at the comparision. Here's its reaction.
T
HIS IS with reference to the cover story, Taking Off, in the August 2006 issue. We would like to highlight that the article casts aspersions on a 'proposed’ rivalry between our company, Amadeus, and Galileo. This assumption is completely ineffectual. By stating that the ‘proposed’ rivalry stems from a bad history between our Managing Director Mr Ankur Bhatia’s family and Mr Rahul Bhatia’s family, the article clearly aims to sow seeds of doubt in the minds of the readers on the credibility of our group. For setting the record straight, it will be relevant to point out the correct facts here, which are as follows: Firstly, the Bird Group and Inter Globe have had no past history of partnership. We were never in any alliance nor have we worked together as partners in the past. Secondly, the article mentions the shift of Kingfisher Airlines from Amadeus to Galileo as an extension of the ‘proposed’ rivalry and is referred to as the ‘Kane and Abel’ story. The fact is that Kingfisher has not stopped using the Amadeus system. In the initial stages of operation, the airline had deployed AIRS (Airlines Inventory Reservation System), a booking solution for low-cost airlines, which has been developed by Bird Information Systems (BIS), which is a 100 per cent owned division of The Bird Group. Kingfisher Airlines has successfully completed more than a year of usage of the system and has clocked close to Rs 1000 crore of revenue. The airline’s decision to stop using AIRS was purely due to the change in its scope of operations and overall positioning. Furthermore, it is a matter of great pride that AIRS is the most successful Passenger Services System (PSS) in India, with five airlines and other transportation providers using the system. I must reiterate here that Kingfisher Airlines continues to work with the Bird Group for its call centre operations, IT support and is also distributed through Amadeus as the preferred GDS.
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Therefore, basing the article on halfbaked facts without even clarifying with the company concerned does amount to irresponsible reporting, which we do not expect from a magazine of your stature. I will also like to highlight here that we believe in the spirit of healthy competition and have always worked together with our industry partners like Galileo for the growth of the travel vertical as a whole. Karun Budhraja General Manager, Marketing Communications Amadeus India Subcontinent & The Bird Group
Editor’s note Ankur Bhatia
The rivalry between Galileo and Amadeus in the marketplace is real and on a day-to-day basis CRUISING HEIGHTS September 2006
The rivalry between Galileo and Amadeus in the marketplace is real and on a day-to-day basis. It isn’t at the ‘proposal’ stage. They are two robust systems fighting to expand their share of the market and why not? There is no desire to cast doubts on the credibility of `our group (Birds and Co)`. All we have said is that Kingfisher shifted to Galileo. You may like us to believe that it moved from AIRS because of a “change of scope in its operations.” But we have reason to believe there were software issues, but we have it on good authority that, to put it diplomatically, wasn’t as simple as that. If Kingfisher is working in other areas with Amadeus, it is good for you and for them. In any case we had nothing to say on those elements. We did make an attempt to contact the directors of the company and they were simply not willing to talk. If Mr Budhraja turned around and asked them about it, they would perhaps enlighten him on how much we stretched ourselves to get their perspective. Lastly, it is indeed a Kane and Able story because it is common knowledge in tourism and civil aviation circles that the two Bhatias don’t want to talk about the other. Competitors compete in the market place, but are always willing to chat about issues, trends and options. Not so it seems in this case.
OFF THE RECORD
Premji + Praful = networking! WHAT WAS Wipro Chairman Azim Premji doing at the home of the Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel. Apparently the reclusive, Bangalorebased tycoon was in the city to explore new avenues for his gargantuan IT enterprise, and one road lead to the home of Mantriji. Present at the meeting was Airports Authority of India Chairman S. Ramalingam, who earlier had a detailed meeting with the Wipro top brass. Apparently, major IT honchos have woken up to the fact that aviation has been completely ignored and the multibilliondollar industry is full of opportunities both for programming and designing. So don’t be surprised if there is a long queue outside Mantriji’s house in the near future seeking to explore opportunities between IT and aviation. The ones who should be most worried are the likes of Raytheon and company. They have a virtual monopoly at the moment and a new entrant will only mean more competition.
Making the grade
IF YOU don’t know K.M. Unni and Vipin Sharma, you better start knowing them fast. The two lucky blokes have just won the equivalent of an Olympic steeplechase, having been shortlisted for the top job of Director (engineering) in Air India and Indian, respectively. In fact their promotion to their respective boards, as wholesome directors, through the Public Enterprise Selection Board (PESB) interviews on August 17 is nothing short of
remarkable. While Vipin is still a General Manager at Indian, Unni became a GM last year and then pole-vaulted to become Executive Director (engine overhaul) when AI reorganised many senior jobs and created several new positions of ED. Now, just months later, he has moved to the board. Vipin hasn’t yet become an ED, but he is so junior in the Indian pecking order that, in normal circumstances, he wouldn’t have had the necessary seniority to CRUISING HEIGHTS September 2006
even appear before the Board. In spite of internal objections on reducing the rules, the Ministry of Civil Aviation decided to lower the bar and Vipin qualified for the job. His becoming the General Manager also has a bit of a story when the overall seniority list in engineering was parred into several different streams giving him the seniority in one block. He has much to thank his former boss, Sunil Arora, who made him GM just a little before he demited office. But for that gesture of generosity, Vipin would still be twiddling his thumbs in engineering. One hopes he has a sense of gratitude. At least Unni is deeply grateful to V. Thulasidas. That’s a good man. Meanwhile, the Regional Director (South) S. Chandrashekar’s appointment as the next Director (Finance) has been approved by the Civil Aviation Minister, and it is now being processed at the DoPT (Department of Personnel and Training). Looks like his appointment will be cleared in time for him to take over. The present D.S. Balakrishnan retires in February.
7
OFF THE RECORD
Maharaja gazette
F
IRST, the Air India Gazette: Jitendra Bhargava has been moved out of Public Relations, the first time this has happened since he joined the Maharaja close to two decades back. He will now be Executive Director (coordination) and handle the induction of the new aircraft into the AI fleet. Company Secretary Venkat will now almost completely oversee his job in PR, and Bhargava will be stationed at Santa Cruz, far away from the centre of action, Nariman Point. Is this a punishment posting (old timers called it Kala Paani) or is it a comfortable sinecure? Well, different people are drawing different conclusions and we wouldn’t like to add to it by giving it our interpretation. But, by and large, the broad inference is that Mr Thulasidas isn’t happy with Bhargava. Why? No one knows. S o m e reports suggest that all this has to do with the Captain Naresh Beri episode, which saw a huge amount of newsprint detailing the saga of Air India One as it flew the country’s VVIPs on their journeys
8
across the seas. The report had made out that Naresh Beri did the deed and was the culprit but the poor RD (North America) had no option but to sign the cheque. The AI 747 commander, though, vociferously denies the allegations and claims that vested interests in AI are trying to ‘fix’ him for no fault of his. Anyway the result is that the RD has been left holding the can, and the media swamp of the story has been pinned on JB. His friends and admirers, though, believe he has been wronged. In any case, those who matter clearly believe in Beri. He was there at the Prime Minister’s office the other day liaising with the PMO on Dr Manmohan Singh’s trip to Cuba and Brazil. And chatting with him was the Prime Minister’s Principal Secret a r y , T.K.A. Nair. Well, B e r i couldn’t have been there coordinating a state flight without the go-ahead of his boss, AI CMD V. Thulasidas, who believes Beri is the man for him in Delhi. While both Captain Haathi and CRUISING HEIGHTS September 2006
Beri are off commanding VVIP flights for the moment, there is little doubt in the corridors of power that it is Naresh Beri who continues to call the shots for the Maharaja in the Capital. Interestingly this 747 commander, who joined Air India after years and years of flying for the Border Security Force, has a huge network of political friends in the Capital. There are several like Arjun Singh and Pranab Mukherjee who he has flown as a BSP captain and his friends’ claim that this “reservoir of goodwill” continues to exist. Beri says he doesn’t want to ‘drop’ names and has enough on his plate. Insiders in Rajiv Gandhi Bhawan seem unconcerned at the turn of events at AI. One of them said plainly that the CMD has the prerogative to choose his team, and if it’s Beri he wants in Delhi, then so be it. “In any case,” said one of them, “if anything has to come, it must come up through vigilance at AI.” Meanwhile Chief Vigilance Officer Manjari Kakkar was believed to have come to Delhi recently. During that trip she is believed to have met the Cabinet Secretary B.K. Chaturvedi and some officials at the PMO. One doesn’t know if it had anything to do with the Air India One episode or with some other issue. Meanwhile, K. Verma’s appointment as AI’s Director (commercial) continues to be as mega a saga as a Harrison Ford blockbuster. The twists and turns in this story and the long and tortuous route that the file has taken from Rajiv Gandhi Bhawan to the PMO for formal ACC appearance can make for a great screenplay Each time the file looks ready for approval something new emerges. Did Kakkar’s visit to Raisina Hill have something to do with Beri or with Verma? Only the good lady can answer.
Convention colour
Under the scanner
WELL, SHE wasn't there at the Travel Agents Association of India (TAAI) convention in Hyderabad, but she did make her presence felt at the Indian Association of Tour Operators' annual jamboree at Jaipur. Tourism Minister Ambika Soni, according to officials in the ministry, is focused on getting things off the ground rather than attending conventions and conferences. Her predecessor, Renuka Chowdhury was, however, present at the TAAI meeting. Chowdhury, who was the tourism minister, when the conference was held last in Colombo, had pulled out at the last minute from attending that edition in the Sri Lankan capital. But this time she was there as ‘an honoured’ guest at the swanky Convention Centre in the Andhra capital. And keeping her company was the state tourism minister Geeta Reddy. Just goes to show how much change in a space of twelve months.
KANU GOHAIN needs to get the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) cleaned up as quickly as possible. A tough-asa-nail, straightforward bloke, Gohain’s greatest strength is his transparency. But not everybody is like him. Take, for example, the manner in which the DGCA is handing out CPL (Commercial Pilot’s Licence) to prospective flyers. The whole process takes an awful lot of time and there is plenty of heartburn at the manner in which the licences are being approved and handed out. If reports are to be believed one angry applicant was preparing to write a letter to the CBI asking for a complete investigation by the agency into the manner in which these are being given by the DGCA. However, better sense prevailed and he has been asked to write to the DG. If Gohain’s track record is anything to go by, he should be getting to the bottom of the matter sooner rather than later.
Bzz...zzz...
No hurry
Foul!!!
headhunting
Dial N for Nair
That Rajiv Talwar’s resignation has finally been accepted and the man occupies his swank office on the tenth floor of DLF Tower in Parliament Street informally. He is waiting for the formal orders to be passed. As he says, there is a “world of difference” between the private sector and the government.
That Indian Regional Director (West) Captain Pathak is taking flak from his fellow pilots for flying off to Dubai taking an extra pilot on the outbound and staying back in the Gulf and sending him back as the commander on the inbound. The airline’s operations sources say it’s not done when there is dire pilot shortage.
That the PESB will soon be looking for a suitable candidate to take over as the CMD at Pawan Hans. The ministry has already written to the board and it is in the process of ordering the interviews and short-listing an appropriate candidate. As senior officials point out, it is a profitable PSU and needs a whole-time CEO to take it forward.
The sarkar may have asked Mr P.S. Nair what is he doing with DIAL (Delhi International Airport Ltd)? But Nair is clearly unfazed. He continues to sit at the GMR office in Gurgaon and vendors continue to make a beeline to his office. Informally, the GMR top bosses have requested their ministry to ignore Nair and let him ‘help them’.
CRUISING HEIGHTS September 2006
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OFF THE RECORD
Three cheers from NCP IT SHOULD come as no surprise to anyone that the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) is cheering Praful Patel. Party chief Sharad Pawar is so impressed with the Civil Aviation Minister that he is believed to be devoting a whole portion of
his Presidential speech at the party’s annual convention in Dehradun to talk about the achievements of the UPA and how the Civil Aviation Ministry has been making remarkable strides under one of their own.
Deccan celebrations
I
T IS good to see the two Kannadigas—Vijay Mallya and Captain Gopinath (now we know Gopi is a pucca Iyengar, but anyone from Karnataka ought to be called a Kannadiga)—standing on the same podium and of all places in Bangalore! Only goes to show that Gopi is Gopi and nothing is beyond him. At the same time, though, one must applaud Kingfisher boss Vijay Mallya for having the grace to be present at the third anniversary bash of Air Deccan, on September 1, in the city. Gopi and his team have come a long way since that first flight to Hubli. Late last year, Gopi had travelled to Goa to the fabled Kingfisher villa to be there at Vijay’s fiftieth birthday bash. And now was the time for Vijay to repay that gesture.
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The two blokes are so civil and such delightful conversationalists that one sometimes wonders if they are professional actors who deliver their lines with such chutzpah when they face each other in professional forums. On the dais, they go for the jugular and off the platform they are all smiles. It happened last year at the CAPA convention in Mumbai when Gopi made it plain he wasn’t setting up a restaurant in the air or for that matter a multiplex. And Vijay paid back in the same coin that he wanted people to have a pleasant, comfortable journey and not a cramped railway carriage like experience. And in between the upper cuts and the ducks and the weaves, the duo were sipping beer and wine, respectively, and laughing at each other’s jokes. Good show, gentlemen. Only goes to show that you can play hard and party harder. One must also thank Gopi for making sure that the EADS CEO Tom Enders finally surfaced. All through his India trip, Mr Enders was like Mr Invisible, escorted from one meeting to another by Airbus Industrie’s affable points man in Delhi, Ajay Mehra, but always remaining below the radar. Is that the Airbus style of doing business or is it the French equivalent of low key? Finally, it was left to the common man to get Enders out of the shadow. Thank you, Gopi, for getting Mr Enders into the frame and good luck for the coming season.
CRUISING HEIGHTS September 2006
NEWS DIGEST
Who is the partner?
R
EMEMBER SOME weeks ago, there was thick rumour that Jeh Wadia may opt for private placement of equity to fund his low-cost carrier, GoAir. Now Jeh has himself stated he is not in a hurry to go for equity or debt financing, as the larger Wadia family would itself take care of funding. So, no dilution of equity in the immediate term. At a specially convened press conference in New Delhi, he said GoAir, which formed a JV with Singapore Airlines Engineering Company
(SIAEC) to set up an MRO facility, would not only carry out maintenance, repair and overhaul services in the country but also provide line maintenance and heavy maintenance for both Airbus A320 and Boeing B737 aircraft in seven cities beginning October 2006. Besides, he was looking for Greenfield heavy maintenance facility for aircraft made by both Boeing and Airbus. This MRO should become operational by mid-2007. All this is fine, but we may like to ask Jeh Wadia if he has the approval of both Boeing and Airbus to carry forward his plans. In airline business there are two types of MROs—one deals with airframe and other with engines. Obviously the two aircraft manufacturers—Boeing and Airbus—which are planning multimilliondollar MROs in India, would not want their investment to go dud. We understand, Boeing, which is planning a US $100 million MRO in Nagpur in collaboration with Maharashtra government and Air India, would certainly not authorise sale or transfer of any aircraft parts to the Wadia venture. We don’t know about Airbus Industrie. But if it is also planning a big-time MRO like its American competitor, why should it dilute its own MRO, unless it has decided to provide only technical support and not hold any equity like its American competitor. As for engines, it is an entirely different cup of tea!
Finance ministry whims THE PUBLIC ACCOUNTS COMMITTEE OF PARLIAMENT has taken the view that the levy of guarantee fee at a flat rate of 1.2 per cent per annum on outstanding loan amounts borrowed by Indian Airlines and Air India from the central government, irrespective of stipulations made in the original sanctions issued by the ministry of finance at the time of extension of guarantees, was improper. In its report tabled during Monsoon Session of Parliament, the committee said it would not be appropriate on the part of the ministry to insist on payment of guarantee fees at penal rates, as guarantee fee at the normal rates have already been paid by the state owned airlines. The government guarantees issued to both the carriers in the pre-1993 period in connection with the external commercial borrowings did not carry any stipulation for payment of guarantee fee. But in 1993, the ministry issued instructions for charging guarantee fee at a flat rate of 1.2 per cent a year on the outstanding amount of the principal plus interest in respect of the external borrowings. The instructions stated that the guarantee fee was to be levied in respect of guarantee already issued but still partially outstanding. While the two airlines refused to accept the ministry’s view, the PAC expressed surprise over the fact that the matter regarding payment of guarantee fee had been lingering for 12 years.
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Jet tales THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE of IDBI has sanctioned a Rs 500 crore (about US $120 million) loan to Jet Airways to fund the pre-delivery payment of its aircraft acquisition. This will be in addition to US $150 million already sanctioned by SBI to the airline in early August. The IDBI loan is for a two-year tenure at an interest rate of 10 per cent. Jet Airways is in the middle of a US $2.5 billion aircraft acquisition programme, wherein about 85 per cent will be raised through debt. It may be recalled that Jet Airways had planned to float a US $850 million GDR issue earlier this year, but it was put off in view of the huge fall in the company’s stock prices. Further, the legal tangle with Air Sahara saw it registering a net loss of Rs 15 crore in the first quarter of fiscal 2006-07. In the past, ICICI had sanctioned Rs 2,000 crore to the airline to fund its expansion plans. Meanwhile, Mumbai High Court, following a Supreme Court directive, will now hear the legal tangle between Jet Airways and Air Sahara. The apex court has ruled that the Mumbai High Court should clearly express if it has the jurisdiction or should the matter regarding the freeze on escrow account be referred back to the Lucknow Bench.
CRUISING HEIGHTS September 2006
Surcharge or fares?
SpiceJet plans
WITH DOMESTIC prices of aviation turbine fuel (ATF) hiked from September 1, the desi airline industry will have no alternative but to hike fuel surcharge once again. While in April 2006 ATF prices were hiked to touch Rs 38,000 a kilolitre, it reached Rs 42,000 a kilolitre in June before again peaking to Rs 46,000 in September 2006. If the fuel surcharge were hiked, it would be the third successive month that the surcharge will go up. Airlines increased fuel surcharge to Rs 500 from the earlier Rs 300. It was again hiked to Rs 650 in August. Even as fuel surcharge is on the rise to cover costs, domestic airlines are still not willing to raise passenger fares, fearing competitive blow and adverse impact on the seat load factor. At a recent TAAI convention in Hyderabad, Dr Dinesh Keskar, Senior Vice President Sales, Boeing, in his keynote address, cautioned that continued low fares may not be a healthy sign and could cause a tailspin in an otherwise booming civil aviation sector. “Low fares have to go as yields of carriers are taking a hit and with high ATF prices, the effect on the numbers of companies will be only more pronounced.”
SPICEJET HAS hired Morgan Stanley for advice on financing its purchase of aircraft from Boeing and subsequent sale-and-lease-back arrangement, according to SpiceJet director Ajay Singh. The airline has ordered 20 single-aisle 737-800 aircraft, of which at least five can be converted to Boeing 737-900 ER and an option to buy 10 more aircraft. SpiceJet currently flies six leased Boeings. In its first year of operations, the company declared an operating profit of Rs 71.52 crore on revenues of Rs 453 crore. It carried 1.6 million passengers during the year with average load factor of 86 per cent. It claimed to have garnered a 7.8 per cent market share. Meanwhile, SpiceJet and Babcock & Brown Aircraft Management (BBAM) have announced the signing of a sale-and-lease-back agreement covering 16 brand new aircraft—Boeing 737-700 and 900 ER—valued at US $1.1 billion, based on manufacturer’s list prices. These aircraft will be delivered over approximately 22 months, beginning January 2007. SpiceJet completed similar financing with BBAM for its earlier four deliveries of Boeing 737-800. Together with the latest announced, the carrier has completed sale-and-leaseback agreement for 20 aircraft. By the end of 2008, it hopes to have 23 new aircraft that will operate more than 250 flights daily touching 24 destinations. It will offer 35,000 seats per day.
Speak right English
THE FIRST Singapore Aviation Academy conference on aeronautical English, held in August 2006 in the city-state, attracted 100 delegates from 31 countries and international organisations. They had gathered to address global concern over the communicative competence in international civil aviation and enhance safety. The conference on aeronautical English—Speaking Right for Safety—harnessed the knowledge and experience of international experts from leading regulatory authorities and renowned language specialists. Communication problems have often been a cause in many aviation accidents and runway incursions. According to ICAO, 1,500 passengers and crew have lost their lives worldwide to causes traced to problems in communication, brought about by deficiency in English language proficiency. ICAO will, therefore, introduce new requirements and establish minimum English language proficiency level for international civil aviation. These would include testing and certification of language proficiency of ATCs and pilots as well as corrective training for those unable to meet ICAO standards. All the 189 member states of ICAO are required to meet the new English proficiency standards by March 2008.
CRUISING HEIGHTS September 2006
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NEWS DIGEST
Airport issues
Muthuvel Karunanidhi
GVK Bose
ICAO HAS given technical clearance for building a second airport at Mumbai, Navi Mumbai to be precise, but the present policy did not permit setting up of a new airport at NOIDA, on the outskirts of Delhi, according to civil aviation minister Praful Patel. Replying to a question in Rajya Sabha, the minister said ICAO has formally communicated to the central government that it was technically feasible to set up a new air-
Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee
port at Navi Mumbai. So like New York, London, Paris and other cities, Mumbai, too, can have two international airports. The Navi Mumbai airport will be built over 950 hectares, of which the City Industrial Development Corporation has already acquired 95 per cent for the purpose. The civil aviation ministry is expected to approach the Union Cabinet for obtaining investment clearance. As part of the arrangement for restructuring
What happens to the wages post merger?
vision! BLUE DART, India’s largest air express courier and packaging distribution company, has announced the induction of two Boeing 757-200 freighters into its air express fleet. Blue Dart Aviation, which has an agreement with Blue Dart Express Ltd to utilise the aircraft for dedicated domestic air services, has acquired these aircraft on lease. The induction of 757s will augment Blue Dart’s freighter fleet to five and increase its capacity from 166 to 250 tonnes per night to service growing demand. The route network will be widened to 60 with the addition of 21 route connections from the existing 39. When the company launches an aviation hub at Ahmedabad, the Hyderabad outbound gateway will be seamlessly connected. According to Blue Dart Express Ltd’s managing director, Malcolm Monteiro, the company would service five metros—Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai and Bangalore—and the submetro cities of Hyderabad and Ahmedabad, which account for 90 per cent of total air cargo distribution. Blue Dart Aviation’s MD, Niteen Gupte, said, “We are the only airline offering dedicated domestic air express services and operate at an average load factor of 88 per cent. Our current fleet has five Boeing 737-200 and two Boeing 757-200 freighters, with seven hubs, at all the major metros. With these aircraft our network capacity increases by 50 per cent.”
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of the existing Mumbai airport, the GVK-ACSA consortium, which won the bid for the Mumbai airport, will get the first right of refusal to construct the new airport at Navi Mumbai. As for the restructuring of Kolkata and Chennai airports, the CPM-ruled West Bengal government has already rejected the proposal to modernise Kolkata airport with private-sector participation, as it wants the job to be done exclusively by AAI. However, the commies are not averse to a Greenfield airport being constructed by the private sector. That looks like a pipedream. Only the extremely unwise will invest in a new Greenfield airport in Kolkata considering the traffic there. As for Chennai, the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Karunanidhi has already written to the Prime Minister that the state was keen to develop and modernise Chennai airport on the same pattern as that was being followed for Delhi and Mumbai airport modernisation.
JUST AS one thought that the merger process of Air India and Indian Airlines would go smoothly after the appointment of the consultant consortium led by Accenture, Air India has planned a 20 per cent salary hike for its 5,500 employees, including 650 pilots and 2,000 cabin crew and aircraft maintenance engineers. If and when it is given effect it will be with retrospective effect from 1997. This payout is likely to increase Air India’s wage bill by Rs 100 crore annually and take the total wage bill to Rs 1,000 crore. The employees charter of demand, including pay hike, had been pending since 1997, as the last wage agreement expired in December 1996. The latest wage hike will come on top of the wage revision effected for 10,000 Air India employees, including executive officers and administrative staff earlier this year. The charter of demand specifies that a PSU can revise wages when it has registered profits for three consecutive years. Air India has posted profits for fourth year as well. While Air India may have a compulsion to do so, the state owned domestic carrier Indian Airlines does not pay as much to its employees as does Air India. Therefore, once the merger engine moves, will there be parity in wages as well? Can the government differentiate between two sets of employees working for a single organisation? After all Air India itself had to drastically change its wage structure for contractual pilots working for Air India Express and subsequently withdrew that system and got the Air India Express pilots on Air India pay roll.
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Airport News North Block does not favour cess on air travel North Block has turned down the civil aviation ministry’s proposal to impose a cess on air travel to raise funds to build airports and has asked the ministry to continue with the present system of cross subsidisation. The civil aviation ministry proposed that every international passenger be taxed Rs 500 for each trip and domestic passengers be taxed Rs 250 per trip. According to the government’s estimates, the plan to impose passenger cess is expected to raise over Rs 1,000 crore a year. North Block has suggested that the unremunerative airports be revived through the public-private partnership route and any gaps in funding could be met through the government’s viability gap funding project. LCCs can breathe a sigh of relief.
Bajpe airport gets new runway The new concrete runway, which is the second one at the airport, built by the AAI has been opened for aircraft operations under visual flight rules (VFR). A committee of the AAI has to inspect the runway to install an instrument landing system. Once that is in place, planes could use the airport under instrument flight rules (IFR) at night and in bad weather. A Jet Airways flight from Bangalore became the first one to land on the new runway. It has now become possible for all aircraft to operate at full load, which was not possible on the existing runway. The new runway is 2.45 km long and 46 m wide, whereas the length of the old runway is 1.6 km.
Iris testing at IGI Airport The government has decided to use biometric identification for all employees of different agencies, like airlines, accessing the IGI airport. The system is expected to be in place by the end of this year. At present there is no plan of using this facility for frequent flyers. The decision of having biometric identification was taken at a recent meeting of security agencies with the civil aviation ministry. In order to beef up security further, IGI and some other sensitive airports will get explosive detectors and dedicated dog squads. Following the 7/11 serial blasts, the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security had issued a circular informing every airport operator in the country to procure ETDS equipment. Therefore, come November, Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport will have a state-of-the-art Explosive Trace Detection System (ETDS) at both its terminals. ETDS costs several thousand dollars, and can detect minute traces of explosive residue. General Electric (GE) has been finalised as the vendor.
MIAL demands upfront payment Mumbai International Airport Ltd (MIAL), the company that is developing and modernising Mumbai airport, has put its major vendors and contractors in a fix over its plan to demand upfront cash payment from them, as against bank guarantees and fixed deposit receipts currently sought by the AAI. Currently, there are around 113 vendors, including civil contractors, snack bars, car parking, that are providing services to the Mumbai airport. The vendors would have to shell out more than Rs 200 crore to MIAL as advance payment, as per the proposed amendment. The move would adversely affect their income in a major way, since they
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would have to borrow from banks on interest to pay MIAL. Interestingly, MIAL itself has furnished bank guarantees to the government for more than Rs 200 crore toward equity capital.
Kolkata gets first rail link to airport The Railway Minister, Lalu Prasad Yadav, recently inaugurated a railway link between Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose Airport at Dum Dum and Dum Dum Cantonment station. With this inauguration, Dum Dum Airport becomes the first airport of the country to be connected by a railway link with the main city. Metro Railway, which was assigned the job of constructing the railway link, spent Rs 87 crore to finish the project. The minister announced a reward of Rs 5 lakh for employees of Metro Railways for constructing the airport link.
Mumbai airport gets Australian head Phillip Cash is Mumbai International Airport Ltd’s new Airport Director and Vice-President (Operations). He has over 25 years’ experience in the airport business and has held several top management positions in the last 18 years. A civil engineer, Cash has come onboard MIAL via Airports Company South Africa (ACSA), GVK’s—the main stakeholder in MIAL—airport partner and has a three-year contract with ACSA. Cash’s eight-year stint with Sydney airport brought him to Mumbai. Sydney Kingsford Smith Airport and the Mumbai airport are uncannily similar in both design and the constraints they face.
AAI selling stake in pilot institute The civil aviation ministry is planning to allow overseas investors to buy up to 49 per cent stake in a new pilot training institute, being set up in Gondia. Bids have been invited from global players in pilot training arena for setting up a JV with Airports Authority of India for the institute, entailing an investment of roughly Rs 380 crore. Boeing, Airbus, Alteon and CAE have evinced interest. Technically, AAI is neither a Navaratna or Miniratna PSU, therefore, it cannot set up a subsidiary. Further, the AAI board is not empowered to take decision on investments more than Rs 150 crore or 50 per cent of its net worth. So, the government is planning to float a JV and permit overseas or private partners to hold stake in it.
Upgradation of Nagpur Airport Upgradation of Nagpur airport is being taken up in a phased manner by the Airports Authority of India (AAI). Praful Patel, Minister for Civil Aviation, gave this information to Parliament, in the Rajya Sabha. Discussions with the Government of Maharashtra have been initiated for the development of Nagpur airport as a national cargo and passenger hub. Meanwhile, AAI is carrying out various upgradation works in Phase I, including expansion and modification of terminal building and construction of a new arrival hall for handling international operations, expansion of existing apron to create two more parking bays for B747, B777 and B767 types of aircraft and construction of a new apron with six parking bays for A321/B737-900 class of aircraft. The above works are expected to be completed by the end of 2007. In addition, AAI also has plans to start construction of a Haj Terminal.
CRUISING HEIGHTS September 2006
COVER STORY
AN ‘ALLIA
While the Northeast will be a key focus for Alliance, the idea is to make the airline multidimensional, which includes freighters, and a hub-a and-sspoke synergy with Indian
ANCE’
IN THE SKY
Alliance Air, the Indian subsidiary, badly needs resuscitation. There is a great opportunity for the national carrier to tap 'underexploited' markets and enter new 'unexplored' ones. But that would require some attention being paid to the subsidiary. R. Krishnan reports.
I
S ALLIANCE AIR ailing? Yes. Should it be wound up? No. This, in short, is the story of the unique feeder service, set up as a wholly owned subsidiary of Indian Airlines close to a dozen years back. Considering the efforts being made to merge Indian and Air India, a frequently asked question is, what happens to Indian Airlines’ subsidiary Alliance Air. The two questions raised above and which we have tried to answer assume significance in the context of the merger talks. Before going further, let’s look at the recent past of Alliance Air. Indian Airlines was making profits continuously before it began incurring substantial losses from 1992 following the grounding of A320 aircraft by the then Prime Minister V.P. Singh led government. Yet another factor was low utilisation of the aircraft, which in turn was mainly due to the shortage of commanders.
23
COVER STORY
Subsequently, government allowed entry to private players, first as air taxis and later as scheduled airlines. For instance, Jet Airways was started in May 1993 and Air Sahara made its appearance almost around the same time. It is also true that few others entered the scene and exited. Consequent to the advent of Open Sky policy, nearly 160 pilots (mostly commanders of Boeing 737-200) left Indian Airlines, which not only lost its senior pilots but also the ability to train juniors into commanders. This was also the time by when all the 30 owned Airbus A320 had been inducted into Indian Airlines’ fleet. That left its 12 Boeing 737200 without commanders and senior pilots and co-pilots. As a result, Boeing 737-200 utilisation fell to less than 1,600 hours annually, against normal utilisation of 2,800 hours, causing substantial loss of revenue. Even the settlement reached with Indian Commercial Pilots Association (ICPA) did not permit lateral entry of commanders recruited from the open market. In view of these problems, an unorthodox solution was sought to be found in the reactivation of Alliance Air Services Limited (AASL). The Boeing 737-200 aircraft in Indian Airlines’ fleet were transferred to AASL, which, in turn, could take pilots from the market for immediate operation. AASL, though set up as a separate company, was envisioned to function as a profit
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Alliance Air, though set up as a separate company, was envisioned to function as a profit centre of Indian Airlines and to secure specific advantages CRUISING HEIGHTS September 2006
centre of Indian Airlines and to secure specific advantages, such as, to effectively utilise the Boeing 737 fleet; overcome pilot shortage; speed, independence and flexibility in decision making in the absence of unions/association; meet growing competition with better customer services on ground and in flight; and assist in improving productivity and profitability of Indian Airlines. Accordingly Alliance Air leased the Indian Airlines’ Boeing 737-200 fleet and of the 11, seven were available on an average for scheduled operations at any given time. The situation has changed dramatically now and the number of aircraft available is only five. It was all because the route structure of Alliance Air was such that it was very difficult to sustain financially viable operations independently. Since scheduling of Alliance Air is done in conjunction with Indian Airlines’ schedules in such a manner that overall generation of revenues by the two carriers is optimised, it is logical that revenue sharing between the two airlines should be considered on some equitable criteria. Distribution of routes and services between Indian Airlines and Alliance Air should have been reviewed with a view to improving profitability of Alliance Air operations. Alliance Air has to operate much more on Category II routes than required. This obligation was being dis-
A hell of a challenge
N
O MOBILES, no fancy perks and better come to office in your uniform. If you don’t, you could end up getting a memo. Alliance Air’s new MD Deepak Brara clearly believes that form is as important as substance. Not that it’s all form and no substance. The feisty, dyed in the wool, aviation veteran, who also doubles as the parent company’s Director for Public Affairs, spends long hours at the subsidiary company’s Palam headquarters to try and shore up the morale of the employees and get the sagging airline literally back in the sky. It’s a tough task, but one that Brara is clearly enjoying. Soon after he took over as the head of the subsidiary company, he was caught in a presentation with the Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel, who visited the carrier’s headquarters for a review of the corporation. Brara spoke forcefully at the meeting about a need to bolster the fleet, think of Alliance as an LCC and give it a chance to make the grade. Patel had a few tough questions to ask, including the fact that the airline was thinking of going in for the ATR and it was indeed the right aircraft. There are some who believe that Indian made a major mistake in not handing over the A319 to Alliance, as was originally mandated. In fact, during the period Sushma Chawla was the managing director, there was a major debate within the organisation on the advisability of keeping the
single-class A319 with Alliance. The then Director (commercial) at the airline, Anil Goel, who also doubled as the head of Alliance, pushed strongly for the aircraft to be inducted into the subsidiary. His argument was simple: if alliance has to prosper and grow, it must have a modern fleet. But that was not to be. Chawla decided that the 319 must go to the parent company. Her argument was that inducting an Airbus aircraft into Alliance would cause too many problems with the pilots’ union and could well prove to be a troublesome issue to deal with. The result is that they are now flying many of the Alliance routes in the same single-class configuration the Alliance promotes. The result is that Alliance lost a few good aircraft and is now surviving on the ATRs, which it flies in the Northeast and the ageing 737-200, all of which will be turned into freighters in the next one year. Of course, Indian will pay them for flying the cargo. It can be a revenue stream that can be a profitable division at some point in time. But that isn’t the bread-and-butter objective at the moment. Two months back, the DGCA held a meeting on the status of flights in the Northeast. The meeting was a consequence of complaints from politicians in the region, who wanted to see more of Alliance and were perturbed at the large number of cancellation of flights. With fewer aircraft this was bound to be an issue. But Brara has moved to get new
YES, BOSS: Deepak Brara with former CMD Sushma Chawla (above) and with the present CMD Vishwapati Trivedi (left) receiving the Awaaz Consumers’ Choice award from Sachin Pilot and Manavendra Singh ATRs. He wants to move away from being a predominantly Northeastern outfit to a pan-India one that competes in the smaller towns and cities as well. Hopefully, he will get all the backing and support he needs from CMD Vishwapati Trivedi, whose confidence he enjoys. The coming few months will be crucial as he sets a roadmap for Alliance’s return to some pre-eminence.
COVER STORY charged on behalf of Indian Airlines as well. Some compensation for this extra charge on mutually agreed parameters should have been considered. This is because many Alliance Air routes that were nearly monopolies earlier are now witnessing competition. At present Alliance Air operates 76 flights per week covering 25 stations. Alliance Air also took on lease four ATR-42 and commenced scheduled operations in Northeast region with effect from January 2003. Alliance Air management made a presentation to the Board as well as the Ministry of Civil Aviation, clinically analysing the issues and solutions needed to keep it alive. The current problems facing Alliance Air include poor operational reliability, pilot shortage, manpower exodus, low levels of flying, suboptimal use of non-tech employees and total absence of motivation and way forward. Accenture, the consultant engaged for working out the merger of Indian with Air India, is busy formulating a road map. It has to contend with the future of both Air India Express and Alliance Air. There could be two or three scenarios: (i) Merge them all (ii) Make Air India Express and Alliance Air as the subsidiaries of the merged AI and IA (iii) Continue to treat them as separate entities and therefore continuance of the two subsidiaries. The fourth scenario is if Air India and Indian do not merge for whatever reasons, then present a package of Air India and Air India Express on the one hand and Indian Airlines and Alliance Air on the other will continue. However, the crucial issue is what happens to the future of Alliance Air operations? Alliance Air has no great ambitions except to service such markets that are under-served by Indian. Essentially, there are four categories of markets: (i) metro routes having high density, high volume (ii) routes linking metros to important non-metros, for example, DelhiAhmedabad, Mumbai-Hyderabad, Mumbai-Bangalore, KolkataBhubaneswar, etc (iii) routes within a region, like Delhi-Chandigarh, which are high in volume and also high in density. However, there are some categories of routes that are thin, with traffic demand of not more than 50 passengers a day. Indian cannot service these routes for a variety of reasons. Also, of late, growth is also coming from tier-2 cities, like Kota, Jaipur, Kishangarh, Ajmer, etc. Alliance Air is seriously considering floating tenders for acquiring on lease at least 12 ATR-42. This will be in addition
26
to the already four such ATRs in Alliance Air fleet, based in Kolkata, to serve the Northeast market. The remaining 12 ATRs, yet to be acquired, in all probability may be acquired in about a year’s time. These will be deployed four each in Delhi, Mumbai and Chennai. By the end of 2007, Alliance Air could have a fleet of 16 ATRs. The beauty of this path, as an official said, was whether the two airlines are merged or not, structured or restructured, the anticipated operations of Alliance Air with 16 ATRs can remain standalone operations. Should this begin happening, then Alliance Air may even face manpower shortage. There is yet another fifth category of routes that are long and thin, for example, Delhi-Coimbatore or MumbaiGuwahati or Kolkata-Ahmedabad, Kolkata-Pune, etc. These routes can be serviced by smaller, say, 70-seater Embraer-like planes, instead of A320 or Boeing 737.
A
Alliance Air is hoping to have 10 sets of pilots by end September and 12 by October to fully utilise its four ATRs for an average of 2,280 hours per year per aircraft CRUISING HEIGHTS September 2006
ll this thinking has become necessary because Alliance Air cannot afford to be a legacy carrier and therefore the full service that passengers are used to in Indian may no longer be available in Alliance. Alliance Air will also have to look at the way it manages its handling arrangement. Alliance Air has an all-inclusive staff of 600. As for its Boeing 737-200, of the 11, about four Boeings are due for D-check. So, it would be better to phase them out. One aircraft has already been converted into a freighter. Alliance Air is looking forward to convert the remaining six B737-200 also into freighters. Should this plan be accepted and implemented, in the very near future Alliance Air will have six freighters and 16 ATRs. Thus whatever the structure post-merger, Alliance Air could manage to stand on its own. Addressing the pilot shortage issue, Alliance Air is hoping to have 10 sets of pilots by end September and 12 by October to fully utilise its four ATRs for an average of 2,280 hours per year per aircraft. Considering that it has a pool of trained, skilled personnel, being relatively cost efficient, with a unique business model, it is well placed to combat the socalled low-cost airlines. The fight can be made even stronger with the induction of less-than-100 seater regional jets that could be viable for long-haul routes covering inter-regional destinations. If these steps are followed, then Alliance Air Services Limited has a real chance to not only function as a freighter company but also offer real alternative to the low-cost carriers ruling Indian skies today. „
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AT A GLANCE Honeymoon fears! ACCORDING TO a joint poll conducted by Travelocity, a travel website, and Modern Bride magazine, one in four honeymooners cannot seem to disconnect from their phones, faxes or alarm clocks and one in three will call home during the trip. Nearly ten per cent felt ‘the more the merrier,’ inviting friends and family to actually join them on their honeymoon. The survey of nearly 6,000 Travelocity respondents revealed that only one in three grooms lends a hand with trip planning. And, instead of going through the family’s trusted travel agent or taking a friend’s advice on where to go, the majority of respondents threw caution to the winds, saying they were unfamiliar with their chosen destination before venturing out.
Virgin ‘expose’
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CRUISING HEIGHTS September 2006
Flights resume after a decade A PLANE operated by Jubba Airways, a local company, recently undertook the first commercial flight from Mogadishu International Airport after more than a decade, thereby illustrating the complete control held by Islamic militants, who have seized the capital and much of southern Somalia. The militia, known as the Supreme Islamic Courts Council, has steadily gained power and influence in recent months, but their imposition of strict religious courts has raised fears of an emerging Taliban-style regime. The country's official government, meanwhile, has been unravelling. The administration has failed to assert any power outside its base in Baidoa, 250 kilometres from Mogadishu, and has been wracked by infighting. Somalia has been without an effective central government since warlords toppled dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991 and then turned on each other, carving much of the country into armed camps ruled by violence and clan law.
Illustrations by Tapan Punnu
GARY MAY’S revealing, behind-the-scenes look at life as a cabin crew member with Virgin Airways has translated into If It’s Not On The Trolley, You Can’t Have It, in which he writes about wild parties, revenge against passengers and avoiding the Pink Mafia. There are tales of his conquests with women over the seven years he worked for the airline. Gary writes how, at a party, Virgin boss Richard Branson lay on the dance floor and promised a pair of firstclass tickets to the first air hostess who proved she wasn’t wearing any underwear. He swears in his book, talks about his dangerous liaisons with unabashed glee, gives all his mates and his private parts, nicknames. In short, it’s a pretty fun read, but, perhaps, not a book for everyone. It was certainly a decadent life, May writes, with the entire crew, including the pilots, joining in the debauchery. It was not uncommon, he writes, for pilots to lead double lives—wives and family at home, junior cabin crew on the side. He also talks about the ‘psycho-host beasts’ he worked with—usually jealous female older cabin crew who “hated young, pretty talent”—and the Pink Mafia, the gay senior crew who “hated everyone”. Recalling his experiences with passengers, he mentions that "Whitney Houston was a nightmare, she was in a world of her own and so abrupt." Talking of Billy Connolly, he says, he kept the whole flight entertained with his jokes, including shouting “the middle pedal is the f***ing brake, Captain” after one bumpy landing. Gary says he was devastated when he was sacked, but, eventually, managed to pull himself together. Now he runs a business supplying air conditioning units. He has no regrets that he left the airline industry.
WW II bomber compensated RETIRED SQUADRON leader Clifton Wenzel, 83, flew bombers and coastal patrol craft for the Royal Canadian Air Force. He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for flying a crippled bomber home. After the Second World War, he flew with the Royal Air Force and completed nearly 400 sorties during the Berlin airlift, for which he received an Air Force Cross in 1949. He later flew in the Korean War and against Malaysian Communist insurgents in the 1950s. But the bomber was bombarded when he applied for his pension in 1961, and the Air Force turned him down, telling he needed 25 years of service to be eligible. Then began a legal battle, which culminated in Canadian Forces’ ombudsman reviewing Wenzel’s case and commenting that the system had failed the retired pilot. The decorated Canadian war veteran was awarded $1.13 million in compensation for pension benefits he was denied 45 years ago.
Lee's chopper pilot charged
American Rock star Tommy Lee's helicopter pilot, Martz, 49, was charged recently with one count of reckless operation of an aircraft, one count of landing an aircraft on a public road and one count of landing an aircraft without a permit. Martz had landed the helicopter on a public road, in California, picked up Lee and two other passengers and then departed. If convicted, each charge carries a maximum penalty of six months in jail and/or a $1,000 fine.
An unusual robbery
A 56-year-old Indian woman arrived at the Dubai airport to fly to Mumbai for her son's wedding and was carrying various gold items, worth dhs25,000, in her handbag for the occasion. She put her bags in the x-ray machine for screening, but then took several attempts to pass through screening herself. By the time she came through, her handbag was gone. She searched frantically and on not finding her bag, she immediately informed the security personnel. Her handbag contained her passport and ticket as well. Despite formal complaints, nothing has come out so far.
British Airways fined
British Airways faces a $50,000 fine for denying transportation to four passengers with mobility-related disabilities on flights leaving the United States under a settlement with Acting Secretary of Transportation. Under the terms of the settlement, British Airways agreed to provide new training programmes designed to ensure that its employees in the US understand that they must accept persons with mobility-related disabilities without an attendant unless an attendant is necessary for safety. Under the Air Carrier Access Act (ACAA), airlines may not require a disabled passenger to be accompanied by an attendant unless the passenger's lack of mobility is so severe that he or she would be unable to assist in his or her own evacuation.
Munich is Best SKYTRAX HAS honoured Munich Airport as the Best Airport in Europe for 2006. The airport picked up the award for the second year in a row, and also moved up one spot to Number Three worldwide, in the Skytrax World Airport Awards 2006. Seven million passengers from 93 countries were surveyed. Munich Airport CEO, Dr Michael Kerkloh, accepted the award on behalf of the 500-plus companies that make up the Munich Airport campus.
A crappy discovery
Kenyan airport staff followed a trail of tortoise droppings and discovered 228 live leopard tortoises, packed as 'shells', and destined for Thailand. The leopard tortoises, named for their spotted shells, had arrived in metal crates from neighbouring Uganda. They would be cared for at an animal orphanage in Kenya's capital, Nairobi, while an investigation was carried out.
Beauty express
The Tourism Ministry of Paris unveiled plans recently for a new Charles de Gaulle Express linking the French capital with the airport, where most international flights land. So far, tourists not willing or able to pay crushing cab fares put up with the RER B, an overcrowded commuter train that stops in some of France's toughest suburbs on its way to Paris. The RER ride through a stretch of warehouses, housing projects and train yards is an image problem for postcardperfect Paris. Tourism remains the city's Number One employer, and much of its economic livelihood depends on maintaining an aura of glamour and refined living. The proposed air-conditioned trains with ample storage areas for luggage will leave for the airport every 15 minutes from the Gare de l'Est station in the east of Paris. Tickets are expected to cost euro16-20 ($20-25), up from euro8.50 ($11) for an RER ride today. Unfortunately, it won't be ready until 2012.
Airplane leaves cabin crew behind
Imagine the surprise of an Asiana Airlines' captain, when he discovered that he had taken off sans his cabin crew. The domestic flight from Incheon, in South Korea, to the southern Jeju islands was in the air for 30 minutes before the startling error was realised. After emergency communications with the control tower, the plane hurriedly returned to pick up the cabin attendants. Due to this rare incident, the plane was about 50 minutes behind schedule.
CRUISING HEIGHTS September 2006
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YES MINISTER
Agreement with US on airport modernisation The government has approved the signing of an agreement between India and the United States of America to enable the Indian civil aviation bodies to get American assistance in modernising aviation infrastructure, technology and training. This information was given to Parliament by Praful Patel, Minister for Civil Aviation, in the Rajya Sabha. After the agreement has been formally signed, the respective implementing authorities—the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), the Airports Authority of India (AAI)—would be entering into specific technical assistance agreement with Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) of USA, according to their requirements in respect of areas under their respective jurisdictions. The US has already signed such agreements with more than a hundred countries.
Government consents to exchange land between Navy and AAI The government has approved the exchange of Defence land, measuring 19.471 acres at Goa and 2.32 acres at Port Blair, with Airports Authority of India (AAI) land, measuring 5.4 acres at Santa Cruz, Mumbai, 3.678 acres at Kochi, 4.68 acres at Porbandar and 2.32 acres at Port Blair. The proposed exchange of land will be free of cost. The Navy and AAI are co-located at various naval/civil air stations. There are cases where land has been transferred from the Navy to AAI and vice-versa at these stations. For regularisation and fixing of lease rent, etc., these issues were being processed on a case-to-case basis. Navy land measuring 14.995 acres was released to AAI at Goa free of cost by Ministry of Defence by an order dated 22.6.1966. Besides, AAI is also occupying an additional 10.701 acres of Naval land at Goa, and further requires additional 8.77 acres of additional Navy land. AAI land measuring 2.32 acres is to be exchanged with the same quantum of Naval land at Port Blair in view of the operational conveniences of both organi-
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sations. At Mumbai, 5.41 acres of AAI land is with Navy. Naval land measuring 14.392 acres at Kochi was transferred to AAI free of cost during the period 1961 to 1990. This land has since been returned to Navy. In addition, AAI has offered to transfer 3.678 acres of land purchased from Cochin Port Trust to the Navy. At Porbandar, 2.26 acres of AAI land was transferred to Navy in February 2004 as the same was urgently required for operational purposes. AAI will transfer an additional 2.42 acres of land at Porbandar to the Navy. In order to resolve the above issues once for all, both parties met on 7 April 2005. In this meeting, Ministry of Civil Aviation agreed to the Navy’s proposal of composite exchange of land between the two organisations free of cost.
Foreign pilots on Indian flights The Minister of State for Civil Aviation, Praful Patel, informed the Rajya Sabha that as many as 460 foreign nationals are working as commanders in flights by domestic carriers to meet the shortage of pilots. He also replied, to another question, that the government has decided to upgrade the capacity of Indira Gandhi Rashtriya Uran Academy from 40 to 100 cadets a year and has set up a new flying training institute at
New airport at Goa Government of India has accorded inprinciple approval for construction of an airport of international standards at Mopa, in Goa. This information was given to Parliament by Praful Patel, Minister for Civil Aviation, in the Rajya Sabha. The state government of Goa has submitted detailed techno-economic feasibility study report with the help of AirportDe-Paris and IATA/Stup Consultants Pvt CRUISING HEIGHTS September 2006
Limited (India). Government of India has constituted a committee under the Chairmanship of Chief Minister of Goa to look into all aspects relating to the construction of new airport at Mopa.
MP’s remarks irks Patel The Minister took strong exception to a statement made by a Lok Sabha MP, A.P. Abdullakutty, from Kannur. Abdullakutty, while seeking the central government’s intervention to provide cheaper airfares for Keralites working in Gulf countries to visit their home state, alleged that the public sector airlines—both Air India and Indianhad been ‘looting’ the passengers in the Gulf sector to Kerala, particularly during the festival season. Patel replied that Air India Express had been introduced ‘keeping in view of the large number of Keralites working in Gulf Gondia, in Maharashtra. Besides, it has also conditionally increased the age limit for pilots to 65 years for exercising the privileges of their licences for commercial transport operations under prescribed conditions. Further, he said, aircraft operators, both scheduled and non-scheduled, are permitted to employ foreign pilots as commanders to train Indian co-pilots so as to enable them being upgraded as commanders. However, whenever both the commander and co-pilot in a flight are of foreign origin, they are required to carry an Indian trainee pilot on board for exposing the latter to the lineoriented flying training. Replying to another question, he said the Aeronautical Society of India has recommended constitution of a National Aeronautic Commission, though no decision has been taken by the government in this regard so far.
sector’ and went on to add that ‘We have also allowed other private airlines like Emirates, Qatar airways, etc., to operate in the Kerala-Gulf sector. That was to increase the competition to give a better deal for the passengers.’ For the sake of record, Air India increased its fare twice for the peak season from April to mid-July, and Air India Express, too, increased its fares during the peak summer season.
Ambika Soni inaugurates fourth convention of ICPB The Minister of Tourism & Culture, Ambika Soni, recently inaugurated the fourth convention of the India Convention Promotion Bureau (ICPB). The inauguration was marked by the symbolic beating of drums, followed by a cultural programme, choreographed by noted theatre director, Bansi Kaul. The two-day annual convention focussed on the subject, 'India— Emerging MICE (Meeting, Incentives, Conventions and Events) Destination’. Soni remarked that the world market in conference and convention tourism is estimated to be around 130 billion US dollars per year, yet India accounts for not even one per cent share of this huge market. She went on to say that increasing India’s market share should be the first challenge before us, and that instead of isolated efforts by hoteliers, travel operators and others in the business, the problem will have to be tackled by integrating the whole package with the rich cultural heritage of India so that visitors and delegates go back with something called a ‘complete experience’. The minister assured the delegates of full cooperation from the ministry. She further informed them that she has been discussing the matters with other ministries concerned for improving tourist infrastructure and greater facilitation of foreign tourists in terms of visa, etc. She noted that the Railway Minister had assured her for upgrading all the railway stations connecting the heritage sites. A.K. Mishra, Secretary, Ministry of Tourism, said that the Indian Convention Promotion Bureau is the recognised arm of the Ministry of Tourism as a nodal agency for all clearances with regard to holding of conventions, etc., from the Government of India. He assured all support of the ministry to the members of the bureau. Rajiv Talwar, Addl DG (Tourism), who is also the chairperson of ICPB, said that the bureau is a unique initiative in private-public partnership, and that it is time that the private sector perceives and guides the government, while the government’s role is to facilitate and help the bureau to achieve as much turnover as possible. Rajiv Kohli, Secretary of ICPB, made a detailed presentation about the world scenario of MICE tourism and the potential and
possibilities in India to tap this huge market.
Twenty-Year perspective plans on tourism Ms Ambika Soni told the Lok Sabha that during 2002 and 2003, the government had prepared 20-Year Perspective Plans for state/UT governments with the broad objectives of assessing the existing tourism scenario in the states, like services and infrastructure available, heritage and other sociocultural assets, natural resources, etc.; reviewing the status of existing development/investment plans for development of tourism in the states; evaluating the existing potential tourist destinations on the basis of inventory of attractions, infrastructure available and volume of tourist traffic, etc.; developing sustainable tourism in a time period of 20 years; giving plans with shortterm and long-term targets, indicating activities to be undertaken by different agencies within a time frame; indicating the likely investment on infrastructure development under different heads covering the next 20 years; and preparing an action plan for implementation of identified potential development schemes/ projects, and for development of infrastructure in conformity with policy objectives. The minister informed that as development of tourist destinations/circuits is the responsibility of the state/UT governments, the 20-Year Perspective Plans were forwarded to them for taking up their future tourism projects accordingly. The Ministry of Tourism, however, provides central financial assistance to the states/UTs for development of specific destinations, tourism circuits and organisation of festivals, based on the discussions organised with all the states and UTs at the beginning of each financial year.
Tourism scenario in India Ambika Soni informed the Lok Sabha that, as per the report of the state government of Jammu & Kashmir, 3,49,166 domestic tourists visited the valley up to 26 July 2006 during the current year, as compared with 3,65,818 during the same period last year. However, there has been a slight increase in foreign tourists arrival to the valley during the period. Up to 26 July 2006, 10,317 foreign tourists visited the valley this year, as compared with 9,777 during the period last year. In yet another reply, she stated that foreign tourist arrivals in the country have registered an increase of 13.3 per cent in July CRUISING HEIGHTS September 2006
2006. Total arrivals during the month were 3,31,227, while in last July, it was 2,92,345. So far 24,86,117 foreign tourists have visited India since January this year, as compared with 21,83,573 during the same period last year. India’s rank in foreign tourist arrivals in the world was 47 during 2004. This is an improvement over the earlier years’ when its rank was 50 during 2003 and 54 during 2002.
Medical tourism to flourish Medical value travel is likely to become a Rs 10,000 crore industry by 2010, registering a sharp growth of 25 per cent per year, said Ambika Soni, at the release of the Incredible India Brochure: Medical Tourism, organised by Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and Indian Healthcare Federation (IHF) recently. However, she cautioned, the healthcare sector should not forget the common man in its drive to attract more foreign medical value travelers. She went on to add that the ongoing Incredible India campaign would aggressively promote Indian hospitals abroad as centres offering the best medical services. In addition, availing medical services in India cost about a tenth of what they do in the West. Union Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss said the government is considering the Clinical Establishment bill that would mandate accreditation for hospitals down to the district and village levels. This would ensure that the quality of healthcare at the grassroots level improved.
Promotion of coastal tourism Ambika Soni told the Rajya Sabha that a High Power Steering Group has been constituted to formulate Cruise Shipping policy for the country. On the recommendations of this steering group, a working group has been constituted by Department of Shipping for identification of ports having cruise tourism facilities along the east and west coasts of India. The minister further added that the ministry of tourism extends financial assistance for tourism infrastructure development of specified tourism projects, including projects related to coastal monuments and tourist spots of states/Union Territories and procurement of cruise vessels, boats,etc., for promotion of cruise tourism. Ministry of tourism has also given No Objection Certificate to two private operators to operate their cruise vessels for the purpose of cruise tourism promotion along the Indian coast.
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SPECIAL REPORT
Indian travel congress It is the convention season and flagging it off was the annual jamboree of the Travel Agents Association of India (TAAI) at Hyderabad. For a change the convention was labeled as the Indian Travel Congress. Back to back with this conference was the Indian Association of Tour Operators' (IATO) in Jaipur. There were plenty of speeches and lots of hot air. But does it mean anything substantive? A special report.
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T HAPPENED on Independence Day and it came as a stinging left hook as far as Ashwini Kakkar was concerned. Just days before the TAAI office bearers had told him where he got off. He had convened the meeting to discuss the annual convention and his own desire for another term. But Messers Chella, Sunil and Rajji made it plain that he had done little in a year and it's better if he retired gracefully. In effect it was a complete vote of no confidence from his own team. To be fair to Ashwini, he was graceful about the whole thing and said if that’s how the committee felt then he wouldn’t contest another term. So far so good. But the shit really hit the ceiling next
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Ashwini Kakkar bowed out gracefully at the recently concluded 55th TAAI convention in Hyderabad CRUISING HEIGHTS September 2006
morning when the DNA in Mumbai published a story turning the screws on Kakkar and talking loudly about the ‘no confidence’ business. Poor Kakkar. He felt let down and wailed loudly at his team for leaking the story. Again, to be fair to him, he discovered a few days later that it was someone at Thomas Cook who couldn’t keep a secret and had let the cat out of the bag. So the good man said ‘sorry’ to his team for assuming they were the ‘villains’. Anyway, to cut a long story short, Ashwini Kakkar bowed out gracefully at the recently concluded 55th TAAI convention in Hyderabad and he was persuaded by the incoming committee to continue as a patron.
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4 It is also the first time in a long, long time that the top four jobs in TAAI have been unanimously chosen. So no elections, no lobbying and no back biting. Rajji Rai moves over as Vice President from being Secretary General. Chella Venkateshwara Prasad takes over as President, Sunil Kumar continues as the Treasurer and a lady from Pune, Subadhra Joshi, takes over as the Secretary General. The executive positions are being contested, but that’s like an under-15 competition at the end of the World Cup.
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AAI must thank its stars that Hyderabad has a spanking new convention centre
TAAI must thank its stars that Hyderabad has a spanking new convention centre that can accommodate its huge needs CRUISING HEIGHTS September 2006
A COLOURFUL KALEIDOSCOPE: 1. The Managing Committee at a press conference before the Travel Congress was inaugurated. 2 & 3 The Indian-Air India dinner was hugely attended, with CMD Vishwapati Trivedi in personal attendance. 4. Crooning at the Jet dinner. 5. L.K. Advani had plenty to tell the TAAI delegates. 6. Secretary General Rajji Rai reads out his report. that can accommodate its huge needs, and the two local boys (Sunil and Chella) could arm twist the hotels to give them the requisite rooms. In fact, the duo had most reluctantly conveyed to the managing committee that since they weren’t able to muster the numbers at Goa or Chennai or elsewhere, they would be happy to host it at Hyderabad provided they weren’t accused of having ‘hijacked’ it. The attitude of the hotel industry has come as a bit of a shocker for TAAI. Perhaps the worst experience was in Goa, where it was a blow-hot-blow-cold dialogue with the hoteliers that finally turned into a complete farce with the numbers offered to
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SPECIAL REPORT STAR ATTRACTION: Like it or not, Vijay Mallya has a great stage presence. The man stole the thunder with his speech on the last day at TAAI. them almost one third of what they wanted. “What did they think we were? Beach boys camping by the sea, out for a masala weekend in Goa?” asked a frothing official. So what’s the solution. Simple. Hold the next couple of TAAIs outside India and tell the MICEwalas (meetings, incentives, conventions and exhibitions) that unless the hotels behave themselves, conferences in India will be reduced to a farce. Don’t be surprised, therefore, if the next convention is held in Dubai or Bangkok or Singapore or Kuala Lumpur. Makes imminent sense when these locations offer you hospitality, world-class facilities at rock bottom prices.
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HE one person who created an impression on TAAI delegates, albeit he was not there on the day of the inauguration, was Dr Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy, the chief minister of Andhra Pradesh. Interested in selling his state, especially his capital city, to the world, YSR showed his keenness to address the TAAI delegates. He jet his way back from Delhi only to be present, even if it was for only 45-odd minutes, at the conference. YSR Garu, as he is popularly known, displayed to the world what a proactive chief minister should be. In what can be termed as a corporate decision, the chief minister told Capt G.R. Gopinath that he would sit with him in a week or ten days and take a decision on starting airports at places like Vijayawada and Warangal.
Stern warning from IATO!
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OMEN ministers there were in plenty, but there was one man who was the odd man out. There were four women on the dais at the lamp-lighting ceremony during the inauguration: Renuka Chowdhury, the central women and child welfare minister, Dr Geetha Reddy, the tourism minister of Andhra Pradesh, Yashodhara Raje Scindia, the tourism minister from Madhya Pradesh, and Chitra Ramachandran, Secretary, Tourism, Andhra Pradesh. The only person missing from the allwoman list was Tourism Minister Ambika Soni. The only man among the bigwigs present was Brijmohan Agarwal, the tourism minister from Chhattisgarh. From the looks of it, he seemed to be enjoying his lone-male status that day.
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HE outgoing chairman of TAAI, Ashwini Kakkar, was at his impromptu best at the inauguration ceremony. Totting
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IATO decided to build 50 hotels across the country to meet the shortage of hotels in the country CRUISING HEIGHTS September 2006
AS USUAL Indian Association of Tour Operators (IATO) issued a stern warning to the sarkar. That’s the Subhash Goyal touch. The politician in him must surface every now and then. IATO’s four-day annual convention (September 7-10) ended with a stern warning to the government to either modify the service tax, charging it on only 10 per cent of earnings of the travel agents and tour operators or face the challenge in court of law. The historical convention, attended by an unprecedented number of delegates, also decided that IATO would build 50 hotels across the country to meet the shortage of hotels, which was proving to be a stumbling block in boosting foreign arrivals. A cooperative or a company would be floated by IATO for this purpose, with its members as shareholders. The convention, in its concluding session, adopted over a dozen resolutions demanding, among other things, strengthening of security at all strategic places, like airports and railway stations, introduction of e-visa facility till visa on arrival is
UB and Kingfisher chief Vijay Mallya had been invited by TAAI to deliver the final address at Hyderabad, and he made his speech a memorable one
HEARTY BREAKFAST: IATO President Subhash Goyal at the breakfast table at the TAAI jamboree available, creation of land banks and allotment of land to IATO and other private entrepreneurs at concessional price for building hotels, abolition of dual tariffs, greater unity among different travel organisations and rationalisation of taxes, etc. The convention was inaugurated by the Rajasthan Governor and attended by Tourism Ministers of
Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Orissa. The convention was divided into four business sessions, which were, Infrastructure Opportunities and Challengers, Branding and Marketing a Destination, Emerging Tourism Opportunities, and Rural, Health, Heritage, Adventure and Sports. Some of the dignitaries who addressed the convention included Ajay Maken, Union Minister for Urban Development, A.K. Misra, Secretary Tourism, Amitabh Kant, Jt. Secretary, Ashwani Lohani, Managing Director, Madhya Pradesh Tourism, M.P. Bezbaruah, Former Secretary, Tourism. It is time IATO and TAAI filed an action taken report (ATC) on what they have achieved over the preceding twelve months. From Kochi and Colombo to Hyderabad and Jaipur has nothing but a resounding thud. Plenty of hot air that can fill a hundred gas balloons.
CRUISING HEIGHTS September 2006
out figures and facts at the drop of a hat, Kakkar mesmerised his listeners with his knowledge about the travel business. After all, he owns a hefty share of Mercury Travels, and to top it all, he is the WTTC’s India face. The suave entrepreneur that he is and a votary of public-private enterprise, Kakkar made it a point to praise the achievements of Hyderabad. However, what made the outgoing TAAI chief’s message so memorable were his emphatic gesticulations to prove his points. Of special note were his words that downtown Manhattan had more rooms than the number of star rooms in the whole of India.
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B and Kingfisher chief Vijay Mallya had been invited by TAAI to deliver the final address at Hyderabad, and he made his speech a memorable one. Coming after Capt G.R. Gopinath, Mallya was at his usual, flamboyant best. Starting off on a low key and emphasising on the lack of aviation infrastructure, the Kingfisher chief made it a point to warn his travelagent listeners that they were being led up the garden path by what he referred to as “low-fare carriers”, not “low-cost carriers”. After all, he told them, the carriers paid the same parking charges and the same rates for air turbine fuel. So, where were they making their money from, he asked. There were two options before these low-fare carriers: either they would bleed to death or shut shop soon. He asked his listeners to decide once and for all which airline was supporting them. After having joined issues with low-fare carriers in general and Air Deccan’s Capt G.R. Gopinath in particular, Mallya made it a point to win the hearts of his travel-agent listeners. Holding forth on the high costs of running an airline, Mallya said that when travel agents had raised the issue of surcharges on ATF, “I was the first one to bite the bullet.” Amidst applause, the Kingfisher chief made it clear that he was on the side of the travel agents, who he referred to as “our partners”, and even went on to say that he and Kingfisher would always be there to ease their problems. If that’s not striking the right chord, what is?
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S we mentioned, ministers there were in plenty, but the one who seemed to be ever-present was Madhya Pradesh Tourism Minister Yashodhara Raje Scindia. From the day of the inauguration till the valedictory address by leader of the Opposition. L.K. Advani, she was everywhere. She made it a point to visit the travel exhibition where Mad-
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SPECIAL REPORT mason and others like them to fly at least 4/5 times a year for the next 25 years. Going by the number of destinations Air Deccan is going to, it will not be surprising if the good captain achieves his goal well before 25 years.
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VER the politician, the leader of Opposition, L.K. Advani, could not have bettered his performance at the valedictory address. Aware that the travel industry suffered from lack of infrastructure, taxes and a host of other problems, he went out his way to extend his hand of friendship to the travel community. “Give me all your pending issues and I assure you I will try my best to sort out all issues with the central government,” Advani told his listeners, while exhorting them to do their task and bring before the world the cultural heritage of the country.
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OEING’S Dinesh A. Keskar, Senior Vice-President, Sales, who delivered the keynote address at the inauguration, seemed to have prepared himself for the big day. With his well-illustrated presentation on the future of Indian aviation and the booming prospects of growth, Keskar seized the opportunity to not only sell his company’s planes but also took a potshot at rival Airbus’ A380. His presentation with a video clip showed how passengers fell asleep while waiting to board an aircraft the size of the A380 was announced simply because the whole process took so long. The time had come, Keskar said, when airlines would go for smaller planes with fewer passengers. That was a good sales pitch from Keskar, but why the effort in a keynote address of a national travel convention.
NETWORKING: Interglobe boss Rahul Bhatia with former TAAI President Balbir Mayal and other travel fraternity big guns and (right) Andhra Pradesh Tourism Minister Geetha Reddy hya Pradesh had the biggest stall-well, after Andhra Pradesh—and issue instructions to the staff on duty there. Intent on knowing more about the tourism business, the minister kept on harping to whichever TAAI delegate, office bearer or travel entrepreneur who met her that she had come to Hyderabad to learn. Industry insiders are all praises for Yashodhara Raje since her desire to grasp nuances about the tourism sector is phenomenal.
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IR Deccan boss Capt G.R. Gopinath took up his first and only love—flying—on Day Three of the TAAI convention. Quoting Goethe and Valcav Havel in his 40-odd-minute speech, the everpopular Gopi showed what determination, will power and dreams can achieve. Speaking about his desire to see a billion Indians criss-crossing the country—he would like to provide a billion air seats everyday—the Air Deccan chief spoke of development that could come through equitable economic growth prompted by aviation connectivity. In an impassioned speech, Gopi pointed out that his greatest desire was to see the carpenter, the
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Air Deccan boss Capt G.R. Gopinath, in his 40-oddminute speech, showed what determination, will power and dreams can achieve CRUISING HEIGHTS September 2006
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YDERABAD’S penchant for hi-tech came into full play at the first business session, aptly titled, ‘Brick. Click… Fire’. While the ambience of the sparkling new Hyderabad International Convention Centre took everyone’s breath away, the session was one that was eagerly awaited. Moderated by Ashok Fenn, it saw the likes of Ashwin Damera, CEO and co-founder of travelguru.com, and Deep Kalra, CEO of makemytrip.com. Together the two Internet whiz kids took their listeners on to the topsy-turvy world of the Net and how difficult it was to set up a Net travel business. In between the session, questions were asked by the moderator, for which listeners punched in their replies on handheld remotes. The results were instantly displayed on the giant screens.
SNIPPETS
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5 (1) B.K. Ong, Chairman of the Country Steering Council of Star Alliance, welcomes travel agents to the workshop. On the podium are agents, members of Country Steering Council of Star Alliance—Werner Heesen (Lufthansa German Airlines), Il Woo Jung (Asiana Airlines), Nalini Gupta (South African Airways), Arun Pandeya (Air Canada), B.K. Ong (Singapore Airlines) and Sanjay Kapoor (United). (2) Heesen makes his presentation on the Alliance. (3 & 4) Agents participated actively in the Q & A and had plenty of fun as well. (5) Ong addresses guests.
Hospitality India Awards Conferred THE SECOND Hospitality India Awards 2006 were recently awarded in a glittering function at New Delhi. The event, which was inaugurated by the Union Cabinet Minister of Tourism, Ambika Soni, witnessed a participation of 550 top professionals from across the spectrum of travel, tourism, hospitality, and aviation industries and media. While Air India was awarded for being the Best Customer Friendly International Airline, Indian was adjudged as the Best Domestic Airline. Kingfisher Airlines was selected as the Best Upcoming Domestic Airline. Sikkim was judged to be the Best Ecotourism Destination. Maharashtra scored as the Fast Emerging Tourist Destination. Le Royal Meridien, Mumbai, was
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adjudged as the Best Luxury Hotel. Park Plaza Royal Palms, Mumbai, scored as the Best Upcoming Group in Hotels & Resorts. Hotel Radisson, New Delhi, ranked as the Best Business Hotel. Award for Excellence in Hospitality went to ITDC Hotels. Best MICE Hotel award was conferred on Le Meridien, Kochi. Internationally, Thailand surpassed as the Best Exotic Destination, and Malaysia Airline was ranked as the Best South Asian Airline. Speaking on the occasion, Soni said that a handful of terrorists cannot hinder the resolute growth of the tourism sector. She also assured the operators of the hotel industry that she would come up with a concrete policy within a year with regard to the tax issues. CRUISING HEIGHTS September 2006
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Star Alliance connects with travel agencies IT WAS a meeting with a difference. The idea was to get the industry acquainted in some depth with the magic of Star Alliance and the unlimited possibilities it offers. As the biggest of the global airline alliances, Star has a huge presence in the marketplace, and the idea was to get the big guns together for an interactive Q & A with agents and other valuable channel partners. The agents' workshop was held in Delhi on the first Saturday of August. The one of its kind provided a unique opportunity for an open interaction between Country Steering Council (CSC) of Star Alliance and the travel agents. If the questions were tough and blunt, the answers were equally persuasive and honest. In fact, on more than one occasion, B.K. Ong, Chairman, Country Steering Council and GM-India for Singapore Airlines, wanted to know from the receptive audience if they were satisfied with the answers. Many queries of the agents were answered by the Council, emphasising on the need for dialogue in enabling Star Alliance to further improve its services to the agents and creating a forum for feedback. The main presentation of the afternoon was by Werner Heesen—Member, CSC, and GM, Passenger Sales India and Director South Asia, Lufthansa German Airlines. He spoke to the agents about the product
and shared with them the latest update on Star Alliance. His presentation followed a session of an open interaction between the agents and the members of the CSC, further consisting of General Manager of Air Canada, Arun Pandeya; Regional Manager of Asiana Airlines, I.W. Jung; Regional Head of Indian Subcontinent and Southeast Asia of South African Airways, Nalini Gupta; and Sales & Marketing Manager of United, Sanjay Kapoor. An interactive and fun quiz was conducted for the agents, which also helped lighten the mood. The winners were awarded special gift hampers, while Star Alliance giveaways were distributed to all agents, acknowledging their participation at the event. The Star Alliance network was established in 1997 as the first truly global airline alliance to offer customers worldwide reach and a smooth travel experience. Skytrax voted Star Alliance as Best Airline Alliance in 2003 and 2005. Its members are Air Canada, Air New Zealand, ANA, Asiana Airlines, Austrian, bmi, LOT Polish Airlines, Lufthansa, Scandinavian Airlines, Singapore Airlines, South African Airways, Spanair, SWISS, TAP Portugal, THAI, United, US Airways and Varig Brazilian Airlines. Air China and Shanghai Airlines are expected to join by the end of 2007.
CRUISING HEIGHTS September 2006
NEWS Purchases flight simulators: The airline signed a contract, valued at over $24 million, with Thales UK for the supply of three new Full Flight Simulators (FFS). Thales UK will be providing two A320 Full Flight Simulators and one ATR Full Flight Simulator. The contract also includes provision of a Thales A320 maintenance/flight training device (MFTD) and a turnkey maintenance support package. First carrier to operate 100 daily flights: The private carrier has launched a daily non-stop service connecting Mumbai to Chennai. With three flights daily, in either direction, the addition of this new route takes the number of daily flights operated by the airline to 102 flights connecting 17 destinations and the number of daily flights operated out of Mumbai goes up to 23 flights. It is perhaps the only airline in the domestic circuit to have achieved the goal of 100 daily flights in a mere 15 months.
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SNIPPETS
PATWA Seminar PACIFIC AREA TRAVEL WRITERS ASSOCIATION (PATWA) seminar was recently held in New Delhi, and many voices, covering current topics, expressed concern, dissents and hopes about the travel and tourism industries. Among those who attended were Civil Aviation Secretary, Ajay Prasad, T.N. Hoakip, Minister for Tourism, Manipur, Kawkab Hameed, Minister for Tourism, Uttar Pradesh, Subhash Goyal, President, Indian Association of Tour Operator (IATO), and Sanat Kaul, Chairman & Managing Director, Delhi Tourism.
http://www.onlinenews-unlimited.com
India's first travel jobsite launched www.traveljobsindia.com, the first jobsite to offer a one-stop solution for the HR needs of travel, tourism, airline and hospitality industry has recently gone online. Acting as a platform to bring together industry's professionals and organisations with specific job openings, traveljobsindia.com is set to fulfil HR requirements of the growing Indian travel industry. Based on focus group studies of the industry, the idea has evolved to be one-of-its-kind jobsite that serves both the industry and job seekers well.
Yatra goes live
BACKED BY Reliance (ADAG), TV18 Group and NVP, and founded by a seasoned team of travel professionals from across the globe, www.yatra.com has become active. By booking travel on www.yatra.com, Indian travellers can benefit from extensive domestic hotel options, wide variety of air carriers, last-minute bookings, and best in
class technology: Yatra's dynamic packaging tool enables customers to create and book their own travel packages for convenience and savings. It is the only company in India to offer flexible search option for airlines, allowing travellers to search for the best deal within two days of their selected travel date. It offers travel-related information, pricing, availability and reservations for airlines, hotels, railway, buses and car rentals across 5,000 large cities and small rural areas throughout India.
Cleartrip ties-up with Lonely Planet
Cleartrip has launched Small World, a comprehensive set of travel guides for Indian and international destinations. For this, it has partnered with Lonely Planet, one of the world's most widely recognised and trusted travel content brands. Destinations can be searched by name or by browsing through a directory of continents. Detailed guides are available at the country and city level, which provide travellers with a wealth of information about the destination—sightseeing,
nightlife, restaurant and hotel listings as well as photo galleries, maps, currency and weather information. Maps are available from Lonely Planet and Google, giving users access to detailed street level maps.
Cleartrip appoints new chief technology officer CLEARTRIP HAS appointed P.K.X. Thomas as its Chief Technology Officer, and he will be responsible for the web service delivery and software development life cycle in addition to his contribution towards selecting the right technology tools for all groups within the business. Thomas' role in Cleartrip is pivotal, as it relies on technology to break up the process of making online travel bookings into easy steps. This is in keeping with its central communication tagline 'Making Travel Simple'.
News Steps up security: The airline has stepped up its security measures at all airports to ensure that it's absolutely safe to travel by air. The secondary security systems are in place in accordance with the guidelines issued by the DGCA and the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security. The airline has further asked its passengers to not carry cosmetics, toiletries, liquids, drinks and cigarette lighters in the aircraft in addition to items previously prohibited in cabin baggage, such as sharp objects. However, cabin baggage can contain electronic equipment, including laptops, mobile phones and portable music and DVD players; essential prescribed medicines in liquid form provided they are under 50 ml; and baby milk and liquid baby food. Nothing must be carried in pockets. Revises fuel surcharge: Effective August 8, the airline revised the fuel surcharge to Rs 650, from the existing Rs 500, on all fares on all the routes. The new surcharge will be applicable to all bookings
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made on or after August 8 and will not apply to tickets that had been booked/purchased before August 8. The surcharge has been imposed due to the continuous escalation of the jet fuel prices. To open Ahmedabad's first-ever aircraft base Ahmedabad would be now well connected to the main metros with Air Deccan's daily flights. Ahmedabad will be the airline's eighth base and first in the state of Gujarat. The existing seven bases of the airline being in the cities of Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad, Kolkata and Thiruvananthapuram. The airline plans to deploy a brand new Airbus A320, which has been recently delivered and has a passenger capacity of 180. Currently, Air Deccan connects Ahmedabad to Hyderabad, but with this Airbus induction, the city will be now connected to Delhi, Mumbai, Pune, Bangalore and Goa. The flights begin from Ahmedabad on November 2, 2006.
CRUISING HEIGHTS September 2006
Jet News Receives IOSA registration: The carrier has earned the distinction of receiving the IATA Operational Safety Audit (IOSA) Registration after successfully completing the audit and has entered into the IOSA Registry. IOSA is a quality audit programme under the continuing stewardship of IATA (International Air Transport Association), and is globally recognised and accepted benchmarking and evaluation system for assessing the operational management and control systems of an airline. IOSA uses internationally accepted quality audit principles that ensure the audits are conducted in a standardised and consistent manner.
Eurocopter enters Indian market
LAST MONTH, the first EC145, a four-ton helicopter capable of supporting various mission requirements ranging from law enforcement to corporate VIP, reached India via Delhi International Airport. The helicopter has been purchased by Jindal Steel and Power Ltd. The EC145 has a cruise speed of 246 km per hour at maximum weight, the maxi-
mum range at this weight being 680 kilometres. Powered by two Turbomeca Arriel 1E2 engines, this modern aircraft has the largest cabin in its class, the interior being totally unobstructed by any central pole. The aircraft is capable of transporting up to ten persons (one pilot and nine passengers). The SinglePilot-IFR-certified EC145 features a night-vision gogglecompatible, digital glass cockpit with multi-function displays. The noise level is an average of 6.7 dB beneath the International Civil Aircraft Organisation standards for helicopters in this class. The EC145 is certified for CAT A operations.
Lufthansa enters Kolkata STARTING DECEMBER 1, 2006, Lufthansa will operate three non-stop flights a week between Kolkata and Frankfurt. With the regional network being extended to include Kolkata, India will become the only country in Lufthansa's Asia-Pacific network to be served through six gateways. This now gives passengers a maximum choice of 45 weekly flights between India and Germany. The airline also announced special inaugural advance purchase fares on the Kolkata-Frankfurt sector. Passengers can book tickets with immediate effect until November 15, 2006, for travel to Europe at Rs 19,900 while the same to Los Angeles and New York will cost Rs 35,000. Lufthansa will operate an Airbus A340-300 on this sector with special in-flight innovations like FlyNet, enabling passengers to access high-speed wireless Internet while flying
Jet Elite Surprises: Gopal Sharma, Regional Sales Manager (West & South), Hughes Communications, was the lucky winner of the Jet Elite Surprises (JES), the in-flight promotional offer of the airline. He was presented with the keys of a brand new Mitsubishi Lancer Cedia, at a function at Mumbai. JES is an in-flight promotion of the airline. The promotion comprises of a double-spread flier with a response form, which a passenger fills out by answering simple questions along with support from in-flight announcements.
Forty-second annual FHRAI convention FEDERATION OF HOTEL AND RESTAURANT ASSOCIATIONS OF INDIA (FHRAI), which has a membership base of nearly 3000, is organising its 42nd Annual Convention from 10 to 12 November at Hotel Mount View, Chandigarh. With the theme of "Mission Tourism: Incredible India", the convention emphasises on presentations and interactive sessions to be made by key market players, policy decision makers, investors form the government and private sector, and foreign delegates related to tourism industry. The convention will emphasise on attracting investment opportunities into Chandigarh and its neighbouring states, hence creating employment opportunities on a very large scale. Another key area of discussion will be the ways and means to develop franchises and management opportunities of international brands within India. The convention is expected to be attended by Ambika Soni, Minister for Tourism & Culture, and chief ministers of North Indian states, such as Punjab, Jammu & Kashmir, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Rajasthan. FHRAI is also organising its annual exhibition, Hospitality India 2006, which will extensively showcase international and national suppliers and consultants and give local hoteliers an opportunity to explore the latest technology available. 32,000 ft above sea level as well as PrivateBed, the newly designed exclusive Business Class seat to enhance the inflight experience on this high growth sector. The new Business Class seat, renamed as Lufthansa PrivateBed, is the longest full flat Business Class bed worldwide, with a length of 2.02 metres. The current schedule includes daily flights between Delhi-Frankfurt, Delhi-Munich, Mumbai-Frankfurt, Chennai-Frankfurt, Bangalore-Frankfurt, HyderabadFrankfurt. Along with its new partner SWISS, an enhanced network of flights from Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad and Kolkata will be offered to the three European hubs at Frankfurt, Munich and Zurich.
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SNIPPETS
News New links, capacity increase, prizes bonanza from Indian New routes: The airline has started gearing up for increased traffic demand during the coming festival and tourist season, with new flights to some destinations and increased frequency to others, particularly in the Northeast. Also on offer are low fares and bumper bonanzas.
Adds Nagpur to its Network THE AIRLINE has further expanded its network by starting two daily return flights from Nagpur to Delhi and Hyderabad. The Nagpur-Hyderabad flight connects five southern and eastern destinations, including Bangalore, Kochi, Visakhapatnam, Bhubaneswar and Kolkata. The Nagpur-Delhi flight connects to a large international flight bank out of Delhi, including Air Sahara's flight to Singapore and its code-share flight with American Airlines to Chicago and onwards to the entire American Airlines network in USA. Offers 'Fly Unlimited' at Rs. 699/per day AIR SAHARA has launched a Fly Unlimited Offer, whereby a passenger can travel any number of times at a rate of Rs 699 per day for 365 days. The above offer is valid on the airline's domestic route network. Passengers can fly on Air Sahara's international route network by paying Rs 100/- extra per day. This scheme is also available for international routes to the business class passengers who will pay 50 per cent more than the economy class passengers and avail of this offer on the entire Air Sahara domestic route network.
Etihad moves THE NATIONAL AIRLINE of the United Arab Emirates has moved to its new office, located on the second floor of Narain Manzil, 23 Barakhamba Road, New Delhi, 110 001. His Excellency Abdulla Ebrahim A. Alzoy Al Shehhi, Ambassador of the United Arab Emirates, inaugurated the office by lighting the traditional lamp.
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New flights, more capacity: From September 15, the airline will launch a new daily A319 flight from the Capital to the temple town of Khajuraho and Varanasi. Also scheduled is a daily flight on the VaranasiKathmandu-Varanasi route. Besides this, a major capacity increase has been recently effected through increase in frequency on several other routes. Besides this, the following flights are now operating seven days a week: Delhi-RaipurVizag-Chennai, Chennai-BhubaneswarKolkata, Chennai-Bangalore-Chennai, Kolkata-Silchar-Kolkata, Silchar-Imphal-
Silchar and Kolkata-Agartala-Kolkata. Frequency to and from Guwahati has also been stepped up with 14 flights a week on the Kolkata-Guwahati-Kolkata sector and the resumption of air link between GuwahatiAgartala-Guwahati with the introduction of a daily flight. Marketing initiatives: For the next two months, passengers travelling out of or arriving into any of the six metros on Indian can look forward to getting lucky and winning attractive Haier appliances as prizes under the 'Fly Indian Get Haier' scheme. By flying Indian just twice in a specified fortnight (from 21 August to 20 October 2006), a passenger is eligible to participate in a lucky draw, with Haier appliances as prizes. The lucky draw will be held at Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Bangalore and Hyderabad every fortnight with identical prizes offered from each metro. Combined entries of the four fortnights will then be eligible for a bumper prize of a 106 cm Plasma TV at each of the six metros. Prizes include
Gulf Air News
Wins award from Airbus: The airline has won the 'Operational Excellence Award' from Airbus for its consistent performance throughout 2003 to 2005, amongst all airlines that have Boeing A330 aircraft. In a brief ceremony held at the carrier's headquarters in Muharraq, Airbus Vice President Customer Support Jean Daniel Leroy presented the award to Gulf Air Vice President Technical Abdulkhaliq Saeed. The awards are given in five categories and Gulf Air was chosen as the best operator in the A330—small fleet operator category.
CRUISING HEIGHTS September 2006
The awards are based on airline fleet performance data, which are computed according to a programme run by Airbus, taking into account the annual average utilisation per aircraft in hours and cycles, and average delay duration. The parameters are compared for each airline to the fleet average and the best airline is chosen in each category. Gulf Air wins the award for the second time. It received the Airbus Operational Excellence Award for 2000/2001, the only airline in the region to receive the award then.
BA results ‘good’ split ACs, washing machines, TVs, microwave ovens and DVD players. New-look website: The airline's website, www.indianairlines.in, wears a new look now. To make booking faster, passengers now have the booking page as the home page. Also, for the first time, the lowestfare option is available immediately after giving the itinerary. Big discounts: The national carrier has tied up with American Express to offer big benefits to Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) that are American Express Corporate Card holders. A novel scheme, 'SME Discount', has been introduced, whereby the corporate or charge card holders in the SME segment will get attractive discounts and prizes for travel on domestic and international flights of the airline. The scheme is valid till 31 January 2007. For more details, passengers may visit the airline's website, www.indianairlines.in, or call the toll-free number, 1800 180 1407. New appointment: Gulf Air Cargo has appointed Sam Okpro as Manager Network Planning and Development at Gulf Air Cargo. Enters code-share pact with Malaysia Airlines: Gulf Air and Malaysia Airlines entered a code-sharing agreement opening up routes and services to each other in their respective networks effective September 18, this year. The agreement, inked at a signing ceremony, in Subang, allows Malaysia Airlines to market seats under its code on the Gulf Air operated flights between Kuala Lumpur bound for Bahrain and Oman. Later this year Gulf Air and Malaysian Airlines will expand the commercial relationship further with Gulf Air adding its code on parts of Malaysian Airlines domestic and international network. New Dy Director at Tourism Malaysia: Tourism Malaysia, the agency to promote Malaysia as a preferred destination among Indians, has appointed Suzairy Mohd Riza Ibrahim as Deputy DirectorWest India. Ibrahim, who has been associated with Tourism Malaysia since 2000, has taken charge from Noor Arif Mohd Noor, who is now the new Director for Tourism Malaysia, Chennai.
Shows good results: The airline has reported a pre-tax profit of £195 million (2005: £124 million profit) for the first quarter to June 30, 2006. The operating profit for the first quarter was £211 million (2005: £176 million profit) delivering an operating margin of 9.1 per cent (2005: 8.5 per cent). Operating cash flow was £475 million, an increase of £126 million from last year. Total costs are up, with fuel up 44 per cent, at £512 million. In July 2006, passenger capacity, measured in Available Seat Kilometres, was 2.8 per cent above July 2005. Traffic, measured in Revenue Passenger Kilometres, was higher by 4.4 per cent. The increase in traffic comprised a 11.0 per cent increase in premium traffic and a 3.3 per cent increase in non-premium traffic. Overall load factor increased by 1.2 points, to 73.7 per cent. Organisational changes: Sriram Narayan has been appointed Manager India, Trade Sales. Kunal Soni has been appointed Manager India, Corporate Sales, and Joe Homem has been appointed Manager India, Direct Sales. Based in Gurgaon.
Aerostar's new venture AEROSTAR AVIATION has tied up with Flight Safety Academy (USA) to provide commercial pilot training to Indian students so as to meet the growing demand of commercial pilots in India. Students can apply online from, where they will be short-listed and will undergo an aptitude test for the final selection. The course fee is around $51,000, which can be paid in equal monthly instalments. Aerostar Aviation has tied up with various banks to make the facility of loans easily available for the students. The course intake will be 100 students in the first phase and the first batch will commence from November 2006. The training will be for 40 weeks, in which students would need to clear their theory exams as well as finish 225 hours of flying with multi engine endorsement. Flight Safety Academy is based out of Vero Beach Florida (USA), having 43 learning centres in Europe and America.
Maharaja’s Singapore connection TOURISM MALAYSIA and Singapore Tourism Board, in conjunction with Air India have announced the launch of a twin-destination package to Malaysia and Singapore for INR 16,999. The package is part of promoting 'Shopping Tourism' and comprises of four nights, with two each in Kuala Lumpur and Singapore. The package also includes first-class accommodation with breakfast, half-day sight-seeing in both the destinations along with airport transfers and train fare from Kuala Lumpur to Singapore. The package is available on Air India and is valid for travel till September 30, 2006, from Delhi only.
GoAir expands fleet GOAIR HAS announced the commencement of its new sectors with the addition of its latest aircraft to the existing fleet. The focus of the new sectors would be Ex-Delhi and would then expand to encompass the southern region post the delivery of the other aircraft. It will have seven aircraft in operation by the end of November.
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BACKPAGE
GOODBYE, TEMPELHOF!
I
T’S ALMOST the size of New York’s Central Park and has one of the world’s biggest buildings. And that’s exactly why Berliners worry about what happens when the historic Tempelhof airport closes down later this year. But it’s a site that warms the hearts of the city’s residents. Allied Dakotas and Skymasters ‘wroomed’ every few minutes in 1948 and 1949 to supply the city during the Soviet blockade. But a debt-ridden Berlin administration wants to close Tempelhof, which had a red of nine million euros ($11.5 million) in 2005. What makes the what-to-do-withTempelhof question even tougher for Berliners is the history behind the airfield and the massive airport. The neoclassical terminal was designed by Ernst Sagebiel and built over five years from 1936 in the monolithic style preferred by Hitler. Almost a kilometre and half in length, the limestone building is flanked by crescentshaped hangars that follow the curve of the oval airfield. The terminal roof was intended as a viewing platform, with capacity for 1,00,000 people. There was also a glass canopy to act as an open hangar for aircraft to pull right up to the building during rains. But the modern 44
birds are too big to fit under it or use the short runways. In one interview, historian Gabi Dolff-Bonekaemper described it as “A monument to the Nazis, to the blockade and the airlift and it is also a symbol as a point of departure from West Berlin.” A spanking new airport will be coming up at Schoenfeld—the old East Berlin site—which will consolidate three existing airports into a single hub, making Tempelhof and its Tegel obsolete. But Tempelhof is Tempelhof. Almost the entire terminal fittings are unchanged from the 1930s, creating a retro feel in line with current trends in style-conscious Berlin. And if you wander around the linoleum-lined corridors you can actually feel the history of the place. It’s the perfect atmosphere for theatre groups, one of which is staging a play set in 1978 about the hijacking of a Polish jet in the under-utilised departure lounge. But there are supporters who cite the traffic during the FIFA World Cup, when it was an important hub for private and corporate jets, to make their point that the airport should be maintained so that it could be returned to active service, if, for instance, Berlin were to launch a bid for the 2016 Olympics. CRUISING HEIGHTS September 2006