Cruising_Heights_April_2011

CH COVER APRIL:cover novemver NEW.qxd

3/31/2011

7:52 PM

Page 1

PROFESSOR SUBBA SETTI AND HIS FLYING DREAMS

April 2011 ` 90

www.cruisingheights.in

CHOKEHOLD

MUAMMAR GADAFFI AND THE FUEL HE HOLDS ON TO ARE NOT THE ONLY REASONS FOR INDIA'S CIVIL AVIATION SECTOR TO BE WORRIED ABOUT – THERE'S A LOT MORE THOUGH THE GREEN SHOOTS OF RESURGENCE HAVE JUST STARTED MAKING THEIR APPEARANCE

BRAND NEW SECTION ON CHOPPERS

Document1

3/3/2011

2:30 PM

Page 1

Edit page.qxd

4/1/2011

1:21 PM

Page 1

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF’S NOTE

Dashing in on the front wheel

I

t's a bit of an irony that India's only major aviation accident in the several years happened last year at Mangalore when two seasoned veterans were at the control. The commander had over 8,000 hours of flying and the P2 or the co-pilot was a conscientious flyer on the verge of getting his command. That was tragically their luck of the roulette.

But for most us who fly routinely, one can only say that God has been kind and time and time again the luck of the roulette has gone our way. How else does one describe the horror that is unfolding each day as new revelations tell us more and more about the dark underside of the pilot licensing scam?

Let's get this clear, flying may look glamorous and exciting, but that is only one side of the spectrum. In real terms, this mad scramble to become a pilot is not driven by the possibilities that one day you will be floating down Venice in a gondola, but by the realities that your average pay packet each month will be so generous that even MBAs from the best and brightest universities could be envious. And you don't have to do a GMAT or TOFEL or a common entrance exam to get permission to stand in the queue. A high school degree with maths and physics is good enough.

Those who have been making a beeline to obtain their Commercial Pilot License (CPL) and Airline Pilot Training License to graduate from being a P2 to a commander have greased the system so effectively that you have the entire value chain right down from the flying training schools to the DGCA as part of his racket.

But, thank God for small mercies — and such a bittersweet irony—that the DGCA ordered the review when the IndiGo Airbus commanded by Parminder Kaur Gulati once too often for comfort on its front wheels unearthed what has been an institutionalised racket. If anything is a surprise it is that it took so long to uncover it. It is also a reflection of how venal and callous the DGCA is. Talk to officials of private carriers and there will be dozens of stories

CRUISING HEIGHTS April 2011

on how they have to lubricate the DGCA for every little administrative nod. The SpiceJet episode is a good case in point. If the candidate was rejected by the Arizona training school, how is it that the airline took the person on? Surely, they can't feign ignorance of the fine print. It's just that the DGCA has the power of life and death over airlines that they shudder to annoy officials.

Not just that, some of them who are now at the leadership level are well known for their track record that airlines dread at what is likely to happen if they take charge of the DGCA sometime in the future.

DGCA Bharat Bhushan and his predecessor, the present Civil Aviation Secretary, need to be commended for their clean-up act. The present DG is determined to complete what his predecessor started. And, thankfully, they have the complete backing of Minister Vayalar Ravi. Hopefully, it will not just be the pilots, but officials in the DGCA too who will face scrutiny. It is difficult to believe that only one official was part of the racket and the rest belong to the lilywhite brigade.

In China, there were over 200 pilots with fraud licenses. The government was ruthless with them as well as officials who were part of this illicit value chain. Some went to jail and they completely boycotted flying schools from East Europe and Indonesia. Like India, the Chinese incident was a result of the high growth in the sector.

With every airline announcing big orders, there is ample scope for more Gulatis to emerge. The DGCA has its job cut out, but Aditya Ghosh and Neil Mills will have to do more than just order aircraft and engines.

They need to review their own institutional practices to ensure that no aircraft lands on its front wheels.

3

Content april 2011.qxd

4/4/2011

11:10 AM

Off the cuff

Why women are afraid to fly If you thought that women are great achievers in any challenging task they take, then you are mistaken. Although globally, women have proved to be at par with men in every field, in the field of aviation they have proved to be a downer. A survey conducted by Dr Penny Rafferty Hamilton, PhD, on Teaching Women to Fly, have shown that despite training being given for 20 years to women in the field of aviation in the USA, only six per cent of those holding pilot certificates are female.

Dr Hamilton cast a wide net across the aviation community.

Her two-year study netted 296 completed surveys and/or personal interviews.

Teaching Women to Fly tacitly agreed that the cost of flying, while No. 1 on the list, wasn't the preeminent challenge. The other nine were: Instructor-student communication incompatibility; Instructor Interuptus or instructors leaving flight instructing; Lack of female mentors and support systems to encourage female students; Personal lack of confidence in their ability and a "fear of flying"; Lack of experience with and knowledge of mechanical systems; Lack of map reading experience and orienteering skill sets; Flight schools perceived as indifferent to female students; Famous female pilots largely unknown as role models to non-aviator women; and, Lack of emotional support from family and friends, who perceive flying as "too dangerous".

Dr Hamilton concluded that if these barriers erode or destroy any female student's perception of the "benefit" of or her "confidence" to achieve the goal of pilot certification, then she either never begins flight training or drops out.

4

Page 2

contents

FUTURE IMPERFECT

p32

Fuel costs have traditionally been the second-highest operating expenditure for an airline behind only wages. Fuel prices are shooting up carriers have had to impose higher fuel surcharges at a time when the world is recovering from the economic recession. A look at the emerging Indian and global aviation scenario in the backdrop of Middle East unrest.

NEWS DIGEST

p14

As part of the revamp programme, Air India has dropped its fares to carry more passengers. Will Air India, that is caught in a web of high costs and low yields, manage to find a means? Also, when will Airports Authority of India get its money back ?

CRUISING HEIGHTS April 2011

CENTENARY CELEBRATIONS p45 Bengaluru Airport celebrated 100 years of Indian aviation by putting on display Civil Aviation Centenary Year logo. The achievements of Indian aviation will be showcased through the year to the people. In our history of Indian aviation series, the exploits of an Indian professor in Britain and much more.

Content april 2011.qxd

4/4/2011

11:10 AM

Page 4

contents ARTICLES NEWS VIEWS EDITS INTERVIEWS CLIPPINGS PROFILES NEWS DIGEST

CRUISING HEIGHTS Volume V No 12

Editor-in-Chief

SPECIAL REPORT

K SRINIVASAN

p30

Managing Editor

Indians have been evacuated from violence-hit Libya.

As Libya does not have a rail network and travel by road was not considered to be safe, evacuation was done solely by aircraft. A low down on the massive rescue operation that saw all the wings of the Indian establishment like the External Affairs Ministry and Ministry of Civil Aviation joining hands.

TIRTHANKAR GHOSH Group Consulting Editor

SNIPPETS

p66

The latest from the aviation and travel world: Jet celebrates womanhood; Delhi's T3 shows the way to Cannes; plus plans, performance, initiatives, great deals and special packages across globe.

R KRISHNAN Consulting Editor

NANDU MANJESHWAR Deputy Editor

PC SINGH Special Correspondent (Mumbai)

ROOHI AHMAD Copy Editor

ASHOK KUMAR Editorial Coordinator

LAKSHMI SINGH Sub-editor-cum-reporters

JASLEEN KAUR, PUNIT MISHRA Design

RUCHI SINHA, MOHIT KANSAL, SHIV Picture Editor

FOCUS ON CHOPPERS

PRADEEP CHANDRA

p39

To augment the helicopter fleet strength and to make provisions for future contingencies, the armed forces have come together to revamp the old fleet which has outlived its utility. Plus: Prince Harry becomes a chopper pilot; British star Katie Price wants to buy a pink chopper; and Sikorsky to make choppers in India in our special section on choppers.

Photo Editor

GLOBETROTTING

p64

Ever heard of a nightmarish experience in the air or a thief in the air or drunken pilots? Check out what's going on around the world.

HC TIWARI —————————— Publishing Director

ROHIT GOEL Director (Admin & Corporate Affairs)

RAJIV SINGH Asst. Manager (Subscription)

JAYA SINGH (Mob. 9650433044)

Executive Director

RENU MITTAL For advertising and sales enquiries, please contact: +91-9999919071, 9810030533 Editorial & Marketing office:

Newsline Publications Pvt. Ltd., D-11 Basement, Nizamuddin (East), New Delhi -110 013 Tel: +91-11-41033381-82

CARGO

p55

While IATA wants to usher in quality in services for the air cargo industry, FIATA asserted its role as the global voice of freight logistics. In our guest column, an exhortation to air cargo stakeholders to step out of the shadows and understand the significance of the growth that is being witnessed in the cargo sector.

Plus all that is happening in the air cargo sector.

6

BACK PAGE

p74

Aviation's close links with Hollywood's glitz and glamour comes out into the open with the most awaited event in the aviation calendar: Living Legends of Aviation Awards.

CRUISING HEIGHTS April 2011

All information in CRUISING HEIGHTS is derived from sources we consider reliable. It is passed on to our readers without any responsibility on our part.

Opinions/views expressed by third parties in abstract or in interviews are not necessarily shared by us. Material appearing in the magazine cannot be reproduced in whole or in part(s) without prior permission. The publisher assumes no responsibility for material lost or damaged in transit. The publisher reserves the right to refuse, withdraw or otherwise deal with all advertisements without explanation. All advertisements must comply with the Indian Advertisements Code. The publisher will not be liable for any loss caused by any delay in publication, error or failure of advertisement to appear. Owned and published by K Srinivasan 4C Pocket-IV, Mayur Vihar Phase- I, Delhi-91 and printed by him at Nutech Photolithographers, B-240, Okhla Industrial Area, Phase- I, New Delhi-110020.

Thinking without limits

Helicopters designed for the greatest security challenge you face.

The unknown.

Agile and quick to respond. Multi-role capable. High-visibility cockpits with effective man-machine interface. Mission proven over 20 years in the toughest and least-anticipated situations. With a wide range of optional equipment perfectly designed and adapted to specific parapublic missions. Eurocopter is the choice of pilots and officers worldwide to operate on the frontline of airborne law enforcement. When you think Homeland Security, think without limits.

Cruising Heights LawEnf EC135_ 205x290 India.indd 1

28/03/11 18:52

“

Periscope.qxd

4/4/2011

12:03 PM

Page 2

PERISCOPE

Hiring spree “IndiGo will hire 1,200-1,500 people in the calendar year 2011, of which 400-500 would be cabin crew staff, 200-300 pilots, besides some engineers and ground staff.”

ADITYA GHOSH , IndiGo CEO on the airline hiring plans for 2011.

Where's the data?

BHARAT BHUSHAN , DG, DGCA on Air India's failure to provide data on flight delays.

LETTERS TO EDITOR

THE story What a show!

(March, 2010) was pleasant to read. Aero-India 2011 was the largest domestic air show in which 45 foreign aircraft including 26 civil aircraft participated.

As many as 50 official delegates from various countries participated in the show. Such was the magnanimity of the show. The show was also graced by dynamic personalities such as Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Ratan Tata, Shahid Kapoor and Naveen Jindal. Bollywood hero Shahid Kapoor flew in an American F-16 fighter which was delightful to see.

Aero India 2011 also threw many business opportunities for the companies which participated in the show.

Ram Kumar, Surat

Going for IT! (March, 2010) was very insightful and reported the goings in IT industry in aviation industry inside out. The fact of the matter is that the importance of IT systems in managing the airports in India can't be underestimated. Airlines around the world are opting for new generation IT applications to boost up their operations and India is also witnessing the same phenomenon.

And I greatly believe that IT can optimize efficiency of airline companies to great effect considering the fact that over the last few years India's prowess in Information Technology has leapfrogged to a new level.

Ajay Jain, Jodhpur Indian aviation centenary celebrations have been another feather in the cap of Indian Civil Aviation Ministry as illustrated in the story A 100 years of flying! (March, 2010). It was the nice gesture on the part of Civil Aviation Ministry to pay tributes to individuals and institutions which have contributed to the growth of the sector in the country on the occasion of India completing 100 years of aviation. JRD Tata, Marshal Arjan Singh, Sarla Thukral, Air Marshal Aspy Merwan Engineer, Biju Patnaik, Capt Rakesh Sharma, Saudamini Deshmukh , Vijaypat Singhania and Neerja Bhanot who were honoured rightly deserve to be feted.

Karan Dalal, New Delhi

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

8

“We have been sending AI constant reminders. However, there is no response from the airline. It's a shame that the national carrier is not contributing to such a crucial effort.”

One more plan

“I want to start a regional airline and then also expand it to the trunk national routes, but this will take a while. I need another 10 years of energy and also cash flow is an issue.”

GOPINATH , Air Deccan founder Captain on his next dream..

Forge and fly

“We do not know if all three mark sheets were forged at a single place. We have found some papers which are being examined. More arrests are likely.”

ASHOK CHAND, Delhi Cop on the forgery by pilots.

Cheap and best

“Going by LCC's plans, they are wellpositioned in future and are poised to grow. Passengers are moving from full service to low cost as LCCs are turning out to be value carriers. They provide flexibility and comfort at affordable prices.”

KAPIL ARORA , Partner (Automotive), E&Y on the growth pattern ahead.

Balle Balle

“In-flight entertainment is a critical part of the on-board experience for all our guests. Our selection of the best movies from various genres is aimed at enhancing the overall inflight experience.”

SUDHEER RAGHAVAN. CCO, Jet Airways' on adding value to the passengers in-flight experience.

Big plans

“Yes, we have a new fleet now — we want to connect the India with our East Asia market and specially the Tasman zone. We are keen to connect India to countries like Korea and China. We are looking at Mumbai and Chennai as hubs” TEKEBA H SELASSIE, Regional Director, India sub-continent, Ethiopian Airlines, on future plans.

CRUISING HEIGHTS April 2011

Periscope.qxd

4/4/2011

12:03 PM

Page 3

2010: Safe year but accidents on the rise

COLD STATS

The number of fatal aircraft accidents worldwide rose in 2010, with the bulk of the fatalities coming from airlines in India, Pakistan, and African nations, according to a report from the London-based aviation consultancy, Ascend Worldwide.

In 2010, the number of fatal aircraft accidents worldwide increased to one in 1.3 million flights, up from one in 1.5 million in 2009, the safest year on record, according to the report. The total number of fatal crashes rose 22 per cent last year to 28 incidents, from 23 in 2009, exceeding the annual average of the past decade of 27. Last year, 828 passenger and crew were killed in crashes around the globe, up from 731 in 2009, and four per cent worse than the annual average for the past decade. That averages out to one fatality for every 3.8 million

passengers in 2010, compared to one death for every 4.5 million passengers in 2009.

The worst accidents were: ½ The Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737-800 that crashed into the sea shortly after taking off from Beirut in January, killing 90 people. ½ The Air India Express Boeing 737-800 crash in May, which killed 158 people in Mangalore, India. ½ The Afriqiyah Airbus A330 crash in May in Tripoli, Libya, killing 104 people. ½ The Airblue Airbus A321, which crashed in Islamabad, Pakistan, in July, killing 152 people.

The four crashes accounted for roughly 65 per cent of the total fatalities around the world in 2010.

LOOKING GLASS Now, even "fake" pilots can fly. How about this fly-by-wire technology ??

Air India blues

On the merger: “And I think the main problem is Indian Airlines and Air India exist as separate entities. The merger is only on paper; not in reality. Integration of HR is not there at all.”

On Bauldaf and Company: “The management felt it could do better. In my meetings with unions, they pointed to these three and their huge salaries. So, I looked at their papers and I felt that they hadn't contributed much.”

On Arvind Jadhav: “He is the man well-versed in the subject now. I have not reviewed his performance so far.”

On the state of affairs: “After the merger of Air India and Indian Airlines, no one is happy. Both Air India and Indian Airlines are not happy.”

VAYALAR RAVI , Civil Aviation Minister on the present state-of- affairs in Air India.

CRUISING HEIGHTS April 2011

9

No other airliner can follow it.

Every 62 seconds, an Airbus A330 takes off somewhere in the world. With an established dispatch reliability record of over 99% it’s almost certain to be right on time, helping more than 80 operators worldwide serve over 300 airports with new levels of efficiency and profitability. What’s more, the proven A330 leading edge technologies result in a cash operating cost per seat up to 15% lower than the 777-200ER. One day, maybe all wide-bodies will follow the A330’s lead and be this reliable and cost-effective. Until then, your choice is simple.

The A330. The right aircraft, right now.

Airbus, its logo and the product names are registered trademarks.

airbus.com

7444-AIR-A330Airport_290x410_CruisingHeights.indd 1

21/03/2011 18:08

News digest april.qxd

4/4/2011

11:53 AM

Page 12

NEWS DIGEST

INFRASTRUCTURE

N E WS AAI signs MoU

Civil Aviation Secretary Dr Nasim Zaidi (right) with Airports Authority of India Chairman V P at the MoU signing ceremony.

Civil Aviation Minister Vayalar Ravi

Arvind Jadhav

CRUISING HEIGHTS April 2011

H.C. Tiwari

To boost airline security in the country, passenger aircraft may soon be fitted with covert cameras to capture every

12

ir India has decided to compete by dropping fares on important sector like Delhi-Mumbai even below what is being charged by LCCs such as IndiGo, JetLite, Spice and GoAir — leave alone the full-service carriers such as Jet and Kingfisher. It is rumoured that the consulting firm Deloitte after a re-reading of the financial revamp plan of Air India prepared by SBI Caps suggested that the immediate need of the Maharaja on the domestic route should be to carry more passengers on board and thus show a much — higher load factor.

The fact that Air India has moved down to the fourth position after Jet Airways, Kingfisher and IndiGo in terms of market share has been irritating its management, which has been under fire from various quarters. This has obviously rattled the

A

Covert cameras

Covert camera at one of the foreign airport.

H.C. Tiwari

AAI Chairman V P Agrawal signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Civil Aviation Secretary Dr Nasim Zaidi on March 28 in the presence of other Board Members of AAI. The MoU is aimed at monitoring and enhancing the overall performance of AAI under guidance and assistance of Ministry of Civil Aviation.

The memorandum spells out the targets to be achieved by AAI on key performance areas such as augmentation of capacity of Airports and Air Traffic Services, generating adequate internal resources for financing expansion and modernisation plan, provement of service standards at airports and improvement of operational efficiencies, etc. during the year 2011-12.

Under this MoU, AAI also targets to achieve gross margin of `2227 crores and Customer Satisfaction of at least 80 per cent. In the MoU for 2010-11, AAI is expected to perform strongly and achieve “Excellent” rating.

AIR INDIA: INCREASING LOADS BY DROPPING FARES!

News digest april.qxd

4/4/2011

11:53 AM

Page 14

NEWS DIGEST I N F R A S T R U C T U R E

N E W S

incident on board. This is among a series of measures which the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) have suggested to the Civil Aviation Ministry, sources said, adding that the Ministry is likely to issue an advisory to all airlines to take necessary measures.

The covert cameras could be used to videograph any incident on board, including a hijack or the doings of a disruptive passenger. The recommendation came after an antihijack drill at Delhi’s IGI Airport last month. BCAS, the top body for aviation security in India, also recommended that the ‘incident holding area’, where a plane is taken to park after a securityrelated emergency, should be moved to an isolated part of the Delhi airport, the sources said. Currently, the location of this area is close to the VIP aircraft hangar in the IAF’s Technical Area.

Chennai: No baggage scan

Chennai airport

International passengers at Chennai may no longer need to stand in long queues to scan their baggages before checking in.

The airport is planning to introduce inline baggage screening system that will automatically scan bags that are checked in at airline counters. Trials for the system would start by mid-March. Inline baggage-scanning system is part of a four-layer foolproof security system that will be introduced after trials. Under the system, bags that are checked in will be automatically screened by two X-ray machines on conveyor belts and will be segregated if suspicious items are found.

The isolated bags will be put through a standby scanner and will be moved along the conveyor to a designated area where explosive detector tests will be conducted and passengers will also be summoned to explain the contents.

AI’s B 787 coming by year-end

Boeing recently announced that Air India would receive the delivery of the

14

competing LCCs especially at a time when aviation turbine fuel prices continue to rule high thus severely depressing the yield. Hence, the question arises:How will Air India, which continues to be caught in the vicious circle of high cost, low yields, manage to convert that equation into high yields low cost?

This would have been possible in a dream-like situation where the Maharaja virtually operated in “vacuum”, that is no competition whatsoever. This, however, is not the case and its testimony will be available when the various carriers report Q4 results (January-March) of fiscal 2010-11 and the first quarter results (Q1) during the new financial year beginning April 1, 2011.

While Q4 traditionally ends with a lean patch, Q1 starts as a lean period slowly becoming busy as the holiday season sets in.

What Deloitte reportedly wants Air India to do is like pulling a rabbit out of a hat, a trick that entertains but is far removed from reality. Deloitte has stated that a turnaround of Air India is indeed possible if the state-owned carrier increases its flight occupancy or the load factor from 68 per cent to 75 per cent and that of its low - cost carrier, Air India Express on mainly Gulf and partly South East Asia routes, logs 80 per cent load factor.

All this should enable it to take its market share to 21 per cent. But we know that managing an airline cannot be as simple as a back-of-the-envelope calculation. Some hard decisions will have to be taken and some real envelopes carrying very tough message need to be given to its highlydisoriented employees. This is especially so when the schism between those from Air India and those from Indian continues to remain unbridgeable notwithstanding the Minister of Civil Aviation, Vayalar Ravi, often showing his union-friendly face, no surprise considering he was a fiery trade unionist in his younger days—rather than some real managerial stuff which needs to be put across.

An often-discussed proposal of shifting the engineering staff of the airlines that number nearly 6500 or more comprising both the carriers into a separate business unit and also separately grouping the ground handling staff will lead to a lean and fit airline.

What will be achieved by this will be a typical window dressing as the problems will be shifted from the airline CRUISING HEIGHTS April 2011

per se to the new separate business units, which in any case was part of the original merger plan devised and submitted by Accenture in early 2007 and which led to the uneasy merger.

There is also another deadly rumour that goes to suggest that Air India can come back to life only if it increases its fleet strength from the present 135 by another 115 to 250 aircraft by the year 2015. Can you imagine what will happen to occupancy or load factor given what the airline is showing now?

Perhaps, the Minister might be giving the management a new magic wand which will suddenly materialise passengers inside an empty aircraft thus filling up both the high-yield front end and low-yield middle and back end. Vayalar Ravi informed the Lok Sabha on March 10 that Air India earned `36 crore each day but spent `57 crore or incurred a loss of `21 crore a day.

Buying fuel from state-owned oil marketing companies itself was becoming a struggle. Till February 2011, Air India ran up fuel dues totalling `2280 crore. After it got part of the fund infusion of `1200 crore, it paid `475 crore to the oil companies. It still owed `1900 crore and the bill was once again rising considering fuel prices are up again — and faster this time because of geo-political issues as well as postearthquake and post-tsunami Japan which is now likely to increase its oil imports. And if the advice of Deloitte is taken seriously by dropping fares and increasing aircraft utilization on daily basis, then it is bound to up the fuel bill.

The big question: Will the yields take care of it leaving a margin? Not by present trends at least.

If it only meets the fuel expenses and a little extra to cover other sundries, then Air India may just end up without actually making a difference to its bottomline, which seems to have been knocked out due to many institutionalised reasons. Air India has already accumulated a loss of `15500 crore since merger in 2007 and in the first six months of the fiscal year 201011 it has made a loss of ` 3450 crore. So this loss in the fiscal ending March 31, 2011 is not going to be less than what it made in the previous year. All this notwithstanding a sharp increase in its operating revenues, which, at times, seemed to indicate a cash surplus situation provided all other costs pending and accumulating were kept off calculation for the time being.

News digest april.qxd

4/4/2011

11:54 AM

Page 15

I N F R A S T R U C T U R E

H.C. Tiwari

WHEN WILL AAI GET ITS MONEY BACK?

N E W S

first Boeing 787 in the fourth quarter of 2011. The delivery would be on the heels of the first delivery of the 787 to Air Nippon Airways in the third quarter of 2011.

“India’s expanding aviation industry is among the fastest growing in the world and Boeing will continue its efforts to closely partner Indian carriers in optimizing their growth and competitive advantage.” said Boeing India president Dinesh Keskar, optimistic of India’s aviation growth. “The 787 is a game changer and will give our customers an advantage,” Keskar pointed out. Global firm orders for the Boeing 787 at end of 2010 were 847 airplanes from 57 customers.

Modernisation woes irports Authority of India (AAI) has now become synonymous with providing free services considering the kind of money various airlines owe it.

According to official figures by the end of the financial year 2010-11, the outstanding of all domestic carriers to AAI may well be near `1250 crore to `1300 crore. At the end of January 2011 it had already reached `1122 crore. For instance, Air India owed it `720 crore, Kingfisher Airlines ` 257 crore, Jet Airways `38.49 crore, JetLite `13.96 crore, IndiGo `13.29 crore, SpiceJet `16.99 crore, GoAir `6.77 crore and the virtually-defunct Paramount `4.88 crore. The other small and non-operating airlines owed AAI ` 50.13 crore.

All this money was owed by various airlines for services like parking, landing, navigation and communication facilities. This is indeed a sad story of an organisation which lost its ‘golden hen’ so to speak when it had to give up the Delhi and Mumbai airports and also face closure of its two airports— Begumpet in Hyderabad and the older airport in Bengaluru (then Bangalore) as part of the PPP arrangement introduced by the government in 2004-05.

It was at that time AAI was asked to modernise the Chennai and Kolkata airports as well as the 35 non-metro airports without telling it how it should fund the expansion and modernisation.

A

Notwithstanding the silence on the part of Finance Ministry, it went ahead with its job largely with the help of its internal accruals. Its repeated efforts to get the Finance Ministry to agree to its proposal to raise money through tax-free bonds was rejected. In the latest Union Budget for 2011-12, the Finance Minister spoke of raising `30,000 crore for infrastructure projects through the issuance of tax-free bonds. While it is very clear that a large chunk of it will go to railways and highways, there is yet no clarity on whether AAI will be allowed this opportunity to raise funds for building and modernising its airports.

AAI faces many problems — all enmeshed in the bureaucratic net.

First, its request to raise money through the tax-free instrument is not accepted. Even if accepted it is not conveyed and if it is conveyed, it never gets implemented. Maybe we are exaggerating this part of the fund-raising exercise by AAI. But a reality check will indeed show that it has been a very rough landing for AAI in its flight for attracting funds to modernise the non-metro airports which will certainly see the next expansion of India’s aviation infrastructure.

Should that not happen or happen slowly, we will have people in the government who will say, ‘Let’s do it the Delhi or Mumbai way or better still even the Hyderabad or Bengaluru way’.

CRUISING HEIGHTS April 2011

Expressing their concern again about the displacement of around 80,000 families for the modernisation of Mumbai airport, local Congress MP Priya Dutt and legislator Krishna Hegde have filed their objections against the draft modernisation plan. They want that the rehabilitation be done on the airport land itself by carving out around 33 acres from the existing 160-odd acres of land around the airport. “Around 80,000 houses and 400,000 people are affected by the programme that falls in Priyaji’s parliamentary constituency. Of these, 45,000 houses and over 2.5 lakh people belong to the Vile Parle constituency which I represent,” Hegde said. The Mumbai airport modernisation is an ambitious project, the cost of which is pegged at `9,800 crore and is on since 2006.

Deadlock over embryos The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and Customs authorities are at loggerheads over the export and import of frozen embryos. While the ICMR says its import is legal, the Customs claim there is no such provision in their manual with regard to human embryos.

TRICKY SITUATION: Human embroyos.

15

News digest april.qxd

4/4/2011

11:54 AM

Page 16

NEWS DIGEST I N F R A S T R U C T U R E

N E W S

As a result, they are adamant on not allowing embryos to be imported. In February last year, frozen embryos were seized at the Mumbai airport. Fed up with the red-tapism, IVF experts have written to the ICMR, asking them to send a notification on the same to airports across the country. The Custom authorities had seized nitrogen containers bearing frozen embryos from couples from the US and South Africa at the Mumbai airport after which the city doctors tried sorting out the matter with the Customs. The doctors have cancelled their appointments with the couples abroad who had chosen to send over their frozen embryos, which would then be transplanted into the womb of an Indian surrogate.

Aranmula hangs in balance The fate of the over $ 400 million Greenfield international airport project at Aranmula will be decided in the next

Aranmula airport

few days as the files pertaining to the project are waiting for the final clearance before the Defence Ministry, which had earlier raised serious concern about the project. The Defence Ministry has been objecting to the proposed airport project as the air space of the airport was transgressing the air space of the INS Garuda in Kochi. Although the project has got the required clearance from the Union Ministry of Civil Aviation and other agencies concerned, the developers need to get a clearance from the Defence Ministry to kick-start the construction activities.

Diamond jubilee ready Mangalore awaits the visit of Civil Aviation Minister Vayalar Ravi to the city for inaugurating the Mangalore Airport Diamond Jubilee celebrations that is eagerly awaited by the region.

This is because of an expectation of an announcement declaring the airport an

16

Air India

Kingfisher

GoAir

Indigo

Jet

Jetlite

Paramount

SpiceJet

Already, there is a move to hive because of the limited number of off the Air Traffic Navigation wing profitable airports it controlled. AAI of AAI away from the latter and manages a total of 125 airport, make it a separate body. Ballpark which include 11 international, 8 estimates show that the air traffic customs airports, 81 domestic control and navigation business of airports and 25 civilian enclaves in AAI earns it annually not less than as many defence airports. While the `2300 crore — and that is likely to budget effect of tax-free bonds may go up to `3000 crore very soon — be easy to implement by the but incurs an expenditure of only National Highways Authority of `550 crore. So the solid saving of India (NHAI) and Indian Railway `1800 crore or so goes to AAI as part Finance Corporation (IRFC), one of its internal accrual to not just hopes the option is also available to modernize the ATC facility but also AAI. the airport infrastructure. It has, in However, for that option to be a way, become a double-edged exercised by AAI, it will have to attack on AAI. acquire a company status which At a recent meeting on airports in Mumbai, AAI Chairman V P Agrawal said his organisation was still looking for bonds and loans to bridge a shortfall of ` 1500 crore in his quest to modernise the 35 non-metro airports. We feel it will be very useful should the government force the domestic carriers — mainly Air Lucknow airport India and Kingfisher Airlines — to pay off the AAI dues.

In one shot it will get back atleast can be done only by fulfilling `1000 crore. Notwithstanding the certain legal and regulatory unnecessary and unwanted pressure procedures.

The way the on AAI, the rating agency CRISIL government is floundering on a had in early January 2011 number of economic legislations reaffirmed the rating of AAI at due to the upheaval in Parliament AAA/Stable. on various issues, it may take quite The reaffirmation of long-term a while for AAI to fulfill these stable rating reflected AAI’s robust statutory requirements should it financial risk profile and dominant want to take advantage of the taxmarket position. But part of this free instruments of raising money rating was also offset by the revenue for its airport expansion and concentration risk AAI faced modernisation project.

CRUISING HEIGHTS April 2011

News digest april.qxd

4/4/2011

11:56 AM

Page 18

NEWS DIGEST I N F R A S T R U C T U R E

N E W S

Mangalore airport

11 new airports in Gujarat

Mumbai aims for 48 flights Mumbai’s International Airport Limited (MIAL) is aiming for 48 flights an hour by next year in an effort to add more capacity to the already saturated airport.

If approved, it would mean a few additional flights a day for passengers travelling in and out of Mumbai. Last

18

FDI: MOOLAH FROM MANNA t is, perhaps, for the umpteenth time we are hearing of the Centre considering seriously a proposal to allow foreign airlines to invest in domestic carriers. At a recent meeting organised by the CII, the Secretary, Civil Aviation, Dr Nasim Zaidi, said his ministry had received a request from the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) regarding allowing foreign airlines to investment in India.

“This is under consideration and a decision on this will be taken soon,” he said.

Dr Zaidi told the meeting, which was part of the Indo-EU aviation dialogue and the one that saw a star invitee and speaker Willie Walsh, former CEO of British Airways and now CEO of International Airlines Group (IAG), which runs BA and Iberia. In a pointed reference to the current difficult financial situation faced by the domestic carriers, he said the Ministry of Civil Aviation was well aware of the unfavourable fiscal environment, which, was affecting the very viability of the civil aviation sector in India.

In this context, Dr Zaidi said the sector was further impacted by the recent hike in service tax on all class of Dr Nasim Zaidi travel as also the

I

CRUISING HEIGHTS April 2011

DEBATING CORE ISSUES: Participants during the ‘Indian Aviation Meet’ organised by CII.

refusal to include ATF in the GST (General Sales Tax) regime as and when it gets implemented. All these projections were being made in the face of a very easily attainable traffic target of 180 million by 2015 and 300 million by 2020. Like all, Cruising Heights also understands that this would mean many more aircraft, far more modernised airports and related infrastructure, technical staff — both cabin crew, pilots — training facilities, etc but most importantly money to run the operations.

It is the last of these which has become scarce considering the negative rating the

H.C. Tiwari

The Gujarat government is planning to develop 11 new airports in the state, the assembly was informed recently. The government was planning airports at Dwarka, Ambaji, Palitana, Ankleshwar, Dahej, Morvi, Rajkot, Parsoli, Rajpipla, Dholera and Dholavera. Justifying the reasons for setting up a slew of airports, the government said that the airports at Dwarka, Ambaji and Palitana were being set up to provide air connectivity to these popular pilgrim places. A special economic zone is being developed in Dahej, while Dholera has been declared a special investment region Narendra Modi (SIR). Dholavera in Kutch is a famous archaeological site with evidence of ancient civilisation and an airport here is expected to give boost to tourism. Members were further informed that pre-feasibility study for airports at Dwarka, Ambaji and Palitana were awarded to Airports Authority of India of which the study for Dwarka was already complete.

H.C. Tiwari

“international airport”. The Mangalore airport authorities had been requesting the Centre for funds to enable the extension of the runway. At present, the runway is 8,050-ft long. The runway must be extended by 950 ft more in order to be called “international”. This required filling up a valley, which, along with building the runway, would cost about `300 crore.

CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISINGETHEIGHTS HIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS ight sHEIGHTS he rCRUISING tuffCRUISING ,CRUISING all tHEIGHTS ime HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS HEIGHTS tCRUISING he tCRUISING n o i m , e CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS CRUISING HEIGHTS

Follow us on

CRUISING HEIGHTS

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

@cruisingheights

News digest april.qxd

4/4/2011

11:57 AM

Page 20

NEWS DIGEST I N F R A S T R U C T U R E

N E W S

Mumbai airport

year, the MIAL got UK’s air traffic service provider NATS to study how the capacity of the airport could be increased. NATS made a presentation recently to the Civil Aviation Ministry.

MIAL is taking inspiration from UK’s Gatwick airport, which can do 60 movements per hour using a single runway. MIAL is proposing 48 flight movements an hour. If this proposal is approved by the DGCA, it would take another year to implement. Mumbai has a cross runway 14-32 and simultaneous runway operations occur during the peak hours in the morning and evening. A MIAL spokesperson said currently the airport did around 34 movements an hour on an average, but airport officials said on a day-to-day basis, the number was much higher. “To achieve this, pilots will have to be educated on clearing the runway in the shortest time possible and air traffic controllers will have to undergo additional training.

MIAL will also have to build more rapid exit taxiways,” the official said.

Objections to Metro again Airlines have yet again raised objections to the metro line in Chennai that goes partially underground near the airport.

Representatives of the airline operators raised their concerns at a meeting

Delhi metro rail at one of the station.

attended by Airports Authority of India (AAI) and metro rail officials.

Safety experts and airlines feel that the line should go underground. Sources said that the airline officials raised their

20

Indian aviation sector has been receiving conservative (read trade unionist) Civil from even the most courageous private Aviation Minister Vayalar Ravi in the equity investors. So what is the way out? saddle and his outright commitment to save Get foreign carriers with very deep pockets Air India at any cost, it seems unlikely that to invest in Indian carriers covering both its he will exclude from that cost the inclusion international and as domestic operations? of FDI by foreign carriers in domestic But Dr Zaidi’s observation is Indian carriers. Should that very significant as it comes at a happen, Air India may be time when the earlier political worth not even its real estate. boss of the Ministry of Civil So, when Dr Zaidi made Aviation, Praful Patel, was this reference, it was left to opposed to FDI by foreign Willie Walsh to respond. He carriers in domestic Indian said: “I think there is a carriers. contradiction here. There is a It may be recalled that an high level of tax in India. So, attempt was made about five you can’t expect airlines to years ago to get this issue grow and help fuel further Lalu Prasad Yadav discussed and sorted out in a economic growth and at the GoM (Group of Ministers) meeting that same time impose high levels of tax. That also included political favourites like the is clearly damaging the airlines. So, a then Railway Minister Lalu Yadav who comprehensive call for a more was allegedly batting for some airlines. comprehensive aviation policy is a good That GoM was given a Vision 2020 call. Jet fuel in India is among the most statement which never saw the light of the expensive in the world.” On the issue of day. It spoke of FDI by foreign carriers in FDI, Walsh said that IAG would consider domestic Indian airlines. No one heard of it investing in an Indian carrier if the rules and the UPA closed its first innings and were relaxed. began its second. Nearly two years have If the rules are indeed changed or passed since the UPA came to power for relaxed, a lot of airlines including IAG will the second time. look at whether the opportunity is a good Now this subject of possibly allowing opportunity. “If the rules open for India, I FDI by foreign carriers in Indian airlines will come to India. Even Lufthansa would has once again been raised by the same like to come. For BA, Kingfisher Airlines DIPP (Department of Industrial Policy and is the best fit,” Walsh said. So what is the Promotion) which it did raise in UPA-I as prognosis? Past records suggest, it ought to well. The difference this time is that the be ‘a very dim or pessimistic view’. chief political opponent of the move, that is Reason? One has seen such proposals Praful Patel has moved to the Ministry of come many times in the past and then go at Heavy Industry, which is an a speed that was far more than enclosure for all central public the cruising speed of the most sector—undertakings except the efficient commercial plane. likes of Air India.

For instance, the same Incidentally, it was the Ministry of Civil Aviation leading private carrier Jet never allowed persons of Airways, which totally opposed Indian origin to hold a the entry of foreign carriers into majority stake in a domestic domestic air space riding on the Indian carrier when the FDI wave. The proof was government was considering available in the way Jet to grant voting rights to PIOs; Naresh Goyal sabotaged the entry of SIA in this, when PIOs can hold Tata Airlines nearly 14 years ago. majority stake even in telecom but are no Subsequent attempts were frustrated by it. go in aviation. It may be mentioned here Even the attempt made by pro-FDI carriers that even Naresh Goyal has so far failed to like Kingfisher Airlines and its promoter get his FIPB clearance on allowing him to Dr Vijay Mallya personally during the raise US$ 400 million through private 2006-07 Vision 2020 days was totally shot placement as part of his 80 per cent holding down by the effective lobbying by Naresh in Jet Airways held in the tax haven of the Goyal of Jet Airways.

Isle of Man. This, because it is somehow Now, in the new dispensation in the getting included in the total FDI which is Ministry and UPA-2, Naresh Goyal will limited to 49 per cent. This is what we face the might of new guys like IndiGo’s heard from the grapevine even as Jet Rahul Bhatia and SpiceJet’s Kalanidhi Airways officials did not want to comment Maran besides, of course, Mallya himself. on it. So Zaidis, Walshes, Goyals, Mallyas It seems Dr Zaidi feels emboldened to take are all wanting a piece of the FDI — except up the subject again. However, with a the Indian aviation sector.

CRUISING HEIGHTS April 2011

News digest april.qxd

4/4/2011

11:57 AM

Page 21

www.outlookindia.com

FEW HURDLES LEFT FOR NEW AIRPORT

T

N E W S

concern over the safety of using the secondary runway when a partially underground metro line would be running close to it inside the airport campus. Officials who attended the meeting also suggested a few changes on the alignment of the line to prevent it from affecting the secondary runway and also the main runway. Air safety expert and former pilot Captain A Ranganathan, who attended the meeting, said that the safety concerns would be discussed at the Civil Aviation Safety Council.

India, France ready for cooperation

Navi Mumbai airport

hough the Navi Mumbai International Airport has got environmental clearance, there are several hurdles that remain to be cleared.

Officials from the state government as well as the City and Industrial Development Corporation (CIDCO) are now working to remove any hurdles that may crop up in the process of awarding the work to the bidder.”We are working on removing the problems that may result in us not getting good bids if the project is not very feasible commercially,” said an official involved in the process. The officials held discussions on the issue with financial and legal consultants recently.

The project faces quite a few problems: the civil aviation ministry has not yet decided the distribution of air traffic between Mumbai and the new airport.

There is no fast connectivity to the proposed airport so that people from Mumbai or other adjoining areas can travel to take their flights. The terrain will have unique constraints as a hillock will have to be flattened and some high-tension electricity lines will have to be shifted.

“We will have to find solutions to these problems before we invite bids for the construction of the airport,” the official said. On the brighter side, the officials are happy that airline companies have already started showing interest in the new airport.

“A couple of emerging airlines have got in touch with us expressing their intention to shift base to the Navi Mumbai airport. Some airlines want to divert their flights to Gulf countries to Navi Mumbai,” the official said.

The State government and CIDCO officials have now decided to hold a meeting with representatives of airlines to find out what their requirements will be, including airtime. Besides, a meeting will

I N F R A S T R U C T U R E

be held with the lenders who will be interested in funding the successful bidder.

Meanwhile, the tsunami and earthquake in Japan has prompted the state government to prepare a disaster management plan for the upcoming Navi Mumbai Airport. CIDCO has sent a request to the National Disaster Council to chart out a ‘contingency plan’ and even suggest precautionary measures to deal with any disaster.

The state government is of the opinion that the National Disaster Council would study geological conditions near the airport, assess the risks and potential property damage. “We are taking all possible measures to make an earthquake-resistant airport. We will set up the latest technology and sea equipment to give us tsunami and earthquake warnings. The contingency plan will also include early shifting of people to safe locations and machinery to deal with devastation,” said one of the officials while talking to a daily.

CIDCO has, in fact, decided to start mangroves in 310 hectares at Kamothe and another 60 hectares at Moha creek near the airport. The mangroves will be developed

by Lei, a Florida-based company, to maintain the ecological balance of the area.

Cidco is also keen to separate a 370-hectare area as a ‘no development zone’ that will serve as a buffer zone between the sea and airport in case of a calamity. While the mangroves will obstruct any tsunami waves from touching the airport, planners have been told to keep the height of the airport seven metres above sea level.

TC Benjamin, Principal Secretary, Maharashtra Urban Development Department, was quoted as saying, “Navi Mumbai International Airport will be one of the best airports in the world that will have state-of-the-art facilities.”

CRUISING HEIGHTS April 2011

Vayalar Ravi, Minister of Overseas Indian Affairs and Civil Aviation met Thierry Mariani, French Minister of State for Transport, Ministry of Ecology, Sustainable Development, Transport and Housing to discuss Indo-French civil aviation cooperation issues.

Both sides agreed to move forward on the MoUs signed between the DGCA and AAI and the French side on aviation cooperation and hold the first steering committee meeting soon to lay down the agenda.

New bilateral with Brazil

Union Minister for Overseas Indian Affairs and Civil Aviation, Vayalar Ravi, and the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Brazil, A De A Patriota signing the Air Services Agreement between India and Brazil

Bilateral Air Services Agreement (ASA) between India and Brazil was signed by Vayalar Ravi, Minister of Overseas Indian Affairs and Civil Aviation, and the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Brazil Antonio de Aguiar Patriota, recently.

The new ASA has the potential to spur greater trade investment, tourism and strengthening the cultural exchange between the two countries besides bringing it in tune with the developments in the international civil aviation scenario.

21

ch self add for outlook sub:ch self add one page new 2.qxd

4/1/2011

12:03 PM

Page 2

Please accept my subscription of Cruising Heights

Name___________________________________________________________ Address__________________________________________________________ ____________________City_________________Pin_______________________ Ph. No.______________________e-mail________________________________ Payment

Cash

Cheque

Cheque/DDNo. ___________________________________________________ Drawn on________________________________________________________ Date............................

Signature of Subscriber.....................................

No. of Issues

Newsstand Price

You Pay

You Save

12

.`1080/-

10%

`972/-

24

`2160/-

15%

`1836/-

`324/-

36

`3240/-

20%

`2592/-

`648/-

`108/-

Discount

Only `90/Cheque / DDs should be drawn in favour of

NEWSLINE PUBLICATIONS PVT. LTD. Send your subscription to: Newsline Publications Pvt. Ltd., D-11 Basement, Nizamuddin (East) New Delhi -110 013 Contact : +91-11-41033381-82 e-mail: jaya@newsline.in

India’s best known aviation monthly from Newsline Publications Pvt. Ltd. Get your copy today

News digest april.qxd

4/4/2011

11:57 AM

Page 24

NEWS DIGEST

GLOBAL

N E WS

he story of the Sendai Airport could have gone differently. The scale of destruction following the earthquake and tsunami had nearly caused the Japanese to give up on the airport! Leading the relief and repair work, Robert Eldridge, Deputy Assistant Chief of Staff for the Marine Corps Bases Japan Community, said the work by his team had helped convert the airport from a disaster site to a key entry point for relief supplies such as kerosene to heat hospitals, water and blankets.

“If you were there and you saw it, you would have written it off, too,” Eldridge told journalists. He was among a small group of military officials who first met with Japanese officials to assess the damage just days after the disaster struck. But some initial clearing work by US Special Forces helped encourage the Japanese to mobilize vehicles and cleanup crews, he said. “They did a lot of the heavy work and we provided the spiritual support,” Eldridge said.

This was part of Operation Tomodachi (friend) that focuses on providing humanitarian assistance and disaster relief to the government of Japan. The airport was almost 100 per cent cleaned by airport staff, local residents of Miyagi Prefecture where the airport is located.

Capt. Joseph Booker, of the 320th Special Tactics Squadron out of Kadena Air Base on Okinawa, was among the first team of Air Force Special Forces that arrived at the airport on March 16.

“The Japanese had actually written this airport off,” Booker said. “There were cars scattered everywhere just like the satellite imagery indicated.” Within about three hours, the squadron had cleared 5,000 feet of runway, enough for C-130s to land, he said. By the end of the week, the Air Force was landing the larger C-17 Globemasters at the Sendai Airport.

“Immediately upon getting here we started clearing cars and it fired up the airport staff to start working,” said Col. Craig Kozeniesky, Commander of the Combined Arms Training Center and now head of the cleanup effort at the airport. Now, the terminal area is cleared and the long-term parking area

T

24

Recasting Sendai !

CRUISING HEIGHTS April 2011

News digest april.qxd

4/4/2011

11:58 AM

Page 25

G L O B A L

N E W S

AT THE HELM OF NATURE’S FURY: Snapshots of the Sendai airport which was devastated during the recent Tsunami occurred in Japan.

is about 80 per cent clear, Kozeniesky told reporters.

There are about 107,000 people living in Miyagi shelters where food and other supplies often run short, according to the prefecture government. Tens of thousands more still live in areas partially destroyed by the massive waves that struck the coast here, killing 5,889. Meanwhile, 19 makeshift morgues have sprung up across the prefecture to hold the 744 unclaimed bodies found in the disaster zones, the prefecture said.

Supplies brought in through Sendai Airport have reached victims in the area, mostly after being distributed by Japanese authorities. The arrangement has kept many service members from the face-to-face relief work they hoped for.

The fall and rise of Sendai brings hopes to Japanese in Miyagi who bore the worst of the tsunami wrath.

CRUISING HEIGHTS April 2011

25

Found G H.qxd

4/4/2011

11:23 AM

Page 2

FOCUS he new Ground Handling Policy (GHP), which was announced in 2007 and had been missing the deadline each succeeding year due to opposition from scheduled domestic carriers, has finally been implemented (April 1). The government has instructed all airport operators to gear up for implementation of the policy, which was formulated in 2007 to enhance safety and security. After being deferred three times, the DGCA had notified in June 2010 that the new GHP was likely to be implemented in January 2011.

Then the Federation of Indian Aviation (FIA) obtained a stay from the High Court against the policy that has been finally vacated by the Court . The court upheld a Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) decision restricting airlines like Jet Airways, Kingfisher and IndiGo from activities like baggage handling, cargo scanning, taxing, refueling and cleaning of the aircraft among others. Private airlines, however, have approached the Supreme Court and the matter is to be heard on April 4.

As per the policy, it was decided that

T

As per the policy, it was decided that in the six metro airports — Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Hyderabad and Bengaluru — none of the domestic airline operators would be allowed to do self-handling

in the six metro airports — Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Hyderabad and Bengaluru — none of the domestic airline operators would be allowed to do selfhandling. The Union Cabinet and the Cabinet Committee on Security, while granting approval to the new Ground Handling Policy, had laid down that there would be three specialist ground handling companies in each of the six airports, namely Air India and its JV partner (foreign ground-handling company with lot of expertise in the field), the airport operator-led JV and a third independent company, which would provide ground support services, subject to that JV winning the bid in the respective airport falling in the category of the six metro airports.

As for the existing Kolkata and Chennai airports, since state-owned Airports Authority of India (AAI) has been retained as the operator, it selected Messrs Bhadra International, as its partner, based on revenue-sharing bids. Bhadra International will provide ground-handling services in Chennai and Kolkata. Besides, there will be Air India and its JV partner and another

GHP finally in place After a series of hiccups — almost one every year — the much-publicised Ground Handling Policy will be seen in operation. R Krishnan wonders what the future scenario could be…

26

CRUISING HEIGHTS April 2011

Found G H.qxd

4/4/2011

11:23 AM

Page 3

third independent ground- handling operator as in the other four metro airports mentioned above.

When the deadline was approaching to implement the ground-handling policy from January 1, 2011, the Federation of Indian Airlines (FIA) approached the Delhi High Court in December 2010, seeking the declaration of the new ground-handling policy, as null and void, as its implementation would hamper the airlines' business interest.

The airlines have maintained that such restriction would affect their ability to distinguish themselves from rivals and render ground-handling equipment worth hundreds of crores useless. The Civil Aviation Ministry had formulated the new groundhandling policy based on the security concerns in the face of terror attacks. The policy, however, could not be implemented as airlines lobbied against it and argued that it would add to the cost of already bleeding industry.

The FIA, whose membership included all the domestic carriers, contended that member airlines could efficiently manage their ground-handling services of their aircraft as at present. Moreover, the airlines will also be forced to retrench nearly 30,000 workers, who are associated with groundhandling work, on behalf of these carriers all over India.

However, Air India, which is also a member of FIA, kept out of this challenge, as it was a major beneficiary of the new ground-handling policy, as it would help in enriching its exclusive ground support division.

Currently, the airlines do self-handling like general administration, baggage, freight and mail handling, loading and unloading of aircraft, crew, passenger and baggage and fuel handling besides catering services. According to official sources, the domestic carriers had earlier promised that they would go along with the new ground-handling policy after it was stalled earlier and that was the reason for the DGCA to notify that the new policy would become effective from January, 2011.

Instead the airlines chose to challenge the new policy in the Delhi High Court.

Airlines, on the other hand, had a legitimate fear that handing over their groundhandling functions to independent companies, would take away airlines' control over their cost, efficiency, scalability, and management of ground- support activities.

The centre, on the other hand, feared that allowing too many personnel on the airport tarmac and other restricted/technical areas could pose serious security risk.

Even as this debate continued, the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS)

STRONG GUARD: CISF provides all the security-related functions in all the airports.

A bigger fallout of this policy implementation may be the fate of the so-called or estimated 30,000 ground support division workers, who are working in various airports on behalf of the private airlines CRUISING HEIGHTS April 2011

had written to the Ministry of Civil Aviation much before the airlines sought judicial intervention that it wanted the airlines not to provide ground-handling services and in this context listed at least 13 security-related functions, which included access to aircraft, screening of baggage and security search at various airport points to be provided by official agencies.

As all know, the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), in all the airports in the country, provides all the security-related functions.

A bigger fallout of this policy implementation may be the fate of the so-called or estimated 30,000 ground support division workers, who are working in various airports on behalf of the private airlines.

The Executive Director, Bird Group, Ankur Bhatia in an earlier interview had said : "The fear of the airlines that their staff will lose jobs, was unfounded, as they will be absorbed by the new groundhandling companies, which will be doing exactly their job."

Incidentally, Bhatia has got his own venture, Ground Global, which is already in one of the metros. However, if people lose jobs because of the new policy, what will the new Civil Aviation Minister Vayalar Ravi, a self-confessed trade unionist, say? Soon after taking over, he said, he was a trade unionist and would ensure that the public sector Air India would be nursed back to health. Will his trade unionism begin and end with state- owned enterprises or will it be, in line with workers anywhere or workers everywhere?

There is also the `chaos` factor that airlines constantly talk about to move the goal posts. Their argument is that the nominated ground handles won't be able to do the job. But if they are able to do the same thing across the globe, why not „ in India?

27

Off the Record

april.qxd

4/4/2011

12:06 PM

Page 10

SHORT TAKES MALAYSIAN LAUNCHES FACEBOOK SALES The ‘MHbuddy’ application allows users to book their flights, select their seats and check-in via Facebook. Malaysia Airlines has launched an innovative Facebook platform that allows passengers to book and check-in for their flight via the social media website. Known as ‘MHbuddy’, the platform has been developed alongside SITA Lab and also allows users to share their trip details with their Facebook ‘Friends’.

BOEING TO MISS 787 PERFORMANCE SPEC: ALBAUGH Boeing Commercial Airplanes CEO Jim Albaugh, for the first time, has acknowledged that the 787 will miss its intended performance specifications, though the majority composite jet will still meet the mission requirements of its customers.”I’ll be the first to admit that we’re Jim Albaugh not going to meet the spec, but I think we’ll be able to meet what our guarantees are,” said Albaugh at the International Society of Transport Aircraft Trading (ISTAT) conference in Scottsdale, Arizona. Boeing’s current spec calls for the aircraft to fly 14,200 km to 15,200 km (7,650 nm to 8,200 nm) range at maximum takeoff weight (MTOW) of 227,930 kg (502,500 lb) with 242 passengers in a three-class configuration.

28

BOEING 787 ON TRACK FOR Q3 DELIVERY Boeing is on track to deliver the long-delayed 787 Dreamliner to its first customer in the third quarter, the head of the 787 programme said recently. Speaking to reporters at Boeing’s San Antonio site, Scott Fancher said he could not attribute any cancelled 787 orders to delays that have put the programme nearly three years behind schedule.”Our first deliveries to our customers are on track for the third quarter,” Fancher said.

With the latest iteration of its 787 schedule, Boeing aims to hand over the first aircraft to Japan’s All Nippon Airways in late July, the first of 20 planned for delivery in 2011, according to several sources familiar with the new plan.

While Boeing won’t confirm the late July guidance, that target remains in line with an “early summer” completion of flight test activities. Industry officials said previously the carrier had been provided a September guidance by Boeing for its first delivery following the November 2010 fire that prompted an additional six-month delay in first delivery, though the latest schedule reflects a more optimistic target for first delivery.

AIRBUS COMPLETES A400M FATIGUE TESTS

AIR INDIA TO FLOAT TENDER FOR BOEING 787S

MANGALORE AIR CRASH CASE GOES TO THE HAGUE

Airbus Military has successfully completed the number of required simulated flight-cycles on a full scale test airframe to achieve civil type certification of the A400M by the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA). The test programme is required to simulate flights at least one year ahead of the actual operations performed by the aircraft. The test specimen at Dresden, known as MSN5001, has undergone 1,665 cycles, about five times the maximum number of flights expected to be recorded annually by each A400M in service. By mid-2012, 25,000 simulated flights will be performed — equating to 2.5 times the A400M´s design-life.

State-run Air India Ltd will start the process of financing seven Boeing Co. 787 Dreamliners by floating a request for proposal for about $850 million (`3,842 crore) in April. Air India’s seven Dreamliners are tentatively scheduled to be delivered between October and March next fiscal, according to two people familiar with the matter. The carrier has a total of 27 on order. Boeing has been unable to deliver the aircraft on time because of technical issues, causing delays of up to three years. The airline wants to test both financing options to see if either one or a mix of both will be less burdensome on its much-constrained cash flow.

Nearly a year after the Dubai-Mangalore Air India Express IX 812 crash in Bajpe that killed 159 passengers, the families of victims have decided to approach the international court for getting ‘the right compensation’ from Air India. The families of the victims have jointly hired a Swedish advocate Stephen Ericson, a well-known authority in aviation accident. The president of the Air India Crash Victims’ Families Association Mohammad Beary said the compensation arbitrated by Mulla and Mulla company of Mumbai was not more than `50 lakh whereas the international norms recommends it closer to `1 crore. The compensation has to be paid in accordance with the Montreal Convention.

CRUISING HEIGHTS April 2011

Off the Record

april.qxd

4/4/2011

12:07 PM

Page 11

BOMBARDIER EXPECTS AT LEAST 300 CSERIES ORDERS BY EIS: SCOTT Bombardier says it will have secured some 300 orders for the CSeries by the time the new twinjet enters into service in 2013. Speaking recently at the International Society of Transport Aircraft Trading (ISTAT) conference in Scottsdale, Arizona, Bombardier Commercial Aircraft President Gary Scott said: “Rest assured that we will add significantly to our current numbers this year and we will begin to add to these numbers soon. “I am confident that we will have at a minimum the same number of orders that the [Airbus] A320 had when it went into service.” Scott said Airbus had orders for 300 A320s when the aircraft entered service.

Bombardier’s CSeries portfolio includes the 110-seat CS100 Gary Scott and the 130-seat CS300, which in highest-density configuration can seat 149 passengers. To date the Canadian airframer has secured firm orders for 90 CSeries plus 90 options with a total three customers.

BOMBARDIER CELEBRATES ANOTHER MILESTONE Bombardier Aerospace celebrated the 1,000th Dash 8/Q-Series aircraft — a Q400 NextGen airliner, delivered to Pinnacle Airlines — and the 400th Global business jet in a commemorative ceremony at the company’s Toronto facility where the aircraft are manufactured. The historic event was attended by aviation stalwarts, provincial and federal governments, customers, suppliers, media, company leaders, retirees and the almost 4,000-strong workforce at the Toronto site.”As we celebrate the 1000th Dash 8/QSeries aircraft and the 400th Global business jet, we are reminded of the long heritage of Bombardier’s Toronto site,” said Steve Ridolfi, President, Bombardier Business Aircraft.

Steve Ridolfi “These milestone aircraft are part of a more than 80-year tradition of excellent technological achievement in Ontario.”

AA11: HARBIN FUTURE ROLE IN EMBRAER JETS IS STILL IN DOUBT Embraer has yet to receive a decision from the Chinese government on the fate of its Harbin assembly plant, with months to go before the facility is due to produce its last ERJ 145.The Brazilian manufacturer had proposed to the to begin producing E190s at the Harbin plant after it manufactures the last ERJ 145 in 2011. But there is still no final position from the Chinese government.

GE’S 30-YEAR-DEAL WITH HAL GE Aviation and Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) have signed a 30-year contract that covers the license to carry out repairs and overhaul of various avionics, instruments and hydraulic products for the Hawk Mk132 aircraft, an advanced jet trainer operated by the Indian Air Force. This license will provide in-house repair and overhaul capabilities to Hindustan Aeronautics for GE Aviation products and reduce turnaround time for repairs, according to GE Aviation.

Hindustan Aeronautics will build its maintenance, Nalin Jain repair and overhaul capabilities at its Bengaluru and Korwa facilities in India. The current schedule calls for the Bengaluru facility to be certified for repair and overhaul of hydraulics and instruments and the Korwa facility to be certified for avionics. “Hindustan Aeronautics has more than 70 years of providing high quality manufacturing, research and development, and repair and overhaul services in India,” said Nalin Jain, Country Director for GE Aviation. “Adding overhaul for avionics, instruments and hydraulic products is the perfect expansion of Hindustan Aeronautics’ capabilities.” As part of the license agreement, GE will develop, supply and commission the test equipment and supply technical data.

FAA ORDERS REMOVAL OF OXYGEN TANKS FROM BATHROOMS

AIRLINES AND EU CO2-TRADING SYSTEM

AMERICAN AIRLINES SELF-SERVICE TAGGING

In what officials say was a security move, all US airlines were secretly given orders by the Federal Aviation Administration to de-activate or remove oxygen masks from all airplane bathrooms within 21 days under an Air Worthiness Directive issued in February.

All 6,000 US aircraft completed the transition by March 4, the FAA said. The agency said it decided not to make the issue public due to the possibility that someone could use the information to cause harm to passengers. “The action was done proactively in response not to a specific threat so that a terrorist could use the lavatory oxygen to start a fire or ignite a bomb”, an FAA official told.

Airlines will be the second-largest sector in the European Union’s emissions-trading system, after power generators, when aviation joins next year with a carbon dioxide limit of 213 million metric tons.

The industrywide cap on airlines aimed at fighting global warming will fall to 208.5 million tons of CO2 a year in 2013 under the decision taken by the European Commission, the EU’s regulatory arm in Brussels. The inclusion of aviation in the cap-and-trade system may push up fares.

Roundtrip air fares within Europe may rise between 1.80 euros ($2.52) and 9 euros, the commission said. A roundtrip flight from Brussels to New York at current carbon prices of around 15 euros could cost an additional 12 euros.

Travellers flying with American Airlines at select airports will now be able to tag their own bags at self-service kiosks. Domestic airlines in the US began testing the self-service bag tagging last November. American Airlines is the first airline to allow passengers to tag their own bags in the US, but Delta Air Lines and Air Canada also plan to implement the service. Internationally, selfservice bag tagging is done at 35 airports. The six-month trial by American will allow passengers to print and tag their own luggage without direct supervision by an airline employee. Ticket agents will still check passenger IDs and place bags on the conveyor belt.

CRUISING HEIGHTS April 2011

29

Libya.qxd

4/4/2011

11:44 AM

Page 2

SPECIAL REPORT

TRIPOLI EXPRESS The Maharaja stood by his subjects — as always — in their time of distress.

First, it was Egypt and this time around it was Libya. The complex operation to airlift nearly 12,000 Indians stranded in Libya was not without complications but Air India and all the arms of the government got together to complete the task.

Nine of our nationals crossed into Egypt from Libya (Benghazi) at Salloum land border Sunday evening. Being assisted by our Cairo Embassy. @sharma_rashmi please tell your father that we are committed to getting our people out of Sirte safely.

Scotia Prince is on way to Benghazi on second trip to pick up our nationals. Another ship Red Star 1 sailing to Misurata docking tomorrow.

Three flts from Tripoli, one Jumbo from Sehba and one from Djerba (Tunisia) tonite.

Ambassador informs that people from Sirte being brought to Tripoli to be flown home. Libyan government providing security.

For those of you who have no idea of what the above-mentioned mumbo jumbo is, here is the answer: these are random

It was a remarkable operation in more senses than one.

For starters, the coordination between the different wings of the government had to be seen to be believed.

tweets from the Foreign Secretary (@ForeignSecNRao Nirupama Rao) during the height of the Libyan evacuation operation.

It was a remarkable operation in more senses than one. For starters, the coordination between the different wings of the government had to be seen to be believed.

There was the MEA (Ministry of External Affairs) and the Ministry of Civil Aviation that literally pulled out all stops to make sure that the flights got into Libya as scheduled. And in a pleasant coincidence, it is Civil Aviation Minister Vayalar Ravi who is also the Minister for Overseas Indians.

While the MEA was coordinating the evacuation of Indians from Libya, the Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs was looking into their “onward journey” from Delhi airport to their hometowns. “I have told officials to treat this as a national emergency, and inter-ministerial coordination with the states has been quite good,” A

“We will keep doing our very best to evacuate as many Indians as possible. We are closely watching the developments depending on how the situation develops.”

“The Navy has sent its warships. The IAF is also ready (with its aircraft).

Whether it is (for) Libya or other countries, if the government wants their services, they can also be sent.”

“Air India, which has special permission to land in Tripoli, is operating flights directly to and from the Libyan capital where 8,000-10,000 Indians are based.”

— Vayalar Ravi

— S M Krishna

EXTERNAL AFFAIRS MINISTER

30

— A K Antony

DEFENCE MINISTER

CRUISING HEIGHTS April 2011

OVERSEAS INDIAN AFFAIRS AND CIVIL AVIATION MINISTER

Libya.qxd

4/4/2011

11:46 AM

Page 3

www.pravasitoday.in

COMING HOME AT DELHI MALTA

TRIPOLI

SIRT LIBYA

ALEXANDRIA

Graphic: Ruchi Sinha

DJERBA DELHI

SABHA MUMBAI z Map is not according to scale

FLEEING THE CIVIL WAR

Didar Singh, Secretary in the Overseas Indian Affairs Ministry, told reporters during the operation and added that there hadn't been “any turf wars”.

There were considerable complications in spite of all this. India doesn't have an ASA (Air Services Agreement) with Libya that would allow for bilateral movement of flights between the two countries. So, the Indian embassy in Tripoli had to literally sweat it out on a day-to-day basis obtaining permission for our aircraft to get into Tripoli. Here, the Libyans were categorical: No flights except from the national carrier, Air India. And in the end it was the Maharaja who did the bulk of the flights using both the A 330s and the 777 and 747-400.

Clearances were also sought from Libyan authorities to land flights even in the interiors of the country. The Libyan government okayed the evacuation flights to land at Sehba, which is in the interior of the country where at least 1,000 Indians were stranded. Evacuation by aircraft was the only option as Libya does not have a rail network and travel by road was not considered to be safe.

For the first time, the Ministry also

www.allvoices.com

www.vodafone4.itn.co.uk

MUMBAI RECEIVES INDIANS FROM LIBYA

“Given the numbers involved, we had to make foolproof arrangements.

One has to look into what India’s needs are, and how arrangements are working satisfactorily.”

— Nirupama Rao

FOREIGN SECRETARY

CRUISING HEIGHTS April 2011

had the private carriers operate to get our citizens back from Libya. Apart from Jet Airways, there was also Kingfisher — mounting flights to Malta and Alexandria.

Soon after 26/11, the government had issued a notification clarifying its intent to take over an aircraft in case of an emergency. The private carriers, aware of the government mandate, quietly fell in line, although it took them a few days to get several permissions including insurance approvals, etc.

According to reports, Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao called up her Pakistan counterpart Salman Bashir for “overflight clearance” for the special flights from Tripoli. The Pakistan Foreign Secretary is believed to have got back “within minutes” with approvals from his government. Though there are set mechanisms for overflight clearances, the conversation took place at a higher level since these were “unscheduled flights”, officials said. It was the perfect example of cooperation at every level.

Also, a reflection that Air India, all said and done is the work horse of the country. Tirelessly it flew close to 200 sorties to Libya and days later got into operational mode for Japan. It only goes to show that the Maharaja has it in him, if

only it can be on a regular basis.

31

cover story april.qxd

4/4/2011

11:13 AM

Page 32

COVER STORY

FUEL COSTS HAVE SUDDENLY CHANGED THE EQUATION WORLDWIDE FOR ALL AIRLINES — COURTESY THE UNREST IN THE MIDDLE EAST — AS THEY SCRAMBLE TO RELOOK THEIR PROFITABILITY. HOWEVER, IT IS NOT MERELY THE PRICE OF FUEL THAT IS SENDING AIRFARES SKYWARDS. IN SUCH CIRCUMSTANCES, CAN CARRIERS INCREASE THEIR FLEET SIZE, CONSOLIDATE THEIR LOADS, KEEP THE PRICES COMPETITIVE AND STILL BE IN THE BLACK? R KRISHNAN ANALYSES THE PRESENT SCENARIO WITH PARTICULAR REFERENCE TO THE SUBCONTINENT.

132.8 -

132.8 -

132.8 -

132.8 -

132.8 -

132.8 32

2000

2001

2002

2003

CRUISING HEIGHTS April 2011

2004

2005

2006

2007

cover story april.qxd

4/4/2011

11:14 AM

Page 33

ON THE MAT WITH AND

GADDAFI

10-year

commodity price chart for Crude oil

TSUNAMI

ising aviation turbine fuel or jet fuel prices are expected to not only impact the operating margins of airlines in the fourth quarter (Q4) of the current fiscal 2010-11 ending March 31, 2011, but may extend to the first quarter of the new fiscal 2011-12 beginning April 1, 2011, considering the grand plans of Indian carriers to expand their fleet, which they shelved more than two years ago, following the economic meltdown worldwide.

ATF prices in mid-March 2011 were 15 per cent higher than what they were at the end of Q2 or September 2010. This hike has itself squeezed the operating margins of the airlines further considering that fuel prices account now for nearly 43 per cent of the operating cost of the carriers. In contrast, the international carriers have also faced fuel price hike; though much less — no one can beat Indian state governments that impose unreasonably high sales tax on ATF, besides, of course, the central imposts — thus far and fuel as part of the overall cost accounted for only 20 per cent of their operating cost. Already international carriers have begun to increase the fuel surcharge on fares charged by them. In fact, some have done so twice over.

If one looked at the emerging global aviation scenario, IATA has already stated that the earlier expected profitability of all carriers for the calendar year 2011 will now be a shade lower due to rising fuel prices. For instance, the Brent Crude has touched $ 113 a barrel and Nymex at $ 100 per barrel following the unrest in the Middle East leading to a squeeze on oil supplies. OPEC has stated that its other members have more than made up for the loss on account of Libyan crude supply shortfall and others. Hence, there should not be such a hike in crude prices.

R

z

$/bbl

Units: U.S. dollars per barrel Compiled by mongabay.com using figures from World Bank Commodity Price Data.

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

CRUISING HEIGHTS April 2011

33

cover story april.qxd

4/4/2011

11:14 AM

Page 34

COVER STORY But it is precisely here that the speculators have taken over, OPEC feels.

Whatever the reason, the fact remains that oil prices are rising and continue to do so. It may be pointed out here that while there is a future market for crude oil, there is no such thing for jet fuel and airlines are, therefore, forced to hedge their future in terms of the crude basket.

It is here that we find many of the global carriers have begun to hedge fuel prices at $ 100 per barrel and also at the same time impose newer and higher fuel surcharges on passengers. That all of this is happening at a time when the global economy itself began to recover and post higher growth following nearly two and a half years of recession is seriously a matter of concern.

Even the US economy is slowly expanding. There is a fear that the growing world economy may in its wake bring about an increase in demand for oil and could well result in higher prices.

There is a fear that the growing world economy may in its wake bring about an increase in demand for oil and could well result in higher prices.

FINANCIAL HEALTH OF AIRLINES Indian lenders are aiming to closely monitor the health of the country’s airlines, some of which are being bailed out by banks with debt recast programmes, to make sure costs don’t go out of control as jet fuel prices surge, owing to instability in West Asia. Banks may set up a committee to assess the impact of rising oil prices on the ability of the carriers to service this restructured debt, according to the executive director of a large public sector bank that has a substantial exposure to airlines, and other banking officials.

The tough stance of the banks may affect the plans of the Vijay Mallya-controlled Kingfisher Airlines and state-run Air India to raise working capital loans.

SBI Capital Markets Ltd was mandated to restructure part of the debt of both the carriers. While Kingfisher Airlines’ debt has been restructured, Air India is currently undergoing the process. There is no indication that Air India’s debt recast process has been interrupted because of the oil price surge, said another executive of a public sector bank that has lent to the airline industry. “The banks will (now) have to factor in the fluctuations of oil prices,” he said, declining to be named.

Mallya said the Libya unrest was a temporary phenomenon and an unnatural event. Last year, the country’s biggest lender, State Bank of India, and its con-

sortium partners, secured Reserve Bank of India’s approval for a proposal to restructure a loan of around `2,000 crore given to Kingfisher Airlines. Mallya said his airline was not in need of cash as planes were full and fuel price increases were being borne by passengers.

With the spectre of loan defaults looming once again owing to costs shooting up, banks may be wary of giving further working capital loans to airlines. The prospect of this tightening may force the carriers to pass on higher fuel prices in the form of an increased fuel surcharge, making travel costlier.

What next and what then?

DISTRESSING TIMES: Ahead of rising jet fuel prices, Vijay Mallya will be looking for more debt and equity infusion in the Kingfisher airlines.

34

CRUISING HEIGHTS April 2011

Though as a thumb rule, the aviation industry was prepared for average crude prices of $ 90 per cent barrel to remain stable and also continue its expansion in terms of both newer aircraft induction and newer destinations, the disproportionate increase in fuel prices has put a spanner in such plans. The case of India cannot be an exception considering the fact that while globally jet fuel accounted for now 22 per cent of airline expenses, it was much higher in India at 43 per cent.

Thus, the squeeze on Indian carriers will be even more. Let us first look at the international experience. According to Qantas CEO Alan Joyce, as quoted by the international press, fuel prices are a major issue and crude oil prices are trading at the highest level since the global financial crisis. Not just Qantas but BA and SIA among others have hiked fuel surcharges. As per oil futures, the fuel prices by mid-2011 are likely to be 20 per cent higher than what they were in February 2011. The price of Singapore jet fuel rose from $ 88 per barrel in September 2010 to $ 110 in January 2011 and rose to $ 120 in February 2011. A 20 per cent increase would mean a price of $ 144 a level simply not sustainable for the most profitable airline in the world without a severe passenger penalty (a comparison we are making in terms of payload penalty).

As per IATA, the January 2011 fuel prices were 33 per cent higher than what they were in January 2010. This forced IATA to re-forecast the profitability figures of global airlines. For instance, in December 2010, it forecast the world’s airlines to have combined profits of US$ 9.1 billion in 2011. The rising fuel prices

cover story april.qxd

4/4/2011

11:15 AM

Page 35

RESPITE FOR AI

GEARING UP: Air India would also feel the pinch of escalating oil prices.

and unrest in some areas of world have led to increase in geopolitical risk premium. The optimism of 2010 had led to capacity coming back at a faster pace and posting a potential threat to profitability.

This was evident from falling load factors in the past few months as it undermined the ability to recoup fuel cost. The financial markets feel that the airline business is the most exposed sector.

According to IATA, during 2010 passenger yields and fares continued to rise despite softening of load factors. But if load factors continue to fall then it could lead to a different scenario. According to forecasts made by aircraft manufacturers and also their delivery schedules, the current calendar year 2011 may see induction of 1400 jets and turboprops.

The average monthly deliveries of new aircraft may rise sharply from 100 in 2010 to 120 this year. Coming back to the issue of profitability, IATA downgraded its airline industry outlook for 2011 to US$ 8.6 billion from US$ 9.1 billion it estimated in December 2010.

This is a 46 per cent fall in net profits compared to US$ 16 billion earned by the industry in 2010.

On expected industry revenues of US$ 594 billion, the projected profit of US$ 8.6 billion in 2011 equated to net profit margin of 1.4 per cent only.

Growing economies give airlines an opportunity to recover some of the added costs with additional revenues.

For example, it said since early 2009 rising oil prices added 25 per cent to unit costs while average fares excluding surcharges rose 20 per cent. But in 2011, higher revenues are not expected to be sufficient to prevent the rise in oil prices from causing profits to shrink by 46 per

According to IATA, during 2010 passenger yields and fares continued to rise despite softening of load factors.

But if load factors continue to fall then it could lead to a different scenario.

CRUISING HEIGHTS April 2011

Air India heaved a sigh of relief as the government asked oil companies, which had threatened to stop jet fuel supplies to it from March end for not clearing dues worth `2,400 crore, to defer their deadline by a month. The decision to ask the oil companies to defer the March 29 deadline by another month was taken at a meeting of a Committee of Secretaries, chaired by Cabinet Secretary K M Chandrasekhar. The meeting was attended among others by Civil Aviation Secretary Nasim Zaidi, Air India CMD Arvind Jadhav and officials from the Ministries of Petroleum, Defence and External Affairs.

While Air India has been paying a whopping sum of `13.5 crore a day for all its aircraft to fill jet fuel, the oil companies have been seeking a hike of Rs 5 crore per day due to the rising crude prices. Air India CMD Arvind Jadhav is understood to have made a presentation at the meeting, giving the detailed financial position of the airline as well as making a case for discounts for paying cash upfront to pick up fuel.

Another issue which is understood to have come up for discussion was the payment of dues of about `450 crore by the government to the ailing national carrier. While Rs 344 crore is owed to Air India by the Prime Minister’s Office and the Ministries of Defence and External Affairs, the airline should be getting another `106 crore from the government on account of relief and evacuation flights like those recently mounted to Libya.

The issue of these payments would also be worked out soon to provide some relief to the airline, sources said. Air India is already burdened with a debt of `40,000 crore and is grappling hard to mop up funds to keep the company afloat.

35

cover story april.qxd

4/4/2011

11:16 AM

Page 36

COVER STORY

POLITICAL UNREST IN THE MIDDLE EAST HAS SENT OIL OVER $100 PER BARREL. THAT IS SIGNIFICANTLY HIGHER THAN THE $84 PER BARREL THAT WAS THE ASSUMPTION IN DECEMBER. AT THE SAME TIME THE GLOBAL ECONOMY IS NOW FORECAST TO GROW BY 3.1 PER CENT THIS YEAR — A FULL 0.5 PERCENTAGE POINT BETTER THAN PREDICTED JUST THREE MONTHS AGO. BUT STRONGER REVENUES WILL PROVIDE ONLY A PARTIAL OFFSET TO HIGHER COSTS. PROFITS WILL BE CUT IN HALF COMPARED TO LAST YEAR AND MARGINS ARE A PATHETIC 1.4 PER CENT

KINGFISHER IS PASSING ON THE INCREASE IN FUEL CHARGES THROUGH THE CONSUMERS, VIA THE FUEL SURCHARGE AND I SUSPECT MOST AIRLINES ARE DOING THE SAME. IT IS SUFFICIENT YES, AND THE GOOD NEWS IS KINGFISHER HAS NOT SEEN ANY REDUCTION IN LOAD FACTORS DESPITE THIS INCREASE IN THE FUEL SURCHARGE

IT IS NOT FARES THAT WE ARE HIKING, IT IS THE FUEL SURCHARGE THAT NEEDS TO BE ADJUSTED. AS THE COST SPIKES THE WAY IT IS SPIKING WE HAVE NO CHOICE BUT TO PASS ON THAT SPIKING COST TO THE CONSUMERS

GIOVANNI BISIGNANI,

VIJAY MALLYA,

CCO, Jet Airways

IATA’s Director General and CEO

cent compared to 2010 levels.

Even as the world was coming to grips with the Middle East unrest, the recent earthquake followed by tsunami in Japan and a potential threat of the destabilisation of its nuclear power plants have sent a new shockwave across the globe. Should there be a serious crisis in nuclear power generation, there is every possibility that Japan may step in to buy larger quantity of crude and thus push up prices, which, as is known, have already been boosted by the rising consumption in India and China.

So we have a situation where there is a bit of choking of oil supplies because of the Middle East unrest, larger play by global oil speculators notwithstanding the efforts of Saudi Arabia and others to pump out more oil, a possible rise in consumption from Japan as also others could keep oil prices on an average much higher than what it was throughout 2010.

Chairman, Kingfisher Airlines

Should the oil prices even hover around US$ 110 per barrel, it could certainly mean much higher jet fuel derivative prices and, therefore, make air travel even more expensive.

ADDING FUEL TO FIRE: The ongoing political unrest in Libya has a major ramification on oil prices.

36

SUDHEER RAGHAVAN,

CRUISING HEIGHTS April 2011

Should the oil prices even hover around US$ 110 per barrel, it could certainly mean much higher jet fuel derivative prices and, therefore, make air travel even more expensive because of the consequent imposition of fresh and higher fuel surcharges.

As far as the domestic aviation scene is concerned there are different voices on how to deal with rising jet fuel prices and what could happen eventually.

According to Samyukt Sridharan, COO of SpiceJet, the LCC will lease seven Boeing 737-800s in 2012 and another eight in 2013. These will be on top of seven Boeing 737-800s it will induct in 2011 that may or may not include the proposed induction of at least four 70seater Q400 Bombardier turbo-jets for its regional operations. The 15 Q 400s will join the Spice fleet between June 2011 and June 2012, after which will come its Boeing 737s and beginning 2014 it will start inducting the justordered 30 Boeing 737-800s.

All these decisions were taken by the new management of Spice soon after its takeover in June 2010. Nine months down the line, the jet fuel prices are nearly 30 per cent higher so whether the original calculations will hold or not remains to be seen. But one thing is sure, there will be competitively driven-down fares should more aircraft crowd the Indian skies as we will see with others also inducting more aircraft. In the case of IndiGo, it is planning to induct 14 Airbus A 320s in the current calendar year 2011 itself to take its fleet strength to 42.

Kingfisher Airlines was planning to re-induct at least eight of its grounded A 320s that were practically out of the market for nearly one year.

It is now being heard that Kingfisher

cover story april.qxd

4/4/2011

11:16 AM

THE PRESENT CRUDE PRICES ARE UNSUSTAINABLE. WE HAVE ALREADY STARTED PASSING IT (BURDEN OF HIGH CRUDE PRICES) ON TO THE CUSTOMER. WE HAVE STARTED WITH AN INCREASE OF A COUPLE OF HUNDREDS OF RUPEES PER TICKET BUT TO BE VERY HONEST THIS IS ONLY THE BEGINNING... IT IS GETTING REALLY UNCOMFORTABLE.. AT CURRENT LEVELS OF CRUDE, AIRFARES MUST BE HIKED BY `600-700 TO BREAK EVEN.

Page 37

AN OFFICIAL TURNAROUND PLAN IS IN PLACE. WE CAN NOW GO TO BANKS FOR FINANCES. FINANCIAL REENGINEERING IS THE KEY FOR TURNING AROUND AIR INDIA. ARVIND JADHAV,

Air India Chairman and Managing Director

NEIL RAYMOND MILLS,

DR NASIM ZAIDI,

SpiceJet CEO

Airlines may reconfigure its fleet to have more economy seats at least during the current lean season as it is quite costly to service unoccupied business-class seats.

Jet Airways, like it did in the past, is once again planning to convert more of its business-class seats into economy and rechristen many of its full-service carrier flights into low-fare Jet Konnect beginning April 2011. Unfortunately, Air India is caught in its own web not knowing what to do even as it fights its own pilots and employees who are divided between the Air India camp and the erstwhile Indian camp.

Already the state-owned oil marketing companies have increased the ATF prices ten times since October 2010 or the beginning of Q3 fiscal 2010-11. ATF prices in Delhi in mid-March 2011 touched `54,933 a kilolitre, which was 34.87 per cent higher than ATF prices of `40,728 per kilolitre in October 2010.

THE MINISTRY OF CIVIL AVIATION IS WELL AWARE OF THE UNFAVOURABLE FISCAL ENVIRONMENT FOR CIVIL AVIATION. THE MINISTRY WILL TAKE UP THE ISSUE OF THE RECENT HIKE IN SERVICE TAX WITH THE FINANCE MINISTRY. WE WILL ALSO TAKE UP THE ISSUE OF HIGH TAXES ON ATF AND WE ARE IN FAVOUR OF INCLUDING ATF UNDER GOODS AND SERVICES TAX (GST) Secretary, Civil Aviation

Airlines may reconfigure its fleet to have more economy seats at least during the current lean season as it is quite costly to service unoccupied business class seats.

This has already hiked the component of jet fuel prices in overall operational cost to 43 per cent. This was nearly double of what fuel costs in terms of operational expenses of international airlines. So even as there is a huge demand for domestic air travel, rising fuel prices could act as a dampner.

In 2010, domestic air travel expanded by nearly 19 per cent which, it is feared, may come down or can happen only if the fares are held low. Should the fares go up sharply, it will definitely impact the demand and drive down passenger growth. Already many global investment banks and domestic institutions have revised down the projected economic growth for fiscal 2011-12.

While it was earlier estimated that GDP would grow by 9 per cent or even 9.25 per cent, it is now believed that the GDP in the new fiscal 2011-12 may at best grow at not more than 8 per cent in an

INTERESTING EQUATION: ATF prices in Delhi in mid-March 2011 touched `54,933 kilolitre which was higher than ATF prices of `40,728 kilolitre.

CRUISING HEIGHTS April 2011

37

cover story april.qxd

4/4/2011

11:17 AM

Page 38

COVER STORY

GROWTH DESPITE THE TURMOIL

US carriers are still planning a whole raft of new routes this year, despite on-going uncertainty in the Middle East and fuel price rises that have caused some US airlines to re-examine their capacity allocations for this summer. According to anna.aero’s research, almost 200 new routes have already been announced or started by US carriers in 2011, of which 37 began operating in January and February.

Another 153 are slated to begin between the beginning of March and the end of June, with just two new routes already announced to start in the second half of the year.

According to reports, Citi believes that low-cost carriers are actually better positioned to weather cost inflation than their full-service counterparts. The Asian low-cost carrier industry is “still in a multiyear structural growth cycle, driven by rising consumption power, increasing aviation liberalisation, and improving infrastructure”, it writes in a note, adding that ticketprice increases can be absorbed in most markets. So, it comes as no surprise that most of the money being raised is going toward fleet expansion. Thai AirAsia’s IPO take will partly go to financing the purchase of 20 new Airbus 320 aircraft, expected to be delivered by 2016. Even more ambitious is Indonesia’s privately-owned Lion Air, which has 137 aircraft on order — little wonder that the company aims to raise $1 billion in an IPO next year. Following Garuda, another state-owned player in the region could be joining the rush to market. Vietnamese state media

optimistic scenario and 7.7 per cent in a not-so-optimistic scenario.

This is notwithstanding the evidence one is seeing in the job market where wages are expecting hikes of not less than 13 per cent. Should inflation continue to remain above 8.5 per cent, it will also impact airlines operating costs. It is not known if it would be possible for Indian domestic carriers to hold on to the lower end of the fares one witnessed in recent times. The pointer is towards rising fares. But then you cannot have fares rising and capacity being increased simultaneously.

38

FLYING IN THE OPPOSITE DIRECTION: Aviation stocks of Jet Airways, Kingfisher Airlines and SpiceJet have historically had an inverse relationship with the movement of oil prices.

reported recently that Vietnam Airlines Corp. will sell 20 per cent to 30 per cent of the company in an IPO later this year or in 2012.

Aviation stocks have historically had an inverse relationship with the movement of oil prices. So it’s not surprising that stocks have underperformed the broader markets in the past few months after a sharp rise in crude oil prices. Share prices of Jet Airways (India) Ltd, Kingfisher Airlines Ltd and SpiceJet Ltd have fallen in the range of 52-60 per cent from their highs in November. The Bombay Stock Exchange’s benchmark Sensex index has declined 13 per cent during the same period. Fuel costs account for 35-40 per cent of the operating costs for aviation firms; without doubt, the rise in oil prices will hit margins. Thankfully for Indian aviation firms, demand continues to be healthy. So, their ability to raise airfares and pass on some of the increase in costs is better.

How will this impact aviation firms? The March quarter typically

It is not known if it would be possible for Indian domestic carriers to hold on to the lower end of the fares one witnessed in recent times.

CRUISING HEIGHTS April 2011

tends to be the slowest for the sector. Additionally, given that fuel costs have risen, operating profit margins should be under pressure.

Currently, Jet Airways enjoys the highest operating margin of about 6 per cent, based on the performance in the nine months ended December. Among the publicly-traded firms, it’s followed by SpiceJet, which has an operating margin of 8.5 per cent and then Kingfisher, which operates at a margin of about three per cent. Needless to say, Kingfisher is more vulnerable than the other two firms.

Also, Kingfisher has a high debt resulting in higher interest costs. In fact, so far this fiscal, Kingfisher has posted a loss of around `670 crore, while Jet Airways has reported a stand-alone net profit of `135 crore and SpiceJet posted a net profit of `160 crore. That translates into net margin of 1.4 per cent for Jet Airways and 7.4 per cent for SpiceJet. The latter enjoys a higher net profit margin because of a relatively lower outgo on account of interest costs.

We can only recall what Jet Airways boss Naresh Goyal said earlier this year when he was asked if his airline was also planning to expand its fleet just when news trickled in saying that IndiGo had placed the mother of all orders for 150 A 320s. Naresh Goyal then said, “The easiest thing to do is to place orders for new aircraft.” What he refused to fully elaborate was how does one service these costs when the market is faced with an uncertain jet fuel scenario, rising oil prices, higher inflation and inability to hike domestic fares beyond the generally

considered “tolerant levels”.

Choppers.qxd

4/4/2011

11:04 AM

Page 39

FOCUS ON ’COPTERS

p40

p41

p42

p50

FLYING HIGH

INDIAN SIKORSKY

CAPTAIN HARRY

COMING: HELI DEALS

Maharashtra is ready to wet-lease a plush 14-seater chopper

US-based chopper-maker will manufacture and design helicopters in India.

This is one tough prince but he has proved that he can do it!

TOWARDS EXCELLENCE: Dr Nazim Zaidi, Secretary, Ministry of Civil Aviation (third from right) with R K Tyagi, PHHL CMD (fourth from left) at the MoU signing ceremony.

Among others in the photo are the MoCA's Rajshekhar Reddy, Director (Finance), Nasir Ali, Director, Rohit Nandan, Joint Secretary, and Sanjiv Bahl, ED, PHHL.

PAWAN HANS

MoU SIGNED WITH AN EXCELLENT RATING FOR 2009-10, PAWAN HANS HELICOPTERS HAS VENTURED TO SIGN ANOTHER MoU WITH THE MINISTRY OF CIVIL AVIATION TO ACHIEVE TARGETS.

A billion dollar revamp of the country’s helicopter fleet is on.

awan Hans Helicopters Limited has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Ministry of Civil Aviation for achieving targets both in terms of its financial parameters as well as other targets regarding customer satisfaction, human resource management, corporate goverance, project implementation, CSR, R&D and sustainability targets, etc. The MoU was for the year 2011-12.

The agreement was signed by PHHL (Pawan Hans) CMD, R K Tyagi and Secretary, Civil Aviation Dr Nasim Zaidi on behalf of the Ministry.

PHHL has obtained excellent MoU rating for the year 2009-10 from DPE (Department of Public Enterprise). As per the MoU, a quarterly performance review of PHHL will be carried out by the Ministry of Civil Aviation and an Annual Evaluation would be done by the Department of Public Enterprises at the end of financial year. All the employees of PHHL would work as a team with better and continuous efforts to achieve "Excellent" rating by PHHL for the year 2011-12.

P

CRUISING HEIGHTS April 2011

39

Choppers.qxd

4/4/2011

11:05 AM

Page 40

FOCUS ON ‘COPTERS CAE to train copter pilots in India Flight training heavyweight CAE and the Airports Authority of India (AAI) have signed an agreement in mid-February for CAE to provide commercial helicopter pilot training for AAI. The agreement represents Montreal-based CAE’s first programme for rotary-wing pilots.

“The helicopter programme will blend CAE’s global best practices training methodology, simulation-based training and flight training to meet and exceed Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) and International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) guidelines,” said Jeff Roberts, CAE’s Group President, Civil Simulation Products, Training and Services. He added: “The worldclass training at the CAE Global Academy will prepare and position students to land their first jobs as helicopter pilots.”

About 100 pilots are expected to get their licenses annually. The training will be conducted at the CAE Global Academy in Gondia, brainchild of former Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel. This training facility was carved out of the decrepit World War II airfield in Gondia in central India and created as a joint venture between AAI and CAE. As AAI Chairman V P Agrawal clarified: “Current development of new helicopter pilots is insufficient to meet this requirement, so CAE Global Academy Gondia is stepping up to fill this important need to support continued aviation growth in India.”

The Gondia campus features state-of-the-art classrooms, training devices and a dozen choppers. The first batch will commence in late 2011 and use the CAE Aircrew Selection System.

40

Chopper for Maharashtra The 14-seater helicopter being wetleased by the state government for operations in Naxal-affected areas will cost almost `one crore per month. The helicopter, named Dhruva, will be operated by Pawan Hans.

The state government decided to wet-lease Dhruva after it realised that the MI-17 helicopter it had sought earlier would take more than a year to arrive. However, the rent would be between `75 lakh and `90 lakh a month, apart from the flying charges which come to `1.25 lakh per hour.

The state government has made a budgetary allocation of `52 crore for anti-Naxal operations. The Centre has sanctioned `6 crore for the arrangement of the helicopter.

Home Minister R R Patil has claimed that the Centre has agreed to bear the chopper’s rent. The helicopter CRUISING HEIGHTS April 2011

will be camped at Gadchiroli and the Deputy Inspector General will be its operational head. The chopper is expected to be used for rescue operations and for the transportation of security forces.

The wet-lease is a temporary arrangement till the purchase of the

MI-17 helicopter. “MI-17 costs `90 crore and delivery takes time. The state has made adequate budgetary allocations,” said an official.

Choppers.qxd

4/4/2011

11:06 AM

Page 41

FOCUS ON ‘COPTERS Eurocopter enhances product line A comprehensive evolution of Eurocopter’s helicopter product line was announced at the Heli-Expo 2011 exposition in Orlando recently. The new versions provide enhanced operating capabilities, improved mission effectiveness and increased efficiency across four families in the company’s light, medium and heavy rotary-wing aircraft categories.

These enhanced helicopters result from Eurocopter’s continuing major investments in innovation, and respond to the evolving needs of operators worldwide. They involve the AS350, EC135, AS365/AS565 and AS332 helicopters, and are in addition to Eurocopter’s introduction of their new EC145 T2 — that was unveiled at the Expo.

“At Eurocopter, we are meeting our promise of investing in the future of helicopter flight, developing this comprehensive evolution of our product line to offer customers even better cost-effectiveness, mission capability, ease of operation and flight safety,” said Eurocopter President and CEO Lutz Bertling.

Sikorsky to make choppers in India The US-based Sikorsky Aircraft Corp. will be manufacturing and designing both civilian and military helicopters in India. The company hopes that in four years time, it will be able to sell its Indiamade choppers in the Asia-Pacific market. Incidentally, Sikorsky has an Indian connection: it has a tie-up with Tata Advanced Systems Ltd, a Tata group company, to make helicopter cabins for the global market.

Arvind Jeet Singh Walia, Managing Director (India and South Asia), Sikorsky Aircraft, was quoted by a business daily that his company was looking at manufacturing an indigenous helicopter by 2015-16. “We already have the helicopters that are suitable for the Indian climate. We intend developing further technologies to cater to defence requirements for high-altitude and highperformance machines,” he said. Walia said his company would be keen to

increase its holding in local firms as and when the government relaxed the limit.

Walia believes that Sikorsky helicopters have great potential in India and could bring $21.4 bn business in 2011-31. Of this, while $14.4 bn would be military-

related, the rest would be for civil use.

The move by Sikorsky comes at an opportune moment: India's civil aviation market is one of the fastest-growing in the world; the military demand for

CRUISING HEIGHTS April 2011

Big rotary UAV planned The US Marine Corps has approved the development of an “unmanned aerial truck” that is an adaptation of the Kaman Helicopters’ K-MAX heavy-lift helicopter. The K-MAX has interlocking twin-rotor that eliminates the need for a tail rotor and gives the aircraft impressive lifting ability. In its UAV form, the aircraft will be able to lift external loads of 6,000 pounds, which is more than 1,000 pounds more than the aircraft’s empty weight. It’s partnering with Lockheed Martin on the project.

The partners were recently awarded a $45.8 million contract to build twounmanned helicopters and three-ground stations by next August. Kaman says they’ve already proven the idea will work. “The unmanned K-MAX will enable US and coalition forces to utilise widely dispersed and overextended manned aviation assets for other demanding missions and eliminate aircrew vulnerability to enemy attacks in combat zones.”

helicopters is on the rise; and, there could be a paucity of skilled aerospace workforce in the USA from this year, according to Aerospace Industries Association president and chief executive Marion Blakey.

The business daily quoted PricewaterhouseCoopers International's Dhiraj Mathur, an expert in aerospace and defence, saying that manufacturing indigenous helicopters was eventually possible for Sikorsky. “Essentially, it will be shifting some of its manufacturing facilities to India in a phased manner.

It will be highly beneficial if Sikorsky can make India a hub for the Asia-Pacific region,” he said.

Sikorsky is one of the contenders for the 123 helicopters that the military is planning to acquire for $4 billion. The company has sold five Sikorsky VVIP helicopters in India and is already in talks with a state government to sell one more.

41

Choppers.qxd

4/4/2011

11:06 AM

Page 42

FOCUS ON ‘COPTERS Price’s pink chopper Guess who has fallen in love with helicopters? It is none other than British star Katie Price. She wants to buy a pink helicopter. Before she actually gets one, she is learning to fly one.

Meanwhile, she has chalked out plans to construct a helipad at her home so she can fly off at a moment's notice.

The Sun newspaper quoted 32year-old mother of three, Katie: “I'm planning to get my own helicopter, a pink one, a proper pricey one, just as soon as I pass my flying test. I'm going to have a helipad at my new house.

People might think it's extravagant, but I'd like to see people following me in the air. If people are bothering me, I'll just zoom over their heads.”

This Brit loves copters. In fact, she landed in a helicopter recently with her new boyfriend, Argentinean model Leandro Penna, in time for the horse racing at Cheltenham in Gloucestershire, South West England.

Fly like a Prince Described as a natural flier, Prince Harry recently passed a stringent tenmonth course to fly an attack helicopter, the Apache. The chopper's weaponry includes Hellfire missiles and laser-guided canons. With the official title of Lieutenant Wales in the British Army Air Corps, Prince Harry was apparently “delighted” to have qualified. That could, however, mean his going back to war zones. He will be eligible to be in Afghanistan in a combat position from the spring of 2012.

The 26-year-old Prince spent the final weeks of his course flying in the French Alps. Manoeuvering through the mountain passes and zooming across high peaks has provided him valuable experience and skills that will stand him in good stead if he returns to Afghanistan where a lot of the fighting takes place at high altitudes.

Only the most talented are offered the chance to fly Apaches (each is worth £35 mn). According to reports, just 2 per cent of those who join the Army Air Corps' helicopter pilots' training course end up flying the strike helicopter. Harry's, therefore, is no mean achievement. “It is a huge honour to have the chance to train on the Apache, which is an awesome helicopter. To be honest, I think it will be one of the biggest challenges in my life so far,” he said.

He does not, however, boast about his achievements. “There's times when I thought, I'm really not cut out for this, mentally. I hope I've got the physical skills to fly a helicopter. But mentally, there are the

Russians search for the right direction The new CEO of Russian Helicopters, Dmitry Petrov, spoke recently to the media and explained their future plans: “In recent years we have been working closely with operators to improve our aftermarket sales and support service and to evaluate existing and potentially new customer requirements for new aircraft,” he said.

According to Petrov, the task of uniting OEMs, component and systems manufacturers had been a goal, which

42

exams and everything,” he said.

Prince Harry was awarded his provisional wings by his father, the Prince of Wales, who is the Army Air Corps Colonel in Chief, in May last year and he could be promoted to the rank of Captain in May this year.

Asked about potential was now becoming a markets outside of the reality. The three aircraft US, he noted the that Russian helicopters are development of new keen to promote to Western markets in India and operators are: the Kamov China and confirmed that Ka-32A11BC, which the company would ‘like already has a certification a share’ too. On the issue in various locations around of certifying helicopters Dmitry Petrov the world; the Mil Mi-8/17 for markets, Petrov said series (particularly the modernised M- that a sufficient number of customer 171M); and the Mil Mi-34S (sport orders and soft contracts would trigger model). the launch of the certification process.

CRUISING HEIGHTS April 2011

Choppers.qxd

4/4/2011

11:07 AM

Page 43

FOCUS ON ‘COPTERS

NEXT

BIGTHING: HELICOPTER DEALS Over the next decade, the country’s armed forces will go in for a total revamp of the helicopter fleet that is aged and has outlived its utility. With contenders from three countries in the running, Rohit Srivastava reports on the billion dollar deals.

he Indian armed forces are in the process of replacing its decadesold helicopter fleet. All three services, namely Army, Navy and Air Force, will induct around 1000 choppers, for every possible utility, from indigenous and foreign vendors.

At the moment, the forces have been flying predominantly Russian and European helicopters. Almost the entire chopper fleet has outlived its utility, there is an urgent need to augment the fleet strength to make provisions for current and future contingencies.

The major heads under which the choppers are being procured are: light utility, medium lift, heavy lift, attack and naval multi role. As things look at the moment, it seems imminent that the deal is most likely to be distributed between Europe, Russia and US. The deals for most of these helicopters are expected to be signed during fiscal 2011-12, with the acquisitions being completed before 2020.

T

Attack Helicopter The Kargil war drove home the importance of attack helicopter in mountain warfare and since then the plan to develop light attack helicopter CRUISING HEIGHTS April 2011

indigenous better known as Light Combat Helicopter, which last year had its maiden flight, developed by HAL. India is in process of finalising the contract for 22 attack helicopters. The field trial was conducted last year in different locations across India. There are two participants in it: the Russian Mi-28 and Boeing’s Apache 64-D long bow. The trial report is under consideration and the deal could be finalised in the first half of the next financial year. The deal is expected to cost around $ 550 million. The Defence Ministry has outlined its decision to acquire 200 LCHs in this decade.

At present, India is operating Russian-made Mi-25/35 acquired during the 80s. These are very heavy attack helicopter, which can also transport troops simultaneously. There has been upgradation of these systems but they are technically 70s vintage and too expensive to operate now. To augment the heavy attack helicopter fleet, India has decided to go for a fleet of the latest attack choppers.

Light Utility Helicopter Indian fleet of Cheetah and Chetak,

43

Choppers.qxd

4/4/2011

11:07 AM

Page 44

FOCUS ON ‘COPTERS operated by both the Air Force and Army will be replaced and the LUH (Light Utility Helicopter) fleet will also be augmented with the new acquisitions.

The deal is expected to be finalised by the end of this year.

The trial was conducted last year and the report is being analysed at the moment after which the vendor will be shortlisted for negotiations and order. The Indian forces plan to buy 197 of these machines. The IAF will get 64 of out of these and rest will go to the Army. The Indian armed forces are operating around 300 of Cheetah that were licensed to be produced

By Hindustan Aeronautics Limited since 1970s. French SNIAS was the original manufacturer of these choppers presently known as Eurocopter.

Also, 187 choppers will be procured from the HAL, which is under development. In addition to this, 160 Advanced Light Helicopter Dhruv will be bought for both Army and Air Force, media reports suggest. The deal for 197 LUH could cost close to $ one billion at present rates.

The RFP (Request for Proposal) for the LUH was issued in 2008 after cancellation of the first tender, which was issued in 2003. This tender was officially cancelled for technical reasons, but off the record, the grapevine insists that a company from a major nation had missed the bus and was interested in participating and, therefore, the cancellation. There are two contenders for the present tender: Eurocopter’s AS550-C3 Fennec and Kamov’s Ka-226 from Russia. Fennec seems to be leading the race after the trials.

The AS550 C3 Fennec recently completed field trials with full mission equipment for the Indian armed forces’ reconnaissance and surveillance applications, demonstrating its capabilities as the successor to the country’s existing fleet of Indianproduced Cheetah and Chetak helicopters — both of which are based on Eurocopter rotary-wing aircraft.

44

The military-certified and combatproven AS550 C3 Fennec has exceptional performance at high altitudes and in hot weather conditions.

In addition to operating in Chile’s Andes Mountains at altitudes of 5,000 metres, Fennec helicopters have landed on Mount Everest and the Siachen glacier in the Himalayas. In January, a Royal Malaysian Navy Fennec assisted in the rescue of a hijacked Malaysian chemical tanker

and its crew, firing on the Somali pirates’ mother ship to keep it at bay.

“The Indian helicopter industry has displayed great potential over the last few years with an annual growth rate of 20 per cent,” explained Marie-Agnès Veve, the CEO of Eurocopter India Pvt. Ltd, at Aero India in February. “Given the country’s expanding economy, its size and challenging terrain — as well as the industrial potential — the future of this industry is very promising. Over the next few years, we hope to become the No. 1 supplier for the civilian, government and parapublic markets in India.”

The Kamov Ka-226 “Sergei” is a small, twin-engined Russian utility helicopter. The Ka-226 features an interchangeable mission pod, rather than a conventional cabin, allowing the use of various accommodation or equipment configurations. The Ka-226 entered service in 2002. Since they shared a common lineage, all three of these helicopters have the NATO reporting name of Hoodlum, however Kamov’s own name for the Ka-226 is Sergei.

A twin-turbine version of the successful Kamov Ka-26, (a single turbine version was called the Kamov Ka126) the Ka-226 was initially announced in 1990. Originally developed to meet the requirements of the Russian disaster relief ministry, the aircraft first flew on September 4, 1997.

Meanwhile, HAL’s LUH is expected to be ready by 2013. The LUH design was unveiled during Aero India. The design part is complete and the engine selection is going on. It has been reported that it is going to be a 100 per cent indigenous CRUISING HEIGHTS April 2011

product, so the Shakti engine can be expected to be its powerhouse.

Indian Navy is also looking for its Cheetah and Cheetak replacement and is in the process of initiating the tender procedure for 60 such machines.

Medium Lift India has ordered 80 Mi-17 V in 2008 to replace its Mi-8 medium-lift helicopter fleet. The country, at present, operates around 130 Mi-8 and Mi17 for its medium transport and utility purpose. The older Mi-8 is being replaced by Mi-17. These can carry two dozen fully loaded troops for 500 km with a ceiling height of 6000 m.

There is a proposal for a follow-on order of 59 more helicopters to augment the strength of the fleet. Insiders confirm that the proposal is with the Cabinet Committee of Security and is awaiting approval. The deal will be worth $1.5b. The first helicopters are expected to arrive in the next few months and the last is expected to be around 2015, if all goes as planned.

Heavy Lift Russian Mi-26 and Chinook 47D are competing for the 15 heavy-lift helicopters for the Indian Air Force. At present, India has four Mi-26, 80s vintage for heavy-lift purposes. The deal is expected to cost around $2b. The Russians have offered the latest version of their world’s heaviest helicopter, which carries 20 tonnes/90 troops. Chinook is presently employed in Afghanistan to ferry troops and goods in excess of 12 tonnes/50 troops. The trial began after completion of attack helicopter field trials and is in its last stages.

Naval Multi Role The Indian Navy is also procuring multirole helicopters for which trials are going on. The contenders are: Sikorsky 70B and Agusta Westland NH-90. The trial is expected to begin in the middle of this year. The tender is for 16 helicopters but could go as high as 60.

VVIP Fleet Among the first procurements will be the 12 VVIP transport helicopters for the Palam-based Communication Squadron.

India had signed an $800-million (`37 bn) deal with the British-Italian helicopter manufacturer Agusta Westland for its AW-101 platform in March 2010.

This purchase will help upgrade the communication squadron of the IAF, which ferries the President, the Prime

Minister and other dignitaries.

Centenary Special.qxd

4/4/2011

10:49 AM

Page 45

Centenary Special 2011 Y

E

A

R

S

C

I

V

I

L

A

V

I

A

T

I

O

N

I

N

I

N

D

I

ACKNOWLEDGING THE CONTRIBUTION: BIAL staff during the unveiling ceremony of the Civil Aviation Centenary Year logo at the Bengaluru airport.

Centenary B spirit catches on Bengaluru Airport celebrated the Indian aviation centenary by putting on display the official Civil Aviation Centenary Year logo.

The airport operator has plans to showcase the achievements of Indian aviation through the year to the people of Bengaluru.

REMEMBERING DAYS GONE BY Kanu Gohain, former Director General, DGCA, speaks about old times

engaluru International Airport (BIAL) joined the rest of the country to celebrate the completion of 100 years of Indian civil aviation. The airport operator, together with its partners and concessionaires, began the celebrations with an auspicious lighting of the lamp followed by unveiling of two of the official Civil Aviation Centenary Year logos. The two large installations were on display at the terminal building for a month and were created with ambient lighting and revolving bases. The ceremony saw the attendance from the airport authorities, airlines, partners and the BIAL staff. BIAL will continue the celebrations through the year by actively engaging with passengers, the local community and schools.

Meanwhile, G V Sanjay Reddy, Managing Director of BIAL, was felicitated at the inaugural function of the centenary celebrations for the significant contribution of the GVK group to the growth of civil aviation in India.

FLYING PROF

DOUBLE CELEBRATIONS

Exploits of Professor Venkata Subba Setti of Mysore

p46

All-women flights and honouring fair ladies

p48 CRUISING HEIGHTS April 2011

p52

45

A

Centenary Special.qxd

4/4/2011

Y

E

A

10:50 AM

R

S

Page 46

C

I

V

I

L

A

V

I

A

T

I

O

N

I

N

I

N

D

I

A

The plane that J R D Tata flew from Bombay to Karachi is part of the memorabilia at the Aero Club of India

Those magnificent men in their flying machines Kanu Gohain, Advisor, Aero Club of India and former Director General, DGCA, recounts those early days when flying was pure adventure. ivil aviation in India completed its century this year. What began with a flight between Allahabad and Naini in Uttar Pradesh in 1911 has indeed come a long way. Today, while the Indian civil aviation market is well on its way to becoming one of the first ten in the world, the early years were ones of excitement and often frustration.

One of the major players in the success of Indian aviation was the Aero Club of India. Its earlier avatar, the Royal Aero Club of India, was established with the assistance of the government in 1927.

As time progressed, the Club spawned flying clubs around the country — especially during the Twenties — in cities like Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata (Barrackpore). It was around that time that the Karachi Aero Club also started.

In 1947, after Independence, the Royal Aero Club became the Aero Club of

C

46

In 1947, after Independence, the Royal Aero Club became the Aero Club of India.The club’s first President was Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, then Prime Minister of India.

CRUISING HEIGHTS April 2011

India. The club’s first President was Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, then Prime Minister of India.

In the Twenties, these clubs facilitated in the pilot licensing system awarding Aviator Certificates (AC) by the Ministry of Labour after training. Till 1949, 746 pilots received ACs from these aero clubs till 1949. To acquire an AC, one had to do three hours of solo flying out of at least 20-25 hours of flying. The cost of all this flying around was a princely amount of Rs 350.

The flying clubs kindled a lot of public interest in aviation. The pilots who graduated from these clubs went on to head airlines. The first AC, for example, was awarded to JRD Tata (AC1), a British citizen. Women did not lag behind: the first lady to get a certificate was Sylla Petit (AC11) in May 1929 and a year later, on June 6, 1930, U K Parekh became the first Indian woman pilot to be trained in India.

In those initial years, budding pilots were trained on the de Havilland DH.80A Puss Moth. The three seater high-wing

Centenary Special.qxd

4/4/2011

10:52 AM

Page 47

Centenary Special 2011

monoplane was designed and built by the de Havilland Aircraft Company between 1929 and 1933. It flew at a speed approaching 124 mph, making it one of the highest-performance aeroplanes of its era. The wings of these aircraft were made of fabric that had to be doused in chemicals to make them strong enough for flying.

Pilot training was divided into two parts. The initial training was provided on a single engine, slow moving pistondriven aircraft which brought the B license. Later, the pilots who wanted to go in for multi-engine heavier aircraft could go for such training. No new licenses were issued after completion of the training on the heavier aircraft but the B license was simply endorsed further. The system of pilot licensing changed during the Sixties when new jet aircraft arrived on the scene.

It was at that time that the aviation sector saw a quantum jump in all aspects. There were a whole range of licenses that a commercial pilot had to go through starting with the Student Pilot License, Private Pilot License, Commercial Pilot License, Senior Commercial Pilot License and Airlines Transport Pilot License. Later on the SPL and the Senior CPL were withdrawn and pilots went directly from CPL to ALTPL was introduced which is the system prevalent now.

Unlike today where pilot training comprises both theory and flight training including simulator practice, in the early days of aviation, a rookie pilot would start his training in light propeller aircraft very much like motor driving lessons.

With the passage of time, the flying courses underwent a few changes with trainees beginning to receive theoretical knowledge and honing skills required for flying improved aeroplanes.

(Top; L-R) Original Aviator Certificates of Bhagat Bihari Lal (the first Indian to be awarded the Certificate), U K Parekh (the first lady to become a pilot and J R D Tata on display at the Aero Club of India Photos: H C Tiwari

Pilot training was divided into two parts.

The initial training was provided on a single engine, slow moving piston-driven aircraft which brought the B license.

The confidence level of the pilots increased as they transited from propellers to turbo prop engines and lastly jets. With the change in propulsion systems, the speeds too, of aircraft increased. The early Dakotas had maximum speeds of 170 knots which were followed by turbo prop aircraft like F 27s with maximum speeds of 280-300 knots while the current jets have speeds in excess of 550 knots.

The airstrip or runways as we know them today were not even conceived when aviation began. In the early days, runways were plain grass strips. The largest aircraft that landed on such strips were the Dakotas. Many of these runways were fortified with perforated steel plates below the soil, to provide strength and tackle erosion. These steel strips were also helpful in ensuring that the plane tyres did not sink in during landings and take-offs.

Unlike today, intercontinental flights were not direct flights between destinations. Instead, they zigzaged across the globe. Any Delhi to London flight, for example, would go via Cairo and Rome.

Air traffic management too, has changed beyond recognition. Today, with advanced radar and computerbased management systems, traffic management is literally miles ahead of the point-to-point ATC with primitive radars, maps and charts of those early days.

For any modern day pilot, the communication that was practiced in those days would be extremely tiring and ineffective. The pilots at that time relied on radio telephones, Morse codes and VHF sets. Indeed, an airplane’s cockpit in those early days was a very noisy place and the flight engineer then was known as a radio operator as in some of the transport aircraft of today.

(As told to Rohit Srivastava)

CRUISING HEIGHTS April 2011

47

Centenary Special.qxd

4/4/2011

Y

E

A

10:53 AM

R

S

Page 48

C

I

V

I

L

A

V

I

A

T

I

O

N

I

N

I

N

D

I

A

PIONEER OF CHANGE: (Right) Professor Venkata Subba Setti was the first Indian aviator; and, (below) The Professor at the controls of the aircraft he designed Avro aircraft for A.V. Roe & Co.

The

first in Indian T skies

Way back in 1912, a professor from Mysore was the first Indian to fly — but he did that in Manchester, UK. He returned to India but the strict regulations then in force prevented him from constructing a plane. However, that did not prevent aviation in India to grow…

48

CRUISING HEIGHTS April 2011

he first flight by the Frenchman Henri Pequet on February 18, 1911, from Allahabad to Naini may have fired the imaginations of a host of young Indians but it was not till June of next year that an Indian took wings.

Young Professor Venkata Subba Setti of Mysore was in Manchester, England, when he got a chance to become a “time keeper” with AV Roe & Co. (Avro) at Brooklands. VSS, as he came to be known later, was a pilot as well as an aeronautical engineer. Born in 1879, Setti was an engineering and a mathematics graduate from Madras University. He had also done a stint at professorship at Thompson College of Engineering at Roorkee. Later, he went on to do electrical engineering from Faraday House in London. The Professor was interested in anything mechanical and even took part in car races in the UK. It is recorded that he was the first Indian to own a motorcycle.

Setti joined Avro on May 8, 1911 — he must have heard of the exploit of Pequet by then — and within a fortnight started flying a Gnome-powered Farman pusher biplane.

Joining him was another Indian, SV Sippe.

Centenary Special.qxd

4/4/2011

10:54 AM

Page 49

Centenary Special 2011

INTERESTING ANECDOTES: (Clockwise from top) A Gipsy Moth one of the earliest aircraft being ferried by a bullock cart after a forced landing; Belgian Aviator Baron de Caters demonstrating flights at the Tollygunge Club grounds on December 21, 1910 in Kolkata; and, the Viceroy on his way to witness India’s first air display on February 17, 1927.

In a couple of months, the Professor was proficient enough to fly a 35 h.p.

Green-powered Avro Type 0. Incidentally, it was the third of its kind to be built.

History books record that on June 17, 1911, the Avro hangar in Brownsfield Mills in Manchester saw a lot of hustle and bustle. There was a group of Indians who wanted to see the flying machines and the good Professor chaperoned them around.

In fact, he became their guide and explained to them how the machine flew, its speed, etc.

Around this time, Setti continued to practice flying. With him was his fellow countryman, Sippe and three Englishmen, Raynham, Noel and Young. All of them became quite proficient and were okayed to do circuits or “straights” with the Green Avro. They also tried their hands on the Avro-Deperdussin and Avro-Viale.

In the same year, on September 27, 1911, Professor Setti flew into sewage in a farm next to Brooklands. Such incidents happened regularly to the first fliers. The Professor, in fact, made a habit of landing in muck: he did that again on February 21, 1912, while flying an Avro Type B. Fortunately for us, he was uninjured. In a

By the middle of 1912, Venkata Subba Setti became a full-fledged pilot.

He got whatever “certifications” were required at that time to fly CRUISING HEIGHTS April 2011

few days, however, he started doing circuits, and according to the record books, he flew “in fine style, but rather too sharply”.

By the middle of 1912, Venkata Subba Setti became a full-fledged pilot. He got whatever “certifications” were required at that time to fly. An engineer by profession, the Professor started designing and even supervising the construction of an improved Avro plane. He flew the machine and was so good at it that AV Roe presented him a medal in June 1912 that had been specially crafted for him. The medal — incidentally, the first and the last — honoured the Professor’s achievements in aviation. The certificate that he received from the company mentioned that he was “preserving and industrious” and “very expert in all matters relating to aviation”.

The citation mentioned that Professor Setti had “considerable experience in the flying school” and that he was “very efficient in the tuning up of aeroplanes and engines”.

In addition, he could undertake “erection of a machine of any type” and “could carry out any alterations which may be required, including designing and drawing of the same”. Of course, he had all the “makings

49

Centenary Special.qxd

4/4/2011

Y

E

A

10:56 AM

R

S

Page 50

C

I

V

I

L

A

V

I

A

T

I

O

N

I

N

I

N

D

I

A

GREAT HISTORY: (Clockwise from top) Aspy Engineer (at centre with garland), being felicitated with his Gypsy Moth (in the background), after having completed the solo flight from England to India in 28 days; The then Viceroy of India, Lord Willingdon, deplaneing from his Avro 618 (VT-ACT) at the airport which was later to be named after him in New Delhi, and, the first heavier-than-air aeroplanes arrived in India in December 1910 to participate in exhibition flights at Kolkata.

of a very good pilot”, writes Pushpindar Singh in his History of Aviation in India.

Like all good Indians, Professor Setti came back to his homeland and got a job as Superintendent of the Mechanical Engineering School at Bangaluru. Eager to start flying, he wrote a note to the Inspector General of Education in Mysore on August 11, 1914: “Long distances have been flown, giddy heights reached, upside down flying indulged in. Aeroplanes are being used for conveying letters, newspapers and parcels; they are being used for transmission line inspection by the Americans. We of the East with a past glory in the Vimanas of Rama and others are rather indifferent to this form of locomotion.” His intention: coax around `15,000 to build a biplane.

He had calculated the cost of constructing the biplane: a princely sum of `15,000. The engine would be a 60 h.p. water-cooled E.N.V. or 70-80 h.p.

Monosupage Gnome engine and cost `7,000 while the 40’ x 30’ shed with special shutter would cost `4,000 and the fuselage, wings, accessories and labour around `4,500.

Receiving no response from the

50

Undaunted, Setti designed a vernacular typewriter.

However, had he lived longer than his 39 years — passing away in 1918 — we would have seen some more aviation exploits CRUISING HEIGHTS April 2011

Inspector General of Education, he appealed to two gentlemen from South India who had promised to help out.

However, on April 17, 1915, a note from the government dashed the Professor’s dreams to the ground. The Secretary to the Government of Mysore, the General and Revenue Departments, forwarded to him the Government of India’s notification No. 555-C dated November 27, 1914, that mentioned that the Governor General in Council was “pleased to prohibit absolutely the navigation of aircraft over and the entry of aircraft by flight into, British India, including the territorial waters adjacent thereto”.

Undaunted, Setti designed a vernacular typewriter. However, had he lived longer than his 39 years — passing away in 1918 — we would have seen some more aviation exploits.

With such notifications from the government, it was no wonder that nothing exceptional happened in the field of civil aviation for some years. Then came the first World War and the government’s energies were focussed on military aviation. Came October 1, 1915, and the government set up the Central Flying

Centenary Special.qxd

4/4/2011

10:57 AM

Page 51

Centenary Special 2011

BANG ON TARGET: (Clockwise from top) A 35 h.p. Green-powered Avro Type D; Aircraft participating during the first army-air co-operation demonstration in history; and, Aspy Engineer (one of the first trained pilots in India) with a Gypsy Moth (in the background).

School in Sitapur with the aim of providing British officers experience under Indian conditions. The school with five planes was under Army Headquarters. As for Indian fliers, there were a few who had joined the Royal Flying Corps. Among them were Lt. Hardit Singh Malik, Lt. Indralal Roy, D F C and Lt. S G Welingkar, M C These pilots performed admirably in the War. Take Lt. Indralal Roy, for example. He was one of the first Indians to receive the King’s Commission at the age of 18. He shot a number of German fighters down in July, 1918 and was killed in combat. His exploits made him the first Indian to be awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross. Lt Hardit Singh Malik, later the Indian Ambassador to Paris, defended London and was an experienced night pilot.

One of the pioneers of civil aviation was Sefton Brancker. He contributed to Indian aviation by lecturing on military and civil aviation. After active military service — he went on to become Air Vice Marshal — Brancker played a key role in setting up the world’s first airline, Aircraft Transport and Travel Limited (AT&T), along with its founder Holt Thomas.

As for Indian fliers, there were a few who had joined the Royal Flying Corps.

Among them were Lt. Hardit Singh Malik, Lt. Indralal Roy, DFC and Lt. SG Welingkar, MC CRUISING HEIGHTS April 2011

Brancker, incidentally, headed the Directorate of Civil Aviation in the United Kingdom.

Another name that crops up frequently is that of Holt Thomas. He started long distance air services between Britain and India — in collaboration with the Tatas.

Frederick Handley Page, another Britisher, started the Handley Page Indo-Burmese Transport Ltd. — one of the first civilian air carriers to India. The first Egypt-India flight was operated by Capt. Ross H. Smith, DFC, who flew a twin-engined Handley Page 0/400 from Heliopolis airport in Cairo on November 29, 1918, reached Karachi via Damascus, Baghdad, Bushire, Bandar Abbas and Chabbar, before landing at Delhi and a final touchdown at Kolkata (then Calcutta) race course on December 17, 1918. The CairoDelhi trip usually took under 48 hours in the air but Capt Smith took 19 days.

Perhaps, the first mention of India in aviation circles came in 1915 when No. 31 Squadron of the Royal Flying Corps arrived at Mumbai (then Bombay) port for its onward journey to Lahore by train.

With inputs from History of Aviation in India by Pushpindar Singh

51

Centenary Special.qxd

4/4/2011

Y

E

A

10:57 AM

R

S

Page 52

C

I

V

I

L

A

V

I

A

T

FAIR FLIGHTS ALL Indian civil aviation could not have asked for more. In a double celebration of sorts — 100 years of aviation and Women’s Day — women were honoured for their exemplary roles in taking civil aviation in the country ahead. In addition, national carrier Air India organised all-women flights to mark Women’s Day.

52

I

O

N

I

N

I

N

D

I

A

s part of the year-long events to celebrate the centenary year of Civil Aviation in India, and on the occasion of the International Women’s Day on March 8, 2011, the Ministry of Civil Aviation highlighted the role of women aviators in civil aviation in the country. The women aviators, who have contributed significantly to civil aviation in India, were felicitated by Vayalar Ravi, Union Minister for Overseas Indian Affairs and Civil Aviation, Ambika Soni, Minister of Information and Broadcasting and Jayanthi Natarajan, Member of Parliament. Among the ladies were the first women pilots: The late Capt Prem Mathur, the first woman to obtain a Commercial Pilot’s License; Capt Durba

A

CELEBRATING WOMANHOOD: (Top) Civil Aviation Secretary Dr Nasim Zaidi greeting all the women crew of Air India; and (below) the women crew of Air India give the thumbs-ups before their departure.

Centenary Special.qxd

4/4/2011

10:57 AM

Banerjee, the first woman commander of an airline and Chanda Budhabhatti, pioneer pilot and founder of the Indian Women Pilots’ Association.

The event also saw a number of other women involved in civil aviation being honoured. Among them were Bhubaneshwari Gautam, the first woman aircraft maintenance engineer, Capt Aruna Kandarpa, first woman helicopter pilot, Capt Sonica Chhabra, first woman instructor/examiner in airlines, Harpreet A De Singh, first woman technical ground instructor and first head of quality management systems of an airline, entrepreneurs Tulsi Mirchandani, CEO, Blue Dart and Capt Shobha K Mani, CEO, North-East Shuttle, Tuhinanshu Sharma,

Page 53

BREAKING NEW GROUNDS: (L-R) Doctor taking breathalyser test of women crew of Air India and Capt.

Sonica Chhabra (third from left) being presented with the award by Ambika Soni, Minister for Information and Broadcasting (second from left) in the presence of Vayalar Ravi, Union Minister for Overseas Indian Affairs and Civil Aviation and Jayanthi Natarajan, Member of Parliament.

BENGALURU’S FAIR SKY-CONTROLLERS

On the occasion of International Women’s Day, the Airports Authority of India (AAI) demonstrated the spirit of equality between men and women by operating all-women Air Traffic Services at the Bengaluru International Airport from 1000 to 1300 hrs. The women executives of AAI took over the vital operational positions in the ATS Complex, namely Tower, SMC and Approach Radar and handled as many as 80 aircraft safely, efficiently and expeditiously. They were ably assisted by their counterparts in Indian Metrological Department.

Complementing the ladies for

their unique feat, V Somasundaram, Member (ANS) said that the AAI, as an organisation earnestly upholding the concept of equality and fairness to women, did boast of a sizable number of women employees in its ranks all over the country.

It includes over 150 women Air Traffic Controllers and as many women CNS maintenance executives, who are entrusted with the challenging job of providing Air Navigation Services across the Indian skies and ensuring safety of aircraft operations.

Somasundaram further informed that many women executives were working as radar controllers all over the country at various airports and some of them had even risen to the level of ATC Supervisors and Instructors demonstrating skill and competency in such challenging jobs.

He believed that the women of the AAI have no doubt demonstrated the organisational conviction that women should feel empowered to assert the right to a life of responsibility, challenge, dignity and self-worth.

CRUISING HEIGHTS April 2011

the first woman ICAO auditor from DGCA, Kalpana Sethi, General Manager (Architect) from AAI, K Hemalatha, General Manager (Finance), Chennai, Aryama Sanyal, Jt General Manager (ATC), Ahmedabad and R Vasundara, Deputy General Manager (CNS), Chennai.

The cabin crew of the hijacked Indian Airlines flight to Kathmandu was also honoured.

In continuation with the historic tradition of planning all-women flights on International Women’s Day, Air India organised a few flights with all-women crew together with women dispatchers, women load and trim staff, women engineers, women staff at check-in counters, women doctors for crew breathalyser tests, women staff for security checks and women conducting LOSA safety audit.

There was the non-stop flight AI-187 on the Delhi-Toronto sector that was operated by Capt Rashmi Miranda and Capt Sunita Narula and First Officers Capt Varsha Sheoran and Capt Nidhi Suri. The flight was despatched by dispatcher Rashmi Verma.

Along with Air India’s women, the Ministry of Civil Aviation honoured Capt Sonica Chhabra – a senior pilot with Jet Airways – for being the first Indian woman Instructor and Examiner on Boeing 737s.

Meanwhile, in a rare gesture, low-cost airline IndiGo has decided to display the logo of the centenary celebrations on the 6E fleet of 34 Airbus A320 aircraft. IndiGo plans to celebrate the occasion with the Indian aviation fraternity by displaying the logo on its fleet till February next year.

Aditya Ghosh, President, IndiGo, said, "It is an honour for us as a domestic carrier to be a part of the ninth largest civil aviation market and the fastest growing in the world. As country’s largest carrier, we feel privileged to be a part of this feat, and look forward to contribute into the overall growth of the domestic market, and take the Indian aviation Industry to newer

heights.”

53

Last in first out.qxd

4/4/2011

11:50 AM

Page 2

LAST IN/FIRST OUT

Cargo growth slow, but no worry yet

TRENDS

THE IATA Cargo Economic Watch for the first quarter of 2011 is out. The report states that economic growth is slowing in the new year since monetary and fiscal policies are tightening in a number of countries.

However, the slowdown is less than previously expected, which is a positive for cargo demand. While emerging economies continue to be the fastest-growth regions, Europe and Japan continue to be the weakest.

As for traffic growth, air freight volumes had peaked in May 2010, as the business inventory cycle came to an end.

Companies no longer needed rapid air shipment to restock. However, the final demand from consumers and capital goods demand continues to expand. A sharp upturn in January this year in air freight points to a second leg to the upturn.

Some key points of the report:

THE CARGO industry has undergone a major transformation over the past 20 years, with air freight now preferred for a wide range of products.The spectacular performance of the air cargo industry has fuelled not only the development of regional logistics industries but also local economic growth. And as the air cargo industry continues to grow, the necessity for economic, industrial and airport operations reforms becomes inevitable. Xue-Ming Yuan at the Singapore Institute of Manufacturing Technology and co-workers at the National University of Singapore have now developed a diagnostic tool called the air-cargo supplychain operations reference (ACSCOR) model to evaluate the impact of these reforms on airport performance.

The ACSCOR model is quite similar to the SCOR model, the standard tool most industries use for assessing supply chain management practices.

However, whereas the SCOR model evaluates performance on three levels, namely customer interactions, product transactions and market interactions, the ACSCOR model covers four levels: the airport, airfreight sector, logistic industry and economy.

The researchers demonstrated the usefulness of the ACSCOR model by applying it to case studies of Hong Kong Chak Lap Kok International Airport and Singapore Changi International Airport — two of the world’s busiest air cargo hubs. Using air traffic, capacity and cost data for 2002-2007, the ACSCOR model indicated that air cargo traffic is significantly influenced by the airport’s operational efficiency, logistics support and economic environment.

Leading indicators, such as the purchasing managers index, rose to new highs early this year — with the marked exception of China.

World trade was expanding at a strong rate of 10 per cent at the end of last year, cash-rich corporates in good shape and consumer confidence is picking up in the US. Cargo yields, including surcharges, have seen little improvement since mid2010, as slippage in underlying rates have so far offset gains in fuel surcharges.

Capacity is starting to become an issue as, though the freighter fleet is stable, twin-aisle deliveries are equivalent to an 8per cent increase in the fleet this year.

Heads of cargo surveyed in January report confidence in volume growth this year but much less confident in achieving further gains in yield.

Celebi invests in Delhi FREIGHT FORWARDERS and the air cargo community are in for better times — atleast in Delhi airport.The Delhi International Airport Limited (DIAL) has tied up with international ground handling major Turkey’s Celebi Holdings to upgrade the existing brownfield cargo facilities. The Turkish company was also awarded a contract to build the Cargo Service Centre that will see the establishment of a greenfield freight unit. DIAL will also ensure the development of supporting the cargo infrastructure and the expansion of the cargo apron at the airport.

On its part, Celebi will be investing $100 million in its ground handling business in 2012-13. Most of the investments will be spent in acquiring state-of-the-art equipment. Apart

from handling cargo at the Delhi airport, the company is looking after ground handling at Delhi and Mumbai airports. It had invested $30.2 million in India till 2010-end.

Celebi Holdings has spent $35 million on construction at DIAL’s 70,000 sq m cargo facility, which is expected to be completed by early next year. Looking at the opportunities that the company hopes to see opening up, it has plans to increase its workforce to 10,000 in the coming five years.

54

“The problem is that different countries are pushing different security systems and there is a lack of standardisation…

We've been talking about this for years. The critical factor that slows it down is the sheer number of players involved and the reluctance on their part of many players to be subordinate to others, so they keep processes and databases separate. This means it's a painstaking task especially when many of the steps involve governments.”

) Andrew Herdman Director General, Association of Asia Pacific Airlines, on US plans for 100 per cent cargo screening.

CRUISING HEIGHTS April 2011

Cargo.qxd

4/4/2011

10:48 AM

Page 3

CARGO

FIATA gets into the driver’s seat The FIATA Headquarters Session 2011 (March 17-20, 2011, in Zurich) strongly underlined the federation’s role as the global voice of freight logistics.

“T

he Headquart ers Session 2011 was the most successful in the history of the International Federation of Freight Forwarders Associations (FIATA), in terms of participants, but also in terms of driving many industry issues forward,” said FIATA President JeanClaude Delen. Some 213 representatives of forwarders associations from 63 countries attended the meetings and workgroups. “We saw lively, result oriented debates, highlighting best practices and weaknesses. We took some important steps towards raising industry standards and formulating strategies for the future.”

In a strong show of confidence, the FIATA President declared that the

airline industry, represented by IATA, should finally face reality, and recognise forwarders as their most important customer group, and treat logistics services providers accordingly. “Forwarders contract over 80 per cent of international air shipments as principals,” he stated.

“Furthermore, the relationship between airlines and forwarders should be future oriented.

Focusing on adding value to the transport chain and driving efficiencies. We should talk at eye level about common standards and best practices, in the areas of security, paperless cargo handling, financial transactions and other professional issues.”

The failure of the Air Cargo Agency Conference, which met on March 8 in Istanbul, to adopt a recommendation from the

IATA/FIATA Consultative Council (IFCC), has aroused the forwarders’ wrath. The recommendation was to amend the IATA Resolutions dealing with the accreditation of training for air freight forwarders, and to incorporate programmes accredited by FIATA. Forwarders were particularly angered, as the recent launch of the joint Global Air Cargo Advisory Group (GACAG, December 2010) had led them to believe that IATA was genuinely interested to change its ways, and seek cooperation with others.

FIATA continues to work for safer and more secure global, regional, and national supply chains.

Security in the fields of air cargo, container shipping, and land transportation thus attracted a lot of

STRONG WORDS: A photo from the FIATA HQ Session 2010 at Zurich from our files.

52

CRUISING HEIGHTS April 2011

attention at previous FIATA meetings. The discussions highlighted the different regulations, procedures, levels of compliance, and technical standards around the globe from Hong Kong to Europe and North America and how they affect forwarders. The global voice of freight logistics together with Transportation Intermediaries Association (TIA), European Association for Forwarding, Transport, Logistic and Customs Services (CLECAT), and the US Chamber continues to lobby for mutual recognition of the US Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism (C-TPAT) Programme and the EUAuthorised Economic Operator (AEO) Programme. The US Chamber in turn is pursuing mutual recognition between CTPAT, Certified Cargo Screening Program (CCSP), and other government security programmes.

Further highlights of the Headquarters Session were discussions about raising training standards in the industry, the new INCOTERMS (International Commercial Terms are a series of international sales with terms, published by International Chamber of Commerce), the new Federal Maritime Commission (FMC) tariff regulations coming into force effective April 18, and the transport corridors Asia - Europe under discussion by the UNECE (UN European Committee for Inland Transport).

55

Cargo april.qxd

4/4/2011

10:36 AM

Page 2

CARGO

In what can be defined as an initiative to enhance customer satisfaction, the IATA has drawn up a comprehensive agenda for air cargo to improve competitiveness.

A report.

T

he International Air Transport Association (IATA) has laid out an agenda for the air cargo value chain to improve its competitiveness with a four-point agenda.

“The air cargo value chain must offer better quality and improved efficiency with operations that are safer and even more secure,” said Giovanni Bisignani, IATA’s Director General and CEO, in his opening remarks to 900 air cargo executives gathered in Istanbul for the recent IATA World Cargo Symposium.

“An efficient air cargo industry is in everybody’s interest. Transporting 35 per cent by value of goods traded internationally, it is critical to the global economy.

Improving competitiveness to more effectively connect the world requires a team effort across the air cargo value

56

AIR CARGO TO GO FOR

QUALITY chain. Airlines, forwarders and shippers must work with governments on common goals to solve air cargo’s key issues,” said Bisignani.

IATA specifically addressed the following issues: Security: The IATA chief noted significant progress in collaboration with the US Department of Homeland Security in 2010. He also rang a warning bell that many governments and politicians were working on change to air cargo security

that dramatically impacted the business. “IATA is taking the lead to engage governments with industry knowledge and expertise.

Our message to governments is clear. We must resist the knee-jerk call for 100 per cent cargo screening. The industry must be secure with effective measures that facilitate the speed needed to support global commerce.

Air cargo security must be based on a combination of three measures supply chain security, scanning

CRUISING HEIGHTS April 2011

technology and better use of e-freight data,” said Bisignani.

IATA’s vision for air cargo security includes a supply chain approach that keeps shipments secure from the time of packing to loading. IATA’s Secure Freight initiative helps industry and governments work together on investment, processes, technology and risk assessment to implement a supply chain approach.

Secure Freight is being

Cargo april.qxd

4/4/2011

10:37 AM

Page 3

NEED OF THE HOUR: Cargo storage and warehousing need a major fillip to boost the air cargo business.

piloted successfully in Malaysia and the target is for two other countries to implement in 2011, including the United Arab Emirates.

Second, new certified screening equipment is needed to supplement the supply chain security process and handle oversize items and pallets if required. And third, to facilitate effective risk assessments, better use must be made of electronic information. e-freight: The IATA Board of Governors has targeted 10 per cent e-freight volumes on capable trade lanes by the end of 2011, and 100 per cent by 2015. “The efreight network covers 80 per cent of cargo volumes.

But e-freight penetration stands at just 2.8 per cent.

Most governments have legislation that recognises electronic documentation.

The exceptions include Thailand, Indonesia, Russia and Vietnam, which much catch up fast or risk being left behind in this important business,” said Bisignani.

The IATA e-freight programme was started in 2004 with the aim of saving the industry $4.9 billion by converting 20+ shipping documents and the processes

Giovanni Bisignani CEO and Director General, IATA.

behind them to electronic format. “It’s a no-brainer. If we can be faster, cheaper, more accurate and secure we need to get it done,” said Bisignani.

Quality: “Cargo is a competitive business — 98 per cent of the volume goes by sea and two per cent by air. Customers who pay a premium to ship by air demand premium quality.

Cargo 2000 has developed cargo standards. These should not be the property of a club of a few committed airlines and freight forwarders. They want to know that their shipments are on time and if they are not, they need to know when to expect them to plan around the delay. This is an example of basic good business practice that air cargo needs to adopt if it is to maintain or improve its competitiveness. My vision is to evolve these to global quality standards by the end of this year,” said Bisignani.

Safety: With one accident for every 1.6 million flights in 2010, safety as measured

by Western-built jet hull losses achieved a historical low. Benefitting from the IATA Operational Safety Audit (IOSA) as a condition of membership, IATA airlines outperformed the industry with one accident for every four million flights.

“Safety is our number one priority. The positive numbers from 2010 show the strength of our commitment. This

“The air cargo value chain must offer better quality and improved efficiency with operations that are safer and even more secure”

CRUISING HEIGHTS April 2011

commitment includes constant improvement and there is an emerging risk with internet based commerce that we must address. Individual sellers through websites are not professional shippers. They don’t know their responsibilities to label, pack and declare dangerous goods. All air cargo stakeholders must find a way to bring these websites to action to inform their customers of their responsibility. And we must do this fast, before we have a catastrophe,” said Bisignani.

In March, IATA revised its 2011 financial outlook. Air cargo is expected to generate $68 billion to the industry’s $594 billion revenues.

Volumes are expected to grow by 6.1 per cent for a total of 46.2 million tonnes of air cargo in 2011. Stronger demand indicated by upwardly revised GDP forecasts of 3.1 per cent and careful capacity management are expected to see cargo yields grow by 1.9 per cent in 2011.

Along with the rest of the aviation business, air cargo is expected to be hit hard by rising fuel costs. IATA raised its assumption on the oil price to $96 per barrel from the previously forecast $84.

Taking into account hedging levels of about 50 per cent of anticipated consumption, this added $10 billion to the industry’s fuel bill. This drove a 46 per cent cut in global profits to $8.6 billion from the $16.0 billion that airlines made in 2010.

“Aviation remains fragile. With an expected 2011 profit margin of just 1.4 per cent, any crisis or shock could knock us off balance. We must protect and strengthen the 11 per cent of airline revenues derived from air cargo.

Working together as an entire value chain to improve competitiveness has never been more important,” said Bisignani.

57

Cargo

Colmn.qxd

4/4/2011

10:39 AM

Page 2

COLUMN/CARGO

Defining the new air cargo value proposition The time has come when air cargo stakeholders should step out of the shadows and understand the significance of the growth that is being witnessed, argues D J Ghosh.

M

ost observers are sure that the air cargo business has grown, but very few are able to fathom how this business has changed. Perhaps, the most important milestone in the last decade is that in spite of a tumultuous period in aviation industry, the business of air cargo has held firm, and now commands a respectable 10 per cent of total airline revenues (approximately $60 billion out of total airline revenues of $560 billion in 2010).

Historically considered a stepchild of the passenger business, and relegated to passenger bellies, this business has grown exponentially, as more and more cargo shipments are now migrating to all cargo freighter main decks, and shippers are increasingly

demanding more “bespoke� transportation solutions. According to figures announced at IATA's recently concluded World Cargo Symposium (2011) in Istanbul, 40 per cent of the value of all goods moved internationally and two per cent of the tonnage are now moved by air.

This industry has grown to be such a bell weather of economic activity that the likes of Alan Greenspan, former Chairman of the US Federal Reserve, have regularly consulted with FedEx CEO Fred Smith to see how the express parcel business was performing, since the federal government saw these shipments as snapshots of the trend lines for the entire economy.

Traditional legacy airlines continue to depend on air cargo as a key financial

The dilemma today is not that air cargo has not grown enough, but that we have not grasped the significance of this change.

BY AND LARGE: Booming air cargo business is also being marred by inadequate security in the sector.

58

CRUISING HEIGHTS April 2011

Cargo

Colmn.qxd

4/4/2011

10:40 AM

Page 3

contributor to their balance sheets. KLM has calculated that its fares would have to rise at least 20 per cent without the favourable impact of belly cargo on passenger flights.

British Airways calculates that fewer than 10 per cent of city pairs would be profitable without the contribution of cargo in the bellyholds. In Asia Pacific, two major carriers report that cargo revenues represent 30 per cent of gross margins.

Studies by airport associations over the past several years have successfully quantified the number of employees owing their jobs to airport operations. Taking the overall figure of 4.5 million employees working at airports worldwide, surveys determined that about 15 per cent or 700,000 jobs were directly related to air cargo operations. If one were to add on the industries whose cargo flows were facilitated by air cargo operations, these job figures would grow manifold.

However, the dilemma today is not that air cargo has not grown enough, but that we have not grasped the significance of this change, and have failed to put in place the right mechanisms and institutions to support this growth. At the very least, we as an industry have erred in not comprehending the significance of the fact that we have outgrown our existence as appendages of the passenger carriers, and now need to grow as independent entities. The time has now come to shed our passenger - driven agendas and develop the rationale for our own existence.

A glaring example of our continuing low self-image and inconspicuousness in financial circles, is the fact that very few research analysts on Wall Street even bother to rate all cargo airlines (FedEx and UPS excepted) or dedicated cargo companies, since most do not understand how these independent businesses work or how they make or lose money. It is this lack of transparency and alignment with financial norms and standards that has resulted in very little if any institutional money or private capital entering this business.

Furthermore, while the size of our pie has grown significantly, our industry-specific domain knowledge has not, making us dependent on the business processes and methods resident in the systems of legacy carriers. Unless we are able to define our unique offerings, based on dedicated research and intelligence, we are doomed to continue on our “commoditized and unprofitable” path to mediocrity. Our recourse then, is to develop a science of our own, based on the unique needs and characteristics of the air cargo business.

While the increasing wealth of nations reflected in their GDPs, the growth of ecommerce and the liberalising aviation

DARK HORSE: Air cargo volumes in various countries have registered a significant growth.

environment will all contribute to the growth of air cargo volumes, they will not necessarily insure an efficient and seamless air cargo offering and a “one stop shop” for the customer.

The integrators like FedEx, DHL and UPS have been able to offer a unique and highly profitable “time definite” product by owning, integrating and controlling all their assets and resources, but the reality is that the rest of the air cargo industry operates by the skin of their teeth with scattered resources, multiple ownerships, incompatible IT systems, and different agendas. We predict that the visionaries and entrepreneurs that are able to align these multiple and often conflicting entities into a “seamless global supply chain” with a standardised one-stop offering will rule the world of air cargo.

At the end of the day, all countries should view air cargo routes and global supply chains as “highways in the sky with exits on the ground” where established global standards for speed and security are the norm, where bottlenecks, both physical and political, are minimal, where air cargo shipments on dedicated freighters have dedicated pathways through dedicated cargo airports, where the interests of independent vendors are aligned, defined, standardised and dedicated towards the common and overarching platform of providing a seamless supply chain and a one-stop shop for the final customer.

Only then will air cargo become a truly profitable and vital element in the expansion of global trade.

(The columnist is President, American Friendship World Air Cargo Corporation.)

CRUISING HEIGHTS April 2011

At the end of the day, all countries should view air cargo routes and global supply chains as “highways in the sky with exits on the ground”.

59

Cargo Jottings.qxd

4/4/2011

10:44 AM

Page 2

CARGO JOTTINGS Lufthansa Cargo posts record results LUFTHANSA Cargo returned record results in 2010. The cargo carrier impressively harnessed the global economic upswing to post an operating profit of €310 mn . Revenues rose to near pre-crisis levels and totalled €2.8 billion . The positive business development is set to continue in 2011 and furnish the foundations for wide-ranging company investments in the future.

At Lufthansa Cargo's annual press conference, Chairman and CEO Karl Ulrich Garnadt noted that the company had come up with record profits only a year after the worst-ever results in its history. The Chairman emphasised: “We learnt during the crisis to react even faster to market changes. That strength paid off as the economy gathered momentum.” Highly flexible network management, coupled with development of new routes, expeditious reactivation of four freighters and innovative product developments formed the basis for raising revenues by 43 per cent in the wake of the economic upturn. “With that strategy and with the tremendous efforts of all Cargo Lufthanseats, we have succeeded in extending our lead on the competition notwithstanding setbacks, such as the ban on flights for several days after the volcanic eruption in Iceland,” said Garnadt.

With the five new Boeing 777F freighters, which are slated for delivery between 2013 and 2015, the cargo carrier has opted for the most modern aircraft in its class. Positive experience with the type has already been gathered in the Lufthansa Cargo Group: The joint venture AeroLogic is

already operating a fleet of eight Boeing 777 freighters. The freighters are noted for the highest fuel efficiency and a noise footprint significantly smaller than comparable widebodied aircraft.

Touches new destinations: Lufthansa Cargo is significantly expanding its network in the summer flight schedule. Amidst pending regulatory approval, the cargo carrier in the Lufthansa Group started operating MD-11 freighter services to three new destinations of Shenzhen, Kolkata and Barcelona from March 27. The Aerologic joint venture cargo carrier is to lay on direct connections from the Lufthansa hub in Frankfurt to Houston, Texas, and Lahore in Pakistan.

Confers environmental prizes: Lufthansa Cargo conferred its Cargo Climate Care Award at its environmental conference in Frankfurt. The award, worth a total €16,000, went to young researchers, customers and staff for innovative ideas aimed at making airfreight more climate-friendly. Attending the conference were 200 representatives from the logistics industry, science and political life, reflecting the importance the issue has acquired in the air cargo business.

“In view of the immense success of the first Cargo Climate Care Conference two years ago, it was only natural for Lufthansa Cargo to stage the meeting again this year,” observed the cargo carrier's Chairman and CEO Karl Ulrich Garnadt. “Success in the efforts to reduce significantly the impact of goods transport on the environment is of crucial importance to the entire logistics industry.”

prerogatives. This could involve strategic decision making, altering pre-planned strategies depending on the exigencies of the situation and making quick and wise spot decisions. “FedEx Captains of the Game” captured these decisionmaking elements and drew parallels between the management practices that govern the game of cricket with ones that steer a successful corporate.

Panelists comprised Kapil Dev, Anil Kumble, renowned columnists Ayaz KNOWLEDGE SHARING: Kapil Dev and Anil Memon and Anil Dharker and Kumble with Rajesh Subramaniam, Senior industry stalwarts like Rajesh Vice-President, Global Marketing and Customer Subramaniam, Madhabi Puri-Buch Experience, FedEx Services, at the “FedEx and Prasoon Joshi.

Captains of the Game” event.

Cricket and decision-making, FedEx style THE Cricket World Cup fever has gripped everyone. FedEx Express recently hosted an event, the “FedEx captains of the Game” at Mumbai. The event provided a unique platform for former Indian cricket Captains, Kapil Dev and Anil Kumble, who joined corporate honchos to discuss winning strategies, leadership and management values that steer both cricket and business decisions.

A cricket captain and a corporate leader have similar decision-making

60

CRUISING HEIGHTS April 2011

Cargo Jottings.qxd

4/4/2011

10:45 AM

Page 3

Air Asia is best low-cost cargo carrier

Air India rushes aid to Japan

AIRASIA bagged Asia's Best Low Cost Cargo Carrier Award 2011 at the first Aviation Award Asia held recently.

The Aviation Awards Asia aims to be a primary industryrecognition programme dedicated to one of the fastest-growing regions in the aviation industry. The programme celebrates and recognises champions in the Asian aviation industry, promoting best practices and providing a platform for the industry to assess trends and develop strategies for the future.

The Aviation Awards Asia saw nominations in five major categories which include Full Service Airlines, Low Cost Carriers, Business Aviation, MRO, and Technology and Environments. The A PROUD MOMENT: Sathis Manoharen, Regional Head of Cargo, AirAsia, after receiving award winners were the award. assessed by a panel of six distinguished industry professionals, taking into account individual nominees' merits and achievements in areas such as: innovation, customer service, the deployment of technology to improve efficiency, safety-improvement initiatives, and overall business strategies.

Sathis Manoharen, Regional Head of Cargo, AirAsia, said, “We are very happy to have received this award in the very first Aviation Awards Asia which celebrates and recognises champions in the Asian aviation industry. It is an honour to be recognised by your peers, and the award is testament to the efforts and belief of everyone involved in AirAsia Cargo to make us what we are today.”

Azran Osman-Rani, CEO of AirAsia X said, “The AirAsia Cargo Service is a product that serves both the primary and secondary markets pre-dominantly in ASEAN, Australia, Stansted, Orly, China, Taiwan and India. We are the first major low-cost carrier to be actively engaged in the cargo service.”

NATIONAL carrier Air India has joined others to help those suffering in Japan. It recently ferried more than 25 tonnes of relief material, including 20,000 blankets. “The national carrier carried more than 25 tonnes of relief material, including two consignments each of 10,000 high-quality blankets sent by the government of India, to Japan on its two flights on March 15 and 16,” an Air India spokesperson said.

To accomodate and facilitate more Indians wanting to return from Japan, Air India deployed a Boeing 747-400 Jumbo aircraft for daily operations till March 21, he said, adding that the plane had 423 seats and had been deployed in lieu of scheduled Boeing 777-300 aircraft. Air India has also decided to waive charges for rebooking, cancellations and refunds on all types of tickets for travel from and to Japan till March 31.

DHL and HMACPL join hands

DHL recently announced the signing of a security partnership for its freight forwarding division, DHL Global Forwarding with Hyderabad Menzies Air Cargo Pvt. Ltd. (HMACPL), Hyderabad. Through this partnership, both organisations will work together and agree on Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) for high-value and high-risk air cargo to share best practices and information on crime trends.

“It is increasingly important to constantly focus on the customer's security requirements. With this view, we have taken a decision to enter into this security partnership programme with Hyderabad Menzies Air Cargo Pvt. Ltd. To ensure that security in today's supply chain becomes more efficient and effective, it is important for all parties involved to promote collaboration, open communication and best practices. This forward-looking partnership is a valuable benefit for all our customers and a true example of trust and respect,” says Christoph Remund, CEO, DHL Lemuir Logistics Pvt. Ltd. “Stringent internal and external security procedures are an integral part of a successful supply chain, particularly for high-value shipments. Hyderabad Menzies Air Cargo Pvt. Ltd,

FIATA institute hails industry relations RUDOLFO Sagel (Argentina), AFI (Air Freight Institute) Chairman, recently announced a new direction in industry relations between forwarders and air carriers.

The move comes on the heels of the successful launch of the Global Air Cargo Action Group (GACAG), and news from Glyn Hughes, Director, Cargo Industry Management, IATA Cargo, that the Cargo Agency Conference, which met on March 8, failed to take cognizance of the unanimous recommendation from the IATA/FIATA Consultative Council to amend training accreditation to place FIATA and IATA on an equal footing.

The Chairman advised the delegate: “The industry relationship between forwarder and airline must evolve to reflect today's reality. The forwarder is the customer of the air carrier, with over 80 per cent of international shipments contracted as principal, and less than 20 per cent as agent.”

He went on to say that IATA's role should no longer be that of a regulatory body of the forwarder. The historical reasons for IATA accreditation and training of forwarders, dating back some 50 years ago, were no longer valid, as the air cargo industry has matured.

through this partnership, will work on developing best practice security initiatives that will enable us to further improve product delivery to our customers,” said Paul Smith, CEO, Hyderabad STRONG TIE-U UP: Paul Smith, CEO, Menzies Air Cargo Pvt. Hyderabad Menzies Air Cargo Pvt. Ltd. Ltd. and Christoph Remund, CEO, DGF India.

Siew Yue Wah, Vice President, Regional Security Head, DHL Global Forwarding Asia Pacific, further added, “The security partnership programme will help create a safer environment not only for customers but for both DHL and HMACPL employees who handle high-value and high-risk products. Sharing best practices and training modules along with highlighting the benefits of this partnership, will undoubtedly act as a deterrent to cargo crime.

The partnership is the first such initiative in Hyderabad.

CRUISING HEIGHTS April 2011

61

Final Traffic Data April1.qxd

4/4/2011

12:24 PM

Page 2

TRAFFIC DATA

THE FIGURES KEEP RISING – STEADILY PASSENGERS CARRIED BY SCHEDULED DOMESTIC AIRLINES Passengers carried by domestic airlines during Jan-Feb 2011 were 95.11 lakh as against 79.51 lakh during the corresponding period of previous year thereby registering a growth of + 19.6% 120

2010

Growth

2011

- YoY(+19.6%) - MoM(+18.5%)

95.11

100

MARKET SHARE OF SCHEDULED DOMESTIC AIRLINES IndiGo 18.7%

z

Air India (Dom) 15.8% z

79.51

80

z

60

45.76

38.63

40

Jet Airways 18.0%

z z

z JetLite 8.1%

20 0

YoY

MoM

Kingfisher 19.0% SpiceJet 13.8%

ON-TIME PERFORMANCE FOREIGN CARRIERS 70 foreign carriers operating to/from India. At the time of compilation of this report, OTP data of 57 carriers was received.

On-Time 79.3%

ON-TIME PERFORMANCE FOREIGN CARRIERS On-Time 79.6% Excessiv e (> 44 min) 6.3%

z

Excessiv e (> 44 min) 6.3% z z

Very Late (30-44 min) 4.6% z

Late (15-29 min) 9.8%

z

z

z

Very Late (30-44 min) 4.6%

z Late (15-29 min) 9.8%

79.6% (Arrivals) 79.3% (Departures)

he year began with a bang for domestic carriers. The steady rise in the number of passengers continued. The domestic airlines registered a whopping 95.11 lakh of passengers during January-February 2011 as against 79.51 lakh during the corresponding period of previous year.

The growth was 19.6 per cent.

The market share of domestic passengers carried by the scheduled

T

62

airlines in the January-February 2011 period was: Air India (Domestic): 15.8 per cent; Jet Airways: 18 per cent; JetLite: 8.1 per cent (Jet Airways + JetLite = 26.1 per cent); Kingfisher: 19 per cent; SpiceJet: 13.8 per cent; Go Air: 6.6 per cent; IndiGo: 18.7 per cent.

The overall cancellation rate of scheduled domestic airlines for the month of February, 2011 was 0.8 per CRUISING HEIGHTS April 2011

cent. The cancellations by domestic carriers were: IndiGo (0.1), Go Air (0.4), SpiceJet (0.5), Jet Airways (0.6), Kingfisher (0.9), Air India-Domestic (1.3) and JetLite (1.4) The major cause of cancellation was weather which accounted for 57.0 per cent. The other causes were Technical (18.8 per cent), Commercial (1.3 per cent), Operations (8.3 per cent) and Miscellaneous (14.6 per cent).

Final Traffic Data April1.qxd

4/4/2011

12:25 PM

Page 3

SEAT FACTOR

CAPACITY VS DEMAND

The month of Feb 2011 witnessed marginal decrease in seat factor as compared to previous month primarily due to end of peak season.

Jan. 10 100 80

74.6

86.5 83.6

82.6 81

87.1

83.3

88.6 87.6

60 40 20 0 Jet Airways

Demand (RPKM)

30

60

Air India

Capacity (ASKM)

40

% change over Month

Seat Factor (%)

69.3 68

73.9 76.5

80.2

Feb. 11

Analysis of Capacity (ASKM) and Demand (RPKM) data on Year-to-Year basis indicates that trend of increase in both the capacity and demand continued in the month of Feb 2011 also..

JetLite

SpiceJet

Kingfisher

IndiGo

GoAir

20 10 0 -10 -20 -30 -40

Mar

Apr

May Jun

Aug

Jul

Oct

Sep

Nov Dec Jan Feb

Year over Year

CANCELLATION DATA OF SCHEDULED DOMESTIC AIRLINES

Total number of complaints (Feb 2011) – 1137• Number of passenger related complaints - 2.5per 10,000 passengers carried.

Overall Cancellation Rate in Feb 2011 – 0.8% IndiGo

PASSENGER COMPLAINTS OF SCHEDULED DOMESTIC AIRLINES

0.1

Kingfisher 0.5

SpiceJet

0.9

JetLite 0.8

1

1.2

1.4

2.8 3.1

IndiGo 1.4

0.6

2.2

SpiceJet 1.3

Air India (Dom)

0.4

2.1

Go Air

Kingfisher

0.2

1.7

JetLite 0.6

Jet Airways

0

1.1

Air India (Dom) 0.4

Go Air

4.1

Jet Airways 1.6

0

2

1

3

5

4

No.of Complaints/10,000 Pax

Cancellation Rate (%)

ON-TIME PERFORMANCE (OTP)

REASONS OF CANCELLATIONS

Scheduled Domestic Airlines, Overall OTP (Feb 2011) Weather 57.0%

% of Total Ops 100

89.2

88.7

86.8

OTP

83.2

80.6

80

Technical 18.8%

60

Consec/Misc 14.6%

40

Operational 8.3%

20

During the month of February 2011, 1137 passenger-related complaints had been received by the scheduled domestic airlines. The number of complaints per 10,000 passengers carried for the month was 2.5. Jet Airways recorded the highest numbers of passenger complaints (4.1) while Air India (Domestic) was the lowest (1.1). The other carriers recorded: Kingfisher (1.7), JetLite

20.8

23.5

19.6

14.1 4.6

0

Commercial 1.3%

73.9

75.8

Jet Airways Kingfisher

IndiGo

Go Air

10.4

6.9 JetLite

AI (Dom)

SpiceJet

On-Time Performance (%)

(2.1), Go Air (2.2), SpiceJet (2.8) and IndiGo (3.1).

The overall On-Time Performance (OTP) of scheduled domestic airlines for February 2011 was 83.6 per cent. A majority of delays have been attributed to reactionary causes (54 per cent) while weather was second biggest cause of delay (16 per cent). Jet Airways had the highest OTP of 89.2.

Other airlines’ OTP in the month were: CRUISING HEIGHTS April 2011

Kingfisher 88.7, IndiGo 86.8, Go Air 83.2, JetLite 80.6, Air India (Domestic) 75.8 and SpiceJet 73.9.

There are 70 foreign carriers operating to/from India. At the time of compilation of this report, OTP data of 57 carriers was received. The overall On-Time Performance (OTP) of these 57 carriers for the month of February, 2011 was 79.3 per cent in departures and 79.6 per cent in arrivals.

63

april globetrotting FINAL Corr Done.qxd

4/4/2011

11:28 AM

Page 2

GLOBETROTTING

A piece of cake PC Air has hired six transsexuals as flight attendants in an effort to promote equal opportunities for what’s called the “third sex” in Southeast Asia. More than 100 transsexuals applied for the coveted positions with PC Air, and more are expected to be hired. “I think these people can have many careers, not just in the entertainment business, and many of them have a dream to be an

Careful, bedbugs on airhostess. I just made their dream come true,” quoted PC Air President, Peter Chan. But it’s not mandatory that applicants go through surgery to be considered for a job, said Chan.

What’s important is they have the necessary language skills and can provide good service.

Interestingly, the transsexual employees will wear a special gold “third sex” name tag to help travellers and airline employees.

Bedbugs have been found in a British Airways’ plane. The flight was grounded midway through its journey for a passenger who was bitten by bedbugs. Business executive Zane Selkirk of California was bitten by bugs during two flights from Los Angeles to London and Bengaluru to London recently. Selkirk noticed the blood-sucking creatures on the seat shortly before take-off on the first flight, later going to the plane’s toilet to find five or six crawling around on

Freed in the air

THIEF IN THE AIR! ver heard of a thief in the air who cleverly managed to cheat not just flight attendants but walked away with the booty cheating even the airport security staff !. An ingenious thief has swiped almost a quarter million dollars on a flight in the Caribbean after sneaking into the cash-laden cargo hold via the toilet, police say. A Brink’s security employee placed three sacks of cash containing a total €1.2 million in the hold of the Air Antilles plane before it headed from the French island of Guadeloupe to the Franco-Dutch island of Saint

E 64

Martin. When the flight landed, it was discovered that €172,000 were missing from the sacks.

Police say, a man who was ill, spent most of the journey in the toilet. In fact, he was removing panels to gain access to the hold in the rear of the plane. Shortly before landing, the man asked a hostess for an ambulance. When the ambulance arrived, the man said he suddenly felt better and walked out of the airport without having to go through the normal security checks and disappeared. Cleaners who found bundles of notes in the toilet raised the alarm.

CRUISING HEIGHTS April 2011

Ever heard of a Penguin flying in the air. It all happened when Pete — the Penguin — proved that his species can fly, contrary to popular belief. On a trans-American flight from San Fransisco back to California, the South American Magellan Penguin was allowed to stretch his legs.

The bird had been at a science convention earlier in the day and turned heads when he walked along the aisle on the 90-minute trip to San Diego. As he strolled around, his SeaWorld custodians gave the passengers on the flight, a free lecture on penguins over the inflight intercom.

And his fellow passengers stared in amazement, as the Arctic bird, usually more at home in the sea than in the air, seemed to take it all in his stride. Word of the unexpected passenger began to spread across the internet last week when videos uploaded by those on the flight began to appear on YouTube.

Magellanic Penguins take their name from the Magellan Strait, in Chile, where they originate from and live to between 25 and 30 years old. Despite the millions that inhabit the coastlines of Chile and Argentina, they are classed as a threatened species due to their vulnerability to oil spills, which kill around 20,000 adults and 22,000 youngsters every year.

april globetrotting FINAL Corr Done.qxd

4/4/2011

11:29 AM

Page 3

your seat

Happy hunting ground

her white shirt. On her return journey to London, she became very itchy after departing the plane and discovered she was covered in 90 bed bug bites. Unhappy with the response from British Airways, Selkirk launched ba-bites.com, a website covering her experience in vivid detail.”Not only was the experience disgusting, but your staff were

In a bizarre incident, a man and woman were charged with pointing a laser at a commercial plane at Midway Airport and then at a police helicopter sent to investigate, according to the local police. Shania Smith and Elvin Slater were arrested about six miles east of the airport shortly after the incident.

A pilot reported the laser contact to the Midway control

revolting to me personally throughout the ordeal,” she wrote to British Airways.

Though the aircraft involved had been taken out of service.

Prayers can be odd Flight attendants on a recent Alaska Airlines flight interpreted an elaborate prayer ritual by Orthodox Jewish men onboard as a security threat and locked down the cockpit, airline officials said.

Police, FBI and Custom agents swarmed the plane when it landed at Los Angeles International Airport and three men were escorted off after it was reported that passengers were acting rowdy and a fight had broken out.

In fact, the disturbance was the farthest thing from a fight. The men were praying. “We’ve since learned from law enforcement that the passengers onboard were practicing a traditional Orthodox Jew ritual called Tefillin,” Alaska Airlines spokeswoman Bobbie Egan told the Los Angeles Daily News.

The ritual involves strapping leather ribbons and small wooden boxes containing verses of the Torah to the body while saying morning prayers. A flight attendant got spooked when she saw the men wrapping the straps to their foreheads and arms and praying loudly in Hebrew and she instructed the crew to lock down the cockpit, Egan said.

The FBI questioned the three men—described as Mexican nationals—before releasing them to make connecting flights to other countries, FBI spokeswoman Laura Eimiller told the LA Daily News.’

Help! Controller’s asleep An air traffic controller recently told US investigators he fell asleep on the job, leaving two jetliners to land in Washington without any airport guidance. “As a former airline pilot, I am personally outraged that this controller did not meet his responsibility to help land these two airplanes,” Randy Babbitt, the Federal Aviation Administration administrator, said in a statement Babbitt, who suspended the unidentified 20-year veteran, is reviewing the incident along with the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB). The pilots of the American Airlines Boeing 737 flight from Miami and the United Airlines Airbus 320 from Chicago, carrying a total of 165 passengers and crew, tried frantically to contact the control tower, but to no avail.

tower. It wasn’t known if the plane was taking off or landing. A Chicago police helicopter was dispatched, and several beams of light were also pointed at it, police said. The helicopter crew located the source of the laser and directed police to the block of South Stewart Avenue. Officers found Smith and Slater in a vehicle and in possession of a laser.

The American Airlines pilot contacted the Terminal Radar Approach Control (TRACON) facility 64 km away in Virginia as he circled the airport after midnight recently trying to keep passengers calm.

“Is there a reason it’s not manned?” the American Airlines pilot asks, according to a transcript published by The Washington Post.

“Well, I’m going to take a guess and say that the controller got locked out. I’ve heard of it happening before,” the TRACON controller replies, after making repeated unanswered calls to the tower.

Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) officials quoted by the US media said the controller, who was alone in the tower for the midnight to 6am shift, had fallen asleep.

No child’s play All airlines promise best services to its passengers. But the steward of a Virgin Blue aircraft instead left the mother and a child with a nightmarish experience. While on a journey from Fiji to Sydney, a flight attendant put a toddler in an overhead locker which left mother Natalie Williamson angry and shaken. Virgin admitted an incident had taken place, but claimed that Williamson’s now estranged husband Shayne was playing a peek-a-boo game with the child that involved the overhead locker when the flight attendant joined in. While the mother claims that her son Riley was shut in the locker for up to 10 seconds in complete darkness, the airlines on the other hand, claimed that safety of passengers was its top priority.

Riley, a 20-month-old, has been suffering from anxiety and withdrawal, the mother added. She said: “He sleeps with me. If I’m not in the same room as him, he will scream and yell, ‘Mum, mum’”.

CRUISING HEIGHTS April 2011

65

Snippets Aviation 1.qxd

4/4/2011

12:09 PM

Page 72

SNIPPETS

DOMESTIC AIRLINES Jet awarded by Airfinance JET AIRWAYS has been awarded the “Regional Deal of the Year” for 2010 by Airfinance Journal, a leading financial magazine serving the commercial aviation industry worldwide. The award was conferred for structuring an innovative operating lease for its six ATR aircraft, under a deal with Calyon Bank, France and Investec in London. Under this deal, the airline took delivery of six new ATR aircraft between October and December 2010.

Airfinance Journal’s 2010 awards recognise deals that were innovative; tapped new sources of finance or found new participants; and, as always, reward borrower ambition and lender commitment. This is the second such award accorded to the airline by Airfinance Journal.

Enhances connectivity: To significantly enhance network connectivity to and from central India with new connections, Jet Airways has started operating on new routes that connect the Tier II cities of central India like Raipur, Indore, Bhopal and Nagpur with the south Indian cities of Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Chennai and Kochi with the introduction of SPECIAL MOVES: The initiative took Boeing 737/ATR special care of women on air. services effective from March. Tiruchirapally is to be linked with Chennai via a daily ATR service. Apart from these services, Bhubaneshwar will also have better connectivity with Bengaluru, Delhi, Hyderabad apart from

connecting to Raipur, Indore, Bhopal and Nagpur in the summer schedule.

Special offers for women travellers: Jet Airways honoured its women travellers in March. As part of its “Celebrating Womanhood” initiative, Jet Airways offered its women guests special benefits throughout March, fares and offers to commemorate International Women’s day.

As part of the “Celebrating Womanhood” initiative, every group with at least one woman traveller that made a booking on the airline’s online destination enjoyed a five per cent discount on base fare and fuel surcharge.

In addition to all this, 10 women guests travelling on Jet Airways, JetLite and Jet Airways Konnect flights got a chance to win exciting offers selected through lucky draws. Nikos Kardassis, CEO, Jet Airways, said: “Women have played a crucial role through the ages in nurturing the social and moral fabric of modern day society. Their contributions across strata have been immense and immeasurable and on the occasion of International Women’s Day, Jet Airways commemorated these special women travellers with exciting new offers. Designed exclusively for women, the special offers are a small expression of the airline’s appreciation for their continued support.”

Partners with Tata Telecom and publications: Jet Airways’ JetPrivilege, India’s frequent flyer programme, announced the launch of its partnerships with Tata Teleservices and i-mint in the telecom and conversion categories. Also ten new top-of-the-line publishing partners, which include: Inc. India, Architecture+Design, Better Homes and Gardens, Casaviva, CHILD, Discover India, Maxim, travel+leisure, Golf Style and Sports Illustrated. JetPrivilege members will be entitled to earn JPMiles for a period of 12 months from the date of subscription.

With the addition of i-mint, JetPrivilege now offers members partnerships with fifteen respected financial names in the conversion category. i-mint is one of India’s most popular loyalty programmes with over 10 million members, allowing customers to earn points across various shopping categories on their i-mint card.

JetPrivilege members may now convert their i-mint Points to JPMiles in the ratio of 500 i-mint points = 100 JPMiles.

Pampering ladies on Women’s Day: ON THE occasion of Deathly Hallows: Part1.

International Women’s Day, JetScreen, Jet Airways’ state-of- According to Sudheer Raghavan, CCO, Jet Airways, “Inthe-art in-flight entertainment system, featured a film festival flight entertainment is a critical part of the on-board titled Modern Day Heroines, experience for all our guests. Our celebrating women in the movies, in selection of the best movies from collaboration with JetViva. The cycle various genres is aimed at enhancing also featured the work and craft of the overall in-flight experience. We acclaimed film director Sai Paranjpye are confident that our latest selection in the form of Katha, Chashme of movies will appeal to all guests.

Buddoor and Disha. The screening This is part of our initiative to included her exclusive interview, heighten customer satisfaction.” where guests learnt about her The airline will host a delectable fare perspective on movies and society. of award winning international cinema For the cycle March to April 2011, Jet from various parts of the globe Airways’ JetScreen will screen movies HONOURED: Jet gave special offers for women including the likes of I am Love — an ranging from the critically acclaimed Italian movie and nominee of Oscars, The Kings Speech (Winner of four Oscars) and Black Swan BAFTA and Golden Globe, “Jouese” — a French film par (Oscar for Best Actress in a Leading Role), as well as Oscar- excellence, Po Po Chiu Kai Yan (Cantonese and Mandarin) nominees True Grit, 127 Hours and Harry Potter and the and The Cove (winner of last year’s Oscar).

66

CRUISING HEIGHTS April 2011

Snippets Aviation 1.qxd

4/4/2011

12:10 PM

Page 73

Ticket to red carpet ALL YOU need to do to rub shoulders with Hollywood stars at the Cannes Film Festival 2011 is to shop for Chivas Regal at the Delhi Duty Free shop (DDFS) at T3. In an innovative and exclusive promotional offer, DDFS, India’s largest duty free retail space at T3 at IGI Airport in Delhi recently announced the Cannes Film Festival Promotion. The offer entitles international travellers buying Chivas Regal from the duty free shops at T3 to enter a lucky draw contest, thus giving the winning lucky couple an SHOPPING SPREE: Shop at T3 and opportunity to become a part walk yourself to Cannes. of the internationally famed Cannes Film Festival, which will be held in Paris from May 1122, 2011. The promotion ran at Delhi Duty Free Shops from February to March. All international travellers who purchase Chivas Regal can fill out the lucky draw coupon to enter the lucky draw contest. They can experience what it feels like to be a star for a day by walking on the red carpet with the stars during the festival. The winner would experience one night accommodation at the legendary Martinez Hotel for a couple, return couple tickets to Paris, dinner vouchers at the Palm D or Sofitel White Palm hotel with the stars, after party invites, exclusive lunch at the Chérie Chéri beach, helicopter pick-up and drop from Niece to Cannes during the festival.

SpiceJet augments its fleet IN ORDER to augment its fleet, SpiceJet’s summer schedule includes new destinations and aircraft in its itinerary. The company will add five new turboprop aircraft in the coming months and currently the airline has a 13 per cent share of the market. It operates 153 flights daily to 20 Indian cities with a fleet of 22 Boeing 737-800-737-900ER aircraft. SpiceJet had placed an order for 30 Bombardier Q400 turboprop planes to launch services to smaller destinations in the country..

FLEET EXPANSION: SpiceJet birngs more flights and planes to its kitty.

Indigo announces Bengaluru flight ANTICIPATING AN increase in demand during the summer season, Indigo plans to start a direct flight to Bengaluru. The flight will be operated on the Delhi-Indore-Nagpur-Bengaluru route, and in its return leg will be operated as BengaluruNagpur-Indore-Delhi route. Presently, only JetLite operates a Nagpur-Mumbai- Bengaluru flight. SpiceJet has put off plans to introduce a direct flight to Bengaluru and New Delhi from March. On the New Delhi sector, presently, Air India operates a morning flight, Indigo and JetLite operate flights in morning and afternoon, while GoAir operates a flight in the evening.

CRUISING HEIGHTS April 2011

67

Snippets Aviation 1.qxd

4/4/2011

12:10 PM

Page 74

SNIPPETS

INTERNATIONAL AIRLINES More Britain for less

TO MAKE travel to the UK more attractive than ever British Airways announced a range of offers with Visit Britain. They include all-inclusive fares as low as `41,045 for a return flight from Mumbai to London. The offer also means that customers can travel to select some of the top British destinations and pay only the London fare, allowing travellers from India to see more of the UK. The special promotional rates include flight only deals in economy and business classes and a holiday package that combines flights with three nights’ central London accommodation starting at `55,000 as well as a great deal arranged with Avis car hire.

CP expands fleet GROWTH ERUPTION: Lufthansa ended 2010 with strong balance sheet.

Lufthansa presents strong financials for 2010 THE LUFTHANSA Group has ended the 2010 business year with a strong balance sheet. The group earned an operating profit of €876 million for 2010, which was equivalent to more than fivefold increase of the previous year’s figure of €130 million Net profit rose to €1.1 billion, which marked an increase of €1.2 billion. The Group, therefore, compensated the negative one-off effects on the result, such as the hard winter in January and December, the pilots’ strike and the airspace lockdown for several days as a result of the volcanic eruption on Iceland, better than could have been expected at the mid-year point. This was mainly due to a rise in demand and sales in international passenger traffic and freight traffic, as well as the successful implementation of cost reduction measures in all of the Group’s business segments and the realisation of synergy potentials within the passenger airline group.

Chairman and CEO of Deutsche Lufthansa AG, Christoph Franz, described the year 2010 as an eventful and challenging, yet ultimately successful one and said speaking about the fullyear figures: “We can be highly satisfied with this result; it shows that we have learned from the crises of the past. We maintained our financial and operational flexibility as well as our usual cost discipline and convincingly mastered the past year — not least thanks to a strong team performance by all of our staff and management on the ground and in the air. And most importantly, Lufthansa has widened the gap with its competitors. That makes us proud and spurs us on to perform even better in 2011.”

Network expansion: Lufthansa Airlines brought in more business travellers and tourists to India by increasing frequencies during summer. This summer, the airline will operate 13,304 flights per week on an average globally. From March 27 till October 29, 2011, Lufthansa will offer flights to 211 destinations in 84 countries. This expansion will also include more frequencies from India.

On Indian routes, Lufthansa will be offering 52 weekly flights from seven Indian destinations to Frankfurt and Munich. With affiliates SWISS and Austrian, 77 weekly flights will be on offer from India to the major European hubs: Frankfurt, Munich, Zurich and Vienna. This summer flight schedule will witness the launch of the first-ever A380 services to San Francisco from Frankfurt

68

TO FURTHER boost its investment in fleet modernisation and growth, Cathay Pacific has ordered 27 aircraft, bringing the total to 91.The airline has entered into an agreement with Airbus to buy 15 more Airbus A330-300s and a separate agreement with Boeing for 10 more B 777-300ERs. It has also inked a deal with aircraft leasing company International Lease Finance Corporation (ILFC), to add two more Airbus A350-900s. The 27 new aircraft have a list price of about HK$51 billion. The order will enable the airline to replace older, less fuel-efficient aircraft as they are progressively retired from the fleet.

Etihad increases frequency ETIHAD AIRWAYS has increased its frequency to Bengaluru following the success of its services to Karnataka’s capital city, moving from its four return flights to a daily service from March onwards. The carrier provides a complimentary chauffeur service for its premium-class passengers flying in and out of Bengaluru Airport using Mercedes E series cars. This service also operates in Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai and Hyderabad.

ENTICING PASSENGERS : AA has come up with innovative measures for its customers to enhance its travel experience.

Tech-savvy AA TO ENHANCE its booking and travel experience, American Airlines (AA) is hosting the “Million Reasons to Book” Sweepstakes which highlights how customers can effectively use different features on AA.com. The Sweepstakes was developed as a way to showcase how customers use AA.com features to support their individual travel styles. A customer testimonial video stars three AA.com customers discussing the features they value the most. In addition, it provides a platform for customers to share their own travel tips.

CRUISING HEIGHTS April 2011

Snippets Aviation 1.qxd

4/4/2011

12:11 PM

Page 75

AirAsia touches Palembang EXPANDING ITS vast network and enhancing its reach across Asia, AirAsia has launched direct flights between Kuala Lumpur and Palembang. Operations on the route have started from March 2011 and as a treat for its guests, AirAsia is offering promotional fares as low as RM79 (IDR 1169). The opening of the route reflects AirAsia’s commitment to grow tourism across the ASEAN region and help spur economic growth beyond ASEAN’s capitals. The airline is aggressively promoting the region of Sumatra, where Palembang is located, as a top tourist destination.

AirAsia directly connects Indonesia to destinations in the ASEAN region, Hong Kong, India and Australia.

Low fares for Queensland: AirasiaX has been running its “Gold Coast Famous for Fun” campaign to support Tourism Queensland and Gold Coast Tourism in its efforts in stimulating tourism growth in the state. The campaign will offer guests fares as low as RM499 online for bookings made in the month of March. The airline currently operates direct daily flights into the Gold Coast from Kuala Lumpur. Gold Coast was the first route serviced by the leading long-haul low-fare airline, AirAsia X in 2007.

Orders for Airbus: AirAsia X signed a firm contract for three new A330-200s with an option for two more, which

brings the airline’s total order to 28 A330s. Scheduled for delivery from 2014, the aircraft will be operated on the carrier’s expanding network, offering low- fare services to destinations in Europe, Asia and the Pacific. The airline has ordered the 238-tonne increased take-off weight version of the A330-200, which is capable of flying non-stop from Kuala Lumpur to Europe. The airline will configure the aircraft in a two-class layout with 24 Premium flatbeds and 264 Economy seats.

Massive sales campaign: AirAsia X hit off with its “Massive Sales” campaign to all its long-haul destinations (excluding Tehran and Tokyo), following the recent AirAsia campaign, which took off in February. As a part of the campaign, guests were able to grab the low-fare offer to London, Taiwan, China, Australia and India, Korea, New Zealand and France. The campaign was offered on first-come, first-served basis and made exclusively online via www.airasia.com.

A great comeback by PAL

QA connects to Stuttgart

AIMING TO attract more Indians to their country, Philipines Airlines (PAL) launched its first direct flight from India after 57 years. The airline would be operating six flights a week from New Delhi to Manila.

PAL executive ViceGlen Agustin, India Head, President Vivienne K. Tan (L-R) Philippine Department of Tourism, said, “The launch of the Subhash Goyal, Chairman STIC, Jaime Manila-New Delhi route is J Bautista, President and CEO Airlines, Vivienne Tan, daughin step with the Philippine ter of the Chairman and PAL Executive government’s programme Vice President and Sanjeev Vohra, to perk up the economy by Citibank Philippines CEO at the press bringing in more tourists in conference announcing the launch of the PAL flights. our country and serves as a vital air link between our two countries”.

Of the two million Indian tourists moving annually, only 32,000 have travelled to the Philippines. PAL will start flying thrice a week non-stop to New Delhi. The direct flights will reduce travel to India to just six and half hours.

PAL is allocating 1,88,000 seats a year on the Indian route and expects that the number of Indians visiting the Philippines would rise from the present 32,817 to more than 50,000, in keeping with the provisions of the 2005 RP-Indian air services agreement that also allows PAL to fly seven times a week from any point in the Philippines to Mumbai, Calcutta and Chennai.

“With India emerging as world’s power house and with large middle-class ready to spend on tourism, we will be operating three non-stop flights and three flights through Bangkok between the two capitals,” said Jaime Bautista, President and Chief Operating Officer of Philippines Airlines. PAL’s return to India coincides with the carrier’s 70th anniversary and underscores the storied past of Asia’s first airline. The flag carrier first flew to the subcontinent on May 3, 1947 when it stopped in the cities of Calcutta and Karachi on a pioneering DC-4 service from Manila.

QATAR AIRWAYS (QA) celebrated the launch of scheduled flights to Stuttgart following the arrival of its inaugural service from Doha to the capital of Baden-Wuerttemberg, WELCOME: Germany gave a grand welcome Germany’s economic to Qatar Airways’ arrival powerhouses. The introduction of thrice-weekly flights to Stuttgart, together with the airline’s additional German frequencies will take the total number of flights between Qatar and Germany from 24 to 34 services each week. Qatar Airways is the only Gulf carrier to operate services to Stuttgart.

Travel with Disney characters DRAGONAIR HAS announced the launch of new children’s kits featuring two much-ved Disney themes: Mickey Club House and Toy Story. The fun packs are available on a majority of Dragonair flights for pack: Dragonair distributes young passengers aged Fun Disney fun packs on air three to eight years. The Mickey Club House kit comes with a bright green shopping tote while the Toy Story kit features an eye-catching carry box. Both designs contain a collection of fun items including a colouring book, colouring pencil, memo pad, puzzle, stickers and games, all featuring the easily recognisable and playful Disney characters. Dragonair will distribute the fun packs on flights to and from Hong Kong.

CRUISING HEIGHTS April 2011

69

Snippets Aviation 1.qxd

4/4/2011

12:12 PM

Page 76

SNIPPETS

TRAVEL & TOURISM Wyndham in pact with Chatwal

STRATEGIC PACT: Sant Singh Chatwal (second from left) while unveiling the tie-up with Wyndham Hotel Group.

Renaissance wins award RENAISSANCE MUMBAI Convention Centre Hotel has added yet another jewel in their crown. The hotel was recently adjudged the “Best Convention/Conference Hotel” at the Indian Hospitality Excellence Awards 2011 and has won the recognition for the “Most Admired Banquet Area” at the 4th Golden Star Awards 2011. The awards are national awards for excellence in food, hospitality, services and food retailing.

Bird Group’s innovative moves

EXUDING EXCELLENCE: Banquet area of Renaissance Mumbai Convention Centre Hotel.

THE COMPANY has ventured into creating a pool of skilled personnel for the aviation and travel industry with its Bird Academy, the educational arm of the Bird Group. The academy is unique in the sense that versatile programmes have been introduced which not only provides technical education, but also promotes intercultural interactions.

TO EXPAND and evolve its brand in key business and leisure markets around the globe, Wyndham Hotel Group recently announced its tie-up with Chatwal Hotels & Resorts. The tie-up will enable the group in gaining exclusive rights to franchise and manage its Dream and Night boutique hotel brands globally.

Dream and Night hotels currently are open in Cochin, New York and Bangkok. In addition, the 108-room, the Art-Deco-inspired Dream South Beach is scheduled to open early this year in Miami Beach, adjacent to the former Versace Mansion on Collins Avenue.

The company has also announced plans to open a Dream hotel in New York’s Meatpacking District during the second quarter of this year and expand in South Asia. Eric Danziger, Wyndham Hotel Group president and chief executive officer, says, “These designdriven, destination-within-a-destination brands are favoured by travellers who crave an avant-garde yet cosmopolitan experience.”

Imperial Palace launches weekend package IF YOU want to be pampered by people and nature, then a stay at any of 422 rooms at the deluxe Imperial Palace opens up doors to a chic and meticulously planned Palace Hotel, as the magnificent five-star hotel at Goregaon East has launched an attractive weekend package. With check-in on any Friday around 12 noon and check out the next day post lunch, the offer includes buffet dinner, buffet breakfast and buffet lunch for two adults. Other services like spa, taxi transfers, accommodation for children etc are chargeable on a nominal basis or are available at a discount.

EXCLSIVE PACKAGE: Imperial Palace launches exclusive weekend packages.

Sarovar in the Pink City

LUXURIOUS: Lounge at Sarovar, Jaipur

70

WITH AN aim to optimise itself to business travellers, Sarovar Hotels has announced the opening of Sarovar Portico in Jaipur.

Located in Vaishali Nagar, an upscale township of the Pink City, the new venture is Sarovar’s second hotel in Jaipur. The hotel offers 82 well- designed guest rooms and suites with amenities and services conforming to the standards of a 3-star international hotel. Equipped with all modern comforts in the rooms such as LCD television with satellite channels, tea/coffee maker, private mini bar, electronic safe, 24-hour room service, valet laundry service and wireless internet connectivity, the on-site dining options at the hotel include Pavilion — all-day dining, Sunset Bar and a Rooftop Terrace Restaurant serving delicious grills and barbe-cue dishes. The hotel’s conference and banquet venues can accommodate up to 250 guests while the Boardroom has a capacity of up to 18 guests. Other facilities include a rooftop swimming pool and a fitness centre. The hotels currently enjoy more than 20 destinations in India.

CRUISING HEIGHTS April 2011

Snippets Aviation 1.qxd

4/4/2011

12:12 PM

Page 77

Thomas Cook unveils cost per trip

PROSPECTIVE ENTREPRENEURS: Goa lures Indians in US with holiday packages.

Goa beckons Indians in the US EVERY YEAR a large number of the Indian expat community in the US travel back home to their cities on a holiday. Many look forward to exploring cities within the country to unwind with family and friends. To tap this segment of tourists, Goa is promising the Indian visitors, a relaxed lifestyle on its sandy beaches.

The promotional trip to the US by the Goa tourism ministry showcased Goa to the expat Indian community and the urban US travellers. The three-city tour included road-shows and networking meetings with trade representatives along the west coast in the cities of Los Angeles, San Francisco and Las Vegas.

Atlanta-based Asian American Hotel Owners Association s(AAHOA) who market Goa as a holiday destination to the expat Indian community in the US, assisted the state delegation during the visit. Fred Schwartz, President, AAHOA said, “Goa is a global destination. Close to five million US travellers visit India annually. Through our strong network and viral marketing initiatives we will assist in channelising these visitors to Goa.” Goa records a high: The sunny tourist destination of India’s west coast, Goa, recorded a high of tourist arrivals with over 26 lakh travellers in 2010. The year saw a 17 per cent increase in foreign tourist visits and a 3.5 per cent increase in domestic tourist visits over 2009. Official figures recorded by the Goa Tourism department reveal that 4.4 lakh foreign tourists and 22 lakh domestic tourists visited the state marking a healthy 15 per cent increase over the previous year. As expected, the festive month of December recorded the highest number of tourist arrivals; 1.1 lakh foreign tourists and 3.9 lakh domestic tourists. December sees a large number of foreign and domestic tourists flocking into Goa to celebrate the festive season and usher in the New Year.

THOMAS COOK (India) released a detailed industry white paper on “Corporate Travel—Trends, Outlook and Opportunities -2011”. The paper highlights key findings related to marketing strategies, initiatives on information-driven enterprise resource planning, IT and ITES sector cost fluctuation and an indepth briefing revolving around the industry and companies within or PAPER HIGHLIGHTS : Thomas Cook affected by the tourism released a paper on marketing strategies sector.

Commenting on this report, Rakshit Desai, Executive Director, Thomas Cook (India) Limited, said: “Thomas Cook embarked on a research to enable thought clarity amongst stakeholders and offered a much-wanted fresh approach whilst planning ahead into the year. In partnership with MasterCard, British Airways and Amadeus, this is a one of a kind report that elicits responses across a wide range of issues encompassing Corporate Travel Managers, CFOs, airlines and hoteliers, which are further merged with secondary data available on the Corporate Travel Scenario in India.”

Tune welcomes a million guests TUNE HOTELS in downtown Kuala Lumpur has welcomed in excess of one million guests. In conjunction with this, the hotel is offering 50 per cent off of any two nights booked in selected hotels in Malaysia and Bali, PACKAGE : Tune has providIndonesia for stays COMFORT ed the best service to all its guests between February 27 and April 30, 2011. This deal will be applicable for the booking period of February 14 to 21, 2011, available exclusively online at www.tunehotels.com. Mark Lankester, Group CEO of Tune Hotels says, “This encouraging landmark achievement is mainly due to the strong support of our guests from all over the world and as a big thank you to everyone, the 50 per cent off promo for 2 nights stay is the first of many regular promos we’ll be offering.” This year onwards the hotel is planning newer strides and plans to reach into newer markets.

A little Spain in Surajkund ON CUE with its “elder” sister in Delhi, The Claridges, Surajkund went on a culinary journey through Spain recently. Although the journey was only for a few days, it showcased almost all that Spain can offer on the plate.

Served with wines, the Spanish brunch had a range of tapas — those little dishes, some were snacks while the others ushered in the lunch — and a whole lot more.

The menu had a number of surprises:

CULINARY DELIGHT: Spanish delicacies were part of the cuisine in Claridges.

CRUISING HEIGHTS April 2011

who would have imagined that the Spanish omelette could be a tapas? In addition to the Andalusian tomato soup, there were shots of gazpacho — each encased in a test-tube to provide the most refreshing gulp of cool goodness. The main course was a mélange of beef brownie glassed with red rioja wine, Chilindron chicken, green peas ravioli with paprika and honey aioli, wrinkled potatoes, vegetable Ensaladilla and Rioja Style Potatoes.

00 71

Snippets Aviation 1.qxd

4/4/2011

12:13 PM

Page 78

SNIPPETS

TRAVEL & TOURISM Filipino experience

Take the plunge in Jamaica

IF YOU are seeking adventure, white sand beaches, magnificent seascapes, jaw-dropping scenery and world-class wreck-diving, shopping and entertainment, then Philippines is the perfect place to be. Travellers are flocking to its shores for an experience of effusive Filipino hospitality. The Indian market is a significant source of arrivals, especially since global tourism groups point to the remarkable growth GREAT ESCAPE: Philippines is the number of India’s outbound one destination for extreme adventures. tourists which are also in the high-end spending bracket. Philippines has been vying for the market’s interest for shopping and entertainment As part of their Indian promotion strategy, The Philippines Tourism Marketing Office, India has lined up travel trade promotions and tactical advertising. It is also open to partnering with tour operators and travel agents to promote Philippines. The Philippines Tourism Marketing Office has also organised trade familiarisation tours to provide tour operators a first hand experiences of the destination and its diverse tourism products. The major attractions in Philippines are Manila, Cebu, Boracay and Bohol.

THE LAND of wood and water, Jamaica, allures tourists all across the globe to enjoy unimaginable, incredible vistas, heartracing thrills and so much more in the Caribbean waters. Now, imagine stepping off the cliff, and falling, falling with the wind beneath your feet as you plunge into the deep embrace of the Caribbean Sea. One cannot miss the Jamaican men perform amazing stunts for your enjoyment and tips.

Caribbean’s Negril’s Rick’s Café guarantees an enthralling sight of divers, pulsating Caribbean music with a buffet of scrumptious meals and happy hour vibes. It is also voted one of the ten best bars in the world and Caribbean’s ULTIMATE VACATION: Crystal clear and best live Reggae bar placid waters allure the tourist to take a plunge in the waters. famous for buffalo wings, shredded shrimps, island jerk chicken to name a few along with red stripe beer or Jamaican blue mountain coffee.

Rick’s Cliffside will give you the diving spectacle of a lifetime to watch at the sunset.

Celebrate spring the German way in Holland WHAT BETTER way to experience the spring than at the magnificent Keukenhof Gardens, Holland, a spectacular seasonal display of more than seven million daffodils, crocuses, hydrangeas, narcissi, hyacinths and of course tulips, which are open to the public from March 24 to May 24, 2011.

Drawing a quarter of a million visitors, Keukenhof is world’s largest bulb flower park, spanning an area of 32 hectares, with seven million bulbs, planted by hand, every year. For several years now, the Keukenhof has chosen to feature a different theme country each season. In VISUAL DELIGHT: Seven million flowers will 2011, the Keukenhof provide colourful splendour in Holland. will pay colourful homage to Germany, its second most important export market for flowering bulbs and the country which supplies most of its foreign visitors.

With the official opening of Keukenhof 2011 to be performed by Bettina Wulffe, wife of German President, Christian Wulffe. A section of the exhibition will be dedicated to the long-term football contact between the two countries. Now one can enjoy all three attractions together with the “Van Gogh in Bloom” package. In the morning see the world’s largest collection of Van Gogh paintings, and in the afternoon you enjoy the beautiful gardens of Keukenhof. Or add a canal cruise and spread your visit over two days.

72

Amadeus partners with SA AMADEUS, A travel technology partner and transaction processor for the global travel and tourism industry, has signed a worldwide content and third-party channel parity agreement with Singapore Airlines (SA), providing Amadeus subscribers access to the airline’s flight schedules and other service information for up to five years. Under the agreement, Amadeus will have access to all content that SA distributes to travel agencies and third party channels.

Luxurious stay at Macau WORLD-CLASS hospitality comes to Macau with Banyan Tree Hotels and Resorts opening first 5-star all suite urban resort in the heart of Cotai City, just 15 minutes from Macau International Airport. The $1.9 billion integrated resort Galaxy Macau’s opening will take place on May 15, 2011, offering the city’s widest and most diverse choice of Asian and international dining options.

In addition, the Banyan Tree Hotels is also coming up Macau’s First All Pool Suite Resort.

Banyan Tree Macau is the Group’s first property in the former Portuguese enclave. It will be the first in Macau to feature private ULTIMATE LUXURY: Royal suites and pool resorts comes to Macau with Banyan Tree. indoor relaxation pools in all its 246 opulent suites, overlooking the city and offering a Sanctuary for the Senses for guests.

CRUISING HEIGHTS April 2011

Snippets Aviation 1.qxd

4/4/2011

12:14 PM

Page 79

Macau weaves a dream: City of Dreams, Asia’s leisure and entertainment resort, a travel destination in Macau, recently hosted its first promotional road show in India and launched special travel promotion packages for Indian leisure travellers and Indian travel trade collaborators. City of Dreams also proudly announced the selection of the former Miss India Universe and film actress Neha Dhupia as the exclusive City of Dreams ‘India Celebrity Guide’.

Neha will lead a special celebrity trip to City of STARRY AFFAIR: Neha Dhupia is the Dreams this year with a celebrity guide of the Dream project. host of other celebrities to showcase the resort and its offerings.

One of the entertainment highlights of this unique celebrity visit will be the newly opened $ 250 million show, ‘The House of Dancing Water’, the world’s largest and most spectacular waterbased extravaganza and recently celebrated its milestone 150th show and reached the 2,50,000 visitor milestone.

Sri Lanka Tourism wins accolades UK office for Sri Lanka Tourism UK was shortlisted for the Marketing Excellence awards by the specialist industry panel.

Recognising its quality standards and specialist achievements in the leisure and tourism sector, Sri Lanka Tourism’s London office has won accolades for integrated marketing campaign which took place between March and June 2009. This helped encourage new visitors from the UK in 2009 despite most other countries witnessing a significant decline.

Starwood increases portfolio AS PART of its expansion plans, Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, is strengthening its long-established position in the Middle East region with a portfolio of nearly 50 existing hotels and planning 25 others. This growth in the luxury and upperupscale segments, represents an increase of nearly 50 per cent.

By 2015, the Middle East will become the second region to operate all nine of Starwood’s world-class brands. Starwood’s portfolio in the Middle East has surged to 47 hotels in ten countries. Besides, Starwood signed five new hotel deals for the Middle East. The new Sheraton Sharjah is due to open in 2013.

Starwood currently operates 20 hotels in the UAE. In 2013, the company will add three more hotels in Muscat.

A new Star

Roaring start to Singapore Biennale SINGAPORE’S TOURISM destination landmark The Merlion at Merlion Park has recently undergone a dramatic transformation. Titled the “The Merlion Hotel”, this unique artistic concept will see the tourism icon being transformed into a temporary hotel suite to welcome guests for overnight stays.

The hotel is actually an art installation by TOURIST ICON: Singapore’s most iconic Japanese artist Tatzu landmark, The Merlion.

Nishi, commissioned specially for the Singapore Biennale. This is just one of the many intriguing artwork installation projects presented as part of this year’s Singapore Biennale organised by the Singapore Art Museum.

THE CRUISE line in Asia-Pacific, Star Cruises has recently announce the return of Star Pisces to Hong Kong. After a year long deployment in Penang, the 12-storey, 40,000 gross tonnage vessel is going to offer cruise experience. Star Pisces will bring a new vista to Victoria Harbour with colourful murals of fish, sea shells and waves flanking her hull. The new look is not just skin deep, but part of a HKD 93.6 million refurbishment investment. All suites and window cabins received new carpets, upholstery and LCD televisions. The food outlets have new looks, including the Genting Lounge, a premium lounge with cigar corners and fet stations.

FLEET EXPANSION: Star Cruises’ Star Pisces is all geared up with extensive enhancements to Hong Kong.

APPOINTMENTS Hilton’s new GM, Housekeeper Hilton Hotels and Resorts has appointed Manish Bhatia as General Manager of the Hilton Mumbai International Airport. In his new role, Manish will supervise day-to-day operations of the upscale, 171room, full-service property. With over 15 years of established managerial experience and expertise in the hospitality industry, Manish is all geared up to Manish Bhatia offer his guests signature Hilton services and an ambience of comfort and luxury that gives them a feel of home away from home.

Jaishree R Sharma has been appointed the Executive Housekeeper at the Hilton Mumbai International Airport. With an experience spanning over 20 years Jaishree in the industry, Sharma has trained many teams in the Sharma

art of housekeeping. In her new role, she will be responsible for the aesthetic feel of the hotel right from the lobby to the rooms and restaurants.

Marriott has a new Director Rajani Nair Deb has recently assumed position as Director MICE for all the Marriott International properties in India. With a career span of over 15 years of significant managerial leadership experience in the hospitality industry, Deb’s responsibilities in her current position entails creating Rajani Nair unit synergies with all Marriott hotels within India to increase rotational association business and improve networking opportunities. She will also be responsible for convention sales of all the Marriott hotels in India.

CRUISING HEIGHTS April 2011

73

back page april.qxd

4/4/2011

10:35 AM

Page 2

BACK PAGE

Starry meeting he annual “Living Legends of Aviation Awards” is one of the most looked-forward event in the aviation calendar. That is when aviation’s close links with Hollywood’s glitz and glamour come out into the open. The Legends meet once a year to recognise and honour individuals who have made significant contributions in aviation. Usually held at the beginning of each year, this eighth edition was no different. A highticket event, the ballroom accommodated the 70 Legends, their guests, and a small number of other attendees.

A word about the “Living Legends of Aviation”: they are 70 persons of remarkable accomplishment in aviation and include entrepreneurs, innovators, industry leaders, record breakers, astronauts, pilots who have become celebrities and celebrities who have become pilots.

Held at the Beverly Hilton, the show was an intimate, memorable, and historic evening of entertainment. Kurt Russell, John Travolta, Buzz Aldrin, Craig Ferguson, and Harrison Ford were all on hand to talk about planes and flying. Morgan Freeman, the “Voice of Aviation” presented the “Flown West” tribute to the Legends lost. John Travolta, the Ambassador of Aviation, was there. He presented the newest Legend inductee, M. Laurent Beaudoin. Harrison Ford gave away a special Aviation Legacy Award to Pat Epps. Assisting Sean Tucker, the awards emcee, was Kurt Russell. Wait, that is not all.

Tom Hanks paid a special tribute to Captain James Lovell, commander of the Apollo 13 mission, and Captain “Sully” Sullenberger handed out — you guessed it! — the “Captain Cool Award”. There were others too: Bob Hoover handed over the Freedom of Flight award to fellow aviator and Congressman Sam Johnson; Delford M Smith got the “Lifetime Aviation Entrepreneur,” Clay Jones, the “Aviation Industry Leader of the Year,” Lynn Tilton, the “Aviation Entrepreneur of the Year,” and other truly remarkable individuals of extraordinary accomplishment.

And, all this for a cause. The show was — as in all other years — produced by the Kiddie Hawk Air Academy, a non-profit organisation. Kiddie Hawk introduces kids aged between five and 11 in the United States to flight with the Kiddie Hawk Trainer.

T

74

CRUISING HEIGHTS April 2011

www.starpulse.com

STAR-STUDDED NIGHT: (Clockwise from top left) Buzz Aldrin and wife Lois Driggs Cannon; Barron Hilton; Treat Williams; Chesley Sullenberger and wife Lorraine; Harrison Ford and Calista Flockhart; John Travolta; Kurt Russell and James Lovell.

Document2

1/19/2011

3:30 PM

Page 1

RNI No. DELENG/2006/16897 Posting Dt. 8-9/04/2011 Reg. No. DL(E) 20/5294/2009-11