New aviation policy soon, says Minister

Published in The Hindu Updated: September 17, 2014 03:23 IST

Civil Aviation Minister P. Ashok Gajapathi Raju said on Tuesday that a new aviation policy would be brought out soon to develop infrastructure and attract investments.

Speaking to journalists on the sidelines of the 65 Annual General Meeting (AGM) of The Aeronautical Society of India (AeSI), Hyderabad chapter, he warned that there was every chance of some unused airports becoming a liability to the government. “There are 125 airports in the country out of which 75 are in use. There needs to be a strategy regarding the rest of the airports. Otherwise, they will end up as non-performing assets.” He ruled out the possibility of bailing out private airlines that were incurring huge losses.

On the industry’s demand for a reduction in tax on Aviation Turbine Fuel (ATF), he said Andhra Pradesh was among the few States that had responded positively to the Union government’s appeal to lower the tax on ATF.

“Along with A.P., Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Punjab also want to reduce the ATF prices. We are pursuing the issue with other States as well. The States that see less aviation activity have responded to our request positively, whereas the States that witness heavy aviation activity are dragging their feet on this,” he remarked.

Domestic air passenger traffic rises 8.31% in August

Published in Business Today
Updated: September 16, 2014  | 18:21 IST

Domestic air passenger traffic increased by 8.31 percent in August to 56.97 lakh passengers - up from 52.60 lakh ferried in the corresponding month last year.

According to data furnished by the civil aviation ministry on Tuesday, on a month-on-month basis, there was an increase of over five per cent in the passenger traffic.

"Passengers carried by domestic airlines during Jan-Aug 2014 were 433.25 lakh as against 411.40 lakh during the corresponding period of previous year, thereby registering a growth of 5.31 per cent," the ministry said in a statement.

The data showed low-cost carrier IndiGo achieved the highest market share at 32.6 per cent followed by SpiceJet at 19.5 percent, Air India at 16.2 percent, Jet Airways at 16.1 per cent, Go Air at 10 per cent, and JetLite at 4 percent.

Regional carriers AirAsia India reported a market share of 0.06 per cent and Air Costa at 1.1 per cent.

Civil Aviation Minister sets strict rules for Air India

Published in indiatoday

Updated Aug 14, 2014

Civil Aviation Minister A. Gajapathi Raju has cracked the whip on national carrier Air India by putting in place a strict set of rules for monitoring the management of the loss making airline.

According to sources, Raju has issued a detailed set of instructions to Air India seeking details of route-wise profits of the airline. He has instructed the national carrier to make improvements on 20-odd parameters relating to streamlining operations, discipline in the work force, adequate use of mammoth manpower and ways being adopted to make a turnaround.

Monthly report

The minister also wants the national carrier to submit its progress report during the first week of every month.

Falling in line, Air India on August 8 had issued an order to all its 23,000 employees across the country to strictly follow working hours and threatened disciplinary action against erring officials.

"It has been brought to the notice that some employees are reporting late to office and leaving early. Also, during office hours, employees are not found at their workplace. Many of the employees are also not punching their attendance while coming or leaving office," the notice states.

The Air India management is now putting in place a biometric system to ensure regular attendance as the earlier system of punching cards was being misused.

A top Air India official told MAIL TODAY on Wednesday that they had received an order from the Civil Aviation Minister's office in this regard. When contacted, Air

India executive director Deepa Mahajan confirmed the development, saying "as per the ministry's instructions, we have issued a tender for installing biometric attendance system at all our offices."

Though punching of attendance has been made mandatory since 2007 by the Air India management, it is hardly followed, another Air India official said. The official also claimed that some senior officials have not issued attendance punching card in their name.

"They have done this so that their movement at the workplace is not tracked."

"Employees rarely punch their attendance cards at automatic attendance recording machines installed at the Air India headquarters and the Safdarjung airport. At many times, these machines don't even work," the official said.

Disciplining Air India employees has been a very serious issue. After the merger of Indian Airlines and Air India in 2007, the national carrier has witnessed serious issues related to its workforce. Challenging task A former top Air India official admitted that his tenure at the airline was extremely challenging.

"Be it a pilot, a cabin crew member or even the junior most employee in the organisation, many of them are well-connected. If you initiate action against them, you start getting calls from the higher ups,'' he lamented.

 "The airline is financially supported by the government and you cannot annoy anyone in the government. This makes it difficult to infuse discipline in the airline. There is no sense of fear of losing jobs. It is a pakka job. If you want to change the work culture in the airline, you need to implement extremely bold measures," he added.

Flight operations to stop at Hubli airport for two months

Indianaviationnews.net

Published in indianaviationnews.net on 28 July, 2014

Bangalore/Hubli/Belgaum: The twin cities of Hubli-Dharwad will have no air connectivity for at least two months from August 1, as the Airports Authority of India (AAI) will take up an expansion project. However, small aircraft such as four to six-seaters and helicopters can land at the airport.

Spicejet has been operating two flights per day on the Hubli-Bangalore, Hubli-Delhi-Jabalpur-Mumbai routes. The airline will provide service from Belgaum city during the period. Spicejet is the only service provider from Hubli.

The AAI will increase the length of the runway from 4,500 ft to 7,500 ft and width from 90 ft to 135 ft, at a cost of Rs 60 crore. It is feared that the project would get delayed as the Hubli-Dharwad City Corporation and other local utility providers are not co-operating.

Though the Public Works Department (PWD) has handed over three km of the road (major district road) that has been acquired for expansion, the urban local body and the traffic police have not taken steps to stop vehicular movement on the stretch.

Tatas aim to build aircraft for Ruag Aviation

Published in The Hindu, Hyderabad, 23 Jun 2014

The Tata Group on Monday said it aims to bring out a fully built aircraft for Ruag Aviation — makers of Dornier 228 new generation aircraft, parts of which are to be made in India by TASL.

Tata Advanced Systems Ltd held ground breaking ceremony in Hyderabad for manufacturing Dornier 228 fuselage and wings.

The Tata-Ruag partnership is a glowing example of cooperation between India and Europe, TASL Chairman S. Ramadorai said.

“It is our belief that this project is a significant step forward in India’s growth as a high technology, precision, manufacturing destination. Ruag has entrusted the Tatas to deliver its showcase product, the Dornier 228, at world-class standards of precision and quality,” he said.

“Our vision is to work with Ruag in having a full aircraft, equipped with systems flying out from a Tata final assembly. This will be of significant importance to the Indian Armed forces in their desire to produce products locally,” he said at the function.

Within five years, TASL has become a significant player in the Global Aerospace market by delivering successfully over 70 Sikorsky S-92 cabins, and delivered Empennage and Center Wing Box for the C-130 J aircraft through its separate JV with Lockheed Martin, Mr. Ramadorai said.

It has also made Hyderabad a premier manufacturing destination for Global OEMs, he added.

The Ruag project is the fourth Aero structures unit to be set up by TASL since 2009 in Hyderabad and the products of all the units are 100 per cent exported.

Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao, chief guest of the function, said the government will soon announce new industrial policy and consultations with stakeholders are underway.

“The goal is to make the Made in Telangana label as a globally recognised brand for its quality and innovativeness,” Mr. Rao said.

The city — hosts many research and development bodies such as DRDO, DRDL, Midhani and BDL — is ideal for setting up aerospace industries, he said.

Bangalore airport grants indirect sops to AirAsia India

Published in Live Mint, 19 Jun 2014

New Delhi: Bangalore airport has decided to offer sops to new airlines in a move being seen as a way of benefiting budget airline AirAsia India Pvt. Ltd, which launched operations this month with a flight to Goa from Bangalore. 

Bangalore International Airport Ltd, which runs the airport, has crafted a new definition for what will be called a home carrier for the airport and got it cleared by the Airports Economic Regulatory Authority (Aera) on 10 June. 

The airport has defined home carriers as those that declare Bangalore as their home base and station half their fleet in the city. The airlines will have to be headquartered in Bangalore, have the highest number of base aircraft (planes parked in the night) at the airport and have at least 1 million additional passengers annually. 

Given that AirAsia has stationed its first aircraft, an Airbus A320, at Bangalore airport and may do so with the next aircraft too and possibly shift its operations to the city from Chennai, it may meet the requirements specified by the airport operator. 

A home carrier will get a 50% discount on landing and housing charges and fees will be waived for night parking. Bangalore airport declined to comment for this story. 

The move may face resistance from the rivals of AirAsia, a joint venture between AirAsia Bhd, Tata Sons Ltd and Telestra Tradeplace Pvt. Ltd. No other airline cleared by the aviation ministry fits the tag of home carrier. “There will be opposition,” said a senior private airline official. “Everyone will not keep quiet. They will talk of pulling out or neglecting Bangalore airport.” 

Major airlines including Air India, with a 120 aircraft fleet, Jet Airways with 112 aircraft, IndiGo with 78 and SpiceJet with 52 aircraft cannot station half their aircraft at Bangalore to qualify for the status. Also, the airport wouldn’t be able to handle such a large number of aircraft. Air India, Jet Airways, IndiGo and SpiceJet declined to comment. Aera also didn’t comment. 

A government official, speaking on condition of anonymity, claimed Aera was justified in clearing the Bangalore airport operator’s move. The move had been approved because it was the first time any airport operator had come up with such a proposal anyway. Every sop given to any airline has to be cleared in the tariff card, which has to be Aera-approved. Secondly, it is not as if it’s being done exclusively for AirAsia India; other airlines that meet the criteria can also take advantage of the incentives, this official said. “If they don’t like it they can go to airport tribunal or knock at the doors of the CCI,” the government official said, referring to the Competition Commission of India. This official said it was logical that airport operators will offer sops to new airlines and not to old ones if it wants to attract more passengers. “Those Indian airlines which are themselves opposing new competition should be the last ones to complain about these sops,” the government official said. Aera has also added to the burden of passengers using Bangalore airport, which has been allowed to charge Rs.342, up from Rs.260, in user development fee from domestic travellers and Rs.1,368, up from Rs.1,070, from international travellers starting on 1 July, Mint reported on 14 June. 

An analyst said providing incentives and rebates to attract airlines was a practice followed by all airports. Bangalore airport’s “offer to ensure AirAsia shifts base is cleverly done but on expected lines,” said Kapil Kaul, South Asia CEO of the consulting firm Capa. “I expect other airlines to seek more rebates from Bangalore airport.”

Pusapati Ashok Gajapathi Raju takes charge as Civil Aviation Minister

Economic Times Link
PTI May 29, 2014, 12.02PM IST

NEW DELHI: Senior TDP leader Pusapati Ashok Gajapathi Raju took charge as the new Civil Aviation Minister, assuring that he would strive to create a level- playing field for all players in the crucial infrastructure sector.

"We will strive to create a level-playing field for all the players and make the aviation sector more people- oriented," he told reporters soon after the taking over charge at the ministry headquarters in Rajiv Gandhi Bhavan here.