Dubai crisis: Opportunity for Indian aviation sector

The financial crisis in Dubai can be an opportunity for Indian Aviation Industry, Director General Airports Council International

Angela Gittens said.
Dubai crisis may go in many directions. It may affect the economic front depending on the tie-ups withIndia. However, it can provide an opportunity to enhance and provide the aviation capacity outside the country, Gittens told PTI.

She suggested that India should take two steps forward when Dubai one step backward to have better aviation tie-ups. The ACI is predicting a two per cent rise in global aviation revenues by 2011 mostly complemented by India, China and Brazil.

USA and European countries are still flat. Rebound will start only in 2010, the ACI head said, adding this particular recession took longer time to subdue.

As much as USD 12 billion will be required for the Indian aviation industry to meet the demand by 2030, when the demand is going to double.

Fifty per cent of the airport revenues all over the world is of non-aero. The trend is upwards and the airport charges constitute only three per cent of the airline charges, she said.

While airports get 50 per cent of their revenues from airlines, the airports have to spend 60 per cent of their revenues on maintenance. In this scenario the airports have no option but to increase the User Development Fee (UDF), she said.

Air India pilot acuses guild of foul play

All is not well between Air India (AI) pilots and those leading its association, the Indian Commercial Pilots Association (ICPA).
Though the ICPA struck a deal with the Air India management to end a threat by pilots to go on an indefinite strike from today, pilots believe the ICPA has not done enough.
Captain V K Bhalla, who is leading the pilots with their demands, has alleged that the top ICPA leadership is a stooge of the Air India management.
“The management did not accept a single demand during its meeting with the ICPA on Sunday. They only said they will pay our dues in installments and did not even specify the time,” said an irked Bhalla.
Air India Executive Director Jitendra Bhargava said, “The pilots have decided against going on strike. No decision has been taken on the full reimbursement of allowances.”
ICPA president Shailendra Singh said, “We did not attend the meeting to put forth the specific demands of the executive pilots.
If they feel they are not satisfied with the developments, they can still go on a strike. We are not concerned with what Bhalla has to say on the issue.”

Jet Airways plans to hire 30 Indian pilots

After a year-long freeze, the country’s largest private carrier Jet Airways has started recruiting pilots to man proposed expansion of operations. The Naresh Goyal-controlled company, which withdrew its decision to sack 1,900 cabin crew following political pressure in November last year, is understood to be looking at hiring 25-30 Indian pilots, said a person close to the matter.
Jet employs nearly 700 Indian and 150 foreign pilots.
An aviation analyst said other domestic carriers may follow suit, as the air traffic started moving up. In October, domestic traffic went up to 39 lakh passengers from 31 lakh a year ago. When contacted, the Jet Airways spokeswoman declined to divulge number of pilots being recruited.
She said in an e-mail: “Jet Airways has a current requirement for type-rated commanders only, and will be recruiting suitable candidates for immediate induction into its system.” She also added: “This requirement is also due to the recent enhancement of our Boeing 737 fleet and the proposed additional frequencies and services expected to take off shortly.”

Tribal boy with 260 hours flying experience now a cabbie

New Delhi: A Scheduled Tribe boy from Hyderabad wanted so desperately to become a pilot, he New Delhi: A Scheduled Tribe boy from Hyderabad wanted so desperately to become a pilot, he took a bank loan to pay for the training and notched up 267 hours of flying, 17 more than is required for a Commercial Pilot’s Licence (CPL). But, instead of ending up in the cockpit, he now drives a taxi in Hyderabad.
P Chandan Chakravarthy of the Kondakappu tribe could not manage to get his dreams take wing but the lad clearly possessed an extraordinary level of determination.
He enrolled at the Andhra Pradesh FLying Club (now known as AP Aviation Academy) in April 1995. Back then, every hour of flying cost Rs 600. By 2001, when he accumulated 267 hours, the cost had spiralled to Rs 2,800 per hours. A resolute Chakravarthy took a bank loan of Rs 7.5 lakh.
He applied to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) for his CPL but the DGCA turned him down saying his basic qualification — 10+2 from the Aeronautical Society of India — was not recognized. Chakravarthy moved the AP High Court, but was told the courts could do little about a DGCA policy decision.
Undeterred, the lad went back to school, passed the class 12 exam all over again and applied for a CPL once again, in 2006. But the DGCA turned him down again saying he had not flown 200 hours in the last five years. (By 2006, the criteria had changed from 250 flying hours to 200).
In effect, if Chakravarthy wanted to pursue his dream against all odds, he would have to start afresh and painfully clock up flying hours, each of which now costs Rs 10,000. He would have to invest another Rs 20 lakh.
Despite hurdles, Chakravarthy, did not give up hope overall but in the short term, he decided to drive a taxi to feed his family and pay off the bank loan. In the meantime, he pleaded with the DGCA to exempt him from the mandatory 200 flying hours.
Chakravarthy says he could, at best, meet requirements for CPL renewal, that is 25 hours of flying, which includes 15 hours of solo, four hours of cross country covering 250 nautical miles, five night landings, five hours of instrument flying and tripple test or day, night and instrument test. “It will take me six more months. But to ask for a repeat of entire flying hours is beyond my means,” he says.
took a bank loan to pay for the training and notched up 267 hours of flying, 17 more than is required for a Commercial Pilot’s Licence (CPL). But, instead of ending up in the cockpit, he now drives a taxi in Hyderabad.
P Chandan Chakravarthy of the Kondakappu tribe could not manage to get his dreams take wing but the lad clearly possessed an extraordinary level of determination.
He enrolled at the Andhra Pradesh FLying Club (now known as AP Aviation Academy) in April 1995. Back then, every hour of flying cost Rs 600. By 2001, when he accumulated 267 hours, the cost had spiralled to Rs 2,800 per hours. A resolute Chakravarthy took a bank loan of Rs 7.5 lakh.
He applied to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) for his CPL but the DGCA turned him down saying his basic qualification — 10+2 from the Aeronautical Society of India — was not recognized. Chakravarthy moved the AP High Court, but was told the courts could do little about a DGCA policy decision.
Undeterred, the lad went back to school, passed the class 12 exam all over again and applied for a CPL once again, in 2006. But the DGCA turned him down again saying he had not flown 200 hours in the last five years. (By 2006, the criteria had changed from 250 flying hours to 200).
In effect, if Chakravarthy wanted to pursue his dream against all odds, he would have to start afresh and painfully clock up flying hours, each of which now costs Rs 10,000. He would have to invest another Rs 20 lakh.
Despite hurdles, Chakravarthy, did not give up hope overall but in the short term, he decided to drive a taxi to feed his family and pay off the bank loan. In the meantime, he pleaded with the DGCA to exempt him from the mandatory 200 flying hours.
Chakravarthy says he could, at best, meet requirements for CPL renewal, that is 25 hours of flying, which includes 15 hours of solo, four hours of cross country covering 250 nautical miles, five night landings, five hours of instrument flying and tripple test or day, night and instrument test. “It will take me six more months. But to ask for a repeat of entire flying hours is beyond my means,” he says.

Most crucial meeting to come for AI, IA Airlines

The most awaited meeting is going to be scheduled the coming week, where next week could be a crucial one for airlines in India with government holding two meetings. While the committee of secretaries headed and cabinet secretary K M Chandrasekhar will discuss the long-pending issue of allowing foreign airlines to invest in desi ones, the whole team is gonna decide on funding on AI.

Vijay Mallya’s Kingfisher words are gonna come up live soon, where he was demanding about foreign airlines be allowed to invest in fund-starved Indian airlines.
The govt has so far not taken a decision about this and  headed by Naresh Goyal’s Jet, has been opposing this on the ground that in the current environment no player can expect a good valuation. However, the trickiest of all seems to be the question of funding AI and saving it from a collapse.

Top 15 Global Airlines in a glance

Before telling about the ranking of each airlines, Its always good to learn how calculations are made in an Airline Industry,

Note: A passenger kilometre is a unit to measure traffic by multiplying the number of passengers by the number of kilometres each passenger is flown. So accordingly IATA has given us a stats with the top 15 Global Airlines.

Top Airlines

Rank: 1
Airline: American Airlines
Millions: 222,760

Rank: 2
Airline: United Airlines
Millions: 191,932

Rank: 3
Airline: *Delta Air Lines
Millions: 166,209

Rank: 4
Airline: Continental Airlines
Millions: 130,965

Rank: 5
Airline: **Air France
Millions: 128,914

Rank: 6
Airline: Lufthansa
Millions: 122,091

Rank: 7
Airline: *Northwest Airlines
Millions: 117,357

Rank: 8
Airline: British Airways
Millions: 113,273

Rank: 9
Airline: Singapore Airlines
Millions: 90,900

Rank: 10
Airline: Emirates
Millions: 90,529

Rank: 11
Airline: Japan Airlines
Millions: 85,102

Rank: 12
Airline: Qantas
Millions: 82,124

Rank: 13
Airline: China Southern Airlines
Millions: 80,984

Rank: 14
Airline: Cathay Pacific
Millions: 74,987

Rank: 15
Airline: **KLM
Millions: 74,496

 

Paramount Airways planning to buy Star aviation

Chennai-based Paramount Airlines has sent feelers to a south-based regional carrier, Star Aviation, for a possible acquisition of the airline. Star Aviation got an operating licence in 2007, but has yet to start any flights.

“We are looking at acquisitions to expand and we are talking with Chennai-based Star Aviation,” said a senior executive of Paramount Airways.

Star Aviation Pvt Ltd, part of a Dubai-headquartered conglomerate, the ETA Star group, did not comment for the questions raised.

Paramount is the only airline in India to offer full business class service at prices comparable to the normal economy class fares of other airlines. It flies to 16 destinations in the country and is been doing a great job at the present scenario.

The airline, which started operations in October 2005, operates five planes — two Embraer 170 and three Embraer 175. Established by the Madurai-based textile company, the Paramount Group, it has ordered 10 A321-200 aircraft for short-haul international routes to be launched next year, when it completes the mandatory five year pre-requisite to fly abroad.

The source added that acquisition made sense for the airline, as Star Aviation has a fleet of three Embraer aircraft, which will add to Paramount’s existing strength.

There were reports that Paramount was buying GoAir, which has eight aircraft and 5.8 per cent market share, in a cash and equity deal, paying Rs 100-150 crore in cash and a stake of 7-8 per cent in the Paramount Group to the Wadias, who own GoAir. But GoAir has denied all such reports of talks.

Worst is over for Aviation Industry : Indian Aviation

Worst has been over for Indian Aviation

A good news came out from  IATA (International Air Transport Association) where the worst has been over for the aviation Industry, but but it will take a few more years for the sector to completely recover from the crisis. “The worst is over, but the industry has to go a long way for a complete recovery,” Giovanni Bisignani, director general and chief executive of the International Air Transport Association (IATA),

The stats according to them says that, it will take three to four years to reach the level it was at before the crisis hit the industry.”  The maximum losses has been calculated in the aviation sector and the result was  highest in Europe at $3.8 billion, followed by $3.6 billion in Asia and $2.6 billion in the US. The Indian aviation industry losses are estimated to be around $1.5 billion this year, The losses will be mostly from Air India.”
Bisignani recalled that it took three-four years for the US aviation sector to return to the growth path after the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
“Now, we are facing an economic slowdown worldwide. Still we are hopeful that the industry could bounce back in three-four years,” he added.

Bookings cheers aviation industry level high

Diwali seems to have brought the much-needed cheer to the aviation industry, which was worrying about dwindling passenger loads.

Travel industries are very happy with the bookings which happened for diwali ,industry observers hope the aviation sector is on the road to recovery. The cheap fares advertised by most airlines two months prior to the festive season contributed most to the upswing, experts say. “The fares, if one was booking two months in advance, ranged anywhere between 1,600-2,500 for most destinations. Also, there were no hidden charges in these fares. This made flyers grab the opportunity at the earliest,” said Rajesh Rateria, managing director, Cirrus Travels, adding that most of his clients had made bookings well in advance. “No wonder, most airlines are flying packed now,” he added. “Till about two years ago, passenger traffic was growing by 25-30% annually. That growth is still a far cry. But considering that people are now more inclined to travel than they were an year ago, significant growth can be expected,” said Prakash.

Civil Aviation Minister to meet the AI Staff Unions tomorrow

Praful Patel Minister for Civil aviation

Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel is looking forward to meet the Air India Staff Unions including the pilots to completely discuss about the rationalization of the incentives and allowances in line with the airlines turn around plans been going on.  Sources say that there is a meeting which is gonna be scheduled soon to discuss the various problems within all the departments.

This meeting is been raised due to the major backdrop of the 5 day long stir by the Executive pilots after the management suggested to cut pays upto 50 percent in their PLI ( Productivity Linked Incentives) and the flying allowances.

The proposal was deferred after the employees including pilots and engineers, vehemently opposed any cut, maintaining that the staffs are completely not responsible for the mounting AI losses. There are 14 unions in the state-run airline representing engineers, pilots, cabin crew, officers and other employees.