Enthused by the monthly growth of 20 per cent in the civil aviation sector since January this year, industry leaders on Saturday decided to embark on a unified macro strategy for making India a global civil aviation hub.
Aircraft manufacturers and senior representatives of airports, helicopter services, engine manufacturers, cargo industry, avionics and caterers, under the banner of the Civil Aviation Committee of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI), held a meeting with the objective of enhancing a safe and orderly growth of the aviation sector and addressing the key concerns of the industry.
Briefing the media, FICCI Civil Aviation Committee Chairman and Boeing India President Dinesh A. Keskar said the industry body had decided to lead a strong contingent of aviation industry leaders, along with the government, to the week-long Farnborough international air show in London from July 19.
The meeting also discussed a host of issues relating to the sector ranging from taxation to infrastructure and import duties which would be later raised with the government.
Besides sales tax on aviation turbine fuel, the newly-created committee could also raise issues concerning import duties on aircraft for private use and those on spare parts and other aviation items meant for MRO (maintenance, repairs and overhaul) organisations.
The FICCI panel, which has representatives from public and private sector aviation bodies and top former officials, also discussed aviation safety issues and how to further strengthen the various safety mechanisms collectively. Problems of helicopters and general aviation were also raised at the meeting. The issues ranged from development of heliports or roof-top helipads and heli-corridors to duties on import of aircraft for general aviation or private use, Mr. Keskar, who was accompanied by Pawan Hans Helicopters chief R. K. Tyagi and former chief of DGCA Kanu Gohain, said.
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Mahindra to make small aircrafts for Indian market
BANGALORE: Mahindra Aerospace of the $6.3-billion utility vehicle maker Mahindra Group will become the first Indian private firm to manufacture smaller civil aircraft for the Indian general aviation market, which is set to boom this decade.
"We will manufacture the turboprop aircraft in 2-20 seat capacity at our recently acquired Gippsland Aeronautics (GA) in Victoria State of Australia and market them in India," Mahindra Board Member Hemant Luthra told IANS here.
Once Mahindra Aerospace plant at Malur near Bangalore is set up and certified for production in the next three years, the manufacturing will be shifted to India to hard-sell the multi-utility aircraft for various civil aviation requirements.
"We want to be the premier Indian producer of aircraft. We will explore every opportunity to become a top aircraft manufacturer on the lines of the Brazilian Embraer," Mahindra Vice-Chairman and Managing Director Anand Mahindra said on the margins of an aviation event here Saturday.
The 26-year-old GippsAero is a leading turboprop aircraft manufacturer for the general aviation sector and has certification in 32 countries worldwide, including the U.S. Federal Aviation Regulations (FAR 23), which testifies the highest degree of safety to fly fare-paying passengers between small and remote airfields. Mahindra Aerospace acquired majority stake (75.1 percent) in GippsAero and Aerostaff Australia for Rs 175 crore ($38 million) in December 2009 jointly with Kotak Private Equity.
Aerostaff is a 20-year-old manufacturer of aerospace components and assemblies for global aerospace original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) at Port Melbourne in Victoria state.
About 250 smaller aircraft of GippsAero operate in 34 countries. It currently has an order book to manufacture about 20 aircraft in the 8-10 seat capacity.
"As aircraft manufacture is labour intensive, there will be advantages in assembling some aircraft in India but safety is paramount. Till our factories get accredited for the highest safety standards, the planes will be made in Australia and will gradually migrate them to be made in India," Luthra said.
"We will manufacture the turboprop aircraft in 2-20 seat capacity at our recently acquired Gippsland Aeronautics (GA) in Victoria State of Australia and market them in India," Mahindra Board Member Hemant Luthra told IANS here.
Once Mahindra Aerospace plant at Malur near Bangalore is set up and certified for production in the next three years, the manufacturing will be shifted to India to hard-sell the multi-utility aircraft for various civil aviation requirements.
"We want to be the premier Indian producer of aircraft. We will explore every opportunity to become a top aircraft manufacturer on the lines of the Brazilian Embraer," Mahindra Vice-Chairman and Managing Director Anand Mahindra said on the margins of an aviation event here Saturday.
The 26-year-old GippsAero is a leading turboprop aircraft manufacturer for the general aviation sector and has certification in 32 countries worldwide, including the U.S. Federal Aviation Regulations (FAR 23), which testifies the highest degree of safety to fly fare-paying passengers between small and remote airfields. Mahindra Aerospace acquired majority stake (75.1 percent) in GippsAero and Aerostaff Australia for Rs 175 crore ($38 million) in December 2009 jointly with Kotak Private Equity.
Aerostaff is a 20-year-old manufacturer of aerospace components and assemblies for global aerospace original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) at Port Melbourne in Victoria state.
About 250 smaller aircraft of GippsAero operate in 34 countries. It currently has an order book to manufacture about 20 aircraft in the 8-10 seat capacity.
"As aircraft manufacture is labour intensive, there will be advantages in assembling some aircraft in India but safety is paramount. Till our factories get accredited for the highest safety standards, the planes will be made in Australia and will gradually migrate them to be made in India," Luthra said.
FLIGHTS THAT NONE WILL FANCY
It has been more than a month since an Air India Express flight crashed in Mangalore, killing all but 8 of the 166 passengers onboard. This is thus the right time to indulge in a critical appraisal of the nature of civil aviation in India. In the course of such an exercise, numerous questions are bound to cross one’s mind. What ails non-military aviation in India? Can the problems be attributed to the chronic failures at the level of policy? Are the rapid expansion of air routes and the absence of professional training and guidance to be blamed?
In fact, since the Mangalore crash, the media have reported a number of disturbing incidents involving passenger aircraft: engine failures, possible mid-air collisions, tyres bursting during take-off runs, pilot indiscipline and defiance of air traffic controllers’ orders, glitches on the part of the air traffic communication system in Mumbai, breach of airport security and so on. Is there a way out of this morass?
Charity, it is said, begins at home. There is no point in blaming the minions if the masters themselves fail to show the way. The Mangalore incident was entirely avoidable. The aircraft was new, airworthy and in perfect shape. Visibility was satisfactory, as the rain had stopped falling before the flight touched down. The morning was calm. Wind and temperature posed no problems. Yet, the plane crashed because the Serbian pilot reportedly committed an error in judgment: he overshot the touchdown point, then tried to veer around but failed to lift the plane. Consequently, the aircraft swerved away from the runway at a speed higher than that is stipulated in the operational manual and plummeted down a cliff at the end of the strip.
Hence, the crash was blamed on the pilot’s ‘misjudgment’. But the pilot is dead, and the matter ends there. The more important question is why did the pilot go wrong? What could have been the allied factors that led to the crash? These questions will remain unanswered, perhaps to safeguard the interests of those occupying the higher rungs of the civil aviation command structure. The higher-ups are the lords of all that they survey, and lack technical knowledge or even the willingness to master it. They need not be told the inconvenient truth. That would be detrimental to the motives of those who rule this prosperous empire, which, thus far, has grown rapidly. In reality, therefore, one of the biggest hurdles to passenger safety in the Indian sky continues to be the semi-professional and feudal conduct of those in positions of power in the concerned department.
Added to this is the existence of corruption that seems to be affecting the lower tiers, thereby weakening the foundations of the aviation sector. Be it land scams pertaining to airport construction or the repeated failures of the concerned authorities to control the illegal activities of operators, corruption of all types continue to undermine the possibility of instituting a safe and secure air traffic system. In fact, India’s aviation sector continues to remain vulnerable to the pressure exerted by politicians and entrepreneurs. Hence, more often than not, complaints surface regarding the lack of transparency in awarding licences and in the allotment of timetables and routes. The malady is now deeply embedded, and there is no cure in sight.
Given the present circumstances, a number of factors continue to worry conscientious members of the aviation fraternity as far as the future of Indian aviation is concerned. Aviation experts in India are worried about the linguistic proficiency of non-English-speaking expatriate pilots, their training backgrounds, experience in handling aircraft and their records pertaining to flying hours.
After the leased Uzbekistan airlines flight met with an accident on the Delhi airport runway some years ago, it was found that the pilot, who hailed from the Central Asian republic, was weak in English, which is the universally accepted language of communication in aviation circles. Similarly, the worst mid-air collision over Delhi — an accident involving Saudi Arabian and Kazakhstan aircraft — had exposed, once again, the inability of the non-English-speaking pilots to understand the commands issued by the Indian air traffic controller regarding altitude, direction, speed and positional awareness.
The shortcomings in India’s pilot- training programme are also well known to the bosses. The violation of various types of rules and regulations are evident to the regulators. Yet, totally avoidable mishaps continue with potentially disastrous consequences. Thus, when an Indian Airlines flight tried to take off from the Aurangabad airport on a hot summer afternoon in 1993, it failed to obtain the height required to clear a stationary truck parked outside the airfield and rammed into a high-tension wire, killing a number of passengers. A subsequent inquiry had put the blame on the “overloaded” aircraft. The commercial department personnel, it was stated, had failed to do their job of checking the weight and balance of the operational aircraft.
Today, it is being said that pilot error caused the air crash in Mangalore. This is similar to the reason that was cited after a crash in Bangalore in February 1990. It was subsequently found that Captain C.A. Fernandez and Captain S.S. Gopujkar had violated the standard operating procedure for landing, thereby failing to adhere to the widely accepted safety rules about breaking off an approach if a plane is losing altitude too quickly or has too much speed just before landing, is positioned dangerously short of the runway or is overshooting the spot of touchdown.
In the past, another extraordinary example of the callous Indian attitude had come to light. This pertained to the breaching of an accepted international aviation procedure. Unlike American carriers, Indian pilots used to switch different jetliner models during the same duty period. This needs to be stopped at once. Steps have to be taken to ensure that a pilot is comfortable, and at his best, when he is behind the controls.
In fact, since the Mangalore crash, the media have reported a number of disturbing incidents involving passenger aircraft: engine failures, possible mid-air collisions, tyres bursting during take-off runs, pilot indiscipline and defiance of air traffic controllers’ orders, glitches on the part of the air traffic communication system in Mumbai, breach of airport security and so on. Is there a way out of this morass?
Charity, it is said, begins at home. There is no point in blaming the minions if the masters themselves fail to show the way. The Mangalore incident was entirely avoidable. The aircraft was new, airworthy and in perfect shape. Visibility was satisfactory, as the rain had stopped falling before the flight touched down. The morning was calm. Wind and temperature posed no problems. Yet, the plane crashed because the Serbian pilot reportedly committed an error in judgment: he overshot the touchdown point, then tried to veer around but failed to lift the plane. Consequently, the aircraft swerved away from the runway at a speed higher than that is stipulated in the operational manual and plummeted down a cliff at the end of the strip.
Hence, the crash was blamed on the pilot’s ‘misjudgment’. But the pilot is dead, and the matter ends there. The more important question is why did the pilot go wrong? What could have been the allied factors that led to the crash? These questions will remain unanswered, perhaps to safeguard the interests of those occupying the higher rungs of the civil aviation command structure. The higher-ups are the lords of all that they survey, and lack technical knowledge or even the willingness to master it. They need not be told the inconvenient truth. That would be detrimental to the motives of those who rule this prosperous empire, which, thus far, has grown rapidly. In reality, therefore, one of the biggest hurdles to passenger safety in the Indian sky continues to be the semi-professional and feudal conduct of those in positions of power in the concerned department.
Added to this is the existence of corruption that seems to be affecting the lower tiers, thereby weakening the foundations of the aviation sector. Be it land scams pertaining to airport construction or the repeated failures of the concerned authorities to control the illegal activities of operators, corruption of all types continue to undermine the possibility of instituting a safe and secure air traffic system. In fact, India’s aviation sector continues to remain vulnerable to the pressure exerted by politicians and entrepreneurs. Hence, more often than not, complaints surface regarding the lack of transparency in awarding licences and in the allotment of timetables and routes. The malady is now deeply embedded, and there is no cure in sight.
Given the present circumstances, a number of factors continue to worry conscientious members of the aviation fraternity as far as the future of Indian aviation is concerned. Aviation experts in India are worried about the linguistic proficiency of non-English-speaking expatriate pilots, their training backgrounds, experience in handling aircraft and their records pertaining to flying hours.
After the leased Uzbekistan airlines flight met with an accident on the Delhi airport runway some years ago, it was found that the pilot, who hailed from the Central Asian republic, was weak in English, which is the universally accepted language of communication in aviation circles. Similarly, the worst mid-air collision over Delhi — an accident involving Saudi Arabian and Kazakhstan aircraft — had exposed, once again, the inability of the non-English-speaking pilots to understand the commands issued by the Indian air traffic controller regarding altitude, direction, speed and positional awareness.
The shortcomings in India’s pilot- training programme are also well known to the bosses. The violation of various types of rules and regulations are evident to the regulators. Yet, totally avoidable mishaps continue with potentially disastrous consequences. Thus, when an Indian Airlines flight tried to take off from the Aurangabad airport on a hot summer afternoon in 1993, it failed to obtain the height required to clear a stationary truck parked outside the airfield and rammed into a high-tension wire, killing a number of passengers. A subsequent inquiry had put the blame on the “overloaded” aircraft. The commercial department personnel, it was stated, had failed to do their job of checking the weight and balance of the operational aircraft.
Today, it is being said that pilot error caused the air crash in Mangalore. This is similar to the reason that was cited after a crash in Bangalore in February 1990. It was subsequently found that Captain C.A. Fernandez and Captain S.S. Gopujkar had violated the standard operating procedure for landing, thereby failing to adhere to the widely accepted safety rules about breaking off an approach if a plane is losing altitude too quickly or has too much speed just before landing, is positioned dangerously short of the runway or is overshooting the spot of touchdown.
In the past, another extraordinary example of the callous Indian attitude had come to light. This pertained to the breaching of an accepted international aviation procedure. Unlike American carriers, Indian pilots used to switch different jetliner models during the same duty period. This needs to be stopped at once. Steps have to be taken to ensure that a pilot is comfortable, and at his best, when he is behind the controls.
India far from having hub for airlines, say aviation experts
Despite having privately managed world-class airports in Hyderabad, Bangalore and Mumbai, and the world’s eighth largest terminal building at New Delhi’s international airport set to go online on 14 July, India is still far from getting an international airport hub for carriers, says industry experts.
“If the question is (about) Indian airports becoming international hubs for onward transit to Saarc (South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation) and South-East Asia and Australia, that may be decades away,” said Charles Dhanaraj, an associate professor of management at the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University, Indianapolis, and an expert on the Indian aviation industry.
Global requirements: The new terminal of the Indira Gandhi International Airport. Civil aviation experts note that India lacks good infrastructure and large airlines, both prerequisites for an international hub. Pradeep Gaur / Mint
When Mint asked at least two dozen chief executive officers of global airlines at the 66th annual general body meeting of the International Air Transport Association about a hub in India, none were interested in such a facility, despite the fact that they are looking to increase their presence in the country and are tying up with domestic carriers.
However, Arvind Jadhav, chairman and managing director of Air India, has said he wants to make the Delhi airport an international hub, suggesting that the carrier would ideally like to do away with its Frankfurt hub.
Already, National Aviation Co. of India Ltd, or Nacil, which runs Air India, is planning to shift its networking hub from Mumbai to Delhi.
“If you take a look at India, our location accounts for about 30% of the world’s population with about (a) five-hour radius. There is absolutely no reason why India and major Indian airports cannot be global aviation hubs just like Dubai, Singapore, Hong Kong, or London,” said Sudheer Raghavan, chief commercial officer at Jet Airways (India) Ltd, told an investors’ conference on 21 May.
But the challenges are many, say civil aviation experts, noting that the presence of good airport infrastructure and large airlines, both of which India lacks, are prerequisites for an international hub.
“The day Chennai airport is better than Singapore’s Changi airport, we can see Chennai becoming a hub to South-East Asia,” Dhanaraj said. “I think building credible airports, and also linking the airport to the main city with high-speed trains will go a long way in changing the economics of the industry.”
A spokesperson for the GMR Group, which runs the airports in Delhi and Hyderabad, said the major obstacles to having a hub in India include an inability to attract passengers, saturated airports and the poor health of Indian airlines.
“It should be noted that all airports in the list of the world’s top 30 busiest airports serve as hubs for one or more airlines, usually from the same domestic market,” he said, declining to be named.
Manish Kalghatgi, head of corporate communications at the GVK Group, which runs the Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport in Mumbai, as well as the spokesperson for Mumbai International Airport Ltd, said an international hub would need a large, world-class airline that can also target transit passengers rather than point-to-point passengers.
“We do not have airlines, such as Singapore Airlines or Emirates, with that kind of frequency and network to promote the airports of Singapore and Dubai as real international hubs,” said Kalghatgi, pointing out that the carriers actually make those airports hubs.
A report by consulting firm Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation released on 15 June makes the same point, using the Dubai international airport as a case study.
“Emirates Airlines is clearly an engine of growth at Dubai airport, controlling more than 59% of the capacity at the airport,” the report said.
It noted that the Dubai airport is the leading one among West Asia’s hubs, handling a record 3.97 million passengers in March, up 21.8% from 3.26 million in the same month in 2009.
The Emirates fleet size alone is testament to its role as a driver for the airport. On 8 June, it placed an order with Airbus SAS for an additional 32 A380 planes, the world’s largest civilian aircraft.
The order took its total number of super jumbo planes on order to 90. It has already ordered 48 Airbus 380s, 70 Airbus 350s, 18 Boeing 777-300s, and seven Boeing air freighters on order, totalling 143 wide-body aircraft worth more than $48 billion (Rs2.21 trillion).
All these years, India has not been able to develop any of its airports as a hub, leading to international airlines creating hubs in places such as Dubai, Singapore, Bangkok, London, Frankfurt, Paris and Amsterdam.
“It is important to remember that a hub is not created overnight,” said the GMR spokesperson, adding that the group plans to develop Hyderabad as an international hub airport for south and central India and for the entire region by 2018. “However, we have the added benefit of learning that which has happened before, so as not to repeat the same mistakes or perhaps learn from their successes.”
“If the question is (about) Indian airports becoming international hubs for onward transit to Saarc (South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation) and South-East Asia and Australia, that may be decades away,” said Charles Dhanaraj, an associate professor of management at the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University, Indianapolis, and an expert on the Indian aviation industry.
Global requirements: The new terminal of the Indira Gandhi International Airport. Civil aviation experts note that India lacks good infrastructure and large airlines, both prerequisites for an international hub. Pradeep Gaur / Mint
When Mint asked at least two dozen chief executive officers of global airlines at the 66th annual general body meeting of the International Air Transport Association about a hub in India, none were interested in such a facility, despite the fact that they are looking to increase their presence in the country and are tying up with domestic carriers.
However, Arvind Jadhav, chairman and managing director of Air India, has said he wants to make the Delhi airport an international hub, suggesting that the carrier would ideally like to do away with its Frankfurt hub.
Already, National Aviation Co. of India Ltd, or Nacil, which runs Air India, is planning to shift its networking hub from Mumbai to Delhi.
“If you take a look at India, our location accounts for about 30% of the world’s population with about (a) five-hour radius. There is absolutely no reason why India and major Indian airports cannot be global aviation hubs just like Dubai, Singapore, Hong Kong, or London,” said Sudheer Raghavan, chief commercial officer at Jet Airways (India) Ltd, told an investors’ conference on 21 May.
But the challenges are many, say civil aviation experts, noting that the presence of good airport infrastructure and large airlines, both of which India lacks, are prerequisites for an international hub.
“The day Chennai airport is better than Singapore’s Changi airport, we can see Chennai becoming a hub to South-East Asia,” Dhanaraj said. “I think building credible airports, and also linking the airport to the main city with high-speed trains will go a long way in changing the economics of the industry.”
A spokesperson for the GMR Group, which runs the airports in Delhi and Hyderabad, said the major obstacles to having a hub in India include an inability to attract passengers, saturated airports and the poor health of Indian airlines.
“It should be noted that all airports in the list of the world’s top 30 busiest airports serve as hubs for one or more airlines, usually from the same domestic market,” he said, declining to be named.
Manish Kalghatgi, head of corporate communications at the GVK Group, which runs the Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport in Mumbai, as well as the spokesperson for Mumbai International Airport Ltd, said an international hub would need a large, world-class airline that can also target transit passengers rather than point-to-point passengers.
“We do not have airlines, such as Singapore Airlines or Emirates, with that kind of frequency and network to promote the airports of Singapore and Dubai as real international hubs,” said Kalghatgi, pointing out that the carriers actually make those airports hubs.
A report by consulting firm Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation released on 15 June makes the same point, using the Dubai international airport as a case study.
“Emirates Airlines is clearly an engine of growth at Dubai airport, controlling more than 59% of the capacity at the airport,” the report said.
It noted that the Dubai airport is the leading one among West Asia’s hubs, handling a record 3.97 million passengers in March, up 21.8% from 3.26 million in the same month in 2009.
The Emirates fleet size alone is testament to its role as a driver for the airport. On 8 June, it placed an order with Airbus SAS for an additional 32 A380 planes, the world’s largest civilian aircraft.
The order took its total number of super jumbo planes on order to 90. It has already ordered 48 Airbus 380s, 70 Airbus 350s, 18 Boeing 777-300s, and seven Boeing air freighters on order, totalling 143 wide-body aircraft worth more than $48 billion (Rs2.21 trillion).
All these years, India has not been able to develop any of its airports as a hub, leading to international airlines creating hubs in places such as Dubai, Singapore, Bangkok, London, Frankfurt, Paris and Amsterdam.
“It is important to remember that a hub is not created overnight,” said the GMR spokesperson, adding that the group plans to develop Hyderabad as an international hub airport for south and central India and for the entire region by 2018. “However, we have the added benefit of learning that which has happened before, so as not to repeat the same mistakes or perhaps learn from their successes.”
Proposed airport could be international hub for western India: aviation expert
The proposed airport near Chakan has many advantages to it its credit. According to experts, if there is political will, the airport has the potential to become the International hub of Western India.
Air Marshall (Retd) S S Ramdas,member of the MCCIA’s civil aviation comittee said compared with the proposed international airport at Navi Mumbai or Nagpur, the Chakan airport has strategic advantage. “The proposed Kopar airport is on trans harbour link and has limited area of 1,142 ha as compared with 2800 ha of Rajgurunagar airport. Nagpur is a remote position with inadequate cargo and passenger potential,” he said.
He said apart from the cosmetic works nothing can be carried out to extend the present the runway of the Mumbai airport. “ Also the proposed Navi Mumbai airport does not have enough area to construct two runways. While the area earmarked for the Rajgurunagar airport is bigger than both these airports and it can be planned in such a way that it can have two runways. It can have separate cargo complex, hotels, convention centre etc ,” said Ramdas.
Air Marshall (Retd) S S Ramdas,member of the MCCIA’s civil aviation comittee said compared with the proposed international airport at Navi Mumbai or Nagpur, the Chakan airport has strategic advantage. “The proposed Kopar airport is on trans harbour link and has limited area of 1,142 ha as compared with 2800 ha of Rajgurunagar airport. Nagpur is a remote position with inadequate cargo and passenger potential,” he said.
He said apart from the cosmetic works nothing can be carried out to extend the present the runway of the Mumbai airport. “ Also the proposed Navi Mumbai airport does not have enough area to construct two runways. While the area earmarked for the Rajgurunagar airport is bigger than both these airports and it can be planned in such a way that it can have two runways. It can have separate cargo complex, hotels, convention centre etc ,” said Ramdas.
Air India to get Rs 1,200-cr equity
The government would infuse an additional equity of Rs 1,200 crore into Air India over the next few months and review its performance to decide on the future course, civil aviation minister Praful Patel has said. He ruled out divesting government equity in the national carrier for the moment.
“It is imperative we assess the situation after (a total of) Rs 2,000 crore is infused as equity; Rs 1,200 crore will be given in the next few months,” Patel said in an interview on the sidelines of the annual summit of the International Air Transport Association (IATA) here.
The government, as Air India’s owner, gave the airline Rs 800 crore in equity last year. Asked whether government was mulling divesting its stake in the ailing carrier, he said, “At the moment, the decision is not to disinvest . The government’s decision is to have a national carrier and it shall continue to be so.”
Whether government would consider a course correction on the merger of Air India and erstwhile Indian Airlines following criticism from several quarters, Patel said, “No. We’ve to see how it performs (after the equity infusion). There has been no government subsidy to Air India”.
He said officials of all airlines attending the IATA summit have said “mergers do not happen overnight. It is an ongoing process. Air France-KLM have taken six years.” As costs increase and the airlines’ margins came under pressure, consolidation was “inevitable and nothing unusual”.
On Air India’s financial troubles, he said there were several options before the government: go to the market, go for an IPO or give it equity support. “The government chose the third option.” On strengthening of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), Patel said the government was considering granting it full autonomy. He said the question of separating the regulator and an investigator of accidents was being considered. Currently, the officials of DGCA carry out investigations into incidents and accidents involving planes and choppers.
“A regulator, who makes rules, and an investigator should not be the same. The court of inquiry (into the recent Mangalore air crash) has been set up with (former vice-chief of IAF) air marshal Gokhale. He is outside the DGCA,” he said.
To questions about having an independent investigator into all accidents, he said, “The intention is to move in that direction. A lot of discussion is required on the issue.”
Patel had earlier suggested that an independent accident-investigating body like the US National Transportation Safety Board needs to be set up in India. Asked about the Airport Economic Regulatory Authority (AERA) set up last year, he said it was making “good progress. Issues relating to the airport development fee and other airport charges are being regulated by them. Government does not come into the picture (on these issues) now.”
Maintaining that Indian aviation traffic had grown by a “modest 15%” this year, the minister said there was a huge potential for air travel which existed in the country. “In 2004, the number of people travelling by train on a single day was equal to the number of air passengers one year. Now that has changed. The number of train travellers on one day equals the number of three days of air travel.”
Due to this, the model of air travel has to be “redefined to meet the aspirations of the middle class. The bulk of the Indian domestic traffic will have to be at a lower cost, which will have to be met by a leaner, meaner and an efficient (airline) organisation,” Patel added.
“It is imperative we assess the situation after (a total of) Rs 2,000 crore is infused as equity; Rs 1,200 crore will be given in the next few months,” Patel said in an interview on the sidelines of the annual summit of the International Air Transport Association (IATA) here.
The government, as Air India’s owner, gave the airline Rs 800 crore in equity last year. Asked whether government was mulling divesting its stake in the ailing carrier, he said, “At the moment, the decision is not to disinvest . The government’s decision is to have a national carrier and it shall continue to be so.”
Whether government would consider a course correction on the merger of Air India and erstwhile Indian Airlines following criticism from several quarters, Patel said, “No. We’ve to see how it performs (after the equity infusion). There has been no government subsidy to Air India”.
He said officials of all airlines attending the IATA summit have said “mergers do not happen overnight. It is an ongoing process. Air France-KLM have taken six years.” As costs increase and the airlines’ margins came under pressure, consolidation was “inevitable and nothing unusual”.
On Air India’s financial troubles, he said there were several options before the government: go to the market, go for an IPO or give it equity support. “The government chose the third option.” On strengthening of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), Patel said the government was considering granting it full autonomy. He said the question of separating the regulator and an investigator of accidents was being considered. Currently, the officials of DGCA carry out investigations into incidents and accidents involving planes and choppers.
“A regulator, who makes rules, and an investigator should not be the same. The court of inquiry (into the recent Mangalore air crash) has been set up with (former vice-chief of IAF) air marshal Gokhale. He is outside the DGCA,” he said.
To questions about having an independent investigator into all accidents, he said, “The intention is to move in that direction. A lot of discussion is required on the issue.”
Patel had earlier suggested that an independent accident-investigating body like the US National Transportation Safety Board needs to be set up in India. Asked about the Airport Economic Regulatory Authority (AERA) set up last year, he said it was making “good progress. Issues relating to the airport development fee and other airport charges are being regulated by them. Government does not come into the picture (on these issues) now.”
Maintaining that Indian aviation traffic had grown by a “modest 15%” this year, the minister said there was a huge potential for air travel which existed in the country. “In 2004, the number of people travelling by train on a single day was equal to the number of air passengers one year. Now that has changed. The number of train travellers on one day equals the number of three days of air travel.”
Due to this, the model of air travel has to be “redefined to meet the aspirations of the middle class. The bulk of the Indian domestic traffic will have to be at a lower cost, which will have to be met by a leaner, meaner and an efficient (airline) organisation,” Patel added.
Match capacity with demand: IATA
The number of aircraft in the Indian sky should be controlled to match the demand of air travellers if the Indian carriers want to come out of the financial rut, global airlines' body IATA has recommended.
"In India, there is a problem of managing capacity in a more effective way you have put too many planes at a time when you were caught in a crisis. The market was in difficult situation," IATA Director General and CEO Giovanni Bisignani told Indian journalists here.
Asked why Indian airlines were not as profitable as those in Latin America despite a high GDP growth, he said "one of the issues is the capacity problem".
IATA has estimated that Latin American carriers will show a profit of USD 900 million, making it the only region to post two consecutive years of profit.
The IATA chief indicated that in a race to capture the emerging market, the Indian airlines competed among themselves to introduce more planes and flights leading to an excess capacity and low fares, which hit their financial bottomline.
"One of the problems we have is we go for capacity. Capturing market share is a short-term strategy, being profit centric is required in the medium term. Market share cannot be the only motive of the industry," he said on the sidelines of the just-concluded IATA Summit.
He said there was a need to match capacity with demand so that the airlines can enhance their yields which were currently low.
Asked about the overall situation facing the aviation industry in India, he said generally the governments, or specifically the Finance Ministries, the world over were not being supportive of the sector.
"Unfortunately, what happens is that the Government as is the case in many countries is not supporting the aviation ministers. At present, the Government is the Ministry of Finance all around the world," Bisignani said.
Observing that "one of the problems" in India was that the processes took much time to be implemented, he said "but, an example of a process that took so long but the good part now is the new regulator" or the Airport Economic Regulatory Authority (AERA).
"India could be an example for others. It took a bit of time. For a country which is growing so fast, wants infrastructure badly - it has to have a regulator to discipline airlines and airports", Bisignani said.
Asked how he would rate private Indian airports which he had earlier strongly criticised for imposing high charges on airlines and passengers, he said the AERA was now in place.
"In India, there is a problem of managing capacity in a more effective way you have put too many planes at a time when you were caught in a crisis. The market was in difficult situation," IATA Director General and CEO Giovanni Bisignani told Indian journalists here.
Asked why Indian airlines were not as profitable as those in Latin America despite a high GDP growth, he said "one of the issues is the capacity problem".
IATA has estimated that Latin American carriers will show a profit of USD 900 million, making it the only region to post two consecutive years of profit.
The IATA chief indicated that in a race to capture the emerging market, the Indian airlines competed among themselves to introduce more planes and flights leading to an excess capacity and low fares, which hit their financial bottomline.
"One of the problems we have is we go for capacity. Capturing market share is a short-term strategy, being profit centric is required in the medium term. Market share cannot be the only motive of the industry," he said on the sidelines of the just-concluded IATA Summit.
He said there was a need to match capacity with demand so that the airlines can enhance their yields which were currently low.
Asked about the overall situation facing the aviation industry in India, he said generally the governments, or specifically the Finance Ministries, the world over were not being supportive of the sector.
"Unfortunately, what happens is that the Government as is the case in many countries is not supporting the aviation ministers. At present, the Government is the Ministry of Finance all around the world," Bisignani said.
Observing that "one of the problems" in India was that the processes took much time to be implemented, he said "but, an example of a process that took so long but the good part now is the new regulator" or the Airport Economic Regulatory Authority (AERA).
"India could be an example for others. It took a bit of time. For a country which is growing so fast, wants infrastructure badly - it has to have a regulator to discipline airlines and airports", Bisignani said.
Asked how he would rate private Indian airports which he had earlier strongly criticised for imposing high charges on airlines and passengers, he said the AERA was now in place.
SPICE JET AIRWAYS NOW SUN AIRWAYS
Sun TV Network chairman Kalanithi Maran, the new owner of low-cost carrier SpiceJet, has signalled aggressive plans for the airline. In his first interface late last week with SpiceJet employees, Maran said that this is the last time the airline is undergoing a change in ownership, sources told FE.
“The current way of functioning at the airline is not going to change. Since we all are now part of a $6-billion business group, we can only hope to grow geometrically,” Maran is believed to have told the airline’s staff. Maran had come to participate in the ceremony to induct the 21st aircraft into the SpiceJet fleet.
A few weeks back, the media baron announced reaching an agreement with SpiceJet promoters to buy 37.7% stake in the company from its main promoter Bhulo Kansagra and distress asset buyer Wilbur L Ross for about Rs 750 crore. Maran would acquire another 20% stake in the company from the public through an open offer.
In the past, the country’s second-largest low-cost airline had a fragmented ownership, leading to occasional delays in decision-making. With Maran taking the reins, the airline is expected to go for a quick expansion.
Meanwhile, the civil aviation ministry has cleared Maran’s proposal to induct six new members on the airline’s board and change the name of the company to Sun Airways.
“The current way of functioning at the airline is not going to change. Since we all are now part of a $6-billion business group, we can only hope to grow geometrically,” Maran is believed to have told the airline’s staff. Maran had come to participate in the ceremony to induct the 21st aircraft into the SpiceJet fleet.
A few weeks back, the media baron announced reaching an agreement with SpiceJet promoters to buy 37.7% stake in the company from its main promoter Bhulo Kansagra and distress asset buyer Wilbur L Ross for about Rs 750 crore. Maran would acquire another 20% stake in the company from the public through an open offer.
In the past, the country’s second-largest low-cost airline had a fragmented ownership, leading to occasional delays in decision-making. With Maran taking the reins, the airline is expected to go for a quick expansion.
Meanwhile, the civil aviation ministry has cleared Maran’s proposal to induct six new members on the airline’s board and change the name of the company to Sun Airways.
Boeing to ramp up production of 747, 777 jets
Boeing Co. will speed up production plans for its 777 and 747 models in anticipation of greater demand from commercial airlines.
Both are wide-body planes capable of carrying more than 300 passengers and flying longer routes. Several Asian airlines have ordered the planes, which are also more fuel-efficient than other aircraft models.
Asian and Latin American carriers have led the way for a surprisingly strong recovery, while improvement at U.S. carriers has lagged. The industry's leading trade group, the International Air Transport Association, cut its 2010 loss forecast in half for global airlines to $2.8 billion. The group also lowered its 2009 loss estimate to $9.4 billion from $11 billion because of the year-end rally.
Many airlines across the globe reported losses in 2009 as travel demand slumped. Boeing, the world's second-largest aircraft maker behind Airbus, said Friday that it sees the airline industry recovering this year, followed by a return to profitability in 2011. That should lead to demand for new aircraft in 2012 and beyond, the company said.
The company also said the speedup was necessary because of a "conservatively managed approach to production."
Boeing, based in Chicago, will increase production of its 777 in mid-2011 to seven airplanes per month from five. The ramp-up was originally planned for early 2012. The 777 seats more than 300 people.
The 747-8, the newest version of Boeing's iconic jumbo jet, has been plagued by production problems. It took its first flight last month after being delayed for more than a year.
The passenger version, which carries more than 400 people, is scheduled to be delivered in the second quarter of 2011. Production will increase to two airplanes per month from 1.5 in mid-2012. The ramp-up had been scheduled for mid-2013.
Boeing lists 76 orders for the 747-8 freighter and 32 for the passenger version, with the vast majority from international customers.
Boeing said it doesn't think the new production schedule will have a material impact on earnings this year. It expects to offer an update to its earnings forecast when it releases first-quarter results next month.
Boeing surprised investors in January with a bigger-than-expected fourth-quarter profit, and said testing of its two newest planes is on track.
Boeing also had said it won't scale back aircraft production, which some had feared. Its guidance for 2010 profits was less than analysts had expected.
Both are wide-body planes capable of carrying more than 300 passengers and flying longer routes. Several Asian airlines have ordered the planes, which are also more fuel-efficient than other aircraft models.
Asian and Latin American carriers have led the way for a surprisingly strong recovery, while improvement at U.S. carriers has lagged. The industry's leading trade group, the International Air Transport Association, cut its 2010 loss forecast in half for global airlines to $2.8 billion. The group also lowered its 2009 loss estimate to $9.4 billion from $11 billion because of the year-end rally.
Many airlines across the globe reported losses in 2009 as travel demand slumped. Boeing, the world's second-largest aircraft maker behind Airbus, said Friday that it sees the airline industry recovering this year, followed by a return to profitability in 2011. That should lead to demand for new aircraft in 2012 and beyond, the company said.
The company also said the speedup was necessary because of a "conservatively managed approach to production."
Boeing, based in Chicago, will increase production of its 777 in mid-2011 to seven airplanes per month from five. The ramp-up was originally planned for early 2012. The 777 seats more than 300 people.
The 747-8, the newest version of Boeing's iconic jumbo jet, has been plagued by production problems. It took its first flight last month after being delayed for more than a year.
The passenger version, which carries more than 400 people, is scheduled to be delivered in the second quarter of 2011. Production will increase to two airplanes per month from 1.5 in mid-2012. The ramp-up had been scheduled for mid-2013.
Boeing lists 76 orders for the 747-8 freighter and 32 for the passenger version, with the vast majority from international customers.
Boeing said it doesn't think the new production schedule will have a material impact on earnings this year. It expects to offer an update to its earnings forecast when it releases first-quarter results next month.
Boeing surprised investors in January with a bigger-than-expected fourth-quarter profit, and said testing of its two newest planes is on track.
Boeing also had said it won't scale back aircraft production, which some had feared. Its guidance for 2010 profits was less than analysts had expected.
Thursday, June 24, 2010
the world’s second largest integrated airport terminal at New Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport
the world’s second largest integrated airport terminal at New Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport, will leave you with a sense of “shock and awe” when it opens on July 3.
Finishing touches are still being given to the terminal. Still, as it is sheer grandeur which expands in front of your eyes, a grandeur the kind of which this country may not have seen since beginning its march towards a market economy. Even the new Hyderabad and Bangalore airports, large and swank in their own right, are dwarfed in front of DIAL’s new baby.
Spread over four kilometres, it is a sprawling architectural marvel in gleaming glass. The sun rays reflecting from the glass facade could be felt a good five kilometers away on the driveway to the airport. T3 seems like a lethal spaceship from the future with its wings spread, brooding over the fast-changing economics of the world’s fastest-growing bazaar. Move closer and one could see the frenzy with which T3 is being dolled up to dazzle.
With a multi-pronged driveway to Delhi’s latest airport terminal — by metro, bus and cab — the first structure that will strike the eye is the six-storeyed parking space, with its tentacles embracing the colour-coded glass-and-steel structure.
NEARLY A kilometre-long passenger terminal greets the guest to T3 with mirror-finished vitrified tiles in grey and beige, and walls, whatever little of it is there, in pristine white.
The terminal is all about space. With more than 80 per cent of the structure in clear glass, supported by metal frames, T3 is endless on both sides. Readying to handle 34 million passengers a year, with 168 check-in counters, 49 immigration desks and 50 emmigration desks, all housed in a blend of tradition with modernity.
Vitrified tiles give way to exquisitely crafted Kashmiri carpets of two different designs on two floors for domestic and international piers, each about one-and-a-half km long. They are interspersed with a whopping 92 traveloters (automatic walkways). The roof has been designed to allow natural light to enter the building. The terminal leads to the staggering 78 aerobridges, said to be the highest in the world in a single site.
Modern in every bit of it, T3 returns to tradition with the touch of an artist, subtle and subdued. The central hall from where domestic and international passengers part ways dons a huge mural with mudras of Indian dance forms. Stairways to the upper floors reveal walls designed with traditional art forms reflected in blue neons. Overall, beige dominates T3, with yellow and red colour codes distinguishing the desi from the videshi. Black and white signages, departing from the usual green and white international norm, accentuate the terminal’s action – India means business.
T3 has been built using advanced technology in construction. Light-weight, mess-free materials that use minimum water, have, therefore seen it get over in record 37 months. Any other project of comparative size would have taken six to seven years in India. A large part of the interiors has been built with gypsum-based drywalls that reduce noise and are high on fire and earthquake resistance.
T3 now awaits merchants to deck up the retail spaces and passengers to board flights. Otherwise, complete with security cameras, grey-coloured ticketing counters, large LCD displays and CISF soldiers in their crisp uniforms, T3 is now undertaking dummy runs on baggage handling and immigration procedures.
One could see hundreds of trolleys full of old and tattered suitcases filled with old clothes and heavy material being manned towards rows of conveyor belts for the tossing and turning till they meet their standards.
Size matters, and T3 is endless. Beijing has done it, but India is not far behind. At least, T3 shows India is ready to soar. When T3 starts operation, with even Airbus A380s boasting of record turnarounds at Indian terminals, the country would have seen it all. Well, almost all
Finishing touches are still being given to the terminal. Still, as it is sheer grandeur which expands in front of your eyes, a grandeur the kind of which this country may not have seen since beginning its march towards a market economy. Even the new Hyderabad and Bangalore airports, large and swank in their own right, are dwarfed in front of DIAL’s new baby.
Spread over four kilometres, it is a sprawling architectural marvel in gleaming glass. The sun rays reflecting from the glass facade could be felt a good five kilometers away on the driveway to the airport. T3 seems like a lethal spaceship from the future with its wings spread, brooding over the fast-changing economics of the world’s fastest-growing bazaar. Move closer and one could see the frenzy with which T3 is being dolled up to dazzle.
With a multi-pronged driveway to Delhi’s latest airport terminal — by metro, bus and cab — the first structure that will strike the eye is the six-storeyed parking space, with its tentacles embracing the colour-coded glass-and-steel structure.
NEARLY A kilometre-long passenger terminal greets the guest to T3 with mirror-finished vitrified tiles in grey and beige, and walls, whatever little of it is there, in pristine white.
The terminal is all about space. With more than 80 per cent of the structure in clear glass, supported by metal frames, T3 is endless on both sides. Readying to handle 34 million passengers a year, with 168 check-in counters, 49 immigration desks and 50 emmigration desks, all housed in a blend of tradition with modernity.
Vitrified tiles give way to exquisitely crafted Kashmiri carpets of two different designs on two floors for domestic and international piers, each about one-and-a-half km long. They are interspersed with a whopping 92 traveloters (automatic walkways). The roof has been designed to allow natural light to enter the building. The terminal leads to the staggering 78 aerobridges, said to be the highest in the world in a single site.
Modern in every bit of it, T3 returns to tradition with the touch of an artist, subtle and subdued. The central hall from where domestic and international passengers part ways dons a huge mural with mudras of Indian dance forms. Stairways to the upper floors reveal walls designed with traditional art forms reflected in blue neons. Overall, beige dominates T3, with yellow and red colour codes distinguishing the desi from the videshi. Black and white signages, departing from the usual green and white international norm, accentuate the terminal’s action – India means business.
T3 has been built using advanced technology in construction. Light-weight, mess-free materials that use minimum water, have, therefore seen it get over in record 37 months. Any other project of comparative size would have taken six to seven years in India. A large part of the interiors has been built with gypsum-based drywalls that reduce noise and are high on fire and earthquake resistance.
T3 now awaits merchants to deck up the retail spaces and passengers to board flights. Otherwise, complete with security cameras, grey-coloured ticketing counters, large LCD displays and CISF soldiers in their crisp uniforms, T3 is now undertaking dummy runs on baggage handling and immigration procedures.
One could see hundreds of trolleys full of old and tattered suitcases filled with old clothes and heavy material being manned towards rows of conveyor belts for the tossing and turning till they meet their standards.
Size matters, and T3 is endless. Beijing has done it, but India is not far behind. At least, T3 shows India is ready to soar. When T3 starts operation, with even Airbus A380s boasting of record turnarounds at Indian terminals, the country would have seen it all. Well, almost all
GI's T3 ready to take on the world
ountry’s economic progress, then India has certainly arrived on the world stage. While China may have been the first to draw world attention by building state-of-the-art transport systems, its Asian neighbour is now catching up, projecting the new, swanky Terminal 3 (T3) at IGI as an example of country’s growing prosperity and confidence.
Integrated T3 will be opened for passengers in mid-July. Three years after the foundation stone was laid in February 2007, T3 will be inaugurated by PM Manmohan Singh and Congress chief Sonia Gandhi on July 3. T3 boasts of being the eighth largest passenger terminal in the world, equipped to handle 34 million passengers annually.
The new terminal, with spacious interiors, once operational will cater to over half of Delhi’s air traffic. Foreigners arriving at the airport will immediately get a feel of India — the country’s cultures have been showcased through graphic designs on the walls and unique installation arts.
The complex has been constructed using ‘North Light’ concept that maximizes illumination while cutting down on solar gain. According to GMRbacked Delhi International Airport Limited (DIAL), the civil structural works at all nine levels of the terminal building have been completed.
Passenger comfort is top priority here. The in-line baggage handling system (BHS) has a capacity to handle 12,800 bags per hour. Passengers will no longer have to get their baggage screened by themselves. They just have to submit their baggage at the airline counter from where it will undergo five levels of checks.
‘‘If bags are not cleared till the third screening level, they will be sent to the CTX machine which does a 360 degree study of the contents. If the bag does not clear this screening also, then it goes for manual screening,’’ said a DIAL official. BHS has an automatic bag tag reader which captures the information on each individual bag which is stored in the sort allocation computer and the baggage data is made available at any point of time.
Inside the building, the installation of escalators connecting international arrivals with departure level and installation of 63 elevators, 34 escalators, 92 automatic walkways, including the eight inclined walkways, has been recently completed. “In addition, all 78 passenger boarding bridges (aerobridges), including the ones which will serve the A380 upper deck, are ready. The aerobridges will be used for 90% of embarkments and disembarkments,’’ said officials, adding that one of the walkalators at T3 (length 118 metres) is the longest in Asia.
Integrated T3 will be opened for passengers in mid-July. Three years after the foundation stone was laid in February 2007, T3 will be inaugurated by PM Manmohan Singh and Congress chief Sonia Gandhi on July 3. T3 boasts of being the eighth largest passenger terminal in the world, equipped to handle 34 million passengers annually.
The new terminal, with spacious interiors, once operational will cater to over half of Delhi’s air traffic. Foreigners arriving at the airport will immediately get a feel of India — the country’s cultures have been showcased through graphic designs on the walls and unique installation arts.
The complex has been constructed using ‘North Light’ concept that maximizes illumination while cutting down on solar gain. According to GMRbacked Delhi International Airport Limited (DIAL), the civil structural works at all nine levels of the terminal building have been completed.
Passenger comfort is top priority here. The in-line baggage handling system (BHS) has a capacity to handle 12,800 bags per hour. Passengers will no longer have to get their baggage screened by themselves. They just have to submit their baggage at the airline counter from where it will undergo five levels of checks.
‘‘If bags are not cleared till the third screening level, they will be sent to the CTX machine which does a 360 degree study of the contents. If the bag does not clear this screening also, then it goes for manual screening,’’ said a DIAL official. BHS has an automatic bag tag reader which captures the information on each individual bag which is stored in the sort allocation computer and the baggage data is made available at any point of time.
Inside the building, the installation of escalators connecting international arrivals with departure level and installation of 63 elevators, 34 escalators, 92 automatic walkways, including the eight inclined walkways, has been recently completed. “In addition, all 78 passenger boarding bridges (aerobridges), including the ones which will serve the A380 upper deck, are ready. The aerobridges will be used for 90% of embarkments and disembarkments,’’ said officials, adding that one of the walkalators at T3 (length 118 metres) is the longest in Asia.
Monday, June 14, 2010
IATA: Airlines are flying back to profits in 2010
The global airline industry is showing a turnaround and will swing back to profit in 2010 after several difficult years, as growth in Asia and the U.S. offsets weaker demand in Europe, the major international air transport group said Monday.
Profits are expected to reach $2.5 billion, the International Air Transport Association said, a vast improvement from the $2.8 billion total loss it predicted three months ago.
"The global economy is recovering from the depths of the financial crisis much more quickly than could have been anticipated," IATA chief executive Giovanni Bisignani told journalists in Berlin, though the group warned the industry is still far from "sustainable profitability."
The industry saw revenues drop by $80 billion or 15 percent in 2009 amid the crisis, and IATA initially believed three years or more would be needed to recover.
Bisignani now expects a "a strong rebound of air traffic," he said. Passenger traffic is forecast to grow by 7 percent to a total of 2.4 billion passengers in 2010. The forecast for cargo growth was revised sharply upward, from 12 percent in March to 18.5 percent.
Europe, however, remained a striking weak spot with IATA anticipating a $2.8 billion loss for airlines on the continent — worse than the $2.2 billion previously predicted. Europe's feeble growth, strikes at some airlines, the eurozone debt crisis and the volcanic ash cloud that caused major disruption this spring are hampering the recovery, according to the IATA.
"Europe is lagging behind," Bisignani said.
North American carriers, which sharply cut capacity amid the crisis, are expected to earn $1.9 billion in 2010 — a turnaround from the previously predicted loss of $1.8 billion, and the $2.7 billion that carriers lost last year. Asian airlines are expected to earn $2.2 billion this year, powered by strong growth across the region.
The level of first and business class travelers is back to pre-recession levels, giving the airline's profits a boon, the IATA said.
The industry group predicted a total revenue of $545 billion. The forecast profit of $2.5 billion therefore represents a net margin of 0.5 percent, which the IATA calls "a long way from sustainable profitability."
Bisignani lashed out at government regulation, which he sees as hampering the industry's growth and profitability prospects, singling out Europe's persistent failure to create a single airspace. "Ministers do not have the leadership to address such an issue," he said.
Lufthansa's chief executive Wolfgang Mayrhuber, speaking alongside Bisignani, stressed that the conclusion of an agreement on the Single European Sky concept would also be a boon for the environment as airlines would have to fly fewer detours and could reduce C02-emissions by some 12 percent. "If they want us to be greener, the biggest project is the single sky," he said.
Despite numerous efforts to integrate air traffic management systems, Europe's airspace with some 28,000 flights daily is still broken up into small slices of airspace controlled by national governments, making air travel significantly less cost efficient than in the United States.
The Single European Sky concept is meant to ensure greater aviation efficiency and improved environmental performance by eliminating the need for airliners to zigzag through 27 different national air spaces. Instead, the goal is to enable direct point-to-point travel with the help of a single, integrated air traffic control system.
For the European airlines, the latest source of discord with regulators was the volcanic ash cloud that spewed from an Icelandic volcano this spring — forcing a controversial shutdown of much of Europe's airspace for several days in April and causing sporadic disruption last month.
IATA has estimated the total impact on airlines' revenue of the ash cloud at $1.8 billion.
"We are not asking for any subsidies," Mayrhuber said. Instead the Association of European Airlines wants the European Union to postpone an emission trading scheme that would impose new costs for the airlines and disadvantage them on a global scale, he said.
Meanwhile, Germany's government unveiled plans for a new fee affecting all passengers starting from German airports to include the cost of air traffic's CO2 emissions. The surcharge is set to bring the state coffers €1 billion ($1.20 billion) annually.
"If this really goes through, this is a black day for Germany as an aviation hub," Lufthansa spokesman Peter Schneckenleitner told The Associated Press.
Profits are expected to reach $2.5 billion, the International Air Transport Association said, a vast improvement from the $2.8 billion total loss it predicted three months ago.
"The global economy is recovering from the depths of the financial crisis much more quickly than could have been anticipated," IATA chief executive Giovanni Bisignani told journalists in Berlin, though the group warned the industry is still far from "sustainable profitability."
The industry saw revenues drop by $80 billion or 15 percent in 2009 amid the crisis, and IATA initially believed three years or more would be needed to recover.
Bisignani now expects a "a strong rebound of air traffic," he said. Passenger traffic is forecast to grow by 7 percent to a total of 2.4 billion passengers in 2010. The forecast for cargo growth was revised sharply upward, from 12 percent in March to 18.5 percent.
Europe, however, remained a striking weak spot with IATA anticipating a $2.8 billion loss for airlines on the continent — worse than the $2.2 billion previously predicted. Europe's feeble growth, strikes at some airlines, the eurozone debt crisis and the volcanic ash cloud that caused major disruption this spring are hampering the recovery, according to the IATA.
"Europe is lagging behind," Bisignani said.
North American carriers, which sharply cut capacity amid the crisis, are expected to earn $1.9 billion in 2010 — a turnaround from the previously predicted loss of $1.8 billion, and the $2.7 billion that carriers lost last year. Asian airlines are expected to earn $2.2 billion this year, powered by strong growth across the region.
The level of first and business class travelers is back to pre-recession levels, giving the airline's profits a boon, the IATA said.
The industry group predicted a total revenue of $545 billion. The forecast profit of $2.5 billion therefore represents a net margin of 0.5 percent, which the IATA calls "a long way from sustainable profitability."
Bisignani lashed out at government regulation, which he sees as hampering the industry's growth and profitability prospects, singling out Europe's persistent failure to create a single airspace. "Ministers do not have the leadership to address such an issue," he said.
Lufthansa's chief executive Wolfgang Mayrhuber, speaking alongside Bisignani, stressed that the conclusion of an agreement on the Single European Sky concept would also be a boon for the environment as airlines would have to fly fewer detours and could reduce C02-emissions by some 12 percent. "If they want us to be greener, the biggest project is the single sky," he said.
Despite numerous efforts to integrate air traffic management systems, Europe's airspace with some 28,000 flights daily is still broken up into small slices of airspace controlled by national governments, making air travel significantly less cost efficient than in the United States.
The Single European Sky concept is meant to ensure greater aviation efficiency and improved environmental performance by eliminating the need for airliners to zigzag through 27 different national air spaces. Instead, the goal is to enable direct point-to-point travel with the help of a single, integrated air traffic control system.
For the European airlines, the latest source of discord with regulators was the volcanic ash cloud that spewed from an Icelandic volcano this spring — forcing a controversial shutdown of much of Europe's airspace for several days in April and causing sporadic disruption last month.
IATA has estimated the total impact on airlines' revenue of the ash cloud at $1.8 billion.
"We are not asking for any subsidies," Mayrhuber said. Instead the Association of European Airlines wants the European Union to postpone an emission trading scheme that would impose new costs for the airlines and disadvantage them on a global scale, he said.
Meanwhile, Germany's government unveiled plans for a new fee affecting all passengers starting from German airports to include the cost of air traffic's CO2 emissions. The surcharge is set to bring the state coffers €1 billion ($1.20 billion) annually.
"If this really goes through, this is a black day for Germany as an aviation hub," Lufthansa spokesman Peter Schneckenleitner told The Associated Press.
Boeing 787 takes flight after two-year delay Pilots take ‘Dreamliner’ on a flight over Washington state
EVERETT, Wash. - Boeing's new 787 jetliner finally got airborne Tuesday, the long-delayed inaugural flight of the world's first commercial plane mostly built from lightweight composite materials.
The sleek jet lifted off from Everett's Paine Field on a flight over Washington state, beginning an extensive testing program needed to obtain Federal Aviation Administration certification.
"It's very historical. I can't think of a thing about it that I'm not impressed with," said Joe Bierce, a flight instructor for Delta Connection in Jacksonville, Florida, who was among the 25,000 people who gathered to watch the takeoff.
The two-member crew performed a variety of basic system checks, including testing the landing gear and the flaps, before landing at Seattle's Boeing Field about three hours later. Deteriorating weather brought the plane back to earth about an hour earlier than planned.
"The airplane responded just as we expected," said Randy Neville, one of the two pilots. "It was a joy to fly."
Before takeoff, the aircraft paused for several minutes at the end of the runway while warming up its engines, adding to the tension for Boeing employees, customers and airline executives standing on the tarmac.
Although the runway was lined with fire trucks and other emergency vehicles, the first flight looked like a normal takeoff as the huge aircraft kicked up clouds of mist.
The plane is the first of six 787s Boeing will use in the nine-month flight-test program that will subject the planes to conditions well beyond those found in normal airline service, including temperature extremes, flying on one engine and slamming on the brakes at takeoff speed.
Chicago-based Boeing, which has orders for 840 of the jets, plans to make the first delivery to Japan's All Nippon Airways late next year.
The 787 is a radical departure in aircraft design. Where other passenger jets are made mostly from aluminum and titanium, nearly all of the 787's fuselage and wings are made of lightweight composite materials such as carbon fiber, accounting for about 50 percent of the aircraft by weight.
Those materials have long been used on individual parts such as rudders, and on military planes, but the 787 is the most ambitious use of the technology aboard a passenger plane.
Boeing says the aircraft will be quieter, produce lower emissions and use 20 percent less fuel than comparable planes, while giving passengers a more comfortable cabin with better air quality and larger windows.
Officials cut the flight a little short after rain reduced visibility at Boeing Field and the aircraft ran into poor weather off the Washington coast.
Pilot Mike Carriker said there was a "very, very aggressive plan" for testing the jet on its initial flight and the crew was able to accomplish about half those goals before coming in. The weather, he said, prevented them from flying the long straight stretches they expected, but did allow them to test the plane in turbulence and icing, things not normally encountered on a first flight.
"There were no major issues with the plane, which considering the complexity is a huge statement," he said.
Boeing has relied on suppliers to build huge sections of the plane that are later assembled in Everett. But that approach so far has proved problematic, with ill-fitting parts and other glitches hampering production.
The first flight was supposed to be in 2007, with deliveries the following year. Boeing was forced to push that back five times — delays that have cost the company credibility, sales and billions of dollars.
Most recently, Boeing needed to reinforce the area where the wings join the fuselage. Tests were completed on that fix just two weeks ago.
An eight-week strike last year by Seattle-area production workers also caused problems and factored in Boeing's decision in October to create a second 787 assembly line in North Charleston, South Carolina.
Scott Fancher, vice president and general manager of the 787 program, said he feels "very comfortable about the timeline" for the 200-day light test program and that 787 production was ramping up "exactly as we planned." The next test flight for the first 787 is expected in about a week, Carriker said.
The 787 remains Boeing's best-selling new plane to date, though some airlines have been forced to cancel or postpone purchase plans because of the weak global economy.
The version being tested will be able to fly up to 250 passengers about 9,000 miles (14,485 kilometers). A stretch version will be capable of carrying 290 passengers and a short-range model up to 330.
Boeing rival Airbus has developed the A350 XWB as the main competitor to the 787 line. Like Boeing's jetliner, the Airbus plane also features composite materials, including in the fuselage and wings.
Slideshow
Boeing 787 takes flight
A look at the making of Boeing's 787 'Dreamliner' passenger jet.
According to its Web site, Airbus has received 505 orders for the A350 from 32 customers as of November.
Tuesday's flight "was a very mundane on takeoff and very mundane on the landing, and that's exactly what you want on the first flight of an experimental airplane," said analyst Scott Hamilton of Leeham Co., an aviation consulting firm in Issaquah, east of Seattle. "Boring is good in aviation."
But the importance of the maiden flight, he said, lies in the 787's cutting-edge design and the way it's being manufactured.
"All of this is going to set the stage for all Boeing planes in the future," Hamilton said. "It's a very important milestone in the history of the company."
The sleek jet lifted off from Everett's Paine Field on a flight over Washington state, beginning an extensive testing program needed to obtain Federal Aviation Administration certification.
"It's very historical. I can't think of a thing about it that I'm not impressed with," said Joe Bierce, a flight instructor for Delta Connection in Jacksonville, Florida, who was among the 25,000 people who gathered to watch the takeoff.
The two-member crew performed a variety of basic system checks, including testing the landing gear and the flaps, before landing at Seattle's Boeing Field about three hours later. Deteriorating weather brought the plane back to earth about an hour earlier than planned.
"The airplane responded just as we expected," said Randy Neville, one of the two pilots. "It was a joy to fly."
Before takeoff, the aircraft paused for several minutes at the end of the runway while warming up its engines, adding to the tension for Boeing employees, customers and airline executives standing on the tarmac.
Although the runway was lined with fire trucks and other emergency vehicles, the first flight looked like a normal takeoff as the huge aircraft kicked up clouds of mist.
The plane is the first of six 787s Boeing will use in the nine-month flight-test program that will subject the planes to conditions well beyond those found in normal airline service, including temperature extremes, flying on one engine and slamming on the brakes at takeoff speed.
Chicago-based Boeing, which has orders for 840 of the jets, plans to make the first delivery to Japan's All Nippon Airways late next year.
The 787 is a radical departure in aircraft design. Where other passenger jets are made mostly from aluminum and titanium, nearly all of the 787's fuselage and wings are made of lightweight composite materials such as carbon fiber, accounting for about 50 percent of the aircraft by weight.
Those materials have long been used on individual parts such as rudders, and on military planes, but the 787 is the most ambitious use of the technology aboard a passenger plane.
Boeing says the aircraft will be quieter, produce lower emissions and use 20 percent less fuel than comparable planes, while giving passengers a more comfortable cabin with better air quality and larger windows.
Officials cut the flight a little short after rain reduced visibility at Boeing Field and the aircraft ran into poor weather off the Washington coast.
Pilot Mike Carriker said there was a "very, very aggressive plan" for testing the jet on its initial flight and the crew was able to accomplish about half those goals before coming in. The weather, he said, prevented them from flying the long straight stretches they expected, but did allow them to test the plane in turbulence and icing, things not normally encountered on a first flight.
"There were no major issues with the plane, which considering the complexity is a huge statement," he said.
Boeing has relied on suppliers to build huge sections of the plane that are later assembled in Everett. But that approach so far has proved problematic, with ill-fitting parts and other glitches hampering production.
The first flight was supposed to be in 2007, with deliveries the following year. Boeing was forced to push that back five times — delays that have cost the company credibility, sales and billions of dollars.
Most recently, Boeing needed to reinforce the area where the wings join the fuselage. Tests were completed on that fix just two weeks ago.
An eight-week strike last year by Seattle-area production workers also caused problems and factored in Boeing's decision in October to create a second 787 assembly line in North Charleston, South Carolina.
Scott Fancher, vice president and general manager of the 787 program, said he feels "very comfortable about the timeline" for the 200-day light test program and that 787 production was ramping up "exactly as we planned." The next test flight for the first 787 is expected in about a week, Carriker said.
The 787 remains Boeing's best-selling new plane to date, though some airlines have been forced to cancel or postpone purchase plans because of the weak global economy.
The version being tested will be able to fly up to 250 passengers about 9,000 miles (14,485 kilometers). A stretch version will be capable of carrying 290 passengers and a short-range model up to 330.
Boeing rival Airbus has developed the A350 XWB as the main competitor to the 787 line. Like Boeing's jetliner, the Airbus plane also features composite materials, including in the fuselage and wings.
Slideshow
Boeing 787 takes flight
A look at the making of Boeing's 787 'Dreamliner' passenger jet.
According to its Web site, Airbus has received 505 orders for the A350 from 32 customers as of November.
Tuesday's flight "was a very mundane on takeoff and very mundane on the landing, and that's exactly what you want on the first flight of an experimental airplane," said analyst Scott Hamilton of Leeham Co., an aviation consulting firm in Issaquah, east of Seattle. "Boring is good in aviation."
But the importance of the maiden flight, he said, lies in the 787's cutting-edge design and the way it's being manufactured.
"All of this is going to set the stage for all Boeing planes in the future," Hamilton said. "It's a very important milestone in the history of the company."
Saturday, June 12, 2010
Paramount breaches all flying, permit rules: DGCA
The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has said Chennai-based Paramount Airways doesn’t meet the conditions any more for the grant of a Scheduled Air Operator’s Permit.
It said the airline had numerous deficiencies in the areas of personnel, safety and operation and had not paid any salary for months to employees. A Paramount Airways spokesperson said they were rectifying or contesting the points mentioned.
The DGCA report, a copy of which is with Business Standard, stated that under the Madras High Court direction, an inspection was carried out by a team headed by V K Arora, deputy director general, DGCA. Only one aircraft is in operation, the rest having been disallowed from flying and the comprehensive insurance policy had also expired, said the report.
Various other deficiencies and breaches of rules have been listed — on spare parts, stores and inspections. Internal audit reports were not available. Manpower training was poor or not happening.
It said the airline had numerous deficiencies in the areas of personnel, safety and operation and had not paid any salary for months to employees. A Paramount Airways spokesperson said they were rectifying or contesting the points mentioned.
The DGCA report, a copy of which is with Business Standard, stated that under the Madras High Court direction, an inspection was carried out by a team headed by V K Arora, deputy director general, DGCA. Only one aircraft is in operation, the rest having been disallowed from flying and the comprehensive insurance policy had also expired, said the report.
Various other deficiencies and breaches of rules have been listed — on spare parts, stores and inspections. Internal audit reports were not available. Manpower training was poor or not happening.
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
History of air accidents in India
i Here’s the chronology of Indian air accidents:-
1988 – October 19: Indian Airlines flight from Mumbai crashes in heavy fog at Ahmedabad, killing 124 out of 129 passengers.
1990 – February 14: Flight from Mumbai crashes while landing at Bangalore airport, killing 92 out of 146 passengers.
1991 – August 16: Pilot error blamed after a flight crashes on descent at Imphal in remote areas of Manipur, killing 69 people.
1993 – April 26: Indian Airlines flight stopping en route from Delhi to Mumbai crashes on take-off at Aurangabad airport in Maharashtra, killing 55 of 118 passengers.
2000 – July 17: Alliance Air flight crashes at Patna airport, killing 60 passengers.
2009 – October: A Kingfisher plane was about to take off when an Air India flight from Nagpur landed on the same runway.
2010 – April 20: A Kingfisher flight in Mumbai aborted take-off to make sure that a GoAir flight, which had landed, was off the runway.
2010 – May 22: About 160 people were killed when an Air India Express flight overshot the runway at Mangalore airport and bursts into flames.
2010 May 27: A Jet Airways flight aborted landing because an Indigo flight was blocking the runway.
Who is to be blamed here? The drunken pilots, outdated aircrafts, old airports, or the incumbent ground staff?
Tipsy pilots
There have been several reports of pilots who were caught, reeking of alcohol. Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel said in Rajya Sabha that “39 cases have been reported to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) from January 2009 to December 2009, where pilots or co-pilots were found to have consumed alcohol during pre-flight breath-analyzer test.”
In 2009, only eight of the 42 pilots who were caught in a tipsy state while reporting to duty last year were terminated from service, while the rest were either grounded or suspended for brief periods. Delhi accounted for half the cases of drunkenness among pilots detected last year; 21 cases were detected at New Delhi airport. Another 11 were found under the influence of alcohol at Mumbai airport.
The data provided in reply to an RTI application by Abhishek Shukla says 28 of them are still flying. And the DGCA refuses to give details of action taken against these pilots.
So how can we think we are in safe hands?
Flying Coffins
Despite various fleet upgrade programmes, several old aircrafts are still flying in Indian skies – some well over 20 years old.
When an Indian Airlines Boeing crashed at Patna on 17th July 2000, there was a huge uproar demanding immediate grounding of the ‘Flying Coffins’ – as the ageing B737s were described by the pilots, who were wary of using an aircraft that was over 20 years old.
Ultimately, the probe into the crash identified ‘pilot error’ as the primary cause behind the crash. But that does not make the old and outdated aircrafts any less dangerous for civilians to travel in.
Old airports
Lack of funds has hampered the modernisation of airports around the country. Many pilots have also complained about old airports and the infrastructure saying, “We have been risking our life on a daily basis by landing and taking off from airports like Leh and Ladakh.”
In the recent Mangalore crash, the airport infrastructure was also touted as one of the major factors behind the crash. Our Government needs to take extra care of airports as better infrastructure will reduce chances of mishaps.
Ground staff
In the past we seen many air crashes that happened due to miscommunication between the pilot and the ground staff.
For instance, in the 1996 crash of a Saudi jumbo jet over Delhi, a judicial inquiry concluded that Indian air traffic controllers lacked sufficient training in modern handling procedures, making it difficult to cope with the sharp rise in traffic. Even modern airports like Delhi were still using outdated airport surveillance radar equipment.
Since then, new air traffic control systems have been put in place at India’s two major international airports at Mumbai and Delhi.
And not to speak of mid-air near-misses, recently a mid-air collision was averted on 5 June, 2010 afternoon, when a Jet Airways and an Air India plane came on the same flight path over Tamil Nadu. The planes, carrying nearly 250 passengers and crew, came close to a mid-air collision near the Tiruchirapalli air space. But somehow the crash was averted because of the pilots’ intelligence.
After every accident, a probe is set up into the incident that takes forever to solve. And it’s usually reactive, never preempted or proactive.
How long before action is taken to avert further air mishaps such as these?
1988 – October 19: Indian Airlines flight from Mumbai crashes in heavy fog at Ahmedabad, killing 124 out of 129 passengers.
1990 – February 14: Flight from Mumbai crashes while landing at Bangalore airport, killing 92 out of 146 passengers.
1991 – August 16: Pilot error blamed after a flight crashes on descent at Imphal in remote areas of Manipur, killing 69 people.
1993 – April 26: Indian Airlines flight stopping en route from Delhi to Mumbai crashes on take-off at Aurangabad airport in Maharashtra, killing 55 of 118 passengers.
2000 – July 17: Alliance Air flight crashes at Patna airport, killing 60 passengers.
2009 – October: A Kingfisher plane was about to take off when an Air India flight from Nagpur landed on the same runway.
2010 – April 20: A Kingfisher flight in Mumbai aborted take-off to make sure that a GoAir flight, which had landed, was off the runway.
2010 – May 22: About 160 people were killed when an Air India Express flight overshot the runway at Mangalore airport and bursts into flames.
2010 May 27: A Jet Airways flight aborted landing because an Indigo flight was blocking the runway.
Who is to be blamed here? The drunken pilots, outdated aircrafts, old airports, or the incumbent ground staff?
Tipsy pilots
There have been several reports of pilots who were caught, reeking of alcohol. Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel said in Rajya Sabha that “39 cases have been reported to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) from January 2009 to December 2009, where pilots or co-pilots were found to have consumed alcohol during pre-flight breath-analyzer test.”
In 2009, only eight of the 42 pilots who were caught in a tipsy state while reporting to duty last year were terminated from service, while the rest were either grounded or suspended for brief periods. Delhi accounted for half the cases of drunkenness among pilots detected last year; 21 cases were detected at New Delhi airport. Another 11 were found under the influence of alcohol at Mumbai airport.
The data provided in reply to an RTI application by Abhishek Shukla says 28 of them are still flying. And the DGCA refuses to give details of action taken against these pilots.
So how can we think we are in safe hands?
Flying Coffins
Despite various fleet upgrade programmes, several old aircrafts are still flying in Indian skies – some well over 20 years old.
When an Indian Airlines Boeing crashed at Patna on 17th July 2000, there was a huge uproar demanding immediate grounding of the ‘Flying Coffins’ – as the ageing B737s were described by the pilots, who were wary of using an aircraft that was over 20 years old.
Ultimately, the probe into the crash identified ‘pilot error’ as the primary cause behind the crash. But that does not make the old and outdated aircrafts any less dangerous for civilians to travel in.
Old airports
Lack of funds has hampered the modernisation of airports around the country. Many pilots have also complained about old airports and the infrastructure saying, “We have been risking our life on a daily basis by landing and taking off from airports like Leh and Ladakh.”
In the recent Mangalore crash, the airport infrastructure was also touted as one of the major factors behind the crash. Our Government needs to take extra care of airports as better infrastructure will reduce chances of mishaps.
Ground staff
In the past we seen many air crashes that happened due to miscommunication between the pilot and the ground staff.
For instance, in the 1996 crash of a Saudi jumbo jet over Delhi, a judicial inquiry concluded that Indian air traffic controllers lacked sufficient training in modern handling procedures, making it difficult to cope with the sharp rise in traffic. Even modern airports like Delhi were still using outdated airport surveillance radar equipment.
Since then, new air traffic control systems have been put in place at India’s two major international airports at Mumbai and Delhi.
And not to speak of mid-air near-misses, recently a mid-air collision was averted on 5 June, 2010 afternoon, when a Jet Airways and an Air India plane came on the same flight path over Tamil Nadu. The planes, carrying nearly 250 passengers and crew, came close to a mid-air collision near the Tiruchirapalli air space. But somehow the crash was averted because of the pilots’ intelligence.
After every accident, a probe is set up into the incident that takes forever to solve. And it’s usually reactive, never preempted or proactive.
How long before action is taken to avert further air mishaps such as these?
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
Hyderabad Airport bags The Routes Airport Marketing Awards in the Indian Sub-Continent category for the second time
Hyderabad: The Routes Asia 2010-the key networking event for the region's air service development industry, which was held in Adelaide from 18th to 20th April, 2010, concluded with the announcement of the winners for the Asia Pacific region, of the internationally accredited Routes Airport Marketing Awards. GMR Hyderabad International airport has bagged the Routes Airport Marketing Award in the Indian Sub-Continent category.
It may be noted that the Hyderabad Airport has bagged the same award in 2009 also, during the event conducted in Hyderabad.
The Routes Airport Marketing Awards are the most prestigious in the industry, as they are the only awards based purely on rewarding excellence in route development and nominated only by airlines.
The Rajiv Gandhi International Airport, Hyderabad bagged the winner's position in the Indian Sub-Continent, scoring over four other airports from the regions that were shortlisted. Mr. Raveen Pinto, Head Airline Marketing, GMR Hyderabad International Airport Ltd., received the award from the organizers.
Speaking on the occasion, Mr. P. Sripathy, CEO, GMR Hyderabad International Airport Ltd said that, "The Rajiv Gandhi International Airport is honored to receive this award for the second time in a row. We sincerely thank all the airlines that voted for us, and assure them that we will work even more closely with them in the coming months."
Roll call of winners:
Indian Sub-Continent
Winner: Hyderabad International Airport Shortlisted Airports: Delhi, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Bangalore and Chennai
China & North East Asia
Winner: Incheon International Airport Shortlisted Airports: Beijing, Narita, Hong Kong and Incheon
Middle East
Winner: King Fahd International, Dammam Highly Commended: Abu Dhabi International Airport (UAE) Shortlisted Airports: Abu Dhabi, Sharjah, Dubai, Bahrain
South East Asia
Winner: Singapore Changi International Airport (Singapore) Highly Commended: Kuala Lumpur International Airport (Malaysia) Shortlisted Airports: Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok, Singapore Airport Changi, Ho Chi Minh City
Oceania
Winner: Auckland Airport (New Zealand) Highly Commended: Melbourne Airport (Australia), Adelaide Airport (Australia) Shortlisted Airports: Melbourne, Adelaide, Gold Coast, Brisbane, Auckland
About GHIAL:
GMR Hyderabad International Airport Ltd.(GHIAL), is a joint venture company promoted by GMR Infrastructure Ltd., (63%); Malaysia Airports Holdings Berhad (11%), Airports Authority of India (13%) and Government of Andhra Pradesh (13%), with a mandate to develop a the world-class Rajiv Gandhi International Airport spread over 5,495 acres in Shamshabad, about 25 kms from the main city of Hyderabad. The Rajiv Gandhi International Airport will position Hyderabad as an important aviation hub in the coming years.
It may be noted that the Hyderabad Airport has bagged the same award in 2009 also, during the event conducted in Hyderabad.
The Routes Airport Marketing Awards are the most prestigious in the industry, as they are the only awards based purely on rewarding excellence in route development and nominated only by airlines.
The Rajiv Gandhi International Airport, Hyderabad bagged the winner's position in the Indian Sub-Continent, scoring over four other airports from the regions that were shortlisted. Mr. Raveen Pinto, Head Airline Marketing, GMR Hyderabad International Airport Ltd., received the award from the organizers.
Speaking on the occasion, Mr. P. Sripathy, CEO, GMR Hyderabad International Airport Ltd said that, "The Rajiv Gandhi International Airport is honored to receive this award for the second time in a row. We sincerely thank all the airlines that voted for us, and assure them that we will work even more closely with them in the coming months."
Roll call of winners:
Indian Sub-Continent
Winner: Hyderabad International Airport Shortlisted Airports: Delhi, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Bangalore and Chennai
China & North East Asia
Winner: Incheon International Airport Shortlisted Airports: Beijing, Narita, Hong Kong and Incheon
Middle East
Winner: King Fahd International, Dammam Highly Commended: Abu Dhabi International Airport (UAE) Shortlisted Airports: Abu Dhabi, Sharjah, Dubai, Bahrain
South East Asia
Winner: Singapore Changi International Airport (Singapore) Highly Commended: Kuala Lumpur International Airport (Malaysia) Shortlisted Airports: Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok, Singapore Airport Changi, Ho Chi Minh City
Oceania
Winner: Auckland Airport (New Zealand) Highly Commended: Melbourne Airport (Australia), Adelaide Airport (Australia) Shortlisted Airports: Melbourne, Adelaide, Gold Coast, Brisbane, Auckland
About GHIAL:
GMR Hyderabad International Airport Ltd.(GHIAL), is a joint venture company promoted by GMR Infrastructure Ltd., (63%); Malaysia Airports Holdings Berhad (11%), Airports Authority of India (13%) and Government of Andhra Pradesh (13%), with a mandate to develop a the world-class Rajiv Gandhi International Airport spread over 5,495 acres in Shamshabad, about 25 kms from the main city of Hyderabad. The Rajiv Gandhi International Airport will position Hyderabad as an important aviation hub in the coming years.
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