Showing posts with label in flight service. Show all posts
Showing posts with label in flight service. Show all posts

Tuesday, 11 October 2011

Air India: Maharaja’s tears



Air India: Maharaja’s tears

Those who robbed the State carrier are roaming free

One of the most brazen sights on television in early September was a smiling Praful Patel, hopping from one television channel to another, trying to pass the buck to the Air India chairman and a group of ministers. Mr Patel’s ‘achievements’ as civil aviation minister include getting rid of an efficient chairman of Indian Airlines (Sunil Arora, who effected a turnaround and had made the airline truly competitive), initiating a half-baked merger of Indian Airlines and Air India; purchasing a fleet of expensive aircraft that the airlines could not afford, simultaneously giving away lucrative Gulf routes to private carriers and foreign airlines to debilitate Air India further—and leave it with a whopping debt of over Rs40,000 crore which may kill the airline, or make it end up being salvaged by the taxpayer. 

That wasn’t all. Indian Airlines acted as a courier service for Mr Patel’s family, but he promoted the interests of private airlines without any qualms. Airline staffers will give you dates and circulars which show how the lucrative flights of Air India and Indian Airlines had their timings changed or were abruptly pulled out, only to be replaced by private carriers or some of the Gulf airlines. So brazen was the corruption in many ministries those days that people were helplessly silent. Thanks to Niira Radia’s leaked conversations, we know that Mr Arora made a brave attempt to inform the prime minister (PM) and the cabinet secretary about how Indian Airlines was being looted. But, as we know about many such cases of heist, the PM wasn’t listening. 

Praful Patel’s other trick was  cultivating the mainstream media owners and senior journalists. Ms Radia, whose connections in the aviationindustry cemented her reputation in PR, also said that Mr Patel owned stakes in the private airline IndiGo and Mr Mallya’s Kingfisher Airlines which were the big beneficiaries of Praful Patel’s regime. Kingfisher enjoyed extraordinary credit indulgence of the public sector oil companies running into a few thousand crores. 

Yet, none of this seems to merit serious discussion by the mainstream media. Even after the CAG (comptroller and auditor general of India) report, it was Mr Patel who was shining on all TV channels. The story has been quickly buried. This should not be tolerated. Accountability must be fixed and those guilty of foisting this colossal loss on the nation must be punished. Everyone knows that the buck stopped at the minister’s desk, but if it is indeed true that the yes-man appointed as chairman of Air India had okayed the loss-making decisions (buying 111 aircraft instead of the 67 that were required—24 for Air India and 43 for Indian Airlines in the medium-capacity long-range category), then he cannot escape either. It will help strengthen the spine of other bureaucrats who are willing to do anything to grab top posts.
Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation
With the second phase of growth inIndian aviationexpected to come from Tier-II and Tier-III cities, almost all domestic airlines are looking to connect these smaller cities for expansion. The regional market is currently under-penetrated and demand ...
Emirates 24/7
Dubai's Emirates airline and other Middle East carriers should be forced to freeze their expansion plans to routes inIndia and the country's Ministry of Civil Aviation should look at options for rollback of existing routes granted to foreign airlines, ...
Moneylife Personal Finance site and magazine
Mr Patel's 'achievements' as civil aviation minister include getting rid of an efficient chairman of Indian Airlines (Sunil Arora, who effected a turnaround and had made the airline truly competitive), initiating a half-baked merger of Indian Airlines ...
Reuters (press release)
They include, in particular, the contract for the upgrade of theIndian Air Force's MIRAGE 2000 fleet signed by DASSAULTAVIATION and THALES. FALCON net sales decreased by 35 % between the two periods. In particular, 35 new aircraft were delivered from ..

Friday, 7 October 2011

India to talk to 40 countries on bilateral air service pacts


http://indian-aviation-news.aerosoftseo.com/
http://indian-aviation-news.blogspot.com/

Livemint
At least 40 countries will negotiate on the rights with the Indiancivil aviation ministry at the meeting of the United Nations' wing that's being held on 17-22 October. All told, 60 nations will be attending to talk about flying rights and other ...
Bangkok Post
The carrier is keen to operate flights from Bangkok to Lucknow, New Delhi, Kolkata and Chennai, pending securing traffic rights fromIndian aviationauthorities, said airline president Puttipong Prasarttong-Osoth. Its first foray into India occurred in ...
AFP
India's aviationministry said it could not immediately comment on the story but Indian media reports have said the government is reluctant to proceed with the order due to Air India's financial difficulties. The panel, which is reviewing Air India's ...
aircargoworld
Opposition to the EU ETS in all corners of the aviation sector has been intensifying. Members of theIndian government drafted up a declaration condemning the scheme recently. Prashant Sukul, joint secretary in India'sMinistry of Aviation, ...

Monday, 3 October 2011

Nigerian airline to start UAE flights in November



Abu Dhabi International Airport
Nigeria's Arik Air said on Monday it will launch services from Abu Dhabi International Airport next month.
Abu Dhabi Airports Company (ADAC) and Nigeria's largest international carrier said operations would start on Tuesday November 29.
ADAC added that it was looking to West Africa for further route launches in the future.
Three non-stop weekly flights will connect the UAE capital to the city of Lagos, the companies said in a statement.
The new service, which will departing Abu Dhabi on Sunday, Wednesday and Friday, which will offer passengers Lagos, with other travel connections to Senegal, Cote D'Ivoire and Ghana.

James E Bennett, CEO at Abu Dhabi Airports Company, said: "Abu Dhabi Airports Company is delighted to welcome Arik Air as the first West African carrier to operate to Abu Dhabi International.
"The capital's airport operator is working closely with various airlines to support their development initiatives that will ultimately benefit Abu Dhabi International Airport passengers with more choices."
Arik Air currently offers flights to 25 destinations in Nigeria, around Africa and across the rest of the world.
From Lagos it serves 19 cities with 229 weekly departures and from Abuja it flies 133 weekly services to 15 airports.
ArabianBusiness.com
Three non-stop weekly flights will connect the UAEcapital to the city of Lagos, the companies said in a statement. The new service, which will departing Abu Dhabi on Sunday, Wednesday and Friday, which will offer passengers Lagos, with other travel ...
LogisticsWeek
“These new services emphasise Emirates' confidence in, and long-term commitment to, the United States,” said His Highness Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al-Maktoum, Chairman and Chief Executive,Emirates Airline & Group. “With six gateways offering convenient ...
Globe and Mail
Emirates airline has signed a pact with WestJet Airlines Ltd. WJA-T , making it simpler for passengers to connect to the Dubai-based carrier's flights. On Thursday, Emirates said its new “interline” agreement paves the way for consumers departing on a ...
ArabianBusiness.com (blog)
I want to encourage both UAE and Canada they need to talk also on royalty fees if Air Canada and West Jet, will not use their flight rights to Canada. That can be solved more diplomatically and peacefully very soon. See if Emirates Airlines can deal ...

Heathrow campaigners hit US as battle with the airline industry goes global


This Saturday, transport campaigner John Stewart and I will be heading, through video-conferencing and in person, to New York, to mark the start of a US-wide Aviation Justice Express tour, in which we will tell the story how activists triumphed at Heathrow.

http://uk-airlines-news.aerosoftseo.com/
http://uk-airlines-news.blogspot.com/



747 Jumbo Jet landing at Heathrow airport
The battle against Heathrow's third runway was a landmark victory for campaigners in the UK. The campaign against expansion was won, against all the odds, largely thanks to the extensive coalition which came together to fight the plans. Activists and local residents, NGOs and politicians from across the board all teamed up in an unprecedented challenge to airport operator BAA and the government.

However, we know this is just one victory, and only the start of what we must achieve globally in order to tackle climate change. The 3,400 airport construction, expansion, and development projects planned in the United States, including major hotspots in New York and Chicago, make the Heathrow third runway campaign look like a walk in the park.

In a nation where the far-right are rising politically and climate denial is rife, people continue to fly short distances because an integrated sustainable land transport system is simply not on the agenda. The task seems daunting. Yet we know that to reduce carbon emissions to a safe level means a challenging carbon-intensive industry at every step.

Outside perspectives give us a sense of what we may have accomplished in the UK. The American campaigners who invited us are keenly interested in how building a left-right coalition brought success at Heathrow, as well as the way networks like AirportWatch helped communities to develop unified policy goals, instead of continuously trying to push the problem from one community to another.

They want to know how faith groups got involved in the issue, and how Heathrow campaigners successfully challenged the economic case for a third runway at Heathrow, helping persuade a Conservative-led government to drop it. And they want to hear about direct substitutes like rail, culture-changing concepts like slow and local travel, and disruptive technologies like ubiquitous video-conferencing.

Aviation contributes 4.9% of man-made climate impacts, the human causes of climate change. UK and US citizens are some of the heaviest aviation consumers in the world (95% of the world's population have never flown). While aviation is largely the preserve of the rich, the impacts of aviation are felt first and foremost by the poorest in society. The Asian Development Bank recently reported that more than 30 million people were displaced last year in Asia alone as a result of environmental pressures, and that climate change will only serve to exacerbate such trends.

Aviation expansion fosters environmental injustice a local level, as well as a global level: residents near airports suffer as a result of poor air quality and high noise levels, and nearby communities are often disproportionately poor. In America, the link between environmental degradation and social injustice has historically been more clearly articulated than in the UK.

Likewise, the rich tradition of campaigning and civil disobedience, and the commitment to freedom of expression in America, provides hope for the aviation campaign. The tour will build on this tradition. While UK campaigners will talk about the creative tactics employed by the Heathrow campaigners, which included community stunts as well as the direct action activities of groups such as Plane Stupid and Climate Camp, we expect to learn much more than we share.

If airport expansion can be turned around in countries like the United States and Canada, it can be turned around anywhere. We have no choice but to be hopeful. We are delighted that our experience with the issue may help serve as inspiration. If we are to tackle runaway climate change on a global level, it's imperative that we learn to recognise and share our local successes, just as we try to learn from the best ideas available abroad.

Financial Times
By Andrew Parker TheUK is at serious risk of missing out on trade with emerging markets worth £14bn during the next decade because of inadequate aviationlinks, according to a report. The inability of London's overstretched Heathrow airport to support ...
The Guardian
A 747 lands at Heathrow airport; theUK and US are some of the heaviestaviation users in the world. Photograph: David Noton/Alamy This Saturday, transport campaigner John Stewart and I will be heading, through video-conferencing and in person, ...
Leadership Newspapers
The United Kingdom Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has issued standard Air Travel Organiser's License (ATOL) to Peacock Travels to begin operations in the country. The chairman and chief executive of the travel agency, Segun Phillips, said in Lagos, ...
Telegraph.co.uk
What followed was extraordinary growth, with easyJet becoming the UK'sbiggest airline, currently serving nearly 50 million passengers a year. But Stelios's CV has also been littered with heroic failures. His cruise line, that aimed to take no-frills...

Wednesday, 28 September 2011

Only survivor of Yak-42 crash says aircraft was technically flawless


CBC.ca
Canada's Transportation Safety Board said it only investigates incidents in Canada or involving Canadian carriers and has not done any assessments ofRussia's aviationsafety record. How many airlines does Russia have? In Soviet times, the state-owned ...
Pravda
Flight engineer Alexander Sizov, the only survivor of the Yak-42 plane crash near Russia'sYaroslavl, was interviewed by officials of the technical commission of the InterstateAviation Committee. Sizov told the experts that he had no complaints about ...
RT
These are technical questions and we need to wait for the Interstate AviationCommittee to provide their conclusions,” Tolboev told Interfax news agency. Russia'sProsecutor General Yury Chaika has commissioned a check of the company Yak-Service, ...
Jerusalem Post
As for the “territorialists, the people who “just showed up lately and they're not encumbered by the historical record” – translation immigrants from the former USSR – they have a special place in Clinton's demographic purgatory. ...