Air India will be paid $500M by Boeing for delays in Dreamliner

Boeing to pay Air India $500 million in compensation because of delays in delivering 27 on-order 787 Dreamliners. The planemaker agreed to the payment two weeks ago, a Civil Aviation Ministry official told reporters at the Hyderabad air show in India today. The carrier may get further compensation as it previously asked for $840 million and it has since asked for more because of further delays, he added.

Boeing's Indian officials denied to comment on this matter. 

Air India pilots protest

Protesting delayed payment of salaries and allowances, a section of Air India pilots on Wednesday warned they would not undertake flying duties from April 1 if their dues were not cleared by then. The Indian Pilots Guild (IPG), which represents the pilots of pre-merger Air India, has shot off letters to Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh, Labour Minister Mallikarjun Kharge and others saying that a large number of its members had complained that financial distress could adversely affect their ability to safely discharge their duties and endanger lives.

Hence, its members "will be unable to operate flights on and after April 1, 2012, unless the management clears all the dues", IPG President Jeetendra Awhad said in the letter sent also to Air India CMD, Civil Aviation Secretary and Director General Civil Aviation.

Read more at: http://www.ndtv.com/article/india/wont-fly-from-april-1-if-dues-not-cleared-threaten-air-india-pilots-183667?pfrom=home-otherstories&cp

Brace yourselves frequent fliers in India, the aviation industry is about to hit some turbulence

It looks like Indian airlines are not the only ones sweating under the pressure of high operating costs and increasing threats from the competition: even international carriers are feeling the heat and starting to cut capacity to India. That could mean bad news for passengers because ticket prices, at least on some international routes, could rise in the face of reduced competition.

On Monday, Austria’s largest airline, Austrian Airlines, which operates a global route network of around 130 destinations, said it is discontinuing flights in the Mumbai-Vienna sector from March 25 as the route has became unprofitable because of the challenging economic situation and intensifying competition from other airlines.  Unless there is reform in the aviation sector, especially in the matters of jet fuel prices and undercutting of ticket prices by Air India, we’re likely to see more airlines cutting down their operations in India.

Austrian Airline’s CEO, Jaan Albrecht, said in a statement that, “From the summer of 2012 onwards, we shall be sharply increasing flight frequencies to our core markets in Eastern Europe, and building up capacity to the Middle East in a trade-off with the destination of Mumbai.” It’s not the only airline to cite problems with operating in India, which is one of the fastest-growing aviation markets in the world. Local carriers are already floundering massively operating on domestic routes. While passenger traffic has climbed in leaps and bounds in recent years, operating costs, cut-throat price wars and a skewed policy environment mean that more than 80 percent of Indian carriers are losing money. Kingfisher Airlines is a stark case in point.

Not surprisingly, even international airlines are wilting under the same set of pressures. According to a report in the Business Standard, global airline Air France announced that it is reducing its frequency to Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore to six flights a week, ostensibly to adjust with lower demand in summer, although it’s likely that tough operating conditions would also have played a part that decision.  In the past year, more than five foreign airlines have withdrawn flights from the Mumbai and Delhi routes, citing high operating costs, including high airport and fuel charges. These include AirAsia, Air AsiaX, Thai AirAsia, FinnAir and Virgin Atlantic. Just last month, American Airlines announced it would discontinue its Delhi flights, while Lufthansa also halted its flights to Kolkata.

Other leading global airlines like British Airways, Air France-KLM and Lufthansa have also said they would rethink their plans of flying in and out of Delhi if airport charges are increased by a whopping 280 percent, according to the newspaper report.  Unfortunately, it looks like their problems are just about to multiply because flying out of Mumbai could also get more expensive as the airport operator, MIAL, is in the process of acquiring 16 acres of nearby land, according to another Business Standard report. This expansion cost is likely to result in higher airport development fees, which currently stands at Rs 600 for an international passenger and Rs 100 for a domestic passenger.

Of course, we already know about high jet fuel prices: fuel costs account for nearly half the operating cost of domestic carriers. High sales tax on jet fuel is a big culprit here — about 24 percent , one of the highest in the world. There has been talk of allowing foreign carriers to take up to a 49 percent stake in local carriers, which might ease some financial pressure off local carriers.  But what of international ones? Unless there is reform in the aviation sector, especially in the matters of jet fuel prices and undercutting of ticket prices by Air India, we’re likely to see more airlines cutting down their operations in India.

For fliers, that can only mean higher prices from the airlines that stay back.

Indian Aviation expanding rapidly

India's largest private airline Jet Airways and budget carrier GoAir are in line to order $6.5 billion worth of Airbus aircraft at the forthcoming Paris Air Show, The Economic Times reported on Thursday. The financial daily quoted Jet chairman Naresh Goyal as saying that they were buying 10 A330 aircraft worth $2.5 billion as part of plans to expand its routes in Europe. GoAir is looking to order at least 50 narrow-body A320 jets worth $4 billion for short-haul domestic routes, which will be brought into service as soon as next year, the report said, quoting two sources familiar with the matter.

Both orders were still being negotiated but were in the final stages, the newspaper added, quoting unnamed sources within Airbus. A Jet Airways spokeswoman in New Delhi told AFP that she had no details on the exact nature of the orders, as Goyal was speaking on the sidelines of the recent International Air Transport Association annual general meeting in Singapore. But she added: "We're asking for just a few (aircraft) because that's in line and keeping with our growth plan."

No one was immediately available for comment at GoAir. The Economic Times said budget airline IndiGo would also push ahead with a previously announced order for 180 A320 aircraft with an estimated value of $15 billion, after signing a memorandum of understanding with Airbus last year. Air India, the state-run national carrier, is planning to take 10 A330s and 16 A320s on a rental basis, it added. Aviation has taken off in India in recent years but private airlines have been grappling with rising fuel prices and a slowdown in economic growth that has hit business.

Air India in trouble

The government is being forced to, once again, look at India’s troubled national carrier. It has accumulated losses of over Rs 5,500 crore; Public Enterprises Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh said on Thursday after meeting Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel that they both agreed the airline needed to approach the Board for Reconstruction of Public Sector Enterprises. This is on top of the Rs 1,200 crore equity infusion the airline has asked for from the government.The airline might have begun to look like a money sink. If it has, then the government cannot escape the blame. Air India has been made to take on more loans than it should have, since the government was party to its buying $11 bn worth of planes instead of the politically difficult decision to shut it down. While reform of its wage bill which the civil aviation ministry accepts has made “little progress” thanks to “the probability of industrial unrest” remains necessary, given its balance sheet, even a tweak of the 17 per cent of its operating costs that are wages and salaries will not be sufficient. The government will need to take much larger steps than it appears comfortable doing. Air India has huge debts and a minuscule equity even if the airline was run like the world’s best, it has no hope of servicing the debt with its equity base.It remains this newspaper’s conviction that a decision about Air India’s future should be taken rationally, with minimal emotion. This is not the 1970s. National carriers serve little public purpose; the mushrooming of private sector airlines, together with some minimal, light regulation of tariffs and routes, has ensured that India’s citizens, regardless of location, are far better connected by air than they ever were earlier. Nor do we need Air India to be a visible, iconic brand internationally. India’s soft power rests on the inventiveness and efficiency of its private sector; we can leave the branding exercise to them. As the government sits down to decide what to do with Air India, a drearily familiar exercise, it should not fool itself that some tinkering will be enough. The only real choices are big, big steps: fix what you ruined, or shut it down.

Air India - Financial restructuring

Air India CMD Arvind Jadhav and his team are going to make a presentation on the plan for financial restructuring of the national carrier before the board and independent directors on Sunday. Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel is also likely to attend the meeting. It is touted as the new turnaround plan that will focus on other things about restructuring the company's debt and streamlining its expenses. To qualify for the second round of equity infusion of  Rs 1200 crore from the government this year , the airline must show improved financial health. Last year, it received Rs 800 crore from the government. The management will have to get the Unions on board before they are able to implement the new turnaround plan. One aspect of the turnaround plan could also include renegotiating wage agreements with Unions. In the past, the Unions have openly opposed bits of the turnaround plan. The financial book of Air India has not shown prospects for quiet sometime now. Till 2009, Air India reported cumulative losses of Rs 8,461 crore , the estimated loss for the year 2010 is expected to be  of Rs 5,400 crore . Air India has an outstanding debt of Rs17,000 crore and runs on a monthly cash deficit of Rs 400 crore. With not much in hand to show from the past year, convincing the board with a turnaround plan is going to be nothing short of an acid test for Arvind Jadhav and his team. However, it will be interesting to see if their plan of restructuring is able to fly high or it remains grounded.

Read more at: http://www.ndtv.com/article/india/air-india-financial-restructuring-in-the-offing-39504?cp

DGCA probes for an investigation for the accident at IGI International airport Delhi

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) and the Air India management have instituted independent inquiries into the freak accident at the Indira Gandhi International Airport, where the nose wheel of an aircraft ran over and crushed the right foot and left thigh bone of a senior technician, on Sunday night. Raj Kishore (45) was operated on on Monday morning and is reportedly out of danger. The Delhi Police is also investigating the matter and has registered a case. Kishore’s statement to the police and independent versions of various airport officials, however, point to a communication gap between the pilot and technician that reportedly caused the accident.  In his statement, Kishore, who has over 20 years of experience, said the incident was an accident because of a communication gap. According to airline officials, the technician guides the pilot on movement on the ground. “It looks like a communication error between the pilot and the technician. At the time of pushback, Kishore fell and the front wheel of the aircraft ran over his leg,” an Air India spokesperson was reported saying this to media.

Aircraft makes emergency landing at Delhi after loosing cabin pressure and air conditioning system

A Pune-bound Air India plane, with 144 people onboard, landed in emergency conditions due to failure of its air-conditioning system and fall in cabin pressure soon after take off from Indira Gandhi International airport in New Delhi, on Thursday. Air India flight IC 849, with 138 passengers and six crew members, was scheduled to leave at around 4 pm  but just before its take-off, the pilot informed that the flight would be delayed as he had detected some technical fault in the plane. Aircraft engineers repaired the fault and declared the aircraft fit for flying.

"The plane took off around 5 pm but after remaining airborne for about 20 minutes, we felt the aircraft was shaking and we could smell foul smell," , a passenger onboard the aircraft, said. The pilot declared he will have to make an emergency landing and within 25 minutes the plane landed at Delhi airport. An Air India official said the plane had to land due to fault in air-conditioning system and fall in cabin pressure but all on board were safe and the passengers flew to Pune in another aircraft at around 7 pm.

Air India resume hiring

With their balance sheets once again looking nice, some airlines have resumed hiring, others are buying aircraft and some like Air India are trying to get an image makeover. For this, the national carrier is hiring for its top posts. But how smart will these high-cost hires prove for the airline which is still deep in the red? Among the top jobs available at Air India are that of Chief Strategy Officer, Chief Information Officer, Chief Human Resource Advisor and a Chief Operating Officer for Air India Express. Even though the company already has six directors doing much of the same job, and has recently hired a Chief Operating Officer at the cost of Rs 3 crore per year. While the Air India says these additions that are part of the national carrier's turnaround strategy, these big ticket recruitments in a company whose losses run into 5400 crore is causing concern for many. Air India also wants to hire an advertising agency to improve its public image even as it already has a staff of 17 who draw hefty salaries to do just that.

Kin's of the victim of Mangalore crash get legal help from US man

He is not a lawyer, not even an air crash investigator and he makes no claims to being an insurance expert. But world over, grief stricken families of air crash victims from the remotest corners of an Amazonian village to a Russian town know him by name, and share with him a "tremendous rapport", as he himself puts it and sometimes, even lunch.

He is George Hatcher, a self-described air crash consultant and adviser who helps families take on colossal aircraft companies or airlines in US courts for damages after the loss of a dear one in a crash. Many families have won millions of dollars in settlements, he says and for many, the battle is still on. Hatcher, at 67, made his first ever trip to India last weekend and headed straight to the May 22 Air India crash site in Mangalore. He met families of the victims, spoke to young widows of Gulf-based Indian workmen even as their tiny tots played in the same room and convinced at least 10 of them that they deserved more than the mandatory compensation the airline was bound, under an international treaty, to give them. With him was Nishit Dhruva, partner of a Mumbai-based law firm M Dhruva & Partners who has joined hands with three large US law firms and setting the stage to sue Boeing, the American aircraft maker, in US courts for the biggest Indian air crash in decades.

Hatcher told, "You are a fare paying passenger. You need to be paid a compensation after any crash. The question is how much." That's where he comes in."I am just a bridge between lawyers and the clients," he said. But he doesn't knock on victims' doors unless he is sought. It is law firms that seek his help. In the US, law forbids law firms from chasing victims for the first 45 days after a tragedy.In India, now, Hatcher says he feels the families of the 170-odd victims, many of whom are poor, deserve to be placed on an equal footing to seek better damages.In India, though, he said Air India had a good flight record, experts in the field are pointing fingers at "a pilot error". But some, he added, "suggest turbine problems". With it being a US plane, what is being looked at is "multiple culpability" as this is the third 737 800 going down in recent times.As Hatcher says, "It is not enough to pay out one pay cheque, clear the wreckage, submit a report and say that we are even. Assess each victim based on parameters, including age, education, job, income, number of dependents, pain and suffering."

Exapt pilot's medical reqirments in India - a cause of worry

The crash of the Air India Express flight IX 812 at Mangalore International airport has brought the DGCA's medical requirement for expat pilots in the country is under the scanner. It seems like the Indian pilots are put under a very strict medical requirement to fly for airliners, on the other hand DGCA does not force the expat pilots to prove the medical fitness at the same standards as the Indian pilots are asked to do.
There have been few incidents involving expat pilots which is scary. There was a French national who was flying with Jet Airways and had collapsed at his hotel room just after his duty, in another terrifying case a first officer had to take control of the flight as the expat captain had become unconscious all in a sudden, lucky that the first officer was quick to act and he had landed the aircraft safely.
In another incident involving a South African pilot were he was arrested by the cops at Dubai, his wife had claimed that the pilot was suffering from hyper tension and diabetes which pose a high risk for pilots.
Was it something like this that caused the fatal Mangalore crash? Is DGCA gonna be sticking with the same relaxed requirement for expat pilots? Will there be another crash same as the Mangalore, if the captain's health had played a vital role in this crash. Will these questions be answered by the DGCA?

Air India cancel orders with Boeing

Air India the national carrier of India wants to cancel the order of three Boeing 777-300ER. But it is learn t that Boeing has offered Air India 10 single aisle aircraft's in lue of three long haul aircraft's, Boeing is ready to deliver 10 B737-800 instead of the three B777's. Differences in the pricing remain the main obstacle between Boeing and Air India, as AI wants the aircraft's to be priced at a post dated price when the orders were initially placed. AI had placed an order of 68 aircraft's with Boeing in 2005  which includes 23 B777, (8 B777-200LR and 15 B777-300ER) 18 B737-800, 27 B787-800. Air India has already taken deliveries of  18 B737-800, 8 B777-200LR and of the 15 B777-300ER 10 aircraft's have been delivered and the remaining 5 were about to be delivered over a period of next 15 months. It is estimated that Air India will have to pay Rs22,000 crore for aircraft deliveries this year, were it paid Rs 12,000 crore last year.

Air India likely to recruit

Air India the flag carrier, is all set to receive 27 B787's starting 2011.
It is expected that it might need 100 pilots to operate this fleet, out of which 40 odd are already wait listed.
It is expected that it would be an all Indian pilot's operated fleet, as the Indian Government has come up with a law to evacuate all the expats.

Curtains' for American Airlines?

Japan Airlines Corp (JAL) is likely to choose Delta Airlines as its overseas partner, ending its ties with American Airlines and the Oneworld alliance. JAL Asia's largest airlines by revenue has denied this it seems.

"We are still in discussions with JAL and we continue to maintain that American Airlines' offer is superior to that of any other rival," said Carlo Niederberger, a public relations official representing American Airlines in Japan.

Looks like the Delta spokeswoman denied to comment on this issue.

If JAL prefers Delta over American, this is adding salt to the wound for the crippled airliner.

Air India to terminate induction of 42 trainee pilots

Air India has terminated induction of 42 trainee pilots into the company even though the airline is facing an acute shortage of pilots at the senior level and has about 170 expatriate pilots employed on contractual basis.

The reason given by the carrier, is that as the carrier might defer deliveries of the Boeing 787s, the recruitment has to be put on hold.

However, a senior official from the airline said that even if the recruitment was put on hold because of deferral of deliveries of 787s', the airline already had 178 expatriate pilots who come at enormous costs. The fact is that the airliner has a shortage of co-pilots and DGCA does not allow them to hire expatriate co-pilots. The shortage of co-pilots is such that these expatriate pilots are flying as co-pilots in Air India Express. While an expatriate commander is paid about Rs 5.5 lakh plus hotel bills every month, fresh first officers can be hired for just about a Rs one lakh per month.

The recruitment of these trainee pilots began in January this year and about 1,300 candidates had applied for the job. Of the 1,300, only 42 were selected.

Relief to Indian airlines industry

In view of the financial crisis being faced by the Indian airlines industry, the Minister for Civil Aviation, Shri Praful Patel met the Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas, Shri Murli Deora. Senior officials of Ministry of Civil Aviation, Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, the oil PSUs and representatives of the airlines industry were also present.



It was decided at the meeting that:

• A 90 days credit period will be given by the oil companies to the airline companies up to 31-Mar-09 following which the situation will be reviewed to pay their credit.

• The airlines industry can pay their present cumulative outstanding credit in 6 monthly installments by 31-Mar-09.

• The ATF prices will be revised every 15 days to be at par with the world market prices. This is in view of the fluctuation prices of crude oil in the international market.

In view of the support extended to the airline industry by the Government and the oil PSUs, the airlines were asked to refrain from any retrenchment of staff. At the meeting it was also clarified that the national carrier Air India was not laying of any employee. The CMD, NACIL assured that the company had no plan of retrenchment of any of their employees.

The Indian airline industry representatives have expressed their satisfaction to the Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas and
Minister for Civil Aviation for their initiative in providing relief to the sector.

Source : Centre for Asia Pacific Aviatio

Tags: Pilot, Aviation, Flight Training