18. February 2007


Date: 18. Feb. 2007
Efforts were on to improve infrastructure facilities at airports in India, which have seen a 40 per cent growth in the domestic passenger segment during certain months, a top official of Air India saidon Sunday.
The development of Mumbai and Delhi Airports has begun. work on the new greenfield airports at Bangalore and Hyderabad has already taken off and is expected to be completed within one or two years, Air India Chairman and Managing Director V Thulasidas told a press meet here.
He said 35 airports are being developed by the Airports Authority of India and a new airport is coming up at new Mumbai.
On shortage of pilots, he said AI does not have a shortage at present. But it would need more pilots when it will induct a large number of aircraft.
It has also been decided to recruit engineering graduates and train them abroad before recruiting them as pilots. The selection and recruitment of first batch of about 800 graduates was over. For the next seven years, AI would be needing 700 to 1,000 pilots, he said.
A Parliamentary Consultative Committee, chaired by Union Minister Praful Patel would be meeting here tomorrow to discuss various issues related to the civil aviation sector, Thulasidas, who was elected President of the Aeronautical Society of India, at its AGM here, said.
Thulasidas said AI was also recruiting pilots from abroad and those who had retired from the Indian Air Force.
The Air India Express, which had begun operations in 2005 with three aircrafts, earlier faced some shortage of pilots, but now it has been sorted out. It now operates 13 aircrafts and was expecting more Boeings during April-May this year. Six Boeings have already come, he said.
Besides Indian and AI, nine airlines are operating in India. While the domestic passenger growth in some months has been upto 40 per cent, there has been surge in international passenger traffic also.
Stressing the need for an aeronautical policy and an aeronautical commission to implement the same, he said the proposals in this regard have been submitted to the Centre.
The budget airlines also has seen good passenger increase in the domestic sector, he said.
In the manufacture of passenger aircraft, India was lagging. Hindustan Aeronautical Ltd at Bangalore was making only helicopters, he said.
Source: http://www.zeenews.com


Date: 18. Feb. 2007
India has started work
on a project that will enable the New Delhi airport to handle 37 million passengers a year by 2010, more than double its current capacity, aviation officials said.
The 85 billion rupee, or $1.94 billion, revamp will see a third terminal building constructed in the next three years and a new runway by 2008 to ease congestion at the airport.
The new runway — the airport's third landing strip — would be one of Asia's longest at 4,430 meters, or 14,530 feet, and would allow Airbus A-380 super jumbos to land, Delhi International Airport said.
Work is scheduled to be completed before the Commonwealth Games open in New Delhi in October of 2010.
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India's booming economy has spurred the aviation industry with an increase in carriers and passengers, but its existing airports, particularly in Mumbai and New Delhi, which handle the majority of India's air traffic, have struggled to cope.
New Delhi's airport was designed to handle 12 million passengers a year, but now handles some 16 million. The last renovation to the airport was the addition of an international terminal in 1986.
"With the completion of this airport, Delhi will boast of a world-class airport which would not only cater to growing aviation traffic, but also serve as a benchmark for other airports," the airport's managing director, Srinivas Bommidala, said in a statement.
Now, passengers often have to spend more than an hour in the air as planes hover over airports, waiting to land, and complain of poor infrastructure and facilities.
"We will see that infrastructure does not remain a bottleneck to India's economic growth," Sonia Gandhi, head of the Indian ruling party, Congress, said after unveiling the plaque that marked the start of construction of the new terminal building.
Analysts say creaky infrastructure may impede a rise in India's economic growth rates to double digits in coming years.
The economy is set to grow at 9.2 percent in the year ending March 2007.
Passenger air traffic is set to grow at 20 percent annually for the next 10 years and domestic airlines would need at least 400 new planes by 2012 to the meet such growth.
The new terminal will include restaurants, shopping areas and entertainment facilities, Delhi International Airport said in a statement. $@
Russia raises airport funding
Russia will increase spending on airports by 25 percent this year to 20 billion rubles, or $760 million, Bloomberg reported from Moscow.
The federal government will use the money to repair and modernize airports, the deputy transport minister, Alexander Misharin, said Saturday in Krasnoyarsk. The expenditure is up from 16 billion rubles in 2006 and 8 billion rubles in 2005, he said.
"With a lack of all-year-round roads, it's the only means of transportation" in some areas of Russia, Misharin said at a business conference organized by the Siberian region's government and the Economy Ministry.
Source: http://www.iht.com


Date: 18. Feb. 2007
When the Union Cabinet cleared the merger of the two national carriers — Air India (AI) and Indian Airlines (IA) — the Civil Aviation Ministry put a March 31 deadline to the exercise. Though a lot of groundwork has reportedly been done, it remains to be seen if that deadline can be met. Even if that is done, the aviation authorities in Government and the two airlines have a daunting task to ensure that the process comes off smoothly and successfully. Obviously, the Government and the Group of Ministers in charge of the merger plan want it to be a successful model and a profitable one at that.
Sources in the two airlines say that the process appears to be well under way, though they do not want to hazard a guess on whether they can complete the process by the end of next month. "Accenture, as consultants for the merger, has drawn up a road map and we believe that the Group of Ministers has gone through the same and will be authorising the go-ahead for the same,'' explains a senior airline official. He says those involved in the process appear to be working at several levels. Perhaps the most obvious and visible level may be at the human resources in both the airlines. The Chairman and Managing Directors of both airlines have sent out a detailed letter to their staff on the merger plan and re-assured them that they come on top of the priorities in the exercise. All their interests and seniority will be protected.
At another level, top officials are looking at the creation of special business units (SBUs) that should become the real profit centres for the monolithic airline after merger. Though several private airlines and potential joint venture promoters seem to be eyeing the emerging aviation industry and its support services in India, the merged AI-IA enterprise too will be banking on SBUs to make the new airline viable and profitable. In an era of intense competition on fare cuts, the merged airline has to look at other options to generate revenue.
Airline sources say that cargo services, ground handling facilities, maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) facilities, and even low cost carriers may be options that they are examining in detail to fit into the road map. Those involved in the planning process appear concerned at the recent statement of Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patil on enhancing the ceiling for foreign investment in the aviation industry and its support services. Simultaneously, Jet Airways and Air Sahara have expressed their desire to take care of their own ground handling services. So also, Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. (HAL), which owns and manages the existing airport in Bangalore, is looking at the MRO option to offset the loss of revenue it will suffer when the new greenfield airport takes shape outside Bangalore. The Union Aviation Ministry may soon need a regulator to handle these developments and projects in the new liberalised aviation scenario.
According to present indications, the Government would retain its share or holding in the new airline, which will also become Asia's largest carrier. In addition to the expected savings from merger and avoidance of duplication in services, the merger should really improve the finances and bottom line of the airline. "We expect a real synergy to take effect because despite previous efforts we seem to be competing in many routes for the same traffic. A lot of planning will now go into the operations and deployment of the entire fleet of aircraft — in operation and on order,'' sums up a senior operations manager. The airlines' authorities seem to be waiting for the final stamp of approval and the date for the launch of the merged airline, hoping that it will be allowed to function as a "commercial airline, free of political or governmental interference,'' so that it can meet the challenge of competition.
Source: http://www.hindu.com