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Indigo does fly international, albeit to few destinations. Have flown on the MAA-DXB & SIN-MAA routes. I guess they fly to KTM too.nachiket wrote:We desperately need more private Indian carriers to start Intl. ops. IndiGo, is the only one with enough cash to do it. But they seem to be completely ignoring the intl. market even over the long term.
A not so subtle hint for the rafale??hanumadu wrote:When Modi visited France, Airbus promised to outsource/manufacture 2 billion per year from India.
Their entire current fleet is A320s. The new 250 aircraft order is also for A320s. No widebodies at all. They can't be a true Intl. carrier without a single widebody in their fleet. A320s are severely restricted by range and capacity. They can fly to SL and nearby east Asian destinations and perhaps a few mid-east destinations. All low capacity flights. That's all. meanwhile, Emirates is flying A380's between BOM and DXB.Bob V wrote:Indigo does fly international, albeit to few destinations. Have flown on the MAA-DXB & SIN-MAA routes. I guess they fly to KTM too.nachiket wrote:We desperately need more private Indian carriers to start Intl. ops. IndiGo, is the only one with enough cash to do it. But they seem to be completely ignoring the intl. market even over the long term.
As of last month, their fleet strength is ~ 95.
LONDON( Web Desk ) – Indian government launched the world’s first ever fully solar-powered airport in Kochi the southern Indian state of Kerala, BBC Urdu reported on Wednesday.
Chief minister Kerala inaugurated the airport.
Cochin International Airport Limited (CIAL) told BBC that international airport will now run completely on solar power from 46,150 panels laid across 45 acres and 40-50 thousand units power will be generated. This is the first ever solar powered airport in the world.
The CM also stated solar power project will save 300,000 tons worth of carbon emissions over the next 25 years. That’s the equivalent of planting three million trees or not driving 750 million miles.
Absolutely. That I can attest to.Having said this, United is worse.
That's correct. (As commercial head, I was part of the negotiation for Go Air's acquisition of 72 A-320 NEO's back in 2011).somnath wrote:Indigo, like most airlines keeps its fleet young. By the time the 250th plane is delivered most of the current fleet would have been leased out to other airlines. Hence these numbers are not necessarily to be taken ontopline basis
New Delhi, Sept. 12: Air India has decided to ground about 130 flight attendants, mostly women, who have failed to meet government-imposed weight standards, angering cabin crew and aviation experts who see the move as "sexist".
The state-owned airline had last year asked 600 flight attendants to lose weight within six months. It now plans to assign over a fifth of them to ground jobs because their body mass index or BMI levels are still above prescribed limits.
what else is left?? It's a bad airline, cumbersome booking procedures, tedious boarding process, dirty aircraft, bad food, indifferent employees and finally, are the bored passengers then to be deprived of some meagre eye candy too??Singha wrote:a fair way would be to put them periodically through a physical test like doing a obstacle course. those who fail be given some time to improve strength, flexibility, endurance. those who are not having these attributes would not be of much help in a emergency.
weight and look should not be the end criteria.
some local airlines give fare concessions to ex service guys too. Jet is one, for sure.negi wrote:The 3 services are supposed to onlee fly Air parasite come what may ; my bro flies via the national carrier even if the tickets are twice as much on say Indigo or some other budget airline. I think it is time that forces outsource the relevant process (like corporates use Amex) get similar processes in the fauj let the men and their family travel by what they want , it would be efficient, cheaper and for everyone's good.
Air parasite btw is used by many haram khor gobmint employees to smuggle stuff into India.
HONG KONG — Boeing said Wednesday that Chinese companies have agreed to buy 300 jets and build an aircraft assembly plant in China. The deals, worth about $38 billion, were signed during Chinese President Xi Jinping's visit to the United States.
China Aviation Supplies Holding Company, ICBC Financial Leasing and China Development Bank Leasing inked the jet purchase agreement after Xi's arrival in Seattle. Boeing said the orders were mostly for its 737 models.
State-owned Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China, which is better known as Comac, also signed a cooperation agreement with the U.S. plane maker to build a 737 aircraft assembly center in China. Boeing said the new facility will paint the jets and finish their interiors.
Xi visited Boeing's Paine Field assembly plant during the Seattle leg of his trip before moving on to Washington, D.C., to meet President Barack Obama.
The assembly plant would be Boeing's first in China and signals its attempt to match its European rival Airbus's Chinese presence as the two rivals step up their efforts to win more business in the country's lucrative aircraft market. Boeing said the Chinese facility won't reduce employment levels at its plants in Washington state.
Airbus opened its first assembly line outside of Europe in 2008 with a Tianjin facility that turns out four A320 aircraft per month. In July, Airbus signed a deal for a second completion and delivery center for A330 jets.
Boeing, based in Chicago, sold a record 155 airplanes last year to customers in China, and so far this year, a quarter of its jets have been delivered there. The company predicts that over the next two decades China will overtake the U.S. as the world's biggest plane market with demand for 6,330 new airplanes worth an estimated $950 billion.
Shares of Boeing Co. fell $2.32, or 1.7 percent, to close at $131.67 Wednesday.
Yes , it is there. And more or less failed . Once dust accumulate detection goes for a toss. Needs cleaning. And if municipal workers were good for anything at all.....negi wrote:^ Forget that, that is bleeding edge stuff; here we do not even have standard light detector diode setup for street lighting , that is why street lights remain on even during the day time. BBMP has a helpline for citizens to call and inform them about street lights which stay on during the day time.
NEW DELHI: India may soon ask Gulf carriers to share a part of the offsets of their huge aircraft purchase orders with it. The aviation ministry is of the view that passengers flying between India and the rest of the world through hubs in the Gulf account for a substantial part of the overall traffic carried by the Gulf carriers and is a significant reason why they place massive aircraft orders.
After much delay, the National Democratic Alliance government is finally going to release the draft civil aviation policy today.
The uncertainty over relaxing the international flying norm is likely to remain as the Union government may ask for public opinion over the issue stating all the options in hand. However, the policy may address critical issues such as ground handling of aircraft, regional connectivity, airport charges and bilateral traffic rights.
The policy will touch upon issues such as the route dispersal guidelines, maintenance, repair and overhaul service, code-share agreement, Airports Authority of India's new projects, the helicopter policy and aeronautical Make In India.
On the present 5/20 rule (an airline has to have five years of operations and at least 20 aircraft to fly on international routes), the ministry will likely state all the four available options - retaining the current norm, scrapping it, moving to a credit-based system linked to route dispersal guidelines, and allowing airlines to fly abroad immediately, on an assurance that they would attain the required credits. The issue has divided the domestic aviation sector, with all the existing airlines opposing any move to scrap the present norms and new players in favour of relaxing it.
In a major relief, the airlines may be allowed to self-handle the services at airports, which include check-in, luggage handling, aircraft cleaning and servicing, loading and unloading of food and beverages. The airlines would be permitted to hire contract workers to perform the job. The present rule states only permanent employees handle ground operations but private airlines mostly either hire contract workers or use external agencies.
Centre wants to create an ecosystem to tap into the tier II and tier III city traffic where 300 million middle-class people reside. The draft policy may talk about ensuring at least one flight for every middle class passenger per year so that there is a multifold rise in the traffic from the present 70 million passengers. India's air traffic growth is mainly driven by the metro routes at present.
The civil aviation policy will attempt to revive the ambitious low-cost airports project which was junked earlier this year by doing away with the requirement of maintaining a minimum rate of return for developing regional airports. Currently, the finance ministry's public investment board appraises projects with an internal rate of return of at least 12 per cent.
Earlier this year, the Union government had scrapped a proposal to build 50 low-cost airports, as most were found unviable. A regional connectivity scheme will be framed to incentivise states to identify potential regional airports. According to the scheme, a regional connectivity fund will be formed by charging two per cent cess on air tickets. The state government concerned will identify potential airports on which the Centre will provide viability gap funding on air tickets from 80 per cent of the regional connectivity fund and the rest will come from the state.
What do the Gurus think?NEW DELHI, OCTOBER 30:
Indians will have to shell out more for domestic and international air travel if a proposal in the draft aviation policy to levy a 2 per cent cess on flight tickets is accepted. The funds are to be spent for improving regional air travel infrastructure.
However, the proposal seeks to exempt flights operating on CAT IIA routes and under the regional connectivity scheme. Routes connecting airports within the North-East, Jammu and Kashmir, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, and Lakshadweep are termed CAT IIA.
The ₹1,500 crore collected annually from the cess will be used for viability gap funding (VGF) to operate flights in remote areas. The draft policy proposes to create a Regional Connectivity Fund for VGF. It wants the VGF shared by the Centre and the States in the 80:20 ratio. The draft policy, which will be in public domain for the next three weeks for stakeholders’ comments, has also suggested creating a regional connectivity scheme from next April, with fares capped at ₹2,500 for flights of about one hour in remote areas.
Boost to MRO sector
To give a boost to the domestic maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) sector, the draft policy says MRO services will be service tax exempt. It adds that States will be persuaded not to levy VAT.
It also proposes that MRO, ground handling, cargo and ATF infrastructure at an airport get infrastructure status, with benefits under Section 80-IA of the Income-Tax Act.
The draft policy proposes ‘open skies’ for countries within a 5,000-km radius with effect from April 1, 2020.
Further, it suggests increasing FDI in the domestic aviation sector to above 50 per cent if the government decides to go in for open skies.
The draft also talks of adding more routes, and plans to bring in greater operational efficiencies by allowing airlines to change routes between CAT II and CAT III airports by intimating the Civil Aviation Ministry and the Directorate-General of Civil Aviation 30 days in advance.
The draft says the permission of the Ministry will be required for withdrawing operations to and within the North-East region, Andaman & Nicobar Islands, and Ladakh.
5/20 rule
The draft policy has come up with three alternatives to the 5/20 rule — retain it, scrap it, or allow airlines to fly to SAARC nations if they have earned 300 domestic flying credits.
For flying to other international destinations, 600 domestic flying credits are required.
A final decision on the 5/20 rule will be taken by the Cabinet.
An airline earns more domestic flying credits if it operates to remote areas than what it earns if it operates between metro cities or between tier II cities.
New Delhi. Oct. 29: The government today drew the contours of an "open skies" regime in civil aviation that theoretically unfurls the possibility of unlimited flights to Europe and the US even as it raises the prospects for rock-bottom tickets on regional flights to remote parts of the country.
The idea of an open skies regime was unveiled in a draft civil aviation policy that was placed in the public domain for comment.
The paper proposes to liberalise the existing regime of bilateral rights under the air services agreements that India signs with countries that are located beyond a radius of 5000 km from Delhi - an arc that will extend to countries in Europe, the US and Australia.
"Unlimited flights above the existing bilateral rights will be allowed directly to and from major international airports within the country," the paper said if the countries were prepared to extend similar concessions.
The existing bilateral rights - there are 109 agreements at present - cover aspects like number of flights, seats, landing points and code share arrangements.
The paper was, however, silent on ways to enhance landing slots at home, assuming there is a sudden burst of interest among foreign airlines to fly into India or even on how to find these coveted slots at some of the world's busiest airports for local airlines hoping to go there.
The government said it might consider allowing foreign companies to raise their stake in India airlines above 50 per cent from the current limit of 49 per cent if they could usher in an open skies regime.
An open skies regime for short haul destinations - those within a radius of less than 5000 km from Delhi - will be considered after April 1, 2020.
The paper proposed to slap a 2 per cent levy on domestic and international flights to create a fund that would be used to subsidize regional flights to remote areas. Typically, ticket prices for one-hour flights to no-frills airports will be capped at Rs 2,500 per seat. The prices will be indexed to inflation.
The paper calls for a host of concessions from the Centre and state governments to help the regional airlines - labelled as scheduled commuter airlines -- to get off the ground.
The idea behind the plan is to crank up the number of domestic air passengers from the current level of 70 million a year to 300 million by 2022 and 500 million by 2027. International ticketing is projected to surge to 200 million by 2027.
However, the paper failed to break the deadlock over the contentious 5/20 restriction, which was imposed in October 2004, that bars an airline from flying to overseas destination unless it has five years of experience and a fleet of 20 planes.
Instead, it came up with a third option of conferring a graded system of domestic flying credits (DFCs) to win rights to fly to short-haul and long-haul overseas destinations. Airlines will be free to trade their DFCs but the paper did not say how they would be priced.
A quick back-of-the-book calculation revealed that Jet Airways would earn 1600 DFCs under the complicated formula. It would then be free to trade as many as 1000 credit points since the proposed rules suggest that an airline can win the right to fly to long-haul destinations if it has 600 DFCs.
"It was surprising to see the lack of clarity or progress on the 5/20 rule. This is one significant, archaic and regressive policy that would have unbridled the entire sector," said Mittu Chandilya, CEO of Air Asia, which got its operating licence only in May last year.
1) The Union civil aviation ministry has kept all the options open on international flying norms, known as the ‘5/20 rule’. Three options stated in the draft policy are: continuing the present norms, complete abolition from immediate effect and a credit-based system to replace it. At present, an airline requires five years of operations and 20 aircrafts in its fleet to go on international routes.
2) The government has decided not to scrap the route dispersal guidelines which mandate airlines to fly to remote areas. More routes will be added up in the Category I (metro) routes as destinations more than 700 km away domestically with annual traffic of 500,000 passengers will also become a part of it. As is the case presently, the airlines will need to deploy at least 10% of the capacity on the metro routes in the North Eastern region, Jammu & Kashmir, Andaman & Nicobar Islands and Lakshadweep (Category-II routes). The airlines will need to take the permission of the civil aviation ministry to withdraw existing operations in “north east region, Islands and Ladakh.”
3) The Union government has opened up the skies for destinations 5,000 km away from New Delhi thereby helping Europe, Australia, South America among others to operate flights to and from India without any restriction on the number of flights and seats.
4) The government announced giving foreign airlines traffic rights to key destinations within seven hours of flying away from India (Gulf region, Middle East and South East Asia) through auction as one of the ways. At present, countries sign an agreement to decide the flights or seats per week that can fly into each other’s country. “For countries within 5,000 km where domestic airlines have not fully utilised their quota, additional seats above existing rights would be allotted by bidding for a three year period,” said the draft policy.
5) The government will “consider” opening up the skies for these short-haul destinations from 1 April 2020. “If the government decides to go in for open skies”, there will be an increase in FDI in airlines from 49% at present to above 50%, the policy said.
6) A regional connectivity scheme, which will come into effect from 1 April 2016, has been framed wherein airfares for a one-hour flight will be capped at Rs 2,500. This will happen through revival of un-served or under-served airstrips. According to the scheme, a regional connectivity fund will be formed by charging 2% cess on air tickets on international and domestic routes excluding the intra-remote areas. The Centre will provide viability gap funding on air tickets from 80% of the regional connectivity fund and the rest will come from the state.
7) The state government concerned will identify potential airstrip on which a low-cost airport can be developed. It will have to provide a slew of incentives such as free land, concessional power, water and other tariffs, reduce value added tax (VAT) on aviation fuel to 1% or less on these airports. Additionally, the Centre will exempt service tax on air tickets under this scheme and the aviation fuel will be exempt from excise duty.
Union civil aviation secretary RN Choubey said the government wanted to make India a Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (MRO) hub in Asia. The service tax on output services of MRO will be zero, aircraft maintenance tools will be exempted from custom duty, tax-free storage period of spare parts imported by MROs will be extended for three years and procedure for custom clearance will be simplified. MRO, ground handling, cargo and ATF at the airport will get the benefit of ‘infrastructure’ sector, the policy said. This move may irk private airlines which have been demanding an infrastructure status for a long time.
9) Also, Indian carriers will be free to enter into code-share agreements with foreign carriers for any destination within the country on a reciprocal basis, the policy noted. No prior approval of the ministry will be required and the airlines will only have to inform the ministry 30 days prior to starting the code-share flights.
10) In a major relief, the airlines may be allowed to self handle the services at airports, which include check-in, luggage handling, aircraft cleaning and servicing, loading and unloading of food and beverages. The airlines would be permitted to hire workers with at least one year of contract to perform the job. The present rule states only permanent employees handle ground operations but private airlines mostly either hire contract workers or use external agencies.
The pilot of an Air Vistara flight from Bhubaneswar had complained of being distracted by a laser beam right while landing at IGI’s runway 29 on Wednesday night. He also said that he was 6 nautical miles away from the runway when the laser beam distracted him.
