Mallya's Kingfisher has most cases of drunk pilots

NEW DELHI, July 22: Vijay Mallya-promoted Kingfisher Airlines has the dubious distinction of having the maximum cases of pilots found under the influence of alcohol before take-off.

A number of airlines including Naresh Goyal's Jet were cited where pilots were reported to be under the influence of alcohol in the past one year, the government informed the Rajya Sabha.

Incidentally, Mr. Mallya had named his airline after the most popular beer brand in his brewery business.

"Eight pilots of Kingfisher Airlines, six each of Indigo and SpiceJet and three each of Jetlite, Jet Airways and Paramount were detected alco-positive during pre-flight medical examination," Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel said in a written reply.

He was responding to a query on incidents of drunk pilots of private airlines during the last one year.

"Any pilot found to be alco-positive is immediately grounded for a period of up to six weeks," Mr. Patel said.

Indian Travel Agents boycott SIA; offer full support to Air India

By Deepak Arora

NEW DELHI, July 10: What started off as a skirmish between Singapore Airlines (SIA) and the Indian Travel Agents at the end of the last year, the battle for rights is still going on as other parties get involved.

Since January, 2009, the anguished calls of travel agents, who had been demanding their due commission from SIA, have gone unheeded. However, the matter is getting heated up. In a major show of solidarity, most agents across India have refuses to sell tickets for Singapore Airlines now.

Despite their earlier disputes with the Travel Agents, airlines like Jet Airways, Kingfisher and Air India, have come out in support of the travel federations and have re-instated their commissions. In fact, airlines from Hong Kong and China are also espousing the agents’ cause.
Travel agents, thus, have decided to sell away from foreign carriers as the agent-airline relationship seems to have been struck at its root. They will henceforth promote Indian carriers like Air India, who are trying to bail themselves out with help from the Government. The Travel Agents community has decided to support the National Carriers.

“It is downright unacceptable that some foreign carriers have gone to Zero commission with an intention to cut their vital arm of distribution and not to remunerate agents their rightful commissions and have entered our country with the sole purpose of generating maximum profits, which they repatriate back to their own countries,” said Rajji Rai, President, Travel Agents Association of India (TAAI).

Rai said “we are not willing to tolerate this in unjust approach, we prefer instead to do business with Indian carriers now and support them in their crunch time at this critical juncture.”

He requested “each member of TAAI and other associations to promote the national carriers and extend maximum support to them for their revival, as during zero crises these very carriers stood by us for our survival.”

“It is also our duty to extend all support and give maximum possible assistance to AIR INDIA in order to improve their profits and bottom-line,” added Rai.

In a reciprocal gesture, the travel agents have been rooting for a bailout package for airlines, particularly Air India, hit by the global economic downturn.

“Discussions are on with senior officials of the national carriers and the CMD of Air India has been most pro-active in his approach and has expressed his willingness to consider any constructive proposal from the Travel agents which would help Air India,” informs Pradip Lulla, President, Travel Agents Federation of India (TAFI).

Both Associations have also taken the matter up with the Directorate-General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), which in turn has issued an ultimatum to SIA and other airlines which have abolished commission to explain the rationale behind their actions.

“It is heartening to note that the DGCA has taken cognizance of the mater and has directed the foreign airlines to adhere to the law of the land. We are not asking for a bailout, merely a protection of our basic right to livelihood,” states Ajay Prakash, National General Secretary of TAFI

On the other hand, SIA finds itself in the eye of a hostile storm. Compared to the first two quarters of 2008, SIA has registered a 72.5 per cent fall in ticket sales in 2009. Though this is partly because of the global slump, the withdrawal of agents’ support has also contributed considerably towards this unfavorable trend.

At the same time, others like Thai Airlines have fortuitously benefited from the feud. They are now the leading carriers from India for flights bound to South East Asia and Australia. Also, Cathay Airlines now lead in ticket sales to the US especially sectors to SFO and LA as Singapore Airlines sees its revenues on this route whittling down to a measly 2 per cent vis-à-vis 2008.

Air India to overhaul top brass

NEW DELHI, July 7: The government on Tuesday announced an overhaul of Air India's top management within 30 days and the induction of seven independent directors with a proven track record on the airline’s board.

It will also appoint a Chief Operating Officer (COO) to help CMD Arvind Jadhav fortify its day-to-day flight operations.

Bringing relief to about 30,000 employees, the airline announced that its contractual staff would be given salaries by July 10 while others would get it by July 14.

Facing criticism after the airline’s losses mounted to Rs. 5,000 crore in 2008-09, the Civil Aviation Ministry decided to revamp the decision making bodies and disinvest a part of Air India’s public stake in the near future.

“You will see in the next 30 days a major change in the top management in Air India. You are going to see a major change in the board. Some heads are going to roll …We are going to bring high quality people of great integrity and people with a proven track record in business,” Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel said here.

The names doing the rounds for inclusion in the AI board include National Knowledge Commission Chairman Sam Pitroda, Infosys Mentor and Chairman N.R. Narayanamurthy and TCS CMD S. Ramadorai.

Official sources said seven independent directors, who were to be inducted, would be of international repute.

AI CMD holds another round of talks with the employees' unions

NEW DELHI, June 21: Employees of the cash-strapped Air India on Sunday came up with several suggestions to cut costs during their second round of discussions, as the airline management appealed for tightening of belts to face the acute financial crunch.

The suggestions came as leaders of three major unions, representing almost 70 per cent of the staffers, held a day-long meeting with Air India CMD Arvind Jadhav here.

While the unions stuck to their earlier decision to launch an agitation following delay in June salary payment, their leaders said they would continue to hold talks with the management and later review their action plan.

Jadhav sought their help and participation in reviving the airline which is facing acute financial crisis and reeling under a loss of about Rs 5,000 crore.

At the meeting, leaders of Air Corporation Employees' Union (ACEU), Aviation Industry Employees' Guild (AIEG) and Indian Aviation Technicians Association (IATA) suggested that many staffers were ready for transfer to low cost subsidiary Air India Express with lower salaries while others were ready to accept leave without pay for two years.

The CMD spoke about the grim financial scenario facing the airline industry and Air India in particular and sought their support to "fight for survival of our own airline".

The AI management has already asked its top management not to take their July salaries and deferred the June salaries of all employees by a fortnight.

The unions claimed that out of a total salary expenditure of Rs 350 crore by the airlines, only a minuscule 20 per cent were being spent on their salaries, while 80 per cent were being spent on the remaining 30 per cent AI employees.

"Further rounds of talks between the airline management and the unions would be held next week," said J B Kadian, General Secretary of ACEU.

"But we will go ahead with the agitation programme as decided by the three unions. All employees would wear a black badge from June 22 to 25 while on duty, on June 26, we would hold a demonstration at our offices and on June 30, we would be forced to adopt the policy of 'no pay no work' if the management fails to give us our salaries," Kadian said.

Air India's losses for the last financial year are estimated at over Rs 4,000 crore, up from Rs 2,226 crore in the previous fiscal.

The national carrier has approached the government for infusion of funds by way of equity, soft loans and a grant.

The demand has come in the wake of its orders for 111 new planes worth over Rs 45,000 crore against a puny paid-up capital of Rs 145 crore and authorised capital of Rs 1,500 crore.

India, France to jointly work on aviation safety issues

PARIS, June 17: India and France decided that air safety regulators of both countries will work together on civil aviation safety issues in a bid to standardise regulations and practices.

This was decided at the meeting that Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel had with French Transport Minister Dominique Brussereau in Paris on the sidelines of the ongoing airshow.

The French Minister assured Patel that he would take up the issue of "discriminatory treatment" meted out to Indian nationals in transit at the Charles de Gaulle Airport by the Interior Ministry, an official spokesperson said.

The two governments decided to work closely on air safety programme with the Directorate General of Civil Aviation and its French counterpart DGAC coordinating on issues relating to civil aviation practices, she said.

France has also agreed to be a partner country in India Aviation Airshow to be held in March 2010 at Hyderabad.

Patel has gone to Paris to attend the airshow and met several top officials of major aviation companies, including Airbus, Eurocopter, Bombardier, Augusta Westland, Rolls Royce and Air France, with all of them expressing willingness in partnerships in different ventures and to invest in India.

Jet, Kingfisher fares up by Rs 400

MUMBAI, June 18: Barely two days after state-run oil companies hiked aviation fuel prices by 12 per cent, Jet Airways, Kingfisher Airlines and their low-costsubsidiaries announced a hike in fuel surcharge on Wednesday, making tickets costlier by Rs 400. Air India and other low-cost airlines are likely to follow suit in a few days.

The surcharge hike has only increased the difference between the total and basic fare. Jet Airways, which was the first to hike the fuel surcharge, cited the ``sharp increase in ATF prices by 33 per cent since March 2009'' as the reason for increasing the fuel surcharge on domestic tickets. The immediate provocation seems to be Monday's 12 per cent hike.

``Jet Airways has decided to increase its fuel surcharge by Rs 400 on all domestic sectors for tickets purchased from Wednesday onwards,'' said a Jet Airways spokesperson, adding that the hike will be applicable on all flights of Jet Airways, Jet Airways Konnect and JetLite.

For Jet Airways, the hike would take the total fuel surcharge on a ticket below a distance of 750km to Rs 2,450 and beyond that to Rs 3,400. For Jet Airways Konnect and Jetlite, it would be Rs 2,150 and Rs 3,100, respectively.

Likewise, on Kingfisher First and Kingfisher Class, for distances below 750km, the fuel surcharge will now be Rs 2,550 while for distances above 750km, the fuel surcharge will be Rs 3,400. On Kingfisher Red, it will be Rs 2,350 for journey below 750 km and Rs 3,100 for above.

Low-cost airlines such as Spice Jet, Go Air, IndiGo currently charge about Rs 2,000 as fuel surcharge.

Air India is actively considering the possibility of fuel surcharge hike, said an airline spokesperson, adding, ``hopefully we will be able to take a decision in a day or two''. The airline currently levies fuel surcharge of Rs 1,950 and Rs 2,700 on air tickets up to and beyond 750 km, respectively.

Although passenger loads have not improved the world over and the effects of the slowdown continue to cut into demand, crude oil prices touched a high of $72 per barrel internationally on hopes of demand revival in the US.

``This is totally unwarranted,''said Sudhakara Reddy, president, Air Passengers Association of India, an air-passengers consumer rights organisation which had filed a petition against all airlines in the Madras High Court. The petition states that airlines did not decrease fuel surcharge all through this and part of last year when ATF prices fell to below 2005 level. Fuel surcharge was introduced by airlines in 2005. ``The hike is nothing but back door efforts to increase air fare in the name of fuel surcharge,'' Reddy added.

High seas search for Air France jet with 228 aboard

RIO DE JANEIRO, June 2: Search planes scoured the dark waters of the Atlantic Ocean early on Tuesday, looking for the remains of an Air France jetliner that disappeared in a severe storm with 228 people on board.

The Airbus A330 went missing on a flight from Rio de Janeiro to Paris and French President Nicolas Sarkozy said there was little chance of finding any survivors.

France and Brazil sent military aircraft and ships to try to find wreckage on high seas between Brazil and West Africa. Brazilian carrier TAM said the crew of one of its planes saw "bright spots" on the surface of the ocean, but Brazil's air force said a merchant ship in the area found no signs of burning debris from the Air France jet.

"We will search all night long and keep going through dawn," said Colonel Jorge Amaral of the Brazilian air force. "We have to work as if it were possible to find survivors."

If none are found, it would be the worst disaster in Air France's 75-year history and the deadliest since one of the company's supersonic Concorde planes crashed in 2000.

Air France flight 447 left Brazil on Sunday night and lost contact with air traffic controllers in the early hours of Monday morning.

It was carrying 216 passengers of 32 nationalities, including seven children and one baby, Air France said. Sixty-one were French citizens, 58 Brazilian and 26 German. Twelve crew members were also on board.

Tearful relatives in Paris and Rio were attended to by teams of psychologists.

One of the Brazilians on board was Pedro Luis de Orleans e Braganca, a direct descendant of Dom Pedro II, the last emperor of Brazil, a spokesman for the royal family said.

Executives from French tire company Michelin, the Brazilian unit of German steelmaker ThyssenKrupp, and Brazilian mining giant Vale were also among the passengers, said company officials and family members.

The Air France plane flew into turbulent storms four hours after taking off from Rio and 15 minutes later sent an automatic message reporting electrical faults, the airline said.

32 nationalities on missing Air France flight

BUENOS AIRES, June 2: Air France identified 32 nationalities among the 216 passengers on board Air France 447, which has been missing since 0215 GMT on Monday over the Atlantic on its flight from Rio de Janeiro to Paris. The information was posted on the airline's website.

Not apparently included in the list on the website were the 12 crew members.

Passengers included 61 French, 58 Brazilians, 26 Germans, nine Italians, nine Chinese, six Swiss, five Lebanese, five Britons, four Hungarians, three Slovakians, three Irish, three Norwegians; two each from Spain, US, Morocco, Poland; one each from South Africa, Argentina, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Croatia, Denmark, Estonia, Gambia, Iceland, Netherlands, Philippines, Rumania, Russia, Sweden, Turkey.

Patel hints at Air India IPO, rules out total exit

NEW DELHI, June 1: The government could consider floating an initial public offering (IPO) for the state-owned carrier Air India, said the civil aviation minister Praful Patel soon after assuming the office on Monday.

Mr Patel said that an IPO would result in much needed infusion of equity to Air India and will also bring in more accountability.

However, Patel made it clear that "Air India will not be privatised" nor "disinvested completely". He made it clear that Air India would not lose its public sector undertaking (PSU) character. He pointed to companies such as ONGC and Indian Oil which had "public investment without losing the PSU character". The minister said the government could consider the IPO in case the stock markets do well.

Air India has incurred heavy losses in the recent past and had sought infusion of equity and a soft loan from the government. "We will try to get Air India money from the government but I cannot speak for the finance minister or budget of the government," said Patel.

However, Patel assured that in these "testing times", the government would "ensure the highest support" to Air India. "Till you have a strong national carrier, you cannot act as counter-balance to market forces," he said.

"The government, as principal owners, will play a proactive role to see that Air India is back in good shape," he added. He also said the government would give the highest priority to infrastructure like building new airports and upgradation of existing airports.

Arvind Jadhav is new CMD of Air India

By Deepak Arora

NEW DELHI, May 4: Mr Arvind Jadhav, IAS, on Monday assumed charge as the new Chairman and Managing Director of National Aviation Company of India Limited (NACIL). Mr Jadhav was earlier Principal Secretary, Infrastructure Development Department, Government of Karnataka.

Born on June 5, 1956, Mr Jadhav did his post graduation in Geography after graduating from Kanpur University. He did his MBA in Strategic Management from the University of Curtin, Perth, Australia, where he was awarded Gold Medals for being the 'Best All-round Student' and for attaining distinction in 'Strategic Management'. Mr Jadhav also holds post-graduate diplomas in International Trade from the Indian Institute of Foreign Trade and Export Promotion from the Italian Institute of Foreign Trade, Rome.

Mr Jadhav joined the Indian Administrative Service in 1978 and belongs to the Karnataka cadre. Among the various positions held by him are: Commissioner, Karnataka Housing Board; Secretary, Energy Department; Managing Director, Mysore Minerals Limited and Commissioner, Commerce and Industries Department.

During his tenure at the Centre, he was Joint Secretary, Ministry of Power, where he was responsible for reforms in the power sector. He has also served as Central Vigilance Officer, Gas Authority of India Limited (GAIL).

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