http://www.newindpress.com/sunday/sundayitems.asp?id=SEG20061110064102&eTitle=Insight&rLink=0
Now calling at all towns
Friday November 10 2006 16:07 IST

Raghvendra Rao

Taking a train to small towns may soon become a matter of choice rather than compulsion. With private airlines flying out to a host of new destinations, regional connectivity has finally arrived.

The facts lie in the figures. Though all major airlines ran losses this year, domestic passenger traffic registered a growth of 48 percent in the first quarter of the current fiscal. And this boom in passenger traffic has been behind the host of new regional destinations.

Take the case of low-cost carrier Air Deccan. From operating 90 flights a day to 32 domestic destinations till March 2005, the airline had strengthened its network in just a year by taking the number to 250 flights a day to 52 destinations. The airline is currently operating 300 flights a day to 59 destinations. Air Deccan has recently added two new destinations— Kandla and Bellary — on its own network as well as on the country’s civil aviation map. It now plans to connect Pathankot shortly.

Jet Airways too increased its daily domestic flights from 275 last year to 310 this year. Other private airlines have
followed suit. Kingfisher Airlines, Air Sahara and Spicejet have added about 14 destinations. In fact, according to latest figures released by the Civil Aviation ministry there has been a growth of 32.2 per cent in the total domestic aircraft movement in the first quarter of the current fiscal. Between April and June this year, a whopping 1,91,150 aircrafts movements were recorded in the domestic sector.

It’s been no secret that breaking the ‘‘big cities-centric’’ air-traffic patterns to ensure regional connectivity has been high on civil aviation minister Praful Patel’s agenda. But even as his ministry mulls sops like free landing, parking and route navigation to encourage airlines to operate to smaller cities and towns, the fact that many private airlines have already sniffed a great business opportunity here has come as a welcome surprise to the government.

There’s been good news for other destinations as well that had air connections but very few flights in the past. Now that’s being set right (see Back in the Loop). Places like Jammu, Srinagar, Chandigarh, Varanasi, Bhopal, Gwalior, Rajkot, Aurangabad, Belgaum, Kolhapur, Calicut, Bhavnagar, Jamnagar, Jabalpur, Mangalore, Tirupati, Tiruchirapalli, Madurai and Port Blair too now have more flights than ever before.

The northeast has also finally got connected. Agartala, Aizawl, Imphal, Dibrugarh and Baghdogra now have daily flights from Kolkata. Jet Airways has recently started flights to Jorhat, the first private carrier to do so. In September, Indian Airlines increased its frequency to Silchar, Imphal and Agartala to seven days a week and started 14 flights a week between Kolkata-Guwahati. The airline also resumed the Guwahati-Agartala airlink with a daily flight.

Meanwhile, in response to an increased demand for seats on some routes, many airlines have upgraded their aircrafts. Jet Airways, for instance, has upgraded from ATR to Boeing 737 on routes touching bases at Indore, Bhopal, Chandigarh, Kochi and Mangalore. Places like Leh, Vadodara and Amritsar too have additional frequencies of Jet Airways flights. Coimbatore has been upgraded from ATRs to Airbus aircraft operated by Air Deccan. From June 2006, Indian Airlines has started daily Airbus flight between Delhi-Bhopal-Indore-Mumbai offering 1,000 seats per week in each direction.

Experts have been asking for an expansion of the country’s aviation network for long. ‘‘Aviation in India has always been Delhi-Mumbai centric. But in order to grow as an industry, aviation will have to go tier II and tier III cities. You cannot just operate in only metros any longer. Regional connectivity is critical in the long run and it is good to see that airlines like Air Deccan are connecting a lot of smaller destinations,’’ says Kapil Kaul, CEO (Indian subcontinent), Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation (CAPA).

Aviation analysts also feel that with most of the metro routes already saturated, flying to smaller places also makes tremendous business sense.

‘‘Already there are talks of several new airlines contemplating region-specific operations in the north, south and the northeast. If the government provides some sops on fuel taxation, parking and landing charges and navigation charges, more airlines would be willing to go to regional centres,” Kaul adds.

The government, meanwhile, is apparently working out a detailed policy to promote airlines interested in operating smaller aircraft, 80-seater and fewer, flying from a single metro within a region. This is being done to restart operations at airstrips that are currently not operational.

Back in the loop

Gorakhpur now has thrice-a-week flights from Delhi, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Indore and Allahabad
Tuticorin gets connected to Chennai with a daily flight
Rajahmundry has daily flights connecting it to Chennai, Hyderabad and Vijaywada
Hubli is connected with daily flights to Bangalore and Mumbai
Bhubaneswar is now connected to 20 cities daily with 21 Air Sahara flights
Deccan has two flights daily to Bhubaneswar from Kolkata and six flights a week from Delhi
Dehradun is also connected to Delhi with two flights a day
Dibrugarh now has daily flights from Kolkata and Guwahati
Daily flights connect Raipur to Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai and Ranchi
Indore has daily flights from Delhi and Gwalior. It is also connected to Bangalore, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Ranchi, Lucknow and Chennai

http://www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?NewsID=1063785
Kuwait Airways flight moves towards no-fly zone

PTI
Monday, November 13, 2006  13:31 IST

NEW DELHI: A Kuwaiti Airways aircraft on Monday inadvertently deviated from its flight path after take-off from the IGI Airport and moved towards the no-fly zone, causing scare among the security establishment as the plane approached the Prime Minister's House.

However, the pilot soon corrected course following warnings by the air traffic control, official sources said, adding that the airline had tendered an apology for the inadvertent mistake.

The sources said the aircraft, which took off at 6:15 am, turned left instead of right which was its scheduled flight path.

"The chapter is closed", the sources said, adding that the Directorate General of Civil Aviation would enquire into the matter.

http://www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?NewsID=1064145
Airhostess wins case against Indian Airlines

Rakesh Bhatnagar
Tuesday, November 14, 2006  23:34 IST

She was carrying Rs22 lakh in cash, besides Arab currency in her luggage

Indian Airlines airhostess Prabha D Kanan, who had around 23 years of experience on the Mumbai-Bangalore-Hyderabad-Sharjah air route, was axed eight years back as she was carrying Rs 22 lakh in cash, besides Arab currency in her luggage. Kanan got a major relief on Tuesday as the Supreme Court has directed the national carrier to pay her eight years of salary, besides gratuity and provident fund.

The judges upheld provision 13 of the IA regulations that empowers its Board of Directors to take a decision in public interest that can’t be challenged in a court of law. Kanan had been acquitted in the customs and foreign exchange violation cases and discharged in the criminal case as well.

On a customs' call, her Sharjah bound flight was grounded in Mumbai four years ago and sleuths recovered huge currency in her luggage.

Her husband was also arrested. Aggrieved by the decision of the directors to sack her, she had moved the Delhi High Court that ordered payment of six years of salary to her.

“This should be the appropriate compensation for the termination of her services and loss of employment considering that she has about 10 years of service hereafter,” it had added.

IA challenged this order and its counsel Arun Jaitley and Lalit Bhasin said the verdict was faulty. Kanan was holding a 'Red Airport Entry Pass'. It gives unrestricted access to all civil airports in India. Its holder can fly to other countries on the network of Indian Airlines.

Any doubt on the integrity of the person holding such a post of trust and confidence may shake the confidence of the employer, the counsel added.

“If such activities are permitted, the same in a given case may provide for risk not only to the aircraft but also to a large section of people.  The subjective satisfaction of the Board of Directors was based on the confession she made and the evidences collected by the Directorate of Enforcement,” Jaitley and Bhasin pleaded.

They also argued that her acquittal or exoneration in the cases “may not be of much significance as the validity of the order must be judged having regard to the fact situation.”

But Kanan’s lawyer objected to it. He argued that though she had made confession but the same was retracted.  She was not found guilty during the trial and also in the departmental adjudicating proceedings. Thus, she shouldn't have been sacked.

A Bench of Justices S B Sinha and Dalveer Bhandari held that Directors could exercise the
power in the “interest of the company.”

“In a case of this nature, requirements to comply with principles of natural justice may not be practicable,” they said.

They explained that “keeping in view the situational changes and particularly, outsourcing of the sovereign activities by the State, this Court has been expanding the scope of judicial review. … The doctrine of unreasonableness has now given a way to doctrine of proportionality.”

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http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/articlenews.aspx?type=oddlyEnoughNews&storyID=2006-11-14T131935Z_01_DEL130638_RTRIDST_0_OUKOE-UK-INDIA-AIR-HOSTESSES.XML&WTmodLoc=HP-C13-Oddly-3
Fat" Indian aircrew fight for excess baggage right
Tue Nov 14, 2006 1:19 PM GMT
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By Nita Bhalla

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - A group of air hostesses, embroiled in a legal battle with national carrier Indian after it grounded them without pay for being too fat to fly, said on Tuesday they would continue their fight for justice.

Eleven women say they have suffered from low self-esteem after being grounded by the state-run airline for being between a few hundred grams and three kilograms (6.6 lbs) over the firm's specified weight limit.

"The company told me that I was above the limit and that I should go home until I had lost the excess weight," said 48-year-old Sheela Joshi, who was found to be 500 grams above her allowed 63 kilos.

"I had to go on a serious diet and it took me over one and a half months to lose weight and I wasn't paid by the company. It was a stressful period, and I lost confidence in myself."

Around 140 employees were grounded after a statement in May warned staff they would be banned from flying if found to be over a fixed weight based on criteria such as age and height.

The women, whose case will now come up in Delhi's High Court in March, say they want the company to pay their salaries for the time they were grounded and to withdraw the May circular which they say is a breach of constitutional rights.

Although weight guidelines have always been in place, employees were previously allowed to weigh in at up to three kilograms above them.

The women, most in their forties and who have worked for the firm for 20 years, say Indian wants to replace mature crew with skinnier women to survive in a highly competitive industry.

Their lawyer Arvind Kumar Sharma, said while all the grounded air hostesses have lost weight and are now able to fly, only 11 of the 140 felt able to stand up to their bosses.

Indian's lawyers deny it is a planned move by the firm, known as Indian Airlines until last year, to shake off a fusty image.

"This is an issue about fitness not about image. Cabin crew need to be physically fit for their work," Rupinder Singh Suri, the company's lawyer, told Reuters, adding the women were contractually obliged to meet weight guidelines.

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http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus/002200611130314.htm

IA fined for not allowing persons with valid tickets to travel
New Delhi, Nov 13. (PTI): The Delhi State Consumer Commission has imposed a fine of Rs 50,000 on Indian Airlines for not allowing five passengers, who had valid tickets, to travel in one of its flights.

Terming the incident as an example of "Unfair trade practice and deficiency in service", the Commission headed by Justice J D Kapoor asked the airliner to pay the amount in a month to one Delhi-based Bhartiya Sanskriti Sansthan (BSS) which, on April 21, 1997, had booked 56 seats to take delegates, including several Parliamentarians, to a conference at Port Blair.

The public sector airliner, which is now called Indian, forced two of the dignitaries, who had valid tickets, to get down from the aircraft and did not allow three others to enter the aircraft at the Kolkata airport.

As a result, the five persons were stranded at the airport and could not attend the conference from April 21 to 24 in 1997.

The five persons were not allowed to travel despite the valid travel documents, BSS alleged.

"However, one fact that irks us is de-boarding of Shri Ramesh Sahu and Shri Praveen Mittal (delegates), which show that they were de-boarded for ulterior reasons," said the Commission allowing the complaint of BSS, which works for the promotion of Hindi as an official language.

What was the bus doing on the runway.The media

On a serious note,Glad hes recovering.

Out here at Bom the 9W Pax buses due low turn radaii,tend to stray outside the road & end up very near Aircraft parked on the Tarmac.

regds

MEL

Oops! My mistake... maybe the bus was taking the passengers for a airport sightseeing

lol

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Mahajan_Jrs_pilot_wife_grounded/articleshow/548172.cms
Mahajan Jr's pilot wife grounded
Byas Anand
[ 24 Nov, 2006 0013hrs ISTTIMES NEWS NETWORK ]
 
 
 
Shweta Singh, wife of Rahul Mahajan, has been barred from flying duties by Jet Airways. (TOI) 

NEW DELHI: .... Rahul Mahajan’s wife Shweta Singh is now facing turbulence on the professional front.

Shweta, a pilot with Jet Airways, has been grounded from flight duties for allegedly violating standard operating procedures (SOPs) and safety norms on a Delhi-Hyderabad flight on November 16.

Government sources said Shweta, who was commanding the flight 9W-825 on the Delhi-Hyderabad route, deployed speed brakes and improper wing flap position at landing. "Accident value was perceived to be high during the incident and DGCA (directorate general of civil aviation) has directed the airline to de-roster both Shweta and the co-pilot, pending further investigation," a source told TOI.

Following the DGCA directive, Shweta has been taken off flying duty by Jet. A Jet Airways spokesperson confirmed this, saying: "Shweta has been de-rostered immediately after the incident, and she has not undertaken any flight duty since November 19. She has been de-rostered to enable an investigation into the incident." The spokesperson, however, refused to comment further.

Shweta, when reached by TOI, said she was down with a cold on the particular day and therefore not well enough to fly

http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/5922_1855770,0015002100000000.htm
Ailing man denied flight to Mumbai
HT Correspondent
Bhopal, November 28, 2006
A SERIOUSLY ailing person, who had been referred to Mumbai for advance treatment, was allegedly made to miss the Indian Airlines’ Mumbai-bound flight at the Raja Bhoj Airport here on Tuesday over a dispute of carrying an oxygen cylinder. M S Vyas, 58, was admitted to the National Hospital with lung infection and was referred to Mumbai.

His relatives claim that the patient needed oxygen onboard the flight and they had completed the formalities including payment of Rs 28,000 for provision of cylinder and the flight charges.

However, when they reached the airport, the crew reportedly told them that they had forgotten to bring the cylinder. When the doctor accompanying Vyas insisted that they be allowed to carry their own cylinder, as the patient was unable to travel without oxygen support, the crew allegedly refused and cancelled their boarding pass.

Roopak, a family friend, alleged that the staff at the airport refused to give them the complaint book. The family then took Vyas back from the airport. Vyas, a resident of Rachna Nagar, is a bank manager.

When contact, the Indian Airlines’ Station Manager Firoz Khan refused to comment on the incident. Recently, State Congress spokesman Brijmohan Shrivastava’s wife had alleged that she was not allowed to take the flight and misbehaved with by the crew. The complaint was made to the police also.
 

Story seems a little made up?