Airbus achieved deliveries of 219 over the first six months of 2006, of which 170 were A320- family and 49 wide bodies.
Airbus Also accumulated orders for 117 aircraft, whereby it secured orders for 96 Airbus A320 family aircraft, the largest of which came from Indian Airlines which sealed an agreement for 43. The remaining 21 orders for widebody types comprise five A330s, three A340-300s and 13 A350s.
In 1991, when Kerala Police won football’s Federation Cup, it was the first time in the country’s sporting history that an institutional team was winning respective Federation Cups in volleyball and basketball too. With the cream of Kerala’s sportsmen turning out in their chosen disciplines, it was high noon for the state police force.
Today, many members of the 1986 Seoul Asian Games bronze-winning volleyball team are happily serving as policemen. There is Abdul Razzaq, Uday Kumar, Cryrill Vallor and player-manager S Gopinath. Gopinath, incidentally, is the highest-ranked sportsman in Kerala Police - he is superintendent of police in Kollam district.
Alternately, the country’s biggest employers of sportspersons, the Railways, too was teeming with international-level sportspersons - mainly athletes - from Kerala.
Recalls PT Usha at her home at Payyoli: “My decision to join the Railways was based on the fact that their office was in Calicut, which was close to my home, whereas Indian Airlines operated only out of Ernakulam.
“As for picking a job, that was the sole criteria. Today it has changed. The Railways office has shifted further away to Pallakkad while Airlines have extended operations to Calicut.”
The 80s saw a number of athletes like Padmini Thomas, MD Valsamma, who hailed from remote areas, making waves. None of these athletes’ family members were involved in sport. VP Sathyan’s father Gopalan Nair retired from Kerala Police, but had little inkling or interest in his son’s footballing activities. How did these handful of athletes manage to get to the top? “Sheer hard work and commitment,” says Shiny Wilson, ace middle distance runner and a prime member of the ‘golden generation’.
“I never had an aim in the beginning but after the achievements at the national level, I dreamt of bringing laurels for the country. Medals alone motivated us,” says Shiny in Chennai, where she is currently based with her swimmer-husband Wilson Cherian.
The procurement of a department job back then was the accepted norm, but it was not the sole motivating factor. “I was only interested in running,” says Usha. “The job was just an assurance for the future.”
“As kids we had to travel miles to reach our school. Instead of walking I began running to the school and back,” recalls Shiny. “Slowly, running became a thrill as I always wanted to beat the boys who competed with me.
“I also started to compete in the school, where I finished first. The small prizes spurred me on.”
Today the trend, according to the athlete, has changed. There is a bigger rush to gain entry into the department teams as it ensures a rosy future. Sportspersons usually hail from the lower-economic groups and after finding a cushy job, the bigger picture is conveniently forgotten.
Shiny says the socio-economic scenario has changed over the years and that has had an impact on sport. ‘’There’s more money from the Gulf. People are more concerned about their kids taking up studies. They consider sports a wastage of time and energy. We cannot blame them. There are a number of athletes here who find it difficult to make both ends meet.
“Very few are taking up sports despite the vastly-improved facilities,” says Shiny, “Among those who do, the boys are choosing cricket. And the girls are all glued to the TV sets.”
“There is always a job for the medium-level sportsman in Kerala,” opines Sharaf Ali. “Holding on to an excellent sportsman is the real challenge for these departments and the state. Perhaps that is why one sees the demise of institutional teams in Kerala.”
Part of this flight, even if seems far and few between, has to do with regularising promotions in the departments. “For us, getting a job is hardly the end of the story. We know what problems we face once we are in a job, and when the time comes for promotions and increments, especially once our careers are over,” says Usha.
“There will always be heartburn for the regular employee when a sportsman is promoted out of turn. But that is the whole truth. How else would a sportsman’s worth be realised, especially when he can’t perform on the international stage anymore?” argues Sharaf Ali.
The general feeling is that occasional cash rewards by the state and Central governments are welcome, but in the longer run, they paint a wrong picture. It is almost as dole, not meant to last long.
Today, Shiny, like Valsamma, is on deputation from the Railways with Food Corporation of India, one of the few all-India departments still sticking to their sports policy, albeit with little results.
Usha chose to chart her own path by forming the Usha School of Athletics in 2002. With an outlay of Rs 89 lakhs, things after four years appear to be slowly taking shape. But there is fresh trouble on the horizon. After her girls repeatedly won the Kozhikode sub-junior championships, rival schools protested that Usha’s wards were too good to be competing at this level and should be debarred.
“Now, this,” reacts Usha incredulously. “My girls are only 14 and 15 years old, why stop them from running,” she asks.
In another time, this would have implied great flattery, but for the ordinary athlete in the dusk of her career, this is a new challenge. Usha, you have to keep running.
After all, you chose it.
Praful Patel, Union minister of state for civil aviation today announced that the UPA government is going to set up the base for maintenance of the entire fleet of Indian Airlines’ A-319 airbuses. He was speaking at the inaugural function of the NSC Bose airport-Dum Dum Cantonment railway link.
The link was inaugurated by the Union minister for railways, Lalu Prasad Yadav. Several state leaders, including minister for sports and transport, Subhas Chakrabarty, minister for self-help groups, Rekha Goswami, chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Railways, Basudev Acharya, attended the function. MPs Amitava Nandy, Taritbaran Topdar, Ajay Chakrabarty were also present on the occasion.
NSC Bose Airport at Dum Dum is the first airport in India to have railway connectivity. ‘‘We plan to introduce railway connections at airports in Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad and Bangalore,’’ Patel said.
The Union minister said that modernisation of the six metro airports have to be completed before 2009 as India is going to host the Commonwealth Games in 2010. ‘‘A foreigner gets the first impression of a country from its airport. To make sure that we don’t cut a sorry figure at the first sight itself, the airports have to be revamped,’’ the minister said.
Patel added that Cooch Behar was going to be one of the 35 non-metro airports which the Union government plans to upgrade and modernise. The project requires an investment of around Rs 10,000 crore and will be completed by 2008.
‘‘While we are modernising the metro-airports we have also decided to revamp the non-metro airports. Talks are on, regarding Cooch Behar and we’ve requested the state government to come up with more suggestions for modernisation,’’ Patel said.
According to Patel, the government will not stop at modernising only 35 airports. ‘‘There are several non-metro airports that we plan to upgrade,’’ he said.
Agitated Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) members Friday forced adjournment of the Rajya Sabha over certain remarks made about former foreign minister Jaswant Singh in the context of the 1999 hijacking of an Indian Airlines plane to Kandahar, even as the presiding officer vainly pointed out that these did not exist on the house record.
As Deputy Chairman K. Rahman Khan called for resuming a short duration discussion on the July 11 Mumbai train bombings, BJP members were on their legs demanding that Congress’ Rajeev Shukla withdraw the allegations he had levelled against Singh during the debate Thursday.
Khan pointed out that Chairman Bhairon Singh Shekhawat, who was then presiding, had expunged the remarks even as Shukla Friday denied making any allegations.
The BJP members continued to demand an apology and party leader Sushma Swaraj stood up to say: “He (Shukla) said that those who were soft on terrorists take them in aeroplanes and give them money. He then turned to (former finance minister) Yashwant Sinha and asked ‘How much money was given’.”
Jaswant Singh had flown to Kandahar on Dec 31, 1999, with three top terrorists, including Jaish-e-Mohammad’s Maulana Masood Azhar, who were released in exchange for the passengers of Indian Airlines flight IC-814 hijacked to the Afghan city while on a flight from Kathmandu to New Delhi. He has said in the past that money had been demanded in exchange for the passengers but that this had been refused.
Demanding that Shukla withdraw his remark, BJP members threatened to stall the functioning of the house.
“He (Shukla) should be reprimanded,” demanded S.S. Ahluwalia, to which Khan retorted: “Where is the rule for reprimand? Shukla has already said he has not made any personal allegations.”
Shukla, who had stood impassively through this, requested permission to speak but was shouted down in the din.
Khan then quoted from the rulebook to say section 238 stated that no allegation would be made in the house unless prior intimation was given so that the concerned ministry could investigate the matter.
This cut little ice with the BJP members who threatened to advance to the speaker’s podium leading Khan to caution, “The presiding officer too has red and yellow cards.”
The BJP members then backed off, but continued shouting slogans like “withdraw the remark or we will not let the house run”.
Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Suresh Pachauri quoted from the book to say: “Under rule 156, if an allegation is made, it has to be proved, but when a member says no allegation has been made, where is the question of proving it?”
As the pandemonium continued, a visibly exasperated Khan stood up and adjourned the house, saying: “The members are not interested in discussing the Mumbai blasts.”
Air Deccan, the premier low-cost airline in the country, has announced the release of two lakh tickets at low fares beginning at Rs499 (plus taxes). The tickets are available for travel between August 1 and 31, 2006 and bookings will begin on July 28, 2006.
Air Deccan has, meanwhile, upstaged government-owned Indian (Indian Airlines), its nearest competitor, to become the second largest airline in the country after Jet Airways. Air Deccan has a 21.2-per cent market share in June, up 1.8 per cent from May 2005 while the market share of Indian had dipped to 20.8 per cent.
Air Deccan has seen phenomenal growth in traffic, having flown over 5.8 million passengers since its inception in August 2003.
The airline has the largest network in India today covering 55 airports plying 265 flights a day. The airline currently operates a brand new fleet of 15 Airbus A 320 Aircraft with an average age of 1.5 years and 20 ATR turboprop aircraft. Air Deccan has placed orders for 96 new aircraft, which will be added to its current fleet in the next eight years.
This phenomenal growth has been attributed to the aggressive expansions undertaken by Air Deccan in the last three years of its operation.
“Air Deccan with its unconventional business model brought the luxury of flying to the common man in India. Dynamic pricing coupled with wide connectivity, rapid expansion of fleet and several other innovative steps enabled us in becoming the second largest airline in the country in such a short period of time. This clearly indicates the appetite that the country has for low cost carriers, and, if we were to go by the current rate of growth we are witnessing, it won’t be long before we become the largest people carrier with the largest fleet offering the largest connectivity and the lowest fares in the country. Amidst the various changes and challenges that we have been through, overwhelming passenger support is one aspect which has remained constant,” said Capt. G R Gopinath, managing director of Air Deccan
Indian Airlines Ltd., is vigorously pursuing all possible means to increase engine availability. This information was given to the Parliament by Shri Praful Patel, Minister for Civil Aviation in the Lok Sabha today.
The Minister added that the Indian Airlines was doing this through outsourcing of engine overhaul to outside agencies, continued retention of three short-term leased engines till January-February 2007, leasing three more engines on short-term basis and implementing the engine upgrade programme. These steps are being taken by Indian Airlines since the grounding of a number of aircrafts are primarily due to shortage of engines.
Normally, about 6 A-320 aircraft remain ground for scheduled maintenance. Presently about 12 A-320 aircraft are grounded for major maintenance/want of engines and for scheduled maintenance checks. They have not been grounded due to shortage parts.
The Indian government is bringing 410 people, including Indians, Sri Lankans and Nepalese, from the strife-torn Lebanon by a special aircraft. They were expected to reach Delhi in the wee hours of Friday.
“In the third round of evacuation being undertaken Thursday, 410 persons are being airlifted by a chartered Air India aircraft, which is expected to reach Delhi at around 0030 hrs (Friday),” Overseas Indian Affairs Minister Vayalar Ravi said in a statement.
In the earlier two rounds of the Operation Sukoon, launched after Israel started attacking Hezbollah militants in south Lebanon a fortnight ago, India evacuated 1,449 people from Beirut to Larnaca in Cyprus by its Naval ships and brought them to Mumbai, Chennai and Delhi by special Air India flights.
At the beginning of the conflict, there were about 12,000 Indians in Lebanon, most of whom are contract workers.
Of the 410 expected to arrive early Friday, 250 are from Punjab, 30 from Tamil Nadu, 16 from Delhi, eight from Kerala and two from Maharashtra, apart from 88 Sri Lankans and 16 Nepal citizens.
Sri Lanka and Nepal have requested India to help evacuate their citizens stranded in Lebanon.
A chartered Indian Airlines flight is expected to carry about 150 passengers to Amritsar from Delhi.
“Rest of the passengers will be carried to their respective destination by connecting flights or road transport with the assistance of Indian Airlines and the state governments.
“Arrangements are also made for food and medical assistance at the airport for all the evacuees,” said Ravi, who has been personally supervising the evacuation operations.
At least one Indian has been killed and four, including a soldier attached to the UN peacekeeping force, have been injured in Israel’s attacks.
The overseas Indian affairs ministry has opened a help desk (contact number: 9910134863) at the Delhi airport for assistance. Moreover, the ministry’s control room operates on 24×7 basis and can be contacted at telephone numbers 91 11 26874250/24197972 and fax number 91 11 24197984.
As many as 12 A-320 aircraft of state-owned carrier Indian Airlines have been grounded for major maintenance or want of engines, the House was informed on Thursday.
“The exact loss of revenue is difficult to compute as different aircraft are under scheduled maintenance or otherwise for different periods of time,” civil aviation minister Praful Patel said in reply to a question.
He said normally about six A-320s remain grounded for maintenance, but currently there were 12 aircraft.
He also said there was no shortage of pilots in Indian, but its subsidiary Alliance Air had a shortage of pilots.
On modernisation of Kolkata and Chennai airports, he said though modalities for implementing the modernisation plans were yet to be decided, the Airports Authority of India has drawn up plans for construction of a new international departure block with car parking facility at an estimated cost of Rs 225 crore at Kolkata.
Gauge conversion projects: The railways have taken up a number of new lines and gauge conversion projects on the basis of socio-economic considerations without stressing on the rate of return, minister of state for railways R Velu said during Question Hour.
These projects were aimed at providing connectivity to backward, hilly, tribal, remote and underdeveloped areas, he said.
GPS to be introduced: In an effort to check railway accidents and ensure punctuality, global positioning system (GPS) is being introduced in trains on three sections under a pilot project, the government said. The project satellite imaging for rail navigation (Simran) is to be completed by March 2008 and will incur a cost of Rs two crore, Velu said in a written reply.
Kale Consultants announced its 4th quarter results where they reported net profit at Rs 1.68 crore against Rs 4.08 crore in the previous quarter. Its income stands at Rs 17 crore vs Rs 17.9 crore, QoQ.
Vipul Jain, MD at Kale Consultants says on a YoY, revenue has grown 31%.
Excerpts from CNBC-TV18’s exclusive interview with Vipul Jain:
Q: If you could first take us through the numbers?
A: In Q1 our revenue grew 31% and our profit after tax grew by 270%.
Q: On a QoQ basis the revenue has been quite flat?
A: Well Q4 for us every year is a quarter, which is where we have larger volumes from our customers and some of our pricing is actually based upon volumes, Q4 is a much higher quarter than any of the quarters. Yes, compared to Q3, the revenue is a little lower but the reference of comparison would actually be the same quarter last year.
Q: How much volume growth have you seen on a YoY basis?
A: On a YoY, our operating revenue has grown 31% and that is the trend, which I think we are likely to continue to see in the rest of the year.
Q: What has been the client addition for the quarter and also what is the average wallet size of your clients?
A: We have added four new customer contracts during this quarter. During this quarter one of the significant customers that we signed was bmi British Midland for revenue accounting services, Indian Airlines where we had signed for a cargo solution, has also gone live, which I think is a very important milestone. In terms of the contract sizes they vary from service or product that we are delivering. But the bmi order is estimated to be about £8 million over five years
Kale Consultants announced its 4th quarter results where they reported net profit at Rs 1.68 crore against Rs 4.08 crore in the previous quarter. Its income stands at Rs 17 crore vs Rs 17.9 crore, QoQ.
Vipul Jain, MD at Kale Consultants says on a YoY, revenue has grown 31%.
Excerpts from CNBC-TV18’s exclusive interview with Vipul Jain:
Q: If you could first take us through the numbers?
A: In Q1 our revenue grew 31% and our profit after tax grew by 270%.
Q: On a QoQ basis the revenue has been quite flat?
A: Well Q4 for us every year is a quarter, which is where we have larger volumes from our customers and some of our pricing is actually based upon volumes, Q4 is a much higher quarter than any of the quarters. Yes, compared to Q3, the revenue is a little lower but the reference of comparison would actually be the same quarter last year.
Q: How much volume growth have you seen on a YoY basis?
A: On a YoY, our operating revenue has grown 31% and that is the trend, which I think we are likely to continue to see in the rest of the year.
Q: What has been the client addition for the quarter and also what is the average wallet size of your clients?
A: We have added four new customer contracts during this quarter. During this quarter one of the significant customers that we signed was bmi British Midland for revenue accounting services, Indian Airlines where we had signed for a cargo solution, has also gone live, which I think is a very important milestone. In terms of the contract sizes they vary from service or product that we are delivering. But the bmi order is estimated to be about £8 million over five years