Airlines Deals

Network Advertising, Mumbai, has formally resigned from the Jet Airways business. It had been handling the creative and media duties for the airline brand since the past six years. As per certain industry sources, the size of the business is around Rs 50 crore, including both the brand’s domestic and international spends.

However, the agency has clarified that there are no specific problems/issues involved, and it was an amicable, mutual decision by both the client and the agency to part ways after six years of their association.

Vinod Nair, managing director, Network Advertising, says, “It has been a great journey with Jet Airways over the past six years. We are quite pleased about our role in making the Jet Airways brand what it is today.”

The end of this relationship indicates that Jet Airways will perhaps be on the lookout for a creative/media agency.

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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.”

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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

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GoaAir, the Wadia promoted low cost airline, plans to ink a deal worth Rs 22.25 billion with global jet engine manufacturer CFM International. The company will be acquiring 40 engines from CFM, reports Business Standard.

The airline is negotiating for two different types of jet engines for its Airbus A320 fleet. CFM International is a joint venture between Snecma of France and General Electric Company of the US.

GoAir Managing Director Jeh Wadia confirmed the negotiations were at an advanced stage. However, he also added that nothing has been finalised.

GoAir has recently signed a purchase agreement for 10 Airbus A320 family aircraft with an option for 10 more at Farnborough Air Show in London.

Meanwhile, GoAir has also firmed up plans to set up a maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) facility for aircraft engines, joining hands with an international partner.

The Wadia Group has recently signed an agreement with the engineering arm of Singapore Airlines, SIA Engineering Company, for MRO services for both narrow and wide body aircraft in India.

Launched in November 2005, GoAir operates a fleet of three Airbus A320s with 24 flights covering 13 cities including Jammu & Srinagar. The airline operates with a single class, 180-seat configuration and is planning to expand its fleet to 33 aircraft in three years.

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Private carrier Air Sahara today said it has sacked two of its air hostesses who were involved in a security breach at the official residence of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh here.

The two air hostesses, who were grounded in June on charges of indiscipline and absentism, have been sacked, Air Sahara officials said.

The two air hostesses - Yogita and Veena - had yesterday unauthorizedly drove in a luxury car into the premises of the Prime Minister’s residence along with a male friend Imran.

Air Sahara sources said both of them were recruited in September last year but were suspended and not put on duty since June this year.

They said the two ladies were from Jodhpur but underwent air hostess training in Jaipur.

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Barely two weeks after the Mumbai blast and a nationwide alert, three youngsters in a luxury car managed to breach the most protected and heavily guarded building in the country - the Prime Minister’s residence at 7 Race Course Road – in a prank that has exposed the chinks in the SPG’s supposedly impenetrable armour.

The black Sonata driven by 20-something Yogita on Thursday night shows the ease with which one can breach security arrangements at 7 RCR. Yogita was not only allowed to pass through first security cordon but was not detained when she was stopped at the second cordon.

On any given day, getting into 7 RCR involves a long security drill, with security passes, IDs, mobile phones and even the attire of visitors being thoroughly scrutinised. A justifiable question now is, if despite all this, three people could drive into 7 RCR with such ease, what security implications does this have, especially at a time when LeT and terror threats on sensitive installations are being talked about?

Ssecurity arrangements at 7 RCR is exclusive responsibility of the SPG, or Special Protection Group personnel are required to stop vehicles of anybody - including VVIPs and foreign dignitaries - at the first set of barricades. This was done in the case of the black Sonata. Then, protocol dictates that the car be barred from moving any further, as only the vehicle in which a VVIP is travelling is allowed to go ahead beyond that point.

However, nothing of the sort happened when Yogita, Veena and Imran drove their car inside 7 RCR.

After sending the entire PM security appartus in a tizzy, the three occupants of the Sonata which was driven inside 7 RCR were questioned by a joint team of the SPG and the Delhi Police by the Chanakyapuri Police Station, where the trio had to spend the night.

Till Friday morning, no formal criminal case had been registered against them. All three youngsters had been subjected to a medical checkup, and police said they were waiting for the final report. Sources say however, that they were in an inebriated condition during the incident.

The two girls were identified as Yogita Khatwani and Veena Choudhari, both from Rajasthan. The two girls have claimed that they had completed a course in an airlines academy in Jaipur in September 2005, and formerly worked with Air Sahara – but that, due to indiscipline and lack of attendance, they were asked to leave.

Imran was a friend who accompanied them for a late night drive. The youngsters, who had told the guards at the first security barricade that they were the PM’s relatives, now claim that they just wanted to meet the PM.

Meanwhile, Veena Choudhary’s family in Jaipur has reacted with shock. TIMES NOW correspondent Vishal Barristo spoke with her uncle Col Baldev Choudhari in an exclusive interview.

“I was shell-shocked…it’s a very unfortunate incident, and it was immature on their part,” said the colonel. “She (Veena) rang me up, and asked, ‘Are you watching TV?’ Then she told me that they were on TV because they had gone to meet the PM, and has been let through. I asked how it could be possible, and that they had no business to go there – after all, he’s the PM of India. She sounded thrilled, like she’d climbed Mt Everest. I think it was an impulsive decision, they would not have thought of media attention at the time,” he said.

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The state-owned maharaja is heading back to the aircraft market. In a bid to meet its immediate fleet requirements and replace older planes, Air India is now planning to wet-lease nine wide-bodied jets.

These planes, sources said, would replace jets that were earlier taken on dry lease and their lease period are nearing an end. These aircraft will be used to operate on most of its existing routes, including to US, UK, Canada, Middle East, Japan and South Korea.

“Instead of taking planes on dry lease for three or more years, we decided to wet lease aircraft to meet our requirements,” a source added.

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The man acquitted of the Air India bombing has won the right to limited participation in the public inquiry into the terrorist attack.

Justice John Major has granted intervenor status to Ripudaman Singh Malik

In a brief written ruling, Major cautioned that Malik’s interventions will be limited to challenging “any evidence that directly and adversely affects his reputation.”

Malik and Ajaib Singh Bagri were acquitted last year of criminal charges stemming from the downing of Air India Flight 182 by a terrorist bomb off the coast of Ireland in 1985.

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India has launched a large-scale air and naval evacuation operation pulling out over 700 Indians and nationals of some other countries from trouble-torn Lebanon. The evacuees were ferried to Larnaca in Cyprus by Indian Navy’s INS Mumbai, as part of the mission — ‘Operation Sukoon’. Air India then mounted two special flights of Boeing 747-400s, with a total capacity of about 850, to bring home the stranded.

This is part of one of the largest civilian evacuation operations overseas.

The two special flights would be operated on every alternate day depending on the requirements at Larnaca, AI sources said.

The 608 people, including 23 women and four children, were evacuated by the Indian warship which also ferried 13 people from other countries including Nepal and Sri Lanka. Among those rescued were Lebanese Indians and Indian Americans.

With requests for evacuation being received from hundreds of other Indians amid escalation of fighting, another warship INS Brahmaputra reached Beirut port to rescue more people.

Two more warships — INS Shakti and INS Betwa - are near the Beirut port and will enter the harbor one by one to rescue about 12,000 Indians living in Lebanon.

The second batch of 423 Indians, who were evacuated from Lebanon, arrived in Chennai by a special Air India flight.

The evacuees, mostly from Tamil Nadu and Punjab, were received at the airport by Tamil Nadu Forest Minister N Selvaraj, Dairy Development Minister U Mathivannan and Joint Secretary in the Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs Malay Mishra.

Out of those who arrived, 269 were from Tamil Nadu, 139 from Punjab, nine from Kerala, three from Goa and one each from Mumbai, Hyderabad and Bangalore.

Indian Embassy in Beirut continues to receive requests for evacuation from Indian nationals and is processing these in consultation with the local authorities, External Affairs Ministry spokesman Navtej Sarna said at a joint briefing with Assistant Chief of Naval Staff Rear Admiral Pradeep Chauhan here.

“The evacuation operation will continue in the coming days as required,” Sarna said.

The four warships can take 1,000-1,200 people altogether, Admiral Chauhan said. If the number of requests exceeds 1,000, the four ships will undertake a “shuttle” service to Larnaca.

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Air India website which was down for last more than 18 hours is now operational. The website www.airindia.com was down because of some programming bug. Around noon when Gujaratglobal contacted local area manager office it pleaded ignorance about the problem.

Within couple of hours the web service of India’s national carrier has been restored.

For news in Hindi see our Hindi daily Chaupal Chronicle

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