Airlines Deals

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.