Aerospace Diary

Neelam Mathews April 29, 2011 Time: 5PM IST Expressing disappointment over the two U.S companies Lockheed Martin and Boeing not having made it to the shortlist of the MMRCA competition, U.S Ambassador to India Timothy J Roemer said to Aerospace Diary at the American Chamber in Delhi today: “The companies are second to none in the world.“ The MoD has been approached by the U.S for a debrief on non-compliance issues on basis of which they were disqualified that were submitted to the vendors. The MoD had not responded to the request at time of going online. “We respect the Indian procurement process, (but) are deeply disappointed ….our technology can lock on to targets 80-90 miles away…(We) don’t believe anybody has that capability now,” said Roemer. While some U.S companies have taken the decision hard and many feel the India- U.S relationship might be at a low ebb, Roemer assured the relationship was a partnership in intelligence, technology, space and homeland security, “that wo...

Neelam Mathews April 28, 2011 Time: 10;25am IST On the heels of two U.S companies- Lockheed Martin and Boeing- not being included in the MMRCA race, U.S. Ambassador to India Timothy J. Roemer today announced his resignation. It is not clear if the two are related. Roemer’s appointment to India is a political one. Ambassador Roemer’s departure, the press release says, is for personal, professional, and family considerations. “When I accepted this job two years ago, I told President Obama that I would serve for two years but that family considerations would be front and center after that,” said Ambassador Roemer.   “During my tenure as Ambassador, the U.S. - India defense partnership has expanded exponentially.  The sale of C130J aircraft and the pending sale of C-17s strengthen the strategic partnership between our two countries, and demonstrates our enduring commitment to sharing the world’s best technology with India.  Our defense partnership offers economi...

Neelam Mathews April 27, 2011 Time: 8:17 PM IST The Ministry of Defense is believed to have shortlisted two vendors- Dassault Aviation Rafale and Cassidian’s Eurofighter – for the Indian Air Force 126 Medium Multi Role Combat Aircraft bid. It is not clear how geo-politics will play a part as far as Boeing’s F/A/18 goes. India’s Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) is also expected to meet on April 28 to clear the around $5.5billion order for ten C-17s. India expects to order around 16 more C-17s. The commercial bid for the contract expires on midnight of April 28. The down selected vendors will be asked to submit their revised offsets proposals by October/November this year. It is increasingly being understood the MMRCA project will accrue benefits of the soon-to be re-revised Defense Procurement Policy 2011, instead of the DPP 2006 it was originally covered under. DPP 2006 does not recognize banking of offsets, among other clauses. The re-jigged DPP 2011, announced in January ...

EXCLUSIVE Neelam Mathews April 26, 2011 Time: 6:50PM IST The Supreme Court of India has struck down a plea to charge an Airport Development Fee (ADF) by developers of Mumbai international airport, GVK Power & Infrastructure. Contrary to reports in the local media, the fee will continue to be charged by Delhi International Airport following the approval of the Airport Economic   Regulatory Authority (AERA) (that cannot be overruled). On MIAL, the Supreme Court has said the fee cannot be levied without framing of rules, Aerospace Diary learns. Passengers at Mumbai airport will now not have to pay an additional amount for landing or taking off the airport.

BREAKING Neelam Mathews April 25, 2011 Time: 9:10 PM IST Organisers and builders of the Formula One Grand Prix racetrack called the Buddh International Circuit under construction near Greater Noida, on the outskirts of New Delhi, Jaypee Sports International (JPSI) is planning to operate three helicopters solely for emergency medical services for the week of Oct 24. JPSI has signed an agreement with Fortis Hospitals for emergency aid. The helicopters are likely to be leased from Pawan Hans. The company expects to receive 15,000 visitors from abroad. “”For this we are tying up with the Delhi International Airport to (extend) hospitality…..around 4000 rooms that were to be ready for the Commonwealth Games, can now be gainfully  used for F1 guests,” said Sameer Gaur , managing director and CEO, Jaypee Sports. Helicopter operators in India have been proposing the launch of such a service in India for years. While the Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has already issued ...

Neelam Mathews April 22, 2011 Time: 6:30 PM IST Bangkok Airways is looking to expand in India having applied for rights to operate flights to Bangalore and Chennai from Bangkok. Subject to approval, flights to Bangalore route may start this year, followed by Chennai in 2012.  Kingfisher Airlines has added a third daily frequency between of Bangalore and Pune.  An estimated 413,000 O&D passengers travelled between the two destinations in the past year. Jet Airways offers 13 flights per week, while IndiGo and SpiceJet each offer one flight per day. Budget flydubai is to launch flights to Jeddah and Riyadh in early May, increasing destinations in Saudi Arabia to five. Singapore Airlines says it will increase fuel surcharge on tickets issued after April 21 as jet fuel prices have risen over 30 percent since Jan 1. Virgin Atlantic will be re-starting direct flights from London Heathrow to Chicago on May 9 four times a week and then increasing to a daily from May 22. Ae...

Press Release Posted: Neelam Mathews April 21, 2011 Mumbai International Airport Pvt Ltd (MIAL) has been consistently working on creating an upgraded airside infrastructure at the Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport (CSIA) in Mumbai for the long term benefit of the aviation industry. The runway and taxiway network at CSIA has been enhanced to reduce runway occupancy time for aircraft movements. New taxiways have been constructed, and the secondary runway 14/32 has been reconstructed. The entire Airfield Ground Lighting System (AGL) for these areas was upgraded as well. Presently, reconstruction of the primary runway 09/27 is being undertaken in three phases which commenced from September 23, 2010 and is scheduled to be completed by June 30, 2011. During the current closure of the primary runway 09/27, the work on AGL is being carried out all along runway 09/27, except for the intersection. For shifting and realigning of Runway Edge Lights and Centerline Lights of the run...

Press Release Posted- Neelam Mathews April 21, 2011   Air India has introduced “ Date Range Fares ” effective April 20, 2011 to make air travel during the holiday season convenient, comfortable, easy and economical. “This initiative from the national carrier is aimed at increasing air travel on our flights during the summer holidays and improving the seat factor in the coming months”, said the Air India spokesperson.   The special fares are available on select 141 sectors on the domestic network from April 20, 2011.  Passengers can book their tickets 3 days or 5 days prior to their date of departure.  Under the D3 scheme , there should be a minimum of 3 days between the date of purchase and date of travel. If a passenger purchases the ticket on April 24, 2011, the travel should be on or after April 27, 2011. Similarly under the D5 Fare , the intervening period should have five days and for the passenger purchasing the ticket on April 24, 2011 the trave...

Neelam Mathews April 20, 2011 Time: 11:15 P.M IST Even as the Offset policy guidelines were expanded to include civil aerospace, internal security and training in January, further additions are now expected. “There will be changes (to be announced) in April,” Minister of State for Defense M.M Pallam Raju told Aerospace Diary at the 2 nd National Manufacturing and Innovation Summit. This was reaffirmed by Vivek Rae, Director General Acquisitions, who said the MoD was “modifying offset guidelines in the near future.” The “revised” procedures in the DPP 2011 will include transfer of technology, which Raju confirmed was “a ticklish issue,” but needed to be addressed. It is also likely that the offsets banking time-lines will be extended from two to five years. Raju was emphatic that the Medium Multi Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) order would not be covered under the DPP 2011. When asked if not including the around $10billion project under DPP 2011 would be counterproductive to help ...

Neelam Mathews April 19, 2011 Time: 10;25am IST Even as Richard Branson is unveiled as an AirAsia flight attendant on May 2 - having lost a bet to Tony Fernandes of Air Asia – no one is quite sure what it will cost the highest bidder to shave his legs for charity! “As an AirAsia flight attendant, Richard would have to comply to our grooming standards …… Richard and I thought we could have a bit of fun, engage with our guests and raise more money for charity if we opened up the opportunity to the highest bidder. It’s the first time we’ve both agreed on anything so that in itself is worth the price of the opening bid,” said T ony Fernandes, Group CEO of AirAsia Berhad & Principal of Team Lotus. Bidders must have a confirmed ticket for the charity flight or to the Charity Evening. Bidding will take place at the pre-departure event in Stansted.     Onboard AirAsia flight D7 08 from London to Kuala Lumpur, Sir Richard will don AirAsia ’s famous red female flight...

Press Release by ISRO Filed by Neelam Mathews April 18, 2011 11.50PM IST  The Launch Authorisation Board (LAB) for PSLV-C16/RESOURCESAT-2 mission, which met on April 16, 2011 at Satish Dhawan Space Centre - SHAR, Sriharikota has cleared the launch of PSLV-C16 at 10:12 hrs (IST) on Wednesday, April 20, 2011. LAB reviewed the readiness of the launch vehicle, spacecraft systems and ground stations and has authorised the commencement of the 54 hour Count Down during the early hours of April 18, 2011. During the Count Down, propellant-filling operations of the liquid propellant second stage (PS2) and fourth stage (PS4) of the launch vehicle will be carried out. Mandatory checks on the launch vehicle and spacecraft - including charging of batteries and pressurisation of propellant tanks will be performed. Readiness of launch infrastructure such as tracking radar systems and communication networks will also be checked. PSLV-C16 will launch RESOURCESAT-2, YOUTHSAT and ...

Neelam Mathews April 18, 2011 Time: 11:40pm   IST Following a host of wannabes that made announcements on their intent to start regional carriers, the recession in 2009 put a halt to most plans. Now, India might now get its first regional carrier, AkashGanga Airlines expected to start its services within three months with two Embraer 140 jets. The airline will use Lucknow’s Amausi International Airport as its main base, which will also serve as the operations hub.  DGCA recently loosened its guidelines to help smaller regional carriers take off. It now allows regionals a fleet size of three aircraft within two years instead of one year. The airline was conceived after detailed study and analysis because of the existing requirements/needs and the lack of connectivity between routes and networks it plans to operate, says a statement. Aerospace Daily learns it is looking to fly between what seems to be, an uncommon untried route from Lucknow to Kochi. The networks ident...

Neelam Mathews April 18, 2011 Time: 6:45PM IST Even as the first Airbus Military A330 Multi Role Tanker Transport (MRTT) for the United Arab Emirates Air Force has completed its maiden flight and the first of three ordered by the UAE Air Force will be transferred to Abu Dhabi around the end of the year for the final phase of flight-testing and delivery in the second quarter of 2012, India’s bid for its own MRTT, continues to remain in limbo. The Request for Proposals (RFP) for six tankers has been released twice over the past four years. In pursuit of the around $2 billion IAF tanker program, two main competitors have emerged – the Ilyushin Il-78s and the Airbus A330 MRTT- the re-trials for which are yet to be announced.  One wonders at the stoicism and perseverance of these companies that are willing to spend millions of dollars on bids and the indecisiveness of the Indian government that will ultimately result in India paying for higher procurement costs. Last year, the Mi...

Neelam Mathews April 16, 2011 Time: 12:45PM IST Air Seychelles , is consolidating its operations under a new management,. It will cease weekly flights to Chennai started in November last year as part of an initial plan to make Chennai its hub. The carrier will resume direct flights to Singapore begining June. As rising fuel costs become the difference between survival and death, Air India is lowering fares by 20-30 percent on certain routes. Bangkok Airways is looking to operate scheduled daily flights to Bangalore and Chennai from Bangkok, possibly by the end of this year and Chennai by early next year. The carrier started flying to Mumbai in March, now wants to convert its flights to daily from six a week. Afghanistan 's newest cargo airline East Horizon Airlines having taken delivery of its first aircraft, is looking at UAE, Western China and India. It has acquired four CASA 212-00 ramp-loading cargo planes from EADS CASA. NORTHEAST Shuttles , a non-scheduled chartered...

April 16, 2011 Neelam Mathews Time: 11:05Am IST A new engineering center for aircraft systems software, electronics analysis and design and development has been launched jointly by Hamilton Sundstrand, a subsidiary of United Technologies and Infotech Enterprises. Infotech is a supplier for the Hamilton Sundstrand Embedded Systems Software and Electronics (ESSE) center of excellence that started operations in 2010 employing around 100 software and electronics engineers This new center of excellence builds on the relationship Hamilton Sundstrand established with Infotech in 2005,” said Alain Bellemare, President, Hamilton Sundstrand . “We have found Infotech to be a great team player and we are confident this agreement will help us stay competitive in the global aerospace market. ” B.V.R Mohan Reddy is the Chairman and Managing Director of Infotech Enterprises that has its headquarter in Hyderabad, India. Infotech has 8,000 associates across 30 locations.

EXCLUSIVE Neelam Mathews April 14, 2011 Time: 12:51AM IST Even as Air India comes closer to joining Star Alliance in July, it has identified four airports in Europe for its hub for onward flights to Europe and the U.S. The decision is expected in the April/May time frame, Arvind Jadhav, Chairman and Managing Director, Air India, told Aerospace Diary. Jadhav said the carrier was viewing the most northernmost to the southernmost (airports for its hub) in Europe. "Air India needs a European hub as its direct North American routes are not paying, not least because they are using fuel to carry fuel,” an airline official says. Copenhagen , Dublin, Birmingham and Madrid are the contenders to Air India’s business, Aerospace Diary learns. Of these, only Copenhagen has a Star member –SAS Scandanavian Airlines - using the airport as its hub. Jadhav indicated he was clear that it would be economics that ruled his decision on the choice of the hub. “We need to hub over Europe with some ...

EXCLUSIVE March 13, 2011 Time: 5:30PM IST Neelam Mathews A defense delegation from the Slovak Republic was recently in Delhi to tap opportunities in trade (import/export), joint ventures, technology transfer, investment and development,. It specifically identified  areas of  cooperation in  the domain of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises. The Slovak Republic is a m ember of the European Union, NATO, OECD and WTO with one of the fastest growth rates in the EU with a GDP of $121.3 billion (2010). Ľubomír Galko minister of defense spoke exclusively to Aerospacediary outlining his mission. Excerpts: What are the projects in defense you are looking at? MoD- India is the world’s largest democracy and the importance of India, as well as the importance of Asia is significantly increasing. The 21st century is the Asia century. Therefore it is natural, that Slovakia has an enormous interest in extensive cooperation with India. We would like to follow the cooperation w...

Neelam Mathews April 12, 2011 Time: 8:10 PM IST Religare Flysims, a subsidiary of Religare Aviation Training Academy, has aquired from Montreal-based Mechtronix Systems, a B200 Ascent Turboprop trainer Flight Simulation Training Device (FSTD). The simulator, the first of its type and operational by the end of April 2011, is being   installed at a training facility being set up in Mumbai. “It will enable Flysims to widen its training capabilities and offer multi crew coordination, Instrument Rating and Visual Flight Rating courses,” says a statement. The FSTD is configured as a twin turboprop with conversion kits to single and multi-engine piston aircraft and will be evaluated by the Indian regulator, Directorate General Civil Aviation (DGCA) for qualification equivalent to JAR FSTD A FNPT II MCC. “The Mechtronix simulator will help strengthen our position not only in the Indian market but it will also help us make inroads into the international aviation training market,...

Neelam Mathews March 12, 2011 Time Released: 1:17 AM IST The first product emanating from the joint venture signed between Larsen & Toubro and Cassidian Electronics (74%-26% stake) will roll out in the third quarter of 2011, Bernd Wenzler, CEO Cassidian Electronics says. The JV will be active in electronic warfare, airborne technologies, avionics, radars and mobile systems. The agreement is (mutually) exclusive to the two companies in the defense electronics domain. “We will transfer technology which we are allowed to transfer, first, to our engineering center in Bangalore and then to L&T for products (customized) for the Indian market. We will also look at selling them to the global market place.” Wenzler estimates the business just for India's domestic needs will be worth around $500million in ten years. The JV company is based in Talegaon, near Pune. Trust in the private partner is apparent. “We feel IPR issues are easy to deal with if we have a partner we can trus...

April 8, 2011 Neelam Mathews Qatar Airways has appointed Marwan Koleilat as its Chief Commercial Officer responsible for all commercial operations. The carrier operates a fleet of 97 aircraft to 100 destinations.

EXCLUSIVE Filed at- 12:30pm IST April 8, 2011 Neelam Mathews Bangalore-based SATTVA Aero Accessories and Systems is entering into indigenous design, development and production of electrical motors, electrical generators, hydraulic systems and actuators for the aerospace industry. Set up three former HAL executives , AASPL has delivered certified Main and Nose Landing Gear Actuators for the Light Transport Aircraft SARAS, FFF electrical generators of 5 kW and 20 kW for military aviation, 12 kW starter motor for civil aviation and Electro Mechanical Linear Actuator (EMLA) for surface actuation system designed and developed by the company. “Our USP is development of line-replaceable units for the aerospace industry in India..We can also overhaul and maintain them,” says founder S.K.B Parekh who headed Quality, Design and Independent Business Unit of HAL Aircraft Accessories. LRUs improve maintenance operations, because they can be stocked and replaced quickly from on-site inventor...

Brief News- no views! April 8, 2011 Neelam Mathews Brief News- no views! April 8, 2011 Neelam Mathews American Airlines daily nonstop flight from Chicago to Delhi will now land at a convenient time of 5.45pm; three hours earlier than previously scheduled. This opens up same day connection opportunities for those connecting to domestic flights. Over 20 onward connection destinations are now available following the change, including multiple flights to cities of Mumbai, Hyderabad, Chennai and Bangalore. South African Airways will start its Airbus A330 service to India from mid-May 2011. Air India ’s low cost arm, Air India Express will now fly from Kochi, Kozhikode and Thiruvananthapuram to Saudi Arabia’s Dammam using Boeing 737-800s of Air India Express under its ‘IX’ code, although Air India’s own ‘AI’ code will also appear as part of a codeshare arrangement. Kozhikode – Dammam, previously flown twice weekly, will now be served four times weekly. Saudi...

Exclusive Time: 11.26 AM IST April 5, 2011 Neelam Mathews As the government looks at announcing more clauses to its defense offsets policy this summer, expected to  now include transfer of technology, OEMs could be looking at titanium as a way of meeting the country's obligatory offset requirements. With civil aviation included under the defense offsets umbrella and new gen aircraft like the Boeing 787 requiring lighter metals, this might prove to be a winner, officials say. While there are efforts in this direction already, ( http://aerospacediary.blogspot.com/2010/12/titanium-supply-could-become-part-of.html ), India remains a slow starter.  India is estimated to import around 60,000 tons of titanium dioxide every year. Interestingly during question hour in parliament last year, one of the reasons for the delay in developing the Kaveri engine for the LCA was attributed to the  non-availability of critical materials, such as  nickel and titanium based alloys ...