Aerospace Diary

Neelam Mathews Oct 31, 2012 Jet Airways may soon be moving its international operations to Munich, Aerospace Diary learns. While  Brussels Airport was geared to handle 6 Jet flights a day with seamless activity, the carrier's expansion plans for adding more flights connecting Bangalore, Hyderabad and perhaps Chicago and Washington DC, will make the terminal small for handling the six existing plus four proposed flights, it is learnt. We hear that most of the senior managers have not been informed about the change. Since Munich is a busy airport, Jet will face considerable competition there as Brussels was a virtual monopoly. For example, Chennai-Brussels-JFK will now be MAA-MRU-JFK. "Now Jet cannot use 332s. Compare that to Lufthansa's 380... which will at a lower cost...Hence they should add capacity to BRU," an analyst says. "They (Jet)  should have connected to further points long ago..... Since 2007 they have been operating the same flights...

Neelam Mathews Oct 30, 2012 Textron has announced Ellen Lord has been named president and CEO of its Textron Systems segment. She succeeds Fred Strader who is retiring from the company. Lord has been serving as the senior vice president and general manager of Textron Defense Systems (TDS), an operating unit of Textron Systems that manufactures smart weapons as well as advanced intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance and protection systems. Lord will report directly to Textron Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Scott Donnelly. “Since taking over the leadership of TDS in January 2011.

AIN AIR TRANSPORT PERSPECTIVE  »  OCTOBER 29, 2012 by    NEELAM MATHEWS Kingfisher has lost the services of its Airbus A330-200s, one of which authorities impounded at London Heathrow Airport due to unpaid debts. (Photo: Airbus) October 29, 2012, 10:45 AM Striking pilots and engineers of India’s Kingfisher Airlines have accepted a three-month portion of their eight months of unpaid salaries and agreed to return to work, even as management struggles to get its suspended Scheduled Operator’s Permit   reinstated. Still, civil aviation minister Ajit Singh warned that paying salaries alone would not guarantee that Kingfisher would fly again.   “I think the Kingfisher problem is much bigger; even if they pay the salaries today, are they going to take off and fly? I don’t think so,” he said. “They have to give a very viable, financially sound plan, that they can maintain the schedule, pay the taxes, pay the oil companies, pay ...

Neelam Mathews Oct 29, 2012 Even as State Minister for Defense, soft spoken and erudite MM Pallam Raju is upgraded as HRD Minister, Jitendra Singh is the new MOS. Interestingly he also holds M inister of State (MoS) with Independent Charge of Youth Affairs and Sports. Guess sport and defense are a good mix? Here's a video for you to get a feel of the new soldier to join the political ranks-

                                                       Neelam Mathews                                                        Oct 29, 2 012  

Posted by- Neelam Mathews Oct 28, 2012 Having passed the enlistment physical, Jon was askedbythe doctor, "Why do you want to join the Navy, son?" "My father said it'd be a good idea, sir." "Oh? And what does your father do?" "He's in the Army, sir."

Neelam Mathews Oct 28, 2012 "I've always been available (to my staff) says Vijay Mallya who just returned to attend the Formula One Grand Prix after weeks of absence and a 23-day of lockout following striking employees.

AIN AIR TRANSPORT PERSPECTIVE  »  OCTOBER 22, 2012 by    NEELAM MATHEWS Kazakhstan flag carrier Air Astana wants to expand its network in Asia and could seek bilateral alliances with operators such as Royal Jordanian. October 22, 2012, 11:50 AM As oil and gas wells overflow in Kazakhstan, Air Astana–the national carrier of the newly enriched former Soviet republic–is looking deep into Asia to expand its network. Its inclusion on the  European Union blacklist , which frustrates its ambitions to expand west, lies at the heart of its strategy. Air Astana’s discussions over a code-share partnership with Royal Jordanian, which follows an analogous strategy, is no coincidence. Royal Jordanian has developed Amman into a hub for the Levant region, straddling western Asia, the eastern Mediterranean and northeast Africa. As in central Asia, small and relatively weak flag carriers traditionally have served the region, according to inde...

Neelam Mathews Oct 25, 201 India’s quest to acquire man-portable Javelins- anti-tank guided missiles- under the Foreign Military Sales route, is not moving. India has not as yet sent the Letter of Request (LOR) that was to go out in 2010.  U.S secretary of defense Leon Panetta on a visit this year to India had  said the US was committed” to providing the weapon to India.  This came in the background of reports the deal was in jeopardy as the US was cutting down on quantity requested.  Panetta reassured: “We have not cut the quantity... I want to reassure that we are committed to the sale of Javelin to India..."  Panetta did admit there had been bureaucratic delays.” We learn one of the reasons for the delay has been caused as   a  result of a senior executive in the US State Dept who felt the numbers asked for by India were “excessive.”   Now, this  must have our babus smiling. They finally met their match!

Neelam Mathews Oct 25, 2012 That the way Kingfisher Airlines and the ministry of civil aviation are reacting to, and handling  the present  crisis, is something nobody is able to fathom. Give them that- they have kept the industry pondering and speculating.   Do they want to close the airline or not is the question. While we here at Aerospace Diary are a dot in this vast confused ocean of thoughts, we have believed for a year now that the carrier wants to bring its fleet strength to the five minimum to retain its license and slots. That would mean a staff strength of just 500 if they run on the Delhi-Mumbai route. This would also mean just having to retain 60 captains and copilots, 60 engineers,a crew of 100 and skeleton ground staff. So, all those employees in hope of getting their 8 month salaries and hoping to see crackers lit at Diwali, there may be some time time yet to open the bubbly. But, that’s just speculation………..

Neelam Mathews Oct 23, 2012 As Sanjay Agarwal, CEO of Kingfisher Airlines bravely battled his way through through a barage of tough questions yesterday from journalists and staff during the day,one couldn't but help admire his fortitude, given that his boss is in hiding. There are many in the industry who say this effort by the airline is primarily, to stop employees creating a rukkus outside the Formula One race track in Greater Noida as they have threatened to do, to embarrass the Force India team owner, Vijay Mallya. Or else, how come the management, that has been so cagey with the buck, suddenly comes up with an offer for one month's salary and upped it to three months within hours? Also, call it intuition, but I am seeing a chasm developing between the engineers on their decision to go back to work. Any guesses? Lets not forget, the airline needs engineers and pilots to run just 5-7 planes. And when Agarwal said at the press conference there were just 1500 people...

Posted by- Neelam Mathews Oct 22, 2012

Neelam Mathews Oct 22, 2012 A familiar face to India since 1976, William (Bill) Blair, President, Raytheon India, will be moving to Singapore by the end of this year. He will take over as Raytheon Head of Asia Pacific, that will include India. Aerospace Diary was able to confirm this news. Congrats to Bill, who we have known since his GE stint in India when he worked hard to start the technology center in Bangalore. In the past few years, Raytheon has made many more footprints into India's civil and defense sector.

By- SUBHASH CHANDRA AGRAWAL (Guinness Record Holder & RTI Activist) With curtains now finally lowered by authorities ordering suspension of air-licence for Kingfisher, Union government should take immediate steps to ensure recovery of public-funds including a debt of rupees seven thousand crores of public-sector banks before Vijay Mallya succeeds in his efforts to save his enormous property and assets in his other money-minting companies from recovery-proceedings of Kingfisher Airlines.  Passports of Vijay Mallya and his family-members should be impounded. System should be that such defaulters of public-money may not be allowed to remain in legislature with serious attempts made to make Vijay Malalya resign/sacked from membership of Parliament.   It is indeed surprising and shocking that such steps were not initiated by Union government till now despite families of staff of Kingfisher Airlines not being paid salary for last so many months leading to suicide ...

Neelam Mathews Oct 22, 2012 Enjoy!

Neelam Mathews Oct 21, 2012

Neelam Mathews Oct 20, 2012 Even as Kingfisher’s deadline to present a valid restructuring plan ended today, DGCA has suspended its license. Now, by the looks of it, some 4000 employees and their families will have a dark Diwali and be left without 8 months salary dues. The King of Good Times, remains just that. We hear that plans for parties for Formula One are afoot. Is there no such thing as bad karma?

      AIN DEFENSE PERSPECTIVE  »  OCTOBER 19, 2012 by    NEELAM MATHEWS According to Honeywell, the Indian version of the F125 will drop-fit into the country’s Jaguar strike aircraft engine bays. (Photo: Honeywell) October 19, 2012, 10:55 AM Honeywell has been asked to quote for the supply of 270  F125IN  turbofan engines to replace the twin Rolls-Royce Adour Mk 821s on India’s 125-strong fleet of Jaguar strike aircraft. The F125IN  is 600 pounds lighter than the Adour and is expected to enable 25-percent-shorter hot-and-high takeoffs. India’s Jaguars have become overweight and underpowered as a result of avionics and systems upgrades. Rolls-Royce previously pitched for an upgrade to the Jaguar’s existing engines, claiming that this would minimize aircraft integration issues, use existing infrastructure at Hindustan Aeronautics ( HAL ) and provide economies of scale with the HAL -built  ...

Neelam Mathews Oct 19, 2012 AI Flt 4422- So much for service or lack of it! And lack of crisis management! Where is the CSF?

Neelam Mathews Oct 19, 2012 So, now the buzz between the Kingfisher staff is that Emirates will be buying the airline. Another rumor says the CEO was in London last week to plead to his employer to hire expat crew for the 5 planes they probably want to run. Wonder who started these rumors???? Because by now- with sincere apologies to the KFA remaining staff- you really live up to the saying: "Hope springs eternal in the human breast."  Moving on, either the airline and the government thinks we the people of India are really stupid or, infact, we really are! I'm begining to think increasingly, we fall into the latter category. Or else why should anybody fall for the third press release sent within a week or two? Here it goes- Credits-Manjul Kingfisher Airlines has extended the partial lockout until October 23, 2012. We had a positive meeting with employee representatives on October 17th and are hopeful of reaching common ground when we meet again next week....

AINALERTS  »  OCTOBER 18, 2012 by    NEELAM MATHEWS October 18, 2012, 3:25 PM The Indian government looks set to reform complex rules that have made it hard for charter operators to expand services. The country’s Business Aviation Operators Association ( BAOA ) is in talks with the Ministry of Civil Aviation to permit nonscheduled operators to enter into codeshares with scheduled airlines to provide feeder services to remote destinations with short and unpaved runways. “Discussions are also on for [merging] the scheduled operator permit with the nonscheduled operator’s permit [ NSOP ] under a common air operator permit, as is the global norm,”  BAOA  president Rohit Kapur told  AIN . As things stand  NSOP  operators cannot legally publish or advertise flight departures or sell tickets to individual passengers. In practice they have to quietly take bookings from passengers and then coordinate the departur...