Aerospace Diary

Neelam Mathews July 31, 2013 Restructuring of EADS will begin in January 2014 and will be completed in the second half of the year. But EADS says several approval procedures, including consultation with personnel, will need to be undertaken first. Airbus, the greatest contributor to EADS's revenues, will remain as the brand for the commercial aircraft division. EADS chief Tom Enders says this recognises the "predominance" of the commercial sector in the group. "The renaming simply gathers the entire company under the best brand we have, one that stands for internationalisation, innovation and integration," he adds. Airbus Military - which builds the A400M transport - as well as the Astrium and Cassidian units, will be integrated into Airbus Defence & Space, based in Munich. This is to respond to the "changing market environment", particularly the "flat, or even shrinking" budgets in these sectors, says EADS. The Eurocopt...

Senior Manager, Corporate Communications Rolls-Royce   -  Delhi -Delhi -India (New Delhi Area, India) Job Description ROLE PROFILE The successful candidate will be responsible for building and defending the reputation of Rolls-Royce in India in support of the company?s business objectives. A key member of the Corporate Affairs team in Asia Pacific, interaction with the Regional Directors and CFBU in country teams is critical to success of the role. The role will report to the Head of Communications, Asia Pacific & the Middle East, with a dotted line to the Regional Director of India. Portfolio markets · Key market: India · Watch & brief markets: Sri Lanka, Bangladesh Purpose To support the Head of Communications, Asia Pacific & the Middle East in the delivery of corporate communications that help shape the environment in which the company does business and to manage the perceptions of key external stakeholders. Key priorities are: · Raise awareness of t...

Neelam Mathews July 31, 2013 As media reports indicate, we hear there is frentic activity in SpiceJet's head office in Chennai to wind up a deal.  We are also hearing there is a private equity or a venture capital firm looking at a minority stake in the airline. Whether it is on behalf of an airline, is not clear. An analyst recently told AerospaceDiary that the carrier was even ready to sell out. Tough times when everybody is bleeding, some more than the others. Today the Rupee hit 61 to a dollar- an indication that interest by foreigners with deep pockets willing to look at the sector long term, might just see cash registers ringing as they expect to get good deals. Suitors for SpiceJet in the past (maybe future!) could be Hainan Airlines that was interested over a year ago, RAK Airways, a cash cow- not sure about its connection with Etihad and Turkish Airlines that has an eye to become a hub connecting the east to the west.

A story by me related to construction- however it shows the ailing state of bureaucratic decision making. 07/02/2013 By Neelam Mathews Related Links: China and India Vie For Work in Surrounding Nations India Unveils Annual Budget to Skittish Infra Investors ----- Advertising ----- Chinese firms are eyeing construction  projects  in India for future revenue growth but already are beginning to see the constraints of doing business there. Long waits for visas, clearance issues and other factors stand in the way. Still, many industry experts expect the list of Sino-Indian projects to expand soon. Trade between the once warring neighbors exceeded $66 billion in 2012 and is expected to reach $100 billion by 2015, according to the Chinese Ministry of Commerce. Geopolitics also is playing a part as the two nations recently held talks on resolving border conflicts and discussing a road map to reach a dynamic balance in bilateral trade. India has a trade deficit ...

Posted by - Neelam Mathews July 21, 2013 An incident with Sukhoi Superjet 100 tail number 97005 occured today at Keflavik International Airport (Reykjavik, Iceland) during    trials on expanding operational conditions. The aircraft touched the runway with retracted landing gear while it was trying to execute CAT III A with strong crosswind conditions as part of additional certification. There were five people on board: three crew members, two certification center experts. One of the experts damaged his leg during evacuation At the time of the incident all aircraft systems were functioning normally. Based on SCAC preliminary estimation the aircraft will be restored and returned back to test flights program, says Sukho i.

Neelam Mathews July 20, 2013  The government can cry itself hoarse over how it wants to develop its regional airport policy and even make announcements on how well the projects are doing, but it is clear that things are far from what they seem. Reality bites. Finally somebody had the gall to take legal action against an ineffective, inefficient, staid system. Pushed to take legal recourse due to lack of response from JV partner and sister companies, promoters of Regional Airport-Holdings International Limited (RAHI), a joint-venture between Rahi Aviation Holdings Pvt. Ltd. (RAH) and IL&FS Transportation Networks Ltd announced that a series of legal actions had been initiated against IL&FS, ITNL, IL&FS Engineering (IECCL, earlier known as Maytas) and others, “in the wake of the Gulbarga and Shimoga Airport Projects languishing for want of appropriate responses from IL&FS.” RAHI came in with dreams of building 99 airports and I can attest to the passion ...

AIN DEFENSE PERSPECTIVE  »  JULY 19, 2013 by    NEELAM MATHEWS Indian commerce minister Anand Sharma (Photo: Ministry of Commerce, India) July 19, 2013, 11:45 AM Indian commerce minister Anand Sharma announced the raising of the country’s cap on foreign direct investment ( FDI ) in 13 important industrial sectors, including defense. But while the defense industry was expecting the cap to be raised to 49 percent from the present 26 percent, Sharma said that defense proposals for more than 26 percent will be permitted only for state-of-the art technology for which, the Cabinet Committee on Security ( CCS ), a body that decides on matters of national security, will consider any proposals “on a case-by-case basis.” Because “state-of-the-art” products were not defined, it falls to the Ministry of Defense to make the decision, said Sharma. “So what’s new? This is a classic case of pulling wool over eyes to show India has made ...

Neelam Mathews July 16, 2013 Talk of pulling over the eyes. Minister of  Commerce has announced 'state-of-the art' defense technology products asking for over 26% FDI would need clearance from CCS. Asked to define 'state of the art', the reporter was told to check with MoD. As one official jokingly told Aerospace Diary- "Now the big Indian fish will rejoice and the small ones will mourn." Wonder what the OEMs are thinking! So what has really changed? A case-to-case basis for FDI in defense upto 49% was already there.And we know how many OEMs learnt the hard way that it wasn't an easy hurdle to overcome. Is this a case of the defense minister getting his way and a face saving for the rest? So, are we back to square one?

Neelam Mathews July 16, 2013 Investigators of Britain's Air Accident Investigations Branch (AAIB), and FAA  are looking into whether a fire on  the Ethiopian 787 at LHR l ast week was caused by the battery of an emergency locator transmitter  built by Honeywell International. Powered by a non-rechargeable lithium-manganese battery, the ELT is located in the aft fuselage section. Airlines were told in 2009 by the FAA to replace a Honeywell transmitter that had failed in tests. Honeywell is believed to be checking whether the transmitter on the Ethiopian Airlines was the same model as the one named by FAA.

 AIN DEFENSE PERSPECTIVE » JULY 12, 2013 by    NEELAM MATHEWS The Indian Air Force operates a fleet of more than 100 Antonov An-32 turboprops (offshoots of the An-26), a possible replacement for the service’s aging Avro/Hawker Siddeley HS.748Ms. (Photo: Antonov) July 12, 2013, 9:45 AM India will likely extend the submission deadline of a request for proposals ( RFP ) to replace the Indian Air Force’s aging Avro/Hawker Siddeley  HS .748M turboprops by another month, a defense ministry official told  AIN . The deadline is currently October 8; however, manufacturers face a challenge in identifying private partners in India that have adequate facilities for final assembly and component and sub-system manufacture of the replacement aircraft. I ndian government-owned companies are not allowed to participate in the  HS .748 replacement bid, a first for defense procurement. The winning vendor will be expected to deliver 1...

July 15, 2013 Posted by Neelam Mathews One MiG–21 aircraft of IAF crashed at Uttarlai airbase on 15 Jul 2013 at about 9.30am. The aircraft was airborne from Uttarlai on a routine flying training sortie. The pilot sustained fatal injuries. There is no reported damage to any civil life or property. A Court of Inquiry has been ordered to investigate into the accident.

AINONLINE by    NEELAM MATHEWS With removal from the EU’s safety black list, PAL can now fully justify its acquisition of Airbus A330s (below) along with A321s. (Image: Airbus) July 11, 2013, 12:28 PM Philippine Airlines ( PAL ) has become the Philippines’ first and only carrier removed from the  EU  air safety black list, an operating ban imposed three years ago within the 28-state European Union ( EU ). Meanwhile, the  U.S.  Federal Aviation Administration has begun to reassess the Category 2 rating it issued to  PAL  in 2009. Category 2 carriers cannot start new services to the  U.S.   FAA  safety inspectors arrived in the Philippines a few weeks ago, leaving  PAL  executives hopeful that they can soon proceed with plans to expand services into the  U.S. Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines ( CAAP ) director-general William Hotchkiss said raising safety standards had r...

July 11, 2013

Neelam Mathews July 11, 2013 Just received an email from one of our readers- There are rumors that at last MOCA is considering reducing the international operations eligibility aircraft numbers from 20 to 10 in order to attract more foreign money to India. Isn't it stupidity for the Government to stick on 20 aircraft policy to fly international when foreign carriers with just one or two aircraft fly to/from India without any such restrictions? Anybody aware of the real status of the talks?? Folks, do feel free to send in your views.

Posted by- Neelam  Mathews Jul 10,2013 Norbert Ducrot has been appointed the President and CEO of Eurocopter China. Ducrot’s new role is in addition to continuing his responsibilities as the Eurocopter Senior Vice President - North Asia (China, Korea, Japan). China is a key market for Eurocopter. The company holds an increasingly important share of its evolving helicopter segment - and is targeting further development in the country, along with a strengthened support and services presence. Eurocopter also has worked with the Chinese aviation industry in cooperative development and production programs for more than 30 years.

Posted by- Neelam Mathews July 10, 2013 Even as India struggles with its safety issues,  f ollowing improvements in the safety situation in the  Philippines , Philippine Airlines is the first airline from this country allowed back into European skies since 2010. The European Commission has updated today for the 21st time the European list of airlines subject to an operating ban or operational restrictions within the European Union, better known as "the EU air safety list". all air carriers from the Philippines were banned from the EU in March 2010 following very poor results from an ICAO audit in 2009 which led to a significant safety concern (SSC) being issued by ICAO. A follow-up audit by ICAO in October 2012 showed some improvements had been made, however the SSC was not removed and another added.  A further audit in February 2013 found sufficient progress had been made to lift both the SSCs. For all other carriers registered in the...

AIN AIR TRANSPORT PERSPECTIVE  »  JULY 8, 2013 by    NEELAM MATHEWS Recent safety lapses on the part of Air India crew have raised new questions about India’s air transport oversight. (Photo: Boeing) July 8, 2013, 12:10 PM The  U.S.  Federal Aviation Administration ( FAA ) has informed India’s Directorate General of Civil Aviation ( DGCA ) that it will conduct an independent safety audit of air transport oversight on the subcontinent in August. India has asked for an extension of the date. The notice follows a report published in March by the International Civil Aviation Organization ( ICAO ) that identified significant safety concerns overlooked by India while overseeing its airlines (air operators, charters and general aviation). Nine months ago the  FAA  indicated that if it found failures in  DGCA  oversight, it would start the necessary consultation process for an international avia...

Posted by-Neelam Mathews Jul 7, 2013 Lessons to be learnt on crisis management. SFO mayor speaks to press within hours of crash

Neelam Mathews July 6, 2013 We're hearing Etihad Airways is nearing an agreement over an equity investment in loss-making Serbian national carrier, JAT Airways. Jat arrives in Abu Dhabi airport in 2009 Last month, Etihad and JAT signed a preliminary agreement over a possible equity investment, pending due diligence and regulatory approvals. Local publication Blic said talks between Etihad and JAT also involved purchase of maintenance company JAT Tehnika and JAT Catering. The deal could be signed within two weeks, the report said. JAT operates 10 Boeing 737-300s and four ATR 72-200s within Europe and to the Middle East. Interestingly,in 2007, reports had emerged that Air India and Aeroflot were bidding to buy controlling stakes in JAT that was then expected to choose its partner for privatization that year in June. As with most things here, indecision triumphed!