Aerospace Diary

AINONLINE by    NEELAM MATHEWS Indian Minister of Finance Arun Jaitley disappointed the country's aviation industry by failing to address its multiple concerns in his new budget. July 11, 2014, 6:30 AM With India’s airlines still mired in losses, the country’s new budget announced on July 11, did little to address some of the aviation industry’s most pressing concerns. It offered nothing on reforms in taxation on aviation fuel and maintenance, repair and overhaul–long issues of contention the aviation industry hoped India’s new government would address. In fact, the finance minister’s budget speech did not once allude to aviation, raising concern that the new government will be as ineffectual in removing obstacles to industry growth as its predecessor. The entry of domestic startups–AirAsia India and soon to be launched Tata  SIA —appears likely to exacerbate the situation as they released more seats in a market where supply already exceeds...

Neelam Mathews  March 2, 201 "Let them eat cake," said Marie -Antoinette in 1789 when told her French subjects had no bread. And while this remark fueled a revolution which led to her losing her head, one doubts this will happen in a hurry to the government that refuses to see aviation as an essential part of India's growth graph. Interestingly, a reader told AerospaceDiary the finance minister took 5 minutes talking about  how air conditioned restaurants were being taxed and 30 seconds on aviation- and that too even as he mentioned MRO, he added this could be checked out in the main document. Really Mr Minister? Aviation to you is clarifying a notification and extending the period of duty on spares from 3 months-which was not used by anybody anyway - to one year? What happened to regional connectivity to remote cities that you so wanted to garner votes for? Or did you think by starting a woman's bank you have won the sympathy of more that half the population...

Neelam Mathews Dec 17, 2012 Express Industry Council of India (EICI), the apex industry body of Express companies, says domestic  airlines should stop charging fuel surcharge immediately and allow market forces to operate. It  has alleged that domestic airlines have formed a price cartel that is exploiting the levy of fuel surcharge (FSC) on cargo by not applying a rational pricing mechanism. Aerospace Diary could not confirm this and invites airlines to give their point of view. The EICI says in the "last four years, there has been substantial hike in fuel surcharge, which has not been commensurate to the highly volatile Air Turbine Fuel (ATF) prices. With effect from November 19, 2012, domestic airlines have further increased the FSC on cargo by Rs. 2/kg in spite of a marked drop in ATF prices." “What has been surprising is that all airlines have chosen to increase the FSC by the same amount more or less at the same time. This has led us to believe that this ...

Neelam Mathews April 18, 2012 For a change, the government has put its words where its mouth is. SpiceJet today said it has received approval from the Director General of Foreign Trade (DGFT), under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry for importing aviation turbine fuel (ATF) directly from the overseas market. In doing this, it has become the first airline in the country to apply for approval for import of ATF and to get clearance for it. The airline says it is presently negotiating with leading oil marketing companies and is hopeful to start importing fuel in due course. This is going to make a big change in the way distribution is presently done in the country . Aerospace Diary learns discussions are already on with Reliance who may agree to take care of logistics of import and sale of ATF through their present facilities. It is likely the other oil companies will not stand and watch their business dry out. So, now the cost-cutting war will be on the apron front! How the ...