Aerospace Diary

by  Neelam Mathews  -  February 8, 2016, 11:53 AM Making way for two recently announced  FBO s, Delhi International Airport Ltd. (Dial) has evicted some 20 third-party operators and companies from their premises at the airport. The two  FBO concessionaires—Bird Worldwide Flight Services-ExecuJet and Indamer- MJ ets—have until March 31 to sign new contracts with tenants and based operators,  AIN  has learned. India's Business Aircraft Operators Association ( BAOA ) called the move a “monopoly” and took the issue to court. Operators are concerned because the concessionaires are sharing up to 65 percent of revenues with Dial, and this could substantially increase the costs of services rendered to them. Bird Worldwide Flight Services-ExecuJet and Indamer- MJ ets are also mandated to invest around $15 million each on the  FBO  terminal, lounges, hangars, fuel and parking.  “ We are looking for transparency, quality ...

By Neelam Mathews Sept 23, 2012 Hawker   Siddeley HS748-2M/LFD - Indian Air Force :. Registration H-2379 Serial 586 Line Number First Flight Delivery Date 30.11.85 Model HS748-2M/LFD Airline Indian Air Force Status Active All Registrations H-2379  Indian Air Force

Posted by- Neelam Mathews Jan 19, 2012 The recent decision of AirAsia X  to stop  flying to Mumbai and London raised many eyebrows about the sustainability of long haul low cost services. Though the immediate concerns  point  towards high jet fuel prices, immigration concerns as well as  high  airport  taxes  have  also impacted the overall grand strategy to increase  yields,  rationalization and allocation of aircraft fleet to more profitable routes, says consultancy Frost & Sullivan. “These routes (Delhi and Mumbai and Paris and London) were  bleeding  on  a  low cost model and with the MAS-AirAsia collaboration, cutting off duplicate capacities makes sense,” says Amartya De, Frost & Sullivan Senior Consultant for Aerospace & Defense. “Part of the  network rationalisation process is also to bring passengers from European destinations on MAS up to Kuala Lumpur and then giving the...

AIN Air Transport Perspective » January 16, 2012 by  Neelam Mathews Europe's ETS, higher UK passenger duty taxes and high airport and handling costs in India have convinced AirAsiaX to refocus on Asia. (Photo: AirAsia) January 12, 2012, 10:24 AM AirAsia X, long-haul subsidiary of Malaysia’s AirAsia, the largest Asian budget carrier, plans to withdraw 11 weekly services to Mumbai and Delhi in India and 10 weeklies to its only European destinations—Paris and London—from its Kuala Lumpur hub. Services to Mumbai and Delhi will cease from January 31 and March 22, respectively, while flights to London and Paris will end on March 30 and March 31. “The implementation of the Emissions Trading Scheme and escalating Air Passenger Duty taxes in the UK, which will rise yet again in April, have forced our decision to withdraw our services to Europe,” said Azran Osman-Rani, CEO of AirAsia X. AirAsia X has faced excess capacity a...

Posted by- Neelam Mathews Sept 30, 2011 An international meeting of International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) Council and other non-EU Member States was held in New Delhi on 29th -30th September to discuss the inclusion of aviation in the European Union Emission Trading System (EU-ETS). The meeting was chaired by Dr. Nasim Zaidi, Secretary, M/o Civil Aviation. A detailed agenda was deliberated upon including discussions on the legal objections to EU-ETS, policy objections, the role of ICAO- the way forward and discussions on next steps. The countries present were: Argentine Republic, Brazil, Canada, China, Chile, Colombia, Cuba, Egypt, Japan, Republic of Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, Nigeria, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Qatar, Russian Federation, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Africa, Thailand, Turkey, United Arab Emirates and United States of America. It was attended by over 70 delegates. There was wide concern expressed by all countries present, without exception, that the un...

Asia-Pacific Aviation Daily Jul 29 , 2010 , p. 10 Neelam Mathews Opening day of the new integrated Terminal 3 in Delhi was marred by service disruptions as radars stopped functioning, delaying flights by about one hour. “The ATC Computer System Auto Track III, which is under validation trials at Indira Gandhi International Airport, developed a technical snag at 5:30 p.m. However, the other computer system Auto Track II, which was maintained as hot stand-by, was being used for ATC operations. There was no disruption or delay on flight operations on account of this,” said a statement from the Airports Authority of India. More than 55 flights were delayed according to an air traffic control official. This is the third time this year that the air traffic management system at the airport has collapsed. The system crashed twice in January when Waltham, Mass.-based Raytheon’s Autotrac-III system was being tested for installation.