Aerospace Diary

Paris Air Show 2017    by  Neelam Mathews  -  June 20, 2017, 3:40 AM With production facilities in India and Germany,   MKU , the India-based manufacturer of ballistic protection for personnel, vehicles (ground and air) and electro-optic devices has reported strong demand in retrofitting helicopters. As domestic unrest has become more widespread,   MKU   said, search-and-rescue missions have taken on a more dangerous tone, creating an increased need for armored protection. Having completed more than 250 helicopter retrofits, primarily in Southeast Asia, South America and Africa,   MKU   (Hall3 Stand   C8 ) finds its services in increasing demand. “ Relief agencies and air ambulances often go through firing zones, as do fire service helicopters and transporters,” said Sharad Khandelwal,   MKU international sales director, to   AIN . As the world undergoes a new order, commercial and bus...

Airports Neelam Mathews   - IHS Jane's Airport Review 26 July 2015     Pending changes at Odessa International will see the Ukrainian airport run as a public-private partnership (pictured is the design for the new terminal). Source: Odessa International Airport Ltd The Ukrainian aviation sector hopes to benefit from an open skies agreement with the United States, although it remains affected by the continuing conflict between government forces and insurgents supported by Russia. The open skies deal was signed on 14 July 2015 by US Under Secretary for Economic Growth, Energy, and Environment, Catherine Novelli, and Andriy Pyvovarsky, Ukrainian infrastructure minister. "This agreement… strengthens our bilateral economic ties and facilitates the growth of civil aviation between our two countries," said Novelli. She added that open skies "eliminate government interference in the commercial decisions of air carriers about routes, capacity, and pr...

DH- Nov 2012 While India has acknowledged it needs to move rapidly to replace its elderly service helicopter fleets, government red tape and protests by losing bidders are holding up acquisition efforts, reports  Neelam Mathews. India’s plans for modernising its military aviation capabilities, including big-ticket deals such as the Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft requirement for 126 jets, also have a substantial rotarywing component, with the objective being to induct more than 900 helicopters within the next decade. Demand for civil and military rotorcraft in India is projected to increase by an average of 6% annually, with a number of separate purchases being planned by the military, which recognises that acquisition needs to be done at a fast pace to replace a rapidly ageing fleet. The purchase of an RSH has been deferred by the Indian government, much to the fru...

Neelam Mathews Oct 15, 2012  Yes, we have a defense minister who has done all he can humanly possible to keep his image clean. But in the process, we fear, he has sacrificed making decisions that are said to be important to the nation's security.  The question is where does one draw the line? It is, unfortunately, this very admirable quality that is being exploited by self serving companies who find themselves having lost the competition they were bidding, to stall projects. To add to a list of hundreds, is a recent letter, Aerospace Diary learns, that has been sent to the Defense Minister from Anonymous'! Convenient. The anonymous ten-pager cites "gross infirmities in the trials of the army's light utility helicopter- a bid released for the second time, for which trials were completed in 2010!  Anonymous mentions non-certification of both the helicopters by international certification agencies at time of submission of bids and says the "doctored" GSQ...

Posted by- Neelam Mathews April 2012 Commission imposes fines totalling €169 million on freight forwarders in relation to four price fixing cartels On 28 March 2012, the European Commission (the “Commission”) fined 14 international groups of freight forwarding companies (“the forwarders”) a total of €169 million for their participation in four distinct cartels. Each cartel sought to fix the price of a specific surcharge related to the provision of international air freight forwarding services between 2002 and 2007 (when dawn raids were carried out by antitrust authorities in the United States and EU). The four cartels, according to the Commission’s findings, were as follows:     The New Export System (NES) cartel - after the introduction of electronic declaration for UK exports in 2003, a group of forwarders agreed to establish a surcharge on this service and to fix its amount depending on the size of the customer.     The Advance Manifest System...

GUEST COLUMN The development below to an extent  provides an insight into how airline mergers are treated in the EU- Neelam Mathews   By: Suzanne Rab Partner King & Spalding April 4, 2012 On 2 April 2012, the European Commission cleared International Consolidated Airline Group's (IAG) acquisition of British Midlands (BMI).  The Commission accepted conditions that British Airways, owner of IAG, release 14 slots at Heathrow and commit to provide competing long-haul flight operators with passengers who are connecting at Heathrow. The Commission stated that its investigation initially found that the transaction risked creating monopolies on a number of domestic, European and international routes out of Heathrow which was found to be Europe's busiest passenger airport. Of the divested slots, 7 relate to domestic and 5 to medium-haul routes and two additional slots will be released to Transaero, a Russian airline It was always expected that it would be cha...

Singapore Air Show » February 14, 2012 By Neelam Mathews Asian air transport industry leaders yesterday signaled European Commission vice president Siim Kallas that they will step up their war against the European Union’s emissions trading scheme (ETS). But Kallas held firm, telling the Singapore Airshow’s Aviation Leadership Summit that while the EU is willing to negotiate over how ETS applies to airlines outside Europe, it will only do so only on its own terms and is in no hurry to give ground. Kallas addressed the conference barely a week after the Chinese government banned its airlines from complying with ETS. Legislation currently moving through the U.S. Congress would have the same effect. What isn’t clear is how the EU would respond to a widespread refusal to comply with ETS. Its regulations call for punitive fines against operators who fail to account for their carbon emissions and pay for them with credits. China and the U.S., which have been leading the charge agains...