Aerospace Diary

Neelam Mathews March 22, 2013 While the minister of civil aviation's statement on pulling out of being the ultimate decision maker for import of aircraft and abolition of the aircraft acquisition committee, was hailed by the industry and many a bubbly popped, it is perhaps a coincidence that this decision was made even as the business plan for the AirAsia-Tata Sons was submitted and returned to them with some changes that needed to be made, AerospaceDiary learns, but could not confirm.  How the wheel turns! Remember attempts of SIA-Tata  to enter India's aviation arena that were unceremoniously battered down? This is perhaps an unintended retribution! As they say, 'never say never'. Some would say:"Its payback time." We feel a decision that is overturned in a matter of 5 months, should be of concern to the industry and investors as it indicates that no decision by the government lasts forever- or at least a decade. Remember the telecom mess? So, whil...

Neelam Mathews March 9, 2013 That Etihad may be leveraging Jet for its international expansion as reported by CNBC recently, is getting apparent. We learn that Jet has changed its plans to lease its A330 to Oman Air and will now lease it to future partner Etihad. Also a 777 returned from Thai is expected to head westwards. Aerospace Diary could not confirm this. It follows perhaps, that Abu Dhabi will be Jet's new hub. It is interesting to note, that recently, the minister of civil aviation has been mentioning the Jet-Etihad deal a lot. Just a day ago, he told CNBC: “ I am very hopeful that the deal will go through. …… Discussions are on between Jet and Etihad and their relations are coordial, I hope the deal will be concluded in the next four to six weeks.”  While one can understand the concern that the government has that its policy on FDI is working, there seem to be mixed signals on AirAsia. Worrying about that ubiquitous comma, Singh said: “T he government is in favo...

Neelam Mathews Feb 14, 2013 Even as elections draw closer and the Minister of Civil Aviation talks of aggressive plans for regional connectivity, UAC Russia President Mikhail Pogosyan told Aerospace Diary that as India's domestic traffic showed signs of growth, "we will market (Sukhoi SuperJet100) (that has) attracted interest. We are speaking to GoAir and Air India." "We treat this market as special," Pogosyan said. The  regional jet in the 75- to 95-seat category.

Neelam Mathews May 4, 2012 The government has cancelled the security clearance of Ravi Rishi-owned Global Vectra Helicorp, says the electronic media. Interestingly, calls to the Global Vectra office were met with surprise and the fact they were answering phones, said it all! They had no idea! Yet, we had Ajit Singh, minister of civil aviation, informing the press that following a Minister of Home Affairs directive, security clearance was cancelled and licenses of the company’s helicopters would be pulled out by the DGCA. Nobody knows, nor is there any statement to say this has happened. “With great surprise we have seen today’s news on a TV ‐ channel regarding GVHL’s security clearance. We wish to state that GVHL has not received any information or communication from the Ministry of Civil Aviation, DGCA nor Ministry of Home Affairs, nor from any other Authority, that the security clearance of this company has been withdrawn. We are presently investigating this new...