Aerospace Diary

Posted by Neelam Mathews Kindly sent by a reader April 7 2015 The Aviation Minister made a shocking statement today on how he carried a matchbox inflight as he was never frisked these days. Besides he quipped: "What harm can a matchbox do." While we'll leave that to everybody's imagination and horror filled nightmarish thoughts, here's some comic relief. Perhaps we can hope to see similar fun announcements aboard our domestic flights? Hopefully we haven't lost our sense of humor.

Neelam Mathews Jan 4, 2013 SriLankan Airlines is planning to establish an MRO at the upcoming Mattala airport, South of Sri Lanka to cater to the Asian region, including the Indian market. Cabinet approval has been given to obtain foreign financial assistance for the project. Sri Lanka's ministry of civil aviation has sought $80 million from the Exim Bank of China to build hangars and related facilities for the aircraft maintenance facility

Neelam Mathews Oct 19, 2012 So, now the buzz between the Kingfisher staff is that Emirates will be buying the airline. Another rumor says the CEO was in London last week to plead to his employer to hire expat crew for the 5 planes they probably want to run. Wonder who started these rumors???? Because by now- with sincere apologies to the KFA remaining staff- you really live up to the saying: "Hope springs eternal in the human breast."  Moving on, either the airline and the government thinks we the people of India are really stupid or, infact, we really are! I'm begining to think increasingly, we fall into the latter category. Or else why should anybody fall for the third press release sent within a week or two? Here it goes- Credits-Manjul Kingfisher Airlines has extended the partial lockout until October 23, 2012. We had a positive meeting with employee representatives on October 17th and are hopeful of reaching common ground when we meet again next week....

AINALERTS  »  OCTOBER 18, 2012 by    NEELAM MATHEWS October 18, 2012, 3:25 PM The Indian government looks set to reform complex rules that have made it hard for charter operators to expand services. The country’s Business Aviation Operators Association ( BAOA ) is in talks with the Ministry of Civil Aviation to permit nonscheduled operators to enter into codeshares with scheduled airlines to provide feeder services to remote destinations with short and unpaved runways. “Discussions are also on for [merging] the scheduled operator permit with the nonscheduled operator’s permit [ NSOP ] under a common air operator permit, as is the global norm,”  BAOA  president Rohit Kapur told  AIN . As things stand  NSOP  operators cannot legally publish or advertise flight departures or sell tickets to individual passengers. In practice they have to quietly take bookings from passengers and then coordinate the departur...

AIN AIR TRANSPORT PERSPECTIVE » JUNE 4, 2012 by  NEELAM MATHEWS Air India holds an order for 27 Boeing 787s, but it could struggle to pay for them now. (Photo: Boeing) June 4, 2012, 12:43 PM Individuals can argue over who has lost more face as a result of Air India’s last-minute cancellation of its first Boeing 787 delivery: the U.S. airframer or the cash-strapped flag carrier and its masters in the Indian government. But few would debate the awkwardness of a decision by Indian officials to scrap a delivery ceremony planned for between May 28 and 31 at barely four days’ notice, even as a party of 40 invited media and guests prepared to board a flight to Seattle to join elaborate festivities to mark acceptance of the first of 27 Dreamliners ordered by Air India. Civil aviation minister Ajit Singh canceled the delivery, insisting that Boeing would first have to agree to a revised compensation package for the program’s well-documented delays. Some see the move as a poli...