Aerospace Diary

Neelam Mathews Feb 17, 2013 Air Works India Engineering Pvt Ltd. (Air Works) is continuing its acquisition spree. It has acquired Aero Technique Espace (ATE) a French aircraft painting company, AerospaceDiary learns. This move is sure to strengthen Air Works’ market position as a provider of painting services to the European commercial and military aircraft market. It acquired Air Livery recently. Air Works can be assured of long-term contracts as ATE is a well established paint application company, painting new aircraft for Airbus and ATR at its facilities in Chateauroux and Toulouse in southern France. The company, which employs around 150 people, is a recognized brand within its target market and as is AWs policy, will continue to retain the “ATE” brand name post acquisition. Christian Lalane, who has now taken over as the Managing Director, ATE, said: “The recent modernization of the complete Chateauroux site now offers a state-of-the-art, environmentally compliant wid...

Neelam Mathews Feb 16, 2013 AirAsia X, the long-haul low fare affiliate of the AirAsia Group started its inaugural flight to Jeddah from Kuala Lumpur's Low Cost Carrier Terminal.   To mark the inaugural flight, AirAsia X treated the public at LCCT with kurma giveaways. AirAsia X’s staffs dressed in Arabic attire were seen walking around, engaging the public in promoting Jeddah as the gateway to Mecca and Medinah. AirAsia X flies to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia three flights weekly. The airline will start four flights weekly from May.

AIN DEFENSE PERSPECTIVE  »  FEBRUARY 15, 2013 by    NEELAM MATHEWS HAL’s light combat helicopter (LCH) was on display at the Aero India show. (Photo: Vladimir Karnozov) February 15, 2013, 12:18 PM Indian light helicopter requirements remain subject to a   bureaucratic procurement process. The program to acquire 197 reconnaissance and surveillance helicopters ( RSH ) is close to being scrapped, but Hindustan Aeronautics ( HAL ) has inked a contract for 187 light utility helicopters ( LUH ).  HAL  is also proposing the LUH  for a new Indian Navy requirement. Meanwhile,  HAL  continues to develop its light combat helicopter ( LCH ), which  first flew in March 2010 . The   RSH   program was supposed to replace 230 aging Chetaks (Aerospatiale   SA316 Alouette   III ) and Cheetahs ( SE316B   Alouette   II ). The single-engine Eurocopter AS550C3   and twin-engine Ka...

AIN DEFENSE PERSPECTIVE  »  FEBRUARY 15, 2013 An order for AW101 helicopters is now the subject of corruption investigations in both India and Italy. February 15, 2013, 8:00 AM The Indian government has begun the process to cancel its contract with AgustaWestland ( AW ) for 12  AW101   VIP  transport helicopters. On February 15, the country’s defense ministry gave  AW  seven days to respond to its its formal “show cause notice” seeking contract cancellation. The move follows the  February 13 arrest in Italy of Giuseppi Orsi , chairman and chief executive of its parent group Finmeccanica (and former  AW  chief executive). The Finmeccanica board last night appointed the group’s  COO  and  CFO  Alessandro Pansa to serve as chief executive and has named senior board member Admiral Guido Venturoni as vice chairman. As of press time, no announcement had been made about the future of ...

Neelam Mathews Feb 15, 2013 Press Statement tells media to lay off This has reference to certain reports in sections of media regarding Emaar MGF Land Limited’s association with a Mr Guido R Hashke. While Mr Guido R Hashke was an independent non-executive director for an extremely brief period of approximately two months i.e. Emmar September 25, 2009 to December 7, 2009, Emaar MGF has had no association with him or any of his businesses/associates other than this. Mr. Hashke was appointed on the Board of the Company due to the statutory requirement of having certain number of independent directors on the board to be a publicly listed company. Therefore he was appointed as an independent director to fulfill the requirements of the company's proposed IPO at that time. As per the information disclosed to the Company, Mr. Hashke was a registered consultant to the World Bank for Asset Trading and Debt Restructuring and was appointed on basis of his experience with international ...

Neelam Mathews Feb 15, 2013 A question by Times Now addressed to the NSA S. Menon at the Asian Security Conference being held in New Delhi on whether middlemen in arms deals were a security hazard, had Menon refused to "be drawn in." "Maybe one day I will answer your question," he said to the reporter. Really? Is it that difficult to acknowledge a known fact? Or does the government feel that there is no problem in middlemen, that it has banned through its own decree?

Statement from MoD Acquisition of AW-101 Choppers for IAF: The Facts In August 1999, the IAF which is responsible for carrying out VVIP communication task, proposed the replacement of Mi-8 VIP helicopters due to severe operational constraints, such as, inability of Mi-8 to operate at night and in adverse weather, inability to operate safely at places in elevation beyond 2000 meters etc. IAF felt the need for the replacement of Mi-8 helicopters as they were completing their total technical life. 2.               A global RFP was issued in March 2002 to which 4 vendors responded. The Technical Evaluation Committee shortlisted 3 helicopters and accordingly flight evaluations were conducted.  Since, EH-101 of M/s. AgustaWestland was not certified for an altitude of 6000 meters, it did not participate in the flight evaluation. The Russian helicopter Mi-172 could not comply with 7 mandatory Operational Re...