[New Delhi], Centre ,Taking U Turn, Denies Capping of Airfares
Civil Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju Exhibiting this U Turn, said restricting the airfares will not make good business sense as it could also jeopardise the government’s regional connectivity plan as such a move may discourage airlines to fly on non-profitable routes.
He, however, said a slew of passenger-centric measures including “time-bound” grievance redressal mechanism would be unveiled very soon, emphasising that India’s civil aviation market was the fastest growing in domestic passenger travel demand.
It is expected that the government was going to announce steps to rationalise the ticket cancellation charges and they are likely to be capped around the base fare, as against current exorbitant fees, as part of passenger-friendly initiatives.
The Minister said at least 32 airports built by Airport Authority of India at a cost of at least Rs 3,000 crore over the years were lying “unconnected” and putting any restriction on market-driven fares may jeopardize government’s plan to start flight services to those airports.
Holding that putting a cap on airfares may have an adverse impact on growth of aviation sector, Raju said his Ministry keeps a “continuous tab” on price movements to ensure that the rates are under check.
His comments come at a time when the government is discussing ways to address issues related to steep fluctuations in airfares, especially during peak seasons and natural calamities.
Minister of State for Civil Aviation Mahesh Sharma last month had announced that capping of fares will be announced soon.
India’s domestic aviation market has clocked a growth rate of 22%in the last one year, the highest for any country. .
Tag: Civil Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju
Centre ,Taking U Turn, Denies Capping of Airfares
5/20 Jinn Still In The Cage: Centre To Domestic Airliners
[New Delhi]5/20 Jinn Still In Cage: Centre To Domestic Airliners
Govt has not taken any decision on on fate of 5/20 rule:
The government today conceded the demand of the promoters of old airlines for a “patient” hearing on the issue even as it said no decision has been taken on the fate of the regulation.
At a meeting, chaired by Civil Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju, the promoters contended that relaxing of the norms will have negative impact on domestic connectivity and services and may lead to rise in airfares.
The meeting comes at a time the Civil Aviation Ministry is preparing a draft note on the new aviation policy to take it to the Cabinet for its approval.
The decade-old regulation requires an Indian carrier to have a minimum five years of domestic flying experience and a fleet of at least 20 planes to fly overseas.
The meeting was attended by
Jet Airways Chairman Naresh Goyal,
IndiGo promoter Rahul Bhatia, its
President Aditya Ghosh and
SpiceJet Chairman Ajay Singh, among others.
A controversy had been triggered when the Civil Aviation Ministry held a meeting with two Tata Group-promoted startup airlines — Vistara and AirAsia India — to discuss the proposed aviation policy as part of the stakeholders’ consultation on the draft civil aviation policy.
The FIA, which comprises Jet Airways, SpiceJet, IndiGo and GoAir, and claims to represent more than 90 per cent of the domestic airlines industry, took strong objection to this “one sided” confabulations which had also included discussions on international flying norms for domestic carriers, popularly known as “5/20 norm”
Profit Making Domestic 4 Airliners Demand Roll Back In Irrational ATF
[New Delhi]Airliners Demand Roll Back In Irrational ATF
Airlines body FIA demanded roll back in jet fuel prices
FIA today demanded a roll back of the 12 per cent hike in jet fuel prices by oil companies and sought appointment of an independent price regulator to deal with the issue of “irrational” pricing.
In a letter to Civil Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju today, Federation of Indian Airlines (FIA) threatened to move fair trade watchdog CCI if the “non-transparent” price increase continues.
FIA is a body of four established domestic private Profit Making airlines –Jet Airways+ IndiGo+SpiceJet + GoAir.
Aviation Turbine Fuel (ATF), or jet fuel, price was yesterday hiked by 12 per cent by the oil marketing companies on global cues.making air travel more costly
Jet fuel constitutes over 40 per cent of an airlines operating cost and any upward increase in the prices pushes up the cost of operations of the carrier.
The FIA also keeps open its option to pay for fuel in line with the earlier charges
According to FIA, the average price per barrel (MOPAG) from January 2016 to February 2016 has declined by 22 per cent from a rate of USD 46.49 per barrel to 36.1 per barrel while during this period the exchange rate variation has been 1 per cent from Rs 67.60 to Rs 68.20.
Body says
During this period there has been no variation in sales tax.
Social Activists Demands Airport For Rajasthan’s Ajmer
Social Activists Demands Airport For Ajmer
A social activist has written a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi for construction of airport in Ajmer
as per Mansoor Umer Darvesh.”Every month, near two lakh people from all castes and religions visit the Dargah of Khwaja Garib Nawaz at Ajmer in Rajasthan to seek the Sufi saint’s blessings,”
In absence of an airport, those wishing to reach the shrine by air, have to take a flight to Jaipur and then travel by road for four hours to reach Ajmer,This Demand is also addressed to Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje + Civil Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju.
Air India Improves Earnings And Reduces Expenses
[New Delhi] National Carrier Air India Improves Operational Performance Air India Improves Earning And Reduces Expenses
Air India’s net losses have declined by more than 22 % in the past four years, reflecting improvement in its financial and operational performance
Civil Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju said In The Lok Sabha that the operating loss has consistently declined since the merger of erstwhile Indian Airlines and Air India and stood at Rs 2,636.10 crore in 2014-15 compared to Rs 5,138.69 crore in 2011-12.
During The Question Hour He Said “The net loss in 2014-15 is Rs 5,859.91 crore as against the loss of Rs 7,559.74 crore in 2011-12, which is a reduction by 22.5 %,”
The total revenue increased from Rs 14,713.81 crore in 2011-12 to Rs 20,606.27 crore in 2014-15, which is Rs 5,892.46 crore or an increase of 40.1 %,
He said Air India has turned EBIDTA (earnings before interest, depreciation, taxes and amortization) positive by Rs 337.77 crore as against a negative EBIDTA of Rs 2,236.05 crore in 2011-12.
While its Passenger Load Factor improved to 73.7 per cent in 2014-15 from 67.9 per cent in 2011-12, Raju said Air India has shown considerable improvement in on-time performance (OTP) and the overall network OTP achieved during 2014-15 was 72 per cent as against 68.2 per cent in 2011-12.
The Minister also said the national carrier’s total revenue in 2014-15 was 20,606.27 crore and expenses Rs 26,466.18 crore.
In the current financial year between April-September 2015, the total revenue stood at Rs 9,485 crore and expenses Rs 11,776.19 crore.
GMR Aviation Academy Adding Cabin Crew+Hospitality Management Courses Also
[New Delhi]GMR Aviation Academy Adding Cabin Crew+Hospitality Management Courses Also
GMR group-run GMR Aviation Academy is in the process of introducing cabin crew and hospitality management courses as it seeks to spread its wings in the fast-growing aviation training segment.
Established in 2009, the state-of-the-art GMR Aviation Academy currently imparts training programmes in various areas of aviation through its facilities at Hyderabad and Delhi Airports.
“We are in the process of launching cabin crew and hospitality management courses. We plan to introduce full- fledged one year courses in this segment,” Academy sources said on the sidelines of a symposium on regional aviation training and ‘Train Air Plus’ module, being convened by UN body, International Civil Aviation Organization’s (ICAO).
Over 215 delegates from 44 countries are participating in the four-day long event which was inaugurated by Civil Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju
Indian aviation market is one of the fastest growing markets in the world today and with demand for highly skilled aviation professionals including pilots, cabin crew and engineers is also growing, they said, adding, “We are keen to tap this potential.”
As per sources GMR Aviation Academy would soon apply for the regulatory approvals soon, as “we aim to roll out these courses by the first quarter of the next year,”
The GMR Aviation Academy conducts training programmes accredited by Airport Council International (ACI), International Air Transport Association (IATA), International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), and Bureau of Civil Aviation Security(BCAS)of India with focus on Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa regions.
GAGAN,Costing To Rs 774 Crores,Launched For Seamless Navigation to Aviation Industry
[New Delhi]GAGAN Costing To Rs 774 Crores Launched For Seamless Navigation to Aviation Industry.
Jointly developed by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and the Airports Authority of India (AAI), at an investment of Rs 774 crore,?GAGAN will offer seamless navigation to the aviation industry.
Civil Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju today launched the GPS-Aided Geo Augmented Navigation (GAGAN) system,which would make airline operations more efficient and reduce costs.
GAGAN is a satellite-based navigation system which provides autonomous, high precision geo-spatial location information of the user in terms of latitude, longitude and height along with velocity and time.
The benefits of GAGAN include improved efficiency, direct routes, increased fuel savings, approach with vertical guidance at runways, significant cost savings due to withdrawal of ground aids and reduced workload of flight crew and Air Traffic Controllers.
GAGAN will provide augmentation service for GPS over the country, Bay of Bengal, South East Asia and Middle East expanding up to Africa.
NDA Govt Yet To Bring Acche Din[Good Days]In Civil Aviation Sector
[New Delhi]NDA Govt Yet To Bring Acche Din [Good days] In Civil Aviation Sector After One Years Governance There Is Not much to cheer about for This Sector.Even In Parliament Govt Failed To Feed The Required Justification In The Variation Of Tickets
,Aviation industry experts say the sector hasn’t had much to cheer about during this period as the much-needed reforms have either been in a go-around mode or in holding pattern.
The government, in its very early days, had vowed to transform the industry by proposing several measures to reform and revive the sector.
Among the proposed measures were a draft aviation policy, lifting the curbs on foreign operations by the Indian carriers, corporatisation of the state-run AAI and Pawan Hans, creation of air navigation services, privatisation of more airports and reviving the fortunes of Air India. However, they are yet to take a decisive shape.
Amber Dubey, Partner and India head for aerospace and defence at global consultancy KPMG. Says “The Indian aviation industry had lots of hope from the Modi government given its pro-reform tilt, but a year later nothing much has happened on the ground despite good intentions and bold statements,”
Civil Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju had on May 29 last year said, after getting at the helm of Rajiv Gandhi Bhawan, “We will strive to create a level-playing field for all the players and make the aviation sector more people- oriented.”
“Aviation industry was eagerly looking forward to a new transformational approach with a clear strategic roadmap which will bring the industry out of its structural mess, however, till date, nothing significant is visible and clarity in key and important strategic issues is missing,” says Sydney-based aviation think-tank Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation (CAPA) India head Kapil Kaul.
Kaul says that the industry had expected that the new government would restore transparency, remove the negative fiscal regime on airlines, demonstrate strategic clarity in policy formation besides preparing a realistic and achievable long-term roadmap and strengthening safety and regulatory institutions to strategic levels and deliver an effective governance model.
He added “CAPA believes that this government has the intent and willingness to deliver on critical aviation reforms but it is extremely important that strategic clarity is visible and intent is converted into effective implementation,”
The draft aviation policy, which the government unveiled last year, clearly showed lack of involvement of different stakeholders before coming up with an important policy document, Dubey says, adding reports, however, suggest that the ministry is now getting another committee to improve upon the draft policy created by the earlier panel.
According to Kaul, the sector needs a clear statement from Prime Minister Narendra Modi that a robust aviation industry is critical to India’s growth as a strong global economy.
“Should Indian aviation receive the right attention from the Modi government in its second year, it has the potential to grow by 18-20 per cent continuously for the next four years, giving a massive fillip to investments, jobs and tourism,” Dubey adds.
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