New Hyderabad airport commercial operations delayed

The greenfield GMR airport at Hyderabad hit a roadblock on Friday with the Ministry of Civil Aviation announcing a delay in launch of commercial operations “due to operational issues”. The Ministry said the new date would be notified soon.
Confirming the delay, a GMR group spokesperson said that some airlines have approached the Ministry seeking more time to shift operations to the new airport. He asserted that the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport is ready in all respects, indicating that the delay is not on their part. Commercial operations at the greenfield airport were originally scheduled to begin from zero hours (12.01 a.m.) on Sunday.

Saudi budget carrier plans global expansion

Saudi low-cost carrier NASair yesterday said it plans to open 12 international routes in a bid to break even by the end of this year and will lease at least five aircraft to meet expansion.

The airline, one of two budget carriers in the kingdom, plans to invest 'several hundred million dollars' to lease planes and expand ahead of receiving its first batch of 20 Airbus A-320 single-aisle aircraft in 2012, chief executive Ed Winter said. The airline is also looking to begin flights to India, Egypt, Sudan, Abu Dhabi, Jordan and Syria.

NASair is owned by Saudi-based National Air Services Company (NAS), which also operates a luxury airline Al Khayala and a private aviation service that rents and offers part ownerships of jets in the Gulf region.

India Airport Strike Update: Union calls off protest

The employees union of the Airports Authority of India (AAI) called off its non-cooperation movement late on Thursday night after the Government assured the workers that it was willing to put its best foot forward to “re-examine ” the concession agreement signed for the opening of the new airport in Hyderabad.
The workers’ stir was called off following a meeting between the Civil Aviation Minister, Mr Praful Patel, Members of Parliament from the Left parties and the unions. However, the Minister did not comment on one of the contentious issues — closing of the Bangalore airport — as it is not with the AAI, said the Convenor of the AAI Employees Joint Forum, Mr M.K. Ghoshal.

The striking workers were assured that the tripartite committee formed to look into the grievances of the AAI would commence its meetings at the earliest and all matters would be discussed. The AAI employees had gone on protest on Wednesday to protest against the Government decision to close the existing airports in the two cities.

The non-cooperation protest had little impact on normal operations of domestic airlines, although passengers faced some difficulties at a few airports.

The Government has also decided that the new airport in Bangalore will start operations after May 10.

Singapore Airlines to operate two new flights from New Delhi.

As part of its aggressive expansion plan in India, Singapore Airlines (SIA) has decided to operate two new flights from New Delhi March 30 onwards, the airline said on Thursday.

With this, the airline will now operate nine flights a week from the national capital, using the Boeing 777-200 aircraft with a three-class configuration. These new flights have been called Sunrise services. The two morning flights will be operated Friday and Sunday from New Delhi to Singapore.

SIA plans to start two daily flights from Bangalore, which currently operates 10 flights per week. It also wants to fly three flights daily from Mumbai from where the airline operates 14 flights per week.The airline also intends to start two flights a day from New Delhi within 18 months.

Cities such as Pune, which are growing and developing well in the Indian market, are also being considered by the airline.

Airport Strike Update: No option to closing old airport in B’lore: Patel

Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel on Wednesday told the Parliament that the Government of India is obliged to close down all commercial civil aviation operations at the existing Hyderabad and Bangalore airport once the new airports are made operational. Patel made this statement following a “non-cooperation” agitation that has been started by the over 20,000 employees of the Airports Authority of India across 127 airports in the country.

The new airport at Hyderabad is scheduled to open on March 14 while Bangalore airport will open after a month when issues pertaining to air traffic control and safety are addressed.

Meanwhile the Left-affiliated trade unions on Wednesday extended their support to the strike call given by the Airports Authority of India (AAI) employees against the closure of Bangalore and Hyderabad airports. Both CPM-affiliated Centre of Indian Trade Unions and the CPI’s All India Trade Union Congress said the government should begin negotiations with the striking employees and review the decision to close the two airports.

In Chennai ,the non-cooperation of the staff of Airport Authority of India has affected delivery of cargo at the Chennai air cargo terminal. However, there was no disturbance in the handling of passenger and cargo flights, said Mr Dinesh Kumar, Airport Director, Chennai.

Exporters cancelling, rebooking forward hedges.

Exporters have begun cancelling and rebooking their forward hedges in line with the dollar’s northward movement against the rupee.

Bankers said the cancellations started after the rupee-dollar exchange rate breached the Rs 40.25-mark.

Among those to resort to this strategy include commodity, garment, diamond and software exporters. Exporters had initially taken cover, when the rupee breached Rs 40, anticipating a reversal. However, bankers said that since the reversal had not happened and the dollar moving further northward, close to Rs 40.60, exporters had chosen to cancel and rebook their forward contracts. Bankers said that many of the exporters resorted to the step to maximise their earnings.

Vallarpadam terminal likely to be delayed by six months

The delay in land acquisition for connectivity projects of Vallarpadam Container Transhipment Terminal might prolong the commissioning of the project at least by six months.

This has already been stated in the State Assembly by the Industries Minister. He has informed the Assembly that the project would be completed only by October 1, 2009 as against the set time frame of April 1, 2009 in view of the delays in land acquisition required for setting up the road and rail connectivity, which is a pre-requisite for the Rs 2,000 crore Vallarpadam project.

India Airport Strike Update

ESMA invoked; Airports report smooth operations.

Employees of Airport Authority of India began a "non-cooperation" drive across the country at the stroke of midnight on Tuesday opposing the closure of existing airports in Bangalore and Hyderabad and initial reports said commercial flights were largely unaffected.

The agitation went into force after one round of talks between the employees and the Civil Aviation Ministry failed to end the deadlock over the Airport Authority Employees Joint Forum's demand for withdrawal of government's decision to close existing airports at Bangalore and Hyderabad after new airports there become operational.

Initial reports from airports in Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata indicated there was no disruption of either domestic or international flights by the agitation.

There was no disruption of flight at Delhi and Mumbai airports, the two busiest airports in the country, as also in Bangalore and Chennai where most of the work have been privatised.

India Airport Workers to strike from March 12.

Airport operations across India are likely to be affected on Wednesday morning as thousands of airport employees will go on a strike from midnight tonight. The call for the strike has come from the Airport Authority Employees Joint Forum.

The employees are demanding that the existing Bangalore and Hyderabad airports should continue operations.This demand has been rejected by the civil aviation ministry during talks with the employees union leaders. Under the contract with the builders of the new airports in the two cities, the existing airports have to be closed once the new airports become operational.

A large number of international flights take off late at night from various airports around the country. The strike may have a direct impact on the flight schedule.

New Bangalore airport opening delayed.

The opening of the new airport in Bangalore will be delayed by two-to-four weeks. A clear picture on when the new airport will open is likely to emerge after a meeting between the Chief Secretary, Karnataka, and the senior officials of the Ministry of Civil Aviation here on Wednesday.

The Chief Secretary is also the ex-officio Board Chairman of Bengaluru International Airport Ltd, the company set up to run the new airport. The airport was earlier scheduled to open on March 30. However, a delay in training of Air Traffic Controllers (ATC), who are to handle aircraft movement at the new airport, will lead to a delay in the opening.

Inland container depots reject rice cargoes.

The latest Government decision to restrict export of both basmati and non-basmati rice through four select ports of JNPT, Mumbai, Kakinda and Kolkatta has led to a piquant situation as the basmati rice exporters from Delhi are unable to send their cargo through the Inland Container Depots (ICDs).

Exporters told that since the notification of March 5, 2008 has not clarified about export of basmati and non-basmati rice exports through the ICDs which are deemed dry ports, customs authorities in the ICDs here are not accepting the basmati rice export cargo in ICDs for the needed customs clearance of the goods. Since the notification was issued, no rice cargo export has supervened from the ICD ports, they said, adding that they would meet the DGFT for clarification.

Available official figures published by the Directorate of Commercial Intelligence and Statistics show that during the first seven months of the current fiscal (April-October 2007) out of 5.67 lakh tones of basmati rice exported, Kandla accounted for a lion’s share (64 per cent) of 3.63 lakh tones, followed by 1.21 lakh tones by Delhi ICD which accounted for 21 per cent share. In 2006-07 and 2005-06 Delhi ICD accounted for 22 per cent and 21 per cent share respectively.

Mumbai second airport plan may be grounded.

The proposed Navi Mumbai International Airport — seen as a solution to air traffic congestion at Mumbai airport — is in trouble.

The central environment ministry has rejected a proposal to amend the Coastal Regulation Zone Notification to allow construction of the airport on a mangrove zone. Instead, the ministry has asked the promoters, City and Industrial Development Corporation of Maharashtra (CIDCO), to look for an alternative site, away from ecologically sensitive zones.

A letter to this effect was sent last Friday to CIDCO by Dr A Senthil Vel, Additional Director in the Ministry of Environment and Forests. Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) is an ecologically-sensitive area between sea and land and the a 1991 notification regulates construction or reclamation activities in CRZ. With Mumbai’s only airport facing problems of congestion, government agency CIDCO planned to construct an international airport on 1,140 hectares of land near Panvel in Raigad district, 35 kms from Mumbai.

Finnair to fly from Chennai, plans to add Bangalore

Buoyed by success in Indian sectors, Finnair proposes to start flights from Chennai later this year.

"With the mobile phone giant Nokia setting up its manufacturing facility in Chennai, it is becoming an important destination for Finland," Sakari Romu, vice-president of Finnnair, told the media. The flag carrier of the Nordic nation is also looking at Bangalore as a possible destination with growth in relations between India and Finnish software companies.

"A good response on our existing sectors has prompted us to add a new destination in India and to increase our flights," Tomu said, referring to the plan to start the sixth Mumbai-Helsinki flight from June.

Several Finish companies like Nokia and elevator major Kone have major expansion plans in India even as Indian software giants like Wipro and Infosys set up bases in Finland. Finnair is the only airlines operating between India and northern Europe and takes the minimum time of six and a half hours to fly between Delhi and Helsinki. So far the airline operates five flights between Mumbai and Helsinki (six from June 2008) and daily services from Delhi.

Direct flight to Mauritius from Bangalore

Air Mauritius will be operating a weekly direct flight from Bangalore from April 28. The Airline offer special packages like free access baggage, special cargo rates for film equipments among others to attract visitors.

Rupee down sharply

The rupee was down sharply in the morning session on Friday against the US currency largely due to keen dollar demand from importers amid some investment outflows. The local currency resumed lower at 40.47/48 a dollar in the morning session. It ended yesterday at 40.30/31 a dollar.

More curbs on rice exports to ensure domestic availability

The Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) has hiked the minimum export price (free on board) of non-basmati rice from $500 to $650 per tonne and also slapped port restrictions. DGFT also fixed the minimum f.o.b export price of basmati rice at $900 per tonne. In the case of rupee-based non-basmati rice exports to the Russian Federation, the minimum f.o.b export price has been hiked from Rs 20,000 per tonne to Rs 26,000 per tonne.

Ports through which non-basmati rice exports are permitted include Kandla, Kakinada, JNPT in Mumbai and Kolkata, depriving exporters access through other major ports such as Kochi, Vizag, Chennai, Mangalore and Tuticorin. This could impact export of a few speciality rice of South India such as Ponni and Matta (red rice from Kerala). South Indian non-resident Indians in Singapore, Malaysia, UAE, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Europe and the US would feel letdown by their increasing costs

Navigability of Hooghly near Haldia dock a matter of concern

The navigability of the Hooghly river near Haldia dock continues to be a matter of concern to the dock authorities as the Union Government is going slow on the River Regulatory Scheme, whose main component is capital dredging at Balari bar off the dock. The siltation in the river is rising, and with it the shoaling. On Monday, the draught dropped to 6.2 metres against the minimum requirement of more then seven metres.

As a result, the number one oil jetty is threatened and the number two too is not in a very comfortable position either. The decline in draught has several other implications. The ships calling at the dock have to have lower average parcel loads.

.

Port, dock workers plan one-day stir in March

Five major federations representing the country’s port and dock workers plan to organise nationwide protest day in March against the Government’s delay in implementing their long pending demands. The federations were also against the plan to corporatise some of the major ports.

At a meeting in Mumbai on February 22 and 23, the federations decided to direct their affiliated unions at respective ports to organise “nationwide” protest day, Mr T. Narendra Rao, General Secretary, Water Transport Workers Federation of India has confirmed same to the media. The five federations are: Water Transport Workers Federation of India, All India Port & Dock Workers Federation, All India Port & Dock Workers Federation (workers), Port, Dock & Waterfront Workers Federation and Indian National Port & Dock Workers Federation.