The advertising agency TDI International India has paid dues of 61.85 crore rupees to Airport Authority of India, AAI. The move follows a strong directive by the Union Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh to the AAI to recover the outstanding amount.

A committee has been constituted to reconcile the outstanding amount with the agency. As soon as the report of the committee is received the same will be intimated to the agency to settle the dues.

Earlier Mr Singh had asked the AAI to take strong action against the advertising agency and recover the outstanding amount from it following a complaint of favours extended to it by the officials of the AAI.

n Nepal, the Tourism and Civil Aviation Ministry has decided to deploy safety inspectors at Kathmandu, Pokhara and Nepalgunj airports . It also increased the number of flight safety inspector and other personnel. This was decided at an emergency meeting in Kathmandu on civil aviation safety following a plane crash of Sita Air in which nineteen people lost their lives on Friday.

According to a press release issued today , the meeting decided to adopt a number of safety measures which include, that all airlines shall implement quality assurance and flight safety measures. The Civil aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) shall monitor and supervise all the operations with special technical document update. A high level aviation safety agency will be formed and priority will be given to develop aviation safety infrastructure.

The Centre today assured the Odisha government of all support to upgrade Biju Patnaik Domestic Airport in Bhubaneswar into an international airport at the earliest. Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh also assured Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, who called on him in New Delhi, that his ministry will advise Airports Authority of India (AAI) to take up the work relating to expansion of airstrip at Jharsuguda. Mr Singh said his ministry will also advise Air India and other domestic airlines to start international operations from Bhubaneswar.

Announcement

 he Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh has asked Air India to submit a plan within a week to enhance its share in the domestic passenger market. The plan has to include monthly targets of its market share along with corresponding strategy to achieve these targets for the next one year. The Minister emphasized that a number of efforts have to be made by Air India to regain its number one position in terms of market share.

He noted that the share of the public carrier in the domestic passengers carried by Indian scheduled airlines, has been maintained at the level of 18.2 per cent, same as for July this year. He has also asked Air India to come out with innovative and customer focused strategies to achieve optimum utilisation of all planes.

 ndian Airspace will soon have full Radar coverage above 30 thousand feet with the completion of installation of 9 Mono-Pulse-Secondary-Surveillance-Radars with the existing Radar infrastructure. This was stated by the Civil Aviation Minister, Ajit Singh while addressing the 42nd General Assembly of International Federation of Air Traffic Safety Electronics Associations in New Delhi today.

Mr. Singh said that such radars will be installed with the help of bs. The Minister also said that Air Traffic Flow Management is another ambitious plan to reduce the traffic congestion over Indian Air-Space.

he Civil Aviation Ministry has approved changes in the by-laws, regulating building activities around airports--- a move that will help a large number of people living in areas near airports. Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh approved the changes recommended by a committee constituted by his Ministry on the issue. According to an official release, the changes will bring transparency and efficiency in giving approval for constructing buildings around airports. Singh also approved the recommendations regarding installation of new navigation equipment at the airports.

 Air India, has decided to discontinue payment of Productivity Linked Incentives (PLI) to its employees w.e.f.1st July, 2012. However, the National carrier would introduce Profit, Productivity Related Pay (PRP) in place of PLI to maintain efficient working of employees. An official statement said, the PRP shall be determined on the achievement of Key Performance Indicators like yield, aircraft utilization, passenger load factor, on-time performance and revenue achievement. 

PRP shall be given only after the Company starts making profit. The move follows acceptance of the Justice Dharmadhikari Committee Report on pay and wage rationalization.
From 1st July, 2012 onward, employees of Air India shall be paid salary and allowances as per the Department of Public Enterprises (DPE) guidelines. The official release said, the Ministry of Civil Aviation would approach the Union Cabinet for payment of flying allowances and some other allowances to be paid to the pilots, licensed engineers and cabin crews as per the industry standard.

Air India management has already constituted an Implementation-cum-Anomalies Rectification Committee for implementation of pay and allowances to its employees on the basis of recommendation of Justice Dharmadhikari Committee Report. This exercise is expected to be completed by the end of next month.

 ndia has planned to introduce non-stop air services from Delhi to Melbourne and Sydney in Australia this year. Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh gave this information in the Lok Sabha today. In a written reply, he said the new services will be operated with 2 of the 7 Dreamliner aircraft expected to join Air India soon. He said India's air transport capacity is now fully utilised on domestic and international sectors. All long-haul a journey over a long distance बहुत लम्बाroutes to North America, UK, Europe and Far East have been upgraded with the introduction of the latest aircraft in its fleet, he added.

 The Ministry of Civil Aviation has refuted the loss figures and other allegations made in the report of the CAG on Indira Gandhi International Airport, Delhi which was tabled in Parliament today. The Ministry in its statement has said that the calculation of presumptive gain from the commercial use of land at the Delhi Airport is totally erroneous and misleading as it simply adds the nominal value of the projected revenue, without taking the net present value. 

It said, the net present value of the figure quoted by CAG is 13 thousand 795 crores rupees only. CAG has further failed to appreciate that 46 per cent of this amount would be payable to Airports Authority of India - AAI as revenue share.

On the issue of lease of Airport land, Ministry has clarified that the land has not been given to DIAL on rental basis. 100 rupees is just a token amount for the purpose of the Conveyance Deed. The determining factor for grant of concession to the bidder was the Gross Revenue share quoted by the bidders. As a result, Airports Authority of India (AAI) now receives 45.99 percent share of Gross Revenues of DIAL and 26 percent of all Dividends. Benefit to AAI is likely to be more than 3 lakh crores rupees in this process during the entire Concession period. The Ministry has further said that all decisions including the entire bidding process and the approval of the Operation Management and Development Agreement, was monitored by EGoM and subsequently approved by the Union Cabinet. The bidding process has also been upheld by the Supreme Court. It said, all Aeronautical and Airport assets created by DIAL will be transferred back to AAI as per agreement at the end of the concession period.

Civil Aviation Ministry has asked Indian carriers to submit their international flight plans till 2014 by this month end. The data have been sought to assess the capability of Indian carriers to operate international flights, in terms of their fleet, crew and bilateral rights used. The global operation plans of the Indian carriers will be discussed at a meeting early next month. The ministry's move comes in the wake of aggressive expansion carried out so far by foreign carriers, especially those from West Asia.

At present, foreign airlines weekly operate 1,356 flights to India as against just over 800 by Indian carriers. Indian carriers permitted to operate international flights are Air India, Jet, IndiGo, SpiceJet and Kingfisher.

Indian carriers have been complaining that the lack of bilateral air traffic rights was resulting in their foreign counterparts flying more passengers out of and in to India. A consultation paper of the Civil Aviation Ministry has also recommended that the foreign carriers' request for further opening up access has to be limited until a point has reached where the Indian carriers have fully utilised the under-served bilateral agreements.

The Centre has strongly refuted allegations made by Indigo Airlines that it was discriminating against the airline and changing the aviation policies for a select few airlines.

A Ministry of Civil Aviation release says the ministry is performing its functions in an objective, fair and transparent manner without discrimination against any airlines. It is the policy of the Government to promote civil aviation sector in the country by making the airlines financially viable and the air travel affordable for the people.

Regarding allegations of favourtism in traffic route allocations, the ministry has clarified that all requests in this regard had been dealt with objectively and in a fair manner so that every applicant airline gets its share as per its demand without prejudice.

Indigo has been allocated traffic rights based on their requests for international routes. Besides, the airline has also been given bilateral rights to fly to Singapore, Bangkok, Jeddah and Kathmandu.
The Ministry also clarified that private operators were not being provided any financial support directly or indirectly, but had been allowed to perform as per market forces.

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation, DGCA, has asked all the Airlines to ensure that the airfares remain within the fare band. This follows in the wake of media reporters about increase in airfares over the last few days. 

In a statement issued in New Delhi today, the Civil Aviation Ministry has said that the DGCA had conducted study of airfares and concluded that the airfare offered by various scheduled domestic airlines on different sectors remained within the fare bands available on their respective websites. 

The statement also said that in the last 15 to 20 days airfares of flights to and from Delhi have gone up on account of increased User Development Fee and Service Tax. The fares for 14 days in advance of the journey are still available in the lowest fare buckets. However, random monitoring of airfares by DGCA has not revealed an alarming trend.

The Delhi High Court today directed the Air India management and its pilots to hold conciliation process on a day-to-day basis before the Deputy Labour Commissioner to expeditiously resolve issues relatingto reinstatement of sacked pilots and career progression. Accepting the interim report filed by the Conciliating officer about the progress of ongoing negotiations between the parties, Justice Reva Khetrapal directed the pilots and management officials to appear before the officer tomorrow.

Seeking final report from the conciliator after the talk between the parties, the court posted the matter for July 13 for further hearing.

Following the management's assurance before the court to consider reinstatement of the 101 pilots whose services were terminated, the pilots, owing allegiance to the Indian Pilots Guild (IPG), had on July 3 called off their 58 day-old strike.

Air India spokesperson Praveen told our correspondent that it was due to a technical fault in the indicator of cockpit which has given false alarm. Spokesperson said that Air India air bus 319 has is also arriving shortly .

Earlier, in the wee hour today, the captain of Air India airbus-319 contacted Pakistani authorities and sought permission for landing after detecting some problem with the hydraulic system. The plane landed at Nawabshah airport in southern Sindh province at 3.37 am.

Air India pilots have called-off their strike after the Delhi High Court asked them to join duty within 48 hours and the management to sympathetically consider their grievances. The decision to end the 58-day strike was announced by the Indian Pilots' Guild, IPG, after a meeting of its Managing Committee in Mumbai. In a statement issued late Tuesday night, the IPG General Secretary E A Kapadia said, the striking pilots have started the procedure to resume work after the Delhi High Court's intervention. The statement said, the IPG looks forward to negotiations with the Air India management on all pending issues in the presence of the Chief Labour Commissioner.
The IPG statement came after its counsel, Geeta Luthra, told the Delhi High Court earlier on Tuesday that all 434 striking pilots will join their duties within 48 hours.
Justice Reva Khetrapal asked the Air India management to consider sympathetically the pilots' grievances including the reinstatement of those pilots whose services were terminated during the strike.
The pilots went on strike on May 7 over demands for better career progression. The airlines management took a tough stand sacking 101 pilots including 10 office bearers of the IPG which was also derecognised.

Spicejet began operating new flights from Dubai to New Delhi, and Mumbai since yesterday.The Delhi Dubai flight will take off at 11.55 am India time from New Delhi to reach Dubai at 1.45 pm. The return flight from Dubai will take off at 11.10 pm to reach New Delhi at 4.05 am India time.

The Mumbai Dubai flight will take off at 8.30 pm India time from Mumbai to reach Dubai at 9.55 pm. The return flight from Dubai will take off at 2.45pm to reach New Delhi at 7.15 pm India time.

At a press conference in Dubai, the CEO of the Spice Jet Neil Mills told that the move is aimed at meeting the increasing passenger demands from the gulf region to India. The passenger load from Dubai to India during the July-August summer holiday season in Dubai and the gulf region peaks with a large number of expatriates (noun)going back to their homeland.

Spice jet plans to make a foray into other domestic sectors like Cochi, Chennai, Hyderabad etc. in the days to come. The airlines would be operating in seven new international sectors, Guangzhou, Hongkong, Bangkok, Colombo, Male, Kabul and Riyadh by the end of this year.

Mr. Mills told that the Airline is committed to provide an affordable and quality air travel services to its customers with its now familiar Indian touch. Spicejet operates more than 275 daily flights to 34 Indian cities and 2 international destinations Kathmandu and Colombo at present and has got 18.5 percent market share in the domestic market.

Around eleven pilots of Air India belonging to Indian Pilots Guild, went on an indefinite hunger strike in New Delhi today, demanding the reinstatement of their 101 sacked colleagues.
The Air India management earlier sacked 101 pilots belonging to the IPG. Around 440 pilots had struck work since the 8th of last month against the management's move to train pilots from the erstwhile Indian Airlines in the merged entity on the soon-to-be-inducted Boeing-787 Dreamliner.

However, the government on the 6th of this month, had invited the pilots to come back and resume their duties first. It had also said that only then, the sacked pilots will be reinstated on case-to-case basis.

he government has decided to organise passport melas to ease the delay faced by the citizens. Regional Passport Offices including Passport Seva Kendras at Delhi, Ghaziabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad, Lucknow and Amritisar will remain open on Saturday and Sunday.

The move comes because of unprecedented demand for Passport services during these months. The applicants may fill up new applications for passport form available on the website www.passportindia.gov.in. The applicants can also visit either regional passport office or any of the Kendras under its jurisdiction between 10 AM and 2 PM along with a self attested copy of each of requisite documents.

AIR correspondent reports that the applicant should carry original documents for verification. The applicant is not required to take online appointment for submitting application during Passport Mela. Applications will be accepted only in person and not through any third party. The application for all passport related services other than tatkaal shall be accepted during Passport Mela.
applicants, Kendras tatkaal

he Aviation Turbine Fuel, ATF or jet fuel prices were today reduced by a massive 5 per cent, the steepest reduction in rates since February 2010. According to an Indian Oil Corporation, the price of ATF in Delhi was reduced by 3,260 rupees per kl to 62,410 rupees per kl with effect from midnight tonight.

The fifth straight cut in jet fuel rates since mid-April, is the steepest reduction in price in 27 months. State-owned oil firms had on June 1 slashed rates by 2 per cent 1,376.81 per kl and 753.8 per kl cut in prices in three previous fortnights.

After today's reduction, ATF price have come down to November 2011 levels after hitting a high of around 67,800 on 1st of April this year. In Mumbai, jet fuel will cost 63,178 rupees per kl as against 66,587.90 rupees a kl now.

perations of strike-hit Air India. He told reporters that two new flights to Kualalumpur and London will be started and operations to Hong Kong, Osaka and Seoul will begin from first of August.  He said that three Boeing 787 Dream Airliner Aircraft will be inducted in the Air India Fleet. He said, 60 pilots are ready for flying and another 90 more new pilots are expected to be trained and would be ready for flying within six months.  Mr. Ajit Singh asserted that the domestic flight operations are normal and the national carrier is carrying 26 thousand passengers daily from the beginning of this month. Talking to reporters in New Delhi today, he said that for Air India management the strike is over.  The national carrier is planning to hire pilots from domestic and international markets as the international traffic is around eleven thousand passengers daily which is two to three thousand less than the normal. In response to a question on the ongoing pilots' strike, he made it clear there is no point in their coming back if they do not accept the Dharmadhikari report. He said pilots can return back to work without any precondition. In response to a question on the fate of terminated pilots, Mr. Singh said they will have to apply afresh. The Minister noted that the strike has already been declared illegal by the high court and he was on record in Parliament that there will be no victimisation if the striking pilots return back.  On FDI in aviation, the minister said, discussions are on with the allies on the matter.