8 AI unions threaten to go on strike from April 2

Spelling fresh trouble for crisis-ridden Air India , 8 unions representing a large chunk of the over 28,000 staff, today threatened to go on strike from Monday to protest delay in salary payments and sought Prime Minister's immediate intervention to resolve the situation.

As the management called the agitating employees for talks tomorrow, Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh tried to soothe ruffled feathers of the protesters saying the government has "stood by them" before and would continue to do so.

The eight major unions, representing a cross-section of staffers ranging from pilots, engineers to ground staff, wrote to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh , saying they would implement 'No pay no work' policy from April 2 as the management was "withholding" their "legitimate wages".
Reacting to the threat, the civil aviation minister said, "Let's hope they will realise that the government is doing all it can. The government has already intervened."
"The Financial Restructuring Plan (FRP) has been cleared by the Group of Ministers. A (cabinet) note has been moved. The Prime Minister was away for 2-3 days. So CCEA (Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs) has to be convened," Singh said, adding even the employees realise that "they are better off than employees of other airlines".
The agitators have alleged that they have not been paid salaries and allowances for over past three months.
"We will no longer be able to bear this agony which has been thrust upon us for no fault of ours. Therefore, we reiterate that if the management continues to withhold our legitimate wages, we will not be able to discharge our duties from April 2.


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Deccan Chargers to fly high with Emirates

Dubai-based airline Emirates will be the principal sponsor for Deccan Chargers, a unit of Deccan Chronicle Holdings Limited that owns the IPL franchise from Hyderabad, for the forthcoming season starting April 7.

The three-year team sponsorship agreement with Deccan Chargers, the second for Emirates in IPL with the previous one being with Kings XI Punjab, will bring into its fold rights and entitlements to display their official logo on platforms that include the Hyderabad side's apparel, in-stadia branding, for premium hospitality and match tickets, official merchandise and access to the franchise's players.

Sports sponsorships have always been a very successful marketing tool for Emirates. With cricket being the number one sport in India, it is a natural choice for us to go for it," Orhan Abbas, vice-president (India and Nepal), Emirates, told Business Standard.

Besides IPL, Emirates' sponsorship portfolio spans across various sports disciplines including golf, horse races and football (Fifa World Cup).

The airline, which spends one per cent of its annual revenues on sports sponsorships, also owns Emirates Stadium, an association football stadium in London, which is the current home of Arsenal Football Club.

"More than branding opportunities, the partnership with Deccan Chargers will allow us to directly go to our customers and show them that we are investing back into this country, too," Abbas said.

Earlier, addressing a press conference here on Wednesday, Deccan Chargers' chief operating officer Venkat Reddy said the team had gone through difficult commercial conditions last year, in terms of signing up team sponsors, because of the ICC World Cup.

Deccan Chargers, which emerged as the winner of the 2009 season of the IPL, had a bad start last year, losing all the matches played at their home ground.

"We are fully charged up for this season. Last year, we had 85 per cent capacity for all our matches. We expect our matches at Cuttack, Vizag and Hyderabad to be fully-packed this season," he said.

Replying to a query on whether the company's plans to sell stake in the franchise are still afloat, Reddy replied in the negative. "The team was never put on for sale at all. It will continue to be part of Deccan Chronicle," he added.

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Call to tap potential in aviation

Kerala should exploit the immense opportunities in the aviation sector brought about by rapid changes in the aviation scenario and the construction of the fourth international airport at Kannur, Chief Minister Oommen Chandy said.

Speaking after laying the foundation stone for a Academy complex of the Rajiv Gandhi Academy for Aviation Technology (RGAAT), near the new international terminal of Thiruvananthapuram international airport, and Air India's Aircraft Maintenance Base at Chakka on Wednesday, the Chief Minister said the youth should be trained to tap the opportunities. The government would provide all support to youth who were willing to take up a career in aviation and associated fields, he said.

Airstrips

The airstrips proposed in the budget for the districts that do not have airports and the commissioning of the airport at Kannur would further change the scenario, he said. Mr. Chandy said the three international airports in the State, Thiruvananthapuram, Nedumbaserry, and Karipur, were faring well.

Presiding over the function, Minister for Forests and Sports K.B. Ganesh Kumar, who is the chairman of the academy, said the government would make the academy an international pilot training centre. It would be open to those who want to take a full-time career in flying.

The Minister called upon the students to cooperate with the authorities to make the academy world-class. Funds would not be a problem for the development of the academy, he said adding that the firm that had been entrusted with the work of the complex had been told to complete it in a time-bound manner.

The new aircraft to be acquired by the academy would also be used for disaster management in addition to providing training to pilot students. The government hoped to use the proposed air strips in the districts for the use of aircraft for emergencies.

Minister for Transport and Devaswom V.S. Sivakumar; Air Marshall S.P. Singh, Air Officer Commanding in Chief, Southern Air Command; Principal Secretary, Transport, Tom Jose; executive vice-chairman of RGAAT V. Thulasidas; Airport Director G. Chandramouli; and councillor B. Padmakumar; spoke.

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Aviation academy to expand operations

The proposed academy complex of the Rajiv Gandhi Academy for Aviation Technology (RGAAT), the only pilot training institution in the State, is aimed at enabling the State-owned institution to expand its operations, launch new courses, and provide world class training to the future pilots.

The Rs.9-crore academy complex is coming adjacent to the new international terminal of Thiruvananthapuram International Airport and Air India's Aircraft Maintenance Base at Chakka in the 2.71 acres of land provided by the government. At present, the academy has no hangar to park the four aircraft as it had been demolished for the development of the new international terminal.

The 22,000 sq.ft. complex will have a hangar, which can accommodate eight single engine aircraft and one twin-engine aircraft, a fuel store and four-storeyed academy building. On completion, the complex would have all modern facilities and even a swimming pool, Minister for Forests and Sports and Chairman of Academy K.B. Ganesh Kumar said. The BSNL Engineering wing had been entrusted with the work.

Apart from pilot training and practical training in aircraft maintenance engineering, the RGAAT has plans to commence Full Aircraft Maintenance Engineering course, B.Sc. Aviation course for Commercial Pilot Licence (CPL) & AME, Cabin Crew Training and Flight Despatcher course. Talks are on with the University of Kerala and Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) to offer degree to students.

The academy that functioned out of the premier international airport of the State needed its own airstrip so that intense flying training could be provided to students, Executive Vice-Chairman V. Thulasidas said. Finance Minister K.M. Mani had announced construction of airstrips in districts that did not have airport in the 2012-13 budget.

Once these airstrips are built, the RGAAT is of the view that their requirement of intense flying can be achieved.

The main courses offered are Private Pilot Licence (PPL) and CPL. At present, there are 37 students for pilot training and 12 of them have already acquired PPL, with another four becoming eligible for PPL shortly. Six have completed the examinations and have acquired eligibility for CPL. In addition, 20 are undergoing practical training in aircraft maintenance engineering.

The Academy has three Cessna 172 R aircraft, including a modern glass cockpit aircraft provided by the Aero Club of India. Aero Club is to provide a single engine light sports aircraft (CTLS) also to the academy, which has already reached the country. The academy has decided to add one more Cessna 172 R aircraft with the funds provided by the government in the budget for 2011-12.

Steps had been taken to increase the number of instructors. The academy is to procure a twin engine aircraft at a cost of Rs.6 crore.

Experience on a twin engine aircraft after CPL will help students passing out of the academy for getting employment in airline companies.

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For Emirates, India is bringing in the cargo

Chennai, March 28:

India is the one of the few countries showing growth in cargo operations for Emirates. The airline is feeling the pressure of the Euro crisis and the US economic downturn in the Asian region, particularly South East Asia.

"India is showing single digit growth while other countries are flat. Australia and Africa are also showing growth. South East Asia has declined, especially in the last two quarters," said Mr Pradeep Kumar, Senior Vice President, Cargo Revenue Optimisation and Systems of Emirates.

Nearly 10 per cent of Emirate's cargo handling comes from India. Mr Kumar said with India showing growth, the airline was not averse to increasing freight capacity. At present, the airline operates one schedule freighter to Chennai, from Dubai, enroute to Hong Kong. On the return route, the freighter goes directly to Dubai.

The airline used to operate two regular freighters to Chennai, but withdrew one eight months ago due to the slowdown. "We may look at reviving the service if the situation improves," he said without giving a timeframe.

Emirates also carries cargo in its regular wide bodied passenger aircrafts with a maximum capacity of 22 tonnes. "This is nearly the size of our small freighter that operates out of India," he said.

The airline had a 15.4 per cent market share in cargo exports and 11.7 per cent in imports in the last financial year. The total cargo handled in the country was 1.30 lakh tonnes.

Till some time ago, garments accounted for nearly 60 per cent of exports from Chennai, garment exports have dropped by 20 per cent in 2011. "Telecom, auto and electronics account for a chunk of the cargo mix."

The airline has 171 aircrafts, including eight dedicated freighters, globally.

According to Mr Kumar, the 2011 financial year will be 'flat'. In 2009, the industry faced a similar situation. However, things improved in 2010 but worsened since then, he said. "We expect things to pick up in the second half of 2012."

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Emirates to sponsor Deccan Chargers

Hyderabad, March 28:

Emirates today announced that it has chosen to become the team sponsor of Indian Premier League (IPL) side Deccan Chargers for the next three years.

The international airliner based out of Dubai would support the Hyderabad club, part of the Deccan Chronicle group which won the IPL in 2009, for the forthcoming season starting next month.

The Deccan Chargers will begin its title challenge against the Chennai Super Kings in Vizag. The team is lead by Sri Lanka's Kumara Sangakkara and has South African stars, J.P. Duminy and Dale Steyn, and Australian, Cameron White, among others turning out for it.

Ms Gayatri Reddy, Deccan Chargers Co-owner, said, "We look forward to the tournament and repeating our winning performance in DLF IPL 2012." The IPL team management denied they were divesting stake in the team.

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DGCA warns against 'opaque fare'

New Delhi, March 28:

The Director-General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has come to the aid of air travellers who were falling prey to low-fare schemes on travel portals.

In a communication to the airlines on Wednesday, the DGCA has asked them not to participate in any scheme where complete information about the carrier is not revealed upfront.

This follows revelation by Jet Airways that a number of travel portals were using this scheme to sell the inventory which they had bought from Kingfisher. The travel portals were selling tickets without disclosing the name of the carrier.

On investigations, the DGCA found that the airlines were participating in scheme where a special fare - 'Opaque' fare - was being offered by the portals. Under such schemes, the identity of neither the carrier nor flight details are revealed till the payment is through and ticketing done.

The DGCA said this is in violation of aircraft rules 1937. A DGCA official said that this is almost cheating the passenger especially when somebody books a ticket on the basis of very low fare and then finds the flight is of Kingfisher Airlines.

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Air India staff write to PM on unpaid wages, threaten strike

New Delhi, March 28:

A question mark hangs on whether Air India operations will be affected from April 2. The Joint Forum of Guilds, Unions Associations of Air India has written to the Prime Minister urging his intervention to ensure that their "legitimate wages" of several months are paid.

The Joint Forum has threatened that they "will be unable to discharge their duties from April 2" if their dues were not paid. Eight unions have come together to form the Joint Forum. "While we appreciate the financial difficulty facing the company, however, unlike Air India which can turn to the Central Government for funds, employees have no such option. The employees and their families have to suffer the humiliation of loan defaults," the Forum said in a statement.

The Forum decision to threaten a strike comes after it failed to secure any "firm proposal" from the debt-ridden national carrier for clearing their dues at a meeting with the management in Mumbai on Wednesday.

Indian Pilots Guild, Air India Officers Association, Air India Engineers Association and Air India Aircraft Engineers Association are all part of the Joint Forum.

Interestingly, the Air Corporations Employees Union, which claims to be the oldest and largest trade union in the airline, claims there will be no strike of ground staff, cabin crew and other categories belonging to the Union.

The Airline Management had earlier given a commitment of paying the pending wages in a staggered manner.

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Kingfisher to return five ATR aircraft

New Delhi, March 28:

Kingfisher Airlines' fleet size will shrink further in the next few days.

This follows the impending deregistration and eventual return of at least five ATR aircraft. The turbo-prop aircraft are used for flights to secondary cities.

In the last few days, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation received a letter from a lawyer firm to deregister the five ATR aircraft. Sources indicated that the exit of the aircraft will not affect the operations of Kingfisher Airlines as the new schedule does not include them.

Industry sources claim that the number of narrow body aircraft being deregistered could more than double. The narrow body aircraft in the airline's fleet include Airbus A-320 and ATR. Industry sources point out that another five aircraft could also be taken back by the lessors.

Kingfisher Airlines officials were not immediately available for comment. However, earlier the airline had indicated that with rising losses and banks accounts being frozen, each route and aircraft was being carefully looked at to see which ones were viable.

The airline is currently operating a fleet of 20 aircraft of which 16 are used to operate flights. Earlier, the airline operated a fleet of more than 60 aircraft. It now operates about 120 daily flights, down from more than the 400 flights earlier.

Independent Directors

Meanwhile, the airline has appointed three new independent directors including Mr Manmohan Singh Kapur, former Executive Director and Officiating Chairman and Managing Director, Syndicate Bank and Punjab and Sind Bank. Besides, distinguished lawyer Mr Lalit Bhasin and former Board member of State Bank of India, and former Managing Director, Kolhapur Sugar Mills, Mr Shrikant Ruparel, have also been appointed as independent directors.

More time

The airline got some respite with the Central Board of Excise and Customs indicating that it "might" give the airline some more time to settle its service tax dues. "We cannot kill the airline. We might give some more time to clear dues beyond March 31," senior Finance Ministry officials said. The airline agreed to pay Rs 10 crore of the Rs 76-crore service tax dues this fiscal. The Department has frozen at least 40 airline accounts to recover the dues.

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