AI likely to reopen international bookings by weekend

The schedules are drawn iin such a manner that 130 executive pilots would be able to "carry on for months together"

Air India, which is operating a curtailed global flight schedule due to the pilots' strike, is likely to reopen international bookings and firm up a fresh operating schedule by this weekend with the help of 130 executive pilots.
The airline said the three-week agitation by over 200 pilots has seen a drop in the number of its international passengers by about 3,000 and that its financial loss had gone up to over Rs 320 crore for this period.

The Air India Board, which met here, considered the next steps to deal with the pilots' strike, spearheaded by the now derecognised Indian Pilots Guild (IPG), official sources said.

Air India is carrying out daily flights on long-haul sectors like Delhi-Paris-New York (JFK), Delhi-Frankfurt- Chicago, Delhi-London, Mumbai-London, Delhi- Tokyo and Delhi- Shanghai. These services can continue for several months, the sources said.

Claiming that the impact of the strike on flight operations has not been substantial, the sources said the flight schedules have been firmed up in such a manner so that 130 executive pilots would be able to "carry on for months together".

The pilots can fly a maximum of 40 hours each week and 1,000 hours each year under the Flight Duty Time Limitation (FDTL) rules for duty timings and rest periods of the cockpit crew.

"It will take several months for the executive pilots to reach 1,000 hour limit," the sources said.

The entire passenger backlog has been cleared several days ago and there are no rollover passengers, they said.

The airline Board also discussed the issue of compensation for delayed delivery of new-generation Boeing 787 Dreamliner from US manufacturer Boeing.

The entire issue of compensation, including the amount to be claimed and how, has been forwarded to the government for approval, sources said. However, they did not disclose the amount to be claimed from Boeing on grounds of confidentiality in negotiations.

The national carrier had placed orders to buy 27 B-787s and 41 B-777s in 2005 and as per the original schedule, the US aircraft maker had to commence delivery of these aircraft from September, 2008. Delivery of the Dreamliners was delayed due to various factors, including labour trouble in Boeing.

Maintaining that the global passengers flown by Air India during the strike period was about 11,000 compared with 14,000 normally, the sources said the number of its daily flights currently stood at 238 compared to 251.

Its entire domestic schedule as well as flights to the nearby foreign destinations like those in the Gulf, Southeast Asia and SAARC countries were operating normally, airline officials said.

Asked whether the national carrier would take delivery of the B-787s before the compensation amount was finalised, the sources indicated that technically all issues should be firmed up before the delivery papers were signed between an airline and the manufacturer.

In 2010, while deposing before the Parliamentary Standing Committee headed by CPI(M) leader Sitaram Yechury, Air India's then CMD Arvind Jadhav had said, "we have slapped a compensation claim of $710 million. Obviously, they have confirmed USD 145 million they will pay as compensation for the delay and so we have tried to push the entire delivery."

However, the sources said this was the estimation as of March 2010 and the figures could vary now.

The issue of monetisation of Air India's assets in India and abroad and appointing a real estate consultant for the purpose was also discussed by the Board, the sources said.

The Board has already decided to monetise Rs 5,000 crore worth of AI assets over a period of ten years. The assets planned to be monetised include those in Mumbai, Chennai, Delhi, Nairobi and Mauritius

http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/ai-likely-to-reopen-international-bookings-by-weekend/166096/on

Air India board refers Boeing compensation issue to govt

No discussion on pilots? strike panel formed to recommend on route rationalisation

BS Reporter / New Delhi May 29, 2012, 00:23 IST

The board of directors of Air India, in a meeting on Friday, referred the issue of Boeing’s compensation offer to Air India for a delay in the delivery of Dreamliner aircraft, including the amount to be claimed and how, to the civil aviation ministry.

“We hope the government approves the compensation package soon, as the deliveries can only start after the package is approved,” said a board member, without discussing the details, calling it commercially-sensitive information

The meeting, though, ended without any official word on the way forward in resolving a three-week pilots’ strike, which is bleeding the airline. “Both the independent members on the board could not attend the meeting and the rest of us (functional directors and government nominees on the board) do not need a board meeting to discuss the strike. We discuss the strike on a regular basis,” he said.

Chairman and managing director Rohit Nandan, a bureaucrat, chaired the meet. AI is owned by the government, and civil aviation minister Ajit Singh has, so far, taken a tough stand on the striking pilots. The stir is related to promotions in flying Boeing’s Dreamliners, with the pilots opposing their counterparts in the erstwhile Indian Airlines flying these aircraft. The two airlines were merged, but this has not been done smoothly.

AI had ordered 27 Boeing 787 Dreamliners in 2005. The delivery has been delayed by more than three years and the aircraft manufacturer has to compensate the carrier. “The compensation (offer) from Boeing has been forwarded to the government for approval,” said an official present in the meeting.

According to unconfirmed reports, the carrier had asked for compensation for $1 billion (Rs 5,500 crore, at Rs 55 to a dollar) and Boeing had agreed to pay $500 million (Rs 2,250 crore).

The first of the 27 Dreamliners ordered is ready for delivery and a team of pilots is likely to visit Boeing headquarters in Seattle, America, shortly to fly it down. The state-owned carrier has already invited proposals from banks and financial institutions to raise short-term loans up to $500 million to take delivery of the first Dreamliners by June. The board also discussed monetisation of AI’s assets in India and abroad, and appointment of a real estate consultant. The board has decided to monetise Rs 5,000 crore worth of AI assets over 10 years. The assets to be sold include those in Mumbai, Chennai, Delhi, Nairobi and Mauritius.

Pilots’ stir, routes
The pilots’ strike has so far led to a revenue loss of Rs 300 crore. The airline has dealt with the agitating pilots strictly, dismissing 101 and de-recognising their union, the Indian Pilots’ Guild (IPG). It is mulling hiring new pilots to restore normalcy in its international flight schedules and discussing getting planes on a wet lease.

A PTI report says the airline is likely to reopen international bookings and have a fresh operating schedule by this weekend, with the help of 130 executive pilots. Minister Ajit Singh has decided to not meet the pilots till they call off the strike. The pilots first want an assurance on reinstating the dismissed pilots.

Meanwhile, the minister has set up a committee to examine the various routes and their profitability. “The committee will make its recommendations keeping in view the overall objective of profitability and submit its report in a week,” said the ministry. The panel is to be chaired by G Asok Kumar, joint secretary in the ministry. It will recommend withdrawal/continuance of flights during the current summer schedule and on how to make these profitable

http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/air-india-board-refers-boeing-compensation-issue-to-govt/475644/

Panel to rationalise Air India's routes

New Delhi, May 28:

The Civil Aviation Ministry has constituted a committee for rationalisation of routes for Air India.

While announcing the decision, the Civil Aviation Minister, Mr Ajit Singh, said that the committee would recommend rationalising the routes keeping in view the overall objective of profitability. The committee is expected to give its report within a week.

The committee will be headed by the Joint Secretary in the Ministry of Civil Aviation, Mr G. Asok Kumar. Mr S. Nasir Ali, Director in the Ministry; Mr S.C. Sharma, Executive Director with the Airports Authority of India; and Mr Lalit Gupta, Deputy Director General of Civil Aviation, will be the members of the committee.

The committee will recommend route wise withdrawal or continuation of flights during current summer schedule and how to make them profitable. It will identify the parameters for new route allocation and their weightage for arriving at a decision.

The committee will also analyse the criteria for withdrawal or inclusion of routes in the summer and winter schedule during last year.

It has been asked to analyse economies of various routes on domestic and international sectors during last summer, winter and this summer schedule. It has also been asked to identify the routes not able to meet out various costs and reasons for not meeting out those costs.

http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/todays-paper/tp-economy/article3466942.ece

Dreamliner delay: Compensation to Air India referred to Govt

Airline has sought $800 million from Boeing

New Delhi, May 28:

The issue of how much compensation Air India should seek from the US-based aircraft manufacturer, Boeing, has been referred to the Government.

The airline is entitled to compensation as the delivery of the aircraft has been delayed by four years eight months.

The decision to refer the matter was taken at the airline board meeting which was held here on Monday.

Sources declined to quantify the amount being sought on grounds of confidentiality clause in a commercial agreement.

Interestingly, deposing before a Parliamentary committee, the airlines former Chairman and Managing Director, Mr Arvind Jadhav, had said, “We have slapped a compensation claim of $710 million. Obviously, they have confirmed $145 million they will pay as compensation for the delay and so we have tried to push the entire delivery.”

The Parliamentary report was made public in March 2010. In August 2010, official sources told Business Line that Air India has already written to Boeing seeking almost $800 million in compensation for the delay in delivery of the B 787.

The airline has also sought $40 million that it has paid as pre-delivery payment for some of the aircraft.

The list price of the Boeing 787 is about $190 million although what an individual airline pays varies.

Air India has ordered 27 Boeing 787 aircraft.

On the issue of whether Air India will be able to take delivery of the first 787 aircraft till the compensation amount is fixed, sources indicated that technically all issues should be firmed up before the delivery papers are signed by an airline.

Air India is expected to take delivery of the first aircraft at the end of this month or early next.

The compensation amount to be paid is decided after taking into account the delay and the amount of revenue that the airline would have generated if the new aircraft had joined the fleet.

Air India, like other global airlines seeking compensation from Boeing for the delay in delivery of the new aircraft, will not get the compensation fund in hand. Instead the compensation amount will be adjusted against future deliveries that have to be made to the airline.

Delivery hitch The decision to refer the matter to the Govt was taken at today's board meeting Air India's ex-CMD had told a House panel that it sought $710 million as compensation The list price of the Boeing 787 is about $190 million Air India has ordered 27 Boeing 787 aircraft

http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/todays-paper/tp-economy/article3466939.ece

No room for more loan to Kingfisher, says SBI chief Bangalore, May 28:

Kingfisher Airlines' debt levels are at a peak, and there is no room for further debt, the State Bank of India Chairman, Mr Pratip Chaudhuri, said here on Monday.

“Kingfisher, as a company, needs to get in more equity, and the sooner they get it (it's better). I would say they should get it as of yesterday,” he said, while talking to reporters on the sidelines of the bank's CSR programme.

According to him, the loans to the company are not “so much fund-based”. The loans have been given as guarantees to oil companies so that they can keep supplying fuel to Kingfisher, he pointed out.

“If we discontinue the guarantees, the whole fuel supply chain will stop. If we precipitate action, it would endanger jobs, endanger connectivity in the country. We are working with the company,” said Mr Chaudhuri.

The company should bring in capital, whether from domestic investors, foreign investors or foreign airlines, “we are neutral on the source of the equity”, he added. However, the company in its response has told banks that it would be easier for them if the FDI rules were changed.

“We have no comments on that, and it is for the Government to decide on that,” he said.

Mr Chaudhuri added that the whole aviation sector was under stress and only those airlines with “good amount of equity can hope to navigate through this”.

The banks are working “very patiently with the companies, persuading them to increase the time of repayment of their loans. The companies also have to show some resolve,” he said.

In the case of Air India, Mr Chaudhuri said that the Government has shown a lot of resolve, and has pumped in equity.

“They have protected the banks against any large-scale write-off. In case of Air India, the owners or shareholders are showing a lot of proactive action,” he added.

http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/todays-paper/tp-economy/article3466938.ece

Spring Air to set up 3 manufacturing units

Hyderabad, May 28:

US mattress maker Spring Air is investing Rs 150 crore to set up three new manufacturing facilities in India.

The first foreign brand to enter this segment in India, the company is leveraging its first-mover advantage to grab a bigger slice of the Rs 5,000-crore mattress market. At least five other top global brands, including Simmons and Sealy, have big plans for the Indian mattress market. “We have two manufacturing units in India in Noida and Bangalore. We are putting up another two at Kolkata and Mumbai, both of which will be ready by next year,” Mr Alok Sharma, Director of Spring Air India, told media persons here on Saturday.

It produces 500 pieces a day from the existing two units, with the two new facilities designed to have similar capacities. Last fiscal it sold 1.5 lakh pieces.

The company is also setting up a PU foam manufacturing unit near Delhi. “We have already tied up the funds for these three units,” he added. Spring air, which is in the spring and speciality mattress space says that this segment is growing at 25-30 per cent in the entire mattress market, while the share of coir is declining.

http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/industry-and-economy/marketing/article3466265.ece

‘Making changes to Google search is like mid-flight jet engine maintenance'

Ben Gomes, engineer at Google, explains how the search engine really works

We all use Google search but have you ever wondered how it really works. How does Google manage to pick relevant data from the mountain of information available on the Internet within a matter of seconds?

Business Line spoke to Mr Ben Gomes, a distinguished engineer at Google's headquarters in Mountain View, where he is a lead for the company's efforts on search features.

Mr Ben, who did his schooling in Bangalore, says that making changes to a search engine which gets billions of queries a day is kind of like changing out the engine of a jumbo jet while flying at 30,000 feet. Google does this through carefully designed experiments to listen to millions of users.

In fact at any given time, Google might be running up to 200 live experiments and you may have been a guinea pig even without knowing. Excerpts from the conversation.

How has search evolved?

When I first started working in Google some searches could take up to 20 seconds and today it would be shocking if it took more than a second. It's become faster and faster. It's even more astonishing when you look at the amount of data that's grown many folds. But more remarkably search has gone far more accurate than when we had less amount data to search through. We put huge amount of effort in getting newer algorithm that understands language, documents and matching what users want.

In Google, we get over a billion queries a day so we have 100 of millions of users who can give us information on whether what we are doing is good or not and that too extremely quickly. We take advantage of this for testing of ideas. What we have is a factory of new ideas. We ran over 58,000 experiments from this factory of innovation listening to millions of users.

We launch about 500 changes every year. These changes are like a complex machine such as a jet engine and what we have to do is to change the engine as you fly to make it faster, efficient and more comfortable to users.

How do you carry out such complex changes?

We have built infrastructure over the years that does this. At any given time, we would be running a couple of 100 experiments with users who are online. After an idea has been tested, senior engineers look at the implementation and kind of complexities. If it passes muster then it goes to launch. So an idea goes through a rigorous process before it's launched

When a user puts in a search query how does Google know which links to show first?

There are many factors. When Google started, the words of the query mattered a lot. So we used to find pages that matched the words exactly. Over time we have got very sophisticated in how we understand your query. We process the query you type and understand all the meanings and synonyms. If you used the word ‘change' it means ‘adjust' but if you type ‘change your tires' we know it doesn't mean ‘adjust your tyre'. Then we send that to our computers that look at the index of data of the Web using semantics of your query. But that's not enough. We need to get you data from a good source that you would trust. The degree of freshness in the information also matters so we look for the latest information on your query. The next thing that we take into account is your location. If you are in Delhi and you are looking for a restaurant there's no use if I show you info about a restaurant outside the city. These are the factors that get into making search relevant for you. We have data centres all over the world and on an average your query travels over 1,500 miles.

How do you deal with those who claim to have broken Google's algorithm to ensure that their Web sites show up first on search pages?

We have developed tools to battle this. There's a lot of money in this for those who do this kind of activity but we are many steps ahead of them. It's a constant battle against people trying to fool us. This is a key area where we have invested.

Some claim that Google throws up links based on the advertisement it gets.

We have strong dividing line between search and advertisement since very early days. We have to get the right search results irrespective of the revenue. We model the way how newspapers divide editorial and advertising. We want to be making the product relevant for the users, monetising will follow.

Where is search heading? Do you think Apple has taken the next step with its Siri?

Next step for Google is towards knowledge. By that what we want to do is how we can provide answer to your questions. For example, if you want to know how tall is empire state building then I should be able to give that answer.

Beyond that we would want to give you information what you should be getting. For example, you think about fast food and there is a lot of raw information about calories but we would like to tell you eat a salad instead. We want to give you knowledge than just raw data. We are on that path although just digging at the surface.

http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/opinion/columns/thomas-k-thomas/article3466414.ece?homepage=true&ref=wl_home

Air India Board discusses compensation claim from Boeing

NEW DELHI: With the delivery of new- generation Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft scheduled soon, the issue of over $700 million compensation from US manufacturer Boeing for delaying its delivery came up for detailed discussion at the Air India Board meeting here today.

The entire issue of compensation, including the amount to be claimed and how, has been forwarded to the government for approval, sources said, adding that matter came up for a thorough discussion at the meeting of the Board, sources said.

However, they did not disclose the amount to be claimed from Boeing on grounds of confidentiality in negotiations.

The first of the 27 Dreamliners ordered by Air India is ready for delivery and a team of pilots is likely to visit Boeing headquarters in Seattle, US, shortly to fly it down.

The national carrier had placed order to buy 27 B-787s and 41 B-777s in 2005 and as per the original schedule, the US aircraft maker had to commence the delivery of these aircraft from September, 2008. Delivery of the Dreamliners was delayed due to various factors, including labour trouble in Boeing.

The sources said the issue of the pilots' strike which entered the 21st day, was briefly reviewed by the Board. The issue of a voluntary retirement scheme (VRS) for Air India staffers was not on the agenda, they said.

Asked whether the national carrier would take delivery of the B-787s before the compensation amount was finalised, the sources indicated that technically all issues should be firmed up before the delivery papers were signed between an airline and the manufacturer.

Two years ago, while deposing before the Parliamentary Standing Committee headed by CPI(M) leader Sitaram Yechury, Air India's then CMD Arvind Jadhav had said, "we have slapped a compensation claim of $710 million. Obviously, they have confirmed $145 million they will pay as compensation for the delay and so we have tried to push the entire delivery."

However, the sources said this was the estimation as of March 2010 and the figures could vary now.

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/news-by-industry/transportation/airlines-/-aviation/air-india-board-discusses-compensation-claim-from-boeing/articleshow/13601281.cms

More flights from Bahrain Air

Bahrain Air is to increase the frequency of the weekly flights in the Bahrain-Thiruvananthapuram-Bahrain sector. From the existing four, it will be increased to six times a week immediately.

The two new flights to be introduced by the airline in the sector will be on Monday and Wednesday, airline sources said. At present, the airline operates direct flights to and from Bahrain on Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.

The BN 552 flight will depart from the Thiruvananthapuram International Airport on Monday and Wednesday at 5 a.m. to reach Bahrain at 7.30 a.m. The BN 551 flight will depart from Bahrain at 9.25 p.m. local time to reach the Thiruvananthapuram International Airport at 4.15 a.m.

The airline will be deploying A-320 and A-319 aircraft in the sector.

Bahrain Air offers connection flights from Bahrain to Dammam AL Khobar, Doha, Dubai, Kuwait, Riyadh, and Jeddah from Thiruvananthapuram.

http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-kerala/article3467879.ece