SpiceJet launches daily flights to Dubai

Low-fare airline SpiceJet on Tuesday launched daily flights to Dubai from Delhi and Mumbai as part of its plan to expand into international markets.

Addressing reporters on the day as SpiceJet’s Boeing 737-800s took off its debut flights from Dubai’s Terminal 1 to Delhi and Mumbai, senior officials of the airline said they were working on opening up more new routes to offer a wider choice of flights to customers.

“Opening up Dubai is a milestone for us as it will offer us an opportunity to serve the large Indian and Western expatriate community along with the UAE citizens with an affordable flying option,” said SpiceJet CEO Neil Mills.

SpiceJet operates more than 275 daily flights to 34 Indian cities and 2 international destinations.

http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-newdelhi/article3574981.ece

Tobacco control key in fight against cancer

39 per cent of all cancers in men are tobacco-related

Tobacco and its link to cancers of the oral cavity and neck are well-established and fairly well-known to the public too.

In Kerala, which has the dubious distinction of having the highest rate of alcohol consumption in the country, the rate of head and neck cancers too are quite high.

It is estimated that 36 per cent of the men, aged above 15, in the State are smokers, with 11 per cent using chewing-tobacco too.

As per the data of the Regional Cancer Centre’s cancer registry, 39 per cent of all cancers in men are tobacco-related. Kerala has one of the highest reported incidence of head and neck cancers, which constitute over 30 per cent of all cancers in the Indian subcontinent.

A new study involving over one lakh subjects in the U.S., as part of a prostate, lung, colorectal and ovarian cancer screening trial, found that 50.5 per cent of all head and neck cancers could be attributed to tobacco. The study has been published inPubMed, an online repository of health research of the U.S. National Institutes of Health.

The study reported that 66 per cent of head and neck cancers could be attributed to both tobacco and alcohol, 14.7 per cent to alcohol alone.

Head and neck cancers are ranked sixth among the common cancers worldwide and nearly 3,00,000 people die each year out of 4,00,000 approximate cases of cancers of the mouth or pharynx or larynx, as per the World Cancer Report, 2008. The World Cancer Report is brought out jointly by the World Health Organisation and International Agency for Research on Cancer.

The treatment options for head and neck cancers include surgery, radiotherapy, and chemotherapy, used in isolation or in combination, depending on the site of the cancer, the stage at which it is diagnosed, and the general health of the patient. Invariably, most of these cancers reach the oncologists at a very late stage, when chances of a better prognosis are quite dim.

Study significant

The U.S. study has significance for Kerala as it quantifies the existing knowledge and establishes cigarette smoking and tobacco use as an undeniable causative factor of head and neck cancers, Subramania Iyer, who heads the Head and Neck Institute at Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences and Research Centre, Kochi, said.

Tobacco control is thus the single, biggest public health intervention that can be implemented to bring down cancer incidence across the board, doctors point out.

Kerala has one of the highest reported incidence of head and neck cancers.

http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-kerala/article3575157.ece

IATA remark on Delhi airport draws flak

Association ‘is being very unreasonable’

G.V. Sanjay Reddy, chairman, Confederation of Indian Industry (southern region), has said the International Air Transport Association (IATA) is “there to put down airports, not promote them.”

Speaking toThe Hindu,Mr. Reddy, who was in the city recently, said “frankly, IATA is an industry body representing airlines. They have vested interests.”

He criticised the IATA for classifying Delhi as the most expensive airport in the world. “IATA is being very unreasonable, and it’s not thinking in the interests of partnerships.”

Mr. Reddy, who is also the Managing Director of Mumbai International Airport Ltd, said some of IATA’s statements “are ridiculous, if not downright wrong as is in the case with respect to Delhi. They can say anything that they want as long as they get published. But the facts are not correct,” he added.

Recalling an earlier IATA report prior to privatisation rolled across in the sector, Mr. Reddy said the IATA said India had the most expensive airports in the world. But it was when it came to drawing comparisons that IATA gave the game away. Here, they could not look beyond Sri Lanka, Bhutan, Nepal, Bangladesh, and Pakistan.

“So they can select anything they want, say anything they want, and still hope to get away with all. I know Delhi did not comment on the IATA remarks for a few days. But if it were to make such a comment about Mumbai, I would certainly refute them . One of our studies said that of the top 50 airports in the world, Mumbai was the 50th in terms of costs.”

Mr. Reddy said “IATA’s stand on Delhi is ridiculously extreme. “Yes, I think Delhi is expensive in some sectors. I am not suggesting it is not. At the end of the day, these kinds of issues must be raised when projects are bid out. It’s not as if it has been done in an arbitrary manner now,” he said.

http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-kerala/article3575207.ece

Airport coach catches fire

A fire broke out in a coach belonging to Kingfisher Airlines at Chennai airport on Tuesday. No one was injured, as the vehicle was in the equipment parking area. Airport sources said, around 8.15 a.m., just as the driver was starting the coach, he saw smoke emanating from the rear of the vehicle. The driver got out just in time before a fire broke out, and destroyed the rear portion of the vehicle. Airline employees used extinguishers even as tenders from the airport rushed there and put out the fire.

http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-tamilnadu/article3574924.ece

Air India resumes operations to Tokyo

New Delhi: In a bid to restore normalcy in its curtailed international schedule, Air India has resumed operations to Tokyo via Shanghai and plans to launch flights to Hong Kong, which were stopped due to the pilots' strike that entered the 50th day on Tuesday.

As the pilots continued their hunger strike for the third day in Delhi and Mumbai to focus on their demands relating to career progression, Air India officials said bookings for Hong Kong were already on and the flights would begin on July 7. Hong Kong is likely to be connected by narrow-body Airbus A-319s.

Ignoring the strike by about 400 pilots, the airline is going ahead with plans to start a new flight to Kuala Lumpur and resume Seoul-Osaka operations in August and fly to Australia by September end, the officials said, adding that the process to recruit more pilots was already on.

Destinations like New York, London, Paris and Frankfurt were also being served by the airline as part of the curtailed schedule, they said.

"We will keep adding to our operations as we get more pilots. We can't be sitting idle because of the strike. We have cut back our global operations but have been continuing them reliably. We will continue to add step by step to restore our network and expand," the officials said.

Air India's entire international network of 27 stations would not only be fully restored, but expanded too, they said.

They blamed the Indian Pilots Guild (IPG) that has been leading the ongoing agitation, for threatening to strike five times in the last nine months before actually launching their action and said "unlike in other industries, a strike threat itself results in a dip in revenue earnings as passengers go away."

http://ibnlive.in.com/news/air-india-resumes-operations-to-tokyo/268085-7.html

Kingfisher woes worsen as lessors take back 34 planes

Mumbai, June 26:

With cash-starved Kingfisher Airlines defaulting on lease rentals of around Rs 1,000 crore, the lessors have taken back 34 aircraft, sources said here on Tuesday even as the company maintained that it has returned the aircraft voluntarily.

Besides, another 15 aircraft of the company are also aground due to want of spares, and the airline is now left with only 15 planes to carry out its operations, they said.

“Lessors have taken back as many as 34 aircraft from Kingfisher between March and June, owing to non-payment of lease rentals, which stands at around Rs 1,000 crore,” sources told PTI here.

The airline, however, said it has returned these aircraft voluntarily and that no aircraft was taken back by lessors by “force“.

“There have been no forced returns of the aircraft to the lessors. Whenever we have returned planes, we have voluntarily done so,” a Kingfisher spokesperson said in a text message.

It has also grounded another 15 planes as they require spares but due to paucity of funds it has not been able to replace them, sources said.

“The airline currently has just 15 aircraft worth flying and a majority of them are ATRs,” they said.

According to the sources, the 15 aircraft in service include eight ATRs, one A319, four A320s and two A321s.

The airline today operates only around 100 odd flights with these aircraft, and has withdrawn from international operations.

http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/industry-and-economy/logistics/article3573220.ece

Emirates, MasterCard special offer for first, business class flyers

Mumbai, June 26:

Emirates Airline and MasterCard have teamed up to offer special packages for travellers on Emirates First Class and Emirates Business Class. Passengers using their MasterCard can avail of the offer on purchasing flight tickets on or before September 30. For every Emirates top class round-trip ticket that they purchase, the cardholders visiting Dubai will receive complimentary stays at top hotels, in addition to complimentary visas and tickets to ‘At The Top’ in the Burj Khalifa. MasterCard cardholders purchasing Emirates First Class tickets will receive a complimentary two-night stay, including breakfast, at The Armani Hotel, located in Burj Khalifa. Cardholders choosing Business Class tickets will get a one-night stay with breakfast at ‘The Address’, Dubai Marina. In addition, the Emirates First Class and Emirates Business Class offer includes complimentary 96-hour transfer visas and priority tickets to the ‘At the Top’ in Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest building.

http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/todays-paper/tp-economy/article3574238.ece