Brokerage views on Jet Airways, Prestige Estate, Shriram Transport

Jet Airways Ltd: CLSA reiterates a 'buy' rating on Jet AirwaysBSE 1.68 %. The brokerage keeps the target price at Rs 500, expecting 33 per cent upside from current levels. CLSA says the concerns about fuel costs and a potential fare war are overdone.

The brokerage expects strong yields, easing costs and a shrinking fleet should drive a strong second half for the aviation sector.

Prestige Estate Ltd: Citi maintains 'buy' rating on Prestige EstatesBSE -1.02 % with price target set at Rs142. The brokerage expects the company to beat FY13 sales guidance of 2500 cr comfortably.

Citi believes company is on track to meet FY13 launch guidance and this should keep sales buoyant. Prestige remains Citi's preferred pick in the Indian property.

Ipca Laboratories LtdBSE 1.76 %: CLSA maintains 'outperform' rating on the stock and has also raised its target price from Rs 465 earlier to Rs 500. IPCA's management remains confident of strong growth in exports business following adoption of new packaging norms.

The domestic business has been slower than initially expected but is showing signs of pick up (strong September). We expect margins to be strong in 2Q as a result of better rupee realization during the quarter.

Shriram Transport Finance Company LtdBSE 0.94 %: Credit Suisse initiates coverage on the counter with an 'Outperform' rating with a target price of Rs 745, translating into an upside of around 15 per cent from current levels.

"We expect Shriram to deliver 18%+ loan book CAGR over the next three years (15% CAGR growth in standalone book), even as new CVs sales growth is under pressure in the near term in India," Credit Suisse said in a report.

Shriram remains the undisputed leader in used CV financing segment owing to its experience and reach. In addition, Shriram's entry into non-CV segments should help lend more stability to its overall growth rates.

Havells India Ltd: Kotak Securities has downgraded Havells India from 'add' to 'reduce' rating. But the brokerage has upped the price target from Rs 600 earlier to Rs 635. The brokerage feels further optimism is unjustified as the business' cash-flow profile is weak.

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/markets/stocks/stocks-in-news/Brokerage-views-on-Jet-Airways-Prestige-Estate-Shriram-Transport/articleshow/16734767.cms

Jet Airways offers eight business class seats in Konnect to cash in on Kingfisher Airlines' woes

MUMBAI: Jet Airways, India's second largest airline in terms of market share, said it has reconfigured all of its 75 JetKonnect Boeing 737s with a twin-class configuration, offering eight business class seats on every aircraft in an effort to drum up demand in an indifferent market.

Many industry experts say this is an attempt by Jet to cash in on the gap created by Kingfisher Airlines' absence on many routes - a move, they say, will eventually boost Jet's bottom line.

Jet, however, attributes this move to its positive take on the economy and flyer feedback. "The Kingfisher AirlinesBSE 3.95 % effect has been in the market for a year and a half now, but those are minor things. Our decisions are not based on those considerations," said Sudheer Raghavan, chief operations officer, Jet Airways.

"Though pundits are beating the economy down, we are very optimistic about it," Raghavan said, adding, "It is just a matter of conversion of unutilised real estate to premium real estate as seat factors on any flight would not be more than 80%. So, it makes sense to convert that 20-30% of the unutilised inventory that would positively impact bottom line."

Industry insiders say that the decision by Jet can be interpreted as an attempt to gain monopoly in market.

"Jet has been losing passengers on its no-frills airline JetKonnect (market share was just 6.5% in August). Now, Kingfisher has gone under and there's a need for a full-service airline. Jet would have a monopoly as Air India is the last option for passengers. More than improvement in yields, which may happen in any case, the move will help Jet get passengers back in its fold," said a rival airline official who didn't wish to be named.

Experts feel that there has been a reduction in business class seats by as much as 50%, even though there's a demand for premium seats.

"The demand for business class seats during peak travel period is quite high, especially in metros. We find it difficult to book business class seats as there are fewer seats. If airlines increase business class seats, it will be good since there's a demand in this category,'' said Karan Anand, head, relationships, CoxBSE -0.85 % & Kings.

"We are focusing on our bottomline, on the fundamentals of our operations and on-time performance. We want to be relevant in the Indian aviation market. We don't look at market share and seat factors because they do not walk to the bank," said Raghavan, who had a stint with Singapore Airlines before Jet's promoter Naresh Goyal roped him in.

Jet said it sees load factor firming up as it goes into the third quarter, which is a stronger quarter for airlines, and with crude prices moving up again, there's no possibility of cutting fares.

"Brent crude is at $116 today and we would be profoundly stupid to bring fares down barring a few tactical initiatives taken during the low season," Raghavan said. Strategy experts say the move by Jet to offer business class seats might help the airline regain the premium airline tag once again.

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/news-by-industry/transportation/airlines-/-aviation/jet-airways-offers-eight-business-class-seats-in-konnect-to-cash-in-on-kingfisher-airlines-woes/articleshow/16816425.cms

Air fares set to soar ahead of Vietnam's Tet Festival

Air travel during the Tet holiday, or Lunar New Year, will become more expensive as of today, when domesticairlines go ahead with a planned price hike.

A representative of the Civil Aviation Administration of Vietnam confirmed to the newspaper Nguoi Lao Dong (Labourer) that it had received the proposal ofairfare increases from carriers VietnamAirlines,Air Mekong and VietJetAir.

The highest jump from VietnamAirlines is 50,000 dong (US$2.40) per trip, while its Hanoi – Ho Chi Minh City one-way ticket will rise by 20,000 dong to 2.67 million dong, not including 10 per cent VAT (value-added tax) and the 44,000 dongairport fee.

Previously, Jetstar Pacific also increased its prices by about 60,000 dong per one-way ticket.

BothAir Mekong and VietjetAir have also sent outline proposals to hike theirairfares by 3-4 per cent.

Nguyen Anh Tuan, deputy head of the Ministry of Finance's Department of Price Management, said the price hike of 3-4 per cent remains below the regulated ceiling price and consequently the department did not reject their proposals.

Thus,airlines were allowed to automatically apply new prices after five days of submitting the proposal under the current regulation, Tuan said.

According to Decision No. 2967/QD-BTC issued in December 2011 by the Ministry of Finance,airfares are allowed to increase by a maximum of 20 per cent and the highest price for the Hanoi – Ho Chi Minh Cityroute is capped at 3.4 million dong per one way ticket (excluding taxes and charges) and 4 million dong per one-way ticket on the longestroute for Hanoi – Phu Quoc.

However, in order to protect passengers, the Civil Aviation Administration askedairlines not to increase fairs in excess of 2.72 million dong and 3.43 million dong per one-way ticket applied to the aforementionedroutes.

Despite that, the administration admitted theairlines have the right to rise prices up to the ceiling level. If so, the price of return tickets for a Hanoi – Ho Chi Minh City flight with taxes will cost 7.6 million dong and Hanoi – Phu Quoc tickets will reach more than 8.8 million dong.

According to market insiders, the domestic aviation industry saw negative growth this year given the economic downturn, therefore fare increases at this time could exceed the passengers' budget, meaningairlines would likely witness a decrease in customers.

Carriers are used to raisingairfares during the two high seasons of summer and Tet holiday to regulate supply and demand. However, rising fuel prices this year have seen oil at times exceeding $120 per barrel while the Ministry of Finance has not decreased its import tax could cause financial difficulty for theairlines and force them to increase travel prices.

Last year, ticket prices increased twice: firstly in April and then before Tet holiday with an increase of about 10 per cent each time.

http://www.asianewsnet.net/home/news.php?sec=2&id=37662

Air Kerala may fly overseas on FDI

Foreign carriers have evinced interest in Air Kerala, a state-promoted airline project, expected to fly between the Arabian Gulf countries and the southern Indian state. A tie-up with a foreign airline may help the start-up to fly overseas overcoming regulations which insist five years of domestic operations and a minimum fleet size, said people familiar with the process.

Currently, Air Kerala, with an initial equity base of Rs 200 crore, will be 26% stateowned with non-resident Keralites and business groups holding the remaining shares valued at Rs 10,000 per share. Ernst & Young is helping the Kerala government with a feasibility report on the airline project, which could dent Air India's business on the profitable Gulf sector routes.

Last month, India allowed foreign airlines to buy 49% ownership in domestic carriers opening up possibilities for Air Kerala, which is being floated to offer competitive fares to the state's diaspora of more than 2.5 million in the oil-rich Gulf. Incidentally, the Arab airlines have dominated prevailing talks of foreign interest in India's crisis-hit aviation sector.

"We have received interest from certain foreign parties and we might explore a possible alliance if this helps Air Keralato overcome regulatory hurdles," Kerala industries minister P K Kunhalikutty told TOI. He said the state was currently impressing upon the Centre about the proposed airline with rights to fly to the Gulf, notwithstanding regulatory hurdles. The minister said high airfares between Kerala and the Gulf was snowballing into a "social problem" with many workers unable to visit homes even once in two years. "We have already conveyed our sentiments to the Prime Minister," he added.

Middle East industrialists of Kerala origin — like Ravi Pillai , M A Yousuf Ali and others —were backing the airline venture . The business conglomerates of Pillai and Ali alone employ about 65,000 people from Kerala who would be eager subscribers to the shares of the airline company. "There's overwhelming response from non-resident Keralites. I can promise that we will close the equity funding in just one day," Kunhalikutty said.

CM advocates states' right to run airline

Kerala CM Oommen Chandyhas advanced the case of a federal government's right to start an airline with privileges similar to the national carrier Air India, setting off a debate on aviation sector regulations. "I expect strong opposition from Air Indiato our plans, but we think state governments too have rights to start airlines just like the national carrier," Chandy said in an interview. He pointed out that regulatory hurdles were waived when Air India Express, a subsidiary of the national airline, started international operations citing the interests of the government-owned company. Chandy said Air India's "callous attitude" towards Kerala-origin labourers in the Arabian Gulf was the key motivation behind plans to launch a new airline. "Very often, airfares from Kochi to Europe are cheaper than what Air India charges on the Gulf sector. Flights on these routes are the first casualty whenever Air India is bogged down with its internal problems," he added.

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/news-by-industry/transportation/airlines-/-aviation/air-kerala-may-fly-overseas-on-fdi/articleshow/16816799.cms

Air Kerala may fly overseas on FDI

Foreign carriers have evinced interest in Air Kerala, a state-promoted airline project, expected to fly between the Arabian Gulf countries and the southern Indian state. A tie-up with a foreign airline may help the start-up to fly overseas overcoming regulations which insist five years of domestic operations and a minimum fleet size, said people familiar with the process.

Currently, Air Kerala, with an initial equity base of Rs 200 crore, will be 26% state-owned with non-resident Keralites and business groups holding the remaining shares valued at Rs 10,000 per share. Ernst & Young is helping the Kerala government with a feasibility report on the airline project, which could dent Air India's business on the profitable Gulf sector routes.

Last month, India allowed foreign airlines to buy 49% ownership in domestic carriers opening up possibilities for Air Kerala, which is being floated to offer competitive fares to the state's diaspora of more than 2.5 million in the oil-rich Gulf. Incidentally, the Arab airlines have dominated prevailing talks of foreign interest in India's crisis-hit aviation sector.

"We have received interest from certain foreign parties and we might explore a possible alliance if this helps Air Kerala to overcome regulatory hurdles," Kerala industries ministerP K Kunhalikutty told TOI. He said the state was currently impressing upon the Centre about the proposed airline with rights to fly to the Gulf, notwithstanding regulatory hurdles. The minister said high airfares between Kerala and the Gulf was snowballing into a "social problem" with many workers unable to visit homes even once in two years. "We have already conveyed our sentiments to the Prime Minister," he added.

Middle East industrialists of Kerala origin - like Ravi Pillai, M A Yousuf Ali and others - were backing the airline venture. The business conglomerates of Pillai and Ali alone employ about 65,000 people from Kerala who would be eager subscribers to the shares of the airline company. "There's overwhelming response from non-resident Keralites. I can promise that we will close the equity funding in just one day," Kunhalikutty said.

CM advocates states' right to run airline

Kerala CM Oommen Chandy has advanced the case of a federal government's right to start an airline with privileges similar to the national carrier Air India, setting off a debate on aviation sector regulations. "I expect strong opposition from Air Indiato our plans, but we think state governments too have rights to start airlines just like the national carrier," Chandy said in an interview. He pointed out that regulatory hurdles were waived when Air India Express, a subsidiary of the national airline, started international operations citing the interests of the government-owned company. Chandy said Air India's "callous attitude" towards Kerala-origin labourers in the Arabian Gulf was the key motivation behind plans to launch a new airline. "Very often, airfares from Kochi to Europe are cheaper than what Air India charges on the Gulf sector. Flights on these routes are the first casualty whenever Air India is bogged down with its internal problems," he added.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/business/india-business/Air-Kerala-may-fly-overseas-on-FDI/articleshow/16814086.cms

UB brass to meet Kingfisher Airlines staff over salary on Wednesday

NEW DELHI: In a sign of a complete deficit of trust between the Kingfisher management and its unpaid-for-months employees, the latter have been called to meet top executives of parent company UB Group on Wednesday to somehow get them back to work and call off the airline's partial lockout.

The meeting was earlier scheduled to take place on Monday but was changed due to the "travel schedule" of the executives they were supposed to meet. Kingfisher EVP Hitesh Patel wrote to employees last week that this was being done to "bring closure to the current situation". They have been called to meet airline chief Vijay Mallya's close associates Sammy D Lalla and Subhash Gupte.

The airline declared a partial lockout on October 1 and has not operated any flight since then. Talks between airline CEO Sanjay Aggarwal, Patel and employees have not yielded any result as the latter now want their dues since March to be cleared. "Numerous mails have been sent by the management in the past few months assuring us that our salary would be paid by such and such date. They have all proven to be false promises. We have no faith in the management and clearly told them this. That is why a representative from pilots, employees and some other groups is being called from each base to Mumbai," said a senior employee.

What has angered employees even more are reports that a leading PSU bank had extended a loan of Rs 60 crore on "humanitarian grounds" to pay salaries after an employee's wife committed suicide. "Even that money has not been used to pay any salary. Maybe the bank should directly disburse it to employees as the airline seems to be in no mood to do so," said another employee.

The ongoing stalemate between employees and management does not bode well for the airline as it has to reply to a DGCA notice also by the weekend. "So far, the airline has not shown any sign of revival. FDI by foreign airlines was allowed a while back and there is no word of Kingfisher getting any money from that route too. It may be an uphill task for the airline to get airborne again," said highly placed sources, indicating that the aviation ministry has finally decided to stop soft-handling of the Kingfisher crisis.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/business/india-business/UB-brass-to-meet-Kingfisher-Airlines-staff-over-salary-on-Wednesday/articleshow/16814048.cms

Kingfisher management calls employees for talks on Monday

MUMBAI: Grounded and tethering on verge of bankruptcy Vijay Mallya promoted Kingfisher AirlinesBSE 3.95 %has called for a meeting with its engineers and pilots from across its operating bases for what is being seen as a make or break meeting for the struggling debt ridden carrier at its Mumbai headquarters on Monday.

In an email to employees written on Friday company's executive vice president Hitesh Patel asked one representative each from the engineering and pilot divisions for the meeting the time and venue of which has not been conveyed to the employees till now.

Time is running out for the airline as it has to submit a viable business plan to the civil aviation regulatorif it wants to start flights by October 21 as Kingfisher has opened sale of inventor from this date onwards subject to regulatory approval. Unless deadlock with employees over salaries is not resolved the management would fail to stick to that deadline.

Kingfisher employees struck work since October 1 on account of non-payment of dues demanding seven months of unpaid salaries to be cleared before the staff report back to work. The moveby the employees forced the airline to declare a partial lockout till October 4 that was subsequently extended twice till October 20 now.

It is learnt that Kingfisher management that till now was handling the crisis and attempting a solution is likely to side step and the meeting will be addressed by daft UB Group top brass and Mallya's trusted lieutenants like Sammy D Lalla and Subhash Gupte.

While Lalla, it is said, knows the pulse of employees and has carved most of Mallya's spirit deals and has spent more than 25 years with UB, Gupte is an experienced old hand who was also an acting chairman and managing director at the state owned Air India. They are likely to convey what Mallya would want to communicate with the employees.

Importantly, Mallya himself has not commented till now on the worst ever crisis faced by the his airline and some say he would only come out in the open once he has figured the future course of the airline which has liabilities of over Rs 15000 crore and has an investor to back him up .f. Mallya had said he is in discussion with a foreign airline after foreign carriers were allowed to invest in Indian airline companies by a change of regulations last month.

Apparently the past few meetings between the airline's CEO Sanjay Aggarwal and the engineers in the beginning of the stir did not go well as the airline head tried to play hard ball and lost his cool in one of the meetings. Aggarwal also wrote a mail during the middleof the crisis which the employees opposed strongly as it called a section of the employees criminals.

Employees at the airline do not see any promise in the meeting and said that it will be another sham as all the meetings till now have been. Employees at the Delhi base reportedly are planning to boycott the meeting.

"We do not trust any of the top management and especially the CEO. They all have lied to us for seven months and sent mails promising salaries will be cleared soon. None of the promises have been met with. So what is the guarantee that this meeting will be any different? And why have they called only two representatives? And even these people have not been allowed to speak. They are briefed only to listen," said one of the pilots who refused to be identified.

Sources in the know of the development said the UB Group top brass is likely to convey what as the Chairman and promoter of the airline Vijay Mallya wants to convey to the agitating employees. It is understood that on offer to the employees would be part payment of dues for two to three months.

"We are asking for our living and that is not negotiable. We are not going to agree to any negotiations with the management on part payment of salaries for two, three four months. We have stuck with the airline and Dr Mallya promised us that we would be rewarded for staying back with the airline. Now we have been called criminals. We do not think anything acceptable would come out of the meeting," said an employee who did not want to be named.

Kingfisher has to answer to a showcase notice by October 20 that has been sent by the civil aviation regulator that needs to explain why the license of the airline should not be cancelled despite the airline not adhering to schedules and cancelling flights.

"Kingfisher has not come up with a response yet," the director general of civil aviation Arun Mishra said.

The airline has to submit a business plan to its lenders by October end. Kingfisher loans are already classified as nonperforming asset and the airline has been trying to raise funds for over a year now.

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/news-by-industry/transportation/airlines-/-aviation/kingfisher-management-calls-employees-for-talks-on-monday/articleshow/16809169.cms

‘Aranmula airport to be operational by December 2014’

The first commercial flight will land at the proposed Aranmula airport in December, 2014, according to KGS Aranmula Greenfield International Airport Limited, promoter of the project. P.T. Nandakumar, executive director of the company, in a statement here on Saturday said an action plan to complete the project in a time-bound manner had been chalked out.

He said the company had opened a project office at Aranmula in September and the project would be completed with people’s participation. No family would be evicted to set up the private airport and all other propaganda in this regard was baseless, he said

Mr. Nandakumar said the company had obtained all necessary clearances for the Rs.2,000-crore project from the Central and State governments. The previous Left Democratic Front government as well as leaders of various LDF constituents had extended support to the company and the airport project. He denied the allegation that the government clearances for the project were given without proper environment impact assessment and other studies. He said various departments had given clearances after site inspection

http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/aranmula-airport-to-be-operational-by-december-2014/article3996134.ece

Kingfisher to restart operations on Oct 20

New Delhi, Oct 13:  

Kingfisher Airlines has pushed back plans of restarting operations to October 20. In a statement, the airline said that it “regrets to announce that the partial lockout declared on October 1, as a result of employee related issues is being extended until October 20.”

http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/todays-paper/tp-economy/kingfisher-to-restart-operations-on-oct-20/article3995147.ece

Mangalore airport enters the big boys’ league

When you speak about Mangalore airport, many people connect it with the 2010 air crash that claimed 158 lives.

Others, who have seen the airport, admire its infrastructure. Old timers recall the visit of Jawaharlal Nehru to inaugurate the airport in 1951.

After six decades of operation, the Union Government has now decided to make Mangalore an international airport.

The Cabinet meet held on October 4 decided to accord international status to Mangalore airport, along with four others. Of course, it was one of the long-pending demands of the people in the region.

The Mangalore airport, which started with the operations of Dacota flights in 1951, was one of the major projects initiated by the late Ullal Srinivas Mallya, the then Member ofParliament from the region. Other projects initiated by Mallya were New Mangalore Port Trust and National Institute of Technology, Karnataka, among others.

In 1970, the airport was developed to handle Boeing 737.

‘Short’ coming

Though the airport project expansion was initiated in 1989, it did not gather steam, and did not go forward for many years.

People of the region started feeling the need for a direct connectivity between Mangalore and Gulf destinations many years ago. However, the then existing runway of 1,600 metres was not suitable for handling big aircraft.

The project to expand Mangalore airport gained momentum in the early part of the first decade of the new millennium. In 2004-05, the Airports Authority of India (AAI) initiated work on the construction of a second runway. And in 2006, the airport was ready with a 2,450-metre-long second runway. That paved the way for Mangalore airport to handle wide-bodied aircraft.

Following this, in May 2006, Mangalore was announced as customs aerodrome. The status of customs aerodrome was essential for Mangalore to operate flights to international destination, especially to Gulf countries.

And it was a dream come true for many Mangaloreans when the first Air India Express flight from Dubai landed in Mangalore on October 3, 2006, placing Mangalore on the international aviation map.

International fliers

As of now, the international passenger profile from Mangalore airport mainly consists of non-resident Indians (NRIs) working in Gulf countries. A majority of these passengers are from Dakshina Kannada and Udupi districts in Karnataka, and Kasaragod and to some extent Kannur districts in Kerala.

In the past six years, international passengers contributed more than one-fourth of the total passenger traffic at Mangalore airport.

Their share was 20.44 per cent in the calendar year 2007. It went up to 26.71 per cent in 2008 and a maximum of 31.43 per cent in 2009.

The air crash in 2010 had some impact with the international passenger share coming down to 28.71 per cent that year. However, the share of international passengers started moving up again with the airport handling 29.04 per cent of them in 2011.

However, a study conducted by AAI before the establishment of the new terminal building in Mangalore had estimated the total passenger figures to reach 3.55 lakh passengers by 2009-10 and 4.31 lakh by 2013-14!

Air India Express is the only carrier that connects Mangalore with destinations in West Asian . At present, Mangalore is connected with destinations such as Abu Dhabi, Muscat, Dubai, Kuwait, Doha and Qatar in the Gulf region.

Rajesh Sequera, coordinator of the UAE-based Karnataka NRI Forum, said that the international tag to Mangalore airport would help private carriers from the country to operate from Mangalore to international destinations.

Kishor Cariappa, a social media consultant in Muscat, said that the international tag would help more carriers from Gulf and Asia to connect with Mangalore. “NRIs from Gulf will be happy to fly in professionally-run carriers,” he said.

Opportunities

Opportunities also lie in promoting education tourism to connect Mangalore with other international destinations, Sequera said. Both Mangalore and Manipal have a lot of educational institutions offering professional education in various streams.

Cariappa said that Malaysia and Singapore could be the target destinations for airlines to explore from Mangalore.

Explaining this, he said Manipal University, in Udupi district, has a majority of students from Malaysia. In fact, Manipal University claims that every fourth doctor in Malaysia is an alumnus of Manipal. A direct connectivity to Malaysia, at least once in a week, can be thought of in such circumstances.

Another destination that can attract passengers is Singapore. Cariappa said that NRIs travelling to Europe, Australia or the US use Singapore as a hub. This should be explored.

He said that there is enough scope for medical tourism from Gulf into hospitals in Mangalore, Udupi and Manipal. The crowd that travels to Chennai, Bangalore and Mumbai will head to Mangalore, if it is marketed well, he said.

The president of Kanara Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Mohammed Ameen, said that the air cargo complex at the Mangalore airport is yet another dream of the people of this region.

He said that an air cargo complex will help explore export and import potential of commodities such as vegetables and fruits, processed food, chilled items, machineries and garments from Mangalore. Such a cargo complex would help in the quick transportation of perishable commodities that are in high demand in Gulf countries.

There is no need for additional infrastructure for this project, as the infrastructure at the old terminal building is lying idle after the commissioning of the new integrated terminal building.

Ameen said that though infrastructure for this project is already in place, it is still awaiting recommendations of the Department of Customs to the Central Board of Excise and Customs to enable it to issue necessary notification required under certain sections of the Customs Act 1962 officially to declare the air cargo complex to commence operation of airfreight services.

What next?

The proposed airport at Kannur, which is situated around 140 km south of Mangalore, is likely to make some impact in the coming years. A majority of international passengers from northern Kerala, who are dependent on Mangalore airport for connectivity now, can opt for Kannur once it materialises.

Sequera said in such a situation steps should be taken to explore the strengths of Mangalore to market the international airport.

With domestic tourism getting a fillip, airports can be competitive even though they are closely located, Cariappa added.

http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/todays-paper/tp-logistics/mangalore-airport-enters-the-big-boys-league/article3997401.ece

UB officials to attend meeting with Kingfisher staff today

New Delhi, Oct. 14:  

A fresh initiative is being made to resolve the Kingfisher Airlines crisis.

Its employees have been called to Mumbai on Monday for a meeting with not only senior officials of the airline but also those from the UB Group.

While there have been meetings earlier with senior management of the airline, including one with the airline’s promoter, Vijay Mallya, this is probably the first time that UB officials have also been called for the interaction.

On Friday, the airline’s Executive Vice-President, Hitesh Patel sent out a mail to employees inviting a representative from each base to meet with senior officials of the UB Group “in an effort to bring closure to the current situation”.

The meeting assumes importance as the airline has till the end of the week to reply to the show-cause notice served by the Directorate-General of Civil Aviation asking why its licence should not be cancelled or suspended.

The meeting comes close on the heels of a Hyderabad court issuing non-bailable arrest warrants against Mallya and four others in a case of bouncing of cheques worth Rs 10.50 crore.

The airline suspended all operations from October 1 as employees struck work protesting non-payment of wages for the past seven months.

http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/todays-paper/ub-officials-to-attend-meeting-with-kingfisher-staff-today/article3997366.ece