CATEGORIES

James ‘The Disruptor' - Hogan's The Name

Quite like the swashbuckling hero of the 007 movies he shared his first name with James Hogan’s was a class act at Etihad Airways.

Jetting To Profits – For The Ninth Time

With a strong focus on cost-cutting measures to unburden its huge debt, Jet Airways has reported a net profit of ₹71 crores for the Q2 FY18.

Four To 1000

That’s the story of India’s world-class airline. From 2006, when the airline had one aircraft that flew four flights a day to today with 150 planes making 1000 flights a day, IndiGo’s journey has been one of focus and commitment, writes SHAKTI LUMBA, one of the insiders who has witnessed aviation history in the making.

..And The Winner Is T2

After much dilly dallying and court deliberations, the much talked about Terminal 2 of Indira Gandhi International Airport started full operations on March 25, 2018 with IndiGo, SpiceJet and Go Air. JAGRITI MONGA takes a close look at what happened.

Pakyong Is Ready, But DGCA Is Not

Landlocked Sikkim now has its own airport in Pakyong. Built painstakingly over the last nine years – the airport has been carved out of a mountain – it recently received two trial flights, an IAF Dornier and a SpiceJet Q400. However, the DGCA is yet to give its go-ahead.

Another Boost For India

With his appointment to the TIACA Board of Directors, air cargo veteran Ramesh Mamidala hopes to improve trade processes and practices that need involvement of various government and trade bodies.

Kempegowda Steps To Become Smart

Committed to a futuristic and innovative vision of The Smart Airport - the Bangalore International Airport will soon become the ‘first in India’ to implement Aadhaar and biometric-enabled entry.

Rise Of The Regional Rajas

Over the last few months, the ambitious regional connectivity has received a boost from SpiceJet and IndiGo, the two top low cost carriers, that are readying to take the pole position to reach the last man at the end of the last mile.

LM's Ready For Tech Transfer

Building on its 25-year-old relationship with India, the US defence manufacturer is committed to shift its Fort Worth, Texas plant to India

First Great Aviation Battle Of The Viking Age

‘Norway’ and ‘cheap’ are two words that rarely go together, yet this Scandinavian country is where Europe's third-largest budget airline first spread its wings: Norwegian. While the legacy carriers continue to moan about the competition from the Gulf, Norwegian is neither moaning nor complaining. On the contrary it is audaciously attempting to fight them and the Big Three in the Gulf with direct long haul flights right into the heart of North America. A special report.

Carriers Brave The Tough Times

Rising fuel costs, induction of more planes, competition and demonetisation played havoc with the financials of carriers in the last quarter of 2016. In fact, while the airlines under review – IndiGo, SpiceJet and Jet Airways – faced problems, all of them look forward to growth with profits in 2017.

2016: The Year GA Wants To Forget

Deliveries of General Aviation aircraft around the world went down significantly – in fact, it was down by double digits. Overall, fixed-wing business and general aviation shipments dipped by nearly 70 airplanes to 2,262 and rotorcraft shipments were down by 175 units to 861, according to GAMA.

Ready And Willing (To Trade)

With the Commonwealth keen to set up a trade hub in India to promote trade and investment after Brexit, the exim trade can look forward to improved trade relations with Britain

India Mulls Air Corridor To Mongolia

After the success of the air corridor with Afghanistan, landlocked Mongolia could be linked furthering India’s Act East policy to reach out to neighbouring nations

Traffic Choked Megacities, Look To The Sky

Will India’s new-found love for flying spill over to app based heli-taxi services?

Southern Giants Up Their Cargo Game

The Bengaluru and Hyderabad airports have enhanced their cargo facilities. The aim is to make the airports gateways.

'Our Duty Is To Facilitate Infrastructure Even Where There Is Little Commercial Viability'

Realising the importance and growth of the air cargo industry and its impact on the Indian economy, AAI incorporated an integrated logistics network entity last year: AAICLAS. After almost a year of operations, AAICLAS has a new Chief Executive Officer, Keku Bomi Gazder, a veteran in the aviation industry. With close to three decades of experience in airlines operations and having worked with several international airlines across the Middle East, South Asia and the Indian sub-continent region, Gazder is enthusiastic and passionate about his new role. He is positive and believes that AAICLAS will be benchmarked against the best in the world. Excerpts from a conversation:

Air Cargo Deserves Importance

It has been more than a year since Airports Authority of India launched its cargo subsidiary, AAI Cargo Logistics and Allied Services Company Limited. With its aim to become the largest networked and fastest growing logistics solution provider in the country, the cargo logistics company is a realisation — though delayed — by the government that air cargo deserves importance for the part it plays in the nation’s economy.

Saab Handshake With Adani - For Gripen

The news about the collaboration under the ‘Make in India’ programme comes at a crucial moment since Saab has offered its Gripen E as the multirole fighter aircraft that the country has been seeking for quite some time now.

Will Body Scanners Be The Ultimate In Safety?

While body scanners will solve the problems of security and passenger convenience, the idea requires the right permutation and combination to be considered an exemplary example of artificial intelligence.

Turnaround Over, It's Spicejet's Time to Grow

The mega deal with Boeing for 205 planes by SpiceJet marks the beginning of the carrier’s growth story for the future.

Embraer's deliveries up by 38 per cent

Embraer declared that its Legacy 450 mid-light business jet has completed its maiden voyage to Hawaii, from California, a development the company called a historic moment. Moreover, the rise in deliveries has helped 2016 to be a memorable year for Embraer.

Winds of Hope – at Last

The November 2016 air cargo figures showed a rise, leading IATA to comment that the trend was encouraging and would continue in 2017.

BRU to boost pharma, IT from Mumbai

Fulfilling a long-standing demand, the Brussels Airlines connection with Mumbai will not only help the pharma and IT sectors but be a great help for the diamond trade.

Storm Rider Rahul Bhatia

Years of profit and maintaining a lean operations has helped IndiGo’s Rahul Bhatia build up a substantial war chest. Today, that war chest is aiding the airline to keep its head in the skies despite the losses and the inhospitable atmosphere.

Headwinds At Airbus

Never in the last ten years has the European planemaker faced so much uncertainly at the top. The last time such a crisis took place was the A380 crisis of 2006. As it was then, Airbus tackled the problem with a substantial overhaul of its senior management.

'Beam Me Up, Musk'

Come 2050, that iconic catchphrase that made its way into popular culture from the science fiction television series Star Trek, could become reality. This time around, the request will not be from Captain Kirk to his chief engineer, Montgomery “Scotty” Scott but to billionaire tech entrepreneur Elon Musk who is pursuing his dream to set up a human colony on Mars. His Raptor engines have achieved their task. All that remains to be done is their attachment to Starship…

Max And Its Maximum Boycott

Two accidents of the Boeing 737 Max have raised a number of questions: the first and foremost being the speed with which the US planemaker rushed to ensure the commercial debut of the plane. Did the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) cut corners to complete its certifications process? A close look at the goings-on in the B737 Max story.

Jet's Slot Factor

Even as Jet Airways stops flying to stations one after another, the question that arises is: Who gets the slots it vacates? Getting and maintaining slots nationally and internationally is a difficult proposition and till now, the beleaguered airline has been trying hard to keep its nose in the air by hanging on to the hardest to obtain airport slots around the world, as AMEYA JOSHI found out.

Now, Chillies From Varanasi To Dubai…

In its move to connect to the last farmer, cargo flights will start receiving Viability Gap Funding and in the process boost incomes in the hinterland.