Pilot arrested for allegedly assaulting CISF jawan on duty at airport

Mumbai:  Amid the hectic activity at the airport, a Jet Airways pilot, Zahir Abbas Killegar, and his brother Tauseef, were booked by the Sahar police for allegedly attacking a CISF guard on duty, after he pulled them up for parking near a crowded terminal.

Around 12.15 am, on Wednesday night, both brothers were heading towards departure terminal A to catch their flight to Canada for a personal trip, when they had a skirmish with the jawan.

"Both the pilot and his brother got in a scuffle with the CISF jawan, after he asked them not to park their vehicle near the terminal," said Dilip Patil, senior inspector at Sahar police station.


"The terminal was overcrowded with vehicles. This irritated the jawan on duty and he asked people to move their vehicles. The brothers, who had already stopped the vehicle in front of the terminal's gate, refused to comply, saying that he should ask others to move first.

"Killegar told him that he is a pilot and knows the laws at the airport. This infuriated the jawan who picked up a brawl with them. Soon other jawans gathered and called the police," said an airport staff.

"There was no major fight between the two parties. It was a war of words where neither the parties were ready to give up," added the staffer.

Senior Commandant, CISF, Jitender Negi, he said, "All the details have been provided to Sahar police station. You should ask them."

The brothers, who reside in Agripada, were booked under Sections 353 (assault or criminal force to deter public servant), 332 (voluntarily causing hurt to deter public servant from his duty) and 34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention) of the IPC. They were later granted bail by an Andheri court on a bond of Rs. 15,000 each.




1. Jet Air’s on-time performance soars to 89% in Feb

Jet Airways, Jetlite and GoAir were the only three domestic airlines that reported a month-on-month increase in seat factor (number of seats occupied against number of seats available) this February.

All other domestic airlines saw a marginal decline with overall domestic seat factor also declining owing to end of peak travel season.

As per data released by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), Jet’s seat factor was up to 76.5% (73.9%), JetLite’s to 80.2% (74.6%) and GoAir’s to 87.1% (83.3%) during the month.

The biggest decline, almost by 3 percentage points, was seen in Kingfisher’s seat factor at 83.6% (86.5%), followed by Air India at 68% (69.3%), SpiceJet at 81% (82.6%) and IndiGo at 87.6% (88.6%).

In terms of market share though, Kingfisher continued to rule the domestic skies, despite IndiGo snapping at its heels. While Vijay Mallya’s Kingfisher network carried almost one in five domestic passengers, with 19% market share in February, low fare IndiGo was not far behind at 18.7%. Jet Airways was also close behind IndiGo with 18% share of the market and Air India (domestic) was at the fourth place with 15.8% share. SpiceJet was a distant fifth at 13.8%, followed by Jetlite at 8.1% and then Go Air at 6.6%.

In a statement on Wednesday, though, Jet claimed market leadership when taken together with low fare subsidiary JetLite. “Jet Airways, together with JetLite, successfully retained its leadership position in the Indian Aviation sector with a dominant market share of 26.1%....Jet Airways carried 3.81 lakh international revenue paying passengers in the month of February 2011 with an overall seat factor of 81.1%. The airline also carried 8.24 lakh domestic revenue paying passengers with a seat factor of 76.5%,” the statement said.

But Jet’s passenger complaint record wasn’t so rosy, with the airline facing maximum complaints per 10,000 passengers at 4.1.

Though the number in itself is quite small, it compares poorly with Air India Domestic’s 1.1, which was surprisingly the topper in this category. Kingfisher saw 1.7 complaints, JetLite 2.1, GoAir 2.2, SpiceJet 2.8 and IndiGo 3.1.

In the on-time performance (OTP) area, Jet again topped with 9 out of 10 flights taking off on time. Jet’s OTP was the highest at 89.2%, followed by 88.7% for Kingfisher and 86.8% for IndiGo. The worst was SpiceJet, with almost one in four flights not operating on time and an OTP of just 73.9%. Air India domestic also had a similar record with 25% flights getting delayed and OTP of just 75.8%. One in five JetLite flights also could not fly on time at 80.6% OTP. GoAir’s OTP was bettter at 83.2%.

By

NEHA JAIN

      

   

     

International Airlines Training Expo

            

. Avoid Jet Airways: Sandeep Wagle

What is the call on Jet Airways?

Nothing really happening, the intermediary trend is bearish. However Rs 398 or around that seems to have made a bottom, is a very strong support area. So till that is broken, I will not have a bearish view also but there is nothing that suggests buying but in case Rs 398 is taken out then we can move down to possibly Rs 360 or Rs 340, somewhere in between that.

By

NEHA JAIN

      

   

     

Jet leaves passengers in lurch

PATNA: Over 50 passengers booked on Jet Airways' Delhi-Patna-Delhi afternoon flight 9W-2287 and evening flight 9W 727 had a tough time as the airline refused to allow them to board the aircraft due to sudden unfavourable weather conditions due to extensive heat on Sunday. 


Both the flights had about 150 passengers booked on it. Sources said the airline refused to let the passengers board the aircraft because air had more than normal level of heat. "In such a condition, it is not advisable to carry heavy load," a source told TOI. 


However, these passengers were accommodated on Air India, Go Air, IndiGo and Kingfisher's Patna-Delhi flights, sources said.




By
Neha Jain

Air Tickets Car Rental Cruises Golf Vacation Romantic Getaways Vacation Packages Honeymoon

 

Jobs In Airline

  

International Airlines Training Expo

Aviation NEWS

Pilot Training

Will SC allow private airlines to handle ground services

While the Delhi HC upheld the CCS decision of restricting private airlines to perform ground handling operations, airlines knocked the doors of the Supreme Court. CNBC-TV18 learns that the airlines are in a big dilemma as the SC hearing is on the April 4, 2011, while the policy is getting implemented on April 1, 2011. CNBC-TV18’s Swati Khandelwal Jain reports.
Here is a verbatim transcript of Swati Khandelwal Jain’s comments on CNBC-TV18. Also watch the accompanying video.
We understand from sources that the new ground handling policy will come into effect from the April 1 this year. Remember, the ground handling policy was first formulated in 2007. But it could never get implemented because the private airlines including Jet Airways, JetLite, Kingfisher, Indigo, GoAir had opposed it because they restrict them from doing their own ground handling operations.
Now, the airlines say that this will mean that their ground handling cost will almost double, if they outsource this to one of the three operators that the policy permits. It also says that they may have to pass on the cost to the consumers, which means that the ticket prices could go up going forward.
We also understand that the airlines have about 15,000 or more direct and indirect employees which to the ground handling for them. So, it means that almost 15,000 or more jobs will be at stake.
Not just this, they have already invested over Rs 322 crore put together on ground handling infrastructure, so that’s going to be the big blow for the airline companies. Of course, we will have to wait and watch what really happens in the Supreme Court where the airlines have gone ahead and appealed to the Supreme Court against the judgment that came in from the Delhi High Court. But till then it’s going to be a big dilemma for the airline companies. We could see the ticket prices going up going forward.



By
Neha Jain

Air Tickets Car Rental Cruises Golf Vacation Romantic Getaways Vacation Packages Honeymoon

 

Jobs In Airline

  

International Airlines Training Expo

Aviation NEWS

Pilot Training

DGCA official arrested in 'fake pilot' scam

New Delhi:  The fake pilot saga keeps getting bigger. Four more people, including an official of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), have been arrested by the Delhi Police in connection with the 'fake flying licence' scam.

The arrested DGCA official, Pradeep Kumar, was the Assistant Director in charge of licensing till January. This is the first time that an official of the aviation regulator has been arrested in the scam. Other arrests include a pilot and two touts. With the fresh arrests, a total of eight people have been taken into custody in connection with the racket.

Pradeep Kumar allegedly took Rs. 25,000 for each file he cleared. In January, he was transferred from his post after his role came under suspicion.

But the man who is allegedly behind the forged marksheets which exposed the entire fake pilots issue almost a month ago is Pradeep Tyagi. Not only did he himself have a fake pilots licence, he allegedly helped several others get fake licences, after charging Rs. 6 lakh.

Even though Pradeep Tyagi himself wasn't hired by any airline, the Delhi Police says he was more dangerous being the mastermind of the racket.

"If further anyone else is involved, they will also be arrested. My ministry will not allow anyone with fake licences to fly. We're going step by step, now the step is widening" said Vayalar Ravi, Civil Aviation Minister. (Watch)

The minister also said that the Director General of Civil Aviation had discussed the matter with him "more than once" and steps are being taken to address the issue.

The DGCA had recently grounded 14 pilots who had obtained their commercial licences by submitting fake records and documents.

To get a commercial licence as a co-pilot, a candidate must have passed class 12 with Physics and Maths, passed the flying exams of the DGCA, and have clocked at least 250 flying hours over five years.

To qualify as Captain, candidates need to have 1,500 flying hours as a co-pilot, and they must clear the DGCA's advanced flying exams.

So far, investigators have found that all sorts of documents have been forged - from mark sheets for Class 12 exams for Maths and Physics, to certificates for flying hours, where flying instructors collude with candidates. While the flying club saves money, students sail through faster to the next round.

Even in examinations conducted by the DGCA, students who failed forged their mark sheets and submitted these to the aviation body which did not corroborate the marks against its own records.

The 14 pilots whose licenses have been revoked had allegedly not flown the mandatory hours and are alleged to have got fake certificates from a Rajasthan flying training institute.

DGCA chief EK Bharat Bhushan had recently said that the Commercial Pilot Licences (CPLs) of around 10,000 pilots were under the scanner, besides about 4,000 holders of Airline Transport Pilot Licences (ATPLs).

He had also said that the DGCA would conduct third-party audit of all the 40 flying schools in the country in the wake of cases of forgery behind securing of licences coming to light.


2. Airline sacks alleged fake pilot

NEW DELHI, March 26 (UPI) -- A budget airline in India has suspended a female pilot suspected of fraudulently obtaining her commercial pilot's license, officials said.

SpiceJet suspended Garima Passi after it suspected she used fake documents to obtain her commercial pilot's license, Press Trust of India reported.

"Passi had been suspended from flying (on March 16) while we awaited the full investigations to be concluded," a statement from the airline said. "This morning she has resigned from her job."

The airline fired two other pilots earlier this week after finding they used fake documents to obtain their commercial pilot's licenses.

Passi, 24, apparently washed out of a flight training program in the United States and suffered a fear of flying, the report said.

She returned to India and obtained her commercial pilot's license within five days of submitting her application to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation.

3. Dreams take wings with a 100 miles
BANGALORE: It was a ride they would cherish forever. On Friday, Bangalore International Airport Limited and private airline Jet Airways helped light up a 100 faces as children from neighbouring schools and villages took off on their first flight ever. The event was held to commemorate 100 years of civil aviation in India.

"We always see the planes taking off and landing frm our schools, but travelling in one was a dream we thought might never come true," said Chandana from Hegganahalli government higher primary school.

In a collaborative effort, fuel was donated by Indian Oil Sky of Indian Oil Corporation Ltd ( IOCL) and flight catering partner LSG Sky Chefs provided food and beverages.

Actress Ramya added a touch of glam as she joined the children on board.

The event was the culmination of a specially organized painting competition themed 100 years of civil aviation. Over 1000 children, aged six to 14 participated in the event. The winners were invited aboard as a reward.

"It is encouraging to see Jet Airways and the airport come together to celebrate it in such a befitting manner," said actress Ramya.

G V Sanjay Reddy, managing director, BIAL said: "The event was held to mark the second year of CSR & volunteering by the BIAL employees. The volunteers wanted to do something celebratory for the schools & NGOs around the airport. Through such initiatives, we plant in children a desire to reach higher."

By

NEHA JAIN

      

   

     

International Airlines Training Expo

            

15 India pilots lose licences for cheating

INDIAN aviation authorities have cancelled the licences of 15 commercial pilots for exaggerating their flying time during training, an official said today.


The pilots received their eligibility certificates from a flying school in the northwestern state of Rajasthan, said E.K. Bharatbhushan, the director-general of civil aviation.


Police have arrested four pilots with fake aviation licences in the past two weeks, leading to concerns about unqualified pilots endangering the lives of thousands of travellers. Opposition MPs have accused the government of failing to prevent corruption in licensing.


Aviation authorities have ordered officials to check the documents of all airline pilots working in the country. They also plan to examine training and licensing procedures at all flying schools, Bharatbhushan told The Associated Press.


Authorities are concerned about whether flying schools are following rules issued by aviation regulatory authorities and if they are logging genuine flying hours for students.






Air travel has boomed in India as its economy has grown in the past decade, leading to the rise of a slew of private airlines and a shortage of experienced pilots.


2. SERVER LOAD
Our server was unable to complete your request due to high volume. Please try again by clicking your browser's reload button. If you receive this message again, wait a few minutes before attempting to access the page again.
We apologise for any inconvenience.
Visit our site map for more information on FT.com
Go to homepage.


3. Oil companies threat to stop fuel supply to AI


NEW DELHI: Keeping cash-strapped Air India airborne is now proving to be an uphill task for the government. Almost four months after putting it on cash-and-carry, oil marketing PSUs have warned that jet fuel supply to the Maharaja could soon be stopped unless their daily bill is cleared in full. 


According to sources, the Air India-Indian Airlines combine's daily aviation turbine fuel (ATF) bill has now shot up to Rs 18.5 crore due to successive hikes in crude prices and it has dues of about Rs 2,400 crore. Following mounting dues, AI's credit facility was withdrawn and it was put on cash-and-carry last December. 


With oil PSUs say they are under severe stress following recent spike in crude price and that AI must pay up, cabinet secretary K M Chandrasekhar has called a high-level meeting of the aviation and petroleum ministries on Friday. The objective is to find a middle path that could prevent the national carrier from getting grounded and also protect the oil companies' interest. 


"AI has been paying Rs 13.5 crore daily while oil companies have warned that their daily bill of Rs 18.5 crore must be cleared or else they will soon stop supply to AI. But the airline is in no position to pay more as sometimes the daily fuel bill itself is more than the daily earning. We are unable to pay salaries on time. The situation is very serious and the cabinet secretary has called a meeting on this particular issue as also the liquidity crisis in AI," said an official. 


Aviation minister Vayalar Ravi has taken up this issue with his petroleum counterpart S Jaipal Reddy. But considering spiralling crude prices that have put oil PSUs under severe strain, the oil ministry is yet to relent for AI. 


While the most serious threat, that could lead to AI being grounded, over non-payment of dues is coming from oil companies, there are a host of other vendors who have been asking for payment. These include spare parts and IT service suppliers. The privately run metro airports are paid from time to time to run operations from there. Controlled by the aviation ministry, the Airports Authority of India (AAI) has been asked to keep quiet on its dues of over Rs 600 crore from AI. 


With combined losses of over Rs 13,000 crore along with high cost debt of almost Rs 40,000 crore, AI's financials are proving to be too tough to be revived. The airline got Rs 2,000 crore as equity infusion last fiscal and may get a similar amount in 2011-12. Recently, the government admitted in Parliament that the airline earns Rs 36 crore a day and loses Rs 57 crore-a daily loss of Rs 21 crore. 



By
Neha Jain

Air Tickets Car Rental Cruises Golf Vacation Romantic Getaways Vacation Packages Honeymoon

 

Jobs In Airline

  

International Airlines Training Expo

Aviation NEWS

Pilot Training