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Satellite deal with Boeing on hold: ISRO chief Bangalore:
ISRO has decided to put on hold a key deal with US aircraft manufacturer
Boeing for the manufacture and marketing of the two-tonne class communication
satellites. ISRO Chairman G. Madhavan Nari, said that the US aviation
major, has changed its business plan and it is most likely not to further
its space ventures. "Boeing is not manufacturing the small satellites
anymore. They have changed their business plans. So it is not going
forward at this moment. We are exploring possibilities but because they
have recast their business plan so on a commercial basis nothing is
concrete. At the moment it is on hold," said Nair. If the deal went
through, payloads supplied by Boeing would have been installed in satellite
buses developed and assembled by ISRO. Earlier, Boeing got a go ahead
for the deal last year after the US government relaxed export restriction
to New Delhi. The United States, which saw India as a Soviet ally during
the Cold War, for decades, restricted export of items linked to India's
space programme fearing military use. It imposed harder sanctions after
India conducted nuclear tests in 1998. The sanctions were lifted after
India became an ally in the US- led "War on Terror" after the September
11 attacks WTC Twin Tower attacks. India's economic reforms since 1991
and its engineering and software prowess have also brought the two countries
closer. As a latest, the world's two largest democracies have begun
an ambitious chapter in space co-operation this year. Space co- operation
between the two countries has struck a special chord since Indian-born
US astronaut Kalpana Chawla was killed in the Columbia space shuttle
disaster in 2003. Air India is first Indian airline to align with UNEP (Go To Top) Mumbai:
India's international carrier -- Air India -- has become the first
airline in the country to align with the United Nations Environment
Programme (UNEP), an international body working with governments of
various countries for the protection of the environment. Some of Air
India's environment friendly initiatives include a full fledged effluent
treatment plant as part of the chemical cleaning and planting workshop.
Even fire extinguishers which contain halon- an ozone depleting chemical
are removed from the aircraft and sent to a vendor on the expiry date
for recycling. Air India also plans to change to an eco-friendly vapour
absorption system for the air conditioning plants to avoid use of CFC's
( Chlorflucarbons) another set of ozone depleting substances. "Environmental
issues as we already told you, we are already complied with the requirements.
But now when we are poised for a expansion plan, we thought it's lot
more needs to be done for protecting the environment. So, we have decided
to team up with UNEP, which has got more exposure on the global environment
and then take their expertise to and we work together with them so that
our processes and program can be improved," said Babu Peter, Director-Engineering,
Air India. "We have already formed a core group within the company which
will interact with the UNEP, and then in the coming years, we will formulate
the programs like identifying crust areas where improvements can be
immediately made and also countrified. For this, we will take inputs
from the UNEP, their expertise and work with our people and we will
also think of employing a consultant," he added. Air India's initiative
could not have come at a more opportune time. On Friday, the UNEP and
governments around the world are preparing to celebrate two key milestones
on the road to recovery for the world's stratospheric ozone layer: the
Montreal Protocol and the Vienna Convention. "The United Nations program
is like a environmental ministry and its major role is to provide assessment
of all natural resources that our world has, what is the condition of
various environmental entities like water, ocean, air and how various
factors and human interventions are affecting this environment. So,
to provide some kind of early warning and assessment of situation and
to give some kind of correction now role is to inspire, inform and enable
the people to actions to preserve our environment," said Rajendra M
Shende, Head, Energy and Ozone branch, UNEP. India's flagship carrier
has provided a platform for other airlines and has thus set the ground
rules for aviation sector in India. Austrian Airlines has 5 non-stop Mumbai-Vienna flights (Go To Top) Mumbai:
After a successful flight operation in Delhi, Austrian airlines
recently added direct flight services operating five times a week from
Vienna to Mumbai. Bernhard Baeck, the Country Manager, India, Australian
Airlines, said that that though the airlines was aiming to become the
top Central and Eastern European carrier, emerging markets such as India
and China offered it immense opportunities despite a comparatively small
base. "I am happy that it's beginning. Of course part of the traffic
you collect is also market share that you take from competitors but
there are few markets in the world with such growth potential and growth
rate, it can easily grow by ten percent per year. So there is a good
growth rate and I think the only other market with similar growth rate
would be China. So according to me, there is enough potential, " he
said. He said that Austrian Airlines was also trying to develop Vienna
as a hub for surrounding countries and regions. "We are planning to
develop Vienna as a hub for surrounding countries and regions. On this
route we also expect very high percent of traffic to use Vienna as an
entry port and then go into Central and Eastern Europe," said Bernhard
Baeck, Country Manager - India, Austrian Airlines. The five-time-a-week
service to Mumbai was started from September 1. The new route will be
served by a long-haul Boeing 767 with 36 Business and 209 Economy class
seats. The airline is now considering expanding its operations to third
destinations such as Chennai, Bangalore and Hyderabad. He further said
that the airline was aiming to carry 145,000 on the New Delhi route
and 30,000 on the Mumbai route in 2005 and about 150,000 passengers
110,000 on from New Delhi and Mumbai, from next year onwards. "The policy
of the Indian government to open up for additional carriers to come
in was all of a certain, but, we are happy that it happened and we are
ready to fly. We know that we have a market share. I firmly believe
that additional competition will create additional demand and India
is a strong growing market. Maybe at this moment we have additional
capacity but the potential is huge, and I think together we will attract
more Indian travellers going abroad as well," said Vagn Soerensen, Chief
Executive Officer, Austrian Airlines Group. Austrian Airlines network
comprises of 130 destinations in 66 countries on five continents and,
comprises of Austrian Airlines, Austrian Arrows and Lauda Air, operating
more than 2,300 flights a week in and out of Vienna. 2.2 billion dollar 43 Airbus deal cleared (Go To Top) New Delhi: British Prime Minister and EU President Tony Blair and Indian Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh announced here today that the public sector air carrier Indian Airlines will buy 43 Airbus aircraft for 2.2 billion dollars. "We have agreed to buy 43 Airbus aircraft for 2.2 billion dollars," Prime Minister Manmohan Singh told reporters after signing Joint Action Plan with his British counterpart Tony Blair. "The purchase of Airbus is a highly successful deal and is a welcome sign which will give a fresh impetus to India UK bilateral economic engagement," said Blair. The deal had been hanging fire for the last five years. Among
the aircraft that would be phased out are 11 Boeing 737s, which comprise
the Alliance Air fleet, 15 A-320s which are on lease and three A-300s.
Indian Airlines has got the deal on a 5 percent discount from the France-based
Airbus Industries. This will save the state-owned carrier over Rs 500
crore (113 million dollars) in the deal which was originally estimated
to cost Rs 10,237 crore (2.33 billion dollars). The deal was stalled
for a long time after the NDA government cleared it in 2000 but the
UPA government decided to verify it further. A meeting of the Cabinet
Committee on Economic Affairs had on August 25 decided to set up a Empowered
Group of Ministers (EgoM) headed by the Finance Minister P Chidambaram
to negotiate with Airbus. Law Minister H R Bhardwaj and Minister of
statistics and Programme Implementation Oscar Fernandes were member
of the group besides others. With the fleet acquisition being cleared
finally, Indian Airlines can now look forward to facing the cut-throat
competition from private carriers. Indian Airlines had last purchased
aircraft in 1994. While 70 per cent of the 43 aircraft would replace
the IA's ageing fleet, the remaining ones would be used for capacity
enhancement, the official sources said. Pilots have to give 6 months' notice to quit: DGCA (Go To Top) New Delhi: Pilots will now be required to give a notice period of at least six months to their employer indicating their intention to leave the job and shall not refuse to undertake the flight duties assigned to them during this period, the office of the Director General of Civil Aviation said on Thursday. The DGCA said that failure to comply with the Civil Aviation Requirement (CAR) directive may lead to action against the pilots, adding that this CAR is applicable to any pilot working for any air transport undertaking. According to the CAR which is effective forthwith, it has been observed that pilots are resigning without providing any notice to the airlines. In some cases, even groups of pilots resign together without notice and as a result airlines are forced to cancel their flights at the last minute. Such resignation by the pilots and resultant cancellation of flights causes inconvenience and harassment to the passengers. Sometimes such an abrupt action on the part of the pilots is in the form of a concerted move, which tantamounts to holding the airline to ransom and leaving the traveling public stranded. This is a highly undesirable practice and goes against the public interest. According to the Aircrafts Rule 1937, the Central Government may debar a person permanently or temporarily from holding any licence or rating upon such an action on the part of the pilot if the Government in its opinion finds it necessary to do so in public interest. It takes about four months to train a pilot to operate an aircraft used for airline operations, as he has to pass technical and performance examinations of the aircraft, undergo simulator and flying training and has to undertake Skill Test to satisfy licence requirements. Even after this training, the pilot can operate only as a co-pilot. To operate an aircraft as pilot-in-command (PIC) he needs to gain experience and undertake Skill Test, to fly as PIC of an aircraft, which may take another four months. Therefore, it takes more than four months for an airline to replace a trained PIC. Pilots are highly skilled personnel and shoulder complete responsibility of the aircraft and passengers. They are highly paid for the responsibility they share with the airlines towards the traveling public and are required to act with extreme responsibility.
In view of the above Government
has decided that any act on the part of pilots, including resignation
from the airlines without a minimum notice period of six months, which
may result in last minute cancellation of flights and harassment of
passengers, would be treated as an act against public interest. The
notice period of six months, however, may be reduced if the airlines
employing them provides a 'No Objection Certificate' and accepts their
resignation earlier than four months. |
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