India is on the verge of entering 'big league' in the world aviation scene with the launch of satellite-based navigation system, GAGAN, next year, Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel said on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, the civil aviation ministry has announced the appointment of a task force, lead arrangers and consultants for the development of 35 non-metro airports in a phased manner at a cost of Rs 5,500 crore.
Private airlines collecting taxes from travellers other than the passenger service fee will be penalised and made to refund such money, Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel told Lok Sabha on Thursday. Patel made it clear that the government did not regulate the air fare levied by Airline companies. The government only levies Rs 221 as passenger service fee which is used for security of airports and to cover other related expenses, he said.
At present, the booming airline industry is facing a shortage of approximately 1,000 qualified pilots, Union Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel told Rajya Sabha in a written reply on Tuesday. Patel said the government has taken various steps, including increasing the retirement age of pilots to 65 years and setting up of a training institute in Maharashtra, to reduce the demand-supply gap.
After having allowed private Indian airlines to fly to SAARC countries, the Union Cabinet is likely to take a decision to permit them to launch operations to other international destinations in a month's time, civil aviation minister Praful Patel sai
Air India expects to get an allocation of Rs 1,200 crore in the forthcoming Budget, Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel said on Thursday. "We expect a Rs 1,200-crore (Rs 12 billion) provision for Air India in the budget," Patel said.
Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel said on Wednesday that the impasse between the Congress and the Nationalist Congres Party over formation of government in Maharashtra will end on a positive note by Thursday.
Turning down Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel's plea for a fare cut, full service carrier Kingfisher Airlines on Monday said that at present there was no case for reducing air fare.Other airlines like SpiceJet and IndiGo also said that after the recent round of cuts in fuel surcharge, customers should not expect further benefits in the short term, though there would be some advance purchase packages in January.
Aviation industry experts expect the ATF prices to fall by 16 per cent in November, compared with the current month. This, they say, translates into bridging of nearly half the gap between the airlines' operational costs and total revenues.
The Air India building has 22 floors overlooking the Arabian Sea. Many floors are already leased out to other companies and it represents one of the costliest commercial real estate in both the city and the country. Air India made losses of Rs 5,000 crore (Rs 50 billion) in 2008-09.
The detention of Bollywood icon Shah Rukh Khan at an American airport continued to spark outrage in the country on Sunday with the government saying the action was "offensive" and unacceptable and that it will "strongly" take up the issue with the United States.
India's infrastructure sector alone can absorb more than $150 billion of foreign direct investment over the next five years.
The Union Cabinet is likely to take up the airline industry's concerns over high taxes on jet fuel and airport charges at its next meeting and a Group of Ministers (GoM) may be set up to focus on ATF pricing.
"There is every reason for Air India to respond quickly. The management, the employees, all will have to come out with a proper restructuring plan," he told reporters outside Parliament House. Patel said government support cannot be taken for granted. "It cannot be open-ended. However, the government is committed...We want a strong national carrier," he said.
Jet Airways, SpiceJet, Kingfisher and other airlines have told the government that they would curtail services frequency and air routes to cut losses after oil companies raised the prices of aviation fuel.
The government is looking to sell 10-20 per cent of its holding in national carriers Air-India and Indian Airlines in their initial public offer, Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel said on Monday.
Jet, Kingfisher rebuff Praful Patel, budget carriers reduce fares. As of now, though, the two private airlines remain steadfast in their refusal to cut fares even as Patel's pleas acquire a hint of aggression.
The move came after civil aviation minister Praful Patel warned it was time to act against any move towards cartelisation. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation shot off letters to all scheduled domestic carriers asking for information regarding the recent hike and transparency in airfare advertising, saying it should be furnished by Saturday.
'I would like the fleet acquisition to materialise at the earliest. It is a high priority item.'
The empowered group of ministers will take up tomorrow the modernisation plans of Delhi and Mumbai airports even as the government has cautioned low cost carriers on the present fare structure introduced by some of them.
The Centre was still undecided whether the modernisation of the Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport in Kolkata should be done by Airports Authority of India or through joint venture, Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel said.
Private airline operators stood divided on the conditions that the government should adopt for new entrants with Jet and Sahara seeking stringent norms to keep non-serious players out of the arena, while Deccan Aviation took a contrary position.
Private airport developers in Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad and Bangalore, say landing and parking fees account for a significant proportion of revenues, so offering these services free would be unviable.
Leading private airline Jet Airways has put on its board a director whose security clearance is still awaited, contrary to stipulated norms of Director General of Civil Aviation.
Reliance-ASA on Monday emerged as the highest financial bidder for the Delhi airport modernisation project, offering 46 per cent of revenue share to government for the work.
'We have the majority. We will survive even when we go ahead with the deal,' Praful Patel told rediff.com 'We have 234 (Lok Sabha) MPs in the UPA, add 39 members of the Samajwadi Party and the Independents who have declared support to us,' a Congress leader added. 'We believe it touches the mark of 272.'
The government had earlier warned that the management was free to take any action against them.
Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel on Tuesday said Finance Minister P Chidambaram has agreed "in principle" to infuse more equity in Indian Airlines and Air-India to enable them expand fleet.
The Karnataka government plans to develop new airports at Gulbarga and Hassan.
The Leader of the Aviation Industry Employees Guild, George Abraham was also present at the meeting. The four pilots sacked by the management will be taken back and resume duties while the Registrar of Trade Unions will take a decision on the status of the National Aviators Guild (NAG) spearheading the stir, according to aviation sources.
Patel discusses the airline's problems and defends his record.
A day after the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security filed an FIR against Continental Airlines for frisking former President A P J Abdul Kalam, the government on Wednesday said it knew about the incident and had issued a show cause notice to the airline on July 9."The BCAS, after getting the information in time, first conducted an inquiry and then issued the show cause notice on July 9. On Tuesday, they filed an FIR also Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel said.
NACIL had submitted a proposal in October 2008 for equity infusion of Rs 1,231 crore (Rs 12.31 billion) and provision of soft loan of Rs 2,750 crore (Rs 27.5 billion), with an interest of approximately 5 per cent payable over 15 years.
The government has rejected Videocon's bid for modernisation of Delhi and Mumbai airports, Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel said.
The controversy over the non-inclusion of the three service chiefs in the list of VIPs exempt from security checks at the airports has been resolved with their inclusion in the exemption category by the government.
The Civil Aviation Ministry has recommended an equity infusion of Rs 2,000 crore (Rs 20 billion) in Air India in the next financial year after the beleaguered national carrier gets Rs 1,200 crore soon.
Sending a strong signal to domestic airlines over abrupt hike in airfares by some of them during periods of high demand, the Union civil aviation ministry on Thursday warned them of action if they continued with such 'predatory pricing'.
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