Indian Premier League authorities on Friday dismissed media reports that Poorna Patel, IPL Hospitality Manager and daughter of Civil Aviation minister Praful Patel, leaked a confidential e-mail from the league's COO Sundar Raman's office.
Air India on Friday said it had operated a charter flight to carry IPL players from Chandigarh to Chennai as per rules and procedures and maintained that Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel's daughter, Poorna, was not involved in this operation.
The Bharatiya Janata Party attacked Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel for his alleged role in valuations of Indian Premier League bids, saying the minister could not value Air India or Indian Airlines but wants to play a consultant's role in T20 cricket tournament.
American companies have so far not evinced any interest in investing in the huge Indian infrastructure market, which is estimated to be worth over $200 billion, Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel said on Tuesday.
The civil work in T3 has been completed as per schedule on March 31 and extensive on-the-job trials of the facilities were being carried out by the airport operator involving over 10,000 personnel from all the service providers, including CISF, Immigration, Customs, airlines and other stakeholders.
Accused of protecting its Member of Parliament Padamsinh Patil, who has been accused on being involved in a double murder case, the Nationalist Congress Party on Wednesday suspended Padamsinh Patil from its primary membership. The suspension comes three days after the arrest of Patil by the Central Bureau of Investigation in connection with the murder of Congress leader Pawanraj Nimbalkar and his driver three years ago.
Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel, who was at the receiving end in the tapped conversations of corporate lobbyist Niira Radia, on Wednesday wondered how she came to prominence and what was her claim to fame.
Civil aviation minister Praful Patel has directed Bangalore International Airport Limited, the Siemens-led private consortium developing the new greenfield airport, to increase its capacity to handle passengers.
India's aviation sector would have a fully functioning satellite based navigation system (GPS) in place next year, Aviation Minister Praful Patel said.
After a meeting with Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel in New Delhi, Communist Party of India leader Gurudas Dasgupta told PTI that six staffers, whose services were terminated after the two-day strike that had disrupted hundreds of flights, have been taken back 'after they submitted apology letters on our advice'.
It turned out to be a starry affair as some of India's top current and former cricketers attended former union civil aviation minister Praful Patel's daughter Poorna's sangeet ceremony in Mumbai on Thursday.
Asserting that the government can't remain a mute spectator to the move by the air carriers, Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel said there can be 'no justification' for airlines to hike fares in an 'arbitrary manner'.
The ministry of civil aviation will seek a complete rollback of service tax levied on domestic air travel in the recent Budget, Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel said on Wednesday.In his Budget speech on February 26, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee had proposed a service tax of 10 per cent on both domestic and international travel. Earlier, the service tax was restricted only for international travel.
The Union civil aviation ministry would take up the issue with the finance ministry, Patel said, expressing the hope that the latter would respond favourably to the civil aviation ministry's representation.
The airport and user development fees will be kept out of it.
The Union Cabinet on Thursday referred the proposal for allowing People of Indian Origin to invest in domestic airlines on par with NRIs to a Group of Ministers.
Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel has directed promoters of the Mumbai International Airport Limited to keep in mind local sensibilities while undertaking the upgrade and modernisation of Mumbai airport. The ministry denied allegations that the government had given permission for the change of the name of the airport and location of the Shivaji statue.
The greenfield airport project at Navi Mumbai is likely to get the final environmental nod by October and the bidding process expected to begin by the year-end, Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel said on Monday.
The government will blacklist contractors who are responsible for delay in ongoing projects of airport modernisation."Tenders for capital work are not being issued to the contract agencies responsible for delay in projects," Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel told the Lok Sabha. Patel said the terminal building projects at Jaipur, Udaipur, Srinagar, Vizag and Agatti have been delayed.
Interacting with media persons after the launch of the party unit, Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel said: "There are people here in the US who are passionate about India despite living here for so many years and we are here today to show our commitment to Indian Americans. We would like to lend a voice to their emotions, sentiments and thought processes and carry them back home."
Bengal Aerotropolis Projects, a special purpose vehicle, which is developing India's first airport city, or aerotropolis, in the Asansol-Durgapur region, today entered into a technical services arrangement with Singapore-based Changi Airports International.
The high tax regime makes aircraft service above 50 per cent more expensive than international rates and might spell trouble for over a dozen MRO projects -- several of them involving foreign direct investment that have been announced so far.
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.
Some of the operational goals the carrier has set for itself are 25 million domestic and 15 million international passengers by 2015.
Taking note of the incident, Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel ordered a probe by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) and appealed to VIPs not to pressurise pilots to operate flights.
Replying to supplementaries during Question Hour in Rajya Sabha, civil aviation minister Praful Patel said, "full service airlines earlier used to offer five per cent commission to travel agents on basic fare." "From November 1, 2008, Air India, Jet Airways and Kingfisher abolished the agency commission and introduced transaction fee model... (however) Jet and Kingfisher have started paying commission on basic fare and fuel surcharge.
As senior Air India pilots withdrew their agitation, Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel on Wednesday said the airline would soon set up a committee, including representatives of the ministry and pilots, to work on a turnaround plan and discuss issues relating to their pay and incentives.
The Group of Ministers, which is reviewing the recovery path of Air India, will meet next month to discuss the infusion of Rs 1,200 crore (Rs 12 billion) as equity and review the steps taken by the national carrier for achieving a turnaround.
According to top sources in the government, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in his meeting with Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel on Tuesday asked the ministry to take an initiative, even as the turmoil in the ailing airline deepened.
"I hope the entire airline (Air India) will come back to full operation from tomorrow (Wednesday), otherwise the Air India management will be free to take any decision that it feels is necessary," Patel said in a veiled threat.
With the agitation by Air India executive pilots entering the fourth day on Tuesday, the airline cancelled over 20 flights, including 15 from the national capital, and suspended bookings for the next 15 days.
India's services sector income is on the rise, but what of the quality of people, asks Sanjaya Baru.
India's services sector income is on the rise, but what of the quality of people, asks Sanjaya Baru.
According to the package, the dues will be cleared in six monthly instalments by March 2009. Current ATF purchases will get 90 days' credit, supported by bank guarantees. Also, jet fuel price revisions will henceforth happen every fortnight. Praful Patel on Thursday admitted in the Lok Sabha that it may take another two months to make the recently-opened third runway at the Delhi airport fully operational.
Air India vacates posh Berkeley Square space, will it leave Nariman Point?
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.
Owning "moral responsibility" for the Mangalore air crash, Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel is believed to have offered to resign to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who reportedly turned down the offer, on Saturday.
In a setback to the Managlore airport, Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel said he would "re-look" into the international status given to the Mangalore airport following Saturday's air crash.
An inquiry by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation has been ordered into the Mangalore air crash and an Air India team will assist it in the probe, Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel said today.
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