Wings on fire

Paramount Airways is all set to enter the big aviation league. An airline that has been operating what it calls an all-executive-class fleet, is now in final stages of talks with Bombardier and ATR. In not more than two months, by February 2010, Bombardier's Q400s or ATR's turbo props - 10 aircraft in all - will adorn the fleet of the south-Indian carrier. The target for paramount is simple. All ground work is through to operate the turbo props predominantly in Tier II and Tier III cities. Some of the cities that have been shortlisted are Pondicherry, Mysore, Salem, Bellary, Rajamundry etc., all in south India to start with. The number of destinations the airline covers will then increase from the current 17 to 40 by 2011.With a bare minimum fleet of 5 aircraft (all Embraer) the company has maintained the best passenger load factor among all airlines in the country. Paramount is also the only Airline in India that have seen Rs 79 cr profits as of March 2009. Come October 2010, when the airline completes 5 years of its operations, it will spread its wings overseas. Negotiations are already complete with Airbus to buy 10 of their 321 aircraft. The planes are to be acquired at a list price of USD 90 million. The deal is to be funded by the European Central Bank through a 12 year loan.The Airbus 321s will all be used for the company's international flights. Initially, Paramount will fly to South-East Asian destinations like Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok, Penang and Middle East designations like Dubai and Abu Dhabi.

Isro to join project for passenger plane

India’s space agency will be made a partner in the country’s Rs2,500 crore passenger plane project so it can share its technology expertise, infrastructure and programme management skills and help avoid the mistakes and delays seen in previous projects.

The so-called regional transport aircraft, or RTA-70, being designed to carry 70-90 passengers on short-haul routes, is India’s ambitious attempt to build a civilian plane and bridge the gap in aeronautical expertise with countries such as China and Brazil.

The Indian Space Research Organisation, or Isro, “will be part of a consortium,” said G. Madhavan Nair, chairman of the research council of National Aerospace Laboratories, or NAL, a public-funded agency focused on civil aerospace technologies. “NAL will lead the project.”

Nair, a former head of Isro, said the plane project would be run by an independent commercial body, with public and private partners, including an overseas aerospace firm. He did not name the private firms.

The plane project is yet to get government sanction but is listed in the science and technology plan in the 11th Plan that ends in 2012.

Once approved, the plane project will take around six years to build and be certified for operations, said C.G. Krishnadas Nair, president of the Society of Indian Aerospace Technologies and Industries, or Siati, a body that promotes home-grown enterprises in the aerospace and defence sectors.

So far, India’s attempts to build civilian planes has had little success. NAL has built two civilian planes so far: Hansa, a two-seater trainer, is being flown in some flying clubs but is not a commercial success yet. Saras, a 14-seater plane project in the works for nearly two decades, has been suspended till an inquiry is completed into the crash of a prototype in March that killed two pilots.

In the late 1990s, military plane maker Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd, or HAL, and Franco-Italian manufacturer ATR dropped a plan to make turboprop planes jointly in Kanpur, citing limited market opportunity.

But economic growth since then and the boom in India’s civil aviation sector has presented a fresh opportunity to build planes locally. NAL officials say the sweet spot would be planes that can carry 70-90 passengers over the short haul (up to 1,000km, say, Bangalore to Mumbai) and does not compete with planes of large firms such as Boeing Co. or Airbus SAS.

Currently, only NAL and HAL build planes in India. In December, Mahindra group become the first private Indian conglomerate to acquire the capability to build aircraft when it bought two Australian aerospace firms for up to Rs175 crore over five years.

For the RTA-70 project, HAL is the manufacturing partner and firms such as Infosys Technologies Ltd and the local unit of US technology firm Honeywell International Inc. are building some technology components, Satish Chandra, convenor for the RTA programme at NAL, said in a lecture on 30 September.

The plane is expected to consume around 30% less fuel than existing 70-100-seater passenger aircraft, and have half their maintenance costs through the use of special sensors and coatings. RTA-70 will be able to land and take off on small runways and use satellite navigation, Chandra said.

“We should make use of all resources (in aerospace) within the country. The aim is to make the project a success,” said Nair of Siati.

In addition to building rockets and launching satellites, Isro is building a capsule to carry astronauts into space and later to the moon; some of the facilities and technologies it uses for projects such as these could complement NAL’s plane programme. NAL, too, builds and tests technology for Isro’s programmes.

While Isro’s record of building rockets and launching satellites has improved over the years, it has seen its share of delays. The Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle, or GSLV rocket, with an indigenous cryogenic engine, was set for launch by January but has been delayed by at least a year.

Analysts caution that Isro’s bag is full with projects, including planetary and manned space missions, and even if it is used as a partner, the lead agency should take on the onus of completing the project.

“Why just Isro, you can use any resource available in the country, but the least you should do is to have one person or agency that should be accountable (for the project),” said retired Air Marshal T.J. Master, chairman of Master Aerospace Consultants (Pvt.) Ltd, an aerospace advisory. “It should be made a commercial success and that should be the drive.”

Private Airports goes Commercial…

The Ministry of Civil Aviation (MCA) has given approval to 03 private airstrips to go commercial. These are –

• Jamshedpur Airport owned by Tata Steel Ltd.
• Vijaynagar Airstrip owned by JSW Steel.
• Mundra Airport (Gujarat) run by Adani Group.

These can boost Regional Airlines, which will use smaller airports. Air Traffic Control will be manned by AAI, but airport charges can be levied by their own discretion. Air Deccan has started operating a flight b/n Jamshedpur & Kolkata with an ATR. Tata has guaranteed a minimum number of seats to the airline. All these gives a rosy picture about boom in Indian Aviation, bt, I have a couple of serious questions-

• What if the govt. do not complete its 5 yr. term? (shows the current tussle b/n Left parties & Congress Party )
• Even if it completes 5 yr. term bt, do not come to power after the gen. elections in 2009. What if new govt. change its policy or even slow down the whole process? (the way it happened in the case of much-hyped golden quadrilateral by the then, NDA govt. & as soon as UPA came in to power the whole process slowed down). Well I am not against any govt. or taking a political side bt, a fair question to be asked… because all this happens in India… Jus hope 4 d best.

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No Small aircraft @ Delhi...

On the eve of Independence day the Business-Standard published a news on front page regarding not allowing small aircrafts @ Delhi Airport... the excerpts from the news-->

• Delhi Airport will not allow additional smaller planes from winter of 2007-08, these aircraft include ATR's, Bombardiers, Embraers & Sukhoi Superjet 100.
• DIAL's decision maight be followed by GVK grp-controlled Mumbai Airport (MIAL).
• Small aircraft movements (landings & take-offs) account for 10% of the 650 aircraft movements a day. the industry estimates that with thee regional airlines policy, at least 150 movements of small aircrafts will b added in the nxt 12 months.
• The Govt.'s policy to encourage connectivity, most of these aircraft (below, 40,000 kg) do not pay landing charges to the airports. this move is expected to act as a dampener for the Govt. recently announced policy to encourage regional ailrines.
• DIAL is also considering a move to impose landign charges on smaller planes currently landing in Delhi, though nothing has been finalised.
• Its said that the higher runway occupancy time of Bombardiers & ATR's reduce the movement of heavy aircraft, which provide the main chunk of airport revenues.
• Small aircraft lacked the category III equipment landing in a fog, which would result in delays & inconvenience to passengers.
• DIAL may consider permitting smaller aircraft once new runway is commissioned in 2008. The ban of smaller aircraft will impact the growth of regional airlines, which will primarily b using ATR's & Bombardiers. (for complete story plz...click on the title of the news)

I personally feel that this is a ploy against the development of regional airlines. may be any of the big or established airline is ploying hard to hinder the progress of regionnal airlines.

A few of the points that clicked me are-

1. how come this move is taken only after the announcement for new policy for regional airlines.
2. why this move is to be implemented in the winter season of 2007-08 at not right from now.
3. how come a small aircraft like ATR or Bombardier takes much longer time on the runway, whereas, they need shorter runway to takeoff.
4. also, the new aircrafts always have new avionics(all equipments used by pilots while flyin an aircraft...) installed in them, so how come they dont have the so called "cat-III" equipment, where as all the delays in fog are caused by bigger aircrafts which are older & the cost of implementing these equipments is much higher.
5. when, the Govt, has announced that it will gv concessions in landing charges, how come DIAL announcing that it may charge the landing charges.
6. to b on safer side DIAL says that it may allow smaller aircraft, when the new runway is ready, which I feel that is not likely to be completed on time.

these are a few questions which put creates a lot of confusion...some of the Delhi & NCR based airlines are-

• Spicejet
• Indigo Airlines
• Indian (now, Air India)
• Jagson Airlines
• MDLR Airlines...

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The all – round development of Indian Aviation…

First came the open sky policy of 1990’s, which gave a boom to full-service carriers, then it again started with Air Deccan as country’s first LCC, then came the modernization of Int’l airports, followed by Non-metro Airports, then came the regional airlines which is now followed by development of nearly 300 airstrips all over India & the latest trend or I can rather say craze in Indian Aviation is Cargo Airlines…Air India has already started its cargo operations with two aircrafts…Jet Airways may also come up with a unit which will be dedicated to only cargo business…some of the upcoming cargo airlines are –->

• Flyington Freighters. It been promoted by Deccan Chronicle Holding & will be based in Hyderabad. It will have scheduled operations to various overseas destination. Its fleet will include a mix of A-330-200F’s & B-777 freighter’s. If everything goes according to plans, having an A-380 in the fleet is also on cards…
• then comes Aryan Cargo Express. It will start as an non-scheduled operator (operating both domestically & overseas)…it will start with a fleet of 03 B-757-200 freighter aircraft & as they will increase their fleet size (may be mid-2008), they may consider entering in to scheduled operations…
• the last one is Air Cargo Express which will start its operations with a fleet of ATR’s…

Its also been heard from industry watchers that Reliance may also consider its cargo airline to compliment its Supply chain…as of now, Bluedart is the only dedicated Air cargo operator in India with a market share of nearly 40% closely followed by Jet Airways with 30% & remaining with other carriers…now, it seems to me that Indian Aviation industry is really booming with all round development & not a single stone is left unturned…

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