The News Review:
- Aviation slump hits domestic flyers hard
- Plane, truck collide on O’Hare runway
- Private aviation firms sore over DGCA norms
- Aviation slowdown setback for air hostess schools
- Private aviation is poised to soar high: Baier
- Allianz Makes Key Aviation Hire from AIG
- Govt pushing aviation into a corner, says BJP
Aviation slump hits domestic flyers hard
Times of India, India
Clearly, low cost carriers have lost their sheen
due to constant fare hikes now as many of their patrons have gone back to trains
and buses. Analysing the sharp fall in number of flyers, aviation
minister Praful Patel said, “Jet fuel in India is about 60% to 70% more
expensive than other parts of the world. This difference translates into higher
fares for passengers and an extra cost of Rs 8,000-9,000 crore for airlines,
roughly the loss the latter expect to incur this year. Income levels have not
gone up 70% and so people who had started flying after the advent of low cost
carriers now don’t have the ability to pay these higher fares. ”
Patel
warned that unless the base price of jet fuel and taxes on it were not
rationalised, some airlines may have no option but to close down. “As a result
of more people flying, the growth in past four years led to creation of lakhs of
jobs.
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Plane, truck collide on O’Hare runway
Chicago Daily Herald, IL
No further information about his condition was available. The plane, operated by SkyWest Airlines, was occupied by two mechanics who suffered minor injuries and were taken to Resurrection Medical Center in Chicago. The runway was closed until 8 a. but airport operations were not affected, aviation department spokeswoman Karen Pride said. Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman Elizabeth Isham Cory said it will take several weeks for the agency to study the crash and determine who was at fault. The National Transportation Safety Board was monitoring the investigation but was not officially involved yet, a spokesman said.
Private aviation firms sore over DGCA norms
Hindu, India
The Union Finance Ministry’s move to levy around 25 per cent duty in the form of import, countervailing and additional customs duties as well as the delay in obtaining permissions from departments concerned appears to have irked a section of industry. “Imposing 16 per cent countervailing duty is not justifiable at all. The government’s decision to exempt certain categories from the new duty is deterring prospective buyers from buying aircraft,” Aerosource (India) director Vinod Singel said. He also objected to the Director-General of Civil Aviation’s (DGCA) move to see that the airlines send back their foreign pilots and recruit local ones by 2010.
Aviation slowdown setback for air hostess schools
Howrah News Service, India
Besides, industry experts believe that the sector is also suffering the pangs of a haphazard growth plan, prone to collapsing under financial crisis. Two of the leading air hostess training institutes in the country – Frankfinn and AHA – maintain that this is a temporary phenomenon, which will pass by in the next few months. Plus, “our courses not only focus on aviation but hospitality sector as well, which would prevent our businesses from taking a direct hit from the crisis”. “This is a temporary setback and the industry which survived the crude oil prices hitting $ 175, candefinitely withstand this.
Private aviation is poised to soar high: Baier
Hindu, India
“Private aviation is under-developed in India. We see great potential for business development in this segment in the next two years. The current crisis hitting the aviation sector will only be temporary,” Baier said. BJETS is Asia’s first dedicated fractional ownership and block charter jet operator based in Mumbai and Singapore, with an operations centre in Hyderabad.
Allianz Makes Key Aviation Hire from AIG
MarketWatch
This move continues the expansion of Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty’s
team in the Aviation sector, which has included the establishment of AAM
in the US in 2006 and, more recently, other Aviation teams in
Switzerland, Canada, Australia and Austria. Harold Clark, CEO of AAM, commented: “I am
truly delighted to have Will on board and am particularly pleased to say
that he is starting work with us immediately. He has developed an
outstanding reputation in the Aviation market based on his
professionalism and first class underwriting insight – he is a key
addition to our already strong team. ”
Florian Karner, Global Head of Aviation at Allianz Global Corporate &
Specialty added: “Will’s
recruitment continues our policy of attracting and developing the best
talent in the global Aviation market. Our strategy is based on a
combination of outstanding teams, technical insight and global presence —
serving our clients in their local markets —
and Will is a prime example of this strategy in practice.
Govt pushing aviation into a corner, says BJP
Economic Times, India
It warned that
the upheaval in the aviation sector was just the tip of the iceberg. The BJP
said that this is ?the beginning and much more is yet to happen for which
the intransigent UPA government will be squarely
responsible. ?
Former civil aviation minister Rajiv Pratap Rudy
said that the ?aviation industry was in deep turmoil. ? He lamented
that the era of low-cost aviation, which was ?NDA?s gift to the
nation? had been ?slaughtered and killed overnight.
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