ASSOCIATION OF PRIVATE AIRPORT OPERATORS Monthly Newsletter August, 2012 Members: CONTENTS 1. Aviation Sector ............................................................................................. 3 2. Airports AAI Managed Airports………………………………………………………………………………16 APAO Member Airports 2.1 Bangalore International Airport Limited……………………………………………..16 2.2 Delhi International Airport Limited……………………………………………………..17 2.3 GMR Hyderabad International Airport Limited……………………………………18 2.4 Mumbai International Airport Limited………………………………………………..19 3. Airlines………………………………………………………………………………………………………20 3.1 Air India………………………………………………………………………………………………20 3.2 Kingfisher Airlines……………………………………………………………………………….23 3.3 SpiceJet………………………………………………………………………………………………23 3.4 Jet Airways…………………………………………………………………………………………24 3.5 IndiGo………………………………………………………………………………………………..25 3.6 GoAir………………………………………………………………………………………………….25 3.7 International Airlines………………………………………………………………………….26 4. Cargo ……………..………………………………………………………………………………………..27 5. AERA Appellate Tribunal Renotified………………………………………………………..28 6. Traffic…….…………………………………………………………………………………………………29 7. Source………………………………………………………………………………………………………32 Page 1 of 32 ABBREVIATIONS AAI Airports Authority of India ADF Airport Development Fee AERA Airports Economic Regulatory Authority of India AERAAT Airports Economic Regulatory Authority Appellate Tribunal ATF Aviation Turbine Fuel BCAS Bureau of Civil Aviation Security BIAL Bangalore International Airport Limited BPCL Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited CAG Comptroller and Auditor General CAPA Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation CCEA Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs CCI Competition Commission of India CIAL Cochin International Airport Limited CIDCO City and Industrial Development Corporation CISF Central Industrial Security Force COMPAT Competition Appellate Tribunal CSIA Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport, Mumbai DGCA Directorate General of Civil Aviation DGFT Directorate General of Foreign Trade DIAL Delhi International Airport Limited FEE Foreign Exchange Earning FTAs Foreign Tourist Arrivals GHIAL GMR Hyderabad International Airport Limited HPCL Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited IATA International Air Transport Association ICAO International Civil Aviation Organisation IGIA Indira Gandhi International Airport, New Delhi IOCL Indian Oil Corporation Limited IPG Indian Pilots Guild MIAL Mumbai International Airport Limited MoCA Ministry of Civil Aviation MRO Maintenance Repair Overhaul NGO Non-Governmental Organisation PMO Prime Ministers’ Office PPP Public Private Partnership RGIA Rajiv Gandhi International Airport, Hyderabad RTI Right to Information SEZ Special Economic Zone UDF User Development Fee VoA Visa on Arrival Page 2 of 32 1. AVIATION SECTOR 1. AAI has increased the charges for ground handling services across 60 of its airports effective form 1st August. The agencies will have to pay between 32% – 36% of their revenues to AAI from the earlier 13%. In this context, Airlines Organizing Committee has written to the Chennai airport authorities asking them to roll back the uncalled hike on some of royalties collected for ground handling charges from 13% to 32.5% for all airlines from August 1. AAI is authorised to revoke the licenses and passes handed out to outsourced ground handling staff of various airlines who handle services like loading, baggage handling, driving buses and tractors at the airport with the only exception are the few airlines that are utilising the service of Bhadra International India Ltd, which is a licensed handler approved by the AAI and has paid the royalty of 32.5%. 2. Visakhapatnam is mulling the possibility of setting up a new airport at Bhogapuram in Vizianagaram district. The proposal was floated after international and domestic carriers expressed their inability to operate their services before 8am and after 8 pm due to restrictions imposed by the Eastern Naval Command on the existing Airport, which is a naval airport converted for civilian use. 3. A new system User Preferred Route will soon be introduced for international flights in the country which is at present being used on a trial basis by the Air Navigation System, a wing of the AAI. The new system will allow flight operators to change their path plan depending on wind direction, as against standard aviation routes. Under the User Preferred Route, the pilot will study tentative weather conditions and adopt a suitable route before departure. The system is applicable only to non-stop point-to-point flights. It will help significantly in reducing fuel consumption up to 5%, hereby cutting down on carbon emissions, which will directly save costs for the airlines. The reduced fuel consumption would help airline operators reduce passenger fares and flight operation times will also come down. 4. India has joined the US and 15 other major countries in opposing European Union’s Emissions Trading Scheme which requires carriers flying to or from Europe to offset their carbon emissions. 5. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on 2nd August decided to relaxed rules for transfer of government owned land to speed up PPP projects. The measure will greatly help in awarding PPP projects in roads, railways, civil aviation, ports and metro rail. The decision will do away with the requirement of Cabinet approvals that was leading to long delays in awarding concessions for infrastructure projects particularly PPPs. 6. Airport Advisory Committee, Chairman Saugata Roy on 3rd August informed that the work on the new integrated terminal of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport is expected to be completed by September 30. 7. Flights from Singapore to Tiruchi and Kuala Lumpur to Tiruchi have begun using the new Air Traffic Services route with effect from July 26. This has cut down flying time and enabled airline operators to save aviation turbine fuel. Air Asia, Tiger Airways and Air India that operate flights in the Singapore-Tiruchi-Singapore and Kuala Lumpur- Tiruchi-Kuala Lumpur sectors will gain operational advantage by saving fuel and time by Page 3 of 32 using the new route. The new route has cut down flying time by 17 minutes from Singapore to Tiruchi and from Kuala Lumpur to Tiruchi and reduced the distance by 44 nautical miles. Fuel saved per flight was about 1,800 kilolires. 8. Mizoram Government from August 14th has introduced helicopter services in remote and bordering areas to oversee developmental works, provide connectivity to people in emergency situations and carry dignitaries. 9. AAI has refused the lessors to take back 6 aircraft parked at Chennai Airport rented out to Kingfisher Airlines after the airlines defaulted on rentals. AAI’s contention is that it cannot let the aircraft go, as it too has to recover dues of about Rs 300 crore on account of landing and parking fees from Kingfisher Airlines. After much pressure from lessors, Kingfisher Airlines deposited Rs 1 crore to AAI only after which the 2 planes were released. 10. DGCA has issued a circular in July which makes it mandatory for all cabin attendants to undergo medical tests to check whether they meet required height, weight, body mass index, waist-hip ratio, blood pressure and blood sugar standards. This would be the first time DGCA has imposed such criteria but avoided terming as physical standards. The guidelines also make it mandatory for cabin crew in certain age groups to be screened for some types of diseases. 11. MoCA has created a new post of Joint Secretary and appointed Mr. Prabhat Kumar, a UP cadre IAS officer who will handle the portfolio of Air India along with bilateral agreements. MoCA now has 4 JS-level officers. 12. DGCA has started a fresh safety audit of all scheduled airlines in the country in the mid August. Safety audit would be conducted on the operational aspects regarding flight operations of all the scheduled carriers and will last about a month. Teams have already been constituted to begin the process. DGCA had conducted a safety audit of all the airlines in December in which they found serious irregularities with Kingfisher and Air India Express. 13. AAI has re-notified the runway length at Jaya Prakash Narayan International Airport in Patna. Effective from August 31, the revised length of the runway will be 1141 meters instead of the earlier 1677 meters form the Phulwarisharif end. The runway from Patna Zoo end will now be 1289 meters instead of 1820 meters. The runways are now unsuitable for the operation of big aircraft. The minimum runway length required for Airbus-320 and Boeing 737 aircraft to land is 1540 m and 1790 meters. On 8th August, Chief Minister Nitish kumar sought help from Minister of Civil Aviation Ajit Singh and requested him to either himself visit Patna or send a team of officials to inspect the changes effected to improve safety requirements. 14. Bank of America-Merrill Lynch on 6th August said that the industry is on a revival and will return profitability next fiscal, following the surprise profits reported by Jet Airways and SpiceJet. 15. PMO has paved the way for round-the-clock customs clearances at identified sea ports and airports in order to facilitate trade services. One of the major constraints for Page 4 of 32 international trade has been the non-availability of customs clearance and other facilities at airports and seaports round the clock, seven days a week. This means that import and export cargo, delivered at a time when clearance facilities are unavailable, have to wait till clearance facilities are open to move on