Neha Jain: http://indianairlinesnews.blogspot.com/ 23

1. Air India set to operate more flights to Tokyo
March 23, 2011, 1:18am
NEW DELHI (Dow Jones) – Air India said it will operate two more flights to Tokyo Sunday and Monday with a Boeing Co. 747-400 jumbo aircraft to bring back passengers amid deepening worries over radiation leaks from a nuclear plant damaged by last Friday's devastating earthquake and tidal waves in Japan.

The national carrier has flown out more than 1,700 Indian nationals since the natural disasters struck Japan followed by the nuclear crisis, Kamaljeet Rattan, a spokesman for the airline, told Dow Jones Newswires.

To cope with the increasing demand from passengers wanting to fly out of Tokyo, Air India has deployed the bigger Boeing 747-400 jet that can carry up to 423 passengers from Wednesday, the spokesman said. Prior to the crisis, it used a Boeing 777-300ER plane with a capacity of about 300 passengers on the same route four times a week.

The airline has also increased the frequency of the flight from New Delhi to Tokyo to a daily one from four per week. It is also continuing to operate three flights per week to Osaka.

"We will keep operating the Boeing 747-400 aircraft to Tokyo as long as there is demand," Rattan said.

Air India's plans to continue to extend the services of the bigger Boeing aircraft to Tokyo comes a day after the country's ministry of external affairs advised all Indian nationals to avoid non-essential travel to Japan. The ministry also asked all Indian nationals from Tokyo and areas closer to the exclusion zone declared by the Japanese government to consider moving to safer areas as a precaution.

2. Civil Aviation Authority in the offing
The process of setting up an autonomous Civil Aviation Authority to regulate all aviation safety issues in India is in the final stages with a cabinet note on it likely to be finalised soon.
The proposed CAA, which would have administrative and financial autonomy, is also likely to keep a tab on the entire range of activities —from proper provision of air traffic services and licensing to financial fitness of airlines.
"A cabinet note is being prepared. We have sent all the facts. The (Civil Aviation) Ministry will have to forward it to the government," Director General of Civil Aviation E K Bharat Bhushan told PTI here.
Government plans to bring in a legislation to establish the CAA. Bhushan said the CAA would have a "lot of financial, administrative and procedural independence. We will be able to recruit (professionals) directly" instead of routing it through the Union Public Service Commission.
A feasibility study to set up the Authority was commissioned in October 2009 in technical cooperation with the UN body International Civil Aviation Organisation to improve financial and administrative autonomy for discharge of safety oversight functions more effectively.
The ICAO feasibility study was reviewed by the DGCA and the Civil Aviation Ministry last year. The proposal was also endorsed by the US Federal Aviation Administration which said the proposed body would be in line with ICAO policy.
Civil Aviation Minister Vayalar Ravi recently said that the process to set up the CAA was currently on.
The CAA structure of an aviation regulatory body exists in several countries including the UK and Singapore, giving it powers to regulate all safety issues, advising the government on all civil aviation matters, managing national airspace so as to meet the needs of all users, keeping in mind national security, economic and environmental factors.
To questions on the flight duties of pilots and the time limit to be maintained for their duty, Bhushan said a committee headed by Civil Aviation Secretary Nasim Zaidi has already submitted its report to the Ministry.
"The report on FDTL (Flight Duty Time Limitation) has to be formalised and sent to the government for approval", he said.
The FDTL issue had acquired prominence after the crash of an Air India Express aircraft in Mangalore in May last year, which claimed 158 lives.
Asked about the newly-created Tariff Analysis Unit set up in the DGCA to monitor abrupt hikes in air fares, Bhushan said, "We are monitoring it (air fare patterns) very closely.
It is being monitored every day on an hour-to-hour basis."
He replied in the negative when asked whether any trend has been noticed in the recent past.
The DGCA chief said during the Diwali period last year, there was "a scare" when the fares shot up due to high demand but continued to remain at high levels even after the peak season had ended.
"After that, things are pretty well under control.
Even during Christmas, this were okay", he said but did not rule out rise in air fares in the future due to the high global fuel prices which have touched USD 100 a barrel.

3. Air India brings back over 1,600 Indians from Japan

NEW DELHI: With 337 more persons arriving today, Air India has brought over 1,600 Indians from quake-hit Japan and has carried over 25 tonnes of relief material, including 20,000 blankets, to that country.

"A total of 337 people have arrived from Tokyo in Air India's flight AI 307 today. Since March 12, the airline brought back 1,637 passengers, mostly Indians, from Japan.

4. 7th pilot caught with fake documents
NEW DELHI: One more pilot has come under scanner of Delhi Police for allegedly procuring a licence using fake marksheets, taking the number of such cases to seven. Capt Arjun Gere of Air India, whose name was dragged into the fiasco, claimed media went after him without verifying facts.

" DGCA issued my licences after proper verification. Date of birth on my Class X certificate was correc-ted by CBSE as per a Delhi HC order in 2003.

NEHA JAIN

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