The
year 2010 has seen a robust growth in terms of aircraft movement and passengers
handled. Vis-a-vis 2009 the growth rate has been 3.4%
in respect of aircraft movement and 16.2% in respect of passengers handled and
26.9% with respect to cargo. Passengers carried by domestic airlines from
January-November, 2010 were 468.09 lakh as against 393.53
lakh in the corresponding period of the year 2009 thereby
registering growth of +18.9%. There are, at present, 16 Scheduled (11 scheduled
passenger airlines, 02 scheduled regional airlines and 03 scheduled cargo airlines)
and 121 Non-scheduled Operators. At present there are 419 aircraft with the
scheduled operators. The total aircraft in the Non Scheduled category are 360.
This
year saw the Ministry of Civil aviation take several initiatives to facilitate
the passengers to undertake hassle free and convenient air travel by the issue
of CARs through the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA). A state of the art new integrated Terminal-3
has been operationalized at the Delhi Airport in July
this year creating a new beginning in world class infrastructure, with
public-private participation in the aviation sector. The much awaited
environmental clearance has also come through for construction of a New Green
Field airport at Navi Mumbai.
Following are some of the important issues
taken up by the Ministry of Civil Aviation during the year 2010:
Initiatives of the Ministry in the
field of Economic Regulation
To
elicit the views of stakeholders, to gain expertise from the concerned experts
and to augment capacity to address issues that are predominantly economic in
content, the Civil Aviation Economic Advisory Council was established on 9
December, 2010 under the Chairmanship of Secretary Civil Aviation and
with members drawn from different fields of expertise that are directly and
indirectly connected to Civil aviation sector. The first meeting of the Council
took place on 13 December 2010.
Consumer
protection measures
(i)
On 6 of August,
2010 a Civil Aviation Rule (CAR) has been issued which provides for
compensation and facilities to the passengers in case of denied boarding,
cancellations and delays. The violation of this CAR is punishable under the
provisions of scheduled VI to the Aircraft Rules, 1937. This will be a category
III offence attracting a maximum penalty of 6 months in prison or Rs. 2 lac fine or both
(ii)
On 31 July, 2010
CAR has been issued in order to promote fair competition in the airline sector
and to ensure that consumers do not receive inaccurate or misleading
information on airline services, by strengthening the computer reservation
system/global distribution system
(iii)
On 3 September,
2010 the relevant Rule has been amended and circular issued to provide that the
Pilot-In-Command may permit the use of cellular/mobile phones after the
aircraft has landed and cleared active runway. However, this facility will not
be available during low visibility conditions.
Connectivity
in North Eastern Region
At
present, there are 11 operational airports served by the Scheduled airlines in
the North-East region viz. Dibrugarh, Guwahati, North Lakhimpur, Imphal, Dimapur, Agartala, Shillong, Jorhat, Silchar, Tezpur & Lengpui.
348 flights per week are being operated by NACIL, Alliance Air, Jet Airways, JetLite, Kingfisher Airlines, Spicejet
and IndiGo to/from these airports. The no. of flights
in the NER has been increased from 286/week in Summer Schedule 2010 which is an
increase of 21.67%. In addition, Pawan Hans
Helicopters Ltd. (PHHL) is providing helicopter services under the aegis of the
State Governments of Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Meghalaya, Sikkim, Tripura.
Further,
the DGCA has commissioned a comprehensive study to evolve a roadmap for air
connectivity to the North-eastern region.
Bilateral Agreements
·
Election in the Council of ICAO
In the 37th
Assembly session of the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) held
at ICAO Headquarters at Montreal in Canada on 28 September – 08 October, 2010, elections
were held for the representation of the Member State countries in the Part I,
Part II and Part III of the Council of ICAO. India has contested for
continuance of its representation in the Part II. The total number of seats was
12, equaling the number of contestants. 163 countries cast their votes. India
secured 148 votes out of 162 votes and was at number 2 position in the group in
terms of number of votes secured.
·
Amendments of Air Services Agreements (ASAs) with foreign countries
Keeping in view the recent developments in
the civil aviation sector, and with a view to modernize and update the existing
ASAs with foreign countries as per the ICAO templates, bilateral air services
consultations were held in 2010 with foreign countries viz. Zimbabwe, Indonesia,
Ireland, Brazil, UK and Iran and the respective ASAs have been amended and
finalized. Bilateral Air Services Agreements were formally signed with Bhutan,
Iceland, Nepal, Bosnia & Herzegovina, South Africa and Iran. Apart from these, new Air Services Agreements
have been initialed with Senegal, Barbados and Rwanda.
·
Technical co-operation agreements with Nepal and Afghanistan
Technical co-operation agreements were
signed by the Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) and Airports Authority
of India (AAI) with the Nepalese and Afghan civil aviation authorities in order
to provide active technical support including training of personnel to these
countries by India to promote and develop civil aviation sector.
·
India – EU civil aviation co-operation programme
Under the Joint Action Plan, a Civil
Aviation Co-operation Project - II has been agreed to. Its Terms of Reference (TOR) have been
finalized. The project called
“Institutional Capacity Building in the Civil Aviation sector in India (ICAA)”
has been started under India – EU civil aviation co-operation.
·
India – US Aviation Joint Working Group on Security
The India – US Aviation Joint Group
Meeting on Security was held in New Delhi on 20 – 21 January, 2010. During this meeting two MoUs
on deployment of Air Marshals and Co-operation in Airport Technical Visits were
signed between the Government of India and the Government of United States of
America. The two MoUs
mark the beginning of an ongoing co-operation between the two countries in
matters of security.
Equity Induction by the Government
in Air India
Air
India is expected to incur a loss of Rs. 5,656.52 crores
during the year 2009-10, mainly due to the prevalent economic recession, low
yields and load factors coupled with higher fuel costs, higher interest payment
on working capital loans and aircraft loans.
The
present paid up equity capital of NACIL is Rs. 145 crores
which is not sufficient for an aviation company of its size. Therefore, the Government
has approved the release of funds to the extent of Rs. 800 crores
in tranches of Rs. 400 crores in a month in the form
of equity. Accordingly, an amount of Rs. 800 crores
has been released in February and March, 2010. A provision of Rs. 1200 crores has been made in the current financial year, the
release of which is expected to happen this year. The equity induction would
ease the cash flow situation of the company and preclude borrowing from the
markets at high costs to this extent.
Meanwhile
the company has seen an increase in load factor from 62% to 67% and also
passenger yield from Rs. 2.92 to Rs. 3.30 RPKM.This
has resulted in an increased Passenger and cargo revenue of Rs. 1,189 crores.
The
company has undertaken several cost reduction measures with active support from
the Government.
Security Measures
Keeping in view the security scenario
and enhanced civil aviation activities, four regional offices of the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) has been created at Guwahati,
Amritsar, Hyderabad and Ahmedabad airport in addition
to the existing Regional offices at Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata.
The Anti-Hijacking (Amendment)
Bill, 2010
With
a view to enhance the punishment, for the offences of hijack of aircrafts and
also for the conspirators, to death penalty, the amendment is proposed in the
Anti-Hijacking Act, 1982. The final Bill has been introduced in the Rajya Sabha on 19 August, 2010. The
Bill has now been referred to the Ministry of Law.
Mangalore Crash - IX
812 of Air India Express operating from Dubai to Mangalore was involved in an
unfortunate accident on 22nd May 2010. There were 160 passengers and
6 crew members on Board. There were only 8 survivors. A Court of Enquiry headed
by Air Marshal (Retd.) B.N. Gokhale
was set up. The Court has submitted its report which is under examination.
Airports
·
Phase-I of the Modernization of Delhi Airport was
completed on 31 March 2010, at an estimated project cost of Rs. 12258 crores. A new integrated Terminal-3 has become operational
which has 34 million passengers handling capacity per annum.
·
The major development works
completed Modernization of Mumbai
Airport during 201010 are South-West
pier, integrated processor terminal, Baggage Handling System (BHS) in the new
domestic terminal, six Passenger Boarding Bridges (PBBs) in the new domestic
terminal.
·
Under the Policy for Greenfield Airports the Government, during the year had
accorded “in-principle” approval for setting up of a Greenfield airport at Dabra (Madhya Pradesh), Palladi
(Rajasthan), Itanagar (Arunachal Pradesh), Kushi Nager (Uttar Pradesh).
·
Airports Authority of India (AAI) Airports Authority of India
registered an all time high revenues of Rs. 4,615 Crores,
which was 10% more than the previous year. Similarly, capital expenditure
incurred on infrastructure works at various airports rose from Rs. 2547.52 crores to Rs. 2,742.54 crores.
o
New Terminal Buildings have been commissioned at Varanasi, Barapani (Shillong), Madurai, Mysore
and Ahmedabad airports.Existing
terminal buildings have been upgraded/ modernized at Pune,
airport. Runways/ Taxiways have been extended / expanded at Varanasi, Ranchi, Guwahati, Bhopal, Gondia,
Ludhiana, Cuddappah and Coimbatore airports. Upto November 2010 progress of work for modernization and
development at Chennai and Kolkata Airports has been 66% and 46%.Work on the
construction of new Greenfield Airports at Pakyong in
Sikkim is in progress.
o For the
implementation of the GAGAN project of satellite based navigation, site
acceptance test for Indian reference stations has been completed at Goa, Jaiselmer, Porbander and work is
in progress at Dibrugarh, Nagpur and Bhubaneswar.
o
A dedicated Air Cargo Complex facility at Veer Savarkar Airport, Port Blair has been operationalised.
o
A new Joint Venture Company under the name “Chandigarh
International Airport Limited” has been set up to undertake the construction of
a new International Terminal Building at Chandigarh Airport.
·
Setting up of International airport at Navi
Mumbai.
After
getting the environmental clearance in November this year, the development of
the Greenfield airport at Navi Mumbai will get
underway. It is projected to have sufficient capacity to handle the additional
traffic around Mumbai, which is expected to go upto
about 80 mppa by 2031-32
Pawan
Hans Helicopters Ltd. (PHHL) In 2009-10 the Company achieved record revenue hours of 29,890 as
compared to 27,050 in 2008-09. During 2009-10 the net profit after tax was Rs.35.59
crores as against Rs.25.12 crores
in 2008-09.An MOU has been signed with Andaman & Nicobar Administration
for introduction of Sea Plane Operation in Andaman & Nicobar Islands. The
Sea Plane operation for the first time in India will
commence from
27 December, 2010. PHHL has completed and operationalised
two projects of heliport /helipad in October, 2010 – one at Akshardham
and the other at Rohini, both in Delhi. DGCA
has also allowed PHHL to utilize the facilities at Gliding Center at Hadapsar to set up a Heliport and helicopter training
institute.
Indira
Gandhi Rashtriya Uran Akademi (IGRUA): - The Akademi this year, has inducted 14 Single engine DA 40
Aircraft and one twin engine DA 42 aircraft and installed two Flight
Simulators. The Akademi has 14 flying instructors and
has flown 14934 hrs during 2010. So far this year, 62 cadets have completed
their flying and 114 trainees have been inducted. Campus selection team from Air India and Jet
Airways visited Akademi in Aug/Sept. and December,
2010 for induction of trainee pilots.
India Aviation 2010 - a
Civil Aviation air show, was held for the second time at Begampet
Airport, Hyderabad in March 2010. The next edition would be held from 14-18,
March 2012.
An
independent audit by FAA under IASA program confirmed India to be a
role model in the Asia Region in the Civil Aviation. The Ministry of Civil
Aviation was awarded on 1 December, 2010 the “KPMG – Infrastructure
Today Award” for being the most admired Central Entity in the transport sector.
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MC