Flying
at lower altitudes can help reduce global warming
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London:
German Researchers have said that the fumes
of water vapour and ice particles (contrails) left
as trails by jet planes during high altitude cruising
leads to the formation of cirrus clouds, which trap
atmospheric heat, leading to global warming. Researchers
have said that that by cruising at a lower altitude
of 24, 000 feet compared to the present level of
33,000 feet, planes reduce their impact on global
warming. Since the air at this height is not supersaturated
with ice, exhaust from planes will not form contrails.
Researchers said that planes fly at a high altitude
because engines don't perform as efficiently in
lower altitudes, adding that aircraft engines are
optimised to fly at higher altitudes. "If you lower
the altitude substantially you place a heavy load
on air traffic control, and the engines don't operate
as efficiently," NewScientist quoted Hermann Mannstein
from the German Aerospace Center in Oberpfaffenhofen
as saying. Mannstein whose team conducted balloon
measurements of relative humidity in the atmosphere
to show that the regions of supersaturated air were
only about 500 metres thick said, that though the
ability to determine the exact altitude of these
regions was limited at present, it would be soon
possible to relay such information to pilots in
future. - -Aug
8, 2005
Jet
Airways expands 'Check Fare' scheme to all sectors
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New
Delhi: Giving another push to the ongoing war
on air fares, Jet Airways has decided to expand
its hugely popular Instant Purchase 'Check Fares'
across most of its network from today. The company
said in a statement that it has withdrawn 15, 21
and 30 days apex and super apex fares where passengers
had to book the ticket in advance. "Now the advance
booking will not be necessary and 'Check Fare' tickets
will be available on almost all sectors on a first-come,
first-serve basis," a company spokesman said. Reservation
and ticketing of 'Check Fares' have to be done simultaneously.
Passengers can also book these fares on the airline's
website. A Jet Airways ticket between Delhi and
Mumbai will be available between Rs 2,120 and Rs
6,520 and Delhi-Kolkata between Rs 4,420 and Rs
8,220. The fare between Chennai and Delhi will be
Rs 5,920 and Rs 10,220, while the fares between
Delhi and Hyderabad range from Rs 4,280 to Rs 7,220,
the statement said. Members of the airline's frequent
flyer programme 'Jet Privilege' can also accrue
miles on most 'Check Fare' tickets, subject to applicable
conditions. Passengers can change their travel plan
for a cancellation fee of Rs 500," he said. The
fare levels ranging from ten to two will now be
available in several sectors. Jet Airways' announcements
assume significance in the wake of its major competitors
lowering fares. Indian Airlines and Air Sahara had
earlier launched a similar exercise.
- Aug
6, 2005
Designer
uniforms to speak of airliner's ethos and identity
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New
Delhi: Glamour world, ramp, Page 3 and film
industry have always been a part of the fashion
industry, but now, fashion designers are also designing
uniforms for India's booming aviation sector as
a fleet of new carriers take to the Indian skies.
" We have just presented (our designs) to Air India
and we are still waiting. The brief was given and
we have worked on that and we have put together
some two or three options, let's see what happens,"
said noted fashion designer J J Valaya. Valaya thinks
that it's an evolutionary process that everyone
in the world is going through, even when it comes
to dresses donned by professionals, after designing
the couture it's the institutional designing which
is in trend. "It's an evolution process which I
think everybody is going through worldwide. We are
capable to put new looks to any sector whether it's
aviation or hospitality or would be anything. This
is a trend, that most designers are now into institutional
designing," said Valaya. Experts say that a special
uniform would go a long way in projecting an airline
company's long-term image. "The functionality to
start with and then the identity, those two would
be the key things with any airline or corporate
when trying to project an image. There is that brief
that has to come through the clothes, so that uniform
or the way they dress has to speak what are the
ethos of the airline. What message they are trying
to convey as well as the extrmely functional and
user friendly ," said Valaya.
And
it's not only for the aviation sector, designers
are also designing for corporates and hospitality
industry. Designers believe that these sectors (aviation,
corporate, hospitality) have also become image concious.
In order to picture a goody and professional image,
a professional uniform has become an important part
of the personality. Apart from the image, a designer
can design the uniform in the given frame of time
and finances. "Corporates have started to approach
designers to doing there dresses and garments, especially
uniforms for them, because I think image has become
really important for them. To bring a professional,
who can design outfits proffessionally within a
given brief and costing and keeping in mind the
wearabilty, colours," said Anjana Bhargav, fashion
designer. Designers are given few inputs like weather
conditions, where the uniform would be worn, the
uniforms would be washed oftenly, being every day
wear and the material preffered. "The fact that
it is going to be washed and worn often and also
attrition levels are very high in hospitality industry,
people change their jobs very often it has to be
made with certain size aspect that can be worn over
and over again by few people so all those things
we need to keep in mind when we have to design for
a corporate or a hotel industry," said Anjana Bhargav.
The corporate sectors or hospitality industry provides
a platform to a designer to earn name and fame in
the industry, being a part of a large project. "You
are not capable of widening your market on your
own on such a large level until you work with a
corporate because suddenly your base becomes that
much broader because your across the country: a)
number of outlets, b) number of hotels; Visibity
is so much stronger, base is wider which we could
have never achieved on your own because each one
has a limited budget and a strategise growth plan,
so you may grow but it may take X number of years
to grow where as doing this you grow completely
in one shot," said Anjana Bhargav. With this latest
trend of establishing an airliner's identity through
a well-designed uniform or vision statement or a
logo, designers are also all poised.
- Aug
5, 2005
India,China
to lure pilots from West (Go
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London:
India and China are reportedly competing with
each other to recruit qualified European pilots
to counter a potential shortfall of pilots over
the next ten years, with Beijing's shortfall being
pegged at about 8,000 trained personnel. India also
been forced to hire foreign pilots. Air India is
understood to have grounded aircraft because of
a shortage of pilots. Experts expect India to need
up to 4,000 more pilots over the next five years
and that training them will cost about 200 million
dollars, reports TimesOnline. India pays its commercial
pilots about 8,000 dollars a month, whereas Chineses
pilots are paid anywhere between 2,466 dollars to
6,000 dollars a month. Britain on the other hand
forks out between 8,000 dollars and 18,000 dollars.
With the commercial aviation industry in China booming,
the country's government has decided to permit airlines
to recruit foreigners for the first time. According
to TimesOnline, at least 100 European pilots have
been hired by Hainan Airlines, Shenzhen Airlines,
Sichuan Airlines and Okay Airways. Forecasters are
expecting China to become the worlds second- largest
aviation market after the US in the next 20 years.
Boeing estimates that China will need more than
2,400 new passenger and freight aircraft costing
almost 200 billion dollars over the next two decades.
It will need 55,000 pilots to fly them.
- Aug
5, 2005
Boeing
eyes India's booming demand for aircraft (Go
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New
Delhi: With the aviation sector in India poised
for a 20 per cent growth over the next three to
four years, US aircraft-major Boeing Company today
unveiled its latest long-haul Boeing-777 Worldliner
to the Indian market. "The demand which we are observing
in India is one of the highest growth rates in the
world today," Keskar said. "We see a demand for
about 490 aircraft for about 36 billion dollar,"
he added. Boeing, which has been facing stiff competition
from French aircraft manufacturer Airbus to corner
Indias booming demand, which is expected to be
about 490 aircrafts over the next two decades, triggered
by falling airfares and increasing air passenger
traffic. "Demand for the 777-2000LR is unquestionably
rising," said Dinesh Keskar, Boeings vice President-Sales
during an on-board press interaction. The new aircraft
is capable of connecting almost any two cities in
the world nonstop and has a capacity of 301 passengers.
Boeing claims that it can fly more passengers farther
and faster than A340 by Airbus. Boeing is vying
with Airbus to corner the demand for national carriers,
Air India and Indian Airlines. Air Indias board
had approved a deal with Boeing to supply 50 aircrafts,
which however faced rough weather after the French
envoy in India cried foul over the deal. French
Ambassador Dominique Girard had kicked up a row
by stating that growing Indo-US relations influenced
that Air Indias decision, which New Delhi had rebuffed.
The 40,000 crore-rupee deal is currently before
a Group of Ministers, which had favoured renegotiation
of prices. India's domestic and international traffic
is estimated to grow 20 percent a year with several
new airliners bidding entry into sector, both for
domestic and international operations.
- Aug
4, 2005
Centre
planning for seven greenfield airports: Praful Patel
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New
Delhi: The Government has given in principle
approval for construction of a new Greenfield airport
at Mopa in Goa for which the state government has
got a technical feasibility report prepared. Besides,
there are also plans for construction of greenfield
airports at Navi Mumbai, Chakan near Pune, Ludhiana
in Punjab, Kannur in Kerala, Pakyong in Sikkim,
Kohima in Nagaland which are in preliminary stages.
This information was given by Civil Aviation Minister
Praful Patel in a written reply to a question in
Rajya Sabha on Tuesday. At present there are two
ongoing Greenfield airport projects, one at Devanahalli
near Bangalore and the other at Shamshabad near
Hyderabad are in progress. The Government has already
entered into Concession Agreements with the project
companies of these Greenfield airports. The project
company for Devanahalli airport, Bangalore International
Airport Limited (BIAL), has already executed the
relevant project agreements and the Financial Close
has been achieved by it on 23rd June, 2005. As per
the Concession Agreement entered by Government of
India with BIAL, the new airport at Devanahalli
is required to be completed within 33 months from
the date of Financial Close. The project agreements
for Shamshabad Hyderabad airport are in different
stages of execution. The project Company for this
airport i.e. Hyderabad International Airport Limited
(HIAL) is required to complete this project within
36 months from the date of financial close, as per
the Concession Agreement entered by Government of
India with HIAL. Financial Close is expected to
be achieved by September 2005. At present, there
is no proposal for second airport at New Delhi,Patel
said in his written reply.
- Aug
2, 2005
Air
India plane heads for London after emergency landing
in Delhi (Go
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New
Delhi: The Air India plane that made an emergency
landing at New Delhi's Indira Gandhi International
Airport (IGAI) late on Sunday night has been cleared
for take-off to London today. The plane will take
off for London at 2 p.m, Air India spokesman Jitendra
Bhargava said, adding that engineers had given clearance
for its onward journey. Earlier on Sunday, the Air
India Boeing 747 aircraft carrying over 300 passengers
and crew from Mumbai to London made a safe landing
amidst full emergency. The landing took place after
the pilot of the aircraft detected a technical problem
over Karachi after taking off from Mumbai at 6.30
p.m. (IST). On contacting traffic control at Mumbai
airport, the pilot was told to land at the nearest
airport in Delhi for a check-up. The plane landed
in Delhi at around 10.45 p.m. (IST), Delhi Airport
Director V K Arora said, adding that all passengers
and flight attendants had been put up in a five-star
hotel. Though passengers had complained about not
being given correct information, airline staff said
there was nothing to worry about.
- Aug
1, 2005
