Air India can use the land for 6 months at previous rates at Delhi and Mumbai airports

The Tata Group can continue to utilise land that Air India has at its two hubs — Delhi and Mumbai airports — for six months at the old agreements the government-run Maharaja had with DIAL and MIAL.

According to a report by TOI, Before the end of this July, the newly-privatised airline will need to enter into fresh commercial agreements with the airport operators for the land parcel they need to retain for operational reasons.

Being government-owned for decades and the biggest airline till the late 1990s, Air India, erstwhile Indian Airlines and their numerous subsidiaries have significant landholding at airports across India. They have a massive presence at Delhi and Mumbai airports.

Air India can use the land for 6 months at previous rates at Delhi and Mumbai airports.

The Union aviation ministry held meetings with stakeholders on the issue of land/space utilisation by AI and subsidiaries at airports.

On AAI land, all the civil structures and buildings of AI (currently owned by AI) will be transferred to AI Assets Holding Ltd (AIAHL). The current terms and conditions will prevail for the subsidiaries AIESL, AIASL, and Alliance Air as long as they remain public sector enterprises.

In the case of Air India, the same terms and conditions will be extended for six months after the closing date of operation. The subsidiaries must sign agreements directly with AAI, with an additional annexed document outlining the civil structures owned by AIAHL.

Air India was taken over by Tata Group firm Talace on January 27.

“All the civil structures and buildings of AI (currently owned by AI) on AAI land will be transferred to AI Assets Holding Ltd (AIAHL)…. For the subsidiaries AIESL, AIASL and Alliance Air, the existing terms and conditions shall apply as long as they remain public sector undertakings. In case of their disinvestment, the same terms and conditions are to be extended for six months from the closing date for continuity of business, as done in the case of Air India. Agreements are to be signed by the subsidiaries directly with AAI, with an additional annexure to specify the civil structures owned by AIAHL. A tripartite agreement to be made for the same,” an office order issued by the ministry says.

“As per conditions… about the transition period provided at DIAL and MIAL airports, the umbrella agreement with AAI to be extended for six months from the date of closing of the proposed transaction on similar terms and conditions made available to Al before divestment. Within the 6 months (after the closing of the transaction), the strategic investor will negotiate with AAI and sign a fresh agreement with mutually agreed commercial rates, which would be effective from a date six months after the closing date This would apply in case of both Air India and Air India Express,” it adds.

Air India have a massive presence at Delhi and Mumbai airports.

Comments were sought and are awaited from AI and airport operators on various issues like the landholding of the airline at various places and how much do they plan to retain.

Air India was taken over by Tata Group firm Talace on January 27. Through a competitive bidding process, the government sold loss-making Air India to Talace for INR 18,000 crore.

As part of the deal, Talace paid INR 2,700 crore in cash and took over the INR 15,300 crore debt of the airline. The remaining debt and borrowings of Air India were transferred to AIAHL.

(With Inputs from The Times of India)

World’s first parallel airline company ‘WINAIR’ has agreed with Alliance Air, the subsidiary of Air India. The term ‘WINAIR’ means We Indian Nationals, says Samuel Timothy, CMD, of Winair Aviation Private Limited.

A parallel airline is a new concept that means utilizing an existing operator who has equipment (Aircraft, NOC, NSOP) and an operating permit. In short, the aircraft are leased utilizing their license and viable routes are planned. In other words, it is just like utilizing the idle hours of the existing airlines, this is the first time in the world that such a module is being framed.

(Image Courtesy - Entrepenuer Stories)

“The Indian aviation story is all set to undergo a huge change in the coming year and the markets are going to grow faster than they were ever before. The growing number of airports, the increasing per capita income, and the fierce competition resulting in one of the lowest ticket prices globally has boosted the number of people traveling by air.”Samuel Timothy, CMD, Winair Aviation Private Limited

Aviation industry veteran Winnie Kurup, CEO, WINAIR will oversee the operations of the parallel airline.

The airline passenger business has returned to 85% of the pre-covid level and the air cargo business has recovered to 80%. Just like their global counterparts—The Indian fliers also look for low fares, friendly service, and nonstop trips. 

“The pandemic has forced airlines around the world to reassess their business models and become more focused. When the world changes, airlines must change with the world, and this means that innovation and restructuring should accelerate. In India, we believe that WINAIR will be a catalyst for some airlines to change faster too. We strongly believe that the country has a dynamic environment for airlines and those who change will only be the winners in the game.”Winnie Kurup, CEO, WINAIR

The airline will operate ATR-72 aircraft

The base for the airlines will be Hyderabad and it will operate on Hyderabad-Pune -Shirdi - Nagpur -Surat, Goa-Coimbatore - Mangalore-Cochin, Goa - Surat-Jaipur-Delhi routes. The aircraft selected are ATR72-600 (72 seaters).

The Airports Authority of India (AAI) has identified eight airports to promote Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (MRO) activities for aircraft and aviation equipment. The eight airports are Chandigarh, Delhi, Begumpet (Hyderabad), Juhu (Mumbai), Bhopal, Tirupati, Chennai and Kolkata.

According to a report titled ‘Status of Aviation Connectivity in the Country’ tabled in Parliament by the Standing Committee on Transport, Tourism and Culture, AAI has developed a business-friendly proposal for MRO with zero airport royalty charges and significantly reduced land rentals for eight airports.

AAI has to identify more airports with available land and resources with the potential to establish MRO facilities from time to time, suggested the committee in the report.

8 airports identified by AAI for promoting Aircraft Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul

The idea to promote the local MRO industry was started in September 2021, when the committee found that the aircraft manufacturer insists the operator enter into a contract for maintenance of the aircraft in the manufacturer’s country, even if such facilities are locally available. This hampers the growth of MRO in the country. To overcome this, it recommended framing an MRO policy.

Accordingly, the Ministry of Civil Aviation announced a policy to promote MRO services in September 2021. The policy opened the possibilities of leasing the land through open tenders for MRO services and abolishing the AAI’s royalty charges, thereby attracting investments to the country.

Besides, the land allotment for entities for MRO will be for 30 years instead of five years. The civil aviation ministry also suggested coordinating military and AAI concerning MRO activities. The vision was to make India a land of MRO hub.

India has the potential to become a global hub as it has the benefits of localisation, low labour cost, a growing number of aircraft fleet and natural talent to drive innovation.

The country failed to attract investments despite the benefits due to high tax components. According to the report, a failure to tap the opportunity to explore the MRO market is a massive loss to the country.

Following the committee’s suggestions, the civil aviation ministry emphasises the collaboration between defence and civilian MROs, by fostering technical and business partnerships between MRO companies in India and defence establishments.

India has the potential to be an MRO hub due to locational advantage, growing aircraft fleet, low labour costs and the natural talent to drive innovation.

The Committee’s report also stated that India has the potential to be an MRO hub due to locational advantage, growing aircraft fleet, low labour costs and the natural talent to drive innovation.

“However, the country has not yet been able to fully exploit the opportunities available in this sector and a major deterrent for the growth of the MRO industry is high taxation of MRO components. Aircraft MRO services are critical in the aviation value chain and it would be of a huge loss for the country if we do not tap the vast technical and skill base available in the country,” the report stated.

Following the Committee’s emphasis on enhanced collaboration between defence and civilian MROs, the government is facilitating civil-military MRO convergence by fostering greater technical and business collaboration between leading MRO companies in India and the defence establishment.

Multiple SpiceJet aircraft were stopped from operating by Air Traffic Control at the Delhi airport on Friday, May 20 morning as the airline didn't make the requisite daily payment to the Airport Authority of India.

Sources said that Air Traffic Control, which is an arm of AAI, was instructed not to give clearance to the airline's aircraft to take off as the payment was not made. AAI has put SpiceJet on "cash and carry" mode since 2020, due to the airline's inability to clear airport dues.

Multiple SpiceJet flights were halted by Delhi ATC for non-payment of daily airport user fees to AAI

Cash and carry mode implies that the credit facility by the AAI has been withdrawn because SpiceJet could not clear dues and now they have to make daily payments for airport user fees to the AAI to continue operations. SpiceJet has to pay cash upfront for the use of airports.

A SpiceJet spokesperson said that the daily payment failed due to a technical glitch in SAP - the software through which the airline makes payment.

"The automatic daily payment could not be processed. The same is being made manually to AAI which has been apprised of the issue. SpiceJet’s flight operations are now continuing normally," he said.

SpiceJet had reported a consolidated loss of INR 1,259 crore due to rising operating expenses

Flight tracking website said that almost twelve take-offs of SpiceJet in the early hours of Friday, May 20 were delayed by as much as 90 minutes.

ALSO READ - SpiceJet’s Rajkot-Delhi flight takes off without ATC approval

For the nine months ended December 2021, SpiceJet had reported a consolidated loss of INR 1,259 crore due to rising operating expenses. It had a loss of INR 773 crore in 9MFY21. Total revenue from operations grew 44% year on year to INR 4,733 crore from INR 3,283 crore.

Airlines with weak financials and also significant dues are routinely put on cash-and-carry — meaning denied credit facility — by oil and airport companies. SpiceJet sources claim the airline’s dues to AAI have substantially been cleared in the recent past. Comments from AAI were sought and are awaited.

(With Inputs from Business Standard)

After failing to sustain seaplane service, the Gujarat government is likely to restart the service in the coming months. Officials close to the development also said that a nine-seater Cessna aircraft will be dry leased to operate the route.

According to a report by the Hindustan Times, officials from the state aviation department, Maritime Energy Heli Air Services Pvt Ltd (MEHAIR) won the bids on Tuesday, February 2 and is likely to start operations on the Ahmedabad- Kevadia route in the next four months.

“We will approach the Gujarat government to take financial approval first, we will go ahead after it is approved by them. I don’t know about the exact timeline. We will try to do it (recommence operations) as soon as possible but many approvals are needed from regulatory bodies, hence restarting the seaplane operations is subject to the permissions.”Hareet Shukla, Aviation Secretary, Gujarat

India’s first seaplane service began on October 31, marking the birth anniversary of Sardar Vallabhai Patel. The first flight took off from Sabarmati Riverfront in Ahmedabad to the Statue of Unity in Kevadia Colony in the Narmada district on October 31, 2020, but the seaplane flights were suspended in early 2021, just ahead of the second wave of Covid-19.

The 15-seater Twin Otter 300 seaplane was flown back to the Maldives for maintenance in February 2021. Before that, it flew to the Maldives in December as well to undergo statutory checks. SpiceShuttle, a subsidiary of aviation player SpiceJet, operated the route. The Twin Otter 300 seaplane could accommodate up to 19 people including the crew.

The 15-seater Twin Otter 300 seaplane was flown back to the Maldives for maintenance in February 2021. (Image Courtesy - Hotelier Maldives)

Officials from Ahmedabad claimed that the government aims to restart seaplane operations soon. “The flights may begin from June,” an official said.

“A nine-seater Cessna amphibian aircraft will be used to operate the route. Work for resumption of seaplane service is in process,” said an official from the state civil aviation department.

“Aerotrans Services Pvt. Ltd, Ventura AirConnect Ltd and Maritime Energy Heli Airservices Pvt Ltd (MEHAIR) had put in their bids. They were opened on Tuesday, February 1 and MEHAIR was declared to be the winner,” he added. “The letter of intent is yet to be awarded,” the official added.

At least 28 seaplane routes have been awarded until December 2021, under UDAN.

To provide faster and hassle-free travel options in the long, treacherous and hilly regions of the country, the union government announced seaplane routes under the regional connectivity scheme (RCS)- Udey Desh ka Aam Naagarik (UDAN) scheme.

According to the Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) and the Ministry of Ports, shipping and waterways, at least 28 seaplane routes have been awarded until December 2021, under UDAN. 14 water aerodromes based in Gujarat, Assam, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Andaman & Nicobar Islands and Lakshadweep are at various stages of development.

(With Inputs from The Hindustan Times)

How do you make an aircraft show up on a radar-like a small bird or something even as harmless as a small moth as opposed to the 20-ton killing machine that it is?

The existence of a "Stealth" program, designed to produce aircraft that were effectively immune to radar detection at normal combat ranges, was announced by the U.S. government in 1980.

Now the many nitty-gritties of stealth technology remain classified of course, although the basic principles remain the same.

Let's take a look into what this elusive technology is basically about.

Stealth Technology

SlideServe

Getting started

Also dubbed as Low Observable Technology (LO technology), the development of modern stealth technologies commenced in the United States in 1958 when earlier attempts to prevent radar tracking of its U-2 spy planes during the Cold War by the Soviet Union had been unsuccessful.

U-2 Dragon Lady | Lockheed Martin |

The goal of stealth technology is to make an airplane invisible to radar. Although no aircraft is invisible to radar, stealth aircraft make it all the more difficult for conventional radar to detect or track the aircraft effectively.

Basically, there are two ways of creating invisibility:

The airplane can be shaped in a way that any radar signals it reflects are reflected away from the radar equipment and not towards it.Materials that absorb radar signals to be used for the construction of airframes and engines.

Radar

Ever since radar-directed defences began taking a toll on bomber formations in World War II, aerospace engineers and military aviators racked their brains to come up with effective ways to avoid radar detection.

Airplanes of the early jet age saw the use of materials, although heavy and not strong enough for structural use, could absorb radar energy and not reflect it. It was only after the 1960s and ’70s, that High-performance composites were developed which could address radar-signature issues effectively.

Flat surfaces reflect radar most effectively, so aircraft designers avoided having any flat parts that were likely to face in the direction of threat radar on the ground or in planes up ahead. Hence, the external shape of a stealth aircraft was either a series of complex large-radius, curved surfaces (as on the B-2) or a large number of small, flat, carefully oriented planes (as on the F-117A). Fuel and ordnance were carried internally, and engine intakes and exhausts were set flush or low to the surface.

The plane's surface was often made of radar-absorbing "fibreglass". Upon hitting these composites, radio waves would be almost converted to heat energy. The F-117A is a stealth aircraft with the radar signature of a small bird rather than an airplane - with the only downside being that when the plane banks, there will often be a moment when one of the panels of the plane will perfectly reflect a burst of radar energy to the antenna.

F 117-A Nighthawk | Wikipedia

Sometimes, radar-absorbing Honeycomb-shaped structures were added beneath the skin to cause radar to bounce around inside the plane, dissipating energy with each bounce.

Other possibilities include the laser radar, which would scan the ground ahead of the craft with a thin, almost undetectable laser beam.

Radar cross-section (RCS) reductions

The possibility of designing aircraft in such a manner as to reduce their radar cross-section was recognized in the late 1930s when the first radar tracking systems were employed.

Conventional Vs Stealth Aircraft Radar Cross Section Signature | Representative | ResearchGate

 The Avro Vulcan, a British bomber of the 1960s, had a remarkably small appearance on the radar despite its large size, and occasionally disappeared from radar screens entirely.

Avro Vulcan | Wikimedia Commons

Heat

Heat-seeking missiles are another threat to aircraft. To avoid detection by these thermal imaging devices, stealthy aircraft must minimize heat emissions. The engine exhaust is a major source of such infrared emissions.

Thermal Imaging of a piston engine | Representative | Aviation Stack Exchange

One possible solution is for the engine intakes and exhausts to be mounted above the wings although it can adversely affect aircraft manoeuvrability. Hence, high-performance fighters like the F/A-22 and the X-35 JSF, which require excellent air combat capability, have their inlets and exhausts located more traditionally.

Lockheed MARTIN X-35 | Wikipedia

Another source of heat is air friction caused by travel at very fast speeds, particularly at the wing's leading edge. This can be countered by pumping cool jet fuel inside the wing around the leading edge, thereby reducing the heat signature

Accoustic Detection

Again, engines are an aircraft's major source of noise, thereby great attention is paid to designing quiet engines. Flying at supersonic speeds can produce the iconic "sonic boom" hence stealthy aircraft may be designed to fly only at subsonic speeds.

Sonic Boom | Representative | BuzzFeed News

That said, higher performance stealth aircraft, like the F/A-22 and X-35, are designed to balance the tradeoffs between extreme stealth and excellent air combat performance.

F 22 Raptor | Hush-Kit

The second-generation stealth aircraft, the U.S. Air Force  F-22 Raptor, for instance, is capable of supercruise, supersonic performance without the use of afterburners.

Did you know? India is now finally getting set to launch its most ambitious, fifth-generation stealth fighter with advanced 'supercruise' capabilities-Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft (AMCA). It will soon join the likes of the American F/A-22 Raptor and F-35 Lightning-II Joint Strike Fighter, the Chinese Chengdu J-20 and the Russian Sukhoi-57.

HAL AMCA | Representative | AeroTime Hub

SOURCE(s)

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