Go First signs a deal with UAE's Lulu Group to transport cargo from Srinagar to Sharjah

Private airline Go First on Monday, November 1 signed a pact with the UAE-based Lulu Group to transport cargo from Srinagar to Sharjah.

Go First was the first airline to start a direct international connection from the Kashmir Valley and has now also become the first airline to start international cargo services from the sector.

(Image Courtesy - Indian Transport & Logistics News)

The memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed between Go First Head (Corporate Affairs) Mohit Dwivedi and Lulu Group Director Salim M A, in the presence of Principal Secretary Industries and Commerce, and Administrative Secretary, Civil Aviation Department, Government of Jammu and Kashmir, Ranjan Thakur.

The Lulu Group director said there were immense export opportunities in Kashmir.

"On behalf of the Lulu, I am very thankful to the Government of Jammu and Kashmir as well as the Government of India for allowing us to come to Kashmir. We are quite surprised to see the immense opportunities that we have for the exports from here.As Lulu, we will be able to take a lot of fruit, vegetables and antique and craft and a lot more items. We assure you that we will do our best to export goods from Kashmir."Salim M A, Director, Lulu Group

The Go First expressed happiness over becoming the first airline to transport the cargo from here to the Gulf countries.

"On behalf of Go First, I would like to thank the Jammu and Kashmir government, Lulu Group and the Government of India, for giving us this opportunity for taking up the cargo for gulf countries. We are happy with this agreement," Go First's Dwivedi said.

He said the airline will start operations from December this year.

Describing the MoU as a historic opportunity, Thakur said Lulu is the biggest retailer in the Gulf region and its presence will benefit the farmers, growers and artisans here.

"This MoU is a further development to the J&K's MoU with the Dubai government. The LuLu Group will source a lot of horticulture, agriculture products and handicrafts from J&K. They will follow it up with many more in the future.This is a win-win situation. The logistics support has been provided by Go First and the Lulu Group will do the marketing. We are only the facilitators.This will get a better price in a short term transit on a long term basis, with easy access. This is the world opening up to J&K. For the time being, the cargo will be taken in the daily flight, but we can deploy a freighter as well when the time comes.We will get many opportunities through their (Lulu) retailers. The Lulu group was already exporting apples. Their foray into J&K indicates our seriousness and our efforts.I must congratulate the people of J&K and look forward to a much more meaningful relationship in the future also. We also hope that the Lulu Group will have a permanent presence in J&K."Ranjan Thakur, Administrative Secretary, Civil Aviation Department, Government of Jammu and Kashmir

Thakur added that this will provide an opportunity to our farmers, growers, weavers and our artisans to access a large market and Lulu will get a good product to sell to their customers.

He said the purpose is to have the farmers earn profits.

Thakur said the Go First flight between Srinagar and Sharjah, which is currently operating four days a week, will soon become a daily flight and it will enable a bridge between J&K and the Gulf region and in particular to Dubai and Sharjah regions.

LuLu Group International is an Emirati multinational conglomerate company that operates a chain of hypermarkets and retail companies, headquartered in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. It was founded in 2000 by M. A. Yusuff Ali from Nattika, Thrissur district in Kerala, India. LuLu Group International mainly operates the international chain of hypermarkets named "Lulu Hypermarket". LuLu has over 57, 000 employees of various nationalities.

Established in 2005 and wholly owned by the Wadia Group, Go First is an ultra-low-cost carrier based at Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport in Mumbai with a secondary hub at Indira Gandhi International Airport. The carrier operates an extensive network of domestic services within India using Airbus A320 family aircraft. GoAir officially rebranded as Go First in May 2021.

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) believes that the COVID-19 pandemic is not driving India's air-bubble arrangements for international flights, but rather the government's "desire" to renegotiate its air services agreements.

Willie Walsh, IATA's Director General was speaking at a global media interaction from Geneva late on November 3.

“(The so-called bubbles arrangements) I do not think they are really driven by COVID-19. We have heard the desire on the part of the Indian government to renegotiate its air services agreements.So, I do not think it is directly a COVID-19 issue.I think COVID-19 is being used to mask a different issue. Clearly, governments have the right to renegotiate air services agreements. But we would expect that to be done in a proper fashion and that governments do not use the situation of a global pandemic to try and unilaterally establish new air services agreements.”Willie Walsh, Director General, International Air Transport Association (IATA)

Globally, countries exchange air services agreements that specify the number of airlines, flights per week, and cities to which these flights can be operated. After the global spread of the pandemic, India and many countries suspended regular international air travel that had been agreed under various air services agreements.

India extended the ban on scheduled international passenger flights to November 30, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation said in a statement on October 29.

The IATA DG's statement comes at a time when India hasn't exchanged any new air services agreements in years, despite being eager to revise agreements that it believed were heavily skewed in favour of some foreign airlines.

Experts said only 36% of international air traffic to India goes to Indian airlines and over 60% of the revenue generated on these routes goes to foreign airlines.

After India banned regular international flights in March 2020, shortly after the Covid-19 outbreak, the government launched the Vande Bharat Mission in May 2020 to allow Air India and the Indian Navy to transport Indians from all over the world back to India. Private airlines were eventually allowed to take part in the repatriation effort.

India also entered into international air transport bubbles with 28 countries including the US, the UK, Russia, Kuwait, France and Germany, which allowed airlines of these countries to operate flights to India. However, unlike in the pre-pandemic period when anyone with a valid visa was allowed to travel, only select categories of passengers are allowed on bubble flights.

During the media interaction, IATA reiterated its call for harmonisation of rules to ease travel, saying it was concerned over the disparity in rules globally.

(Image Courtesy - USA Today)

IATA would prefer to see greater coordination between governments and accelerated mutual recognition of measures principally to facilitate consumers who are confused by the different requirements, the IATA DG said. Walsh said it would be much easier for people if a more common approach was adopted by governments.

“Governments owe it to their people to have measures that are sensible and clearly understandable and where possible, to align them. The challenge is the same everywhere. The solution should be similar, if not the same, everywhere and the closer we get to harmonising the requirements, I think the better it will be for everybody and would certainly help in the recovery of the industry,” Walsh said.

(With Inputs from MoneyControl)

Current and former Boeing Co. directors have proposed a $237.5 million settlement with shareholders to settle a lawsuit over the 737 MAX aircraft's safety oversight, according to documents seen by Reuters.

After two fatal 737 MAX crashes in five months in 2018-19, killing 346 people, Boeing's best-selling plane was grounded for 20 months before being reintroduced after significant software and training improvements.

The proposed agreement, which is being filed in Delaware Chancery Court late on November 5 and was confirmed by Boeing, will require the election of an additional board director with aviation/aerospace, engineering, or product safety oversight expertise within one year.

(Image Courtesy - The Print)

According to the proposal, Boeing's board of directors would always be required to have at least three directors with safety-related experience. The proposal must be approved by a judge before it can become final.

Under the terms of the agreement, Boeing will change its bylaws to require the separation of the CEO and Board chair positions, as well as establish an ombudsperson programme for at least five years for Boeing employees working on aeroplane certification for the Federal Aviation Administration.

Boeing would also be required to provide annual public reports on safety-related enhancements implemented since the MAX air disasters under the terms of the agreement.

The financial penalty will be paid by insurers to Boeing, minus up to $29.7 million in legal fees and expenses to the shareholder attorneys, according to the documents.

Boeing's current and former directors do not admit wrongdoing as part of the settlement, claiming they were acting in the best interests of Boeing and its stockholders.

In September, a Delaware court ruled that Boeing stockholders could pursue some claims against the board, citing the first 737 MAX crash as a "red flag" about the MCAS safety system, which "the board should have heeded but instead ignored."

The crashes have cost Boeing some $20 billion. Boeing agreed to a deferred prosecution agreement with the US Department of Justice in January including $2.5 billion in fines and compensation stemming from the 737 MAX crashes.

Since the crashes, Boeing has "taken significant actions to reinforce and strengthen our commitment to aviation safety," according to the settlement.

The agreement "builds on those actions with additional oversight and governance reforms that will further advance safety and quality in the work that we do," according to the statement.

Retired Lieutenant General Stayce Harris, who has over 10,000 hours of experience as a Boeing pilot, and David Joyce, who led GE Aviation from 2009 to 2020, have recently joined Boeing's board of directors.

(With Inputs from Reuters)

Cover Image - USA Today

After reporting its first underlying operating profit since the coronavirus crisis, Lufthansa said on Wednesday, November 3 that it expects high demand for its booming cargo business and the recovery of passenger flights to continue next year.

The company reported adjusted earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) of 17 million euros ($20 million) in the third quarter, compared to a loss of 1.262 billion euros the previous quarter, thanks to strong freight business and rising demand during the summer season as travel restrictions were eased.

(Image Courtesy - AeroTime)

"We have mastered another milestone on our way out of the crisis: We are back to black," Chief Executive Officer Carsten Spohr said.

Analysts in a company-provided poll had expected an adjusted EBIT loss of 33 million euros.

Lufthansa's air cargo business reported a record adjusted EBIT of 301 million euros, as demand and air freight rates rose due to ocean freight bottlenecks and global supply chains disruptions.

"The favourable supply-demand gap will last at least until 2022, but with a high degree of probability beyond that," Spohr said.

Lufthansa planes are seen parked on the tarmac of Frankfurt Airport, Germany. (Image Courtesy - Reuters)

The company's third-quarter revenue nearly doubled to 5.2 billion euros, beating analyst expectations of 5.5 billion euros.

Lufthansa said it expects demand to improve in the fourth quarter, resulting in positive earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation (EBITDA). It also owns Eurowings, Swiss, Brussels, and Austrian Airlines.

According to the report, third-quarter capacity, measured in available seat kilometres, was half of what it was before the crisis. It expects capacity to increase to more than 70% of what it was in 2019.

"The positive development will continue up to 80% in the second half of the year," Spohr added.

(Image Courtesy - Cargo Facts)

According to the airline, new bookings are currently at 80% of 2019 levels, owing to recovering business bookings and rising demand for long-haul flights, particularly to the United States, which is Lufthansa's most important and profitable market.

Spohr said transatlantic bookings were already around 80% of pre-crisis levels after the United States opened to European travellers, and that mainland China would open in the middle of 2022 rather than early next year.

The company, which received a 9 billion euro lifeline from the government last year to stay afloat, said it expects capital expenditure of around 2 billion euros next year and 2.5 billion per year in the long run.

(With Inputs from Reuters)

IndiGo airlines have appointed Saguna Vaid as its general counsel with effect from December 1, it said on Thursday, November 4.

Vaid will be replacing Priya Mehra, who has joined the upcoming low-cost carrier Akasa Air as its legal head.

"Saguna joins IndiGo from Nokia Networks, where she was the director and head of Legal and Compliance for India and the APJ (the Asia Pacific and Japan) region," IndiGo said in its statement.

Before Nokia, Vaid was the vice president and general counsel for Asia at Genpact for over a decade during which time she also supported GE Aviation's operations, it mentioned.

"She has also worked with leading law firms in India and the Middle East, and her experience includes advising leading domestic airlines," the statement said.

IndiGo is India's largest airline. It flew 22.66 lakh passengers in September, a 57.5% share of the total domestic market.

Ronojoy Dutta, chief executive officer, IndiGo, said Vaid's vast experience in advising and supporting businesses across geographies at Nokia, coupled with her experience in the aviation industry, will be extremely helpful for IndiGo and will aptly support the airline's international growth plans.

A general counsel, sometimes called GC, chief legal officer, or corporate counsel, is a company's main attorney and primary source of legal advice. GC can be charged with handling legal crises, compliance issues, public policy advocacy, labour law, tax work, issues around intellectual property, and more.

Being the global market leader that it is, Rolls Royce has introduced what is touted to be the first of its kind at the UN Climate Change Conference (COP26).

FuelCellsWorks

The event, which commenced on 31st October and which would run up to 12 November 2021 in Glasgow, Scotland, has featured Rolls Royce proudly showcasing its array of solutions to tackle global climatic change.

For the unversed, COP26, is a global summit spearheaded by the UN, where leaders of different countries come together and brainstorm to find effective ways of tackling global climatic issues.

The MTU, which is capable of producing clean electrical energy, is a part of Rolls Royce's climate protection program-" Net Zero at Power Systems".

This program has produced innovative fuel cells that work on hydrogen and emit nothing but steam and a tad bit of heat as by-products.

Furthermore, the company is also developing hydrogen and methane engines as a part of this program.

Again, it goes a step further and is eyeing decentralized Power to X plants which is basically the conversion of clean electricity into carbon-neutral, renewable future fuels.

The global summit would also witness the company unveiling a model of its all-electric "Spirit of innovation" aircraft. According to Rolls Royce, the model would be capable of clocking speeds more than 300 mph (480 kph). Powered by a 6000 cell battery, the company is optimistic that the model would break all records in the foreseeable future.

The company achieved a new milestone very recently when the proposed model made its maiden flight on September 21.

"Spirit of Innovation" | Transport and Logistics Middle East TLME

The advanced battery and propulsion technology system developed for the "Spirit of Innovation" would also be ideally used for future applications on eVTOL aircraft as well, as stated by the company.

We firmly believe that technology can be used to tackle the challenge of climate change. That is the reason why we are presenting our new technologies at the World Climate Summit. We are focusing our technological capabilities to play a leading role in enabling significant elements of the global economy to get to net zero carbon by 2050, including aviation, shipping, and power generationAndreas Schell, CEO of Rolls-Royce Power Systems

COVER: CleanTechnica