HAL partners with GE(USA) to place the biggest order ever

Prashant-prabhakar

01 Sep 2021

The HAL, on Tuesday, announced its biggest ever order in association with GE for the acquisition of 99 F404-GE-IN20 engines which would power the indigenously made LCA Thejas. The contract worth Rs 5,375 crores was officially signed at HAL's corporate office on August 17.

Business Standard

This is the largest-ever deal and the purchase order placed by HAL for LCAsaid R Madhavan, CMD, HAL

The highest thrust variant of the F404 family, the F404-GE-IN20 incorporates GE’s latest hot section materials and technologies as well as FADEC for reliable power and operational characteristics.

F404-GE-IN20

Ordering the engines marks a major milestone in the execution of 83 LCA contracts with IAF. The co-operation will further be enhanced with the manufacturing of GE F414 engines in India for the upcoming LCA MkII programmeread a statement by the HAL

Let's take a brief look at what exactly the LCA Thejas program is all about.

The LCA program(Thejas)

The Financial Express

The LCA was christened as "THEJAS" by the then prime minister, Mr. Atal Bihary Vajpayee(2003).The LCA Thejas program was initiated in the early 80s when the IAF realized the need to retire the ageing MIG-21 fighters and upgrade the arsenal with more state-of-the-art technology.

This time around, focus would be more on indigenously produced  parts and softwares. This led to the formation of the Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA), with HAL being the primary contractor.

The LCA design and development would be spearheaded by ADA and HAL's Aircraft Research and Design. Center(ARDC) - The design was conceptualised in 1990 while the development was planned in 2 phases:

Phase 1: Would see the design, development and testing of two technology demonstrator aircraft (TD-1&2).

Phase 2: Three more prototypes were built comprising of Naval and Trainer variants.

8 Limited Series Production (LSP) aircraft were developed between April 2007 and March 2013, as precursors to series production (SP) aircraft.

Technical Specifications

The smallest and lightest supersonic aircraft of its class, it boasts of fly-by-wire (FBW) control system, multi-mode radar (MMR) and an afterburning turbofan engine (ATE).

Equipped with digital avionics, it has a composite material structure.It is a fourth generation aircraft with "relaxed state ability" (RSS). This technology renders the aircraft inherently unstable thereby greatly enhancing inflight manoeuvrability.

The TD-1 prototype took to the skies for the first time on Jan 04,2001 followed by a successful supersonic flight on 01 August 2003. The FBW system was developed by the National Aeronautical Lab(NAL) and this bird proudly boasts of components which are majorly built indigenously ( about 70%).The HAL and DRDO's Electronics and Radar Development Establishment (LRDE) were initially in the race to indigenously manufacture the MMR when technological adversities forced them to make use of an available radar from a foreign OEM.

The Israeli ELTA EL/M-2032 multi-mode fire control radar (FCR) was tested in April 2010 and is being used in the first batch of 40 TEJAS Mark I.

The fully indigenous Uttam AESA Radar will mount 63 aircraft of the second contract for 83 aircraft. This radar is capable of multi-target tracking (upto 100 targets) at a maximum range of 150 km for a target with 2m2 radar cross-section (RCS) and prioritised target engagement.The GTX-35VS ATE (Kaveri), was an indigenously developed propulsion system, by DRDO’s Gas Turbine Research Establishment (GTRE), in the late 1980s.

GTX-35VS ATE (Kaveri)

In 2004, GE was awarded a contract for 17 upgraded F404-GE-IN20 ATE to power eight IAF and two Naval prototypes while in 2008, 24 F404-IN20 upgraded ATE were ordered for the  first TEJAS Mark I squadron of the IAF.

The Indian Navy(IN) and the LCA Thejas program

Naval Thejas MK-2

The Indian Navy (IN) opted out of the LCA Program in December 2016, citing concerns over excessive weight. Following this, a fresh Request for Information (RFI) for 57 Multi- Role Carrier Borne Fighters (MRCBF) was made later on.

MULTI ROLE CARRIER BORNE FIGHTERS

A conceptual design for a Twin Engine Deck Based Fighter (TEDBF) was unveiled at Aero-India 2021 by ADA/DRDO. It is expected to make it's maiden flight by 2026 with induction expected possibly by the beginning of the next decade.

Twin Engine Deck Based Fighter

Final design of India's 5th Gen Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft(AMCA) at Aero India 2021

COVER: The Indian Express

Images: Indian Defence News, Reddit, Swarajya

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Civil Aviation Minister inaugurates first direct Gwalior – Indore flight

Radhika Bansal

01 Sep 2021

Union Minister of Civil Aviation, Mr Jyotiraditya M. Scindia, MoS, Civil Aviation, General Dr V K Singh (Retd.) along with Secretary, Ministry of Civil Aviation, Mr Pradeep Kharola virtually flagged off two flights today strengthening the international & domestic aerial connectivity of Madhya Pradesh. The event marked the commencement of Indigo’s new direct flights on the Gwalior – Indore (Madhya Pradesh) - Delhi route & resumption of Air India’s Indore (Madhya Pradesh) – Dubai (UAE) direct flight.

Shivraj Singh Chauhan, Chief Minister, Madhya Pradesh graced the event virtually from Bhopal.

Several other dignitaries including Narendra Singh Tomar, Union Cabinet Minister for Agriculture & Farmers Welfare, Pradhuman Singh Tomar, Energy Minister (Madhya Pradesh), Bharat Singh Kushwaha, Minister of State – Horticulture and Food Processing (Independent Charge), Vivek Narayan Shejwalkar, Member of Parliament – Lok Sabha, Dr Satish Sikarwar, Member of Legislative Assembly – Gwalior East joined the event virtually from Gwalior.

TulsiramSilavat, Minister – Water Resources, Fisheries Welfare and Fisheries Development, Usha Thakur, Minister – Tourism, Culture, Adhyatm, Shankar Lalwani, Member of Parliament – Lok Sabha, Kailash Vijayvargiya, National General Secretary BJP, Ramesh Mendola, Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA)- Indore, Malini Laxman Singh Gaur, MLA, Mahendra Hardia, MLA, Akash Vijayvargiya, MLA, Sanjay Shukla, MLA, Vishal Jagdish Patel, MLA joined the inauguration virtually from Indore. Senior officials of MoCA & AAI were also present during the ceremony held at Rajiv Gandhi Bhawan, New Delhi.

“The establishment of direct flight connectivity on the Indore – Gwalior – Delhi route aligns with the objectives of the Sab Uden Sab Juden initiative of the Government of India. With the aerial connectivity of the 2 cities of Madhya Pradesh with immense potential, new opportunities will get a boost in sectors of trade and tourism.”Jyotiraditya M. Scindia, Union Minister of Civil Aviation

He further informed that in the last 53 days, Madhya Pradesh got 58 new flights and with 314 new aircraft movements the number of aircraft movements in the state has increased from 424 to 738. Indore which was earlier connected to 8 cities, has now been connected to 13 cities. Similarly, aerial connectivity of Gwalior has expanded from 4 to 6 cities.

The event marked the commencement of Indigo’s new direct flights on the Gwalior – Indore - Delhi route & the resumption of Air India’s Indore – Dubai (UAE) direct flight.

Gwalior is known for its beautiful forts, temples, tomb, museum, and palaces. The increased accessibility will not only enhance tourism but also promote trade and commerce in the region.

Air India's Indore-Dubai flight resumes after 17 months

Air India group currently operates flights from/to Bhopal, Indore, Jabalpur and Bilaspur to various destinations within India. On the international route, Air India has been operating a direct flight from Indore to Dubai since 2019 which is recommencing now with this non-stop connection.

According to experts, the flight, which was initially launched on July 15, 2019, on public demand, will give a boost to tourism and trade between central India and the UAE.

"The Indore-Dubai flight is being resumed after 17 months. I remember that just five days after I became the civil aviation minister, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan made the first demand to me that this flight be resumed," he said while addressing the function through video conference.

The flight schedules are mentioned below:

Indigo Gwalior – Delhi - Indore flight schedule -

FLIGHT NO.FROMTOFREQUENCYDEPARTUREARRIVALAIRCRAFTEFFECTIVE FROM6E 7356DelhiGwaliorDaily07:1008:10 ATR 1-Sep-21 6E 7358GwaliorIndoreDaily08:3010:00 ATR 1-Sep-21 6E 7359IndoreGwaliorDaily10:2012:00 ATR 1-Sep-21 6E 7357GwaliorDelhiDaily12:2013:30 ATR 1-Sep-21

Air India Indore – Dubai flight schedule -

FLIGHT NO.FROMTOFREQUENCYDEPARTUREARRIVALEFFECTIVE FROMAI0955IndoreDubaiWednesday12:3515:051-Sep-21AI0956DubaiIndoreWednesday16:0520:551-Sep-21

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Private airport operators expected to spend a huge amount on capacity expansion: Crisil

Radhika Bansal

31 Aug 2021

Private airport operators are expected to spend around INR 42,000 crore on capacity expansion over the five years through fiscal 2026 as they are confident of air traffic growth in the long term, Crisil Ratings said on Tuesday, August 30. The amount will be more than double the capital expenditure (CAPEX) they incurred in the previous five financial years, it said.

According to Crisil, the confidence in CAPEX stems from the strong long-term fundamentals and regulated tariff structure, which allows pass-through of CAPEX costs and thereby keeping the risks low. Before the pandemic hitting the country in early 2020, private airports were bursting at their seams, operating at over 115% of their design capacity. It was around 175 million passengers on a design capacity of about 150 million passengers, as per the rating agency.

Before the pandemic hitting the country in early 2020, private airports were bursting at their seams, operating at over 115% of their design capacity.

The high operating rate was due to strong annual growth of over 8 per cent in air traffic between fiscals 2016 and 2020, Crisil said, adding the operating rates took a massive hit in fiscal 2021 as the pandemic and the subsequent economic slowdown led to traffic nose-diving by around 65%.

Though the current fiscal also started with a more virulent second COVID wave, prospects of economic recovery look brighter with the infection rate easing, vaccinations gathering pace, and the government continuing its thrust on infrastructure development, it said.

Stating that airports also earn from non-aero activities, Crisil said by fiscal 2024, an increase in passenger traffic and economic revival should help this revenue stream rebound by 50%

In its note, the rating agency also said the economic growth outlook remains strong and GDP is expected to grow at around 7.4% CAGR over the next four years — fiscal 2022 to fiscal 2025 — in real terms. "Economic growth will boost air traffic volumes given the impact on the increase in per capita consumption and shift in preference towards an efficient mode of commute.

"Given that air traffic in India tends to grow faster than the GDP growth and the government's push to connect lower-tier cities with metros under its regional connectivity scheme, we expect a robust 8.5% annual air traffic growth at Indian airports till fiscal 2026 (compared to fiscal 2020 levels)." Ankit Hakhu, Director, Crisil Ratings

This would mean an additional around 190 million passengers will fly pan India by fiscal 2026 over the pre-pandemic base of fiscal 2020 of 340 million passengers, taking the overall traffic to around 530 million passengers by fiscal 2026, as per the note. Out of the total, 70% or around 375 million passengers are expected to be handled by private airports in fiscal 2026, up from around 50% in fiscal 2020.

This expected demand growth is driving private airport operators to enhance the design capacity to 340 million passengers per annum from the pre-pandemic level of around 150 million, Crisil said. Despite this significant capacity expansion, the strong increase in demand could keep utilisation rates of these airports around 100% by fiscal 2026.

"While the high utilisation rate justifies the large CAPEX, credit profiles of these airports will also be supported by their regulatory business model. Tariffs for these airports are based on a fixed regulated return (weighted average of around 16 per cent on the equity investment and the market cost of debt) on CAPEX in the next five years, which provides certainty regarding cash-flow return on the CAPEX." Varun Marwaha, Associate Director, Crisil Ratings

Stating that airports also earn from non-aero activities, Crisil said by fiscal 2024, an increase in passenger traffic and economic revival should help this revenue stream rebound by 50% (in absolute terms over fiscal 2020) and contribute over 40% to the overall revenue of private airports.

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More frequent flights to London, this Indian city will now have flights thrice a week

Radhika Bansal

31 Aug 2021

British Airways will operate direct flights from Chennai to London from August 31. The airline will resume operations on London’s Heathrow airport and Chennai thrice a week on Sunday, Wednesday, and Friday from London and Monday, Thursday, and Saturday from Chennai on its return leg.

British Airways has increased flights from India to the UK from 10 to 20 per week from August 16. The decision came as the UK government moved India to an amber list.

"British Airways will now operate 20 direct return flights across Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru and Hyderabad providing convenient options for customers wanting to travel to London, Heathrow. To help customers navigate the changing entry requirement and facilitate a seamless journey, they can choose to download the VeriFLY app before departing to London. The digital health app allows customers to combine their travel verification documents and Covid-19 test results in one place and confirms their eligibility with a few simple steps."British Airways said in a statement.

https://twitter.com/aaichnairport/status/1431563969983045633

Tweet from the Chennai Airport

Earlier, the UK government moved India from the 'red' list to the 'amber' list on August 8. In addition, the Indian government allowed UK carriers to operate additional flights, increasing the weekly cap from 15 to 34 per week.

"It is wonderful to see connections between India and London being restored after months of uncertainty caused by the global pandemic. These additional new flights will allow our Indian customers, who have waited so patiently, to reunite with their loved ones. The flights also provide new travel options for Indian students wishing to travel to the UK and beyond for further studies, ahead of the start of a new academic year."Moran Birger, British Airways' Head of Sales for South Asia, Middle East and Africa.

Customers booking with British Airways can exchange their booking for a voucher or move their dates without incurring a change fee, read the statement. British Airways has extended its flexible booking policies. If you’re due to travel before August 31, 2022, you can change your booking without any change fees, or request a voucher that can be used for travel at any time up until September 30, 2023.

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To attract Indian tourist, SriLankan Airlines have come up with BOGO offer

Radhika Bansal

31 Aug 2021

Reopening for fully vaccinated Indian tourists — including those who got Covaxin, Sri Lanka is wooing them with a vengeance. Sri Lankan national carrier -- SriLankan Airlines has come with a “buy one and get one free” offer for desi leisure travellers on Colombo return tickets. This offer is on till October 31, 2021.

Sri Lanka now allows fully vaccinated Indian tourists with no quarantine for those who test Covid negative on arrival. “One just needs to be fully vaccinated, with the second shot taken at least 14 days before the trip. A mandatory RT-PCR test will be conducted in the hotel and if anyone tests positive will be taken to health care centres run from hotels,” the airline said.

“Sri Lanka is now open for Indian tourists. People need to be fully vaccinated, with the second shot taken at least 14 days before the trip. On arrival, travellers will go to their hotel where the RT-PCR test will be conducted. Those who test negative can travel where they want to go. Sri Lanka is accepting all vaccines, including Covaxin. Currently, India accounts for over 12 crore fully vaccinated citizens which have resulted in the reawakening interest in travel."Dimuthu Tennakoon, SriLankan Airlines’ head of worldwide sales and distribution, as told to TOI

This special offer would enable Indian leisure travellers to explore numerous attractions available in Sri Lanka after the country relaxed the travel regulations to the tourists. The discounted air tickets together with special incentives offered by the Sri Lankan industry partners would indeed influence Indian holidaymakers to choose Sri Lanka as the ideal & most easily accessible destination to travel.

There is no requirement for quarantine for travellers who test Covid negative on arrival in the Emerald Island.

Also, there is no requirement for quarantine for travellers who test Covid negative on arrival in the Emerald Island. All other Covid time requirements of social distancing and hand sanitation will need to be obviously observed by those testing negative.

From September 1, Sri Lankan Airlines will resume services between Colombo and Madurai, Tiruchirappalli, Trivandrum and Cochin with flights once a week. Hyderabad and New Delhi will be connected to Colombo with twice-weekly flights. Its operations out of Chennai and Mumbai will expand up to five times a week and Bangalore-Colombo services will be enhanced to flights three times a week.

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The Concorde is retired now. But did it ever fly to India?

Prashant-prabhakar

31 Aug 2021

Jan 21,1976- A historic moment for mankind and more importantly for aviation. This marked the beginning of supersonic air travel when man successfully breached the sound barrier and could fly faster than the speed of sound. A landmark achievement for aviation indeed.

Some amazing features of the Concorde:

BA Concorde with its distinctive droop-down nose design

1. The speed of sound is about 340 m/s. The Concorde could fly at 694 m/s which is almost more than twice the speed of sound, making it the fastest trans-atlantic flight ever.

2. Travelling times were reduced drastically. A normal flight between New York and London which would otherwise take 8 hours could now be completed in merely  3.5 hours. It has achieved a speed of 2,179 kmph which is almost equal to covering the distance between Delhi and Chennai in 1 hour.

3. Wondering what makes it possible to fly at such a massive speed? The max ceiling of the Concorde is 60,000ft which is more than twice the max height of the Mount Everest which stands at 28,000 feet. For perspective, a B747 has a max ceiling of 38,000 ft while an A380 can hit upto 43,000 ft.

4.The climb rate of the bird was just as impressive with the ability to climb 100m in just 4 seconds. Talk about Usain Bolt's record in a 100m dash.

5. The Concorde, which costed around 46 million dollars in the 1970s, costed about 350 million dollars (at the time of it decommissioning).

6. Ticket fare for a one way trip across the Atlantic was about 6,270 dollars (4,58,288.72 Indian Rupees) while for a round-the-way trip it costed close to 13,000 dollars (9,50,199.90 Indian Rupees)

7. Out of the 20 that were ever built, only 14 made it for commercial operations. The other 6 were  prototypes that were scrapped later on.

British Airways and Air France were the only operators of the type, with each operating 7 aircrafts.

Getty Images

Various airlines had placed orders for the Concorde back in the 60s and 70s. While British Airways and Air France were leading the race, the lower spectrum saw Air India, Braniff, CAAC, Continental Airlines, JAL, Lufthansa, and Sabena .Operators had the choice of choosing between 2 and 6 orders.

Air India's order

Air India, along with its Belgian counterpart, Sabena, placed the smallest order for 2 aircrafts. The order was officially made on on July 15th, 1964 placing India at the 9 position out of 18 airlines to place an order(at the time).

Marketing and demonstration

The next few years would see the Concorde indulging in heavy marketing for the type, organising round-the-world sales trips. As a part of the trip, the Concorde also made its way to the Indian skies.

Concorde taking off from Mumbai airport in the 80s

The Concorde made its demonstration flight in India when it was flown to Santa Cruz Airport ( now Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport). The aircraft departed from Bahrain and landed in Mumbai taking only 80 minutes as opposed to the standard 3 hours taken by subsonic jets. The aircraft then flew over Kolhapur in low heights to check the effects of supersonic speed on structures on the ground.

A team of civil aviation experts from the DGCA were specifically dispatched and pre-positioned at Kolhapur to analyze sound measurements. The final analysis reported the shaking of a few weak houses in Kolhapur and some glass window panes were also reported to be shattered. Following which, the regulator placed strict restrictions on supersonic flights over land areas.

Unfortunately, the deal didn't go through

Although Concorde was highly optimistic that Air India would convert this into a firm order, officials who participated in the negotiations were skeptical. According to experts, Concorde was an engineering marvel indeed but would prove to be economically disastrous in the years to come. It was no surprise then, that the deal was rejected in a matter of only a few hours.

If the airline had bought the Concorde, it would have gone into the red several years agoA top official of Air India commented during the event.

Thereby Air India finally concluded to cancel the order for two options for Concorde in February 1975.Unfortunately, the supersonic bird didn't survive too long with British Airways and Air France finally retiring it from service in 2003.

Fun fact

The letter "E" in Concorde has always been a subject of contention between the British and France, considering this was a joint venture between them. As can be seen, with the letter "E", the word Concorde becomes a french word. The British didn't prefer it although finally they came around when the  British Prime Minister at the time, Tony Benn, compromised and stated that the "E" represented- "England", "Excellence, "Europe".

Images: The World Economic Forum, Reddit

COVER: Financial Times

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