Report Card - II: Indian Aviation Progress in 2010

After discussing the actions of the Civil Aviation Ministry of the Government and India's Aviation Policy towards the West, I now put forward the other statistical aspects of the country's aviation sector.

This is the second and final post in the series discussing the performance in the Indian skies...

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 22^nd 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.

Underthe 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.

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.

• 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.
• A dedicated Air Cargo Complex facility at Veer Savarkar Airport, Port Blair has been operationalised.
• 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, 2010, 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
• 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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Report Card - I: Indian Aviation Progress in 2010

1. 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%.

2. 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.

3. The 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).

4. A state of the art new integrated Terminal-3 has been operationalized at the Delhi Airport in July last year creating a new beginning in world class infrastructure, with public-private participation in the aviation sector.

5. 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.
• 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

(i) 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.

(ii) 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%.

(iii) 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 37^th 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, 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 initialled 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.

This post is the first in a Series analysing the Indian Aviation Sector performance in the year 2010. Come back to this page for another Report Card on economic, legal and security evaluations as well as some more statistics...

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