Jet Airways plane lands with 'insufficient fuel'

Jet Airways plane lands with 'insufficient fuel' Piolts Suspended

As many as 142 passengers and eight crew members of a Jet Airways flight from Doha to Kochi had a narrow escape after the plane landed at Trivandrum airport without the mandatory reserve fuel requirement, leading to the suspension of both the pilots by the aviation regulator, sources said.

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has asked the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB), which functions under the civil aviation ministry, to probe the incident which took place on August 18, terming it serious, they added.

The fuel in the Boeing 737-800 aircraft was on reserve with only 270-kg of air fuel left at the time of landing at Trivandrum airport as against a mandatory requirement of 1,500-kg of fuel along with alternative fuel, the sources said.

Following the incident, DGCA is now reviewing the fuel uplift policy of the airline to examine whether it was carrying less fuel to save costs, they said.

The aircraft was scheduled to land at Kochi airport but, after failing to do so despite three go-arounds due to bad weather, the pilot sought diversion to Trivandrum airport citing a fuel emergency rather than taking it to the nearest airport, which was Bangalore.

Trivandrum airport also had bad weather and the pilot could land there only on the fourth attempt. Moreover, in a violation of unscheduled landing norms, the commander diverted the plane to Trivandrum and not the nearest airport, which was Bangalore in this case, the sources said.

According to the DGCA's fuel policy, an aircraft should carry taxi fuel, trip fuel, contingency fuel (which is five per cent of the trip fuel), alternative fuel as well as holding fuel for 30 minutes. Even a 10 minute taxiing of a Boeing 737-800 burns 270-kg of fuel, sources said.

Meanwhile, Jet Airways, in a statement, said that the flight was diverted to Trivandrum due to low visibility at Kochi Airport.

Jet Airways flight 9W-555, en route from Doha to Kochi, was diverted to Trivandrum as a precautionary measure as the runway at Kochi was not visible due to the presence of low clouds. This is as per the standard operating safety procedure.

The flight landing with 141 guests was uneventful, the airline said. It further said that safety is of paramount importance and, to that end, planning of flight operations are conducted with a very high-level of safety parameters.

This includes a fuel uplift that not only meets all regulatory requirements, it has additional buffers to cater to unexpected scenarios including poor weather at the alternate airport, the statement added.

However, while avoiding any mention of the suspension of the flight commander and his co-pilot, the airline said it would not make any further comments as the matter is under investigation by the airline safety team as also DGCA. 

Source: DGCA & PTI

SpiceJet Lost Cost Carrier Reports Net profit in Q1 And In talks with Boeing & Airbus for $11-Billion Deal

SpiceJet reports Rs 71.8 crore net profit in Q1

The Low Cost Carrier had a very Tumultious Journey in 2014.
The Airline almost locked down with No flight operations for a few days. The airline was asked to do a Cash & Carry Operations. 

Budget airline SpiceJet reported on Tuesday a net profit of Rs 71.8 crore ($11.2 million) for the three months ending June, after cutting costs and flying more passengers.

SpiceJet made a net loss of Rs 124 crore in the same quarter a year earlier.

Country's second-biggest budget carrier by market share, which last quarter made its first profit since 2013, is in the midst of a recovery plan after it almost collapsed late last year.

Under new Chairman Ajay Singh, the airline has cut routes-its capacity is down a third since last year-and costs.

It said on Tuesday that its load factor - the percentage of an airline's carrying capacity it has filled - rose to 89.8 per cent in the quarter, a rise of almost 15 per cent from last year.

Sustained profitability has eluded most of country's airlines for the last few years amid fierce competition for fares and high operating costs, despite the country's aviation market growing at one of the fastest rates worldwide.

SpiceJet shares jumped after news of the results, ending up 5.77 per cent on BSE.

Source - Reuters

Low Cost Indian Carrier Spicejet In talks with Boeing & Airbus For A $11 Billion Deal 

Mr Ajay Singh the initial promoter of Spicejet in 2005, Bailed it out with a Financial infusion from the Promoter Mr. K. Maran of SUN Tv.   

Budget airline SpiceJet  is in talks with Boeing and Airbus Group to acquire about 100 new narrow-body jets, its chief financial officer Kiran Koteshwar said on Wednesday, in a deal worth about $11 billion at list prices.

"SpiceJet wants to buy more Airbus A320 neo and Boeing 737 Max aircraft", Kiran Koteshwar told Reuters. He said the company plans to place an order by the end of this financial year and would look to raise fresh equity or debt to pay for the planes once it had decided how many to buy.

"We have to place an order so we have a long-term business plan in place. The focus is now on sizeable growth," he said.

SpiceJet's plans for expansion come after India's second-largest low-cost carrier almost collapsed late last year, before it was bailed out by new chairman Ajay Singh.

The company's stock gained 6.57 per cent to Rs 28.35  its 52-week high  at the BSE.

Source - Reuters

Avianca The Official Airline Partner For Latin America Gala Ceremony 2015

Avianca as Official Airline Partner for Latin America Gala Ceremony 2015

Avianca Airlines Official Airline Partner For Latin America Gala Ceremony

World Travel Awards announces Avianca as the Official Airline Partner for the upcoming Latin America Gala Ceremony 2015.

Visiting Colombia for the first time, the World Travel Awards Latin America Gala Ceremony will take place on October 10th in Bogotá. The event will receive tourism leaders from across the region, as well as influential business directors and entrepreneurs.

Commenting on the deal, World Travel Awards executive vice president Christopher Frost said: “It is an honour to welcome Avianca as our Official Airline Partner for the Latin America Gala Ceremony 2015. The airline is synonymous with Colombia and is the ideal partner for World Travel Awards as we visit the country for the first time this year.” He added: “I look forward to welcoming the Avianca team to our Gala Ceremony in October for what is sure to be a fantastic night in Bogotá.” Avianca is the commercial brand representing the Latin American carriers integrated into Avianca Holdings.

Its workforce of over 19,000 employees has been organised to provide a world-class service, offering 5,600 flights a week to 100 destinations in 27 countries. With a modern fleet of 168 short-, medium-, and long-haul aircraft Avianca is an icon of Latin American and an ambassador for Colombia around the world.
Through its membership with Star Alliance, Avianca offers connections to more than 1,200 destinations in 195 countries globally, while LifeMiles, its loyalty program, offers a wide range of benefits and travel options to its more than 5.4 million registered members.

World Travel Awards was established in 1993 to acknowledge, reward and celebrate excellence across all sectors of the tourism industry.

Today, the brand is recognised globally as the ultimate hallmark of quality, with winners setting the benchmark to which all others aspire. In 2015, World Travel Awards will celebrate its historic 22nd anniversary.
Each year the World Travel Awards Grand Tour covers the globe with a series of regional gala ceremonies staged to recognise and celebrate individual and collective successes within each key geographical region.

Source - World Travel New

Aviation Word Of The Day - Carousel

A Carousel is a rotating platform from where all outgoing and passengers arriving can access their baggage.

A  carousel can be found at the arrivals hall area in the passenger terminal.Bags are conveyed by the carousel through the scanner to the baggage makeup area where the bags are loaded into containers then onward into the lower deck of the aircraft.

Baggage flow on the carousel should be timely.If it's too slow,passengers will be kept waiting for the arrival of their bags which will  cause delays.Conversely, if its too fast,the bags will pile up and passengers will have a hard time tracing their bags.

Aviation Term Of The Day - Baggage Allowance

First let's look at what baggage means,before adding  the allowance component.Baggage is simply any luggage,cases,and bags you take with you when travelling-your personal bellongings.

There are two types of baggage.

1)Checked baggage

2)Unchecked baggage

Checked baggage is usually the bigger of the two which is loaded into the lower deck of the aircraft.Whereas unchecked baggage, also known as "carry on" refers to small bags of limited size and weight that passengers are allowed to take with the  into the passenger seating area.This means you'll be in possession of the bag during the flight.

It is clear now that every passenger onboard a flight  is entitled to carry some baggage.However,this doesn't mean you can carry anything and everything.Here's where the Allowance bit comes in.Baggage allowance is the weight of baggage each air passenger is allowed to take for free.

Of course,you can pack beyond the limit,if only you're willing to pay extra charges.Each air carrier(airline) determines this allowance.

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Aviation Word Of The Day - Callsign

A callsign in aviation refers to a series of words and letters used to identify an aircraft,airline or station.It is a unique  designation or code used to enhance radio communication between the pilot and Air Traffic Control for instance.

Callsigns could be Alphanumeric-  that is a combination of alphabet and numerals or either of the two.

Callsigns are distinctive based on each airline's preference and are recognized internationally.Callsigns act the same way as the registration number of an aircraft.

Examples of airline callsigns are 

British Airways - Speedbird

China Airlines - Dynasty

Aero Benin - Aeroben

Atlantic Airlines - Blackjack,etc.

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Aviation Word Of The Day - Hub

Airline hubs are certain airports used as gateways to multiple destinations. It is usually a particular airport that an airline uses as a transfer point to get passengers to their intended destination. The hub becomes the airline's transfer point which in most cases, is the city where the airline is headquartered. That's how it works. All travellers going from point A to B would have to go through the airline's gateway which would now become A-B-C.In other words,from point A to C via point B(the hub). For instance,a passenger going to the United States on an Emirates flight will definately have to go through Dubai airport before finally connecting onwards to the destination airport in the United States.
 While there's no universal rule regarding the number of hubs an airline can have,some airlines have single connecting hubs,and others have multiple hubs. Examples of hubs include Frankfurt for Lufthansa Airline, Dubai for Emirates,London's Heathrow for British airways and the list is endless.
 Basically,each and every passenger would have to travel from his destination through the corresponding airline's hub before finally reaching his/her destination except the condition where the passenger's destination happens to be the hub. In this case,the passenger's journey ends at the hub. It only makes sense that someone travelling to Dubai with Emirates Airline stops there.This type of  flight is termed "direct flight" or "point to point".Examples are ACC - LOS, DXB-DEN, AMM - CAI,and so on.

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