DGCA may double 6-month notice period for pilots

NEW DELHI: A bitter fight has broken out among Indian carriers over the issue of 'old' airlines trying to retain their prized pilots and 'new' airlines aiming to poach them for their expanding fleets. Things have come to such a pass that the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) is reviewing its over a decade-old rule of having six months' notice period for pilots. The old and established airlines have sought doubling of pilots' notice period to a year.

The DGCA has now sought individual views of all airlines. Highly placed sources say established airlines like Air India and IndiGo are in favour of one-year notice period, while 'new' airlines from the Tata Group like Vistara are against raising the notice period. Even some old airlines which are now going to expand their fleet are against the proposal for a year's notice period.

"There is differed opinion among airlines on this issue. Unfortunately nobody looks at this issue on the basis of legality. A final call will be taken after due dilligence by current DG B S Bhullar. His predecessors were not in favour of extending the notice period," said a highly placed source.

Vistara appoints new Chief Information Officer

Vistara, India’s fastest-growing full service airline, announced the appointment of Mr. Ravinder Pal Singh as its Chief Information Officer.

Ravinder Pal Singh (Ravi), in his new role, will lead Vistara’s IT and Innovation functions. He will consolidate, identify, acquire, evaluate and incubate the right technology to support the airline’s IT and digital platforms. He will also be responsible to induce innovation as core to Vistara’s culture thereby creating communities and co-creation projects to realize ideas as true business differentiators.

Ravi has been instrumental in establishing various IT organizations and creating their future technology avatars. He brings in profound global experience, with expertise in IT-based strategic planning and execution in almost 5 continents. His background includes leadership positions in top global technology and management consulting firms, where he focused on driving their Fortune500 customers and government institutions towards transformation. For his contribution in the field of information and technology, Ravi has received many accolades such as CIO 100 Winner 2015, Digital Transformational Leader 2015, 2015 Cloud Computing Innovation Award, India and CeBIT Digital Transformational Leadership Award 2015. He was also recognized as one of the most dynamic CIOs who leveraged the word transformation in all forms.

Prior to joining Vistara, Ravi served as the Global Chief Information and Technology Officer at one of India’s leading providers of aviation maintenance repair and overhaul, Air Works. Previously, he has been associated with corporates such as Microsoft, Accenture and Wipro, and is a holder of several technology patents.

“I am excited to be a part of Vistara, a company that is the amalgamation of two iconic brands, TATA and Singapore airlines and is at the forefront in the product & service innovation space. I am looking forward to transforming its IT platforms and making it a technology disruptor in this sector. This will help in accelerating the business growth and reveal the hidden potential in the organisation,” said Ravinder Pal Singh.

Welcoming Ravi on board, Phee Teik Yeoh, CEO, Vistara said:

“I am happy to welcome Ravi to the Vistara family. Ravi is a seasoned technology expert and we are keen to leverage his extensive technology leadership experience to enhance the level of operational excellence at Vistara and delivering greater value to our customers.”

‘Gulf carriers rule Indian aviation’

NEW DELHI: India does not have 'genuine' low-cost carriers(LCC) as there are no budget terminals in the country. Low fares advertised by LCCs are mainly 90-day advance fares and very few can actually plan their trips so far in advance, Tata-Singapore Airlines JV Vistara chairman Prasad Menon told TOI in a freewheeling interview. The Tata Group insider sounded a word of caution that Gulf airlines are ruling Indian aviationand that the government must make it easier for new airlines to fly abroad to counter their dominant role here. Excerpts:

With very little fare variation, what is the difference between full service carriers like Vistara and LCCs in India?

India should open up aviation market: Vistara

LUCKNOW: Awaiting change in regulatory norms, Tata Sons and Singapore Airline joint venture Vistara on Monday said that it is hoping a change in rules which will enable newer carriers to operate international flights out of India.

Calling it the opening of the Indian aviation market, Vistara CEO Phee Teik Yeoh, in an exclusive chat with TOI on Monday said that a change in regulations will help the Indian aviation industry and will enable more players to explore the vast market. "With such vibrant destinations and landscape, this is the opportunity for India. Delay of every single day is hurting the country and steps should be taken to change the old rules which hamper growth of the aviation industry. We are looking at an open market and once the rules change, we will surely incline ourselves to operate state-of-the-art international services," said Yeoh, while inaugurating the carrier's first flight from Lucknow to New Delhi on Monday.

AIRASIA INDIA FOLLOWS VISTARA's FOOTSTEPS, WILL ADD FLIGHTS FROM DELHI

AirAsia is exploring flights to Imphal, Kolkata, Lucknow, Raipur and Pune from its soon-to-be-launched Delhi hub.

The airline will begin operations from Delhi on May 21 with flights to Bengaluru, Goa and Guwahati. “Initially, the airline will have two aircraft in Delhi and will gradually scale up over the next few months,” said an aviation source.


AirAsia India —- a joint venture between Malaysian low-cost airline AirAsia, Tata Sons and Telestra Tradeplace — began operations from Bengaluru last June. At present, it has five Airbus A320 planes, of which it utilises three. AirAsia has a market share of one per cent.

AirAsia’s entry to Delhi comes on the heels of Vistara’s expansion. Last week, Vistara had announced it would launch flights from Delhi to Lucknow and Bengaluru, and to connect Bengaluru-Mumbai. Vistara operates 197 weekly flights and the number will go up as it commences the new services.

AirAsia India did not respond to an email query on the topic. In a statement last week, the airline’s Chief Executive Officer Mittu Chandilya had said: “Our entry into the Delhi market is a sign of confidence in our business model and in our performance that we can come into a highly saturated market and help expand the market by providing connectivity to the undeserved. The new sectors will allow more people to experience air travel in India. We will continue to build our network throughout India through both our northern and southern hubs.”

The current regulations, which are set to be revised, require airlines to deploy one per cent capacity on routes within remote areas.

“Unfortunately, the southern portion of India – where AirAsia India is (now) based - has no such routes,” said aviation blog The Flying Engineer.

- BS

VISTARA HAD A SLOW START BUT CHALLENGES ARE BEHIND US NOW: PHEE TEIK YEOH

Tata-Singapore Airlines joint venture Vistara hasn’t had a dream run in its first 100 days in skies. Vistara chief executive Phee Teik Yeoh tells Somesh Jha the worst is behind them, enlisting the challenges the airlines faced in its initial days. Yeoh says the passengers in India have an “entrenched behavior”, as they book tickets pretty late unlike travellers abroad and the airline needs to adjust to this. He also explains the reason for a low passenger load factor, plans to fly abroad and how the airline will not, still, trigger a fare war. Excerpts:

How has been your journey in the first 100 days of operations?

Before we had launched, the expectations were sky-high, simply because we were born out of two global iconic brands known for their hospitality and service. Almost everyone expects us to deliver services and products no less than what Singapore Airlines and Tata give. In the last 100 days, we are pleased to see the positive reception to our product and services. We are glad to say we have delivered on our brand promise, which is that of bringing joy back to flying. We have put customer foremost in our mind in the way we design and deliver product. We are on right track.

How different is Indian market from its international peers?

VISTARA SELECTS BAE's IN-FLIGHT ENTERTAINMENT SYSTEM

Indian passenger carrier Vistara Tuesday said that it has selected avionics major BAE Systems' in-flight entertainment (IFE) system to provide preloaded content to its passengers across all three cabin classes in its fleet of Airbus A-320 aircraft.

According to the airline, the BAE Systems' 'IntelliCabin' IFE system provides wireless streaming of preloaded content to customer's personal electronic devices (PEDs).

The airline said that it will also provide a Samsung Galaxy Tab S tablets for its business class customers for using the IFE system.

The company added that its entire fleet will incorporate this system, which is expected to go live in another six months.

- ET

VISTARA LIKELY TO RECEIVE FLYING PERMIT BY NOVEMBER END

Vistara — the joint venture of Tata Sons and Singapore Airlines — may be able to take to skies by the end of this year, as it expects to receive its air operators’ permit from the Directorate-General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) by the end of next month.

Sources in DGCA said the airline had only recently imported two aircraft into the country and unveiled the livery on the first. Vistara is now in the process of readying itself for base audits and to conduct proving flights as required by the regulator before it can secure its permit.

A senior DGCA officer said: “There are few processes which remain to be completed. The airline has to conduct proving flights and demonstrate its preparedness to start commercial operations. If they are able to meet all requirements, we may be able to issue them a permit by the end of November.”