Dawn Of Aeronautics: LOWCOST AIRLINES NOT SUITABLE FOR INDIA

Wednesday, January 14, 2009

LOWCOST AIRLINES NOT SUITABLE FOR INDIA

India is not a suitable country for low-cost airline operations as it not only lacks infrastructure like low-cost secondary airports but also the cost of their staff is at par with full service carriers (FSC), a study has claimed.

Also, the LFCs have to face tough competition from Indian Railways and road transport for destinations of shorter durations.

"India has very few secondary airports from which the low fare carriers (LFCs) could operate. Of the 127 airports with the Airports Authority of India, only 80 are operational," aerospace expert Harmoz P Mama claimed in a study 'Civil Aviation in India: Challenges and Prospects'.

Highlighting the poor airline coverage of smaller airports of the country, he said, "The top five airports in India handle about 70% of all domestic passenger traffic in India, which indicates poor airline coverage of most of the other airports."
Beyond these are primarily small, crumbling airstrips with huts masquerading as terminal building which are totally unsuitable for airline operations, he claimed.

The low fare airlines in order to save their staff -- particularly the pilots and engineers -- from being poached have to pay salaries on a par with those of FSCs, he said. Apart from it, low-cost airlines also have to bear the brunt of the high price of Air Turbine Fue(ATF), which actually is a high percentage of their total costs.

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SPAINAIR FLIGHT CRASH-CAUSE AND DETAILED REPORTS

SEE THIS LINK FOR THE VIDEO….

http://www.guardian.co.uk

/world/2008/aug/20/madrid.spain2

A new video of this week's Spanair plane crash showed that fire did not start in either of the plane's engines, as had been suggested earlier.

The video, taken by AENA, which runs Spain's airports, shows flight JK5022 take off and begin to climb before it crashes and bursts into flames.

The footage sheds new light on the possible cause of the crash in which 153 people died at Madrid's Barajas airport.

Manuel Bautista, the bdirector general of the Spanish Civil Aviation Authority, said the McDonnell Douglas MD-82 aircraft had suffered more than one fault. "The motor is not the cause of the accident," he said.

One of the investigators, Emilio Valerio, told the Cadena Ser radio station that the video would be used to establish the cause of the tragedy.

Valerio said he hoped the cause would be discovered "within a month", for the sake of the families of those who lost their lives.

Investigators are speaking to witnesses and airport staff and analysing the plane's two black box flight recorders.

It has also emerged that the Spanish pilots' union Sepla of sent a series of letters and emails to Spanair's senior management warning of safety worries over a year before the crash.

In one letter, Sepla wrote to the airline's managing director, Marcus Hedblom, and his predecessor, Lars Nygaard, warning: "The operative chaos is putting passengers at risk."

The letter, dated April 2007, said: "It's our obligation to inform you of the elevated unease which exits between ourselves for the daily running [of the company] for the past month."

It alluded to a lack of resources, the quality of ground crew, the fact that aircraft were grounded because there were not authorised to fly and the scarcity of flight crews. In another letter, pilots complained "unfortunately all this indicates this will end in chaos".

In January, Sepla complained that the company had not replaced its aging McDonnell Douglas fleet with Airbus A-320 planes and a month later, the pilots union warned that the airline's focus on punctuality was compromising safety and security. The letters, reported by the Spanish daily El Mundo, also disclose concerns about baggage checks.

Spanair was considering its response.

Meanwhile, a couple who met in London were among those who lost their lives in the tragedy.

Brazilian Ronaldo Gomes Silva, 25, and Spaniard Ianina Celisdoizoyki met when they were living and working in the city. The couple married in Brazil last month and were making a visit to the Canary Islands to stay with Celisdoizoyki's family before returning to London.

Silva arrived in London in 2004. His sister Rosana told local media in Brazil that on his recent trip he had talked about his plans to return to Britain following his marriage and become a "European".

Only 19 passengers survived Wednesday's crash at Barajas airport, five of whom are said to be in a critical condition.

A memorial service for the victims is due to be held in Madrid's Almudena cathedral on 1 September. The first funeral was due to take place today in the Canary Islands.