khairuddin abu hanifah

Kingfisher Airlines’ aircraft to be impounded By Cuckoo Paul | January 10, 2013 Kingfisher Airlines’ revival plans got tougher Thursday following an Indian Service Tax Dept. notice that it will impound all its aircraft, PTI news agency said. According to the notice, the aircraft cannot be flown outside the airports where they are already parked. The airline owes INR1.9 billion ($34.6 million) to the service tax department, of which about INR1.27 billion is under litigation. It has enlisted the help of Customs to lay claim over the aircraft. Earlier in the day, Kingfisher founder Vijay Mallya had re-ignited hope for some employees in an email saying the airline would restart flying this summer. “The limited restart plan, which we target for the beginning of the 2013 summer schedule, requires funding of approximately INR6.5 billion, which is committed to be provided by the UB Group and associates,” he said in the Jan. 10 email. Mallya’s latest communication to employees is the first since August. Employees have been discontent for more than a year as most have not been paid since June. Mallya made it clear that despite discussion with strategic and financial investors, no deal had be made yet. He said, “Investors need to be convinced about the long-term prospects of their proposed investment in Kingfisher and this takes time. Please rest assured that we are in discussion with multiple investors and remain confident that we will secure a deal.” He warned that the “aviation industry in India is a seriously complex one, including high costs resulting from excessive taxation and monopolies.” Kingfisher’s operating certificate expired Dec. 31 after management failed to come up with a firm revival plan. Meanwhile, the big airport companies at Mumbai and Delhi have started giving away Kingfisher’s slots to other carriers. The airline also owes money to the Airport Authority of India. Source: ATW

LIMA 2013 Opens Regional Business Opportunities KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 8 (Bernama) -- The Langkawi International Maritime and Aerospace Exhibition 2013 (LIMA 2013) scheduled for March 26 to 30 in Langkawi will be the best platform to open regional business opportunities, Defence Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said. He also expressed confidence that organising of LIMA would become the entry point for regional defence and commercial market in the future. "It is also the best opportunity for LIMA to uplift the status of organising the national event as ASEAN, and Asia in general, are the high growth area for the world's maritime and aerospace sector," he said after witnessing the presentation of mock cheques from sponsors of LIMA 2013 here Tuesday. Ahmad Zahid said this year's exhibition would also provide job opportunities and trainings in maritime and aerospace industry for the local people. "A career fair will also be held during LIMA 2013 to expose university students to job prospects in maritime and aerospace industry," he said. -- BERNAMA Source: http://aviation.bernama.com/news.php?id=920259&lang=en

HELSINKI, Jan 9 (Bernama) -- Finland's national carrier Finnair was the world's safest airline last year, according to the JACDEC Safety Index. Finnair tops the list with the least fatal accidents, followed by Air New Zealand, Cathay Pacific Airways, Emirates and Etihad, Xinhua news agency quoted a local media report. JACDEC, or Jet Airliner Crash Data Evaluation Centre, is a Hamburg-based information collector and analyser which incorporates thousands of entries of safety occurrences. It collects information of more than 800 airlines in 178 countries and regions. The Safety Index is a probabilistic measurement of past airline safety. It counted the fatalities per Revenue Passenger Terameter performed by airlines around the world. Finnair has been ranked one of the world's safest airlines for several times. Finnair's last fatal accident was in November 1963 when an OH-LCA flight crashed near Aland islands, killing 22 passengers and all crew members. -- BERNAMA Source: http://aviation.bernama.com/news.php?id=920297&lang=en

AirAsia's Share Up On Announcement Of Additional Frequencies KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 9 (Bernama) -- AirAsia Bhd's share price increased after the group announced the introduction of additional frequencies to six domestic destinations and one international route. As at 11.19 am, the budget carrier's share gained two sen to RM2.95 after fluctuating between RM2.93 and RM2.98, with 3.33 million shares traded. The group announced that the additional frequencies are from the Kuala Lumpur hub to Bangkok, Kota Kinabalu, Sibu, Kuching and Johor Baharu, while the Johor Baharu hub will see additional frequencies to Kuching, Sibu, Miri and Penang. There will also be added frequencies from Penang to Kota Kinabalu and Kuching as well as from Kota Kinabalu to Kuching. Hong Leong Investment Bank (HLIB), in a research note, said it expects Airasia to remain bullish on its expansion plan, with confirmed additional 100 A320s (plus options of 50 A320s and 50 A321s). -- BERNAMA Source: http://aviation.bernama.com/news.php?id=920322&lang=en

Bangladesh’s NovoAir is scheduled to launch domestic service Jan. 9 with two pre-owned Embraer ERJ-145s. They will be used on scheduled passenger flights on domestic routes between Dhaka and Chittagong, Cox’s Bazar, Jessore and Sylhet, according to NovoAir’s Facebook page. Embraer said the airline may expand its network to include select regional and international routes from the second year of operations. The carrier said it took delivery of its first ERJ-145 Nov. 30 and its second aircraft Dec. 6. The aircraft are powered by Rolls-Royce engines. Source: ATW

Embraer next-generation E-Jets to be powered by Pratt & Whitney GTF Embraer has confirmed re-engined, upgraded versions of its E-170 and E-190 family of regional jets will be exclusively powered by Pratt & Whitney geared turbofan engines. The Brazilian manufacturer has not yet officially launched the program for what it is calling its “future, second generation of E-Jets.” But in announcing the engine selection, which marked a big win for Pratt over GE Aviation, Embraer on Tuesday revealed some details of the revamped E-Jets set to enter service in 2018. Pratt said PW1700G and PW1900G models—the same family of engines powering Bombardier’s CSeries, among other programs—would be affixed to the upgraded E-Jets. The current generation of E-Jets is powered by GE CF34 engines. In addition to the new engines, the next-generation E-Jets will feature “new aerodynamically advanced wings, state-of-the-art full fly-by-wire flight controls and other systems evolutions,” Embraer said. The manufacturer is promising “double digit [percentage] improvements in fuel burn, maintenance costs, emissions and external noise” compared to E-Jets flying today. It added, “The second generation of E-Jets will be a significant step in Embraer´s commitment to continuously invest in this line of commercial jets … Embraer's objective is to offer the best product and maintain its leadership in the 70-120 seat market.” Source: ATW

In my opinion, price war will start immediately when Malindo Airways begin their operations. AirAsia is now taking full opportunities whatever available before the battle begins.

AirAsia Share Prices Up Despite Plan To End Penang-HK Flights KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 4 (Bernama) -- AirAsia Bhd's share price strengthened at the close today despite the group's plan to withdraw its daily flights from Penang to Hong Kong effective March 4, 2013. At 5pm, the airline's shares price increased four sen to settle at RM2.93 from yesterday's close of RM2.89, with 11,193,400 shares transacted. OSK Research analyst, Ahmad Maghfur Osman, said AirAsia would likely retain its existing routes. AirAsia flies to six international routes -- Singapore, Bangkok, Jakarta, Surabaya, Medan and Hong Kong from Penang with nearly 320 weekly flights both ways. "There will be no impact to AirAsia's operations as the route they withdraw is the loss-making one," he told Bernama. AirAsia's move to withdraw flights from Penang to Hong Kong was to realign its route planning for Penang Hub and due to commercial reasons. Its domestic routes are Kuala Lumpur, Langkawi, Johor Baharu, Kota Kinabalu and Kuching. -- BERNAMA Source: http://aviation.bernama.com/news.php?id=919498&lang=en

KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 2 (Bernama) -- Malaysian Airports Holdings Bhd's (MAHB) said passenger movements in November 2012 at airports operated by it grew 9.9 per cent over November last year. "International passengers increased by 13.1 per cent while the domestic movements increased by 7.1 per cent. "For the international sector Malaysia Airlines, AirAsia and the foreign airlines each as a group registered double-digit growth over November 2011," it said. For Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA), the increase for MAS and AirAsia was in the region of 16 per cent, while domestic movements momentum has also picked up from the 4 per cent average range to above 7 per cent in November 2012, it said. Aircraft movements registered 54,354 movements, an increase of 4.1 per cent compared with 52,231 for November last year, MAHB said, adding international movements increased by 11.4 per cent whilst the domestic sector was down marginally by 0.04 per cent. KLIA international movements increased by 13.7 per cent and the domestic sector grew by 5.2 per cent, but cargo movements continued to register another decline by 4.6 per cent from November 2011, it added. "It is expected that December will be another good month for passengers," it said. --BERNAMA Source: http://aviation.bernama.com/news.php?id=919023&lang=en

By Tengku Noor Shamsiah Tengku Abdullah SINGAPORE, Dec 28 (Bernama) -- Singapore Changi Airport will end 2012 with a new milestone in its history, registering more than 50 million passenger movements for the year. This traffic record is reached just two years after Changi Airport crossed the 40-million milestone in 2010. To commemorate this significant occasion, Changi Airport Group (CAG) today held a celebratory event, in partnership with Indonesia's national carrier Garuda Indonesia, to welcome the arrival of Flight GA824 from Jakarta to Singapore, the second busiest international air route in the world. GA824 touched down at Changi Airport at 1018 hours to a water canon salute and lively fanfare. Five lucky passengers were selected to take part in an exciting game show at Changi Airport's Departure Transit area. One of them, Prayanto Inkarani, a 24-year-old lawyer from Jakarta, walked away with the top prize of S$50,000 worth of shopping vouchers and retail products from Changi Airport, as well as a pair of Singapore-Jakarta Executive Class air tickets sponsored by Garuda Indonesia. The other four passengers each received S$1,000 in Changi Dollar Vouchers. Changi Airport handled 46.3 million passengers from January to November 2012. This 11-month figure is already close to the 46.5 million passenger movements achieved for the whole of 2011. Robust double-digit growth in travel to and from Northeast Asia and South Asia contributed to the increase in passenger traffic since the start of the year. Traditionally strong markets such as Southeast Asia, Southwest Pacific and Europe also continued to grow healthily, accentuating Changi's status as a major air hub in the Asia-Pacific region. Lee Seow Hiang, CAG's Chief Executive Officer, said: "Despite a sluggish global economy and an uncertain outlook for air travel, Changi Airport has risen against the challenges to deliver another record-breaking year in 2012. "This is the outcome of our strong partnerships with airlines like Garuda and concerted proactive efforts with them to grow air links and increase flight frequencies." In terms of passenger traffic, Indonesia remains Changi Airport's top country market, accounting for 13.4 per cent of total traffic handled at Changi from January to November 2012. During this period some 6.2 million passenger movements to and from Indonesia were registered, representing a healthy 8.6 per cent growth for the market on a year-on-year basis. There is strong connectivity between Indonesia and Singapore, with a wide network of air links to 16 Indonesian cities via 1,000 weekly flights operated by 16 airlines. Two other Singapore routes - to Kuala Lumpur and Bangkok - are also among the world's five busiest international routes based on seat capacity. -- BERNAMA Source: http://aviation.bernama.com/news.php?id=918186&lang=en Note: Sorry for the late posting but I think this article is good for our aviator’s acknowledgement.

January 3, 2013. Indonesian carrier Sky Aviation has taken delivery of its first Sukhoi Superjet 100 (SSJ100). The aircraft will begin commercial operations by the end of the month. The delivery—the first of 12 it has on order—comes less than a year after an SSJ100 crashed into an Indonesian mountainside during a demonstration flight in May. The accident, which has been attributed to human error, killed 45 people including several Sky Aviation representatives. Indonesia’s authorities granted the aircraft type certification in November. “Earlier Indonesian aviation authorities validated the Type Certificate for the Sukhoi Superjet 100 aircraft,” Sukhoi said in a statement. “This validation confirms compliance of the SSJ100 to the certification requirements of the Indonesian Aviation Authority, allowing its export to Indonesia and operation by Indonesian airlines without restrictions.” Sky Aviation was established in 2010. It operates charter and scheduled services from its base at Jakarta’s Halim Perdanakusuma International Airport. Source: http://atwonline.com/aircraft-engines-components/news/indonesia-s-sky-aviation-takes-delivery-first-ssj100-0102?NL=ATW-04&YM_RID