Business Aviation

Mihin Air a viable venture

Mihin Lanka should consolidate on their present frequencies before venturing out to other destinations said Managing Director Gabo Holidays, Ms. Savi Peiris.

She said that Gabo Holidays have been using Mihin Lanka to offer packages and it had been very successful. “The Bothgaya flight is a much sought out flight and it is very difficult to get a seat at the last moment,” she said.

She said that they use Mihin Lanka for the Buddhist Pilgrimages to India destinations. “In addition we also use the airline to offer packages to both Singapore and Thailand,” she said.

One key advantage the airline enjoys is the fare advantage it has over the other airlines flying to the same destinations, and to some destinations it is over 40 percent less. “This has given an opportunity for the less affluent people to go abroad,” she said.

The airline also caters to local migrant workers who are presently forced to spend heavily for their passage, has floated the airline. The government wants to offer them a better deal and save money for them.

She said it’s always advisable to have a low cost carrier such as Mihin Lanka in Sri Lanka. “They should concentrate more on the present destinations and try to market them more aggressively before looking at other destinations,” she said.

Peiris said that Gabo Holidays would be also celebrating 30 years this year.

Mihin Lanka now flies to seven destinations, Dubai, Trichy, Trivandrum, Bodhgaya, Bangkok, Maldives and Singapore.

India, Pak to increase flights, add new destinations

Aiming to facilitate people-to- people contact and bilateral business and trade activities, India and Pakistan decided to more than double the number of weekly flights between them and add a new destination for designated airlines in each other’s territory.

The two countries signed a memorandum of understanding to increase the number of flights from 12 to 28 per week for each side, at the end of two-day talks between their civil aviation officials here.

They also agreed to add a new destination to the two destinations currently available to designated airlines in each other’s territory.

Chennai will be added for Pakistan’s designated airlines and Islamabad for the designated airlines of India.

This will facilitate direct air connectivity between the capitals of the two countries, said a joint statement issued at the end of the talks.

The two sides agreed to designate three airlines each to operate the “agreed services on the specified routes”.

Currently, only one airline each operates between India and Pakistan.

“Both sides expressed satisfaction that the new arrangement would further the objective of facilitating people-to-people contact, business and trade activities between the two countries,” the statement said.

Sri Lanka also has a open sky agreement with India which opened door for private airlines such as Jet, Air Sahara and Air India Express to fly to Sri Lanka. PTI

Emirates tables its Cape Town plans

Emirates is set to hit Cape Town as the Dubai-based airline thrusts itself into a series of awareness-building events ahead of the launch of its services to the city; it’s second in the Republic of South Africa.

On 30th March, Emirates will begin operating daily flights between Cape Town International Airport, Africa’s third-busiest airport, and the ultra-modern Dubai International Airport.

A senior Emirates delegation led by Emirates’ Executive Vice President, Commercial Operations Worldwide, Ghaith Al Ghaith is currently in Cape Town to introduce the airline’s award-winning product and service to media and over 1,000 travel and cargo agents. The road show features a multi-media presentation about Dubai and Emirates as well as a viewing gallery.

The Emirates’ road show comes hot on the heels of the Emirates-sponsored

Africa open golf tournament, underlying the airline’s increasing South African focus.

Al Ghaith noted: “Cape Town is one of the world’s most beautiful cities and is a regular feature in the holiday calendars of Middle Eastern and European tourists.

The city’s natural setting, world-famous landmarks, diverse entertainment facilities, and strong tourism infrastructure have enhanced its popularity, particularly among UAE holidaymakers, resulting in a 4 per cent increase in arrivals in 2006.” “Business tourism too is a vital growth sector, often contributing more foreign spend per tourist than leisure tourism.

Leveraging our strong network of operations in Europe, Middle East and Australasia, Emirates will support the South African government’s efforts in boosting business and tourism inflows into the country.”

He added: “We have already started promoting Cape Town through our offices in 62 countries in the Middle East, Europe, the Americas, and Asia Pacific. These efforts complement Emirates Holidays’ existing initiatives to promote Cape Town through its ‘World of Choice’ brochure.”

Airport privatisation and environment:

Two leadership challenges for Japan

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) delivered two leadership challenges to Japan: (1) to make the privatisation of Japan’s airports an example of global best practice and (2) to champion efforts towards a zero carbon emission industry at the upcoming G-8 Summit to be held in Japan.

IATA’s Director General and CEO Giovanni Bisignani raised the challenges in a keynote speech hosted by the international business community in Japan.

Airport privatisation

Amid the debate in Japan on caps for foreign ownership of Japan’s privatised airport assets, Bisignani said, “I don’t care who owns the airport. That is for politicians to decide. For the economy, an airport is important for what it delivers.”

Bisignani noted that airport performance is measured in three key areas. “Airports must deliver adequate capacity to ensure that markets are well served. They must ensure service levels that meet customer expectations. And they must do that at prices that reflect efficiency. It is not rocket science. It is just good business,” Bisignani said

“Providing the right incentives is the most critical part of the privatisation process. We have seen too many privatisations fail because governments sold the crown jewels without appropriate guidance and incentives for the new owners.

Effective and transparent economic regulation is in the interest of everybody, including the potential new owners.

They will want to clearly understand what they are buying and what the expectations are. I look forward to working with the MLIT and the airports to ensure that the world’s largest airport privatisation to date will also be the most successful,” Bisignani said.

Environment Aviation is 2 per cent of global carbon emissions. IATA has aligned the industry with a four pillar strategy to address climate change: (1) invest in new technology, (2) fly planes effectively, (3) build and operate efficient infrastructure and (4) call for positive economic incentives to encourage improved fuel efficiency and a reduction in CO2 emissions.

This strategy, along with a target to improve fuel efficiency 25 per cent by 2020, was endorsed by the States of the International Civil Aviation Organisation at their Assembly in September 2007.

“Now it is time for results,” Bisignani said. “Japan’s plans to implement performance based navigation systems at its top 20 airports by 2012 will reduce fuel burn by 2 per cent and save 162,000 tonnes of CO2 annually. This is a great example of our strategy at work.”

In June 2007, IATA put forward a vision for air transport to achieve carbon neutral growth, leading to a zero carbon emission industry.

“As the host of this year’s G-8 Summit, Japan must take a leadership role in the climate change debate. I encourage the Japanese government to push the G-8 leaders to aim high and build the political will to achieve a zero emission industry.

We went from the Wright Brothers to the jet age in 50 years. If government and industry are aligned, I am convinced that together we can turn dreams into reality,” Bisignani said.

Airbus sees potential in China

Airbus has begun to get orders from customers based in the Chinese mainland and are expecting more in this year, a senior member of the aviation giant’s management said Wednesday.

“China has been leading the world in economic growth in recent years and this economic growth is driving growth in air travels,” said Marketing Director of Airbus’ Executive and Private Aviation Department David Velupillai.

Velupillai said that Airbus was expecting China’s mainland, Hong Kong and Macao to contribute 15 of the 75 orders it may be getting from the Asia Pacific region. The potential economic downturn might affect Airbus’ performance in the United States but not its sales globally, as emerging markets were growing, he said.

Head of Airbus’ Executive and Private Aviation team Francois Chazelle acknowledged it was receiving orders from the Chinese mainland, which he said was a sign that the potential of the growing economy in private aviation was being unleashed.

He declined, however, to predict the number of orders Airbus was hoping to get from China’s mainland, saying that it was hard to break down the orders because some of the orders by the customers from the Chinese mainland were placed via Hong Kong- based agents.

An Asian customer, whose name the company declined to disclose, has placed a firm order for the VIP-configured Airbus A350, the newest member of its VIP widebodies series, which include the A330/340/350 family and the double-decker A380.

It was the second order for the extra widebody corporate jetliner. The first firm order for the jetliner was placed by a Hong Kong-based billionaire last year.

Velupillai said Airbus had been in talks for several orders for the private and business version of the superjumbo A380, which saw its first order last year from Prince Alwaleed bin Talal Abdulaziz, a member of the Saudi royal family. (Xinhua)