Archives for 2019

The European carrier has a codeshare agreement with Air India, which allows one airline’s passenger to book a ticket on the other airline, using the first one’s ticketing system.

NEW DELHI: With Jet Airways shutting down in April, the Lufthansa airline group is planning to “strengthen” its partnership with Indian airlines like Vistara and Air India in 2020, the top Indian official of the largest European carrier said.

Moreover, apart from launching a Munich-Bengaluru flight service in April, the airline does not plan to start any other flight service in 2020, George Ettiyil, Senior Director, South Asia, Lufthansa Group, said.

Currently, the Lufthansa airline group has an interline agreement with Vistara, which allows a passenger to check-in his luggage at the first airport itself for the whole journey consisting of flights of both airlines.

“With Vistara, we are strengthening our relationship in the weeks to come. Jet Airways was one of our partners here in India and with them having left the scene, we are looking for Indian airlines to partner up with.

Asked if Lufthansa was planning to convert its interline agreement with Vistara to a codeshare agreement, he said, “We are trying to strengthen it. Let us see what the future holds in store. We have the desire to actually strengthen partnerships with other Indian airlines also. So, Vistara is an obvious choice.”

The European carrier has a codeshare agreement with Air India, which allows one airline’s passenger to book a ticket on the other airline, using the first one’s ticketing system. The Indian government is planning to sell Air India to a private player by March next year.

For 2020, the Lufthansa group “will be trying to strengthen our Indian partnerships” so that Indian carriers “can bring passengers from second and third-tier cities to our four gateways”, Ettiyil said. Two brands of the group — Lufthansa and Swiss — operate flight services to India. Swiss has daily non-stop flights connecting Zurich to Delhi and Mumbai.

Lufthansa operates daily non-stop flights connecting Frankfurt to Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru and Chennai, as also daily non-stop flights connecting Munich to Delhi and Mumbai. From April 1, 2020, Lufthansa will start a five-days-a-week flight service, connecting Munich and Bengaluru. “We currently do not have any immediate plans to grow in terms of adding flight capacity,” Ettiyil said.

“We have seen a continuous growth over the past four years of India’s share on our aircraft. We are trying to grow by allowing more Indian-origin passengers on our aircraft. We have no other plans of any other further flights for 2020,” he added.

Stating that the Bengaluru-Munich flight operations would be the airline’s focus next year, Ettiyil said, “Promising cities are always on the radar. Hyderabad is always something that is there. But one has to always look at profitability.”

The Lufthansa group currently operates only wide-body aircraft for its long-haul operations between India and Europe. However, till January, it had flight operations from Frankfurt to Pune using narrow-body planes. “It was a wet-lease agreement with an operator known as PrivatAir. They unfortunately went bankrupt and we could not find an alternative,” Ettiyil said.

A wet-lease agreement is a renting agreement, where one airline provides an aircraft, its crew, its maintenance crew etc. to another airline. The Frankfurt-Pune flight operations were conducted by PrivatAir for Lufthansa for 10 years.

Asked if Lufthansa was planning to restart the Frankfurt-Pune flight operations, Ettiyil replied in the negative. “We have tried for a year (to find an alternative). We have not been successful so far. We don’t have that kind of an aircraft. This aircraft (for the Frankfurt-Pune route) has to be a modified aircraft. It needs to have a bigger fuel tank, less cargo capacity. The economy class should be better than the domestic product,” he said.

Ettiyil added that the modified plane also needed to have an European AOC (air operator’s certificate), with safety standards that were regulated by the European Union (EU). Therefore, due to these specific requirements, the airline was unable to restart the Pune operations as yet, he said, adding, “If we find an alternative to PrivatAir, we will definitely restart it.”

” After PrivatAir went bankrupt in December last year, Lufthansa did conduct flight operations in the December-January period, using its own narrow-body A320 family aircraft, Ettiyil said, adding, “Passengers did not accept that.

Ettiyil said the runway is a challenge at the Pune airport and if the Indian Air Force is able to expand it after buying an additional piece of land, any wide-body aircraft will be able to land there. “Not just Lufthansa, but many airlines would be willing to operate to Pune then, if the air force allows,” he added.

The Lufthansa group continues to sponsor the annual Startup Expo, which is organised in collaboration with TiE (The Indus Entrepreneurs) in Delhi. Ettiyil said the group was open to establishing commercial partnerships with startups in future, if they were relevant to the airline ecosystem.

“Initially, it was pure sponsorship (of the Startup Expo). It was a marketing investment for us. But it grew. For example, Chaayos was a winner at one of our startup initiatives called ‘Runway to Success’. Chaayos’ masala tea is served on every Lufthansa flight that goes out of India,” he said.

Asked if the group was contemplating similar commercial partnerships like the one with Chaayos, Ettiyil said, “Startups that go into travel and mobility, we will definitely have a look at them. We will see if there is anything we can do together.”

Following the meeting with NCP chief, BJP MP Sanjay Kakade said that he ‘met Pawar for personal reasons’.

MUMBAI: Amid the high political drama in Maharashtra and threat of ‘poaching’ of MLAs, the NCP, Congress and Shiv Sena have shifted their legislators to different luxury hotels in Mumbai.

While the Congress moved its MLAs to the J W Marriott hotel in Juhu area, the NCP legislators were staying at The Renaissance hotel in Powai, sources said.

Besides, the Shiv Sena MLAs are staying at The Lalit hotel located near the international airport here, they said.

The Congress legislators were earlier supposed to leave for Jaipur, but later decided to stay in Mumbai in view of the fast-paced political developments here, they added.

On the other hand, BJP MP Sanjay Kakade met NCP Chief Sharad Pawar’s at his residence here on Sunday.

Following the meeting with NCP chief, Kakade said that he “met Pawar for personal reasons”.

The meeting between Kakade and NCP chief comes ahead of Supreme Court hearing on a joint plea of Shiv Sena, NCP and Congress against the decision of Maharashtra Governor inviting BJP’s Devendra Fadnavis to form the government.

Maharashtra government will not be represented by anyone in the Supreme Court today when the apex court will hear a joint plea of Shiv Sena, NCP and Congress against the decision of Maharashtra Governor to invite BJP’s Devendra Fadnavis to form the government in the state, said sources.

Sources informed that since Maharashtra government has not been given any notice by the Supreme Court it has decided not to have its representation in the court.

However, the Standing Counsel of the Maharashtra government has been asked to remain on ‘standby’ and adequately represent the government in case the court asks for or if needed.

Attorney General of India, KK Venugopal is likely to appear for the Raj Bhavan while senior counsel Mukul Rohatgi is likely to represent BJP in the Supreme Court.

The petitioners – Shiv Sena, NCP and Congress – have requested the Supreme Court to order a floor test to be held on Sunday itself. Senior Congress leader and advocate Kapil Sibal will appear in the court on behalf of the petitioners.

The matter will be heard at 11:30 am today.

After a prolonged uncertainty over the government formation that lasted for nearly a month, Devendra Fadnavis on Saturday morning took oath for the second consecutive term as the state Chief Minister, while Ajit Pawar took oath as deputy chief minister.

On the other hand, the Nationalist Congress Party late on Saturday moved 44 MLAs to Renaissance Hotel here on Saturday.

The BJP won 105 seats in the 288-member assembly followed by Shiv Sena 56, NCP 54 and Congress 44.

The secular campaigning was seen outside masjids too, where candidates of all three parties and their supporters were seen outside mosques, idgahs, and dargahs.

BENGALURU: Even while the ‘religious identity’ hangs heavily on the political landscape, many of the candidates contesting the bypolls have gone ahead and erased the divide and are canvassing at all places of religious worship.

While Congress MLA aspirant Rizwan Arshad visited temples in Shivajinagar, Tanvir Ahmed of the JDS was also not far behind. He was seen outside temples, on Friday.

The BJP candidate M Saravana was also found doing the same. This is not just one constituency, but the same could be seen across constituencies.

The secular campaigning was seen outside masjids too, where candidates of all three parties and their supporters were seen outside mosques, idgahs, and dargahs. They met people after the Friday afternoon prayers, handed out pamphlets, and made assurances of change. These were mostly BJP candidates, who
shifted from the Congress or the JDS.

Congress leader B K Hariprasad “During the election campaign, candidates and their supporters go everywhere seeking voters. These so-called lines that divide should not matter.’’      

BJP leader Go Madhusudhan said, “It is just drama. Neither the Hindus who are going to mosques nor the Muslims who are visiting temples are interested in the divine. They go there merely to please the voters.’’ He also said these are his personal views and not of the BJP.    

A Congress leader, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said the lifting of Article 370 and Ayodhya verdict did not impact the elections in Haryana and Maharashtra and is not being used for canvassing by the BJP here. “Our nation is essentially secular and local issues matter. Hence, everyone is concerned about local issues. How does it matter if someone goes to a temple or a mosque to connect with the voters?”

Political analyst Harish Bijoor said, “Secularism is an inherent part of our national fabric. Ultimately, the voter is supreme. How does it matter if we meet in a mosque or a temple?’’

The telecom companies owe the government Rs 92,642 crore in unpaid license fee and another Rs 55,054 crore in outstanding spectrum usage charge.

NEW DELHI: Vodafone Idea (VIL) and Bharti Airtel on Friday filed separate applications before the Supreme Court seeking a review of its October 24 verdict on adjusted gross revenue (AGR).

The apex court had ruled last month that AGR should include non-telecom receipts too and directed 16 telcos to pay pending licence fee dues worth Rs 92,640 crore to the Department of Telecom (DoT) within three months.

Among the reliefs sought by the companies in their review petitions is a prayer to waive off the penalties and interest on pending dues, sources say. Of the Rs 92,640 crore due, only Rs 23,189 crore is the
principal amount, while penalties and interest calculated over the duration of the 14-year long litigation comprise the rest. Airtel and VIL did not comment on the development.

Under the current taxation regime, telcos are mandated to pay the government licence fees (LF) and spectrum usage charges (SUC) calculated as a percentage of AGR. DoT estimates show telcos will need
to pay another Rs 55,055 crore toward pending SUC dues, bringing the total liability to over Rs 1.4 lakh crore.

Most of the telcos on the list are either defunct or non-operational, but the verdict had resulted in an immediate cash-flow crisis for Vodafone Idea and Bharti Airtel. While Bharti Airtel faces a total combined liability of Rs 35,586 crore towards LF and SUC dues, VIL is staring at a whopping Rs 53,038 crore cash outgo.

Providing for these liabilities (albeit partially) had seen both firms post their highest ever losses during the second quarter, with VIL’s Rs 50,922 crore net loss the largest recorded by an Indian company in history.

The two had consequently sought urgent relief from the government, red-flagging uncertainty over their ability to continue as going concerns.

The Union Cabinet reeled out a Rs 42,000-odd crore lifeline on Wednesday, approving the deferment of spectrum auction installments for financial year 2020-21 and 2021-22. But, the same day saw telecom
Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad reveal in Parliament that the Centre was not considering any relaxation in the AGR issue.

Analysts note that while the spectrum payments moratorium would relieve the financial burden on the companies partially, they were unlikely to offset the impact from the AGR bill. Especially in the
case of a struggling VIL.

“Even with the price hike in December, Vodafone Idea will need support,” Jefferies analysts said.