Air Travel in India may get Heavy on Pocket

Air Travel in India may get Heavy on Pocket
The Times of India

Bangalore, Aug 19: Air Deccan’s Bangalore-Hubli route, which witnessed the low-cost carrier’s inaugural flight four years ago, is proposed to be terminated. Reason: Kingfisher Airlines has proven to be more profitable on this sector, and is seen as a better bet on the route.

In other words, what many customers feared is beginning to happen. The recent marriages between low-cost and full-fare airlines — Kingfisher-Air Deccan and Jet-Sahara — are leading to some serious rescheduling of flights to improve the profitability of the airlines. For customers, it implies the withdrawal of low-cost options that they have enjoyed for some years.

“A team from both sides (Air Deccan and Kingfisher) are looking at how best we can service various routes profitably, by drawing on each other’s strengths,” says Capt G R Gopinath, executive chairman of Deccan Aviation.

Garry Kingshott, acting CEO of JetLite (formerly Air Sahara and now a low-cost airline), says the new schedule for JetLite, which will come into effect from September 1, “has been developed with Jet Airways to ensure that there is no cannibalisation”.

Intense competition has led to most airlines bleeding, and rationalisation looks inevitable. The routes likely to be hit the most are the high-traffic ones between New Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore. These three cities alone account for 60% of the country’s passenger traffic, with over 80% of the traffic being corporate travellers.

“When you are catering to a business market, frequency of a full-service carrier plays an important role in staying competitive,” says Kapil Kaul, CEO of Centre for Asia-Pacific Aviation (CAPA) India.

According to sources, Jet and Kingfisher will increase frequencies on these routes during peak hours (morning and evening), even as JetLite and Air Deccan reduce their frequencies during these hours. However, the latter frequencies during lean hours may increase.

Just a few months ago, Air Deccan was planning to make itself more attractive to business travellers. But at least on high-density business travel routes, Deccan is unlikely to take the idea forward. High-traffic routes are witnessing near 30% rates of growth, fuelled by corporate travel and small enterprise business travellers.

Says Gaurang Shetty, VP (marketing) of Jet Airways, “We would like to introduce flights every half hour between Mumbai and New Delhi as that is the densest route in the country.”

Low-cost airlines are expected to focus more on tier II towns, where demand for lowcost travel is seen to be rising by 25%. JetLite, in its new schedule, has increased its number of flights from 90 to 134, but 60% of the increase is into tier II cities.

Air Deccan has recently increased frequency on its Chennai-Coimbatore and Chennai-Madurai sectors. These sectors that were earlier serviced by ATR aircraft, have now been upgraded to one ATR, and one Airbus A320 aircraft for each sector.

STRATEGY RETHINK

Intense competition has led to severe bleeding by airlines, and rescheduling looks inevitable

The Bangalore, New Delhi and Mumbai sectors are likely to be hit most as they constitute 60% of all airline business

Jet and Kingfisher may increase frequencies on these routes during peak hours (morning and evening), even as JetLite and Air Deccan reduce their frequencies during these hours. However, the latter’s frequencies during lean hours may increase

Jet Air says it will introduce flights between Mumbai and New Delhi every half-an-hour.

Digital work in Central library initiated

Digital work in Central library initiated
New Kerala.com & UNI

HUBLI, Aug 18: Karnataka Primary and Secondary Education Minister Basavaraj Horatti today inaugurated the process for renovation of central library into a digital library at a cost of Rs.2.5 crore and hoped that it would be a model digital library in the state.

Speaking at the function he said such libraries were limited to only Bangalore and Mysore, but now Hubli-Dharwad would also have a model library that would help people, children and students.

Revenue minister Jagadish Shettar who presided over the function expressed happiness over the renovation of the library into a digital library and sought people cooperation in maintaining and utilizing the library.

NRI’s query under RTI Act gets response

NRI’s query under RTI Act gets response
The Newindpress.com

Friday August 17 2007 11:48 IST
HUBLI: Going by the facts revealed under the Right to Information Act by an official of the State Industries and Commerce Department, the proposed IT/ITeS Special Economic Zone (SEZ) at Hubli by Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) seems like a non-starter.

The company itself has shown lukewarm response and even the Central Government has stopped granting in-principle approval for IT SEZ projects.

The State Government had cleared the proposal of TCS to establish an IT/ITeS SEZ on 50 acres in Hubli-Dharwad with an investment of Rs 120 crore. The project was cleared at the State High Level Committee meeting held on Aug 28, 2006. Responding to an application filed by Nagesh Taverageri, an NRI from Hubli living in California, under the Right to Information Act seeking information on the status of the SEZ project granted to IT bellwether TCS, the Deputy Director (SEZ) has said that the company has to acquire the land to be allotted by Hubli-Dharwad Municipal Corporation and Karnataka Industrial Area Development Board participating in the auction.

So far, the company has not informed the progress of land acquisition to the State Government. And till now, the company has not filed the SEZ Form A application with the Union Ministry of Commerce as the proposed land is not in possession of the company. ‘‘Submitting of SEZ Form A is prerequisite for the formal approval of IT SEZ,’’ the office said in a reply.

On the information sought on expediting the process, the reply is ‘the ball is in the TCS court.’ The officer said: ‘‘If the company takes possession of the land and submits the SEZ Form A application with Government of India, the State will recommend the proposal to the Centre for granting formal approval.’’

JSW fuels BPO revolution in Bellary

JSW fuels BPO revolution in Bellary
Source : Moneycontrol.com

2007-08-17 12:51:53
Celebrating the 60th year of Indian Independence, Honorable Home Minister of Karnataka Shri M. P. Prakash inaugurated JSW’s new 100 seater BPO at Bellary. Capable of employing over 300 young graduates the BPO will be run under the aegis of JSoft Solutions Ltd, the newly formed software arm of the JSW Group. The JSoft Solutions venture is part of an ambitious youth empowerment initiative started by Mrs. Sangita Jindal, Chairperson of JSW Foundation.

Aimed at providing localised employment and to empowering the youth, JSoft Solutions, has planed to set up such centers in other cities of Karnataka like Hospet, Hubli and Raichur.

A 300-seater BPO, with a capacity to employ 900 people, is slated to start operations by January 2008 near Toranagallu, where JSW Steel Limited is located. Initially the center will cater to non-voice processes, which will later be upgraded to a full fledged voice BPO.

Speaking on this occasion, Mr. Sajjan Jindal, Vice Chairman and Managing Director of JSW Steel Ltd, said, “On the auspicious occasion of our 60th year of Independence it gives me great pride to initiate this youth empowerment project to generate localized employment. I would like to assure all Kannadigas of employment in even the tier-III cities and district talukas. Preferential employment for the Indian Girl child in these JSoft centers is another priority area for us.”

The Hon’ble Minister announced plans for setting up an Earth Station at Bellary to give a quantum boost to the IT Industry and make it a technical hub.

Later in the day, the Bellary Chamber of Commerce & Industry felicitated Mr. Sajjan Jindal & Mrs. Sangita Jindal for their sterling contribution to the fields of Industry and Corporate Social Responsibility.

Mr. Jindal also announced future plans to scale up the Bellary BPO into a 1000-seater operation with due support from the Bellary Chamber of Commerce & industry. This would open up new avenues of employment to the youth who were forced to migrate into the cities, Mr. Jindal added.

The Rural BPO revolution was started with the launch of Datahalli at Vidyanagar under the aegis of the JSW Foundation. It has provided job opportunities to numerous rural women above eighteen years of age. The BPO at Bellary has already hired 100 men & women.