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Gulf Times Thursday, January 30, 2014

COMMENT
Chairman: Abdullah bin Khalifa al-Attiyah Editor-in-Chief : Darwish S Ahmed Production Editor: C P Ravindran

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GULF TIMES Concerns over safety rationale of F1 rules changes

The season has not even begun yet, but questions are already being raised over the safety aspects of the radical rule changes that have been introduced in Formula One from this season. On Tuesday, on the rst day of pre-season testing at the traditional Jerez race track in southern Spain, Lewis Hamilton crashed his new-look Mercedes after just 18 laps, while Red Bull, the dominant team in recent seasons, could manage just three laps for the day, as most of the teams grappled to cope with radical changes to the regulations. And to top it all, the sports preeminent designer revealed his misgivings about the safety of the 2014 cars. Its too early to jump to conclusions, but if one goes by the observations of Adrian Newey, Red Bulls technical director and one of the most respected designers in Formula One, there remains a question mark over the safety features of the 2014 cars. And its mainly concerning the nose job of the new cars. The new low nose is Newey feels the the most conspicuous feature of this years changes may radical technological have introduced changes, with most of the cars introduced in more dangers recent days sporting than it has sloping noses, making cured them look a little like anteaters. Part of the rationale behind the change was to reduce the possibility of cars being launched into the air after contact, as it happened when Mark Webbers Red Bull hit Heikki Kovalainens Caterham during the 2010 European Grand Prix. However, Newey feels lowering of the noses may introduce other risks. Personally I am concerned that the opposite may now happen, that cars submarine, effectively, so if you hit the back of the following car square-on you go underneath it and you end up with a rear crash structure in your face which is a much worse scenario, Newey was quoted as saying yesterday. Red Bulls four-times world champion Sebastian Vettel, however, feels its too early to predict anything. First of all, there is always a risk when you step into the car and you cannot manage what you do, unless you dont run. The nose rule was introduced to stop cars from lifting off behind another car. Hopefully we will not have a situation like that, Vettel said. The 2014 cars come with a whole raft of changes, the most important of which is the power unit, in which the old V8 has been dropped in favour of a new 1.6-litre turbo-charged V6. But this, in turn, has resulted in new aero regulations. Newey feels the changes may have introduced more dangers than it has cured .

Mumbais long-awaited Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airports new Terminal 2 opens next month to passenger flights, including capability of handling twin-deck Airbus A380 operations.

Indian aviation set for jumbo changes

India has about 150mn air travellers over two-thirds being domestic passing through its airports each year with forecasts suggesting the gure could triple to 450mn by 2020
prole collapse with the demise of Kingsher Airlines run by a billionaire liquor tycoon. Recent years have seen headlines of fuel price hikes crippling Indian start-ups and full-service carriers alike, compounded by crowded skies that questioned the level of on-time performance of aircraft landing and taking off which inevitably caused costly delays. But there seems to be some optimism in a market ghting the numbers game thanks to infrastructure improvements at airports and air traffic management systems. This has led to some interesting developments that will see 2014 as a watershed year for Indias aviation industry. Earlier this week, India lifted a ban on international airlines operating the worlds largest passenger aircraft to the country. The ban was originally placed amid concerns the Airbus A380, agship long-haul plane of some of the worlds leading airlines, will hurt an already struggling Air India. India has long resisted A380 landings until now. Clearance of the A380s paves the way for India lovers Emirates, Singapore Airlines, Lufthansa and British Airways to pump more capacity from their respective hubs of Dubai, Singapore, Frankfurt and London Heathrow into a country they have been serving between them for more than 50 years. The A380s were built with two things in mind: to serve high-density routes in slot-constrained airports. In other words, y passengers on popular routes to airports which have little or no room for expansion for additional ights. Bigger passenger aircraft are the answer, hence the arrival of the A380s. They typically have a capacity of between 500 and 550 seats in a threeclass conguration, but are capable of carrying up to 800 passengers in an all-Economy Class t-out. Flying to and from their operational hubs on these mega aircraft, airlines then feed passengers onto connecting ights to other destinations. The A380s help airports generate more revenue, offer greater passenger comfort and enhance the image of not just the airline operator, but of the country it operates from. There are currently 10 airlines ying a total of 120 Airbus A380s to capital cities, nancial hubs and global centres New York, London, Tokyo, Singapore, Los Angeles, Johannesburg, Beijing, Frankfurt, Paris, Bangkok, Sydney, Kuala Lumpur, Seoul, Dubai and Hong Kong to name a few. Whats missing are New Delhi and Mumbai, two key gateway cities to Indias vast hinterland. Lack of airport infrastructure has partially been responsible for these metropolitan cities being ignored. But seven years since the A380 took off on its maiden commercial ight by launch customer Singapore Airlines, this is a long gap for India to feature on the mega planes radar. Compounded by lack of vision and foresight for a dynamic industry that aviation is, India has missed the boat and not capitalised on its positioning. Theres been over protection for an ailing Air India, once the darling of Indias skies which once enjoyed a great reputation helped by the marketing muscle of its iconic Maharaja adorning aircraft and international promotional campaigns. Allowing foreign airlines into the market is one thing. Allowing them to bring in more capacity through bigger aircraft or greater frequency of ights is another. Under intense industry pressure to open up the skies, India has had no choice but to liberalise and allow more competition. But this weeks announcement demonstrated liberalisation is not all that it seems: approval with a catch! The new communiqu from Indias civil aviation ministry stated: Now, ights of A380s to India will be allowed to airports which are equipped to handle them. The operations of A380 aircraft would be subject to overall traffic entitlements within the bilateral air service agreements with different countries. The A380 operations have been restricted to four Indian airports Mumbai, Delhi, Hyderabad and Bengaluru, formerly known as Bangalore. Despite the airport restrictions, none of the A380 operators eyeing India would feel grieved as these are among the countrys four main gateways. comes amid a urry of activity elsewhere in the country. National carrier Air India is nally moving ahead with a stalled attempt a few years ago to join one of the global airline alliances. Summer 2014 has been earmarked for Air India to join Star Alliance, the rst of the major airline groupings formed in 1997. Membership will give Air India passengers greater benets travelling on partner airlines that serve global destinations which the Indian carrier cannot on its own. The alliance game is seen as a necessity by many airlines to improve market share, improve the bottom line and improve competitiveness. New investment rules are also coming to fruition. A relaxation of ownership regulations in 2012 allows foreign entities to inject up to 49% in Indian carriers, essentially giving wings to cash-strapped domestic airlines. Two new overseas-backed airlines will launch operations and both sponsored by Indian conglomerate Tata which, incidentally, was the founder of Air India. Asias biggest low-cost airline AirAsia is set to begin a no-frills Indian operation, Air Asia India, in March with the promise of dramatically low fares says its CEO Tony Fernandes. The Chennai-based budget carrier will essentially serve smaller cities in India and aim to attract passengers who otherwise take trains as their mode of cross country travel. AirAsia India is set to take-off despite facing unforeseen hurdles, the latest being an outdated regulatory requirement that dates back to the 1930s. For the rst time, Indias aviation regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has invoked a provision under the Aircraft Rules 1937 Act asking for public feedback on an application by an airline to launch operations in the country. This comes despite Indias Civil Aviation Ministry approving the carriers plans. This is unfortunate, unwarranted and sets a dangerous precedent. Granting airline licences cannot be done through opinion polls, said consultancy company KPMG. The 30-day public consultancy ends in mid-February. Over the next 12 months, Singapore Airlines plans to launch a full-service airline from an operational base in the Indian capital Delhi. The joint venture with Tata will be the south east Asian carriers third attempt to set up an Indian arm. Previous attempts were caught up in bureaucratic woes. Doing business in India is not easy. Pulling new regulations out of the hat is not uncommon. According to statistics from the World Bank last summer, policy ip ops and red tape contributed to Indias 134th ranking out of 189 countries for ease of doing business. Abu Dhabis Etihad Airways faced months of frustration to get its 24% stake in Indias Jet Airways approved. Results of their pact signed in April 2013 will nally bear fruit in 2014 as the alliance takes off following recent approval. Due diligence was carried out but the deal came under the spotlight of competition authorities and complaints lodged about its merit. The corridors of power in New Delhi have made dramatic reform the order of the day. Some argue this is a political exercise to create jobs and stimulate the economy in election year. Interesting times indeed over the next 12 months whether liberalisation can go a step further towards a free market economy with clearly no strings attached. Updesh Kapur is a PR & communications professional, columnist, aviation, hospitality and travel analyst. He can be followed on twitter:@updeshkapur

By Updesh Kapur Doha

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wo weeks ago my regular column focused on Indias desire to attract more tourists to a country where inbound visitor numbers fall well short of what can truly be achieved within a global competitive landscape. India attracts only 7mn visitors a year, less than 1% of the 1bn-plus global tourist traffic. A poor showing considering Indias size and diversity lagging far behind much smaller regional markets in the stakes for tourist dollars. I argued India had not captured its full tourism potential due largely to a lack of political will, inadequate infrastructure, insufficient hotels at affordable rates, off-putting high visa fees and a poor track record of violent crime that has created a wave of bad publicity internationally. However, with a devalued rupee, the case for visiting India couldnt be stronger. I rounded off the piece stating 2014 could be a watershed year in Indias election year with positive change at the heart of political party manifestos. The battle is heating up among political foes. Domestic issues are being tackled head on with promises of transformation across different facets of everyday life to make it a better India for the people of India. On the international front too, economic reform to make the country more competitive has been high on the agenda. What started late last year and certainly going well into 2014 is reform in one key sector that has begun to get heads turning. India has about 150mn air travellers over two-thirds being domestic passing through its airports each year with forecasts suggesting the gure could triple to 450mn by 2020. The industry supports around 0.5% of the Indian GDP. It ranks the ninth largest civil aviation market in the world with estimates indicating it could move to within the top three by the turn of the decade. Forecasts need to make good reading and earn politicians brownie points. So, change is on the horizon as Indias commercial aviation industry is set to witness a second wave of unprecedented evolution to keep up with the challenges of the global marketplace. The last decade saw enormous reform in a sector dominated by staterun Air India and Indian Airlines. The two players are now merged. An over-protectionist government nally caved in when it opened the domestic market to private operators. An attached condition was a ve-year ban before new operators were permitted to launch international services. What followed was intense competition on domestic routes; arrival of low-cost airlines; major upgrades to airports around the country; and the start of overseas ights by private carriers. There were also downfalls, including a high-

The aviation industry supports around 0.5% of the Indian GDP

Air service agreements tend to be based on ight frequency, permitted seat allocation, aircraft size and airports that can be served. In the case of India, agreements are generally based on the amount of seats that a foreign airline can operate into its airports. And like many agreements between countries, the allotment is based on a quid pro quo trade off where the government has to protect the interests of carriers in its own markets. While generally welcoming news of the A380 operations, none of the superjumbo operators have yet committed to inducting their monster planes on Indian routes. All are waiting to see how they juggle their existing A380s on other lucrative routes and are reviewing their seat capacity allocations to and from India before committing. None can exceed the weekly seats allowed under bilateral agreements, an issue which foreign carriers have long fought hard to scrap in pursuit of a freedom of skies environment in India. The deployment is dependent on market conditions and whether the seat restrictions make it viable to y the big plane to and from India. However, it seems likely that of all the carriers with a large presence in India, Emirates could be the rst to take advantage of the ban being lifted. Emirates carries the largest number of outbound passengers from India with just over 54,000 seats a week. With almost 50 of the superjumbos in its eet and growing by the month, its strategy is to plough capacity between key markets across the airlines network via its Dubai hub. News of the A380s entry to India

Airbus A380 ready for commercial operations to India.