Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Indian Airlines pilots on protest path once again

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ilots of the erstwhile Indian Airlines staged a silent protest march at Mumbai airport today.

Their union, the ICPA, has threatened to go on a strike from November 24, if their dues are not paid by the management.

Pilots are protesting the non-payment of productivity-linked allowances, which could be about 75 per cent of a pilot's salary.

The pilots' association claims membership of 800 odd pilots and says that they have not been paid their allowances since September.

Airlines hope you'll shop more, mid-sky

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ir travelers in the United States are already paying for sandwiches and drinks, pillows and headsets. So, as airlines look for more ways to help their bottom lines, they have started asking the next logical question: Why not sell limousine services
or even tickets to Broadway shows?

For most carriers, the idea remains just that. But American Airlines has begun a limited test of the retail concept. It is selling Heathrow Express train tickets on London-bound flights, and it is offering in-flight Internet access and items from SkyMall - the glossy catalog that has had a reserved space in the seatback pocket of airliners for 20 years - on 165 airliners.

"We wouldn't invest if we didn't feel comfortable it would provide a fair rate of return," said John Tiliacos, managing director of onboard products for American Airlines.

"Given where we find ourselves as an industry, financially it behooves us to identify every source of revenue we can identify."

Other airlines declined to talk on the record about their plans, but nearly all the major carriers acknowledged that they were working on expanding retail offerings.

Whether air travelers will open up their wallets once the aircraft pushes back from the gate remains to be seen. But Michael Levy, a marketing professor and the director of the Retail Supply Chain Institute at Babson College in Massachusetts, expects that they will.

"Look at what's going on in airports," he said. "Anytime you have customers who are captive, who have nothing better to do, they'll shop."

The technology making the onboard sales possible is being provided by GuestLogix, a Canadian company that sells the credit card readers and sales software to the airline industry. A brochure promoting its products describes onboard retail as unique because "operators are able to lock their doors with their shoppers still inside."

In an interview, Brett Proud executive vice president of global sales and client support for GuestLogix, described the jetliner as "a retail space that is probably the biggest retail opportunity ever uncovered," adding, "It's huge."

Passengers can learn about products for sale from seatback advertisements, brochures and announcements by flight attendants and gate agents, as well as on airline Web sites and through social media. Finding the right mix of products is important because if an airline offers the wrong items, it could irritate its customers.

"We're not going to put anything in front of you that you would say, 'You got to be kidding,'" said Tiliacos of American Airlines.

In the past, customers could browse the SkyMall catalog, but placing an order could be done only after the plane had landed. With the addition of what SkyMall's president, Christine Aguilera, calls "a cash register in the air," sales can be completed on the plane. "These are some of the greatest consumers on the planet," she said.

Charles Flateman, vice president of marketing for the Schubert Organization, said in an interview that he had been talking to GuestLogix about selling tickets to Broadway shows and other live performances. The Walt Disney Co. is discussing making theme park tickets available on airplanes as well. The credit card readers do not now transmit information in real time, so it will require a "trick of technology" to assure that show tickets sold during a flight still exist in the theater when the plane is on the ground, Flateman said.

"It's our desire to market and merchandise and conclude ticket sales wherever our customers are," he said. "If that's at 35,000 feet en route to New York, that's wonderful and we're excited by the prospect."

While the concept of shopping in flight is new to large American carriers, Ireland's discount airline, Ryanair, has been selling travel services a la carte since the early '90s. It uses the profits to subsidize ticket prices. The cheap tickets put more passengers in seats.

"Fundamentally we're an airline with a retail tail," said Michael Cawley, deputy chief executive of Ryanair. "We can expand our business by lowering fares and any additional profitability means we can grow our business."

The job of selling falls to flight attendants, and some in the United States have already expressed concern. In a letter to American Airlines, the Association of Professional Flight Attendants wrote that sales commissions with SkyMall or any other vendor must be negotiated as part of the labor contract with the airline.

"There are a myriad issues surrounding SkyMall," said Diana Dunn, a member of the union's negotiating committee. "What is the commission they want to pay us? What if a customer returns something, how are they going to get the money back?"

Flight attendants at other airlines are also worried that retail commissions may be used to replace salaries, according to Corey Caldwell, a spokeswoman for the Association of Flight Attendants. "If airlines are encouraging flight attendants to participate in selling of products and services, it needs to be done when the flight attendant has completed safety and security activities onboard the flight." Caldwell said. "It's definitely a proceed with caution type of thing."

Currently, the average amount a passenger spends with an airline after purchasing a ticket is $1, according to statistics prepared by GuestLogix. At Ryanair, by contrast, Cawley said customers spend on average about $15.

But Robert Herbst a commercial pilot who created the Web site AirlineFinancials.com, said retail therapy was not enough to solve the financial problems of airlines in the United States.

"By my estimates, the revenues have to go up by 15 to 20 percent before airlines can become solvent again," he said. "Any additional sales they make is going to be a positive for them and more of a convenience for the passenger. But it will be minimal. Not enough revenue will be generated."

Caldwell of the Association of Flight Attendants said she understood the economics behind the idea. "It doesn't take an expert to see there are airlines that are not charging what the cost of the service is," she said. "There is a huge deficit between what a seat costs and what the airline charges."

But even if airplanes begin to resemble retail space, Cawley of Ryanair insisted that its business was transportation.

"The single most important thing is selling the airline ticket," he said. "All the ancillary sales flow from that."

Fire breaks out in goods train; 17 oil tankers charred

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t least 17 oil tankers of a goods train were charred when a fire broke out in the locomotive near Mariani in Assam's Sibsagar district, disrupting train services on the section.

Northeast Frontier railway sources said the accidental fire in the petrol and diesel tankers broke out when the train was coming from Numaligarh refinery at about 9.30 pm on Monday night.

The guard and driver of the freight train carrying 51 tankers are safe, officials said.

Train services have been disrupted in upper and lower Assam as the main track has been blocked, they said. The Dibrugarh-New Delhi Rajdhani Express is among the trains disrupted by the fire.

Senior railway officials have rushed to the spot at a place between Barpathar and Bhirgaon and are making arrangements to clear the tracks.

UWAHATI: BSF jawans have apprehended four Bangladeshi infiltrators along the border with the neigbouring country in Meghalaya over the past two Twitter Facebook Share Email Print Save Comment days. The quartet have been identified as Jamal Hussain, Md Sadik, Md Ismail, and Md Dulal Miya, all Bangladeshi nationals. They were nabbed while they were trying to cross over to India. In the past few months, the BSF has stepped up its drive against trans-border movement and smuggling. The jawans have also seized many contraband items. The BSF jawans deployed at the border outpost at Belabore nabbed the three Bangladeshi nationals in West Garo Hills of Meghalaya on Monday morning. All the three are from Dhutnai village of Sherpur district in Bangladesh. On Sunday, Jamal Hussain from Assampara village in Sylhet district of Bangladesh was apprehended by BSF personnel posted at Naljuri border outpost while they were intruding into Jaintia Hills district of Meghalaya. BSF officials (Assam & Meghalaya Frontier) said jawans of the force have seized cattle, oranges, country-made boats, forest produce and other contraband items from the border area while they were being smuggled to Bangladesh through Assam's Dhubri district and the hilly area of Meghalaya. The estimated cost of the seized items is Rs 22.30 lakh. All the four Bangladeshi nationals and items seized have been handed over to Meghalaya Police and other departments concerned for legal action.

Y
esterday’s science fiction is today’s fact. Angry bibliophiles demonstrated this in the Assam capital on Monday.

Decades ago, novelist Ray Bradbury envisaged a robotic, subservient society kept away from books that could help them think. In his fiction Fahrenheit 451, books are for burning and rebellious readers are given a date with a killer mechanical dog.

A couple of police dogs did keep watch on some 500 book lovers and publishers who protested the Tarun Gogoi government’s "bid to kill the reading habit". But they let their handlers in khaki raise the temperature instead.

Resentment among bibliophiles grew after the Kamrup (Metropolitan) district authorities cited security reasons to shift two major annual book fairs out of the city. The Judges’ Field, in the heart of the city, was the traditional venue for both the Guwahati Grantha Mela and the Northeast Book Fair.

Five years ago, the government made Judges’ Field out of bounds for the public, reserving it only for Republic Day and Independence Day functions. Consequently, the book fairs were shifted to the Sonaram School Field and Engineering Institute Field within a 5 km radius of Judges’ Field.

“These two venues are not so conveniently located, but they were at least accessible for bibliophiles,” Giripada Deva Choudhury, president of All Assam Book Publishers and Sellers Association, told Hindustan Times. “But the venue on the city outskirts where the government wants the book fairs to be shifted has no infrastructure and no connectivity.”

According to protest organizer Kamal Kumar Medhi, the government’s anti-bibliophile order was illogical. He said: “If books are a security threat, how come Meena Bazaars, theatres and religious congregations held in the city venues aren’t?”

Consumer rights activist Deven Dutta felt the government was wielding security as excuse to quietly allow a moneyed clique take Judges’ Field over for an elite club. “Luxury for the influential apparently matters more than the simple pleasure of reading for the masses,” he said.

The government’s whimsical decision, felt retired Gauhati University professor Hiren Gohain, was reminiscent of Bradbury’s fictional work. “What the authorities have conveyed is their intention of killing the reading habit, so that youngsters do not grow up into a thinking lot that asks uncomfortable questions.”

Kamrup (Metropolitan) Deputy Commissioner Prateek Hajela, who was handed a memorandum by the protestors, said the government would weigh the bibliophiles’ demand. “The earlier order stays as of now,” he added.

Four Bangla infiltrators arrested in Meghalaya

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UWAHATI: BSF jawans have apprehended four Bangladeshi infiltrators along the border with the neigbouring country in Meghalaya over the past two
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days.

The quartet have been identified as Jamal Hussain, Md Sadik, Md Ismail, and Md Dulal Miya, all Bangladeshi nationals. They were nabbed while they were trying to cross over to India.

In the past few months, the BSF has stepped up its drive against trans-border movement and smuggling. The jawans have also seized many contraband items.

The BSF jawans deployed at the border outpost at Belabore nabbed the three Bangladeshi nationals in West Garo Hills of Meghalaya on Monday morning. All the three are from Dhutnai village of Sherpur district in Bangladesh.

On Sunday, Jamal Hussain from Assampara village in Sylhet district of Bangladesh was apprehended by BSF personnel posted at Naljuri border outpost while they were intruding into Jaintia Hills district of Meghalaya.

BSF officials (Assam & Meghalaya Frontier) said jawans of the force have seized cattle, oranges, country-made boats, forest produce and other contraband items from the border area while they were being smuggled to Bangladesh through Assam's Dhubri district and the hilly area of Meghalaya. The estimated cost of the seized items is Rs 22.30 lakh.

All the four Bangladeshi nationals and items seized have been handed over to Meghalaya Police and other departments concerned for legal action.

Shoot-on-sight order in strife-torn Mizoram

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IZAWL: The Mizoram government on Monday issued a shoot-on-sight order at Bungthuam and neighbouring villages in the state's western parts, which
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have been on the boil following last week's murder of a Mizo youth allegedly by suspected Bru militants.

"The shoot-on-sight order has been issued to contain the ethnic strife at Bru-dominated villages in the Bungthuam area near the state's border with Tripura," Mizoram home minister R Lalzirliana said here.

Since Friday, about 400 houses, mostly belonging to the Brus (also known as Reangs), have been torched allegedly by the Mizos in protest against the murder of Zarzokima, 18, by rebels belonging to the Bru National Army. On Sunday, 43 thatched Bru huts were set ablaze at Sarali. Police said seven persons have so far been arrested.

Chief minister Lal Thanhawla called a Cabinet meeting on Sunday and asked the administration to start relief measures at the earliest. "The ongoing arson is un-Christian and un-Mizo. We must keep our calm and maintain peace in this hour of crisis. If we condemn the murder (of Zarzokima), then a retaliation of this sort is not acceptable," Lalzirliana said.

The strife has triggered a fresh exodus of Reangs with hundreds of them fleeing Mizoram to neighbouring Tripura and Assam. "The (Mizoram) government has sent heavy police reinforcements and started relief operations in the vulnerable areas," said Lalrinmawia Ralte, parliamentary secretary of the home department.

"Our government does not want any communal disintegration. We are trying everything to avoid such incidents. Poliec are manning every Reang-dominated village in Mamit district. The villages that have been deserted by the Brus are also under close a watch," said Lalrinmawia, the MLA from Hachhek.

The Mizo youth was killed after a forum of displaced Brus threatened to boycott the Mizoram government's plan to repatriate them. Over 35,000 Bru refugees are languishing in camps at Naisingpara in Tripura since 1997 after (Bru) miscreants killed a wildlife game watcher. The incident had then triggered a bloody clash between the Mizos and the Brus.