After Venezuela Showdown, U.S. V.P. to meet Guaido in Colombia

U.S. Vice President Mike Pence plans to meet Venezuela’s opposition leader Juan Guaido in Colombia on Monday as a mark of support after a weekend of violence at the Colombia - Venezuela border.

source http://www.ncairways.co/world-news/after-venezuela-violence-pence-to-meet-with-guaido-in-colombia/

Pulwama Terror Strike: Voices of Protest in Frankfurt

Indians who are residing in Germany held a protest march on Saturday against Pulwama terror attack. This incident took place on February 14 in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pulwama. Members of the Indian community, living in Germany’s Frankfurt city hold Anti-Pakistan protest to condemn this attack and defy terrorism which was perpetrated from Pakistan. They were […]

source http://www.ncairways.co/world-news/frank/

Jet Airways : Way for lenders to infuse funds and nominate directors cleared

India’s biggest full-service carrier,  Jet Airways Ltd,  has made several attempts to save the company from a crippling pile of debt. A few days ago, it approved a rescue deal which will make its lenders its largest shareholders and fix a near Rs 85 billion funding gap.

Jet Airways said late on Friday that its shareholders have okay-ed a plan to convert existing debt to equity, paving the way for the Jet’s lenders to infuse funds and nominate directors to its board.

Jet’s board last week approved a plan by lenders, led by State Bank of India, for an equity infusion, debt restructuring and the sale or sale-and-lease-back of aircraft. This development will mean the lenders will have a bigger holding than any other shareholder.

Government-owned State Bank of India (SBI) and Punjab National Bank (PNB) have agreed to provide Rs 500 crore emergency funding for Jet Airways, subject to others in the consortium of lenders not objecting.

Also Read: Jet Airways bailout puts focus on India banks’ debt-to-equity losses

Presently, chairman Naresh Goyal owns a 51 per cent stake and Abu Dhabi’s Etihad Airways owns 24 per cent.

Minority shareholders did raise questions on the company’s proposal to allow lenders to take control of the debt-laden airline. “Pumping in public money into a debt-laden airline may be risky,” said a minority shareholder, who was present at the extraordinary general meeting (EGM) held on Thursday. The meeting lasted 45 minutes. It was not attended by the Chairman and Promoter of Jet Airways, Naresh Goyal. Gurang Shetty, whole-time director, and Amit Aggarwal, deputy CEO, addressed the shareholders.

Jet, which had net debt of Rs72.99 billion ($1.03 billion) as of end-December 2018, has debt and other liabilities payments looming next month, according to rating agency ICRA. It has been unable to pay pilots’ salaries and has outstanding bills to aircraft lessors and vendors.

Jet Airways is struggling with competition from LCC rivals, high ATF prices and a weaker rupee. The share price fell miserably in 2018, losing more than 70 per cent of its value.

In a regulatory filing, the Company has said on Friday that 98 per cent of its shareholders voted in favor to increase the share capital to Rs22 billion from Rs2 billion at a special meeting.

Jet Airways has been steadily losing market share. Its financial problems are set against the backdrop of wider aviation sector woes, has been in the red for the last four straight quarters.

High alert with unprecedented security arrangements in Kashmir

Jamaat-e-Islami has claimed that on Friday night police and other agencies raided several places in the valley and launched a massive arrest campaign. In this, many central and district level leaders were arrested, including Amir (Head) Dr. Abdul Hamid Fayaz and lawyer Zahid Ali (spokesman).

source http://www.ncairways.co/india-news/alert/

Atlas Air 767 Freighter crashes near Houston

An Atlas Air Boeing 767-300ER Freighter operating as online retailer Amazon’s Prime Air has crashed near Houston following a flight from Miami. The aircraft (MSN 25865) operating Atlas Air flight 3591 “crashed into Trinity Bay near Anahuac, Texas, shortly before 12:45pm [local time] today”, the US Federal Aviation Administration says in a statement. There were […]

source http://www.ncairways.co/aviation/atlas-air-767-freighter-crashes-near-houston/

Vistara, Japan Airlines to code-share flights from February 28

Tata-SIA joint venture Vistara and Japan Airlines Friday announced a codeshare pact from February 28, making it the fourth such tie-ups for the youngest full-service domestic carrier.

Vistara already has similar tie-ups with British Airways, Singapore Airlines and its subsidiary and SilkAir.

Vistara and the Japanese flag carrier already have an interline/through check-in partnership and the two airlines had signed an initial agreement in September, 2017 to pursue commercial opportunities together, Vistara said in a statement Friday.

Code-sharing allows partner airlines to provide seamless connectivity to their passengers through each others’ network, while an interline arrangement refers to a pact to issue and accept tickets for flights that are operated by the partner airline and with national polls just a couple of months away, an approval is unlikely to come by anytime soon.

Vistara, which is 51 percent owned by the Tatas and the remaining by SIA, currently operates over 800 flights a week to 22 domestic destinations with a fleet of 22 Airbus A320s/A320 Neos.

Its plan to fly international is reportedly stuck in the files at the Rajiv Gandhi Bhawan, which houses the civil aviation ministry in the national Capital.

As part of the agreement, the Japanese flag carrier will add its flights code ‘JL’ to as many as 32 Vistara flights operating across Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad and Pune, Vistara said.

Vistara is headquartered in the Capital and has its main hub there, while JAL connects Tokyo with New Delhi. The code share flights will offer convenient connections to and from a daily flight that Japan Airlines already operates to New Delhi directly from Tokyo’s Narita airport, it said.

“We’re delighted to further strengthen our partnership with Japan Airlines with this code-share agreement. This partnership helps us offer greater convenience and variety of choice to customers with a comprehensive network,” Sanjiv Kapoor, chief strategy and commercial officer,Vistara, said.

“The number of passengers travelling between Japan and India has increased over time. By strengthening the partnership with Vistara, we will be able to provide better network access for our mutual customers. And, we look to further cooperate with Vistara to open up additional opportunities for both airlines,” said Hideki Oshima, chief executive of Japan Airlines.

A member of the international airline grouping OneWorld, JAL has a fleet of 233 aircraft operating across 349 airports.

Adani Green Energy arm bags tender to set up solar power project in Gujarat

NEW DELHI: Adani Green Energy Saturday said its subsidiary has been awarded a tender to set up a 150 MWac solar power project in Gujarat and the project is expected to be commissioned by October-December quarter of 2020-21 financial year.

According to a regulatory filing, “Adani Renewable Energy Park (Gujarat), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Adani Green Energy (AGEL), has been awarded for setting up 150 MWac solar power project in the tender issued by Gujarat Urja Vikas Nigam to be developed in Gujarat”.

“The fixed PPA tariff is Rs 2.671 kWh for a period of 25 years. Project is expected to be commissioned by Q3 FY 2021. With this, AGEL’s portfolio of renewable generation capacity in India stands at 4.31 GWac with 1.97 GWac operational projects and balance 2.34 GWac in development stage,” Adani Green Energy said.