Reports filtering in on Sunday said key members of ministerial panel under FM Pranab Mukherjee — Indian railway minister Mamata Banerjee and agriculture minister Sharad Pawar — were opposed to the idea of allowing oil companies to set pump prices in line with global markets or raise fuel prices substantially. Fertiliser minister M K Alagiri is unlikely to support any steep rise in prices, as TN goes for assembly polls next year.

read full story at – Times of India

Five services were cancelled in Chennai while more than 16 services were hit in Delhi on Saturday. Chennai-Madurai-Chennai, Chennai-Trichy-Thiruvananthapuram-Sharjah, Chennai-Colombo, Chennai-Delhi and Chennai Mumbai services were cancelled.

Sources said that more services are likely to get cancelled in the coming days if the management and the executive pilots fail to iron out their differences. However, the executive pilots are adamant that they would not report to work unless the management withdraws the pay and allowance cut.

Air India has decided to slash the salary and allowances of executive pilots the senior pilots who also hold managerial posts in the level of deputy general managers and general managers and above. The airline has not cut the pay of line pilots captains and first officers who just fly — because they are part of the Indian Commercial Pilots Association (ICPA).

About 45 executive pilots are based in the southern region headquarters in Chennai. All of them are upset about the pay cuts.

“We do not have a union because we are part of the managerial cadre. But, the unilateral and unfair decision of the management may force us to form a sort of association soon. The executive pilots are not in a mood to work. We have decided to report sick. The effect will show in the coming days when more flights will get cancelled,” said Captain T T Shajahan, who is an executive pilot and former general secretary of ICPA.

Though the executive pilots do not have a union, they have quickly spread the word among themselves about the action plan that need to be followed if the management remained adamant.

“We do not want to talk to the management till they roll back the pay cut,” Shahjahan said.

Another pilot said that “most of the executive pilots are abroad at the moment on duty in Baharain, Singapore, Malaysia and other countries. They have decided not to report for work when they come back.”

An Air India official said that the flights were cancelled because executive pilots were rostered to fly these services much before. And “the management does not want to change the roster immediately for fear that it would seem like the airline is giving in to the pressure.”

The airline operates 25 services through Chennai. As the situation is likely to worsen, Air India’s CMD is planning to meet representatives of executive pilots on Sunday instead of Wednesday as earlier scheduled.

The airline will also flag off its inaugural flight to Delhi from Hong Kong on October 1, 2009 on the Chinese National Day, the 60th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949.

The new daily flights will facilitate business and leisure travel between the commercial hub of the East, Hong Kong and the capital of India, New Delhi, which is also the gateway to the country’s leisure circuit and the famous Golden Triangle.

The launch of the Delhi – Hong Kong sector will complement the airline’s existing Mumbai-Hong Kong services.

From September 30, 2009 to October 24, 2009 and from March 28, 2010 to October 30, 2010, flight 9W 72 will depart Delhi at 2250 hrs, arriving in Hong Kong at 0655 hrs. Flight 9W 71 will then depart Hong Kong at 1330 hrs, arriving in Delhi at 1650 hrs.

From October 25, 2009 to March 27, 2010, flight 9W 72 will depart Delhi at 2245 hrs, arriving in Hong Kong at 0620 hrs. Flight 9W 71 will then depart Hong Kong at 1335 hrs, arriving in Delhi at 1720 hrs.

Jet Airways’ Première (Business Class) guests will enjoy 180 degree lie-flat beds in a unique herringbone configuration that ensures easy aisle access from every seat, an oversized table, laptop power, telephony, SMS, Email and live text news, providing guests who want to work with a ‘flying office’. Première guests may also choose from a delectable menu of Indian and non-Indian cuisine, and an extensive wine list.

Economy guests will enjoy advanced, ergonomically-designed seats to minimise muscular and sinew tension, personal reading lights and on-demand In-flight Entertainment, among other amenities.

According to Mr. Wolfgang Prock-Schauer, CEO, Jet Airways, “We are delighted to connect Delhi and Hong Kong with daily services, and launch our inaugural flight from Hong Kong to Delhi on the occasion of China National Day. There continues to remain a strong demand for quality services on the Delhi-Hong Kong sector, on account of Hong Kong’s popularity as a leading global business and leisure destination.”

The ILS helps an aircraft to approach the runway and guides it towards touchdown automatically. Mumbai airport has a CAT-I (category I) ILS, which means it allows an aircraft to take off or land when visibility is down to 800m.

But on Tuesday the incessant lightning interfered with the system and it eventually stopped working. “If the ILS and glide path are unavailable, the pilot is not allowed by air traffic control to approach for landing,” an airport official said.

The lightning was so severe that it affected the lightning arrester barriers in the ILS. The problem was rectified by Wednesday morning by engineers of the Airports Authority of India, which installs and maintains the systems at airports across India.

Even secondary runway 14 of 14:32 could not be used on Tuesday owing to the rains.”Flight delays averaged 45 minutes between 8pm and 1am,” the Mial spokesperson said.

The spokesperson, however, claimed to be unaware about the impact of lightning on thearrester barriers.

In 2005, the system went on the blink when the entire airport was waterlogged for three days, flooding the ILS gear.