TIMES NATION

SUNDAY TIMES OF INDIA, AHMEDABAD

JANUARY 18, 2015

Maharajah gets a makeover 32 years on, HAL finally hands over

Air Indias New Mascot Sports Spiky Hair, Jeans & Sneakers
Saurabh.Sinha@timesgroup.com

ir Indias Maharajah, an iconic

portly figure in regal garb and
hands folded in namaskar, is being offloaded. Passengers are now being
welcomed by a new and younger version
of the mascot, sans turban with spiky
hair, wearing jeans and sneakers. Even
the trademark twirling moustache has
been cut down to size.
In his first meeting with aviation
ministry heads on June 21, 2014 less
than a month after taking office
Prime Minister Narendra Modi had
said that the aam aadmi must replace
the Maharajah as the mascot of Indian
aviation. It came on the back of his emphasis that the ministry is formulating
policies to make flying within the reach
of the common man and not only limited to the rich.
Since AI is symbolized by the Maharajah and could not be retired, the company has decided to tweak his image to
make it more in tune with the changed
times. The new Maharajah is aligned
with the new AI which is trying to cut
flab to become a lean commercial entity.

THE OLD AND THE NEW MAHARAJAH

The Maharajah now has a leaner, young,

sporty and more dynamic look. He has
made a big comeback in our ad campaigns with 27 different pictures of the
new Maharajah to showcase some of the
destinations we fly to, a senior AI official who handled the makeover said.
Among his avatars, the new Maharajah
will be seen as a fighting fit member of
the Indian cricket team wowing everyone with his stroke play.

The revamp comes at a time when AI

has joined Star Alliance and is now
partnering airlines like Singapore Airlines and Lufthansa which are known
for their energetic personalities. Interestingly, the Maharajah was never supposed to be royal. JRD Tatas handpicked commercial director SK Bobby
Kooka and Umesh Rao, an artist with J
Walter Thompson Ltd, created him in
1946. The AI website quotes Kooka as
saying, We call him a Maharajah for
want of a better description. But his
blood isnt blue. He may stand for royalty, but he isnt royal.
The Maharajah began merely as a
rich Indian potentate, symbolizing graciousness and high living. Somewhere
along the line his creators gave him a distinctive personality: his outsized moustache, the striped turban and his aquiline
nose, AI website says of the lovable figure, adding, He can be a lover boy in Paris, a sumo wrestler in Tokyo, a pavement
artist, a Red Indian, a monk... he can effortlessly flirt with the beauties of the
world. And most importantly, he can get
away with it all. Simply because he is the
Maharajah!

India harassing our national airline: Pak

RBI Notice To PIA
On Illegal Purchase
Of Property
Sachin.Parashar@timesgroup.com

New Delhi: In this winter chill in IndiaPakistan relations, theres another

storm quietly building up. Pakistan has
alleged that its national carrier PIA is
being harassed by Indian authorities for
illegal purchase of properties in violation of RBI guidelines in an attempt, it
said, meant to force PIA to shut its India
operations and prevent people to people
contacts.
The properties in question, 4 flats on
Barakhamba Road, house the main PIA
office in India. After it was served a notice by both RBI and ED, PIA has now replied saying that the flats, along with
parking plots, were purchased in 2005 as
per the Foreign Exchange Management
(Acquisition and Transfer of Immovable Property in India) Regulations and
that a declaration of the acquisition was
filed with RBI within the stipulated 90
days.
This, PIA claims, was even acknowledged by RBI then. The same declaration was made by Citibank through
which the payment for the properties
was made. PIA has asked RBI and ED to

JULY 21, 1976: The first flight of Pakistan

International Airlines to have landed in
India at Santacruz airport

immediately withdraw their notices in

larger interests of people from both
countries saying these were hampering
its operations here.
PIA operates a weekly flight to Lahore and Karachi from Delhi and twice
to Karachi from Mumbai. It has had its
office in India since 1976. PIA, according
to Pakistan, will not give in to any intimidation and will not stall operations
until it is specifically asked to do so by
India.
Pakistan officials said that the visa
of PIAs Chief here had not been extended and that even his mobile phone had
been disconnected by indian authorities. It reflects a malafide intent to stop
PIA operation and cause a blow to people
to people contact. If PIA shuts down,
people in northern India may still travel

Inmate dies after gang war inside Mathura jail: Two rival
goons and a jailor with a poor track record were at the centre of a
bloody showdown at the Mathura district jail on Saturday when a
gang war led to a two-way gun battle that left a prisoner dead.

to Pakistan through Wagah but it will

greatly inconvenience those in other
parts of the country, said a Pakistan official.
PIA and Pakistan government officials are wondering as to why this issue
of violation of RBI guidelines has come
up only 10 years after the purchase of the
flats. The obvious inference on their
part is that the development may be related to the change of dispensation in India with the Narendra Modi led government taking a more hardline position on
issues related to Pakistan.
The first notice to PIA was sent in November 2014. Indian government officials said they had nothing to do with the
notice to PIA. According to Indian officials, it is Pakistan which has glossed
over the significance of connectivity
and better people to people ties by not
fulfilling its promise to grant India non
discriminatory market access, in return
for Indias MFN status to Pakistan.
Indian officials said it was Pakistan
which had delayed the signing of a motor vehicles agreement which would
have facilitated free movement of commercial vehicles across Saarc countries.
While India cancelled the foreign secretary-level talks last year after Pakistan
high commissioner decided to meet
Hurriyat leaders, Sharif s adviser Sartaj Aziz said last week that Pakistan was
not going to hold any dialogue with India without Kashmir on agenda.

Tejas to IAF; induction still far away

Chethan.Kumar
@timesgroup.com

Bengaluru: After a 32-year

wait, the Indian Air Force
(IAF) received its first series
production version of the
Light Combat Aircraft Tejas
(LCA-SP1) on Saturday. Its induction into a fighting squadron, however, will take longer.
The IAF, sources said, is
looking to raise the first
squadron with a fleet of six to
eight LCAs. Given the inadequate number of aircraft, this
cannot be done before 2016.
A squadron, according to
a retired Air Marshal, generally comprises 18 pilots. It
has a service aircraft, a standby platform and a trainer.
However, the number could
vary depending on the aircraft and other variables.
Sources said that neither
the SP-1 nor the SP-2 will make
it to a fighting squadron; versions from the SP-3 and later
will be considered.
Hindustan Aeronautics
Limited (HAL) chairman R K
Tyagi, however, told STOI:
The SP-1 has been handed
over to the IAF by the defence
minister. They have accepted
the aircraft. Where but in the
squadrons is its place?
The SP1, which first flew in
October 2014, has had only five
flights and needs more hours
before induction. Also, an initial operational clearance
(IOC) configuration without
the latest electronic warfare
suite, long-range missile capabilities and mid-air refuelling means there may be
further improvements required before it is finally in-

DIFFERENT STAGES OF LCA PROGRESS

Aug 1983 | LCA project
approved with initial
560 crore
Jan 2001 | 1st ghter
prototype ies

Dec 2013 | Tejas gets initial

operational clearance (IOC)

Jan 2015 | 1st ghter (in IOC

TEJAS
CHARACTERISTICS:

conguration) handed over

Dec 2015 | Tejas to get nal

INDIGENOUS CONTENT | 60%

operational clearance (FOC)

2017-2018 | Delivery of 20
jets for 1st IOC squadron
SPEED

RADIUS OF ACTION

WEIGHT

LENGTH

1,350
kmph

Over 400 km

12 tonnes

13.2 metre

(without refuelling)

(fully-loaded)

WING SPAN

SERVICE CEILING

HEIGHT

8.2 metre

15 km

4.4 metre

Total bill
At least

55,000 crore

Development of IAF & naval variants,

trainers & failed Kaveri engine

17,269 crore

with 20 Tejas in
FOC conguration

2021-2022 | IAF to begin

80 Tejas Mark-II induction
for 4 squadrons

120 IAF & 50 Navy ghters will

cost 37,440 crore
(each Tejas 220-250 crore)

The SP1, which first flew in October 2014, has

had only five flights and needs more hours
before induction. Also, an initial operational
clearance configuration without the latest
electronic warfare suite, long-range missile
capabilities and mid-air refuelling means
there may be further improvements required
before it is finally inducted into a squadron
ducted into a squadron.
Saturdays ceremony was
only symbolic, according to
sources. India can truly
claim the LCA as a success only after the aircraft get commissioned into a squadron,
the Air Marshal said.

Post-2018 | 2nd squadron

The IAF has placed an initial order of 40 aircraft, 20 of

which will be in the IOC configuration. HAL can produce
eight aircraft a year.
After the second one reaches the IAF in March, the remaining six will be delivered

before March 31, 2016; three

out of these six will reach the
IAF before June this year,
Tyagi said. The cost of one SPstandard LCA could touch
about Rs 160 crore, thanks to
the delays; an earlier estimation was about Rs 120 crore.
Defence minister Manohar
Parrikar and chief of air staff
Air Chief Marshal Arup Raha
were in Bengaluru for a meeting of the panel that looks into
the progress of LCA. While
there was no news on what
happened at the closed-door
meet, sources said the handing-over ceremony was squeezed into Parrikars schedule.

AI pilot, flight engr fight inside cockpit

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai: A fight between a pilot and a flight engineer in the

cockpit of an Air India plane at
Chennai airport on Saturday
landed the engineer in hospital
and left 118 passengers in disarray. The flight, which was to depart at 9.45am, took off two
hours late because of the scuffle.
The flight captain, Maniklal
Sanghi, has been grounded till
investigations are over.
There were no passengers on

board when the incident happened around 9am. The plane, a

relatively new A319, had arrived
from Mumbai late, and a team
was readying it for departure.
An aircraft is usually handed
over to cockpit crew 30 minutes
before departure.
An aircraft maintenance
engineer and another staff were
checking the windshield and inspecting components in the
cockpit when the captain walked in. He was apparently not
amused to see people inside the

cockpit, and questioned them.

Flight engineer V T Kannan told
the pilot that the plane was yet to
be handed over for flying. The pilot used foul language and attacked the engineer. An investigation has been ordered and the
pilot has been derostered till a
report is submitted, said an Air
India official.
Subsequently, another pilot
was called in to fly, and the plane
took off around 11.45am. The
scuffle upset the itinerary of 25
passengers, for whom this was a

connecting flight and they ended up missing their onward

flight. They were to take a flight
to Paris from Delhi. But after an
hour-long wait, the Paris flight
left Delhi without the Chennai
passengers. They have been put
up in a Delhi hotel.
Aircraft Maintenance Engineers of the airline pointed out
that the pilot has a history of
short temper. The engineers
wanted to go on strike, but decided against it to prevent flight disruptions.