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Ever since its foundation in 1861, the MassachusettsInstitute of Technology has been in the vanguard ofscientic and engineering research. Currently, it isjudged to be the premier university in the world, aheadof both the University of Cambridge and London’sImperial College which hold joint second place.
So, it might be said, given its reputation in the eld ofguidance system technology, that this is thego-to institution when there is a need for independentassessment of such things.
And that is just where the International CricketCouncil (ICC), and the Sony Corporation, which isresponsible for Hawk-Eye technology used in cricketand also across some other sports, the tracking used inthe umpires Decision Review System (DRS), have gonein their efforts to persuade the Board of Control forCricket in India, and more specically the incredibly
powerful voices of captain MS Dhoni and retiredlegend Sachin Tendulkar, that DRS works and is a benet to the game.
The Indian board might beagainst it, butthere’s denyingthe fact thatthe Hawk-Eyesystem hasactually becomeincredibly goodnow — 10 times
more so than when it was rst trialled in 2008, anddemonstrably accurate to within a single millimetreover a distance of seven metres, the general distancefrom a ball pitching and reaching the stumps.
Yet, despite the ever-improving nature of theequipment, India remains steadfast on its use. Itcannot he used unilaterally in a series and, so it isreckoned, has now cost India considerably in the
current series in Australia.In the rst Test in Adelaide, Indian batsmen ShikharDhawan, Ajinkya Rahane and Wriddhiman Saha allfell to disputed catches, decisions that could have been rectied by replay alone. Similarly at the Gabba,Cheteshwar Pujara and Ravichandran Ashwin got badcalls that slow motion would have rectied.
Now though, there seems to be a softening in theIndian attitude. “We feel,” Dhoni said after the secondTest in Brisbane which India lost by four wickets, “thatthere are a lot of 50-50 calls not going in our favour. Weare at the receiving end more often than not .”
Then, interestingly, he added that “even when DRS isaround, those decisions won’t go in our favour.”
“What is important is to use DRS to give the rightdecision irrespective of whether or not the umpirehas given it out. If the ball is shown to be hitting thestumps it is out; if less than half the ball is hitting thestumps it is still out,” Dhoni opined.
It’s, of course, important that the DRS should not be allowed, in any way, to undermine the on-eld
umpires’ authority. If all decisions are referred thenrstly there would be no need for on-eld umpires beyond an ability to carry hats and make a box sign inthe air; and secondly, the third umpire would requireabsolute specialist training.
All of this is being considered by the ICC’s DRSsub-committee, chaired by former Indian captainAnil Kumble, who was in charge of the team when thetechnology was rst trialled, against Sri Lanka, and aconsiderable voice when it comes to this subject.
The onus is on Kumble now to persuade his country’scricket board about the benets of the system.
High time Indiancricket boardembraced DRS
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COMMENT
GULF TIMES
There’s denying thefact that the Hawk-Eye system hasactually becomeincredibly good now
Gulf TimesThursday, December 25, 201428
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2014 Gulf Times. All rights reserved
I t’s been a busy oldyear as they say.Lightning speedis the only way to
describe how 2014 has own by.And it is the fast pace of one industry
– specically in the Gulf region – thathas kept business and feature writersactive to cover prominent stories.
The regional airline industry has hadits fair share of column inches with aconstant wave of headlines keeping thissector very much in the spotlight.
For the region’s burgeoning airlines,which the world has been observingwith envy over the years, there hastruly been a meaningful story to tell.
The dynamism of the aviation sec-tor that has grown from strength tostrength has been the focus of a rapidlyevolving story in this part of the world.
Any communications professionalwill tell you that PR collateral churnedout for the sake of trying to generatepublicity will end up in a reporter’strash bin.
But airline industry peers across theworld would love to be in the positionof the Gulf carriers which are makingsignicant headlines with stories thatimpact their image and enhance theprole of the overall aviation sector.
Whether it’s the big full-serviceGulf airlines or the ‘smaller’ low-costregional carriers, it’s the share ofvoice that matters, not just aggressivemarketing.
Many of the airlines here have beenmaking a difference in getting theirvoice heard.
Route expansion, eet growth, imagemakeovers and acquisitions have typi-cally been high on the agenda during2014.
But so too has been frequent com-mentary by senior managementproviding insightful perspective intothe state of the global aviation industrythat has also generated great copy forjournalists.
Whether it is grasping any opportu-nity to defend the Gulf’s thriving youngaviation industry from vicious attacks by Europe’s legacy airlines; proudlytalking about vision and innovation be-ing leaps and bounds ahead of age-oldcarriers; or eating into aircraft manu-facturers for failed promises to deliver,the power of the spoken word hitsmedia distribution channels almostimmediately and amplied around theworld.
2014 saw each of the three big boys– Qatar Airways, Etihad and Emir-ates – furthering the cause for globaldominance from their respective hubsin Doha, Abu Dhabi and Dubai.
Story number 1: The largest com- bined commercial aircraft order in his-tory was sealed in the summer by QatarAirways and neighbours Emirates.
They struck a deal with Boeing for300 of the US manufacturer’s stretchedversion 777 passenger jets. The 777Xaircraft, longer than the current 777sying, will help both carriers fullltheir future growth plans, operatinglonger distances, to a greater number ofdestinations and ying more passen-gers on many routes.
In doing so, both carriers reinforcedtheir strategy to bring in new genera-tion of aircraft into their eets. Young-er, newer planes are more environmen-tally and fuel effi cient, feature the latestonboard technology and make for a better overall ying experience – a bigplus over competitors.
With 218 passenger jets, Emirateshas rounded off 2014 as the world’slargest operator of wide-body planes.Aside from being the world’s biggest777 operator, it is also Airbus’ mainA380 customer with a milestone 50thsuperjumbo now in its eet.
On average Emirates added twonew wide-body planes to its eetevery month this year – a staggering 27aircraft.
Story number 2: Etihad has enjoyeda year of expansion unlike its rivals bypursing a strategy of equity investmentin other carriers. Investing in Indiancarrier Jet Airways and Italy’s Alitaliahas given it inroads into large domesticmarkets.
More importantly ownership oflucrative frequent ier programmesthat gives Etihad access to databases ofregular travellers whose loyalty makesup the large chunk of revenue for anyairline.
India is expected to become theworld’s third largest air passengermarket within the next 20 years. Morethan 620,000 passengers ew on Eti-had’s India services in the rst half of2014, an increase of 51% year-on-year.The Jet tie-up – a 24% stake valued at$600mn – provides Etihad with accessto a bigger Indian network and build-ing towards multi-frequency ights between India and Abu Dhabi withonward connections.
The Alitalia connection, involvinga 49% stake, provides Etihad with astronger foothold in Italy and a slice ofa travel market that has long suffered because of Alitalia’s nancial woes af-fecting service and reliability.
Story number 3: A common threadfor all three airlines this year, asidefrom eet growth, has been the pushinto the US, the world’s largest aviationmarket.
Three new US gateways – Miami,Philadelphia and Boston – were addedto their portfolio this year taking thenumber of combined destinationsserved by the three to 11 cities. Withfrequency increases to existing gate-ways, the three players have increasedthe number of ights to the US by 47%compared to this time last year.
Seat capacity has increased sig-nicantly as Emirates pumps moreof its A380 superjumbos into the USmar ket, helping claw into the businessof American rivals which are far fromimpressed with the Gulf marching intotheir territory.
Such is the large volume of passen-ger traffi c ows between the US andAsia, short connections in the Gulf atpassenger friendly airports are helpingattract more business onto the region’scarriers.
But it still remains a tall order pen-etrating frequent iers whose loyaltyfor years has been to US carriers withpowerful loyalty programmes. This re-mains work in progress and is expectedto feature prominently in marketingstrategies of the Gulf carriers in theyear ahead.
Not content with just a busy 2014,the year is being rounded off in style
with the best left to the last.Remember headline grabbing news!Story number 4: Qatar Airways this
week took delivery of the world’s new-est passenger jet, the Airbus A350.
Just weeks after introducing theA380 into its eet, Qatar Airwayshas been showcasing the A350 to theworld’s media.
Qatar Airways is the A350 globallaunch customer with 80 aircraft onthe order books, signed at the Paris AirShow nine years ago.
At Airbus’ assembly plant in Tou-louse on Monday, the national carriernally took the keys of its newest assetduring a delivery ceremony.
What made it more fullling,demonstrating national pride, QatarAirways had a bigger role to play thanjust ordering new planes.
The airline has been involved in theconcept and design of the A350 fromday one. This week marks the culmina-tion of a great achievement by bothcustomer and manufacturer.
Passengers, however, will have towait a few weeks before taking to theskies on a plane set to rival Boeing’sequivalent, the 787 Dreamliner, whichwas the industry’s last new aircraft to be introduced three years ago.
Doha – Frankfurt will be themaiden A350 passenger route inmid-January. Until then, the A350will perform a number of take-offsand landings at Hamad InternationalAirport, as well as short familiarisa-tion ights for pilots, cabin crew andother operational staff.
The opening of Hamad Internationalearlier this year was much needed with bigger, purpose-built facilities to copewith the national carrier’s aggressiveexpansion.
Story number 5: This year will alsoend in celebration for Abu Dhabi’sEtihad.
The doors to the airline’s two newagship aircraft – A380 and Boeing787 – adorned with a new livery andcorporate identity, were opened for therst time a few days ago to reveal new-look cabin interiors.
And in just two days’ time, the worldwill witness a commercial aviationrst in what has been described as themost exclusive ticket in aviation historywhen Etihad’s rst A380 is scheduledto take-off on Saturday.
A one-way fare of $20,000 from AbuDhabi to London Heathrow will givepassengers exclusive use of three-roomsuites featuring a lounge, bedroom anden-suite shower room.
Dubbed ‘The Reside nce’, the multi-room private cabins – and there aretwo of them each measuring 12sq m –come with dedicated butlers. Trainedat the London School of Hospitalityand Tourism, and the renowned SavoyHotel in the British capital, the butlers
have been groomed to handle VIP trav-ellers’ needs and to be on call through-out the ight.
The A380 aircraft has been cong-ured with the essence of hospitalityand luxury at its heart. Other sectionsof the aircraft have been dubbed FirstApartment and Business Studios re-ecting the class of travel and brandedfrom the world of hospitality.
Etihad’s Dreamliner, meanwhile, isset to take off for Dusseldorf in the NewYear with in-ight features includingselected rst class seats converting intodouble beds.
Innovation is certainly the name ofthe game.
Story number 6: Let’s not forgetthe ‘smaller’ boys too – the low-costoperators ydubai and Air Arabia fromthe UAE.
A combined portfolio of over 170destinations across more than 50 coun-tries is impressive reading. More so asthe two airlines have only been yingfor 10 years and ve years respectively.
The regional appetite for cheap, no-frills ights has been strong reected by the strong growth of this sector.Flydubai, in particular, has seen 23 newroute start-ups in a single year, its big-gest expansion drive since launchingin 2009.
Air Arabia too has witnessed expan-sion from its Sharjah hub but alsothrough a new secondary regional basein Ras Al Khaimah following the failureof the emirate’s own carrier.
For both ydubai and Air Arabia, itwill be interesting to see whether theyopen up ne w routes deeper into easternand central Europe, and Asia.
China is already being watched asa potential new market which willsurely shift the goal posts in strategiesthat have so far focused on operatingregional and medium-haul, low-costroutes.
The biggest leaving present the air-line industry across the world can haveas it enters 2015 is cheaper fuel.
With oil prices nose-diving 40% inthe last six months, lower prices meanmore revenue and more protability forairlines.
Global airline prot forecasts suggestthe industry is already on course fora sharp 40% increase in protabilitythanks to lower fuel prices.
The airline industry is hoping priceswill fall further to strengthen their cashows.
Regardless, the Gulf’s boys willcontinue expansion with vigour withmany more headlines to make as weherald in 2015.
Updesh Kapur is a PR & communica-tions professional, columnist, aviation,hospitality and travel analyst, socialand entertainment writer. He can be fol-lowed on twitter @updeshkapur
2014: A year of aggressiveheadline-making expansion
By Updesh KapurDoha
Savoy Hotel-trained lying butlers to feature on Etihad Airways’ A380 lights from this weekend.
Launch customer Qatar Airways hit global headlines again this week by taking delivery of the world’s irst Airbus A350.
