Tuesday, November 20, 2007

Market Share Of Airlines

NEW DELHI: Budget carriers such as IndiGo and SpiceJet have given full service carriers — Air India (domestic services earlier provided under the name Indian) and Jet Airways — reasons to worry. The airline biggies’ domestic market share continued to decline in October 2007 dropping to 17.6% for Air India and 21.5% for Jet against 19.2% and 22.2%, respectively, in the previous month. According to the data compiled by the directorate general of civil aviation (DGCA), another full service carrier Kingfisher Airlines managed to maintain its growth momentum and recorded a market share of 12.7% in October against 11.8% in September. During January-October 2007 period, Air India and Jet registered a sharp decline in their market share to 19.8% and 22.7%, respectively. In the same period last year, Indian and Jet Airways’ market share stood at 22.2% and 32.3%, respectively. Industry watchers attribute Air India’s falling market share to low utilisation level of its fleet. Interestingly, the country’s largest low-cost carrier Simplify Deccan (formerly Air Deccan) continued to see its share going southward. The Bangalore-based airline‘s market share stood at 15.7% in October, down 1.6% compared to the previous month. Seat factor of the airline, however, improved during this period. Against a seat factor of 70.7% in September, the same stood at 74.2% in October. “We have not seen the figures as yet and hence would not be able to specify any reason for drop in the market share,” Simplify Deccan marketing head Nalin Gagrani said. Other budget carriers such as SpiceJet, IndiGo, GoAir and Paramount Airways, though, rode on the unexpected growth in the domestic civil aviation sector. While SpiceJet’s market share went up to 9.9% during this period, IndiGo saw its share jumping to 9.6% from 8.9% in September. The civil aviation sector grew by 35.54% during January-October. Domestic airlines carried a total of 353.68 lakh passengers compared to 260.93 lakh in the corresponding period last year.

Thursday, November 1, 2007

Jet's inaugural New York-Delhi flight takes off
New York:
Jet Airways' inaugural flight between New York and New Delhi with 150 passengers aboard took off Sunday from JFK airport after a brief religious ceremony at the departure lounge.This is Jet's third daily service between India and North America."The new flight is an exciting opportunity for us as it opens up another part of America's East Coast," Deepak Oberoi, Jet's regional director (East Coast & South America), told DNA.He added the flight would be convenient for passengers from areas including the eastern part of New York, upstate New York and Connecticut.Gurvinder Singh, an upstate New York businessman, agreed. "I had booked a seat on the inaugural flight two months ago," he said.The Brussels-Delhi leg of the inaugural flight Sunday had all 312 seats booked.Jet had earlier launched flights between Newark (New Jersey) and Mumbai and between Toronto and Chennai.

Deepika is the brand ambassador of Kingfisher
Mumbai:
The beautiful model-turned-actor Deepika Padukone is the new brand ambassador of Kingfisher Airlines. The event was held Tuesday at Hilton Towers in Mumbai.Wearing a sizzling red-hot dress, the colour of Kingfisher, Deepika went on stage with billionaire Dr Vijay Mallya. 21-year-old model-turned-actor Deepika is the daughter of former World badminton champion Prakash Padukone."Deepika is the symbol of youth and vibrancy. With her new movie with Shahrukh Khan due for release in one- and-a-half weeks, the Kingfisher Airlines brand will get more mileage," said a source.

Airbus with Air India

Airbus in talks with Air India to sell 12 A380s
New Delhi:
Airbus on Tuesday disclosed it was in talks with Air India for selling 10 to 12 A380s, each of which has a list price of $320 million.''In terms of orders placed for passenger aircraft last year and so far in 2007, we have bagged about 70% of them. Kingfisher had earlier ordered five A380s and it certainly won't be the last Indian carrier to do so. My first overseas trip to India is by purpose as it is the most important market,” Enders said.The company, said Airbus (India) president Kiran Rao, has 350 firm orders for aircraft from Indian carriers, with over 65 being placed this year itself. ''Our target is to have a similar market share in the 1,100 new planes we project India would require in next two decades,” he said.In return for huge orders, Airbus Industrie has set up a training service institute in Bangalore and entered into a partnership with Hindustan Aeronautics Limited, which builds nearly half of the doors for A320 planes. It will train nearly 1,000 pilots a year at its training centre.

Tuesday, October 30, 2007

Airport Projects

Indian airport projects likely to be hit: IATA
Latest air transport industry forecast released by International Air Transport Association (IATA) contains some warning signals for India. In its recent airfreight volume forecast for 2011, the premier global body says that the enormous anticipated expansion in India that has fuelled record aircraft orders could be cut short by insufficient airport and air traffic management capacity.This mismatch between demand and capacity seems to be a local phenomenon, for Giovanni Bisignani, IATA’s director general & CEO, notes, “Parts of the world are effectively managing infrastructure development to anticipate and meet demand – particularly the Middle East and China.”However, there is good news for India. With 8.3% AAGR, India occupies second slot of the seven Asian countries that feature top ten freight markets. The others are: China (10.8%), India (8.3%), Republic of Korea (8.2%), Vietnam (7.5%), Sri Lanka (6.8%), Pakistan (6.7%) and Malaysia (6.2%).The Middle East, which is exhibiting rapid developments right now, will see the second highest growth at 5%. The fastest growing Middle Eastern markets are expected to be Qatar (6.9%) and Saudi Arabia (6.2%), the agency said.According to the forecast, global air transport industry is expected to handle 36 million tonnes of international freight – 7.5 million tonnes more than in 2006.

Tiger Airways


Tiger Airways launches first service to India
Singapore: Budget carrier Tiger Airways launched its first flight to India and a fifth service to southern China from its Singapore base on Sunday.The Singapore Airlines-backed Tiger broadened its international network with the flight to the southern Indian city of Chennai and the new service to Xiamen."These new routes are a significant opportunity for Tiger Airways to bring affordable travel to Asia's fast growing markets of India and China," said chief executive officer Tony Davis.The Xiamen service seals the carrier's "position as the largest international low fare airline to serve China," Davis said.Tiger Airways is the only budget airline to offer services across the "whole of Asia-Pacific, encompassing China, South-East Asia, India and Australia," he added.

Tuesday, September 18, 2007

Sector Needs Investment


Indian aviation sector needs an investment of over $120 billion by FY 17, Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel said."India's aviation sector will be the sunrise industry and it will require an investment of over $120 billion over the next 10 years," he said after inauguration of new terminal at Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport (CSIA) here today."Of this amount, two-thirds is likely to be absorbed by aircraft purchases, and the remaining by infrastructure. The number of civilian aircraft in the country is also estimated to swell from 350 to 1,000 by 2020," Patel said.The number of domestic passengers would rise to 182 million per year by 2020 from 30 million now.Inaugurating new arrival terminal 1B at CSIA, Patel said "We have set the wheels in motion for upgrading airport infrastructure in India. The new terminal 1B has resulted in expansion of capacity to meet the growing domestic traffic."This would go long way in benefiting both passengers and airlines and is welcome improvement in city's infrastructure."The Mumbai airport is close to Dubai and Singapore airports in terms of handling of air traffic.

Friday, September 14, 2007

Frankfinn Airhostesses

Frankfinn Institute of Airhostess Training has announced that it will be the exclusive cabin crew recruitment partner for Air Deccan, India's largest low cost carrier, and second largest airline after Indian Airlines.
According to Rakesh Agarwal, managing director of the institute, the partnership will be for an initial period of two years and will see students trained only at Frankfinn being recruited by Air Deccan.
According to Agarwal, the programme will aim to meet the acute shortage of human resources in the aviation sector of the country. He also said that the institute was in a position to guarantee the placement of 400 students to Air Deccan every year during the contract period.
In addition, the training will also allow candidates to cater to other enterprises related to the aviation sector such as hotels and travel organisations, he added.
According to Agarwal, with booming growth in the aviation sector the demand for cabin crew is likely to be seven to ten times higher than the current availability. At current levels, an average of 30 cabin crew are required per aircraft per airline, Agarwal said.
Frankfinn has an all-India network of 65 centres, including one at Dubai. Bahrain, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Nepal are also being added to the network in due course, Agarwal said.
According to Agarwal, 11,500 candidates trained by the Frankfinn network have so far been recruited by various airlines and hospitality enterprises.

Flight b/w India-Canada


Jet Airways, India's premier airline today announced the introduction of a new flight linking Delhi with Toronto via Brussels, five times a week, effective September 05, 2007. This flight will also provide connectivity to Jet Airways' passengers traveling to New York (Newark) via its Hub in Brussels. At Brussels, flights will be synchronized in order to provide passengers seamless transfer and access between Delhi and Newark and Mumbai & Toronto. Significantly, this service will link for the first time, Delhi with the Capital of the European Union, Brussels. Flight 9W 226 will take off from Delhi, Indira Gandhi International Airport at 0245 hours and will arrive at Brussels International Airport at 0800 hours. This flight will then depart from Brussels International Airport at 0955 hours and will arrive in Toronto Pearson International Airport at 1215 hours. The flight will operate daily except Tuesdays and Thursdays. From Toronto Pearson International Airport, 9W 225 will depart at 2015 hours and will arrive at Brussels International Airport at 0955 hours. This flight will then depart from Brussels International Airport at 1155 hours and reach Delhi, Indira Gandhi International Airport at 2335 hours. Jet Airways, as part of its inaugural offer, has introduced a Promotional Economy Class return airfare of Rs. 37,000/-, and the Premi̬re return fare starts from Rs. 1,57,500 (fares indicated are excluding taxes)*. The Economy Class special fare is valid from September 05, 2007 for travel until December 31, 2007 and the tickets can be purchased till December 31, 2007. Jet Airways will operate the Delhi РBrussels РToronto flight with an Airbus 330-200 aircraft, which has been especially configured for international operations with 30 seats in Premi̬re and 190 seats in the Economy Class.

Air Ambulance


Apollo launches air ambulance service
Bangalore: Air ambulance services was launched by Apollo Hospitals Enterprises and Deccan Aviation on Wednesday, to save crucial time in transporting patients from a site to the hospital.The air ambulance services is aimed at reducing critical time in transporting the patient to the hospital, said Executive Director, Operations, Apollo Hospitals Enterprises Ltd, Mrs Sangita Reddy, at a press meet.An MoU was signed between Apollo Hospitals Enterprises and Deccan Aviation, where 11 choppers (two in Bangalore) and three aircraft of Deccan Aviation throughout the country will be linked to the air ambulance services. All 40 AHE centres will be linked to emergency air and road ambulance services, added Mrs Reddy.In Bangalore, air ambulance service will be provided to link new Apollo Hospitals on Bannerghatta Road. Apollo Hospital has conducted 400 air evacuations throughout India in the last two-and-a-half-years, while one or two air evacuations a month is carried out by Deccan Aviation.

Bahrain Flights

Jet Airways planning Bahrain flights
India' largest private airline, Jet Airways, is planning to fly to Bahrain from early next year, it emerged yesterday. The carrier has applied for Indian government permission to fly to the "lucrative" Gulf routes, including Bahrain, but would not actually start operations before January next year, sources told the GDN."It is a positive development in case the go-ahead is given to us," said Jet Airways Dubai-based Gulf regional manager Shakir Kantawala."We have not heard anything concrete yet, but are hoping for a favourable development," he said. Mr Kantawala said that the Gulf was a lucrative route to operate to, with Bahrain and the UAE "growing tremendously"."In addition, Qatar is poised for rapid and dramatic growth. In all this, we would fit in perfectly," he said.Sources told the GDN that Jet had applied for flights to six Gulf destinations from next year.

JetLite Eyes S-E Asia

JetLite eyes S-E Asia, plans fleet expansion
New Delhi: In a bid to scale up operations of its value carrier JetLite, Jet Airways plans to expand the airline's fleet size with an eye on international destinations in Middle East and South East Asia.“We plan to add at least five leased aircraft to our fleet in 2008. Some of the leased planes would also replace some existing ageing aircraft in the JetLite fleet “ JetLite chief executive Garry Kingshott told ET.This comes at a time when the airline is still struggling to get the full 24-aircraft Air Sahara fleet, it bought out in April this year, back on the sky. Currently, 14 aircraft are air-worthy, while the rest are sidelined on technical grounds.One leased Boeing 737 aircraft is likely to join the fleet by October this year. Once JetLite is able to increase its fleet size, it would look at flying to more destinations in South East Asia, including Bangkok, Kaula Lumpur, Dhaka, and Hanoi. In its previous avatar as Air Sahara, the airline flew to several international destinations including Singapore, Colombo, Kathmandu, and Malle.

Goyal Honoured

Goyal honoured with the TATA AIG award
Jet Airways Chairman Mr. Naresh Goyal honoured with the TATA AIG - Lifetime Achievement AwardOn September 11, 2007, Chairman Naresh Goyal was accorded the prestigious TATA AIG - Lifetime Achievement Award at the grand closing ceremony of the TAFI (Travel Agents Federation of India) International Travel Convention 2007 Abacus - TAFI Awards Nite on September 08, 2007 at the Magella Sutera of the Sutera Harbour Resort in Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia.Ms. Sonu Kriplani-VP Passenger Sales, of the Company was present at the award ceremony and received the award on behalf of Chairman Naresh Goyal.Chairman Naresh Goyal was nominated for the award for being a "true trendsetter", "an achiever" and "someone who has made significant contributions to the Travel and Tourism industry in India."

Most Innovative Product Launch Award

Jet Airways wins "Most Innovative Product Launch" Award
Jet Airways wins TravelBiz Monitor’s - Most Innovative Product Launch Award for its 'First Class' product on its long-haul flights. The Award was given away at the grand closing ceremony of the TAFI (Travel Agents Federation of India) International Travel Convention 2007 Abacus-TAFI Awards Nite on September 08, 2007 at the Magella Sutera of the Sutera Harbour Resort in Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia.Jet Airways have created the first airline 'suite' in the sky offering its customers the ultimate in privacy and luxury.Each First Class suite providing over 26sq ft of usable space, features dual sliding doors that create complete privacy for every passenger choosing to fly Jet Airways First Class.Each suite is designed to allow dining for two with a VIP/Business Jet style table, multiple LED lighting options, variable lumbar support and an eight point massage system.The state-of-the-art In-Flight Panasonic eX2 Entertainment system offers passengers over 200 hours of programming, audio CD's covering every imaginable music genre and all on demand and all heard through Bose noise cancellation headphones.For those wishing to work, laptop power and in flight telephones are available with the unique ability to send SMS and Email.

Friday, September 7, 2007

Chile & India Signs

September 4, 2007
Chile and India have signed a bilateral agreement establishing an open skies policy for air cargo and liberalizing passenger transport services, Chile's Civil Aeronautic Council (JAC) said on Monday.
The two countries previously had a more limited agreement, but the new treaty grants cargo transport "unlimited numbers of these services from and to Chile or India, using any type of aircraft and with full traffic rights to, from, or via any intermediary," the government said in a statement.
The statement said rights to cabotage -- the transport of cargo between two points within a country by a foreign carrier -- were excluded.
"We're allowing operators to transport cargo to a gigantic market, whose foreign trade grew 162 percent last year," said Jorge Frei, JAC secretary general, in reference to India.
The government said the agreement would also help to increase air passenger traffic between the two countries.
"It will significantly liberalize air passenger transport, helping airlines to establish operations or sell fares to Chile or India, helping to encourage the arrival of tourists from India," Frei said.
The Chilean government said trade between Chile and India has increased six times in the last five years.

Delhi second Airport


The Ministry of Civil Aviation has received a techno-feasibility study and project report from the Government of Uttar Pradesh (UP) for setting up an airport at Greater Noida. The Ministry has considered the report and has assured the State Government of Uttar Pradesh that it would require approximately three months to get an ‘in-principle’ approval for the airport from the Government of India under the prevailing circumstances. The proposal for setting up an airport at Greater Noida was first received by the Ministry of Civil Aviation from the Uttar Pradesh Government in 2001 and the technical approval for the selected site, was conveyed to the Ministry in 2003. The proposed site, identified for the construction of the Taj International Aviation Hub by the UP Government is nearly 72 kms. from Delhi and 120 kms. from Agra. Approximately 1500 hectares of land had been identified for the construction of the project. As per the feasibility report of the Uttar Pradesh Government the site has been selected keeping in mind all other strategic points in the nearby areas and so as to have the least environmental impact. The project cost is estimated at Rs. 35050 million.
The Taj Expressway Authority will be nominated as the Sponsor of the project and the land acquisition will be done in accordance with the policy of the UP Government. The project Sponsor will acquire the land .
The structure to be adopted will be that of a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) as Joint Venture with a private party selected through a competitive bidding process; wherein the equity composition will be – private party:74%, Government of UP through Sponsor: 13% and other Government agencies such as AAI :13%.

IATA Criticizes

September 06, 2007ATC

In a report sent privately to Brazilian officials and airlines, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) says Brazil’s military-run ATC system is “unreliable, unsafe and inefficient.” Labor problems and other disruptions in ATC have “magnified the deficiencies of the ATC system,” the report states, since last September’s midair between an ExcelAire Embraer Legacy 600 and Gol Airlines Boeing 737-800 over the Amazon, killing all 154 aboard the airliner. IATA says the 2006 accident rate for Brazilian operators was 3.5 times higher than the world average and emphasizes that fixes must be made immediately. It wants to “establish a communication link” with the Defense Ministry, which runs Brazils ATC system, to set up monthly collaborative decision-making meetings to address aviation safety issues. Further, the group is asking for the Defense Ministry to implement a contingency plan to mitigate ATC problems; resolve ATC political-labor issues; comply with all ICAO rules; and ensure that all area control centers have adequate radar surveillance, ground-to-air communications and navigational aids.

OnAir for in-flight internet & mobile services
India’s Kingfisher Airlines has signed with OnAir for in-flight Internet and mobile phone communications services for its planned long-haul international operations.OnAir announced this morning at Asian Aerospace in Hong Kong that the in-flight communications services will start to be introduced by Kingfisher in 2008, and that by 2009 passengers will be able to use the Internet while in-flight, as well as send and receive emails and make and receive calls on their own mobile devices.The services will initially be offered on five Airbus A330s and five Airbus A340-500s. OnAir says the airline plans to eventually have the system on all its long-range aircraft. The carrier also has Airbus A350s and A380s on order.Kingfisher is the first Indian carrier to sign with OnAir, which is a joint venture between Airbus and SITA. Its services are based on an onboard server connected to ground through Inmarsat’s broadband satellite infrastructure, SwiftBroadband.

Jet to 'cooperate' with Air India for market share
New Delhi: Jet Airways will "cooperate" with Air India to capture a larger share of international air traffic as it does with other global carriers, the company's chairman Naresh Goyal said in New Delhi on Tuesday."Air India is doing a great job. It will be a very good airline," Goyal said as he announced the launch of his carrier's new five-flights-a-week service to Toronto via Brussels from Wednesday."If we cooperate with Air India, the new Air India, we definitely can get a 50 per cent market share. We look forward to cooperating with Air India," he added, as Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel, listened with attention.Air India has plans to become a large carrier with a dominant position in both the domestic and international segments after the merger with Indian Airlines that has the government's approval.

Cargo Airport

RIL's cargo airport may take more time
New Delhi: Reliance Industries may have to wait a while before it can begin building its proposed cargo airport at Jhajjar in Haryana.The civil aviation ministry wants to carry out a study to estimate the impact of the proposed greenfield project on the cargo facilities created at Delhi airport.Since the Delhi airport is being expanded and modernised through a PPP model, green signal for the Jhajjar project would be available only if it is established that the existing facilities would not suffer due to additional capacity creation.

Thursday, September 6, 2007

Bill


Bill to monitor airport performance introduced
New Delhi: The Bill for setting up the Airport Economic Regulatory Authority (AERA), a body to regulate the country's airports, was introduced in the Lok Sabha today by Minister for Civil Aviation Praful Patel.The authority, expected to come up early next year, will determine airport tariffs and charges and will also have an appellate tribunal to settle disputes between stakeholders like airport developers, consumers and service providers.The act covers all airports including public, private and leased, greenfield airports and civil enclaves. However, airports maintained by the armed forces are not a part of the this act.Both the regulatory authority and the tribunal will have a chairman and two members selected by the central government. Later, the body will appoint officers, employees and experts to discharge its functions.The body will also set certain standards of performance for airports on the basis of criteria set by global aviation bodies like the Airports Council International (ACI), International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) and International Air Transport Association (IATA).
Jet airways wins SAP ACE 2007 Award
Jet Airways was awarded the prestigious SAP ACE 2007 – Award for Customer Excellence, in the Best Travel & Transportation Sector Implementation Category. The awards were announced by SAP INDIA, (Systems, Applications and Products in Data Processing) ,an arm of SAP AG, the world’s largest business software company Headquartered in Germany, having more than 41,200 customers worldwide.SAP India honoured the Best Run Businesses that are setting global benchmarks in excellence at SAP ACE 2007 Awards, at a function held in New Delhi.Jet Airways received this award for Project E3, that stands for Efficiency, Empowerment and Effectiveness. This was realized by contributions made by the key internal departments of Jet Airways like Finance, Human Resources, Purchase, Ground Services Department, Management Information Department, Information Systems Department & Communications.

In-Flight Mobile Calls

Kingfisher Airlines to offer in flight mobile calls to travelers
Indian airline company Kingfisher Airlines has announced that they would soon introduce in-flight mobile phone capability to their customers.The company would begin by offering this service on 10 of its aircraft. It would later be expanded to their entire fleet.Kingfisher added that they would also begin offering the capabilities to let the travelers use web chat and web mail.Starting 2009, the travelers on Kingfisher would be able to avail mobile phoning along with full internet access.
RIL's cargo airport may take more time
New Delhi: Reliance Industries may have to wait a while before it can begin building its proposed cargo airport at Jhajjar in Haryana.The civil aviation ministry wants to carry out a study to estimate the impact of the proposed greenfield project on the cargo facilities created at Delhi airport.Since the Delhi airport is being expanded and modernised through a PPP model, green signal for the Jhajjar project would be available only if it is established that the existing facilities would not suffer due to additional capacity creation.