Airlines need to build strong digital brands to survive the recession in 2009

In my first post of the year, I had collated predictions from industry experts for the future of the airline industry in 2009. Here's my own analysis on the current situation, and I feel, among other things, 2009 presents an opportunity for airlines to tap on technology to build stronger brands.

Allen Adamson, MD of Landor Associates, made a statement in a recent article he wrote that resonated with me completely.

"Conventional wisdom says that in tough economic times you take out the scalpel. You cut jobs, budgets, and programs, especially in the areas of advertising and brand-building. Well, for the first time in marketing history, there's an option that will increase rather than decrease your horsepower."

Allen was referring to digital branding - or using technology to build the brand. And as you'd have realized from some of my previous articles, I'm a die-hard fan of this emerging field. Branding through technology allows not just airlines, but all companies to leverage on a tool that not just creates buzz, but is often free or cheap compared to traditional marketing means.

Before I dive into why and how airlines can build a digital brand, let me address why airlines are shying away from digital branding.

Uncharted waters may be risky, and what about ROI?

Airlines, of all industries, tend to be very risk averse, due to the high cost environment that they operate in. It's only natural to take calculated risks, especially in this environment. But the essence is to take calculated risks. If the risks are well defined and counter-actions thought of in advance, then they're certainly worth a shot. The best way to beat fear is to define it.

The other factor that often comes in while taking a marketing investment decision is that of Return on Investment (ROI). In some cases, Web 2.0 initiatives can be directly linked to revenues, but many of the times, soft ROI metrics need to be employed. For example, the purpose can be to engage a new target market, like students, by building an online community like GenFlyLounge by Lufthansa. Another aim can be to engage the employees better, just like Malaysia Airlines does with their blog. The key is to have a well-defined ROI metric before embarking on the project.

Now that I've settled some nerves about venturing online with your brand, the question is why do it? For that, let's revisit what branding actually is.

Brand Building 101

Here's my own very simple definition of what airline branding is all about (feel free to quote me on this!).

An airline first needs to define itself and know what it stands for. Next, it needs to communicate this message effectively to its target markets.

I believe all airlines will be able to build a brand through the above two-part process. But to really stand out, a brand needs to be unique (something others can't offer), it needs to be genuine (and often personal) and it needs to be buzzworthy (worth talking about). And this is exactly what I believe technology can help airline brands achieve with relative ease.

Advantages of building an airline brand online

There are four key factors I feel airlines can benefit from, which come with building a brand online.

1. Interaction without interruption - Airline brands are able to reach their target audience without disrupting the flow of their normal activities. Instead of having distracting (and expensive) billboards or advertisements, they can seamlessly integrate the message with a medium well suited for engagement. Virgin Atantic's Facebook page is a great example of this.


2. Co-creation: Consumers these days like to have a say in the product and marketing strategy. And online tools like Twitter to gather feedback and use of sites like Suggestionbox.com gives consumers a stake in the game.


3. Building a personality: It's much easier to build a personality online, rather than offline. For example, having employees blog about the airline, or having the CEO maintain his own blog suddently adds life to a faceless airline.


4. Ease of experience: Airlines can use online tools to allow passengers to experience the brand without even stepping on-board the plane. Cathay Pacific's online experience site is a great example of this.

So, doesn't it make sense to venture online with your airline's brand?

These are just very brief points on the advantages of building a strong airline brand online. If you're keen to learn more, I'd like to invite you to register for a free educational webinar being led by me tomorrow, Janurary 8, entitled "Airlines 2.0: Using technology for innovative branding through the recession."

Remember, you can still win a 2GB Apple iPod by commenting on any of the articles and subscribing to SimpliFlying by emailRSS for regular updates. The deadline for the contest is this Saturday, 10 Jan 2008. Hurry!
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This is a guest post by Shashank Nigam, the author of SimpliFlying, a leading airline branding blog. He is a leading airline brand strategist and a well respected speaker and columnist on the topic.

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Kingfisher to commence London, Hong Kong, Singapore, Colombo services through January, starting tomorrow

Update - January 6. It never struck me, when posting the original article, but based on the timings, Kingfisher can offer passengers, connection between Singapore and London via Mumbai. Further, if Kingfisher can streamline its current Bangalore London operations with better slots at Heathrow, it need only one Airbus A330 instead of the current two. It can deploy that aircraft on a Mumbai-Singapore-Sydney route, since Qantas is reportedly withdrawing its Mumbai - Sydney service. An added benefit for Kingfisher will be to offer a complete Kangaroo route.

Original Article - January 4.
Kingfisher Airlines will launch a slew of international services to London, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Colombo, through the month of January, starting tomorrow.

Mumbai, India - London Heathrow, United Kingdom
On 5th January, Kingfisher will commence its second international flight, on the Mumbai Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport - London Heathrow sector. Kingfisher's only existing international service is also to London Heathrow, from Bangalore, launched in September 2008.

Kingfisher will deploy its new VT-VJx series Airbus A330-200 aircraft on this route, in a two class configuration. The Kingfisher First features full flat seats with massage, touch-screen controls, full size pillows and merino wool blankets. Both classes features an in-flight entertainment system.

IT7 will depart Mumbai 13:50 and arrive London Heathrow Terminal 4 at 17:55.
IT8 will depart London Heathrow 20:30 and arrive Mumbai at 11:00 the next day.

Mumbai, India - Hong Kong, SAR
Kingfisher has scheduled operations, on the Mumbai - Hong Kong sector, to commence from January 12, 2009, using the Airbus A330-200 VT-VJx series.

IT31 will depart Mumbai 00:15 and arrive Hong Kong at 08:45.
IT32 will depart Hong Kong at 14:00 and arrive Mumbai at 17:30.

Mumbai, India - Singapore
Kingfisher has scheduled operations, on the Mumbai - Singapore sector, to commence from January 16, 2009, using the same Airbus A330-200 VT-VJx series.

IT21 will depart Mumbai 23:40 and arrive Singapore at 07:40 the next day.
IT22 will depart Singapore 09:20 and arrive Mumbai at 12:10.

Bangalore and Chennai, India - Colombo, Sri Lanka
Kingfisher has scheduled operations, on the Bangalore - Colombo and Chennai - Colombo sectors, to commence from January 19, 2009, using the narrow body Airbus A320 aircraft.

IT61 will depart Chennai 07:15 and arrive Colombo at 08:15.
IT62 will depart Colombo 17:30 and arrive Chennai at 18:30.

IT63 will depart Bangalore 15:00 and arrive Colombo at 16:20.
IT64 will depart Colombo 09:15 and arrive Bangalore at 10:30.

With the exception of the Singapore flights, I am concerned at the amount of time, the aircraft are spending at the destinations. Airplanes on the ground, only cost, not earn, money,

For more details visit the Kingfisher Airlines' website. Click here to download the schedules in Excel format.

Congrats to Kingfisher for finally ramping up the international show.

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British Airways' December performance reflects global trade meltdown

British Airways today, reported its performance for December 2008. The airline's performance is in line with IATA's November 2008 report, which highlights a deepening of the global economic slowdown.

Capacity declines are in line with actual performance. Compared to December 2007, passenger capacity, measured in Available Seat Kilometres (ASK), was down 3 percent, Actual passenger performance, measured in Revenue Passenger Kilometres (RPK), fell by 3.4 per cent, passenger load factor decreased by 0.2 per cent to 76.7 per cent.

It also appears that corporate passengers are belt tightening, and moving to the back of the plane. Premium passenger traffic (first and business class) decreased by 12.1 per cent while economy decreased by a comparatively modest 1.7 per cent.

The alarming fall, which highlights economic slowdown, is in cargo performance, measured in Freight Tonne Kilometres (FTK), fell by 14.3 per cent.

Globally air cargo transports about 35 per cent to 40 per cent of global trade, by value. Globally, air cargo FTK fell by 13.5 per cent in November 2008, when compared to a year ago. The December fall by British Airways, highlight the continuing and rapid decline of global trade, and deepening of the already significant economic slowdown.

2009 will see economies become a lot worse before improving.

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Still red hot - Virgin's 25th anniversary video

Apart from Singapore Airlines, the best airline I have flown in my 4 million miles, is Virgin Atlantic.

Today, Virgin launched its 25th anniversary celebrations, with a video reflective of its irreverent yet high energy culture.

Virgin's inaugural flight was from London Gatwick to Newark (EWR) on June 22 1984, at a time when the United Kingdom was in the middle of a miner's strike. The ad features brands and icons from the period; Our Price record stores, Wimpy fast food, Rubik's cube, Asteroids video game, braces, frumpy air-mummies, braces, big hairdos and monster brick mobile phones.

"Relax" by Frankie Goes to Hollywood was riding high in the charts, is the theme music for the ad, and should be your mood for the next 90 seconds.

Do you think Virgin is "Still red hot" as the ad claims ? As usual your comments are requested and welcomed.

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Indian navy orders 8 Boeing P-8I maritime reconnaissance aircraft

The Government of India has ordered eight Boeing P-8I long range maritime reconnaissance (LRMR) aircraft.

At $2.1 billion this will be the biggest-ever defence deal of India with United States, double of the $962-million contract signed with US for six C-130J `Super Hercules' aircraft for use by Indian special forces, last year.

The Boeing P-8A Poseidon is a long-range anti-submarine warfare, anti-surface warfare, intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance aircraft first developed for the US Navy, as a replacement to the ageing P3C Orion, on the successful Boeing 737 airframe.

The P-8I has been customised for India, and the platform's electronics are crucially required in plugging the huge gaps in the Indian Navy's maritime monitoring and surveillance capabilities. The P-8I will also be armed with the deadly, anti-ship, Harpoon missiles, torpedoes and depth bombs to give them potent anti-submarine and anti-surface warfare capability.

The P-8I's are expected to "enhance interoperability" between the Indian and US navies, and is a critical step in the on-going efforts of greater cooperation and growth strategic embrace between the two nations.

The actual signing took place on January 1, with the Indian defence ministry's joint secretary and acquisitions manager (maritime systems) Preeti Sudan and Boeing integrated defence systems vice-president and country head Vivek Lall signing the contract

India will get the first P-8I within 4 years, i.e. end-2012 or early-2013, the rest following in a phased manner by 2015. The contract also provides an option for India to order four to eight more such planes.

While the deal has been long in the making, the recent 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks, have provided a boost to the closure. Both the Navy and the Coast Guard were criticised for not being able to pre-empt the attacks, and protection of the long Indian coast line has suddenly become a major priority of the Government.

The P-8I will replace the ageing and fuel-guzzling Russian Tupolev-142Ms of the Indian Navy. Presently, the Navy uses the TU-142Ms, IL-38SDs and Dorniers for surveillance operations in the Indian Ocean region.

The Navy is also shopping for six new medium-range maritime reconnaissance aircraft valued at Rs. 1,600 crore ($ 350 million), to achieve its aim of an effective three-tier surveillance grid in the entire Indian Ocean.

For innermost layer (up to 350 km) surveillance, the Navy is procuring two more Israeli Heron UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles), with three ground control stations and two ship control stations, for Rs 386 crore after successfully deploying eight Searcher-II and four Heron UAVs. A joint Indian-Israeli Rs. 1,186 crore effort is on, for developing rotary-wing UAVs for use from warships.

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March of Emirates across Indian skies

On 16 October 2008, Emirates Airlines, moved all operations at Dubai International Airport to Terminal 3. Terminal 3 is over 1,500,000 m2 (370 acres) in size, the single largest terminal building in the world, and is dedicated exclusively to Emirates Airlines.

The move demonstrated the meteoric rise of the airline since its inception on May 25, 1985 with just two leased Airbus A300 and one Boeing 737-300 aircraft, to the titan of the airline industry, it has become today.

Emirates has recorded a profit every year, except in it's second, and growth has never fallen below 20% a year. In its first 11 years, it doubled in size every 3.5 years, and has every four years since. The Emirates Group announced a net profits of Dhs5 billion (US$1.37 billion) for the financial year ended 31 March 2008, a 62% increase over the previous year. Business lore has it, that Emirates airline's turnover is almost 20 per cent of Dubai's GDP.

Credit to Emirates' business model, which has led to their phenomenal success. Despite being considered one of the best providers of services, Emirates practices a lean workforce policy, and simple organisational structure, which is comparable to low-cost carriers, instead of the complex and bloated workforces at most legacy and full service airlines. Like it's super-profitable, high service level, compatriot, Singapore Airlines, Emirates operates an "all wide body" fleet, which results in lower costs, while allowing Emirates to earn additional revenue utilising cargo capacity.

The low overheads, coupled with a no income tax regime at Dubai, gives it operating costs that is the envy of the airline world. Industry analysts believe that Emirates has a cash cost per seat basis second only to Ryanair. The Dubai airport is another ace in the hole for Emirates. The airport's low operating costs, round the clock operations, and geographic location, give Emirates a significant competitive advantage.

India has always been on the forefront of Emirates' radar screen. India has always been a "west bound" country, with maximum traffic to North America (USA being India's biggest trading partner), Europe, and Middle East.

Emirates' first flights were to Karachi in Pakistan and Mumbai, India. Utilising the geographic position of it's home base Dubai, Emirates has been steadily capturing the traffic from South Asia to North America, allowing passengers to bypass the traditional hubs of London Heathrow, Frankfurt, and Paris Charles De Gaulle; the home bases of British Airways, Lufthansa, and Air France, with a transit stop in beautiful Dubai airport instead. Similarly, Emirates competes with British Airways, Qantas, Singapore Airlines, and other airlines on the lucrative London to Sydney "Kangaroo Run".

The imposition of mandatory transit visas by most European countries, on South Asians does not help the cause of their airlines, since South Asian get automatic transit visas in Dubai. The fabulous duty shopping and bargains galore, add to the passenger draw.

In November 2008, Emirates, already holding the position as the number one foreign airline to India, announced that it would add another 31 weekly flights to India by early 2009, taking it's total to a staggering 163 flights per week from 10 cities in India.

This at a time, when other foreign airlines were cutting back their services to India, and India's airline industry struggling to overcome the economic malaise of theirs and the Government's of India making.

Emirates has already muscled it's way in, at the traditional strongholds of traditional, major foreign airlines, British Airways, Lufthansa, and Singapore Airlines; Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, Kolkata, and Bangalore. Now it is beginning to crowd them out with its capacity.

Just as an example, Chennai, the traditional stronghold of Singapore Airlines with 11 flights a week. In 2006, Emirates had 4 flights a week. In less than 2 years, today, it has 19 flights a week, which will become triple-daily i.e. 21 flights a week from Winter 2009. In the mean time, Singapore Airlines has cut back its flights to 9 a week, and even that looks unsure.

Emirates, has also announced plans of adding another 19 flights by the Winter 2009 schedule. At 182 flights, keeping in mind, the speed with which Indian carriers Jet Airways, Kingfisher Airlines, and Air India, are withdrawing their international services, Emirates stands become the largest airline operating internationally, in India.

Some will compare this expansion to capacity dumping, since only Mumbai, New Delhi, and maybe, Bangalore have the ability to absorb the seats and cargo space offered. Below is a brief review of Emirates plans for each of its Indian gateways. It is important to keep in mind, Emirates has an "all wide body" fleet, and operates only Boeing 777s and A330s to India.

Ahmedabad*
Emirates will increase its existing 8 weekly flights to a double daily i.e. 14 flights a week in it's Winter 2009 schedule which commences December 1, 2009.

Singapore Airlines is going to stay at its 3 weekly flights for the foreseeable future.

Bangalore
Emirates will operate 20 weekly flights. Cargo capacity will increase to 340 tonnes.

Jet Airways is withdrawing its Brussels flight, Singapore Airlines has reduced frequency from 10 weekly flights to 7, Kingfisher is struggling to fill seats on it's daily London Heathrow flight, as are Lufthansa, Air France, Malaysia Airlines, Thai Airways, and British Airways. Air India operates one puny Airbus A320 direct to Dubai and one with international transit connectivity at Mumbai, and is barely clinging on.

Chennai
By February 2009 weekly 19 flights. Due to increase to triple-dailies from Winter 2009.

Singapore Airlines has cut capacity from 11 weekly flights to 9. Malaysian and Thai Airways are fighting an uphill battle. British Airways has reduced frequency from 6 flights a week to 4, Air France is experiencing pressure and is operating only thrice a week. Lufthansa reduced it's aircraft size from a Boeing 747-400 to an Airbus A340-600 now down to a Airbus A340-300. Only Sri Lankan airlines, in which Emirates has a stake, is performing acceptably.

Kochi*
Currently Emirates operates 12 flights per week, Emirates will add another two flights in February 2009 taking the total to 14 flights a week.

Competition ? What is that ?

Kolkata
Current Emirates operates a daily flight which will be upgraded to 11 flights a week in Winter 2009.

British Airways has announced withdrawal from Kolkata, and Lufthansa has reduced frequency to thrice a week.

Kozhikode* (Calicut)
From the existing 6 flights a week Emirates will increase to 11 weekly flights.

Hyderabad
Emirates will serve the city with a triple-daily operations by February 2009.

KLM is discontinuing operations. Lufthansa has already reduced frequency from a daily flight to 5 flights a week. British Airways just commenced with 5 flights a week, but it remains to be seen how the operations holds up in the future.

Mumbai
Effective February 1, Emirates will serve Mumbai with a fifth-daily operation i.e. 35 flights a week, providing the city with a service almost every five hours. Cargo capacity on the route will increase to 641 tonnes per week.

Air India and Jet Airways are trimming their European, and US services. Only time will tell, how successful Kingfisher's service to Heathrow, due to commence on January 5, 2009, will be.

New Delhi
India's capital which was initially served by 18 weekly flights will have a total weekly frequency of 25 flights per week post expansion. Weekly cargo capacity will increase to 389 tonnes.

Air India and Jet Airways are trimming their European, and US services.

Thiruvananthapuram* (Trivandrum)
From the current 8 flights a week, Emirates will ramp up to 10 flights a week, and then up to 12 flights a week in Winter 2009.

*Tier II cities. In these cities the Emirates' capacity build-up appears to be pre-emptive in nature, to establish a base and prevent other airlines from entering.

Emirates' Chairman Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, Vice Chairman Maurice Flanagan, and President Tim Clark have built a formidable competitor. With it's new non-stop flights to San Francisco, Emirates has breached the ultimate barrier, now offering a one-stop connection between the Silicon Valley (SFO) and Silicon Plateau (BLR). Their march will continue this relentless pace.

While competition is good, and I am ardent propent, the leadership in India has to become pro-active lest Emirates crowds out all other carriers from India, at which point the country will be at the mercy of this giant. Politicians in India need to start pushing Indian airlines to start operating internationally. They should get out of the rut and let any Indian carrier fly internationally. In parallel they will have to twist the arms of British Airways, Lufthansa, Air France, and other legacy European carriers, to obtain favourable slots for Air India and other Indian carriers at London Heathrow, Frankfurt, and Paris Charles De Gaulle.

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Things I will not travel without

There are many road warriors who visit Bangalore Aviation regularly. We road warriors have a list of items we will never leave home, for a trip, without. This is my "crucial items list". Please share your list via a comment.

1. Blackberry
Love this GSM device from RIM. It is the device for the road warrior. The Nokia E series, iPhone, Windows Mobile, Treo, I have used them all, and dumped them; in favour of my Blackberry Curve 8310. I use it for my messaging (e-mail and SMS), basic internet, GPS, music, videos, and much more. Even do my blog with it. Works all over the world, with the exception of Japan and Korea, but then, I don't visit either country too much.

2. Cellular modem and my laptop
As incredulous as it sounds, I find public internet connectivity more difficult to find in India, than most countries I visit. Sure there are tons of Cyber-cafes, but very little connectivity for my laptop. For full featured internet on my laptop, I always pack my Tata Indicom CDMA based "data card" cellular modem. Any day better data throughput in India when compared to GSM, and no roaming charges. At the end of a hard day, in a foreign land with minimal English programming on TV, I crank up my laptop, and play one of my favourite movies. After going through enough brands, even today, I swear by the IBM er Lenovo ThinkPad. Toshiba and HP Pavilion are two brands I swear at.

3. Bose QuietComfort Headphones and eye-shades
These "anti noise" headphones are amazing. Again a TABF (tried all but failed) situation with Senhieser, Sharper Image, and others, I have forgotten. Expensive, but worth every penny. I use the "over the ear" QC2. Cover your ears with it, and flick the switch and it is blissful silence on-board even the nosiest aircraft. I lost one piece on a Lufthansa flight, and was in panic till I bought a replacement. The perfect companion to the headphones -- eye-shades. Cut out the light and catch up on some much needed sleep, whether catnaps on short flights, or extended snoozes on long ones.

4. Books, novels, and magazines
At least for little while, get away from those e-mails, spreadsheets and presentations. I never open my laptop on board a flight. I find reading a great way to educate and entertain myself. Friends often ask me, how come, I know so much about so many subjects. Now you know my secret. I learn from the masters, Tom Friedman, Paul Krugman, Tom Clancy, Nandan Nilekani, Jack Mingo, Harvard Business Review, Siddharth Basu, and a whole lot of others.

5. Business cards and holder
Globally, business cards are a must. In Asia, business card etiquette is an art by itself. Adequate quantity of cards, proper storage in a business card holder, proper presentation, holding the card with both hands, face up, facing the presentee(s), and presenting the card stating your name, in hierarchical senior to junior order. Your business card, don't leave home without it.

6. American Express card
I know this will sound like the ad cliché, but I do not leave for a trip without it. The Platinum Card has no spending limit, offers insurance on car rentals saving me money, Membership Rewards, the Concierge service, and once when I lost my card in the middle of nowhere, customer service came to the rescue.

7. Empty water bottle
Now that we are not allowed to carry water through security, and with diminishing service levels in the air, I make sure I carry a 500ml (20 fl. oz) water bottle on board, even if it is empty. Just before the flight doors close, I request the cabin crew to fill it up. This is the one time in the flight the crew is relatively relaxed and will gladly help. They also know, you will disturb them less during the flight, asking for water. As all of us road warriors know, airplane flights are very dehydrating and water is the best drink to have on board.

Share with us the things that you cannot, or will not, travel without ?

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Jet Airways special low fares on international sectors

Jet Airways has announced a basket of special deals on its international flights. Remember all fares mentioned herein are exclusive of surcharge and taxes.

Mumbai/Delhi/Chennai/Kolkata – Singapore/Hong Kong/Bangkok

Companion Free Offer on Premiére (business class)
Jet Airways’ international Premiére customers travelling to Singapore and Hong Kong can now avail of exciting Companion Free travel offers.

A Mumbai – Singapore Premiére return fare is available for two persons travelling together for a sum of INR 1,01,250. Hong Kong is INR 94,500, Bangkok is INR 57,065.

Jet also has Delhi – Bangkok, Delhi - Singapore, Chennai - Singapore, Chennai – Kuala Lumpur, and Kolkata – Bangkok sectors.

Special offers for individual travel
Premiére class return fare of INR 54,000 for Mumbai - Hong Kong.

Economy class return fare of INR 7,480 for travel between Mumbai – Singapore, INR 12,635 for Mumbai – Singapore, INR 9,750 Mumbai - Bangkok.

Mumbai/Delhi – London Heathrow

Special offers for individual travel
India and London Heathrow, a special return Premiére fare of INR 85,000 for a 14 day Advance Purchase or APEX. Economy class fares start at INR 15,990.

Double JPMiles
Jet Airways JetPrivilege members travelling on Mumbai/Delhi - London return sectors can earn Double JPMiles until January 15, 2009. This is applicable on First Class, Premiére and Economy class travel.

Mumbai – New York (Newark / JFK)

Special offer for individual travel
Mumbai - New York (Newark / JFK) Economy class return fare of INR 32,600.

For further information and sales and travel validity, customers may visit www.jetairways.com, or contact their nearest travel agent, or call the reservations number (city code) 3989-3333, or call Toll free on 1800-22-55-22.

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Shocking drop in global air cargo confirms global economic meltdown

The recently announced results by The International Air Transport Association (IATA), is nothing short of shocking.

International air cargo is down by a whopping 13.5 per cent in November when compared to November 2007, and passenger growth is down by 4.6 per cent.

Graph legend
RPK - Revenue Passenger Kilometres (sales)
ASK - Available Seat Kilometres (capacity)
FTK - Freight Ton Kilometres (sales)
ATK - Available Ton Kilometres (capacity)


Even for year to date comparisons January to November between 2008 and 2007, global air cargo is down 2.2 per cent


Globally air cargo transports about 35 per cent to 40 per cent of global trade, by value. The negative growth in air cargo clearly shows the rapid fall in global trade, and the broadening impact of the deepening economic slowdown.

Even the middle east, the region showing consistent growth, slipped in to negative territory at -1.6 per cent. The largest air freight zone, Asia Pacific, which contributes 44.6 per cent to global air freight, contracted by the largest -16.90 per cent. Capacity cuts of 1 per cent in passenger and 3.7 per cent in cargo, could not keep up with the rapid declines.

India
As per data from the Airports Authority of India, available till October 2008; India year-to-date passenger performance is significantly worse than the rest of Asia Pacific and global performance. Passenger growth is down to -3.4 per cent vs. -0.8 per cent (Asia Pacific) and +2.2 per cent global.

However on the freight front, India has a Y-T-D growth of 4.2 per cent based on actual tonnage, compared to -4.7 per cent in Asia Pacific and -2.2 per cent globally.


Bangalore
For some unexplainable reason, Bangalore's performance is way below the national standard, at -14.8 per cent and -5.3 per cent for monthly passenger and freight performance, and -8 per cent and -7 per cent for year to date passenger and freight performance.

Highlights of the IATA report :

International Passenger Traffic

• The November passenger decline of 4.6% is a considerable worsening from both the 1.3% demand contraction in October and the 2.9% fall in September.
• Asia-Pacific carriers face the most difficult operating environment with a 9.7% decline in November, following a 6.1% contraction in October. The region also had the most aggressive capacity cuts at -5.1%. While Chinese domestic traffic rebounded after the Olympics, travel to and from international markets continues to decline, reflecting the weakness in both global trade and consumer confidence.
• North American carriers saw international traffic decline by 4.8% - the second largest drop among the regions. Until August, the region’s carriers had been shifting capacity to international markets. With the near collapse of the investment banking sector and consequent reductions in business travel, North Atlantic travel slumped. Carriers have started to cut international capacity with a 0.8% drop in November (following 0.4% growth in October)
• European carriers saw international traffic drop by 3.4% as all the region’s major markets (intra-Europe, North Atlantic, and Asia) slumped.
• Smaller emerging markets fared better. African carriers saw traffic decline by 1.6%. This is a considerable improvement from the 12.9% drop in October, resulting from stronger intra-African traffic. Middle Eastern carriers saw traffic increase by 5.6%. This is up from 3.5% growth in October, but represents a step-change from the double-digit expansion that characterized growth prior to the current financial crisis. Latin American carriers saw a slight decline in growth to 3.3% (compared to 4.5% growth in October), buoyed by the region’s positive, albeit slower, economic growth.

International Freight Traffic

• Asia-Pacific carriers (representing 44.6% of global freight) saw freight traffic fall by 16.9% in November - the largest decline of any region. As freight accounts for a larger percentage of revenues for the Asia-Pacific carriers, fourth quarter profits for the region’s carriers will be disproportionately (and negatively) impacted by the downturn in the global air freight market.
• Double-digit freight declines were also experienced by Latin American carriers (-15.7%), North American carriers (-14.4%) and European carriers (-11.0%). Freight traffic for Middle Eastern carriers turned negative (-1.6%), following 1.0% growth in October. African carriers, while being the only region posting freight growth (2.2%), saw a decline from the 3.0% growth posted in October. Plummeting business confidence and the continuing turmoil in financial markets indicates that the worsening trend will be continued in December.

Giovanni Bisignani, IATA’s Director General and CEO said

“The industry is now shrinking by all measures. The 1.0% capacity cut in international passenger markets in November could not keep pace with the 4.6% fall in passenger demand. We can expect deep losses in the fourth quarter,”

“With no end in sight for the worsening global economy, the 2008 gloom will carry over into the new year. Relief in the oil price has been outstripped by the falls in demand and capacity cuts are not keeping pace. The industry is back in intensive care. Improving efficiency everywhere will be theme for 2009,”

While the end to the global economic slowdown is still much further away than expected, the freight performance in India, shows us, the Indian economy is still performing well. We have to defeat the FUD Factor (Fear Uncertainty Doubt) that is in our minds.

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IndiGo, Jet, JetLite, SpiceJet offer "low fares"

IndiGo, Jet Airways, JetLite, and SpiceJet have announced Advance Purchase Excursion (APEX) fares for all purchases made at least 21 days before the flight departure.

Jet Airways offers a fare of INR 250 while JetLite offers a fare of INR 9. The booking and sale validity of this offer is from January 1 to January 31, 2009.

SpiceJet is offering ‘Spicy Hot Fares’ starting INR 99 across its network and is valid till June 30, 2009.

IndiGo's APEX scheme is called 'Early Bird Fares' and start at INR 99.

All fares mentioned above are exclusive of taxes and surcharge, and this is where the kicker comes. The fuel surcharges are still around INR 2,000 for short distance (under 750km) and INR 3,000 for long distance.

I really wish that airlines respect their passengers' intelligence. These APEX fares while welcome, remind me of the earlier times when airlines used to offer a "fly free" concept. After all, we do know basic arithmetic.

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Engine safety inspection directive to affect Airbus A320 family

Both the European EASA and US FAA have issued emergency Airworthiness Directives ADs for operators of CFM56-5B engines, typically operated on the Airbus A320 family of aircraft, which include the A318, A319, A320 and A321.

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EASA Emergency Airworthiness Directive 2008-228 and the FAA Airworthiness Directive AD 2009-01-01, requests operators of CFM56-5B engines, to monitor Exhaust Gas Temperatures (EGT) for deterioration. If both engines show deteriorations of 80 or more degrees, at least one engine must be replaced according to the new directive. EGT monitoring is a crucial aspect of flight operations.

The emergency directives come after an incident, in which an Airbus A321-200 experienced compressor stalls on both engines during initial climb out on December 15th 2008. While not disclosed, it is suspected, this is the incident involving Air France Airbus A321-200, F-GTAJ, flight AF 2585 from Tunis to Paris CDG, where the flight had to return to Tunis 14 minutes after take-off due to "unspecified engine problems".

The CFM56-5B is a very popular engine with over 60% of Airbus A320 family operators, selecting them.

In India, Indian (now Air India) operates the CFM engine on the new series of Airbus aircraft, part of the 43 ordered by them in 2006. Indian had ordered 20 Airbus A321s, 19 Airbus A319s and four A320s. The older series of Indian's A320 fleet use engines from IAE, as do most of India's private operators, Kingfisher Airlines, Kingfisher Red, and IndiGo, which are not impacted by these ADs.

I must stress that there is no need for passengers to treat these ADs as negative, and Air India has an excellent maintenance record.

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Video of global air traffic over 24 hours

Happy 2009.

As we wake up to a new year, I bring you an interesting video I came across on YouTube, which shows the global air traffic over 24 hours. But speeded up to complete in one minute.

Air traffic follows the sun, at its peak during daylight, just like most human activity does.

In the initial stages of the video as it is day time in Asia and evening approaches in the Americas, there is massive activity in the USA, and hordes of flights being launched towards Europe over the Atlantic.

At the same time as morning approaches Europe, the flights start descending on to Europe from both east and west, which then return back mid-day in Europe.

There are interesting patterns along the South East Asia to North East Asia routes, and also South America to the Iberian peninsula.

But the flights to, from, and within the United States, whether trans-Atlantic or trans-Pacific is simply staggering.

I also invite your attention to the number of flights over India at night.

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