Pictures: Eurofighter Typhoons arrive at Yelahanka for Aero India 2011

Two Eurofighter Typhoons of the Italian Air Force (tail numbers 4-5 and 36-23) arrived at the Air Force Station Yelahanka to participate in the 8th edition of the Aero India show.

On the ramp at Yelahanka next to the Sukhoi Su30MKI air superiority fighter

The Eurofighter is a strong contender for the $10+ billion tender for the Indian Air Force (IAF) Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA).

Rumours have it that the Eurofighter is the top or second place finalist, but that the price is the sticking factor. Apparently the Americans (Boeing F/A-18 Super Hornet and Lockheed Martin F-16IN Super Viper) are way down in the competition and are being placated with the Boeing C-17 Globemaster III order which is also of similar value.

The wildcard though, remains the Swedish Grippen. Its engines are the GE F414 which power the F/A-18's and have also been selected for the Tejas Mk II. The Grippen's look-down shoot down radar is also of US origin and there are serious concerns that the Americans may not give the needed permissions to fructify the sale of the Grippen to the IAF.

What are your thoughts ?

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Air India reports operational profit. True long term improvement or just a peak month jump?

National carrier Air India has recorded it’s second consecutive month of operational profit.

The carrier posted an operating surplus of Rs 49.48 Crores ($11.22 million) in December 2010, up from Rs 21.66 crore in November 2010.

While the carrier feels this is largely due to recent efforts at improvement in efficiency parameters and adoption of better yield management strategies, most analysts attribute this to the fact that November through January are the peak travel months of the year in India. It will be interesting to see Air India's results for month of February 2011.

A company spokesperson said,

“Air India’s combined passenger load factor [PLF] during December 2010 was 70 %. While the domestic operations recorded a high 79.8 %, the international routes also registered a PLF of 67.1 %.”

Air India still has a very long way to go. One can compare the 67.1% PLF to the 80.6% reported by private sector Jet Airways on its international operations just two days ago, and keep in mind this was for the whole quarter which includes a relatively slow October, whereas Air India is reporting only December, the peak month in Indian air travel.

Air India’s network passenger revenue for the first nine months of fiscal 2011 (April through December) rose up 21% to Rs. 7,941 Crores ($1.802 billion) from Rs. 6,564 crores during the corresponding period from the previous fiscal. From this international services contributed 63% or Rs. 5,008 crores up 14.3% from Rs. 4,380 Crores in the previous year. Domestic services contributed 37% earning Rs. 2,933 crores up 34.3% from 2,184 crores last year.

The carrier though reported that there was an increased in routes profitability with 106 of 179 routes making a cash profit. The question which naturally arises is why is the the airline operating the other 73 routes? Political compulsions or any other reason?

What is your view on these points?

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Boeing 787 Dreamliner not coming to Bangalore for Aero India 2011

The Times of India newspaper published earlier today that Boeing would be bringing its 787 Dreamliner to the Aero India show due to commence next week.

Sources at Boeing told Bangalore Aviation that the Times of India story was wrong. The source went on to indicate that Aero India is a defence oriented show and it did not make any sense for the company to bring the new civilian jetliner to the show.

So our hearts experienced a momentary flutter of short-lived joy.

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Change of guard at BIAL, Hari Marar to take over from Marcel Hungerbuehler

It is official. As reported by Bangalore Aviation in June last year, Mr. Hari Marar will assume leadership of the airport operations group from Marcel Hungerbuehler, as President - Operations from March 1, 2011, at the Bengaluru International Airport Ltd.

We will bring you an interview in due course with both these gentlemen. Stay tuned.

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Jet Airways posts strong growth in Q3 fiscal 2011 - an analysis

Aided by the resurgent Indian economy, improvement in global business and leisure travel, Mumbai based Jet Airways group (Jet Airways, Jet Airways Konnect, and JetLite) posted strong results for the third quarter of fiscal year 2011, which ended December 31, 2010

Profit before tax for group for the quarter increased a whopping 122% from Rs. 109.8 crore (US$ 23.6 million) to Rs. 243.5 crore (US$ 54.5 million) compared to Q3FY2010 on the back of an 18.8% increase in revenue to Rs. 4001.7 crore (US$ 895.1 million).

Jet Airways domestic and international operational parameters share comparison

Operations highlights for quarter when compared to the same quarter a year ago (excluding JetLite) include:

• Capacity measured in available seat kilometers (ASKMs) up 12.5% to 8,866 million
• Performance measured in revenue passenger kilometers (RPKMs) up 11.5% to 7,032 million
• Number of passengers up 15.3% to 3.94 million
• Average seat factors up down from 80% to 79.3%
• Addition of seven new aircraft (six ATR-72-500s and one Boeing 737-800)
• Overall cost per ASKM (CASK) increased 2.1% to Rs. 2.90 on the back of fuel price increases. Without fuel costs CASK was reduced 3% to Rs. 1.66. Overall revenue per RPKM increased 7.4% to Rs. 3.92 taking gross revenue per km up 25.9% from Rs. 0.81 to Rs. 1.02.
  
• International CASK decreased 3.1% to Rs. 2.27 reflecting the airline's cost efficiency vs. rising fuel prices. International revenue per RPKM increased 6.5% to Rs. 3.01, taking gross revenue per km up 54.2% from Rs. 0.48 to Rs. 0.74.
  
• Domestic CASK increased 7.8% to Rs. 4.06 reflecting the exaggerated effect of domestic over-taxation on fuel prices. Domestic revenue per RPKM increased 6.3% to Rs. 5.69, taking gross revenue per km up 87.34% from Rs. 1.58 to Rs. 2.96.
• Overall average gross revenue per passenger increased 3.7% from Rs. 7,493 to Rs. 7,226. Due to stronger Rupee this increased 7.9% when measured in US Dollars from $155.3 to $167.6.
• International average gross revenue per passenger decreased 0.4% to Rs. 12,652.
• Domestic average gross revenue per passenger increased 6.2% to Rs. 5,210.

Financial highlights (excluding JetLite) include:

• Revenue up 19.7% to Rs. 3,515.2 crore (US$ 786.3 million)
• EBITDAR up 17.4% to Rs. 851.1 crore (US$ 190.4 million)
• EBITDAR Margin at 24.5% in Q3 FY11 versus 25.0% in Q3 FY10
• Profit before tax up 106% to Rs. 217. crore (US$ 48.7 million)
• Profit after tax up 12% to Rs. 118.2 crore (US$ 26.4 million)

Note: Rates of exchange used 1 US $ = INR 44.705 for current quarter and 1 US $ = INR 46.530 for previous year same quarter.

Observations:

• The consistent improvement in EBITDAR margin despite higher fuel costs is mainly due to improved yields, high levels of seat factor and other cost efficiencies.
• Jet Airways achieved a yield improvement of 16% in Q3FY11 over Q2FY11 whilst JetLite achieved a yield improvement of 11% in Q3FY11 over Q2FY11.
• This performance is despite higher costs of fuel during the quarter, where the price of fuel went up by 5.0 % as compared to Q2FY11 and by 12.0 % as compared to Q3FY10.
• The Jet Group continues to maintain its leadership position in the Indian aviation industry with the highest market share of 25.9 % for the quarter ending December 2010.

The airline released the following outlook statement

The robust growth in the Indian domestic market is on the back of healthy GDP growth and continued business confidence. Airlines have achieved high levels of seat factors as well as yield growth. The industry traffic grew by 19.0 % in Q3 FY 2011 as compared to Q3 FY 2010. Q4 passenger bookings show encouraging trends, however it will reflect seasonality.

Our International operations which continue to achieve seat factor of over 80% for more than a year is now experiencing a healthy operating margin which augurs well for the future. The routes which we started in the last few quarters are fast maturing and with the help of strong hub network, they will get to profitability much sooner than our earlier routes.

Crude oil prices, in the recent past have been increasing and we believe that the impact of such costs will be passed on to the customer in the short to medium term without unduly affecting demand growth. The demand – supply equation in the domestic market continues to be under control and over time, this will result in improved revenues per departure for the industry.

Jet Airways currently operates a fleet of 97 aircraft, which includes ten Boeing 777-300ER (out of which seven are leased to Turkish Airlines and Thai Airways), 12 Airbus A330-200 aircraft, 55 Boeing 737-700/800/900 aircraft and 20 ATR 72-500 turboprop aircraft.

The full investor presentation can be read below.

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IndiGo launches seven new flights

With the addition of more aircraft in its fleet, Gurgaon based low fare carrier IndiGo, is launching seven new flights on its network taking the daily count to 221 flights across 24 domestic destinations.

The airline will operate its eight daily non-stop between Delhi to Mumbai, fifth daily non-stop between Delhi to Bangalore, a second daily flight between Delhi and Trivandrum via Mumbai, and a fourth daily non-stop flight between Kolkata and Bangalore.

IndiGo recently launched Trivandrum as a destination and the carrier is ramping up its presence in the capital of Kerala. The Delhi Mumbai and Kolkata Bangalore flights will be extended to Trivandrum (Thiruvananthapuram) on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays till February 23rd when they will be converted in to daily via flights (Delhi via Mumbai and Kolkata via Bangalore) after another aircraft joins the fleet.

The new series of aircraft are expected to be VT-IEx since IndiGo has already complete the VT-INx and VT-IGx.

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Lufthansa Miles & More members to earn miles when shopping at Bangalore airport duty free

In a first for India, Miles & More, the frequent flier programme of the Lufthansa group has tied up with Nuance duty free shop at Bengaluru International Airport to offer its members earning of frequent flier miles while shopping.

Miles & More cardholders can earn 2 award miles for every US$1 (approx Rs. 44) spent at Nuance's duty free shops both at the arrival and departure areas of the airport.

Lufthansa has stolen a march over all its competitors. This is the first time that an airline frequent flier programme has tied up for duty-free shopping in India.

The FFP programme also has Matrix Cellular, The Leela Group of Hotels, Taj Hotels Resorts & Palaces, Oberoi Hotels & Resorts, Trident Hotels, Deutsche Bank, Indiatimesshopping.com, Woodland retail, The Economist, TripAvisor.in as some of its partners in India.

The programme boasts 600,000 members in India and about 19 million world-wide.

For more details visit the Miles & More website.

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