Amidst all the turmoil in the Indian airline sector, one airline has stood out as a beacon of profitability in the surrounding gloom. Low cost carrier (LCC) IndiGo has once again posted a net profit for the fiscal year ending March 2012, according to a report in the Financial Chronicle. “We have recorded profits in 2011-12 too though it’s likely …

Editor’s note: This is Part 1 in a series of analyses answering the question: “What should Jet Airways do with its international operations?” Parts 2 and 3 will cover the idea of a Mumbai hub and the fate of Jet’s 777-300ER fleet. Photo courtesy Jet Airways Late last week, a report emerged from the Economic Times of India that India’s …

Earlier this week, Boeing released some of the confirmed design details for its re-engined 737 MAX narrow-body program. The new series of aircraft is expected to retain significant commonality with its predecessor, the Boeing 737NG program, however unlike Airbus’ competing A320neo re-engine program, there are tangible changes being made between the 737NG and 737MAX due to the increased engine diameter …

2011 was a banner year for airlines and airports around the world, who reveled in the restored economic growth. And nowhere was that air travel growth more apparent than at Doha International Airport, which saw passenger traffic grow to an all time record of 18.1 million passengers, growth of 15.24% versus 2010. The graph below shows the five year trend …

Earlier this week, I got a chance to go planespotting at Newark (well technically I stood atop my car in an IKEA parking lot across the street from Newark’s runway) and I’d like to share some of the fruits of my trip. While I am nowhere near the level of photographer that Devesh or Vedant is, here are the cream …

Editor’s Note: This is a guest post via Ashwin Jadhav The FAA’s Next Gen project, which involves revamping of the nation’s air traffic system to accommodate the forecasted traffic growth, maintain high standards of safety and increase operational efficiency, uses the above mentioned forecasts as a baseline. The changes in the forecasts determine the urgency of the implementation phases for …

By Rishul Saraf and Vinay Bhaskara Jet’s international operation, which began in 2004 with a Chennai – Colombo flight, today has over a hundred flights daily, which generate nearly 60% of the airline’s total revenues. Jet’s system wide load factors stay around a healthy 80% mark, but their revenues are unable to match up with this, hence denying them of …

When full service carrier Kingfisher Airlines enacted a latest round of route and capacity cuts last week, it represented simply the latest evidence that the carrier is headed for bankruptcy and is in a death spiral. Part of the drawdown involved the cancellation of almost all of Kingfisher’s international operations, which occurred after the airlines lessors began demanding the return …

To date, the only carrier to enter the new super-efficient Boeing 787 Dreamliner into service is Japan-based All Nippon Airways (ANA). However, numerous airlines have announced their planned operations for the Boeing 787 as follow: 1. ANA (already in service)2. Japan Airlines (already delivered; will enter service in March)3. Air India (already delivered; entry into service [EIS] TBD)4. Ethiopian Airlines …

The following speech was given by the CEO of the International Air Transport Association (IATA), Tony Tyler, at the India Aviation 2012 Air Show in Hyderabad. Our comments are included in the quote and are italicized and colored red. Good morning and thank you for the invitation to address the opening session of this important event. Congratulations to the Ministry …

Earlier this week, Middle Eastern giant Emirates announced that it had plans to add service to 3 or 4 destinations in the US from its Dubai hub over the “next few years.” As an interesting start to this latest round of US expansion, the carrier has announced new service to Washington-Dulles International Airport effective September 12th. The route will be …

Editor’s Note: This is a guest post from Ashwin Jadav Global aviation is steadily progressing through the modernization of technological infrastructure into the new era of seamless air transportation. A major component of this transformation is a complete overhaul of the air traffic control (ATC) system within developed nations, ultimately resulting in the transition to air traffic management (ATM). In …

When OneWorld members British Airways and Iberia together announced a 555 million Euro net profit under the umbrella of International Airlines Group (IAG), it provided almost a calming influence to the volatile European airline industry. After financial failures of Hungarian carrier Malev and Spanish carrier Spanair, earlier this year, many in the global analyst community predicted further pain amongst Europe’s …

Will the majority of future of India-Gulf flights go through Dubai? The first 9 months of 2012 will see a major re-shuffling by India’s airlines on the heavily trafficked India-Gulf sector, as airlines respond to higher fuel prices and a poor regulatory environment, and Air India continues to re-align its network strategy. Air India will be enacting the most significant …

Russian national carrier Aeroflot has released images of its new Sukhoi Superjet (SSJ) 100 in the SkyTeam Alliance livery. The carrier’s SSJ-100 becomes the first Russian built aircraft to ever be painted in an alliance livery. Aeroflot currently operates 5 of the 87 seat (12F/75Y) Superjets on regional routes, and has 25 more on order. Aeroflot SSJ-100 SkyTeam Livery Aeroflot …

The damning evidence against Kingfisher continues to mount, as a new report from the UK High Court claims that the embattled airline owes $21.6 million (Rs. 109.06 Crore) to the Bank of Scotland for overdue lease payments on 10 ATR 72-500 aircraft. The action was brought by Bank of Scotland on behalf of a consortium of lenders against Kingfisher parent …

This week on Monday, I read an editorial in favor of the European Union’s Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) in the New York Times, and decided to respond with a op-ed. In your editorial published on Monday, February 27th, your paper made the claim that Washington and other critics of the European Union’s (EU’s) new Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS). Your editorial, …

The past few days have been admittedly brutal for Kingfisher. Whether it was suspending flights entirely from Kolkata, or dealing with a particularly critical journalist, the events that befell Kingfisher stopped just short of catastrophic. The immediate pressure appears to have been relieved by loans from State Bank of India, which will go further onto the hook for Kingfisher to …

The second financial analysis for the third quarter in India is of low fare carrier SpiceJet, who mirrored the performance of the industry by losing Rs. 39.26 crore in Q3 of Fiscal Year 2011~2012 (FY2012). Revenue growth for SpiceJet was strong, rising 41% to Rs. 1,175.8 Crore from Rs. 759 Crore Passengers carried were up 29.2% to 3.08 million; beating …

Once again, we will be beginning our financial analyses for Q3 of FY 2012 with an analysis of India’s largest airline Jet Airways, who posted a modest net loss of Rs. 101.2 Crore, down sharply from a net profit of Rs. 217.9 Crore in the same period last year. Q3 is typically the best quarter for Indian carriers, so to …