Last week we reported on the massive loses made by national carrier Air India on 57 of its 59 international flights. Over the next few days we will bring you differing points of view on Air India’s international operations. Today is from a professional analyst at one of the world’s leading aviation consulting and advisory practices. He cannot be named …
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As Jet Airways announces its fifth daily flight between Mumbai and Dubai, thanks to an exhaustive analysis by our supporter Abhijit, we have compiled a map of Jet Airways gulf and middle-east network. The map is generated courtesy of GCMap. Jet Airways will operate 280 frequencies a week between India and the middle-east and Gulf region in the Winter 2014 …
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This article is the last of the two part series on Air Services Agreements. In part 1, we highlighted aspects of bilateral air services agreements. This part highlights freedoms of the air which are equally important and are included in bilateral provisions. What are “Freedoms of the Air” Freedoms of the air or traffic rights are aviation agreements between two …
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National carrier Air India lost money on 57 of its 59 international routes in the last fiscal year which ended March 31, 2014. The airline lost a whopping Rs 4,273.35 crores (approximately $712 million at current exchange rates) operating these international flights. This according to an internal “Route Economics” provisional report for April 1, 2013 to March 31, 2014 which …
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The Jet-Etihad deal last year brought to the forefront the issue of bi-lateral air services agreements or bi-laterals in short. Bi-lateral agreements and their impact on the aviation sector including routes and profitability is extremely critical. We present a two part series that highlights bilateral agreements and freedoms of the air. In part one, we will cover what are bi-lateral air …
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Dubai-based Emirates will continue operating its A380s in the prized early morning slot at Mumbai. [bsu_pullquote align=”right”]”Emirates can confirm that it is has received an approval from Mumbai International Airport Private Limited to continue operating its A380 service between Dubai and Mumbai for the winter 2014 timetable.[/bsu_pullquote]A spokesperson for the airline said: “Emirates can confirm that it is has received …
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Michael O’Leary’s pursuit of a high density Boeing 737 finally came to fruition. US airframer Boeing has launched the 200 seat version of the 737 MAX 8 with a 100 airplane commitment from Ryanair, the Irish ultra-low cost carrier. Ryanair will also have options to purchase up to another 100 737 MAX 200 as the aircraft is being called. By …
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The recent airshow at Dubai saw commercial airlines place aircraft orders in excess of $206 billion. This dollar value is greater than the total tax collection of the Indian Government for the last fiscal year. While the ordered airplanes start generating cash for airlines only after being put in to service, the airlines have to commence payments on these aircraft …
Read More »-Click on any of the graphs for a larger view Even as India’s overall domestic passenger traffic in July fell to 5.25 million passengers down about 8% from 5.69 million in June, data released by the civil aviation regulator, the DGCA, shows budget carrier Spicejet Ltd. was the only large airline which grew its traffic while the rest of its …
Read More »A report in The Financial Express discusses a 26-point missive sent to national carrier Air India by its boss, the minister of civil aviation Mr. Ashok Gajapathi Raju. Official termed “guidelines” these are practically a diktat. These guidelines were sent after reports of serious concerns at the Star Alliance, the world’s largest grouping of airlines which Air India joined just …
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In the middle of July, I went on tour of the Hamburg plant of European airframer Airbus S.A.S. My whole European vacation was planned around this visit. For a confirmed aviation geek this was a dream come true. Hamburg Finkenwerder airport (IATA: XFW, ICAO: EDHI) is the head-quarters of Airbus in Germany. Over 15,000 people work at the facility where …
Read More »India’s largest private airline, Jet Airways, trimmed its losses by almost 39% to Rs.217 crore (approx. US$ 36.17 million at an exchange rate of Rs.60=$1), in the first quarter of fiscal 2014~2015 which ended on June 30, 2014, when compared to the same period a year ago. Much of this performance increase is due to the financial and operational lifeline …
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I had a chance to participate in a Boom News’ panel discussion hosted by noted journalist Govindraj Ethiraj, focussing on the issue of passenger safety in the wake of the MH17 shoot-down in Ukraine, and the crashes of Air Algerie flight AH5017 in Mali and TranAsia flight GE222 in Makung, Taiwan. Enjoy the 30 minute program, and do share your …
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Global aviation leaders at the Farnborough international air show 2014 termed India’s decision to levy service tax of 12.36% on aircraft lease charges as a regressive step which will only hurt India’s already over-taxed airlines. As per a report in The Mint, the maiden Union budget of the Narendra Modi led NDA government proposes to levy the service tax effective …
Read More »As Air India joins the world’s largest grouping of airlines, the Star Alliance, as its 27th member on July 11, 2014, there will be benefits that will be enjoyed by both the airline and passengers. The alliance currently has 26 member airlines from all continents, except Antarctica and carried 637.62 million passengers last year. African member airlines are: EgyptAir MS, …
Read More »Just about two weeks ago, Dubai-based Emirates airline and European airframer Airbus S.A.S. announced the cancellation of the 70 aircraft A350 XWB order, 50 A350-900 and 20 A350-1000 citing outcomes “as a result of a fleet requirements review.” While the cancellation was downplayed by Airbus as “not good news commercially” but “not bad news financially”, it is most definitely a …
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Last Sunday, June 15th, The Economic Times newspaper carried my opinion piece on the excessive meddling of the Indian civil aviation regulator the Directorate General of Civil Aviation or DGCA in short, in the day-to-day operations of airlines in India. Using the example of how the DGCA, in direct contradiction of its own policies (read DGCA ATC 3 of 2013 …
Read More »As per a report in The Economic Times, national carrier Air India has missed its financial performance targets by a huge margin. The airline agreed to these targets with the government in order to receive a whopping Rs.30,000 crore ($6 billion at the time) tax-payer funded bailout. The national carrier already saddled with debts exceeding Rs.40,000 crore ($6.8 billion) has …
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Air India ordered for eight Boeing 777-200LRs in 2005, along with 15 Boeing 777-300ERs. The first 777-200LR arrived in the July of 2007, and all eight were delivered by end of August, 2009. Barely six and a half years later, the first five Boeing 777s have been sold to Etihad, at a “throwaway” price, because Air India felt that the …
Read More »Virtually everyone in the industry, including Air Indians, complain about the excessive interference by the ministry in the day-to-day operational issues of the airline instead of focussing on broad-based industry oriented issues like a comprehensive civil aviation policy or a strong regulator which would have prevented India’s safety status be downgraded, etc. Yet, going by a media report in The …
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Bangalore Aviation News, Reviews, Analysis and opinions of Indian Aviation