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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Video: Interview with Indian civil aviation minister Ajit Singh
Another interview more on promise, and less on substance.
Read More »Japan ‘bans’ Air India’s Dreamliners
Japanese government irritated by Air India’s inefficiency About three weeks ago I wrote debunking the myth being created by the Air India management and their political bosses about the fuel efficient Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft being the saviour of the beleaguered national carrier. Read the Op-Ed piece here. In June no less than the Indian civil aviation minister, Ajit Singh, …
Read More »787 Dreamliners alone cannot save an inefficient Air India
Recent media reports blare the headline The Boeing 787 Dreamliner, the latest acquisition of Air India, is likely to shore up the fortune of India’s national carrier. This is backed by the many advertisements portraying some of the top Indian CEOs, giving big thumbs up after travelling in the next generation flying machine of India’s national carrier. Various media reports …
Read More »Have your say: Question of the week: Will the Jet Etihad deal fructify? Will Jet survive?
by Devesh Agarwal We welcome your feedback and comments on the Jet-Etihad deal. Without a doubt the humongous increase in seat capacity offered to the Abu Dhabi government by India has some quid-pro-qua links to the Jetihad deal. There is also talk that the bilaterals seat increase was to pacify the UAE government after their telecom company allegedly lost over …
Read More »Analysis: Etihad post strong results; government fears over Jetihad overblown
by Vinay Bhaskara Abu Dhabi based full service carrier Etihad Airways announced yesterday that it had achieved record revenue growth for the second quarter and first half of 2013. For Q2 2013, passenger revenues grew a robust 8% to $921 million, while passenger revenues for the first half of 2013 hit $1.8 billion, up 13% from $1.6 billion in 2012. …
Read More »Vested interests shaping government policy helped AirAsia partner Tatas too
Aviation insiders have known for many years what AirAsia boss Tony Fernandes dared publicly state the day before yesterday, after his meeting with civil aviation minister Ajit Singh. Vested interests have shaped, nay, distorted Indian civil aviation policy. One of the more shameful rules of Indian civil aviation is the policy of allowing Indian carriers to operate international flights only …
Read More »Video: A rather tame interview of civil aviation minister Ajit Singh
The Media India Group recently conducted an interview with Indian civil aviation minister Ajit Singh.
Read More »Guest Post: India scraps Aircraft Acquisition Committee
by Ashwin Jadhav The aircraft acquisition process for airlines in India The Indian government has scrapped its aircraft acquisition committee (AAC), meaning domestic airlines will find it easier to import aircraft. After allowing 49% FDI (foreign direct investment) by foreign airlines, in the Indian airline sector, the government last week moved a step closer to liberalizing the civil aviation space …
Read More »Air India to receive another Rs. 5000 Cr. equity infusion in fiscal 2013~14
by Devesh Agarwal As per the budget for fiscal 2013~14, presented yesterday in parliament, the Indian government has earmarked another Rs. 5,000 crore (about $900 million) for equity infusion into ailing national carrier Air India. This is the second tranche of a nine year, Rs. 30,000 crore (about $ 5.5 billion) tax-payer funded equity infusion, which is part of a …
Read More »Opinion: Approving AirAsia-Tata airline will derail goals of FDI in aviation policy
The announcement that AirAsia is joining hands with the Tatas and Bhatias with the intention to start a new airline in India will put the a significant policy dilemma in front of the Government of India related to foreign direct investment (FDI) in civil aviation by foreign airlines, and might just land-up derailing the goals of the fledging policy. While …
Read More »Scamster makes 389% profit margin selling official travel tickets to Members of Parliament
by Devesh Agarwal A ticket bought for Rs. 17,270 was sold to the Rajya Sabha secretariat for Rs. 67,270, a 389% mark-up!! We regularly hear either the Minister of Civil Aviation, Mr. Ajit Singh, or the Director General of Civil Aviation, Mr. Mishra, calling for airlines to curb their fares and not indulge in price gouging. One has to wonder …
Read More »Indian Aviation Review 2012. Part 2: The airlines’ analyses
by Vinay Bhaskara As promised, here is the second part of Indian Aviation’s 2012 review, with an airline by airline analysis of the events in 2012. Air India 2012 was another banner year in Air India’s agonizingly slow death spiral. Whether it was yet more labor turmoil related to the still not completed merger with Indian Airlines, a botched Entry …
Read More »Opinion: Kingfisher Airlines’ license suspension actually helps Vijay Mallya
On Saturday India’s civil aviation minister Ajit Singh, announced that aviation regulator, the DGCA had suspended the operating permit of Kingfisher Airlines, after the carrier failed to respond to their show-cause notice. With mountains of unpaid debts, the airline has been on life-support for some time now. Unpaid employees have been striking since October 1, resulting in a suspension of …
Read More »India seeks Lufthansa help for Air India to join Star Alliance, again. Jet can join too.
At the Directors General of Civil Aviation conference being held in New Delhi, India’s civil aviation minister, Mr. Ajit Singh said that his ministry would once again seek the help of German carrier Deutsche Lufthansa for Air India to enter (may be re-entry) the Star Alliance. In August, the world’s largest grouping of airlines had rejected the national carrier’s application …
Read More »Survey: The Kingfisher Airlines drama continues. Is the airline ready for euthanasia?
Employees of Kingfisher Airlines have finally reached a breaking point. The airline, blaming the employees has declared a lockout Kingfisher Airlines Limited today announced that following a series of protracted and unabated incidents of violence, criminal intimidation, assault, wrongful restraint and other illegal acts including refraining from attending work, by a small section of recalcitrant employees which were all unnecessary …
Read More »Ajit Singh’s desire for Air India to be number one unleashes a fare war amongst Indian airlines
Less than a week ago the Union Minister of Civil Aviation Mr. Ajit Singh asked Air India to submit a plan to enhance its share in the domestic passenger market, with the ultimate goal of being number one. This desire, against a continuing decline in domestic air passenger numbers. In August only 4.369 million passengers travelled, down 4% from the 4.537 million of …
Read More »New terminal at Lucknow airport found defective
A note from the Press Information Bureau of India about Lucknow airport, which is incidentally named after the father of present civil aviation minister Ajit Singh. The airport is owned and operated by the Airports Authority of India. Taking a serious note of the complaints of irregularities in the construction of the New Terminal Building of the Chaudhary Charan Singh …
Read More »Air India pilot’s strike: Same old story. Taxpayers left holding the bag
Air India and members of the striking Indian Pilots Guild (IPG) appear to have reached an “agreement”. For more than 58 days, the pilots have defied the courts and struck work. After causing hundred of crores (billions) worth of additional losses to the national carrier, that is already on life support with taxpayer money, the pilots decided to call off …
Read More »Editorial: Time to Eliminate Unions at Air India
When the Indian Pilots Guild, one of two pilot unions at national carrier Air India, began a strike around 2 weeks ago, it once again illustrated the deep fallacy of the employee situation at Air India. Coming on the heels of a $5.8 bailout package over 8 years offered by the Indian government, IPG’s industrial action marks just the latest …
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