Earlier this morning the Supreme Court ruled on the issue of airlines refusing to issue refunds to passengers who had booked tickets and were unable to fly during or after the lockdown. While the judgment is fairly detailed, broadly it states that: If a passenger or travel agent has booked a ticket during the lockdown period (from 25th March, 2020 …
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Guest post by Shivam Vahia. The Government of India (GoI) has undertaken a massive exercise dubbed “Vande Bharat Mission” to bring back Indians stuck in other countries amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. These flights are technically “repatriation” flights and not “evacuation” because the passengers are paying for the seat, and the state isn’t bearing the end-cost. Unlike previous efforts like the …
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With the rapid spread of the coronavirus pandemic, airlines have experienced the largest demand shock in history. Overnight demand has evaporated and each passing day brings with it news of airlines grounding entire fleets. International markets are shut and for India’s airlines, contrary to the narrative that domestic demand will help mitigate the impact, the situation is actually worse. This …
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SpiceJet announced the launch of 8 new direct flights to Gwalior in Madhya Pradesh. This city will be connected under the UDAN III scheme. It is the airline’s 11th destination under the regional connectivity scheme (RCS). In doing so, SpiceJet continues building its network strategy of connecting smaller towns and cities while leveraging the government’s flagship policy. The UDAN scheme …
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SpiceJet, reported its third quarter results of the fiscal year 2018-19 (FY19) this Monday. There were mixed views on the performance. While a profit of 55.1 crores is definitely good news, when compared to the same period last year the profit declined by 77%. Performance also cannot be cited as definitive as this came during the strongest quarter of the …
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Indian aviation is on a growth track with the commercial aviation fleet set to double in the next five to eight years. This is reflected in the statistic that for each aircraft flying there are approximately 1.7 aircraft on order. India is poised to become the 3rd largest aviation market by 2030. Highlights of the fleet are presented below. 638 …
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A report in the Aviation Network News and Analysis site (ANNA), shows India’s IndiGo as the largest single low cost carrier in Asia. Using data sourced from the Official Airline Guide, ANNA reports, IndiGo grew 14.4% compared to last year, to 35.11 million departing seats in the Summer 2017 schedule. It jumped ahead of Indonesia’s Lion Air which grew 8.8% …
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Purely as a coincidence, India and Australia will both remove the immigration departure cards effective July 1. India used to require its citizens to fill up the card for all international departures. Foreign citizens were exempt. In case of Australia all passengers had to fill up the card. The India requirement for foreigners, including Persons of India Origin (PIO) and …
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Sports fans are some of the most passionate people on earth, be it soccer around the world, baseball in the United States, or cricket in India. Cities around the world wear a deserted look whenever a match is played. Players are treated as demi-gods. The collective spirits of a nation rise and fall with the success or failure of their …
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As part of a dramatic overall liberalisation, the Indian government will allow 100% foreign direct investment in domestic airlines. At present the limit is 49%. However, the caveat is that the 49% is automatic approval while the 100% is automatic for non-resident Indians (NRIs) and with government approval for others. Foreign airlines remain limited investing 49% in Indian companies operating …
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The Indian Union cabinet has approved the new civil aviation policy (NCAP). The press release from the Press Information Bureau (PIB) says it all. While the NCAP is definitely a step in the right direction, we will be sharing our analysis in the days to come after we glean the details. For now, Vistara, the joint venture of Tatas and …
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From today, Singapore Airlines moves the departures of all its India and South Africa flights to terminal 3 (T3) at Singapore Changi Airport. Flights operated by SilkAir from Singapore to India will continue to operate out of terminal 2. This was a long standing expectation of the airline’s India passengers and will better integrate India and South Africa passengers to …
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For all the talk of the Government promoting aviation and as the industry watched with baited breath, the budget seems to have continued the Modi-government’s ignoring of civil aviation. The sum-total budget proposals pertinent to aviation do not even warrant us writing an article. If anything, they could likely be summed up in an SMS message. Namely, Aviation turbine fuel (ATF) …
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Air safety expert and member of the government appointed safety committee, Captain Ranganathan had warned the authorities about the flooding of Chennai airport over seven years ago. In an article titled “Viable project or white elephant?” published in the Hindu Business Line print edition dated August 13, 2008, the airline captain with over 35 years of flying experience lambasted the …
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India recently implemented a liberalised tourist visa on arrival (TVOA) scheme to include nationals of 43 countries. While still short of the goal to include nationals of 180 countries, it is a step in the right direction. The TVOA is now issued as an electronic travel authorisation (ETA) that needs at least four days to process. For example, if you …
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National carrier Air India has entered in to a code-share agreement with the flag carrier of Kazakhstan Air Astana JSC. Air India’s Chairman and Managing Director Rohit Nandan and Air Astana’s Vice President – Sales Worldwide, Richard Ledger, signed the agreement. The agreement commences with Air India placing its airline code (AI) on daily flights between New Delhi and Almaty …
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India registered a growth of 5.31% in domestic air passenger traffic for the eight months of 2014 ending August compared to the same period last year. Indian airlines carried 43.325 million passengers from January to August 2014 compared to 41.140 in the eight months of 2013. Month to month traffic grew 8.31% to 5.697 million in August 2014 from 5.26 …
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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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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 …
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Signs historic order for 108 Boeing 777-9X and 777F worth $40 billion Qatar Airways’ chief executive officer Akbar Al Bakar was full of praise for Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi at an order announcement ceremony at the Farnborough International Air Show 2014. Critical of UPA-2 government Speaking to Bangalore Aviation when asked about his airline’s growth plans for India considering …
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Bangalore Aviation News, Reviews, Analysis and opinions of Indian Aviation