Tag Archives: India

Jet Airways and Air India may defer Boeing 787 Dreamliner deliveries

As the annual meeting of the airline body International Air Transport Association (IATA) commenced in Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur, the news for Boeing India chief Dinesh Keskar is not good. Both Jet Airways and Air India, his two major customers in India, are considering deferring the deliveries of their Boeing 787 Dreamliner orders. Jet Airway’s chairman and founder, Naresh Goyal, …

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Bengaluru International Airport first anniversary: One year performance

It has been an eventful year for the technology capital of India — Bangalore on the aviation front. The long awaited Bengaluru International Airport commenced operations on the stroke of 00:01 on May 24, 2008. During this first anniversary period, I begin with a look back at the performance over the last year. Eighteen months ago, I was vociferously opposed …

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Indian domestic passenger traffic rises marginally in April

The month of April has been bringing signs of a slowing down in the economic slow down. Industrial production, railways freight loading (indicative of raw materials for the core sector of steel, cement, mining), employment, stock markets and even inflation rates have moved back in to positive territory. While it a month does not make a trend, there is a …

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India outsources consular services in Toronto

With an aim to make visa services faster, hassle-free and efficient, the Indian Consulate in Toronto has decided to outsource its consular services under a new visa regime which will become functional from May 22. Preeti Saran, Consul General of India, said “The government has decided to outsource consular services in Canada. VF Services (Canada) would be the nodal agency …

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New investment and operations rules for airlines come into effect

Dashing the hopes of many domestic airlines who are desperate for foreign airline investments, the Government of India has put in to effect new rules governing the investments and operations of scheduled airlines which include fixing minimum levels of equity and barring any investment by foreign carriers. The rules, which were approved a few months ago, were incorporated recently into …

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Kingfisher Airlines de-registers four A320s but Airbus delivers four aircraft as slowdown continues in India

March continued the gloomy news for the domestic airline industry in India, with a decline. For the month of March 2009 domestic passenger count stood at 3.15 million down from 3.32 million in February and 3.31 million in January. Despite Kingfisher airlines continuing to be the largest domestic airline in India with almost 27% market share in March and 27.27% …

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India civil aviation overview podcast at IAG blog

I was given an opportunity to record a podcast at the Innovation Analysis Group and provide an overview on some latest developments in the Indian civil aviation market. Some of the topics covered; the rise of SpiceJet and IndiGo, and the airport development fee at New Delhi and Mumbai airports. You can hear and download the podcast here.

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Kingfisher Airlines remains India’s largest airline in February

Driven by the whopping discounts offered by airlines, domestic passenger traffic in India, increased very marginally, to 3.336 million in February 2009, up from 3.326 million in January. Kingfisher Airlines retained the top spot as India’s largest domestic carrier for the month with 904,000 passengers representing a 27% market share. Jet group which includes the low cost subsidiary Jet Lite …

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Qantas announces its new India flights

Qantas announced plans for its new Indian services via Singapore, which will replace the discontinued direct services between the two countries. From June 2, flight QF51, will fly to Mumbai via Singapore on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. The return flight QF52 to Singapore will operate on Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays. Qantas will use its Singapore hub to offer passengers connections …

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Singapore Airlines to park 17 aircraft, announces massive global capacity cuts, India services hit hard

Singapore Airlines (SIA) on the most profitable airlines in the world, announced today further route adjustments as part of the 11 per cent reduction of capacity from April 2009 to March 2010. While Bangalore remains unaffected, for now, most other gateways of New Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Hyderabad, and Ahmedabad have already been or are being affected by this latest …

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India domestic airline passengers remain flat in January 2009

The Indian Ministry of Civil Aviation reported that the domestic airline passenger traffic in January 2009 has remained virtually unchanged at 3.326 million when compared to 3.323 million in December 2008. Kingfisher took the top spot from Jet group (Jet Airways and JetLite), with 0.919 million passengers and 28% market share. The steep fare cuts and sales announced by airlines …

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Domestic passenger numbers highlight need for major cuts in air fares

2008 was a torrid year for domestic airlines in India, as recently released figures by the Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) show. Domestic passenger traffic for the year 2008 fell 5% from 42.58 million to 40.77 million (Fig. 1), driven by the increase in fuel costs, and the massive hikes in air fares, which are yet to fully retreat, and …

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Shocking drop in global air cargo confirms global economic meltdown

The recently announced results by The International Air Transport Association (IATA), is nothing short of shocking. International air cargo is down by a whopping 13.5 per cent in November when compared to November 2007, and passenger growth is down by 4.6 per cent. Graph legendRPK – Revenue Passenger Kilometres (sales)ASK – Available Seat Kilometres (capacity)FTK – Freight Ton Kilometres (sales)ATK …

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Jet Airways & Jetlite slash domestic air fares

Following the announcement by alliance partner, Kingfisher, Jet Airways, announced “substantial” reduction in basic fares on Economy class, on all its domestic flights with immediate effect. The special fares are lowered by as much as 40%, but fuel surcharges remain high. The economy class basic fares will be as low as Mumbai – Delhi INR 2,000; Mumbai – Kolkata INR …

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Indian airports on high security, Mumbai flights back to normal

As Mumbai recovers from the dastardly terror attacks, all major airports across India, especially those in the western region, have been put on ultra high alert and extra vigil has been mounted.Image Courtesy FT.comExtra surveillance has been mounted, with additional Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) and police personnel being deployed to keep an eye not just around the terminals, but …

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Indian airports need 1000 more Air Traffic Controllers

Airports need 1,000 more ATC officersAnirban Chowdhury / New Delhi If you thought that the IGI airport in Delhi is the only one suffering a shortage of air traffic controllers (ATC), think again. The country has 1,500 ATC officers, which is only 60 per cent of its requirement of 2,500 ATC officers. And despite new recruitments and training, the shortage …

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Foreign airlines flock to India

Foreign airlines flock to India, ignore global downturn India is seen as a growing market for international airline traffic and the current market size is nearly $5 billion (Rs 21,000 cr) a year They are cutting flights to several destinations in the wake of a worldwide slump in business, but international airlines are doing just the opposite in India because …

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The great Indian wine war

WINE PRICES IN BANGALORE HEADED INTO THE STRATOSPHERE ! You might be surprised at a wine article in my aviation blog, but wine is a subject close to my heart. The convoluted alcoholic beverages policy in India, makes each state, akin to another country, each with their own cumbersome taxes and regulations. The recent collapse of the Doha round of …

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Fuel populism killing air transportation

India, the world’s largest democracy, has a sorry record in sound and bold economic administration. Populist measures abound, and nothing is sacred or immoral in the perpetual quest to obtain and then secure the “gaddi”. Fuel pricing in India is a prime example. Officially, the “Administered Price Mechanism” was abolished in 2002, but today, the Indian government has a greater …

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HAL Airport rated at 8 million passenger capacity

An official study by the Airports Authority of India assesses the annual passenger capacity of HAL Airport at 8 million passengers. 6.5 million domestic terminal and 1.5 million international terminal. This is contrary to popular belief of 3.5 million passengers. According to Mr. B.R. Sena, General Manager, AAI, Bangalore, the figure of 3.5 million is based on extremely old assessments. …

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