Category Archives: Aviation

FTAs from India’s top 10 markets increased at a CAGR of 5.5% during 2008–2018, reveals CAPA India. China’s rank improved to 7th in 2018 from 10th in 2017.  FTAs from Russia registered the highest CAGR of 11.2% during the last 10 years, followed by China (11.2%), Malaysia (10.7%) and Australia (9.0%). In 2018, Sri Lanka (16.5%) and c(14.0%) were the only two source markets (amongst the top 10) that saw double-digit year-on-year growth.

The national carrier, Air India is hoping to secure additional slots at the London Heathrow airport during 2020, which will help it grow sales and make the airline more attractive to potential suitors. Air India has obtained three additional slot pairs free of cost on a temporary basis in the winter season, apart from the 28 pairs of slots it already has. The airline will operate 11 flights between Mumbai-London Heathrow in February and March 2020.  “On passenger demand, Air India is going to introduce 11 special flights from Mumbai to London Heathrow. This service will start from February 14. We are in discussion with Heathrow airport authorities for this service on a full-year basis and are hopeful our request will be accepted,” said an Air India spokesperson. With over 700,000 annual passengers and 21 per cent market share Air India is the largest carrier on India-United Kingdom routes. Emirates and British Airways are ranked second and third. Currently, the national carrier operates 28 weekly services to Heathrow from Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, New Delhi and Mumbai. It also flies to Birmingham and London Stansted airports. (Source: Business Standard)

Inbound air bookings have declined 15.6% for the period between December 17, 2019 to Jan 11, 2020 compared with 2.5% annualised decline, reveals ForwardKeys after an analysis of over 7.5 million bookings. The analysis was conducted to assess the impact of CAA protests on inbound air bookings into India at both country and state level. The study took into consideration actual travel bookings growth/ decline into India between the period Jan 11, 2019 to Jan 11, 2020 and showed an annual decline 2.5% decline in passenger bookings into India.

JSC Ural Airlines has announced the launch of its flights to Mumbai and has appointed Minar Group as General Sales Agent (GSA) for India. JSC Ural Airlines, the full service carrier of the Russian Federation, is all set to launch four weekly flights operations to Moscow-Mumbai, India, starting March 30, 2020. The aircraft used for the new Moscow-Mumbai flight is the brand new A320 Neo aircraft having 2 Class configuration. The flight will depart from Mumbai 0540 hrs and arriving in Moscow at 1005 hrs, the airline is offering convenient timings for business travellers, M!CE and tourist groups. On the other hand, flights from Moscow will depart at 1920 hrs and arrive Mumbai at 0435 hrs. In addition, the airline has appointed Minar Travels (India), the Airline Management Services arm of Minar Group as it’s General Sales Agent for the Indian market. Spokesperson of Ural airlines stated that, “We have selected Minar Travels to position our brand, create awareness of our products and sell our services in this important new market.”

Hahn Air added 39 new carriers to its leading network of over 350 partner airlines over the course of 2019. The flights of all new partners can be issued by travel agencies around the world on the insolvency-safe Hahn Air ticket. 17 of the new partner airlines are using the product HR-169 and have entered into an interline agreement with Hahn Air. The remaining 23 carriers are taking advantage of the products H1-Air or X1-Air for airlines that are looking to expand their GDS presence, thereby extending their reach through ten major GDSs to 100,000 travel agencies in 190 markets. “2019 was an incredible year for Hahn Air”, comments Jörg Troester, Head of Corporate Strategy, Industry and Government Affairs at Hahn Air. “In the 20th year of our ticketing business, we have introduced our NDC platform, Hahn Air Technologies and our new solution for corporate shuttle flights, HR-Corporate. In addition, we received IATA Level 3 NDC certification, issued the world’s first blockchain-generated air ticket and added 40 new airlines to our partner network. We are ready for 2020 with a focus on our products H1-Air and X1-Air, new technologies and sustainability. We’ll be able to share more news soon.”

Travelport has confirmed that the company is now the sole global distribution system (GDS) provider of Air India’s domestic flight content in India. Martin Herbert, Regional Managing Director for India and Sri Lanka at Travelport, said, “We’re delighted to reach this landmark. Wide and cost-effective distribution, coupled with impactful merchandising, are important to all airlines and we’re proud we are now the sole GDS provider of these services to Air India. The results the carrier has already achieved since it started adjusting its distribution strategy have been extremely positive.” Sandeep Dwivedi, Chief Operating Officer at InterGlobe Technology Quotient, said: “Since inception, this partnership between Air India and Travelport has presented impressive prospects. Now that we have had a glimpse of last year’s performance, with respect to positive reflections on growth, cost and savings for our partner – Air India; the future only seems bright from here. As the sole GDS distributor of Air India’s domestic content, we are aiming at easing the process, cutting down unnecessary stages and offering value-added advantage in booking Air India branded fares and ancillary services, both simply and seamlessly.”

Air India spokesperson Dhananjay Kumar, tells Tourism Breaking News that Air India and Air India Express will avoid Iranian airspace until further notice. He said, “We are still observing as to when it will be safe to fly over Iran. This rerouting will affect flights flying to Europe and US and will increase the flying time to 40 minutes from Mumbai and 20 minutes from Delhi.”

Northeast India will now have more representation and promotion, said Prahlad Singh Patel, Minister of State (I/C), Tourism, Government of India. He added, “Every Northeast state has so much diversity with its unique culture, heritage, and food. The circuits that are being created across the country to promote domestic tourism is a great concept. Earlier Northeast India faced connectivity issues. But now, there will be train and air connectivity through UDAN. We need to change the perception of northeast and talk a more about its beautiful offerings. Road developments and infrastructure have to be talked about.”  

“Rumours regarding Air India shutting down or closing operations are all baseless,” Air India CMD Ashwani Lohani said in a tweet. His statement read, “Rumours regarding Air India shutting down or closing operations are all baseless. Air India would continue to fly and also expand and there should be no cause for concern whatsoever to travellers, corporates or agents. Air India the national carrier is still the biggest airline of India.” In a bid to cut down its losses, the national carrier has recently ended the 20-year-old partnership with Sabre on account of higher premium and has entered into a partnership with Amadeus GDS. Sabre was the second-largest GDS for Air India after Travelport with nearly 25 per cent share in international GDS sphere of the airline. Air India had ended its GDS partnership with Amadeus for the domestic segment in December 2018. Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri had clarified on December 31, 2019 that the national carrier, which is incurring a loss of Rs 20-26 crore daily, will keep on running till it is privatised. While Air India’s net loss in 2018-19 was around Rs 8,556 crore, its current total debt is around Rs 80,000 crore.

Air passenger numbers across India are expected to reach 4.72 billion in 2020, according to International Air Transport Association (IATA). The forecast shows an increase of 4% from 4.54 billion in 2019. A statement, released by IATA, said, “Passenger demand (RPKs) is expected to grow 4.1% in 2020, in line with 4.2% growth in 2019. In fact, this masks a GDP-growth-driven pick-up since the underlying growth rate fell to less than 4.0% in 2019. However, whereas passenger capacity (ASKs) rose 3.5% in 2019, it is forecast to grow 4.7% in 2020 – as aircraft deliveries rise significantly, causing load factors to slide to 82% from 82.4% in 2019. This will maintain pressure on yields, which are expected to slide 1.5% after falling 3.0% in 2019. Passenger revenues, excluding ancillaries, are expected to reach $581 billion (up 2.5% from $567 billion in 2019).