Category Archives: Aviation

IndiGo has signed a one-way codeshare agreement with Qatar Airways, allowing Qatar to place its code on IndiGo flights between Doha and Delhi, Mumbai and Hyderabad. Akbar Al Baker, Group Chief Executive, revealed that they are looking at making it a two-way codeshare in future, and even grow the relationship further with IndiGo. Baker revealed that they are not denying a possibility of buying a stake in IndiGo, since they have been interested in the same for a long time. However, there is no progress in the same as yet.

To cater to growing travel demands, India would need around 2,400 aircraft in the next 20 years and around 85-90 per cent of them would be narrow-body, a senior executive of Boeing said recently. Indian airlines currently have around 600 aircraft in their fleet. While narrow-body planes are smaller and used for short-haul routes, wide-body aircraft are used to fly on medium and long-haul routes. “Based on economic growth, evolving business models and the dynamics in the marketplace, India will need around 2,400 new aircraft deliveries in the next 20 years,” said Darren Hulst, Deputy Vice President of Commercial Marketing, Boeing. “The vast majority of these aircraft, as we no doubt expect, would be single-aisle fleets, 737-sized aircraft. It will make up for 85-90 per cent of the deliveries in the market place,” Hulst explained.

In a recent update, Civil Aviation Minister, Hardeep Singh Puri has shared that AAI has taken up up-gradation work at Jabalpur Airport to make it suitable for operation of A-320 type of aircraft. This includes contruction of new terminal building, ATC tower, fire station, extension of runway, construction of new apron, isolation bay, perimeter road etc. the work of Terminal Building and ancillary building is expected to be completed by June 2021.

With the beginning of this year’s cruise season on November 4, the New Mangalore Port Trust (NMPT) began its heli-tourism initiative. While the Port had been facilitating transport services like taxi and buses for the guests, the Port Trust has also allowed heli-tourism from its premises. New Delhi-based Chipsan Aviation has deployed a six-seater helicopter to ferry tourists to various toruists places like Bekal Fort near Kasargod in neighbouring Kerala, Sringeri Sharada Peetam, Chikkamagaluru and other attractions.

Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri recently said that he is planning to connect Amritsar with the rest of the world by air. “Amritsar is not just known for the Golden Temple. It is a religious place and we have Ramtirath Temple, Duryana Temple and we have some famous churches here. This is a place which people of all religions come and seek blessings,” he said.

India is set to become the third largest aviation passenger market by 2040 with a total of 1.3 billion passengers, according to 2019 World Traffic Forecasts, released by the Airport Council International (ACI) World. China was placed at the first position with 3.5 billion passengers, followed by United States at the second spot with 2.9 billion passengers in 2040, in the report. Together, these three countries would handle almost 40 per cent of the global passenger traffic. India is also expected to be the third leading market for aircraft movements by 2040, after the US (23 per cent), China (16) with four per cent of global aircraft movements.

The government is planning to build 100 additional airports, add 1,000 new routes connecting smaller towns and establish a plane-leasing financing business by 2024 to boost the economy, according to a report. The NITI Aayog proposal was discussed during an infrastructure review meeting held recently. Increasing the strength of locally trained pilots to 600 and doubling domestic aircraft fleet to 1,200 by 2024 was also proposed. (Source: Economic Times)

AirAsia India is planning to expand its fleet size to 100 aircraft in the next five years. “We have firmed up plans to add 14-15 planes every year starting next year for the next five years. We have remained a small player in the Indian market till now with just 23 planes, which will increase to 29 planes by the end of December,” said a senior official of the airline. The airline also said that they are also looking at leasing out planes directly from lessors.  AirAsia India currently has 23 planes, which will rise to 29 by December-end. On an average, it will add 14-15 aircraft every year. It has added 326 departures in the ongoing winter schedule. The airline’s expansion plans focus on strengthening the network on existing routes rather than adding new routes. (Source: Economic Times)

Foreign airlines’ flight operations in India are going to increase by 3.05 per cent this ‘winter schedule’, which starts on October 27 and ends on March 28, 2020, according to DGCA. An official of DGCA said, “The data shows that in last year’s winter schedule, foreign airlines operated 2,262 flights per week, which would increase by 3.05 per cent to 2,331 flights per week in this year’s winter schedule.” In total, 85 foreign airlines operated to and from India during last year’s winter schedule as compared to 86 foreign carriers which would be operating in the same period this year, the official said.

IndiGo has joined IATA as a member and this announcement followed soon after the airline’s recent expansion into Vietnam, Myanmar, China and Saudi Arabia. IndiGo is currently an IOSA registered airline and IATA Clearing House member. IATA is the global trade association for the airline industry, representing over 290 airlines. This membership will help IndiGo align to global practices developed by IATA and will further strengthen the airline’s partnership portfolio.