Category Archives: Aviation

Domestic air traffic has grown by 18.6 per cent from January-December YoY, according to a latest report by Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA). Passengers carried by domestic airlines during January-December 2018 were 1389.76 lakhs as against 1171.76 lakhs during the corresponding period of previous year. The passenger load factor in the month of December 2018 has increased compared to previous month primarily due to the ongoing tourist season.

The growth of the LCC market for India has been significant, according to a recent ‘Project Rupee Raftaar’ report by the Ministry of Civil Aviation. Around 55 per cent of all seats in the market are offered by low cost carriers (LCC). Focusing on the domestic market alone, the LCC share of total seats is almost 70 per cent. While the share of LCC seats offered on India’s international routes is much smaller, at just under 25 per cent, this share has risen from essentially zero in 2004. Arguably, the emergence of LCCs has facilitated the democratization of air travel and fueled aviation growth, albeit in various ways across different markets. In emerging markets, LCCs have broadened the market and allowed more people the opportunity to fly for the very first time. In more mature markets, LCCs have deepened the market allowing people to fly more often.

GoAir further expands its international footprint with the launch of direct flights on Kannur–Abu Dhabi–Kannur route effective March 1, 2019. The airline will operate four direct flight services per week between the destinations with bookings now open at an all-inclusive one way fare starting from Rs 6099. This sector will further strengthen the airline’s growing international network to the Gulf and travellers will now have the opportunity to experience affordable travel experience that GoAir is acknowledged with. Speaking on the occasion, Jeh Wadia, Managing Director, GoAir said, “Commercial and cultural links between India and UAE are flourishing and GoAir is committed to contribute in facilitating and enhancing the growth of trade and the strong demand for tourism. Kannur, an incredibly beautiful part of India, is now accessible from Abu Dhabi with direct flights and an affordable and convenient travel option.” Recently GoAir announced international operations out of Kannur to Muscat. GoAir will operate three direct flight services per week between Kannur–Muscat–Kannur effective February 28, 2019. On the domestic front, GoAir currently connects Kannur to Bengaluru, Chennai and Hyderabad.

Registering an annual traffic of over 89.1 million for 2018, Dubai International (DXB) has retained its position as the world’s busiest airport for the fifth consecutive year with Indian travellers emerging as the largest source of traffic for the airport. India continued to hold to its position as Dubai’s top destination country by passenger numbers, with traffic for the year reaching 12,279,485 – propelled mainly by top destinations like Mumbai, Delhi and Kochi. Saudi Arabia was number two on the list with 6,471,142 customers, followed closely by the United Kingdom with 6,284,771 customers. Other destination countries of note include the US (3,205,524 customers) and the fast-growing markets of China (3,512,075) with 6 per cent growth and Russia (1,533,654) which grew 14.5 per cent. The top three cities were London (3,817,889 customers), Mumbai (2,540,750) and Kuwait (2,194,576). Eastern Europe was the fastest growing region with double-digit growth of 16.7 per cent, followed by CIS at 12.9 per cent and Africa growing 9.8 per cent. A statement released by the airport said that the annual traffic at the major transit hub rose just over 1 per cent to 89.15 million passengers in comparison to 2017. Although the figure was a new record high, it missed on the 90.3 million passengers that Dubai airport had projected for 2018.

The Ministry of Civil Aviation’s Ude Desh ka Aam Nagrik (UDAN) scheme is set to fly international. The results for UDAN 3 were announced recently, and Suresh Prabhu revealed that for the first time, international routes have been introduced under UDAN by launching flights from Guwahati to Bangkok and Dhaka. Both these routes will be served by SpiceJet. Prabhu said, “It’s going to be a major game changer as these connections would bring North East closer to the rest of the world. As a result, there will be a tremendous scope for tourism and economic development in the region.” Rajiv Nayan Choubey, Secretary, Civil Aviation, revealed, “The state government of Assam had asked us to conduct bids for connecting Guwahati to the neighbouring countries and we are happy to announce that Guwahati is now going to be connected with Bangkok and Dhaka, which are the international UDAN routes which have been awarded.” It was revealed that SpiceJet has taken a very competitive underwriting of the seats. The per annum VGF would be Rs 11 crore, which would be borne by the state. Having set the service frequency at seven-times-a-week, the government has given a flexible template of starting with thrice-a-week service, which will then be increased and finalised within six months.

The Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) awarded 235 routes to different airlines, out of which 46 are tourism routes, and 189 are under Regional Connectivity Scheme. Suresh Prabhu, Union Minister, Civil Aviation, said, revealed, “We are working with Ministry of Tourism and Ministry of Commerce, as we have sanctioned a programme of 12 champion sectors of service development, under which Rs 5000 crores were allowed as sanctions. Part of that money is being given to MOT, which in turn is giving that money to aviation ministry for these routes.” Rajeev Nayan Choubey, Secretary, Civil Aviation, shared that for the first time MOT came on board for the UDAN scheme. “MOT asked us to conduct tourism route-wise bidding, for which they will be providing funds. The difference between MOT route and the conventional RCS UDAN route is that MOT wants tourist places should be connected among themselves. It may happen that the airport which they are wanting may have enough flights but between two tourist destinations, there may not be a flight. So the MOT’s intention was that we should conduct the bidding, not for individual airports, but for routes which are specified by them. MOT has in turn got it collated by interacting with the tourism professionals, both in the private sector as well as the government sector, including state governments and other stakeholders before giving it to us,” he said.

The air transport sector makes a significant contribution to the Indian economy. According to a recent ‘Project Rupee Raftaar’ report by the Ministry of Civil Aviation, an Oxford Economics analysis shows that the air transport sector directly contributes 390,000 jobs in India. This includes airlines, airport operators, airport on-site enterprises like restaurants and retail, aircraft manufacturers and air navigation service providers. In addition, by buying goods and services from local suppliers, the sector supported another 570,000 jobs across the supply chain.

Philippine Airlines has launched four-times-weekly direct flights between Delhi and Manila, effective April 17, 2019. Tickets for the route can now be booked for as low as Rs 23,000 (Economy roundtrip base fare). The airline’s flight PR 727 will depart from Terminal 3 of Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International airport at 1.45 am (all local times) and will arrive in Manila at 10:45 am the following day and the return flight PR 726 will depart at 20:45 pm and reach Delhi at 1:00 am. Airbus A321neo will be deployed for the new route from India to Philippines as this has better range than A320ceos/A321ceos and are much more efficient. The new service should help the Philippines attract more Indian visitors and lead to faster growth in what is now the largest unserved market for the Philippines. Manila-Delhi will be the fifth long haul narrowbody route for Philippine Airlines, along with Manila to Brisbane, Port Moresby, Sapporo and Sydney.

Air India Express will launch its first direct flight service from Surat to Sharjah on February 16. The flight will depart from Sharjah at 7:35 PM and arrive in Surat at 11:45 PM on Mondays and Saturdays. From Surat, the flight will depart at 12:30 AM with arrival into Sharjah at 02:15 AM on Tuesdays and Sundays. This service will be upgraded to four flights a week in the summer schedule. The airline will also expand services from Gulf to Kannur in Kerala in its summer schedule 2019, which shall commence on March 31, 2019. “Summer 2019 will witness additional capacity being deployed to strengthen the network between Gulf and Kerala. There will be two more flights on Mondays and Fridays,” the statement said. The airline will operate five flights on the Kozhikode-Riyadh sector in the Summer schedule’19 instead of the present four services per week. The additional flight will operate on Fridays at the existing timings. Operating with a fleet of 25 Boeing 737-800 NG aircraft, the airline will have 653 weekly departures in the new schedule, as against 621 per week currently. The increase in operations will be achieved through capacity addition and by increasing aircraft utilisation, which is poised to go up from about 13.3 hours currently to 13.4 hours per day per aircraft in the summer schedule, the airline said. Source: PTI

SpiceJet, which is all set to start its international operations, will reportedly start flying to London from Delhi and Amritsar starting this summer. According to reports, the airline will be operating its wide-body A330 planes on these long-haul routes, which would range between 6-12 hours in duration. It is believed that the Amritsar-London Heathrow flight may commence from March-end, the services to Gatwick are expected from May. Currently, SpiceJet has a fleet of 45 Boeing 737s and 737 Max planes. The airline flies to eight international destinations, which are of up to 4-hour duration.