Category Archives: Aviation

With Jet Airways suspending its operations temporarily, as many as 440 slots are vacant at Delhi and Mumbai airports. There are 280 vacant slots at Mumbai and over 160 at the Delhi airport. The Civil Aviation Ministry in a statement has said that allocation of the slots of grounded Jet Airways at various airports around the country is purely temporary and is being allocated to airlines inducting additional aircraft. The ministry said that vacant slots have been allocated for a period of three months to reduce the inconvenience of passengers and facilitate induction of additional capacity. It further said that the historic rights of Jet Airways, as per provisions of the Ministry of Civil Aviation’s guidelines for slot allocation, will be protected. The slots will be made available to Jet Airways as and when it revives operations. The government said that to ensure the slots are allocated in an equitable and transparent manner, it has set up a committee of representatives from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation, Airports Authority of India, private operators and slot coordinators.

SpiceJet will start 28 daily flights connecting Mumbai and Delhi with other cities on its domestic network from April 26. “We hope these new flights will help minimise passenger inconvenience caused as a result shortage of capacity in the Indian aviation market,” said Shilpa Bhatia, Chief Sales and Revenue Officer, SpiceJet. In addition, SpiceJet has further announced new non-stop international flights to Hong Kong, Jeddah, Dubai, Colombo, Dhaka, Riyadh, Bangkok and Kathmandu from the Mumbai effective May-end. The new flights from Mumbai are on the Mumbai-Jaipur-Mumbai, Mumbai-Amritsar-Mumbai, Mumbai-Mangalore-Mumbai and Mumbai-Coimbatore-Mumbai sectors. The airline has also enhanced operations with additional frequencies from the city on the routes of Mumbai-Patna-Mumbai, Mumbai-Hyderabad-Mumbai and Mumbai-Kolkata-Mumbai. “SpiceJet will also introduce two new frequencies each from Delhi to Patna and Bengaluru besides three additional frequencies on the Mumbai-Delhi-Mumbai sector,” SpiceJet said. The new flights from Delhi to Mumbai and Bengaluru will operate from Terminal 2 and have a 4-digit flight number starting with 8. Additionally, 4 digit flight numbers starting with 6 would be used for flights departing and arriving at Mumbai’s Terminal 2. (Source: PTI)

The Directorate General Civil Aviation (DGCA) recently released statistics on domestic airlines traffic where the number of domestic passengers was up by 5 per cent from Jan-March with IndiGo in the lead with 44 per cent market share. Passengers carried by domestic airlines during Jan-Mar 2019 were 354.53 lakhs as against 337.90 lakhs during the corresponding period of previous year thereby registering a growth of 4.92%.

IndiGo has announced the launch of six additional daily non-stop flights to strengthen connectivity from Delhi. Effective May 25, the airline will operate its first direct flight on Delhi-Allahabad route, second and sixth frequency on Delhi-Bhopal and Delhi-Patna routes respectively. The new flights are designed to cater to business and leisure travellers who are constantly on the lookout for new and affordable flying options. Customers who would like to plan their travel can book tickets through our official website www.goindigo.in. Mr. William Boulter, Chief Commercial Officer, IndiGo said, “As part of our endeavour to strengthen Delhi as a travel hub, we are delighted to announce the addition of six new flights to enhance direct connectivity to Allahabad, Bhopal and Patna. These flights will not only provide more travel options to customers, but also bolster regional connectivity within the country”. Mr. Boulter further added, “IndiGo will continue to expand its network to meet the requirements of both business and leisure travellers. It is our constant endeavour to provide more flexibility of choice to our customers as IndiGo continues to offer them on-time, affordable, courteous and hassle-free flying experience”.

Nepal based, Buddha Air, has delayed the launch of Kolkata-Kathmandu operations by over a month because of the ongoing Lok Sabha elections. Rupesh Joshi, Marketing Director, Buddha Air says, “Both the India government and all agencies involved with aviation business suggested to begin the service post election. So we decided to defer it.” Buddha Air will operate thrice a week- Monday, Wednesday and Friday from May 27 2019. The airline would be the second Nepali air carrier to connect Kolkata with Kathmandu after the Royal Nepal Airlines’ withdrawal from Kolkata two decades back.  (Source: PTI)

Emirates and SpiceJet have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to enter into a reciprocal codeshare agreement, which is set to open new routes and destinations for passengers travelling between India and popular destinations across Africa, America, Europe and the Middle East. Subject to necessary government approvals, the partnership will enable Emirates’ passengers to enjoy seamless connectivity on flights to India, leveraging SpiceJet’s strong domestic presence and adding six new destinations: Amritsar, Jaipur, Pune, Mangalore, Madurai and Calicut – to the nine existing cities in India served by Emirates. This will bolster Emirates’ already-extensive network adding a total of 67 weekly connections between Emirates’ hub in Dubai to these six fast growing destinations in India. This includes increased domestic connectivity  from Emirates’ nine Indian gateways to points such as Goa, Hubli, Guwahati, Vishakhapatnam and Tuticorin which would allow for a greater variety of travel options between both Emirates and SpiceJet flights. “Our journey in India has been defined by progressive investment, partnership and growth. We constantly try to improve and provide our customers with greater flexibility and travel choices. This partnership with SpiceJet and the mutual expansion of our network will go a long way in further enhancing the travel experience of our customers in India as well as those heading into India, benefiting travellers and businesses alike,” said Adnan Kazim, Emirates’ Divisional Senior Vice President, Strategic Planning, Revenue Optimization and Aeropolitical affairs. Passengers travelling from India will have more choice to travel seamlessly with minimum connection times, when flying to destinations in Emirates’ Europe network such as London, Paris, Frankfurt, Manchester and Amsterdam. The codeshare agreement will also open up flights for Indian travellers to North and South American destinations …

GVK Power & Infrastructure has announced that its subsidiaries, GVK Airport Developers and GVK Airport Holdings, have signed a term sheet and exclusivity agreement with the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority and the National Investment & Infrastructure Fund for an investment in new shares in GVKAHL equating to a 49% stake. GVK had initiated a process to identify and select preferred investors to raise capital to reduce or refinance debt obligations of up to INR 5,750 crore. The transaction is subject to conclusion of confirmatory due diligence by ADIA and NIIF, agreement on definitive documents and satisfaction of customary closing conditions including regulatory/third party approvals and lender consents. Citigroup Global Markets India is acting as the exclusive financial advisor to GVK for the transaction. ADIA and NIIF were selected as the preferred partners by GVK following this process. All proceeds from the proposed transaction will be used by GVK towards retiring debt obligations. Dr. GVK Reddy, Founder and Chairman, GVK, commenting on this development said, “We are delighted to sign these agreements with ADIA and NIIF. The funds brought in through this proposed transaction will help us deleverage as we continue with our endeavours to create the infrastructure for a strong aviation hub in India that will provide the impetus for growth and development for the entire country. Our future focus will be on delivering Navi Mumbai International Airport, successfully monetising Mumbai airport’s real estate and building a strong airports business at GVK.”

Tata group has increased its stake in AirAsia India to about 51%. This has been done in order to consolidate airline’s positioning in the aviation sector. Now, Tatas hold controlling stake in two airlines — the second being Vistara that is 49% owned by Singapore International Airlines. Earlier, both Tata group and AirAsia had 49% stake each with Tata Trusts managing partner R Venkataramanan and group executive S Ramadorai holding the rest. (Source: ET)

Indian travellers spend 51 per cent of their transport expense on airlines, as per a latest study titled ‘How does India travel?’ by Bain & Company and Google. The Indian airline industry is one of the fastest-growing in the world. With 10 new airports in the last four years and the decrease of nominal prices by 18 per cent in 2017–18), airlines dominated the transport spending despite operational pressures. Bus price hike due to GST, falling passenger footfalls and preference for self-drive hampered growth in bus travel. Railways’ growth remained stagnant and it lost share to airlines for long-distance travel (>500 kms) and to road for shorter distance travel.

In the wake of a temporary suspension of Jet Airways, airlines that have codeshare agreement with Jet, disclose the way forward for dealing with the crisis. Fiji Airways spokesperson says, “Fiji Airways has temporarily stopped codeshare bookings with Jet Airways flights. Guests holding existing bookings are being re-booked on alternative flights via either Singapore or Hong Kong.” Virgin Atlantic in a statement, said, “We understand that a number of Jet Airways flights have been cancelled.  As with many airlines, we operate a codeshare agreement with Jet. Any customers who have booked directly with Virgin Atlantic should check our website www.virginatlantic.com for the latest advice.  All other customers on Jet operated flights should contact them directly. Etihad Airways spokesperson reveals, “Following the announcement that Jet Airways has suspended its operations, Etihad continues to re-accommodate and support affected guests. Our teams are assisting guests with their travel arrangements and re-booking those affected onto the next available flights. We continue to work with Jet management, lenders and key stakeholders in the context of the lender-managed effort to restructure the company.” Aeromexico comments, “Regarding our codeshare, Aeromexico is taking actions to reduce the impact of our customers. Fortunately, the number of affected passengers is minimal and we have already reached them and we are working to get them to their destination. We are offering them the necessary support and we are relocating them in other flights with help of other SkyTeam partners.” “Delta is aware of Jet Airways’ financial situation and its inability to operate its normal schedule. Delta is assisting Delta customers booked on Jet Airways flights to support their reaccommodation via alternative travel options. We apologize for any inconvenience caused to Delta customers impacted …