Category Archives: Aviation

The Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGI), New Delhi, is planning to roll out express check-in counter service for air passengers taking domestic flights from the airport. The service can only be availed by travellers with handbags as luggage. Reportedly, the Delhi airport will introduce this facility by April 2019 at Terminal 2, where low-cost airlines such as Indigo, SpiceJet and GoAir operate. The facility is expected to be extended to Terminals 1 and 3 in future.  

The growth of more than 20 per cent in the number of new routes in India provided a sizeable boost to passenger demand in the market, according to a latest report by International Air Transport Association (IATA). The surging number of international flyers is drawing airlines to new air routes in India. The increase in international air traffic from India and a focus on business and leisure travellers has prompted not only foreign airlines such as Air Italy and NokScoot to launch new routes to destinations in the country but has also got several Indian carriers including Jet Airways and IndiGo to start operations on foreign routes. Although the combination of GDP and network developments explain more than three quarters of the variation in domestic revenue passenger kilometers (RPK) growth rates over time, other factors such as tourism attractiveness, availability of travel alternatives, trade flows and demographics account for the residual growth in traffic in the country. India has become the third largest domestic aviation market in the world and is expected to overtake the UK to become the third largest air passenger market by 2025, states a report by India Brand Equity Foundation (IBEF). The report reveals that by 2036, India is estimated to have 480 million flyers, which will be more than that of Japan (just under 225 million) and Germany (just over 200 million) together.

Singapore’s Changi Airport has been declared the world’s best airport for the seventh time in a row, while New Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport and Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport features at  59th and 64th spot respectively, according to the UK-based consultancy firm Skytrax’s World Airport Awards. The Delhi airport has also been adjudged as a global 4-star airport  and ascribed as Best Airport in India and Central Asia. The other Indian airports in the list were the Rajiv Gandhi Hyderabad International Airport at 66, up 10 points and Bengaluru’s Kempegowda International Airport at 69, down five points from last year’s rankings. Delhi airport was ranked 66th in 2018, while Mumbai airport stood at 63rd position last year.   The Tokyo International Airport (Haneda) was ranked number 2, up one place from 2018. It also won World’s Best Domestic Airport and World’s Cleanest Airport.   The 3rd spot was bagged by Incheon International Airport along with the prize for World’s Best Transit Airport. Last year, the airport stood at number in the ranking of best airport.  

A consortium of Tata Group and two foreign entities, Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund GIC and SSG Capital Management have agreed to invest Rs 8,000 crore ($1.2 billion) to buy around 20 per cent stake in GMR Airports, which runs India’s biggest airport. (Delhi International Airport). Post the deal, GMR Infrastructure and its units will hold about 54 % stake in the airports business, while the company’s Employee Welfare Trust will own 2%. Tata Group will hold about 20 %, with GIC and SSG holding stakes of about 15% and 10%, respectively.   Tatas would invest Rs 3,650 crore, while GIC and SSG will put in Rs 2,670 crore and Rs 1,780 crore respectively, making it possibly the largest foreign PE investment in India’s airports space.   According to a statement, the deal will pump Rs 1,000 crore into GMR airports as equity infusion, which will be used to retire the airport operator’s debt. The three investors will use the remaining ₹7,000 crore to buy GMR Airports shares from parent GMR Infrastructure and its units, which will also be used to pare debt.   This will mark the second corporate behemoth’s entry into India’s airport sector this year. Recently, the Adani Group won bids to operate five airports owned by the state-run Airports Authority of India across the country.

Jet Airways’ management has informed the Ministry of Civil Aviation, that it would fly 40 more aircraft by April end, taking the total number to 75 and assured that it would not ground any more aircraft, informed Pradeep Singh Kharola, Secretary, Ministry of Civil Aviation. “By Monday or Tuesday, Jet and the lessors should come into an agreement on getting back the grounded planes. By the end of April, Jet would be able to fly 40 more aircraft. As on today, Jet is flying 35 aircraft,” Kharola said after meeting with the Jet management including representatives of the State Bank of India (SBI). The meeting took place post the management takeover by the SBI and its subsequent Rs 1,500 crore capital infusion for emergency funding on working capital needs. A total of 75 aircraft is envisaged by April end which is around 80 per cent of the Jet’s total aircraft previously, he said. Kharola also said the government is also keeping a close watch on the airfares and the Directorate General of Civil Aviation has suggested to the airlines not to resort to predatory pricing.

GVK Power and Infrastructure (GVKPIL) has said that its subsidiary, GVK Airport Holdings, has agreed to acquire 10 per cent shares of Mumbai International Airport Limited (MIAL) from Airports Company South Africa(ACSA) Global. The company agreed to acquire 12 crore equity shares at the rate of INR 77 per share, which amounts to about Rs 924 crore. Upon completion of the acquisition, GVK group’s share in the Mumbai airport will rise to 74 per cent from the existing 50.6 per cent. Earlier, the group acquired 13.5 per cent stake from Bidvest. The AAI, which holds 26% stake in MIAL, will be the only other JV partner after acquiring stake from Bidvest and ACSA by GVK arm in the Mumbai airport company. The GVK-led MIAL had also received the letter of award for development of greenfield Navi Mumbai international airport project in October 2017.

As part of its tour around the region, Embraer’s E190-E2 commercial jet has recently made a stop in New Delhi. Sporting a shark livery to represent the aircraft’s ‘profit hunter’ status, the aircraft offers Embraer’s guests a closer look at the world’s quietest, cleanest and most efficient new-generation single-aisle aircraft. “We are proud to bring this aircraft to the region for the second time to show the amazing capabilities of the E190-E2,” said Cesar Pereira, Asia Pacific Vice President, Embraer Commercial Aviation. “The E190-E2 offers airlines the benefit of lower operating costs and is capable of achieving similar costs per seat of larger re-engined narrowbody aircraft, with significantly lower costs per trip. We have also received a lot of positive feedback about the aircraft performance, low fuel consumption, sleek and modern interior and low cabin noise and we are excited to show it to a wider audience.”

A Home Ministry official told PTI that the civil work has been completed at Diglipur airport on the northern tip of Andamans, air operations by Andaman Airways are set to commence from June 2019. Additional airfields are being explored at Car Nicobar, Campbell Bay and in Port Blair, for a second airstrip. Port Blair has already been declared as an authorised immigration check post for entry into or exit from India with valid travel documents for all classes of passengers. Paving the way for “Ease of Tourism”, as many as 30 islands have been exempted from the Restricted Area Permit (RAP) regime, the official said. Four tourism-based projects have been developed under the Public Private Partnership (PPP) model. Requests for Qualification (RfQ) have been floated for projects in Long Islands, Smith Islands and Aves Islands while Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) clearance has also been obtained for these four projects including at Neil Island. Key sectors identified for the holistic development of Andaman and Nicobar islands include infrastructure, tourism, green energy and skill development. To begin with, five Islands — Avis, Long, Little Andaman, Smith and Ross — have been identified for the project and another 12 islands will be added later. Improvement of connectivity has been given the top priority to promote tourism. (Source: PTI)

Moving up four places from the 16th spot in 2017, The Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA), New Delhi is now ranked the 12th busiest airport in the world, according to the preliminary world airport traffic rankings for 2018 released by Airports Council International (ACI). Overtaking major transit hubs like Frankfurt, Dallas Forth Worth, Guangzhou and Istanbul Ataturk airport in the ranking, IGIA was also ranked among the fastest growing among the top 20 airports. Witnessing a growth of 10.2 per cent in number of combined passengers carried in comparison to 2018, The Delhi airport served 6.9 crore domestic and international flyers in 2018. ACI, the global representative of the world’s airports said  “India became the world’s third-largest aviation market in terms of passenger throughput, behind the US and China, in 2018. India’s move towards a more liberalised aviation market and the nation’s strengthening economic fundamentals have helped it become one of the fastest-growing markets with its traffic growing rapidly in a relatively short time.”

 Passengers carried by domestic airlines during January-February 2019 were 238.56 lakhs as against 222.09 lakhs during the corresponding period of previous year, according to a latest report by Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA). The passenger load factor in February 2019 has shown increasing trend primarily due to airlines offering promotional fares resulting in increased demand. Domestic air traffic has grown by 7.42 per cent from January-February YoY.