Category Archives: Aviation

ANA HOLDINGS INC. (hereafter “ANA HD”)  has been awarded Gold Class status in the S&P Global Sustainability Awards for 2022, making it the first and only firm in the aviation industry to do so. In 2018, 2019, and 2021, ANA was appointed to S&P Global’s premium Gold Class rating. This is the latest in a long history of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) accolades for ANA HD, which has also been honoured by other organisations such as the Dow Jones Sustainability Index. Out of the 7,554 firms assessed, ANA HD was one of only 75 companies (including four Japanese companies) to get Gold Class designation from S&P Global, putting the ANA Group in the top 1%. Companies are rated Gold, Silver, or Bronze based on their contributions to the economy, environment, and society. Companies with a very excellent track record are granted Gold, Silver, or Bronze ratings.

Ajay Singh, CMD, SpiceJet, at a post-budget interaction with Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, put forth the difficulties being faced by civil aviation, travel, tourism and hospitality sectors. He requested her to consider granting infrastructure status to these sectors to facilitate lending by banks and financial institutions. He also requested the Hon’ble Finance Minister’s support for inclusion of Aviation Turbine Fuel under GST. The FM gave a positive response to consider these issues.

Union Minster of Civil Aviation Jyotiraditya Scindia on Monday announced that 16 new airports will be built in five Central Indian states. He said that 16 new airports will come up in Madhya Pradesh’s Rewa, Chhattisgarh’s Ambikapur, Bilaspur and Jagdalpur, while nine airports will be built in Uttar Pradesh, one in Rajasthan and two in Maharashtra. Scindia also highlighted the need of better integration between the central and state governments for the success of PM-Gati Shakti scheme.

Recovery of the pandemic-hit Indian aviation sector will benefit from the sale of Air India and the handover of the airline to the Tata Group, the Economic Survey tabled in Parliament said. The annual report card of the economy that comes a day ahead of the Budget said the Air India handover, coupled with a boost to digital infrastructure and structural reforms in telecommunications, would have a positive impact on the pace of recovery of the aviation sector.

The Philippines will relax an almost two-year ban on foreign visitors and businesses entering the country next month, officials said, in an effort to resuscitate the country’s devastated tourism economy as the latest coronavirus outbreak eased. Returning Filipinos would be exempt from quarantine beginning February 1 and foreign visitors from February 10, but they must be vaccinated and test negative for COVID-19.

The 2022 travel forecasts by Bain & Company states that the Covid-19 Omicron variant’s surge continues to stall the travel recovery. It is projected that the global airline revenue for 2022 shall reach $432 billion in the baseline recovery scenario, representing 65% of 2019’s revenue. By the end of the year, global air travel demand could recover to 84% of 2019 levels in the baseline scenario.  

The WHO recommended at the International Health Regulations Emergency Committee on COVID-19 that, the nations should remove the travel bans and restrictions. As per report, they do not provide value and continue to contribute to the economic and social stress and further stated that these restrictions have been incompetent in capping the international spread of the Omicron variant.

Ahmedabad airport will partially remain closed for around 9 hours till May 31 owing to runway re-carpeting work. Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport has started scheduled runway re-carpeting work from 17th January  to 31st May, 2022, except on public holidays and Sundays. The work will be carried out from 9am to 6pm.

After more than a year, Lufthansa has resumed its scheduled flight from Munich to Delhi. The service will be operated three times a week with modern Airbus A350 long-haul aircraft. Departures from Bavaria’s aviation hub are scheduled for Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Sundays.  In the coming summer schedule, Lufthansa will operate a total of 21 long-haul aircraft of this type stationed at Munich Airport, which causes significantly less noise and emissions than comparable aircraft. 

As per the analysis by Forward Keys, there are signs to be optimistic about the future in 2022. Following four key trends show the potential to make a difference in the near future- while the international travel recovered, domestic travel remained strong, the gap between leisure and business travel is narrowing, the APAC region is to reopen soon and the pent-up demand is real, people still want to travel.