Category Archives: Aviation

The Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) has identified 54 new destinations for the next phase of the UDAN 5.0. It will aim to add or revive air strips closer to wildlife sanctuaries, tourist destinations or spiritual places.

According to Boeing Managing Director (Marketing) David Schulte, India’s airlines will lead air traffic growth through 2040, growing at a rate of 6.9 per cent. Strong recovery is gaining momentum in Indian aviation and it is one of the fastest growing markets. 

Bird Travels has been appointed as the GSA for Asiana Airlines, a member of Star Alliance and a major airline of South Korea for passenger and cargo in India with effect from 1st September 2022. Asiana Airlines, established in the year 1988 has its headquarters in Seoul and a very strong India connection. It established its service in 1997 and stands committed to deliver optimized connectivity between the two nations and to onward destinations as well. Founded on the ideology, ‘maximum safety and customer satisfaction through service’, Asiana Airlines has a wide network with a presence in:

Vistara has announced non-stop flights between Mumbai and Abu Dhabi, UAE, starting 1 October 2022. The airline will operate daily flights between the two cities using its A320neo aircraft. Bookings for the flights are being progressively opened on all channels, including Vistara’s website, mobile app, and through travel agents. Vinod Kannan, Chief Executive Officer, Vistara, said, “We are delighted to expand our presence in the UAE, with a second Emirate, and offer the choice of flying India’s best airline on one of the busiest international routes from India. We are confident that greater connectivity between Mumbai and Abu Dhabi will complement the growing trade and tourism between the two countries. We are certain that customers from India and the UAE will appreciate experiencing our award-winning product and services on the route.”

India’s aviation sector is expanding and the overall fleet size is expected to almost double in the next five years, says Union Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia. “In 5 years we are looking at 1,200 fleet size in the country which will be almost double of the current 700 aircraft,” he says. He is confident that the sector will touch 400 mn pax annually in 7-10 years from the current 200mn.

There were around 200 million air passengers, including domestic and international travellers, pre-pandemic and the number is expected to double to 400 million over the next 7 to 10 years, Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia said. 

Catering to increased demand, Singapore Airlines (SIA) is pleased to announce a 100 per cent restoration of its pre-Covid services to Bengaluru. Starting 30 October 2022, the Airline, which currently flies seven times weekly from the city, will go back to operating 16 times a week. To celebrate the occasion, the Airline has also announced promotional fares when they book tickets between now and 14 September 2022. for travel from Bengaluru to popular countries across Asia, including Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Korea, Thailand and Vietnam. The additional flights from Bengaluru will not only provide greater flexibility for arrival into Singapore, but will also give customers more options and better connections for travel to key onward destinations in the SIA network such as Australia, New Zealand and USA. Sy Yen Chen, General Manager India for Singapore Airlines said, “We have been steadily restoring our operations across India to pre-Covid levels, and Bengaluru is no exception. We have seen healthy demand from the city, and this increase in capacity coupled with special fares to popular holiday destinations, will give our customers many attractive options to pick from when they plan their overseas trips in the coming months.” From 30 October 2022, subject to regulatory approvals, Singapore Airlines will have restored 100 per cent of its pre-Covid services to India, i.e. the Airline will operate 96 flights weekly from eight cities across the country.

Ministry of Civil Aviation’s flagship program Regional Connectivity Scheme UDAN has completed 5 years. Minister of Civil Aviation, Jyotiraditya Scindia, said, “It has played a great role in the transformation of Indian aviation industry. So far under this scheme, we have 425 routes aiming to go up to 1000 routes, 68 new airports aiming to touch 100 airports. In next 4 years we are expecting 40 crore travellers through civil aviation in India. That day is not far when along with rail transport and road transport Civil Aviation will become the bulwark of the transportation in India.”

Domestic passenger traffic was around 7% lower in July 2022 compared to around 10.5 million in June 2022, given some impact of the cyclicality in passenger travel, mainly arising from the lean period during monsoon coupled with impact on leisure travel due to hardening of air travel fares, revealed ICRA.

With the return to normalcy in the business environment, domestic passenger traffic grew by 94% on a YoY basis to ~9.7 million in July 2022 (5.0 million in July 2021) and was only ~18% lower compared to ~11.9 million in July 2019 (pre-Covid level). On a sequential basis, however, it was ~7% lower compared to ~10.5 million in June 2022, given some impact of the cyclicality in passenger travel, mainly arising from the lean period during monsoon coupled with impact on leisure travel due to hardening of air travel fares. The airlines’ capacity deployment for July 2022 was ~65% higher than in July 2021 (78,614 departures in July 2022 against 47,692 departures in July 2021). On a sequential basis, the number of departures in July 2022 were lower by around 5% compared to June 2022. Suprio Banerjee, Vice President & Sector Head, ICRA said, “For July 2022, the average daily departures were at ~2,536, notably higher than the average daily departures of ~1,538 in July 2021, and slightly lower compared to ~2,771 in June 2022. The average number of passengers per flight during July 2022 was 124, largely in line with the average of 126 passengers per flight in June 2022 and higher than the average of 105 passengers per flight in July 2019. ICRA believes that the domestic air traffic yields^ have moved up in the range of 25-30% over pre-Covid levels on domestic routes.  The industry earnings in FY2023 will continue to reel under pressure owing to the elevated ATF prices, coupled with the depreciation of the INR against the US$, given that around 35-50% of the airlines’ operating expenses are denominated in US$. Although removal of fare …