Category Archives: Aviation

The Airports Economic Regulatory Authority of India (Amendment) Bill, 2021, passed by the Lok Sabha, seeks to amend the Airports Economic Regulatory Authority of India Act, 2008. The bill proposes to amend the definition of ‘major airport’ so as to extend its scope to determine the tariff for a ‘group of airports’ also, which will encourage development of smaller airports.

During the last five years (FY 2016-17 to FY 2020-21), an amount of Approx. Rs. 17784 crore has been spent by the Government/Airports Authority of India in renovating/building airports, according to information given by General (Retd.) V K Singh, Minister of State, Ministry of Civil Aviation. He also said that during the last three years, Government of India (GoI) has accorded ‘in-principle’ approval for setting up of two Greenfield Airports across the country namely Jewar (2018) in Uttar Pradesh and Hollongi (2019) in Arunachal Pradesh.

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has announced passenger demand performance for June 2021, which shows total demand for air travel in June 2021 (measured in revenue passenger kilometers or RPKs) was down 60.1% compared to June 2019. The pandemic resurgence weighed also on passenger recovery in India and Japan – with both markets reporting RPKs only at ~30% of the pre-crisis levels.

Regional aviation in India – in terms of independent regional and commuter airlines – remains very fragile. Eight carriers have failed in the last 10 years, with more exits likely in the near term. The regional aviation system needs a complete overhaul to ensure that regional carriers have adequate capitalisation, a well-structured business plan and qualified management. These are critical for the viability of the sector. It is now or never for fundamental, structure reforms, CAPA India says.

CAPA India reveals that among PPP airports, Hyderabad is expected to recover closest to pre-COVID traffic at 31.3 per cent, while Mumbai will be the furthest behind at 52.3 per cent. This is according to its updated outlook for airports for FY2022. And though Mumbai’s recovery underperforms other metro airports, it may be possible for the airport to accelerate during the year and achieve higher volumes.

Indian flag carrier Air India has launched non-stop flights from Delhi to Kathmandu that will be operated thrice a week, every Tuesday, Friday and Sunday. The flight will depart from Delhi at 12:55 pm and arrive in Kathmandu at 2:35 pm. Air travellers entering Nepal are required to submit a COVID-19 negative report of swab taken within 72 hours of boarding and unless exempted, a proof of hotel booking for 10 days of hotel quarantine or confirmation of home quarantine.

Indian LCC SpiceJet has introduced new exclusive non-stop flights from Patna to Surat and Bagdogra. The thrice-weekly flight to Surat and back will operate on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, while the Patna-Bagdogra-Patna route will be operated on Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays. The airline has also launched new flights between Patna and Kolkata that will operate thrice weekly.

Jyotiraditya Scindia, Cabinet Minister for Civil Aviation, chaired the first discussion of the advisory group on airport operators as well as airlines to deliberate on issues and the way forward for the sector. Early last week, the Minister had announced three advisory groups to work out such matters and help solve challenges that the civil aviation sector of India faces.

The aviation sector of India continues to fly higher as Airports Authority of India (AAI) witnesses 50 per cent of its pre-COVID era flight movement and passenger footfalls. AAI reveals that amidst this growth, Belagavi Airport has emerged as the third busiest airport in Karnataka, with 2.6 lakh passengers flying with 6.4K flights in the last 10 months.

Budget airline GoFirst, formerly known as GoAir, operated its first ever night flight from Jammu to Delhi. Operated on an Airbus A320neo, the flight took off from Jammu at 20:00 hrs. Going forward, GoFirst will operate four flights on the route, on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. The budget airline will also operate three flights from Jammu to Srinagar on Wednesday, Friday and Sunday.