Category Archives: Aviation

In view of the ongoing Covid-19 outbreak, the domestic airlines are operating at a lower capacity – total 21,696 departures in June 2020, as against 86,456 departures in June 2019, resulting in a 74.9% YoY reduction in capacity deployment, reveals ICRA. For June 2020, the domestic passenger traffic was 19.5 lakh, as against 119.9 lakh in June 2019, a YoY de-growth of 83.7%. For May 2020 (25th to 31st), the domestic passenger traffic was 2.6 lakh, as against 115.6 lakh in May 2019, resulting in a YoY de-growth of 97.7%.

International Air Transport Association (IATA) has released a letter to national associations that states that agencies will receive only 8% of the total refunds from Jet Airways. The letter states, “Unfortunately, the balance of the Security Deposit held by IATA (after settling 100% of all refunds up to the date of suspension) was not sufficient to cover all the remaining refunds that have been approved by Jet Airways in the post-suspension refund process. Therefore, IATA will have to pro-rate the total refund against the net remaining balance withheld, which means that your agency will receive approximately 8% of the total refunds approved by the airline.” This will be automatically included in their billing. Refunds that have been rejected by the airline will not be processed.

Sanjay Kumar, Chief Strategy & Revenue Officer, IndiGo, has said that all the states shall offer similar rules and regulations for travellers coming in or going out to improve demand. Speaking at the PHD Chamber of Commerce & Industry webinar, he said, “The level of confidence is coming back to the public with increased operations. We are seeing slower growth because of the inconsistency of the state governments at various levels, including different rules and regulations in different markets, which is keeping customers away. If all state governments offer similar rules and regulations for travellers coming in or going out, I think we will see an improved situation going forward. It will take another 2-3 weeks before we start to see all the state governments getting aligned to a common working protocol, which will push the demand.”

As per an ICRA study, though restricted recommencement of domestic air traffic has begun, this will in no case help the industry to recover lost ground in FY2021. Overall, FY2021 is expected to witness 41-46% de-growth in domestic passenger traffic. However, H2 FY2021 will witness some recovery.

Ajay Singh, Chairman & Managing Director, Spicejet, has said that we need to use this opportunity to try and collect the imbalances in the industry like the structural problems, get aviation turbine fuel under GST and make this crisis into an opportunity. He was speaking at a webinar organised by PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Singh also lauded the government on resumption of flight operations and putting in place a contactless digital experience for travellers. He shared that there is a need to build confidence among the masses which can be done with the dissemination of information.

In an hour-long discussion in a webinar titled ‘Flying Through Covid-19’ under the TravTalk Agent Connect series, Etihad Airways and Abu Dhabi Tourism explained to the travel agents joining in about the readiness of both the airline as well as the destination in receiving not just visitors but also transit passengers. Duncan Bureau, Senior VP, Global Sales & Distribution, Etihad Aviation Group, said, “We have introduced a range of waivers to help ease the burden of travel and provide maximum flexibility. We want our trade partners to book with us with full confidence.” He added, “We will be looking at travel insurance and we are working with our travel insurance partners to make sure people are covered.” The panel also included Neerja Bhatia, Vice President (Indian Sub-continent), Etihad Airways, and Saeed Al Saeed, Destination Marketing Director, Department of Culture & Tourism (DCT), Abu Dhabi. The webinar saw more than 1,700 participants in attendance.

TravTalk and Etihad Airways are set to host an ‘Agent Connect’ webinar, a live journey of flying through COVID-19, today from 11 am onwards. Travel agents will get the chance to learn about Etihad Airways and UAE’s capital city – Abu Dhabi. To register, please email to jaspreet.kaur@ddppl.com or call +91 9650196532.

India’s first aviation terminal for private jets and charter flights is expected to open up at the Indira Gandhi International Airport of New Delhi by end of July. According to officials familiar to the matter, the new facility will provide faster turn-around to business jets & charters, shielding them from the clutter of general passenger terminals.  

A customer survey conducted by Vistara has revealed preference and perceptions of about air travel in the near future. On the topic of top international destinations flyers would prefer to travel in the next one year, the survey revealed that respondents prefer Singapore followed by the United Kingdom and Dubai.

The latest key findings from CAPA India’s exclusive ‘Traveller Sentiment Tracker’ indicate that the second quarter is increasingly looking like a washout. The outlook for Q3 will depend upon how fast the infection curve can be flattened so that consumer confidence is restored. But at this stage, the public does not appear to be in any rush to return to the skies, especially when it comes to international travel.