Category Archives: Aviation

The government has notified changes in FDI norms on civil aviation, which will permit non-resident Indian nationals to own 100% stake of Air India. The gazette notification states that foreign investments in Air India, including that of foreign airlines shall not exceed 49% either directly or indirectly except in case of NRIs, who are Indian Nationals, where it is permitted up to 100%.

Budget carrier SpiceJet will operate its first long-haul flight between Amsterdam and Bengaluru on August 1. The airline was given permission by the DGCA to operate flights to Europe and the US as a scheduled carrier last week. The flight will depart Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport at 2:45 pm on August 1 and reach Bengaluru in the early hours of August 2 before heading to Hyderabad.

According to CAPA India, four largest private airports in Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru and Hyderabad are expected to see a revenue shortfall of Rs 5,700 to Rs 6,600 crores in FY2021 because of COVID-19. The final outcome will depend upon the eventual operating expenses.  

Ashwani Lohani, Former CMD Air India and Chairman of the Railway Board, has joined as Chief Executive Officer (CEO) for GMR Group’s Services Business (which includes railways). Lohani had recently joined as the Chairman of Andhra Pradesh Tourism Board. The latest move could be a good news for GMR, as it was looking at expanding its wings in the Railways sector by showing its interests in the private train project, station redevelopment plans and dedicated freight corridors (DFC).

In its webinar, ‘Reinventing the Airport Business Model in India’, CAPA India said that the current crisis must force a re-think and re-invention of the airport business model over the next five years. To increase aero and non-aero revenue, airports need to attract more non-stop, long-haul and wide-body services. Post-COVID, passengers may prefer non-stop flights instead of flights via a hub. CAPA India also talked about the need to reinvent the approach to route development, which should be more holistic and include forward bookings, travel search trends, consumer survey and travel trade research. 

In its report on air travel trends in South Asia and India, ForwardKeys reveals that for June 2020, Delhi-Patna was the most searched domestic India route for any future travel, replacing Delhi-Goa as the most searched in the same period last year.

Nepal is set to resume its international flight operations from August 17, after a four-month suspension due the global COVID-19 crisis. In fact, the country will also resume its domestic operations, and all flights will strictly follow the health and safety protocols that have already been developed.

In the APAC region, while Northeast Asia has taken the major brunt of the crisis with bookings being down by 83%, South Asia has been significantly less impacted and most of the countries in the region on an average 50 to 60 per cent behind 2019 levels, reveals ForwardKeys.

Latest data on future bookings to India by ForwardKeys suggests that whilst there is no upward surge in tickets for November, travellers are generally holding onto their tickets. Ticketing history also tells the same story. Olivier Ponti, VP Insights says, “Bookings are flat as we can see a ‘wait and see attitude’ taking place, however, we expect the situation will evolve when people get more clarity regarding travel restrictions.”

Dr Mario Hardy, CEO, PATA, has said that, while travel bubbles and green corridors are a great idea, but there is a lot of complexity involved in setting them up. “It is not a simple task. There are bilateral agreements involved between the two countries. It’s not only the immigration department involved but also health departments and ministries of health of the respective destinations. However, the countries need to agree to have enough trust in the healthcare system of the respective destinations to allow people to travel across their borders.”