Chapman Freeborn moves aircraft engines on Ilyushin 76 in India for emergency

The global aircraft charter specialist Chapman Freeborn announced that it moved aircraft engines on an Ilyushin 76 aircraft as there was an AOG (aircraft on ground) incident at a challenging airport in North India and the client urgently needed a new engine delivered from Delhi and for the damaged engine to be returned.
“Some operations are harder than others, and when the cargo is as fragile and high value as aircraft engines, a very specialised handling process is required. Chapman Freeborn recently conquered this, and all under strict time constraints,” noted the release.

This required impeccable teamwork from Chapman Freeborn, as not only were permits needed, but there were also legal and compliance issues to address, dealt with by Chapman Freeborn Directors Pierre Van Der Stichele and Daniel Carriett. Additionally, ground time was restricted meaning that only daytime operations were permitted.

The groundwork had to be precise and efficient, as an AOG can be incredibly costly in any situation and the knock-on effects can be drastic. But with over 47 years of experience, the Chapman Freeborn team was able to transport the new engine carefully and promptly in an Ilyushin 76, significantly reducing the client’s stress.

27/02/21 ITLN

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Domestic air traffic may be back to full pre-Covid level by summer: Puri

New Delhi/Mumbai: The domestic air traffic is expected to be back to the full pre-COVID-19 level by the summer schedule with the traffic seeing a sharp recovery from the July quarter onwards after the resumption of the services post Unlock 1.0, Minister of State for Civil Aviation Hardeep Singh Puri said on Friday.

Speaking at the 'India Aircraft Leasing Summit' at New Delhi's Vigyan Bhawan, Puri also said the government is not averse to tweaking the system to make India a centre for aircraft leasing for both domestic and international markets.

"Contrary to prophets of doom and gloom, we have not only been able to navigate the pandemic turbulence, (but) today in terms of domestic civil aviation, we are almost at the pre-COVID-19 level.

"If a mutation or variant of the virus comes in, by the time we open our summer schedule by April we will have our full pre-COVID-19 level of domestic traffic or even higher," said Puri.

Stating that civil aviation is the critical driver of economic growth, he said that between 2013-14 and 2019-20, the country's domestic traffic growth has been 14 per cent.

"The best year we had with just 7 per cent penetration, we had a growth rate of 17 per cent. But, on average, it comes at 14 per cent," he said.

The minister said that barring the first quarter of 2020 (April-June), there has been a sharp recovery in passenger traffic from July onwards.

26/02/21 Press Trust of India/Business Standard

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India now allows you to avail a discount on flight ticket if you are not carrying a check-in baggage

India’s civil aviation regulator has asked airlines to give concessions in ticket prices to passengers who are carrying cabin baggage only, for domestic flights.

The current rules allow passengers to carry up to 7 kilograms of cabin baggage and 15 kilograms of check-in baggage.

After these new rules, the airlines will be able to provide tickets at lower rates to those passengers who opt to carry just cabin baggage within a permissible limit. The regulator has not clarified when these new rules will come into effect.

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) also clarified that if any passenger with a discount ticket turns up with baggage will be charged as applicable. It further added that these applicable charges should be reasonable and prominently displayed to the passenger when booking the ticket.

In order to avail the discount, you will have to declare the weight of the cabin baggage that you will be carrying at the time of the booking.

"As part of airline baggage policy, scheduled airlines will be allowed to offer free baggage allowance as well as "zero baggage/no check-in baggage fares". This will be subject to the condition that the passenger booking ticket under such fare scheme is made aware of the charges that shall be applicable if the passenger turns up with the baggage for check in at the airline counter," DGCA said in a statement.

26/02/21 Navdeep Yadav/Business Insider

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‘Aircraft leasing companies setting base in Ahmedabad Gift City; SpiceJet & Alliance Air to lease from there’

New Delhi: A number of companies, including international ones, are soon going to start aircraft leasing in Ahmedabad’s GIFT city. This is thanks to Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman in this Budget proposing tax holiday on capital gains and tax exemption for aircraft lease rentals paid to foreign lessors for those doing so in Gift City.

“India currently has 700 aircraft (commercial side). Not a single of them was so far leased in India. Now that will change. Several companies, including an Irish one (one of the main places for aircraft leasing business) are setting up this business in Gift City. SpiceJet is considering leasing seaplanes from lessors here. Air India regional arm Alliance Air is also planning to lease two Dorniers of Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd through Gift City,” aviation secretary P S Kharola said at India Aircraft Leasing Summit 2021-Rupee Raftaar in Delhi on Friday.

Indian airlines, a majority of them struggling to survive, have 1,028 aircraft on their order books, with an order backlog of $19.3 billion.

Aviation minister H S Puri said India will need 1,750-2,100 aircraft valued at over $290 billion in the next 20 years, with an estimated 100 deliveries each year — about $5 billion of financing each year as per predictions of Airbus and Boeing. The share of aircraft on lease globally has increased dramatically from 2% in 1980 to over 41% in 2018 and is estimated to have reached 50% in 2020.

26/02/21 Saurabh Sinha/Times of India

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Airlines make a dash to text flyers about RT-PCR norm

Kolkata: All airlines on Thursday scurried to send out text messages to flyers booked to travel from Mumbai, Pune, Nagpur, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Kochi to Kolkata from Saturday, informing them that they would be required to reach the airport with an RT-PCR report to board the flights. The state government on Wednesday night had announced that all passengers from four states — Maharashtra, Karnataka, Telangana and Kerala — needed to mandatorily undergo RT-PCR test before boarding flights for Kolkata, Bagdogra and Andal.

“We are contacting all passengers booked on flights departing from these cities and reaching Kolkata after Saturday noon to inform them of the need to adhere to the new protocol announced by the Bengal government. We shall comply by the norms. If any passenger turns up without the Covid report, he or she will not be allowed to board the flight. On a case-to-case basis, we may allow some passengers to reschedule the journey so that they can get the test done. But if too many passengers turn up without the report, it may not be possible to do so,” an airline official said.

Kolkata airport got a taste of what may happen at other airports on Saturday if passengers don’t turn up with valid Covid reports when Port Blair-bound flyers booked on GoAir were denied boarding as they did not have the test reports. They staged a demonstration at the terminal for several minutes.

Travel agents who have booked flights for their clients also called them up to inform them of the new rule. In some instances, they advised clients to reschedule flights if they found the schedule for RT-PCR test too tight.

26/02/21 Subhro Niyogi/Times of India

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No profits for airlines till 2022: IATA

Mumbai: The airline industry is expected to remain cash negative throughout 2021, according to the latest analysis released by International Air Transport Association (IATA). Previous analysis, done in November last year had indicated that airlines would turn cash positive in the fourth quarter of 2021. At the industry level, airlines are now not expected to be cash positive until 2022.

"Estimates for cash burn in 2021 have ballooned to the $75 billion to $95 billion range from a previously anticipated $48 billion,’’ said IATA adding that one of the influencing factor was the weak start for 2021 because of governments tightening travel restrictions in response to new COVID-19 variants. Forward bookings for summer (July-August) are currently 78% below levels in February 2019 (comparisons to 2020 are distorted owing to COVID-19 impacts), it said.

The IATA analysis put out two scenarios: optimistic and pessimistic. ``From this lower starting point for the year, an optimistic scenario would see travel restrictions gradually lifted once the vulnerable populations in developed economies have been vaccinated, but only in time to facilitate tepid demand over the peak summer travel season in the northern hemisphere,’’ it said. In this case 2021 demand would be 38% of 2019 levels. Airlines would burn through $75 billion of cash over the year. But cash burn of $7 billion in the fourth quarter would be significantly improved from an anticipated $33 billion cash burn in the first quarter, it added.

On the other hand, if one had to consider the pessimistic scenarios then airlines burn through $95 billion over the year. ``There would be an improving trend from a $33 billion cash burn in the first quarter reducing to $16 billion in the fourth quarter. The driver of this scenario would be governments retaining significant travel restrictions through the peak northern summer travel season. In this case, 2021 demand would only be 33% of 2019 levels,’’ said IATA.

“With governments having tightening border restrictions, 2021 is shaping up to be a much tougher year than previously expected. Our best-case scenario sees airlines burning through $75 billion in cash this year. And it could be as bad as $95 billion. More emergency relief from governments will be needed. A functioning airline industry can eventually energize the economic recovery from COVID-19. But that won’t happen if there are massive failures before the crisis ends. If governments are unable to open their borders, we will need them to open their wallets with financial relief to keep airlines viable,” said Alexandre de Juniac, IATA’s director general and CEO.

24/02/21 Manju V/Times of India

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Airline industry likely to remain cash negative in 2021: IATA

The International Air Transport Association's analysis on Wednesday showed that airlines are expected to remain cash negative until 2022. However, previous analysis in November 2020 indicated that airlines would turn cash positive in the fourth quarter of 2021.

Estimates for cash burn in 2021 have ballooned to the $75 billion to $95 billion range from a previously anticipated $48 billion.

IATA said it is already clear that the first half of 2021 will be worse than earlier anticipated.

"With governments having tightening border restrictions, 2021 is shaping up to be a much tougher year than previously expected. Our best-case scenario sees airlines burning through $75 billion in cash this year. And it could be as bad as $95 billion," IATA's Director General and CEO Alexandre de Juniac was quoted as saying in a statement.

"More emergency relief from governments will be needed. A functioning airline industry can eventually energise the economic recovery from Covid-19. But that won't happen if there are massive failures before the crisis ends. If governments are unable to open their borders, we will need them to open their wallets with financial relief to keep airlines viable."

Besides, IATA said vaccines and testing will play a role as the pandemic comes under control and economies ramp up, including the travel sector.

"The 'IATA Travel Pass' will enable travellers to securely control their health data and share it with relevant authorities."

25/02/21 IANS/News Minute

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'Covid-19 has changed airports and airlines priorities on IT spend'

Mumbai: Biometric technology has become a focus for airport investment with 64% of airports aiming to roll out self-boarding gates using biometric and ID documentation by 2023, three times as many as in 2020, according to the latest air transport information technology insights study released by SITA on Wednesday. SITA offers IT solutions for airlines, airports, aircraft and governments.

For airlines and airports, the pandemic has brought strong focus on virtual and remote IT services that allowed employees to work from home even as it ramped up communications with passengers, it said.

Data and automation are key. ``Making the check-in process completely touchless is now the main priority for airports and airlines to help protect passengers and staff, improve the passenger experience, and drive efficiency,’’ it said. Airlines have doubled implementations and plan to double investment for self-boarding using biometric and ID documentation by 2023 (82%), it said.

Similarly, airlines are prioritizing a completely touchless check-in process, and most want mobile touchless payment options for all services provided. The majority (79%), is focused on enabling self-bag drop for passengers. All essential customer services will become contactless from booking to arrival, including automated lounge access and mobile delayed baggage reporting.

``Airline mobile applications for passenger services is a priority with nearly all (97%) of airlines having major programs and R&D in place by 2023. By 2023 the majority of airlines plan to send passengers real-time notifications on their mobile devices about their bags and plan to provide real-time bag-tracking information for staff,’’ said the SITA study.

In 2020, flight volumes plunged 44% year-on-year due to the pandemic, according to SITA data. As a result of this impact on demand, International Air Transport Association forecast the airline industry's full-year loss at $118 billion.

24/02/21 Manju V/Times of India

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IATA travel app to share test result, jab certificates with airlines & border control digital

New Delhi: An App could soon facilitate your travels during these uncertain pandemic times by giving the entry requirements of different countries; list the places where to get tested/jabs in your location and then share the result/vaccine certificate with airlines and border controls.

International Air Transport Association (IATA) has run trials on its Travel Pass that it hopes to roll out next month across the world. It is in talks with Indian authorities and airlines for being allowed for use here also.

The IATA Travel Pass will “enable travellers to create a digital passport (with flight details they are supposed to take). Verify their testing and vaccination requirements (destination-wise). Find authorised labs at departure location that meet the testing/vaccination requirements. The labs will securely send test result/vaccination certificates to passengers,” says IATA. Depending on the test result, passengers will then share “ok to travel” status with airlines and border control.

This will happen in a series of steps: Getting proof of test/vaccination: A passenger will feed his/her flight details on the app; find out ravel requirement; get list of authorised labs at origin city and show the app at the lab when he/she goes for testing/vaccination. Verifying that the test/vaccination is valid for the itinerary. Sharing proof of test/vaccination with airlines and border control.

Since the outbreak of Covid early last year and then the subsequent testing requirements for a Covid negative certificate there have been several cases of forged certificates being given by some unscrupulous labs.

Since checking the validity of paper certificates is not easy, apps are being designed to digitise the process completely and minimise the chances of fraudulent testing/vaccination certificates.

Different states have different testing requirements. Asked if the app can be used to facilitate domestic travel, Goel said: “While the app is fundamentally designed for international travel, it can be modified for domestic travel also.”

IATA carried out a pilot of the travel pass with Singapore Airlines in the last quarter of 2020 and then with some other airlines like Emirates this year. It plans to roll out the pass next month.

23/02/21 Saurabh Sinha/Times of India

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Aviation sector fast reaching pre-COVID passenger levels: Pradeep Singh Kharola

New Delhi: The worst is over for India's civil aviation sector as passenger traffic is fast reaching pre-COVID levels.

In a conversation with IANS, Civil Aviation Secretary Pradeep Singh Kharola said that the worst is over for the aviation sector which has successfully transformed its image as an elitist mode of transportation to that of a bare essential one.

The sector played a pivotal role in repatriation, transporting essential medicines, PPE kits, agricultural produce and equipment during the lockdown phase.

Even now, it is ferrying temperature controlled vaccines for the worlds largest inoculation programme.

"The worst seems to be behind us. Daily passenger numbers are rising, but we will wait till it reaches the mark of 3.85 lakh per day. At that level, the current traffic rate would have reached the per-Covid levels. Only after reaching that mark and seeing a consistency in that trend will we be able to lift the fare and capacity cap," Kharola said.

Notably, the 3.85 lakh daily passenger mark is the average of 2019 traffic.

After reaching that mark, the Centre will wait to see that it is being met on a consistent basis before removing the caps.

Presently, the Centre has expanded the airfare cap by increasing the lower fare band by 10 per cent, while the upper limit has been raised by 30 per cent. These fare bands came into force with effect from May 21, 2020.

Under the fare structure, air routes are divided into seven sections based on travel time. Each section has its minimum and maximum fare. For instance, Delhi-Mumbai ticket price has been fixed at Rs 3,000-Rs 13,000.

Currently, the airlines can operate up to 80 per cent of their pre-Covid capacity.

23/02/21 IANS/New Indian Express

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CCI dismisses case of alleged cartelization among domestic airlines

The Competition Commission of India (CCI) on Monday dismissed a complaint pertaining to alleged cartelization among various domestic airlines.

The case had emanated upon receipt of a letter from the Lok Sabha secretariat in January 2014 with a request to examine whether there is any evidence of cartelization in the airlines sector.

The data was analyzed for the sample reference period from April 2012 to March 2014 in respect of Jet Airways (including JetLite), Indigo, SpiceJet, GoAir and Air India for certain routes.

In September 2016, the CCI had directed the director general (DG), its investigation arm, to cause an investigation into the matter on “prima facie” finding that the airlines– Jet Airways (including Jet Lite), Indigo, Spice Jet, Go Air and Air India–were exhibiting characteristics of anti-competitive conduct.

The analysis of the four major routes indicated that airlines were maintaining some degree of stability in their market shares in both lean and peak seasons during the examined period.

Further, almost similar cost structure of the airlines also appeared to facilitate collusion on price to be charged in contrast to differentiated cost structure, where low-cost firms usually compete with high-cost firms on prices to capture greater market share.

Also, it was observed that despite differences in base fares and airlines fuel surcharge, the end fares charged by all the airlines for tickets, were almost similar.

The DG had analysed the market share of five airlines on four sectors during the reference period, as well as their air fare and its determination practices in order to detect any sign of stability or parallelism, or any possibility of communication between the airlines to fix prices.

However, as brought out by the investigation, no such pattern of stability or parallelism was noticed between the airlines, rather, a significant variance was seen in the market shares of the airlines, CCI said.

The DG had said that price parallelism has become the natural outcome, but it cannot be said to be the result of any agreement or action in concert.

22/02/21 PTI/Financial Express

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Nod to expansion of Karnal Aviation Club

Karnal: With consent from the majority of farmers for expansion, the high-powered purchase committee headed by Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar has given the go-ahead for the expansion and renovation of Karnal Aviation Club.

With it, the airstrip will be expanded to 5,000 feet from the existing 3,000 feet, enabling the majority of small and medium aircraft to land at the aviation club.

DC Nishant Kumar Yadav said a meeting of the stakeholders and owners of the lands was held through video conferencing. As much as 172 acres, 3 kanals, 16 marlas are required for the project. Of that, 106 acres, 6 kanal, 14 marla belong to the state government. The 24 landowners of Kulvehri village, after interacting with the CM through video conferencing, have agreed to voluntarily provide their land –- 38 acres, 5 marla — by uploading their consent on e-Bhoomi portal of the state government.

“Now, a detailed project report (DPR) will be prepared by the Department of Civil Aviation,” the DC added.

20/02/21 Tribune

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India’s air passenger traffic is ‘within touching distance of pre-Covid Nos: Aviation Minister

New Delhi: Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri on Saturday said that the country's air passenger traffic is "within touching distance of pre-Covid numbers".

In a tweet, the Aviation Minister said: "2,90,518 passengers on 2,360 flights on 19 February is within touching distance of Pre-COVID numbers and  marks revival of the domestic sector." "From transporting essential and medical supplies to movement of vaccines, civil aviation sector plays a significant role in efforts against COVID19." Since the resumption of operations on May 25, domestic air traffic continued to sequentially improve in January 2021.

The domestic passenger traffic rose 5.55 percent sequentially in January to 77.34 lakh passengers from 73.27 lakh reported for December 2020. However, on a year-on-year basis the January numbers stood 39.50 percent lower than 127.83 lakh reported for the corresponding period of the previous year.

At present, airlines can operate up to 80 percent of their pre-Covid capacity.

In a separate report, Directorate General of Civil Aviation on Thursday (18 February) said that the passenger load factor, a measure to assess how much of an airline's passenger carrying capacity has been utilised, during the previous month has shown a declining trend compared to December primarily due to the tourist season.

20/02/21 PC Thomas/News Track 

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Centre likely to do away with fare bands for air travel as traffic picks up

The Centre is likely to scrap fare bands as domestic air travel picks up pace in the face of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri told a parliamentary panel that air traffic has now reached three lakh per day - nearing pre-Covid levels and is set to rise further in the summer. 

“In the summer schedule, as domestic traffic would increase more, the fare bands and some other restrictions are likely to be done away with,” the minister told a meeting of the parliamentary consultative committee on civil aviation.

As the government reopened domestic civil aviation in May last year after lockdown, it had imposed seven fare bands specifying a lower and a higher limit for prices of air tickets.

The minister said the fare bands – an extraordinary measure – were introduced to ensure that airlines do not sell cheap tickets in a cut-throat market as also to check unusually high prices in the face of limited availability.

Last week, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation had revised the fare bands with effect from April 1 in the range of 10%-12% with the limit on maximum fare raised by 30%.

For routes with a flight time between 90 and 120 minutes, the lower fare cap has been increased to Rs 3,900 from Rs 3,500, whereas the cap on maximum chargeable fare has been increased to Rs 13,000 from Rs 10,000.

Routes like Varanasi-Jaipur, Ahmedabad-Kolkata, Bengaluru-Bhopal and Delhi-Bhubaneshwar among others fall under this category.

19/02/21 Sagar Kulkarni/Deccan Herald

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Airbus, FlyBlade India tie up for on-demand helicopter services market in South Asia

European aviation major Airbus has signed an initial pact with the US-based helicopter transport services provider BLADE's Indian subsidiary, FlyBlade India, to help develop the on-demand helicopter services market in South Asia.

Under the memorandum of understanding (MoU), Airbus and BLADE will collaborate to create awareness about on-demand helicopter services, among helicopter operators, customers and other stakeholders in the region, a statement said on Friday.

BLADE had in December 2018 formed a joint venture with equity investment firm Hunch Ventures to launch its services in the country.

"BLADE recognises Airbus as an industry leader in aviation and is looking to leverage its global knowledge and networks in creating a sustainable urban air mobility ecosystem," said Karanpal Singh, founder of Hunch Ventures.

This, coupled with the company's on-ground consumer knowledge, will help find mobility solutions for various on-demand and mission critical applications such as healthcare, he added.

Besides, the two partners will also work together to identify ways to increase BLADE's fleet size in South Asia. One of the ways to do so will be by supporting BLADE to gain access to the Airbus fleet of helicopters available with its operators in the region, it said.

19/02/21 PTI/Economic Times

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Top flight caterer shuts shop at Delhi & Mumbai airports

New Delhi: In what could be a likely fallout of the pandemic’s devastating impact on the aviation industry, one of India’s biggest flight caterers, SkyGourmet, has shut its huge kitchens at Delhi and Mumbai airports. The two units together had about 1,300 employees. Now both the airports have three flight caterers — Tata Group’s TajSats, Oberoi Flight Services and Ambassador’s Sky Chef.

Detailed queries sent to SkyGourmet, its parent company GateGourmet, and Mumbai airport on the closure of the units remained unanswered for over two days. When the pandemic began, the SkyGourmet unit at Ahmedabad airport shut down. Currently, the only operational unit is at Hyderabad airport.

A spokesperson for Delhi International Airport Ltd (DIAL) confirmed that operations at IGI Airport were stopped on January 31. Asked if the closure was the result of business being hit by Covid-19 or other reasons like lease not being extended, DIAL said the “view on this can be taken from SkyGourmet.” However, employees said they were told the Delhi unit was being shut due to non-extension of lease.

“When operations resumed post the lockdown, we catered to the largest number of flights since last October in Delhi at nearly 200 daily. IndiGo was our biggest customer and we handled about 100 of their flights, followed by others like Air India, SpiceJet and AirAsia India. The Delhi unit had about 800 employees, some of whom were contractual,” said a stunned employee.

Now, the kitchen at IGIA is being demolished to return the leased land to the airport operator. DIAL said it was “yet to finalise the use of the vacated land”.

The Mumbai unit had about 500 employees and handled about 100 flights daily. The resumption of services had given staffers hope that like all other flight kitchens, they too would somehow survive the downturn.

19/02/21 Saurabh Sinha/Times of India

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A stormy flight ahead

According to ratings agency Crisil, the Indian aviation sector is staring at revenue losses of Rs 1.1-1.3 lakh crore, due to the pandemic, over fiscals 2020 to 2022. Worse still, another ratings agency ICRA estimates that the country’s airlines would require around Rs 37,000 crore in additional funding over 2020-21 to 2022-23 to recover from losses and debt. ICRA maintains a “negative credit outlook” for the industry. It means moves to raise money through bank loans will prove to be costlier for airline companies.

Read more on the turbulence the industry faces and how they plan to fly forward >>

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Pawan Hans privatisation received multiple preliminary bids: Dipam secy

The government has received multiple preliminary bids for strategic sale of Pawan Hans, DIPAM Secretary Tuhin Kanta Pandey said on Thursday.

Thursday was the last date for putting bids for Pawan Hans, in which government owns 51 per cent stake while Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) holds the remaining 49 per cent. ONGC has also decided to tender its share in the strategic sale process.

"Multiple expressions of interest have been received for privatisation of Pawan Hans Limited. The transaction will now move to the second stage," Pandey tweeted.

After multiple failed attempts, the Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM) had in December invited bids for strategic sale, along with transfer of management control, of helicopter service provider Pawan Hans.

The date for bid submission was January 19, which was later extended to February 18.

In 2018, the government had invited bids to sell 51 per cent stake in Pawan Hans. However, the process was withdrawn after ONGC decided to sell its 49 per cent stake in the company along with the government's.

In 2019, a second attempt was made to sell Pawan Hans but it failed to receive investor response.

The government's stake in BPCL and Air India too has received "multiple expressions of Interest" and the transactions are now in due diligence stage.

18/02/21 PTI/Business Standard

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February brings good news for Indian aviation as air traffic rises

The month of February has brought good news for Indian civil aviation as daily air passenger traffic has crossed the 300,000-mark for three consecutive days.

The daily air passenger traffic crossed 300,000-mark on February 13 when 310,387 passengers were registered at domestic departures in the country and the number of flights was 2,308.

The air traffic figures of February 13 translated into 77.6 percent of average daily domestic air passenger traffic seen in 2019 and the flight departures accounted for 79.5 percent of daily departures seen in 2019 on an average.

The domestic air passenger traffic further increased to 311,039 passengers on February 14 via 2,285 flight departures. The domestic air passenger traffic on February 15 remained above the 300,000-mark as well at 303,252 passengers and the number of flight departures were at 2,350.

The significant improvement in the air traffic can be inferred from the fact that the domestic air traffic level was at 30,550 on May 25 (7.6 percent of average 2019 level), 144,112 on September 25 (36 percent of average 2019 level), and 160,418 on October 25 (40 percent of average 2019 level).

Similarly, when domestic civil aviation resumed, after a two-month shutdown due to the onset of COVID-19 pandemic, on May 25 flight departures were 428 or 14.7 percent of average 2019 level, at 1,479 on September 25 or 51 percent of 2019 levels, and at 1,589 departures or 54.8 percent of 2019 levels.

17/02/21 Anu Shama/CNBC TV18

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Domestic airlines report 40% dip in passenger traffic in Jan

New Delhi: The domestic airlines flew 77.34 lakh passengers in January this year, a decline of 39.50 per cent over 1.27 crore passengers carried during the same period previously.

The latest data released by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation shows that IndiGo carried 42.03 lakh of the 77.34 lakh passengers flown in January this year, followed by SpiceJet (9.92 lakh) and Air India (7.97 lakh).

GoAir flew 6.34 lakh, AirAsia (5.32 lakh) and Vistara (5.14 lakh).

But when it comes to Passenger Load Factor (PLF) SpiceJet, at 76.6 per cent, came on top followed by Vistara (70 per cent), IndiGo (69.3 per cent), Air India (66.2 per cent), and GoAir (64.9 per cent). PLF refers to how many seats have been filled by the airline.

IndiGo reported the best ‘On Time Performance’ among all domestic airlines at 93.7 per cent, followed by Vistara (85.8 per cent), AirAsia (85.1 per cent), Air India (82.7 per cent), SpiceJet (76.9 per cent) and GoAir (72.8 per cent).

18/02/21 Business Line

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Indian-Origin Doctor Known For Preventing Communicable Diseases Via Air Travel Dies

Dr Jarnail Singh, an Indian-origin doctor who gained the limelight as an expert on stopping the spread of communicable diseases via air travel died on Wednesday.

The 67-year-old doctor headed several local and global aviation medicine organisations and was the first chairman of the Civil Aviation Medical Board of the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS).

He coordinated the international response during the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) outbreak in 2003 that allowed the aviation sector to get back on its feet, the Straits Times reported.

Dr Singh also used his expertise to chair the CAAS' ultra-long-range task force, which put Singapore on the map by launching the world's first non-stop ultra-long-range commercial flight from Singapore to New York in 2004.

Singh died on February 6 in Singapore. His death has prompted tributes from those in the aviation and medical sectors worldwide.

Professor Chew Chin Hin, an emeritus consultant at Tan Tock Seng Hospital, said Dr Singh had a large part to play in establishing aviation medicine as a speciality in Singapore.

He had focused on training younger medical examiners who are responsible for health assessments of pilots and air traffic controllers.

"Aviation medicine has advanced immensely in recent decades. Certainly, Jarnail has contributed in a large measure to the training and in establishing high standards of the speciality, to the benefit of the many aviation medicine physicians we have today," said Prof Chew.

"Internationally, he was greatly respected as a much sought-after authority for expert advice. He will be greatly missed," the report quoted Prof Chew as saying.

Aviation medicine focuses on the safety and health of air crew and passengers and tackles the spread of disease through air travel, which makes pandemics a transborder and transcontinental event.

In an interview with the Singapore Medical Association in 2015, Dr Singh described humans as "the weak link in the entire safety chain", which aviation medicine hopes to strengthen.

17/02/21 Outlook

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Aviation minister Hardeep Puri explains why government hiked airfares

The government hiked the cap on lower and upper limits of airfares by 10 to 30 percent and increased the capacity utilisation to 80 percent until March-end. While analysts believe that the air ticket prices may increase by only 10 percent with immediate effect, it is enough to deter passenger traffic that is still around 75 percent of pre-COVID levels.

Domestic air travel is on the path to recovery in the country, with January recording a 3 percent rise in traffic compared to December. The economic survey expected the sector to recover in early 2021, but a closer look at numbers show a flattening growth curve.

From a 40 percent growth in September (month-on-month) to 15 percent growth in December (month-on-month), January witnessed a mere 3 percent growth. Compared to January 2020, the first month of 2021 recorded better growth and showed signs of revival; the industry is some distance from total recovery, said Ameya Joshi of Network Thoughts.

In a bid to boost air travel, the aviation minister had placed limits on airfares in May 2020 and divided it into seven bands based on flight duration.

"When domestic flights resumed after lockdown price fare bands applicable only on economy fares were introduced to inspire public confidence and to ensure no inconvenience was caused to the public," India's aviation minister, Hardeep Puri said.

The price for the first band has been increased from Rs 2,000-Rs 6,000 to Rs 2,200-Rs 7,800. It consists of flights with a duration of up to 40 minutes. The seventh band price has been increased from Rs 6,500-Rs 18,600 to Rs 7,200-Rs 24,200.

16/02/21 Yashi Gupta/CNBC TV18

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India and China aviation appear on track to turn around, says report

Domestic flights in India and China appear to be on a rebound, going by the relatively low storage rates of planes in those two markets.

In an industry update of India's aviation sector on Tuesday, data analytics company Cirium noted that the number of domestic flights had reached 80 per cent of pre-pandemic levels by Feb 15, following an almost-complete shutdown in April 2020 and most of the following month.

Low-cost carrier IndiGo dominated the market, accounting for more than half the nearly 2,000 domestic services operated daily on a seven-day rolling average basis. In contrast, total daily international arrivals into Indian airports by Indian carriers numbered barely 100 - well below half the normal level.

Cirium noted that most of IndiGo's fleet, including 120 Airbus A320neos and 30 A321neos, are in service. Only 36 out of 100 A320neos remain in storage.

In its update of Feb 11, Cirium noted a sharp rebound in domestic flight activity in China as well, sparking hope for a renewed recovery in its aviation sector. Including the very low number of international services, the seven-day rolling average daily flights for Chinese operators had bounced back to nearly 7,500 on Feb 10, but Cirium said it is too early to determine the extent this increased flight activity was driven by an uptick in passenger demand.

17/02/21 Ong Sing Yee/Business Times

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Drabu Joins Air Works As Director

New Delhi: Former Jammu and Kashmir finance minister Haseeb Drabu has formally joined aircraft maintenance provider Air Works’s board as an independent director after getting all requisite government and regulatory approvals, said an official statement on Tuesday.

“Dr Haseeb A Drabu – noted economist and policy maker – was appointed to the Board of Directors of the MRO (maintenance, repair and overhaul) major in August 2020, subject to receipt of requisite government and regulatory approvals,” said Air Works’s statement.

The statement said he has joined the company’s board now as he has received all requisite approvals, including security clearance.

Air Works is India’s largest MRO provider. Its board has five members, including two independent directors.

Apart from Drabu, it has Lt Gen (Retired) K J Singh as another independent director.

Apart from facilities in Hosur and Kochi, Air Works has a facility approved by Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) in Mumbai for smaller aircraft (general aviation aircraft).

 16/02/21 PTI/Kashmir Observer

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IIMB hosts International Conference on Future of Aviation and Aerospace

Bengaluru: Eminent speaker focused on the silver lining of the pandemic – recovery and growth in the sector in India, and opportunities for growth and collaboration.

In their opening remarks at the International Conference on the Future of Aviation and Aerospace, hosted in virtual mode by IIM Bangalore’s Office of Executive Education Programmes this morning, a galaxy of eminent speakers Professor Rishikesha T Krishnan, Professor of Strategy and Director, IIM Bangalore, said: “I am a long-time student of aviation and have been involved in aviation-related research studies. In 2008, I wrote a case study on the Indian aviation industry which was going through interesting times. Recently, I tried to update that case to 2019. This exercise proved to be sobering – as none of the entrants of the first wave of liberalisation of the sector are no longer in existence. This tells us that the airline industry was, is and continues to be a very challenging industry to operate in. It is only due to the support of governments that they are able to keep their heads above water. However, it is interesting to see that demand exists in a big way.”  

In India, Professor Rishikesha Krishnan pointed out, there has been a gradual recovery in demand post the pandemic. “It is up to the airlines and the industry to find ways to operate sustainably and successfully. Among the bright spots, in India, are the initiatives of the government to connect small towns in different parts of India to big cities. Fractional ownership is a new concept that is also interesting. Safety, by and large, is under control. Challenges include infrastructure, alternate fuel and climate change. In India, there are other aspects like manufacturing. Thanks to government programmes, we are seeing increasing interest in the aircraft manufacturing business. The new defence export policy is also a bright spot,” he added, offering a special word of thanks to Dr Kota Harinarayana, whom he described as “father of the light combat aircraft in India”. 

Welcoming the delegates, Professor S Raghunath, Programme Director For the General Management Programme For Aviation and Aerospace, IIM Bangalore, and Conference Chair, talked about how the improvement in cargo revenue will not necessarily make up for the loss in passenger revenue. Given the semi-fixed nature of many airlines costs, there will be a challenge in terms of cash burn and there could be failures amongmedium and smaller airlines unless the government comes in to bail out their debt for equity 

 17/02/21 UNI

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Why a full revival of air travel will be delayed further

For months, the aviation minister has been talking of air travel reviving to pre-pandemic levels in the near future, but the government’s stringent control on airline capacity and fares is clouding the sector’s outlook.

There is hardly any other sector where the government has intervened so intensively in the market.

Read the analysis in full >>

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Hike in airfare limits: Puri says ATF prices risen by 3 times since May 2020

New Delhi: Aviation turbine fuel price has risen by three times since resumption of scheduled domestic flights on May 25, said Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri on Monday, explaining the Centre''s decision to raise lower and upper limits on domestic airfares by 10 to 30 per cent.

While announcing resumption of scheduled domestic flights in May last year, the Aviation ministry had placed limits on airfares through seven bands classified on the basis of flight duration.

The first band consists of flights that are of less than 40 minutes duration. On Thursday, for this band, the lower limit was increased on from Rs 2,000 to Rs 2,200 and the upper limit was increased from Rs 6,000 and Rs 7,800.

Puri said on Twitter on Monday, "When domestic flights resumed after lockdown price fare bands applicable only on economy fares were introduced to inspire public confidence and to ensure no inconvenience was caused to public."

"Since then, price of crude oil has risen from USD 30 to USD 60 per barrel. Prices of Aviation turbine fuel have gone up from Rs 17,000 per kilolitre to Rs 51,000 per kilolitre. However, fare levels have been raised by 10 per cent at lower band and 30 per cent at higher band. Due to higher supply, most travel takes place at lower band."

As an example Delhi-Mumbai fare at lower band has gone up from Rs 3,500 to Rs 3,900, he said.

"It is still comparable to 2nd class AC fares on Railways. In 2010, Delhi-Mumbai airfare was in the range of Rs 4,000. So, fares have remained unchanged for more than a decade," the minister noted.

The other fare bands are for flights with durations of 40-60 minutes, 60-90 minutes, 90-120 minutes, 120-150 minutes, 150-180 minutes and 180-210 minutes.

15/02/21 PTI/Outlook

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HAL, Safran sign MoU for Rafale engine production in India

Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) and France’s Safran Aircraft Engines on Tuesday signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for local manufacture of components and assembly of Smecma M88 engine that powers Rafale jets.

Under the terms of the MoU, HAL and Safran Aircraft Engines will explore opportunities to assemble Safran M88 engine and manufacture components for the engine with HAL for additional batch of Rafale Aircraft for India and for any aircraft manufactured in India by HAL fitted with M88.

The transfer of a significant amount of technology in the assembling/manufacturing programmes is also contemplated. The MoU also encompasses collaboration between HAL and Safran Aircraft Engines for indigenisation programmes relating to design and  development of high thrust engines of 110 kN power and above with transfer of key technology in the framework of this development.

"We are looking forward to expanding our collaboration with HAL, by exploring opportunities in strategic areas", said Jean-Paul Alary, CEO of Safran Aircraft Engines. "Broadly, we remain committed to supporting the "Make in India" policy through major investments, synergy, and high-skilled job creation."

"Safran is our key partner in respect of engines in HAL’s helicopters like Chetak, Cheetal, Light Utility Helicopter, Light Combat Helicopter and Advanced Light Helicopter. HAL and Safran have successfully co-developed ‘Shakti' Engine for Advanced Light Helicopters and Light Combat Helicopter. We have manufactured more than 450 Shakti engines in India at HAL Engine Division in Bangalore, which is testimony of success of our collaboration,” said Mr R Madhavan, chairman and managing director of HAL.

15/02/21 domain-b

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Domestic air fare hike to hit Kerala

Thiruvananthapuam: As the economy of Kerala is limping back to normalcy after the severe impact of Covid-19, the Union government has decided to allow the airlines to charge 10-30 per cent more fare for domestic travel with immediate effect. This is expected to have a direct bearing on the air travel to and from the state as Kerala tourism has pinned all its hopes on domestic tourism this year.

With the order, the airline companies can charge up to 30 per cent more on the base fare cap announced by the government soon after the relaunch of the domestic operations in the country on May 25. The busiest domestic routes from Kerala are Kochi-Bengaluru (65 minutes), Kochi-Chennai (55 minutes), Kochi-Mumbai (100 minutes) and Kochi-Delhi (180 minutes). Kerala has also similar traffic to these cities from Thiruvananthapuram and Kozhikode. So, the hike in base fare announced on seven bands on the basis of the approximate duration of flight will hit Kerala hard as it has steady traffic, be it from Delhi to Kerala or Bengaluru to Kerala. 

Babu Paul, head of the Speedwings Travels, Kochi, said, “The compensatory allowance given to the airlines by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) will burn a hole in the pockets of passengers. Moreover, the aviation regulator would soon lift the cap on the base fare in various sectors in a phased manner and the decision to charge 10-30 per cent more is the first step towards lifting the price caps,” he said. 

As part of bringing the passengers back to the airlines, the Union government in May last year divided the domestic flyers into seven categories based on their flight durations and fixed a minimum and maximum cap on base fares. This has yielded results as a majority of the domestic airlines have around 85-90 passenger load factor during peak hours on various routes. Now, the next step would be restoring the air fares to pre-Covid era in a phased manner, said a senior officer of Air India.He also said the airlines have been bleeding after the lockdown and the airline companies are eager to cut their losses. 

15/02/21 Dhinesh Kallungal/New Indian Express

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Patna: Airlines optimistic despite hike in fares, flyers upset

Patna: The hike in domestic airfares, announced by the ministry of civil aviation on Thursday, has evoked mixed response from flyers as well as different airlines operating from the city. The hike on different domestic routes ranges from 10% (minimum) to 30% (maximum), depending on distance covered.

Airline executives at the city airport, however, said despite hike in airfares, people would continue preferring flights over trains. “Flights on most routes have no vacant seat within the allowed capacity. One of the reasons behind it is preference of air travel over other modes of transport in view of Covid-19 pandemic,” said an IndiGo executive.

A SpiceJet executive too said the increase in fare band would not have any drastic effect on the basic fare. The minimum and maximum cap increase will only restore the pre-Covid prices airfares, he said.

Rajesh Kumar, executive at a travel agency, said, “The government has only raised the fare band. This will benefit regular flyers especially during the festive reason when airlines charge unreasonable fares.”

Kumud Ranjan, executive of another travel agency, said, “Travelling has been difficult for most people in Covid era. Not just airfares, but fares of other modes of transportation have also risen. The number of trains running presently is significantly less, forcing people to opt air travel.”

14/02/21 Times of India

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Domestic flight operations recovering well; nearing pre-COVID numbers

Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri on Saturday said that the country's air passenger traffic is almost touching pre-Covid numbers.

In a tweet, the minister said: "2,97,102 passengers on 2,349 flights on 12 Feb, 2021 is the highest since resumption of domestic flights on 25 May."

"With air travel emerging as a preferred mode of travel due to safety, efficiency & time saving, we are almost touching pre-Covid numbers."

Since the resumption of operations on May 25, domestic air traffic continued to sequentially improve in December 2020.

The domestic passenger traffic rose 15 per cent MoM in December 2020, although was down 43 per cent YoY.

In domestic operations, passenger load factor stood at 65-78 per cent during December 2020.

At present, airlines can operate up to 80 per cent of their pre-Covid capacity.

13/02/21 IANS/IBT

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Removal of air fare cap to depend on air traffic says Aviation Minister

DGCA has raised airfare prices between 10-30% according to demand and route data. The hike in airfare cap is across domestic flights with immediate effect as the economic situation is slowly normalising post the impact of covid pandemic. The government had currently imposed a minimum and maximum limit on fares that airlines can charge from passengers and this fare cap order was effective until March 31 to prevent the airlines from overcharging in a post covid situation.

DGCA has increased the minimum fare on all seven sectors by 10-12 per cent and has raised the limit on maximum fare by around 30 per cent. The seven sectors have been classified on the basis of approximate duration of the flight.

The increase is in the range of 10 per cent for a one-way fare at the minimum fare level for a flight of fewer than 40 minutes to about 30 per cent for a maximum fare for a flight of between 180-210 minutes.

The order comes at a time when the airline sector is facing an uncertain demand sentiment and the financials of the companies are severely impacted. As of now, the airlines continue to operate at sub-optimal capacity as demand has not fully recovered.

While the overall situation has improved post-vaccination program and there has been an uptick in the number the passengers, the decision has been taken in order to help airlines improve revenues. India’s two listed airlines still recorded losses in the quarter ended December 2020.

12/02/21 Poonam Saney/ETNowNews.com

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5,808 flights cancelled or delayed due to weather in Nov-Dec 2020: Govt

New Delhi: A total of 5,808 flights were delayed or cancelled in India due to adverse weather conditions, which includes fog, during November and December last year, Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said on Thursday.

In a written reply to a question in Lok Sabha, the minister said a total of 1,434 flights were cancelled and 4,374 delayed in November and December 2020 due to adverse weather conditions.

"Total number of passengers affected due to cancellation of flights during November December 2020 are as follows: November 2020 14,062; December 2020 28,974," he stated.

IndiGo, SpiceJet, Air India, Vistara, GoAir and AirAsia India cancelled 439, 139, 97, 66, 25 and 20 flights respectively in December 2020 due to weather conditions, he mentioned.

"As a result of dense fog, airlines have to re-schedule and sometimes cancel the flights. This adversely impacts the efficiency of the airlines. It is difficult to evaluate the exact loss (to airlines) due to dense fog," Puri noted.

11/02/21 PTI/Business Standard

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Air-bubble arrangement between India, Russia to come into effect from tomorrow

New Delhi: India and Russia have concluded an air-bubble arrangement and it will come into effect from Friday, the Russian Embassy said.

Under the pact between the two countries, special international passenger flights can be operated by their airlines into each other's territories under restrictive conditions.

"We would like to inform that the Russian and Indian sides have concluded an air bubble arrangement coming in to effect on February 12, 2021," the Russian Embassy said in a statement on Thursday. "We also would like to emphasise that the entry of tourists from Russia is not yet possible."

Scheduled international flights continue to remain suspended in India since March 23 last year due to the coronavirus pandemic. However, special flights have been permitted under air bubbles since July last year.

According to the statement, three categories of passengers would be permitted to travel from India to Russia under this bubble: "Stranded citizens of Russia; any Indian national or Nepalese national or Bhutanese national holding a valid Russian visa; seamen planning to work in Russia".

The statement said four categories of passengers can travel from Russia to India under this bubble: "Indian nationals or Nepalese nationals or Bhutanese nationals stranded in Russia; all overseas citizen of India (OCI) cardholders and person of Indian origin cardholders holding passports of any country; seamen from Russia; Russian nationals intending to visit India for any purpose (including the dependents holding appropriate visa), except tourism".

11/02/21 PTI/Economic Times

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Air travel becomes expensive as govt announces 30% fare hike by Rs 5,600

New Delhi: The government on Thursday announced an increase in fares for air travel by up to Rs 5,600, and as per aviation experts, the reason behind the hike is the increase in fuel prices.

As per an order from the Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA), it is a routine change.

"The upper price band on 180-210 minute flights which is now capped at Rs 18,600, will be increased by about 30 per cent to Rs 24,200, an increase of Rs 5,600. On the shortest route for the minimum price band, the price will be increased by 10 per cent, an increase of Rs 200," MoCA said.

The government has stated that the fare hike was necessitated due to the opening of the aviation market.

"Fare capping operations during the calibrated opening of the aviation sector in the country has been extended from time to time, and is currently in force up to March 31, or until further orders," the Ministry said.

The Ministry has also announced a new fare band and an updated fare for domestic travel to a minimum of Rs 2,200 and maximum of Rs 7,800, from Rs 2,000 and Rs 6,000 respectively. In the highest fare band, the minimum and maximum fares have been moved to Rs 7,200 and Rs 24,200, from Rs 6,500 and Rs 18,600.

The government had imposed a fixed cap for air travel during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic but has now removed it as the market slowly opens up.

12/02/21 ANI/Business Standard

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In faceoff again, Maharashtra denies waiting governor use of govt plane

Mumbai: Tensions between the Maha Vikas Aghadi government and Maharashtra governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari came to the fore again on Thursday as the governor was denied use of the state government aircraft to fly to Dehradun for an official event.

A senior bureaucrat said CM Uddhav Thackeray’s additional chief secretary Ashish Kumar Singh spoke to the governor’s principal secretary Santosh Kumar, saying the government would allow use of the VVIP aircraft for Koshyari provided he personally spoke to the CM. But since there was no communication between the governor and Thackeray, the CMO declined permission. Singh did not respond to TOI’s message.

According to a Raj Bhavan statement, the governor was to preside over the valedictory function of the 122nd induction training programme of IAS officers at the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration at Mussoorie, Uttarakhand, at 10 am on Thursday. The governor’s secretariat had on February 2 written to the state seeking permission to use the plane, and the CMO was informed about Koshyari’s itinerary.

Koshyari reached the airport around 9am. “As the governor is the head of state, the CM’s approvals for his flights are a given. Often the approval comes at the last minute, so the governor arrived,” said a source.

Governor B S Koshyari was on Thursday morning denied use of state government aircraft to fly to Dehradun. After the governor’s entourage reached the Mumbai airport’s general aviation terminal in Kalina at 9 am, Koshyari boarded the government’s Cessna Citation XLS aircraft. He was then informed that permission for use had not been received from the CM. Koshyari then left for Dehradun by a commercial aircraft.

The CMO, in a statement, blamed the Raj Bhavan bureaucracy, saying it had failed to ensure permission for travelling by the state aircraft had been obtained from the CMO before the governor reached the airport. “It was expected that Raj Bhavan officials would take adequate care, particularly when it comes to the Governor. Government has taken serious note of the dereliction of duty. The CM has asked the administration to fix responsibility for the fiasco,” it said.

The CMO further stated, “Government is not at fault. It was the responsibility of the Raj Bhavan secretariat to ensure that proper permissions were obtained.”

12/02/21 Pafulla Marpakwar & Manju V/Times of India

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What the fare cap and capacity limit extension mean for airlines

In a surprise announcement, the government has extended the cap on airline capacity until the end of March. The announcement comes as a surprise, because the earlier ones have been about a gradual increase in capacity, and this is the first time that the government has put an end date to the existing capacity cap.

And this comes a day after airlines operated 2,327 domestic departures—the highest ever since the restart of India’s domestic aviation on May 25, 2020. The numbers translate to 74.2 percent of pre-COVID capacity.

February 2020 was the last full month of operations pre-COVID, seeing an average of 3,136 daily domestic departures and 425,179 daily domestic passengers, as per data released by the regulator DGCA. While the Civil Aviation Minister has been making statements about returning to pre-COVID levels very soon, passenger traffic has not returned at the rate the ministry would have wanted. On Sunday, February 7, 287,210 domestic passengers took to the air. The highest number ever translates to only 67.55 percent of pre-COVID levels.

Along with the capacity cap, the aviation ministry has also revised the floor and ceiling prices of the fares  These fare caps have been extended multiple times in the past, but never revised.

While the floor price has seen an increase of 10-12 percent, the ceiling price has seen an increase up to 30 percent. In an environment where occupancy levels are far from their all-time highs, airlines have little manoeuvring ability to charge the ceiling price, which would be applicable to a handful of sectors, and very few days between now and the end of March until when the pricing is in place.

Traditionally, Q1 of the calendar year is weak for travel and also one without many long weekends or festivals - times when there is a spike in travel and demand. The extension until the end of March makes it out of sync with global scheduling time tables.

Airlines the world over follow two schedules, summer schedule and winter schedule. The Summer 2021 schedule comes into effect on March 28, 2021 this year. (Last Sunday of March). Airlines will have to plan for a capacity adjustment for four days of the schedule, assuming that the capacity caps would not be extended further. This is one of the quarters that have seen regular sales in the past as airlines have tried to stimulate demand and look for cash flow.

The move is likely to benefit airlines which are not operating near the 80 percent capacity mark. Airlines operating on fewer routes that what they would like will have less to worry about the price dynamics or competition.

That means a fare restriction would be a disadvantage to IndiGo, which operates on far greater routes than competition. India’s largest airline though has the kind of cash reserves it takes to sustain further hits on the revenue side in lieu of expansion of services across the country.

11/02/21 Ameya Joshi/Moneycontrol.com

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Domestic airfares hiked up to 30%; capacity capped at 80% till March-end

New Delhi: Flying within the country will cost up to 30% more from now. The government has increased the minimum and maximum fares set for different routes, while extending its earlier decision of allowing airlines to deploy upto 80% of their pre-Covid domestic capacity till March 31, 2021. While minimum fare has been increased by 10%, maximum fares are up by 30%.

Airfare range for flying between Delhi and Mumbai, for instance, will now be Rs 3,900-13,000, instead of Rs 3,500-10,000 earlier. These are economy one-way fares that do not include user development fee of airports, passenger security fees (Rs 150 for domestic) and GST.

The aviation ministry had last May classified domestic flights into seven categories based on flying time — starting at flights below 40 minutes and going upto those with flying time of 3-3.5 hours — while allowing scheduled services to resume partially after a two-month suspension. Airlines are currently required to sell at least 20% seats at fares below the mid point of the minimum and maximum fares

The airfare band has been revised upwards now as the price of jet fuel has risen significantly since last May when the fares were set. The new fare bands, which the government has indicated are likely to remain in force till domestic flights return to pre-Covid level this summer, are:

1) Flights with duration of upto 40 minutes: Old price band was Rs 2,000-6,000. New airfare range is Rs 2,200-7,800. Includes sectors like: Delhi-Chandigarh. Goa-Mumbai. Mangalore-Bangalore. Srinagar-Jammu.

2) Flights with duration of 40 to 60 minutes: Old price band was Rs 2,500-7,500. New airfare range is Rs 2,800-9,800. Includes sectors like: Ahmedabad-Bhopal. Leh-Delhi. Hydeabad-Mumbai. Delhi-Srinagar.

3) Flights with duration of 60 to 90 minutes: Old price band was Rs 3,000-9,000. New airfare range is Rs 3,300-11,700. Includes sectors like: Bangalore-Mumbai. Kolkata-Lucknow. Patna-Delhi. Chennai-Kolkata.

4) Flights with duration of 90 to 120 minutes: Old price band was Rs 3,500-10,000. New airfare range is Rs 3,900-13,000. Includes sectors like: Delhi-Mumbai. Chennai-Mumbai. Port Blair-Chennai. Jaipur-Varanasi.

5) Flights with duration of 120 to150 minutes: Old price band was Rs 4,500-13,000. New airfare range is Rs 5,000-16,900. Includes sectors like: Delhi-Bangalore. Guwahati-Delhi. Jaipur-Bangalore. Goa-Delhi.

6) Flights with duration of 150 to 180 minutes: Old price band was Rs 5,500-15,700. New airfare range is Rs 6,100-20,400. Includes sectors like: Delhi-Kochi. Mumbai-Guwahati. Mumbai-Srinagar. Chennai-Guwahati.

7) Flights with duration of 180 to 210 minutes: Old price band was Rs 6,500-18,600. New airfare range is Rs 7,200-24,200. Includes sectors like: Coimbatore-Delhi. Delhi-Thiruvananthapuram. Delhi-Port Blair

11/02/21 Saurabh Sinha/Times of India

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Maharashtra Governor Issues Statement After Use Of State Plane Denied; Fadnavis Slams MVA

Former Maharashtra CM and leader of the opposition Devendra Fadnavis on Thursday slammed the current MVA government for denying the use of a state government plane to the Governor for his scheduled Uttarakhand tour. While speaking to ANI, the BJP MLA said that the state government deliberately denied the permission to the Governer and termed it as 'arrogance'.

With reference to reports in the media, the Governor’s Office has released a statement and clarified that the Governor of Maharashtra was scheduled for a Valedictory Function at the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration at Mussoorie on Feb 11, 2021. Governer's Secretariat had written in advance to Maharashtra government seeking permission for the use of Government Aircraft on February 2, 2021. 

"The Hon’ble Governor of Maharashtra and Goa Shri Bhagat Singh Koshyari is scheduled to preside over the official programme of the Valedictory Function of the 122nd Induction Training Programme of IAS officers at the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration at Mussoorie, Uttarakhand at 1000 hrs on Friday, 12 February 2021. In this connection, the Governor was scheduled to depart from CSIM Airport Mumbai for Dehradun at 1000 hrs on Thursday. In preparation of the visit, the Governor’s Secretariat had written to Government of Maharashtra authorities seeking permission for the use of Government Aircraft by the Hon’ble Governor, well in advance on 2nd February 2021. The office of the Chief Minister was also informed".

However, On February 11, 2021, after reaching the CSIM Airport at 10 am the Governor was informed that the permission for the use of Government Aircraft had not been received.

"On 11th February 2021, the Hon’ble Governor reached the CSIM Airport at 1000 hrs and boarded the government plane. However, the Hon’ble Governor was informed that the permission for the use of Government Aircraft had not been received. As direct

ed by the Governor, tickets for Dehradun were booked for the Governor on a Commercial Aircraft leaving Mumbai at 1215 hrs immediately and accordingly, he left for Dehradun."

11/02/21 Astha Singh/Republic World

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Govt Allows Airlines to Fly at 80% of Pre-COVID Flights Till March-end

Looking at the coronavirus situation in the country, the Union Civil Aviation Ministry on Thursday allowed airlines to operate flights at 80 per cent of their pre-COVID levels till March 31 or till the summer schedule begins. 

“As per the prevailing situation of COVID-19, the central government directs the order dated December 3, 2020, shall remain in force till 23: 59 hours on March 31, 2021 or till the date of commencement of summer schedule 2021, whichever is earlier or until further orders,” the ministry’s order said. 

The move from the government comes as the summer schedule begins at the end of March for all the airlines. Aviation regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has also approved both the schedules – summer and winter – of all the airlines.

Earlier, the ministry had set the 80 per cent limit on December 3, 2020, without specifying till what date it would remain in place.

The ministry had resumed scheduled domestic passenger services from May 25, 2020, after a gap of two months due to the coronavirus lockdown. However, the airlines were allowed to operate not more than 33 per cent of their pre-COVID domestic flights.

However, the Centre had on June 26 increased the cap to 45 per cent and on September 2, it was further increased to 60 per cent. Later on November 11, it was increased to 70 per cent. On December, it was increased to 80 per cent.

11/02/21 India.com

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Maharashtra CM says no to governor Koshyari for use of VVIP aircraft

Mumbai: Following an unusual turn of events, the governor of Maharashtra, Bhagat Singh Koshyari was denied the use of state government aircraft to fly to Dehradun on Thursday morning. After no approval came from the Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray for the special VVIP flight, the governor and his entourage decided to board an airline flight to the destination instead, said an aviation source.

Around 9am, the governor and his entourage reached the Mumbai airport's general aviation terminal in Kalina to board the government Cessna Citation XLS aircraft. "A week ago, the Raj Bhavan had sent the governor’s program to the state civil aviation department, which had, as per the protocol, forwarded it to the Chief Minister Office (CMO) for approval," said a source. "Given that the governor is the head of the state, the chief minister’s approval for his flights are a given. Often the approval comes at the last-minute and so the governor and his entourage reached the general aviation terminal at around 9am to board the special flight," the source added.

That was when the state government’s civil aviation department went into a tizzy. "All the while it was assumed that the chief minister’s approval for use of the aircraft will come, after all, and it was just a matter of completing a laid down formality. However when there was no response from the CMO despite repeated attempts, quite a few brows at the general aviation terminal broke into a sweat," said an official.

The crew of the Citation XLS was asked to deboard. "Even as they were making their way to the terminal’s lounge, the governor and his entourage left the lounge and headed for the aircraft," said the source. "It was the first time ever that we had this situation where the governor was seated inside the special aircraft, even as officials tried in vain to get the requisite signature from the chief minister," the source added. Koshyari remained seated in the aircraft for about 15 minutes, by which time, he would have been informed about the problem at hand, said the source. "He alighted, went back into the lounge and decided to fly to Dehradun on a scheduled airline flight," the source said.

Three airlines operate a total of four flights from Mumbai to Dehradun daily, out of which two are morning departures that leave before 8am. The governor now had to choose between SpiceJetSG779 flight which departs at 12.15pm or IndiGo 6E6857 which departs at 3.45pm. The latest on the issue was that the governor and his entourage had left the lounge and headed to board an airline flight.

11/02/21 Manju V/Times of India

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What do we know about CATS, India’s new fighter jet drone program?

Unveiled with pomp at Aero India 2021, the largest airshow since the start of the pandemic, the HAL Combat Air Teaming System (CATS) looks a bit derivative, with its centerpiece – the CATS Warrior – looking almost identical to the Kratos Valkyrie, a drone that captured the imagination of aviation community several years ago.

The resemblance is not coincidental. Drones of this kind are informally called “loyal wingmen”, and they are often compared to unmanned fighter jets. Currently under development with most leading military powers, they are set to be controlled by artificial intelligence (AI) instead of ground-based operators, and accompany manned fighter jets into battle.

In the United States, the Skyborg program is aimed at developing loyal wingmen for the US Air Force. In Europe, the Mosquito will soon be flying with the Royal Air Force (RAF), while the Future Combat Air System (FCAS) has at least several designs in the works. Russia has been working with the concept too, as did China and some other countries. 

10/02/21 Aerotime

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India’s new latest generation medium weight helicopter

Hindustan Aeronautics (HAL) believes the new heavy-class multi-role helicopter it is developing for the Indian military can be “benchmarked” against the best products on the global market.

Called the Indian Multi-Role Helicopter (IMRH), the twin-engined rotorcraft could be available from 2028. It will have a maximum take-off weight of 13t and be able to carry up to 36 troops in a high-density configuration.

The Indian air force currently operates more than 230 Mi-17 transports

State-owned HAL estimates a domestic requirement for up to 314 examples across all three services, predominantly as a replacement for Mil Mi-17s, but believes it can also score export success with the new helicopter.

HAL detailed its progress on the IMRH during a 6 February presentation at the Aero India event in Bengaluru. The rotorcraft has already passed the preliminary design review stage, the company says, which will enable it to freeze the configuration within six months of receiving go-ahead from the Indian defence ministry. That milestone is expected in late 2021 or early 2022.

First flight should take place around four years after New Delhi’s green-light, HAL says, leading to operational clearance of a basic utility variant for the army after 24 months of testing; an armed variant will then follow a year later.

HAL expects to produce three to four flying prototypes, plus ground- and structural-test articles, with the development activity lasting seven years in total.

09/02/21 Defence View

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Agra Tourism Hit by Coronavirus Pandemic, Awaits Air Travel Abroad

Affected by the coronavirus pandemic, the tourism sector in Agra that thrives on Taj Mahal visitors, has been adversely impacted over the past year even after the popular tourist destination was opened for public. People associated with the tourism sector including guides, shopkeepers and hoteliers in the Uttar Pradesh city believe that international flights should resume at the earliest to give a boost to the industry. 

The Union Civil Aviation Ministry was planning to resume international flights in February but decided against it due to the delicate situation of the COVID-19 pandemic in the country as well as new strains identified abroad. Normal international flights are expected to resume around April-June 2021, government officials had said while speaking to a business portal. 

10/02/21 India.com

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International flyers fell 90% in March-December; Indian carriers’ revenue fell 75%

New Delhi: The number of international air travellers to and from India fell over 90% in the pandemic-ravaged March-December period last year, with just 18.5 lakh travellers, down from almost 2 crore in same period during 2019.

The pandemic saw 6.3 crore domestic air passengers, 56.3% lower than 14.4 crore in 2019, according to DGCA data.

The travel sector, including aviation and hospitality, are among the worst hit during the pandemic.

In response to a question in Parliament, aviation minister H S Puri on Wednesday said that since the outbreak of the Covid-19 “airline carriers have been severely affected due to restrictions on domestic and international passenger movements… Revenues of major Indian scheduled carriers fell from Rs 46,711 crore during April-September, 2019, to about Rs 11,810 crore during April-September 2020. Their full time and contractual employment which was 74,887 as on March 31, 2020, fell to 67,906 as on September 20, 2020.”

Scheduled international flights were suspended on March 23, due to the pandemic. Since then, India has been operating Vande Bharat Mission flights to many places and has formed air bubbles with over 20 countries on which allowed categories of travellers can fly.

Scheduled domestic flights were suspended for two months last year before being allowed to resume partially on May 25, 2020. Airlines are currently allowed to operate 80% of their pre-Covid domestic capacity.

Minister Puri added that two airlines — Deccan Charters and Air Odisha — ceased operations last July.

“Domestic air cargo handled fell from 1.15 million metric tonnes (MMT) during March-December 2019 to 0.72 MMT during March-December 2020, while international air cargo handled fell from 1.74 MMT to 1.19 MMT,” he said, while listing some steps to revive the sector.

10/02/21 Saurabh Sinha/Times of India

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India's Jan air travel growth slows due to higher capacity: ICRA

New Delhi: India's January air travel growth slowed sequentially due to higher capacity, rating agency ICRAsaid on Monday. According to ICRA Vice President Kinjal Shah, the passenger load factor (PLF) last month was lower than 74 percent in December 2020, due to a rise in capacity deployment by 7 percent. The Ministry of Civil Aviation had permitted increasing the capacity to 45 percent, with effect from June 27, 2020, post the initial recommencement of operations of the scheduled domestic flights, with effect from May 25, 2020, to a limited extent. It further permitted increasing the capacity to 60 percent, with effect from September 2, 2020, to 70 percent, with effect from November 11, 2020, and further to 80 percent with effect from December 3, 2020. 

09/02/21 Sentinel 

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Flying Training school is grounded

One of the country’s oldest flying institutes, Government Flying Training School (GFTS) in Jakkur, no longer has a Flight Training Organisation (FTO) licence. The FTO licence, approved by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation is required for a flying school to train rookie pilots who want to acquire Commercial Pilot licences.

But this does not come as a surprise. The GFTS has had a turbulent last few years. The licence of GFTS’s FTO had lapsed in December and has still not been renewed, officials from the flying school told Bangalore Mirror. In order to renew the FTO, the regulatory authorities would have to do an audit by inspecting the facilities, faculty, syllabus, safety precautions etc. “If the GFTS authorities do want to renew the FTO licence, then they would have to meet the primary requirement of having a chief flying instructor. There has been no chief flying instructor for some time now and the process is still on to hire one,” officials added.

GFTS was founded in 1948. The then Maharaja of Mysore granted land in Jakkur to set up the flight school on the assurance that it would be used only for aviation-related activities. The heritage flying institute was inaugurated by India’s first Prime Minister Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru and is spread over 214 acres.

With many infrastructure projects coming up in the periphery of the flying school and the absence of flying instructors has over the years curtailed flying activity in the school.

The last chief flying officer had left the school over a year ago and that post has since been vacant. Besides there are other vacancies as well and the ongoing infrastructure work outside the school boundary is also not conducive to flight training. 

“The runway is unsafe for trainee flight operations due to the movement of heavy machinery within the active airside and wall construction at the threshold, dangerously reducing the available runway length for training,” said a pilot.

GFTS had been embroiled in various controversies in the last decade, which led to its closure for a few years.
09/02/21 Hemanth CS/Bangalore Mirror

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India’s gov’t spotlights Assam for aviation development

As part of a major boost to infrastructure development that the Indian government of Narendra Modi has announced for the underdeveloped northeastern state of Assam, 24 routes have been identified in the state under the first phase of Round IV of the country’s UDAN airport development Regional Connectivity Scheme (RCS).

Airports Authority of India, the implementing agency, has identified Jorhat, Lilabari, Rupsi, and Tezpur for development under the scheme as well as heliports at Geleki, Misa, and Nagaon, and water aerodromes at the Guwahati River Front and Umrangso Reservoir.

As previously reported, a route between the latter two water bodies was named last month as part of the SagarMala initiative to link at least 19 locations in India’s inland waterways and outlying islands.

The boost to Assam’s connectivity was announced in a statement from the Ministry of Civil Aviation on February 7.

Under the UDAN scheme, Viability Gap Funding - a public-private partnership instrument which the Indian government launched in 2004 - is provided to Selected Airline Operators (SAOs) to operate the routes. The SAOs are then obligated to commence RCS operations within six months of being issued the award.

In a tweet on February 7, the Prime Minister’s Office said that the projects in Assam are in line with Modi’s “vision of Purvodaya”, a previously announced mission to drive economic growth in eastern India.

In related news, Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal inaugurated the state’s first heliport on February 4, on the island district of Majuli in the far north, close to India’s disputed border with China. The heliport has the capacity for up to three helicopters.

The state government has made efforts to position Majuli as a tourist destination, and Sonowal said that the heliport would facilitate tourist flow, as would several projects to strengthen road infrastructure to the island.

09/02/21 ch-aviation

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HAL, Wipro3D collaborate to manufacture metal 3D printed aircraft engine component

Bengaluru: Wipro 3D and Engine Division of Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) have collaborated for the development, manufacturing and air worthiness certification of acritical aero-engine component operating in the hot zone, using metal 3D printing. The Nozzle Guide Vane (also called the Inner Ring), 3D printed in a high temperature resilient steel A286, has been awarded Airworthiness certification by Centre for Military Airworthiness and Certification (CEMILAC), the regulatory body of Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO), a Wipro 3D statement said on Tuesday. 

Wipro 3D is the metal Additive Manufacturing (AM) business of Wipro Infrastructure Engineering (WIN).

 "The Wipro3D manufactured components shall be installed in HAL manufactured helicopter engines", the statement said. CEO of Bangalore Complex, HAL, Amitabh Bhatt said Additive Manufacturing is a disruptive technology and is going to play a big role in the manufacture of components used in the Aerospace and Defence Industry in the future. Complimenting Wipro 3D and HAL Engine Division for successfully developing a 3D component for use in the hot section of an aero engine, Bhatt said it is indeed a significant achievement towards "Aatmanirbhar Bharat Policy of Government of India." 

09/02/21 PTI/Outlook

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HAL to make head-up display systems for pilots

Bengaluru: Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) would make head-up display (HUD) systems for pilots in partnership with Israel's Elbit Systems Electro Optics Elop Ltd, the aerospace major said on Monday.

"We signed a pact with Elbit to make and supply digital overhead head-up display (HUD) systems for guiding pilots in navigating their aircraft," HAL said in a statement here.

A HUD system displays data or information for pilots to view with their head up and looking straight instead of seeing it in instruments on dash board at a lower angle in the cockpit.

Though HUD systems were developed for military aviation, they are also being used in commercial aircraft, automobiles and other applications.

"The HUD systems will be initially produced at our Korwa plant in Uttar Pradesh's Amethi. A dedicated facility will be set up for volumes later," said an HAL official.

The company will upgrade its facility by acquiring the latest technology on HUD systems.

"The digital HUD system with modern optics provides sharp brightness, larger field of view and larger head motion box," said the statement.

09/02/21 IANS/daijiworld

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Privatisation Needed in Aviation, Not Just Govt's Specialisation to Run Airports: Hardeep Singh Puri

Union Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri on Sunday said his ministry has set a target of operationalising 100 unserved and underserved airports and starting at least 1,000 air routes under the UDAN scheme. He also said that privatisation is required in the field of aviation as it is not the government's specialisation to run airports.

Addressing a press conference at the BJP's state office Kushabhau Thakre Parisar here over the Union Budget 2021-22, Puri also said that domestic flight services from Bilaspur town in Chhattisgarh will begin from March 1 under the regional connectivity scheme. "My ministry has set a target to operationalise 100 unserved and underserved airports and start at least 1,000 air routes under the UDAN scheme," he said.

"Fifty-six airports have already been upgraded and over 700 routes awarded, of which air-service has commenced on 311 routes under the UDAN scheme since it was launched in 2017 with a budget of Rs 4,500 crore," Puri said. On this line, flight services will start from Bilaspur airport from March 1. At present, the Alliance Air, a subsidiary of Air India, has been given the Bilaspur- Prayagraj-Delhi route, he said.

Speaking about the budget 2021-22, he said after it was presented, the stock market witnessed a considerable boost and the budget also earned praise from intellectuals and independent commentators across the country. When asked about Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's remarks that the budget reflects the Centre's intention to privatise PSUs, the minister blamed the opposition party for weakening the economic condition of Air India.

"If the point was being raised about privatisation of Air India, which is our national asset, its economic condition was worsened during the Congress-led UPA government," he added. At present, Air India has an accumulated debt of Rs 60,000 crore and the process of its privatisation is underway since long, but it will be the NDA government which is going to properly materialise it, said Puri.

He assured that the process will be carried out transparently through open bidding. "In 2006, during the Congress-led UPA government, the privatisation of Mumbai and Delhi airports was done and I give credit to them for it as the Airports Authority of India (AAI) got Rs 29,000 crore from the move which was used for the development of other airports," he said.

07/02/21 PTI/News18.com

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Rafale induction ceremony cost exchequer over Rs 41 lakh: Defence minister Rajnath

New Delhi: The induction ceremony of the first five Rafale jets at the Ambala Air Force base on September 10 last cost the exchequer a little over of Rs 41 lakh including Rs 9.18 lakh GST, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said in Rajya Sabha on Monday.

"The first five Rafale aircraft of IAF were formally inducted into IAF on September 10. The arrangements for this event were made mostly through local resources of IAF. The total expenditure on the event was Rs 41.32 lakh including Rs 9.18 lakh of GST," he said.

Singh said all new variant of aircraft are traditionally inducted into the Indian Air Force through a "befitting ceremony"

The Rafale induction ceremony was attended by French Defence Minister Florence Parly and the top echelon of the French aerospace major Dassault Aviation, the manufacturer of the aircraft.

The first batch of the five Rafale jets arrived in India on July 29, nearly four years after India signed an inter-governmental agreement with France to procure 36 of the aircraft at a cost of Rs 59,000 crore.

The formal induction ceremony of the fleet had taken place nearly six weeks later.

A second batch of three Rafale jets arrived in India on November 3 while a third batch of another three jets joined the IAF on January 27.

08/02/21 PTI/Times of India

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‘State government’s apathy grounded Ngp Flying Club’

Established on March 10, 1947, the Nagpur Flying Club (NFC) has churned out several pilots, some served the Indian Air Force, while the others flew commercial planes in India as well as abroad. Due to government apathy, the British-era club is now lying defunct.

Shriniwas Deshpande, who practices in the Nagpur Bench of Bombay High Court, is fighting for the club’s revival with the help of the other alumni and that too without charging a penny. 

In a freewheeling interview, Deshpande, himself an alumnus, tells TOI that revival of the NFC will help many aspirants from the region to realize their dreams of flying

Excerpts >>

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Vaccine rollout increases hopes for air transport: Ind-Ra

Mumbai: The start of vaccination drives in several countries globally along with higher fleet deployment levels will support the recovery of the air transport sector in the coming months, India Ratings and Research (Ind-Ra) said.

Accordingly, the agency’s India logistics sector report said: “While passenger numbers for airlines are still down on a YoY basis, the start of vaccination drives in several countries globally and the Indian government allowing 80 per cent of fleet to be deployed are key positives recently.”

“While both these developments should be supportive of a recovery in operating cash flow and liquidity in coming months, this will likely be offset at least partly by ongoing higher fuel prices.”

According to the report, since resumption of operations on May 25th, domestic air traffic continued to sequentially improve in December 2020.

The domestic passenger traffic rose 15 per cent MoM in December 2020, although was down 43 per cent YoY.

“In the domestic operations, passenger load factor stood at 65-78 per cent during December 2020.”

“However, approval for vaccines and governments undertaking vaccination drives in major countries will likely raise consumer confidence in air travel and be supportive of a recovery over the medium term.”

06/02/21 IANS/Siasat Daily

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HAL's light utility chopper for army gets initial nod

Bengaluru:The Light Utility Helicopter (LUH), made by the state-run Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. (HAL) for the Indian Army, received the initial operational clearance (IOC) from the military aviation regulator Camila on Friday.

"The army variant of the LUH received the IOC from Camila in the presence of Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on the margins of the 13th biennial Aero India 2021 expo at the Yelahanka air base in the city.

The 3-tonne class single-engine chopper, designed and developed by the rotary wing of the city-based defence behemoth, will replace the ageing Cheetah and Chetak copters' fleet in operation of the three defence services.

"We are in the phase of integrating and flight-testing mission role equipment on LUH, whose performance in all terrains and under all-weather conditions has been satisfactory," said HAL director Arup Chatterjee on the occasion.

Powered by the turbo shaft engine (Ardiden 1U) of the French aerospace major Safran, the LUH is equipped with a smart cockpit display system and health and usage monitoring system for high-altitude missions in the Himalayas.

The certification process involving ground testing, system testing, flight testing, including hot and cold weather trials have been completed.

05/02/21 IANS/Times of India

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India looking at Tejas exports at Rs 309 crore per aircraft, HAL chairman says

Bengaluru: India is actively scouting for export potential for the indigenous Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Tejas at a vanilla price of just Rs 309 crore per aircraft, as countries from Southeast Asia and the Middle East have evinced interest, R. Madhavan, chairman of Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), said at Aero India being held in Bengaluru.

Responding to a query from ThePrint on the export potential and the costing, Madhavan said while the contract cost for the 83 Tejas fighters is about Rs 48,000 crore, it will come down to around Rs 36,000 crore if one takes away the tax component and escalation in foreign exchange.

“Some are calculating the price of the Tejas MK1 A based on the Rs 48,000 (crore) bill. This is wrong. If one takes out the taxes and duty, besides foreign exchange increase, the cost of the contract comes down to about Rs 36,000 core. Actually, the total order cost for the 83 LCA is about Rs 25,150 crore,” he said.

Explaining the break-up, Madhavan said the taxes and customs work out to be around Rs 9,200 crore, and another Rs 11,000 crore is for spares, ground equipment, training aides and manuals, among others.

“Cost per aircraft is Rs 309 crore. The trainer will cost Rs 280 crore. This is a very competitive price. Other countries have found this cost and have realised that it is the cheapest offer for a four-and-a-half generation aircraft,” he said.

04/02/21 Snehesh Alex Philip/Print

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BEML signs MoUs with 11 entities at Aero India 2021

BEML has signed of MoUs with 11 entities to explore and enhance the business in Defence & Aerospace Sector.

These include:

With UP Expressway Industrial Development Authority (UPEIDA) to explore the opportunities for establishing ware house storage for parts and activity center for servicing come overhauling of BEML products (MRO).

With Advance Navigation Positioning Company (ANPC) for joint manufacturing of transponder landing system (TLS) for Indian armed forces, Airport Authority of India (AAI) and Oil exploration companies.

With Primoco UAV SE, Czech Republic for manufacturing of '150 kg class' Surveillance UAV for Indian as well as global requirements such as Intelligence based agriculture, Remote mapping, Pipeline Monitoring, Mining Support, Security & intelligence, Disaster Management & Surveillance.

With IIT Kanpur for joint development and manufacturing of 25 kg class Tactical UAV for Armed forces.

With Torus Robotic Pvt Ltd, Chennai for joint development Artificial intelligence (Al) based unmanned ground vehicle (UGV), Robotics, Light weight, Ingenious electric power drive system for defence and commercial applications.

With Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR)-National Aeronautics Laboratory (NAL) to develop in the areas of advance composite and autoclaves, Mini unmanned aerial vehicles, Design & analysis of aircraft structure and systems.

05/02/21 Capital Market/Business Standard

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Pune: Tour operators pin hope on summer amid pandemic blues

Pune: With little for the tourism and hospitality industry to cheer from the recently announced Union Budget, the industry is still limping to survive. Since March last year, tourism – both domestic and international – has been reduced to nil with huge losses pegged in the subsequent months.

Though unlocking measures by the Centre have been largely initiated, international travel continues to remain restricted. This will add load onto domestic travel but hoteliers, travel agencies, tour operators and professionals associated with allied tourism services have only one concern – survival till green shoots appear in terms of tourists’ footfall and bookings.

“The tourism industry got little government support in the past several months. It is disappointing to get ignored even in the recent Budget,” said Vishwas Kelkar, immediate former chairman of the Travel Agents’ Association.

Having realised that professionals have to take matters in their own hands and face the slump unitedly, the recent annual general body meeting decided to approach banks and seek small loans till the situation improves. The move comes ahead of the summer season, considered the tourism season’s peak in India.

What has made the travel associations hopeful is the arrival of vaccines. With more people likely to get inoculated in a phase-wise manner in the coming months, the industry feels that revival, though slow, is soon on the cards.

“People stayed at home all of last year and now wish to venture outdoors. Tourists will feel confident if they are given appropriate safety and sanitisation facilities. Whenever that happens, we must ensure that all required arrangements are in place and that we remain fully geared to welcome tourists,” Kelkar added.

05/02/21 Anjali Marar/Indian Express

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Air Works expecting regulatory approvals within 4-6 weeks for new MRO unit in Kochi: CEO

Air Works is expecting approvals for its new aircraft maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) facility at Kochi from Indian aviation regulator DGCA and European aviation regulator EASA within the next 4-6 weeks, its Managing Director and CEO D Anand Bhaskar has said.

Moreover, the company is planning to increase the capacity of its existing MRO unit at Hosur in Tamil Nadu from four bays to five bays within the next 60 days, Bhaskar told in an interview. "We can handle four aircraft simultaneously at Hosur. There are four bays. When I say aircraft, it means narrow-body aircraft like A320 or B737. If you have private jets, you can put more into them," he said.

The Indian carriers have a fleet of around 700 aircraft, which includes narrow-body aircraft like B737 and wide-body aircraft like B787, among them. Apart from facilities in Hosur and Kochi, Air Works has DGCA-approved facility at Mumbai for smaller aircraft (general aviation aircraft).

Bhaskar said, "Our new Kochi facility is ready from our side. We are waiting for regulatory approvals. As we speak, DGCA (Directorate General of Civil Aviation) approval is going through and after that we will be doing EASA (European Aviation Safety Agency) approvals as well."

When asked for an estimated time it would take to get these approvals, he said it is likely to take between 4-6 weeks. The construction for the Kochi facility started immediately after the lockdown, he said.

It will have two bays but since they are quite big, they will be able to handle two private jets, two helicopters and two narrow-body aircraft simultaneously, he said.

"Everyone was quite shaken up when I said I am increasing capacity, when everyone is talking about doomsday and things will fall off but I said no, this is the right thing for us to do," he added.

"COVID-19 according to me is an opportunity because now, for some time people will be very cost-conscious and India can you give that kind of quick turnaround at a good price. The price point that India can offer is better than anyone in this region," Bhaskar noted.

The turnaround time -- time taken to repair or overhaul -- of an aircraft depends on what kind of checks one is doing. Lower level checks that are termed as C1, C2 and C3 can be done in 3-6 days. More intensive checks that are termed in between C6 and C12 take about 4-6 weeks.

06/02/21 PTI/Economic Times

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Seeing positive signs, but aviation still in eye of storm: Airbus India

The Indian aviation sector is showing positive signs after being completely shut down during the coronavirus-induced lockdown last year but remains in the "eye of the storm", Rmi Maillard, President and Managing Director, Airbus India and South Asia has said.

Indian airlines are currently carrying 60 per cent of the total pre-COVID domestic passengers and this is better than most countries in the world, he said in an interview to PTI.

"This is better but this is far from being a sustainable situation. We are not out of the woods yet. We are still in the eye of the storm," he added.

Airbus has been observing positive signs such as the pent-up demand for leisure travel in India, he noted.

"I think there is a desire in people to fly again...Business travellers have started to come back. It is essential for your business to meet your business stakeholders or partners and for that, you need to travel,"Maillard mentioned.

"I would say in a nutshell that we are still facing a lot of headwinds with the virus and the complexity of the situation. But in the midterm, I think there will be an upswing," he said.

Airbus and Boeing are two of the largest aircraft manufacturers in the world.

Scheduled domestic flights in India were completely suspended for a period of two months between March 25 and May 24, 2020, due to the coronavirus-induced lockdown.

Maillard said international passenger traffic is still weak in India and it is difficult to predict how and when it would recover.

Scheduled international flights continue to remain suspended in India since March 23 last year.

However, special international flights have been permitted since May last year under the Vande Bharat Mission and air bubble arrangements formed with around 24 countries.

05/02/21 PTI/Business Standard

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HAL, GE Aviation sign over Rs 100 crore contract for supply of forgings

Bengaluru: Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd NSE 3.79 % on Thursday signed a contract valued over Rs 100 crore with GE Aviation for development and supply of ring forgings for its Aviation military and commercial engine programs.

The five-year contract involves supplying both steel and nickel alloy forgings for shrouds, cases, rings and seals, HAL said in a release.

With this contract award, GE Aviation has initiated the development of a raw material supply chain in India as part of its 'Make in India' and 'AatmaNirbhar Bharat' strategy, it said, adding that the award of contract followed HALs successful bidding in GEs Global request for quotes (RFQ).

Chandrashekhar Yavarna, Senior Director, Global Sourcing Strategy, GE Aviation, handed over the contract document to M S Venkatesh, Executive Director, Foundry Forge Division during the ongoing Aero India 2021 here.

The ring forgings will be manufactured at HALs newly established, state-of-the-art ring rolling facility at the Companys Foundry and Forge Division in Bengaluru.

The division has, after a rigorous audit process, obtained GE Aviation approvals for its quality system and special processes, HAL said.

HALs Foundry & Forge Division in Bangalore specialises in manufacturing of seamless rolled rings in aluminum, nickel and titanium alloys and various grades of steel for civil and military aero-engines and space applications, the company added.

04/02/21 PTI/Economic Times

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