Multiple headwinds hit India’s aviation

The grounding of Boeing 737 Max airplanes, the financial crisis that has hit Jet Airways and the shortage of pilots at IndiGo, have hit the growing Indian aviation market hard in the last one month.

More than 45 airplanes have been grounded by various airlines in the last one month and as a result of this, there has been a sharp rise in airfares while air passenger traffic has witnessed some decline.

Low cost carrier SpiceJet, that has grounded its fleet of 12 Boeing 737 Max aircraft after the tragic Ethiopian airline crash earlier this month, is yet to take a decision on its future course of action. Following similar action by several international aviation regulators, the DGCA (Directorate General of Civil Aviation) had ordered the grounding of all fleets of Boeing 737 Max in India to ensure the safety of passengers.

This has affected the operations of SpiceJet on several routes and the airline had to cancel flights on at least 30 routes on which it operated the 737 Max airplanes. In its official statement, SpiceJet has, however, said: “SpiceJet is rationalising and optimising the use of its Boeing 737 NG and Bombardier Q400 aircraft to address the current situation and minimise inconvenience to its passengers.”

However, when asked about what long-term plan SpiceJet has to fill the gap of the Boeing 737 Max aircraft, the airline did not respond. It is to be noted that SpiceJet had placed an order for over 200 Boeing 737 Max airplanes last year.

IndiGo, another budget carrier which has expanded its fleet aggressively in the last few years, is now marred with the shortage of pilots that has forced the airline to ground at least 20 of its aircraft in the last one month. IndiGo has been grounding aircraft over the last few months, leading to cancellation of several flights.

However, IndiGo told this newspaper that all is well and that the airline is fairly maintaining the ratio of pilots per aircraft. In a written reply to The Sunday Guardian, IndiGo spokesperson said, “IndiGo continues to maintain the average ratio of about 6.7 captains per aircraft which is on the higher end of the industry benchmarking. Taking this ratio in consideration, IndiGo is confident that the airline will not face a pilot shortage. We have released internally in the last year, around 200 Senior First Officers to Captains. We have prepared ourselves for the last half year for the ongoing expansion and we will continue inducting captains at a required pace of internal upgrades of Senior First Officers at a similar rate as we have achieved in the past year. Additionally, we will have a total of 160 expats on board by end June 2019. This number includes currently existing expats of 40. Further on, IndiGo has all the requirements for a self-sustained growth of its pilot numbers. This includes an adequate number of experienced trainers of all categories, sufficient simulators, cadet programmes and tie-ups with different flight schools.”
30/03/19 Dibyendu Mondal/Sunday Guardian Live

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Crisis in aviation biz not to deter travelers

Summer vacation is the peak season that travel industry looks forward to every year as it can do brisk business and cash in on increasing demand. It is the time when parents with children getting school holidays, look forward to embarking on leisure journeys. However, the turbulence in the aviation industry with major airlines like state-owned Air India, Jet Airways and Indigo facing one crisis or the other, has put travelers in a tight spot. The Jet Airways bail-out plan from financial crisis along with Indigo airlines which informs to continue recruiting expats and out-of-job pilots, is a positive sign for air fares to stabilise by next month end, which might result in a greater number of flights in the air.
"Right now, the situation with domestic airline industry is that the prices will increase, and the time has come when everyone has woken up to the fact that airlines cannot survive making such big losses. They will have to increase the fare to cover the loss in revenue. That is the trend right now. Besides, the demand for flight ticket from travelers is not going to go down. People are still going to travel as they can afford to pay more," says a representative of a travel body.
Speaking with The Hans India, Vijay Mohan Raj, Managing Director, Sameera Travels and International Director, Skal International, says, "The competition between airlines has led to price war. They have not been fixing the prices in the right manner. The range of fares for a flight route filed by airlines with the DGCA is Rs 3,000 to Rs 25,000. I know of a person who bought a ticket on Vistara for Rs 21,000 which was sold a week back for Rs 5,000." Advertise With Us According to him, "the biggest culprit here is the online travel agencies (OTAs) which provide discounts on air tickets under deals with credit card providers and others. This increases the competition further to provide discounted fare, leading to losses for airlines."
30/03/19 Divya Rao/Hans India

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HAL Tejas Mesmerizes Audiences At Malaysia Air Show

Mumbai: LCA-Tejas enthralled the audience at Langkawi International Maritime and Aerospace Exhibition in Malaysia.  Tejas is a supersonic fourth generation fighter that was inducted in the Indian Air Force (IAF) fleet on February
Barely a month after being inducted into the Indian Air Force, India's fourth-generation light combat aircraft LCA-Tejas enthralled the audience at the Langkawi International Maritime and Aerospace Exhibition in Malaysia. Amid loud cheers from the audience, the indigenously developed aircraft exhibited its immense capability of rapid rolls and max-rate turns.

Designed and developed by DRDO's Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA) and built by the state-run defence aerospace major Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL), Tejas is a supersonic fourth-generation fighter that made a spectacular debut at the 84th Air Force Day celebrations in 2016. Speaking at the time of its induction, Air Chief B S Dhanoa said to the press that the aircraft performed air-to-ground attacks and air-to-air refuelling at IAF's Vayu Shakti air display at Pokhran in Rajasthan on February 16.

Royal Malaysia Air Force also thanked India for displaying its sleek and powerful aircraft and urged aviation fans to witness the power of Indian pilots.
31/03/19 Navashree Nandini/Republic World

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After Balakot, IAF plans to equip Mirage 2000 aircraft with long-range Meteor missiles

New Delhi: The Indian Air Force is keenly considering arming the Mirage 2000 aircraft with potent long-range Meteor missiles as the 27 February dogfight highlighted that Indian aircraft were outranged by Pakistan Air Force in aerial combat.

With the Beyond Visual Range (BVR) missile Meteor, the balance will once again tilt in India’s favour the way it happened during the Kargil war in 1999 when the Pakistan Air Force did not dare to close in because India had better air-to-air missiles.

On 27 February, at the Line of Control (LoC), Pakistan’s F-16 fighter jets, armed with AIM-120 Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missile, or AMRAAM, had targeted India’s frontline fighter aircraft Su-30 MKI.

The Indian fighters, armed with R-73 and R-77 air-to-air missiles, could not target the F-16s because they were outranged as the F-16s were fired from a distance of about 45 km from the LoC.

It is only when a Mig-21 Bison, flown by Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman, chased an intruding Pakistani fighter jet across the LoC that it got a lock on and shot it down.
30/03/19 Snehesh Alex Philip/Print

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Should A Ticket Of One Airline Be Acceptable To Others?

Till the end of February 2019, Jet Airways and Vistara under mutual agreement used to honour each other’s tickets issued to passengers in case of cancellation of one of the companies’ flights. So a flier of Jet Airways could travel in Vistara and vice versa without worrying about the hassles in case of cancellation of the flight. Now the agreement doesn’t exist and fliers of Jet Airways are going through nightmares in the wake of mass cancellations and grounding of aircrafts.

Though even an agreement between the two might not have salvaged a grave situation like this, yet a similar treaty among all airlines might work in favour of fliers.
In fact, Indian operators have such tie-ups with international airlines but in the domestic circle, airlines don’t accept each others’ tickets on the face value.
A section of aviation experts feels that in western countries many airlines have such agreements to help fliers in times of crises.

“Ministry of Civil Aviation can work in this direction and ask all airlines to think of ways to carry each other’s passengers. This is in the interest of the whole sector as flying will become less unpredictable,” says Subhash Goyal, Chairman, Assocham Tourism & Hospitality Council.
30/03/19 Jeevan Prakash Sharma/Outlook

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Flights up from 27 to 34 from March 31

Mohali: The frequency of flights connecting Chandigarh with Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru and Hyderabad was increased in the new summer schedule issued by Airports Authority of India (AAI) on Friday to be effective from March 31 and remain in force till October 26.

According to the schedule, Chandigarh will host arrival and departure of 34 flights daily. At present, only 27 flights operate from the airport, including two international flights to Dubai and Sharjah.

Flights arriving and departing from Delhi will be increased from eight to 11. Similarly, Mumbai flights will go up from four to six and three will arrive from Bengaluru. Flights from Hyderabad will be doubled to two from one on a daily basis.

Watch hours at the airport were also increased from 7am to 4.35 pm to 6.35 am to 8.15 pm. According to new schedule, morning flight will arrive at 6.35 am at Chandigarh from Delhi and the last flight will depart for Delhi.

Alliance Air, a fully subsidiary company of Air India, announced the cancellation of Chandigarh to Kullu flight for April 2 and 3 due to operational reasons. M R Jindal Station Manager Air India Chandigarh said that the aircraft may be pressed into service for other sectors.
30/03/19 Times of India

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Airfares may dip 15-20% from April as domestic airlines rectify supply constraints

The top private airlines in the country have taken a big beating in the past two months, with over 80 flights grounded due to factors ranging from pilot shortage to safety concerns and non-payment of dues. In the bargain, flights had suddenly become a lot more expensive.

Last-minute airfares had spiked by up to 200% on some key routes while same day fares jumped by up to 50%.

"February and March have seen high airfares, with an average increase of 35-40% on airfares across key sectors. The partial closure of Mumbai and Bengaluru airports and daily cancellations and grounding of planes by airlines led to a 5% decrease in seat capacity," Aloke Bajpai, CEO and co-founder of ixigo, a travel website, told The Hindustan Times.

But things reportedly are poised for a turnaround, just in time for the upcoming summer holidays, a peak travel season in the country. To begin with, Jet Airways' management on Tuesday informed the Civil Aviation Ministry that it would not ground any more aircraft and would fly 40 more aircraft by end-April. Currently, the ailing airline is flying only 35 aircraft, so by May around 80% of Jet's fleet will be operational again.
According to Jet Airways executives, operations to Bhuj, Mangalore, Bhopal and Aurangabad, which were completely shut following the grounding of aircraft, will resume from March 31, and the currently curtailed frequency of flights to metro cities will also see an increase.
28/03/19 Business Today

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Turbulent five years for Indian aviation sector, job postings fall by 80%

Double-digit growth and much-celebrated schemes like UDAN (Ude Desh ka Aam Nagrik) have not been able to produce the relative amount of employment in the aviation sector if one goes by the latest report by Indeed India, a website for finding jobs.

Job postings for flight attendants have fallen by 80 percent over the last five years starting from January 2014 and the steepest decline was seen in 2017 and 2018 when postings were down by almost 88 percent, the report has noted.

On the other hand, job seekers continued to rise as in terms of job searches, the last five years saw an overall increase of 41 percent, with a steep rise in 2014-2015, the report said.

“The past two years (January 2017 to December 2018) have seen job postings for flight attendants drop by 88 percent. With the aviation industry currently stretched for resources as well as skilled talent, disruptions in flight schedules have become the order of the day. Given the circumstances, it comes as no surprise that jobs in the sector have seen a drop, even as searches by job seekers for these roles remain largely stable,” Sashi Kumar, managing director, Indeed India said.

The sector has undergone major turbulence in recent times ranging from soaring crude oil prices to depreciating rupee, burdening the already stressed balance sheets of airlines and giving them little room for additional expenditure.
28/03/19 CNBC TV18

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Flight attendant jobs see 88% drop in two years: Report

Aviation jobs have seen a huge slump following the recent debt crisis in companies like Jet Airways and Air India. Data from jobs site Indeed showed that there has been an 88 percent drop in job postings for flight attendants.
In light of the recent developments in the civil aviation sector, job postings have seen a sharp decline. However, with regulatory intervention, the sector is likely to see a revival in terms of job opportunities soon.
"With the aviation industry currently stretched for resources as well as skilled talent, disruptions in flight schedules have become the order of the day. Given the circumstances, it comes as no surprise that jobs in the sector have seen a drop, even as searches by job seekers for these roles remain largely stable. However, as financial institutions plan to support the sector during this period, we can hope for recovery in the months ahead," said Sashi Kumar, Managing Director, Indeed India.

Data from Indeed also showed that in the last five years (January 2014 to December 2018), the job postings for flight attendant roles saw an overall drop of 80 percent, with the decline being the steepest in 2017-2018.
28/03/19 Moneycontrol.com

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Airline fares from Kerala to West Asia hits all-time high

Thiruvananthapuram: Airlines have jacked up fares from the airports to the destinations in the West Asia to an all-time high to cash in on the demand for seats from the relatives of Non-Resident Keralites with the educational institutions closing for the two-month summer vacation in the State.

One-way fares from Thiruvananthapuram, Cochin and Kozhikode international airports to the various destinations in West Asia, that was in the range of ₹6,000 to ₹12,000 earlier this month, have gone up by 200 to 400% and seats are unavailable in the economy class in the airlines.

This hike in fares from the gateways of the State is unprecedented, industry analysts say. Airlines cash in on the demand for seats by increasing fares to the West Asia destinations every summer but they had been limiting it to 50 to 100%.
For a one-way economy class ticket from the three international airports to the destinations in West Asia on April 1, the day after educational institutions close after the academic year, the fare is in the range of ₹21,998 to ₹ 88,705. An economy class ticket in Emirates from the State capital to Dubai is available for ₹69,438 and ₹88,705 to Doha in Qatar Airways.
27/03/19 S. Anil Radhakrishnan/The Hindu

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12 airlines close down in 21 years

New Delhi: Naresh Goyal-founded Jet Airways is possibly only the second private airline after SpiceJet to get a shot at reincarnation.
The low-cost carrier owes its origin to ModiLuft, which flew from 1993 to 1996. While Indian skies have seen tremendous passenger growth, the country has had its share of airlines that ran out of fuel — 12 in 21 years. The most prominent failure was Kingfisher.
Vijay Mallya, the flamboyant founder of this airline, has sent a series of angry Tweets after Jet minus Goyal was taken over by lender banks. Mallya did manage to get a fair share of Kingfisher debt restructured to equity and banks took a big haircut. He desperately tried in 2011-12 to get the then Congress-led coalition to allow foreign airlines to invest in Indian ones, but failed.
 This policy was approved after Kingfisher was shut down in October 2012. That change led to Etihad picking up 24% stake in Jet and Tata Group starting two JV airlines, one each with Singapore Airlines and AirAsia. Few airlines in India, including government-owned Air India, have had luck in finding life after near death.
Captain Gopinath-founded Air Deccan, India’s first budget airline, was bought over by Kingfisher in 2007 and the latter was shut down in 2012.
Air Sahara was bought by Jet in same year as Deccan and now Jet is on the ventilator of lenders. SpiceJet is an exception. It had its origin in ModiLuft (1993-1996). Less than a decade later, it was bought by Ajay Singh, who launched it as SpiceJet in 2005, along with UK-based NRI Bhulo Kansagra. In 2008, Kansagra sold his stake to US distress investor Wilbur Ross. Two years later, Ross and Ajay Singh sold their stake to Sun Group’s Kalanithi Maran. In 2015, Maran sold his stake back to Ajay Singh.
27/03/19 Saurabh Sinha/Times of India

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Civil aviation to produce 10 crore jobs in 5 years: Report

The Modi government has been criticised by Opposition parties for the tardy progress in jobs creation since it came to power. The PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PHDCCI) in its latest report has suggested that the government should look at Railways, civil aviation, road transport and tourism to create 10 crore jobs in the next five years.

It also suggested a seven-pronged strategy for the government to help India grow at 9-10 percent annually and become a $5 trillion economy by 2023-24. These include smart farming, ease of doing business for MSMEs, revitalizing exports, exploring tourism potential and quality education.

The report said that tourism is the largest investment market in India. Over 2.5 crore Indians travelled abroad in 2018 and 180 crore took domestic tourist trips. It can create over 40 million direct and indirect employment in the country.
"Exploring employment creation with increased air services and a number of flights, expansion of taxi services would be crucial to meet transportation needs and to absorb lakhs of workforce," said Rajeev Talwar, President of PHDCC.

The report noted that flights operating wide-body aircraft from a country to distant destinations attracts investment, creates jobs and increases passenger traffic. Therefore, it suggests that India should adopt a policy to promote wide-body aircraft by the Light Cost Carriers (LCC) in India and should open the sector for private corporate airlines.

When taxi services in many countries were allowed to operate with radio taxi operators and cab aggregators, there was a visible surge in investments as well as employment. PHDCCI hence suggests opening up inter and intra-city bus services to corporate bus operators in India.
26/03/19 Moneycontrol.com

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Air passenger traffic growth hits five-year low in February on Jet turbulence

Coimbatore: The turbulence at Jet Airways seems to have had an adverse impact on the growth in air passenger traffic in the country.
 The number of passengers travelling through domestic airways in February stood at 11.34 million, a 5.6% year-on-year (y-o-y) increase, the slowest pace of growth in a month in five years. The number of departures for Jet Airways fell to 8,312 in February compared to 11,388 in January, data with DGCA (Directorate General of Civil Aviation) showed.
This represented a 33.3% decrease on a y-o-y basis. The number of hours flown by the airline declined to 15,013 in February compared to 20,674 in January. Jet flew about 11.3 lakh passengers during February against 14.8 lakh passengers in the preceding month. The number of passengers flown by the airline fell 27.7% on a y-o-y basis in February.
 Jet Lite, the low-cost carrier of Jet Airways, also saw a fall in departures and number of passengers flown. The cancellation rate among the listed players was the highest for Jet Airways (2.31%) while the rate stood at 1.88% and 1.03% respectively for Indigo and SpiceJet.
 The market share of Jet Airways fell to 10% in February compared to 11.9% in January on the back of many cancelled flights. Incidentally, domestic air passenger traffic has been clocking double digit growth consistently on a monthly basis for nearly 4 ½ years. “The grounding of aircraft by Jet Airways is the primary reason for the decline (in air passenger traffic),” said Gagan Dixit, vice president, Elara Capital. “Airfares.
26/03/19 M Allirajan/Times of India

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Operating airlines to be tough if structural changes not made: Madhavan Menon, chairman, Thomas Cook India

Thomas Cook (India) chairman Madhavan Menon said the Jet Airways  crisis is a warning sign and that the frequent disruption in the civil aviation industry can be sorted out only when the government fixes “structural requirements” such as the high taxes imposed on aviation turbine fuel. In an interview with Nehal Chaliawala and Satish John, he said he was confident that his company could compete with banks for forex business and that “assisted travel” would continue to be relevant in the travel market despite the advent of online travel portals. Edited excerpts:

How does the current scenario of high airfares impact your business?
There are two parts to it – the domestic market and the inbound market. From an inbound point of view, it’s a temporary glitch. Most who are travelling right now booked their tickets in December and January. There’s at least three to six months’ forward planning in the inbound business. But any change or cancellation now is causing inconvenience and is not helping. Plus, there is a lot of nervousness about Jet Airways because a lot of people take it from overseas into India. And it was considered a premium product to travel. So yes, it’s a bumpy ride for the next few weeks.

How does the Jet Airways crisis impact Thomas Cook?
We are all focused on booking people on alternate flights. As far as the domestic holiday business is concerned, a lot of these bookings and the inventory were put in place before the crisis started. So, I don’t think it has affected us immediately.
We cannot speculate about what happens at Jet. What is important to understand is that this is a warning sign to us that if we don’t change the structural requirements, the ATF, then airlines are going to become increasingly difficult to operate. Today it is Jet, tomorrow it will be somebody else. And we have seen a history of this. We have seen multiple airlines, small and big, fold only because of this entire tax problem. In some states, the tax goes as high as 60-70%. What is happening at Jet is short-term. Fares will go up, but they will straighten out. This has happened before; it’s not new. The focus should be on how to deal with the structural issue.
25/03/19 Nehal Challawala/Economic Times

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Helicopters set to flood Patna airport

Patna: With electioneering for the Lok Sabha polls gathering pace in the state, helicopters have started arriving at JPNI airport for use by political parties.
 The first helicopter engaged for electioneering took off from state hangar at Patna airport on Monday carrying RJD leader Tejashwi Prasad Yadav and VIP chief Mukesh Sahni. On the first day of RJD’s election campaign on Monday, Tejashwi addressed public meetings at Gaya, Banka and Bhagalpur. Tejashwi’s political adviser Sanjay Yadav and RJD leader Shivanand Tiwari also accompanied him.
 According to Patna airport officials, the helicopter hired by RJD arrived at the state hangar at JPNI airport from Delhi via Lucknow around 10.46am and departed for electioneering work at 11.10am. The twin-engine helicopter – Bell 407 – returned to the airport at 6pm, the official added.
 Santosh Kumar, assistant general manager (air traffic management) at Patna airport, told this newspaper that as per the instruction of the Election Commission of India (ECI), the air traffic control (ATC) has been keeping a tab on all private choppers and chartered flights.
“We are keeping the records of helicopters and chartered flights used for electioneering. For instance, the chopper used by RJD on Monday is operated by Aryan Aviation Private Limited,” he said, adding different political parties have already shared their travel plans with the ATC. As per the directive of ECI, the ATC has also shared the records of the scheduled helicopters with the chief electoral officers and district election officers.
 Rate for hiring a five-seater Bell helicopter is Rs 75,000 per hour, plus additional charges, which can go up to Rs 20,000 per hour. Tejashwi’s father and RJD supremo Lalu Prasad used to describe choppers as ‘udan khatola’ in the 90s. Helicopters are the first preference of politicians as they help them to reach out to maximum constituents during the election campaign. Chartered aircraft, on the other hand, are less popular among politicians in the state due to lack of properly maintained airstrips in most districts.
26/03/19 Faryal Rumi/Times of India

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Grounding of flights takes a hit at tourism, indl sectors

Aurangabad: The grounding of flights and the uncertainty over whether Jet Airways will operate to and fro flights has taken a hit at the tourism and corporate sectors in the city.
 Jet Airways has stopped its morning flight from the city to Mumbai from March 20. Director of Aurangabad airport D G Salve said that they have received a communication from the airline stating that they would not operate the morning flight until March 31 and the evening flight till April 31. “We have not received any communication as to when the airline will resume these flights,” said Salve.
 With each plane having a capacity of 126 passengers, daily passenger inflow of 250 has been hit. Salve said that apart from impacting the local business and causing inconvenience to passengers, the grounding of flights was taking a toll on the revenue of Airport Authority of India in terms of passenger fee and other services. Stakeholders in the tourism sector, like travel agents and hotels, claim that though their businesses have been hit, they were not incurring heavy losses as it was an off-season for tourists.
 President of Aurangabad Tourism Promotors Guild Jaswant Singh said that the travel agents had a meeting with local authorities of Jet Airways where they were assured that the morning flight would be resumed from April 1. “Uncertainity is preventing travel agents from booking tickets available from April 1. Passengers, whose flights were cancelled, had to be accomodated in Air India, through road and railways. The high fare of Air India has pushed people to ask for compensation. The compensation in European countries is quite high,” said Singh.
25/03/19 Arpita Sharad/Times of India

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Flying to Mumbai, Delhi? You may end up paying more than a Sharjah ticket

Nagpur: Withdrawal of flights by crisis-ridden Jet Airways has affected Nagpur the most among all centres. With Jet’s flights to major cities like Mumbai and Delhi cancelled, airfares of other airlines have touched the sky.
 Airlines like Air India, Go Air and Indigo are the only domestic carriers operating from Nagpur these days, and operating flights to major centres like Mumbai and Delhi. Jet Airways now only flies from Nagpur to Allahabad and Indore. The route has been allotted to it under the regional connectivity scheme of the central government.
 It began with Jet cancelling one flight each to Mumbai and Delhi in February, and by March all flights had been withdrawn.
 A quick search on booking portals and the airlines’ own website shows that the rates have gone up by at least 50% compared to the usual levels, and even 200% in some cases. Spot fares to Mumbai are more than a one-way ticket from Nagpur to Sharjah for this weekend. A ticket to Mumbai for Monday costs anywhere between Rs12,000 to 17,000. This is more than double the rates expected for last minute booking in normal times.
As against this, a ticket to Sharjah for the weekend costs a little over Rs11,000 per head. Tickets for Delhi are cheaper comparatively, but still above the normal level. Air tickets to the national capital for Monday are in the range of Rs7,200 to 8,000 for the economy class. Tickets to Delhi for March 27 are in the range of Rs6,200 to 7,600. There is a little change in the fare for flights in the first week of April too.
 25/03/19 Shishir Arya/Times of India

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IAF Inducts first unit of Chinook helicopters, Dhanoa dubs it as 'gamechanger'

The Indian Air Force has inducted the first unit of four US-made Chinook heavy-lift helicopters on Monday. The first four of such 15 choppers earlier arrived at Chandigarh's Air Force Station 12 Wing for their deployment by the IAF. Air Chief Marshal BS Dhanoa formally inducted the copters in IAF.

On the features of the chopper, the IAF posted on its official Twitter handle: "Chinook is a heavy lift, tandem rotor helicopter which serves armed forces of 19 countries. It is a multi-role platform and is used for the transport of troops and material among other roles. It will greatly enhance IAF's HADR capability."
Speaking at the induction ceremony, IAF chief Dhanoa said, "Country faces a multiple security challenges; we require vertical lift capability across a diversified terrain. Chinook has been procured with India specific enhancements; it's a national asset". He further added, "Chinook helicopter can carry out military operations, not only in day but during night too; another unit will be created for the East in Dinjan (Assam). Induction of Chinook will be a game changer the way Rafale is going to be in the fighter fleet."
25/03/19 ANI/DNA

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Airfares on major routes rise 10-20%

Bengaluru: With several flight services offered by carriers, Jet Airways and SpiceJet, cancelled, airfares on available flights on major routes for March and April have soared 10-20% compared to the same months last year.
 Fares remain high till the end of April from Bengaluru to major cities, including Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata. While several flights of debt-ridden Jet Airways were grounded due to non-payment to lessors, the recent Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) directive on Boeing 737 Max 8 planes also saw five planes of Jet Airways and 12 planes of SpiceJet getting grounded.
 “With an unprecedented amount of planes now grounded due to various factors, reduction in seat capacity has led to an increase in fares overnight. Last-minute airfares in March have increased more than 100% on some key routes such as Delhi-Mumbai, Mumbai-Chennai, Mumbai-Kolkata and Mumbai-Bengaluru compared to same time last year. High airfare patterns are expected to continue in the short term with ongoing Holi festival and upcoming summer holidays, resulting in an increased demand,” said Aloke Bajpai, CEO and co-founder, Ixigo.
 According to data provided by Ixigo, fares on the Delhi-Bengaluru route went up by 36% in March this year compared to last year while on the Mumbai-Bengaluru route, airfares doubled.
24/03/19 Times of India

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Rough financial headwinds send airlines across India in a tailspin

New Delhi: In the last few months, almost every airline in the country is facing some sort of crisis. After having a wonderful sail for two-three years, the aviation industry was hit severely last year when international crude prices went up and the value of domestic currency depreciated against the US dollar.

Excessive parking and landing charges, loads of debt and fare wars have also hit the performance of airlines.

The impact of the two macro factors was so big on the sector that every player witnessed their profits plummeting and losses mounting.

The first airline to fall on bad times was the Naresh Goyal-promoted Jet Airways.
While there was the talk of many players being interested in buying a stake in the airline as its debt continued to pile up with the airline having no money for day-to-day operations, the major blow came when in early January it announced that it was defaulting on loan repayment.
24/03/19 New Indian Express

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Turbulence in aviation sector grounds travel plans for Indians

Rinjing Paljor, 27, had been looking forward to visiting his hometown in Leh during the summer. A graphic designer working in Delhi, he had been planning this visit since January in order to spend some quality time with his family in the cool climes of Ladakh’s barren mountains.

Sadly, Paljor has been forced to cancel the trip. With airfares heading north because of the troubles faced by a number of airlines in the past few weeks, flying has suddenly become a luxury which many like Paljor can ill afford.
“Fares on the Delhi-Leh route are generally around Rs 4,000 for a one-way ticket. But this time fares have not gone below the Rs 10,000 mark. Since there is no other quick and convenient mode of transportation for the route, I decided to stay put in Delhi,” Paljor said.

Paljor is not alone in bearing the brunt of the woes plaguing the airline sector. Nishant Mishra, 22, a student at Delhi University, said he came to know only a day in advance that his flight to Lucknow had been cancelled.

“I had booked the ticket when the fares were Rs 2,000 but now it’s gone over Rs 4,000. I tried to book a railway ticket also but there were no seats available. As a last resort, I took a bus to reach Lucknow,” Mishra said.
24/03/19 New Indian Express

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In-flight Wi-Fi: High cost of deployment may deter airlines

Mumbai: The Government may have started giving out licences to operators for offering Wi-Fi services in domestic flights, but it may be a while before passengers get to access Internet at 30,000 ft. High cost of deploying the service, bleak financial conditions of the aviation sector, in general, and lack of clarity about the business model may come in the way of offering in-flight Wi-Fi services.

“Airlines are bullish, but it will take longer than expected due to the financial crunch they are facing at the moment,”said Partho Banerjee, President and Managing Director, Hughes Communication India Ltd (HCIL), one of the companies to procure in-flight and maritime connectivity (IFMC) licence from the Department of Telecommunications.

Last December, the Centre had decided to provide the IFMC licence that allows service providers to partner with Indian and foreign airlines, along with shipping companies, to provide in-flight and maritime voice and data facility via on ground telecom network or using satellite.

“It will take 3-4 years for their entire fleets of the airlines to be connected,” said Shivaji Chatterjee, Senior Vice-President and Head Enterprise Business, Hughes Communications India Ltd.
An aircraft needs to be grounded for at least two days to install the system. A flat antenna needs to be fused and retrofitted on an aircraft to connect to the satellite. This means commercial losses for the airline and they are currently not in a position to idle any aircraft.

The other option is to install the antenna when the aircraft is brought in for maintenance. It takes around ₹3 crore to install the system on an aircraft. “To get the airlines to take the plunge now is going to be a task. Full-service carriers such as Vistara could look at adopting the service, but airlines want to focus on the return on investment first,”said Chatterjee.

Service providers also point out that the Indian mindset of wanting ‘free Wi-Fi’ might pose a problem for the airlines.
24/03/19 Forum Gandhi/Business Line

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India's indigenous supersonic fighter jet Tejas to take part in Malaysia's LIMA

New Delhi: India's indigenous supersonic fighter jet Tejas will for the first time participate in aerial displays during the five-day Langkawi International Maritime and Aerospace Exhibition (LIMA) in Malaysia.

India has been projecting the Tejas aircraft in a big way as it has been manufactured indigenously at the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) and designed by the Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA) for the Indian Air Force and the Indian Navy.
The Indian Air Force will participate in the Maritime Aero Expo for the first time, during which it will showcase its indigenously-developed light combat aircraft Tejas.

The IAFs' team departed from Air Force Station Kalaikunda for Langkawi on March 22 via Myanmar, Yangon.

"India's indigenous supersonic Light Combat Aircraft(LCA)-Tejas & the world's lightest supersonic fighter which has already joined IAF, is for the 1st time taking part in aerial displays during 05 day Langkawi International Maritime & Aerospace Exhibition," the IAF said on its official Twitter handle.

"Today was the final practise session before the opening display for LIMA 2019, commencing 26th March 2019. IAF's Tejas (LCA) during the practise session today at Langkawi International Airport, Malaysia," the IAF tweeted.
24/03/19 PTI/Business Standard

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When the Mi-8 landed on Bengaluru’s roads

Bengaluru roads became a runway on Wednesday as a Mi-8 Helpicopter took the route to reach its newest destination-National Military Memorial.
As the aircraft was being transported via road, the police had a tough time getting all the clearances and ensuring the near ‘zero’ traffic so that the chopper isn’t damaged or doesn’t crash into other vehicles.
 After a lot of brainstorming, the police gave permission for the chopper to be towed on Wednesday midnight. As it was slowing being towed in the night, many people who on Airport Road had a pleasant surprise as this was the first time they were seeing a helicopter running on city roads for such a long distance. “I was heading to the airport in the night and was surprised to see a chopper travelling on the road. I couldn’t believe my eyes at the first instance and then saw a tractor towing it. However, it was a great experience to see it. I saw a few people videographing the event also,” said Ramesh K, a resident of Sadashivanagar.
 The Mi-8 helicopter which bid a farewell to the force in 2017 after 45 years of service was moved to the National Military Memorial in Raj Bhavan from the Yelahanka Air Base on Wednesday.
 A towing vehicle was provided by the Indian Air Force (IAF) which towed the helicopter till Raj Bhavan. Traffic police were instructed to guide the traffic at Yelahanka, Hebbal and RT Nagar. It took a total of 45 minutes to move the helicopter.
 22/03/19 Iffath Fathima/Bangalore Mirror

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Passenger growth story hits air pocket, dips to 53-month low

Mumbai: Domestic air passenger growth has lost the high double-digit momentum seen till recently, with a growth of 5.62% in February — a 53-month low — with airlines flying 11.34 million passengers compared to 10.74 million, according to DGCA data released on Wednesday.

The last time such a low growth was reported was in July 2014 when incremental traffic grew 7.19%, while in August 2014, the same was at 8%. Since September 2014, the market has been clipping at double-digits which lasted till December 2018. In January 2019, the growth rate slipped to 9.1%.

Significantly, almost all major carriers operated a truncated schedule, mostly led by the crippled Jet Airways and budget carrier Indigo which had to cancel hundreds of flights in the month due to a host of reasons. These include cash-crunch, pilot shortages, notices to airmen at various airports and a reduced capacity due to grounding of some planes, among others.

Indigo retained its top position with a market share of 43.4%, carrying 4.93 million passengers in February, while Jet, along with subsidiary Jetlite, slipped to a distant fourth position carrying 1.28 million passengers and had a combined market share of 11.4%.

Both Spicejet and national carrier Air India flew more passengers than Jet at 1.55 million and 1.45 million, and had market share of 13.7% and 12.8%, respectively.

Another budget carrier Goair, which garnered 9% market share with 1.02 million passengers, continued to outperform on punctuality from the four major airports of Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad and Bengaluru, recording an average 86.3% followed by Vistara at 81.6% in the month.

However, Indigo, slipped to fifth position in OTP (on-time performance) at 76.2% during the month, while Spicejet’s retained its leadership in average seat occupancy at 94%.
21/03/19 PTI/The Hindu

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Government enters cockpit to curb air fare hike

New Delhi: The government on Wednesday said it was working with the airlines to increase capacity across sectors to keep a check on spiralling air fares.

"To ensure passenger convenience, stable operations and affordable fares, MoCA is working with airlines to provide sufficient capacity across the entire network. We continue to monitor safety and compliance on a daily basis," the Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) tweeted.

"All airlines are required to follow the Passenger Charter requirements fully and comprehensively. Any complaints may be registered with the AirSewa portal," it said.

The development has come after a meeting between the Civil Aviation Secretary Pradeep Singh Kharola and airlines' representatives. On Tuesday, a similar meeting was held between the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) and the airlines.
A senior DGCA official said on Tuesday the government did not issue a directive, but advised the airlines to increase capacity and keep fares under check.
The regulator is undertaking sector-specific reviews on price hike.
The government has advised the domestic airlines not to go for predatory fare pricing as several 737-MAX aircraft were grounded due to safety reasons in the wake of a plane crash in Ethiopia.
India suspended operations and overflight permission for all Boeing 737-MAX aircraft from 4 p.m. on March 13. In India, SpiceJet (12) and Jet Airways (5) together operated 17 Boeing 737-800 MAX aircraft.
21/03/19 IANS/daijiworld

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High fares dent February air passenger growth

India's domestic air passenger traffic growth slowed further in February owing to high air fares even as airlines continued to cancel flights due to various reasons.

According to industry observers, seasonal factors too contributed to the slowing of growth rate in February at 5.62 per cent to 1.13 crore.
In January, the number of passengers flown by domestic airlines grew at 9.10 per cent on the year-on-year basis, while in December 2018 it increased by 11.03 per cent.

As per the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) data, January-February 2019 passenger traffic grew to 2.38 crore from 2.22 crore reported for the corresponding period of the previous year.

"Passengers carried by domestic airlines during January-February 2019 were 238.56 lakh as against 222.09 lakh during the corresponding period of the previous year, thereby

registering a growth of 7.42 per cent," the DGCA said in its monthly domestic traffic report here on Wednesday.
20/03/19 IANS/Business Standard

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Domestic air passenger traffic up 5.6% in Feb

New Delhi: The domestic airline industry flew 1.13 crore passengers in February, registering a 5.62 per cent growth, compared to the same period previously.

This is the second consecutive month that the domestic industry has reported single-digit growth in the number of passengers flown. Before January, the domestic airline industry registered double digit growth for 52 consecutive months.

The latest data released by the Directorate-General of Civil Aviation shows that IndiGo retained the number one position among all the airlines, carrying 49.31 lakh. SpiceJet flew 15.58 lakh passengers followed by Air India (14.53 lakh passengers) and Jet Airways (11.33 lakh passengers) while GoAir carried 10.88 lakh passengers. Air Asia flew 5.83 lakh passengers while Vistara flew 4.52 lakh passengers during the month.

SpiceJet, however, reported the highest Passenger Load Factor (PLF) of 94 per cent among all the domestic airlines in February followed by GoAir (92.6 per cent), AirAsia (91.8 per cent) and Jet Airways (89.4 per cent).

Passenger load factor shows how many of the total seats on offer by each airline are getting filled.

GoAir reported the best on-time performance (OTP) among all the airlines at 86.3 per cent, followed by Vistara (81.6 per cent) and SpiceJet (77.1 per cent) at the four airports in Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad and Bengaluru.
20/03/19 Business Line

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Domestic airlines to induct 20-25 planes

New Delhi: Domestic carriers will see planned induction of 20-25 aircraft between now and end April to bridge the shortage of flights on the back of groundings by airlines due to several reasons.
“The aircraft will join either because airlines have ordered aircraft which will be delivered or some will lease them. Besides, the airlines will also try and utilise their aircraft more so that passengers are not inconvenienced,” said Pradeep Singh Kharola, secretary, civil aviation after a meeting with major domestic airlines which had been called to discuss increasing capacity in the domestic market.
About 100 odd aircraft (84 of Jet Airways due to financial stress) and (12 of SpiceJet 737 MAX ) are currently grounded. The airlines have been asked to submit their schedule of planned induction and leasing to the ministry in the next few days.
The meeting had been called due to the crisis that the domestic market is facing due to a variety of factors including the grounding of Jet Airways aircraft, pilot problems with IndiGo and the grounding of the Boeing MAX aircraft that have led to grounding by Jet Airways.
Sources in the government also said that flights with these new planes will be added to destinations that have seen the largest number of cancellations due to the grounding. “While the decision will come from the airlines, they will follow this principle while deciding on flights,” said a senior DGCA official, who did not want to be identified.
21/03/19 Economic Times

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Working with all airlines to provide sufficient capacity, says civil aviation ministry

The civil aviation ministry Wednesday said it is working with all airlines to provide sufficient capacity and is monitoring safety as well as compliance levels on a daily basis, amid concerns over flight cancellations and rise in airfares.
The grounding of aircraft by crisis-hit Jet Airways, grounding of Boeing MAX 737 planes by SpiceJet and curtailed schedule of IndiGo, among other factors, have impacted flight schedules.
"To ensure passenger convenience, stable operations and affordable fares, MOCA (Ministry of Civil Aviation) is working with all airlines to provide sufficient capacity across the entire network. We continue to monitor safety and compliance on a daily basis," the ministry said in a tweet.
20/03/19 PTI/ZeeBiz

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Chinook helicopters to be inducted into IAF’s fleet on Mar 25

New Delhi: Amidst escalated tension between India and Pakistan post Balakot airstrike, the Indian Air Force (IAF) will induct heavy lift four Chinook helicopters at Chandigarh air base on March 25.
 The helicopters will be used in transporting troops, artillery and other equipment to border areas. An IAF spokesperson said the induction ceremony of Chinook helicopters will take place on March 25 at Chandigarh.
20/03/19 UNI

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Govt tells airlines to increase capacity to keep fares from spiraling

Airlines have been advised by the government to increase capacity to keep a check on spiralling air fares, official said on Tuesday.

A meeting was held between the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) and all the airlines on Tuesday.

A senior DGCA official said the government did not issue a directive, but advised airlines to increase capacity and keep fares in check.
The regulator is undertaking sector-specific reviews on price hike.

The government has already advised domestic airlines not to go in for predatory air fare pricing as several 737-MAX aircraft were grounded due to safety reasons in the wake of a plane crash in Ethiopia.

India suspended operations and overflight permission for all Boeing 737-MAX aircraft in India from 4 p.m. on last Wednesday.

Since March 14, air passengers have faced the grim prospect of high air fares and fewer flight choices as several airlines cancelled operations for a number of reasons, including the grounding of the Boeing 737-MAX aircraft.

Industry insiders pointed out that with no short-term relief in sight, some sectors will continue to see a rise of more than 100 per cent in last minute bookings.

Operations of airlines like SpiceJet and Jet Airways have been hit due to the government's decision on last Wednesday to join a global grounding of 737-MAX aircrafts following a crash in Ethiopia.

In India, SpiceJet and Jet Airways operate 17 Boeing 737-800 MAX aircraft -- Spice (12) and Jet (5). A part of Jet's fleet has already been grounded due to other reasons.

Apart from SpiceJet, financially challenged Jet Airways has already grounded more than 40 aircraft due to non-payment of lessors' dues. The Jet Airways Group operates a fleet of 123 aircraft.
20/03/19 IANS/News Minute

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Embraer’s E190-E2 displays capabilities in India

New Delhi: As part of its tour around the region, Embraer’s E190-E2 commercial jet will be making a stop in New Delhi. Sporting a shark livery to represent the aircraft’s ‘profit hunter’ status, the aircraft will offer Embraer’s guests a closer look at the world’s quietest, cleanest and most efficient new-generation single-aisle aircraft.
 “We are proud to bring this aircraft to the region for the second time to show the amazing capabilities of the E190-E2,” said Cesar Pereira, Asia Pacific Vice President, Embraer Commercial Aviation. “The E190-E2 offers airlines the benefit of lower operating costs and is capable of achieving similar costs per seat of larger re-engined narrowbody aircraft, with significantly lower costs per trip. We have also received a lot of positive feedback about the aircraft performance, low fuel consumption, sleek and modern interior and low cabin noise and we are excited to show it to a wider audience.”
Delivered to its launch customer in April last year, and now operated by two airlines Norway’s Widerøe and Kazakhstan’s Air Astana, the E190-E2 has gained a reputation in the industry for having met all its milestones ahead of schedule, and with final specifications better than the originally expected.

The E-Jets E2’s value proposition in the Asia Pacific region is its ability to enable airlines to sustainably develop more routes secondary or tertiary cities. These are routes that can potentially bypass the major metro airports such as Manila, Jakarta, Bangkok, New Delhi and Mumbai which are heavily congested.  This enables airlines to achieve sustainable growth without being constrained by infrastructure bottlenecks, while offering passengers improved services with more non-stop flights.
Embraer forecasts a demand for 10,550 new aircraft with up to 150 seats worldwide, worth USD 600 billion, over the next 20 years, more than 3,000 of which will origin from the Asia Pacific region, including China.
Embraer is the world’s leading manufacturer of commercial jets with up to 150 seats. The Company has 100 customers from all over the world operating the ERJ and the E-Jet families of aircraft. For the E-Jets program alone, Embraer has logged more than 1,800 orders and 1,400 deliveries, redefining the traditional concept of regional aircraft by operating across a range of business applications. The first-generation E-Jets are operated by 70 airlines in 50 countries. This includes all the mainline US carriers, KLM, Air France, Lufthansa, British Airways, Tianjin Airlines, China Southern Airlines, Japan Airlines and Mandarin Airlines.

The E-Jets E2 is the most efficient family of aircraft in the single-aisle market burning up to 10% less fuel than its direct competitor. The E190-E2 brings also more flexibility with maximum range of up to 5,300 km or about 1,000 km longer than the first-generation E190.
In January 2018, as the aircraft neared the end of its flight test campaign, final results showed that the aircraft is better than its original specification and even more efficient than other single aisle aircraft. In fuel consumption, the E190-E2 proved to be 1.3% better than originally expected, which represents a 17.3% improvement when compared to the first-generation E190. In terms of pilot transition, pilots of the first-generation E-Jets will need only 2.5 days of training and no full flight simulator to fly an E2.
Flight test results also confirmed the E190-E2 to be better than its original specification in takeoff performance in hot-and-high conditions as well as short field takeoff.
 E190-E2 also becomes the aircraft with the longest maintenance intervals in the single aisle market with 10,000 flight hours for basic checks and no calendar limit in typical E-Jets utilization. This means additional 15 days of aircraft utilization in a period of ten years compared to the first-generation E-Jets.
20/03/19 Embraer/PRESS RELEASE

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Jaipur: Holi rush leads to surge in airfares

Jaipur: People who took flight to places including Mumbai, Ahmadabad, Delhi and other parts of the country from Jaipur on Tuesday to celebrate Holi with their family and friends had to pay almost four to five times the regular airfare.
Air operators attributed it to the extra load factor and also to the grounding of the Boeing 737 MAX which urged them to arrange for extra aircraft. As per the apps selling airlines tickets and agents supplying them on Tuesday, the fare of Jaipur to Mumbai was ranging from Rs 23,000 to Rs 26,000 per passenger.
“On Monday, for current booking, it was from Rs 23,000 to Rs 26,000. However, for Tuesday, it is showing Rs 4,500 to Rs 6,000,” said a travel agent dealing with different airlines on Tuesday. Likewise, for Ahmedabad a ticket booked almost a week in advance costs nearly Rs 1,800 to Rs 2,600 but for Monday the price of the ticket even in advance booking was Rs 4,500 to Rs 6,200.
“There is no regulation on their fares. Since, we have no options left, we pay what is sought by these airlines and other Apps selling the air tickets,” said Rishabh Toshniwal who was leaving for Mumbai in the afternoon.
 Meanwhile, airfares have been skyrocketing also due to the groundings of the planes by major airlines. The Boeing 737 MAX crash in Ethiopia has also added to the woes of the aviation industry. After the crash, countries all over the world have been grounding their Boeing 737 MAX planes. SpiceJet is one of the carriers affected by it. “The airline had to withdraw 12 aircraft due to this,” said a travel agent.
20/03/19 Times of India

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35 airlines confirmed for inaugural CONNECT Middle East, India & Africa forum

More than 30 airlines have confirmed their participation at the inaugural CONNECT Middle East, India & Africa – co-located with Arabian Travel Market 2019 and taking place at Dubai World Trade Centre on Tuesday 30th April and Wednesday 1st May.

Senior network planning teams from a wide range of legacy and low-cost carriers including Emirates, Etihad, China Southern Airlines, Jordan Aviation, Air Asia, flydubai, Gulf Air, Oman Air and Azerbaijan Airlines as well as SpiceJet and Air India are among those already registered.

In India, which has one of the world’s largest aviation industries, more than 678,000 flights departed from its top five airports in 2018 – with these airports possessing the capacity to manage 118.07 million passengers, an additional 12.32 million passengers when compared with figures from 2017, according to data published in the latest ANKER report.

Nick Pilbeam, divisional director, Reed Travel Exhibitions, said: “Despite rising fuel costs and unstable Rupee exchange rates, which has led to the Rupee losing around 14% of its value against the US dollar over the last 12 months, 2018 has been an exciting year for India’s aviation market.

“The country has recorded the world’s fastest growing domestic aviation market for the past three years, according to IATA, with domestic air passenger traffic registering a healthy 18.6% growth in 2018 underscoring the country’s vast market potential.”
20/03/19 Arabian Aerospace

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All planes, choppers booked for poll campaign

Mumbai: With canvassing for the 2019 general elections in full swing, it's a "houseful" notice outside most companies hiring out small fixed wing aircraft and helicopters for campaign purposes, aviation industry players said.
Top politicians of various parties covet choppers as they afford ease of mobility and access to the country's remotest corners, and small planes which can land on short airstrips.

Flying at average 100-140 nautical miles per hour at a height of between 2,000-3,000 feet, helicopters are the favourite as they help politicians reach out to the maximum constituents during the campaign.

Unlike many developed countries, there are not many choppers or small planes available for hire during poll season and the charter companies go in for the pre-election 'kill'.

According to the Western Chapter of Rotary Wing Society of India (RWSI) President Captain Uday Gelli, there are around 275 registered civilian helicopters in the country.

These include choppers owned by the central or state governments, corporates, public or private sector undertakings, and those that are privately-owned -- leaving around barely 75, mostly with the charter companies, for election purposes.
19/03/19 IANS/Economic Times

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Are you 'covered' if flight is cancelled?

For families with children summer is a preferred time to travel as schools and colleges are closed for the annual vacations. And given that summer is just around the corner, it's time for many to plan for holidays.

But this year one uncertainty worrying travellers is the possible cancellation of flights. Indian airline companies have seen a spate of flight cancellations due to various reasons. If you are worried about what will happen to your flight, read on to know your rights as a traveller.

According to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) website, in case of a flight cancellation, the airline is bound to provide you alternate travel opportunities at no additional cost, if you so desire. The airline is required to refund the ticket in case the traveller is not willing to travel on its alternate or subsequent flight or another airline's flight.
According to the DGCA's website, "If you have already reported at the airport to undertake journey on original flight and waiting for the alternate flight, the airline is bound to provide you meals and refreshments."

Recently, tour operator Cox & Kings had to shift some passengers of SpiceJet to alternative flights by issuing fresh tickets on a different airline, and SpiceJet gave full refund on cancelled flight, said John Nair, head, business travel, Cox & Kings.

But any losses suffered by the traveller due the delay or cancellation are not compensated by the airline. Neither does the airline provide any compensation for hotel stay since they inform passengers in advance of the delay or cancellation and not at the last minute, Nair said.

But travellers will not be entitled to any compensation in case you don't accept alternate travel arrangements offered by the airline or when the cancellation occurs due to extraordinary circumstances beyond the control of the airline.

According to the DGCA's website, an airline is required to provide you information on cancellations of your flight as far in advance as possible of the scheduled time of departure. If you have not been informed at least three hours in advance about the cancellation of your flight, the airline is liable to provide you compensation.
"To get timely information on flight cancellation, please ensure that your contact details are provided to the airlines at the time of booking,'' the DGCA website says.

Travellers will not be entitled for compensation on account of cancellations and delays caused due to extraordinary circumstance(s) beyond the control of the airline, such as: natural disaster, civil war, political instability, security risks, insurrection or riot, flood, explosion, government regulation or order affecting the aircraft, strikes and labour disputes causing cessation, meteorological conditions, cancellations and delays clearly attributable to Air Traffic Control (ATC), slowdown or interruption of work or any other causes that are beyond the control of the airline, but which affect their ability to operate flights on schedule.

Travel insurance is another way travellers can ensure their losses on account of flight cancellations are taken care of, to some extent. Insurance covers flight cancellations/delays and missing connecting flights. This is subject to the sum insured and limits mentioned in the policy for loss of personal accommodation, travel charges paid or contracted to be paid by the insured.

"Insurance will pay for trip delay claims which were caused due to both airlines cancelling or rescheduling the flight due to some natural disaster. However, it will not pay for delay caused due to flight missed by the insured due to his or her own fault,'' says Bhaskar Nerurkar, head-health administration team, Bajaj Allianz General Insurance.
19/03/19 Priya Nair/DNA

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Rising Jet Airways cancellations triggers call for ban on advance bookings

Increasing flight cancellations at Jet Airways have prompted Air Passengers Association of India (APAI) to demand that the airline be barred from any advance bookings, according to a report by The Economic Times.

The cash-strapped Jet has cancelled flights to several international and domestic destinations including Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Dammam, Kochi and Nagpur.

Jet Airways will be operating merely 45 planes from March 19 as it has grounded close to 64 percent of its 124-strong fleet as of December, sources told the paper. This has affected its operations in various routes including Delhi, Bengaluru, Kolkata, Chennai and Hyderabad.

"Jet Airways usually accounted for 12-15 percent of our total sales. Now, it's come down to 2-5 percent," an executive at a travel portal told the newspaper.
Owing to the inconvenience caused to passengers due to these groundings, Industry watchers and experts said the Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) should stop advance bookings. "Jet shouldn't be allowed to do the advance booking with fancy offers when a situation is going from bad to worse," D Sudhakara Reddy, President, APAI, tweeted.
"Past experience shows gullible passengers lost hundreds of crores when Paramount, Kingfisher and SpiceJet collected money in the name of advance booking. When schedules were disrupted or aircraft grounded, passengers lost all their monies," he added.

South Indian carrier Paramount Airways, which started flying in 2005, folded in 2010, while Kingfisher Airlines, founded by liquor baron Vijay Mallya, started in 2005 and shut down in 2012. SpiceJet was on the brink of getting shut in 2014 but managed a turnaround.
19/03/19 Moneycontrol.com

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DGCA Calls Meeting With Airlines On Tuesday To Discuss Rising Fares

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation has called a meeting on Tuesday noon to discuss with airlines the upward spiral in airfares as Jet Airways (India) Ltd. continue to ground its aircraft and cancel a significant number of flights, a government official said. According to the official, after the aviation regulator grounded all 12 of SpiceJet Ltd.’s 737 Max aircraft on March 13 following the Ethiopian Airlines crash, that killed 157 people, the problem of rising airfares in Indian market has “aggravated”.
Cash-strapped Jet Airways on Monday said it grounded four more planes, taking the number of aircraft that are non-operational due to non-payment of lease rentals to 41.
Etihad Airport services, in a notification to its passengers on Sunday, said, “Jet Airways has cancelled all their flights from Abu Dhabi with immediate effect from March 18 due to operational reasons.” The airline has a fleet of 119 planes, according to its website.
For last few weeks, passengers have been venting their ire on social media as Jet Airways’ flight cancellations have increased gradually due to rising number of grounded aircraft. Grappling with financial woes, the carrier has been looking at ways to raise fresh funds.
The company had earlier said it is actively engaged with all its aircraft lessors and are regularly providing them with updates on the efforts taken to improve the liquidity.
On March 8, Jet Airways Chairman Naresh Goyal wrote to Etihad Airways Group CEO Tony Douglas seeking an urgent funding of Rs 750 crore and also warned that any delay in fund infusion might result in its grounding of the carrier. He had said more than 50 of the aircraft are grounded amid increasing arrears of vendors and salaries to a section of employees.
18/03/19 PTI/Bloomberg Quint

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In India, most complaints by flyers are about harassment by airline staff

Most complaints filed by air passengers in the Civil Aviation Ministry's grievance redressal system relates to behaviour of airline staff and harassment of flyers, according to an official document.
'Loss of baggage' category in Centralized Public Grievance Redress and Monitoring system (CPGRAM) has received second highest number of complaints from air passengers, showed a Ministry document accessed by PTI.
The document shows that while 3,524 complaints were received in CPGRAM in the category of 'harassment of passengers/ staff crew behaviour', the number of complaints that were received in the category of 'loss of baggage' was 1,822.
The category of 'ticketing/fare/refund' received third highest number of complaints. It recorded 1,011 grievances as yet.
The CPGRAM is an online system with an objective of "speedy redress and effective monitoring of grievances" by ministries or departments or organisations of central government.
17/03/19 PTI/Economic Times

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Terminal illness: How passengers have been hit by flight cancellations

Over the past few weeks, the struggle for survival at Jet Airways, shortage of pilots at IndiGo Airlines and the grounding of Boeing 737 MAX 8 planes at SpiceJet have resulted in scores of flights being cancelled. Passengers are vexed by the inconvenience and rising airfares. Things could deteriorate if the proposed financial salvage of Jet Airways fails and IndiGo’s operational troubles prolong.

Indeed, 2019 could prove worse than calendar 2018, when there was a sharp spike in the number of domestic air passengers affected by flight cancellations. From about 1.68 lakh in 2017, the number of passengers impacted shot up by more than 80 per cent to 3.08 lakh in 2018, according to data from aviation regulator DGCA.

From about 1 in every 1,000 in 2017, the number of domestic passengers affected by flight cancellations in 2018 rose to more than 2 in every 1,000. This number shot up to 3 in every 1,000 in January 2019 and is certain to have increased in February and March 2019 when the woes at Jet, IndiGo and SpiceJet manifested.
The overall cancellation rate of scheduled domestic airlines has been increasing — from an average of 0.7 per cent in 2017 to 1.11 per cent in 2018 and to 1.81 per cent in January 2019. The sharp jump in impacted passengers in 2018 was primarily on account of IndiGo, the country’s largest airline. From about 52,000 in 2017, the number of passengers affected by IndiGo’s cancellations jumped more than three-fold to 1.75 lakh in 2018. Nearly 6 out of every 10 impacted passengers in 2018 were IndiGo customers, up from 3 in 2017.

Among the reasons for this deterioration were the airline’s ongoing troubles with its A320neo aircraft and the grounding of some of these planes last year. Also, Air India, AirAsia India and Vistara saw a 50-75 per cent jump in the number of affected passengers. In contrast, Jet Airways, SpiceJet and GoAir improved their performance with the number of impacted passengers 5-30 per cent lower in 2018 compared with 2017.
17/03/19 Anand Kalyanaraman/Business Line

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35 airlines confirmed for inaugural CONNECT Middle East, India & Africa Forum in Dubai

More than 30 airlines have confirmed their participation at the inaugural CONNECT Middle East, India & Africa – co-located with Arabian Travel Market 2019 and taking place at Dubai World Trade Centre on Tuesday 30th April and Wednesday 1st May.

Senior network planning teams from a wide range of legacy and low-cost carriers including Emirates, Etihad, China Southern Airlines, Jordan Aviation, Air Asia, flydubai, Gulf Air, Oman Air and Azerbaijan Airlines as well as SpiceJet and Air India are among those already registered.

In India, which has one of the world’s largest aviation industries, more than 678,000 flights departed from its top five airports in 2018 – with these airports possessing the capacity to manage 118.07 million passengers, an additional 12.32 million passengers when compared with figures from 2017, according to data published in the latest ANKER report.
Nick Pilbeam, Divisional Director, Reed Travel Exhibitions, said: “Despite rising fuel costs and unstable Rupee exchange rates, which has led to the Rupee losing around 14% of its value against the US dollar over the last 12 months, 2018 has been an exciting year for India’s aviation market.
18/03/19 Zawya

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Fuel prices, rupee depreciation some of the main ills affecting aviation sector

New Delhi: Of the 638 total big passenger airplanes in Indian skies, 18 Boeing 737 Max aircraft are grounded. That's bad news, but it dwarfs in the face of the many deep air pockets that India's aviation sector is facing now.

High aviation fuel prices, rupee depreciation, excessive parking and landing charges, loads of debt and fare wars, even some inefficient operations, have been the millstones around the airline industry. Just last quarter there were indications that the industry was on the verge of a mild recovery, even though the distress is far from over.

Airlines such as Jet Airways, IndiGo, SpiceJet, GoAir and Air India continue to struggle when it comes to financial and operational performances. "Jet's operating fleet has nearly halved; Air India's fleet is down by almost 20 per cent, and the 737 MAX grounding is the most unfortunate thing to have happened to the aviation sector. Six airlines that had bid under the UDAN scheme have shut down operations. With all these developments, the passengers will be affected because of lesser number of flights and higher fares. Ticket prices are already costing an arm and a leg on some sectors," says Mark Martin, founder of Martin Consulting.

Take the case of Jet Airways. The Mumbai-based full-service carrier has been battling its biggest financial crisis in history. Recently, the Naresh Goyal-controlled carrier has defaulted on its foreign loan repayment due to liquidity crunch, and is staring at a fault of $109 million which it has to pay by March 28 to the HSBC Bank Middle East. Its lenders have prepared a resolution plan which includes Goyal's shareholding coming down to about 20 per cent from the present 51 per cent. Under the plan, the banks will take control of the airline and appoint a new board. The plan is still stuck in the approval stage. The problems with IndiGo are not as complex as Jet.
17/03/19 Manu Kaushik/India Today

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How much will it cost Boeing to compensate for all grounded B737 MAX planes?

The airlines of 50 nations that are incurring a heavy loss from the grounding of their Boeing 737 MAX family aircraft could hit the US maker of the plane with a hefty bill, aviation sources indicate. Airlines across the world have grounded B737 MAX aircraft on the orders of respective national civil aviation authorities following the accident of an Ethiopian Airlines plane, the second similar accident involving a new B737 MAX in five months after Indonesian Lion Air crash on October 29.

While national civil aviation authorities were taking their time to decide on the course of action individual airlines started grounding the MAX planes on their fleet announcing their decisions. On March 13, US President Donald Trump in an unconventional move beat the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to announce a ban on the flying of B737 MAX planes. "It's a terrible, terrible thing," Trump said on Wednesday, announcing that the planes would be grounded in the US, lamenting that modern aircraft are becoming too complicated to fly.

The grounding of a large number of aircraft popular with airlines worldwide has resulted in chaos at airports across the world. While the compensation that the Boeing company might be liable to pay would depend on the contracts that the company has signed with individual airlines, aviation experts say the company might have to foot a heavy bill. The severe shortage of aircraft of the same capacity as MAX planes will complicate the issue for most airlines as there are not enough free aircraft available anywhere.

Some industry observers draw a parallel to the current fiasco with the temporary grounding of Boeing 787 Dreamliner in 2013. Boeing then paid an undisclosed amount to airlines after the grounding of the aircraft following complaints of onboard batteries catching fire. The crisis lasted only two weeks and only 50 aircraft were involved, according to a report in Newsweek. A CNN report then quoted Boeing company as claiming that the financial cost of the crisis to the company then was minimal. Japan's All Nippon Air said after the 2013 incident that it lost about $15 million from grounding its 17 Dreamliners, though it did not reveal the amount of compensation. However, there were nearly 350 B737 MAX in operation and there is no end in sight for the crisis. Boeing has not given a timeframe for releasing the fix for the technical issue that the aircraft might be facing.

According to George Ferguson, an analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence, Southwest Airlines Co, the airline with the largest fleet of 34 MAX planes, the airline would incur an extra cost of around $8.5 million for replacing all the grounded aircraft. Ferguson estimates a cost to Boeing of at least $100 million a month just from reimbursing carriers. And that doesn't include the cost of a software update in the works or any other modifications that may be required. "The longer it drags on, that number goes up," Ferguson told Bloomberg. Finding used aircraft to replace the grounded planes would cost about $250,000 a plane each month, Ferguson said.
17/03/19 Prathapan Bhaskaran/IBTimes

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Don’t allow forward bookings by airlines: passengers’ forum

The Air Passengers Association of India (APAI) has asked the Civil Aviation Ministry to prevent airlines from carrying out forward bookings — for over six months in advance — given their precarious financial state and the ban on Boeing 737-Max 8.
“The government should not allow airlines to do forward booking especially for a year. Our past experience shows that gullible passengers lost hundreds of crore [five years ago] when Paramount, Kingfisher and Spicejet collected money in the name of advance booking,” APAI president Sudhakara Reddy said.

Mr. Reddy claimed when the airline schedules were disrupted and aircraft remained grounded, passengers lost all their money and might not even have received refunds.
Speaking about Jet Airways which is in financial crisis, Mr. Reddy said it should not be allowed to take advance booking with fancy offers, as its situation was going from bad to worse day by day. “There is uncertainty even after the Jet Airways board agreed to a resolution,” the APAI president said.

As of Saturday morning, 46.2 % of the Jet Airways aircraft remained grounded over dues to be paid to lessors. Aviation analyst Ameya Gore put the number of Jet Airways aircraft on ground at 55. “It is a very critical situation. Forty-four of the total airline fleet down comprise the Boeing 737 aircraft. Besides there are nine ATRs, one Airbus 330 and a Boeing 777 on ground,” he said.

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), the country’s aviation regulator, had grounded the Boeing 737-Max 8 fleet owing to safety concerns following the recent Ethiopian plane crash.
Spicejet has 13 aircraft on ground due to the Boeing 737 ban and Indigo has already announced cancellations of 30 flights-a-day till March 30. GoAir had a few aircraft on ground in Kannur as it was negotiating with lessors, sources said.
16/03/19 Aditya Anand/The Hindu

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Mid-air crises: Why Indian aviation sector's problems go far beyond the Boeing 737 Max itch

Of the 638 aircraft in indian skies, all the 18 Boeing 737 Max's are grounded. Even if this crisis isn't grave enough and may blow over in a few months, India's aviation sector still has too many air pockets ahead to revive any time soon. High aviation fuel prices, rupee depreciation, excessive parking and landing charges, loads of debt and fare wars, even some inefficient operations, have been the millstones around the airline industry. Just last quarter there were indications that the industry was on the verge of mild recovery, even though the distress in the industry is far from over. Airlines such as Jet Airways, IndiGo, SpiceJet, GoAir and Air India continue to struggle when it comes to financial and operational performances.

Take the case of Jet Airways. The Mumbai-based full-service carrier has been battling its biggest financial crisis in history. Recently, the Naresh Goyal-controlled carrier has defaulted to its foreign loan repayment due to liquidity crunch, and is staring at a fault of$109 million which it has to pay by March 28 to the HSBC Bank Middle East. Its lenders have prepared a resolution plan which includes Goyal's shareholding coming down to about 20 per cent from 51 per cent now. Under the plan, the banks will take control of the airline and appoint a new board. The plan is still stuck in the approval stage.

The problems with IndiGo are not as complex as Jet. Besides facing the pilot crunch, the airline has been struggling with rising costs, particularly aircraft rentals, fuel and finance costs. The marginal improvement in the fares have moved up the yields in the last quarter but they are still lower than 2014/15 levels. In the quarter ended December 2018, IndiGo, which has 42.5 per cent market share, registered a 75 per cent drop in net profits.

Its rival carrier SpiceJet, which has been affected by the recent groundings of Boeing 737 MAX 8, reported 77 per cent drop in net profits to Rs 55.1 crore for the same quarter. SpiceJet, which was flying 13 737 MAX 8 till recently, is likely to face issues with capacity additions. It has placed an order of 205 such planes order, including 50 aircraft that the airline has the option to convert into a firm order later.

"Jet's operating fleet have nearly halved; Air India's fleet is down by almost 20 per cent, and the 737 MAX grounding is the most unfortunate thing to have happened to the aviation sector. Six airlines that had bid under UDAN (Ude Desh Ka Aam Naargik) scheme have shut down operations. With all these developments, the passengers will be affected because of lesser number of flights and higher fares. Ticket prices are already costing an arm and a leg on some sectors," says Mark Martin, founder of Martin Consulting.

Experts believe that external factors - fuel prices and rupee-dollar exchange rates -- are difficult to control, and the current situation can be salvaged by the government by lowering import duties. "The government can lower the excise duty on jet fuel further (from 11 per cent now) to bring down the operational costs of the airlines. With the grounding of aircraft, the DGCA could make the wet leasing process easier which is not the case right now," says an aviation consultant.
17/09/19 Manu Kaushik/Business Today

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Your dream holiday may cost the earth

 Holidayers who are planning to make a trip to exotic locations outside the country or within the country during summer vacation will have to shell out more as there will be around 20 to 25 per cent airfare hike on domestic and international routes.

The travel industry in Kerala is expecting a 20 to 25 per cent airfare hike in the coming vacation, especially on domestic and international routes connecting GCC countries as a result of the ban on Boeing Max aircraft, coupled with the grounding of Jet Airways planes and the cancellation of flights of Indigo due to pilot shortage.

Babu Paul, head of Speedwing Tours, said the remaining two weeks in the month of March will relatively be calm. But the travel industry will see a significant rise in airfares from April, chiefly on the domestic and international routes connecting various destinations in the GCC countries.

The traffic will normally see a jump with the vacation period starting by the first week of April and the airfares would generally see a marginal rise in this period. But this time, the airfare will be further going north owing to the uncertainties in the sector, he said.Sources close to Air India Express (AIE) confirmed airfares will relatively go up this vacation season due to the grounding of flights. Air India Express is not hit by the ban on Boeing Max as all the 25 aircraft of the airline are Boeing 737-800NG.
17/03/19 Dhinesh Kallungal/New Indian Express

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Airfares may remain high in near term as 16% of India's fleet inactive

If you are travelling by air in the near term, be prepared to deal with sky-rocketing fares as 16 percent fleet of the Indian airlines is currently out of operations.

A rigorous check of data from aircraft tracking website Flightradar24, airline websites and company officials showed that of the total fleet of 668 planes spread across nine carriers, 107 aircraft have remained inactive at least since March 14.

Jet Airways, the 26-year-old airline, finds itself at the top of the inactive fleet chart with 59 planes out of service. The severely beleaguered airline is currently running only 61 planes, almost 51 percent of its total fleet of 119 planes, a senior DGCA official told CNBC-TV18.

Maharaja carrier Air India secured the second spot with 17 planes out of operations due to want of spare parts, a senior official said. If one adds two inactive planes of Air India Express and four of regional arm Alliance Air, the total inactive fleet count for the Air India family comes down to 23 out of a cumulative fleet of 171 aircraft.

SpiceJet follows next with 12 grounded planes, taking its total fleet down by 15.7 percent to 64. With nine planes out of operations on account of maintenance, budget carrier GoAir has also cut down its current capacity by over 19 percent.

Market leader IndiGo and AirAsia India also had a four and one aircraft out of operations respectively. Vistara emerged as the only carrier which is currently operating all its 22 aircraft.

This reduction in capacity across airlines is a function of various factors ranging from financial trouble for some to scheduled maintenance for others. Jet Airways, which has been at the centre of a financial storm, has been unable to pay lease rentals on as many as 37 planes, as per its exchange filings. For GoAir, the reasons are related to maintenance.

"The airline business has to factor lean and peak seasons from multiple perspectives – including sales, marketing and maintenance of the aircraft...At GoAir, we follow this very business principle of undertaking “scheduled” maintenance & engineering checks of the aircraft in the months of January, February and March so that GoAir has maximum capacity to cater to in the ensuing peak season. These checks are done purely from the sales-demand perspective," a spokesperson from GoAir said in a query seeking reasons behind its grounded fleet.
16/03/19 Anu Sharma/CNBC TV18

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Why The Boeing 737 MAX Ban Is Good For India

Whilst the world reels in tragedy from the 737 MAX 8 disaster, there has been one silver lining.

Fares in aviation price-war India have gone up, supplied local companies with much-needed cash revenue to keep flying.

What is the situation in India?
Aviation in India has a bit of a problem. It’s a huge market is so much opportunity, but the mass majority of the population can not afford air travel (This is a generalization). As such, the train network is very robust and next to China and Europe is one of the best in the world (you can go anywhere on trains).

So airlines have to find a way to compete with a poorer population that already has a great alternative on the ground. Whilst at the same time beat off competition.

Thus, tickets in India are being sold for as little as two cents! The airlines are so cutthroat with each other that they offer practically free airfares to get their first inital customers.

How does banning the 737 MAX 8 change things?
Because the 737 MAX has been banned from flying anywhere in the world, many airlines that heavily utilize the aircraft have found themselves with a capacity shortfall. If an airline was currently in a price war with another airline, and have their capacity banned, they would have to charge more for the limited seats they had left. This capacity vacuum in the market will quickly cause prices to accelerate back up and beyond previous levels.
Due to the banning of the 737 MAX, 14 different major domestic routes in India have seen prices increase up to 65% (since last year). One route actually increased by 50% in two days since the news was announced (from 8,000 rupees to 12,000 rupees).
15/03/19 Nicholas/Simple Flying

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Airfares soar over 100% as airlines cancel flights after 737 MAX grounding

New Delhi/Mumbai: Air passengers face the grim prospects of high air fares and fewer flight choices as several airlines cancel operations due to a number of reasons including the grounding of 737-MAX aircraft.
According to industry insiders, some sectors have shown a rise of more than 100 per cent in last minute bookings.
"With an unprecedented number of planes now grounded due to various factors, reduction in seat capacity has led to an increase in fares overnight. Last minute airfares on Wednesday increased to more than 100 per cent on some key routes like Delhi-Mumbai, Mumbai-Chennai, Mumbai-Kolkata and Mumbai-Bengaluru as compared to same time last year," said Aloke Bajapi, CEO and Co-founder, ixigo.
"Spot fares for Mumbai-Chennai are touching Rs 26,073 as opposed to Rs 5,369 the same time last year. High airfare patterns are expected to continue in the short term with Holi and summer school holidays round the corner, resulting in an increased demand."
Operations of airlines like SpiceJet and Jet Airways have been hit due to the government's Wednesday decision to join a global grounding of 737-MAX aircraft following a crash in Ethiopia.
In India, SpiceJet and Jet Airways operate 17 Boeing 737-800 MAX aircraft - Spice (12) and Jet (5). A part of Jet fleet has already been grounded due to other reasons.
The grounding led SpiceJet to cancel 14 flights on Wednesday. This number is expected to touch 32 on Thursday.
Apart from SpiceJet, Jet Airways, which faces financial challenges, has already grounded four more aircraft over non-repayment of dues to lessors, taking the total to 32.
14/03/19 IANS/Econoimic Times

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Surging air fares set to dampen holiday plans

Even as the Directorate General of Civil Aviation directed the airlines on Wednesday not to raise fares in the wake of the grounding of 12 SpiceJet Boeing 737 Max 8 planes and operational issues faced by other airlines, spot fares on Thursday remained at a very high level.

Data provided by travel portal Yatra showed that spot ticket prices on Mumbai-Chennai routes have increased to `20,329 for March 14. The spot fare for the same route on March 14 last year was `5,671. Similarly, spot fares at other busy routes such as Delhi-Mumbai (`14,420), Delhi-Chennai (`12,560), Delhi-Kolkata (`20,999) across various other travel portals too remained high on Thursday.

Weekend fares and fares around Holi appear to be at 15-25 per cent more expensive than normal now.
“Before the disruption, passengers had booked tickets around Holi at `3,000-4,000 level across major routes. Now with many getting total refunds instead of another flight in case of cancellation, they will have to pay more than double, and in some cases, four to five times more, to book a new flight for the same route,” said spokesperson of a leading travel portal, requesting anonymity.
15/03/18 Arshad Khan/New Indian Express

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Pune: Spot fares soar 300% on aircraft shortage

Pune:Last minute airfares to and from Pune have tripled overnight, with one-way fares to Delhi, Chennai, and Bengaluru crossing the Rs 15,000-mark.

Industry observers have blamed this unusual event on the Indian government banning the Boeing 737 Max 8 aircraft, and a prominent airline grounding nearly 40% of its fleet due to its financial position.

This, they said, have sparked a shortage in the number of seats available on operational flights, causing the fares to shoot up.

For instance, the price of a one-way ticket from Pune to Delhi, which cost around Rs6,000 during the same period last year, now costs a staggering Rs19,000. Last-minute Pune-Bengaluru one-way fares have recorded a seven-fold jump when compared to last year. Fares for Pune-Hyderabad and Pune-Chennai flights too have increased around 300%.

“With an unprecedented number of planes being grounded due to various factors, the reduction in seat capacity has caused an overnight increase in fares. With fares expected to remain high in the near future, we advise travellers to book their tickets 15-30 days in advance,” Aloke Bajpai, CEO and co-founder of ixigo, said.

Nikhil Thakurdas, owner of Odyssey Tours and Travels, told TOI that business travellers were particularly affected. “While one airline has grounded 52 out of 119 aircraft due to internal issues, another had to ground 13 Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft. Because of this, spot airfares have touched ridiculous levels in sections such as Pune, Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad and Ahmedabad, among others,” said Thakurdas.

He added that some business clients were rethinking their meetings, while others were picking red-eye flights, which are cheaper. “However, leisure travellers have not been affected as it is the exam season right now,” he said.
15/03/19 Neha Madaan/Times of India

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Redressal route for airlines

New Delhi: The grounding of the Boeing B737 MAX globally could result in compensation claims from different airlines, including SpiceJet. The Indian airline company’s operations have been affected by the aviation regulator’s decision following two crashes in the past five months.

“The aircraft manufacturer is bound to compensate the airline if it is conclusively proved that the grounding was because of some manufacturing fault. However, the manufacturing firm can sue the regulator for grounding the plane and bringing on bad reputation,” Harsh Vardhan, aviation analyst and CEO of Starair Consulting, said.

He said the compensation clauses for the grounding of aircraft are a normal part of the buyer and seller agreement.

However, the claim can be made only when the operator has a legally sound grievance to invoke it and conclusively prove that it was the manufacturer’s fault.

While SpiceJet, which had to ground 12 planes, did not confirm whether they would seek compensation, reports said Norwegian Air has become the first airline to publicly state that it will demand compensation for the grounding of its Max planes.

“It is quite obvious we will not take the cost related to the new aircraft that we have to park temporarily…We will send this bill to those who produce this aircraft,” Norwegian Air CEO Bjørn Kjos said in a recorded message.
15/03/19 Telegraph

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India’s LCA Tejas To Compete Against Russian Yak-130 As Malaysia Looks To Acquire The Jet For Its Air Force

The Made-In-India Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Tejas would compete against the Russian Yak-130 for a potential acquisition by the Malaysian Air Force, Defence World has reported.

Both the fighters have been invited by the Malaysian authorities to participate in the Langkawi International Exhibition this March.

Both the aircraft would be part of static and flying displays where they would be evaluated by Malaysian officials as part of initial procurement procedures. It has also been reported that the Chinese JF-17 Thunder and South Korean FA-50 may be vying for the contract.

Tejas’s AESA radar and advanced cache of weapons like the Brahmos NG Cruise missile and air-to-air, air-to-ground weapons put it at an advantage over its Russian counterpart.

It was earlier reported that the UAE too had expressed interest in the now combat cleared Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) built fighter. Sri Lanka, Egypt and Singapore have also shown interest in the fighter in the past.
14/03/19 Swarajya

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Flying in India to get expensive as airfares soar over 100%

New Delhi/Mumbai: Air passengers face the grim prospects of high air fares and fewer flight choices as several airlines cancel operations due to a number of reasons including the grounding of 737-MAX aircraft.

According to industry insiders, some sectors have shown a rise of more than 100 per cent in last minute bookings.

"With an unprecedented number of planes now grounded due to various factors, reduction in seat capacity has led to an increase in fares overnight. Last minute airfares on Wednesday increased to more than 100 per cent on some key routes like Delhi-Mumbai, Mumbai-Chennai, Mumbai-Kolkata and Mumbai-Bengaluru as compared to same time last year," said Aloke Bajapi, CEO and Co-founder, ixigo.

"Spot fares for Mumbai-Chennai are touching Rs 26,073 as opposed to Rs 5,369 the same time last year. High airfare patterns are expected to continue in the short term with Holi and summer school holidays round the corner, resulting in an increased demand."

Operations of airlines like SpiceJet and Jet Airways have been hit due to the government's Wednesday decision to join a global grounding of 737-Max aircraft following a crash in Ethiopia.

In India, SpiceJet and Jet Airways operate 17 Boeing 737-800 Max aircraft - Spice (12) and Jet (5). A part of Jet fleet has already been grounded due to other reasons.
14/03/19 IANS/Khaleej Times

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No cover for grounding of 737 Max 8 planes in India

Mumbai: Airlines that have been forced to ground the Boeing 737 Max 8 aircraft will not have any recourse to claims from insurance companies to make up for their losses.
SpiceJet on Wednesday announced that it was grounding its Max fleet of about a dozen aircraft, which would result in the cancellation of 14 flights. This has resulted in its fleet size shrinking to about 64 from 76. Jet Airways has five Max aircraft in its fleet. However, these are already believed to be grounded by lessors due to non-payment of dues.

“The aircraft have been grounded by the regulator as a precautionary measure. There has not been any damage to the aircraft and no other insured event has occurred, so we are not expecting any claim,” said an official with an insurance broking firm that specialises in aviation cover.

Sources in New India Assurance, which has provided cover for most of the Boeing 737 Max aircraft, said that they have not received any claims because of the grounding. “Unlike any manufacturing business, the assets of airlines are mobile, which is why airlines do not take business interruption cover,” said the official.
14/03/19 Mayur Shetty/Times of India

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