GoAir hints at Surat ops, but needs long-term commitment

Surat: Surtis fliers are pinning their hope on GoAir to fulfill their flying dreams.
After SpiceJet withdrew from the Diamond City following the buffalo-hit incident in 2014, GoAir has shown interest to connect the city with important domestic destinations.
Senior officials from GoAir including the vice president (network and planning), Clayton Begido were in the city to attend a meeting hosted by the Southern Gujarat Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SGto discuss air connectivity issue and the potential at Surat airport on Friday.
GoAir senior officials gave an indication to start flight operations, provided they get support from the Airport Authority of India (AAI), Surti fliers, trade and industry associations and the travel agents.
"We see a huge potential to start our flight operations. It is easy to keep a flight but we want a long-term commitment and assurance from all the quarters," said GoAir's VP (network and planning), Clayton Begido.
27/02/16 Times of India

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GoAir hints at Surat ops, but needs long-term commitment

Surat: Surtis fliers are pinning their hope on GoAir to fulfill their flying dreams.
After SpiceJet withdrew from the Diamond City following the buffalo-hit incident in 2014, GoAir has shown interest to connect the city with important domestic destinations.
Senior officials from GoAir including the vice president (network and planning), Clayton Begido were in the city to attend a meeting hosted by the Southern Gujarat Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SGto discuss air connectivity issue and the potential at Surat airport on Friday.
GoAir senior officials gave an indication to start flight operations, provided they get support from the Airport Authority of India (AAI), Surti fliers, trade and industry associations and the travel agents.
"We see a huge potential to start our flight operations. It is easy to keep a flight but we want a long-term commitment and assurance from all the quarters," said GoAir's VP (network and planning), Clayton Begido.
27/02/16 Times of India

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GoAir officials' visit spurs hope for Surtis

Surat: The trade and industry bodies and the general fliers are expecting some good news on Friday when the top authorities from GoAir will visit the Diamond City.
The Southern Gujarat Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SGhas hosted meeting with the network and commercial team of GoAir. It has invited representatives of the trade and industry and travel agents to discuss connecting Surat with the potential routes across the country.
Last week, GoAir's technical team had visited city to assess connectivity from the city to the potential sectors.
The technical team members led by Kamal Kikani, general manager (operations) did a survey of the infrastructural development and the facilities available for the smooth operations of air services.
Sources said the team members were quite impressed with the development at the airport in the last one-and-a-half-year. The technical team members met the members of the airport associations and the airport director to discuss about the possible routes of operations from Surat.
26/02/16 Times of India

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SpiceJet, Jet, GoAir, IndiGo could sue Centre if 5/20 rule is abolished: Report

India's four big private airliners — Jet Airways, IndiGo, GoAir and SpiceJet — are reportedly considering legal action against the Central government if the draft civil aviation policy is finalised without taking their concerns into account.

Upset at being denied an opportunity to present their views on the draft civil aviation policy (DCAP), representatives of the four companies said in New Delhi Tuesday their concerns need to be taken on board, Business Standard reports.
The four airlines, which together account for about 90 percent of the industry, have raised objections to three aspects of the DCAP: abolishing of the 5/20 rule, lifting of the foreign ownership cap of above 49 percent, and auctioning of bilateral rights.

The quartet views the new draft policy as designed to benefit the two new airlines — Vistara and AirAsia India.

Tata Sons has a stake in both new airlines. Vistara is a joint venture between Tata Sons and Singapore Airlines, while AirAsia India has three partners — Tata Sons, AirAsia India and Telestra Tradeplace of Arun Bhatia.
Ratan Tata is chairman emeritus of Tata Sons.
Under the 5/20 rule, an airline that has had five years of domestic industry experience and a fleet of over 20 aircraft can operate on international routes. Abolishing the rule would benefit Vistara and AirAsia India, say the four companies.
24/02/16 Kalyani Pandey/Internatinal Business Times

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Rockwell gets GoAir contract

Rockwell Collins has been selected by India-based GoAir to provide advanced avionics for 72 Airbus A320neo aircraft.
Deliveries are scheduled to begin later this year.
Cedar Rapids-based Rockwell Collins will supply its MultiScan ThreatTrack weather radar. The system goes beyond hail and lightning prediction within a thunderstorm cell and alerts pilots to significant threats adjacent to or above the cell.

ThreatTrack also features two levels of turbulence detection — severe and ride quality — which more accurately informs flight crews of the type of turbulence in their path.

“The advanced, reliable avionics systems selected by GoAir will translate into safe, smooth rides for passengers,” said Jim Walker, vice president and managing director, Asia Pacific for Rockwell Collins, in a news release.

Rockwell Collins also will provide GoAir with its GLU-925 multimode receiver (MMR), the first certified global positioning system landing system receiver that enables navigation in regions without robust ground-based navigation or weather radar networks.
17/02/16 The Gazette

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How Indian airline staff makes the life of a flyer miserable

Couple of weeks back, an unpleasant personal encounter with Go Air brought to the fore the poor passenger policy that many airline operators in India have. For a service-sector like airlines, this does not bode well. Despite few attempts by DGCA, the ordinary passenger finds himself at the mercy of the airline, and there is very little the aggrieved can do. A passenger-friendly policy, while keeping interests of airlines intact, is the need of the hour.

Let me narrate what happened to me and my family on January 31, 2016. Our Go Air flight to Mumbai, which was due to depart from Bhubaneswar at 8am, was rescheduled to 8.40am for which I received a message the previous evening. After we checked in at the airport, to my utter dismay, boarding had not begun and all passengers were just waiting. While no information was furnished by Go Air staff, people could see through the glass pane some work being undertaken in the aircraft.

8.40 finally became 9.20 when boarding started and the flight took off at about 9.40, a good hour delay from the rescheduled time. Now it would have all been fine but for my next flight which was at 12.15 from Mumbai. What originally had a good two hours' gap between the two flights was now reduced to about 45 minutes. I brought it to the notice of the cabin crew, who clearly weren't serious about the issue and on repeating my problem thrice, assured me that the pilots will talk to the ground staff and my early exit will be facilitated.

What happened when the flight landed at Mumbai was appalling. When I asked one Mr Vishal, the crew head, about what happened to my request, he said I would be assisted by their ground staff and arrangements will be made. Only when we exit the aircraft did we realise that nothing had been done. The ground staff, feigned genuine ignorance, and directed us to baggage collection, a good distance opposite the direction we should have been heading to catch the next flight.
16/02/16 Sambit Dash/Daily O

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GoAir announces limited period 'zero cancellation fee' offer

Mumbai: Budget carrier GoAir on Saturday offered zero cancellation charges to its customers for flight bookings across its network for a limited period.
Under the offer, customers booking tickets between on Saturday and February 16 for journey beyond June 1 will not have to pay any cancellation charges if they decide not to travel.
The offer is valid across all GoAir flights booked between February 13-16 for travel between June 1 and December 15, 2016, the airline said in a statement.
As per the scheme, passengers will not have to bear flight cancellation costs if tickets are cancelled 30 days prior to departure, it said.
13/02/16 PTI/Times of India

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GoAir appoints Goldman Sachs, BofA-ML and Kotak Mahindra Bank to manage its $150 million IPO

Mumbai: Go Air is appointing Goldman Sachs, Bank of America Merrill Lynch and Kotak Mahindra bank for managing its planned $150 million (Rs 1,026 crore) IPO, three people in the know said.

"Just the final agreement remains to be signed," said one of them, insisting anonymity.

Once they are on board, the bankers will work with the Go Air management in preparing the draft red herring prospectus, the pre-IPO document which will subsequently be submitted to the capital markets regulator SEBI.

If Go Air plans to offload 24% of its stake for that amount, its total valuation would come to over Rs 4,000 crore.
12/02/16 Anirban Chowdhury & Baiju Kalesh/Economic Times

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GoAir IPO likely next fiscal as it awaits clarity on A320 neos

New Delhi: Carrier GoAir plans to come out with its initial share sale offer in the next financial year amid  uncertainty over delivery of new Airbus aircraft, key for the no-frills carrier’s growth strategy.

The airline originally was looking to hit the capital market in the current financial year, which saw budget carrier IndiGo’s blockbuster initial public offering (IPO).

Sources said GoAir is still awaiting clarity on the delivery of 72 Airbus A320 Neo planes before taking a final decision on the IPO’s timing.  Delivery of the aircraft was to start from April this year.

While the Wadia group airline has not officially made its IPO plan public, sources said GoAir would be looking to raise around Rs 1,000 crore.

At current exchange rate, this would translate into Rs 1,000 to 1,200 crore.

Apart from aircraft delivery schedule, GoAir would also be taking into account market conditions before deciding on the IPO timing, sources said.
07/02/16 PTI/Business Standard

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