Airlines add capacity as demand surges

Mumbai: In a sign that demand for air travel worldwide is slowly improving, Indian and foreign carriers are adding flights and adding new routes to India to meet rising demand.
While, last year Kingfisher returned 11 aircraft to its lessors, Jet cut 25% of its capacity and national carrier Air India slashed 30 unprofitable flights, this year most airlines are ramping up. Domestic carriers such as Jet Airways, Kingfisher Airlines, Air India, SpiceJet, IndiGo, GoAir are increasing capacity, routes and fleet size, although at a much slower pace. Air India has added seats in profitable sectors in its winter schedule plans. According to an Air India spokesperson, the carrier will add capacity and start new routes with a focus on demand. “We have plans to raise capacity to the Middle East like Riyadh, Muscat, and also to Tokyo, London, Toronto, Paris,” said the Air India official.
According to Travel Agents Association of India president Rajji Rai, “There is enough labour traffic from India to the Middle East, and hence better load factors compared with the US and Europe sectors.”
Apart from labour, tourists inflow is also a factor. Data shows that Dubai received around 2.5 lakh Indian tourists in the first half of current calendar year, a growth of 13%, compared with the same period last year. Indian arrivals to the region jumped 20% to 5 lakh people in 2008.
Kingfisher plans to open new routes and will introduce a morning flight on the Kolkata-Patna-Kolkata route from the first week of December. A senior official said Kingfisher has plans for the New Delhi-London route, and add more flights to Dubai, Maldives, Colombo and Ludhiana, Pantnagar in the domestic sector. Jet Airways plans to raise its domestic capacity through low-cost brand Jet Konnect, apart from starting international flights.
Separately, SpiceJet is seeking to tap overseas travel demand to offset rising competition in the domestic market.
30/11/09 Mithun Roy/Economic Times

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DGCA pulls up airport panel for ‘incomplete’ meetings on delays

Mumbai: Director General of Civil Aviation Nasim Zaidi has pulled up airline and airport officials for the airport local committee’s failure to maintain the full quorum at daily discussions on on-time performance of airlines, aimed at solving issues related to delays if any.
A senior airport official said the DG pulled up the officials when he was in Mumbai on November 20 for the OMDA review meeting.
The committee to examine on-time performance of airlines was formed in July, after the Civil Aviation Ministry decided on such local panels for Delhi and Mumbai airports. A full meeting of the committee would ideally consist of a minimum of eight representatives of Indian carriers and one official each from Air Traffic Control (ATC) and the Mumbai International Airport Limited (MIAL), with the latter responsible for convening the meetings. The meetings are held daily.
“It becomes difficult to spare manpower daily for an hour or two for the performance meeting,” said an airport official. “These meetings do take place and are being chaired by MIAL. There were quorum issues but the meetings are going on and we are filing daily reports with the attendance to the DGCA,” said an MIAL official.
30/11/09 Shashank Shekhar/Indian Express

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Airports handle more passengers in H1 than last year but same as 2007-08

New Delhi: The 46 operational airports in the country handled 4.2 crore domestic passengers during April-September 2009-10, which is about the same as the numbers handled in 2007.
This is in sharp contrast to the situation in 2008 when the number of domestic passengers handled by the airports touched 3.94 crore, registering a decline of 6.7 per cent over the previous year.
The latest data collated by the Airports Authority of India (AAI) show that only nine domestic airports including Chennai, Nagpur, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Tirupati and Vadodara handled lesser number of domestic passengers during April-September 2009-10 compared with the same period in the previous year.
There was a marginal decline in Chennai with the airport handling 3.19 million domestic passengers during April-September this year compared with 3.24 million previously.
On the other hand, Hyderabad witnessed a decline of 8.1 per cent handling 2.29 million domestic passengers compared with 2.49 million handled during April-September 2008-09.
29/11/09 Ashwini Phadnis/Business Line

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Business air travel is picking up

Bangalore: Early this year, when Indian companies felt the tremors of the global economic meltdown and embarked on a cost-cutting drive, business travel by air was one of the first few expenses to be struck off the list. This had badly hit Anoop Kanuga, who owns a travel firm in Mumbai. His airline ticket bookings for business clients plunged to new lows.
The downward trend in domestic business travel continued for most of last year and the first half of 2009. However, over the last one month, Kanuga has witnessed a gradual pick-up in corporate spend on air travel.
Kanuga says there has also been an increase in the number of professionals such as doctors and lawyers boarding aircraft. Kanuga's travel agency Bathija Travels has seen corporate bookings go up 15% in September and October compared with earlier months of this year.
Ankur Bhatia, managing director of Amadeus, a company that provides technology and distribution solutions to travel companies, confirmed the trend. He said growth in business air travel mirrored the overall growth in air passenger traffic in the domestic market.
A Kingfisher Airlines spokesperson said, in contrast to a few months back, his airline was registering around 80-90% occupancy in the business class during peak hours on metro routes.Load factors on business and first class had dipped to less than 50% during the peak of downturn in the airline industry.
28/11/09 Praveena Sharma/Daily News & Analysis

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Air fares to soar 12% as holiday season kicks in

Get ready to pay more for your air travel this holiday season. Fares are expected to go up by around 12% from the first week of December.
Differing from airline to airline, as well as sector to sector, the hike would be around Rs 360 per sector, highly-placed airline industry sources said on condition of anonymity.
Captains of the airline industry met in the Capital on Wednesday and have arrived at an informal understanding to avoid undercutting, the sources said. Jet Airways chairman Naresh Goyal, Kingfisher chairman Vijay Mallya, Arvind Jadhav of Air India, Rahul Bhatia of IndiGo and Sanjay Agarwal of SpiceJet were among those present at the meeting of the Federation of Indian Airlines.
All the airline companies said there was no joint decision on fares, but the sources said the denial was due to the fear of cartelisation charges, which would invite the wrath of the government and regulators. Mr Goyal and Mr Mallya said the meeting discussed industry issues like the new ground handling policy.
26/11/09 G Ganapathy Subramaniam/Economic Times

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India is the 9th largest aviation market in the world.

The first meeting of the Parliamentary Consultative Committee for the Ministry of Civil Aviation in the 15th Lok Sabha, was held today under the Chairmanship of Shri Praful Patel, Minister of Civil Aviation.
The Members of the Committee were welcomed to this first meeting by the Minister and given a detailed presentation about the Civil Aviation sector. The following important information about the sector was given to the Members:-
Major Milestones
· India is the 9th largest aviation market in the world.
· 29.8 million passengers traveled to/from India during 2008. Increase of 30% on previous year. International passengers will grow upto 50 million by 2015.
· International flights 706 per week (increase of 53% over the previous year). Schedule air services available to/from 82 airports (only 50 in early 2000).
· Enhanced opportunities and international connectivity – 69 foreign airlines from 49 countries are flying into India.

Growth in Domestic Sector
· Growth of 69% from 2005 to 2008 in number of domestic flights.
· Domestic passenger base of 87 million.
· India ranks fourth after US, China and Japan in terms of domestic passengers volume.
· Expected growth rate - @ 9-10% to reach a level of 150-180 million passengers by 2020.
· Scheduled domestic operators – 15
· Fleet size has risen to more than 400 thereby stimulating first time domestic traffic.

Growth in International Cargo
· Annual growth of 12.8% during the last 5 years in the international cargo handled at all Indian airports.
· 2001-02 - 560.2 thousand metric tones.
· 2006-07 - 1020.9 thousand metric tones.

Civil Aviation in India
· Market has more than doubled between 2003 & 2007 - passengers and aircraft.
· New airlines, budget travelers and a robust economy – Complementing each other and fueling growth.
· Increase in Operational Airports – 50 to 82 in last 4 years.
· North East Connectivity: 87 flt/wk to 287 flt/wk in 5 years (230% increase).
· $100 spent on air transport produces benefits worth $325 (ICAO).
· In a very short time India has become the 9th biggest aviation market in the world.
· Air travel has become affordable for the middle class.
· The spectacular growth is just the tip of the iceberg - India has the least penetrated market for air travel – lower than even Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Ethiopia and Nigeria.
· India has 0.02 trips per capita as compared to 0.1 of China and 2.2 of USA.
· There has been an increase in tourist charter flights to India - 686 flights in 2008 brought in 1,50,000 tourists.
· There has been an increase in non-scheduled operator permits – 99 in 2008 as against 66 in 2007 (Growth @ 50%).
· There has also been an Increase in the number of domestic scheduled operators/regional scheduled operators.

Increase in number of aircraft:
Total Registered aircraft- 1375, Scheduled- 397, Non-Scheduled- 275, Miscellaneous- 701, Registration of aircraft in 2008- 213
The Members were also informed about the growth in the helicopter industry in India, the strengthening of the DGCA, the recent developments of BCAS and the current developments in the airport sector.
Cutting across party lines, the Members congratulated the Minister for becoming the Minister for Civil Aviation for the second term and expressed happiness at the PM having shown his faith on Shri Praful Patel’s efforts in developing the aviation sector. The Members highlighted various issues and drew the attention of the Minister and the Ministry towards them. Some of the important issues discussed were, the requirement for further development of the sector, to bring air travel to the masses, the naming of airports, concerns about Air India’s financial crisis, growth potential for air cargo, development of the helicopter sector and more airport infrastructure in the sensitive North-Eastern parts of the country. The Members also said that there should be a policy paper on the aviation sector highlighting the causes of its downturn so that effective policy changes could be made wherever required to help the sector grow again. The Members assured the Minister of their fullest support and cooperation.
The Members of the Committee who attended today’s meeting were Shri Vilas Muttemwar, Shri Ninong Ering, Shri Mithlesh Kumar, Dr. Prasanna K. Patasani, Shri Dilip Gandhi, Shri Ram Singh Kaswan, Shri Manicka Tagore, Shri Anandrao Vithoba Adsul, Shri Poorika Balram Naik and Shri Pinaki Misra, from Lok Sabha and Shri Santosh Bagrodia, Shri Tarlochan Singh, Shri Abdul Wahab Peevee, Shri Sanjay Raut, Shri Rajiv Pratap Rudy and Shri Avtar Singh Karimpuri from Rajya Sabha.
25/11/09 PRESS RELEASE/Press Information Bureau

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Airlines irked by new rules on delayed flights

New Delhi: The domestic airline industry is not too happy with the proposed new Civil Aviation Requirement (CAR) on delayed flights and implementation of the new ground handling policy and will make a presentation to the Director-General of Civil Aviation and Airports Economic Regulatory Authority (AREA) listing out their objections.
At a meeting of the Federation of Indian Airlines (FIA) here on Wednesday, airlines felt that they alone were not responsible for delays in flights pointing out that several times the delays were caused by airports.
The new CAR being proposed by the aviation regulator will make it mandatory for airlines to pay passengers if the flight is delayed beyond a stipulated period of time.
Besides from January 1, the Government plans to implement a new ground handling policy which will restrict the number of agencies which will be allowed to provide the services. Airlines point out that doing their own ground handling activity allows them to better manage their flight operations.
26/11/09 Business Line

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‘Prepare policy document on cash-strapped aviation sector’

New Delhi: Members of a parliamentary committee today asked the government to come out with a policy document to deal with the financial crisis facing the aviation sector, as India experienced a massive growth of 30 per cent in air traffic in 2008.
Almost 30 million passengers travelled to and from India during 2008, a growth of 30 per cent over the previous year, Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel informed the first meeting of the Parliamentary Consultative Committee for his Ministry.
Participating in the discussion that followed Patel’s maiden presentation in the 15th Lok Sabha, the members suggested preparation of a policy paper on the aviation sector highlighting the causes of its downturn.
Such a document, they felt, would help in making effective policy changes which could be required to help the sector grow again, an official spokesperson said.
The members also stressed the need for bringing the aviation sector closer to the people by making it more affordable, even as the Minister informed them that air travel had become affordable for the middle class.
25/11/09 Agencies/Financial Express

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Indian Business Aviation Expo 2010 Ready for Take Off

The first dedicated business aviation event in India, organised by MIU Events in New Delhi on 24-25 February, 2010, is already attracting huge attention from all over the world.
The event will bring together private air charter operators, funding agencies, bankers, leasing companies, legal and insurance experts, safety agencies, administrators, relevant government representatives and policymakers, entrepreneurs, regulatory authorities, ATC, OEMs, MROs, FBO's, representative bodies, pilot organisations, planners, training institutions, airport authorities, supply and service sector providers, IT specialists, equipment specialists, safety specialists, consultants, the media and all professional organisations with a vested interest in the safe and efficient development of business aviation in India.
The event, the first dedicated business aviation event in India, will feature an exhibition over two days and will run concurrently with a conference tailored to the needs of the Indian market. The event will take place in Delhi, the administrative capital of India, and will bring together high level business and general aviation specialists, from around the world, who will apply their knowledge and expertise to this vast and vibrant market.
25/11/09 Blue Sky

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Essar Oil to get into ATF retail

Mumbai: Essar Oil, the oil refining and marketing company from the Essar group, is all set to start retail sales of aviation turbine fuel (ATF) in the next 6-9 months.
S Thangapandian, chief executive officer - marketing, Essar Oil, on Tuesday said the company will set up refuelling stations in Gujarat and Rajasthan. It is also planning to set up an ATF dispensing station in Jamnagar by January, for which it is expecting an approval in the next 2-3 weeks. The company has a setup in Jamnagar.
"We will be supplying and distributing ATF at Ahmedabad, Rajkot, Udaipur and Jaipur airports in the next 6-9 months. We have got approvals from Airports Authority of India to set up ATF stations in these four cities," he said.
"We will spend Rs 45-50 lakh on each bowser that will be used in these airports, and including the rental charges of the airports and locations we will spend close to Rs 1.5-2 crore on each site," Thangapandian said.
"We are planning to install two bowsers at each location; each bowser has a capacity of 10,000 litres, which is enough for a few days requirement."
25/11/09 Ramiya Bhas/Daily News & Analysis

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Delayed Saras aims for 2011 approval

National Aerospace Laboratories is gearing up to fly the third Saras twin-turboprop prototype next year and hopes to clinch certification for India's first indigenous transport aircraft in 2011.
Development of the 14-seat twin-turboprop pusher has been marred by a series of delays since its launch in 1991, including the fatal crash in March of the second prototype.
According to the head of NAL's centre for Civil Aircraft Design and Development M S Chidananda, the weight of the third prototype - PT3 - is being reduced by around 500kg (1,100lb) "through great use of composites and by fine-tuning the structural design and optimising some of the on-board systems". This will bring the aircraft closer to the desired weight of 7,100kg.
The fully production conforming aircraft will be powered by two 1,200hp (895kW) Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A-67A turboprops.
24/11/09 Radhakrishna Rao/Flight Global

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Aviation biz to contribute 5% to rev in 3-5 years: Wipro

IT major Wipro is expecting business from its aviation vertical to take off, reports CNBC-TV18's Sunanda Jayaseelan. Last month, Wipro signed a 10-year agreement with GMR to provide it infrastructure and services for the Indira Gandhi International Airport at New Delhi. Now, it anticipates aviation to contribute over 5% of the group's overall revenues in the next 3-5y years.
Suresh Senapaty, CFO, Wipro, says, "IT spends maybe slow in coming in but our aviation business will ramp up over the next 3-5 years. They will be very substantial. We will see this business grow very large for us."
A large part of those revenues, Wipro says, will come from modernisation of 35 non-metro airports across the country.
GMR, while refusing to comment on the specifics of its partnership, says bidding opportunities will only pick up.
24/11/09 News Center

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Indo-EU Symposium on Air Traffic Management

India and the European Commission organised on the 23rd-24th of November 2009 in New Delhi a symposium on Air Traffic Management.
The symposium aimed at:
· presenting and exchanging views on India and European initiatives such as regulatory frameworks and modernisation programmes.
· exploring together fields of cooperation on how to deliver a safe, efficient and effective ATM service for both domestic and inter-regional traffic.
From the Indian side, participants from the Ministry of Civil Aviation, the DGCA, Airports Authority of India, airlines and airport operators were present. From the EU side, the European Commission, the SESAR Joint Undertaking, Eurocontrol, FAB Europe Central, Member States and industry were present.
The participants identified the following topics as areas for further cooperation:
* Capacity building on performance evaluation and review, notably in the fields of safety and quality of Air Navigation services (capacity, flight efficiency, delays, predictability and cost).
* Validation methodologies and infrastructure to ensure implementation of new technologies, including satellite based capacities (GNSS, SATCOM).
* Building an India-EU partnership in the field of operators training in order to meet safety obligations.
* Explore short term actions which can result in quick wins for EU and Indian airlines (e.g. AIRE or Oceanic operations) .
* Collaboration and cooperation in rule making in areas such as Air Traffic Flow Management, Flexible use of airspace, flight plan etc.
24/11/09 PRESS RELEASE/Press Information Bureau

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New air charter firm's fares equal to biz class of airlines

New Delhi: It claims to be the country’s first low-cost air charter operation. It will offer destinations either not connected or with limited connection, but at the same fare you would pay for a business class ticket. All you have to do is to ensure there are three customers travelling together on its Cirrus aircraft (which has three seats).
Aviation enterpreneuer Manav Singh, who owns Club One which offers aircraft on fractional ownership, and Uttam Kumar Bose, former CEO of Air Sahara, today launched Air Car, the country’s first low-cost air charter, with Delhi as a base. Initially, the charters will fly out of Delhi and service cities within a 500 km radius. Said Manav Singh, the chairman, “Air Car is 50 per cent cheaper than any available air charter service currently operating for similar distances and is priced competitively to a business class ticket of an airline.”
While a business class traveller of an airline has to pay around Rs 10,000 for a journey from Delhi to Chandigarh and back , he can charter a three-seater aircraft at Air Car for Rs 60,000 for three people, which amounts to him paying the same fare per passenger. Additionally, Singh adds, the passenger saves on journey time, as he is not constrained to the scheduled flights run by airlines.
And, passengers can commute to places not connected by airlines.
24/11/09 Business Standard

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Embraer woos India with its Phenom 100 jet, bags 30 orders

Brazilian aerospace major Embraer (Brazilian Aeronautical Enterprise) announced last week that it has bagged 30 orders for its entry level Phenom 100 executive jet in India.
Briefing reporters, Vice President (Marketing & Sales) Asia Pacific Region (Executive Jets) Jose Eduardo Costas, said the deliveries of these would begin from the third quarter of next year.
In this regard, he said, while Invision Projects Pvt Limited had placed the order for 20 of its Phenom 100 jets, Bangalore based Aviators India Pvt Ltd had booked for two. The jet would cost around $4 million in India, he added.
Further, as part of this, he said Embraer has brought its jet to India on a seven city flying demo tour.
Besides Bangalore, there will be a flying demo of the jet in Delhi, Indore, Mumbai, Madurai, Chennai and Hyderabad, he added, after which it will be exhibited in Singapore and Australia.
24/11/09 Charterx

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AirWorks plans to invest Rs 180 cr

Bangalore: AirWorks, a Mumbai-based MRO (maintenance, repair & overhaul) company, plans to invest up to Rs 180 crore to expand and will look at raising funds through equity or debt in the near future. The company is raising resources for building an additional hangar, a dedicated paint operation and for future engine/component MRO activities.
AirWorks, which is hoping to report revenues of Rs 100 crore by the end of this fiscal, has a commercial MRO in Hosur with one hangar capable of housing two ATR 72-size aircraft or one narrow-body aircraft (Boeing 737). It has eight service centres in India and plans to build one more wide-body hangar by the end of 2010.
AirWorks, owned by the Menon family in Mumbai, had raised Rs 100 crore from Punj Lloyd and US-PE fund Global Technology Investment in late 2007.
The 58-year-old independent aviation MRO firm recently secured the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) certification for its Hosur unit, based on which it hopes to draw more global customers. It has been marketing its services abroad, focussing in a big way on West Asia and neighbouring Asia countries. Till now, AirWorks was constrained by lack of certification from abroad and so was unable to attract business from outside, said Chief Executive Fredrik Groth.
AirWorks, along with four-five other MROs in the country, are in a market that is estimated to be around $250 million and services mostly business jets and helicopters. Many of these are being routed to South East Asia or West Asia. The market that AirWorks is looking to tap is airlines, said to be worth over $350 million. Most of this business goes abroad to facilities that have EASA or FAA certification.
22/11/09 Praveen Bose/Business Standard

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AAI puts airlines on cash ‘n’ carry mode

New Delhi: With FM Pranab Mukherjee refusing Airports Authority of India (AAI) the permission to issue tax free bonds for raising Rs 5,000 crore, the PSU has decided to get tough with airlines on payment part. The authority has dues of Rs 900 crore from airlines, of which Rs 620 crore and Rs 195 crore are owed by Air India and Kingfisher, respectively.
Now the airport operator has asked airlines , which are getting cash flow with traffic reviving , to either have dues within bank guarantees or else be on cashand-carry . While it can’t touch sister public sector AI, AAI on Thursday wrote to Kingfisher to clear its dues by December 10. “Kingfisher has dues of Rs 195 crore while its bank guarantee is Rs 100 crore. We have repeatedly asked the airline to pay up. We will wait till December 10 before putting them on cash and carry.
Dues of other airlines, except AI, are within bank guarantees or only marginally higher,” said a top AAI official. The Kingfisher spokesperson did not comment on the issue.
However, other airlines complain that AAI will go after them but not touch AI whom the authority counts as its biggest debtor. “We frequently hear that comment from airlines. We have raised the issue of AI dues at several fora but to no avail,” the official said.
21/11/09 Saurabh Sinha/Economic Times

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This year, more planes get fog-fit

New Delhi: This winter, interminable waits at the airport for fog to lift may be a thing of the past. With more and more airlines coming around to training pilots in CAT-III operations, which equips them to fly in visibility as low as 50m, passengers will not have to depend solely on Air India, what with its staff threatening to go on strike from next week.
Since last year, the number of CAT III-compatible aircraft has gone up from 162 to 206. Airlines for long have been reluctant to train pilots in CAT-III operations citing costs. The DGCA and the civil aviation ministry, however, made it clear in January that airlines which did not have a trained fleet would not be given slots in the fog schedule.
This year, with the exception of Jet and JetLite, all have converted their entire fleet to CAT-III. SpiceJet and JetLite, which till last year had no CAT-III jets, have added to the numbers with the former converting its entire fleet to CAT-III.
21/11/09 Neha Lalchandani/Times of India

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Honeywell And Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. Celebrate 25 Years Of TPE331 Engine Production

Bangalore: Honeywell and Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. (HAL) are celebrating 25 years of aerospace collaboration, including production and support of the TPE331-5 turboprop engine. “The relationship between Honeywell and HAL began in 1984 when Honeywell first licensed production of TPE331 engines,” said Rob Wilson, President, Honeywell Business and General Aviation. “As our partner in India, HAL has built more than 225 TPE331 engines for the Indian military services, including the national Coast Guard, Navy and Air Force. They provide full maintenance and service on the aircraft engines at their facilities in Bangalore, India...”
As announced in 2008, HAL also supplies Honeywell with TPE331-12JR engine parts to meet global demand. This reinforces our recognition of HAL’s world-class capabilities making them a global manufacturing resource for Honeywell.
The TPE331 is a turboprop engine with unparalleled reliability and efficiency. More than 11,000 TPE331 engines are in service today on more than 80 aircraft platforms around the world. The TPE fleet has accrued more than 115 million hours. The engine’s single spool design provides pilots with immediate power response and its proven reliability pushes the TPE331 to the top of customer support surveys.
Honeywell, which has had a growing presence in India, just announced a new $34 million technology center dedicated to refining and petrochemical processing in Gurgaon and earlier this year opened a $50 million research, development and engineering facility in Bangalore, the second Honeywell research and development facility in that city, to support Honeywell businesses.
Based in Phoenix, Arizona, Honeywell’s aerospace business is a leading global provider of integrated avionics, engines, systems and service solutions for aircraft manufacturers, airlines, business and general aviation, military, space and airport operations.
20/11/09 PRESSRELEASENETWORK.com

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Airlines’ losses increase by 44% in fiscal 2009

New Delhi: The combined net loss at India’s embattled airlines widened 44.4% to Rs8,557.37 crore in the last fiscal, making it the worst year on record for an industry beset by high costs, excess capacity and a slump in passenger traffic.
State-run Air India alone posted a loss of Rs5,548 crore in the year ended 31 March, more than double the Rs2,226.16 loss it had run up in the previous year according to data released on Thursday by the civil aviation ministry and the Directorate General of Civil Aviation, or DGCA.
InterGlobe Aviation Pvt. Ltd-run low-cost carrier IndiGo and Paramount Airways Pvt. Ltd were the only ones to post profits, of Rs82.16 crore and Rs7.26 crore, respectively.
As economic growth slowed and travel demand slumped in the wake of a global recession, the combined net loss for the industry widened from Rs5,922.74 crore in the previous fiscal.
At Jet Airways (India) Ltd and its subsidiary JetLite, the loss widened to Rs1,032.70 crore from Rs986.38 crore in the previous year. The loss at Kingfisher Airlines Ltd narrowed to Rs1,602 crore from Rs2,084.48 crore.
Put together, the private airlines lost Rs3,009.37 crore in the last fiscal, down from Rs3,696.58 crore the year before, thanks in part to the profit posted by IndiGo and Paramount. In the previous fiscal, Paramount had been the only airline firm to post a small profit, of Rs23.1 crore.
Steep losses forced Indian carriers to curtail their services last year.
20/11/09 Tarun Shukla/Live Mint

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