Jet "still talking" to Kingfisher for code sharing

New Delhi: More than a year after joining hands with Kingfisher Airlines, Jet Airways is still in talks with the Vijay Mallya-led carrier for code sharing and other initiatives to achieve operational synergies and reduce costs.
"We are still talking (with Kingfisher)," Jet Airways Chairman Naresh Goyal told PTI when asked by when will the two airlines reach the code sharing agreement for flights and take other measures to increase cost effectiveness.
Under a code sharing agreement between two airlines, passengers of one carrier can board flights of the other.
In October 2008, the two carriers had announced strategic alliance to help reduce cost and enhance efficiency through code sharing on domestic and international flights, joint fuel management, common ground-handling services and cross-selling flights through the global ticketing system.
On Jet's plans to raise USD 400 million (about Rs 2,000 crore) through qualified institutional placement (QIP) of shares, Goyal said," We have applied to Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB )for approval. We are waiting for the approval. Then we will look at it accordingly".
Jet had taken shareholders' approval for raising the amount through QIP to meet cash flow requirements.
26/11/09 Press Trust Of India/Hindustan Times

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Kingfisher to launch new flight on Kolkata-Patna route

Patna: Private operator Kingfisher airlines is likely to introduce a morning flight on Kolkata-Patna-Kolkata route from the first week of December. The said flight would cover the distance between Patna and Kolkata in one hour 10 minutes.
"Things have almost been finalized and a formal announcement in this regard will be made very soon," a Kingfisher official, requesting anonymity, told TOI on Tuesday.
He said that the 66-seater ATR-72-500 would operate on this route and the lowest rate for a Patna-Kolkata ticket would be around Rs 1,900.
City fliers may get one more option to fly to Mumbai. Jet Airways recently took a feedback of major travel agencies to assess the availability of passengers on this route. This was done with a view to introducing airlines’ Jet Konnect services on the Mumbai-Bhubaneshwar-Patna-Mumbai route.
"The feedback has been sent to the airlines head office, but due to unavailability of aircraft, the decision to introduce the flight has been kept pending," aviation industry sources said.
Incidentally, Patna got Jet Airways’ low cost Jet Konnect services for the first time this month only with the introduction of a new flight on Delhi-Patna-Delhi route.
25/11/09 Sanjeev Kumar Verma/Times of India

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Kingfisher Airlines defaults on dues to OMCs

New Delhi: When the the aviation industry is facing a gruelling time, Kingfisher Airlines has once again defaulted on dues of around Rs 418 crore to be paid to oil companies, senior civil aviation ministry officials said. The airline recently defaulted on the three-month credit period extended to it by the oil companies. Given the repeated defaults by the airline, a worried petroleum and natural gas ministry has written to the civil aviation ministry to put pressure on Kingfisher Airlines to clear the dues as soon as possible. The oil ministry, sources said, is also concerned about the unpaid dues of other carriers, Kingfisher Airlines, whose annual fuel bill runs up to almost Rs 5,000 crore, is now in a bind and has sought more time from the civil aviation ministry, without specifying the time frame within which it would be able to repay the oil companies, officials said. The airline recently hiked its fuel surcharge by Rs 200 citing the rise in fuel prices. “The aviation industry is in a bad shape, but Kingfisher Airlines, per se, seems to be the worst paymaster,” a senior ministry official said. It also owes a considerable amount to the AAI, around Rs 214 crore, including Rs 18 crore interest on delayed payment.
In the recently announced results for the second quarter of 2008-09, the airline suffered a loss of Rs 418 crore and a 32 per cent decline in revenue compared with the same period a year ago.
14/11/09 Smita Aggarwal/Indian Express

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Finger-pointing continues over runway fiasco

Mumbai: What is causing mishaps at the Mumbai airport on Tuesdays? Is it just the short runway or is it a worrying lack of coordination between airlines, the airport operator and the directorate general of civil aviation (DGCA)?
Even as four pilots-- two each from the Kingfisher and Air India flights involved in Tuesday's incidents (GoAir pilots were cleared by the DGCA on Wednesday evening)-- and two air traffic control (ATC) officials were de-rostered following Tuesday's events, the buck is still being passed over who is to blame for the accident-prone operations at the airport.
The DGCA said it issued instructions over the telephone to airlines and MIAL (Mumbai International Airport Limited) on Monday that they should suspend operations on the shortened runway "under wet conditions". But the airport operator and the ATC said they had not received any directive till late on Wednesday. Reportedly, the DGCA's directive was also issued in writing (on Tuesday evening).
"The ATC officials should have informed the Kingfisher pilot about the ground conditions -- that the runway was wet and the Air India flight mishap -- which they did not," says a DGCA official.
The Mumbai air traffic control, however, said that it was the Kingfisher pilot's fault."The Kingfisher pilot should have touched-down at the beginning of the runway.But he over-shot by 500 metres thus getting only 1,200 metres for braking action," said a senior ATC official.
The Mumbai ATC officials said that just before the Kingfisher flight, there were 22 landings on the same 'short runway' but there was no problem (apart from the Air India flight).
12/11/09 Naveeta Singh/Daily News & Analysis

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Six pilots de-rostered a day after plane-skid in Mumbai

New Delhi: The aviation regulator on Wednesday de-rostered six pilots of Kingfisher Airlines, Air India and Go Air for violating norms and landing on a short runway under rainy conditions at the Mumbai airport.
The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) initiated action on a day after a Kingfisher aircraft skidded off the runway at the airport.
The DGCA has also asked the three airlines to explain why their pilots violated norms when operating on a wet and short runway, despite the guidelines of the Mumbai International Airport Ltd (MIAL), the airport developer.
MIAL is currently working on overlaying a runway at Mumbai airport. The work started Oct 1 and is expected to end by January. During this period, this tarmac is available on Tuesdays only for six hours for short runway operations till March next year.
11/11/09 IANS/Economic Times

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Kingfisher, AI and GoAir get DGCA notice

Mumbai: Expressing ignorance about the DGCA's ban on operations on shortened runways if they are wet, an official said, "There were 23 landings and 17 departures on the runway while it rained in Mumbai, and no one told us about the DGCA's instructions.'' He added that two DGCA officials were also stationed at the airport to observe flight operations and neither interrupted the operations till the Kingfisher flight skidded off the tarmac.
"The only communication that DGCA had with ATC was on Friday when it sanctioned the `localiser approach' of landing. There was no communication after that regarding runway operations on Tuesday. Traffic controllers should have been made aware of the instructions to make them binding on airlines,'' an ATC official said. An MIAL spokesperson also denied having received any circular or intimation from DGCA.
Besides the six pilots from three airlines, a traffic controller and a surface movement centre staffer at the airport have also been derostered pending investigation. DGCA also issued a showcause notice to Kingfisher, AI and GoAir for violating instructions, insisting that it had served clear instructions to all airlines and the MIAL not to operate flights on a wet shortened runway. In a statement to the media, director-general of civil aviation Naseem Zaidi also said DGCA had directed MIAL to carry out videography of flight operations every Tuesday.
But Kingfisher, too, stuck to its guns, insisting it had taken the necessary precautions. "On Monday, following a verbal notification received by Kingfisher Airlines (around 6.30 pm) from the authorities, we proactively located the notification, studied the guidelines specified for operation of C-class aircraft (Boeing and Airbus), and our flight operations department issued a circular to all pilots specifying the precautions to be taken for Tuesday's shortened runway operations at Mumbai...,'' a spokesperson said.
12/11/09 Chinmayi Shalya/Times of India

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Kingfisher ATR-72 overruns Mumbai runway

Mumbai: A Kingfisher Airlines ATR-72/500 today overran the runway while landing at Mumbai airport, India, after flight IT4124 from Bhavnagar. On board there were 42 passengers and 4 crewmembers, who didn't report any injuries due to the accident.
The pilot had difficulties to stop the airplane after landing. Weather conditions were of light rain and low visibility, so it ended the tarmac surface and stopped in the soft ground out of the runway. The airplane was immediately evacuated to avoid further problem, and reported substantial damage to the nose and left-hand gears, besides to the left hand wingtip and engine.
Pending the investigation, the pilots have been de-rostered.
11/11/09 Avionews

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Dangerous landing for AI

New Delhi: An Air India flight, coming from Goa to Mumbai had a dangerous landing.
According to eyewitnesses, the aircraft bounced twice before coming to a stop at the very edge of the runway. The aircraft broke two runway lights and was brought to a stop with great difficulty.
Despite this, the Air Traffic Controller gave clearance to a Kingfisher aircraft to land - which subsequently skidded on the runway. Airport sources also say that water had accumulated on the runway and there were tyre marks.
Seven Jet Airways flights and a JetLite flight were diverted to other airports after the Mumbai Airport was shut for nearly two hours following the skidding of Kingfisher Airline's aircraft on the runway.
Mumbai Airport remains completely shut for operations between 12 noon and 1300 hours every Tuesday, and thereafter, a shortened stretch of 1,700-metre on the western end of main Runway 27 is used for take-off and touch-down by smaller planes, such as ATRs, A319s and A320s till 1800 hours.
11/11/09 CNN-IBN

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Mumbai airport seems riskier on Tuesdays

Mumbai: The shortened-runway operations on Tuesday at the Mumbai airport are proving dangerous for airlines as well as passengers. Less than half the normal distance is available for landing and take-off (only smaller aircraft are allowed), which seems clearly inadequate as two back-to-back air mishaps on Tuesday, preceded by a similar incident last week, indicate.
On Tuesday, even as the city experienced sudden showers, a Kingfisher aircraft skidded off the runway while taxiing, getting stuck in a grassy patch. Just four minutes earlier, at 4.32pm, Air India's Goa-Mumbai IC 164 bounced twice before landing on the edge of the runway.
What ensued was a blame-game between the directorate general of civil aviation (DGCA) and the Mumbai airport operator. DGCA said it had given clear instructions to Mumbai International Airport Limited (MIAL) to suspend shortened runway operations under wet conditions.
The operator, however, said that it did not receive any such intimation. The airlines, however, have said that they were informed by the DGCA but with the rider that operations could continue if the senior-most pilots (for short runway operations) were deployed for the flights. As of now, there is no talk of suspending operations on Tuesday, said DGCA sources.
The lack of clarity on dos and don'ts, however, has inconvenienced - and endangered - passengers and ground staff at the Mumbai airport over the last two Tuesdays, since the re-construction of the intersection point of the cross-runways began on October 27.
11/11/09 Naveeta Singh/Daily News & Analysis

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Jet diverts 8 flights to other airports

Mumbai: Seven Jet Airways flights and a JetLite flight were diverted to other airports after the Mumbai Airport was shut for nearly two hours following the skidding of Kingfisher Airline's aircraft on the runway.
"Seven flights of Jet Airways and one flight of JetLite were diverted to other airports due to runway closure for almost two hours today," an Airport official said.
The flights were diverted to Ahmedabad, Aurangabad, Pune and Baroda, the official said, adding, these flights are now likely to land in Mumbai between 1930 and 2030 hours.
Earlier, a Kingfisher Airlines ATR aircraft with 42 passengers and four crew members skidded the runway after it landed in Mumbai.
10/11/09 Press Trust of India

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Kingfisher to raise $600m

New Delhi: Kingfisher Airlines plans to raise up to $600 million, or about Rs 2,700 crore, through a mix of private equity placements, rights issues and global depository receipts.
“Negotiations are at an advanced stage with private equity investors. Current discussions are for $400 million,” Kingfisher Airlines chairman Vijay Mallya told newspersons on the sidelines of the India Economic Summit, organised by the World Economic Forum and CII.
The company has received shareholders’ approval to raise $100 million through a rights issue and another $100 million through global depository receipts. The floats will be completed by the end of the fiscal, Mallya said.
The airline, which has hit a rough patch because of the economic slowdown and a steep hike in jet fuel prices, needs money to repay debt and fund its fleet acquisition plans.
“I have confirmed that we are raising money. I will certainly use a large part of that to reduce debt,” Mallya said.
Kingfisher and other airlines have been pushing for greater FDI in aviation.
09/11/09 The Telegraph

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Kingfisher Airlines owner seek £400m injection

Mumbai: Kingfisher Airlines is in talks with private equity groups over securing a $400 million (£238.4 million) investment for the cash-strapped Indian carrier, the head of the business said today.
Vijay Mallya, the Bangalore-based aviation-to-liquor tycoon who also owns the Kingfisher beer brand, is under immense pressure to raise funds for his airline, which has struggled to pay its fuel bills and the contractors it relies on to maintain its planes in recent months.
Most of his rivals are in similarly pressed circumstances: India’s domestic aviation industry has recorded collective losses of about $2 billion in the past year amid a glut of overcapacity.
Mr Mallya said today that he hoped to raise part of the cash he needs from a private equity investor. "The current discussions are about... for $400 million," he told reporters on the sidelines of a World Economic Forum event in Delhi.
Early last year he made similar comments and Kingfisher Airlines was linked to TPG Partners, but no deal was struck.
Since then, India's domestic airlines have only endured more turbulence. Kingfisher, which was India’s largest private sector domestic carrier by market share last month, made a loss of about £56 million in its second quarter, a 13 per cent improvement on the same period a year earlier.
The numbers followed a round of fierce cost cuts. Revenues at the company fell 13 per cent to about £152 million.
The gloomy numbers echoed the mood across an industry sent reeling by a slump in demand after years of over-ambitious expansion.
09/11/09 Rhys Blakely/Times Online, UK

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Private airlines increase fuel surcharge

Mumbai: Beginning midnight Friday, at least three private carriers revised the aviation turbine fuel surcharge on domestic travel by Rs100 for routes of less than 1000 kilometres and by Rs200 for routes of at least 1000 km, beginning midnight.
Jet Airways (India) Ltd, Kingfisher Airlines Ltd, and GoAirlines India Pvt. Ltd announced the new charges on Friday, apparently in a bid to make the most of the peak tourism season that last November through mid-February.
“Due to rise in ATF prices we have increased fuel surcharge by Rs100 for sectors less than 1000 kms and Rs200 for sectors more than 1000 kms. This hike is applicable on all domestic Jet Airways, Jet Airways Konnect and JetLite flights,” a Jet Airways spokeswomen said on Friday.
State run National Aviation Co of India Ltd or Nacil, that runs Air India, said it was still considering such a move.
06/11/09 PR Sanjai/Live Mint

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Pay more to fly Jet, Kingfisher

New Delhi: Private carriers Kingfisher and Jet Airways today raised fuel surcharge by up to Rs 200 following a 9 per cent spike in jet fuel prices.
Both the airlines have hiked the fuel surcharge by Rs 100 for distances less than 1,000 km and by Rs 200 for distances beyond that.
At present, domestic carriers levy a fuel surcharge of Rs 1,950 up to 1,000 km and Rs 2,700 for longer flights.
Air India and other low-cost carriers are yet to take a call on raising fares. However, analysts said the low-cost airlines could forgo the fuel price hike to give tougher competition to the full-service carriers.
While Jet Airways and Kingfisher were quick to hike the fuel surcharge following the 9 per cent rise in the prices of jet fuel, or aviation turbine fuel (ATF), they did not pass on the benefit to passengers when ATF prices fell for three consecutive weeks prior to the hike.
On October 31, state-owned oil firms increased jet fuel prices by 9 per cent to over Rs 39,000 per kilolitre following a spurt in crude rates. Fuel bill accounts for 30-35 per cent of an airline’s operational costs.
07/11/09 The Telegraph

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Bonanza of low airfares to southeast Asia

Chennai: Flying to destinations in southeast Asia may be a good bet during the Christmas, New Year and Pongal holidays, as international low-cost airlines are vying with each other to offer cheap fares from Chennai and Tiruchirapalli.
There will be more seats, too. For instance, Singapore-based low cost carrier Tiger Airways will increase from next month its Chennai-Singapore frequency - from seven flights a week to eleven weekly flights.
Currently, Tiger Airways offer the best return fares from Chennai to Singapore, with the lowest fares ranging from Rs 4,125 to Rs 5,000 for travel in the last week of December. Though the airline charges extra for baggage and food, passengers feel that it's much cheaper compared to the fares offered by Singapore Airlines, Air India, Sri Lankan Airlines and others.
Sales of tickets for Tiger Airways are online, the reason many are unfamiliar with the airline. The airline has one counter at Chennai airport though, to sell last-minute tickets and charge for baggage.
Air Asia, the Malaysia-based low-cost carrier that runs services to Singapore and Kuala Lumpur from Tiruchi, Kochi and Thiruvananthapuram, has kicked off an aggressive marketing campaign in the city to familiarise residents about the airline, its services and fares.
Air India will also be joining the low-cost bandwagon. It may replace the remaining full-service IC flights with low-cost Air India Express (AIE) services. AIE flights are now operated from Chennai to Kuala Lumpur and Singapore. The Air India official said that AIE flights to Singapore and Kuala Lumpur had good passenger loads.
05/11/09 V Ayyappan/Times of India

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Kingfisher takes wings on dispute settlement

Mumbai: The Vijay Mallya-owned Kingfisher Airlines has resolved its long-pending aviation turbine fuel (ATF) payment dispute with Bharat Petroleum through an out-of-court settlement. The airline will pay Rs 40 crore within 12 days and the rest in instalments within a year. The total dues are Rs 314 crore and the airline will also pay interest on this, said a BPCL official.
05/11/09 Business Standard

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Airlines flying in losses on discounted fares

Beset by a string of troubles, the three major listed airline players — Jet Airways, Kingfisher Airlines and SpiceJet — ended yet another quarter with sizable losses. A reduction in fares weighed on realisations and revenues and resulted in continuing losses, even as airlines managed savings in fuel and operating costs.
Both Kingfisher Airlines and SpiceJet have reduced their losses for the quarter, compared with last year, while Jet Airways saw its net loss going up by about 5 per cent to Rs 406.69 crore in the September 2009 quarter. Impacted by the five days of strike in September, Jet Airways was faced with an estimated loss of Rs 100.8 crore ($21 million). This includes the variable cost of cancellation.
A shift in favour of low-cost carriers was evident from SpiceJet registering a near 27 per cent year-on-year increase in income from operations, even as both Kingfisher Airlines and Jet Airways witnessed about 14 per cent and 25 per cent dip in their topline.
Revenues for Jet Airways and Kingfisher Airlines were impacted mainly by falling fares, which they attributed partially to the lean season. However, both airlines, faced with excess capacities, have taken measures to trim their fleet size over the past six months. While Jet Airways reduced its seats availability by as much as 30 per cent (including domestic and international), Kingfisher Airlines made its domestic operations leaner by about 18 per cent compared with last year. The cut back has not only helped companies save on the cost front, but also improved the load factor.
Jet Airways saw its passenger load factor (domestic and international) increase from 66.3 per cent for the quarter ended September 2008 to 77 per cent in the recently concluded period. The company’s domestic and international loads grew by 2.9 per cent and 14.6 per cent respectively in this period. Kingfisher Airlines registered a 1.8 percentage points growth in its load factor during this period.
04/11/09 S. Hamsini Amritha/Business Line

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Jet, Kingfisher set to gain from decision on more overseas rights

New Delhi: In a move that would increase international flights from India, the civil aviation ministry last week decided to partially lift a freeze on granting overseas flying rights, two ministry officials close to the development said.
Jet Airways (India) Ltd and Kingfisher Airlines Ltd—the country’s largest and only private carriers allowed to fly international—are set to benefit from the decision, though rights to lucrative sectors such as London and Hong Kong may remain out of bounds.
The ministry grants international routes based on negotiations between the two governments involved.
Air India, run by state-owned National Aviation Co. of India Ltd, had earlier in 2009 sought a freeze on granting new routes to both Indian and foreign airlines, claiming the excess capacity in the market hurt its interests.
In the last four years, the aviation ministry had granted as many as 400,000 seats to carriers flying into and out of India, of which foreign airlines command a 64% share. The number of passengers flying to and from India rose to nearly 26 million in 2008, from 20 million some two years earlier.
02/11/09 Tarun Shukla/Live Mint

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Private airline pilot founded dead in flat

Chennai: A 28-year-old pilot of a private airline was found dead on Sunday inside a locked house in Tiruvanmiyur. The police recovered the decomposed body after neighbours alerted them about foul smell emanating from the house.
On information, police teams rushed to the scene, broke open the door and found the body in an almost completely decomposed state. The body was sent to government hospital in Royapettah for postmortem. The police identified the deceased as Krishna Narayanan of Bangalore and suspect that he may have committed suicide five days ago.
Initial inquiries revealed that Narayanan had been staying in a second floor flat, for a monthly rent of Rs 18,000, of the four-storey apartment complex on first Seawards Road in Tiruvanmiyur for about one and a half years. He had earlier lived in a rented house in Mandaiveli.
"We recovered his identity card and found that had been working as a co-pilot in Kingfisher Airlines for the past few years. We did not get more details about him even after questiong the neighbours as he never mingled with them. We have informed his father Kannan, who is in Malaysia and is now on his way to Chennai. We will get more details only after interrogating Kannan," assistant commissioner of police M Karthikeyan told TOI.
02/11/09 Times of India

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