India will soon switch over to 4-digit flight numbers
In a bid to enhance safe flying and end the confusion caused by similar sounding call signs or flight numbers, India will soon switch over to longer flight numbers. Instead of the current three-digit flights numbers, the country will transition to longer four-digit ones. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) is working on this switch over as India has witnessed an exponential growth in air traffic in past few years and is the world’s fastest growing aviation market. The existing three-digit numbers are increasingly leading to confusion and there has been a spate of safety scares when similar sounding flight numbers operate to or from the same airport around the same time — something which happens very frequently due to the volume of traffic now. For instance, the regular approved a schedule of 16,600 weekly domestic flights in the ongoing winters, up 21% from last winter’s figure of 13,744. The four-digit flight numbers will simply mean more available flight numbers and removing the possibility of similar sounding flights operating to or from the same airport close to each other. “This is a very important project. We have had a few meetings on this issue and hope to crystalise this in the next week or so. A number of other countries have moved to four digit flight numbers and we will also do so shortly given the rise in air traffic here,” said a senior DGCA official. Neal Sterling Jersey
IATA slams Mumbai airport plan to consider auctioning slots
Mumbai airport’s proposal to consider auctioning slots has been slammed by the International Air Transport Association (IATA). Airport slots are specific time periods allotted for an aircraft to land or take off at an airport. Alexandre de Juniac, IATA Director General, told the Indian media assembled here for global media day event that Mumbai airport’s decision to not follow the World Slot Guidelines is a mistake. “I can tell you well in advance that if you auction the slots in India you (can) bet (on) who will be the winners; (but) it will not be the Indian airlines. It will be the richest guy on the planet, probably Emirates (the Dubai headquartered airline), Qatar (the Doha headquartered airline), Etihad (the Abu Dhabi headquartered airline)….of course because they have the money. It is complete distortion of newcomers who do not have means to buy the slots. We strongly disagree with it,” he said. Pointing out that the World Slot Guidelines are recognised and applied globally, the IATA DG added that to ensure that there are no problems or drawbacks, the guidelines are reviewed regularly. “We have had bad experiences of auctioning of slots in China,” he cautioned. Since 1947, under IATA’s auspices, airlines have met regularly to discuss their slot allocations planned for the following season to improve interline connections and handling arrangements. Slot conferences are held twice a year in June and in November. The prime objective of the slot process is to allow airlines to acquire, retain and exchange slots necessary to operate at a given airport. Through the allocation of slots, limited airport resources are efficiently used to benefit the greatest number of airport users and travelers. Dallas Goedert Womens Jersey
We will assess how India implements civil aviation policy, says IATA Director General
The Modi Government came in for some praise from the International Air Transport Association (IATA) for putting together a civil aviation policy although the head of the global aviation body was quick to add that how it is implemented will also be assessed. “It will be among the most open. But then you have the plan and then you have the execution of the plan. So, we will of course judge the plan as it is designed, but we will also assess the way the Government will implement it practically. We know that the devil is in detail everywhere,” Alexandre de Juniac said in a response to a question from BusinessLine. de Junaic ADJ, added that IATA felt that in terms of developing infrastructure and international air traffic, the Indian plan is positive and will have a positive effect on aviation. The IATA DG said that he did not see protective issues in the Indian market, which is borne out by the fact that more and more foreign operators are coming to India like Singapore Airlines with Tata and AirAsia for setting up domestic arilines. “We see the Indian aviation market as more and more open,” he added. Foreign ownership Besides, the DG termed the Government’s decision to lift foreign ownership condition as “very-very advanced”. “In many parts of the world you have foreign ownership limitations which are frankly not justified except for protectionist reasons to put a fence around the flag carrier which usually is not doing well,” he said adding that the decision to put the limit on foreign ownership of an India airline at 49 per cent “is significant”. The DG termed as “ambitious” the Government’s proposal to have open skies with countries which are over 5,000 km away from India. “The more you lift barriers to air traffic or movement of goods or people the better it is for the aviation business and for freedom usually,” he pointed out. Carbon offsetting scheme One point of disappointment though is the fact that the country did not sign up to join the Carbon Offsetting and Reporting Scheme for International Aviation (CORSIA) which is a market-based measure for international aviation to measure carbon emissions. “They have signed the Paris agreement and the Kigali protocol (so) we feel that India is very heavily involved in all these environment issues. Then you have an agreement which is accepted by almost all the nations on the planet to regulate an industry which is asking for it. We are disappointed that India has not joined and hope that it will in the coming years,” Alexandre said. Conceding that there has been no talk yet on holding the IATA annual general meeting in India, the DG indicated that it could be a candidate for the event. “In 2020 or 2021 or 2022 going to India is perfectly okay,” he added. Matt Kalil Womens Jersey
Air India turns to retd maintenance engineers to fight staff crunch
Faced with acute shortage of engineering staff, national carrier Air India has re-hired around 150 retired aircraft maintenance engineers for a three-year period on contract basis. While local airlines are expanding their fleet with the domestic air passenger traffic growing at over 20 per cent for nearly two years, there is a significant shortage of Aircraft Maintenance Engineers (AME), the industry insiders say. Against this backdrop, Air India has started roping in retired AMEs and so far around 150 of them have joined back, Air India officials said. “I have a shortage of 150-200 engineers and I have employed my retired staff to fill up the gap…I have taken about 150 people on a contract for three years,” Air India Engineering Services Ltd (AIESL) CEO H R Jagannath said here today. There has been no recruitment of AMEs in the last 10 to 12 years, he said, adding currently Air India group has around 750 such engineers including the retired individuals who have been taken on three-year contracts. As a thumb rule, one aircraft requires around seven engineers. A wholly-owned subsidiary of Air India, AIESL provides MRO (Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul) services to aircraft. Noting that 10-15 AMEs are retiring every month, Jagannath said Air India has also started recruitment drive for these engineers. Currently, regulations do not allow private individuals to apply for AME examination and they have to be sponsored. As part of efforts to deal with the situation, Jagannath said private candidates should be allowed to appear for oral examination conducted by aviation regulator DGCA. “DGCA has agreed to it (allowing private candidates to take orals). They (DGCA) are very proactive and by March, I expect the rules to be in place,” he added. Klay Thompson Womens Jersey
Grant of new slots at Pune airport creates rift between airlines, AAI
Indian carriers are not just fighting with their peers for market share but also for landing and take-off slots at capacity constrained Indian airports. This latest reason behind the rift is the new slots at Pune airport, which Vistara, AirAsia and Air India were awarded, overlooking requests from airlines like IndiGo, SpiceJetBSE 1.68 %, Jet AirwaysBSE 0.55 % and GoAir. The Federation of Indian Airlines (FIA) has objected to Airports Authority of India’s (AAI’s) move to allocate three pairs of new slots at Pune airport to Vistara, AirAsia and Air India. In a missive to AAI chairman Guruprasad Mohapatra and aviation secretary RN Choubey, FIA has said that “they find this unilateral allocation unfair as well as breaking the thumb rule of fair competition, the level-playing field”. “We would, therefore, request the authority to kindly allow FIA member airlines an equal opportunity and a level-playing field in respect of these additional slots created at PNQ as ideally, the FIA member airlines who were earlier refused due to non-availability should be the one to be given the preference. Given past rejections, certain airlines had also stopped applying for new/additional slots due to obvious reasons,” read the letter written by Ujjway Dey, associate director of FIA. IndiGo, SpiceJet, GoAir and Jet Airways constitute FIA. Air India, which was earlier a member, pulled out of FIA. Newer carriers such as Vistara and AirAsia, that wish to become a part of FIA, have not been allowed entry into the group, as FIA has challenged their creation in courts in India. According to the procedures, the airport operator allocates slots in consultation with all stakeholders. Pune airport is an Indian Ai Force airport that is operated by AAI. AAI officials, however, said that they focus on evenly allocating slots and not on new or old airlines. “We, as an airport operator, cannot discriminate between one carrier and the other. The slots were allocated to airlines with least presence at the airport, so that it’s evenly distributed among airlines,” said an AAI official, who did not want to be identified. Frans Nielsen Jersey
Air Fares show sharp dip in November
The average fares on some of the busiest domestic air routes fell sharply in November as compared to the same period last year thanks to low fuel prices and airlines adding planes to their fleet. According to an analysis done by a leading travel portal, the average airfare in November was down by 4% to 30% as compared to November last year. Industry experts attribute the fall in ticket prices to low jet fuel prices and schedule airlines ramping up their fleets to corner a larger pie of the domestic market share. The Hyderabad-Bangalore sector witnessed the sharpest fall in fares of 29.9% while fares on the Pune-Bangalore sector fell by 17.7%. Delhi-Pune fares fell by 10.3% while Kolkata-Delhi fares were down by 13.8%. Fares on the Mumbai-Delhi, Goa- Mumbai and Chennai- Mumbai sectors also witnessed sharp decline. “Those who book in advance will travel cheap whether it’s the lean season or the peak season,” said aviation expert Rajji Rai. Average Fare – Top 11 Sector Sector Nov’16 Nov’15 % of change BOMBAY-DELHI 4,484 4,666 -3.9% DELHI-BANGALORE 4,689 5,401 -13.2% BOMBAY-BANGALORE 3,555 3,376 5.3% DELHI-PUNE 4,571 5,096 -10.3% HYDERABAD-BANGALORE 2,408 3,435 -29.9% GOA-BOMBAY 3,493 3,697 -5.5% DELHI-HYDERABAD 4,307 3,929 9.6% KOLKATA-DELHI 4,502 5,224 -13.8% CHENNAI-BOMBAY 4,209 4,451 -5.4% DELHI-CHENNAI 5,042 4,944 2.0% PUNE-BANGALORE 2,807 3,412 -17.7% Linval Joseph Womens Jersey
Pedro Heilbron elected new chairman of Star Alliance CEB
Pedro Heilbron, CEO of Copa Holdings and of Copa Airlines, has been elected as the new Chairman of the Star Alliance Chief Executive Board (CEB). He succeeds Calin Rovinescu, President and Chief Executive Officer of Air Canada, who held the post for the last four years. Speaking on behalf of all Star Alliance CEOs, Heilbron said: “I would like to thank Calin for the time he invested and his dedication to the role of CEB Chairman. His four year tenure came at a crucial time in the Alliance’s development, during which the organisation moved from a strategy of membership growth to one of greater cohesion and the delivery of more integrated, modern products.” In his role as CEB Chairman, Heilbron will conduct the two annual board meetings and act as the designated spokesperson for the board. Bill Bates Womens Jersey
Seven reasons why SpiceJet is a mispriced opportunity
Note these points about SpiceJet. One, the company reported a 146 per cent increase in profit after tax for the second quarter of the current financial year, compared to a year before. Based on relevant annualisation, the company is possibly selling at a single-digit discounting. Two, the air carrier reported its best-ever second quarter, an index of how it transformed costs into surpluses, maintained a high operating efficiency and raised average fares five per cent, even as others were discounting. Three, SpiceJet represents superior bottom line quality, no sale of assets subsequently leased back, which could have replaced high interest and depreciation with moderate lease rentals. When you comb IndiGo’s fine print for the quarter, an evidently handsome profit before tax of Rs 176 crore transforms into a staggering operating loss after you deduct Rs 133 crore on account of sale and lease back (engineering credit) and Rs 160 crore for ‘other income’. Four, IndiGo is four times SpiceJet by fleet, and eight times by market capitalisation, though the latter reported Rs 176 crore more in adjusted pre-tax profit. Five, IndiGo reported a relatively modest 82 per cent load factor for the second quarter, compared to SpiceJet’s 92.3 per cent, a case of a smaller airline working harder. SpiceJet has been a consistent outlier; it has recorded load factor of 90 per cent-plus every single month since April 2015. Load factor of 92.3 per cent during the second quarter was the highest in 19 months. Even in the high-ness, SpiceJet’s story is getting incrementally better (cancellation rate 0.5 per cent, against an industry average that is possibly twice this number), with every incremental percentage translating into an attractive bottom line increase. Six, SpiceJet is a mid-sized company run like an insecure start-up that has been motivated into sustained aggression by the spectre of a larger competitor. Result: Shrinking ground times, enhanced aircraft availability, declining cost per available seat km and aggressive contract renegotiations, the value of which are not reflecting faithfully in the market cap. Seven, once debt-heavy, it has repaid Rs 1,800 crore of its total debt of Rs 2,300 crore in less than two years, a clear glimpse of how profitable this business truly is. SpiceJet now possesses a net liability of only Rs 200 crore and should turn net worth-positive this financial year. So, why is SpiceJet extensively discounted? Could be because it almost closed shop two years ago and could be because of the uncertainty related to the previous promoter’s warrants pending conversion into equity (unlikely to transpire but the market needs certainty). Let me leave you with a thought. After SpiceJet has cleared its liabilities, what will it do with the cash? Buy aircraft, of course. So, let us assume it places an order for 100 aircraft, puts these to field and then does a sale and lease back (with only a marginal reduction in load factor). It might, then, be interesting to look at its numbers (everything else remaining the same). And, then, the mother of all arguments: If the two per cent of India’s population that flies adds 100 basis points, established brands like SpiceJet could be laughing all the way to their digital wallets. Adrian Peterson Womens Jersey
Lucknow, Jaipur airports upgraded to CAT IIIB
In a big boost ahead of the fog season when flight disruptions peak, the Jaipur and Lucknow airports have been upgraded to CAT IIIB, which enables aircraft to land when the visibility is down to 50 metres. Delhi is only other airport in the country that is CAT III B compliant. “The task to upgrade Jaipur and Lucknow airport to ILS CAT-IIIB operations is accomplished by Airports Authority of India (AAI) on the assigned target date. With effect from December 8, Jaipur and Lucknow airports have become CAT-IIIB compliant airports,” AAI said in a statement. Earlier Jaipur Airport was equipped with ILS, precision approach CAT-I and with this procedures aircraft were able to land when Runway Visual Range of 550m or more. Lucknow airport was equipped with ILS precision approach CAT-II and under this procedure aircraft were only able to land with Runway Visual Range is 300M or more. “With the implementation of ILS CAT-IIIB operations from Jaipur and Lucknow airports, aircraft will face less delay or cancellation of flight during the winter fog season. The problem faced by passengers during fog period would be reduced with the new upgraded CAT-IIIB system which fully supports continued flight operations and ground movement of aircraft during periods of low visibility (when RVR is as low as 50m),” AAI said. “By upgrading the Jaipur and Lucknow airports to CAT-IIIB level, the traffic bound for IGI airport can now be diverted to Jaipur and Lucknow during the peak foggy season which, in turn, will lessen the burden at IGI airport as well,” it said. Salvador Perez Womens Jersey
Airline industry to post record $35.6 billion in 2016
The global airline industry will post a record profit of $35.6 billion in 2016, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) has said. This will be the highest absolute profit generated by the airline industry. IATA, which represents some 265 airlines comprising 83% of global air traffic, expects the airline industry to make a net profit in 2017 of $29.8 billion. “Airlines continue to deliver strong results. This year we expect a record net profit of $35.6 billion. Even though conditions in 2017 will be more difficult with rising oil prices, we see the industry earning $29.8 billion. That’s a very soft landing and safely in profitable territory. These three years are the best performance in the industry’s history—irrespective of the many uncertainties we face. Indeed, risks are abundant— political, economic and security among them. And controlling costs is still a constant battle in our hyper-competitive industry,” said Alexandre de Juniac, IATA’s Director General and CEO. “We need to put this into perspective. Record profits for airlines means earning more than our cost of capital. For most other businesses that would be considered a normal level of return to investors. But three years of sustainable profits is a first for the airline industry. And after many years of hard work in restructuring and re-engineering the business the industry is also more resilient. We should also recognize that profits are not evenly spread with the strongest performance concentrated in North America,” said de Juniac. Haason Reddick Authentic Jersey