10 Apr 2017

India Aviation Industry Newsletter 10 April

Air India mulling setting up aviation university Air India is considering establishing an aviation university for providing various programmes that can also be an additional third party revenue stream for it in the long term. The national carrier, which is working on ways to improve its financial position, has already started exploring various options for having a university, airline officials said. The idea is to have an institution that offers a range of aviation training programmes for across it’s operations. Air India Express issues Boeing 737-800 dry lease RFP Air India Express has issued a Request For Proposals (RFP) for the dry lease of two Boeing 737-800’s for a period of eight years with an option to extend the lease for a further four years. AirAsia lauds multiple-entry visa for Indians, Bilateral Air Services review AirAsia Group has welcomed the recently-announced multiple visa entry scheme for Indian tourists to Malaysia, as well as the proposed review of the Bilateral Air Services Agreement between the two countries. Air Asia Group has applauded the announcement of a multiple-entry eVisa, valid for 15 days, as there is an urgent need to ensure hassle-free travel for Indians and Malaysians. AirAsia Group seeks Indian unit exemption for int’l ops AirAsia Group has petitioned the Indian government to exempt its AirAsia India (I5, Chennai) unit from the country’s regulations which govern when a start-up carrier can begin international flights. Indian Carriers Ponder Threat of Possible Qatar Airways Incursion A stated intention by Qatar Airways to start a fully owned domestic Indian carrier has the Federation of Indian Airlines voicing objections to the government on sovereignty and security issues, quite apart from concerns that the Qatari airline could eat into the fledgling yields of India’s airlines. Arguing that the move would conflict with the “Make in India” policy that encourages Indian companies to establish new businesses domestically. IndiGo makes aviation history in India, hits record 900 daily flights An IndiGo Airbus A320 aircraft operating as 6E756 between Bhubaneshwar and Chennai created a record last Friday 7 April. This was the airline's 900th daily flight, the most by any Indian airline, is the country's largest domestic airline with 40% market share added 24 aircraft in the financial year 2016-2017, the highest capacity addition among all the airlines operating 131 Airbus A320s. Jet Airways directs more flights to Europe; strengthens Air France-KLM alliance India’s second-largest airline in terms of passengers carried, Jet Airways, intends to extend its partnership with the Air-France-KLM Group and Delta Air Lines by attempting to introduce direct flights to Amsterdam and Paris. According to a national daily reports, Jet Airways may have already finalised the plans to direct a flight from Bengaluru to Amsterdam, and the other from Chennai to Paris. Jet airways may commence its operations from early winter even as it will be using Airbus A330 for the said route. Malaysia, India reach new aviation deal Malaysia and India have signed a new aviation deal during the India visit of Malaysian Prime Minister NajibRazak, which allows a total of 22,531 passengers to fly to India per week, up by 1,861 passengers. Malaysian Transport Minister Datuk Seri LiowTiong Lai said the extra seats were approved for the six majorcities of  Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Mumbai and New Delhi. The minister added the next phase is for Malaysia is to raise the number of weekly seats to the six Indian cities to 40,436 as well as add eight destinations to the existing 18. MoU between India and France on technical co-operation in civil aviation The Union Cabinet, chaired by the Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, has given its approval to the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the Airports Authority of India (AAI) and its French counterpart, Civil Aviation Authority (DGAC) France. The objective of the MoU is to implement a Technical Co-operation Programme between the two countries in the civil aviation sector. Acumen Aviation © 10 April All Rights Reserved.