10 Sep 2018

India Aviation industry newsletter 10 September

Aviation ‘must act’ on India’s rapid pax growth, says ACI Airports Council International (ACI World) has challenged airports and airlines to meet accelerating passenger traffic demand from India, as it plots a course to become the third largest aviation market by 2021. In a speech at the *International Aviation Summit in Delhi, India (3-4 September), ACI World Director General Angela Gittens called on policy makers and regulators to provide a ‘proportionate, clear and consistent regulatory framework’ to spark private investment in the country’s air transport sector. According to IATA, growth forecasts point towards a trebling of passenger demand by 2037, when an estimated 500 million people are expected to fly to, from, or within India. IATA: Strengthening Indian Aviation Preparing for a Trebling of Passengers The International Air Transport Association (IATA) called on the government of India to maximize the potential contribution of aviation to India’s development by addressing infrastructure constraints that limit growth and government policies that impose excessive costs on aviation. Growth forecasts for India indicate a trebling of passenger demand by 2037 when some 500 million people are expected to fly to, from or within India. Already aviation supports 7.5 million Indian jobs and 30 billion Rupees of GDP (1.5% of the economy). Qatar Airways to review FDI policy in Indian aviation for starting domestic operations in India Akbar Al Bakar, CEO, Qatar Airways while interacting with media on the sidelines of the International Aviation Summit, said the carrier will be reviewing the Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) policy of India in order to start domestic operations here. His comment comes after RN Choubey, Secretary - Aviation, Government of India, on the sidelines of the same event said that Qatar Airways, if intends to start operations in India, it can't do it on its own and needs to find an Indian partner to run domestic flights. ST Engineering’s Aerospace Sector Signs Add-on Engine Maintenance Agreement with Jet Airways Singapore Technologies Engineering Ltd (ST Engineering) announced that its Aerospace sector has signed an agreement to provide CFM56-7B engine maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) services for the Boeing 737NGs belonging to Jet Airways and its subsidiary, JetLite. This agreement is an add-on to an earlier contract announced on 18 June 2015 which initially covers only a portion of the airlines’ 737NG fleet. With the latest agreement, Jet Airways’ and JetLite’s entire fleet of 80 737NGs will be covered, upping the contract value from the initial US$350m (approximately S$478m) to a total of about US$700m (approximately S$957m). Vistara and British Airways Sign Codeshare Agreement Vistara, India’s finest full-service carrier, and British Airways, the UK’s largest carrier, 6 September signed a codeshare agreement, further deepening their already existing interline partnership. With this, Vistara becomes the only codeshare partner for British Airways in India. Under the agreement, British Airways will add its ‘BA’ designator code to approximately 60 Vistara-operated flights each day covering thirteen Indian cities, including eight new virtual British Airways destinations, namely Ahmedabad, Amritsar, Bhubaneswar, Chandigarh, Goa, Kolkata, Kochi, and Pune. Additionally, the BA code will also be put on Vistara flights between Mumbai and Amritsar, and Chennai and Kolkata. WOW air appoints Kiran Jain as MD for India WOW air has appointed Kiran Jain as the Managing Director for India. Jain is a dynamic professional with over 25 years of experience in the commercial aviation business. WOW air announced the launch of its operations in India, earlier this year. The flights will commence operations from New Delhi on December 7, 2018, with five flights a week, directly to Keflavik airport connecting to multiple destinations in North America and Europe. Acumen Aviation © 10 September 2018 All Rights Reserved.