11 Feb 2019

India Aviation Industry Newsletter 11 February

Bengaluru airport installs rooftop solar power plant Bangalore International Airport has installed a 3.35MW rooftop solar power plant to meet its growing energy needs. The solar panels have been installed by Sunshot Technologies on eight rooftops within the airport premises including Menzies Bobba, Air India SATS, Coolport and a number of BIAL office buildings. It is estimated that the rooftop solar power plant will generate approximately 4.7 million units of electricity annually. The solar power plant is also expected to reduce CO₂ emission by 3,800 tonnes each year. Great potential for Azerbaijan in India, says ATB CEO Azerbaijan as a destination has already tasted a good success in terms of tourist arrivals growth from India in 2018. Around 40,000 Indians visited Azerbaijan in 2018 recording a whopping 175 per cent growth in 2018 despite any noticeable market development activities in India, indicating a latent demand in the Indian market for the country. Azerbaijan Tourism Board (ATB) opened a Representation Marketing office in India last December to grow its share of India’s tourism pie and attended South Asia’s biggest travel show SATTE 2019 in India last month as the “Focus Country.” India fastest growing domestic aviation market for 4th year – IATA The International Air Transport Association (IATA) announced global passenger traffic results for 2018, showing that demand (revenue passenger kilometers or RPKs) rose by a healthy 6.5 pc compared to full-year 2017. India showed significant double-digit growth in the domestic aviation market for a consecutive fourth year. IndiGo approaches RBI for use of rupees in international flight IndiGo has approached the Reserve Bank seeking relaxation in foreign exchange norms regarding use of Indian rupees for onboard sales in international flights. Union Minister Pon Radhakrishnan told the Lok Sabha that an appropriate decision on the matter would be taken by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) after due process. Mumbai trial on, CISF favours phasing out boarding card stamping from other airports too Passengers flying out of Delhi, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Chennai, Kolkata, Cochin and Ahmedabad may soon not need to get their boarding cards stamped “security cleared” before being allowed to board planes. The Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) recently started a trial project, where domestic passengers flying out of Mumbai Airport’s terminal 2 on their boarding cards stamped till this month-end. The government’s DY program envisages paperless for domestic passengers using facial biometrics. Pilots from India's Vistara airline fly for SIA, Scoot ahead of Boeing 787 operations Indian airline Vistara is working with Singapore Airlines and Scoot to provide around 20 of its pilots training and operational experience for about a year before its Boeing 787 fleet goes into operation reported Channel NewsAsia's 9 February. Why ‘stopover holidays’ are the next big opportunity for Indian airlines A recent CNBC report suggests that airlines in India are looking to expand to the east and the west, powered by the steady induction of new longer range Airbus A321Neo and Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft should create new collaboration opportunities to explore a mechanism wherein airlines, hotels and the tourism sector benefit by offering “stopover holidays”. Acumen Aviation © 11 February 2019 All Rights Reserved.