12 Aug 2019

India Aviation Industry Newsletter 12 August

Air India might become first Indian flight to fly over North Pole with New Delhi-San Francisco Air India's New Delhi to San Francisco flight could become the first Indian airline to fly over the North Pole. This all started when the Directorate General of Civil Aviation(DGCA), aviation regulator of India, issued a circular asking if any Indian airlines would be interested in flying over the North Pole and Air India showed interest. The perk of flying over the North Pole is that it saves fuel and time. At the moment, the route that the New Delhi to San Francisco flight takes, it goes over Bangladesh, Myanmar, China, and Japan before it crosses the Pacific Ocean to enter the United States of America. This route takes the flight 17 hours of flying to reach its destination. The new route would save 90 minutes making the travel time 15.5 hours. India’s Domestic Carriers Reach Abroad for Growth Slots made available at congested international airports in Mumbai and Delhi by the shutdown of Jet Airways have opened opportunities for India’s domestic carriers to increase their short- to medium-haul international routes. Tata Sons/Singapore Airlines-owned Vistara, budget carrier SpiceJet, and IndiGo all have begun to aggressively enter overseas markets with Boeing and Airbus narrowbodies. “There is an imbalance in networks of domestic versus international destinations for carriers that have until now served the domestic market,” Center for Aviation (CAPA) India and Middle East CEO Kapil Kaul told AIN. “Opportunities for international aviation from India are massive—from business travel, visiting friends and relatives, and tourism both inbound and outbound.” IndiGo partners with Insight Aviation for cadet pilot programme IndiGo has appointed Insight Aviation to select and train pilots under its cadet pilot programme, which is designed and aimed at meeting the airlines growing demand for the flight crew amid its aircraft growing fleet. Selected cadets will undergo a rigorous three-month ground schooling at Insight Aviations training centre in Gurugram, followed by an immersive nine months of flight training at its authorized Flight Training Organization (FTO) in Port Alfred, South Africa.

SpiceJet records its highest ever quarterly profit of Rs 262 crore this Q1

SpiceJet recorded its highest ever quarterly profit for the April-June, 2019, period at Rs 261.7 crore, against a loss of Rs 38 crore in same period last year, mainly due to higher fares that airlines levied after the closure of Jet Airways this March. Since the low cost carrier (LCC) inducted several ex-Jet planes and added more flights, it saw its operating revenues rise Rs 3,002.1 crore, up by almost a third from Rs 2,220.4 crore in Q1 last fiscal. SpiceJet chairman Ajay Singh said the LCC “has been on a spectacular growth journey and this quarter, in particular, has been very special for us. We added 32 aircraft to our fleet expanding at a pace unprecedented… We are happy that we were able to minimise passenger inconvenience by quickly filling the capacity gap created in India’s aviation sector (referring to Jet shutting down). The results would have been vastly better but for the painful grounding of the MAX aircraft. We look forward to their swift return to service in the near future that will help SpiceJet increase its margins and provide a superior level of service.” Acumen Aviation © 12 August 2019 All Rights Reserved.