13 Jan 2020

India Aviation Industry Newsletter 13 January

British Airways now flying A350-1000 between Bengaluru, London

British Airways announced the launch of a new Airbus A350-1000 aircraft between Bengaluru and London as part of its global investment plan across touch points. "With increased flights out of Mumbai and new aircraft from Bengaluru, we are currently focusing on enhancing customer experience on board our flights from India. Bengaluru is a very important market for British Airways. Tech companies and young population of the city and India's growing GDP are a great prospect," British Airways' Asia Pacific and Middle East sales head Moran Birger said. Civil Aviation Ministry brings tax relief for airline companies; air travel may become cheaper Air travel may become cheaper soon as the Ministry of Civil aviation has decided to waive off Fuel Throughput Charges. The FTC was levied on fuel companies by airports across the country for the transportation of jet fuel to airline operators. The exemption can potentially reduce the operational cost of airlines as fuel accounts for the major expense companies have to bear.  Airlines companies may be able to save up to Rs 500 crore in a year as fuel expenses account for approximately 40% of the total expenses incurred by the companies. The FTC varies at different airports and added up with GST and VAT pushes the cost of running airlines higher. The ministry called the move taken to make air travel and air cargo transportation affordable and sustainable. Dragon Announces Purchase And Leaseback With Indigo Dragon Aviation Leasing Company Limited has announced this week a purchase and leaseback transaction IndiGo that includes three A320neo and two A321neo aircraft. The aircraft are expected to deliver between February and May 2020. Dragon Aviation Leasing Chief Executive Officer, Gang Li said “We are honored to welcome IndiGo as a new airline customer. IndiGo has led the rapid growth of the Indian aviation market, and we are delighted to provide our support and look forward to building a long-lasting partnership.” Indian Cabinet Approves Operations Beyond Check-In Area For Airlines of 3 Countries Reversing a 2006 decision, the Union Cabinet on December 24, 2019, approved international airlines from three countries US, Canada and Australia to carry out their own ground handling in India. IndiGo opens first international call centre in Guangzhou To tap the booming Chinese market, IndiGo airlines has opened its first international call centre comprising six employees at Guangzhou in China to cater to queries from passengers who speak in Cantonese, Mandarin and English. The Guangzhou call center was started around the same time the low-cost carrier started its flight operations between India and China in September last year. Currently, IndiGo operates a daily flight on Delhi-Chengdu route as well as on Kolkata-Guangzhou route. Vistara starts phasing out nine Boeing 737-800 aircaft Vistara has started phasing out nine Boeing 737-800 aircraft, which it had leased after the grounding of Jet Airways, from this month amid induction of the latest batch of A320 neos in the fleet.  The airline is returning two of these nine leased B737 from January and the rest seven will be exited the fleet between 2022-23 as they are on long term lease, a Vistara spokesperson told PTI. The government has temporarily reallocated as many as many as 488 Jet Airways' slots to Air India, IndiGo, SpiceJet, Vistara, GoAir and AirAsia India to fill the capacity gap in the wake of the airline ceasing operations mid-April last year. Acumen Aviation © 13 January 2020 All Rights Reserved.