15 Jul 2019
India Aviation Industry Newsletter 15 July
AirAsia India plans to add nine planes to fleet by end of 2019
AirAsia India is planning to take its fleet strength to 30 by end of the year from the current 21 as it looks to expand its domestic network. A senior airline executive said the airline is planning to lease nine narrow-body Airbus A320 in the next six months to serve key markets like Mumbai and Delhi in the wake of Jet Airways’ grounding.
Avoiding Iranian airspace costs three Indian airlines Rs 37 lakh more daily
Three airlines — Air India, Air India Express and IndiGo — are incurring a combined Rs 37 lakh every day in additional operational expenditure due to rerouting that avoids part of Iranian airspace, Minister of State for Civil Aviation (Independent Charge) Hardeep Singh Puri informed the Indian Parliament. The rerouting primarily affects flights to destinations in West Asia, Europe, US, Turkey. Following an advisory by the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) on June 20 prohibiting US-registered planes from flying over part of Iranian airspace, Indian carriers in consultation with the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) had decided to avoid flying in the affected portions of the airspace.
Bengaluru bucks the trend, records 13.2% rise in international passenger traffic
Bengaluru Kempegowda International Airport (KIA) has recorded a 13.2% year-on-year rise in the international passenger traffic during April-May, according to the latest statistics available with the Airports Authority of India (AAI). In April-May this year, the airport handled over 8.4 lakh international passengers as against the nearly 7.4 lakh passengers in April-May last year. However, other major cities like Mumbai, Delhi and Chennai have recorded 13.3%, 5.1 % and 1.5 % year-on-year dip during this period respectively.
GoAir to connect Mumbai to Abu Dhabi, Muscat, Bangkok
GoAir announced that it was scaling up its international operations by adding seven new routes from 19th July. The airline, which currently operates services to Abu Dhabi, Male and Phuket, will now also fly to Bangkok, Dubai and Kuwait. The new routes announced are Mumbai/Delhi-Abu Dhabi, Mumbai/Delhi-Muscat, Delhi/Mumbai-Bangkok and Kannur-Dubai/Kuwait. The airline has flown over 72 million passengers since its inception, and in the next two years the airline would touch the 100-million passenger mark.
Madurai airport meets 30% of energy through solar power
The Madurai airport is saving big on electricity charges as it meets 30% of its power requirement through solar energy. With the addition of the 730-KW solar panels in April this year, the total capacity has increased to 900KW. The facility, set up at a cost of Rs 4.8 crore, helps the Airport Authority of India (AAI) save at least Rs 10 lakh towards electricity charges monthly.
Trujet to double fleet, takes it to 10 ATRs; adds 10 more destinations by end of 2019
Turbo Megha Airways which operates Trujet, plans to double its fleet to 10 ATR-72 aircraft and add 10 more destinations to its network of 20 destinations by the end of 2019. Trujet, currently, has the largest share of its capacity (73 per cent) deployed on UDAN (Ude Deshka Aam Naagrik) routes.The UDAN scheme is the Prime Minister’s initiative to stoke socio-economic development in rural India by providing air connectivity to the economic centres of the country.
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