15 May 2017

India Aviation industry newsletter 15 May

Air India to launch Boeing 777 flights on Delhi-Chennai Air India said they will operate bigger Boeing 777 aircraft between Delhi and Chennai to clear backlog during summer peak season with airports becoming slot constrained carriers are operating larger aircraft to increase passengers per flight. Airlines must file outbound passenger data in single format "It has been decided that with effect from May 15, 2017, all carriers shall start transmitting electronically, the manifests for the outbound passengers 15 minutes before leaving or taking off from the port of embarkation in India, to the Indian Customs in a flat file format," said a circular of the revenue department. How UDAN scheme has changed IndiGo’s flight plan IndiGo, it seemed, was convinced that a single-breed aircraft fleet works best for a low-cost airline. But, now, in a complete change of tack, the carrier has announced that it will acquire ATR 42-600 aircraft to fly on regional routes. The airline has signed a term-sheet with ATR for these aircraft. IndiGo’s change in plans can be viewed in various ways. First, it can be seen as a logical step to grow in Tier 2 and 3 cities, for which, the airline’s existing fleet of Airbus A320 will not work. With many believing that the next phase of growth in the domestic aviation market will come from tier 2 and 3 cities. In-Flight Wi-Fi in India? Aviation Secretary Says Pushing for Approval The Civil Aviation Ministry is pushing "very, very" hard to introduce Wi-Fi facility on board flights, a senior official said amid the proposal hanging fire for a long time. The Department of Telecommunications has already moved a proposal for providing in-flight connectivity for voice, data as well as video services and the same is before a Committee of Secretaries (CoS). Without providing any tentative time frame for permitting such a facility on board flights in the Indian airspace, Civil Aviation Secretary R N Choubey said the CoS would be meeting shortly to discuss the matter. India and Brazil are big and fast growing markets, says Star Alliance CEO We are constantly on the lookout. India and Brazil are big and fast growing markets. We are constantly assessing to see whether one or two or even a third member will meet our purposes says Star Alliance CEO Jeffrey Goh. India’s first ATR simulators inaugurated in Gurugram In an attempt to uplift the country’s civil aviation sector, the Flight Simulation Technique Centre (FSTC) acquired India’s first ATR 72-500 full flight simulator in the previous year. Issued to be certified by the European Air Safety Agency (EASA) and Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) India, FSTC officials informed that it was the first of its kind simulator in the South East Asian region.     Singapore Airlines invests over SGD 100 million in Vistara Singapore Airlines (SIA) has invested more than SGD 100 million in Indian carrier Vistara, twice the amount initially planned, a daily reported. In June next year, the 49% SIA owned Vistara will collect its 20th aircraft, a significant milestone which will pave the way for the airline to operate international flights. Tata Group owns the rest 51% stake in joint venture airline. Under Indian civil aviation rules, Vistara must have at least 20 planes before it can fly outside the country. SriLankan Airlines to add 4 additional frequencies to Delhi from July 15 SriLankan Airlines, the national carrier of Sri Lanka and a member of the oneworld alliance will be adding four more frequencies to its current daily operations to/from New Delhi on July 15, 2017. This announcement reinforces the significance of the Indian market and specifically North India for the airline. SriLankan Airlines to Add Three New Indian Cities to Its Network SriLankan Airlines will add three southern India cities -- Hyderabad, Coimbatore and Visakhapatnam to its network from July with the flights will commence from July 8. The statement said the new routes will be serviced by Airbus 320/321 aircraft. Acumen Aviation © 15 May All Rights Reserved.