18 Apr 2017

India Aviation industry newsletter 18 April

Air India and CFM Celebrate LEAP-powered A32noeo EIS Air India and CFM International 12 April celebrated the delivery and entry into service of the airline's first LEAP-1A-powered A320neo aircraft. The first aircraft has the distinction of being powered by the 100 LEAP-1A production engine. Air India has been a CFM customer since 2002, when the airline began operating Airbus A320ceo aircraft powered by CFM56-5B engines. Today, the airline has a fleet of 51 aircraft in operation and has achieved more than 3.5 million flight hours with its CFM56 engines.Air India and CFM International today celebrated the delivery and entry into service of the airline’s first LEAP-1A-powered A320neo aircraft.  The first aircraft has the distinction of being powered by the 100^th LEAP-1A production engine. Air India To Phase Out Remaining Airbus Classic A320 Aircraft Air India will be phasing out its remaining aged Airbus Classic A320 planes by this fiscal year. Air India has already retired nine A320 aircraft from its fleet and the remaining six planes are likely to go out of service by March next year, the state-owned carrier's chairman and managing director Ashwani Lohani told news agency Press Trust of India. India's aviation growth piloted by IndiGo Domestic air passenger traffic growth over the past few years, which has invariably crossed 20%, has to a large extent been driven by India's market leader IndiGo. The airline's market share in terms of number of passenger carried has swollen 7.8% to 39.6% in 2017. IndiGo to launch additional flights on domestic network IndiGo announced that it will commence additional flights on its domestic network from June 2017.According to the airline, the additional services will include its 15th flight between Bengaluru and Delhi, and 10th additional flight between Bengaluru and Hyderabad, and Kolkata and Bengaluru. The airline said it will also operate new flights from Ranchi, Guwahati and Thiruvananthapuram. Jet Airways and Virgin Atlantic enhance India - USA connectivity via London Heathrow Jet Airways and Virgin Atlantic announced a further expansion of their codeshare agreement between India and the United States, providing greater choice and enhanced connectivity via London Heathrow. , Jet Airways guests travelling between India and the United States can connect through London Heathrow on to nine U.S. destinations operated by Virgin Atlantic; Atlanta, Boston, Newark, Washington (IAD), New York, Los Angeles, Miami, San Francisco and Seattle. No plans to foray into India's domestic aviation: Lufthansa Lufthansa Group Airlines' Senior Director for South Asia said the carrier ruled out entering India’s domestic market, adding the cost of operations here is "very high. We are not interested in being another player for domestic operations. Because we are not an expert in that.” The Lufthansa Group operates 65 flights per week to New Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Bengaluru, and Pune from its Frankfurt and Munich hubs. Lufthansa Airlines operates 46 flights per week, while the Swiss Airlines and Brussels Airlines, the two subsidiaries, operate 14 and 5 respectively, per week. Qatar Airways all set to launch airline in India with Bengaluru as base Qatar Airways is to launch its own airline in India. According to Business Standard, a delegation from the country is to review the facilities at major Indian airports. According to the Civil Aviation Ministry, major airports all over the country, such as Mumbai, Bengaluru and Delhi about the upcoming visit by the Qatar delegation. SpiceJet introduces 22 new flights SpiceJet added 22 new flights on 19 domestic routes the airline operates a fleet of 32 737s and 17 Bombardier DHC8-400s. Shilpa Bhatia - Sr. VP, Commercial, SpiceJet said “In our constant endeavour to serve our passengers better, we have enhanced our summer schedule, considering the upcoming vacations and passenger feedback. We will continue to add more flights to our network that will give our passengers more options to travel with us. SpiceJet has been acknowledged as the most favoured airline in India. The record high PLF of over 90%, for the past 23 months, bears testimony to this fact.” SpiceJet on Thursday said it has added 22 new flights, including 19 on domestic routes Acumen Aviation © 18 April All Rights Reserved.