25 Sep 2017

India Aviation Industry Newsletter 25 September

Alitalia to restart India flights after a decade, Delhi-Rome daily from October 30 Indians will soon have more flight choices to the west, particularly Europe, with greater capacity on these routes driving fares lower. Financially challenged Italian airline Alitalia will restart flights to India after almost a decade. It will have a daily direct flights between Delhi and Rome from October 30 and offer three classes of travel — business, premium economy and economy. Delhi gets new campus of Indian Aviation Academy Union aviation minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju inaugurated the new campus of Indian Aviation Academy (IAA) in New Delhi. The IAA will augment its training and hostel capabilities to more than double. Raju said that with its enhanced strength the IAA academy would go a long way in meeting the growing demand for skilled manpower in the aviation sector. Domestic air fares may rise as airlines claim GST raised cost of operations Indian airlines are seeking relief under the goods and services tax (GST) regime, which they say has added significantly to costs in an industry struggling with lower yields and could lead to higher fares. “New levies under GST are set to cause a burden of Rs 4,750 crore for us, thus increasing our cost of operations, which has the potential to make the airline industry sick,” said a senior airline executive. “The new levies can potentially wipe off the profits earned by airlines.” GAGAN to transform Indian aviation Augmentation of global navigation satellite systems (GNSSs) had helped nations worldwide across sectors and more so in aviation. India is implementing Geo Augmented GPS Aided Navigation (GAGAN) to ensure air-space accuracy, reliability, availability and safety, making it the fourth country to implement a Satellite Based Augmentation System (SBAS). GAGAN has been jointly developed by the Airports Authority of India (AAI) and Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO). It comprises a constellation of three geostationary satellites (namely GSAT 8, 10 and 15), three Master Control Centres (two in Bengaluru and one in Delhi), three Uplink Stations and 15 Reference Stations spread across India. Indian Aviation: Cruising New Heights Led by strong domestic demand, favourable government policy and a benign fuel outlook, the Indian aviation industry has emerged as one of the fastest growing aviation market in the world. According to IATA, India’s civil aviation market is set to become the world’s third largest by 2020 and expected to be the largest by 2030. IATA’s estimate is based on the consistent growth being witnessed by the industry. The data from Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) states that India’s air passenger traffic has registered a growth of at least 16 per cent annually in the last decade. India likely to be 7th largest source of visitors into Australia : Tourism Aus official India is expected to be the seventh largest source market for visitor arrivals into Australia by 2025, a senior Tourism Australia official said. The country is already on the way of achieving its 2020 target of three lakh visitors from India in 2017. "India is expected to be among top seven inbound markets for Australia by 2025. It could be the seventh largest source market for arrivals by 2025," said Tourism Australia Country Head India and Gulf Nishant Kashikar. India currently is the ninth top source market for Australia in terms of visitor arrivals. ‘India Is Still A Big Market. The Golden Age Is Really Ahead Of Us.’ Capt G R Gopinath, the man who transformed India’s airline industry with its first no-frills carrier, never went to a business school. Of course, he had been an entrepreneur for many years before he started Air Deccan in 2003, having had his ups and downs in business and even dabbled in politics. It’s always a good time to be an entrepreneur because it is your business model that counts, Gopinath, 65, tells Ajay Sukumaran in an interview. Acumen Aviation © 25 September All Rights Reserved.