29 Jan 2018

India Aviation Industry Newsletter 29 January

AAI awards 325 routes to 15 operators; 56 new airports, helipads to be connected under UDAN 2 The Indian government announced results of second round of bidding under the scheme: The Airports Authority of India (AAI), the implementing agency, has awarded 325 routes to 15 airlines and helicopter operators. In the bargain, 25 new airports and 31 new helipads will now be connected to the existing network. The emphasis this time round was on enhancing air connectivity to hilly and remote areas with poor roads and possibly zero train network. A whopping 40% of the total routes in UDAN 2 were awarded to the newly-created category of 'priority areas'. Air India receives delivery of Boeing 777 aircraft for VVIP use Air India 25 January received the delivery of its latest Boeing 777-300 ER aircraft, which will be one of the two new planes to be used for VVIP purposes. This aircraft is among the last three Boeing 777 aircraft remaining from an order of 68 Boeing aircraft placed by the national carrier in 2006. India’s air traffic doubles to 117 million passengers in 6 years India’s domestic air traffic nearly doubled to 117 million passengers in 2017 with 100 flights taking off every hour compared with 67 in 2011, data released by aviation regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) reported. India’s airlines flew 117.18 million passengers in 2017 compared with 59.87 million in 2011. They also registered an 18% growth over the 99.88 million passengers who flew in 2016. India pauses Dubai flying rights talks The aviation ministry has decided against negotiating with Dubai on increasing bilateral flying rights, for now, according to a senior official. The ministry did not see any rationale behind allowing more seats on the India-Dubai route "for now", the official said. India and Dubai allow airlines from each side to operate 65,000 seats per week, a quota that has been exhausted. While Dubai had sought an increase of 50,000 seats, Indian authorities had sought preferential treatment in slot allocation for Indian carriers at Dubai airport. Inflight connectivity provider Gogo to open tech centre in Chennai Gogo Inc will open an engineering and software development centre in Chennai. It plans to provide its service to various airlines in India after the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) last week issued recommendations to allow both telephony and Internet services on domestic flights. The Chennai centre, which will come up at DLF IT Park, will be operational by April with around 30 employees. By year-end it will employ around 100 people. Jazeera Airways’ Presses On With New Direct Flights into Kerala – Kochi Jazeera Airways celebrated its four weekly flights into Kochi. Together with the Cochin International Airport CEO (CIAL), media representatives and local travel agents from Kochi, Jazeera Airways inaugurated the third Indian destination operating four times weekly. Mr. Rohit Ramachandran, CEO of Jazeera Airways said, “We have been persistent about strengthening our Indian network and today, looking at how Jazeera has successfully launched flights into three new cities, brings us enormous pride. Kochi is a popular destination for tourism and medical visits and we see these as growing segments out of the Kuwait market. In addition, we will offer a welcome choice to the VFR (Visiting Friends & Relatives) travellers wanting to connect with their families in both Kerala and Kuwait.” SpiceJet plans long-haul flights in two years: Ajay Singh Buoyed by robust growth in the Indian aviation market, SpiceJet Chief Ajay Singh has said that he aims to make the airline an international level carrier with long-haul flights in the next one or two years. "Every airline in India should look at those opportunities to fly long haul," Singh, who is the chairman and managing director of SpiceJet. Acumen Aviation © 29 January All Rights Reserved.