03 Dec 2018

India Aviation Industry Newsletter 3 December

Gulf airlines plan twice daily flights to Kerala's new airport Gulf airlines are likely to get special permission from the Indian civil aviation authorities to operate two daily flights to Kannur International Airport, the new international airport in the southern state of Kerala that starts operations. The flights, if allowed, will be outside the ambit of the bilateral rights on maximum number of airline seats currently agreed upon between India and countries in the Gulf region. India's IOC cuts Dec domestic jet fuel prices by up to 11% on month India's state-run refiner Indian Oil Corp. has slashed December jet fuel prices by up to 10.9% from November for domestic flights at Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai and Mumbai airports. For the Delhi airport, the newly revised prices in aviation turbine fuel or ATF marked a new 7-month low, IOC data showed. The ATF prices for domestic flights for Delhi were last lower at Rupee 65,340/kiloliter in May. The cuts in ATF prices were in line with the recent fall in global oil prices and the downward trend in benchmark Mean of Platts Singapore jet fuel/kerosene assessments. Indian MRO Business Drowning in Tax Burden High taxes on the Indian domestic maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO) industry have led airlines to outsource 75% of the country’s $1.4 billion MRO business to international providers, sending local operations into a state of gradual decline even amid increases in fleet sizes and the prospect of large orders in the near future. In a letter to the Ministry of Civil Aviation, the MRO Association of India (MAOI) has called for the government to pay urgent attention to the declining industry and “offer at least a fair chance to compete with foreign MROs that enjoy a favorable import tax policy.” Jharkand's Bokaro steel city becomes 1st small city airport to get AAI’s mobile ATC tower  Jharkhand's Bokaro steel city airport has become the first small city airport to get Airport Authority of India's (AAI) mobile air traffic control (ATC) tower, stated a Financial Express report. These towers are being used at small airports under the regional connectivity scheme Ude Desh Ka Aam Nagrik (UDAN). Kl International Airport welcomes IndiGo from India KL International Airport (KUL) continues to enhance connectivity and position Malaysia as a preferred global hub by welcoming IndiGo. The airline’s inaugural flight to KUL flew 180 passengers on its Airbus A320 aircraft from Delhi, India. KUL is IndiGo’s 12th international destination. The historical moment of the aircraft’s arrival at KUL’s second terminal, klia2 was witnessed by the YB Loke Siew Fook, Minister of transport, Malaysia; Raja Azmi Raja Nazuddin acting group CEO, Malaysia Airports, and William Boulter ,CCO, IndiGo. Oman Air keen on greater interaction with India Oman has approached the Indian government seeking an increase in the number of weekly seats that carriers can operate to and from India — from 27,000 to 70,000 seats. In December last year, authorities in India and Oman increased the number of weekly seats the Oman carriers were permitted to operate, to 27,405, up from 21,145 seats permitted earlier. Oman Air is the only airline from Oman that operates flights to India. Acumen Aviation © 3 December 2018 All Rights Reserved.