31 Oct 2017

India Aviation Industry Newsletter 31 October

Air France-KLM to form JV with Jet Airways, Says CEO The Air France-KLM combine is close to forming a far reaching, deep commercial joint venture with Jet Airways which will likely entail synergies on more routes, their respective frequent flyer programmes, "metal neutrality" as well as cargo and engineering, the CEO of the Dutch carrier. It's a concept under which the airline partners become agnostic to whose aircraft or "metal" carries the passenger. US laws also relate it to the term "virtual merger" under which the partners work as closely as possible without actually merging on a strategic or balance sheet level. BLR airport records 11.7% rise in overall traffic in 1st half The Kempegowda International Airport, Bengaluru (BLR Airport) served 12.39 million passengers and recorded a 11.7 per cent growth in overall traffic in the first half of the fiscal year 2017-18. Average passenger movement per day clocked in at 67,700. The highest single day passenger traffic of 78,278 was recorded on 19th May 2017, BIAL said in a statement. Indian carriers fly 16.43% more passengers in September Domestic air passengers during the month of September grew by 16.43% with Indian carriers carrying 9.6 million during the month, shows passenger data shared by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA). India's passenger growth, which was highest on the world, has slowed down a bit due to lowering of capacity in the market, as a few aircraft of IndiGo and GoAir are grounded. India Gears Up For MRO Growth Home to one of the world’s fastest MRO growth rates and a population in excess of one billion people, India has long been viewed with interest from MROs looking for a valuable gateway between the Middle East and Asia-Pacific. With a compound annual growth rate of 10% for this year, higher than China’s 8.6%, India has continued to attract the attention of international companies enticed by factors from cheaper labor costs to skills access. Vistara commences new domestic link in India Vistara began double-daily domestic services between Delhi (DEL) and Ranchi (IXR) on 29 October. The Indian full service carrier will operate A320s on the 1,006-kilometre sector. It will face direct competition from four incumbent airlines. OAG schedules data for the week commencing 31 October shows that the route will also be served by IndiGo, Go Airlines, AirAsia India and Air India with 28, 19, 14 and seven weekly frequencies respectively We are eyeing one million passengers from India in 2018, says KLM CEO KLM and its partner Jet Airways are targeting one million passengers between India and Amsterdam in 2018, with the launch of new services and enhanced co-operation,  the Dutch airline’s Chief Executive Officer Pieter Elbers said. KLM which is part of the Air France-KLM group resumed its Amsterdam-Mumbai service while Jet introduced a new flight between Bengaluru-Amsterdam from Sunday. A new service between the Dutch capital and Hyderabad is under evaluation. With UDAN scheme taking wing, manufacturers of small aircraft see soaring market in Indian skies The Centre’s flagship aviation scheme to encourage greater regional connectivity has spelt great news for manufacturers of smaller aircraft, particularly Toulouse-based ATR and Montreal-based Bombardier. According to estimates made by ATR, India will need 200 aircraft in the next 10 years, which could have a valued atover $5 billion. The first round of auctions for UDAN routes that the government held earlier this year saw 128 routes being awarded to five operators — Alliance Air, Air Deccan, Air Odisha, Trujet and SpiceJet. IndiGo, the country’s largest domestic carrier, has expressed interest in participating in the second round of route auctions. Acumen Aviation © 31 October All Rights Reserved.