05 Feb 2018

India Aviation Industry Newsletter 5 February

Air Canada expands seasonal Vancouver-Delhi route to year-round service Air Canada has announced it will expand its seasonal direct flights from Vancouver to Delhi to a year-round schedule operating four times weekly with a Boeing 787-9. Benjamin Smith, president of passenger airlines, said customer response to the non-stop route since it launched in 2016 had been “extremely positive” adding “Air Canada is committing close to $1.5 billion worth of aircraft between Canada and India, underscoring our commitment to this vibrant market and to our continuing strategic, global expansion.” Bengaluru airport reports 25 million passenger traffic in 2017, remains India’s third busiest airport The Kempegowda international airport in Bengaluru on Tuesday announced a passenger traffic of 25 million in calendar 2017. This represents a growth of 13% over calendar 2016. Bengaluru retained its status as busiest airport in South India, and India's third busiest airport after New Delhi and Mumbai. The air traffic movements (ATMs) in January-December 2017 grew by 4.3%. Forty-three scheduled airlines now connect 62 destinations nationally and globally. CAPA India/Expedia launch 'The inflection point for India outbound travel' report CAPA India and Expedia launched a report at the CAPA India Aviation Summit, entitled 'The inflection point for India outbound travel'. The report throws light on Indian consumers' leisure travel habits and the findings suggest that there is a huge potential in this segment as India contributes to only 4.8 million leisure outbound trips. Indian Scheme Could Boost Regional Air Services India has rolled out a plan designed to encourage rapid growth in transportation services to, from, within, and between its regions. The Indian Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) Regional Connectivity Scheme (RCS), titled “Udan” (Ude Desh ka Aam Naagrik, or “let the common man fly”), has been designed to act as a catalyst for growth as the Indian economy matures. The RCS was launched last year, after two phases of bidding for laid out routes, and now seems well on its way to maturity. Domestic ticketing is forecast to hit 300 million by 2022 and, given the current lack of infrastructure at airports, the government has started an ambitious scheme to upgrade airfields and airstrips along with offering incentives to encourage operators to start services to unused airports. Airports Authority of India (AAI), implementation agency for the RCS in aviation, plans to invest $2.6 billion upgrading airport infrastructure by 2020. Mumbai airport breaks previous record, handles 980 flights a day Inching closer to 1000 flights mark, the Mumbai airport broke its own record of flights operated in a single day. The airport handled 980 flights per day on January 20. In early December 2017, the airport recorded 974 flights in a single day and announced it was headed for the one thousandth mark. The domestic and international airports in Mumbai share one common runway. SpiceJet announces 20 new domestic flights from February 11 SpiceJet has announced 20 new non-stop domestic flights starting from February 11, aimed at strengthening its network across South India. The airline would introduce 18 new flights in the South, of which ten would be catering to popular tourist destinations in Andhra Pradesh. Acumen Aviation © 5 February All Rights Reserved.