06 Nov 2017

India Aviation Industry Newsletter 6 November

Air India floats tender to raise $535 million to buy 3 Boeing planes Air India has floated a tender to raise $535 million to bridge finance a loan raised to acquire three Boeing 777-300ER (extended range) planes. Two of the planes will be used by the government for ferrying important officials, a spokesperson said. AirAsia India's passenger traffic nearly doubles AirAsia India's passenger traffic nearly doubled to 11.7 lakh passengers in three months to September over the year-ago period on the back of capacity addition and network expansion. The Bengaluru-based joint venture airline between Tata Sons and Malaysia's AirAsia group had flown 5.89 lakh passengers in the July-September quarter of 2016. AirAsia India (AAI) carried 11.7 lakh passengers in the third quarter of the current calendar year, registering 99 % growth over the same quarter of 2016. Govt Plans To Construct 100 airports In 15 Years In order to ease connectivity, India is planning to set up 100 airports. India plans to invest Rs 4 lakh Crore setting up the framework. Jayant Sinha, the minister of state for aviation said that the government is planning to complete the project in 15 years. Sinha said, “Airport planning in the past was such that an airport is saturated by the time its development work is completed. We will need to add about 100 new airports, as aviation in India grows.” The reports suggest that, out of 100, 70 airports will be built in places that do not have the facility. Govt plans to sell Air India, AI Express together The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government is working to conclude the sale of national carrier Air India by June 2018 and is keen on selling its core airline operations, together with its low-cost international airline, Air India Express. The decision was taken by the Air India-specific Alternative Mechanism — a group of Ministers led by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley to decide on the modalities of stake sale in the national carrier. ‘India clocks strong domestic aviation market growth in September’ India’s domestic aviation sector grew the fastest in September as the country registered double-digit growth for 37 consecutive months, according to global airlines’ grouping IATA. In September, India recorded a growth of 15.5 % while the global demand stood at 5.7 %. “India topped the domestic growth chart again, while domestic US and Australia Revenue Passenger Kilometres (RPKs) both fell in annual terms,” the International Air Transport Association (IATA) has said. India-made Falcon will fly in 2022, says Reliance Group The Reliance Group’s joint venture with Dassault Aviation to manufacture components for Rafale fighter aircraft is much talked about. However, the group is also harbouring ambitions to fly out business jets and passenger planes made entirely in India, the first private sector company that may end up doing so. Reliance, in a joint venture with the €3.6 billion Dassault Aviation, will start making the business jet Falcon from January 2018 at the Dassault Reliance Aviation Limited (DRAL) facility in Mihan, Nagpur and the first Falcon is expected to fly out of Mihan as early as 2022 for the global markets. Legacy Falcon 2000 Components To Be Made in India Components for legacy Dassault Falcon 2000s will be made in India starting in the first quarter of next year, when a Dassault Aviation and Reliance Aerospace joint-venture facility opens in Nagpur. On October 27, Dassault chairman Eric Trappier and Reliance Group chairman Anil Ambani laid the foundation stone for the Dassault Reliance Aerospace manufacturing facility at the Dhirubhai Ambani Technology Park, which sits adjacent to Nagpur International Airport. United celebrates 10th year of Mumbai-New York operation United Airlines is marking 10 years of its daily nonstop service between Mumbai Airport and its New York/Newark hub, Newark Liberty International Airport. Since it was launched in October 2007, the service has carried over 1.6 million customers on over 7,000 flights. Acumen Aviation © 6 November All Rights Reserved.