08 May 2018

India Aviation Industry Newsletter 8 May

Air Asia India to connect Surat from Bengaluru starting June Air Asia India announced expansion of its route network with the launch of a flight to Surat from Bengaluru, starting next month operating daily with an Airbus A320, taking the total number of destination operated by the carrier to 20. BNA’s New London Flight Gives Health Care Companies A Stepping Stone To India Nashville health care companies with a major presence in the U.K. helped lobby for the new direct flight to London that started last Friday. But it may be firms with operations in India that have the most to gain. With 300 employees in Franklin and 1,300 in Bangalore, executives and project managers from Emids end up making 300 trips to India each year — a data point Sinha shared with prospective airlines considering a London flight from Nashville. He says eliminating one leg of the trip in the U.S. — along with long lines at busier customs terminals — will nearly cut in half the current roundtrip travel time of more than 30 hours. CAPA India welcomes inflight connectivity decision by Telecom Regulatory Authority of India CAPA India stated approval by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India for inflight connectivity is a "welcome development". Airlines will be permitted to offer both data and voice services, although most carriers are unlikely to allow voice calls due to concerns that fellow passengers will be disturbed. Icelandair is mulling flights to India Icelandair intends to launch direct flights to India beginning in autumn 2019, according to CEO Björgólfur Jóhannsson. He did not clarify which cities the airline was targeting, but likely Mumbai and Delhi are on the list. The distance from Keflavik International Airport to Mumbai is similar in distance to the airline's planned service to San Francisco, which begins in summer 2018. IIT-Kanpur Signs MOU With VTOL AVIATION INDIA To Develop Air Taxi Indian Institute of Technology (IIT)-Kanpur, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with ‘VTOL AVIATION INDIA PVT LTD’ to help in developing Vertical Take-Off and Landing (VTOL) aircrafts for Civil Defense and Civil Aviation. These aircraft will be used as air taxi for civilians. Vertical Take-Off and Landing (VTOL) aircrafts are becoming popular in both civil and military aviation sectors. India extends deadline to receive initial bids for Air India India has extended the deadline to receive initial bids for its stake in state-run carrier Air India to May 31 from May 14, according to a notification issued by the Ministry of Civil Aviation. India will announce the qualified bidders on June 15, according to the statement issued. Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government, keen to sell the loss-making, debt-ridden airline, finalised plans in late March to divest a 76% stake and offload about $5.1 billion of its debt. India’s domestic air traffic surges 28%, maintains double-digit growth for 43 months India maintained double-digit growth in domestic air traffic for the 43rd straight month in March, growing by 27.9 per cent against an average global domestic demand of 7.8 per cent in the previous month, propelled by route network expansion by local airlines. India also reported the highest load factor among the seven major global aviation markets at (87.8 per cent, an increase of 6.7 per cent over March 2017 according to the International Air Transport Association (IATA). Jet Airways celebrates 25 years Jet Airways celebrated 25 years of flying over the weekend. Jet Airways first flight, 9W321, took off on 5 May 1993 from Mumbai to Ahmedabad. The carrier started with just four aircraft serving six destinations in early 1993 it now operates a fleet of a 119 aircraft serving over 450 destinations with its global partner airlines. Qatar Air to apply soon to start airline in India Qatar Airways will soon apply for starting an airline in India, which will be a full service carrier operating within the country. While the proposed airline will be fully-owned by Qatar entities, it will have an Indian chairman and majority of board members will also be from India. Ukraine International Airlines (UIA) launches new Kiev- Delhi route Ukraine International Airlines (UIA) launched a new three times weekly between Kiev and Delhi operated by Boeing 767-300 aircraft and will enhance it to five (four scheduled and one seasonal till September) services from mid-June. Announcing the opening of the new route, Sergey Fomenko, Vice President – Commerce, UIA, said that the airline will most likely turn it into a daily frequency from early next year. Acumen Aviation © 8 May 2018 All Rights Reserved.