Government should allow foreign airlines to bid for Air India: IATA chief executive

The Indian government should sell its entire stake in Air India, a top executive at the International Air Transport Association (IATA) said.

In an interview with ET, IATA DG and CEO Alexandre de Juniac said the government's decision to divest stake in the national carrier was a good move.

"We support privatisation of Air India. But the company has to be privatised in right conditions," De Juniac said.

Specifying on the right conditions, he said the government should not keep any stake in the carrier post privatisation.

Indian aviation outlook very good; infra worrisome, says IATA

Geneva: The outlook for the fastest growing Indian aviation market is "very good" but infrastructure and taxation issues could be detrimental for its growth, according to global airlines' grouping IATA chief Alexandre de Juniac.

Clocking high double-digit growth for more than two years, India's domestic aviation market is one of the fastest growing in the world.

Even as he emphasised that the country's aviation market is "promising", the IATA's Director General and CEO said there are concerns with respect to certain aspects.

Foreigners using e-Tourist Visa facility soars at Tiruchi airport

Tiruchi: Fast growing Tiruchi international airport has seen a marked rise in the number of foreign tourist arrivals on e-Tourist Visa this year.

The rising trend is evident from the figures of foreigners availing themselves of this facility at this non-metro airport which witnesses nearly 800 foreign flight movements (both arrival and departure) on an average every month.

The number of foreigners’ arrivals on e-tourist visa at Tiruchi airport has already exceeded the 10,000 mark till date in the current year from January, airport sources told The Hindu. This figure is nearly double than what was recorded in the whole of calendar year 2016 (January – December) when foreigners arrivals on e-Tourist Visa were a little over 5,800 at Tiruchi airport.

Ever since e-tourist visa system was launched at Tiruchi airport in August 2015, the number of overseas nationals availing themselves of this facility is on the rise. On an average nearly 20 to 30 foreigners arrive at the Tiruchi airport making use of this facility every day, said the sources.

AAI to kick-start development work at Chennai airport in January

Chennai: The new year will see Airports Authority of India (AAI) kicking off much-needed major development work — demolition of the old domestic terminal for rebuilding and straightening of a taxi track — as part of the Rs 2,000 crore phase 2 expansion of Chennai airport. The taxi track straightening will begin in January while the old terminal will be pulled down in February. The work is being carried out to augment passenger handling capacity and flight handling capacity of the airport.

Odisha CM inaugurates Bhubaneswar-Bangkok flight

Bhubaneswar: Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik flagged off national carrier Air India's Bhubaneswar-Bangkok flight from the Biju Patnaik International Airport today.

Air India's new flight is the second direct international service from the Odisha capital.

The airline operated a 162-seater Airbus A 320 neo aircraft on its inaugural flight from Bhubaneswar to Bangkok.

A total of 38 passengers took the flight from Bhubaneswar to Bangkok today.

Patnaik described the new flight service as a historic moment.

Kochi-Israel flight likely next year

Kochi: Cochin International Airport (Cial) is likely to add one more international destination to its growing list as officials of an international airline from Israel visited Cial with a proposal to start a direct flight earlier this month. A senior airport official said that a team from Arkia Israeli Airlines Ltd arrived here to check out Cial. The team was thinking about commencing direct flights from Kochi to Tel Aviv next year.
Though the airport stood at the fourth position in India in terms of international traffic, the growth is saturating with only a 5% increase in FY 2016-17. But, domestic sector witnessed a significant growth of 26%.
A new flight to Tel Aviv will act as a catalyst in increasing Cial's international figures while offering passengers from Kochi yet another alternative.
The senior official also added that Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv could serve as a transit point for passengers travelling from Kochi to Western destinations if a deal is inked.
To Read the News in Full 10/12/17 Times of India

Jet Airways lags behind IndiGo, SpiceJet in Q2 earnings show; stock closes 4.47% lower

Jet Airways on Thursday announced a 91 percent fall in net profit for the quarter ended September due to the airline's inability to offset the rise in jet fuel prices.
Its earnings performance in the second quarter lags far behind its rivals  SpiceJet and InterGlobe Aviation-owned IndiGo.
While low-cost carrier SpiceJet recorded a 79 per cent rise in net profit, InterGlobe Aviation's net profit rose 294 percent for the quarter ended September.
The private carrier's earnings were announced after market hours reported Rs 49.63 crore in net profit for the second quarter of the current fiscal compared to Rs 549.02 crore for the corresponding period of last fiscal.
The weak demand in the Gulf continues, whilst low fares as well as yields in the domestic market have limited the ability to offset the increase in fuel prices," Jet Airways chief executive Vinay Dube said.
At 10:20 am, the stock fell 3.35 percent or 23.35 points to 673.55 level.
The stock closed 2.04% higher to Rs 696.75 on the BSE on Thursday. It hit an intra day high of 678.90 today.
The stock is up 39 percent since the beginning of this year. On an yearly basis, the stock  has rallied 31 percent.
The Jet Airways stock closed 4.47 percent or 31 points lower at 665 level on BSE.

India will soon have 150 to 200 operational airports: Jayant Sinha

More than 150 more operational airports would come up across India in coming few years including three airports in J&K, promised union minister Jayant Sinha, during his visit to Srinagar on Thursday.

The Aviation industry in India, Sinha said would soon be one of the biggest sectors in India, and it is already fetching revenue almost equal to Indian Railways and Telecom Industry.

In an attempt to boost tourism sector in Valley, Sinha said that direct flights to cities like Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Chennai and Kolkata would also be made operational.

Sinha was talking to young entrepreneurs in Srinagar at a function organized by Foundation for Resource Development and Education led by BJP leader Khalid Jehangir. J&K finance minister Haseeb Drabu also addressed the gathering.
To Read the News in Full 08/12/17 Hakeem Irfan/Economic Times

Airports Authority of India planning to set up air cargo hub in Udupi district

Karkala: Airports Authority of India (AAI) has drawn up a plan to set up its cargo hub in the region, and has asked revenue department to acquire and hand over to it 2,500 acres of land.

The news has made the people of Inna, Belman, Mulladka, Mundkoor villages in the taluk as well as Palimar, Yellur, Santhoor, Nandikoor and other villages in Kaup taluk jittery as they are apprehensive of losing their land for this project.

It is said that such projects are also proposed to be executed in Mysuru, Belagavi, Vijayapura, Kalaburagi etc.

Airport to be closed for 15 days in Feb

Mohali: The Chandigarh International Airport will remain closed for operations from February 12 to 26 next year due to runway repairs. 
The public relations officer (PRO) of Chandigarh International Airport Limited (CHIAL), Deepesh Joshi, in a statement, said: “Due to runway resurfacing work by the Indian Air Force (IAF), the runway shall remain closed from February 12 to 26, 2018. During this period, no civil and military flight will operate from Chandigarh.” 
The statement further said it was mandatory to close the runway for the completion of repairs.

Expansion of Patna Airport to Begin in April 2018

Patna: After years of talk of shifting the current Patna Airport to another site in order to accommodate the growing number of air traffic both in and out of the state capital, it appears the officials have given up on the idea and instead embracing the expansion of the existing one as Airports Authority of India announced its decision to build a new terminal at the Jaya Prakash Narayan International Airport at the cost of Rs. 800 crores.
The new terminal building will be geared to handle over four million passengers a year as opposed to its current capacity of little over half a million a year, officials said.

The expansion is expected to begin in April 2018.
Airport officials, however, said that construction on a new terminal at the Bihta Airport was also in the pipeline and work on it would begin from September 2018.
To Read the News in Full 08/12/17 Patna Daily

Night landing at Srinagar airport within 6 months:Sinha

Srinagar: Minister of State Aviation, Jayant Sinha on Thursday announced night landing facility and international connectivity at the Srinagar International Airport within the next six months.
Sinha, who was addressing budding entrepreneurs at Ideas Summit-2017 organised by the Foundation for Resource Development and Education at SKICC here, said the government would start working on improving the visibility at Srinagar airport for night flights.
“We will build Approach Landing System to increase the visibility at Srinagar airport to facilitate night landing as soon as possible,” he said.

Government exploring international connectivity for Srinagar airport, new airport at Jammu

Srinagar: Srinagar Airport will soon have night landing facility, Civil Aviation Minister Jayant Sinha said here today and batted for connecting the Valley directly to international destinations like Kuala Lumpur and Dubai.

"My endeavour will be to have international flights in Srinagar by the time tourist season starts in May-June," the minister told reporters while replying to queries.

The minister, who was speaking at the day-long Ideas Summit 2017 of entrepreneurs, announced that the ministry is exploring the possibility of a new airport in Jammu region, preferably in Katra so that Vaishno Devi pilgrims are also benefited.

Patna airport gets a makeover

The Airports Authority of India is  constructing a new state-of -the-art terminal building with passenger handling capacity of 4.5 million at the cost of Rs 800 crores in order to meet the ever increasing passenger traffic at Patna airport. The airport was originally designed for handling 0.7 million passengers. With the tremendous growth in aviation in the past few years, the airport has handled 2.11 million passengers in the year 2016-17. I

The construction work for the new terminal building will start from April, 2018. This new terminal building at Patna Airport will take care of 2250 passengers during peak hour.

In addition to this, a new terminal building at Bihita with a passenger handling capacity of 5 million is also planned at the total cost of Rs 800 crores. The work for construction will commence from September, 2018.
To Read the News in Full 07/12/17 Daily Pioneer

Mumbai Airport capacity grows for fifth straight year; Jet Airways is largest carrier, international expansion leads the way in 2017

Mumbai Airport is the second largest in India, based on departing one-way seat capacity in 2017. The only  airport with more departing seats is Delhi, with Mumbai providing 94% more capacity than Bengaluru, the third largest departure point in the country. Mumbai has seen consistent growth over the past 10 years with the only marginal cut in departing capacity occurring in 2012, which was due in part to the demise of Kingfisher Airlines, which suspended operations in October of that year. Since then the airport has experienced five consecutive years of capacity increases.

International capacity on the up, but domestic dominates

In 2008 there were 19.98 million seats on offer from Mumbai and three years of growth saw this increase to 21.37 million by 2011. A marginal cut in seats the following year led to static seat numbers in 2012. From 2012 to 2017 the airport returned to growth, with available seat numbers increasing by more than one-third. The average capacity per departing flight has increased from 174 to 186 seats at Mumbai from 2008 to 2017. Interestingly, the average capacity on domestic services increased from 155 to 171 seats during this period, but on international departures it fell from 247 to 236 seats.

Sikkim airport eyes early 2018 take-off

Calcutta: Tourism hotspot Sikkim's first airport is almost ready to roll out the runway carpet for direct ATR flights from Calcutta and Delhi, causing a flutter among the early birds seeking slots to connect Gangtok by air.

Pakyong airport, near the Sikkim capital, is 4,600ft above sea level and just one inspection away from taking flight early next year.

"Our infrastructure is in place. We have got the X-Ray machine and other equipment installed. The food court is also ready. Once the final clearance comes, we will issue the tender," airport director R. Manjunatha said from Pakyong.

SpiceJet has bid for flying rights from the airport under the Centre's regional connectivity scheme called UDAN (Ude Desh Ka Aam Nagrik). "We have bid for both Calcutta and Delhi. Sikkim is a very popular tourist destination," a SpiceJet official said on Wednesday.

Delhi airport gears up to tackle fog in winters

  Mumbai: The Delhi airport, along with stake- holders like airlines, air traffic control and the weather department, has taken a slew of measures for seamless flight operations during foggy conditions, the Delhi International Airport Limited (DIAL) said.

A new GPS-based navigation system for airside vehicles has been introduced for all the four passenger terminals -- T3, T2, T1D and T1C -- of the airport to enhance operational efficiency, DIAL, a joint venture company which runs the airport, said.

Foggy conditions in Delhi prevails generally from mid- December till mid-February.

"This year, the spell of foggy condition is expected to start after December 17," R K Jenamani Director-in-charge of the meteorological department at the Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA) said today.

He was speaking at a media briefing called by DIAL on its preparedness for foggy spells.

"At operational level, it (dealing with fog effectively) talks volumes of our capabilities of operational readiness, emergency preparedness and crises response," DIAL's chief executive officer I Prabhakara Rao said.

Flights at smaller airports to be ‘remote-controlled’ from Chennai

Chennai: With the Regional Connectivity Scheme set to take off, Airports Authority of India (AAI) is planning to set up remote air traffic control (ATC) towers to guide flights at small airports. A proposal is under discussion to install a remote ATC tower in Chennai to control landing and take-off of flights at Salem, Kadapa and Puducherry airports. Similarly, a remote tower at the Thiruvananthapuram airport for handling planes at Agatti in Lakshadweep islands is also on the radar.
The country's first remote ATC will come up at Ahmedabad for handling flights at Surat airport under a pilot programme. An expression of interest has been floated and the project is likely to take off by December-end or early January. The second pilot programme is expected to be carried out in Chennai.
"The plan is in its initial stage but discussions are going on to have a remote ATC tower in Chennai to handle aircraft at the three small airports where there may be one or two services a day.

Flights to Bangkok from AI stable twice a week

Bhubaneswar: Air India is set to connect Bhubaneswar with Bangkok, the capital of Thailand with a direct flight from December 10 twice a week.The flight AI338, operated by a 162-seater Airbus 320 neo aircraft, will leave Biju Patnaik International Airport in Bhubaneswar at 3.45 pm and reach Suvarnabhumi Airport in Bangkok at 8.15 pm.

The flight AI339 will depart Bangkok at 5.40 am and reach Bhubaneswar at 7 am. It will fly off to Bengaluru as AI739 at 8.45 am and reach the garden city at 11 am. From Bengaluru, the flight AI738 will depart at 11.40 am and reach Bhubaneswar at 1.50 pm before flying to Bangkok as AI738 on Thursdays and Sundays.

Indian low-cost carriers ready for takeoff: HSBC

HSBC has initiated coverage on three Indian airlines—Spicejet, Jet AirwaysBSE 2.04 % and InterGlobe Aviation, which runs IndigoBSE -0.95 %, on the grounds the industry is ready for a takeoff. “The future looks highly profitable, particularly for the low-cost carriers,” said HSBC analysts Achal Kumar, Andrew Lobbenberg and Parash Jain in a client note.

Reasons for the bullish outlook
HSBC said the industry has gone through structural changes in the last couple of years. “Government policies are now favourable, the market has consolidated, yield has bottomed, and although the fuel price has started rising, forex and more fuel efficient fleets will offset the impact,” its analysts said. The industry reported a combined operating losses of Rs 420 billion (Rs 42,000 crore) for the 10-year period to FY15, which was the low point, said HSBC.

Domestic airlines to trim losses by upto 90% this fiscal: ICRA

The domestic airlines industry is expected to trim its aggregate net loss by up to 90 percent to Rs 100 crore in FY18 from around Rs 1,000 crore a year-ago period aided by expected strong peak season demand in the remaining half of this fiscal, rating agency ICRA said in a note on Tuesday.

The projections, however, do not include the financials of full-service carrier Vistara and budget airline AirAsia India.

It has to be noted that the loss is primarily on account Air India losses, while all other major airlines are expected to report profits during the fiscal ending March 2018, ICRA said.

The study said, the domestic travel demand moderated to 16.3 percent in the April-September period after having grown at above 20 percent over the last two years.
Though the jet fuel prices remained higher during the first half of the current fiscal on a year-on-year, the ability of the airlines to pass-on the same supported the profitability of the industry during this period, it said.

Air Asia India adds one A320; to connect Hyderabad-Bhubaneshwar

Budget carrier AirAsia India today announced the induction of an additional Airbus A320 aircraft in its fleet besides launching a new route, connecting Telangana capital Hyderabad with Bhubaneshwar from early 2018.

The airline also said it will enhance connectivity to Jaipur and Bhubaneswar from its Bengaluru hub.

AirAsia India will now have three direct flights between Bengaluru, Jaipur and Bhubaneshwar, the airline said in a statement.

Patna airport gets a makeover

The Airports Authority of India is  constructing a new state-of -the-art terminal building with passenger handling capacity of 4.5 million at the cost of Rs 800 crores in order to meet the ever increasing passenger traffic at Patna airport. The airport was originally designed for handling 0.7 million passengers. With the tremendous growth in aviation in the past few years, the airport has handled 2.11 million passengers in the year 2016-17. I

Domestic airlines expected to reduce losses this fiscal: ICRA

Domestic airlines are expected to reduce losses this fiscal riding on healthy seat occupancy coupled by a moderation in capacity, rise in tourism demand and economic environment, a credit rating agency said on Tuesday.
According to ICRA, improved tourism demand, supportive policy measures like the National Civil Aviation Policy and the Regional Connectivity Scheme (UDAN) and the start of economic revival are the key positives for the aviation industry.
However, it warned that inadequate aviation infrastructure, which has constrained the performance of airlines, remained a bottleneck.

IndiGo, AirAsia offer discount on flight tickets ahead of New Year

With the year 2017 coming to an end, airlines are gearing up to cash in on people planning vacations early next year, or those who're frequent domestic flyers. AirAsia and IndiGo are the first in line, offering flights starting from Rs 1099 and Rs 1,005, respectively. According to their promotional scheme for year 2018, people need to book flights from the airlines' portals to avail of the offers.
Under the '2018 Travels Deals', AirAsia is offering ticket at an all-inclusive price of Rs 1,099 on the routes like Bhubaneswar-Kolkata, Kochi-Bengaluru, Hyderabad-Bengaluru, Goa-Bengaluru, and Imphal-Guwahati routes. The offer is open till December 10, and the benefit can be availed from May 7, 2018, till January 31, 2019.
On the other hand, IndiGo's offer starts at Rs 1,099 for select flights between Kolkata and Ranchi, reported Financial Express. The IndiGo website says you can travel for an all-inclusive ticket price of Rs 1,005 on select flights from Bagdogra to Guwahati. The airline's other offers are Jammu to Srinagar (Rs 1,112), Coimbatore to Chennai (Rs 1,195) and Kochi to Chennai (Rs 1,215).

Emirates marks 10 years of connecting Ahmedabad globally

Emirates has celebrated 10 years of successful operations to Ahmedabad, on 20th November,2017,New Delhi. Since its inaugural flight in October 2007, Emirates has carried over two million passengers and uplifted up to 74,000 tonnage of cargo from Ahmedabad.

With 10 weekly flights and 260 tonnes of weekly cargo capacity offered, Emirates’ service to Ahmedabad has proven to be an indispensable resource for travellers, exporters and importers over the years.

Essa Sulaiman, Emirates’ Vice President, India and Nepal, said,“We would like to thank all our customers and industry partners in Ahmedabad for their long-standing support over the years.

China and India lead airline growth

Airlines in China and India have registered the largest increases in passenger numbers over the last year.
 That's according to research by IATA, the International Air Transport Association.
IATA's statistics show that, when compared to the same month in 2016, passenger traffic in China grew by an impressive 10 percent in October.
That's ahead of 7.7 percent in Brazil, 6.1 percent in Russia and 5.3 percent in the USA.
Projecting these figures into the future, IATA predicted that China will be the largest aviation market in the world by 2025, with the USA in second position and India in third.

Rajasthan to connect all districts with air services

The Rajasthan government looks to provide air connectivity to all districts either through its inter-state air services or the central scheme Udan, a senior official said.

While the Centre is pushing ahead with the ambitious regional air connectivity scheme UDAN, the Rajasthan government's intra-state air services initiative has been operational for little over a year.

Besides, the state government has plans to start 'Palace on Wings' services to connect heritage properties, forts and palaces by air, according to Captain Keshri Singh, Director of Civil Aviation Rajasthan.

Kolkata airport to go green with 15 MW solar power plant

The Kolkata airport is all set to start using clean and green energy for its day to day operations, as its ground mounted grid connected solar plant is ready for commissioning.
The 15 MW plant, capacity wise the largest one among all the AAI airports across the country, is slated to be inaugurated by Union Minister for Civil Aviation Ashok Gajapathi Raju tomorrow.
"Once the solar power plant becomes operational, we will be able to cut down on carbon emission and at the same time do some cost cutting once the solar power plant becomes operational," S Raheja, member (planning), Airports Authority of India (AAI), told .

India's domestic passenger traffic rises over 20% in October: IATA

India's domestic passenger traffic grew by 20.4 per cent in October, a global airline association said on Monday.

According to the International Air Transport Association (IATA), India's domestic demand -- revenue passenger kilometres (RPK) -- was highest amongst major aviation markets like Australia, Brazil, China, Japan, Russia and the US.

The IATA data showed that India's domestic RPK -- which measures actual passenger traffic -- rose by over 20 per cent in October compared to the corresponding month of the previous year.
To Read the News in Full 04/12/17 IANS/moneylife.in

Cial to set up spa at domestic terminal

Kochi: In a bid to provide the facilities available at their international terminal to domestic passengers as well, the Cochin International Airport Ltd (Cial) authorities have invited a tender to set up a spa at their new domestic terminal, which is scheduled to be open in March 2018.
According to Cial, the endeavour to set up a spa prior to departure at the international terminal has been a success, helping passengers de-stress prior to their departure.
"We are upgrading the facility being offered to passengers in the domestic sector and having a spa in our departure is part of our initiative to provide facilities available in our international sector to our domestic passengers as well," said the Cial spokesperson.

Kishangarh airport is operational

The Kishangarh airport became operational with the arrival of the first regular flight from Udaipur with two  passengers on Friday and then flew back to Udaipur with 9 passengers.

District collector of Ajmer Gaurav Goyal, Airport director Ashok Kapoor and other officials were present at the airport. Goyal greeted the first nine passengers, who were happy to board the first flight. The passengers were Laxman Ramnani, Sarveshwar Chhaparwal, Rahul Tailor, B Sadhuram, Hanuman Prasad , Pradeep Choudhary, Kusum Choudhary ,Sanjay Gangwal and Aditya Garg became part of the first journey of regular service from the airport.
To Read the News in Full 03/12/17 DNA

Daily Flight Service From Rourkela Soon

Rourkela: The work for launch of the much awaited air services from Rourkela is now going on in a full swing. If everything goes as per plan, the daily flight service from Rourkela to Bhubaneswar and Kolkata will be launched from January, 2018, official sources said.

The work for the construction of boundary wall and terminal building is nearing completion and a team of Airport Authority of India (AAI) had reviewed the work at Rourkela aerodrome recently.

Government to sell Air India’s domestic, international operations together

New Delhi: The government will not separately sell the international and domestic operations of Air India (AI) and interested parties will have to bid for them together. Bids will be sought for AI's domestic and international operations as an "integrated airline", Union minister of state for aviation Jayant Sinha said on Friday.
Interested parties will be allowed to bid separately for subsidiaries of AI. The national carrier has five subsidiaries — low-cost airline AI Express; ground-handling arm AI Air Transport Service; maintenance, repair and overhaul arm AI Engineering Services; regional operator Alliance Air; and Hotel Corporation of India. which runs Centaur hotels.
"We have so far received formal expression of interest (EoI) from IndiGo for AI's airline arm. For the groundhandling and MRO subsidiaries, a few others have done the same," Sinha said. Some players, including Tatas, have informally indicated interest in AI's airline operations.

First flight from Udaipur arrives at Kishangarh airport

Ajmer/Jaipur: Kishangarh Airport finally got its first scheduled flight from Udaipur on Friday afternoon.
The scheduled flight to and for Udaipur has disappointed citizens who were awaiting direct flights to Delhi, Mumbai, Pune and Bangalore. The maiden flight is part of Regional Air Connectivity (RIC) promoted by the state government and operated by Zoom Air.
"The operations have finally started from Kishangarh. More flights are likely and I am hoping by March and April, Kishangarh airport will have three more connections," said Sanjeev Jindal, general secretary, Airport Authority of India (AAI).
Sources said that airlines have showed interest in operating flights but they want to see the market response to the first flight.

Spicejet starts a website for hotels and holiday packages

Spicejet now has a new website called Spicevacations for booking hotel rooms and buying hotel packages.  Spicejet’s new website says that it has more than 35,000 hotels it looks the hotels are only in India and they do not aggregate hotels in other countries. However, it does have holiday packages in Dubai, Male and Thailand.

Meanwhile, it looks like its rival Indigo and GoAir also has hotels and packages websites as well. Jet Airways, on the other hand, has a number of partnerships with hotels.  Indigo has also partnered with homestay aggregator GuestHouser for holiday homes. As part of this tie-up, Indigo’s customers will be sent customised notifications seven days prior to their journey, if they have booked an Indigo flight to destinations where GuestHouser has its presence.

Infra hurdles on airport runway for more international flights

Pune: Airport authorities here have pledged to take up proposals of flight operations by foreign airlines with the Airports Authority of India (AAI).
"We will welcome foreign airlines interested to connect their cities to the Pune airport. If any such proposal comes, we will certainly look into it pursue the issue with the authorities," an airport official said.
The Pune airport has been witnessing only four international flights — two to Dubai (Air India and SpiceJet), one to Abu Dhabi (Jet Airways) and one to Frankfurt (Lufthansa) — since long now.
An Airports Economic Regulatory Authority of India (AERA) report states that though the Pune airport is on track for a record growth in terms of domestic passenger movements in the next three fiscals until 2021, its growth in the international circuit is "decent" but "not as big" compared to the domestic segment (see graphics).
To Read the News in Full 03/12/17 Joy Sengupta/Times of India

IndiGo offers tickets from Rs 1,112 on select routes

Mumbai: Ahead of the New Year, Budget carrier IndiGo is offering all-inclusive tickets starting at Rs. 1,112 on select routes. These select routes include:
When we search on the IndiGo portal, flight tickets from Jammu to Srinagar on January 12 were available from a starting price of Rs. 1,112, which included a GST of Rs. 42.
Not just IndiGo, GoAir also offered special fares starting from Rs 1,212 on the occasion of its twelfth anniversary. Meanwhile, the airline has also launched 30 new flights on its 12th anniversary.

Hisar to get modern international airport soon

New Delhi: It’s a good news for Hisar people to cheer about as the city would get a state-of-the-art international airport soon. The Ministry of Civil Aviation has given a go-ahead to the Haryana Government’s proposal to develop an international airport at Hisar to connect the state with various domestic and international flights.

The move of the Government is aimed at connecting world tourists with India through its flagship regional flying scheme to attract more airlines and helicopter operators to participate in regional connectivity scheme (RCS) in the country.

As per the proposal sent by Haryana government to the Ministry of Civil Aviation, Hisar airport is the prestigious project of the state and it would be set up in over 4,200 acres of government land. The state government led by Manoharlal Khattar has earmarked about Rs 100 crore for this project.

Confirming the development, top sources in the Ministry of Civil Aviation told The Pioneer that the Ministry has given a go-ahead to the feasibility report of Haryana government to develop an airport at Hisar.

Odisha Airlines to start service from Puducherry : CM

Puduchery: Apart from the Spice Jet successfully operating between Puducherry and Hyderabad, Odisha Airlines would also start its service from here shortly, Chief Minister V Narayanasamy said on Saturday.
Talking to newspersons here, Mr.Narayanasamy said that the Odisha Airlines will operate Chennai-Puducherry-Salem-Bengaluru route and also Chennai-Puducherry- Salem-Puducherry-Chennai route. Odisha Airlines would start its operations from the end of December or early January, he said.

Kuwait’s Jazeera Airways Sets Course for Kochi and Ahmedabad in India!

Jazeera Airways, Kuwait’s leading low cost airline, operating regionally and internationally, is proud to announce its plans for further expansion into India. Following a successful launch in Hyderabad in November, Jazeera Airways will now fly to Ahmedabad and Kochi starting January 17th and 18th respectively. With the increase in operations to India, the award winning carrier is now able to support the travel needs of over 920,000 Indians residing in Kuwait.

Mr. Rohit Ramachandran, CEO of Jazeera Airways said, “This is a major strategic move for us to extend our network into India and provide greater choice and value for the Indian community in Kuwait and broader GCC.

Response for Chennai flight encouraging

Mysuru: The suspension of the Mysuru-Chennai flight service a few days ago was only temporary and there will be no such problem in the future, said T A Gurunath, manager, Mysuru Airport.
Initiated under the UDAN scheme, the flight between Mysuru and Chennai was restarted from September 15. The service was suspended for nearly five days due to operational problems. According to airport authorities the flight has been receiving good response. On an average nearly 45 to 50 people are travelling in the 72-seater flight every day.
"There is good response for the flight. The contract under UDAN is for three years and there is no need to worry about the functioning of the flight. There was some operational problem and hence the flight was suspended for a few days, but now the service has been started again and there is good response," Gurunath said.
To Read the News in Full 30/11/17 Times of India

Flights from steel city by December

Jamshedpur: Private operator Air Deccan will start regular flight services between Jamshedpur and Calcutta from the last week of December, the commercial viability of the operation this time hinging on the government's scheme of subsiding airlines for flying in an out of hitherto unused airports.

"We have got a 20-seater plane on lease from South Africa. We had expected to start the services in November, but due to things beyond our control we could not. Now, hope to start the service anytime between December 26 and December 31," said Captain Madhu K Valsaraj, the president and chief pilot of Deccan Charters, a subsidiary of Air Deccan.

Valsraj said they have held talks with Tata Steel aviation unit officials - Sonari Airport is owned by Tata Steel - and that the airport papers had also been submitted to DGCA. "We expect all formalities to be cleared in the next two weeks," he said.

AirAsia India expects revenue to double this year, triple in 2018

Dubai: Budget carrier AirAsia India expects revenue to double to 12 billion Indian rupees ($186 million) this calendar year, and triple to 18 billion rupees in 2018, its chief executive said on Tuesday.

The airline, a tie-up between Malaysia's AirAsia Bhd and India's Tata Sons conglomerate, made revenue of 6 billion rupees in 2016, Chief Executive Amar Abrol told reporters at an industry conference in Dubai.

Air passenger traffic in India, the world's fourth biggest market, is growing at over 20 percent annually.

Air India starts direct Kolkata-Varanasi flight service

Kolkata: The Air India today started a direct flight service from here to Varanasi, a release issued by the airline said.

The airline operated an Airbus 319 aircraft in the Kolkata-Varanasi route.

On Tuesday, Thursday, Fridays and Sundays the Kolkata-Varanasi direct flight will fly, it said.

The Kolkata-Varanasi flight fulfils a long-standing demand for a direct air-link by Air India, the statement said.
To Read the News in Full 28/11/17 PTI/Business Standard

Bali airport remains shut, airlines waive cancellation fee

New Delhi: Airlines operating to Bali have waived cancellation fees for passengers booked on flights after the international airport of the Indonesian tourist hub remained shut for the second day in the wake of plumes of ash coming out from a rumbling volcano.

Scores of frightened people have fled their homes near Mount Agung with Indonesia's Volcanology and Geological Disaster Mitigation Centre upgrading the alert status to the highest level, fearing a major eruption.

Jet Airways is among the major Indian carriers that offers flights to Bali's Ngurah Rai International Airport via its codeshare partners.

Revised winter flight schedule out

Mohali: Chandigarh International Airport Limited (CHIAL) today released its revised winter flight schedule that will be implemented from December 3 to February 17, 2018.
According to the new schedule, 29 flights will operate from the airport. The first flight will arrive at the airport at 6.55 am from Delhi while the last flight will depart from Chandigarh at 3.30 pm. Air India, Jet Airways and IndiGo will operate seven flights each from the airport. There is no change in the flight operations of Vistara, AirAsia and SpiceJet. The Delhi-Chandigarh-Delhi GoAir flight has been cancelled and GoAir will operate one flight to Mumbai, which has been postponed to an afternoon slot.

Bhutan Airlines to expand operations in India in 2018

Kolkata: Bhutan Airlines today said it will introduce two additional flights on the Paro-Kolkata-Paro sector from March 15 to May 15 and September 15 to November 30, 2018.
Making the announcement, CEO Phala Dorji said during the same period, the airline would operate two direct flights per week from Paro to Bangkok and five flights per week from Paro to Bangkok via Kolkata.
Bhutan Airlines would also add new flights to Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Guwahati, Chennai, Bangalore and Hyderabad during the same period of peak season next year as per demand, Dorji said.
On September 28 this year, the airline signed a four-year aircraft lease with AerCap for two Airbus 319, Dorji said.
To Read the News in Full 29/11/17 India Today

Steep flight cancellation charges may be on their way out

New Delhi: How often have the steep flight cancellation charges imposed by airlines stopped you from availing the discounted early booking airfares? In fact, airlines have been steadily increasing ticket cancellation charges over the past year, currently ranging from Rs 2,950 to over Rs 4,000 for domestic flights. But, in an early Christmas present to flyers, the government is planning to ask airlines to prune such charges to a reasonable level.
"We believe cancellation charges are on the high side and onerous for passengers. The fee is in many cases more than the price of the ticket itself. Our UDAN (subsidised regional flying) scheme has capped fares at Rs 2,500 per hour of flying. These cancellation charges need to be brought back into balance," aviation minister Jayant Sinha told the Times of India.

Pradeep Singh Kharola appointed as Air India CMD

New Delhi: Senior IAS officer Pradeep Singh Kharola has been appointed as the new CMD of disinvestment- bound Air India, the government said today.
Kharola would take over as the chairman and managing director of the flagship carrier from Rajiv Bansal, who was given an extension only last week.
A 1985-batch Karnataka cadre officer, Kharola would be steering the national airline at a time when the government has started the process for its strategic disinvestment.
Kharola has been appointed as the CMD of Air India in the rank and pay of Secretary to Government of India, an official release said.

India's air travelers ascend to monthly record

The Indian air travel market is growing dramatically, with such low-cost players as IndiGo and SpiceJet aggressively expanding service networks and fleets.

Travelers flying domestic routes in India reached a monthly record of 10.5 million in October, up 21% from a year earlier.

IndiGo, the largest budget carrier in the country, will expand service to three regional cities this December, said Aditya Ghosh, president of IndiGo operator InterGlobe Aviation. The company hopes to introduce reliable, efficient travel to regions where people now pay exorbitant fares for undependable service, Ghosh said.

IndiGo has enjoyed stellar earnings. July-September net profit roughly quadrupled on the year to 5.5 billion rupees ($85 million), thanks partly to compensation received for delayed aircraft delivery. Revenue for the quarter rose 27% to 55 billion rupees.

The company added six aircraft in the July-September quarter, bringing its fleet to 141 as of September's end -- up about 20%, or 23, on the year and lifting transportation capacity by 13%. Daily flights could reach 1,000 as early as this year.

Increased fares helped lift per-passenger revenue per kilometer by 9% on the year. The overall occupancy rate climbed 1.8 percentage points to 84%. IndiGo's share in the domestic flight market increased 0.7 point on the year to 39.6% in the January-October period, according to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation.

Air India arm Alliance Air to add five new ATR planes by fiscal-end

Disinvestment-bound Air India’s regional arm, Alliance Air, plans to induct five ATR planes in its fleet in as many months and will soon roll out flights to three new destinations as part of the government’s UDAN scheme, a top official said.  As of now, the Delhi-based airline flies to 46 destinations with a fleet of 15 ATR 72-600s.  “We are in the process of inducting new ATR 72-600 aircraft by March next year, which will take our fleet size to 20 planes at the end of the fiscal,” Alliance Air Chief Executive Officer C S Subbiah said at a function held by JRD Tata Memorial Trust here today.  Subbiah said that the airline is “competing” with high density rail traffic and that it has enhanced frequency on many routes with daily flights from weekly flights in the last two years.
Alliance Air, at present, operates 89 departures per day connecting 62 city-pairs. 

Alliance Air to add five new ATR planes by fiscal-end

Disinvestment-bound Air India's regional arm, Alliance Air, plans to induct five ATR planes in its fleet in as many months and will soon roll out flights to three new destinations as part of the government's UDAN scheme, a top official said.
As of now, the Delhi-based airline flies to 46 destinations with a fleet of 15 ATR 72-600s.
"We are in the process of inducting new ATR 72-600 aircraft by March next year, which will take our fleet size to 20 planes at the end of the fiscal," Alliance Air Chief Executive Officer C S Subbiah said at a function held by JRD Tata Memorial Trust here today.

In 24 hours, Mumbai airport handles 969 flights; sets new world record

Mumbai:  Creating a new world record for single-runway operations, Mumbai airport handled 969 take-offs and landings in 24 hours on Friday. It broke its own record of 935, said a Mumbai International Airport Ltd spokesperson (MIAL).
Mega cities such as New York, London, Dubai and Delhi have airports with two or more runways that operate simultaneously. Though Mumbai has two runways, they criss-cross each other, so only one runway is used at a time. Technically this puts Mumbai in the single-runway airport category. So it's in the league of busy single-runway secondary airports of cities like London (Gatwick, Stansted airports), Istanbul (Sabiha Gokcen airport) and major airports of smaller cities like San Diego (US), Fukuoka (Japan) and Xiamen (China).

Oman Air increases baggage allowance to India, Philippines

Muscat: Oman Air is offering an increased baggage allowance on flights from Muscat to India and the Philippines until December 15.

Oman Air at present offers an allowance of two bags per person weighing up to 30kg in total, but guests flying between Muscat and the following Indian cities can now take advantage of an increased allowance of 40kg for two bags: Mumbai, Kochi, Chennai, Delhi, Thiruvananthapuram, Calicut, Hyderabad and Bangalore, stated a press release.

Indigo 'fastest growing airline' in the worls, says UK report

A UK-based air travel data company has called Indigo Airlines the 'fastest growing airline' in the world. The report, released by OAG, also ranks the airline 17th in its list of the 'Top 50 air carriers in the world'.

According to the report, Indigo increased its scheduled capacity from 40,791,420 in 2015 to 52,025,760 in 2016 - an increase of 27.5 per cent.

The report also notes that Indigo has one of the youngest airline fleets among the top 20 airlines with an average aircraft age of 6 years. It had 138 aircraft in its fleet, and had ordered 456 narrow body aircrafts, the report said.
"The fastest growing of the Top 20, Indigo is India's biggest low-cost carrier. Still serving predominantly the Indian domestic market but recording strong growth on international capacity too," the report noted.

Indigo Airlines Asked To Pay Passenger/Customer Rs 58,000 Over Flight Cancellation

Cancelling a journey/flight or refusing to board to a flier is going to charge a lot for domestic airlines as per the latest guidelines by the aviation controller (DGCA) Directorate General of Civil Aviation offers huge compensation in such cases. Based on the revised recompense norms, which are effectual from August 1, an airline should pay up to Rs 8,000–10,000 to a flier if by any circumstances they cancel or delay a flight for more than 2 Hours, while the recompense for not letting a passenger to board the airplane stands for around Rs 20,000.

As of now, airlines offer a skimpy sum of up to Rs 4,000 to 5,000 for both cancelling a flight and denied boarding. The modified compensation has been functional after wide-ranging consultations with every stakeholder which consist of the airlines. Fliers body, (APAI) Air Passengers Association of India founder and D Sudhakara Reddy (president), on the other hand, has stated that the latest norms leave few grey areas which required to be addressed.

No Kullu-Chandigarh flight during winter

Kullu: Air India will not operate its regular flights between Kullu and Chandigarh during December and January. Kullu Air India station manager Dinesh Bhardwaj said from December 2 to Januray 31, the flights would not operate due to unfavourable weather conditions.
He added that bookings would be done only if weather would be favourable in the last week of January. Bhardwaj said seats would be available after February 1. Regular flights to Delhi would continue depending on the weather.
Air India had started daily flight operations between Kullu and Chandigarh from October 13, except on Sundays. The operations were being carried out using the same 70-seater ATR-72 aircraft that was operating between Kullu and Delhi. The lowest airfare for one-way travel was Rs 3,600, while the tickets were generally available for around Rs 5,000. The highest fare was Rs 18,000 for one-way travel between Kullu and Chandigarh.

‘Low visibility during winter months at Srinagar Airport’

Srinagar: With the foggy weather conditions leading to frequent disruption of flights at the Srinagar Airport during winter months, the government has asked the Airport authorities and airline companies for better coordination during winter months.
Sources said that the government has asked the airlines and Airport authorities to closely monitor and plan the flights as per weather forecast with proper coordination.
Flight operations are disrupted every winter with visibility often dropping below 500 metres in December and January. The ripple effect of any fog-induced delay in the morning often lasts for hours.
As per Airport officials, there is further need for installing/ upgrading ILS as the Valley mostly witnesses foggy days during winter months.