'India remains fastest growing domestic aviation mkt in 2017'

New Delhi: India remained the world's fastest growing domestic aviation market for the third straight year in 2017 as economic and network expansion bolstered the sector, according to global airlines' body IATA.
Globally, Revenue Passenger Kilometres (RPKs) -- a measure of passenger volumes -- rose by 7.6 per cent in 2017, registering "above-trend growth" that was ahead of the ten- year average rate of 5.5 per cent.
"The domestic India market posted the fastest full-year growth rate for the third year in a row (17.5 per cent), followed by China (13.3 per cent)," the International Air Transport Association (IATA) said in a report released last week.

Israel looking at reaching 1 lakh Indian arrivals in 2018

Mumbai: Indian arrivals to Israel for the second consecutive year have reached an all-time high growth of 31% during January to December, 2017, with around 60,000 tourists. This marks a whopping growth of 48% in the last two years, per the statistics released by Israel Ministry of Tourism (IMOT). Confident of this continuing this upward trend, IMOT is looking at achieving 1 lakh Indian arrivals in 2018. According to Hassan Madah – Director, Israel Ministry of Tourism India & Philippines, “Introducing initiatives, including easing of the visa process, and with airlines in India and Israel expressing interest to increase connectivity between the countries, I am confident that this growth will help us achieve 1 lakh Indian arrivals in 2018.”

Airport gets latest surface traffic control system

Ahmedabad: Airport Authority of India (AAI) on Saturday inaugurated an advanced surface traffic control system at Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International (SVPI) airport of the city. The system, which has cost around Rs 17 crore, will enhance safety and efficiency of ground operations related to flights.
"The system will also help in effectively utilizing time slots of flights and thereby maintain time schedule of flights and on time clearance of every flight. The system has the capability to ascertain 15 metre separation between flights at a distance of 1500 metres, thereby increasing aircraft handling capacity," said a statement of the AAI.

Work on Navi Mumbai airport to be completed by end-2019: CIDCO

Thane: The work on the new airport coming up at Navi Mumbai would be completed by the end of 2019, City and Industrial Development Corporation (CIDCO) Managing Director Bhushan Gagrani today said. CIDCO is the Special Planning Authority for the airport project.

Gagrani was speaking at the annual meet of the Rotary District 3142 here yesterday.

Incidentally, Minister of State for Civil Aviation Jayant Sinha, while talking at the annual CAPA (Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation) summit through a video link on January 31, had said that the Navi Mumbai airport could take four to five years to be operational.

Gagrani termed the Sewri-Nhava Sheva Mumbai Trans Harbour Link (MTHL)as an important project as it would reduce travel time between south Mumbai and Navi Mumbai to just about 25 minutes.
To Read the News in Full 04/02/18 PTI/India Today

Vistara eyes Gulf or South East Asia for int'l launch

Vistara will launch its first international routes in the second half of this year, with the maiden destinations being either in the Gulf region or in South East Asia, CEO Leslie Thng said at the beginning of January.

According to Indian legislation, the carrier first needs to have at least twenty aircraft in its fleet to become eligible for international operations. Vistara, which currently operates a total of seventeen A320 and A320neo aircraft, expects to pass this threshold in March 2018. By May this year, the airline plans to expand its fleet to twenty-two Airbus narrow-body jets.

Domestic fliers propel Madurai airport growth

Madurai: The number of passengers handled by the Madurai international airport has doubled in a matter of four years. While the airport has been on the growth trajectory ever since its inception, there has been a phenomenal surge from March last year. Officials say that the growth is fuelled by the domestic sector.
The air traffic data released recently by Airport Authority of India (AAI) shows that 12,82,314 passengers were handled by Madurai airport last year, which is more than double the 6,39,906 passengers who flew in 2013.
As the numbers crossed the one million mark in a calendar year for the first time, the fact that 9,93,912 domestic passengers had used the airport in 2017 stands out. While the feat was achieved by October itself, the airport seems to have narrowly missed achieving the milestone of flying one million domestic passengers alone in a year.

Low-cost airline Spice Jet promises connectivity between Assam's Lakhimpur, Jorhat

Guwahati: Low-cost airline Spice Jet will soon connect Assam's northern district of Lakhimpur with Jorhat in the south. The airline's Chief Managing Director, Ajay Singh, made the announcement at Advantage Assam-Global Investors Summit'18 in Guwahati on Saturday. The move will, if it comes through, will form part of Centre's UDAN or Regional Connectivity Scheme (RCS), an initiative taken to make air travel to India's tier 2 and 3 cities affordable and at the same time putting remote regions of the country on country's aviation map.
"For India to grow, it is critical that North East grows. And, Northeast cannot grow without connectivity. Spice Jet connects cities of Guwahati, Silchar and Dibrugarh to other parts of the country. And under UDAN, we will soon be connecting Lakhimpur and Jorhat," Singh said.

Oman Air plans new flights to India

Muscat: National carrier, Oman Air is planning to add more Indian destinations from Muscat.

Acting CEO of Oman Air, Abdul Aziz Al Raisi said, "We want to fly to Ahmedabad, Mangalore and Kolkata if the air services agreement between the Government of Oman and India gets revised," while celebrating the inauguration of Oman Air's new Boeing 737 Max at Muscat International Airport on Sunday.

For the first time since beginning operations, the national carrier will open new routes to Morocco, Turkey, and Russia before the end of the year.

Madurai-Singapore service frequency to be increased

Madurai: With a good patronage for the Madurai-Singapore service operated by the Air India Express, the flight operator has planned to increase its frequency. The flight which was inaugurated on September 15, 2017 is currently being operated four days a week, connecting Delhi-Madurai-Singapore and vice versa.
Airport sources say that green signal has been given to increase in frequency and that the operator is awaiting clearance from the directorate general of civil aviation. Once the clearance is through, the operator has to take it on from there and start the operation.
Sources from the Air India Express said that the patronage was better than expected.

Druk Air To Connect Guwahati To Singapore

Guwahati: The Bhutan government on Friday announced that   Assam’s capital city Guwahati will be connected with Singapore by introducing flights in Thimpu-Guwahati-Singapore sector.

  The Royal Bhutan government already operates a flight via Lokpriya Gopinath Bordoloi International (LGBI) Airport of Guwahati between Bhutan capital Thimpu and Bangkok (Thailand).

The LGBI is the only international airport in the entire Northeast India that has geographical and cultural proximity with Bhutan.

Announcing the decision at the opening of Royal Bhutanese Consulate General office here, Bhutan’s Foreign Minister Damco Dorji said, “It gives me pleasure to announce that Bhutan will be operating flights between Thimpu-Guwahati-Singapore very soon.”

Civil Aviation gets wings

New Delhi: The Budgetary allocation for the Civil Aviation Ministry has been almost tripled to ₹6,602.86 crore for 2018-19, with about 67% of the funds being provisioned for the purchase of two new aircraft for VVIP flights.

A total of ₹4,469.50 crore has been provisioned for “purchase of two new VVIP aircraft for special extra section flight operations,” as per the Budget document.

The government also announced a new initiative — NABH Nirman— under which it proposes to expand airport capacity in the country by more than five times to handle a billion trips a year. “Balance sheet of AAI [Airports Authority of India] shall be leveraged to raise more resources for funding this expansion,” said Arun Jaitley, Finance Minister.

Airports set to move 1 billion passengers a year

Bengaluru/New Delhi: Hours after the Union Finance Minster, Arun Jaitley announced that the Airports Authority of India (AAI) will upgrade several airports, its chairman disclosed that the state-owned airport developer plans to spend ₹14,000-₹15,000 crore in the next fiscal for the creation of new airport terminals.

Guruprasad Mohapatra, Chairman, Airports Authority of India, told BusinessLine that the AAI will expand the capacity of 124 airports through the new investment.

The regional air connectivity scheme ( Udan) will also be expanded to connect 56 unserved airports and 31 unserved helipads.

While most stakeholders have lauded the government’s move to expand airport capacity, the initiative may come unstuck if metro airports, mostly run by private enterprises, resist the Centre’s move to allot slots for regional airlines.

The Budget proposes to expand the capacity of airports five times to cater to one billion passengers a year (No timeline was mentioned). As of now around 100 million travel by air in the country, of whom only 25-30 million are frequent flyers.

International flyers from Vizag airport have increased by record 35 per cent

Visakhapatnam: The number of international fliers from Vizag airport may break all past records this fiscal with a growth of 35.2 per cent so far compared to the corresponding months of last fiscal. 

According to the latest report of Airport Authority of India (AAI) on traffic flow from April to December, International passengers increased from 71,429 to 96,544.
The international fliers have been hovering around 1 lakh in the last two calendar years in 2015 and 2016.

Airfares aren't cheaper, but airports to get bigger

If you are a frequent flyer, then Budget 2018 has nothing to offer in terms of cheaper airfares. Given that the average fuel price for airlines has increased by 13 percent over the last 12 months, due to the rise in global crude oil prices, a cut in the excise duty on ATF (Aviation Turbine Fuel) would have meant cheaper airfares. At present the excise duty on ATF is 14 percent, which incidentally was 8 percent before Budget 2016 was presented.

From the government’s standpoint though nothing needed to be done to spur the growth of air travel in the country. Despite the broader economic headwinds, domestic air passenger traffic has been growing at 18 percent per annum over the last three years. Given this pace of growth, the Modi-led government instead has decided to focus on creating bigger airports across the country.

On Thursday, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley announced a new initiative called NABH Nirman for the civil aviation sector. Through this initiative, Jaitley said, “We propose to expand our airport capacity [by] more than five times to handle a billion trips a year.” This capacity addition would be across the 124 airports that are operated by the government entity, Airports Authority of India (AAI).

Non-stop service from Vancouver to India will fly year-round starting in June

Air Canada has announced its seasonal flight from Vancouver to Delhi will now be year-round beginning June 2018. The national carrier will use the 787-9 Dreamliner and travel time each way will be 14 hours.

Surrey’s Sivakumar Chandrasekaran has lived in Canada for the past 12 years and travels to India at least once a year. He said the announcement is one of the best decisions Air Canada has made.


“This flight is useful for emergency trips. If something happens in my homeland, I cannot reach on-time,” Chandrasekaran said. “If it is one or two stops, it takes more than 24 to 48 hours but this flight will help us to reach our homeland in 14 hours or 15 hours.”