29.11.2023 - 03:25 UTC
The CEO of Air India (AI, Mumbai International) has called on the Indian government to continue carefully managing any additional capacity rights it allocates to foreign carriers, arguing that local airlines need the chance to grow first and become more effective competitors.
“I think the strategy is to contain traffic rights expansion so that local airlines have the opportunity to spin up and attain scale and become competitive," Campbell Wilson told the Hindustan Times, adding that traffic liberalisation can and should happen after this occurs.
"A balance that has to be struck, allowing the market to grow but also incubate your local market because that's fundamentally the most beneficial thing you can do for the economy," he said. "The idea is to support Indian aviation. I think it's the right thing to do for the development of Indian aviation, and also Indian business and international connectivity."
Multiple foreign operators are seeking new or additional traffic rights in and out of India. However, the Indian government has declined to grant them, being keen to shore up...
20.10.2023 - 06:25 UTC
Changes to India's Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code will make it easier for lessors to retrieve aircraft frames and engines if a customer becomes insolvent or defaults. The changes bring India's domestic laws into line with the 2001 Cape Town Convention and are widely viewed as a response to the recent Go First (GOW, Mumbai International) insolvency.
India's Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) advised of the changes to s.14(1) of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016, on October 3, 2023. The change exempts certain transactions, specifically those related to aircraft, aircraft engines, airframes and helicopters, from any court-imposed moratorium that has traditionally prevented lessors from repossessing their assets after an airline defaults or becomes insolvent.
Lessors have been burnt by several airline industry collapses in India, including Kingfisher Airlines in 2012, Jet Airways in 2019, and Go First this year. In the case of Go First, India's bankruptcy court, the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) prevented lessors from seizing their planes after the airline stopped flying in May. Based on the NCLT decision,...
11.10.2023 - 03:13 UTC
Air India Express (IX, Mumbai International) has inducted its first Airbus aircraft, namely an A320-200N transferred from merged low-cost carrier AirAsia India, as the Air India Group moves towards consolidating its four AOCs into two.
VT-ATJ (msn 10520), a 2.3-year-old jet owned by AerCap, operated its last revenue flight for AirAsia India on August 23, 2023, flying from Jaipur via Hyderabad International to Bangalore International. It was then ferried back to Hyderabad, Flightradar24 ADS-B data shows. It then underwent maintenance and operated various test flights during September 2023, already under the Air India Express 'IX' code. It ran its first revenue flight for its new operator on October 4, flying from Bengaluru to Jaipur.
"This transfer will be progressively followed by all other aircraft so that, eventually, our two LCCs become one and we have full flexibility to deploy aircraft in the most optimal and efficient manner across our low-cost network," Air India Chief Executive Campbell Wilson said.
Air India Express has thus far operated Boeing...
28.09.2023 - 05:03 UTC
The Competition Commission of India (CCI) has accepted assurances by Air India (AI, Mumbai International) and Singapore Airlines (SQ, Singapore Changi) that they will maintain a minimum capacity on a number of routes to alleviate possible competitive concerns arising from the planned merger between the flag carrier and Vistara (UK, Delhi International).
The CCI approved the proposed merger earlier this month, subject to compliance with voluntary commitments the parties offered. Under the merger, the Vistara brand, a 51/49 joint venture between Air India and Singapore Airlines, will disappear as the carrier is enfolded within Air India. The deal also involves the Singaporean airline taking a 25.1% stake in its Indian counterpart.
The minimum capacity/supply level commitments agreed to concern certain overlapping origin and destination routes, namely:
