India's Alliance Air eyes Jaffna, Batticaloa ops

Air India (AI, Mumbai Int'l) will likely transfer the ownership of four B747-400s, used for VIP transport, to its wholly-owned subsidiary Alliance Air (India) (9I, Mumbai Int'l) as a part of the state-owned carrier's ongoing privatisation process, CNBC TV18 has reported citing unnamed sources.

While the aircraft will be formally transferred to Alliance Air, Air India will continue to operate them until they are replaced by newer B777-300(ER)s, procured by the government, which are expected to deliver by the end of this year.

The transaction is part of a broader cleanup of Air India's assets as the government readies the carrier for its latest disposal drive. Unlike in 2018 where there were no takers for a 74% stake in the heavily-indebted carrier, this latest round will see 100% of Air India being offered up for sale.

According to the ch-aviation fleets advanced module, Alliance Air currently operates one ATR42-300 and eighteen ATR72-600s on domestic routes in India.

The four B747-400s operated by Air India, which are between 23.2 and...

FitsAir (8D, Colombo Int'l) has conducted a trial flight between Jaffna and Chennai, India on November 7 as a prelude to the regional carrier offering scheduled services from the end of the month.

Following the successful test flight to Chennai, Vice Chairman of Airport and Aviation Services, Priyantha Kariyapperuma told Sri Lankan newspaper Daily Mirror: "The airline will get the licence to operate flights from Jaffna to Chennai soon and will operate flights three times a week.”

FitsAir intends to use its sole ATR72-200, 4R-EXN (msn 373), on the 191-nautical mile (354-kilometre) international sector to India. The carrier made its international passenger service debut after it operated a one-off charter flight between Colombo Ratmalana and Vishakhapatnam in August. It operated its first scheduled service in March, when it began flights between Ratmalana and Batticaloa.

Alliance Air (India) (9I, Mumbai Int'l) is also planning to add the Sri Lankan airport to its scheduled network, after it conducted a one-off charter service in October.

Alliance Air (India) (9I, Mumbai Int'l) is planning to rapidly develop its domestic network, benefitting from the support granted by the central government under the UDAN Regional Connectivity Scheme, Chief Executive C S Subbiah told Indian newswire PTI.

"We are looking at flying to Jagdalpur, Gulbarga (Gulbarga). These are the two new routes. The flight from Gulbarga will connect to Bangalore Int'l and later to Chennai. Jagdalpur route would be connected from Hyderabad Int'l then later to Raipur and then it would go to Bhopal," he said.

Kalaburagi is a new airport in central India which is due to open on November 15, 2019. It has yet to secure any scheduled traffic.

Subbiah clarified that the airline will announce a host of new routes for the Winter 2019/20 season, with launches scheduled to happen within the next two months. All new services will be operated with ATR72-600 equipment. According to the ch-aviation fleets advanced module, Alliance Air currently operates 18 such turboprops and two ATR42-300s.

Alliance...

Alliance Air (India) (9I, Mumbai Int'l) has issued a Request For Proposals (RFP) for the longterm dry-lease of two factory-new ATR72-600s.

According to tender documentation seen by ch-aviation, the Air India (AI, Mumbai Int'l) subsidiary expects the first of the aircraft to deliver between April and June 2020 while the second is due between July and September 2020. While early deliveries are also acceptable, those beyond September will not be accepted.

Alliance Air wants the 72-seater Avions de Transport Régional turboprops on 12-year contracts. Utilization-wise, it expects them to operate 2,750 flight hours per annum, or around 2,500 cycles per annum per aircraft, on sector lengths that range between 137 and 666 kilometres.

Alliance Air currently operates regional services for Air India under the Air India Regional brand. Its fleet entails two ATR42-300s and eighteen ATR72-600s, all of which are leased from various third-party organisations. In terms of network, it serves 56 cities across India from bases at Bangalore Int'l, Chennai, Delhi Int'l, Hyderabad Int'l, Jaipur, Kolkata...