28.12.2020 - 18:03 UTC
India’s government is likely to make it easier for the new owner of heavily indebted Air India (AI, Mumbai Int'l) to cut its fleet size by selling off surplus aircraft currently inactive, anonymous officials told the Business Standard newspaper.
By extension, this would also mean being allowed to lay off significant numbers of employees, even though the airline’s privatisation rules say that the new owner will have to guarantee employment to the workforce.
“Looking at the prevailing conditions acting as a drag on the aviation sector, the new entity acquiring AI will be allowed to sell a few aircraft or return them to lessors. They are anyway grounded due to lack of demand. With some aircraft sold, the manpower requirement too will drop. Proportionately, there can be some layoffs,” Business Standard quoted an official as saying.
Air India is understood to have been pruning its staff numbers this year in preparation for the sale, but according to media reports the flag carrier together with its subsidiaries Air India Express (100% for sale in the...
05.11.2020 - 00:43 UTC
Alliance Air (India) (9I, Mumbai Int'l) is focusing on cost reduction, replacing ex-pat pilots with locals, and has put its fleet expansion plans on hold to cope with the downturn in travel because of COVID-19.
This is the word from Chief Executive Officer CS Subbiah, who told Business Standard the airline was looking to maintain the lowest costs and earn as much cash as possible to survive the crisis.
He said the Air India (AI, Mumbai Int'l) subsidiary was currently operating 77 daily flights compared to 126 last year. This included both routes operated under UDAN (India's regional connectivity scheme) and non-UDAN routes.
He said demand for air travel, especially amongst secondary cities, remained poor. Aircraft utilisation, which had been around 10 hours daily in 2019, had reduced to 60%; while seat occupancy was lower than 60%. Consequently, the airline would be careful to add routes as yields remained low.
The carrier had discontinued in-flight catering and was renegotiating vendor contracts to save costs.
Other plans included training more...
15.10.2020 - 17:35 UTC
Airlines have overdue payments owed to the Airports Authority of India (AAI) totalling INR24 billion rupees (USD328 million), due to losses sustained while travel demand remains low, The Hindu newspaper reported on October 10.
Owing about 83% of this sum is Air India Group, which encompasses flag carrier Air India, regional subsidiary Alliance Air (India), and low-cost carrier Air India Express. The three airlines reportedly owe the authority INR18.9 billion (USD258 million), INR970 million (USD13.2 million), and INR125.5 million (USD1.7 million), respectively.
The authority has meanwhile carried out an earlier threat to declare SpiceJet (SG, Delhi Int'l) and GoAir (G8, Mumbai Int'l) “cash-and-carry” airlines, meaning they will need to pay cash upfront for all airport services. As previously reported, in early August, the AAI opted to defer an order in this regard for SpiceJet, allowing it to continue paying on standard terms.
Among the country’s private carriers, IndiGo Airlines (6E, Delhi Int'l) owes the authority INR1.5 billion (USD20.5 million), SpiceJet INR1.4 billion (USD19.1 million), GoAir INR588 million...
07.10.2020 - 08:59 UTC
India's Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) has awarded rights for 76 routes under the fourth round of the Regional Connectivity Scheme (Ude Desh Ka Aam Nagrik - UDAN/RCS) with start-ups Air Taxi (India) (Delhi Int'l) and flybig (S9, Indore) emerging as major regional operators, CNBC-TV18 has reported.
According to the report, Air Taxi has been awarded rights for 22 routes, including services from Hisar, Kanpur, Chitrakoot, and Shravasti. In turn, FlyBig has secured subsidies for 16 routes, including from Guwahati, Pasighat, Tezu, and Rupsi.
The MoCA has yet to announce the list of carriers selected in the fourth round of UDAN bidding. In late August, the authorities announced the list of 78 routes pre-approved for contracts. According to CNBC-TV18, besides Air Taxi and FlyBig, Alliance Air (India), IndiGo Airlines, SpiceJet, TruJet, and Ventura AirConnect have also scooped rights.
Air Taxi has been in the works since at least 2014. In early 2019, it won the rights to operate the Kulu-...
