Indian-Aviation

Our ability to move has shaped the world, and it will dictate the future of the human race. But as the world struggles through an unprecedented lockdown, it faces a scary, new question: How will cities safely move billions of people after a pandemic? Before Covid-19, we took mobility for granted. On an average day, five million travelled by the Delhi Metro, and over 10 million by Delhi’s public buses. The Indian Railways carried over 24 million, and Mumbai’s buses over 30 million passengers a day. A million passengers travelled through India’s airports every day. Today, those numbers are down sharply. As India thinks about how to reopen safely, the question will be how will it move millions, while keeping people safe. Can you have social distancing during rush hour on a Mumbai local train? In 2020, will we be torn between environment-friendly, efficient mass transit and fuel-guzzling personal transport? It’s heartening to see that India’s pioneering technology services industry has emb...

Vistara on Tuesday announced a pay cut between five to 20 per cent till December this year for around 40 per cent of its employees as cash flow continues to be adversely affected due to the coronavirus pandemic. The full-service carrier has more than 4,000 employees on its payroll. “About 60 per cent of our employees are not impacted by the pay cut,” a Vistara spokesperson said. Vistara CEO Leslie Thng told employees in an email, “From 1st July, 2020, to 31st December, 2020, I will take a 20 per cent pay cut and we will be implementing a monthly pay cut scheme for staff (except for pilots as follows): 1) 15 per cent pay cut for staff in Level 5 and 4, 2) 10 per cent pay cut for staff in Level 3 and 2, and licensed engineers in Level 1C, 3) 5 per cent pay cut for staff in Level 1 with monthly CTC equal or more than Rs 50,000.” "For pilots, we will continue with the reduction of monthly base flying allowance to 20 hours for July to December 2020. Allowances will also be adjusted for...

India's largest domestic airline IndiGo is keeping a tight control over its costs to tide through the current pandemic. It may take anywhere between 18 and 24 months to recover from the current situation to come back to the pre-covid levels of travel demand, Ronojoy Dutta, the airline's chief executive, told Mint in an email interview. He added that a recovery depended upon how other countries resume their international operations. Here are the edited excerpts of the interview. Due to the pandemic, leisure flying has taken a back seat. Is safety the biggest factor that is keeping people away from flying? We can all agree to the fact that due to the pandemic situation in the country, business and leisure travel may take a backseat for some time until the virus subsides to a greater extent. However, the risk of transmission of covid-19 from one passenger to another passenger on board is very low, making flying the safest way to travel. The reasons for this are that the customers ...

After the revelation by Aviation Minister Ghulam Sarwar Khan that 262 Pakistani pilots were holding fake or dubious licences, the international airlines have initiated probe against Pakistani employees. According to the sources, Kuwait Air has grounded seven Pakistani pilots and 56 engineers, while Qatar Airways, Oman Air and Vietnam Airlines have compiled lists of Pakistani pilots, engineers and ground-handling staff. They said that the employees whose names are on the lists will remain grounded till a report is received from the Pakistani authorities. The Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) has written to foreign missions and global regulatory and safety bodies, assuring them it has grounded all 141 pilots suspected of obtaining licences through unfair means, a spokesperson for the national flag carrier said here on Saturday. The move aims at assuaging safety concerns after the aviation minister said earlier this week that the government had asked various commercial airlines, flyin...

AirAsia India is under  regulator  probe for alleged violation of safety practices. The  Directorate General of Civil Aviation ( DGCA) has issued  show  cause notice  to the JV airline’s head of flight operations and safety. The violations are learnt to be related to pilot fatigue and a landing technique of questionably using flaps in a way to save fuel. An AirAsiaI ndia spokesperson confirmed “receipt" of the notice and said "we are assisting the regulator in its fact finding process. We will fully cooperate with the regulator.” The show cause comes after the DGCA had on June 15 announced a probe into AirAsia India following a pilot levelling allegations of safety breaches by the airline on social media. The pilot, who airline officials said has been suspended pending inquiry into    disciplinary charges , had levelled charges in a video that went viral on SM. Taking cognisance of that, the DGCA had Tweeted on June 15: “DGCA has taken note of t...

The resolution professional to crisis-hit Jet Airways has finalized four consortia of potential bidders who may submit a bid proposal after due diligence, according to two people aware of the matter. The resolution professional, Ashish Chhawchharia, has signed a non-disclosure agreement with these suitors and has given them access to the airline’s financial data. The four consortia include the UK’s Kalrock Capital Partners along with Dubai-based Murari Lal Jalan, Abu Dhabi-based Imperial Capital Investments Llc along with Haryana based Flight Simulation Technique Centre Pvt. Ltd and Mumbai-based Big Charter Pvt. Ltd, Canada-based entrepreneur Sivakumar Rasiah, and Kolkata’s Alpha Airways. The bidders have been given two weeks to review the financial health of the company and firm up their bids. This is the fourth attempt by the resolution professional to find a suitor to revive the ailing airline. Previously, South American conglomerate Synergy Group and New Delhi-based Prudent ARC wer...

The coronavirus outbreak is unexpectedly providing an opportunity to Singapore Airlines Ltd. to grab a share of the lucrative Indian market held by rivals Emirates Airline and Etihad Airways PJSC through a local affiliate. Vistara, which Singapore Airlines jointly owns with Indian conglomerate Tata Group, is about to get its second Boeing Co. 787 Dreamliner jet, and expects demand for long-haul international travel from India to rise when travel restrictions lift, Chief Commercial Officer Vinod Kannan said in an interview. While the outbreak has delayed expansion plans for the airline, people will prefer direct flights as demand returns toward the end of the year, he said. “There will be an increase in the number of people who want to travel direct, say, from India to Europe, because they don’t want to transit through another hub that increases travel time, that increases exposure,” Kannan said this week. “There’s actually a silver lining for us” both in terms of business travelers and...

After the lockdown starting from March 25 due to COVID-19 impact, the domestic aviation industry resumed its operations from May 25. The sector, which was already struggling due to shrinking revenues and margins, is among one of the worst-hit sectors by the pandemic. Experts point out that the aviation sector globally operates at very thin margins due to high competition from low-cost carriers (LCC) and higher fixed cost. While the operations have begun with restrictions, the sky for aviation players continues to look hazy. Domestic civil air operations commenced from May 25, 2020, with the Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) permitting airlines to operate at one-third of their approved summer schedule capacity. "Despite the resumption of operations, the capacity utilisation remained low at about 40 percent with weak demand and cautious view of public and corporates. We expect the demand situation to be weak for the next couple of months given the increasing COVID-19 case across the...

Qantas plans to cut at least 6,000 jobs and keep 15,000 more workers on extended furloughs as Australia’s largest airline tries to survive the  coronavirus   pandemic . Qantas announced a plan Thursday to reduce costs by billions of dollars and raise fresh capital. The plan includes grounding 100 planes for a year or more and immediately retiring its six remaining Boeing 747 planes. Chief Executive Alan Joyce said the airline has to become smaller as it braces for several years of much lower revenues. He said the furloughed workers faced a long interruption to their airline careers. “The actions that we’re taking will have a huge impact on thousands of our people. This is something that weighs very heavily on all of us,” Joyce told reporters. “This is something that we don’t make a decision on very easily. But the collapse of billions of dollars in revenue leaves us with little choice if we are to save as many jobs as possible longer term.” Joyce said the airline entered the c...

In a relief for airlines, Supreme Court on Friday settled the middle seat row by confirming that that there is no need to keep middle seat vacant. The Supreme Court upheld Bombay High Court order that held that in the wake of pandemic adequate safety measures had been deployed by the carriers for safety and health of passengers. Supreme Court Bench of Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Bhushan Gavai dismissed Air India pilot Deven Kanani's challenge against Bombay HC order permitting middle-seat occupancy for Air India and all other domestic airlines. The pilot had filed special leave petition against aviation regulator DGCA decision announced on 31 May, which allowed airlines to sell middle seats in the flight. DGCA on Friday had submitted that expert committee recommendations on safety, health have been incorporated for flight operations. The expert panel had recommended allowing discretion for airlines to keep middle seat vacant subject to passenger load. Source:  https://www.livem...

International Air Transport Association (IATA), a trade association of the world’s airlines since 1945, had conducted a survey in 11 countries, including India and the United States of America (USA), and announced its results at a webinar on Thursday. The results are far from encouraging, as the survey found that confidence for air travel among passengers have hit rock bottom by early June because of the raging coronavirus disease (Covid-19) pandemic compared with the ground realities in mid-March, when the outbreak was still at a nascent stage. The outcomes are based on two rounds of surveys conducted with 4,700 respondents in mid-March and early June. “Over 50% of the passengers said they would travel by air after at least six months,” said Amitabh Khosla, director, India, IATA, at the webinar titled, “Restoring confidence in air travel” that was organised by US-India aviation cooperation programme. “There is a major problem in gaining passengers’ confidence at the moment,” he added....

The coronavirus outbreak is unexpectedly providing an opportunity to Singapore Airlines Ltd. to grab a share of the lucrative Indian market held by rivals Emirates Airline and Etihad Airways PJSC through a local affiliate. Vistara, which Singapore Airlines jointly owns with Indian conglomerate Tata Group, is about to get its second Boeing Co. 787 Dreamliner jet, and expects demand for long-haul international travel from India to rise when travel restrictions lift, Chief Commercial Officer Vinod Kannan said in an interview. While the outbreak has delayed expansion plans for the airline, people will prefer direct flights as demand returns toward the end of the year, he said. “There will be an increase in the number of people who want to travel direct, say, from India to Europe, because they don’t want to transit through another hub that increases travel time, that increases exposure," Kannan said this week. “There’s actually a silver lining for us" both in terms of business tra...

IndiGo  on Thursday announced a  flexible payment scheme  called 'Flex Pay' under which  passengers  will have to pay only 10 per cent of the total fare amount at the time of booking. Passengers can defer the 90 per cent remaining payment "for a period of up to 15 days either from the date of bookings or before the date of departure" under this scheme, IndiGo said in a press release. If a passenger has paid 10 per cent of the fare amount to get a  ticket , and if he or she cancels the booking without paying the remaining 90 per cent, he or she will not be refunded this 10 per cent amount. In general, passengers have to pay the entire ticket value upfront while booking a ticket on a  flight . "With the help of Flex Pay, the passengers can now secure their bookings by paying only 10% of the total fare amount and defer their payment on an IndiGo domestic flight for a period of up to 15 days either from the date of bookings or before the date of departure,...

Aviation regulator DGCA on Wednesday issued new rules for airlines and their cabin crew members for handling unruly passengers on board, stating that increased stress on flyers due to new procedures in place amid the  COVID-19   pandemic  may lead to a rise in disputes between them and cabin crew members. Cabin crew members must be made aware of the new issues that may arise like passengers refusing to wear face masks or coverings in flights, fighting among passengers due to their ethnicity or country of residence or due to the presence of symptoms similar to those associated with COVID-19, the DGCA noted in its circular. “The operators (airlines) should define SOP (standard operating procedure) for on board handling of unruly passengers in COVID-19 environment,” said the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA). An increase in cases of unruly or disruptive passengers should be expected, either prior to departure or in-flight, it added. The regulator told the airlines...

AirAsia group chief Tony Fernandes has hinted at a possible exit from its Indian joint venture, to focus on the Southeast Asian side of business.  Fernandes was quoted in Indian media reports as saying that the group would “never say that we would never exit India”. He was speaking at a Credit Suisse webinar. The reports add that India — along with Japan — were peripheral markets for the AirAsia Group.  AirAsia India is a joint venture with Indian conglomerate Tata Group. The AirAsia Group and Tata each own 49% of the low-cost carrier.  Fernandes was also quoted saying that the partnership with Tata was progressing well, and that the carrier was looking to apply for an international operating licence.  AirAsia India’s network comprises 21 domestic points including Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, Hyderabad, as well as Kolkata.  AirAsia and AirAsia India did not respond to FlightGlobal’s request for comment.  Cirium’s fleets data indicates the Bengaluru-based lo...

There is no duopoly in the world fiercer or a rivalry as complex as Boeing vs. Airbus. Both firms have been around for decades, developing many of the aircraft that we love and have ushered in a new golden age of air travel. But which company is more successful? Before we dive in, there is a caveat about this comparison. Both firms are titans in their own right, having survived other commercial passenger attempts like Lockheed Martin and Convair. Airbus and Boeing are huge companies, both winning government contracts, powerful political sway, and have an in-depth history. To summarise them and their relationship in a single article is not easy and shouldn’t be the end-all comparison, merely the beginning. All stories have a beginning, and for Boeing vs. Airbus, it starts with the founding of Airbus. Airbus came into existence during the development of the A300 aircraft. State-run or influenced airlines in the 1960s wanted to upgrade their aircraft to the next generation (they had a mix...

As many as 16 seaplane routes have been identified for regional connectivity under the UDAN scheme, the government said on Tuesday. Seaplanes will offer faster and hassle-free travel option in difficult terrains of the country, it said. Sabarmati and Sardar Sarovar - Statue of Unity route is included in the project and is likely to be operationalised by October 2020. Shipping Minister Mansukh Mandaviya reviewed the seaplane projects in the ' Chai pe Charcha ' meeting, a unique and innovative meeting platform of the ministry officials to bring about the changes in the Indian maritime sector. "Till now, 16 seaplane routes have been identified under Regional Connectivity Routes under UDAN scheme,"  the Ministry of Shipping  said in a statement. "Seaplane projects will provide faster and hassle free travel option for the long, treacherous and hilly regions of the country," it said. Mandaviya said Sabarmati and Narmada River-Statue of Unity seaplane route will sa...

A Boeing engineer who has raised concerns regarding the  737 MAX  asserts that there are systemic problems with the design of the narrowbody aircraft. Last week,  The Seattle Times  obtained a letter written by engineer Curtis Ewbank, which alludes to ‘other known flaws’ that need to be fixed. “I have no doubt the FAA and lawmakers are under considerable pressure to allow the 737 MAX to return to service as quickly as possible and as soon as the public MCAS flaw is fixed…However, given the numerous other known flaws in the airframe, it will be just a matter of time before another flight crew is overwhelmed by a design flaw known to Boeing and further lives are senselessly lost.”  -Curtis Ewbank, Boeing Engineer (via a letter to US Senate and published by The Seattle Times) The letter to Senate Ewbank sent the letter to the US Senate  earlier this month,  which argues that more work needs to be done on the  737 MAX , beyond its Maneuvering Characte...

A Seattle-based company Teague has come up with a device called an air shield that can fit on to existing air vents inside an airplane cabin, thereby reducing the risk of  COVID-19  spreading inflight by regulating the air flows. As lockdowns are being lifted, international air travel is expected to resume slowly. In India, while  domestic flights resumed on May 25 ,  international flights will remain suspended  till June 30. How does COVID-19 spread on an airplane? Regarding transmission of the virus on an airplane, the World Health Organization (WHO) states: “Transmission of infection may occur between passengers who are seated in the same area of an aircraft, usually as a result of the infected individual coughing or sneezing or by touch… Highly contagious conditions, such as influenza, are more likely to be spread to other passengers in situations where the aircraft ventilation system is not operating.” The international organisation says ventilation on airp...

The steep hike in prices of aviation turbine fuel (ATF) at major Indian cities, despite a fall in global crude prices, is set to hurt airlines as rising costs will add to their woes amid tepid demand due to the covid-19 pandemic. Aviation turbine fuel accounts for about 35-50% of airlines' total costs. At a time when domestic airlines are struggling to keep their costs down, the steep rise in ATF prices will further stress airlines' finances. "The price of ATF rose substantially during June, which is not a good sign, as airlines resumed domestic operations after two months of grounding on 25 May," said a senior airline official, who didn't want to be named. "The steep hike in ATF prices will make it difficult to add more flights and routes as it will be harder for airlines to cover their variable costs," the senior airline official added. The price of ATF (aviation turbine fuel), which is a state subject, has been hiked by 16.3% to  ₹ 39,069.87 per kilol...

Flying economy on an 18 hour-plus flight is enough to break anyone’s spirit - and it’s almost impossible to get comfortable when you’re in a stiff seat that hardly reclines. Start-up company Zephr Aerospace has designed a two-tiered, lie-flat seating system for economy passengers which could be a long-haul saviour. The design would see a double-decker seating arrangement in the cabin, giving passengers more space and also more isolation from other passengers, which could be essential in a post-COVID world. Airlines wouldn’t miss out either, as the seats would be built in a 2-4-2 sequence across the cabin so as not to reduce the amount of passengers on the plane. Zephyr Aerospace designer Jeffry O’Neill said he came up with the idea after a long-haul flight to Singapore. O’Neill told CNN: “I'm on probably the best rated airline in the world, and I'm getting wonderful service and the food is edible, but I can't sleep. [It was] really uncomfortable. Why is it so difficult to f...

AirAsia chief executive Tony Fernandes has highlighted “encouraging” forward bookings and sales as the low-cost carrier seeks to recover from the impact of the coronavirus crisis. “There was a point where you couldn’t see where the light was going to come from,” Fernandes acknowledged during an 18 June webinar organised by Credit Suisse – but now, “robust demand is coming back.” The carrier hopes to operate roughly 50% of pre-Covid-19 capacity by the beginning of July. Fernandes believes passenger demand could return to 2019 levels by the end of 2021, although he stresses that this is a “guesstimate.” Despite this confidence, the budget carrier is securing three different tranches of liquidity to shore up its position. “As a defensive we’re raising as much capital as we can,” says Fernandes. The main question in the short term is how quickly governments in the region are willing to open their borders given the risk of spreading infection. Over a slightly longer timeframe, AirAsia belie...

Air India  on Friday introduced a " shorter working week scheme " under which its  permanent employees , except pilots and cabin crew members, can opt to work for three days a week at 60% salary, said senior airline officials. This measure has been introduced in order to improve the airline's cash flow position amid the  coronavirus  pandemic, they added. "The permanent employee who opts for such a scheme can avail this for a period of one year," the officials said. The pandemic has impacted the aviation industry significantly, and all airlines in India have taken steps like cutting salaries of employees, firing employees to improve their cash flow. The officials said that the employees opting for the "shorter working week scheme" would not have the option to take any other employment during the remaining days of the week. After a gap of two months due to the coronavirus-triggered lockdown, India resumed its  domestic passenger flights  from May 25 alb...

The last convoy of outsize parts for the world's largest airliner crawled towards an assembly plant in southwest France late Wednesday, applauded by residents and production workers as Europe's Airbus prepares to build the last A380 superjumbo. Trucks carrying three fuselage sections squeezed through the rural village of Levignac on their way to Toulouse, where the final superjumbo will be assembled before the model ends production in 2021, just 14 years after entering service. Faced with weak sales of the four-engined behemoth, beaten on efficiency by smaller jets like the Airbus A350 and Boeing 787, Airbus announced the early halt last year. "It has made the region live, together with all the villages round here and the people who built it. It's magnificent," said Christiane Inard, who has watched almost 300 convoys creep past her living room since the first in 2004. Airbus still has record orders for smaller jets, but the A380 is winding down just as Europe...

Commercial pilots are staring at an uncertain future with idling  airlines  cutting their salaries and allowances to lower costs. Private carriers have also sent a large number of pilots on leave without pay, as most  airlines  are currently operating at just about 20-30% of their capacity. Airlines can only operate 33% of flights on domestic routes following a government cap. GoAir has sent a large number of its pilots on leave without pay during the past couple of months, said a pilot with the airline, adding that the company has also restructured the fixed salaries of its pilots. A senior first officer or co-pilot with the airline, who was paid about  ₹ 4.3 lakh to  ₹ 4.5 lakh per month as gross salary, now earns  ₹ 67,000, according to an internal communication seen by  Mint . A senior pilot is now paid a gross salary of about  ₹ 1.25 lakh per month, compared to a pre-covid salary of  ₹ 6.3 lakh to  ₹ 6.5 lakh per month. The Mum...

Pilots of commercial airlines are faced with an uncertain future as airlines have resorted to salary cuts and reduced allowances to lower costs at a time when a large portion of their fleet remains idle. Indian airlines, especially private carriers, have also sent a large number of their pilots on leave without pay, as they operate at just 20-30% of their total capacity given flight operations are capped at 33% and as few are willing to travel because of the threat of covid-19 pandemic. Wadia Group-controlled GoAir has sent a large number of its pilots on leave without pay during the last couple of months, said a pilot with the airline, adding that the company has also restructured the fixed salaries of its pilots. For instance, a senior first officer (FO) or co-pilot with the airline, before the onset of covid-19 pandemic, was paid about  ₹ 4.30 lakh-4.50 lakh per month as gross salary, which has now been revised to about  ₹ 67,000, according to an internal communication in M...

AirAsia India  launched on Wednesday a door-to-door baggage service for its passengers, under which luggage would be picked up from a traveller's address in the city of departure and delivered to the place of stay in the destination city. Termed 'AirAsia FlyPorter', the airline in a release said, "This convenient service starts at an introductory price of Rs 500 for one-way delivery to or from the airport and is available in Bengaluru,  New Delhi  and Hyderabad as part of the first phase of launch with Mumbai coming shortly as well." This means, if the passenger wants end-to-end service, where baggage is taken from home and then delivered to the address in the destination city, he or she will have to shell out Rs 1,000. While touchless and contactless check-in and boarding has ensured that passengers feel safe while opting for air travel, the FlyPorter service now introduces a more "safe, stringent and hassle-free way to transport your baggage as well", ...

Flying $450 million airliners was once a dream job, and there was no shortage of opportunity. Last year Boeing Co. estimated that airlines would need to add 800,000 pilots over the next 20 years to feed an Asia-led travel boom; some carriers in  China  were offering salaries of more than $300,000 a year, plus perks, to woo industry veterans. Then  coronavirus  began to spread and overseas travel halted, grounding 51% of the world’s global fleet. As they wait to see whether they’ll ever get back in the cockpit, pilots have turned to a mishmash of odd jobs and second-choice careers. They’re hardly alone—some 1 billion workers across industries worldwide could face unemployment or pay cuts as a result of lockdowns, border closures and economic paralysis. But few jobs have swung from a stubborn and severe shortage to a vast surplus within a matter of weeks, and it offers insight into how one specialized workforce is adapting to a potential hammer blow. “We will do anythi...