Indian-Aviation

Failures are an inherent aspect of free markets. We need better bankruptcy laws to manage them, rather than the bailouts of corporate It is one thing for the Centre to facilitate the infusion of private capital to rescue the struggling private airline SpiceJet, and quite another to try and bail it out. Surely, it must remember the painful ₹7,000-crore bill for its previous — and unsuccessful — bid to save Kingfisher Airlines. The truth is that SpiceJet’s troubles, like that of the defunct Kingfisher Airlines, are far more deep-rooted than a mere shortage of working capital. Therefore, the Centre’s reported moves — of requesting banks to lend more and asking State-owned oil marketing companies to consider supplying fuel to the struggling airline on credit — are puzzling, to say the least. They also reflect a fundamental lack of understanding of how the commercial aviation sector works. Infusing more cash into the airline may help it keep flying for some more time, but is this en...

SpiceJet will return to being a "true low cost airline" if Ajay Singh and two international private equity investors who are currently doing due diligence finally decide to pick up a stake in the airline, people close to the development say. Sources add that the due diligence involves trying to figure out whether there is a package that can be worked out for the airline which is fundable and thus help shave off the past liabilities of the airline and which will also work in the future. A decision on whether Ajay and the two PE investors will invest in SpiceJet is expected within the next four-to-six weeks. If Ajay and the two PE investors do decide to make an offer which is accepted it is likely to see the Marans no longer being involved in the management of the airline although they could still have a minority stake in it. The airline is currently controlled by billionaire Kalanithi Maran’s Sun Group. While Ajay was not available for comments, people close to him say...

  Beleaguered SpiceJet  could see a change of guard if Indian and foreign investors, who are now carrying out due diligence of the cash-strapped airline, are convinced about investing over Rs 1,200 crore and picking up considerable stake in it, industry sources said on Sunday.  After being on the brink of collapse with all its flights grounded five days ago, Ajay Singh, one of the original promoters of SpiceJet, seems to have stepped in as a white knight to help rescue the budget carrier by evincing interest to re-invest, along with other investors.  The potential acquirers are likely to take 4-6 weeks to complete evaluating the cash-strapped budget carrier and its assets and take a decision thereafter, the sources said, adding that SpiceJet's data room has been opened for due diligence. More at:  http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/business/india-business/Beleaguered-SpiceJet-may-see-change-of-guard/articleshow/45591630.cms

Air India, on Saturday said it's uplift in domestic markets went up by 15% from 30,313 passengers a day in December 2013 to 35,100 passengers a day in the first half of December 2014.  On a network basis, its uplift has gone up by nearly 12% from 45,100 passengers a day to 50,500 passengers a day, and, along with its subsidiary Air India Express, it carried 58,160 passengers in the first half of December 2014 as against 53,720 last year, a  network basis  of 8%.  "Our  average passenger revenue  was Rs 52.70 crore a day, inclusive of  Air India Express  during the said time and the average passenger load factor on our domestic network was 85.2% and on the entire network was 75.0%, which is in line with the turnaround Plan," a press note said. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/business/india-business/Air-India-domestic-market-uplift-up-15/articleshow/45586401.cms

AirAsia India plans to hire close to 1,000 people by the end of 2015, and chances are that those with an emotional quotient that is more impressive than their qualifications will make the grade. “I am looking for street fighters… aviation is going to see turbulent times. You need people who have gone through life and not been handed everything… because then they don’t really know what to do when things really get rough,” CEO Mittu Chandilya said. He was speaking here after the low-cost airline made its maiden Bangalore-Pune-Jaipur flight — the first ever hopping flight in AirAsia’s history worldwide. On their hiring strategy, Chandilya explained that all hiring was personalised, and through walk-in interviews at road shows. The company prefers to hire raw talent than those from top institutes, so nearly 60 per cent of the current base of 500-odd employees come from the smaller cities.  “The pedigree guys, what they are most keen on doing is not tarnishing their CVs… th...

KOLKATA, DEC 18:   Discussions on the transfer of Rafale fighter jets from France to India have made "good progress'' and are "put on fast track'', the Ambassador of France to India, Francois Richier, has said. According to him, discussions had started in early 2012 and have taken three years due to the "importance and complexity" of the deal. "We have decided to finish the negotiations quickly. To complete that, there is no date fixed but conclusion of negotiations is on the fast track,” the Ambassador said, while adressing a media conference late yesterday evening. India, had in early 2012, entered into a multi-billion dollar contract for the supply of 126 medium multi-role combat aircraft for Indian Air Force from France-based Dassault Aviation. The first set of 18 fighter jets were supposed to be delivered (by France) within 36 months of the contract being signed and the remaining 108 was said to be manufactured by Hindustan Aero...

SpiceJet's woes are all too familiar. India is cajoling banks to lend to the country's second largest single-brand carrier when the debt-ridden airline needs more equity. The government's hope is to save jobs and prevent a repeat of the embarrassing high-profile failure of Kingfisher Airlines which was grounded in 2012. Even if the rescue works, exorbitant fuel taxes and the lack of a bankruptcy law will keep the industry stuck in an air pocket.  The government is doing what it can to keep  SpiceJet  flying without directly putting taxpayers on the hook. The civil aviation ministry said on December 16 that it may "request" banks to lend up to $94 million to the carrier in loans guaranteed by the company's chairman,  Kalanithi Maran .  Together with related parties, the tycoon owns 58 per cent of the struggling airline. State oil companies and airport operators are also being asked to play a part by extending credit or giving SpiceJet longer to make ...

Dec 16 2014 : The Times of India (Delhi) A fight for survival and desperate hunt for investors is nothing new for crisis-ridden SpiceJet. The airline traces its lineage to a JV formed by the S K Modi Group and Lufthansa back in 1990s. Called ModiLuft, the full service airline was launched in 1993 around the same time when others like Jet, Dama nia, EastWest and Sahara Airlines took to the skies in the post-deregulation era. A dispute between the Modis and the German carrier saw the airline getting grounded around 1998. That was the airline's first crisis in what now turns to be an unending quest for pro moters and investors. In 2000, UK-based NRI Bhulo Kansagra bought into the airline. “They got Modiluft's lapsed licence revived and brought in a plane to start a full service airline called Royal Airlines,“ said a person long associated with SpiceJet. Royal could not take off due to lack of invest ment. Interestingly , around this time Kansagra and InterGlobe Group...

A British aerospace firm is developing an aircraft that would take passengers anywhere in the world in just four hours while flying at five times the speed of sound. Reaction Engines is working on an engine system that will pave the way for a plane that would transport 300 passengers anywhere in the world in four hours. Chief engineer Alan Bond said that a cooling technology allows air entering the new `Sabre' engine system to be cooled by more than 1,000 degrees Celsius in .01 seconds. This would allow a jet engine to run at higher power than what is possible today , `Business Insider' reported. The cooling system uses an array of thin pipes, arranged in a `swirl' and filled with condensed helium, to extract heat from air and cool it to minus 150 degrees Celsius before it enters the engine. In normal circumstances, this would cause moisture in the air to freeze, coating the engine with frost, but the company has also developed a method which prevents this from h...

Vishwas Kothari , TNN  |  Dec 17, 2014 PUNE: Several passengers were stranded at the city's Lohegaon airport as cash-strapped private carrier SpiceJet ran into further trouble on Tuesday after public sector oil company Bharat Petroleum refused to refuel their aircraft over the issue of outstanding dues. The airline has a contractual arrangement with Bharat Petroleum for refueling of aircraft. Of the 10 SpiceJet flights scheduled to fly out of Pune on Tuesday, the airline was able to operate just three flights to Bangalore, Delhi and Kochi, the last two named were delayed by six to nine hours. Three other flights to Goa, Hyderabad and Sharjah were cancelled and the airline was taking a call on cancelling the remaining flights for the day, SpiceJet sources told TOI. "We are already calling up all our passengers booked on the flights that are cancelled to inform them not come to the airport," an airline official said. "This is unfortunate because we did n...