With the Bangalore airport announcing stiff user developmental fee on domestic passengers, low-cost carriers -- JetLite, SpiceJet and Simplifly Deccan (formerly Air Deccan) -- have decided to drastically cut their flight schedules to the city and other new airports like Hyderabad.
With the Bangalore airport announcing stiff user developmental fee on domestic passengers, low-cost carriers JetLite, SpiceJet and Simplifly Deccan (formerly Air Deccan) have decided to drastically cut their flight schedules to the city and other new airports like Hyderabad.
An 18-month to two-year delay is expected in the Mumbai airport slum rehabilitation programme to find alternative land to relocate and resettle approximately 80,000 slum-dwellers, who have encroached on 276 acres of airport land.
Regional airlines that have received approval include MDLR, Jagson Airlines, Star Aviation and Zav Air. Others like Mega Airways and Premier Airlines are still awaiting approval.
Bangalore's new airport will be ready on March 7 to receive the first commercial test flights. It plans to start commercial operations on March 28 or 30, soon after Hyderabad's new airport does so on 16 March.
Paramount Airways, the Coimbatore-based private airline, is in an advanced stages of negotiations with aircraft manufacturers Airbus and Boeing for a $1 billion order of 15 wide-bodied aircraft. The deal is likely to be announced shortly.
"Airlines in India like Jet Airways and Air India have firm orders with Boeing for delivery till the year 2011. Now they are planning beyond that in view of expected market growth," said Dinesh Keskar, senior vice-president (sales), Boeing Commercial Airplanes.
The first signs of the move will be evident when both the airlines announce their summer schedules in March after receiving the approval of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation. Deccan is likely to bring down and withdraw frequencies between Mumbai-Delhi in the schedule.
The income earned from such activities is crucial for the domestic airline industry, which had accumulated losses of over Rs 2,200 crore in 2007. These losses are expected to rise to Rs 2,800 crore in 2008.
The Aviation Industry Employees Guild will file a petition in the Bombay high court this week against a decision by the National Aviation Company to cut daily outstation and tour allowances within India by 50 per cent. Nacil was formed after merging Indian Airlines and Air India last year.
Will be operational by the time Mumbai airport reaches its saturation capacity of 40 million.
Airlines may get to do terminal-side ground handling. Currently, it is an outsourced activity.
Taj Leisure Hotels will open its first property in Bhutan soon. Called Taj Tashi, the hotel will be set up in Thimphu at an investment of Rs 50 crore.
Four Seasons, the Canada-based luxury hotel chain, is all set for its Indian debut with its first property to be launched in Mumbai in March.
The carrier, which is owned and promoted by Jeh Wadia, has been valued at $314-400 million by private equity investors. At 28 per cent, the value of the proposed investment is expected to be $88-112 million.
Battling to grab market share on international routes, Jet Airways has drawn up plans to make China a hub for flying to popular destinations like San Francisco and Los Angeles on the US west coast and to Vancouver in Canada in the near future. "It is much shorter to fly from China to the US west coast than from Singapore. This way, the yields on the routes will also be higher," said Jet Airways Chairman Naresh Goyal.
A move by the US administration to reduce congestion at New York's John F Kennedy airport the busiest in the world by auctioning parking slots, might spoil the party for private carriers in India such as Kingfisher and Jet Airways, which are planning their operations there.
Air India's fourth Boeing 777-200LR, scheduled for delivery in the second week of December, has not reached the airline. A shortage of commanders for the new generation aircraft will probably delay it further.
The new law passed by the US government and called Fair Treatment for Experienced Pilots Act allows both the pilot and co-pilot on a domestic flight to be up to the age of 65 years.
Jet will have 56 flights (around 9,400 seats a week) from four destinations from New Delhi, Mumbai, Kochi and Kozhikode to Bahrain and Doha (non-stop), Muscat and Kuwait, and cater to the middle and upper ends of the market.
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