The rupee has touched a five-year high, crossing the Rs 47 mark. The average value of the currency against the dollar during September was almost 14 per cent lower than in April. More than a third of an airline's costs are dollar denominated. Major heads of expenditure include aircraft ownership, maintenance and spares costs. Also included are international training and a certain chunk of sales and distribution costs.
Travel portals have started to tie-up with online shopping portals and offline retail outlets to jointly promote their value-added offers as shopping portals gather huge traffic around festival time. They reason it will help them tide over the current lean phase in the economy.
The downturn in the aviation sector has led to significantly lower demand for pilots. This has adversely affected the businesses of more than 50 flying training schools, which had come up during the last two years on the back of an unprecedented growth story. Admissions to these institutes have now hit an all-time low.
Four days after it was opened, the third runway at the Delhi airport was closed today after some crucial equipment stopped functioning. Operations had already got restricted to daytime after the runway lights failed over the weekend, rendering it unusable at night.
After being hit by a fuel price hike and capacity cut, it may be happy times again for the airline industry this festive season. While Kingfisher is looking at adding at least 15 new flights in the winter season, competitors Jet Airways, SpiceJet, IndiGo and Paramount are adding over 30 new flights together (arrivals and departures); they will do this through a combination of better utilisation of existing aircraft and inducting new fleet.
You can now download Akash Das photographs on your cell phone.
The downturn in the aviation industry has not discouraged real estate companies, flying academies and large industrial houses from India eyeing private airport development.
India will be one of the key centres for design and development of the A350 aircraft, European aircraft manufacturer Airbus' answer to the Boeing 787 Dreamliner.
Private airport developers under the public-private partnership model will not be able to get additional contracts in and around the airport that are part of the original project by merely matching the lowest bidder without participating in the bidding process.
Lower crude oil prices are expected to bring down jet fuel rates by 10 per cent in September, but passengers are unlikely to get the benefit as airlines are reluctant to reduce their fares.
On offer from the beginning of this week, these fares are expected to continue through the rest of the lean season, that is, till the end of September. Customers buying any low-cost carrier ticket on the Mumbai-Delhi route will only have to pay taxes and surcharges that range from Rs 3,400 to Rs 3,600.
Aviation turbine fuel prices increased by 34 per cent whereas fares - on an average across the country - shot up by more than 65 per cent. Since fuel accounts for about 45 per cent of the total costs, the actual impact on airlines, in terms of increase in the cost of operation, would have been around 15 per cent. Airlines also cut capacity by 20 per cent during the period.
Channels register presence in cyberspace through their own social networking sites.
The Rs 1,808-crore modernisation and expansion plan for Chennai airport, which was recently cleared by the Public Investment Board and expected to begin this September, may not be sufficient to cope with projected growth in passenger traffic.
Stringent visa procedures, astronomical hotel rates and a scarcity of event tickets have proved a dampener for Indian visitors to the Beijing Olympics, which began today.
Companies lure users with prizes and gifts to get them generate content and ideas for brand promotion.
Even as Indian carriers are vying for a piece of the international space for better future gains, national carrier Air India has decided to cut down more than 15 of its international flights to destinations like Los Angeles, London, Osaka and Seoul from next month.Sources close to the development said three weekly flights to Los Angeles from various Indian destinations would be taken off the route network.
Indian carriers, which are still reeling under high jet fuel prices, are now seeing red over airports increasing the space rental fees by 50 to 450 per cent. Airport charges account for 12-15 per cent of an airline's costs.
The Competition Commission of India (CCI) is studying whether a particular airline has a dominant market share on various routes or city pairs which might lead to anti-competitive practices.
Number of passengers falls 4 per cent in June for the first time in three years.
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