Veterans in the travel industry, a well-known corporate lawyer, and a marquee US-based hedge fund have backed the upcoming low-cost airline Akasa Air. Founded by former Jet Airways chief executive officer (CEO) Vinay Dube, the venture counts ace stock trader and investor Rakesh Jhunjhunwala as its biggest financial backer with an investment of around Rs 300 crore. A person with knowledge of the development said most of the people were well known to Jhunjhunwala and Dube, who approached them during the conception stage.
Air India CMD Rohit Nandan was asked to join the meeting at the fag end.
But says the airline will have to meet targets to get fund.
Rising fuel prices, intense competition and inability to pass on spiralling expenses have been negatively impacting the domestic airlines.
The civil aviation ministry had last week suspended all flights between the European country and India from December 23 to December 31 as a mutated variant of the coronavirus was detected there.
The country's fourth budget carrier has also announced the addition of Kochi to its existing network from July 20.
Naresh Goyal, after being ousted with his wife from the board last week, and with his shareholding halved to 25 per cent, can still make a comeback by partnering a new investor and win back majority control.
Commercial aviation is safe because the crew is paid well and trained extensively for contingencies
'Our only request to the Indian government is that they should act fast and send a plane to evacuate us as people around us are dying'
'We are feeling helpless and want to be with our families.'
Mody, 92, held important positions in Tata group and led Tata Steel till he retired in the early 1990s.
IndiGo has confirmed the delivery of the next set of 25 ATR-72 jets and will be inducting around 10 planes by the end of this calendar year, making it the largest regional fleet operator in the country.
When the move was first thought of it was at the behest of Jet Airways, IndiGo, SpiceJet and Air India. Only Vistara and AirAsia were opposing it as they were doing the poaching, says Anjuli Bhargava.
Domestic air traffic grew by over 14 per cent in September, with 11 Indian carriers together flying a total of 66.66 lakh passengers during the month.
Singapore Airlines first approached the Tatas, its old choice for a venture in India, and was aware of AirAsia negotiations.
Market estimates suggest the airline has already totted up Rs 1,800 crore of losses in FY20, and FY21 is expected to see losses in the region of Rs 2,500 crore to Rs 3,000 crore Many in the sector say that Vistara lacks the light-footedness of the airlines with which it competes, reports Anjuli Bhargava.
J R D Tata's flight carrying mail between the two cities was the first by an Indian company and it opened the air link to peninsular India.
Wadia group's no-frills carrier Go Airlines on Tuesday said it will acquire eight more aircrafts to increase its fleet to 21 by July 2014 from the existing 13.
Kamra was banned by India's largest airline for six months on Tuesday for allegedly harassing Goswami on the Mumbai-Lucknow flight. SpiceJet, GoAir and Air India also imposed a similar ban on Kamra without specifying any period.
Newly launched Vistara has a passenger load factor of 55% in the busy Delhi-Mumbai sector, compared with 80-85% in other airlines.
The parent entity, (Holdings) Ltd, have also expressed concern over the company's significant exposure to the airline.
Based on the Skytrax ranking for 2018, IndiGo is number two among the best low-cost carriers in Asia, behind rival AirAsia.
The other three airlines that have been probed in this matter are SpiceJet, GoAir and Air India
A senior official in the central labour commissioner's office said the efforts of the government were to resolve the cases amicably and not to press for legal action against employers. "Everyone is going through tough times. We could initiate legal action if we want but that's not the idea. We want to address the issues amicably," the official said.
Vistara is keen to take to global skies.
Options include fresh capital infusion by the management and/or some new investors.
Right from the early days of liberalisation, there have been political controversies surrounding several cases that landed on the FIPB table and which, in turn, have often led to court battles.
Government officials favoured compulsory biometric identification but said it did not happen because of the Supreme Court judgment on Aadhaar
Indian aviation has deep-rooted problems that need comprehensive and coordinated solutions, and high aviation turbine fuel pricing is certainly the most urgent.
Analysing his own performance, JRD Tata insisted that his only real contribution to the group's smorgasbord of companies was Air-India
India to become 3rd largest aviation market by 2026.
The catch is you will have to book your flight by August 27 and travel between September 25 and January 15, an airline spokesperson said, adding the offer is applicable on all direct, via and onward flights on SpiceJet's domestic network.
Airlines have to deal with high operating costs - fuel, taxation, airport charges - in a very competitive environment.
United States aerospace major Boeing on Thursday said it received approval from the country's government to offer its F-15EX multi-role combat jet to the Indian Air Force.
Qatar Airways is keen to buy equity in IndiGo if the Indian carrier offers 49 per cent stake to it, a top official has said as he sought the opening up of the Indian aviation market for established airline companies.
The inaugural flight took off in the presence of Minister of State for Civil Aviation, Mahesh Sharma, along with a number of other people.
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