In one of the biggest orders in recent times, European consortium Airbus Industrie has signed a contract to supply 40 A-320 aircraft to leading Asian low-cost carrier AirAsia, which has also taken the option for another 30 of these planes.
Inching closer to launch its operations, new no-frill carrier AirAsia India on Saturday took delivery of its first Airbus A-320 as it landed in Chennai after flying in from Toulouse headquarters of the European aircraft manufacturer.
AirAsia India launched service in June and has two Airbus A320 planes.
Tata Sons will increase its stake in budget carrier AirAsia India (AAI) to 83.67 per cent by acquiring an additional 32.67 per cent for $37.66 million from AirAsia Investment Ltd (AAIL), according to a regulatory filing. Currently, AAIL, which is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Malaysia-based AirAsia, holds 49 per cent stake in the Bengaluru-based AirAsia India. In a regulatory filing to stock exchange Bursa Malaysia, AirAsia said, "The board of directors of AirAsia wishes to announce that its wholly-owned subsidiary AAIL and Tata Sons Pvt Ltd, India, on December 29, entered into a share purchase agreement."
Planemakers have started pitching their latest aircraft to a privatised Air India which has been acquired by salt-to-steel conglomerate Tata Sons. European aerospace major Airbus on Monday said that it is in talks with the airline to sell its long haul aircraft Airbus A350-900. The wide-body aircraft is capable of flying non-stop between India and United States- one of the most popular and revenue generating routes.
AirAsia's rival airlines in India have kept themselves super-busy in the past few months -- by moving court against the former's launch, adding flights on the routes where AirAsia is operating, and engaging in a price war.
Airbus is now confident of crossing 1,000 net orders (excluding cancellations or conversions from previous orders) in 2014.
AirAsia runs a joint venture portal with Expedia and it is an exclusive online distribution channel for the airline.
AirAsia's India plans may not be hit with the current crisis that the airline is going through
About 170 Airbus aircraft operate in India.
The trails of mega-mergers, tailwinds of expanding fleets, flights and airports will dot the fast-growing Indian aviation firmament in 2025, though the dark clouds of supply chain woes will persist longer. Also, new airline takeoffs, the future trajectory of revised norms to tackle pilot fatigue and efforts to reduce carbon emissions will be on the radar.
AirAsia is facing a legal challenge from Bharatiya Janata Party MP Subramanian Swamy, whose petition comes up for hearing at the Delhi HIgh Court on Wednesday.
AirAsia has come under scrutiny since June when GMT Research issued a critical report questioning its accounts.
A new Indian airline, proposed to be launched by the Tata Group, AirAsia and another Indian investor, is likely to start operations by the fourth quarter of this year with about $50 million initial investment by the Malaysian budget carrier.
AirAsia India began operations in June 2014.
AirAsia on Sunday changed its bright fiery red logo to gray on its Twitter and Facebook pages after its aircraft, carrying 162 people, went missing en route from Indonesia to Singapore.
With cash shortage and plans going awry, the AirAsia owner is looking to cash out of the venture he built with Ratan Tata in 2013.
Unlikely to happen in less than a year,despite the advantage of the parent airline's base.
Most airlines have fattened their profits, turned the corner, or cut their losses, except AirAsia India.
The plane was suffering a technical glitch
With its nominees on the board, Tata Sons will have the controlling stake of 51%.
The company is looking at putting in one plane every month.
The losses are primarily because the venture operated only for 18 days in June, with only two flights.
'JRD Tata was a visionary who established civil aviation in India'.
The company, which will be first direct flight between Chandigarh and Bengaluru, will offer ticket at a minimum rate of Rs 1,900 inclusive of all taxes.
IndiGo, which has grown rapidly to become India's biggest airline by market share, has now ordered 530 A320 family planes from Airbus, the planemaker said in a statement.
It and Vistara both book slots here; former also likely to launch Mumbai flights from early 2015.
India is not an easy environment to operate in and grow because of the high cost of operations, says Neil Mills.
The crucial black box of the doomed AirAsia jet was on Sunday found in the Java Sea stuck under the debris from the plane's fuselage and will be retrieved on Monday as the major breakthrough in the search raised hopes of unravelling the mystery of the crash soon.
AirAsia founder Tony Fernandes began talks with bankers to take Asia's number one budget airline private after a plunge in its stock price put $200 million worth of loans borrowed against AirAsia's shares at risk.
Two large metal objects have been found in the search for the AirAsia airliner in the JavaSea, Indonesian officials said on Saturday, even as continuing bad weather held back efforts to hunt for the plane's data recorders.
The first officer, not the captain, was flying AirAsia Flight 8501 when it crashed.
It has aircraft utilisation target of 16 hours as against the current 13 hours.
Air India will require more than 6,500 pilots to operate 470 aircraft that are to be supplied by Airbus and Boeing in the coming years, according to industry sources. Seeking to expand fleet as well as operations, the airline has placed orders for acquiring a total of 840 aircraft that includes an option to buy 370 planes. This is one of the largest aircraft order by any airline. Currently, Air India has around 1,600 pilots to operate its 113 aircraft fleet and in recent times, there have been instances of ultra-long haul flights getting cancelled or delayed due to shortage of crew.
AirAsia India, which is using the training facilities of its parent airline AirAsia in Malaysia, plans to set up similar facilities in India in the coming years, airline sources said.
Amid reports of sighting of more debris by a Russian search team, divers on Tuesday recovered two more bodies from choppy waters in the JavaSea, though there was still no trace of the crucial black box of the crashed AirAsia aircraft that crashed nine days ago.
Two months after launch, low-cost warrior AirAsia is expanding to uncharted routes in India.
Vistara has a three-class configuration with business, premium economy and economy cabins.
AirAsia's competitors are offering more reliable services.
Divers were on Saturday sent to investigate underwater pings that may be coming from the flight recorders of the AirAsia plane as efforts continued to retrieve the jet's tail from the bottom of the Java Sea.
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