While Jet founder Naresh Goyal said he was willing to infuse Rs 700 crore and also pledge all his shares in the company provided he can have at least 25 per cent stake, the airline's foreign partner Etihad Airways insists he must not keep more than a 22 per cent stake.
Restricting air access to foreign carriers by not granting them more bilateral rights is akin to shooting yourself in the foot, as air transport is a wealth multiplier for India's economy, Emirates President Tim Clark said during a press conference held on the sidelines of the annual general meeting of the International Air Transport Association.
But the Abu Dhabi-based airline would first bolster its own network with traffic from India before Jet's turnaround.
Jet Airways said on Tuesday the domestic aviation industry would soon witness a shakeout, but hoped the country's largest private airline would come out of it unscathed.
In the season of aviation action, Rakesh Jhunjhunwala-backed Akasa Air has secured the crucial no-objection certificate (NoC) from the civil aviation ministry. It expects to start operations next summer. The airline will now have to apply for the Directorate General of Civil Aviation for operations permit. Aviation sector has been in the limelight with the Tata Group winning the Air India bid last week.
Rival airlines expect Jet Airways to restore some "sanity" in the pricing of tickets after the acquisition of Air Sahara.
'There will be no flying unless the company pays us substantial salaries and provides a road map,' the National Aviators Guild, the pilots union, said in a message to its members.
Airline managements are divided on the likely impact of the settlement of the Jet Airways imbroglio.
Jet Airways is planning to start 17 flights a week from India to Sri Lanka, as and when the government grants permission.
Flight cancellations and subsequent grounding of Jet Airways adversely impacted seat capacity in the domestic market which also resulted in fares going up.
Together with Jet Airways we will have 61 flights to Amsterdam and Paris during the winter season. That also makes us the second largest airline group after Lufthansa, which has 67 weekly flights, and we are catching up to become the first, says KLM CEO Pieter Elbers.
The airline has struggled to pay salaries and vendors on time and its Rs 10,963 crore fund and non fund based facilities have now been assigned 'D' rating by ICRA - the seventh rating downgrade since March 2017.
Rakesh Jhunjhunwala-backed new airline Akasa is in talks with US aerospace company Boeing for buying up to 100 737 Max aircraft. Former Jet Airways CEO Vinay Dube and his family members are promoters while ex-IndiGo president Aditya Ghosh is a board member of the airline. The airline is in negotiation with Boeing and has reached out to the government to recertify the aircraft which has been grounded since 2018 after two crashes killing 349 persons, according to sources in the know.
In the past, Qatar Airways has repeatedly expressed a desire to invest in IndiGo, the country's largest domestic airline.
A revamped Air India under the Tata Group will be a real challenge while new airline Akasa Air will be a far less competitive force for the next two-three years, IndiGo CEO Ronojoy Dutta said on Wednesday. Akasa Air, which is backed by former IndiGo president Aditya Ghosh, ace investor Rakesh Jhunjhunwala and former Jet Airways CEO Vinay Dube, got the no-objection certificate (NOC) from the Ministry of Civil Aviation on Monday.
'The airline business is very dynamic. If you are unable to keep up and lead, you end up last.' 'This is what has happened to Jet.'
With oil prices in a free fall, the airline is looking at regaining some of its lost share.
With carriers such as Jet Airways and Kingfisher Airlines all set to battle it out on international routes, leading expatriates with years of experience in global airlines are now being wooed for top management posts.
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.
From highways connecting once-remote regions to aviation networks carrying millions, India's infrastructure story is one of transformation.
Air travel may get a tad more expensive during the coming festive season with at least one major carrier thinking of raising fares, but the hike is expected to be only in single digit in percentage terms. "We are looking at raising the fares during the festive season. No concrete decision has been taken yet. But the increase will not be very high because of competition. It will not be in double-digit," Jet Airways CEO Wolfgang Prock-Schauer told reporters.
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At the recently concluded Dubai airshow, Akasa, Rakesh Radheyshyam Jhunjhunwala's new airline, signed a $9 billion deal with American aircraft maker Boeing to buy its 737 MAX planes and a $4 billion one for engines with CFM, a joint venture between GE of the US and Safran of France. Unlike his financial doppelganger Warren Buffett, who divested billions from his airline stock portfolio at the start of the pandemic, Jhunjhunwala is wagering his billions in a brand new airline. The legendary investor bought a roughly 40 per cent stake in SNV Aviation in September, Akasa's holding company, started in March by three former Jet Airways colleagues. With aviation still to recover from its pandemic slump, the big question around his foray into domestic aviation, due to take off in summer 2022, is whether it is another pie in the sky.
Growth rates in traditional markets are slowing and airlines need to reshape their networks.
Airports across the country witnessed chaotic scenes on Friday after dozens of flights were either delayed or cancelled after a widespread global computer outage that also hit operations like cash withdrawal at some banks, and impacted functioning of some brokerages. Globally, the Microsoft cloud outage led to US airlines cancelling flights, but the tech giant later reportedly said its cloud services outage in the Central US region has been resolved.
Signs of financial stress were visible when the airline reported a loss of Rs 10.40 billion.
Demand for the earlier variant 737NG planes is also expected to pick up due to the grounding of MAX planes.
For debt-laden Jet Airways, bitter foe Tata may turn into timely saviour.
IndiGo was set up in 2006 by businessman Rahul Bhatia and Rakesh Gangwal, a former CEO for US Airways Group.
One reason is that airlines have ramped up capacity and expanded their presence in tier-II markets. The first of a three-part series analyses how the aviation industry is an outlier in the midst of an overall economic slowdown.
Sanjiv Kapoor questions the rival's change in strategy and claims of full load.
Stressful work schedules and limited growth opportunities are taking a toll on a large number of senior professionals in airlines.
Giovanni Bisignani, CEO of International Air Transport Association, said Delhi and Mumbai airports were one of the worst contributors to the crisis, for their 207 per cent hike in charges. "There is no room for this nonsense in our future. When demand drops, suppliers cannot divide the same costs among fewer customers. The shape of everything must change," he declared.
Currently, Vistara has more than 22 planes and operates around 850 flights every week.
Ninety years later, BA counts the country as its second-biggest overseas market after the US.
Travels to Gulf accounted for 40% of India's international air traffic in 2016.
Many argue that the airline could achieve its full potential if Nusli Wadia were to run it the way he does Britannia.
A video clip of the heated exchange onboard the flight on December 16 was shared on social media on Wednesday.
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