Jet's supremacy has now been challenged by a nimble and aggressive Kingfisher which, in just two years and following Mallya's buyout of Air Deccan, is commanding the same market share as Jet Airways and Jetlite.
GR Gopinath, chairman of Air Deccan (in which Vijay Mallya has picked up 26 per cent), says the policy is blatantly tilted towards protecting just two carriers - Jet Airways and Air-India - to maintain their monopoly in the international skies.
European aeroplane maker Airbus Industrie hopes to sell 55 of its A380 planes, including 10 freighter aircraft, in India in 20 years.
Life of air passengers was different in the 1970s.
Airfares of most major airlines will go up by Rs 150 per sector from Friday, as the carriers plan to levy a traffic congestion surcharge.
Boeing 737 MAX planes were globally grounded in March 2019, after two of these crashed within five months, raising safety concerns.
Hyderabad-based Turbo Megha Airways takes off, promising affordable fares and other benefits.
Vistara has entered a country that has been sobered down to reality.
Rival airlines expect Jet Airways to restore some "sanity" in the pricing of tickets after the acquisition of Air Sahara.
Take the rediff business quiz and see how much you know about India and its private airlines.
The recent spate of technical glitches in aircraft has prompted the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) to issue an order on July 18, making aircraft maintenance engineers (AMEs) with category B1/B2 licences the final authorities in certifying planes. This has put the spotlight on the availability of such personnel. According to the order, airlines were resorting to frequent one-off authorisation by the Category A certifying staff at transit stations, which is not in line with existing regulatory provisions.
Not a single flight was able to take off or land at the Indira Gandhi International Airport between 0200 IST and 0900 IST
Paramount Airways and Club One Air make different promises. Will they fly the long distance?
We live in hope that India and its airlines might finally grow up, notes Anuli Bhargava.
India remained the world's fastest growing domestic aviation market with 51 straight months of doubled-digit traffic growth but the woes of passengers as well as carriers manifested in myriad forms.
Domestic air travel traffic has already seen a 23.87% rise over the same period in 2017.
Unless Naresh Goyal pulls the proverbial rabbit out of his hat or reveals an unexpected ace of spades, the airline he built from scratch - many refer to it as "his baby" - may slip out of his grasp, says Anjuli Bhargava.
'Our focus is not going to be metro to metro routes.' 'We will begin by focusing on metro to non-metro (routes).' 'Metro to tier-2 cities or tier-3 cities is where there is a lot of space for affordable, efficient carriers.'
The national carrier's market share has declined from a near-monopoly to 16.6 per cent as of September 2014.
Agra, Shimla, Nanded, Kanpur and Jamshedpur are among the many airports that would see connectivity under Udan.
RPG Enterprises Chairman Harsh Goenka thinks aloud about what Vijay Mallya could or should do to get out of the current mess.
IndiGo which has close to 40 per cent market share, at present has 129 aircraft and operates 883 daily flights to 44 destinations. It also has around 400 aircraft on order.
The biggest let down for India's aviation sector has been the failure of the government to privatise Air India, says Anjuli Bhargava.
In the previous decade, the government, with Praful Patel as the civil aviation minister, saw the introduction of an irrational 5/20 policy.
Modi's 'UDAN' project faces fund crunch as too many airlines have come on board
Stressful work schedules and limited growth opportunities are taking a toll on a large number of senior professionals in airlines.
Majority of India's international routes have been captured by foreign airlines.
'Earlier, when they were selling tickets at Rs 1,000, a family of five could travel by flight.' 'When it comes to realistic pricing and the price becomes Rs 5,000, a family of five will have shell out Rs 25,000.' 'How many will be able to afford that?' 'You will see people switching back to train travel which is more realistic.'
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