Once the coronavirus lockdown is over in India and commercial passenger flights are permitted again, IndiGo will deep clean its aircraft more frequently, stop in-flight meal service for a brief period and will fill a maximum 50 per cent capacity in airport buses, the airline's CEO Ronojoy Dutta said on Friday. "In situations like these, companies do not manage to growth or profitability but to liquidity. That means our singular focus is on cash flow. We are examining all our fixed costs and looking for ways to minimise them," he said.
Budget carrier IndiGo has assured its employees that it will not make any deduction in their salaries or leaves due to the suspension of domestic flights till March 31. The government's decision to suspend domestic flight would come into effect from midnight Tuesday, as part of larger efforts to curb spreading of coronavirus infections.
SpiceJet promoter Kalanithi Maran would need to invest at least Rs 1,500 crore (Rs 15 billion) almost immediately to stabilise the airline.
Heavy rains and thunderstorm on Monday brought Delhiites a much-needed respite from the lengthy spell of sweltering heat, but it also affected road and air traffic during the morning rush hours, and brought down houses and trees, leaving at least eight people injured.
Long-haul low-cost carriers like Scoot and AirAsia X offer a similar configuration.
Flights from Delhi or Bengaluru, while they may still fly over Iran, depending on the route, have alternative paths that may take them through Central Asia or northern routes.
A strong dust storm and gusty winds followed by rain hit Delhi-NCR on Friday evening, causing trees to be uprooted in several parts and leading to traffic congestion. Thunderstorms caused power disruptions in several parts of the city, primarily due to trees and branches falling on electricity cables. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has issued an orange alert, recommending people stay indoors and avoid unnecessary travel.
"The return fare on economy class to most European capitals from Mumbai are close to 50,000 plus. If an LCC can offer direct connectivity for a basic fare of 25,000 with additional top ups for meals, baggage and blankets, which further takes the fare to, say, 35,000, it is still a value deal."
IndiGo revamps website, Jet ties up with Twitter
First it was Citibank which ended its exclusive tie-up with Jet Airways, after 12 years. Now it is the turn of American Express to go airline-agnostic -- despite having a co-branded card with troubled carrier Kingfisher Airlines.
India's biggest airline IndiGo is set to file the prospectus next week for a domestic stock market listing.
It dismissed reports suggesting a stake sale as 'baseless'.
Southwest Airlines remains the world's biggest low cost carrier (LCC), according to Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation (CAPA).
Southwest Airlines remains the world's biggest low cost carrier (LCC), according to Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation (CAPA).
IndiGo and Jet Airways took the second and third rank, alternatively, during this period.
At the heart of the strategy is the basic fundamental of keeping costs for long-haul flights low.
Protocols for the Bomb Threat Assessment Committee (BTAC), convened in the event of a bomb threat call to an aircraft or airport, have been tweaked to better tackle the spate of the ongoing 'random' Internet-based threats being made to various Indian airlines, official sources said Tuesday.
The growth in India's domestic aviation capacity in calendar year 2023 (CY23) was the sixth highest among 20 major domestic markets, compared to the pre-pandemic year of CY19. The domestic capacity in the country surpassed the pre-pandemic level seen in CY19 and was up 5 per cent in CY23. It trails Mexico, Columbia, China, Vietnam, and Spain, which have shown higher growth, according to data shared in a seminar organised by global travel data provider OAG on global aviation trends in 2023.
The carrier's total income rose over 28 per cent to Rs 8,229.4 crore in the three months ended December 2018.
Country's largest airline has set up a centralised unit to minimise disruptions.
This will take its total number of services to 613.
While global majors like JetBlue, RyanAir, Southwest sell almost 90 per cent of their tickets through their own websites or apps, airlines in India have a minuscule share of around 25 per cent through direct channel booking.
Domestic air traffic rose 4.8 per cent on an annual basis to 126.48 lakh in February, while more than 1.55 lakh passengers were affected by flight delays during the same period, according to official data released on Friday. In February, Air India's market share rose to 12.8 per cent from 12.2 per cent while that of IndiGo marginally dipped to 60.1 per cent from 60.2 per cent in January. The domestic air traffic climbed to 126.48 lakh in February compared to 120.69 lakh in the year-ago period, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) said.
IndiGo has about 40 per cent market share, more than double that of Air India's 14.8 per cent.
Airlines sought a limited period concession of the standing rule of slot allocation, which mandates that firms must operate at least 80 per cent of their allocated slots.
IndiGo retained its No. 1 position amongst domestic airlines growing its market share.
Airlines are slashing salaries and re-negotiating vendor contracts as drastic fall in passengers has hurt revenue. Go First has cut staff salaries by around 16 per cent while IndiGo and SpiceJet are enforcing a leave without pay (LWP) policy and pay by the hour structure respectively to prune expenses. Vistara, which reversed pay cuts for junior staff including managers and cabin crew in March, is not touching employee salaries at the moment and instead focusing on vendor renegotiation and maximising cargo revenue. An Air India executive said efforts are on to pay salaries by 7th or 8th of June.
The DGCA is conducting special audit of all airlines and airports which are in monsoon-affected areas in the wake of multiple landing incidents across the country.
Tony Fernandes had blamed Indian domestic carriers for preventing AirAsia's India launch earlier, too, but this was the first time he named an airline.
United Airlines, following its merger with Continental has emerged as the world's biggest airline measured by available seat kilometers (capacity).
The phenomenon of fog is largely Delhi-centric. 'Airlines may think that we only have conditions of extreme fog on a few days every year, and spending a pilot's time and the airline's money on training can add up to its expenses.' 'So, they may prefer holding it for a few days.'
However, if a flyer has been allotted the middle seat due to a high passenger load, 'then additional protective equipment like wrap-around gown of the Ministry of Textile approved standards' must be provided to him or her in addition to a three-layered face mask and face shield, a DGCA order, accessed by PTI, said.
'Airlines are aware that during peak times like Diwali, demand will be high, so prices remain steep even for tickets purchased 90 days ahead.'
IndiGo and other airlines have said they are improving their staff training, looking at better ways of communication and customer awareness on operational matters.
Some airlines, says Anjuli Bhargava, are convinced there's a conspiracy to malign them.
The agencies have also found some common lines and words used in these fake threats like "bombs", "blood will spread everywhere", "explosive devices", "this is not a joke" and "you will all die" and "bomb rakhwa dia hai" (Hindi for bomb has been placed) among others.
The DGCA conducted the spot checks as there have been many technical malfunction incidents in Indian carriers' planes during the last 45 days.
IndiGo, Jet, SpiceJet and GoAir demand level playing field in aviation policy, say government can't favour only two new airlines.
French aviation watchdog BEA said vertical separation between the two aircraft 'was zero feet' while the least horizontal separation between the two planes was reduced to just 0.6 NM.
In the past, Qatar Airways has repeatedly expressed a desire to invest in IndiGo, the country's largest domestic airline.
