India's newest airline-Vistara is bullish on growth prospects.
In January this year, Tata Sons invested an additional Rs 2,500 crore (Rs 25 billion) in Tata Teleservices which was used to repay loans of the wireless telephony company.
This is the largest single dose of equity infusion into the joint venture since its launch in January 2015.
When the Tatas re-boarded Air India on January 27 last year, the price of aviation turbine fuel was at over Rs 80,000 per kilolitre. Rupee was trading at around Rs 74 to a US dollar. The Omicron variant of Covid-19 was in prevalence - barely a week earlier, India had reported over 340,000 cases on a single day. Seven-day home quarantine of international travellers was the norm.
This is the first time that AirAsia chief has raised concerns about the dual airline strategy of the Tata group, his partner.
Chief Operating Officer, Sanjiv Kapoor will be leaving the company effective October 31, 2015 after two years with the organisation.
The inaugural flight took off in the presence of Minister of State for Civil Aviation, Mahesh Sharma, along with a number of other people.
Approval was held up due to CBI investigation into international flying permit of Tata group-owned AirAsia India.
The airline would offer access to in-flight connectivity only on Dreamliners and Airbus 321 aircraft on international routes.
In 2012, India attracted $22.78 billion of FDI, according to the data by Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion.
IndiGo, Jet, SpiceJet and GoAir demand level playing field in aviation policy, say government can't favour only two new airlines.
With respect to the cancelled flights, customers can opt for a full refund or alternative travel dates free of cost.
Mukund Rajan, who worked closely with Ratan Tata, recalls the unique experience of working with the corporate titan.
The deal will give India's largest conglomerate indirect stakes in seven airports in India and abroad.
Vistara was launched on January 9.
Apart from Delhi, Mumbai and Chennai, the codeshare agreement with Lufthansa will cover Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Goa, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Kochi and Pune.
The civil aviation ministry received 20 applications and it granted NOCs to sixteen companies between 2009 till now
To make space for the extra row, Vistara has opted for the smartLav concept offered by Airbus
Newly launched Vistara has a passenger load factor of 55% in the busy Delhi-Mumbai sector, compared with 80-85% in other airlines.
French aerospace major Thales Group is eyeing major expansion in India. The group has started planning to set up a maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO) organisation in India to support Indian airlines - many of which are its customers for avionics support. "We are looking to set up an MRO, so that they don't have to travel to West Asia or Singapore. "Final decision is yet to be taken, but this is a clear intent showing the growth potential in India that we are looking to set up a sub-centre here," said Yannick Assouad, executive vice-president, avionics at Thales, who was on her maiden visit to the group's India office at Bengaluru since taking charge.
UK's largest retailer Tesco, Singapore Airlines and Etihad queued up to invest in India as a persistent UPA threw open more sectors to foreign investments with indications of more big ticket deals to be announced in the new year.
Currently, Vistara has more than 22 planes and operates around 850 flights every week.
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.
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.
Year 2013 saw business leaders facing the ire of hostile investigative agencies.
Tata's Vistara has a very strong core team to look into daily operations.
Vistara is keen to take to global skies.
TCS still ace in the pack
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.
Tata Group-owned Air India has informed the Centre that aircraft lessors wish to set up their special purpose vehicles (SPVs) outside India since they aren't enthused about the Indian 'legal structure' and are loath to take risks. Indian airlines have a combined fleet of about 700 planes; over 85 per cent are on lease. A majority of lessors are based in Ireland due to its attractive tax policy, light-touch regulations, and swift legal system.
Norms limiting airlines' stake in SPVs managing airports to hurt Tatas.
Samridhi Bhardwaj analyses the dynamics of duty-free liquor allowance in India.
The timeline for disinvestment of Air India and Bharat Petroleum Corporation (BPCL) may be pushed by two to three months due to impact of the second Covid-19 wave. However, the government is confident of wrapping up the sale of the two companies by FY22 and meeting the disinvestment target of Rs 1.75 trillion. This will be achieved by sale of government stake in core and non-core public sector undertakings (PSUs).
Creating a market for premium coffee is a challenge.
WhatsApp's advantage is that it is the first app millions of Indian check first thing in the morning and innumerable times during the day and night.
Vistara will have to face stiff competition from Jet Airways, AirAsia
The biggest challenge is not the airline's debt, but downsizing its 16,800 employees, says Surajeet Dasgupta.
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.
It and Vistara both book slots here; former also likely to launch Mumbai flights from early 2015.
National carrier Air India became part of the 27-member global airlines grouping Star Alliance, as budget airline AirAsia India launched operations and Tata-SIA joint venture carrier Vistara received the flying permit and announced its intentions to start operations from January 9.
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