Conforming to the Sharia law, the airline 'strictly prohibits' alcohol in flights and all the food items provided will be 'halal'. Prayers from the Holy Quran will also be recited before the departure of each flight.
This is the first time that AirAsia chief has raised concerns about the dual airline strategy of the Tata group, his partner.
Tata Group-owned AirAsia India, which is in the process of being merged with Air India Express, has taken short-term loans worth Rs 630 crore during the last six months to deal with cash crunch. AirAsia India has been making losses since its first commercial flight on June 12, 2014. Its net loss increased by 42 per cent to Rs 2,178 crore in FY22.
The issues include not getting refunds on airline and hotel bookings, getting charged a service fee even if airlines have waived cancellation charges and so on. Complaints are piling up on Twitter, Facebook and other social media channels as more and more people cancel their travel plans due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.
InterGlobe Aviation, the operator of India's leading airline IndiGo, delivered a better than expected performance across most parameters in Q2FY24. The company posted its fourth consecutive quarter of net profit of Rs 188 crore. It had reported a loss of Rs 1,583 crore in the same quarter a year ago.
Jet fuel or ATF prices were on Thursday were cut by a steep 4.5 per cent, the first reduction in rates in six months.
The move is expected to give a major relief to Air India, which suffered a huge financial loss of around Rs 491 crore.
'IndiGo 2018 is a harsh, ultra-lean, mean, zero asset, fighting machine with aspirations of taking on the global long-haul low-cost market.'
Aviation turbine fuel or jet fuel price was on Wednesday hiked by a steep 9.2 per cent, while that of non-subsidised cooking gas was raised by Rs 21 per cylinder.
The introduction of private players would mean that trains will be available on demand and that passenger waitlist will decrease.
Jet Airways Ltd said on Friday it made a profit in the June quarter compared to a loss in the year-ago period, helped by a drop in fuel expenses.
While the automobile industry outrightly said no to Chidambaram's plea, the aviation sector largely remained non-committal.
Airlines are now pushing up fares and hopes to improve margins over the next three months to make up for the poor September quarter, even if it leads to a slight fall in their passenger load factor.
ATF price in Delhi was reduced by Rs 4,765.5 per kilolitre (kl), or 11.9 per cent.
Singapore Airline along with its Indian JV partner have got clearance from the aviation ministry.
The tenth-largest US airline, ATA Airlines has filed for bankruptcy protection and sold off airport slots and other assets to AirTran Airways for $ 87.6 million, to become the latest US airline plagued by rising fuel costs and fare wars.
Rivals say the concessions would benefit AirAsia alone.
The Indian government allowed foreign airlines to buy up to 49 per cent stakes in Indian carriers in September 2012.
Indian kiranas are agile enough to face the q-com challenge, but it's going to be a tough fight, notes Ambi Parameswaran.
Go First chief executive officer Kaushik Khona and tribunal-appointed interim resolution professional Abhilash Lal on Thursday reached out to the airline's staff, seeking their support for revival. While Khona said the company had taken all steps for the airline's revival, Lal put forward the view it would have to raise funds. Employee engagement took place a day after the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) admitted the airline's insolvency plea on Wednesday and ordered a moratorium on recoveries.
Initially, starting with a slightly curtailed capacity, the airline will increase the operating capacity over the subsequent months, also reopening selected international flights, depending on the existing international travel guidelines: IndiGo.
Indian airlines are expected to post a consolidated loss of $4.1 billion this fiscal, similar to what they are estimated to have incurred in 2020-21, taking the total losses of two years to around $8 billion as a result of the pandemic so far, aviation consultancy and research firm CAPA said on Thursday. In a report, CAPA expects domestic passenger traffic to be around 80-95 million in 2021-22 as against 52.5 million in the previous financial year. However, despite this growth, it will be well below than around 140 million passenger volumes recorded in 2019-20, CAPA said in the report. This projection of the traffic volume does not take into account the anticipated third wave of the pandemic, it added.
SpiceJet COO says ATF price cut is need of the hour.
Paramount Airways has ruled out buying a budget airline in India to expand operations as the company feels this would not be an attractive proposition for its business model.
The new airline has begun recruiting pilots and is close to confirming its top executives, including a Singapore Airlines executive as its chief executive officer.
Jet fuel (ATF) rates were on slashed by a steep 12.5 per cent, the sixth straight reduction in prices since August, as international oil prices slumped to five-year low levels.
Let Air India - that anyway flies very limited international routes, often bleeding profusely and makes huge losses on trunk routes - do this national service, says Anjuli Bhargava.
The biggest let down for India's aviation sector has been the failure of the government to privatise Air India, says Anjuli Bhargava.
This is a setback for the divestment process of Air India as no other Indian airline has the capability to fund the process
The government is keeping its options open.
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.
He said the ministry was looking forward to suggestions from the state governments and discussions were underway with all the stakeholders to arrive at a policy which would bring back growth in the aviation sector.
Airline stocks have been soaring following a steep decline in crude oil prices and sustained passenger traffic. Analysts have particularly turned bullish on the stocks of InterGlobe Aviation and SpiceJet. On December 20, shares of InterGlobe Aviation (IndiGo) hit a record high of Rs 3,009 on the BSE, having surged 43.24 per cent year-to-date (YTD).
With tailwinds of strong operational performance and favourable market conditions, InterGlobe Aviation on Wednesday reported a record profit after tax of Rs 3,090.6 crore in the three months ended June. The parent of the country's largest airline also reported its highest-ever quarterly total income of Rs 17,160.9 crore in the first quarter of the current fiscal, according to a release. The carrier, which had 316 planes in its fleet at the end of June 2023, had registered a loss of Rs 1,064.3 crore in the 2022 June quarter.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday laid the foundation stone for the Noida International Airport at Jewar in Uttar Pradesh. It will be one of the largest aerodromes in Asia.
The airline which has not flown for more than a year, had reported a loss of Rs 755.17 crore (Rs 7.55 billion) a year earlier, Kingfisher said in a filing to the BSE.
Domestic air passenger traffic touched 1.25 crore in January this year, an increase of 96 per cent compared to the year-ago period, according to rating agency Icra. However, it said the traffic remained around 2 per cent lower compared to the pre-Covid levels -- January 2020. The traffic stood at 64 lakh in January last year. Icra is maintaining a negative outlook on the Indian aviation industry, reflecting the view that the financial performance of Indian airlines is likely to remain under pressure in the near term, even though the recovery in domestic passenger traffic has been healthy.
A ministry's internal note proposes caps on minimum and maximum fares airlines can charge, keeping in mind their cost structure, profit margin and ensuring the last minute fares are not out of bounds of passengers.
Jet Airways, the largest domestic airline, will merge its no-frills brands JetLite and Jet Konnect and operate under the brand name of the latter.
