Reduction in fuel price was supposed to bring back good luck for Indian airlines. But with the global spread of coronavirus, airlines are being forced to rejig their network, cut flights, and delay launches.
India on Monday successfully flight-tested its indigenously developed SMART torpedo system, which DRDO said will be a "game changer" in anti-submarine warfare, marking yet another milestone in strengthening the country's maritime strategic capabilities, defence sources said.
The SilverLine project, which is expected to considerably reduce travel time from Kasaragod to Thiruvananthapuram, cannot be implemented without approval from the Centre which appears to be giving it a second thought in view of the United Democratic Front and Bharatiya Janata Party's opposition to it, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said on Tuesday.
Aircraft lease rentals are fixed costs and account for around 15 per cent of an airline's expense and since these are paid in dollars are also subject to currency fluctuations.
The Premier League has said its clubs will consult with their players over a proposed 30% reduction in wages and the suspended season would only resume when it was "safe and appropriate". While there has been speculation about a reduced season or even abandoning this campaign, the league said it remained their aim to complete all remaining domestic league and cup matches.
Improvement in load factors, coupled with an increase in seat capacity after Jet's slots were allotted to low-cost airlines, has resulted in an increase in daily passenger traffic.
After a better-than-expected Dussehra weekend, hospitality firms are hopeful of ending the year on a positive note by doing good business over Christmas and the New Year. Typically, year-end bookings kick in two to four weeks before the season begins. Owing to pandemic-related uncertainties, hotels are seeing a significant reduction in the booking window, with travellers waiting till the last minute to make hotel reservations.
Air India, IndiGo, and SpiceJet have suspended flights to China and Hong Kong.
Curtailment of flights between India and China will help Air India and other airlines to boost their seat occupancy and market share.
Public sector lender Punjab National Bank (PNB) has moved the Insolvency appellate tribunal NCLAT against the approval of bids for defunct airline Jet Airways. The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) bench has issued a notice over the PNB's petition along with its interim plea seeking a stay over the execution of the resolution plan. A three-member bench has directed the Resolution Professional of Jet Airways along with other parties including the Committee of Creditors to file a reply within two weeks and rejoinder, if by PNB, within one week.
Global rating agency Moody's on Monday said HDFC Bank's multiple digital outages are credit negative as such recurring incidents could lead to moderation in revenue and flight of customers to other banks. The recurring outages also risk hurting the bank's brand perception among a growing and increasingly digitally savvy customer base, and increases the potential that clients switch to other banks, which would lead to a reduction in revenue and low-cost retail funding, Moody's said in a statement.
There were nearly 4,000 cabin crew with Jet when the airline was grounded; every fifth remains without a job to date. One cabin crew member with 10 years of experience has been forced to take up a teaching job; some have branched out into small businesses. Aviation jobs were scarce even before the Covid-19 pandemic arrived on Indian shores in early 2020. The situation has been exacerbated since.
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 company operated chartered flights from London Gatwick and Manchester airports to Goa between November and March and its closure will adversely impact local tourism.
Alliance Air, which is the largest regional airline, is currently operating 77 daily flights compared to 126 last year.
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.
The company's operating losses for 2014-15 likely to climb a bit.
The airfares are already 15 per cent higher than last season and due to this shortage it will go higher, said Sharat Dhall, COO of Yatra.com.
Kardassis, who quit the airline in 2013, will advise Goyal and senior management on cost-saving and productivity improvement
The decision has been taken after Kamra was found 'guilty' for alleged misbehaviour by an internal committee of IndiGo, an airline official said. The ban on Kamra comes into effect immediately.
The sudden massive cancellations of Jet have put travel agents and customers in jeopardy
Experts expect a net loss of Rs 26.7 billion for IndiGo and Rs 10.1 billion for SpiceJet in Q1FY21 driven by low traffic volume, low fleet utilisation and poor coverage of fixed costs.
In a discussion in Lok Sabha on the COVID pandemic, members called for ban on international flights in view of the outbreak of the Omicron strain and demanded that the government 'accept responsibility' for deaths of lakhs of people during the outbreak.
Liverpool added on their website that the furloughed staff would continue to receive 100% of their salaries. Several English top-flight clubs, such as Tottenham Hotspur, Bournemouth and Newcastle United, have already put non-playing staff on furlough, with football's return in England contingent on medical guidance and government support.
The new owner may be allowed to dispose of assets accruing from the 10-26 per cent of the net assets of the company.
Delta said the airline will operate a Boeing 777-200 LR aircraft with a three-class configuration on the route and will offer passengers wi-fi connectivity and free mobile messaging.
Amid growing concerns of surging COVID-19 cases, the US has announced that it will waive the in-person interview requirement for a range of visa applicants during the entire year in 2022, including for H-1B workers and students, many of whom are from India. The H-1B visa is a non-immigrant visa that allows US companies to employ foreign workers in speciality occupations that require theoretical or technical expertise. Technology companies depend on it to hire tens of thousands of employees each year from countries like India and China.
Following fare reduction by Jet Airways, national flag carrier Air India has cut fares by 20-46 per cent on certain flights on select domestic routes for travel up to September 18.
Australian national airline Qantas on Wednesday announced slew of cost-cutting measures, including job reductions, retirement of older aircraft and a reduction in domestic and international flights.
However, a Serie A recommendation that similar cuts be made at all top flight clubs has been rejected by the players' union which argues that those at smaller clubs are less able to afford reductions.
The biofuel component of the fuel used for the flight was from refined cooking oil.
Key stimuli of the government's relief package will be a tax break on jet fuel, waiver of parking and landing charges at airports for the next six months and deferment of payment to oil companies by three months.
To counter the pandemic, air transport was suspended from March 25 till May 24 which rendered zero traffic at AAI airports. Even after resumption of flights, traffic is yet to pick up at airports due to quarantine measures implemented by states and an overall fear of flying.
ATF for domestic carriers has become 11.22 per cent cheaper since October and is expected to see more price cuts in the next three months.
Of the 921 job reductions, 228 flight attendants would be furloughed, while another 244 would be put on involuntary leave in October and November. An additional 449 attendants have chosen voluntary buyout packages, including overage leaves of absence, resignations with travel benefits and partnership flying.
The watchdog would also endeavour to do its best to help the company revive its operations within the set regulatory framework.
With the plane experiencing problems one after another, Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh said there were no safety issues and the faults would be worked out.
Air India has decided to reduce fuel surcharge on all domestic flights by Rs 400 with effect from Tuesday.
Debt laden SpiceJet has to pay Rs 1,230 crore toward dues.
