Among the Indian carriers, Air India, Air India Express, IndiGo, and SpiceJet operate flights to Saudi Arabia while Saudi Arabian Airlines and Flynas are the two carriers operating in India.
Hit by the third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic and soaring fuel prices, airlines are flying towards record losses with a likely loss of a whopping Rs 20,000 crore for the full fiscal year, warns a report. The airlines are flying towards their steepest-ever net loss of over Rs 20,000 crore this fiscal, which will be 44 per cent more than Rs 13,853 crore they bled last fiscal, Crisil said in a report. This will push back the industry's recovery beyond fiscal 2023, the report based on three large listed airlines--Indigo, Spicejet, and Air India--which together command 75 per cent of the domestic traffic, warned.
At the recently concluded Dubai airshow, Akasa, Rakesh Radheyshyam Jhunjhunwala's new airline, signed a $9 billion deal with American aircraft maker Boeing to buy its 737 MAX planes and a $4 billion one for engines with CFM, a joint venture between GE of the US and Safran of France. Unlike his financial doppelganger Warren Buffett, who divested billions from his airline stock portfolio at the start of the pandemic, Jhunjhunwala is wagering his billions in a brand new airline. The legendary investor bought a roughly 40 per cent stake in SNV Aviation in September, Akasa's holding company, started in March by three former Jet Airways colleagues. With aviation still to recover from its pandemic slump, the big question around his foray into domestic aviation, due to take off in summer 2022, is whether it is another pie in the sky.
No other corporate house in India is in a better position than Tata group for the takeover of debt-laden airline Air India, former deputy chairman of erstwhile Planning Commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia said on Thursday. Tata Sons has emerged as the top bidder for the takeover of the state-run airline but the bid is yet to be approved by a group of ministers headed by Home Minister Amit Shah. "You can't have a better corporate, with a better position than the Tatas, we can hand it (state-run airline Air India) over," he said while replying to a question in a virtual event.
Tata Group's takeover of loss-making national carrier Air India is most likely delayed by a month till January as the completion of procedures taking longer than expected, an official said on Monday. In October, the government accepted the highest bid made by a Tata Sons company for 100 per cent equity shares of Air India and Air India Express along with its 50 per cent stake in ground-handling company AISATS -- the first privatisation in 20 years. At that time, the government had stated that it wanted to complete the transactions, which included Tatas paying Rs 2,700 crore in cash, by December end.
In a circular, the DGCA said, "Crew should be well aware of the aircraft limitations and of takeoff/landing performance calculations during the adverse weather operations." The regulator also said that the airlines must "make available sufficiently experienced crew in the cockpit".
The airport operator removed the SpiceJet aircraft which had skidded after landing amid heavy rains on Tuesday.
If that happens, Jet Airways will be the first bankrupt airline which will be revived under the Insolvency process.
Miscommunication with the ATC is said to have caused the near-miss. DGCA probe underway.
Budget carrier Go Airlines, which has rebranded itself as 'Go First', has filed preliminary papers for an initial share sale worth Rs 3,600 crore.
The police has registered an FIR and would look at who was at fault.
The aircraft, which has been grounded since March following two fatal crashes which killed 346 on board, is crucial to Indian low-cost airline SpiceJet's fortune, which has up to 205 aircraft on order. With the grounding, the airline's capacity expansion plan is suffering.
The initial speculation over who is likely to down shutters seems to have given way to a resigned acceptance that all the players are determined to stay in the game.
With full-service carrier Jet Airways and budget airline SpiceJet operating 737 MAX planes, the DGCA has decided to seek information about the aircraft from Boeing as well as the two domestic carriers in view of the air crash in Ethiopia.
Hundreds of pilots are staring at a long wait to get the job of their dreams after completing the course, the cost of which runs to Rs 1 crore.
Currently most of its 119 planes have been taken back by the lessors and many have been leased to other airlines like SpiceJet. The second challenge is that it has to repay banks.
Air India, SpiceJet, IndiGo and AirAsia India ready to fill in the gap.
The government has notified the agreement between Air India and special purpose vehicle AIAHL for the transfer of non-core assets, ahead of the national airline's takeover by the Tata Group. The government had in October last year, inked the share purchase agreement with the Tata Group for the sale of national carrier Air India for Rs 18,000 crore. The Tata Group is expected to take full control of the airline, it founded in 1932, on Thursday. The cash component of the deal would come once the handover process is completed. The Tata Group would pay Rs 2,700 crore cash and take over Rs 15,300 crore of the airline's debt.
Asian Games gold-medal winning boxer Dingko Singh has revealed that he went into depression as he was unable to travel to New Delhi for his cancer treatment due to the nationwide lockdown. Dingko Singh was on Saturday airlifted from Imphal to the national capital for his liver cancer treatment.
The issue of fog and low visibility primarily impacts airports in northern India and Bengaluru.
India's largest public sector bank State Bank of India (SBI) will support Tata group's bid for soon-to-be-privatised Air India by subscribing to Tata Sons debentures or funding the special purpose vehicle (SPV) set up by Tata Sons for the acquisition. Bankers said the credit rating of Tata group's holding company is "AAA" signifying high safety and a combination of Air India with its existing airline businesses would make it a formidable player - leading to a duopoly market with IndiGo. It would also open many business opportunities, including in the retail segment, an official said.
Jet Airways, SpiceJet and Vistara also operated all women crew flights, though on their domestic network.
Panic gripped the international airport in Amritsar on Thursday after an unclaimed piece of baggage arrived on a SpiceJet flight from Dubai.
One reason is that airlines have ramped up capacity and expanded their presence in tier-II markets. The first of a three-part series analyses how the aviation industry is an outlier in the midst of an overall economic slowdown.
SpiceJet, IndiGo, Jet Airways, Alliance Air, and Turbo Aviation are among the operators that have bagged the routes in the third round.
However, the reduction in ATF prices will provide some cushion to airlines engaged in a protracted price war have lost control over pricing in one the world's most price sensitive domestic markets.
Earlier, budget carrier SpiceJet said it would hire 500 from Jet, including 100 pilots. Air India Express has also inducted around 25 commanders from the grounded airline.
Kamra was banned by India's largest airline for six months on Tuesday for allegedly harassing Goswami on the Mumbai-Lucknow flight. SpiceJet, GoAir and Air India also imposed a similar ban on Kamra without specifying any period.
The regulator will audit an airport's ground facilities, its turnaround and general safety procedures, and the movement of vehicles. Underground facilities, ground servicing equipment, passenger boarding bridges, condition of the apron, marking and lighting, and availability of foreign object dustbin bins will be checked.
The prime minister also visited the Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital in New Delhi after the milestone was achieved and interacted with hospital officials.
While there is no concrete proposal as of now, possible options include raising funds through securitisation of ticket levy and reduction in number of subsidised seats on routes with higher demand.
Over 50 per cent of all traffic to Jeddah consists pilgrims headed to Mecca and Medina.
The government on Monday issued a letter of intent (LoI) confirming the sale of its 100 per cent stake in loss-making Air India to Tata Group for Rs 18,000 crore, a senior official said. Last week, the government had accepted an offer by Talace Pvt Ltd, a unit of the holding company of salt-to-software conglomerate, to pay Rs 2,700 crore in cash and takeover Rs 15,300 crore of the airline's debt. Subsequent to that, an LoI has now been issued to Tata confirming the government's willingness to sell its 100 per cent stake in the airline.
A total of 17 pilots of Air India, IndiGo and Vistara died due to COVID-19 in May when the country saw the peak of the coronavirus pandemic's second wave, sources said on Thursday.
Ajit Mishra, vice president, Research, Religare Broking, answers your queries.
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.
The team reached Dubai on Saturday after being held up for over two hours in the flight, of which close to one hour was mid air
The acquisition will give the Tatas a firm footing on international routes and generate economies of scale.
In his petition, Kamra said he was banned by IndiGo for a six-month period before its internal committee even arrived at a decision while other airlines -- Air India, Spicejet and GoAir -- imposed an indefinite ban on him.
Budget carrier IndiGo continued to be the largest player with a market share of 46.9 per cent ferrying 54 lakh passengers in March.
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