Category: Aviation

A third of flights cancelled as Air France strike gathers steam

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Some 30% of Air France flights have been cancelled as strikes over pay rises appear to be intensifying.

Saturday’s one-day walkout is affecting international and domestic travel, notably a quarter of flights at Paris’ Charles de Gaulle and Orly airports. Air France is urging passengers to check the status of their flights and offering to change tickets for free.

It’s the fifth Air France strike since February, and the number of cancelled flights is rising. Unions this week announced more strikes this month to coincide with national rail walkouts.

Air France unions want 6% pay raises after years of salary freezes. Air France is offering 1% raises, saying anything higher will hurt its turnaround efforts.

The strikes cost Air France millions of euros a day..

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KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

India opens $15 billion contest for more than 110 fighter jets

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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India is looking to buy around 110 fighter jets, the air force said in a request for information issued on Friday, marking the first step toward a long-delayed deal that could be worth more than $15 billion.

Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Saab and Dassault Aviation are among the manufacturers expected to compete.

The aircraft must be built largely in India as part of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s drive to build a domestic industrial base.

The air force said in a notice that “85 percent will have to be made in India by a Strategic Partner/Indian Production Agency”.

Lockheed has offered to move its F-16 production line in Fort Worth, Texas, to India and make it the only plant worldwide to produce the F-16 for not only India but also other countries, said Vivek Lall, vice president, strategy and business development at Lockheed Martin.

Lockheed has teamed with India‘s Tata Advanced Systems to build the planes locally while Sweden’s Saab has entered into a partnership with the Adani Group, a resources conglomerate. The other contenders have not announced their local partners.

The tender will be open for makers of both single engine and twin-engined combat jets, in a widening of the field. The Eurofighter Typhoon and Russian aircraft are also potential contenders under the new requirements.

A spokesman for Dassault Aviation which makes the twin-engine Rafale declined to comment.

Earlier, the defence ministry had sought expressions of interest from single-engine manufacturers which effectively restricted the contest to Lockheed’s F-16 and Saab’s Gripen fighter jets.

But in February the government asked the air force to open up the competition to twin-engined aircraft, in the latest flip-flop in policy that has delayed the acquisition process for years and left the air force short of hundreds of planes.

India began its search for new planes for the Indian air force in 2003 to replace its Soviet-era MiG fighters.

The request for information is open until July, the air force said. A request for proposal will then be issued followed by bid evaluations and contract negotiations. The process could take years, officials say.

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Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

IndiGo not to bid for Air India under ‘current divestiture plans’

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Budget passenger carrier IndiGo on Thursday said that it will not bid for the national passenger carrier Air India under the “current divestiture plans”.

The development assumes significance as IndiGo had earlier expressed its interest in acquiring Air India’s international operations and Air India Express (AIXL). However, the central government has invited “Expression of Interest” to off-load 76% stake and management control of the airline.

On March 28, the government issued the Preliminary Information Memorandum (PIM) for the strategic divestment of AI, along with the airline’s shares in AIXL and AISATS (Air India SATS Airport Services).

“From day one, IndiGo has expressed its interest primarily in the acquisition of Air India’s international operations and Air India Express. However, that option is not available under the government’s current divestiture plans for Air India,” said IndiGo’s President and Whole Time Director Aditya Ghosh.

“Also, as we have communicated before, we do not believe that we have the capability to take on the task of acquiring and successfully turning around all of Air India’s airline operations,” Ghosh said in response to queries from investors regarding IndiGo’s involvement in the upcoming divestiture of Air India.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

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Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Jet Airways to buy 75 Boeing 737 MAX jets

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Jet Airways  said late on Tuesday it had entered into an agreement with Boeing for the purchase of 75 Boeing 737 MAX narrowbody jets.

In an announcement to the stock exchange, Jet Airways did not say whether the agreement was a formal order or a non-binding memorandum of understanding. Boeing did not respond immediately to a request for comment.

The jets would be worth $8.8 billion at list prices, although airlines typically receive a significant discount from manufacturers.

Indian airlines are scrambling to add more jets to meet demand for more domestic and international flights, making it one of the most targeted sales markets for Boeing and European rival Airbus.

Domestic Indian passenger traffic increased by 17.9% in January from a year earlier, marking the 41st consecutive month of double-digit growth, according to the International Air Transport Association.

Jet Airways CEO Vinay Dube last month told reporters the airline was hoping to close the deal to buy 75 narrowbody jets by the end of March.

The airline last year finalised a deal to buy a separate 75 Boeing 737 MAX aircraft.

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Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Air India delays payment of March salaries

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Disinvestment-bound Air India has delayed the payment of salaries for the month of March and is yet to intimate the employees about reasons for the delay, sources said.

The debt-laden carrier has over 21,000 employees, including more than 11,000 on permanent rolls.

Generally, salaries are paid by the 30th or 31st of every month and in case of bank holidays around these dates, then payments are made in advance.

Sources at the airline told PTI that March salaries remain unpaid till Tuesday and that employees have not received any communication from the management as to when the salaries would be disbursed.

“Since the banks were closed till Monday, we were expecting the salary payment by today (Tuesday), though the practice is of making the salary payments in advance in the eventuality of banks being closed around 30 or 31st of the month,” one of the sources said.

When contacted, an Air India spokesperson said salaries for March are likely to be paid by Thursday.

On March 28, the civil aviation ministry came out with the preliminary information memorandum for seeking Expression of Interest (EoI) for the strategic disinvestment of Air India.

Air India had 11,214 permanent employees as on December 1, 2017, as per the memorandum.

The government has proposed selling 76% stake in the airline as well as transfer management control to private players. Besides, Air India would divest 100% stake in Air India Express and 50% shareholding in AISATS, an equal joint venture with Singapore-based SATS, according to the memorandum.

Last month, full service carrier Jet Airways had informed its employees that it was postponing payments of March salaries, citing “circumstances beyond its control.”

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Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Air cargo volumes to grow by 60%, infra still a concern, says report

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Air cargo volumes are expected to grow by 60% over the next five years, but the infrastructure bottlenecks are a major constraint which can impede the sector’s ability, a report said today.

It also called for an increase in the cargo handling capacity by nearly 50% to support the demand.

The capacity of all the airports in the country currently stands at 4.63 million tonnes and there is a need to create at least 2 million tonnes more of capacity to meet the projected demand increase of 60% over the next five years, ratings agency Icra said in a note.

“Growing e-commerce, improving air connectivity across small airports in the country and growth in GDP are expected to result in growth in air cargo traffic. Infrastructure bottlenecks remain a major constraint to the growth prospects of air cargo and the same need to be addressed,” its sector head for corporate ratings Harsh Jagnani said.

It can be noted that the present efforts of the government seemed to be largely focused on upping the connectivity from a passenger travel perspective.

“The air cargo infrastructure in India is increasingly getting constrained by the strong growth in traffic for last few years,” the agency said.

The Hong Kong airport alone handled 4.9 million tonnes of air cargo in 2017 as against the 3.3 million tonnes done by all the airports in India, according to Icra.

Jagnani said plans are afoot to make metro airports cargo hubs catering to the neighbouring regions, but underlined that India has a significant potential to be a transhipment hub for international cargo movement from other countries given its geographic location.

“India needs multi-fold approach to development of cargo infrastructure which looks as upgrading existing cargo terminals with advanced technologies, development of new cargo terminals at airports, dedicated cargo airports, and air freight stations,” he added.

The agency said the country faces issues like high dwell time which prevents a plane from taking back to air sooner, which can be addressed by having air freight stations that are present at global airports.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Domestic passenger traffic to grow 18% in FY18, says rating agency

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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The Indian aviation industry is estimated to grow by 18% during financial year 2018, ratings agency ICRA said on Friday. “The domestic passenger traffic growth remained healthy backed by improvement in core growth drivers like economic environment and increasing tourism demand,” the ratings agency said.

“The strong demand has pushed the passenger load factor (PLF) to an all-time high of 86.5% in the current fiscal and India remains one of the best performing key domestic aviation markets in the world in terms of PLF.”

As per ICRA, in terms of international routes, the Indian airlines continued to outperform the industry during the current year.

“The international passenger traffic growth from India is estimated to be 10% in (financial year) 2018, while the Indian airlines are expected to report a growth of 13.5% during the same period,” it said.

“Increasing capacity deployment by Indian airlines on international routes and growing tourism demand are the key growth drivers. Resultantly, the market share of the Indian airlines on international routes has remained at an all-time high during the current fiscal,” the ratings agency added.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow