Jet Airways, Air Sahara:
The government is planning to review its norms for operating flights to the Middle East — a protected sector that is today operated only the state-owned airlines — and open it up for designated private airlines too. This is part of the government's move to unshackle the protection that's currently being given to state-owned carriers and prepare them to compete in a free market. The review is expected to be completed by early next year, following which the revised norm would be referred to the Union Cabinet for a formal approval. If approved, this would mean that Jet and Air Sahara would be able to start flights to the Gulf region, including United Arab Emirates (UAE), Qatar, Oman, Bahrain, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia.
(14 December 2006)

Pricing Pressure:
The civil aviation ministry has introduced a policy change to create a common ground for private oil companies — both domestic and international — to sell ATF. The ministry also promises to provide land and other infrastructure facilities at airports to private oil companies. The move is aimed at ending the monopoly of public sector oil companies. Reliance, for instance, has already got the government’s nod to supply ATF at 35 non-metro airports. It has also bagged a project to provide jet fuel at Hyderabad international airport. Though the impact of private oilcos on lowering ATF prices is yet to be seen, it is still a welcome move.
(14 December 2006)

Shamshabad Airport:
The new international airport at Shamshabad will take over as the gateway to Hyderabad from the old airport at Begumpet.Handholding the seamless transition will be Munich Airport International (MAI), leading authority on Operational Readiness & Airport Transfer (ORAT) for new airports. GMR Hyderabad International Airport has signed a deal with MAI from the August 2006-May 2008 period, Andrew Harrison, head-airport operations. Also, take-offs before midnight will be from Begumpet and those after 12 am will be from Shamshabad.
(14 December 2006)

Pune Airport:
A new site at Rajguru Nagar, six kilometres north of Chakan has been identified as the possible location for a civilian airport in Pune. The earlier site, identified at Chakan was not acceptable to the Ministry of Defence from the operational point of view with reference to the existing Defence Airfield at Lohegaon. (14 December 2006)

Jet Airways:
Jet Airways plans to start flights to New York in August 2007 and follow that up with flights to San Francisco from October next year. The airline would kick off flights to the US next year, as it aims to boost overseas revenues to 50 percent by 2009. International operations account for 20 percent of Jet Airways' turnover currently. The airline will be taking delivery of 22 long-haul, wide-bodied planes by October 2008, which it will use to expand its international network. The airline will also add destinations in China, Europe and the Middle East and strengthen its presence in south east Asia. (13 December 2006)

Air charter:
According to conservative estimates, India's civil aviation sector has been growing at the rate of more than 20 percent per annum. With India's GDP projected to grow at the rate of eight percent per annum, tourism and business travel sector registering a robust annual growth of 15 percent along with India's emergence as the fourth largest economy in the world in terms of purchasing power with its 300-million strong middle class, the Indian civil aviation sector is posed for a take off. Similarly, medical tourism in the country, is showing a potential to grow at 25 percent per year and fetching the country US $2.15 billion by 2012. There has been a significant increase in both the domestic and international air traffic and cargo in India over the last five years. (13 December 2006)

Japan-India Flights:
Japan and India likely will quadruple the number of commercial flights between the two nations. The agreement will be the first between the two nations concerning bilateral flight services since 1993, when they agreed to increase the number of flights between the countries shortly before Kansai Airport opened. The potential agreement is expected to boost bilateral economic relations. Japan Airlines currently operates four round-trip flights a week between Japan and India, while an Indian airline operates seven round-trip flights a week. The two governments are now holding final negotiations, aiming for each country to increase the number of round-trip flights to 21 per week--resulting in 42 round-trip flights in total.
(13 December 2006)

Online Tickets:
Online ticket sales offer tremendous growth potential for the airlines industry in India according to the new ‘Indian Consumer Report’ commissioned by Visa International and conducted by AC Nielsen. The largest product category for online purchases was airline tickets in the first half of 2006 with 40 per cent of online shoppers indicating they had purchased tickets between January to June 2006. This was followed by ‘Books’ (29 percent) and ‘Music’ (24 percent). In addition to being the overall category leader, online airline ticket purchases have also been attracting a significant amount of repeat purchases by consumers. Globally too airlines represent the largest merchant category of e-commerce transactions (close to US$6.68 trillion globally for April 2006). Consumers in India are clearly following the global trend as airline tickets continue to remain the most popular choice among consumers for online purchases. (12 December 2006)

Kingfisher Airlines:
Kingfisher Airlines and dishtv will bring Live entertainment for the very first time in the Indian skies. This association signifies the commitment to enhance in-flight entertainment like never before and a turning point to make the unprecedented happen, the launch of Live, 35000 feet high in the sky. As a part of the tie-up, the country's pioneer DTH player, dishtv, will demonstrate its services on Kingfisher Airlines. The first aircraft empowered by dishtv complete with the Live service, will be ready to take-off by the end of December, 2006. Kingfisher Airlines Fun TV will now comprise of 16 channels of Live showing business news, current affairs, popular sitcoms, live sporting action, Hollywood and Bollywood blockbusters, chartbusting music, travel and lifestyle, five channels of the very popular broadcasted video content and one moving map channel. (12 December 2006)

Jet Airways:
Jet Airways has launched direct daily flights from Delhi and Kolkata to Bangkok, the 50th destination on the airline’s network, effective 23 January 2007. Consequent to the induction into its fleet of a brand new Boeing 737-800 aircraft with winglets, Jet Airways, which has been designated by the Government of India to operate air services on the India-Thailand route, will introduce two daily direct flights effective January 23, 2007 to Asia’s favourite destination, Bangkok.Jet Airways will operate these flights with a brand new Boeing 737-800 aircraft with winglets, which will be inducted into the airline fleet next month, taking the fleet size to 59.
(12 December 2006)

Indian:
Indian is in talks with IDBI to raise Rs 2,400 crore in rupee loan for financing the purchase of ten mint-fresh planes from Airbus, starting 2008. This will be the first time the airline is seeking rupee financing for aircraft purchase. The move will help India reduce the transaction costs. Indian intends to secure rupee loan to finance the aircraft that are slated to be delivered after 2008. It had recently tie up loans for the first lot of 10 Airbus jets under its previously agreed 43-aircraft order. The fresh loan is being sought for new aircraft that will be inducted from 2008 onwards. IA had secured a loan of $540 million from the German national bank KFW to pay for the delivery of first 10 Airbus planes. The loan, covers those aircraft that It will receive till early 2008. (12 December 2006)

Jet Airways:
Jet Airways has signed a contract with CAE, a world leader in providing simulation and training solutions to commercial airlines, for supply of Boeing 777-300ER (Extended Range) and Airbus A330 simulators. In addition, the Canadian-based company will provide a CAE Simfinity Integrated Procedures Trainer (IPT) for the Boeing 777-300ER aircraft as well as a CAE Simfinity Maintenance Flight Training Device (MFTD) for the A330 aircraft. Jet Airways fleet expansion plans of wide body aircraft is scheduled to commence in April 2007 when deliveries start of the 10 brand new Boeing 777-300ER and 10 Airbus A330 aircraft. (12 December 2006)

SpiceJet:
SpiceJet plans to offer equity up to $80 million to 4-5 investors. The company's board had decided to issue equity shares on preferential basis to investors after they offered to invest about $118.5 million in SpiceJet. Spicejet's share price extended gains to jump as high as 6.7 percent to 61.90. Potential investors include Tata Group firms, Texas Pacific Group Ventures, Istithmar PJSC and Goldman Sachs. Dubai-based Istithmar, which now holds 10 percent of SpiceJet, would raise its stake to 25 percent. The airline's revenues for the business year ending May crossed 4.53 billion rupees and it hopes double revenue in 2006-07.
(12 December 2006)

Airbus:
Airbus would hike investment in India to at least one billion dollars as it forecast the country would need 1,100 new planes over 20 years to meet soaring travel demand. The aircraft maker had pledged to plow back $500m to $600 into India over the next decade as part of a 2.5bn deal in early 2006 to sell 43 aircraft to state-owned carrier Indian. The commitment to spend on training, engineering and other projects came as Airbus forecast India would need 1,100 new aircraft over the next two decades — 935 passenger planes and 165 cargo — worth a total of $105bn. India now has 198 planes. (8 December 2006)

Open Sky:
The minister for civil aviation has informed that a limited open sky policy has been declared to handle additional traffic at airports during the peak winter season. Long term solutions are being undertaken by the government to deal with heavy traffic congestion at Delhi and Mumbai airports during peak hours. Under the limited open sky policy, all designated foreign airlines are permitted to mount as many services as they wish to their available points of call. Besides they are also permitted to upgrade equipment at their discretion on existing frequencies between November 15 and February 28. (8 December 2006)

Tax Sops:
In an effort to cut losses, the airline industry has asked the finance ministry for an extension of the exemption given on withholding tax on lease rentals of aircraft by another year. It has also called for harmonisation of domestic jet fuel prices vis-à-vis international rates. Also, high on the industry’s wish-list for Budget 2007 is relaxation in fringe benefit tax (FBT) on free and concession passages given by airlines to its employees. The industry has put forth the argument that hotel stay of cabin and cockpit crew should not attract FBT as it is incurred as part of regular operational requirements and should not be treated as a perk to employees.
(8 December 2006)

Airport Economic Regulatory Authority:
The Indian government is likely to introduce a bill proposing to form the Airport Economic Regulatory Authority (AERA) in the budget session of parliament next year. The government had also decided to upgrade facilities and improve traffic at 70 airports in the country where air traffic was extremely low. The government wants a greater number of flights and activity at the airports where many airlines are still reluctant to fly. There was a need for greater investment in the airport infrastructure to deal with the problems of traffic congestion and improve quality of services in the aviation sector. (7 December 2006)

Kingfisher Airlines:
Canon India has announced a promotional plan for its camcorder model DC22 in association with Kingfisher airlines. This promotion program will start on 1 December 2006 and will go on till 31 December 2006. With this campaign, Canon introduces the new dual layer DVD camcorder DC22, and the King Club members who fly in December will have a chance to win this fabulous little beauty that is power-packed with unique features. (7 December 2006)

Singapore Airlines:
Singapore Airlines has increased the number of its flights to India, Hong Kong and New Zealand to fill higher travel demand over the Christmas and New Year's holidays. To meet greater demand for travel to India, the airline has added a flight to Bangalore on Tuesdays. With the increase, the airline now flies six times weekly to Bangalore. The carrier is also adding flights between Singapore and Auckland during the year-end period, operating an additional two weekly flights. (6 December 2006)

Air India;
Air India has received the delivery of the first of its planned purchase of 68 Boeing jetliners at the Indira Gandhi International Airport in New Delhi. The digitally designed Boeing 737-800 aircraft is part of the largest commercial airplane order in India's civil aviation history placed by Air India in December 2005. The brand new aircraft will be joining the existing fleet of B 737-800's of Air India Express, a low-cost airline subsidiary of Air India. The aircraft with an all economy class configuration has a capacity to seat 180 passengers. (6 December 2006)

Airport Charges:
Airlines and civil aviation minister Praful Patel are headed for a face-off over the recently introduced congestion surcharge of Rs 150 per passenger. If industry insiders are to be believed, airlines, which are in no mood to relent to Patel’s request to rollback the levy, may use the opportunity to negotiate for a cut in the landing, parking and navigational charges at major airports. The recent formation of Federation of Indian Airlines (FIA), an industry body, it will be easier for the carriers put collective pressure on the minister. Domestic carriers have justified the surcharge saying that airports snarls have bumped up their costs because of the higher fuel burn. (6 December 2006)

Tourist Traffic:
Though Switzerland has been a preferred destination for Indians during summers, it has of late emerged as a favourite among globe-trotting Indians. In the first nine months of 2006, the authorities noticed a 22.5 percent jump in tourist traffic from India over the same period in 2005. It is estimated that by the year-end, the number of Indians flying into Switzerland will cross 125,000 from 101,300 till September. On an annualized basis, tourist traffic from India is set to register 35 percent growth in 2006 as against 20 percent in 2005. Even with this growth rate, India accounts for only 2.8 percent of the total visitors to Switzerland from the world over. (5 December 2006)

Demand for Aircraft:
redicting robust growth in the India civil aviation sector European aerospace major Airbus said the country would require passenger and freight aircraft, valued at 105 billion dollars, to serve the strong demand by 2025. According to the latest Airbus global market forecast India will become the fastest growing country for air travel demand for the next decade. The number of passenger aircraft will increase five-fold from 190 aircrafts in service at the end of 2005. The freight fleet is poised to increase almost 20-fold to meet the potentially large untapped market from eight freighter aircrafts in service in 2005 to 165 in 2025. (5 December 2006)

UK-India Air Traffic:
here has been a doubling of the number of people traveling by air between India and the UK due to the liberalising of norms for travel between the two countries, according to an official study. Since 2004, the number of passengers has grown from one million to just over two million for the 12 months up to July 2006. The rise is due to the greater choice and capacity available, combined with cheaper fares. (5 December 2006)

Kale, IATA:
Kale Consultants, a provider of software solutions and outsourced services to the Travel and Transportation industry, and IATA (the International Air Transport Association), would be working together to promote e-freight in India. Kale would act as the Nodal agency to coordinate activities required to implement e-freight in India. IATA e-freight was one of the five global initiatives being undertaken under the ‘Simplify the Business’ programme.
(4 December 2006)

FDI in Cargo:
he government would raise the foreign direct investment ceiling in air cargo and non-scheduled operations to 74 percent from the current 49 percent, by 2007. Air-India and Indian Airlines would also enter the cargo business shortly. The government will set up a cargo hub in Nagpur to give a fillip to cargo business in the country. The cargo hub will be set up through a joint venture and the JV partner will be finalised through a global tender. Additional land is being provided near the Nagpur airport for the proposed cargo hub. (4 December 2006)

Domestic Air Fares:
India's domestic airlines — led by Jet Airways, Indian Airlines, Kingfisher and Air Sahara — have decided to impose a fresh congestion surcharge of Rs 150 on all air tickets with effect from Friday. The decision was taken at a meeting of the recently-formed airline industry body, Federation of Indian Airlines (FIA). This would be the fifth time that airline are hiking domestic fares this fiscal. Prior to this, the airlines had effected hikes on fuel surcharges and even tinkered the basic fares to shore up their margins. The industry stated that every airline is losing around Rs 20-30 crore every quarter on account of the growing traffic congestion, which forces aircraft to hover over a city before finding a landing slot. (1 December 2006)

Jet Airways:
Jet Airways has entered into a special code sharing (SPA) agreement with the world’s largest carrier American Airlines for India-US flights. Travellers from various regions in India will have the convenience of using Jet Airways’ network to reach London and then fly onward to Chicago and beyond on American Airlines. The fleet of American Airlines, including its regional airlines, numbers more than 1,000 aircraft. Earlier, American Airlines had signed a code share contract with Air Sahara. (1 December 2006)