With Air India's domestic market share falling like a rock (down to 13% as of March 2017), one has to wonder when the taxpayers can expect another bail out request from this failed public sector unit. It also had the highest complaint rate (4x the industry median!) and the lowest load factors among the major domestic carriers.

^^But....but... AI is launching Int'l routes now.. so AI will surely get out of debt very soon.... So please stop spreading negative news about our beloved AI.

atal17 wrote:

Jet Airways continues EU expansion with 3rd daily Mumbai-London Heathrow commencing effective W17

9W116 BOM0905 - 1335LHR 77W D

9W115 LHR1530 - 0555+1BOM 77W D

Bookings open!

Slots? But with DL/VS partnership, the onward connectivity to 10+ destinations surely helps!

Srilankan relaunching flights on CMB-HYD also new service to 3 other Indian cities.Phew !!

goacom wrote:

With Air India's domestic market share falling like a rock (down to 13% as of March 2017), one has to wonder when the taxpayers can expect another bail out request from this failed public sector unit. It also had the highest complaint rate (4x the industry median!) and the lowest load factors among the major domestic carriers.

I hope you do know, that Air India cannot keep up with capacity increases coming from IndiGo - who is adding more than 20+ aircraft per annum. This kind of slide is also being seen on Jet (from some 20+% to less than 19%).

atal17 wrote:

goacom wrote:

With Air India's domestic market share falling like a rock (down to 13% as of March 2017), one has to wonder when the taxpayers can expect another bail out request from this failed public sector unit. It also had the highest complaint rate (4x the industry median!) and the lowest load factors among the major domestic carriers.

I hope you do know, that Air India cannot keep up with capacity increases coming from IndiGo - who is adding more than 20+ aircraft per annum. This kind of slide is also being seen on Jet (from some 20+% to less than 19%).

I don't think AI had been focusing much on its domestic fleet other than just trying to make sure the flights operate. The A320neos were ordered only recently, and the first delivery was months ago. As the older, less reliable aircraft retire, I expect AIs domestic share to fall further. However, I do hope to see AI add domestic capacity in the next two years.

AIs current operations, before all the interest payments are made, should be better than break-even. AIs loan interest payments, which resulted from the previous administration forcing AI to buy expensive aircraft without giving them the financing options to take delivery, are the main reason for AIs financial woes. I think a Ch-11 style bankruptcy where AI splits into a fully capitalized "good" airline and a "bad" airline with all the working capital loan obligations that would be allowed to fold might be the only way out.

atal17 wrote:

I hope you do know, that Air India cannot keep up with capacity increases coming from IndiGo - who is adding more than 20+ aircraft per annum. This kind of slide is also being seen on Jet (from some 20+% to less than 19%).

Why did you explain this logic, atal17? it was so fun every time someone quotes losing AI domestic market share is a sign of something bad.

devmapper wrote:

atal17 wrote:

I don't think AI had been focusing much on its domestic fleet other than just trying to make sure the flights operate. The A320neos were ordered only recently, and the first delivery was months ago. As the older, less reliable aircraft retire, I expect AIs domestic share to fall further. However, I do hope to see AI add domestic capacity in the next two years.

AIs current operations, before all the interest payments are made, should be better than break-even. AIs loan interest payments, which resulted from the previous administration forcing AI to buy expensive aircraft without giving them the financing options to take delivery, are the main reason for AIs financial woes. I think a Ch-11 style bankruptcy where AI splits into a fully capitalized "good" airline and a "bad" airline with all the working capital loan obligations that would be allowed to fold might be the only way out.

Good point; obvious reason why the new bankruptcy law is badly needed. Ironical that one of the first "victim's" of the socialist madness that cause so many problems would be an ideal case of the bankruptcy law!

Having said that, one cannot simply wish away the unprofessional workforce! Maybe, that will need the new labor law!

Just finished watching Poorna

(if you are a prime video subscriber: https://www.primevideo.com/detail/0KN4T ... =&pf_rd_t=)

As awesome the movie is, it tells something even more about IndiGo's CEO Aditya Ghosh who promoted it for free, for its story and it's message. Earlier, I expected there would be atleast a few scenes about 6E, but guess what, there isn't any. You see Nepal Airlines and Air India though.


Official 6E press release: https://www.goindigo.in/content/dam/goi ... -Power.pdf

Why the heck don't cinema halls around me show these awesome movies instead of half girlfriend like crap......

qf789 wrote:

Effective 1 July 17 SQ421/422 to BOM will be operated by A359 instead of 777-200/ER

Wow, this is so exciting, 2 A350s to BOM.

SpiceJet to commence Low Cost International long-haul to cities in Europe by leasing two 788

https://www.ch-aviation.com/portal/news ... haul-debut

JOYA380B747 wrote:

unrave wrote:

MIAL proposes expansion at the cost of Rs. 3500 crore. Highlights include:

.....

Shifting the ATC Tower to a more secure location in the southern part of the airport (if deemed necessary by security agencies)

How do then plan to 'Shift' the ATC tower? I don't follow.

MIAL propose to shift the ATC tower mostly to the cross section at Kranti Nagar, Sakinaka after clearing the slums. I don't see any other way of 'shifting' other than demolishing and rebuilding. It is part of MIAL's master plan to expand and accommodate 50-65 million pax and a spokesperson said that the ATC tower would remain for now until security agencies approve the shift. It would cost around 120 cr. to rebuild the iconic ATCT.

Air India Express will soon start a direct flight ,thrice weekly ,from Kuwait to Delhi;Departure timings from KWI will be 1105hrs;departing on Wednesdays,Fridays and Sundays

Air India to resume DEL - LAX nonstop in winter 2017. Date not yet disclosed. They also plan to add Bollywood - Hollywood BOM - LAX nonstop from mid 2018. Rumored that Air India might use the remaining 4 787s on order for this ultra long haul service in an Ultra long haul configuration instead of 777 due to Passenger comfort and cost efficiency.

Alitalia to return to the Indian market with FCO - DEL nonstop. Newly configured A330. On questioned "Why not Mumbai?" - Spokesperson said, Delhi is more profitable and popular. Someone has to use the remaining slots at BOM. Glad that KLM is returning to Mumbai.

Are we not doing monthly threads anymore? It is already 8 days into June

Air India's expansion put on hold due to privatization plans. Maybe this is for real.
http://www.livemint.com/Companies/11ia3 ... headw.html

goacom wrote:

Air India's expansion put on hold due to privatization plans. Maybe this is for real.
http://www.livemint.com/Companies/11ia3 ... headw.html

It certainly looks like the Modi Government is putting out a lot of optics on this. News of AI's privatization is a regular on my newsfeed for the past week or so now. and it's always Live Mint 90% of the time no other outlet

Spicejet launching new routes effective July

* 1 daily Surat-Kolkata-Patna effective 01JUL

SG877 STV1415 - 1655CCU1755 - 1905PAT 73H D

SG876 PAT0845 - 0945CCU1050 - 1330STV 73H D

* 1 daily Chennai-Hyderabad-Patna effective 01JUL

SG831 MAA0625 - 0730HYD0800 - 1010PAT 73H D

SG832 PAT1800 - 2020HYD2050 - 2200MAA 73H D

* 1 daily Mumbai-Patna effective 01JUL

SG876 BOM0545 - 0815PAT 73H D

SG877 PAT1950 - 2220BOM 73H D

* 6 weekly Bengaluru-Patna effective 01JUL

SG868 BLR1355 - 1705PAT 73H x2

SG867 PAT1055 - 1325BLR 73H x2

* 1 weekly Chennai-Patna nonstop effective 01JUL

SG868 MAA1435 - 1705PAT 73H 2

SG867 PAT1055 - 1325MAA 73H 2

* 1 daily Mumbai-Hyderabad-Tirupati effective 01JUL (replacing one daily Mumbai-Hyderabad-Visakhapatnam)

SG467 BOM1305 - 1430HYD1500 - 1600TIR 73H D

SG468 TIR1630 - 1725HYD1825 - 1955BOM 73H D

* 1 daily Delhi-Patna effective 10JUL

SG761 DEL1645 - 1850PAT 737 D

SG762 PAT1935 - 2115DEL 737 D

* 1 daily Mumbai-Kandla effective 10JUL

SG2875 BOM1305 - 1430IXY DH4 D

SG2876 IXY1510 - 1635BOM DH4 D

* 1 daily Mumbai-Porbandar effective 10JUL

SG2873 BOM0930 - 1045PBD DH4 D

SG2874 PBD1105 - 1220BOM DH4 D

* 1 daily Hyderabad-Jaipur-Guwahati effective 01JUL

SG841 HYD0550 - 0755JAI0825 - 1100GAU 73H D

SG842 HYD1130 - 1410JAI1520 - 1720HYD 73H D

* 5 weekly Hyderabad-Chandigarh effective 01JUL

SG845 HYD1750 - 2020IXC 73H x67

SG846 IXC2050 - 2320HYD 73H x67

* weekends only Hyderabad-Jaipur effective 01JUL

SG871 HYD1750 - 1950JAI 73H 67

SG872 JAI2020 - 2220HYD 73H 67

* 1 daily Hyderabad-Mangalore effective 01JUL till 31AUG

SG1004 HYD1000 - 1120IXE DH4 D

SG1005 IXE1140 - 1310HYD DH4 D

* 6 additional weekly Hyderabad-Vijayawada effective 01JUL

SG1043 HYD1305 - 1400VGA DH4 x3

SG1044 VGA1440 - 1530HYD DH4 x3

In addition, Spicejet is terminating Bengaluru/Chennai-Guwahati, and reducing Bengaluru-Ahmedabad to 1 daily effective 01JUL

AI is looking at Kunming as a new destination to be served from Northeast.

Kolkata-Kunming makes sense to see if loads can be sustained. But Air India is currently drawing traffic from everywhere in India funneling via DEL to Europe and North America quite successfully. Thats gotta be their strategy going forward to strengthen their DEL hub, instead of tinkering with peripheral routes...

Bangkok and Kunming are to be from Guwahati.

atal17 wrote:

Spicejet launching new routes effective July

Where are they getting the extra slots at BOM? Were they already there from earlier frequency cuts on other routes?

Unsubstantiated rumor doing the rounds: Jet Airways looking to convert some of their 737-8MAX orders to the larger 737-10. One source says order has already been placed with Boeing in 9W's typically understated style. Another says order at some Airshow.

Received a whatsapp forward with image of an ATR72 in Indigo colors - regn F-WWEZ.

Disclaimer: Not sure if this is edited - photoshop industry is huge in India!

This looks too real to be photoshopped in my opinion.

BawliBooch wrote:

Received a whatsapp forward with image of an ATR72 in Indigo colors - regn F-WWEZ.

Disclaimer: Not sure if this is edited - photoshop industry is huge in India!

Not photoshopped at all.

Confirmed by Aditya Ghosh on his instagram page.

https://instagram.com/p/BVcNA92hhkv/

9W to commence new routes out of Jaipur/Indore effective 16JUL17

1 daily Jaipur-Udaipur

9W2261 JAI1600 - 1700UDR AT7 D

9W2624 UDR1725 - 1825JAI AT7 D

1 daily Jaipur-Lucknow

9W2830 JAI1550 - 1720LKO AT7 D

9W2264 LKO1435 - 1555JAI AT7 D

1 daily Jaipur-Indore

9W2267 JAI1620 - 1740IDR AT7 D

9W2830 IDR1340 - 1525JAI AT7 D

1 daily Ahmedabad-Indore

9W2823 IDR1035 - 1140AMD AT7 D

9W2824 AMD1205 - 1315IDR AT7 D

9W will increase Delhi-Jaipur to 7 daily ATR, Delhi-Indore to 3 daily (Indore-Delhi remains 2 daily) and Lucknow-Delhi to 8 daily flights (Delhi-Lucknow will remain 7 daily flights) from the same date.

What's that rocket like thing in the behind? Is ISRO participating in PAS?

Btw, their first ATR was previously scheduled for December right? Here we have it almost 6 months before..

anshabhi wrote:

Btw, their first ATR was previously scheduled for December right? Here we have it almost 6 months before..

This is ATR painting one of their test aircraft in the 6E livery in order to commemorate a possible order. This won't be delivered to them.

well 9w were intrested in phasing out the atr and now with these new flights from jaipur and ahemdabad they seem to hang on to these atr's.

17.63% growth in May 2017. http://dgca.nic.in/reports/Traffic_repo ... 052017.pdf

Akbar Al Baker(Qatar Airways CEO) confirms talks with Bombardier for C-Series for its new Indian JV airline.
https://twitter.com/jonostrower/status/ ... 8753886208

sand26391 wrote:

Akbar Al Baker(Qatar Airways CEO) confirms talks with Bombardier for C-Series for its new Indian JV airline.
https://twitter.com/jonostrower/status/ ... 8753886208

Why oh why does the Indian government feel this is needed. There is enough competition in Indian aviation as it is. Let those airlines make some money and stabilize. If this launches, the JV and Qatar airlines should have the SHARE the Qatar seat allocation. Starting an Indian airline should not be a loophole in getting new seat allocation. Don't care what happened to Jet. Funneling more pax through the ME is not in the best interest of India. Its good for all that they exist. But they are what they are. The focus should be on growing connectivity with in India and nonstop international connectivity to more cities around the world. I hate saying this but basically what AI is doing...

Another bites the dust....
'Aviation Regulator DGCA Suspends Air Carnival's Flying Permit.'

http://m.ndtv.com/india-news/coimbatore ... ca-1714078

AAB wants nonstops to EU (and elsewhere) ex-India, and the JV will provide that, nicely sidestepping the Gulf airspace imbroglio.

CaliguyNYC wrote:

Why oh why does the Indian government feel this is needed.

So long as it gets the taxpayer off paying for AI every quarter, I think it's a great option. Not like the Indian taxpayer will be paying for QR's India ops (I certainly hope they do)...

anshabhi wrote:

17.63% growth in May 2017. http://dgca.nic.in/reports/Traffic_repo ... 052017.pdf

May 2017 marks a historic month in Indian aviation as the monthly domestic passenger count crosses 10 million for the first time. To provide some perspective roughly the same number of domestic passengers took to the skies in the entire year in 2003-04. The growth in aviation has been spectacular over the last decade. Looking at the future, Airbus predicts that the annual Indian domestic passenger count will reach 600 m (from the current 100 m) in 30 years.

WPvsMW wrote:

AAB wants nonstops to EU (and elsewhere) ex-India, and the JV will provide that, nicely sidestepping the Gulf airspace imbroglio.

I think the current gulf crisis is short lived, all these nations will soon get over their pen** envy and realise they all equally support terrorism and end up joining hands again.

But it's good to hear that QR's domestic airline will look to non-stops to Indian target markets, and bypass DOH altogether.

sand26391 wrote:

Akbar Al Baker(Qatar Airways CEO) confirms talks with Bombardier for C-Series for its new Indian JV airline.
https://twitter.com/jonostrower/status/ ... 8753886208

OMG, I am ready to leave loyalty to any airline if the CS100 or CS300 comes to India. By far my favorite single aisle jetliner. It has windows 60% bigger than the A320 and 26% bigger than the 737NG. The only thing i'm worried about is brand recognition. If Indians know that the airline is a JV introduced by a ME airline, then their market share will skyrocket.

Looks like Etihad got their hand on Air Berlin, AlItalia, Air Serbia and so on.

It is Qatar's turn. Come on, if you are sitting on couple hundred billions in your bank account, throwing a few hundred million is worth a try.

From Indian Govt. perspective, anything that drives investment in the non-metro airports is only a plus.

So its India, a new area Al Baker said QR were to invest in?

vadodara wrote:

Looks like Etihad got their hand on Air Berlin, AlItalia, Air Serbia and so on.

It is Qatar's turn. Come on, if you are sitting on couple hundred billions in your bank account, throwing a few hundred million is worth a try.

From Indian Govt. perspective, anything that drives investment in the non-metro airports is only a plus.

Or maybe get AI for free albeit with $3-4 billion debt but a lot of valuable assets and a massively famous brand name.

anshabhi wrote:

vadodara wrote:

Looks like Etihad got their hand on Air Berlin, AlItalia, Air Serbia and so on.

It is Qatar's turn. Come on, if you are sitting on couple hundred billions in your bank account, throwing a few hundred million is worth a try.

From Indian Govt. perspective, anything that drives investment in the non-metro airports is only a plus.

Or maybe get AI for free albeit with $3-4 billion debt but a lot of valuable assets and a massively famous brand name.

Possibly! If it doesn't run into any political flack!

Not sure what their strategy would be for the India based hubs!

Nimish wrote:

WPvsMW wrote:

AAB wants nonstops to EU (and elsewhere) ex-India, and the JV will provide that, nicely sidestepping the Gulf airspace imbroglio.

I think the current gulf crisis is short lived, all these nations will soon get over their pen** envy and realise they all equally support terrorism and end up joining hands again.

Hahahaha - so, so, true.

Sadly it's the Indians who contribute to their terror funds the most by continuing to patronize these airlines. Just flew QR for the first time recently - never again will we fly sharia air. What a horrific experience.

^^Not the biggest ME3 fan.. but have flown QR several times..... Its been great. Not as great as SQ/Cathay service to the West coast. I dont know why u call them "sharia air" much better than our very own AI or 9W.

Qatar should buy AI while Modi is desperate to achieve something and Qatar need to teach a lesson their neighbors. Its a win-win.

Most aircraft related debt is lease debt, buyer need not to pay anybody.
Working capital debt from global sources should be at a competitive rate, shouldn't be a problem.
Working capital debt to Indian banks $3B-$4B is the anchor, pay in full and take over all assets banks kept as collateral.

AI has assets close to $4B. May be Qatar airline, Qatar sovereign fund and may be Kushner should take over. Kushner will be able to monetize the real estate assets quickly.

Courtesy: India Today


Courtesy: Livemint
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DCQSGt8XcAARiI_.jpg

9w748capt wrote:

Nimish wrote:

WPvsMW wrote:

AAB wants nonstops to EU (and elsewhere) ex-India, and the JV will provide that, nicely sidestepping the Gulf airspace imbroglio.

I think the current gulf crisis is short lived, all these nations will soon get over their pen** envy and realise they all equally support terrorism and end up joining hands again.

Hahahaha - so, so, true.

Sadly it's the Indians who contribute to their terror funds the most by continuing to patronize these airlines. Just flew QR for the first time recently - never again will we fly sharia air. What a horrific experience.

Jealousy is unbecoming.

Ah come on! As people say, owning an airline is the easiest way to loose a few billions!

In this case, pumping money in one would equate to less money for Taliban! Call it a win-win situation.

dtw2hyd wrote:

Qatar should buy AI while Modi is desperate to achieve something and Qatar need to teach a lesson their neighbors. Its a win-win.

Most aircraft related debt is lease debt, buyer need not to pay anybody.
Working capital debt from global sources should be at a competitive rate, shouldn't be a problem.
Working capital debt to Indian banks $3B-$4B is the anchor, pay in full and take over all assets banks kept as collateral.

AI has assets close to $4B. May be Qatar airline, Qatar sovereign fund and may be Kushner should take over. Kushner will be able to monetize the real estate assets quickly.

Looks like you forgot that the govt needs to recover, some, of what it has sunk in. Perhaps, the airline, non-airline business, assets etc will be separated and debts written off before the sale.

The buyer can come-in, offer 4-5 VRS schemes, and get the brand, routes, planes etc.

Only question is how to manage slots say at Bombay and other slot controlled airports.