Aerospace Diary

Neelam Mathews Aug 18, 2015 As airlines in India jostle for media recognition in a bid to attract passengers, they are employing a host of new marketing initiatives in this fiercely competitive market. Leading the way is India’s fastest growing carrier, IndiGo, which has finalized a deal  to acquire 250 Airbus A320neo aircraft . Eyeing a public offering before year-end, the consistently profitable budget carrier focuses on excelling in meeting the  core  needs of passengers.  “It’s all about the experience – being on time, cleanliness on board and standardization,” says a marketing guru in the region. The carrier’s Twitter handle reacts politely to good and bad tweets, and its marketing is imaginative. “Who would think of printing little [story] snippets on sandwich packs? I know of a woman who has collected 68 cookie packs! Perhaps one day they will have a competition for the collectors,” he says of IndiGo’s decision to make the packa...

Neelam Mathews Dec 17, 2012 Express Industry Council of India (EICI), the apex industry body of Express companies, says domestic  airlines should stop charging fuel surcharge immediately and allow market forces to operate. It  has alleged that domestic airlines have formed a price cartel that is exploiting the levy of fuel surcharge (FSC) on cargo by not applying a rational pricing mechanism. Aerospace Diary could not confirm this and invites airlines to give their point of view. The EICI says in the "last four years, there has been substantial hike in fuel surcharge, which has not been commensurate to the highly volatile Air Turbine Fuel (ATF) prices. With effect from November 19, 2012, domestic airlines have further increased the FSC on cargo by Rs. 2/kg in spite of a marked drop in ATF prices." “What has been surprising is that all airlines have chosen to increase the FSC by the same amount more or less at the same time. This has led us to believe that this ...

Neelam Mathews Oct 19, 2012 So, now the buzz between the Kingfisher staff is that Emirates will be buying the airline. Another rumor says the CEO was in London last week to plead to his employer to hire expat crew for the 5 planes they probably want to run. Wonder who started these rumors???? Because by now- with sincere apologies to the KFA remaining staff- you really live up to the saying: "Hope springs eternal in the human breast."  Moving on, either the airline and the government thinks we the people of India are really stupid or, infact, we really are! I'm begining to think increasingly, we fall into the latter category. Or else why should anybody fall for the third press release sent within a week or two? Here it goes- Credits-Manjul Kingfisher Airlines has extended the partial lockout until October 23, 2012. We had a positive meeting with employee representatives on October 17th and are hopeful of reaching common ground when we meet again next week....