Aerospace Diary

Air Transport Aviation Week & Space Technology Aug 23 , 2010 , p. 43 Neelam Mathews New Delhi As India’s airlines recover, new aircraft are ordered and opportunities arise Printed headline: Another Step Forward Resilient domestic demand is supporting a resumption of aircraft ordering by Indian airlines, a bounce-back after three years of distress. India’s airlines were among the most active in big fleet orders early in the decade, particularly in long-haul transports, and the market was a nursery for startups. But Indian carriers struggled with market overcapacity by the time the recession began gripping the industry in late 2008. The combination of their own over-reach, poor management and the industry’s doldrums prompted mergers—of Jet Airways and Air Sahara, Kingfisher Airlines and Air Deccan, Air India and Indian Airlines—and experiments in survival as budget carriers increasingly took market share from mainline airlines. In one experiment, full-service Kingfisher h...

Air Transport Aviation Week & Space Technology Jan 11 , 2010 , p. 37 Neelam Mathews New Delhi Gulf carriers woo Indian passengers as a strategic market linked to the West Printed headline: Targeted Entry With lower fares, newer aircraft, inexpensive hotel packages and what some regard as better service, Middle East carriers are gobbling up market share in India at the expense of local and European competitors. The Middle East carriers are using their hubs in Dubai and Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates, and Doha in Qatar as waypoints to seat Indian passengers bound for Western Europe and the U.S. An introduction by Emirates of Airbus A380s on its Dubai-Paris route would increase pressure on Air India. Credit: EMIRATES Without the Middle East push, Indian passengers would more likely have booked on Air India, Jet Airways or Kingfisher from their own country, or on one of the big European carriers with a major presence in India, such as Lufthansa. International traffic into India ...