Aerospace Diary

Neelam Mathews March 7, 2019 Embroiled in a quagmire of losses resulting in the grounding of 42 of its 114-aircraft fleet and the cancelation of some 200 flights a day, India’s Jet Airways faces a bleak future should stakeholders not accept a resolution plan to convert mounting debt into equity. The airline owes more than $1.25 billion, $300 million of which came from government-owned State Bank of India (SBI). The approval of the bank-led provisional resolution plan “is an important step” toward saving the country’s oldest private carrier, Jet Airways chairman Naresh Goyal indicated in a statement late last month. Jet Airways vendors have called a meeting on March 11 with the carrier and representatives from minority shareholder Etihad Airways to ascertain and decide the way forward. “It is hard to say if there will be closure,” an airline official told  AIN . “The situation is very critical and any further delay will create challenges for Jet,” said CAPA Centre for Avia...

by  Neelam Mathews  - October 18, 2016, 9:00 AM  Twenty-month-old Indian startup airline Vistara plans to adjust its strategy to fly internationally following the establishment of a new civil aviation policy in the subcontinent that allows carriers with 20 aircraft to fly abroad immediately. The previous mandate called for a minimum of five years of domestic flying with 20 aircraft. Against a background of a booming economy and India’s fast growing aviation industry, Vistara expects to launch its international operations by 2018. Talks have begun “with two airlines for partnerships [to foreign destinations],” confirmed Phee Teik Yeoh, CEO of the Tata Sons-Singapore Airlines joint venture. While it has applied for a code-share agreement with parent Singapore Airlines, Vistara has signed 12 interline agreements including those with British Airways, Finnair, Air France-KLM, ANA and JAL. Fleet addition has proved steady. “By June 2...

Neelam Mathews March 11, 2016 They say one should watch one's mouth even in good times.  A reader just reminded us how Mallya in his heydays would brag that one day all Blue Jet Airways tails would be Red. He was ofcourse referring to Jet succumbing to his all mighty power! All of a sudden there seems to be some logic in sayings like 'Don't put your cart before your horse!" Quint Ex Employees and Jet staffers too, I hear, are salivating in the fact that Mallya had to bow down to use Jet Airways First Class to flee. "How the mighty have fallen,' they snigger. "Today, the joke is on him," said our reader. One wonders, however,  if justice will really be served. As for us, we continue to empathize with the hundreds who lost their jobs.                            

Neelam Mathews  -  December 28, 2015, 10:00 am (AIN-US)  United Airlines is using its new Boeing 787-9s to develop services to Chinese cities such as Chengdu. [Photo: Boeing] The rapid expansion of seat capacity to and from India by Middle East carriers is impeding United Airlines’ plans to build market share in the country. Instead, United, which already has daily nonstop service from New York to both Delhi and Mumbai, is mainly focusing on expanding operations to China’s secondary cities. Acccording to Brian Znotins, United’s network vice president, the carrier now has more nonstop flights to China than any other  U.S.  airline. “Despite the slowdown of China’s economy, as travel from China grows, we will be there in future,” said Znotins. One new route pending Chinese government approval is a nonstop seasonal service to Xian that it hopes to start in May 2016. Demand for flights to the fast-growing city of Chengdu has exceeded Unite...

Neelam Mathews Aug 18 2015                    IndiGo now operates close to 100 A320s. (Photo: Neelam Mathews) I nvestor confidence in the troubled Indian air transport sector appears poised for a boost with budget airline IndiGo’s plans to raise $400 million in an initial public offering ( IPO ) following its   order for 250   A320N eos . Delivery schedules call for those airplanes to arrive in India between 2018 and 2025. In the past nine years since its launch, IndiGo has ordered 530   A320 -family jets. It expects to become the second carrier to receive the   A320N eo from a batch of 180 it ordered in 2011, after Qatar Airways takes its first in December this year. “ IndiGo’s   IPO   helps re-rate the sector and is a reflection of what can be achieved by budget GoAir and SpiceJet, and even Jet Airways,” Kapil Kaul, South Asia   CEO   of Sydney-based Center for Aviation t...

Category 1 status will benefit Air India and Jet Airways--the two Indian carriers that fly to the US. (Photo: Neelam Mathews) Neelam Mathews April 8, 2015 The  U.S.  Federal Aviation Administration ( FAA ) has restored India’s aviation safety ranking to Category 1 under its International Aviation Safety Assessment ( IASA ) program.  U.S.  Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx made the announcement on Wednesday during a meeting with India’s Minister of Civil Aviation Ashok Gajapathi Raju. After 14 months of enduring  Category 2 restrictions , India now complies with international safety standards set by the International Civil Aviation Organization ( ICAO ). Foxx commended the government of India “for taking corrective action to address the safety oversight issues identified during the  IASA  process.” The major hurdle faced by Indian regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation ( DGCA ) centered on hiring additional flight-safety ...

Neelam Mathews April 27, 2014 As Jet Airways inches towards its 25 th anniversary on May 5- or is it the 26 th?  as people have different modes of calculation- AerospaceDiary has learnt an all- business class service on B737-900 could be started between Mumbai-Delhi-Mumbai. We hear the aircraft is being reconfigured presently, but could not confirm this.                   While many would look at this as a gutsy step given that it were to happen, and with the economy not having bounced back, a ministry official here informed us the seats could be between 78- 92. Presently, Jet Airways has 28 business class seats on the sector. This could be in the footsteps of its partner Etihad Airways that is believed to be looking at a similar service from Abu Dhabi to London. While many might wonder whether load factors will meet expectations, we hear Jet has managed to woo its business c...

SINGAPORE AIR SHOW  »  2014 by    NEELAM MATHEWS Jet Airways is not yet a member of AAPA, but it has expressed an interest in the association, which addresses a wide range of aviation industry issues. February 10, 2014, 5:00 PM The 15-member Association of Asia Pacific Airlines ( AAPA ), which addresses a wide range of issues of common interest to the region’s aviation industry, is focusing its efforts on extending its membership base to South Asia–to include the time zones between  GMT +5 to  GMT +12, extended from the previous  GMT +7 to  GMT +12. “In 2014 we will be approaching more Indian carriers. They are welcome. [While] Jet Airways has shown interest, it has not as yet approached us for membership,” Andrew Herdman, director general of  AAPA , told  AIN . Jet Airways’ recent restructuring, following the establishment of a strategic alliance with Etihad Airways completed last November, is like...

AINONLINE by    GREGORY POLEK  and  NEELAM MATHEWS Air India flies Boeing 777-200LRs to the U.S., but can't add further service until India achieves a Category 1 safety rating. (Photo: Boeing) January 31, 2014, 11:51 AM The  U.S.  Federal Aviation Administration has downgraded its International Aviation Safety Assessment ( IASA ) program rating of India from a Category 1 to a Category 2 based on a recent reassessment of the country’s civil aviation authority. Under Category 2, India’s airlines can continue to fly existing service to the U.S., but they cannot establish any new service until the  FAA  reinstates the country’s Category 1 status. The ruling, announced on Friday, means that, in the  FAA ’s estimation, India’s civil aviation safety oversight regime does not comply with the international safety standards set by the International Civil Aviation Organization ( ICAO ). The  FAA  a...

AINONLINE by    NEELAM MATHEWS Lufthansa CEO Christoph Franz (far left) greets Rohit Nandan, Air India chairman and managing director (far right), following the December 13 Star Alliance board meeting in Vienna as Star Alliance CEO Mark Schwab (center left) and Air Canada CEO Calin Rovinescu (center right) look on. (Photo: Star Alliance) January 10, 2014, 12:19 PM The Star Alliance has set a new target of 2015 for Air India to join its ranks following a unanimous vote by member airlines to restart the process of integrating the Indian flag carrier. The alliance suspended integration in 2011 on grounds that Air India had “not met minimum joining conditions agreed in December 2007.” With signs of stability and fleet rationalization, however, Star has agreed to give Air India a second chance. “When we stopped integration, we thought Air India needed more time for its merger and preparation for its future growth and development…We feel t...