Aerospace Diary

by  Neelam Mathews  - May 1, 2019, 12:38 PM Kazakhstan’s first budget carrier—Air Astana subsidiary FlyArystan—on Wednesday launched services from its Almaty base to the Kazakh capital Nur-Sultan with one of its two Airbus A320s. FlyArystan will initially operate six domestic routes, with journey times from one to three hours to Taraz, Shymkent, Pavlodar, Uralsk, Nur-Sultan (Astana), and Karaganda, most of which lie on the periphery of the country. Aimed at computer literate first-time travelers, the Kazakh budget model resembles that of successful Indian budget carrier IndiGo, Air Astana president and CEO Peter Foster told AIN. By mid-October to November, when two more A320s join the fleet, FlyArystan will start to fly regional international routes to neighboring Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) nations and Russia, said Foster. Plans call for the fleet to grow to 15 airplanes by 2022. Foster revealed the airline would establish bases through joint ...

by  Neelam Mathews  -  January 22, 2018, 12:24 PM Low-fare carriers expect to become among the first to offer IFC on Indian domestic services. (Photo: Neelam Mathews) After years of deliberation, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has decided to allow internet and mobile communication on aircraft (MCA) for in-flight connectivity (IFC) in Indian airspace through both satellite and terrestrial networks. India remained one of the few countries left in the world that did not permit IFC. While the implementation could take around six months, domestic carriers may now introduce voice, data, and video in flight. International carriers and overflying flights required to shut down their systems on entry into Indian airspace will now no longer have to do so. IFC represents another source of ancillary revenue for domestic carriers, though the structure and costs for charging passengers remain under discussion. Airline...

By  Neelam Mathews  Dec 14, 2015 Star Alliance CEO Mark Schwab (right) discusses the group's new Connecting Partner Model concept alongside the CEO of the first airline to participate, Mango's Nico Bezuidenhout. (Photo: Neelam Mathews) South African Airways subsidiary Mango Airlines plans to join the Star Alliance network by the third quarter of 2016 under Star’s new “Connecting Partner Model,” concept, potentially paving the way for more budget carriers to enter the 28-airline alliance. Star Alliance made the announcement at its annual Chief Executives Board meeting in Chicago on December 10. With the addition, Star Alliance will get access to 51 percent of the South African market. The new model looks at adding routes operated by “low-cost” and “hybrid” airlines to the network. “With a focus on ‘Friends of the Family,’ the Alliance plans to add connectivity to these types of carriers within the family of Star Alliance,” said Star Alliance  ...

AIN AIR TRANSPORT PERSPECTIVE  »  FEBRUARY 17, 2014 by    NEELAM MATHEWS February 10, 2014, 5:20 AM Singapore’s transport minister, Lui Tuck Yew, has called for Asian nations to liberalize air transport policies, and build connectivity and infrastructure in the region. He was speaking at the Aviation Leadership Summit, held on February 9 in Singapore. Southeast Asia’s aviation landscape has undergone a substantial change and transformation with the rise of budget carriers, which now comprise 50 percent of the market. “Low-cost airlines have brought air travel to secondary airports, [with] a focus on short-haul travel, and are code-sharing with legacy carriers. In Asia they have set up affiliates to form interconnecting networks…Governments need to embrace the  LCC  sector,” said Lui. As traffic increases, pressure grows on governments to ensure sufficient capacity at airports. While Seoul, Kuala Lumpur and Jakarta h...

SINGAPORE AIR SHOW  »  2014 by    NEELAM MATHEWS ATR’s EASA-approved training center in Singapore located at Seletar Airpark offers programs that include flight-crew type rating through recurrent training in an ATR 600 full-flight simulator that enables training for both ATR 44-600s and ATR 72-600s. February 12, 2014, 11:50 PM As demand for aviation in Asia Pacific continues to grow, so does the requirement for training. In addition, infrastructure in the region’s growing economies has not kept pace with expansion, creating colossal challenges for airlines–as confirmed by  Boeing’s Pilot  &  Technician Outlook  on Asia Pacific, which states that demand for pilots in the region will increase by 7 percent in the next two decades. The accelerating growth of  Asian budget carriers , with large fleet orders depleting the pool of trained pilots and maintenance engineers, is making many companies look ...

AIN AIR TRANSPORT PERSPECTIVE  »  MARCH 11, 2013 by    NEELAM MATHEWS Air India, which is among the early operators of the Boeing 787, is set to receive a further capital injection of almost $1 billion from its government shareholder, but it is about the only Indian carrier with any grounds for optimism from the country’s new budget. (Photo: Boeing) March 11, 2013, 1:20 PM The Indian government’s new budget, released on February 28, brought little relief for the country’s  ailing air transport sector , although the industry awaits a possible announcement of some reduction in high aviation fuel taxes. In particular, the budget documents made no mention of hoped-for fiscal support for India’s emerging regional airline industry. High fuel prices and other rising operating costs combined with declining passenger traffic have resulted in mounting losses for Indian carriers and represented a severe constraint to the growth ...

Neelam Mathews Nov 20, 2012 AerospaceDiary caught up with Singapore Airlines dynamic CEO Goh Choon Phong briefly during the AAPA 56th Assembly of Presidents in KL recently. On the possibility of A380 operations to India, Goh said: "We regularly consider new destinations for our A380s and India is indeed a market we would consider operating A380s to in future. At present we have no confirmed plans. However, in response to the question of regulatory approvals, we always treat our discussions with regulatory authorities as confidential." On budget carriers' competition on the Singapore-India route, Goh said: "We face competition on every route on which we operate and this is from many different types of airlines and LCCs. We compete by focusing on providing our customers the best quality products and services, across a wide network. For India in particular, we continue to look at ways to expand our operations to the country, both by SIA and by subsidiary, Silk...

AIN Air Transport Perspective » February 13, 2012 by  Neelam Mathews AirAsia has formed a new budget carrier with ANA called AirAsia Japan. February 13, 2012, 5:39 PM   Even as Asia Pacific airlines survived a testing 2011, overcapacity as a result of increased fleet orders is still concerning investors, who are already less willing to finance procurements in the current debt-laden environment. This was the message from Sydney-based thinktank the Center for Asia Pacific Aviation (CAPA) at the Low Cost Airlines Asia summit in Singapore last week. Record aircraft deliveries are under way this year despite the slow growth in traffic. Overall, Asia Pacific airlines have 520 aircraft on firm order for delivery over the next three years, of which 120 are widebodies, with many of the new deliveries additional rather than replacement aircraft. This equ...