Aerospace Diary

Neelam Mathews Oct 2019 AerospaceRaes

by  Neelam Mathews  -  May 28, 2019, 11:50 AM A Jet Airways-configured Boeing 737-800NG now donning the SpiceJet logo prepares to taxi at Delhi International Airport. By Neelam Mathews (copyright) India’s domestic carriers have found a temporary respite in their failing financials and capacity shortfall following the grounding of Jet Airways in mid-April. The reduced capacity and high demand in the market has provided an opportunity for domestic carriers to raise fares. The Jet shutdown has also given access to its slots at space-constrained airports, including Mumbai and Delhi. “Guidelines mandate only airlines that add aircraft have access to those slots,”  Vishok Mansingh, director of Mumbai-based consultancy CAV Aero, told  AIN . “SpiceJet and Vistara, as a result, have been quick to take Jet Airways aircraft on lease to get the slots.” Jet’s misfortune has advantaged virtually all airlines in India. With 19 Boeing Max 8s grounded, Spiceje...

pix- Neelam Mathews 07 May Ball in Indian carriers’ court as more IFC providers approved By Neelam Mathews  → Indo Teleports Limited (ITL), a subsidiary of Bharti Airtel, and Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) are the latest Indian companies to receive permission from the country’s Department of Telecommunications to offer inflight and maritime connectivity on domestic and foreign airlines and ships. They join Hughes Communications India (HCIL) and ... read on Runwaygirlnetwork.com

by  Neelam Mathews  -  March 19, 2019, 8:11 AM With airline seating capacity throughout India down about 20 percent from its peak, the country appears set to lose its standing as the world’s lowest-airfare market. About 100 airliners now sit grounded or out of service, suggesting the aviation sector will almost certainly not see the near 19 percent growth many forecasters projected for this year.   The March 10 Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737 Max crash near Addis Ababa prompted Indian authorities to ground some 13 Max jets flown by SpiceJet and five by cash-strained Jet Airways, an airline that already had grounded 56 airplanes due to financial troubles. Others include GoAir, nine of whose Airbus A320neos await engine spares; Air India, which has grounded 17 airplanes for similar reasons; and IndiGo, which has taken out of service 10 airplanes and cut some 100 flights a day due to a pilot shortage.  “Capacity reduction is likely to see annual gro...

by  Neelam Mathews  -  October 12, 2018, 2:09 PM India's SpiceJet took delivery of its first CFM Leap-1B-powered 737 Max 8 on October 12. (Photo: Boeing) CFM International expects to meet its target for delivering 1,100 engines by the end of the year, as a once six-week schedule lag progressively dwindles thanks to what CEO Gael Meheust attributes to a strict dual-source supplier policy. “Production will be in line with the projected schedule by the end of this year,” said Meheust as he addressed reporters in New Delhi this week. “For each (engine) part, we have a dual supplier and sometimes even three…. [a reason] we have made the ramp up fast…We are on track for the next year.”  He confirmed to  AIN  that the present production rate per year would nearly double to 2000 in 2020.  Referencing a turbine disc issue in Leap-1As for the Airbus A320neo and a batch of flawed metal discovered last May in some Le...

by  Neelam Mathews  -  September 10, 2018, 2:26 PM SpiceJet unveiled the first SpiceXpress Boeing 737-700 freighter in Delhi on September 10. (Photo: Neelam Mathews) As India’s GDP hits a high of 8.2 percent and airline cargo belly space starts to exceed demand, Budget SpiceJet has become the first commercial airline to launch a dedicated domestic and international cargo airline, SpiceXpress. It will start operations to Bangalore from Delhi on September 18 and this year launch international destinations, including Hong Kong and Afghanistan. Israel Aerospace Industries' (IAI) Bedek Aviation Group converted the SpiceXpress Boeing 737-700 freighter, which it acquired on an operating lease from Austin Texas-based Spectre Air Capital. The deal represents the first Spectre has ever completed in India, Spectre Cargo Solutions Kevin Casey told AIN. The airline has ordered ten freighters and will receive a total of four by the end of the year, SpiceJet chairman and ma...

by  Neelam Mathews  -  August 28, 2018, 10:09 AM The first biofuel technology demonstration flight ever performed in South Asia on August 27 served as a reminder of how the fast the increasing price of turbine fuel has come to hurt yields among several Indian airlines. At the event, Indian Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari said such awareness will soon lead to a policy on biofuels derived from non-edible oils for powering jet, marine and road engines.  The fuel for the 55-minute flight in a SpiceJet Bombardier Q400, performed under its “Green Miles” initiative, consisted of a blend of 75 percent aviation turbine fuel and 25 percent biofuel derived from Jatropha seeds and produced by the Indian Institute of Petroleum. Gadkari said the biofuel policy will call for a 12-year program involving identification of areas for farming, incentivizing farmers to grow the crop on a continuous basis, setting up the industry, and transfer of technolo...

by  Neelam Mathews  -  August 10, 2018, 7:32 AM Add caption Overcapacity is creating a financial setback for India's airline industry. (Photo: Neelam Mathews) Fortunes have reversed for Indian airlines that had been growing at an average of 18 percent a year for the past three years. An exceedingly competitive fare environment, the adverse impact of a depreciating rupee, and increasing fuel prices have resulted in the sector showing signs of stress. “Cost pressures amidst weakness in fares are turning the operating environment adverse for operators,” Santosh Hiredesai, analyst at Mumbai-based SBICap Securities told  AIN . Fares for a two-hour flight between Delhi to Mumbai can be as low as $48. Given the infrastructure constraints at airports and in the airspace, Hiredesai says capacity rationalization often results in sharp improvement in industry yields. He said when Kingfisher Airlines ceased operations in 2013, followed by budget Spi...

 - Neelam Mathews  April 11, 2018, 11:00 AM The arrival of new aircraft technology, emergence of new business models, and the increasing ambition of India’s budget carriers appear likely to lead to a new wave of expansion on international long-haul routes. As India’s outbound leisure traffic grows following demand of the fast-growing middle class, budget carriers SpiceJet and IndiGo have begun preparing to fly long haul. Plans for widebody aircraft could come soon. According to Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation (CAPA), SpiceJet and IndiGo will probably launch their first European long-haul flights to London Gatwick. SpiceJet chairman Ajay Singh confirmed at the recent Wings airshow in Hyderabad that his airline will introduce low-cost, long-haul flights “as early as this winter.” A government official told AIN that the carrier is looking at flying to the U.S. According to a CAPA report, by 2025 Indian budget carriers will operate approximately 4...

by  Neelam Mathews  -  March 29, 2018, 9:08 AM Budget airline SpiceJet wants India to extend its Regional Connectivity Scheme (RCS) to international destinations, the airline’s managing director, Ajay Singh, told  AIN  during the Wings airshow held in Hyderabad recently. In an effort to lower the cost of air travel, Indian authorities action and award routes identified under the RCS to airlines asking for the least amount of subsidy and willing to submit to ticket price ceilings. Also called "Udan," the RCS—introduced last year—aims to develop remote regional airports. “We are looking at a version of Udan,” said Singh, referring in particular to the untapped potential of eight hilly states of the Northeast Region (NER), many sharing a common border with China and Southeast Asia. A purchase agreement  signed  last year for 25 specially configured Bombardier Q400s will make SpiceJet the first airline in the world to operate a 90-seat ...

by  Neelam Mathews  - June 29, 2016, 3:00 AM New Indian carrier Vistara stands to be a beneficiary of the long-delayed reforms of the country's air transport policy. [Photo: Neelam Mathews] India released a national civil aviation policy on June 17 after two decades of fits and starts, as the country works to properly develop its fledgling infrastructure and prepare for a forecast 20 percent annual traffic growth until 2020. Within three days of the announcement, India radically liberalized its restrictive foreign direct investment regime by opening ten sectors, including defense and aviation. Ministry of Civil Aviation secretary Rajiv Nayan Choubey called June “a fun month,” while admitting challenges of implementation lay ahead and that “nuts and bolts” of the policy still required fine-tuning. “We are concerned that if we fall behind our growth curve, we will face civil aviation slumps,” he said. “We have told OEMs to bring in ...

Neelam Mathews Apr 1, 2016 NEW DELHI: A few years ago a passenger on an Indian budget carrier caused an uproar on learning that the captain was a woman. “I don’t want to die. She can’t take care of the house, how will she take care of a plane?” he  reportedly yelled . Rightfully, he was deplaned. While his knuckle-dragging tribe may have decreased trivially since then, one wonders what the passenger’s reaction would have been if he knew the captain was pregnant. One would assume he would have been scandalized that she had deigned to fly. While Qatar Airways  last year changed its draconian restrictions  on cabin crew concerning marriage and pregnancy, in India the discussion is focused on when the pilot should stop flying when pregnant. Nivedita Bhasin, the third woman pilot to join then government-owned Indian Airlines, now part of Air India, has two children, both pilots. In the last 30 years, she said, the pilot ...

Neelam Mathews Feb 16, 2016 Faced with regulatory bottlenecks and high taxation, and a fledgling infrastructure, India’s aviation industry–having grown by 20 percent in 2015–is set to get a boost a new civil aviation policy. While the government has said it aims to provide a level playing-field to aviation-related sectors including airlines, airports,  MRO  organizations and  GA , systems and processes will need to be simplified and made transparent. This is believed to be one of the conclusions of the draft aviation policy that is expected to be released imminently. The policy recognizes an eco-system will be needed to handle a high-growth market that saw 70 million domestic tickets sold last year, with forecasts for 300 million by 2022 and 500 million by 2027. International ticketing is expected to touch 200 million by 2027 also. Thorny issues remain, however. The government has not decided on the 5/20 rule that disallows start-ups from flying in...