Indian Aviation expanding rapidly

India's largest private airline Jet Airways and budget carrier GoAir are in line to order $6.5 billion worth of Airbus aircraft at the forthcoming Paris Air Show, The Economic Times reported on Thursday. The financial daily quoted Jet chairman Naresh Goyal as saying that they were buying 10 A330 aircraft worth $2.5 billion as part of plans to expand its routes in Europe. GoAir is looking to order at least 50 narrow-body A320 jets worth $4 billion for short-haul domestic routes, which will be brought into service as soon as next year, the report said, quoting two sources familiar with the matter.

Both orders were still being negotiated but were in the final stages, the newspaper added, quoting unnamed sources within Airbus. A Jet Airways spokeswoman in New Delhi told AFP that she had no details on the exact nature of the orders, as Goyal was speaking on the sidelines of the recent International Air Transport Association annual general meeting in Singapore. But she added: "We're asking for just a few (aircraft) because that's in line and keeping with our growth plan."

No one was immediately available for comment at GoAir. The Economic Times said budget airline IndiGo would also push ahead with a previously announced order for 180 A320 aircraft with an estimated value of $15 billion, after signing a memorandum of understanding with Airbus last year. Air India, the state-run national carrier, is planning to take 10 A330s and 16 A320s on a rental basis, it added. Aviation has taken off in India in recent years but private airlines have been grappling with rising fuel prices and a slowdown in economic growth that has hit business.

Jet Airways sees revenue up by 15 - 20 percent in the next 5 years

Indian carrier Jet Airways expects to grow its domestic revenue by 15 percent and international revenue by up to 20 percent over the next five years, the chairman of India's largest airline said on Thursday. The airline expects higher demand driven by increasing affluence in Asia's third-largest economy, but has no plans of placing big aircraft orders, Naresh Goyal said. A day after smaller rival IndiGo placed a USD$15.6 billion order to buy 180 planes from Airbus in the largest jet deal in commercial aviation history, Goyal said Jet is following a "relatively modest" aircraft acquisition strategy. "Aircraft orders are not a problem... It's the easiest thing to do; but, can your balance sheet support it?" he asked.

Many carriers are growing their fleet as demand booms in India, where the economy is growing at nearly 9 percent. Jet Airways has firmed up an order pipeline of 29 Boeing 737s for purchase, and another 10 Airbus A330s for lease. The deliveries for both types of aircraft are expected to start in April 2012 and would continue over three years, Goyal said. Jet has placed another order for 10 Boeing 787s, deliveries of which are seen starting in fiscal year 2015, he said. Low-cost carrier and smaller rival SpiceJet in November agreed to buy 30 Nextgen turboprop aircraft from Canada's Bombardier for USD$915 million. "We have to be very careful in adding capacity... We are not running after market share and have to ensure that the bottom-line is alright," he said. Jet has added capacity of 8 to 10 percent over the last three years, he said. While passenger traffic in India grew 19 percent in the year to November last year, the country only has 400 commercial planes for a population of about 1.2 billion. By comparison, China has 2,600 planes. Jet Airways has no plans to hedge its jet fuel requirements and expects to improve its operating margins. "As we grow, our cost of operations per unit (aircraft) will go down hence we hope to increase our profitability," Goyal said.

Ahmedabad airport shutdown - Plane stuck on runway

Ahmedabad airport was shut for over two hours on Thursday. A Jet Airways flight 9W 2510 from Ahmedabad to Indore, which was scheduled to take off at 8.55 pm, was stuck on the runway, bringing flight operations to a grinding halt. According to a press release by the airline, the nose wheel of the plane came out following which the pilots had to abort the take off. All passengers and crew are safe. They have been deplaned and taken to the terminal building where they are being looked after by the Jet Airways staff, the release said.
There were 57 passengers and 4 crewmembers on board the flight. A Notice to Air Men (NOTAM) was issued, which means the runway was closed.A crane was called in to tow away the aircraft so that flights can resume.

Jet Airways makes a single engine landing after mid air scare

A Jet airways aircraft just after take off had to make a priority landing due to a instrument false alarm at the Kolkata airport on Sunday. Soon after take off of the Bagdogra bound aircraft the 'reversal anti lock system' indicator started to lit up, and the crew had to react quickly, as per procedures the crew shut down the right engine and decided to land back in kolkata. The aircraft with 42 passengers on board landed safely on single engine.
As soon as the aircraft landed the engineers examined the engine and the instrument and found out that the engine was in good shape and there were no problems with the engine, it was the instrument that gave false alarm. After the examination the same aircraft was flown in the route. The aircraft was a 50 seater CRJ which Jet Airways had  dry leased in 2003 for a period of 7 years.

3% commission to agents on gross fare of tickets sold - Jet airways

Jet airways has come forward to pay the travel agents with a 3% commission of the gross tickets sold on domestic and international route, with immediate effect replacing the transaction fee. This should be sign of relief for the travel agents and the industry is back on track with many canceled routes resuming services.

How ever Jet Lite will still follow the transaction fee model.

Tags: Aviation, Tourism