Air India to cut flights to crisis-hit Sri Lanka due to poor demand

Radhika Bansal

04 Apr 2022

Air India on Sunday, April 3 said it would reduce its India-Sri Lanka services from 16 flights per week to 13 flights per week from April 9 due to poor demand.

Sri Lanka is currently experiencing its worst economic crisis in history. With long fuel lines, cooking gas, essentials in short supply and long hours of power cuts, the public has been suffering for weeks.

"Currently, Air India is operating 16 flights a week — daily flights from Delhi and nine flights a week from Chennai,” an Air India spokesperson told PTI.

Air India to cut flights to crisis-hit Sri Lanka due to poor demand

In the new schedule, the airline would be operating a total of 13 flights per week, the spokesperson noted. In the new schedule, while the frequency from Chennai will remain untouched, flights from Delhi will reduce from seven to four per week, the spokesperson said.

"Four flights from Delhi instead of seven effective April 9 due to poor loads," the spokesperson noted. AI 283 in the Delhi-Colombo sector will now operate on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays from April 8 to May 30. AI 284 on the Colombo-Delhi sector will operate on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays from April 9 to May 31.

Other Indian carriers are going to take a call on calibrating their Sri Lanka flights’ frequency this week as the demand has fallen sharply.

Other Indian carriers including IndiGo are going to take a call on calibrating their Sri Lanka flights’ frequency this week as the demand has fallen sharply.

“We are witnessing lower bookings to Colombo due to the ongoing crisis. We are continuously monitoring the impact and may take appropriate action to adjust the capacity based on the demand and situation in Sri Lanka,” an IndiGo spokesperson had said Saturday.

An official of another leading Indian carrier said: “We are still operating but loads are dropping. A decision on suspension/reduction of flights will be taken early this week.”

In the past few years, the island’s airline — Sri Lankan — has emerged as one of the biggest international airlines in India in terms of the number of flights. A significant number of Indian travellers fly Sri Lankan to transit via Colombo.

A Sri Lankan official said ATF supply at Colombo Airport has not been hit

In fact, the DGCA-approved summer schedule-2022 shows Sri Lankan’s 128 weekly flights to and from India are second only to 170 of Emirates — the international airline with maximum flights here.

A Sri Lankan official said ATF supply at Colombo Airport has not been hit. “All flights are on schedule. Tourists are going,” she said.

The Sri Lankan government on Sunday, April 3 blocked social media platforms such as WhatsApp, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram after declaring a nationwide public emergency and imposing a 36-hour curfew ahead of a planned anti-government rally over the worst economic crisis on the island nation.

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HAL reaches a new high with earnings over INR 24,000 crore in FY22

Radhika Bansal

03 Apr 2022

Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) recorded the highest ever revenue of over INR 24,000 crore (provisional and unaudited) for the financial year ended on March 31, 2022, registering a 6% growth over the previous fiscal. The corresponding figure for the previous year stood at INR 22,755 crore.

"Despite the challenges of the second wave of Covid-19 during the first quarter of the year and the consequent production loss, the Company could meet the targeted revenue growth with improved performance during the balance period of the year."R Madhavan, CMD, Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL)

The second wave of Covid-19 had compelled the company to declare a phased lockdown at various divisions during April and May 2021, the Bengaluru-headquartered company noted in a statement. The employees had put in additional hours in June and July 2021 to compensate for the loss of man-hours due to the lockdown, it said.

Further, based on the improved financial performance and cash flow position, the credit rating agencies CARE Ratings and ICRA Limited have upgraded the company's credit rating from AA+ Stable to AAA/Stable during the financial year, it was stated.

HAL reaches a new high with earnings over INR 24,000 crore in FY22

HAL said it achieved record revenue with the production of 44 new helicopters/aircraft, 84 new engines, overhauled 203 aircraft/helicopters and 478 engines.

An Intent of Cooperation (IOC) was signed between Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) and Pawan Hans Limited (PHL) for the purchase or long term lease for 20 helicopters, 10 each civil variants of ALH Dhruv and Light Utility Helicopters at the Wings India-2022 held at Hyderabad's Begumpet Airport.

ALSO READ - IOC signed between HAL and Pawan Hans for 20 helicopters

HAL bagged a contract for the production of 15 Light Combat Helicopters (LCH)

This would also bring synergy between HAL and PHL in the helicopter ecosystem and strengthen the helicopter business in India’s civil aviation market.

Recently, HAL bagged a contract for the production of 15 Light Combat Helicopters (LCH) - 10 for IAF and 5 for the Indian Army - for INR 3,887 crore along with Infrastructure sanctions worth INR 377 crore.

Considering the improved financial performance during the financial year, HAL paid an interim dividend of INR 40 per share representing 400% of the face value of INR 10 per share during 2021-22, the statement added.

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Delhi airport posted a fabulous recovery in March to become the third busiest airport in the world

Radhika Bansal

02 Apr 2022

With Covid cases on the decline and rising demand for air travel, Delhi airport posted a fabulous recovery in March to become the third most busiest airport in the world, according to recent data released by UK-based global travel data provider company, OAG.

Two years ago, in March, Delhi airport held the number 20 rank. Airlines operating at the Delhi airport flew a total of 3.5 million seats in March, a jump of 18% compared with February.

The busiest airport in the world was Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson with a scheduled airline capacity of 4.5 million, followed by Dubai international with a capacity of 3.7 million seats.

Delhi airport posted a fabulous recovery in March to become the third busiest airport in the world

Among the trio, the Delhi airport was the surprise winner as both Atlanta and Dubai have held high rankings before. Pre-pandemic, in March 2019, for instance, Atlanta was the busiest airport in the world, while Dubai was at number 3.

In the past two years, the restrictions imposed on travel by governments the world over have disrupted the global rankings.

In the coming months, when more and more countries relax their travel restrictions, the conventional order would be restored and Delhi will lose its high rank.

“Only six of the ‘Top 10 Busiest International Airports’ this month were there in March 2019 (pre-pandemic). Doha, Madrid, New York and Dublin now replace Hong Kong, Singapore, Incheon and Bangkok in March 2022, pushing them out of their Top 10 positions of March 2019. In March 2022, Delhi moved up 6 places into third place, now ahead of Guangzhou."OAG

In December 2021, Delhi was ranked the fifth busiest airport in the world, pushed up by a steady rise in domestic travel, especially during the festive months around year-end.

Between November 6, 2021, and January 3, over 3 lakh domestic passengers boarded flights every single day, according to data shared by the ministry of civil aviation.

ALSO READ - Delhi’s IGI airport busier than Dubai International in November – OAG

In November, Delhi Airport is busier than Dubai International Airport (DXB) in terms of combined domestic and international seat capacity deployed by airlines.

In November, Delhi Airport is busier than Dubai International Airport (DXB) in terms of combined domestic and international seat capacity deployed by airlines.

At 30.87 lakh, Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA) is the seventh busiest airport globally in November, slightly ahead of DXB at 30.72 lakh, according to UK-based air consultancy firm OAG. In pre-pandemic November 2019, DXB was at number 3 and IGIA at number 10 on this criteria.

But as the Covid third wave took hold in January, passenger traffic dropped, leading to Delhi airport dropping in the rankings.

In the first week of January, it fell to less than two lakh passengers per day, which took the country’s passenger volumes back to those handled in July 2021, post the Covid second wave. In March though, the airport appears to have recovered.

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SpiceJet revises its pay scales, 10-20% increase expected

Radhika Bansal

02 Apr 2022

Private airliner Spicejet, on April 1, announced to revise the salaries of its captains by a minimum of 10%. Apart from this, SpiceJet also informed that the salaries of the First Officers will be revised by a minimum of 15% and 20% for trainers.

It further stated that all the 737 pilots will be qualified on the MAX in the next two to three weeks whereas simulator training (RT and PPC) are up to date without any backlogs.

SpiceJet revises its pay scales, with a 10-20% increase expected

The carrier said that promising numbers have been reported for passenger occupancy in the last two weeks and that they see it touching pre-COVID levels soon. “The last two weeks have shown promising numbers for passenger occupancy. Our passenger traffic seems to be on a slow and steady rise and if it continues, we should see it touching ‘pre-COVID’ levels very soon.”

The airliner had implemented salary cuts over the last two years due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

On April 29, 2020, SpiceJet told its pilots that they would not get the salary for April and May but will be paid for the cargo flights that they fly. Before that, the airliner had already cut salaries, laid off its ex-pat pilots and sent a part of its staff on leave without pay, steps necessitated because of the disruption caused by COVID-19.

The airliner had implemented salary cuts over the last two years due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Also, the airline grounded its fleet in the middle of April 2020 -- as the country went into a lockdown -- but resumed service once the restrictions were lifted. However, the salary cut for pilots continued.

Meanwhile, on June 21, 2020, SpiceJet revised the salary structure of its pilots, who were getting paid depending on the fleet utilisation of the airline. And, in that communication, the airliner added that from August 1, 2020, depending on the company doing 26,000 hours of flying, pilots will have a compensation structure under a 21 days work pattern. The salary band for captains ranges from INR 4.51 lakh to INR 4.96 lakh a month.

However, the firm assured the engineering staff on November 2, 2021, that their demands would be addressed by November 8 and restore their salaries. The decision was taken after the staff had sat in protest to get their salary restored, along with their leaves and variable pay benefits.

The salary band for captains ranges from INR 4.51 lakh to INR 4.96 lakh a month.

SpiceJet, in April 2020, announced that it has cut the salaries of its employees by 10-25% due to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic and the grounding of all airline operations in India. Later the airline informed that the salary cuts were rescinded by 50% in November 2020.

ALSO READ - IndiGo partially restores pilot salaries by 8% from April 1

Another budget carrier IndiGo hiked the salaries of pilots by 8% given the continuous flight operations ever since full regular international flights resumed after the COVID-19 outbreak.

The airline also plans to increase the salaries of pilots by 6.5% from November in case of no further disruptions to flight operations.

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IndiGo's Chief Commercial Officer follows CFO in resigning

Radhika Bansal

01 Apr 2022

IndiGo's Chief Commercial Officer Willy Boulter said he will resign in four months. The announcement came just a day after Chief Financial Officer Jiten Chopra quit the biggest budget airline in Asia by market value.

Boulter's resignation will be effective mid-July. "That's a sort of personal decision," Boulter said in an interview with Bloomberg on Thursday, March 31.

The top management churn at IndiGo, operated by InterGlobe Aviation Ltd., comes after billionaire co-founder Rahul Bhatia was appointed in a newly-created executive role of managing director in February.

IndiGo's Chief Commercial Officer follows CFO in resigning

Fellow co-founder Rakesh Gangwal also later stepped down from the airline’s board in February and announced his plan to slowly cut stakes over more than five years, ending a yearslong feud with Bhatia.

Boulter, who previously worked with Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd., joined IndiGo in 2018. He headed Russia’s first low-cost carrier Sky Express and worked with Virgin Atlantic Airways Ltd., South African Airways and Etihad Airways.

Sanjay Kumar, the chief strategy and revenue officer of IndiGo will now also head its overseas business. IndiGo is also hiring Vinay Malhotra, former group chief operating officer of VFS Global as head of international sales. Malhotra will report to Kumar.

IndiGo appointed Gaurav Negi as the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) in place of Jiten Chopra who has put in his resignation.

IndiGo on Wednesday, March 30 appointed Gaurav Negi as the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) in place of Jiten Chopra who has put in his resignation, a statement said.

ALSO READ - Gaurav Negi succeeds Jiten Chopra as CFO of IndiGo

Before joining IndiGo, Negi spent 22 years with General Electric Company, where he was part of their Global Leadership programmes in finance and executive management, said the InterGlobe Aviation's statement that was posted on BSE.

Negi had joined IndiGo as Senior Vice President and Head -- Governance, Risk and Compliance (GRC) on December 1 last year. With around 53% domestic passenger market share, IndiGo is India's largest airline.

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A passenger hacks the IndiGo website to track down his misplaced luggage

Radhika Bansal

01 Apr 2022

An IndiGo passenger who lost his luggage shared his “low-key hacker moment” on Twitter and narrated how he managed to find it back all by himself. After Nandan Kumar’s Twitter thread went viral, the airlines responded by saying their IT processes are completely robust and the website was not compromised.

Kumar, whose Twitter bio says he is a software engineer, boarded an IndiGo flight from Patna to Bengaluru on March 27 and his bag got exchanged with his co-passenger as their luggage was similar in appearance.

https://twitter.com/sirius93/status/1508423479594733568

He contacted IndiGo’s customer care agents but their efforts in connecting him with the co-passenger were not fruitful. Citing privacy and data protection, the airline company did not provide him with the contact details of the co-passenger.

Tired of waiting for the call promised by IndiGo, he decided to “take the matter into his own hands”. Kumar tried to get the details of the co-passenger from the website by using the PNR written on the bag tag.

“So, today morning I started digging into the indigo website trying the co passenger’s PNR which was written on the bag tag in the hope to get the address or number by trying different methods like check-in, edit booking, update contact, But no luck whatsoever,” Kumar tweeted.

Mr Kumar's suitcase (R) and his co-passenger's one (L) looked alike (Image Courtesy - BBC)

Kumar said his “dev instinct” then prompted him to press F12, which helped him open the developer console on the IndiGo website. He then managed to get his co-passengers details and later got their bags swapped after meeting them in person.

Tagging IndiGo, the engineer suggested the airline company make their customer service more proactive than reactive. He also noted that the website leaks sensitive data and asked them to get it fixed.

The Twitter thread grabbed netizens’ attention and some users found it interesting and funny while others pointed out that hacking a website was not right.

https://twitter.com/IndiGo6E/status/1508748146717130758

As the man’s account got attention on Twitter, IndiGo stated in response.“Due to data privacy policy, we're not allowed to share any of the passenger's information therefore, our customer care team tried to arrange a conference call to facilitate the exchange of baggage,” it said.

“Our IT processes are completely robust and, at no point was the lndiGo website compromised,” the airline said.

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