Airline Flight Plans- the backbone of any flight operation

As passengers, we often tend to overlook into what really goes behind actual airline operations. To us, it's as simple as getting from Point A to Point B. To the crew, not so much. Getting from Point A to Point B requires intricate planning with all possible emergency scenarios in mind and with their corresponding recovery procedures. That's where airline flight planning and routing comes into play.

So,what exactly is a flight plan and how do you file one?

Flight plans are documents filed by a pilot or a flight dispatcher with the local Air Navigation Service Provider( or the ATC). Every flight before a departure is required to have a flight plan indicating its intended route, fuel estimation for normal cruise and emergency case, alternate airport in case of diversion, instruments on board, flight rules, speed and level of flight and more. The official format of a flight plan is given in ICAO Doc 4444.

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Flight plans serve as a way of alerting rescuers if the flight is overdue or if for some reason, has lost contact with the ATC.IFR flight plans are used by ATC for tracking and routing purposes whereas VFR flight plans are used for the sole purpose of search and rescue Ops should the need arise.

A flight plan may be filed on line through Airports Authority of India web site www.aai.aero by pilot in command after registering or opening an account. For filing a flight plan one has to login and file flight plan after selecting appropriate airport. For filing the FPL, instructions are provided in the form of prompts/help tags and pilots shall ensure that correct entries are made. After completing the filing process users will be advised to contact appropriate ARO by providing telephone number. Copies of flight plan that has been filed will automatically go to ARO of the concerned airport through e-mail for processing.

Alternatively, tailor-made softwares may also be used for the generation of flight plans.

Airway Routing

Airway routing is done over pre-defined pathways called "flightpaths". They can be considered as 3D highways in the skies for the propagation of air traffic.Most airways  are eight nautical miles (14 kilometers) wide and the aircrafts are spaced in such a way that they are vertically separated by 1000 ft at all times.

Direct routing occurs between two points which don't have an ICAO designatory. In such cases the latitude and longitude of both the points are used.

The weather and winds along the way also play a major factor, especially in choosing appropriate diversion airports. With the introduction of ETOPS, we now have aircrafts that have the ability to fly long distances away from nearby airports on one engine inoperative.

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As of now, the only absolute no-fly area is the area over Antarctica.

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That said, for optimal routing, certain areas are to be avoided and this includes areas of active volcanoes and high terrain regions. Flying over high terrain areas can cause issues during times of depressurisation where it wouldn't be possible to safely descend to lower altitudes.

SIDs and STARs

Aircrafts operating under IFR, use SIDs and STARs to enter and exit an airport.A SID, or Standard Instrument Departure, defines a pathway out of an airport and onto the airway structure.A STAR, or Standard Terminal Arrival Route, ('Standard Instrument Arrival' in the UK) defines a pathway into an airport from the airway structure.

Overflying charges

Airlines are required to pay charges to any country they are flying over-known as overflight fees. They can either be distance based or fixed and varies from country to country. For instance, Russia charges all operators flying over its airspace, which, at times can be unavoidable for airlines that have direct optimal routes over Russia.

Altitude and fuel considerations

Generally speaking, flying at high altitudes is more fuel-efficient as the air is less dense thereby giving least resistance. Also, modern aircraft engines are optimised for high-altitude cruising.

All the above factors lead to fuel calculations, the precise estimation of which would dictate the success of any flight. Appropriate considerations are made to cover all aspects of flight such as taxi, take-off, cruise, holding fuel, diversion fuel, contigency to make sure fuel anomalies mid flight are avoided. Precise fuel calculations are also important as carrying anything more can be problematic and inefficient.

Flight plans may be submitted hours prior to departure and required clearance be obtained subsequently. International flight plans have to be submitted up to 3 hours before departure while it's just an hour for domestic departures.

Summarising, every aircraft needs to chart out a flight plan before it can even take to the skies. Depending on the type of operation, it could either be a passenger flight plan or cargo or a combination of both.

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Despite the Covid pandemic wiping out two years of growth for the commercial airplane market, Boeing expects demand for the industry to swell over the next 20 years.  

Boeing said on Tuesday, September 14, that the commercial aviation market should fully recover by 2024 from its pandemic slump, as the industry giant lifted its aerospace forecast for the next decade.

"As our industry recovers and continues to adapt to meet new global needs, we remain confident in long-term growth for aerospace.We are encouraged by the fact that scientists have delivered vaccines more rapidly than imaginable and that passengers are demonstrating strong confidence in airplane travel."Marc Allen, Chief Strategy Officer, Boeing

Boeing projected a USD 9 trillion aerospace market over the next decade, up from the USD 8.5 trillion outlooks a year ago, according to its annual market outlook report.

Compared with last fall's projection, Boeing now sees increased orders for commercial planes and aviation services over the next decade, and the same level of demand for defence and space as previously forecast.

"We've lost about two years of growth," Darren Hulst, vice president for commercial marketing at Boeing, said in a media briefing. "However, we see a recovery to pre-virus levels by the end of 2023 or early 2024."

Boeing now sees increased orders for commercial planes and aviation services over the next decade, and the same level of demand for defence and space as previously forecast.

Last year, passenger numbers fell 60% to 1.8 billion and the industry lost USD 126 billion, according to the airline body IATA, which said it was the worst year on record.

Boeing says that the strength of the global economy is key to recovering from the slump. Using data from IHS Economics it says that "the global economy is actually trending back towards where it would have been had the virus not actually happened".

Looking further out, Boeing said the 20-year growth outlook "remains intact," with passenger travel averaging 4% annual growth, above the 2.7% in global economic growth expected over this period.

Thus far, domestic travel has recovered much more quickly than international travel, reflecting a discrepancy in travel restrictions.

About 84% of domestic travel returned to 2019 levels in July, compared with only about one-fourth of international travel, according to a Boeing presentation.

Boeing said the 20-year growth outlook "remains intact," with passenger travel averaging 4% annual growth, above the 2.7% in global economic growth expected over this period.

The aviation industry is crucial to the global economy. The UN's International Civil Aviation Organization estimates that before the pandemic it was worth 3.6% of the global economy and supported 65.5 million jobs worldwide.

Boeing expects demand for 32,500 new single-aisle planes through 2040, about the same level as the pre-pandemic forecast. The company projected 7,500 new widebody jets over the period, down 8% from the 2019 outlook.

Boeing wouldn't be drawn on how continuing concerns around its 737 MAX and 787 models would affect its share of those orders. Mr Hulst said the company is continuing to work with regulators and other stakeholders to ensure their aircraft meet the required safety standards.

One of the hottest areas of growth centres on planes that carry freight, including converted planes. Boeing projected the 2040 fleet of global freighters would rise 70% from the pre-pandemic level, reflecting soaring demand connected to e-commerce.

The company has nearly 12,000 commercial jetliners in service worldwide, which is roughly 75% of the world fleet.

Boeing is a leading manufacturer of commercial and military aircraft, rotorcraft, electronic and defence systems, missiles, satellites, launch vehicles and advanced information and communication systems. Headquartered in Chicago, Boeing employs more than 170,000 people across the United States and in 70 countries.

Boeing’s main commercial products are the B737, B747, B767 and B777 families of aircraft and the Boeing Business Jet. New product development efforts are focused on the B787 Dreamliner, 737Max, 777X and the B747-8. The company has nearly 12,000 commercial jetliners in service worldwide, which is roughly 75% of the world fleet.

Vistara's Chief Commercial Officer Vinod Kannan will be appointed as the new Chief Executive Officer, the airline announced on Tuesday. His appointment will be effective from January 1, 2022, it added.

After leading Vistara for more than four years, current Chief Executive Leslie Thng will move on to take up a senior appointment with Singapore Airlines, Vistara further stated.

Mr Kannan joined the airline in June 2019 as Chief Strategy Officer and currently heads amongst others Network Planning, Revenue Management, Marketing, Customer Experience and Cabin Service functions.

Vinod Kannan joined the airline in June 2019 as Chief Strategy Officer and currently heads amongst others Network Planning, Revenue Management, Marketing, Customer Experience and Cabin Service functions.

He started his career with Singapore Airlines in 2001 and has held various senior positions in the airline. Before joining Vistara, he served as Chief Commercial Officer for Scoot the budget airline subsidiary of the Singapore Airlines Group. 

He has handled global network planning and has spent eight years running operations in Indonesia, Italy, and Saudi Arabia. He holds a master’s degree in business administration from the National University of Singapore and the University of California, Los Angeles.

"Leslie has led the airline through a significant phase, with the start of international operations and the entry into service of various aircraft including the Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner. Vinod will lead Vistara in its next phase of growth, building on the strong foundation laid by Leslie. This Company continues to benefit from the strong commitment of the two partners Tata Sons and Singapore Airlines to Vistara.”Bhaskar Bhat, Chairman, Vistara

In addition to Thng and Kannan, Singapore Airlines has deputed two other executives in Vistara. This includes Nam Kung Sia, senior vice-president (ground services) and Hamish Maxwell, senior vice-president (flight operations).

Vistara is a joint venture of Tata Sons Private Limited and Singapore Airlines Limited (SIA). Tata Sons holds a 51% stake in the partnership and Singapore Airlines owns a 49% stake. The company is registered as TATA SIA Airlines Limited.

Currently, Vistara connects destinations across India and abroad with a fleet size of 48 aircraft.

Currently, Vistara connects destinations across India and abroad with a fleet size of 48 aircraft including 37 Airbus A320, three Airbus A321neo, six Boeing 737-800NG, and two Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner aircraft and the network spans across India to international destinations like Frankfurt, London and Tokyo.

Vistara’s net loss was reduced to INR 1,612 crore in 2020-21 (FY21), from INR 1,814 crore in 2019-20 due to foreign exchange gain. Its revenue declined 52% to INR 2,243 crore in FY21, from INR 4,738 crore a year earlier.

Cairn Energy and Air India have jointly asked a New York federal court to stay further proceedings in the British firm's US lawsuit targeting the airline for enforcement of a USD 1.2-billion arbitral award.

The move follows the government enacting a law to scrap retrospective taxation in the country, which in effect will result in withdrawal of the INR 10,247 crore tax demand on Cairn, according to court documents reviewed by PTI.

The British company had won an international arbitration award against levy of such taxes and sought to take over Air India assets when the government refused to honour the award and pay it USD 1.2 billion-plus interest and penalty.

But, last month, the government enacted the Taxation Laws (Amendment) Act, 2021, that scraps all such retrospective tax demands and has agreed to refund INR 7,900 crore it had seized from Cairn to enforce such demand.

Cairn has indicated that the refund, without interest and penalty, was acceptable to it - opening an avenue to settle the seven-year-old dispute.

Cairn and Air India in a joint request to US District Judge Paul Gardephe on September 13 stated that a stay on proceedings would give them "additional time to evaluate the effects and implications" of legislation that repealed the retroactive tax.

In return for the INR 7,900 crore, Cairn would drop lawsuits threatening court-ordered seizures of Indian government property abroad.

One of those suits was filed in May against state-owned Air India Ltd, which Cairn has said should be considered alter ego of the Indian government.

"The implementing regulations are in the rulemaking process and will take some time," the two said in the petition seeking extension of the October 21 deadline for the presentation of case papers and initial pretrial conference on October 28.

They requested the court to "stay any further proceedings in this matter through October 31, 2021, and reschedule the initial pretrial conference and, respectively, the deadline for the parties to submit their Joint Pretrial Letter and Proposed Case Management Plan, for new dates in November 2021."

"The Parties have conferred and agreed that the stay will facilitate the efficient resolution of the dispute, conserve the Court's and Parties' resources, and is not intended to obstruct or delay," they added.

Cairn had on May 14 brought a lawsuit in the New York district court to hold Air India liable as the alter ego of the Republic of India for the obligations the government owes under a foreign arbitral award. The firm separately filed a petition before the District Court for the District of Columbia to recognise and enforce the arbitration award against India on February 12, 2021.

Seeking to repair India's damaged reputation as an investment destination, the government last month enacted new legislation to drop INR 1.1 lakh crore in outstanding claims against multinationals such as telecom group Vodafone, a pharmaceuticals company Sanofi and brewer SABMiller, now owned by AB InBev, and Cairn.

About INR 8,100 crore collected from companies under the scrapped tax provision is to be refunded if the firms agreed to drop outstanding litigation, including claims for interest and penalties. Of this, INR 7,900 crore is due only to Cairn.

An international arbitration tribunal in December overturned a levy of INR 10,247 crore in taxes on a 2006 reorganisation of Cairn's India business before its listing. It also asked the Indian government to return the value of shares seized and sold, dividend confiscated and tax refund withheld. This totalled USD 1.2 billion-plus interest and penalty.

The government initially refused to honour the award, forcing Cairn to identify USD 70 billion of Indian assets from the US to Singapore to enforce the ruling, including taking flag carrier Air India Ltd to a US court in May. A French court in July paved the way for Cairn to seize real estate belonging to the Indian government in Paris.

All these litigations will be dropped once INR 7,900 crore is paid, Cairn CEO Simon Thomson had told PTI earlier this month.

There is a need to focus more on air connectivity between India and ASEAN nations to enhance tourism in unexplored areas of the region, Union Minister Sarbananda Sonowal said on Tuesday, September 14.

"We need to focus on greater air connectivity to enhance tourism in unexplored areas of ASEAN countries. In addition to these we are also looking at an early review of the agreement which will help achieve the true trade potential between the two sides.We firmly believe that transformation is only possible through transition and if it is to be done then connectivity and communication are must."Sarbanada Sonowal, Union Minister for Ports, Shipping and Waterways

The Minister for Ports, Shipping and Waterways also highlighted the need to speed up the regional connectivity project with ASEAN countries to give a boost to the bilateral trade. He was speaking at Ficci's Future of India-ASEAN Connectivity partnership conference.

There is a need to focus more on air connectivity between India and ASEAN nations to enhance tourism in unexplored areas of the region, Union Minister Sarbananda Sonowal. (Image Courtsey - DevDiscourse)

The review is expected to include issues such as customs procedure, change of data and further liberalisation of trade. The minister further said that out of the 10 ASEAN countries, only five -- Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, Vietnam and Thailand -- have direct flights with India and vice versa. The other five countries, including Cambodia, Indonesia and the Philippines have no direct flight. Indonesia and the Philippines are two prominent countries with which India has substantial business and tourism interest, he explained.

Establishing connectivity will enable people-to-people connectivity through cooperation in business and tourism. The minister noted that the flow of ASEAN passengers to India is much lower than that of Indian passengers to ASEAN countries or transit through ASEAN.

It would be impractical to restart scheduled international flights right now and gradually increasing the number of air bubble flights with various countries is the way forward, IndiGo CEO Ronojoy Dutta said on Tuesday, September 14.

Scheduled international passenger services have been suspended in India since March 23, 2020, due to the coronavirus pandemic. However, special flights have been operating since July 2020 under bilateral "air bubble" arrangements between India and approximately 28 countries.

The CEO said he is "very encouraged" by India's new civil aviation minister Jyotiraditya Scindia. The Rajya Sabha MP from Madhya Pradesh was appointed Civil Aviation Minister on July 7, 2021.

"He (Scindia) is taking a leadership position in addressing the concerns of the overall industry. The partnership that is developing between the industry and the ministry is a very promising trend.There are, of course, health concerns, which I won't minimise in any way. Different countries are on different points of managing COVID-19. Then all these testing issues are sort of confusing the passengers.But I think this process of let's have more and more bubble flights and increasing it slowly is a good graduated way of opening up. We did it domestically also, right? We started from 33%, went to 50 and then further. So, a graduated approach is a good approach.We want more and more countries to open up (for air bubble flights). The fact that the UAE and Doha (Qatar) have opened up is good. Bangladesh just opened up, but only with a few flights.Why aren't those opening up? We are also talking to the Civil Aviation Ministry regularly on this and we are saying that please give us some more countries. We are fine with the graduated approach."Ronojoy Dutta, CEO, IndiGo

IndiGo is currently operating around 1,150 flights daily, of which 70-75 are international ones. The rest are domestic services.

Dutta said it is not up to India to unilaterally open up scheduled international flights and the other countries have to agree. He also said he doesn't think it is practical to open up and go for scheduled international services in one big bang.

When India resumed scheduled domestic flights on May 15, 2020, after a two-month lockdown, airlines were permitted to operate just 33% of their pre-COVID domestic services. This cap has been gradually increased and stands at 72.5% currently.

A few more countries need to be opened, for example, Saudi Arabia and Thailand, he stated. The CEO said he is quite encouraged by the demand for charter flights.

"These charter flights are to places that we would not have believed, such as Italy, Kazakhstan and the Philippines. We didn't fly to these places on a scheduled service basis. Domestically, we have these wedding charters.Now, there are some months when we have done 1,500 charter flights (passenger and cargo combined) per month. I think that was the peak that we have seen.We have got at least three new potential entrants. One is the new Air India, which I believe would be a formidable force. From what I read in the newspapers, it is most likely going to Tatas. They will have Air India, Vistara, AirAsia India — all in one — and they will be a formidable force in the market.Similarly, Akasa will be an intense competitor. There is a talk of a revival of Jet Airways too. So, we have a lot of competition."Ronojoy Dutta, CEO, IndiGo

Before the pandemic, we did not fly any charter flights. Dutta said the competitive landscape of the Indian aviation industry is clearly getting more intense.

Akasa is backed by ace investor Rakesh Jhunjhunwala and his former IndiGo president Aditya Ghosh on board. It aims to start operations by the summer of 2022.

Jet Airways will restart domestic operations by the first quarter of 2022 and short-haul international flights by the last quarter of the next year, Jalan Kalrock Consortium, the winning bidder for the grounded airline, stated on Monday.

"Our view is we can't worry much about what is this airline doing and what is that airline doing. We have to focus on what are we doing, which is that we want to continue to be one of the lowest cost airlines in the world.We have a lot of focus on cost reduction. We are more fuel-efficient than we ever were. Our employee cost has also decreased. That is painful but it has gone down a bit. And we are reducing cost in every function in which we can. So, getting the lowest cost is the number one requirement.Our customer service is world-class Would be impractical to restart scheduled international flights right now: IndiGo CEO whether it is on-time performance, customer complaint resolution ratio, etc.Our network is really geared to what we think is the new emerging trend of first-time flyers.These are our three lines of defence. These are the three things we are focusing on."Ronojoy Dutta, CEO, IndiGo

IndiGo is a low-cost carrier based in Gurgaon, India that commenced operations in Aug-2006. The carrier, which is owned by Rahul Bhatia’s InterGlobe Enterprises, operates an extensive domestic network and international services to South Asia, Southeast Asia, Europe and the Gulf.