Akasa Air to start international operations by 2023 end; consider Singapore, Qatar, Oman

According to the chief commercial officer of Akasa Air, Praveen Iyer, the airline is considering Singapore, the Middle East, and the Gulf area, including Dammam, Qatar, and Oman, as potential destinations for the start of its international operations by the end of 2023.

An airline may begin international operations with a fleet of 20 aircraft under India's civil aviation laws. After beginning operations in August 2022, Akasa will probably add 20 aircraft at one of the quickest rates in the world. There are currently 19 aircraft in its fleet.

"On 15 March, we initiated the application process, That's the first step, and now we will start the real work and decide where we could fly to given the constraints. We are looking to launch international flights by end of the year," Iyer said on the sidelines of the CAPA aviation conference.

Akasa Air to start international operations by 2023 end; consider Singapore, Qatar, Oman

The airline is eyeing destinations in the Gulf, the Middle East, and the Far East. "We see a few markets where we don't see capacity they should have. I can see Singapore, and a couple of markets in the Middle East and Gulf as well."

He further explained that Akasa began the application process earlier this month, and the real work will now begin, to decide where the carrier could fly to, given the constraints. Akasa has 19 planes in its fleet and is short of just one more to meet regulatory requirements of having a minimum of 20 airplanes to start international flights.

Meanwhile, Akasa’s CEO Vinay Dube stressed that the airline’s promise of connecting metro with non-metro cities in India is very much the focus of the top management.

Speaking with Business Standard at the CAPA event, he said that Akasa’s network planning would center on metro-to-non-metro connectivity for the next one to two years. He added, Our focus is going to be on connecting the metros with tier-2 and tier-3 cities. While we do some metro-to-metro flying, we have got a lot of metro-to-non-metro cities like Bengaluru-Visakhapatnam, Bengaluru-Bhubaneswar, Bengaluru-Guwahati, and Bengaluru-Kochi.”

Akasa Air now has 17 destinations in its network and has reached the milestone of including all metro cities in India on its map. These include its most recent addition, Kolkata, and Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, and Pune. Its non-metro destinations include Bhubaneshwar, Kochi, Guwahati, Agartala, Visakhapatnam, Lucknow, Goa, Bagdogra, and Varanasi.

(With Inputs from Mint)

India does not have plans "as of now" to provide additional seats to Middle East carriers, Civil Aviation Secretary Rajiv Bansal said on Tuesday, March 21 even as leading Gulf carrier Emirates described not having enhanced bilateral flying rights as a "pity".

Emirates, which operates only wide-body A380s and B777s, flies to nine Indian cities and operates 167 weekly flights to India. Currently, the airline and its group entity flydubai have bilateral rights to operate around 66,000 seats weekly in India. India has an open skies policy with countries that are beyond India's radius of 5,000 kilometres.

To a query on bilateral flying rights, Civil Aviation Secretary Rajiv Bansal said Vietnam and Indonesia are asking for more frequencies. "This is reflective of Indians' demand to visit these places," he added. According to him, all the Middle East carriers have been asking for additional seats for the last several years but "we have not been giving any additional seats to any Middle East carriers".

India not considering giving middle east carriers further air traffic rights

When asked whether the stance remains, Bansal said, "as of now, yes".

Emirates Airline President Sir Tim Clark said it was a "pity" concerning bilateral flying rights not being enhanced. They were speaking at the CAPA summit in the national capital. During a media roundtable, Clark said Emirates has sought 50,000 additional seats under the bilateral rights. He also said that opportunities are great in India. India is one of the fastest-growing aviation markets in the world.

India is not looking at increasing air traffic rights for the United Arab Emirates, Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia also said.

The UAE has urged India to increase the maximum number of seats between the two countries by 50,000 a week but Scindia said, "at this point, we're not looking at increasing it".

ALSO READ - Emirates considering a codeshare agreement with Air India

India is one of the world's fastest-growing aviation markets where demand for air travel is outstripping the supply of planes. Air India last month placed a record order for 470 jets. The bulk of India's international air traffic is carried by Gulf carriers powered by efficient hubs.

Scindia said he wants Indian carriers to order more wide-body planes and offer non-stop flights to international destinations, adding India was mobilising to handle the transportation needs of its population of 1.3 billion.

ALSO READ - Indian aviation market large enough to ‘accommodate all players profitably’: Emirates

Emirates chief warns limiting air traffic will hurt Indian airlines

The head of Emirates said Indian airlines would lose out financially as a result of limited air traffic quotas between India and the UAE, which the Dubai-based operator believes should be increased.

The UAE has asked the Indian government to approve 50,000 more seats on flights between the two countries, but India's Civil Aviation Minister told Reuters it was not currently looking at increasing existing traffic limits.

Emirates president Tim Clark told the CAPA India Aviation Summit in New Delhi he saw scope for "at least double" the weekly limit of 65,000 seats and that he regretted India's position.

"It is such a big market. It is not as if the cake is static, the cake is growing," he said. If India embraced the so-called Open Skies policy with the UAE, it would grant airlines greater access to each other’s markets amid strong demand and rising competition, he said.

The UAE is one of the biggest overseas markets for Indian airlines — about 30% of the workforce is from India, Bloomberg has reported. Indian airlines run more than 300 weekly flights to Dubai, Mr Clark said.

While he played down talk of any rivalry and said he did not regard Air India as an adversary, he warned that Indian airlines would be penalised by prolonging what he sees as curbs on traffic.

"The Indian carriers who have been so prolific in grabbing their share of the value chain, are short-changing themselves to the tune of about $1 billion a year" as a result of the traffic restrictions, he told the conference.

Mr Clark earlier told reporters he was hopeful that the UAE and India would resolve the questions over bilateral flying rights.

"We are hoping that the government will recognise the power of what we're talking about and that the Indian carriers, including Air India, will also say 'this is good for us'," Mr Clark said on the sidelines of the conference. "I'm sure there will be a realisation. Hopefully, the governments will have a meeting of the minds and get that sorted."

Mr Clark said it was too soon to see any changes in premium demand due to continuing turmoil in the banking sector.

Emirates began operations in India in 1985 with scheduled services to Mumbai and Delhi. At present, the airline operates flights to over 140 destinations globally from its hub in Dubai.

Tensions over plans to transform Air India into a global airline with hundreds of new jets rippled across the aviation sector on Tuesday as foreign carriers clamoured for more access to the world's fastest-growing economy.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government faces growing demands to ease a near-freeze on capacity that can be deployed on many routes to and from India, now that India's flag carrier has been sold to the cash-rich Tata conglomerate.

Current limits on the amount of flying allowed between India and many markets date back to heavy losses at Air India around the beginning of the last decade, analysts said.

But a huge overhaul of the airline, including the world's largest ever plane order for 470 jets, rekindled a debate over market access at a New Delhi aviation conference on Tuesday.

Dubai's Emirates, Turkish Airlines and Kuwaiti carrier Jazeera Airways all called for sharp increases in traffic rights to and from India to meet demand. Vietnam and Indonesia also want more flights, an Indian official said.

"We are not getting enough share from this market," Turkish Airlines Chief Executive Bilal Eksi told the CAPA India conference. Dubai has requested an extra 50,000 seats a week on India routes.

But in an exclusive interview, India's civil aviation minister told Reuters the government is not currently looking at easing curbs. He urged Indian airlines to order more big jets to meet demand without forcing passengers to change planes.

"I think it's about time that our carriers looked at the international market with greater focus. That's what we are pushing the airlines to do and that process has already started," Jyotiraditya Scindia said.

Currently most Indians use foreign carriers for long trips, often changing at Gulf hubs, with relatively few long-range jets based in the country despite a population of 1.3 billion.

'BIGGER SHARE'

Now, the rebirth of Air India and launch of a new Saudi carrier with dozens of jet orders has shuffled the deck and left Dubai's massive international hub flanked by new rivals.

But Emirates President Tim Clark welcomed the launches and said there was enough room for everyone without traffic curbs.

"There's so much (demand) there that none of us will be able to deal with it, if we allow unconstrained growth," he said.

Analysts said India's government is in no hurry to relax the curbs as it seeks to recapture traffic lost to foreign carriers - part of a wider initiative to create an economic powerhouse.

"There is clear evidence that the government wants a mega-carrier of size, scale and quality to emerge over the years," said Kapil Kaul, head of the CAPA India consultancy, adding the refusal to allow more flights for now appeared to be tactical.

"I don't think they're even encouraging the discussion ... the position whether other airlines like it or not, is 'we want to build a bigger brand and we want to have a bigger share'."

In one exception, India has granted more flights to Russia, Civil Aviation Secretary Rajiv Bansal said.

Other analysts noted India is not alone in making use of a post-war system of air traffic agreements to aid development.

"It is not about the airlines; the government is saying it's about India as a country: 'we want non-stop flights'," said Ameya Joshi, founder of air analysis website NetworkThoughts.

"Next year is an election year so it would not make sense for the government to take risks on traffic rights now. Anything that happens is likely to be after the elections."

(With Inputs from Reuters)

Turkish Airlines has asked the Indian government to consider increasing flights under the bilateral agreement between India and Turkey to facilitate more international flights.

"We have requested the Indian government to increase the frequency of flights between Turkey and India to allow 28 flights for Turkish carriers, from the 14 weekly flights at the moment. We are not getting enough (of Indian market)... we are trying to expand. This is the time for Turkish Airlines to expand operations in India."

Bilal Eksi, CEO & Board Member, Turkish Airlines

He added that Turkish Airlines is looking to start flights to six new destinations in India, including Ahmedabad and Chennai. He also noted that there was not enough capacity between India and Turkiye, which is also a wedding destination for many Indians.

ALSO READ - IndiGo aims US market via codeshare with Turkish Airlines

Eksi also said that Turkish Airlines' partnership with India's largest domestic airline IndiGo is not exclusive and that the airline is open to partnering with other Indian carriers including Air India.

Turkish Airlines is also looking for cooperation with Air India as the carrier looks to expand in the Indian market, a top executive said on Tuesday. At present, Turkish Airlines is closely cooperating with IndiGo, including a codeshare partnership.

Turkish Airlines CEO requests govt to increase flights between India and Turkey; looking for cooperation with Air India

"There is a strong strategic partnership with IndiGo, but this is not exclusive. I welcome all Indian airlines to a partnership with us & our friends at IndiGo don't mind that," Eksi said.

Bilateral agreements are air service agreements between two countries which provide different degrees of freedom of the air, which are a set of commercial aviation rights granting a country's airlines the privilege to enter another country's airspace.

As of August 2022, India has bilateral agreements with 116 countries, covering aspects relating to the number of flights, seats, landing points and permitted code share. When the government allots bilateral traffic rights to an airline, it grants a fixed number of seats or flights that an airline can operate.

Cover Image - Anna Zvereva

US aircraft maker Boeing has said India may require 31,000 pilots and some 26,000 mechanics over the next 20 years amid the growing order book of the aircraft original equipment manufacturers. Speaking on the sidelines of a CII event, Boeing India President Salil Gupte also said the South Asian region is expected to remain the fastest-growing market globally over the next 20 years.

"India is going to need over 31,000 pilots and 26,000 mechanics over the next 20 years to take care of the aircraft coming in. This is as important a part of the Indian growth story as the aircraft (orders)," Gupte told reporters.

ALSO READ - Boeing & Airbus increasingly looking to India for highly-skilled, low-cost engineers

He said considering India's air traffic growth, a lot of focus has to be on making infrastructure robust, both hard infrastructure which includes airports as well as critical infrastructure, which includes pilots, among others. It may be mentioned here that Tata Group-owned Air India had last month announced placing orders for a total of 470 planes with both Boeing and European aviation major Airbus.

ALSO READ - From A350s to B777Xs, Air India finalizes the Historic 470 Aircraft deal with Airbus & Boeing

Boeing says India may require 31,000 pilots and 26,000 mechanics in the next 20 years

Last September, Boeing projected India's air traffic growth at around 7% through 2040. He also said that after coming out of the pandemic, the recovery in air travel demand has stunned the world and Boeing does not see any impact of the financial crisis on air travel growth.

It is "too early to know what the consequences of the bank situation of the US and Europe and others are going to be. At this stage, we really see no slowdown in the demand for aviation," Gupte added. There is a huge market for narrow-body aircraft for Boeing in India, he said and added that "(as much as) 90% of the market over the next 20 years is going to be a narrow body market and we expect we will be successful in competing for those every single campaign (aircraft order)."

Gupte also emphasized that Boeing has a leadership position in the wide-body (twin-aisle) aircraft segment globally and it will remain so in all the markets, including India.

India will become more than a hub for aviation on account of its sheer size and scale as the country's economy grows, he stated. “India is the gateway like China and once it will grow to be (in) the top four economies of the world, it will be more than a hub."

The government is working to create an aviation hub in India and various steps, including airlines inducting wide-body aircraft and increasing their fleet size, are being taken, Union minister V K Singh informed Parliament last month.

SpiceJet chief Ajay Singh said the airline is significantly restructuring its balance sheet and will aggressively push for fleet expansion. The airline will also be having a significant number of dedicated cargo aircraft, he said, adding that the cargo business has helped the airline pay off its liabilities.

Last month, the airline announced that Carlyle Aviation Partners will acquire a 7.5% stake in the airline by converting outstanding dues as well as snapping up shareholding in the cargo business. Besides, it is set to tap the Qualified Institutional Buyer (QIB) route to raise up to INR 2,500 crore.

ALSO READ - SpiceJet to de-merge cargo arm, convert Carlyle’s debt to 7.5% equity & raise funds via QIP

Amid the budget carrier facing multiple headwinds, he also said that a measure of desperation is always good for an organisation... we will emerge stronger".

SpiceJet aggressively push for restructuring its balance sheet; expanding its fleet

ALSO READ - SpiceJet Q3 net profit jumps 160%; shares fly high

"It is in our (SpiceJet) DNA. We just refuse to die," Singh said at a session at the CAPA India aviation summit here. He said the airline was focused on reducing debt, and people will see a vastly different balance sheet over the next few quarters. SpiceJet incurred net losses of INR 316 crore, INR 934 crore, INR 998 crore, and INR 1,725 crore in the financial year 2018-19 (FY19), FY20, FY21, and FY22, respectively.

The airline is significantly restructuring the balance sheet and will be raising fresh capital. There will also be an aggressive push for fleet expansion, he asserted.

According to him, the grounding of Boeing 737 Max planes was a bigger disaster than Covid, Singh said. SpiceJet has been betting on more efficient Boeing 737 Max aircraft for its expansion. "As we grow again, you will find a lower cost base," he said.

The cash-strapped carrier has been facing multiple headwinds though it reported a multi-fold rise in net profit to INR 107 crore in the three months ended December 2022, helped by better performance in passenger and cargo businesses.

The grounding of the entire Boeing 737 Max aircraft fleet by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) for over two years was a bigger disaster for SpiceJet than the impact of Covid-19, said Chairman and Managing Director Ajay Singh.

On March 13, 2019, all Max planes were grounded in India by the DGCA after two of them crashed abroad within six months. This suspension was lifted on August 26, 2021, after Boeing made necessary rectifications in the aircraft.

“When the first plane crashed, we were told that it must be some pilot error. While that was still being investigated, there was the second crash. And then the Max fleet was grounded...This (grounding) was a bigger disaster than Covid-19 for us. We are still on the path of recovery as a consequence of that. When the fleet was grounded (in March 2019), we were told that it was a 15-day affair and that only a small certification and small fix were required and it would be done. Who could have imagined that this entire process would take two years or more? So, I think that is what really derailed SpiceJet at that point."

Ajay Singh, Chairman and Managing Director, SpiceJet

The first plane, operated by Indonesian carrier Lion Air, crashed on October 29, 2018, killing 180 people. The second one, operated by Ethiopian Airlines, crashed on March 10, 2019, killing 157 people. SpiceJet had placed an order for 155 Max planes in 2017, and at the time of grounding in March 2019, it had 12 of them in its fleet.