GMR to separate Airports Division into a separate entity

Admin

15 Oct 2021

GMR Infrastructure Ltd expects to complete the demerger of its airports and non-airports business by December 2021, the Hyderabad-based infrastructure major said in an investor presentation on Monday, October 11.

This comes after early this year strategic partnership with Groupe ADP giving the latter 49% stake in its airport's arm for an equity consideration of Rs 10,780 crore. The Groupe ADP develops and manages airports, including Paris-Charles de Gaulle, Paris-Orly and Paris-Le Bourget.

Paris CDG Airport Terminal 1 operated by Groupe ADP (Airport-Data.com)

The company also plans to bring down its corporate debt to zero but did not specify a timeline for this target. The group said it had reduced its corporate debt from INR 6,700 crore to INR 4,500 crore in the 12 months between June 2020 and June 2021. 

The company said that it has received INR 1,690 crore from the divestment of its Kakinada SEZ to Aurobindo Realty. GMR also said it has sold 546 acres of land at Krishnagiri,  and also plans to monetize 1,900 acres of land. About 466 acres of this is under the process of sale with another 270 acres being developed under a joint venture.

Talking about its future strategy, GMR said for its airports business, it plans to generate free cash in three years while focusing on business growth

“Create a powerful consumer business supported by traffic growth, improved SPPs and Penetration. Drive spend through effective segmentation and marketing, financial technology solutions, improved product mix, lay-outing and loyalty programs. Match global Duty-Free SPP (spend per pax) benchmarks by sustaining high average transaction values. Duty-free SPP at Delhi Airport is $10-11, as opposed to 19-20 $ at Changi and Dubai Airports," the company said.

GMR Aero Technic - Hyderabad (gmraerotech.com)

It also plans to monetize over 2,000 acres of real estate as part of its airports business plan.

For its non-airports business, the company said that it will foray into technology-enabled, consumer-centric and asset-light businesses such as distribution, smart metering, EV charging and energy trading.

For its highways and EPC business, the company will focus on divesting select assets and leverage its EPC expertise to bid for HAM projects that have significantly low capital requirements. It also plans to grow its EPC order book by bidding for Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation of India (DFCC) and Rail Vikas Nigam Ltd (RVNL) projects.

Apart from being one of the largest private airport companies in India, GMR Group is also the only Indian airport developer to have developed and operated airports outside India. Presently, GMR Infrastructure in partnership with Megawide Construction Corporation of Philippines is operating and developing Mactan Cebu International Airport – the second largest airport in the Philippines. The group has also been selected to develop, operate and manage the new international Kastelli airport, also known as Crete airport, in Heraklion, Greece, with a joint venture partner, Terna S.A., a Greek infrastructure company.

Cebu Mactan Airport (Philippines) developed by GMR Group

Feature Image - GMR

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Air Canada to start Non-Stop flights between Delhi and Montreal

Radhika Bansal

14 Oct 2021

From October 31, Air Canada will begin a new thrice-weekly non-stop flight between Delhi and Montreal. From October 15, the airline will increase its daily nonstop flights from Toronto to Delhi to ten per week. This was announced by the airline on Wednesday, October 13th.

"Air Canada announce(s) a strategic expansion of its India services, with additional flights from Toronto, and a new year-round, nonstop route between Montreal and Delhi.Starting October 31, just in time for Diwali celebrations, Air Canada will offer three flights per week to the growing Indian community in Montreal. Additionally, the airline is increasing frequency to Delhi from Toronto to ten flights per week beginning October 15.The airline’s service to Mumbai will resume when conditions permit." Air Canada

Air India has direct flights from Delhi to Vancouver and Toronto.

The thrice-weekly flight will operate on Tuesday, Thursday, and Sunday, leaving Delhi at 1:55 A.M. and Montreal at 8:10 P.M.

It will be served by Air Canada's most modern aircraft, a 298-seat Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner, offering three cabins of service - Air Canada Signature Class, Premium Economy and Economy class.

"Air Canada is the only carrier offering a direct service to Delhi out of Montreal, allowing for easy connections through our extensive network. We continue to focus on the growing visiting friends and relatives market and this capacity expansion is a response to increasing demand. The Canada-India market is an important and strategic one for Air Canada. These additional flights and new route demonstrate Air Canada's anticipation about the promise and growth of the Indian subcontinent - and we also look forward to further strengthening the cultural and business ties between our two countries."Mark Galardo, Senior Vice President, Network Planning and Revenue Management, Air Canada

Air Canada also offers daily flights from Vancouver.

Canada is home to a significant Indian population, and air traffic has always been quite heavy between the two countries. After months of suspension, direct flights by Air India and Air Canada connecting Delhi with Toronto and Vancouver resumed recently.

Air Canada is Canada's national airline and the country's largest airline, with hubs at Toronto Pearson, Montreal-Trudeau, and Vancouver International airports. Air Canada's network includes destinations in Canada, North America, South America, Central America, Europe, Asia, and Australia, with a fleet of narrow and wide-bodied aircraft. The Star Alliance includes Air Canada as a founding member.

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Kolkata Durga Puja Light show suspended as pilots complain of laser beam distraction

Prashant-prabhakar

14 Oct 2021

Talk about Kolkata and the first thing that comes to mind are its delectable sweets and the extravagant festivities especially now when Navratri celebrations are approaching their end. In a bizarre twist of events, the city’s most-hyped Durga Puja pandal, a replica of Dubai’s iconic skyscraper Burj Khalifa created at Sreebhumi, Lake Town has suspended a magnificent laser show-Why? Read on.

OneIndia

The decision came hours after multiple reports from pilots dropped in, complaining about the laser beam entering the cockpit and blinding their view while on approach to Kolkata to land. Take-off and landing are two critical phases of flight during which extreme caution is exercised and hence the DGCA has mandated specific rules for the operation of laser-related activities in and around airports.

The mandate stipulates that no laser activity be conducted in an 18.5 km radius around any airport. This is to prevent the blinding of pilots during the critical phase of flight which can have dire consequences if flight safety is compromised. Apparently, the puja pandal was located barely 8.5km from the runway and next to the aircraft approach funnel.

We decided to suspend the laser show as revellers were refusing to move on and were recording it on their cellphones. As a result, crowd control was becoming a challengesaid Dibyendu Goswami, the chief coordinator of the puja committee

Surprisingly, this wouldn't be the first time of such reports dropping in as according to reports, pilots of at least four flights had complained of laser lights in the past.Three of them were made by pilots over the VHF radio set to the air traffic control that was duly reported to the Airport Operations Command Centre while another one was made by a genuinely irate pilot who made a written complaint to the Airports Authority of India.

When they complained of laser beams, the flights were at an altitude of 1,500-1,800 feet and descending fast to touch down in less than 5 minutes. Any intrusion at this juncture is not only irritating, it is hazardous as wellTop official

The sources further stated that the state administration, including top officials, were informed about the problem that flights were facing as a result of the high-decibel laser show.

Laser incident(s) : what do the statistics say?

GettyImages

Aiming a laser at an aircraft is a serious safety risk and violates federal law. Many high-powered lasers can completely incapacitate pilots who are trying to fly safely to their destinations and may be carrying hundreds of passengers.On a global note, laser strikes on aircraft continue to increase each year. In 2017 alone, FAA received 6,754 reports of laser strikes on aircraft which was a 250% increase since FAA started tracking laser strikes in 2010.

COVER: The Times Of India

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Former airport employee busted for making a hoax bomb threat at Bengaluru Airport

Radhika Bansal

23 May 2022

Panic prevailed at Kempegowda International Airport, Bengaluru early Friday, May 20 after an anonymous caller rang the Bengaluru city police helpline (112) around 3:50 AM and informed that a bag carrying explosives had been placed on the airport premises.

The man suspected to be drunk at the time of making the call gave out a name and also hurled expletives at cops.

Soon after the threat call came, police alerted Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) personnel at KIA, who carried out a thorough search of the airport premises for over an hour and established the bomb threat to be a hoax. Following this, airport police carried out a probe to track down the caller.

Former airline employee busted for making a hoax bomb threat at Bengaluru Airport

Later it turned out that the caller, Subhashish Gupta, who worked as a cargo staffer at the airport, falsely informed police about the explosives in an attempt to avenge his brother-in-law, who recently divorced his sister, said police.

Police sources said the call made from a cellphone was tracked to Gupta, who was staying in a paying guest accommodation on Lalbagh Road.

Investigators nabbed him from his residence, questioned him and he spilled the beans. Gupta, 32, told police he made the hoax call in the guise of his former brother-in-law hoping that police would nab him.

Subhashish Gupta worked as a cargo staffer of an airline at the airport

But Gupta who was in an inebriated state used his own cellphone to make the call and that was a clear giveaway, said sources. He has been arrested on charges of creating panic among the public.

Investigation revealed Gupta worked as a cargo staffer with an airline, the name of which could not be verified. His service was terminated three months ago after he allegedly reported to work in a drunken state. Gupta was produced before a magistrate and remanded in judicial custody.

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Domestic Flight restrictions lifted allowing airlines to operate at full capacity

Radhika Bansal

13 Oct 2021

Airlines will be able to operate at 100% capacity from October 18, with the civil aviation ministry lifting all restrictions on domestic flight movements. These curbs were imposed when airlines resumed operations after a Covid-induced break in May 2020. However, the government is yet to remove the fare caps.

The decision was taken following a review of the current status of scheduled domestic operations, the ministry said in its order on Tuesday, October 12.

(Image Courtesy - NBC News)

"After review of the current status of Scheduled Domestic Operations viz-a-viz passenger demand for air travel", it has been decided to "restore the scheduled domestic air operations with effect from 18-10-2021 without any capacity restriction," the ministry stated.

Last month the government allowed airlines to increase their capacity from 72.5% to 85%. The decision coincided with the festival season which has seen improved seat occupancy and rises in air traffic.

On Saturday, October 9, airlines flew over 300,000 passengers for the first time since February-end. The first seven days of the month saw 1.7 million passengers flying, which is 10% higher than September, while the number of departures was around 8% higher. Currently, airlines are operating at 70-75% capacity while passengers carried each day are between 60-70% of the pre-pandemic level.

(Image Courtesy - India Today)

IndiGo is the country's largest airline in terms of operation. It is operating around 1,200 flights daily, which is around 80% of its pre-Covid-19 capacity, while its average passenger load is around 75-80%.

“It is a welcome move as we believe that with the recent pent-up demand combined with the upcoming festival season it will be great to operate flights on pre-pandemic levels. We are quite bullish about the overall growth and demand for domestic travel,” said an IndiGo spokesperson.

Among the airlines, IndiGo has been quite vocal about the need for phasing out capacity restrictions.

Another private carrier, Vistara, also welcomed the decision. "Vistara welcomes the government's decision to remove the capacity cap. We believe that it will help accelerate recovery from the severe impacts of the pandemic as demand continues to grow, especially with the growing confidence in air travel and the much-awaited festive season," a spokesperson of the airline said.

(Image Courtesy - Business Standard News)

“Growing travel confidence has also resulted in a shift in advance purchase pattern trends,” said Aloke Bajpai, co-founder and CEO of ixigo.

“Share of bookings for travel beyond 30 days has increased in September, indicating pre-planned advance purchase behaviour, which had become last-minute purchase behaviour during the pandemic.

Attractive rates are also encouraging travellers to make bookings. For example, the average one-way fare for the Delhi-Goa route was INR 4,400 for travel in the first week of October if booked 30 days in advance. Fares for the same route if booked at the last minute (0-7 days before travel) is INR 7,600.”

(Image Courtesy - CNBC)

The government tweaked the price cap formula last month, allowing airlines to set fares for travel beyond 15 days of the booking date, in addition to increasing capacity to 85%. Previously, price caps applied to tickets purchased within 30 days of the booking date.

The number of flights or departures that an airline can order as a percentage of its schedule during a season is referred to as capacity caps.

The pandemic and subsequent lockdown (domestic and international) had a significant impact on the aviation industry, with airlines losing billions of dollars.

The government has been fixing upper and lower limits based on distance since airline operations resumed in May last year after a two-month stoppage as part of the nationwide Covid lockdown.

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How Tata Sons plan on dominating the skies

Prashant-prabhakar

13 Oct 2021

Now that Air India has returned to its rightful owners, the homecoming could pose a possible threat to the current players in the Aviation Industry.

IndiGo currently stands tall beating all others and with the highest market share of 58.6% (as of July 2021). The possible integration of Tata Group's airlines- Air India and Vistara could present challenges to IndiGo and Spicejet who are currently focussing on expanding their operations in the international sector.

The Siasat Daily

"Air India plus Vistara is a formidable force in the international segment. This is evident considering the network [7 of Vistara and 70 of Air India, without considering the overlap], wide body aircraft fleet of a total of 49 [2 Vistara and 47 Air India] and international market share [of 64%] of the combination"-analysts Ansuman Deb and Ravin Kurwa wrote in a note.

They further mentioned that this entity could pose a serious threat to the international long-haul plans of IndiGo and the international cargo plans of Spicejet.Vistara, which started international operations in August 2019, is to receive 4 787-9 dreamliners tentatively by 2023.

Vistara B787-9 Dreamliner | One Mile at a Time

The Tatas could also possibly merge Air India Express and AirAsia India in the low cost sector sometime in the future. For now, the prime focus would be on to revamping the entire airline up by refinancing existing debts, renewing multiple contracts and getting aircraft overhauls done.

TIKET2

The Tata Group, which has successfully acquired Air India for Rs 18,000 crore, may have to pump in more than $1 billion to improve the airline’s passenger reservation system and upgrade and refurbish the fleetBusiness Standard

Part of the strategy would also include the Tatas prioritizing rewriting agreements with the lessors. The government has agreed to pay Rs 11,939 crore of lease dues, while the title deeds of aircraft will be transferred to Tata Sons.

Any decision on the integration of operations is not going to happen immediately. First, the group will take complete ownership of AirAsia, probably by March, and then integrate the airline with Air India Express to develop a formidable low-cost operation. Any decision to merge with Vistara will take time as it will require permission from Singapore AirlinesSources

COVER: The Economic Times

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