Rolls-Royce estimates to have an electric aircraft ready by 2025

Rolls-Royce Holdings, the engine maker known for powering Airbus and Boeing workhorse jets, expects a fully-electric small aircraft in three to five years, a top executive said.

The first commercial application of P-Volt, a battery-electric system developed by Rolls-Royce, will have about 600-kilowatt hours of power, which will enable flying six to eight people as far as 80 nautical miles, Rob Watson, president of the company’s electrical division, said in an interview in Singapore on Monday, February 14.

Rolls-Royce Holdings, the engine maker known for powering Airbus and Boeing workhorse jets, expects a fully-electric small aircraft.

That range will keep improving with better battery technology, and may eventually be able to fly as much as 400 km in the 2030s, London-based Watson, who’s attending the biennial Singapore Airshow this week, said.

“We are confident in the technology. Now we need to scale it so it can have a meaningful economic influence," said Watson, who was promoted to an executive role this year. “I think that’s where you see urban air mobility and regional air mobility, aircraft with 8-18 seats, becoming a real possibility in the next three to five years." 

Earlier ‘Spirit of Innovation’ from Rolls-Royce becomes the world’s fastest all-electric aircraft

A slew of companies around the world, from startups to established aerospace giants, as well as some automobile manufacturers, are at different stages of developing aircraft that are powered by an alternative source of power, as pressure builds on the industry to cut back on emissions.

ALSO READ - ‘Spirit of Innovation’ from Rolls-Royce becomes world’s fastest all-electric aircraft

The options being worked on include sustainable aviation fuel, SAF, hydrogen, fully electric, and hybrid-electric. Rolls-Royce’s electric propulsion system can be used for both electric vertical takeoff and landing, or so-called eVTOLs or commuter aircraft.

One of its customers, Vertical Aerospace Group Ltd., has already grabbed orders from American Airlines Group Inc., Virgin Atlantic Airways Ltd. and aircraft lessor Avolon Holdings Ltd., and says its VA-X4, a zero-emission four-passenger aircraft, can fly as fast as 200 miles per hour over a range of more than 100 miles. 

“If you want to fly hundreds of people and thousands of miles, which is the single-aisle market, a battery is never going to do that because you’ll just be limited by the energy density of a battery and the weight of the battery. If you want to get to net-zero on those platforms, you will achieve that principally through SAF and then through hydrogen.We need to make supply selection decisions in the next year, year and a half. We’re making decisions about our strategic suppliers this year."Rob Watson, President (Electrical Division), Rolls Royce

However, Watson doesn’t expect narrowbody aircraft, the most popular models for Airbus and Boeing, to turn fully electric. 

Rolls-Royce is currently in talks with suppliers for battery cells as it approaches the crucial stage of certification, Watson said. While Rolls-Royce will design and assemble the packs, it won’t manufacture battery cells, he said.

(With Inputs from Bloomberg)

Budget carrier AirAsia India said its pact with full-service carrier Air India on passenger transfer in case of disruption in operations is a "standard" one and it has similar arrangements with other airlines as well.

Air India and AirAsia India have entered into an agreement that will allow them to carry each other's passengers in case there is a disruption of operations, according to a communication.

"The agreement under discussion is standard agreement airlines enter with each other to re-accommodate guests in the event of last-minute disruptions. We already have similar agreements with almost all other Indian carriers," an AirAsia spokesperson said in a statement.

Air India and AirAsia India sign an interline passenger transfer agreement

Airlines typically enter into such interline agreements with other carriers, especially on routes where they operate a limited number of flights to prevent inconvenience to passengers in case of disruptions. These disruptions could occur as a result of extenuating circumstances such as delays, cancellations, diversion of flights.

The document seems to give first preference to Air India customers with a rule stating taking on AAIPL passengers should not affect departure times of AI flights. Another clause clarifies that paying AI passengers will get priority over transferred AirAsia passengers for AI’s business class seats.

Both airlines are part of the Tata Group. The arrangement, effective for two years starting from this month, will enable airport teams of both Air India and AirAsia to offer alternative first available flights so that inconvenience to passengers is minimised.

Carriage of passengers will be on an "as available" basis as determined by the airport manager of accepting airline.

The two carriers have entered into the IROPS (Irregular Operations) arrangement through a pact, which allows the transfer of passengers to each other's flights in case of disrupted operations, according to the communication.

However, the carriage of passengers will be on an "as available" basis as determined by the airport manager of accepting airline, it stated. On January 27, Tata Group completed the takeover of Air India.

Tata group now has four airline brands in its portfolio: Air India, its low-cost arm Air India Express, AirAsia India (in which it owns 83.6% stake), and Vistara (which is a 51:49 joint-venture with Singapore Airlines). Barring Vistara, the Tata group is likely to put in effect greater synergies among its portfolio airlines.

The government will start working on selling ground-handling arm Alliance Air of erstwhile national carrier Air India and the Expression of Interest (EoI) is expected in the next fiscal, an official said.

"We already have the Cabinet approval for selling the subsidiaries of Air India. So we will come out with an EoI inviting bids for one of the ground-handling arms in the next fiscal," an official told PTI.

Currently, four Air India subsidiaries - Air India Air Transport Services Ltd (AIATSL), Airline Allied Services Ltd (AASL) or Alliance Air, Air India Engineering Services Ltd (AIESL) and Hotel Corporation of India Ltd (HCI) are with Air India Assets Holding Ltd (AIAHL), which is a special purpose vehicle set up in 2019 for holding non-core assets and debt of Air India.

The government will start working on selling ground-handling arm Alliance Air

The government had transferred the ownership of Air India to Tata Group in January after the latter emerged as the winning bidder for buying the loss-making carrier.

The official further said that it is also to be decided whether the Air India Specific Alternative Mechanism (AISAM) for Air India privatisation or the Alternative Mechanism for CPSE disinvestment would be the decision-making ministerial panel for privatising these subsidiaries.

The AISAM is headed by the Home Minister and comprises the Finance Minister, Commerce and Industry Minister and Civil Aviation Minister.

The government had transferred the ownership of Air India to Tata Group in January

The Alternative Mechanism of CPSE disinvestment comprises Road Transport and Highways Minister, Finance Minister and Commerce and Industry Minister.

Separately, AIAHL also has over INR 14,700 crore worth of non-core assets like land and building of Air India which also has to be monetised. These assets were transferred to AIAHL before the airline's privatisation.

Air India has asked its cabin crew to wear minimal jewellery to avoid delays at security checks and not to visit duty-free shops after completing the immigration process as part of the Tatas-owned airline's efforts to improve on-time performance.

Since it took over loss-making Air India on January 27, Tatas have been working on ways to improve the overall performance of the carrier.

The cabin crew must also adhere to the uniform regulations and wear minimum jewellery to avoid any delays at customs and security checks, Air India officiating executive director for Inflight Services, Vasudha Chandna said in a communication to cabin crew on Sunday, February 13.

Air India has asked its cabin crew to wear minimal jewellery to avoid delays at security checks.

Once onboard, the cabin crew should only wear the items of PPE kit which are required to be worn as per the latest circular in the shortest possible time and complete the mandatory checks before/well within the prescribed timings, it said.

Asking the cabin crew staff not to delay the mandatory preflight check clearance, which may be attributed to the cabin crew, it has advised the cabin supervisor to give clearance for boarding to the ground staff before or well within the prescribed timings.

The cabin crew has also been asked not to consume beverages or eat food before the boarding of the passengers or during that process and assist in swift boarding of the guests, Chandna said in the communication.

Once on board, the cabin crew should only wear the items of PPE kit which are required to be worn

Also, there should not be any delay in closing the aircraft door on the part of the cabin crew, the communication said. Besides, the airline has also sought the cabin crew proceeding to the cabin crew movement control office or MCO or immigration(at outstations) after completing their check-in formalities.

The cabin crew must not wait for the commander at movement control/check-in counter (at outstation) and proceed to the aircraft well within time, it stated.

FlyBig, the regional carrier, is likely to induct two aircraft, sub-leased by GIFT City’s Vman Aerospace, by March-end.

A source told Hindu BusinessLine that Vman Aerospace leased the two ATR 72-600s aircraft from Dubai Aerospace Enterprise The registration numbers for the aircraft will be VT TMC and VT TMT said the source.

A source from the airline said with the induction of these two aircraft, the regional carrier will have three aircraft on its fleet. FlyBig also plans to wet-lease another Q400 aircraft soon. 

FlyBig plans to induct 2 aircraft in the near future

Earlier Flybig planned to induct five aircraft by the end of March 2022, and 75,000 seats to offer with over 35 departures in a day. It will operate mainly under UDAN, connecting the Northeast and Central East part of India.

It’s been over a year since the airline was started by pilot-turned entrepreneur Sanjay Mandavia, who planned to induct at least 24 aircraft and establish FlyBig as a UDAN-4 leader. It was awarded 15 routes. Mandavia had earlier shown interest in acquiring Jet Airways under the insolvency process.

“We plan to induct 24 aircraft, to have a strong base in tier-2 and 3 markets. For that to happen, we need a good market cap. We plan to invest INR 100 crore for expansion later,” said Mandavia.

Earlier Flybig planned to induct five aircraft by the end of March 2022, and 75,000 seats to offer with over 35 departures in a day.

However, due to an acute cash crunch, and with no investors on board, FlyBig is currently utilising its promotor’s funds. It currently flies seven routes and is planning to start a flight on the Shillong-Delhi route soon. 

People in the know said the company is in conversation with multiple investors and may soon find one.  The airline’s Passenger Load Factor (PLF) has been increasing on a month-on-month basis, albeit marginally.

In December and November 2021, it carried 0.10 lakh passengers compared to 0.8 lakh passengers in the month before that. However, it has a marginal market share of 0.1%, according to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation.

In December and November 2021, it carried 0.10 lakh passengers compared to 0.8 lakh passengers in the month before that.

ALSO READ - EaseMyTrip forms an exclusive partnership with Flybig

EaseMyTrip, which had announced earlier that it had entered into a partnership with Flybig to sell the latter’s tickets exclusively on its platform, will process all the bookings on Flybig made by any other online travel portal.

Flybig is a regional carrier based in India. The airline commenced operations in December 2020 with the launch of a twice-weekly Delhi-Shillong service. It is promoted by Gurugram-based Big Charter Private Limited. It is focused on connecting tier-2 cities within India.

(With Inputs from The Hindu Business Line)

Vietnam will remove its COVID-19 restrictions on international passenger flights with all markets starting February 15, with no limitation on the number of flights, the state-run Tuoi Tre newspaper reported on Sunday, February 13.

The Southeast Asian country imposed tight border controls at the start of the pandemic to keep out COVID-19, with some initial success, but that dealt a blow to its burgeoning tourism sector which accounted for about 10% of gross domestic product.

Vietnam to end Covid-19 travel restrictions on international flights

Vietnam had already begun gradually resuming international flights with 15 markets from the beginning of this year while easing quarantine requirements, with vaccinated passengers now needing only three days of self-isolation.

"Vietnam will lift restrictions on international flights starting February 15. The frequency of flights will be restored to pre-pandemic level.Vietnam has already informed its partners about that new policy and only China has not yet agreed to resume commercial flights with Vietnam."Dinh Viet Son, Deputy Director, Civil Aviation Administration, Vietnam

The Southeast Asian country has recorded nearly 2.5 million COVID-19 cases since the pandemic began, and around 39,000 deaths. Nearly 98% of its 98 million people have received at least two vaccine doses, official data showed.

Most Asian airlines provide services to Vietnam like Singapore Airlines, Cathay Pacific Airlines, etc. Vietnamese flag carrier Vietnam Airlines, Bamboo Airlines, VietJet Air also provide international services.

(With Inputs from Reuters)