State’s aviation dreams going nowhere

Aviation and Karnataka are synonymous.

Apart from housing the country’s major aviation industries, the state also boasts of some of the India’s most important airports.

It was Bangalore, the state’s capital, where the country’s first green field airport, the Bengaluru International Airport was built on Public- Private Partnership (PPP) basis.

Now, in a bid to improve intercity air connectivity between the Tier-II cities in the state and to give a boost to tourism in the state, the government has decided to develop new airports and upgrade existing ones in different parts of the state.

Besides, the government has also proposed the construction of airstrips in 24 districts, which includes five around Bangalore City.

Though few of these projects have taken shape or are reaching completion, a few others have been facing various hurdles.

Express takes a look at the status of the various airports across the state, what ails their progress and how these airport projects can attract investment and improve tourism in the state.

Bengaluru International Airport (BIA)

BIA started commercial operations in May 2008. In total, 31 airlines operate from the airport of which 20 are international airlines (including three freighters)and, 11 are domestic airlines (including two freighters).

Currently, the terminal building can handle around 3000 passengers during peak hours and promoters of the airport are planning a second terminal and runway which is to be completed in the next three or four years.

Other plans include the development of an airport city. This area will be a well balanced mix of office parks, retail, entertainment and hospitality.

Mangalore International Airport

The Mangalore airport located in the outskirts of the coastal city is the only other airport in the state (other than BIA) to operate international flights.

Several airlines operate international flights from the airport on the Middle-East route facilitating an easy transit for the large number of people in the state’s costal districts and the border districts of neighbouring Kerala who are working abroad like in Abu Dhabi, Bahrain, Doha, Dubai, Kuwait, Muscat.

There is also a potential to start flights from Mangalore to Singapore and Malaysia with a few airlines evincing their interest. The Airport Authority of India (AAI) commenced the construction of an Integrated Terminal Building at a cost of Rs 165 crore, which will be operational by September raising the airport to international standards.

Mysore Airport

If the state government’s plans of upgrading existing airports in the state is aimed at giving a fillip to tourism, then the Mysore Airport should be given the top-most priority.

The City of Palaces, which attracts around 30 lakh tourist annually, does seem to be badly in need of an airport.

Apart from being the most potent tourist destination in the state, Mysore also houses leading IT companies like Infosys, Wipro and a large number of educational institutions.

A total of 174 acres of land close to the Mysore- Ooty Road has been allotted for the development of the airport and the AAI is planning to open it before ‘Dasara’. Once operational, the airport can accommodate ATR 72 aircraft with a capacity of 65-70 passengers.

However, expansion work could be delayed as farmers are unwilling to part with their land for the compensation offered by the district administration for the second phase of expansion.

The administration is willing to give Rs 50 lakh per acre as compensation, but farmers are seeking for Rs 1.5 crore for the same.

Shimoga and Gulbarga Airports

There seems to be no respite for the fraud-hit Satyam Computers, as whichever project it has set its hand on looks jinxed.

The Shimoga and Gulbarga airports are latest to be hit by the Satyam bug.

The Karnataka government had severed its agreements with Maytas Infra Consortium, a subsidiary firm of Satyam Computers, for dilly-dallying on finishing the two airport projects.

However, they again reverted its earlier decision and handed over the project back to Maytas after the Ministry of Corporate Affairs assured that it was in control of the newly-constituted Satyam board.

The Shimoga and Gulbarga airport projects were to be developed on PPP basis at a cost of Rs 220 crore. Though, there seems to be an imminent delay in the project, the government is confident that the projects will see the completion soon. The Shimoga airport is Chief Minister BS Yeddyurappa’s pet project as it falls in his home district.

Bellary Airport

Though the cash-rich mining district already has two airports and despite the mining czars having their own helipads for their choppers to land, the government is keen to develop a new airport near Chaganur and Siriwar villages and have hit upon the stumble block as the controversy over land acquisition worsens.

The farmers have cited that lands, where the airport is proposed, are fertile and would affect their livelihood. Besides, opposition parties have also raised serious concern over the project alleging that the motive behind having the airport at the proposed location is to only benefit the Reddy brothers in their mining business.

The Infrastructure development department has said that the ‘Request For Proposal’ for the construction of the airport will be issued shortly. Among the existing airports, the one in Bellary city has no scope for expansion, and the other is owned by the Jindals.

Bijapur Airport

The government has allocated 727- acre of land at Burnapur village near Bijapur for the airport. MARG Limited has bagged the contract for the development of airport. The latest from the government is that it is in the process of issuing PDA to MARG.

Belgaum and Hubli Airports

The Sambra airport in Belgaum, a couple of weeks ago, had stopped flight operations. Kingfisher Airlines had stopped services as it was incurring losses. The AAI had undertaken expansion work on the Runway, Terminal Building and Apron Taxiway. Hubli airport is also being expanded, but the future looks bleak as Kingfisher is the only airline operating from this airport.

Bidar and Karwar airports, proposed for development, are under the control of Defence ministry.

Jet Air-Kingfisher pact finally takes off

Jet Air-Kingfisher pact finally takes off

MUMBAI: After an eight-month delay, the alliance between the country’s two largest private carriers, Jet Airways and Kingfisher Airlines, finally
took off on July 1. “To start with, both the airlines have started sharing infrastructure at the domestic airports that include Delhi and Mumbai,” a senior Kingfisher Airlines official told ET on condition of anonymity. ( Watch )

Apart from infrastructure sharing at airports, the code sharing between the two airlines will start this month. “The infrastructure and code sharing will reduce Kingfisher’s operational costs by 20-30%,” added the official. According to an official at Jet, code sharing on domestic and international flights will start soon, apart from joint fuel management and network rationalisation. E-mails and text messages sent to spokespersons of both companies remained unanswered.

Last October, Vijay Mallya and Naresh Goyal signed an agreement to significantly rationalise capacity and reduce costs at a time when prices of jetfuel had hit record highs. Landing and parking charges are high in India. Besides, jetfuel prices have moved upwards in the last two months. “All this has forced Kingfisher and Jet to look for ways to reduce costs,” said an analyst with a domestic brokerage firm.

Both the airlines have a large debt component on their books, apart from having been in the red. Jet’s debt is $3.1 billion and had a standalone net loss of Rs 402 crore for FY09. Kingfisher’s loss stood at Rs 626 crore in the third quarter of FY09 from Rs 423 crore for the same quarter of FY08. “The airline business in India in terms of profitability faces an uphill task due to high charges that are paid out for operations,” said Raajeev Batra, head of transport advisory services, KPMG.

For FY09, the aviation industry incurred losses of around Rs 10,000 crore.

Kingfisher launches direct flight between Pune-Goa

Kingfisher launches direct flight between Pune-Goa

PANAJI: Kingfisher Airlines launched its direct flight service on the virgin air route of Pune-Goa from July 1. This is for the first time that
both the destinations would be connected directly via air.

The flights will operate six days a week except on Saturdays, an official release said.

The flights between Pune and Goa are being operated as Kingfisher Red service which is an unique class of low fare flying. It offers guests a whole host of benefits besides the trademark Kingfisher service at low fares, the release adds.

The flights are conveniently timed with the flight, IT 2801 departing from Pune at 12 noon and arriving in Goa at 1:15 pm.

The return flight, IT 2802 will take off from Goa at 1:45 pm and reach Pune at 3 pm and then fly onwards to Indore and arrive there at 4:50 pm.

The release has quoted Prakash Mirpuri, Vice President-Corporate Communications, the UB Group as stating that the flight will connect Pune with popular tourist resort of Goa.

Kingfisher Airlines offers lucky guests on Kingfisher class a chance to experience Kingfisher first

Kingfisher Airlines India’s only Five Star Airline, rated by Skytrax, announced the launch of Upgrade Travel Option pronounced you-too an initiative that offers lucky guests the opportunity to sample the award-winning Kingfisher First experience by paying a nominal fare difference for an upgrade from Kingfisher Class. This initiative has been launched in partnership with Optiontown. This offer is available on all sectors that offer the Kingfisher First service.

This is the first time that any airline in India is offering guests the opportunity to upgrade, made available through a unique service launched by Optiontown.

To avail of this offer, guests will need to book their regular Kingfisher Class tickets, as normal. Once the booking is done, they need to log on to www.Optiontown.com and enter their PNR, last name and e-mail address to retrieve the booking. Post selecting the flight they would like to be upgraded on, the guest will be required to pay a small sign-up fee and a nominal additional upgrade charge. If a guest is chosen for an upgrade, following a random selection process, the guest will travel on Kingfisher First and will be notified via e-mail prior to their departure.

Kingfisher Airlines has blazed a trail of innovations and introduced a range of market-firsts that have completely redefined the whole experience of air travel. The UTo program will provide the world class Kingfisher First experience to a larger segment of guests. Optiontown has been the pioneer in the world of travel options that create unique win-win for both travelers and our airline partners, said Sachin Goel, Founder and CEO, Tenon and Groove, LLC, the owner and provider of Optiontown. Upgrade Travel Option offers an opportunity for lucky travelers to explore the world class Kingfisher First service at unbelievable and affordable prices.

Kingfisher, Singapore Airlines Deny Stake-Sale Talks

Kingfisher Airlines Ltd. and Singapore Airlines Ltd. Friday separately denied a report on a possible equity partnership between the two airlines.

India’s NDTV.com earlier Friday cited unnamed sources as saying the two airlines were in talks over a possible sale of a 25 percent-26 percent stake in the Indian airline.

The report is incorrect. Singapore Airlines is not in talks on an equity investment in Kingfisher Airlines, a Singapore Airlines spokesman said.

Prakash Mirpuri, a spokesman for the UB Group, which controls Kingfisher Airlines, said the airline denies the speculative media reports stating we are in talks with Singapore Airlines.

India currently allows foreign companies to own up to 49 percent of a local airline but overseas carriers are not allowed to invest in domestic carriers, either directly or indirectly.

A slowing economy and fears of job losses have led to a decline in air travel in India, forcing Kingfisher Airlines and other carriers to cut flights, defer the delivery of new planes and consolidate among themselves to reduce costs.

The report said Kingfisher Airlines has a debt burden of more than 90 billion rupees and has been in talks with foreign airlines in the past about selling a stake.

Kingfisher Airlines operates full-service carrier Kingfisher and budget airline Kingfisher Red.

Jet Airways Konnect to add 30 new flights in network

Private domestic air-carrier, Jet Airways on Monday said it has plans to add 30 new flights in its Jet Airways Konnect network from June 13.

Jet Airways Konnect is all-economy service launched by Jet Airways recently to reduce its operating cost and cater to the demand of low-cost travel.

Currently, it operates 62 flights under this service pan-India.

Jet Airways Konnect will enhance its network to include 30 new flights to its current pan-India network of 62 daily flights from June 13, a company press release said today.

The service currently links several destinations across India with five major metros.

With the launch of these new services, Jet Airways Konnect will link Hyderabad and Thiruvananthapuram with Chennai, while enhancing its current services on the Coimbatore-Chennai sector.

Jet Airways Konnect will also introduce services from Thiruvanathapuram and Mumbai to Bengaluru, while enhancing existing services on the Hyderabad-Bengaluru sector, the airlines said.

In addition, the airline has also introduced a new service on the Ahmedabad-Indore, Bhopal-Raipur-Hyderabad sector, among other services.

With the introduction of these new flights, the Jet Airways Konnect service will operate with a fleet of 10 ATR 72-500 and three Boeing 737-800 aircraft on key domestic routes across India.

Travel firms feel the jitters

The tourism industry was taking baby steps towards recovery from the economic slump but the swine flu is threatening to push it back into the red.The outbreak of swine flu in holiday and business destinations such as the US, Mexico, Canada, Australia and New Zealand has put the domestic travel industry in a wait-and-watch mode.

Travel agents say the news of swine flu could not have come at a worse time. While there have been no cancellations with any of the major tour operators, they say that passengers are cautious before taking a final call. Bookings have not taken a hit so far, but people who are set to fly out within the next few days are asking if it is safe to travel, said Raj Travel COO Yogesh Selarka. The company has seen bookings drop by 50-54percent over the past year because of the recession and is banking on the holiday season in May to catch up. This swine flu could worsen the situation and prospective passengers are taking time to finalise their plans, he said.

Air India, Kingfisher Airlines and Jet Airways said there is no impact as of now, all the flights are on schedule and they have seen no cancellations as yet. Booking may come down in the coming weeks if the flu spread to other countries. Very few people travelled to the affected countries, including Mexico, Canada and Spain, so no drop in bookings yet, Travel Agents Association of India TAAI president Rajji Rai said.

While the online travel industry, too, has not seen any cancellations, there is a sense of wariness in the industry as it waits to see how things pan out over the next few days. We have not seen any slowdown in bookings or an increase in cancellations right now. It depends on how things develop. People travelling to the US, Canada and New Zealand are watching how this develops before taking a call.

By the end of the week, we will have a better picture, said Deep Kalra, MD and CEO of MakeMyTrip.com, a travel web portal. In-bound tourism from the US, UK and France has taken a hit due to the economic slowdown and terror attacks, he added.

Dhruv Shringi, Founder and Executive Director of Yatra Online, another web portal, says that the bigger worry is the US market. This is the largest market in terms of tourism and this year has been the worst year for tourism, he said.

According to latest data by Directorate General of Civil Aviation, the month of March has witnessed a sharp 14percent fall in the number of fliers to 32 lakh from 37 lakh in the same month last year. With the economic slowdown impacting both corporate and personal travel plans, the domestic air traffic in the January-March quarter has declined by 12percent this year over the corresponding period last year. India’s air passenger market has increased four-fold from 12.8 million in 2001 to 42.8 million in 2007.

kingfisher Flights to Assam delayed by dust storms

Three flights from Kolkata to Guwahati and one flight to Silchar in Assam were delayed today morning due to poor visibility caused by dust storms and fog here.

Kolkata-Guwahati flights of Jetlite – S2361, Air India – IC22 and Kingfisher – IT4569did not take off from the Netaji Subhas International Airport here due to poor visibility at the Guwahati airport, airport sources here said.

The Kolkata-Silchar Alliance Air flight CD 7705 with 45 passengers on board returned here after failing to land at Silchar. The flight again took off from here at 9.45AM, sources said.

The problem at the Gopinath Bordoloi Airport in Guwahati has been compounded by suspension of the Instrumental Landing System ILS which enables aircraft to land when visibility is poor due to various reasons, the sources said.

Guwahati has been experiencing dust storms following a dry spell for over four months.

Jet Airways to launch Mumbai-Kuwait direct daily flight March 29

India’s leading private air carrier Jet Airways Thursday announced that it will launch direct daily flights from Mumbai to Kuwait from March 29. This will be the airline’s second daily service to Kuwait from India. At present, Jet Airways is operating daily flights from Kochi to Kuwait.

Jet airline is also operating daily flights to Bahrain, Muscat, Doha, Dubai and Abu Dhabi in the Middle East.

Jet Airways chief executive Wolfgang Prock-Schauer said the airline had established itself as a formidable brand in the intensely competitive India-Gulf sector in a relatively short period of time.

We are confident that the new Mumbai-Kuwait service will prove similarly popular with passengers. We will operate the new flight aboard a state-of-the-art Boeing 737-800 aircraft, he said a statement.

The flight will depart Mumbai at 7.00 p.m. and reach Kuwait at 8.30 p.m. local time. On return, the flight will depart Kuwait at 9.30 p.m. and arrive in Mumbai at 4.00 a.m.

According to government figures, there are about 4.82 million Indians living in the Gulf countries, with Kuwait housing 550,000 of them.

FLY KINGFISHER RED – Airlines portals offer up to 50 percent cash refund on ticket

In an attempt to bring back travellers and increase passenger load factor, domestic airlines and travel portals have come together to offer discounts and cash back of up to 50 percent on a ticket.

Gurgaon-based low-cost carrier, SpiceJet, is offering up to 50 percent cash back on its basic fare through travel portal, makemytrip.com, for sectors where the distance is less than 750 km and 25 percent in case of sectors where the distance is more than 750 km. The amount will be credited within a week after the date of travel. This offer is valid till the end of March.

As a result, it is now possible to get a ticket on the Mumbai-Delhi route for Rs 3,465 all inclusive through cash-back schemes if booked 30 days in advance.

Spicejet chief executive officer Sanjay Aggarwal told ET, These are promotional offers that depend on routes and load factor. We have no plans to cut airfares in the current scenario. Kingfisher Airlines, too, is offering 10 percent cash back of up to a maximum of Rs 200 per transaction. This can be availed only when one books a ticket on a domestic route through yatra.com. Likewise, there is a 50 percent cash back on GoAir when booked through cleartrip.com.

Given that airlines are facing load factors that are low, cash back offers and discounts are short-term tactics to fulfil the advance booking targets, said an analyst with a domestic brokerage firm. Importantly, just 33.2 lakh passengers flew in January this year against 38.9 lakh in January 2008 – a decline of 14.6 percent.

Airlines cannot cut airfares further at a time like this. These offers and discounts are only for a limited period, iXiGO.com, a travel portal, CEO Aloke Bajpai said. Earlier this month, airfares had increased by Rs 2,000 per ticket, after the promotional offers were withdrawn. Just after that, a Mumbai-Delhi ticket would cost anywhere between Rs 5,000 and Rs 6,000. A day later, airlines like JetLite, GoAir brought back their promotional offers.