DGCA may double 6-month notice period for pilots

NEW DELHI: A bitter fight has broken out among Indian carriers over the issue of 'old' airlines trying to retain their prized pilots and 'new' airlines aiming to poach them for their expanding fleets. Things have come to such a pass that the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) is reviewing its over a decade-old rule of having six months' notice period for pilots. The old and established airlines have sought doubling of pilots' notice period to a year.

The DGCA has now sought individual views of all airlines. Highly placed sources say established airlines like Air India and IndiGo are in favour of one-year notice period, while 'new' airlines from the Tata Group like Vistara are against raising the notice period. Even some old airlines which are now going to expand their fleet are against the proposal for a year's notice period.

"There is differed opinion among airlines on this issue. Unfortunately nobody looks at this issue on the basis of legality. A final call will be taken after due dilligence by current DG B S Bhullar. His predecessors were not in favour of extending the notice period," said a highly placed source.

AIRASIA CELEBRATES MAIDEN FLIGHT VIZAG-KUALA LUMPUR WITH LOW FARES

For air passengers flying Visakhapatnam to Kaula Lumpur, AirAsia Berhad is offering attractive inaugural discounts.

The airliner signalled its maiden direct flight to the capital of Malaysia – Kuala Lumpur from the port city of Andhra Pradesh today. It had made the announcement of linking the two cities in March.

Passengers can buy all inclusive fares from as low as Rs. 3,399 from Vishakapatnam to Kuala Lumpur for booking period from now to May 17 for the travel period from May 10 to Sep 30, 2015.

This promotional fare is now available on airasia.com, as well as AirAsia’s mobile app on iPhone and Android devices, as well as its mobile site mobile.airasia.com., said Spencer Lee, Head of Commercial for AirAsia Berhad.

This is the seventh direct flight out of India to Kuala Lumpur from Vizag, after our other successful direct flights from Kolkata, Chennai, Trichy, Bengaluru, Kochi and Hyderabad. Guests can connect to other Malaysian cities like Penang, Kuching or Kota Kinabalu, or even to Singapore, Tokyo, Sydney etc., he said in a press release.

- BL | Image: VizagAirport

AIRASIA INDIA FOLLOWS VISTARA's FOOTSTEPS, WILL ADD FLIGHTS FROM DELHI

AirAsia is exploring flights to Imphal, Kolkata, Lucknow, Raipur and Pune from its soon-to-be-launched Delhi hub.

The airline will begin operations from Delhi on May 21 with flights to Bengaluru, Goa and Guwahati. “Initially, the airline will have two aircraft in Delhi and will gradually scale up over the next few months,” said an aviation source.


AirAsia India —- a joint venture between Malaysian low-cost airline AirAsia, Tata Sons and Telestra Tradeplace — began operations from Bengaluru last June. At present, it has five Airbus A320 planes, of which it utilises three. AirAsia has a market share of one per cent.

AirAsia’s entry to Delhi comes on the heels of Vistara’s expansion. Last week, Vistara had announced it would launch flights from Delhi to Lucknow and Bengaluru, and to connect Bengaluru-Mumbai. Vistara operates 197 weekly flights and the number will go up as it commences the new services.

AirAsia India did not respond to an email query on the topic. In a statement last week, the airline’s Chief Executive Officer Mittu Chandilya had said: “Our entry into the Delhi market is a sign of confidence in our business model and in our performance that we can come into a highly saturated market and help expand the market by providing connectivity to the undeserved. The new sectors will allow more people to experience air travel in India. We will continue to build our network throughout India through both our northern and southern hubs.”

The current regulations, which are set to be revised, require airlines to deploy one per cent capacity on routes within remote areas.

“Unfortunately, the southern portion of India – where AirAsia India is (now) based - has no such routes,” said aviation blog The Flying Engineer.

- BS

UNHAPPY AIRASIA INDIA PROMOTERS PUT PRESSURE ON MANAGEMENT TO DELIVER

As the low-fare carrier AirAsia India moves from one missed milestone to another, the management headed by CEO Mittu Chandilya faces immense pressure to deliver, sources in the know told dna.

"There is a lot of introspection being done on why the airline has not been able to reach its milestones in time," said a source, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Tata Sons, which is one of three partners of the joint venture airline, is apparently not happy with the airline's performance till now, especially with network planning, said sources, adding that the promoters are reviewing their strategy.

Regional budget airline AirAsia India, an alliance between Malaysia's AirAsia Berhad, Tata Sons Ltd and Telstra Tradeplace Pvt Ltd, launched its services in June last year.

According to the latest Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) numbers, after eight months of operations in the Indian skies, the low-fare airline cornered a 1.2% market share, flying 72,000 passengers, in February.

AIRASIA INDIA SETTING UP HUB IN DELHI

Nearly 10 months after its launch, budget carrier AirAsia India is looking to enter into its rival and the country’s largest player IndiGo’s territory, setting up a hub in Delhi with plans to induct two more A320s.

The airline’s decision to enter a highly competitive market could also be because of the need to take a pie of a lucrative sector in an attempt to shore-up its week bottomline.

The airline is expected to hire at least 60 crew members, including 20 pilots, as part of the plan.

In an internal note to its staff, AirAsia said it will be setting up a hub in Delhi and invited applications from captains and first officers interested in taking a transfer to Delhi.

Opening a base in the North might be a prudent thing to do for the airline which has so far confined itself to a hub in Bengaluru.

AVIATION RULE DEFIES LOGIC' SAYS TONY FERNANDES AIRASIA GROUP CEO

The new aviation rules will hamper the economic activity in the country and lead to lesser jobs, AirAsia Group CEO Tony Fernandes said here on Saturday.

He observed that the country’s skies should be opened up without any restrictive policies so as to tap the immense potential of domestic and international aviation markets. Mr. Tony expressed his disappointment over the existing 5/20 rule. According to the rule, domestic operators can only fly international if they have five flying years and a fleet of 20 aircraft, and also its proposed replacement which requires accumulating credits based on their local flying hours and destination.

“We do not see any logic behind these rules. Much more investment is needed in India as the number of international flights is very less. India needs more connectivity too. Nowhere in the world have we seen such a rule. It is either a safe airline or not a safe airline, and there is no difference between flying domestic and international,” he said,

AIR ASIA KEEN TO FORAY INTO INDIAN INSURANCE SECTOR

Air Asia Bhd, the Malaysia-based conglomerate with interests in aviation, financial services and hospitality is actively considering its foray into the Indian insurance sector.

"We are talking to key players in the market and our plans are very much on", said Tony Fernandes, one of the founders of the conglomerate.

The recent passing of the contentious insurance bill in the Rajya Sabha with higher Foreign Direct Investment cap is welcome and augurs well for our plans, he told newspersons here.

In Hyderabad, to unveil the livery of its fourth aircraft to commemorate the visionary JRD Tata, the Chief Executive Officer of Air Asia Group said the Indian Government's moves in insurance looks more positive than the recent changes in the aviation sector, especially the 5/20 regulations.

AIRASIA INDIA REPORTS RS 29 CRORE LOSS IN Q2

AirAsia India, which kicked off its domestic operations in June this year with huge discount offers, has reported losses for the first full quarter.

The airline launched by Tony Fernandes, who operates the low-cost AirAsia in South-East Asia, reported a loss of ₹29 crore for the July-September quarter bogged down by low load factor as well as higher loss per passenger.

The airline had reported a loss of around $4.3 million during the first 18 days of its operations. An AirAisa spokesperson did not respond to BusinessLine’s queries about its operations in India. The airline had earlier said it will turn profitable by September this year.

The airline, 49 per cent owned by AirAsia Bhd, has been struggling with low-load factors, especially in August and September. In a disclosure in the investor relations section of its website, the promoters said despite being only a few months into operations, “the forward loads remain buoyant and it will remain focused on building a footprint in the Indian domestic market with the introduction of new routes and frequency increases.”

New hub

The statement added that by December, the company is likely to add two more aircraft in India, bringing it to a total of four aircraft. During the quarter, the airline added one more aircraft, which started operations in early September.

The carrier operates to six destinations, served by 16 daily flights. It has hubs in Chennai as well as in Bengaluru, and is expected to add another hub soon. This is because the Bengaluru airport cannot accommodate all its aircraft.

Sources said the airline, which operates two Airbus A320, flew a total of 1,70,280 seats with an average load factor of 75 per cent, according to published data. An analyst with an airline consultancy firm said the airline lost around ₹2,250 for every passenger flown.

AirAsia has tried to make inroads into the sector by offering huge discounts, some of which were very hard to match by competitors. It recently offered a Rs 699 one-way fare, which was available only for a day.

As per data, the average daily aircraft utilisation is about 11.50 hours and its turnaround time is 29 minutes; though at the launch of its first flight, a spokesperson had said it expects a turnaround time of about 20 minutes.

- BL