Airlines

February 14th saw SpiceJet report its third-quarter results. The airline reported a profit of INR 78.2 crores but we believe the results warrant closer examination. This because of the Boeing 737MAX grounding and the fact that compensation that has been recorded but not yet received by SpiceJet significantly contributed to this result. Additionally, in looking at the operational numbers, it …

American Airlines announced new nonstop service from Seattle to Bengaluru as part of a broader move to turn Seattle into an international gateway. American will also deepen its relationship with US regional carrier Alaska Airlines (the largest airline in Seattle by passengers carried) with a widespread codeshare agreement and the addition of Alaska to the OneWorld global airline alliance. The …

Monday, January 27th was quite a newsday for Indian aviation. In what is becoming a tale of two airlines, while the national carrier came out with its Preliminary Information Memorandum looking for someone to take over 23,286 crores of debt and 8556 crores of losses (for FY19) the other airline Indigo reported profits of 496 crores with another 20,000 crores …

After a loss of 8,556 crores in FY19, the Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) of Air India has indicated that the airline needs a sovereign guarantee of 2400 crores to fund ongoing operations. The airline continues to bleed cash at an alarming rate. Capacity woes continue and estimates indicate that twenty-two aircraft are grounded. On the costs side, there have …

Air Arabia Abu Dhabi is the upcoming low-cost joint venture between two of the UAE airlines – Sharjah based Air Arabia and Abu Dhabi’s Etihad. The joint venture is one of the two new low-cost airlines being launched in the capital of the Emirates – the other being a joint venture between Wizz Air and Abu Dhabi Developmental Holding Company …

Low-cost carrier Indigo has become the first airline in India to operate 1500 daily departures. The airline operates these flights to 83 destinations and with over 250,000 passengers daily. Ronojoy Dutta, CEO, IndiGo “We are very pleased to be the first Indian airline to touch 1500 daily departures, with one flight taking off every minute. The simple philosophy of offering …

Virgin Atlantic made its India debut in July 2000 when the airline launched its flight to India’s capital, New Delhi. Back then, Virgin Atlantic was a boutique airline fuelled by the ambitions of a maverick entrepreneur, Sir Richard Branson.  A lot has changed since then. Today, Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Group is a minority shareholder (20%) in the airline with …

SpiceJet, now India’s second-largest domestic airline, reported its second-quarter results of the fiscal year 2019-2020 (Q2FY20) this Wednesday. It was a result that was met with mixed expectations and also one that seems to be underplayed. We attempt to present an analysis that may help deconstruct the figures. The focus has been on a net loss of INR 462 crores …

IndiGo, India’s largest and most successful airline and the blockaded Gulf carrier, Qatar Airways will make a strategic business announcement today in New Delhi. There has been a fair amount of speculation around the two airlines and an alleged ‘deal’ for a while. Al-Baker, CEO of Qatar Airways has on more than one occasion shown intertest in IndiGo. So much …

India’s aviation regulator, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has directed both Indigo and GoAir to replace at least one of the Pratt & Whitney PW1100G geared turbo-fan (GTF) engines on the A320neo aircraft within the next fifteen days. This comes after Indigo reported a series of incidents involving in-flight engine shutdowns (occurred on the 24th, 25th and 26th …

Low-cost carrier IndiGo has placed a firm order for 300 A320neo family aircraft. The order comprises of the A320neo and A321neo both of which the carrier already operates and the new long-range A321XLR. The order is worth around $33 billion at current list prices and will bring Indigo’s total number of A320neo orders to 730. Interestingly, the announcement comes days …

Indigo reported its Q2FY20 results on Friday. With a loss of 1,062 crores, the results caught many by surprise. It is too early to tell whether the results reflect challenges with the strategic direction the airline is taking (compare this to the profit of INR 1203 crore in Q1FY20) or if this was a one-off driven largely driven by operational …

In July of last year, Vistara (Tata-SIA) placed an order for six Boeing 787-9’s with an additional four options. These aircraft were scheduled for delivery in early 2020, which would have likely seen the airline launch long haul flights in the first half of 2020. However, it appears that the airline may now be getting its first aircraft earlier than …

A couple of days back, KLM celebrated its 100th anniversary. The airline is the oldest in the world still operating under its original name. KLM has released a celebratory ad to commemorate the milestone. The film is called “To More Memories Together,” and follows three generations of KLM crew. KLM said about the film: “The film tracks KLM’s evolution from …

As the government preps Air India for divestment, a key element of the plan is the reduction of the debt burden. The goal is to make the airline a better proposition for buyers. The debt reduction has been carried out by creating a special purpose vehicle (SPV) named Air India Asset Holdings Ltd (AIAHL) and moving half of the debt …

The recent announcement by Qantas regarding the 21 hour test flight has generated a lot of buzz. For the aviation industry the age of ultra-long haul flying (ULH) is here. Several flights are already operational, the most noteworthy being Perth – Heathrow, Singapore-Newark, Doha-Auckland and the very ambitious “Project Sunrise” of Qantas. The project is Qantas’ ambition to operate nonstop …

SpiceJet reported their Q1FY20 earnings this Friday. A profit was expected but the quantum of the profit surprised several analysts. The airline reported a net profit of INR 261.7 crore and total income of INR 3,145.3 crore for the quarter ending June 2019 as against a loss of INR 38.1 crore and INR 2,253.3 crore for the corresponding quarter last …

German flag carrier Lufthansa has announced that it will begin operating direct flights between Munich and Bangalore from 31 March 2020. The flight will be operated five times weekly by an Airbus A350-900. The airline already operates a daily flight to Bangalore from Frankfurt using the Boeing 747-8i.   On Tuesdays, Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, the flight will take …

The Tata-Singapore Airlines joint-venture Vistara will commence daily flights on the New Delhi Bangkok sector from August 27, 2019. Bangkok is the third international destination for the airline. It commenced flights to Singapore today, and will commence flights between Mumbai and Dubai on August 21st. Like it Mumbai Dubai flights, Vistara will use its three-class Airbus A320neo on the Bangkok …

The Tata-Singapore Airlines joint-venture Vistara will commence flights on the Mumbai Dubai sector from August 21, 2019. This flight will operate on a schedule very similar to that operated by Jet Airways which suspended operations in April. Dubai will be the second destination for Vistara. The airline will commence flights to its first international destination, Singapore, from New Delhi and …