National carrier Air India (AI) will increase the frequency of flights to Delhi, Ahmedabad, Jaipur and Hyderabad from August 3. The carrier will operate direct flights to Ahmedabad and Jaipur, besides reintroducing operations to Tezpur with an ATR aircraft after the airport there is opened for domestic operation, an AI release said on Thursday. A CD-7618 will operate on the KolkataAhmedabad-Delhi sector on all days barring Sundays.
It will depart Kolkata at 0600 hours and reach Ahmedabad at 0810 hours.
The flight will take off from Ahmedabad at 0840 hours to reach Delhi at 1005 hours, while the return flight CD-7617 will leave Delhi at 0600 hours to reach Kolkata at 1010 hours on the same day. The CD-7269 will operate on the KolkataJaipur-Kolkata sector. The flight will depart Kolkata at 1100 hours on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays and the return flight from Jaipur CD-7270 will reach Kolkata at 1610 hours. The CD-7217 will operate on the Kolkata-Hyderabad-Kolkata sector on all days barring Sundays. The flight will depart Kolkata at 1700 hours and arrive at Hyderabad at 1900 hours. The return flight CD-7218 will leave Hyderabad at 1930 hours and reach Kolkata at 2130 hours. On Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays the CD-7709 will be operated on the Kolkata-TezpurSilchar-Kolkata sector with an ATR aircraft.
Source: Financial Chronicle
Friday, July 31, 2009
Thursday, July 30, 2009
Low-Cost Airlines Fly High
The gravitation to the low-cost model has never been this apparent. Full-service carriers are deploying capacity and launching flights in the low-cost segment in right earnest. Take Jet Airways, for instance. The airline has close to 125 flights of the all-economy Jet Konnect—a new service launched by the full-service airline on select routes this May. According to Saroj K Datta, executive director, Jet Airways, the plan is to take the number up to almost 180 flights per day in the near term. For that the company proposes to take its fleet of aircraft used for the service to 16 Boeing 737-800s and 10 turbo-prop ATR-500s. At the moment, the airline has less than ten Boeing 737-800s and ATR-500s respectively for the service.
Since May, Jet has been rapidly expanding its Konnect services, taking the number of flights from 62 to 92 to 125, respectively. But Jet is not the only one to be doing this. Rival Kingfisher is already reported to have deployed almost 70% of its capacity on Kingfisher Red—its economy-class brand. Then there is the other full-service carrier Air India, which recently announced that its budget airline Air India Express, which flies to the Gulf, South-East Asian and allied regions, would be pressed into service in the domestic low-cost space as well. “There was a gap there,” says Jitendra Bhargava, executive director, Air India. “We needed to fill it. For those who want the services of a legacy carrier, there is Air India. For those who want a budget carrier, there is Air India Express,” he says.
The great rush
The impending launch of operations of Air India Express in the domestic low-cost space, however, draws attention to a moot point: the segment is likely to get choc-a-bloc soon enough. It already is pretty crowded with four serious players—SpiceJet, IndiGo, GoAir and Jet’s subsidiary Jet Lite. Then there are smaller regional carriers such as MDLR Airlines, which operates flights on the Uttaranchal-Delhi-Goa-Kolkata routes. But even if MDLR is set aside, there are enough players at the moment in the space. Then why are the full-service carriers deploying capacity there?
By some accounts, capacity in the full-service and low-cost segments at the moment is neck and neck—at 50% a piece. With the build-up though, the balance is likely to tip in favour of the latter in the near term. Says Kapil Kaul, chief executive officer, Centre for Asia-Pacific Aviation (CAPA), India, “We expect capacity to go up to 70% in the low-cost segment in the next three to six months. The trend has been on for almost a year now accelerated in a sense by the downturn that began in September-October last year.”
That’s the point: the slowdown has tightened purse strings of consumers. They are not keen to spend, and even if they do, the natural choice is the low-fare or budget carrier. “In a downturn, consumers veer towards low-cost airlines. That’s a universal phenomenon,” says an executive with a full-service carrier. “It’s not unusual then for full-service operators to make their presence felt in the low-cost space. Don’t forget that you have to identify the pulse of the consumer, where his interests lie and what he wants. You can’t ignore that in the aviation business.”
What’s speeding up the process, however, is the price-sensitive nature of consumers in India, which restricts premium travel to largely six metros and that too during peak hours. “That’s the reality of the market here,” says Kaul. “Even during the boom phase full-service carriers realised there were not enough travellers for the capacity they were deploying at the premium end. The market lies at the budget end.” Says Datta, “About 75 to 80% of the total air traffic on domestic routes is low-fare. It’s obvious where the market lies.”
Passenger traffic figures released by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) gives an idea of the trend. In the quarter ended January to March this year, the total number of passengers carried by scheduled airlines excluding MDLR and Paramount Airways was 95.8 lakh. Of this, the total number of passengers carried by low-cost carriers like Jet Lite, Spicejet, GoAir and IndiGo was 34.89 lakh, or 36.42% of the total traffic. For the April-June 2009 quarter, the share of LCCs has gone up 39.36% on a base of 106.7 lakh.
All of this is clearly causing the rush into the budget segment. The change seems starkly visible when compared with the scenario a year ago: Capacity build-up then happened mostly in the full-service domain. The ratio, by some accounts, of the capacity in the full-service vis-à-vis low-cost segments was 70:30. It’s different now, highlighting the importance of the latter. Passenger load factors of low-cost carriers have been in high 70s and 80s, alluding to the fact that low fares are the in thing at the moment. “It is bound to be in these recessionary times,” points Rajeev Batra, executive director, KPMG. But there are allied reasons too for this LCCisation as it were of the industry.
No-frills service
Being lean, mean and healthy is the magic mantra in an industry bogged down by volatile fuel and service costs. In a slowdown, cutting flab is even more imperative, given that people take to the skies much less than they would do in a boom phase. “There is a tightening of the corporate belt across the board,” points out Ashwini Kakkar, executive-vice-chairman, Mercury Travels.
In this era of cost-cutting, the corporate segment is indeed clamping down on expenditure including travel expenditure. “If mid to senior-level executives took full-service flights earlier, many are being advised to take budget carriers instead. Of course, the top management continues to fly business class, but the ones lower down are being advised to opt for cheaper modes of travel,” points Vishwas Udgirkar, executive director, PricewaterhouseCoopers. So even as this corporate segment shifts, there is the other big chunk—visiting friends and relatives (VFR)— which is largely a budget segment, which is not making trips as often as they did earlier.
Passenger traffic for the first half of this year bears this out. According to the DGCA, the number of passengers carried by scheduled airlines in the first half of 2009 was lower by 8.05% as against the passengers carried by operators in the first half of 2008. In absolute terms, the figures stood at 210.99 lakh in H1 this year vis-à-vis 229.45 lakh in the corresponding period last year.
Now when fewer people are flying, filling planes becomes difficult, which is why airlines are cutting costs even as they redeploy capacity to align themselves to market reality. Says an aviation analyst based in New Delhi, “The level of service in the business class of Kingfisher today vis-à-vis a few months ago is different. What they were offering six-eight months ago and what they are offering now is not the same.”
Service levels in business-class as well as economy-class of full-service carriers have indeed come down. This in a sense is blurring the line between full-service carriers and low-cost carriers. “I hardly find any difference between the two,” points Kakkar of Mercury Travels. That’s also because it becomes unviable for full-service carriers beyond a point to stretch their budgets or service levels when costs are not significantly coming down. Fuel, lease rentals and airport charges, for instance, continue to be constant for both full-service and low-cost carriers. “But there are some subtle differences,” points an executive from Gurgaon-based InterGlobe Enterprises, which promotes low-cost carrier IndiGo.
“Typically, a two-configuration plane limits the number of seats to about 150 for full-service carriers. Low-cost carriers, on the other hand, have a single configuration, that is, economy class, which increases the number of seats to about 189-190. Some planes could have a seating capacity of about 175, but it is still more than what is available on a full-service flight. Obviously, the number of passengers would go up with more seats available.”
Apart from this key differential, an online distribution model ensures that low-cost carriers can rein in their expenses considerably as against full-service carriers who have both a direct and indirect model of distribution. “The costs obviously go up like this,” points out the executive from InterGlobe. “The number of cabin crew you fly on a full-service flight and a low-cost flight also varies. A low-cost carrier can restrict its cabin-crew to about 24 per plane. For a full-service carrier, it is higher at about 40.”
Fuel consumption also tends to be lower for low-cost carriers, he points. “The weight of the plane is lighter. Low-cost carriers don’t carry ovens and heaters, which brings down the weight a bit. Many of them don’t serve food on board. If they do, customers are charged for it. All of this helps monetise your expenses.” By some accounts, the operating expenses for a low-cost carrier are lower by about 30-36% as opposed to a full-service carrier due to the tight business model employed by them. All of this then is contributing to this gravitation to the low-cost model by full-service carriers. The question is: Is it sustainable?
Can one size fit all?
According to Datta of Jet Airways, the rush to increase capacity is actually creating a situation of oversupply in the low-cost segment. “Fares are coming down to such an extent that it is becoming difficult to cover the costs incurred,” he points out. Kaul of CAPA adds, “Ideally, LCCs and FSAs should have been moving away from each other. In India, they are all congregating together with the result that the market appears directionless at this point.”
It is highly unlikely though that the market will remain in this state of flux for long, say analysts. “A round of consolidation and shake-up is inevitable,” says Datta.
Source: The Financial Express
Since May, Jet has been rapidly expanding its Konnect services, taking the number of flights from 62 to 92 to 125, respectively. But Jet is not the only one to be doing this. Rival Kingfisher is already reported to have deployed almost 70% of its capacity on Kingfisher Red—its economy-class brand. Then there is the other full-service carrier Air India, which recently announced that its budget airline Air India Express, which flies to the Gulf, South-East Asian and allied regions, would be pressed into service in the domestic low-cost space as well. “There was a gap there,” says Jitendra Bhargava, executive director, Air India. “We needed to fill it. For those who want the services of a legacy carrier, there is Air India. For those who want a budget carrier, there is Air India Express,” he says.
The great rush
The impending launch of operations of Air India Express in the domestic low-cost space, however, draws attention to a moot point: the segment is likely to get choc-a-bloc soon enough. It already is pretty crowded with four serious players—SpiceJet, IndiGo, GoAir and Jet’s subsidiary Jet Lite. Then there are smaller regional carriers such as MDLR Airlines, which operates flights on the Uttaranchal-Delhi-Goa-Kolkata routes. But even if MDLR is set aside, there are enough players at the moment in the space. Then why are the full-service carriers deploying capacity there?
By some accounts, capacity in the full-service and low-cost segments at the moment is neck and neck—at 50% a piece. With the build-up though, the balance is likely to tip in favour of the latter in the near term. Says Kapil Kaul, chief executive officer, Centre for Asia-Pacific Aviation (CAPA), India, “We expect capacity to go up to 70% in the low-cost segment in the next three to six months. The trend has been on for almost a year now accelerated in a sense by the downturn that began in September-October last year.”
That’s the point: the slowdown has tightened purse strings of consumers. They are not keen to spend, and even if they do, the natural choice is the low-fare or budget carrier. “In a downturn, consumers veer towards low-cost airlines. That’s a universal phenomenon,” says an executive with a full-service carrier. “It’s not unusual then for full-service operators to make their presence felt in the low-cost space. Don’t forget that you have to identify the pulse of the consumer, where his interests lie and what he wants. You can’t ignore that in the aviation business.”
What’s speeding up the process, however, is the price-sensitive nature of consumers in India, which restricts premium travel to largely six metros and that too during peak hours. “That’s the reality of the market here,” says Kaul. “Even during the boom phase full-service carriers realised there were not enough travellers for the capacity they were deploying at the premium end. The market lies at the budget end.” Says Datta, “About 75 to 80% of the total air traffic on domestic routes is low-fare. It’s obvious where the market lies.”
Passenger traffic figures released by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) gives an idea of the trend. In the quarter ended January to March this year, the total number of passengers carried by scheduled airlines excluding MDLR and Paramount Airways was 95.8 lakh. Of this, the total number of passengers carried by low-cost carriers like Jet Lite, Spicejet, GoAir and IndiGo was 34.89 lakh, or 36.42% of the total traffic. For the April-June 2009 quarter, the share of LCCs has gone up 39.36% on a base of 106.7 lakh.
All of this is clearly causing the rush into the budget segment. The change seems starkly visible when compared with the scenario a year ago: Capacity build-up then happened mostly in the full-service domain. The ratio, by some accounts, of the capacity in the full-service vis-à-vis low-cost segments was 70:30. It’s different now, highlighting the importance of the latter. Passenger load factors of low-cost carriers have been in high 70s and 80s, alluding to the fact that low fares are the in thing at the moment. “It is bound to be in these recessionary times,” points Rajeev Batra, executive director, KPMG. But there are allied reasons too for this LCCisation as it were of the industry.
No-frills service
Being lean, mean and healthy is the magic mantra in an industry bogged down by volatile fuel and service costs. In a slowdown, cutting flab is even more imperative, given that people take to the skies much less than they would do in a boom phase. “There is a tightening of the corporate belt across the board,” points out Ashwini Kakkar, executive-vice-chairman, Mercury Travels.
In this era of cost-cutting, the corporate segment is indeed clamping down on expenditure including travel expenditure. “If mid to senior-level executives took full-service flights earlier, many are being advised to take budget carriers instead. Of course, the top management continues to fly business class, but the ones lower down are being advised to opt for cheaper modes of travel,” points Vishwas Udgirkar, executive director, PricewaterhouseCoopers. So even as this corporate segment shifts, there is the other big chunk—visiting friends and relatives (VFR)— which is largely a budget segment, which is not making trips as often as they did earlier.
Passenger traffic for the first half of this year bears this out. According to the DGCA, the number of passengers carried by scheduled airlines in the first half of 2009 was lower by 8.05% as against the passengers carried by operators in the first half of 2008. In absolute terms, the figures stood at 210.99 lakh in H1 this year vis-à-vis 229.45 lakh in the corresponding period last year.
Now when fewer people are flying, filling planes becomes difficult, which is why airlines are cutting costs even as they redeploy capacity to align themselves to market reality. Says an aviation analyst based in New Delhi, “The level of service in the business class of Kingfisher today vis-à-vis a few months ago is different. What they were offering six-eight months ago and what they are offering now is not the same.”
Service levels in business-class as well as economy-class of full-service carriers have indeed come down. This in a sense is blurring the line between full-service carriers and low-cost carriers. “I hardly find any difference between the two,” points Kakkar of Mercury Travels. That’s also because it becomes unviable for full-service carriers beyond a point to stretch their budgets or service levels when costs are not significantly coming down. Fuel, lease rentals and airport charges, for instance, continue to be constant for both full-service and low-cost carriers. “But there are some subtle differences,” points an executive from Gurgaon-based InterGlobe Enterprises, which promotes low-cost carrier IndiGo.
“Typically, a two-configuration plane limits the number of seats to about 150 for full-service carriers. Low-cost carriers, on the other hand, have a single configuration, that is, economy class, which increases the number of seats to about 189-190. Some planes could have a seating capacity of about 175, but it is still more than what is available on a full-service flight. Obviously, the number of passengers would go up with more seats available.”
Apart from this key differential, an online distribution model ensures that low-cost carriers can rein in their expenses considerably as against full-service carriers who have both a direct and indirect model of distribution. “The costs obviously go up like this,” points out the executive from InterGlobe. “The number of cabin crew you fly on a full-service flight and a low-cost flight also varies. A low-cost carrier can restrict its cabin-crew to about 24 per plane. For a full-service carrier, it is higher at about 40.”
Fuel consumption also tends to be lower for low-cost carriers, he points. “The weight of the plane is lighter. Low-cost carriers don’t carry ovens and heaters, which brings down the weight a bit. Many of them don’t serve food on board. If they do, customers are charged for it. All of this helps monetise your expenses.” By some accounts, the operating expenses for a low-cost carrier are lower by about 30-36% as opposed to a full-service carrier due to the tight business model employed by them. All of this then is contributing to this gravitation to the low-cost model by full-service carriers. The question is: Is it sustainable?
Can one size fit all?
According to Datta of Jet Airways, the rush to increase capacity is actually creating a situation of oversupply in the low-cost segment. “Fares are coming down to such an extent that it is becoming difficult to cover the costs incurred,” he points out. Kaul of CAPA adds, “Ideally, LCCs and FSAs should have been moving away from each other. In India, they are all congregating together with the result that the market appears directionless at this point.”
It is highly unlikely though that the market will remain in this state of flux for long, say analysts. “A round of consolidation and shake-up is inevitable,” says Datta.
Source: The Financial Express
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Jet, Kingfisher bet on global routes for forex, fuel cost advantage
Have seats, go phoren. Notwithstanding the economic downturn, two private airlines are going international all out to shore up their bottomlines.
It makes a lot of business sense to add to international operations. Industry sources point out that not only is the cost of aviation turbine fuel in South-East Asia and the Gulf (West Asia) region almost 40-50 per cent lower than here but airlines earn foreign exchange too.
Higher demand
Jet Airways officials, however, maintain that high passenger demand is driving the launch of more flights. For the airline, international revenues in the first quarter accounted for 56.9 per cent of the operating revenues against 48 per cent in the same period last year.
It has indicated that earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation margins for the first quarter of 2010 from international operations will be 22 per cent compared with 9 per cent from domestic operations. So, in less than seven weeks ending September 1, Jet Airways will have launched six full-service international flights. That is, it would have started one new international route every week.
The flights include a second daily non-stop flight from Mumbai to Bangkok, and daily non-stop flights from Hyderabad to Dubai, Kochi to Sharjah, Mumbai to Jeddah and a four times a week flight between Mumbai and Riyadh.
In an obvious change of strategy, Jet Airways, which had earlier said that it had no plans to launch any international services, is now adding to its international operations.
“We decided to go ahead with it despite having applied brakes on international growth. We are doing very well on the Bangkok sector and we are looking at other South-East Asian routes where we can launch a second service. The Asean, Gulf and SAARC (South Asia) routes are making money,” said the Chief Commercial Officer, Mr Sudheer Raghavan. The airline maintains that it will not be shifting focus to international routes from domestic sectors.
Kingfisher too has announced that it will launch eight new international flights, but has not indicated the date for commencing most of them. The airline has said it will connect Mumbai with both Singapore and Hong Kong through daily flights in September.
Source: Hindu Business Line
It makes a lot of business sense to add to international operations. Industry sources point out that not only is the cost of aviation turbine fuel in South-East Asia and the Gulf (West Asia) region almost 40-50 per cent lower than here but airlines earn foreign exchange too.
Higher demand
Jet Airways officials, however, maintain that high passenger demand is driving the launch of more flights. For the airline, international revenues in the first quarter accounted for 56.9 per cent of the operating revenues against 48 per cent in the same period last year.
It has indicated that earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation margins for the first quarter of 2010 from international operations will be 22 per cent compared with 9 per cent from domestic operations. So, in less than seven weeks ending September 1, Jet Airways will have launched six full-service international flights. That is, it would have started one new international route every week.
The flights include a second daily non-stop flight from Mumbai to Bangkok, and daily non-stop flights from Hyderabad to Dubai, Kochi to Sharjah, Mumbai to Jeddah and a four times a week flight between Mumbai and Riyadh.
In an obvious change of strategy, Jet Airways, which had earlier said that it had no plans to launch any international services, is now adding to its international operations.
“We decided to go ahead with it despite having applied brakes on international growth. We are doing very well on the Bangkok sector and we are looking at other South-East Asian routes where we can launch a second service. The Asean, Gulf and SAARC (South Asia) routes are making money,” said the Chief Commercial Officer, Mr Sudheer Raghavan. The airline maintains that it will not be shifting focus to international routes from domestic sectors.
Kingfisher too has announced that it will launch eight new international flights, but has not indicated the date for commencing most of them. The airline has said it will connect Mumbai with both Singapore and Hong Kong through daily flights in September.
Source: Hindu Business Line
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Airline to retire expat pilots by fiscal-end
Faced with huge losses in the first quarter, the country’s largest private carrier by market value, Jet Airways will complete the process of replacing expat pilots with Indian pilots by the end of the current fiscal. Last November, Jet had discontinued the service of 32 foreign pilots. The company has a total of 1,100 pilots, out of which 250 are expats.
The contracts of nearly three dozen expat pilots will expire in October, while some more will run out in December with the rest by March next year. The objective of the exercise is to control costs.
Foreign pilots charge a huge salary premium over Indian pilots. A foreign pilot, on an average, is paid a monthly salary of Rs 5 lakh, plus an accommodation allowance of Rs 2 lakh. Indian pilots, on the other hand, draw around Rs 3.6 lakh a month. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) had earlier said all domestic airlines should have only Indian pilots by July 2010.
Jet Airways CEO Wolfgang Prock-Schauer, when contacted, told ET: “We will gradually replace all foreign expats with local experienced Indian pilots. The airline has plans to upgrade the Indian co-pilots at the commander level after giving proper training.”
Jet has already reduced capacity by 20% on domestic routes, and by half on international routes in the last two quarters. Capacity is a measure determined by the number of operational aircraft and seats occupied in an airline. Analysts say Jet will not need too many pilots after capacities have been reduced.
“Laying-off foreign pilots will help the company in controlling costs and staying afloat,” said an analyst with a domestic brokerage firm.
Earlier, the airline has issued termination notices to 43 cabin crew on probation. It has also terminated contracts of 110 employees, of which 60 had superannuated and the rest were probationary cabin crew staff.
Jet Airways and JetLite have a combined employee strength of 12,000. These measures assume significance at a time when the carrier has incurred a net loss of Rs 225 crore for the June quarter of the current fiscal against a profit of Rs 143 crore in the corresponding period last year.
Source: Economic Times
The contracts of nearly three dozen expat pilots will expire in October, while some more will run out in December with the rest by March next year. The objective of the exercise is to control costs.
Foreign pilots charge a huge salary premium over Indian pilots. A foreign pilot, on an average, is paid a monthly salary of Rs 5 lakh, plus an accommodation allowance of Rs 2 lakh. Indian pilots, on the other hand, draw around Rs 3.6 lakh a month. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) had earlier said all domestic airlines should have only Indian pilots by July 2010.
Jet Airways CEO Wolfgang Prock-Schauer, when contacted, told ET: “We will gradually replace all foreign expats with local experienced Indian pilots. The airline has plans to upgrade the Indian co-pilots at the commander level after giving proper training.”
Jet has already reduced capacity by 20% on domestic routes, and by half on international routes in the last two quarters. Capacity is a measure determined by the number of operational aircraft and seats occupied in an airline. Analysts say Jet will not need too many pilots after capacities have been reduced.
“Laying-off foreign pilots will help the company in controlling costs and staying afloat,” said an analyst with a domestic brokerage firm.
Earlier, the airline has issued termination notices to 43 cabin crew on probation. It has also terminated contracts of 110 employees, of which 60 had superannuated and the rest were probationary cabin crew staff.
Jet Airways and JetLite have a combined employee strength of 12,000. These measures assume significance at a time when the carrier has incurred a net loss of Rs 225 crore for the June quarter of the current fiscal against a profit of Rs 143 crore in the corresponding period last year.
Source: Economic Times
Monday, July 27, 2009
British Airways announces upgrade offer on all flights from India to London till August 31, 2009
British Airways (BA) has announced a limited-period upgrade offer on all its flights from India to London. Passengers travelling from India on British Airways in World Traveller can now get upgraded one-way to the airline’s Premium Economy cabin – World Traveller Plus for free. The fare from all five gateways in India to London Heathrow is Rs 40,763 (inclusive of all taxes and surcharges). These five gateways are Mumbai, New Delhi, Bengaluru, Chennai and Hyderabad. The offer is valid till August 31, 2009 and outbound travel should take place before October 31, 2009.
Judy Jarvis, Regional Area Commercial Manager, South Asia, British Airways said, “We continue to provide our customers with outstanding service at the best value for money. This is a fabulous way to treat yourself to an upgrade while paying the economy fare. We are sure that our discerning Indian customers like the opportunity to enjoy more space and privacy along with unmatched service on board our flights.”
Source: Travel Bizz Monitor
Judy Jarvis, Regional Area Commercial Manager, South Asia, British Airways said, “We continue to provide our customers with outstanding service at the best value for money. This is a fabulous way to treat yourself to an upgrade while paying the economy fare. We are sure that our discerning Indian customers like the opportunity to enjoy more space and privacy along with unmatched service on board our flights.”
Source: Travel Bizz Monitor
Friday, July 24, 2009
Emirates Airline to increase flights to Angola, South Africa
The Emirates Airline, the national carrier of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), plans to increase its flights to Angola and South Africa later this year and will organise promotional activities in both the countries ahead of the launch, the WAM news agency reported.
Emirates Flights to the South African city of Durban will start Oct 1, while new services to the Angolan capital of Luanda will begin Oct 25, the airline said in a statement Thursday.
The launch of flights to Durban will supplement the daily services to Cape Town and Johannesburg, it said.
A number of road shows will be organised between July 22 and Aug 23 at various towns and cities in South Africa, such as Umhlanga, Pietermaritzburg, Port Elizabeth, Knysna, George, Cape Town, Polokwane and Bloemfontein, before wrapping up in Johannesburg a month later.
Despite the current economic crisis, the Emirates saw an increase in its annual sales. South Africa is one of the strongest performing markets.
John Felix, senior vice president, Emirates Holidays, said: "South Africa is one of our top revenue markets and its important for us to get out there and reinforce our brand presence. It's also an opportunity for us to build relationship, make new contacts and fine-tune our products based on market feedback so we can ensure that our customers are getting the very best service and value for money."
"A road show of this size is particularly significant in these tougher economic times and very much demonstrates our commitment to the industry, our partners and our clients," he added.
Source: The Hindu
Emirates Flights to the South African city of Durban will start Oct 1, while new services to the Angolan capital of Luanda will begin Oct 25, the airline said in a statement Thursday.
The launch of flights to Durban will supplement the daily services to Cape Town and Johannesburg, it said.
A number of road shows will be organised between July 22 and Aug 23 at various towns and cities in South Africa, such as Umhlanga, Pietermaritzburg, Port Elizabeth, Knysna, George, Cape Town, Polokwane and Bloemfontein, before wrapping up in Johannesburg a month later.
Despite the current economic crisis, the Emirates saw an increase in its annual sales. South Africa is one of the strongest performing markets.
John Felix, senior vice president, Emirates Holidays, said: "South Africa is one of our top revenue markets and its important for us to get out there and reinforce our brand presence. It's also an opportunity for us to build relationship, make new contacts and fine-tune our products based on market feedback so we can ensure that our customers are getting the very best service and value for money."
"A road show of this size is particularly significant in these tougher economic times and very much demonstrates our commitment to the industry, our partners and our clients," he added.
Source: The Hindu
Thursday, July 23, 2009
United Airlines offers new meals
The top carrier serving Hawaii, United Airlines, will introduce new menus and snack boxes on some flights beginning Aug. 1.
Fresh food items will be added on flights between the airline’s hubs and leading business and leisure markets.
They include:
Chicago to Kona, Hawaii;
Honolulu to Chicago, Denver, San Francisco and Los Angeles;
Kahului, Maui, to Chicago, Denver, San Francisco and Los Angeles;
Denver to Washington Dulles;
Chicago to Los Angeles; and
Los Angeles to Washington Dulles.
Menus vary depending on flight times, but the Choice Menu items can include a blueberry muffin, a gourmet deli plate and continental breakfast; a roast beef sandwich, a turkey sandwich and a Caprese sandwich; a cheese tray, and Mediterranean, southwestern and chicken Caesar salads.
Mixed berry yogurt parfaits and la carte items including potato chips and chocolate bars are available all day. The Choice Menu also features premium beverages including strawberry smoothies, vitamin water, premium beer and spirits.
Also beginning Aug. 1, United Airlines (Nasdaq: UAUA) will offer customers on most flights at least two hours long four new snack boxes available for purchase.
Source: Pacific Business News
Fresh food items will be added on flights between the airline’s hubs and leading business and leisure markets.
They include:
Menus vary depending on flight times, but the Choice Menu items can include a blueberry muffin, a gourmet deli plate and continental breakfast; a roast beef sandwich, a turkey sandwich and a Caprese sandwich; a cheese tray, and Mediterranean, southwestern and chicken Caesar salads.
Mixed berry yogurt parfaits and la carte items including potato chips and chocolate bars are available all day. The Choice Menu also features premium beverages including strawberry smoothies, vitamin water, premium beer and spirits.
Also beginning Aug. 1, United Airlines (Nasdaq: UAUA) will offer customers on most flights at least two hours long four new snack boxes available for purchase.
Source: Pacific Business News
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
Aviation ministry may reallocate routes not being used by airlines
In an attempt to prevent airlines from squatting on international and domestic routes allotted to them, the aviation ministry has asked carriers to explain why they aren’t flying on many of the sectors/routes that they have been granted. The ministry plans to reallocate routes in case it’s not convinced by the airlines’ arguments.
To fly international routes, airlines need permission from the ministry—under what are called bilateral rights with other countries. The routes are allotted on the basis of the number of seats available on various flight sectors. The ministry’s permission is also required to fly domestic routes, based on the number of slots available at various airports every summer and winter.
The ministry has written to several airlines, including Jet Airways (India) Ltd and Kingfisher Airlines Ltd, to explain their operational plans for routes they have been allotted and are not flying, said a civil aviation ministry official, who didn’t want to be named.
The airlines have been asked why they were blocking the routes they have acquired, this official said, adding that the ministry had acted after conducting a study of several routes it had granted on the request of airlines and which had remained unused.
For example, Kingfisher Airlines, which launched its international operations last year, acquired permission to fly Mumbai-Hong Kong, Mumbai-Singapore and several other routes from winter 2008-09, but is yet to start operations on many of them.
On 11 July, Kingfisher announced that it will start operating on some of the routes later this year.
“Beginning September 2009, Kingfisher Airlines plans to launch two new flights. The two new routes will be Mumbai–Singapore and Mumbai–Hong Kong,” the airline said in a statement.
Jet Airways secured rights to fly to at least a dozen destinations, including Singapore, Brussels, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and the US, but is yet to start flights to several of them.
“That is a monopolistic thing; you take a route and not fly. Once you take a route, then you should fly,” said Sanat Kaul, former representative of India to the International Civil Aviation Organization, and a former civil servant in the aviation ministry. “Of course, they will say there was an economic depression, but the point is you made a commitment.”
Airlines have curtailed flights and scaled down expansion plans as they struggle with declining traffic during the economic downturn.
A senior Jet Airways official, who didn’t want to be named, said he couldn’t confirm if the airline had received the ministry’s letter. He said the airline had cut some non-profitable routes over the past few months, but was also launching flights to West Asia. “We have only curtailed the Mumbai-Shanghai-San Francisco, Amritsar-London and Bangalore-Brussels (routes),” the official said.
Kingfisher, in its 11 July statement, said it had also sought permission from the civil aviation ministry for flying several new routes, including New Delhi-Bangkok, New Delhi-Dubai and New Delhi-London this fiscal year.
The aviation ministry official said it is still to receive any application from Kingfisher for operating on the additional routes. The ministry will wait for all the airlines to explain their case for not flying routes already granted to them before approving any new requests, he said.
According to government regulations, if an airline doesn’t start flights on routes it has applied for and been granted within a given winter or summer, the permissions would lapse. Airlines then have to seek extensions.
Kaul, who during his stint at the aviation ministry was involved in granting airlines the right to ply routes they had sought, said the ministry needs to put in place a clear system on how the rights should be awarded and what should be done if they are not utilized.
“The idea is that bilaterals are sovereign rights. They belong to the country. So, it’s for the sovereign to decide who to give it to and whether to give it to someone else if a certain carrier is not using it. They have to devise a system like (the) UK and other countries,” he said.
The civil aviation ministry plans to do just that. Routes unused by airlines both on international and domestic sectors will be reallocated to other “eligible domestic carriers where possible”, said a second official at the aviation ministry, who also did not want to be named.
Smaller airline firms such as SpiceJet Ltd and Paramount Airways Pvt. Ltd, which become eligible to fly international routes from next year, may benefit from such a move.
Source: Mint
To fly international routes, airlines need permission from the ministry—under what are called bilateral rights with other countries. The routes are allotted on the basis of the number of seats available on various flight sectors. The ministry’s permission is also required to fly domestic routes, based on the number of slots available at various airports every summer and winter.
The ministry has written to several airlines, including Jet Airways (India) Ltd and Kingfisher Airlines Ltd, to explain their operational plans for routes they have been allotted and are not flying, said a civil aviation ministry official, who didn’t want to be named.
The airlines have been asked why they were blocking the routes they have acquired, this official said, adding that the ministry had acted after conducting a study of several routes it had granted on the request of airlines and which had remained unused.
For example, Kingfisher Airlines, which launched its international operations last year, acquired permission to fly Mumbai-Hong Kong, Mumbai-Singapore and several other routes from winter 2008-09, but is yet to start operations on many of them.
On 11 July, Kingfisher announced that it will start operating on some of the routes later this year.
“Beginning September 2009, Kingfisher Airlines plans to launch two new flights. The two new routes will be Mumbai–Singapore and Mumbai–Hong Kong,” the airline said in a statement.
Jet Airways secured rights to fly to at least a dozen destinations, including Singapore, Brussels, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and the US, but is yet to start flights to several of them.
“That is a monopolistic thing; you take a route and not fly. Once you take a route, then you should fly,” said Sanat Kaul, former representative of India to the International Civil Aviation Organization, and a former civil servant in the aviation ministry. “Of course, they will say there was an economic depression, but the point is you made a commitment.”
Airlines have curtailed flights and scaled down expansion plans as they struggle with declining traffic during the economic downturn.
A senior Jet Airways official, who didn’t want to be named, said he couldn’t confirm if the airline had received the ministry’s letter. He said the airline had cut some non-profitable routes over the past few months, but was also launching flights to West Asia. “We have only curtailed the Mumbai-Shanghai-San Francisco, Amritsar-London and Bangalore-Brussels (routes),” the official said.
Kingfisher, in its 11 July statement, said it had also sought permission from the civil aviation ministry for flying several new routes, including New Delhi-Bangkok, New Delhi-Dubai and New Delhi-London this fiscal year.
The aviation ministry official said it is still to receive any application from Kingfisher for operating on the additional routes. The ministry will wait for all the airlines to explain their case for not flying routes already granted to them before approving any new requests, he said.
According to government regulations, if an airline doesn’t start flights on routes it has applied for and been granted within a given winter or summer, the permissions would lapse. Airlines then have to seek extensions.
Kaul, who during his stint at the aviation ministry was involved in granting airlines the right to ply routes they had sought, said the ministry needs to put in place a clear system on how the rights should be awarded and what should be done if they are not utilized.
“The idea is that bilaterals are sovereign rights. They belong to the country. So, it’s for the sovereign to decide who to give it to and whether to give it to someone else if a certain carrier is not using it. They have to devise a system like (the) UK and other countries,” he said.
The civil aviation ministry plans to do just that. Routes unused by airlines both on international and domestic sectors will be reallocated to other “eligible domestic carriers where possible”, said a second official at the aviation ministry, who also did not want to be named.
Smaller airline firms such as SpiceJet Ltd and Paramount Airways Pvt. Ltd, which become eligible to fly international routes from next year, may benefit from such a move.
Source: Mint
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
Air India introduces apex fares
Air India has introduced apex fares from Thiruvananthapuram to other domestic destinations.
The all-inclusive fares from Thiruvananthapuram to Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore and Chennai are Rs 5,919, Rs 5,399, Rs 2,679 and Rs 2,679, respectively, according to a release from Air India.
The fares will be available for sale with effect from July 18, 2009, and up to three days prior to departure. Travel under the fare will be permitted till September 20, 2009.
Rebooking will attract a fee of Rs 750 per coupon. Also, no ‘frequent flyer programme’ points will accrue on tickets sold on these fares. The fare is non-refundable.
Code share pact
Meanwhile, South African Airways (SAA) and Air India have signed a code share agreement aimed at improving travel options between the countries.
The agreement allows Air India passengers to code share on SAA’s route between Johannesburg and Mumbai as well as on the domestic sectors between Johannesburg – Durban and Johannesburg – Cape Town.
SAA in return will code share on Air India’s domestic operations between Mumbai and Delhi as also operations between Bangalore, Chennai, Thiruvananthapuram and Hyderabad to Mumbai, says the release.
Source: The Hindu Business Line
The all-inclusive fares from Thiruvananthapuram to Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore and Chennai are Rs 5,919, Rs 5,399, Rs 2,679 and Rs 2,679, respectively, according to a release from Air India.
The fares will be available for sale with effect from July 18, 2009, and up to three days prior to departure. Travel under the fare will be permitted till September 20, 2009.
Rebooking will attract a fee of Rs 750 per coupon. Also, no ‘frequent flyer programme’ points will accrue on tickets sold on these fares. The fare is non-refundable.
Code share pact
Meanwhile, South African Airways (SAA) and Air India have signed a code share agreement aimed at improving travel options between the countries.
The agreement allows Air India passengers to code share on SAA’s route between Johannesburg and Mumbai as well as on the domestic sectors between Johannesburg – Durban and Johannesburg – Cape Town.
SAA in return will code share on Air India’s domestic operations between Mumbai and Delhi as also operations between Bangalore, Chennai, Thiruvananthapuram and Hyderabad to Mumbai, says the release.
Source: The Hindu Business Line
Monday, July 20, 2009
Travel insurance made easier
Apollo DKV, a health insurance company, is a 74:26 partnership between Apollo Hospitals and DKV—a partnership formed in August 2007—with headquarters in Gurgaon, India. The company offers health insurance solutions on a ‘cashless basis’ with a vision to provide affordable and innovative health insurance solutions to every citizen of India and aims to become their first-choice partner in positive healthcare.
The Apollo Hospital Group, which is dubbed as Asia’s largest chain of hospitals, currently manages 42 large tertiary care hospitals, 60 primary care clinics, and the largest retail pharmacy chain of over 600 outlets. And DKV (Deutsche Krankenversicherung AG), the joint venture partner, is Europe’s one of the largest private health insurer with presence in seven European countries. It currently has 7.6 million customers with a premium income of over EUR 5 billion.
In addition to health insurance, Apollo DKV also provides personal accident cover and travel insurance. The joint venture, which has presence in major metro cities in India, is committed to work towards healthier India by providing low-cost and innovative health insurance solutions.
Business challenges
Health insurance is a highly competitive line of business since it is part of every general insurance company’s portfolio. Travel insurance forms an integral part of the health insurance portfolio. Travel is a high-growth segment, with international leisure travel expected to grow three times while the domestic travel market is currently growing at about 35%.
Krishnan Ramachandran, Chief Operating Officer, Apollo DKV, pointed out, “Domestic and international air travelers typically buy insurance cover after they have purchased their travel tickets. This is usually at the last minute when they have very little time to seek an agent and buy travel insurance. Even if they find a travel agent or visit a general insurance company, it normally takes a few hours before the policy document is provided. In addition, the application forms are time consuming with details such as medical history, passport and other identification details to be filled. This affects the turnaround time, a factor that is critical for the success of the business, as well as the convenience of purchasing the insurance cover.”
“Most private insurers have entered into strategic partnership deals with international insurers to compensate for their inadequate experience in insurance. Further, there is tremendous product innovation leading to lower costs and easy access of health insurance. For example, some of the larger general insurance companies have formed an in-house team of doctors and medical professionals to manage the health insurance claims internally, thereby reducing costs,’ added Ramachandran.
In its endeavor to become a first-choice partner in the healthcare sector, Apollo DKV is determined to increasingly automate processes, reduce human intervention and increase quality and speed.
Need for a solution
Apollo DKV currently offers several insurance plans, including Easy Health Insurance, Personal Accident Insurance, and Easy Travel Insurance. Focusing more on travel sector, Apollo DKV offers the Easy Travel Insurance Plan in three different ways:
By providing corporate customers with a secured access to a travel insurance portal, wherein they can issue a policy by themselves. The corporate customer maintains a deposit with Apollo DKV. This gets debited every time the customer issues a new policy. Through travel agents, by providing access to Agents Portal to the agents. The primary focus with travel agents is on overseas travellers.
Through travel ticketing websites such as www.makemytrip.com, where travelers can buy the insurance policy along with the air ticket by just click-checking a box. The policy is valid either for the duration of the round trip travel or 30 days from the date of booking.
“The decision to use travel websites as a distribution channel was to provide an extended solution to airline clients. This has given the company a new dimension to the already existing online airline booking system. The primary focus of www.makemytrip.com is on domestic as well as international travellers,” commented Ramachandran. During the launch of the Easy Travel Insurance Plan, Apollo DKV had very little time to custom-build a solution to cater to the travel insurance product and was hence seeking an ‘off-the-shelf’ product. The company had previously used software that offered them the base technology. But the company was looking for more than just a technology provider. They were looking for a partner who would understand the business needs, and thus considered implementing Agilis, an integrated Web-based service offered by Agile Financial Technologies.
“We already had a system in place which we customized to suit our business needs. We decided to go for Agilis since there was no time to add a separate module to the existing one,” said Ravinder Zutshi, CTO, Apollo DKV. A key differentiator that separates Agile FT from its competitors is its domain knowledge. According to Ramachandran, “We chose Agile FT as a partner as they possessed both the technology expertise as well as people who had a deep knowledge of the insurance industry. Agile offered us a blend of technology and domain expertise.”
Other industry players also recommended Agilis as a tried and tested product. Currently there are only a few companies using a similar solution like Agilis for travel insurance purposes. Moreover, the travel agent community was not put through any major training to use Agilis, apart from the inputs given to familiarize them with the application, which highlights the user-friendliness of the product.
Working of Agilis
Agilis is an integrated online IT solution designed to implement all the functions of a general insurance company. It acts as a decision support system for underwriting, claims, reinsurance and accounting and, as a result, directly enhances the business processes of an insurance company. The solution is flexible in terms of defining new or revising existing insurance products and facilitates dynamically altering the process in time with the market conditions. Agilis has the ability to cater to all classes of the general insurance business. “The technology used for this application was relatively straight-forward. Agilis core application is based on Oracle technology whereas various portals and Web service are based on ASP and .Net technologies,” asserted Zutshi.
Apart from the travel related business, Agilis has been integrated with some existing systems at Apollo DKV, like Oracle Financials for accounting integration, CMS (commission management system) for commission management of channels and CRM applications.
Business benefits
Within a few months of the launch of Agilis, Apollo DKV received encouraging feedback from travel agents as they found the product easy to use. Their feedback has been that Agilis is customer-friendly, easy to integrate into the existing system, cost-effective and performs well on underwriting and claims. Furthermore, the time taken by a travel agent to issue a policy declined significantly since they did not have to fill the erstwhile lengthy forms and wait in lines for policy underwriting.
Agilis also helped Apollo DKV decrease the turnaround time in issuing a policy. Purchasing travel insurance was suddenly made very simple for corporate travelers who were able to issue policies at their end by getting a secured portal for issuing policies from travel agents. All they have to do is to fill in their personal information online and the policy document is sent to their email account, without any human intervention. Apollo DKV garnered significant incremental business with the addition of www.makemytrip.com as a sales and distribution channel, especially because it was one of the early movers. The unique feature of this channel is that it creates an impulsive buying decision for the travel portal user who can avail an insurance policy by just click-checking a box.
Source: Expresscomputeronline.com
The Apollo Hospital Group, which is dubbed as Asia’s largest chain of hospitals, currently manages 42 large tertiary care hospitals, 60 primary care clinics, and the largest retail pharmacy chain of over 600 outlets. And DKV (Deutsche Krankenversicherung AG), the joint venture partner, is Europe’s one of the largest private health insurer with presence in seven European countries. It currently has 7.6 million customers with a premium income of over EUR 5 billion.
In addition to health insurance, Apollo DKV also provides personal accident cover and travel insurance. The joint venture, which has presence in major metro cities in India, is committed to work towards healthier India by providing low-cost and innovative health insurance solutions.
Business challenges
Health insurance is a highly competitive line of business since it is part of every general insurance company’s portfolio. Travel insurance forms an integral part of the health insurance portfolio. Travel is a high-growth segment, with international leisure travel expected to grow three times while the domestic travel market is currently growing at about 35%.
Krishnan Ramachandran, Chief Operating Officer, Apollo DKV, pointed out, “Domestic and international air travelers typically buy insurance cover after they have purchased their travel tickets. This is usually at the last minute when they have very little time to seek an agent and buy travel insurance. Even if they find a travel agent or visit a general insurance company, it normally takes a few hours before the policy document is provided. In addition, the application forms are time consuming with details such as medical history, passport and other identification details to be filled. This affects the turnaround time, a factor that is critical for the success of the business, as well as the convenience of purchasing the insurance cover.”
“Most private insurers have entered into strategic partnership deals with international insurers to compensate for their inadequate experience in insurance. Further, there is tremendous product innovation leading to lower costs and easy access of health insurance. For example, some of the larger general insurance companies have formed an in-house team of doctors and medical professionals to manage the health insurance claims internally, thereby reducing costs,’ added Ramachandran.
In its endeavor to become a first-choice partner in the healthcare sector, Apollo DKV is determined to increasingly automate processes, reduce human intervention and increase quality and speed.
Need for a solution
Apollo DKV currently offers several insurance plans, including Easy Health Insurance, Personal Accident Insurance, and Easy Travel Insurance. Focusing more on travel sector, Apollo DKV offers the Easy Travel Insurance Plan in three different ways:
By providing corporate customers with a secured access to a travel insurance portal, wherein they can issue a policy by themselves. The corporate customer maintains a deposit with Apollo DKV. This gets debited every time the customer issues a new policy. Through travel agents, by providing access to Agents Portal to the agents. The primary focus with travel agents is on overseas travellers.
Through travel ticketing websites such as www.makemytrip.com, where travelers can buy the insurance policy along with the air ticket by just click-checking a box. The policy is valid either for the duration of the round trip travel or 30 days from the date of booking.
“The decision to use travel websites as a distribution channel was to provide an extended solution to airline clients. This has given the company a new dimension to the already existing online airline booking system. The primary focus of www.makemytrip.com is on domestic as well as international travellers,” commented Ramachandran. During the launch of the Easy Travel Insurance Plan, Apollo DKV had very little time to custom-build a solution to cater to the travel insurance product and was hence seeking an ‘off-the-shelf’ product. The company had previously used software that offered them the base technology. But the company was looking for more than just a technology provider. They were looking for a partner who would understand the business needs, and thus considered implementing Agilis, an integrated Web-based service offered by Agile Financial Technologies.
“We already had a system in place which we customized to suit our business needs. We decided to go for Agilis since there was no time to add a separate module to the existing one,” said Ravinder Zutshi, CTO, Apollo DKV. A key differentiator that separates Agile FT from its competitors is its domain knowledge. According to Ramachandran, “We chose Agile FT as a partner as they possessed both the technology expertise as well as people who had a deep knowledge of the insurance industry. Agile offered us a blend of technology and domain expertise.”
Other industry players also recommended Agilis as a tried and tested product. Currently there are only a few companies using a similar solution like Agilis for travel insurance purposes. Moreover, the travel agent community was not put through any major training to use Agilis, apart from the inputs given to familiarize them with the application, which highlights the user-friendliness of the product.
Working of Agilis
Agilis is an integrated online IT solution designed to implement all the functions of a general insurance company. It acts as a decision support system for underwriting, claims, reinsurance and accounting and, as a result, directly enhances the business processes of an insurance company. The solution is flexible in terms of defining new or revising existing insurance products and facilitates dynamically altering the process in time with the market conditions. Agilis has the ability to cater to all classes of the general insurance business. “The technology used for this application was relatively straight-forward. Agilis core application is based on Oracle technology whereas various portals and Web service are based on ASP and .Net technologies,” asserted Zutshi.
Apart from the travel related business, Agilis has been integrated with some existing systems at Apollo DKV, like Oracle Financials for accounting integration, CMS (commission management system) for commission management of channels and CRM applications.
Business benefits
Within a few months of the launch of Agilis, Apollo DKV received encouraging feedback from travel agents as they found the product easy to use. Their feedback has been that Agilis is customer-friendly, easy to integrate into the existing system, cost-effective and performs well on underwriting and claims. Furthermore, the time taken by a travel agent to issue a policy declined significantly since they did not have to fill the erstwhile lengthy forms and wait in lines for policy underwriting.
Agilis also helped Apollo DKV decrease the turnaround time in issuing a policy. Purchasing travel insurance was suddenly made very simple for corporate travelers who were able to issue policies at their end by getting a secured portal for issuing policies from travel agents. All they have to do is to fill in their personal information online and the policy document is sent to their email account, without any human intervention. Apollo DKV garnered significant incremental business with the addition of www.makemytrip.com as a sales and distribution channel, especially because it was one of the early movers. The unique feature of this channel is that it creates an impulsive buying decision for the travel portal user who can avail an insurance policy by just click-checking a box.
Source: Expresscomputeronline.com
Friday, July 17, 2009
Air India’s offer for frequent flyers
Air India, which has introduced a series of short- term marketing initiatives such as monsoon special fares and quick returns recently, has made redemption tickets more attractive for Flying Returns members. Frequent flyers of Air India can now avail themselves of Award Tickets at 75 per cent of normal redemption mileage points for travel from July 20 to September 30, says a release.
Source: The Hindu
Source: The Hindu
Thursday, July 16, 2009
Airlines raining discounts
It's sale season already. Four airlines controlling 55 per cent of the domestic market have come out with special monsoon offers, with discounts of upto 40 per cent. And these are not for long term advance booking, but for reservations as close as 5 days prior to the date of departure.
Reason? Load is expected to plunge below 70 per cent in the ongoing lean season. Jet Airways including Jet Konnect and JetLite are offering 5-day apex fares starting at Rs l5O+taxes and fuel surcharge on flights taking off in the 12.30 pm-2.30 pm and 10.30 pm -7.00 am slots, considered lean hours.
Low fare airline SpiceJet is offering five days apex all-inclusive fares starting Rs 2,429 across its network.
"These special fares are cheaper by 15 to 20 per cent than normal fares. But it will vary from sector to sector," said Samyukth Sridharan, Chief Commercial Officer, SpiceJet. Air India is offering frequent flyers a flat 25 per cent discount on redemption of earned flying miles. AI’s passengers can now avail award tickets at 75 per cent of normal redemption mileage points for travel from July 20 to September 30.
Though Kingfisher has not announced any offers, the fares mentioned on its website are comparable. Airlines are expected to announce more such offers in the coming days feel analysts.
Source: Hindustan Times
Reason? Load is expected to plunge below 70 per cent in the ongoing lean season. Jet Airways including Jet Konnect and JetLite are offering 5-day apex fares starting at Rs l5O+taxes and fuel surcharge on flights taking off in the 12.30 pm-2.30 pm and 10.30 pm -7.00 am slots, considered lean hours.
Low fare airline SpiceJet is offering five days apex all-inclusive fares starting Rs 2,429 across its network.
"These special fares are cheaper by 15 to 20 per cent than normal fares. But it will vary from sector to sector," said Samyukth Sridharan, Chief Commercial Officer, SpiceJet. Air India is offering frequent flyers a flat 25 per cent discount on redemption of earned flying miles. AI’s passengers can now avail award tickets at 75 per cent of normal redemption mileage points for travel from July 20 to September 30.
Though Kingfisher has not announced any offers, the fares mentioned on its website are comparable. Airlines are expected to announce more such offers in the coming days feel analysts.
Source: Hindustan Times
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
Air passenger traffic in H1 2009 down by about 8 per cent
The financial downslide took its toll on the Indian aviation sector with the passenger traffic recording a negative growth rate of about 8 per cent in the first half of this year.
Passengers carried by domestic airlines between January and June came down to about 21.1 million from 22.9 million in the same period last year, thereby registering negative growth of approximately 8 per cent, official traffic data released today said.
However, the total domestic passengers carried by the scheduled carriers in the second quarter of 2009 (April to June) was 10.94 million as against 9.82 million between January and March.
In the second quarter of this year, Kingfisher Airlines and its low-cost subsidiary Kingfisher Red topped the list of Indian carriers by flying 2.77 million passengers. It was followed by Jet Airways and its subsidiary JetLite, together carrying 2.59 million, and Air India (Domestic) with 1.92 million.
Among the no-frill carriers, IndiGo flew 1.5 million air travellers, followed by SpiceJet (1.36 million) and GoAir (534,000), while full-business class carrier Paramount carried 230,000 air travellers, the data showed.
The percentage market share of the carriers between January and June showed that Air India (Domestic) cornered 17.5 per cent, Jet Airways 16.3 per cent, Jet Lite 7.4 per cent, Kingfisher Airlines (including Kingfisher Red) 25.3, SpiceJet 12.4, Paramount 2.1, GoAir 4.9 and IndiGo 13.7.
Kingfisher and its low-cost subsidiary bagged the highest percentage share in the first six months of this year, removing Jet Airways from the top position. Jet and JetLite together had last year (January-June) cornered 29.3 per cent of the market share.
Both no-frill carriers IndiGo and SpiceJet had a lower percentage share in the first half of last year, which improved during the same period this year.
Figures relating to cancellation of flights saw Paramount Airways topping the list with the highest cancellation of 16 per cent, followed by Jet Airways with 4.1 per cent and MDLR Airlines with 2.6 per cent.
The cancellation rate of Paramount Airways was on the higher side and well above the industry average, an official spokesperson said. Of its 16 per cent cancellations, about 15 per cent was due to technical reasons and the remaining commercial.
The best performance on punctuality was by IndiGo at 87 per cent, Jet Airways 86.4 per cent, GoAir 83.4 per cent, Kingfisher 83 per cent and Air India (Domestic) and Alliance Air jointly 75.7 per cent, the data showed.
Source: Business Standard
Passengers carried by domestic airlines between January and June came down to about 21.1 million from 22.9 million in the same period last year, thereby registering negative growth of approximately 8 per cent, official traffic data released today said.
However, the total domestic passengers carried by the scheduled carriers in the second quarter of 2009 (April to June) was 10.94 million as against 9.82 million between January and March.
In the second quarter of this year, Kingfisher Airlines and its low-cost subsidiary Kingfisher Red topped the list of Indian carriers by flying 2.77 million passengers. It was followed by Jet Airways and its subsidiary JetLite, together carrying 2.59 million, and Air India (Domestic) with 1.92 million.
Among the no-frill carriers, IndiGo flew 1.5 million air travellers, followed by SpiceJet (1.36 million) and GoAir (534,000), while full-business class carrier Paramount carried 230,000 air travellers, the data showed.
The percentage market share of the carriers between January and June showed that Air India (Domestic) cornered 17.5 per cent, Jet Airways 16.3 per cent, Jet Lite 7.4 per cent, Kingfisher Airlines (including Kingfisher Red) 25.3, SpiceJet 12.4, Paramount 2.1, GoAir 4.9 and IndiGo 13.7.
Kingfisher and its low-cost subsidiary bagged the highest percentage share in the first six months of this year, removing Jet Airways from the top position. Jet and JetLite together had last year (January-June) cornered 29.3 per cent of the market share.
Both no-frill carriers IndiGo and SpiceJet had a lower percentage share in the first half of last year, which improved during the same period this year.
Figures relating to cancellation of flights saw Paramount Airways topping the list with the highest cancellation of 16 per cent, followed by Jet Airways with 4.1 per cent and MDLR Airlines with 2.6 per cent.
The cancellation rate of Paramount Airways was on the higher side and well above the industry average, an official spokesperson said. Of its 16 per cent cancellations, about 15 per cent was due to technical reasons and the remaining commercial.
The best performance on punctuality was by IndiGo at 87 per cent, Jet Airways 86.4 per cent, GoAir 83.4 per cent, Kingfisher 83 per cent and Air India (Domestic) and Alliance Air jointly 75.7 per cent, the data showed.
Source: Business Standard
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Airlines post drop in seat load factor in June
Barring low-cost carrier GoAir (run by GoAirlines (India) Pvt. Ltd) and regional airline MDLR, all scheduled airlines reported a drop in their seat load factor in June, according to data from civil aviation ministry on Monday. While GoAir’s seat load factor during June rose to 85.1% from 84.2% in May, MDLR’s passenger load factor increased to 93% from 81%, the ministry said in a statement. Seat load factor is a measure of number of seats that are filled in a plane.
Vijay Mallya-promoted Kingfisher Airlines Ltd was able to maintain its seat load factor last month, while all other carriers reported a drop in passenger traffic.
Kingfisher had a seat load factor of 72.0% during June compared with 72.9% in May, while Jet Airways (India) Ltd ’s June seat load factor fell to 67.8% from 69.2%. Jet’s budget carrier JetLite too reported a fall in seat load factor during June to 74.4% from 77.4% in May.
State-owned Air India’s seat load factor during the month dropped to 67.9% from 69.1% in May. Low cost flier SpiceJet Ltd’s seat load factor in June was 77.3% compared with 79.1% in May.
Source: Mint
Vijay Mallya-promoted Kingfisher Airlines Ltd was able to maintain its seat load factor last month, while all other carriers reported a drop in passenger traffic.
Kingfisher had a seat load factor of 72.0% during June compared with 72.9% in May, while Jet Airways (India) Ltd ’s June seat load factor fell to 67.8% from 69.2%. Jet’s budget carrier JetLite too reported a fall in seat load factor during June to 74.4% from 77.4% in May.
State-owned Air India’s seat load factor during the month dropped to 67.9% from 69.1% in May. Low cost flier SpiceJet Ltd’s seat load factor in June was 77.3% compared with 79.1% in May.
Source: Mint
Monday, July 13, 2009
Kingfisher to suspend 2 international flights
Kingfisher Airlines is all set to expand its global network with the launch of flights on eight international routes this year. The airline will start flying on the Mumbai-Singapore and Mumbai Hong-Kong routes in September, a spokesperson said. The remaining six routes are Delhi-London Heathrow, Delhi-Bangkok, Delhi-Dubai, Mumbai-Bangkok, Mumbai-Dubai and Mumbai-Colombo.
“The plan to launch these new services is consistent with our goal of redeploying capacity on routes with better yields as compared to domestic sectors. Our assessment of travel behavior in these markets, flyer preferences and projected demand indicates promising potential on these eight new international routes,” the spokesperson added.
The move comes close on the heels of plans by Jet Airways to launch four new routes from Dubai in the next two months. Jet, which launched operations to the UAE last year with daily direct flights to Abu Dhabi in April, followed by Dubai in August, recently said it was planning to launch flights to Hyderabad, Kochi, Thiruvananthapuram and Mangalore.
The airlines has decided to suspend flights on the Bangalore-London-Bangalore route and its feeder service on the Colombo-Bangalore-Colombo route with effect from September 15.
This has been done to ensure optimal and efficient utilisation of fleet and looking at the booked loads and yields during the September-November period. All passengers booked on the flight during this period will be accommodated on the London-Mumbai-London flight now.
Kingfisher Airlines was originally scheduled to launch the Bangalore-Dubai routes earlier this year but deferred the plan following the slowdown in air travel and declining airfares. However, analysts say despite a downturn in air travel across the globe, the Gulf sector is doing well and is considered a gateway to European and other international routes. Hence, there is a huge traffic from India to these destinations. Also, Gulf regions have huge Indian population. “Kingfisher Airlines wants to cash in on the huge air traffic between Indian and Gulf and will keep its fares competitive compared to Gulf-based carriers like Emirates, Qatar Airways and Etihad Airways,” said an industry observer.
Source: The Hindu Business Line
“The plan to launch these new services is consistent with our goal of redeploying capacity on routes with better yields as compared to domestic sectors. Our assessment of travel behavior in these markets, flyer preferences and projected demand indicates promising potential on these eight new international routes,” the spokesperson added.
The move comes close on the heels of plans by Jet Airways to launch four new routes from Dubai in the next two months. Jet, which launched operations to the UAE last year with daily direct flights to Abu Dhabi in April, followed by Dubai in August, recently said it was planning to launch flights to Hyderabad, Kochi, Thiruvananthapuram and Mangalore.
The airlines has decided to suspend flights on the Bangalore-London-Bangalore route and its feeder service on the Colombo-Bangalore-Colombo route with effect from September 15.
This has been done to ensure optimal and efficient utilisation of fleet and looking at the booked loads and yields during the September-November period. All passengers booked on the flight during this period will be accommodated on the London-Mumbai-London flight now.
Kingfisher Airlines was originally scheduled to launch the Bangalore-Dubai routes earlier this year but deferred the plan following the slowdown in air travel and declining airfares. However, analysts say despite a downturn in air travel across the globe, the Gulf sector is doing well and is considered a gateway to European and other international routes. Hence, there is a huge traffic from India to these destinations. Also, Gulf regions have huge Indian population. “Kingfisher Airlines wants to cash in on the huge air traffic between Indian and Gulf and will keep its fares competitive compared to Gulf-based carriers like Emirates, Qatar Airways and Etihad Airways,” said an industry observer.
Source: The Hindu Business Line
Friday, July 10, 2009
Full-service carriers go into economy drive with low fares
At least half the capacity of India’s domestic carriers has shifted towards low-fare and all-economy flights as the three big airline groups reduce their exposure to the full-service segment even as their margins are squeezed by intense competition with discount airlines.
Low-cost carriers have increased their share of the capacity from around 30% a year ago, aviation experts say. For travellers, the increased capacity would mean continuing low fares.
For the aviation industry, it means more intense competition between full-service and low-cost carriers, the promise of a resumption in traffic growth and possibly, faster consolidation.
The country’s largest private and full-service carrier, Kingfisher Airlines Ltd, has its low-fare and all-economy service Kingfisher Red, the erstwhile Air Deccan, now operating at least 50% of its capacity.
India’s second largest private carrier by passengers carried, Jet Airways (India) Ltd, has nearly 50% of flights operated by its low-fare unit JetLite (India) Ltd and its no-frills economy class service Jet Airways Konnect.
State-owned National Aviation Co. of India Ltd (Nacil), that runs Air India, has firmed up plans to start a full-fledged low-fare and all-economy-class service operated by Air India Express, which is now operating on short haul international routes and select domestic routes.
“The low-fare flights grew by 20% from last one year to reach more than 50% currently, primarily due to Kingfisher shifting to Red. By the end of this fiscal, India will be having over 70% of flight capacity under low-fare space. There is no market for full-service flights beyond six metros,” said Kapil Kaul, chief executive (Indian subcontinent and Middle East) of the Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation, an aviation consulting firm.
Kingfisher Airlines offers 425 departures a day—connecting 70 cities with a fleet of 75 aircraft. “We had put more than 50% of our capacity under Kingfisher Red. Based on the demand on pattern of routes, we will increase or decrease the Kingfisher Red flights. The non-peak hours of metro routes is also served by Kingfisher Red,” said a senior Kingfisher Airlines executive who didn’t want to be named.
According to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation figures, low-fare carriers including Kingfisher Red had carried nearly 52% of total domestic passengers in May.
“This was one of the triggers for full service carriers to shift majority of their services to low-fare space. On the top of it, all carriers are dropping the fares to catch the market in this traditionally lean season, though this will add to losses,” said an airline expert, who did not want to be identified. Domestic carriers are estimated to have posted a combined loss of $2 billion for the last fiscal due to excess capacity in the market and high jet fuel prices.
“If industry-wide capacity goes down significantly, then we can see improved yields and coupled with improvement in the economy the premium traffic will return, which will result in the improvement of yields. But we have to be prepared for a scenario where yields are depressed and for that reason we have launched this new sub-brand Jet Airways Konnect in order to cater to more price-sensitive travellers,” said Wolfgang Prock-Schauer, chief executive officer of Jet Airways.
A person close to the development said Jet Airways is converting at least eight of its Boeing 737 planes to all-economy from the existing two-class configuration.
“The idea is to move more flights to Jet Airways Konnect. For the time being, the strategy would be to add more flights under Konnect, in the context of (the) downturn in the market. Jet Airways can change the configuration as and when the market returns to normalcy,” he said. The person didn’t want to be named.
Jet Airways Konnect currently operates around 100 flights daily while Jet Airways, including JetLite, operates 444 flights a day. According to Tara Naidu, chief of commercial officer at Air India Express, the low-fare unit of Nacil, the airline would be starting full fledged domestic operations by this calendar year-end. “Certainly, there would be a pressure on the margins. But there is a market for low-fare service. We will be finalizing the roll-out plan shortly,” Naidu said.
However, the fourth full service carrier, Paramout Airways Ltd, which operates five 70-seater Brazilian made Embraer planes with only first and business classes, is claiming that it is getting more passengers who want to fly business class.
“We are getting passengers who always wanted to fly business class. With other carriers shifting many flights to all-economy class, we are now able to catch some of the business class passengers of Kingfisher and Jet Airways,” said M. Thiagarajan, managing director of Paramount Airways, that till recently restricted its operations to south India.
But the heat is going to be on traditional low-fare carriers such as SpiceJet Ltd, IndiGo, run by InterGlobe Aviation Pvt. Ltd, and GoAirlines (India) Pvt. Ltd, which operates GoAir, as big airline groups expand into their turf. A.K. Sachdev, chief operations officer with GoAir, did not comment on the pressure on airline profits, adding that survival was more important. SpiceJet chief commercial officer Samyukth Sridharan said it was too early to assess implications of the trend.
“This shows clearly that low fare carrier concept works in India. We are already there in that space. We will focus more on our brand, product deliveries and services in this context,” Sridharan said on the sidelines of an aviation conference organized last week by media business firm Terrappin Holdings.
Source: Mint
Low-cost carriers have increased their share of the capacity from around 30% a year ago, aviation experts say. For travellers, the increased capacity would mean continuing low fares.
For the aviation industry, it means more intense competition between full-service and low-cost carriers, the promise of a resumption in traffic growth and possibly, faster consolidation.
The country’s largest private and full-service carrier, Kingfisher Airlines Ltd, has its low-fare and all-economy service Kingfisher Red, the erstwhile Air Deccan, now operating at least 50% of its capacity.
India’s second largest private carrier by passengers carried, Jet Airways (India) Ltd, has nearly 50% of flights operated by its low-fare unit JetLite (India) Ltd and its no-frills economy class service Jet Airways Konnect.
State-owned National Aviation Co. of India Ltd (Nacil), that runs Air India, has firmed up plans to start a full-fledged low-fare and all-economy-class service operated by Air India Express, which is now operating on short haul international routes and select domestic routes.
“The low-fare flights grew by 20% from last one year to reach more than 50% currently, primarily due to Kingfisher shifting to Red. By the end of this fiscal, India will be having over 70% of flight capacity under low-fare space. There is no market for full-service flights beyond six metros,” said Kapil Kaul, chief executive (Indian subcontinent and Middle East) of the Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation, an aviation consulting firm.
Kingfisher Airlines offers 425 departures a day—connecting 70 cities with a fleet of 75 aircraft. “We had put more than 50% of our capacity under Kingfisher Red. Based on the demand on pattern of routes, we will increase or decrease the Kingfisher Red flights. The non-peak hours of metro routes is also served by Kingfisher Red,” said a senior Kingfisher Airlines executive who didn’t want to be named.
According to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation figures, low-fare carriers including Kingfisher Red had carried nearly 52% of total domestic passengers in May.
“This was one of the triggers for full service carriers to shift majority of their services to low-fare space. On the top of it, all carriers are dropping the fares to catch the market in this traditionally lean season, though this will add to losses,” said an airline expert, who did not want to be identified. Domestic carriers are estimated to have posted a combined loss of $2 billion for the last fiscal due to excess capacity in the market and high jet fuel prices.
“If industry-wide capacity goes down significantly, then we can see improved yields and coupled with improvement in the economy the premium traffic will return, which will result in the improvement of yields. But we have to be prepared for a scenario where yields are depressed and for that reason we have launched this new sub-brand Jet Airways Konnect in order to cater to more price-sensitive travellers,” said Wolfgang Prock-Schauer, chief executive officer of Jet Airways.
A person close to the development said Jet Airways is converting at least eight of its Boeing 737 planes to all-economy from the existing two-class configuration.
“The idea is to move more flights to Jet Airways Konnect. For the time being, the strategy would be to add more flights under Konnect, in the context of (the) downturn in the market. Jet Airways can change the configuration as and when the market returns to normalcy,” he said. The person didn’t want to be named.
Jet Airways Konnect currently operates around 100 flights daily while Jet Airways, including JetLite, operates 444 flights a day. According to Tara Naidu, chief of commercial officer at Air India Express, the low-fare unit of Nacil, the airline would be starting full fledged domestic operations by this calendar year-end. “Certainly, there would be a pressure on the margins. But there is a market for low-fare service. We will be finalizing the roll-out plan shortly,” Naidu said.
However, the fourth full service carrier, Paramout Airways Ltd, which operates five 70-seater Brazilian made Embraer planes with only first and business classes, is claiming that it is getting more passengers who want to fly business class.
“We are getting passengers who always wanted to fly business class. With other carriers shifting many flights to all-economy class, we are now able to catch some of the business class passengers of Kingfisher and Jet Airways,” said M. Thiagarajan, managing director of Paramount Airways, that till recently restricted its operations to south India.
But the heat is going to be on traditional low-fare carriers such as SpiceJet Ltd, IndiGo, run by InterGlobe Aviation Pvt. Ltd, and GoAirlines (India) Pvt. Ltd, which operates GoAir, as big airline groups expand into their turf. A.K. Sachdev, chief operations officer with GoAir, did not comment on the pressure on airline profits, adding that survival was more important. SpiceJet chief commercial officer Samyukth Sridharan said it was too early to assess implications of the trend.
“This shows clearly that low fare carrier concept works in India. We are already there in that space. We will focus more on our brand, product deliveries and services in this context,” Sridharan said on the sidelines of an aviation conference organized last week by media business firm Terrappin Holdings.
Source: Mint
Thursday, July 9, 2009
Accor, Jet Airways team up for mileage accrual
Accor and Jet Airways have teamed up for frequent flyer mileage accrual. Members of the frequent flyer program of Jet Airways – JetPrivilege — may now earn up to 500* JPMiles when staying with Accor Hotels and Resorts around the world.
As part of a generous launch promotion, with effect until September 30, 2009; JetPrivilege members who stay at Accor Hotels and Resorts for a minimum of 2 consecutive nights will be rewarded with bonus JP Miles.
In Sofitel, Pullman and MGallery Hotels, members will earn a total of 2000 JPMiles per stay, while in Grand Mercure, Novotel, and Mercure Hotels, members will earn triple JPMiles – 750 JPMiles per stay. At selected ibis Hotels in Asia, double JPMiles are applicable – 300 JPMiles per stay.
Accor has over 1,450 hotels globally participating in the program.
Source: Business Standard
As part of a generous launch promotion, with effect until September 30, 2009; JetPrivilege members who stay at Accor Hotels and Resorts for a minimum of 2 consecutive nights will be rewarded with bonus JP Miles.
In Sofitel, Pullman and MGallery Hotels, members will earn a total of 2000 JPMiles per stay, while in Grand Mercure, Novotel, and Mercure Hotels, members will earn triple JPMiles – 750 JPMiles per stay. At selected ibis Hotels in Asia, double JPMiles are applicable – 300 JPMiles per stay.
Accor has over 1,450 hotels globally participating in the program.
Source: Business Standard
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
Take control of your Travel plans
Today, you can decide to take a holiday at any time of the year. Riding this trend, tour operators, airlines and travel agents take out full-page advertisements about flashy discounts almost throughout the year. These discounts often raise more questions than they answer, through that generous phrase that sellers love most and consumers hate: fine print. Missing it could land you in deeper trouble than you think, primarily in terms of higher expenses. We dig out the most common deals that you will come across and how to read the fine print.
Cash backs: They are available all round the year and are a favorite with the travel industry. However, a cash back option which looks like a steal may not be that great if you factor in how the cash back is calculated. Typically, regarding your hotel bookings or on your air ticket, cash back is offered only on the room tariff or base fare, not on the entire cost inclusive of taxes.
So, if an air ticket comes at 50 per cent discount, check the base fare. If it is Rs 500 or less, the 50 per cent discount would just translate into a minor reduction and you probably can get a better fare if you searched on travel portals.
Fees and surcharge total up to anywhere between Rs 1,500 and Rs 4.000 depending on what sectors you choose. This cost is usually borne by you. So, do a thorough search before you settle for the cash back.
For hotels you need to find what hotels and category of room the cash back applies to. The cash back option is usually offered on select category rooms. For instance, you may get cash back on a super deluxe room, bringing its price down to a little over deluxe rooms.
Reward Points: For frequent fliers, this is a great way to save some money. Every time you book your tickets using a co-branded credit card, you accumulate reward points. The way you get to accumulate reward points is different for different cards. For you, the checklist should be: how much does that reward point translate into? What is the value if one reward point? Do I pay an annual fee of any kind to get the reward points? And against what airline and travel sector could I redeem my points?
Companion flies free: This one has climbed the popularity charts only recently and is often worth the offer. However, you need to figure out for yourself what is free and what is not.
What is free? For an air ticket, it is the base fare that comes for free. So if you get a complimentary air ticket for your companion, you might still be asked to dish out extra charges.
For hotels, again, you need to check if other charges will have to be borne by you or if the offer is for a more expensive room. Says Mudit Khosla, head of strategic alliances, Yatra.com: Assess your net payout. For all that is free, the cost is added somewhere. Remove all the layers and see what is it that you pay and ask yourself if you can do better. Factor in the cost of meals and transportation."
If you are an outbound traveller, you also need to factor in visa charges and high season surcharge. There are some optional costs, which are basically entry fees to visit places the tour opera-tor is not paying for. All this can add up to a sizeable amount. If you find that a package is cheap and it takes you to.oll the plates you want to go, you have a good deal going. Find out the entry fee to places from your operator and work that into your package cost. That's your real price, not what is advertised.
Refunds: They are tempting if your dates and travel plans are flexible, but don't jump on these offers with blinkers on. Often their cancellation is very strict. Says Amit Saberwal, vice-president, retail and business development, MakeMyTrip.com: "In case of airlines, a low-cost ticket would usually be non-refundable, or the date change penalty would be heavy. Plan well in advance and then go for the cheapest deal, not vice-versa." Some low-cost airlines also turn your refund into a travel voucher, which you can avail of at a later date with a stipulated time period.
Lean season discounts: If the demand decreases, prices come down via fare cuts or deals. During the lean season-usually July, August and September-you will find discounts.
Airlines: These discounts lead to a reduction in airfares, which consist of four cost heads: base fare, passenger service fee. airport charges and fuel charge. While most cost heads remain common across carriers, fuel charge and base fare vary across airlines. Do a thorough search before you buy a freebee travel package, to see if you can better the deal.
Hotels: Many hotels club services such as airport transfers or meals. Adds Khosla: "For avid travellers, a lean season is a good time to hunt for bargain deals. Around summer, hotels in Rajasthan and Goa are available at throwaway prices."
Time of bookings: When you book your trip is the key to a great deal. Adds Saberwal: "We advise customers not to book too early or too late. Usually, for inbound travel a window of 21 to 35 days is good enough, and for outbound travel a 45-day window is ideal."
Last year, people who booked trips to Goa six months in advance in anticipation of a heavy crowd around New Year's Day paid nearly Rs 30,000 more than customers who booked a month in advance, because by then slowdown had hit and foreign tourists had vanished.
Calculate exactly how much you are shelling out from your pocket, what is included, and what is the quality of service offered. Do a comparison across the board and pick the one that is the cheapest. Deal or no deal.
Source: Outlook Money
Cash backs: They are available all round the year and are a favorite with the travel industry. However, a cash back option which looks like a steal may not be that great if you factor in how the cash back is calculated. Typically, regarding your hotel bookings or on your air ticket, cash back is offered only on the room tariff or base fare, not on the entire cost inclusive of taxes.
So, if an air ticket comes at 50 per cent discount, check the base fare. If it is Rs 500 or less, the 50 per cent discount would just translate into a minor reduction and you probably can get a better fare if you searched on travel portals.
Fees and surcharge total up to anywhere between Rs 1,500 and Rs 4.000 depending on what sectors you choose. This cost is usually borne by you. So, do a thorough search before you settle for the cash back.
For hotels you need to find what hotels and category of room the cash back applies to. The cash back option is usually offered on select category rooms. For instance, you may get cash back on a super deluxe room, bringing its price down to a little over deluxe rooms.
Reward Points: For frequent fliers, this is a great way to save some money. Every time you book your tickets using a co-branded credit card, you accumulate reward points. The way you get to accumulate reward points is different for different cards. For you, the checklist should be: how much does that reward point translate into? What is the value if one reward point? Do I pay an annual fee of any kind to get the reward points? And against what airline and travel sector could I redeem my points?
Companion flies free: This one has climbed the popularity charts only recently and is often worth the offer. However, you need to figure out for yourself what is free and what is not.
What is free? For an air ticket, it is the base fare that comes for free. So if you get a complimentary air ticket for your companion, you might still be asked to dish out extra charges.
For hotels, again, you need to check if other charges will have to be borne by you or if the offer is for a more expensive room. Says Mudit Khosla, head of strategic alliances, Yatra.com: Assess your net payout. For all that is free, the cost is added somewhere. Remove all the layers and see what is it that you pay and ask yourself if you can do better. Factor in the cost of meals and transportation."
If you are an outbound traveller, you also need to factor in visa charges and high season surcharge. There are some optional costs, which are basically entry fees to visit places the tour opera-tor is not paying for. All this can add up to a sizeable amount. If you find that a package is cheap and it takes you to.oll the plates you want to go, you have a good deal going. Find out the entry fee to places from your operator and work that into your package cost. That's your real price, not what is advertised.
Refunds: They are tempting if your dates and travel plans are flexible, but don't jump on these offers with blinkers on. Often their cancellation is very strict. Says Amit Saberwal, vice-president, retail and business development, MakeMyTrip.com: "In case of airlines, a low-cost ticket would usually be non-refundable, or the date change penalty would be heavy. Plan well in advance and then go for the cheapest deal, not vice-versa." Some low-cost airlines also turn your refund into a travel voucher, which you can avail of at a later date with a stipulated time period.
Lean season discounts: If the demand decreases, prices come down via fare cuts or deals. During the lean season-usually July, August and September-you will find discounts.
Airlines: These discounts lead to a reduction in airfares, which consist of four cost heads: base fare, passenger service fee. airport charges and fuel charge. While most cost heads remain common across carriers, fuel charge and base fare vary across airlines. Do a thorough search before you buy a freebee travel package, to see if you can better the deal.
Hotels: Many hotels club services such as airport transfers or meals. Adds Khosla: "For avid travellers, a lean season is a good time to hunt for bargain deals. Around summer, hotels in Rajasthan and Goa are available at throwaway prices."
Time of bookings: When you book your trip is the key to a great deal. Adds Saberwal: "We advise customers not to book too early or too late. Usually, for inbound travel a window of 21 to 35 days is good enough, and for outbound travel a 45-day window is ideal."
Last year, people who booked trips to Goa six months in advance in anticipation of a heavy crowd around New Year's Day paid nearly Rs 30,000 more than customers who booked a month in advance, because by then slowdown had hit and foreign tourists had vanished.
Calculate exactly how much you are shelling out from your pocket, what is included, and what is the quality of service offered. Do a comparison across the board and pick the one that is the cheapest. Deal or no deal.
Source: Outlook Money
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
More trains, but confusion in skies
Airlines and travel agencies are divided on whether the new train services announced by Mamata Banerjee in the Railway Budget 2009-10 will see a shift of passengers from airlines to trains.
Banerjee has announced 12 non-stop “Duronto” trains which will offer point-to-point services between key Indian cities, including Delhi-Kolkata, Delhi-Pune and Chennai-Delhi. These train services will offer savings in time which could range from one hour to three hours, depending on the route being travelled. She has also introduced “Yuva” trains for the youth in which passengers have to fork out Rs 299 for distances up to 1,500 km and Rs 399 for distances up to 2,500 km.
“Airlines offer about 125,000 seats a day. We estimate about 10,000 seats to be deflected to the new train services which constitutes for 7 to 8 of airlines’ inventory,” said Mohit Srivastava, head of online sales for Makemytrip.com, an online travel portal.
However, there are others who say that the new services will have no impact at all. Says Ajay Singh, director of low-cost carrier SpiceJet: “This is a myth, the savings in timing cannot be matched even if it saves some time. Second, airline travel is an aspirational product — train passengers move up to airlines; they don’t go back to trains. Third, the new fares which you can buy if you are planning your journey earlier are very attractive.”
A similar view is echoed by Noel Swain, vice-president of Cleartrip.com, another travel portal: “I don’t see any shift as the difference in time savings are too huge. However, in short-distance travel there might be some impact as you have to add one hour extra for security check.”
However, of the 12 Duronto trains, only Delhi-Lucknow (497 km), Delhi-Allahabad (628 km) and Mumbai-Ahmedabad (545 km) are within six to 10 hours of travel time. Most of the other trains cover long distances and, therefore, the savings in time might not be a consideration for passengers to change.
However, in many of these routes, the savings in time could make it attractive vis-a-vis air travel. For instance, the Delhi-Lucknow Shatabdi takes six-and-a-half hours, while a flight takes about 45 minutes to an hour depending on the congestion in the skies. Add in another one-and-a-half hours for security check, travelling by train could look attractive. After all, you pay only around Rs 700 on a AC chair car compared to anything between Rs 2,000 and Rs 2,800 on a low-cost carrier for the same travel.
Source: Business Standard
Banerjee has announced 12 non-stop “Duronto” trains which will offer point-to-point services between key Indian cities, including Delhi-Kolkata, Delhi-Pune and Chennai-Delhi. These train services will offer savings in time which could range from one hour to three hours, depending on the route being travelled. She has also introduced “Yuva” trains for the youth in which passengers have to fork out Rs 299 for distances up to 1,500 km and Rs 399 for distances up to 2,500 km.
“Airlines offer about 125,000 seats a day. We estimate about 10,000 seats to be deflected to the new train services which constitutes for 7 to 8 of airlines’ inventory,” said Mohit Srivastava, head of online sales for Makemytrip.com, an online travel portal.
However, there are others who say that the new services will have no impact at all. Says Ajay Singh, director of low-cost carrier SpiceJet: “This is a myth, the savings in timing cannot be matched even if it saves some time. Second, airline travel is an aspirational product — train passengers move up to airlines; they don’t go back to trains. Third, the new fares which you can buy if you are planning your journey earlier are very attractive.”
A similar view is echoed by Noel Swain, vice-president of Cleartrip.com, another travel portal: “I don’t see any shift as the difference in time savings are too huge. However, in short-distance travel there might be some impact as you have to add one hour extra for security check.”
However, of the 12 Duronto trains, only Delhi-Lucknow (497 km), Delhi-Allahabad (628 km) and Mumbai-Ahmedabad (545 km) are within six to 10 hours of travel time. Most of the other trains cover long distances and, therefore, the savings in time might not be a consideration for passengers to change.
However, in many of these routes, the savings in time could make it attractive vis-a-vis air travel. For instance, the Delhi-Lucknow Shatabdi takes six-and-a-half hours, while a flight takes about 45 minutes to an hour depending on the congestion in the skies. Add in another one-and-a-half hours for security check, travelling by train could look attractive. After all, you pay only around Rs 700 on a AC chair car compared to anything between Rs 2,000 and Rs 2,800 on a low-cost carrier for the same travel.
Source: Business Standard
Monday, July 6, 2009
AI told to start low-cost service
Budget flyers could soon be spoilt for choice. Cash-strapped Air India has been asked to start low-cost domestic operations as part of its overall restructuring - and survival - strategy. Reeling under loan liabilities of Rs 15,000 crore, the airline has also been told to restructure loans with banks and other lenders. And to cut costs - 46 of its current fleet of 155 aircraft are being returned at the earliest.
The man in the eye of the AI storm, aviation minister Praful Patel, on Friday said a plan is being worked out for AI revival that has just one important condition - employees' wholehearted support to turn the airline around. "Despite all problems, we'll turn around Air India. That's a challenge we accept," said Patel.
"Air India must enter the domestic low cost segment. That's where the growth is and is something that Jet Airways and Kingfisher Airlines have already done. It's upto the airline whether to use AI Express for that purpose or have something else. But the business model has to be redefined," he said. TOI had first reported two weeks back that AI will be entering the domestic low-cost segment. Patel said he had earlier also asked AI management to begin domestic low cost flights but "now they have to do that".
Government sources said the decision to delay payment of June wages was just to send a signal to employees that it's not business as usual at AI. The loss-ridden airline is now going to see a serious attempt to downsize its workforce for which a leave-without-pay scheme has already been launched and VRS could soon follow along with a leaner fleet size. To begin with, 46 leased aircraft are being returned.
Facing flak from unions over decisions like AI-IA merger and acquisition of new aircraft, a senior ministry official said: “AI-IA had not got planes for about two decades and desperately needed new machines. Each employee must also feel why despite getting new planes, the airline is not able to attract passengers?”
Source: The Times of India
The man in the eye of the AI storm, aviation minister Praful Patel, on Friday said a plan is being worked out for AI revival that has just one important condition - employees' wholehearted support to turn the airline around. "Despite all problems, we'll turn around Air India. That's a challenge we accept," said Patel.
"Air India must enter the domestic low cost segment. That's where the growth is and is something that Jet Airways and Kingfisher Airlines have already done. It's upto the airline whether to use AI Express for that purpose or have something else. But the business model has to be redefined," he said. TOI had first reported two weeks back that AI will be entering the domestic low-cost segment. Patel said he had earlier also asked AI management to begin domestic low cost flights but "now they have to do that".
Government sources said the decision to delay payment of June wages was just to send a signal to employees that it's not business as usual at AI. The loss-ridden airline is now going to see a serious attempt to downsize its workforce for which a leave-without-pay scheme has already been launched and VRS could soon follow along with a leaner fleet size. To begin with, 46 leased aircraft are being returned.
Facing flak from unions over decisions like AI-IA merger and acquisition of new aircraft, a senior ministry official said: “AI-IA had not got planes for about two decades and desperately needed new machines. Each employee must also feel why despite getting new planes, the airline is not able to attract passengers?”
Source: The Times of India
Friday, July 3, 2009
Airlines cut fares to beat monsoon woes
At a time when airlines are struggling to make both ends meet, reduction in fare from the carriers comes as a shocker. Airlines have introduced low fares to increase yield per passenger. The motive behind reducing fares, say industry observers, is to stimulate air travel when business and leisure travel take a backseat during the monsoons.
Air India has set the trend by introducing fares as low as Rs 2,429 on the Delhi-Mumbai route. Fares on short-distance sectors start at Rs 1,979. Air-tickets with these special fares can be purchased between June 27 and July 3 for travel before September 15. Ironically, the carrier has recently requested its higher rung executives to forgo salary for July and has also taken initiatives to curtail monthly operating costs.
Private carrier Jet Airways, which reported losses of Rs 961 crore for FY08-09, has also brought down its fares to Rs 2,000 on Mumbai-Hyderabad sector which otherwise was priced over Rs 5,000. The carrier has downsized its staff and has also downgraded salaries of its employees to improve its financials. Low-cost carrier SpiceJet has introduced low fares at Rs 1,600 for Mumbai-Jaipur flight for the next three months. These carriers had hiked their fuel surcharge by Rs 400, only a week ago, but reversed their decision.
Samyukta Sridharan, SpiceJet's chief commercial officer, while speaking at the conference in Mumbai, said, “We have special fare schemes to stimulate non-travellers to book tickets. The reduced fares encourage travellers to fly with us. However, passenger service fee and applicable airport charges are in addition to the prices.” Says an executive from a carrier, “Seats on the aircraft are perishable commodities. Once the doors of the aircraft are closed, the empty seats do not have the potential to earn revenues. Carriers introduce fares to fill up those vacant seats during lean season.”
Flying low
Air India has introduced fares as low as Rs 2,429 on the Delhi-Mumbai route
Jet Airways has brought down its fares to Rs 2,000 on the Mumbai-Hyderabad sector
SpiceJet has introduced low fares at Rs 1,600 for Mumbai-Jaipur flight
Source: The Financial Express
Air India has set the trend by introducing fares as low as Rs 2,429 on the Delhi-Mumbai route. Fares on short-distance sectors start at Rs 1,979. Air-tickets with these special fares can be purchased between June 27 and July 3 for travel before September 15. Ironically, the carrier has recently requested its higher rung executives to forgo salary for July and has also taken initiatives to curtail monthly operating costs.
Private carrier Jet Airways, which reported losses of Rs 961 crore for FY08-09, has also brought down its fares to Rs 2,000 on Mumbai-Hyderabad sector which otherwise was priced over Rs 5,000. The carrier has downsized its staff and has also downgraded salaries of its employees to improve its financials. Low-cost carrier SpiceJet has introduced low fares at Rs 1,600 for Mumbai-Jaipur flight for the next three months. These carriers had hiked their fuel surcharge by Rs 400, only a week ago, but reversed their decision.
Samyukta Sridharan, SpiceJet's chief commercial officer, while speaking at the conference in Mumbai, said, “We have special fare schemes to stimulate non-travellers to book tickets. The reduced fares encourage travellers to fly with us. However, passenger service fee and applicable airport charges are in addition to the prices.” Says an executive from a carrier, “Seats on the aircraft are perishable commodities. Once the doors of the aircraft are closed, the empty seats do not have the potential to earn revenues. Carriers introduce fares to fill up those vacant seats during lean season.”
Flying low
Source: The Financial Express
Thursday, July 2, 2009
SpiceJet prepares to explore global skies
Domestic low-cost, no frills airline SpiceJet has identified destinations such as the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Southeast Asia and Saarc countries for its flights. The airline, which will be completing five years of domestic operations on May 23, 2010, will become eligible to start international service. It said all the destinations reached within four hours would be on its radar.
SpiceJet will compete with existing international low-fare airline Air India Express and full-service carriers such as Jet Airways and Kingfisher Airlines, who also operate on the UAE, Southeast Asia and Saarc routes. “As and when we start international operations, we will start with flights to the UAE, South east Asia and Saarc countries,” Samyukth Sridharan, chief commerical officer, SpiceJet, said. “We are planning to start international operations after we receive the delivery of two of the 12 Boeings 737-800 aircraft ordered in May,” he said.
The airline has placed an order for 12 Boeings 737-800 for which delivery will start from February 2010. The company plans to induct one aircraft per quarter between 2010 and 2012. The airline operates over 120 flights per day has a fleet of 19 Boeing 737s, of which 14 are 737-800 and five are 737-900ER (extended range).
Sridharan said considering the combination of aircraft in the company’s fleet, international destinations within four-hour range would be comfortable. There are no plans to start with long haul flights, he added.
The aircraft have maximum range of 5,400-5,800 kilometres and the destinations in the UAE; Southeast Asia and Saarc countries can easily be covered. The airline plans to start international operations after it receives the delivery of first two Boeing in February and May, next year.
Spice Jet, which has around 11 per cent market share in the domestic aviation industry is also looking to break even on the operations front this financial year, Sridharan said.
Source: Financial Chronicle
SpiceJet will compete with existing international low-fare airline Air India Express and full-service carriers such as Jet Airways and Kingfisher Airlines, who also operate on the UAE, Southeast Asia and Saarc routes. “As and when we start international operations, we will start with flights to the UAE, South east Asia and Saarc countries,” Samyukth Sridharan, chief commerical officer, SpiceJet, said. “We are planning to start international operations after we receive the delivery of two of the 12 Boeings 737-800 aircraft ordered in May,” he said.
The airline has placed an order for 12 Boeings 737-800 for which delivery will start from February 2010. The company plans to induct one aircraft per quarter between 2010 and 2012. The airline operates over 120 flights per day has a fleet of 19 Boeing 737s, of which 14 are 737-800 and five are 737-900ER (extended range).
Sridharan said considering the combination of aircraft in the company’s fleet, international destinations within four-hour range would be comfortable. There are no plans to start with long haul flights, he added.
The aircraft have maximum range of 5,400-5,800 kilometres and the destinations in the UAE; Southeast Asia and Saarc countries can easily be covered. The airline plans to start international operations after it receives the delivery of first two Boeing in February and May, next year.
Spice Jet, which has around 11 per cent market share in the domestic aviation industry is also looking to break even on the operations front this financial year, Sridharan said.
Source: Financial Chronicle
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
Better pricing drew more fliers in Apr
Domestic air traffic in April was 14.8 per cent less compared to the same period last year. On the other hand, passenger load factors for all carriers rose significantly compared to the previous month, as a result of smarter pricing and cuts in capacity.
According to data released by the civil aviation ministry, domestic airlines carried 3.3 million passengers in April 2009, compared to 3.8 million in the same month last year. Domestic air traffic had fallen by 12 per cent in the first three months of the calendar year 2009, compared to the same period last year.
Average load factors of the carriers increased from 63.04 per cent in March to 67.1 per cent in April. Low cost carriers (LCCs) garnered higher loads, from 69-72 per cent. Compared to that, loads of full service carriers hovered around 59-65 per cent. Market shares, however, remained largely unchanged, with the exception of Jet Airways whose share came down from 17.8 per cent in March to 16.7 per cent in April. "I would not attribute the increase in load factors as much to decrease in capacity as to attractive pricing. We also saw advance bookings really opening up in March, which had an impact on the loads in April," said Mohit Srivastava, head of online sales at makemytrip.com, a travel portal.
Anticipating a clear shift in traffic towards the LCCs, the full service carriers are now making efforts to woo travellers back, by shifting a considerable part of their capacity to the LCC model. While Jet Airways recently launched an all-economy class service called Jet Konnect, Kingfisher Airlines shifted some flights to its low cost arm, Kingfisher Red. Together, the two carriers have shifted around 78 flights to the low cost model.
Source: Business Standard
According to data released by the civil aviation ministry, domestic airlines carried 3.3 million passengers in April 2009, compared to 3.8 million in the same month last year. Domestic air traffic had fallen by 12 per cent in the first three months of the calendar year 2009, compared to the same period last year.
Average load factors of the carriers increased from 63.04 per cent in March to 67.1 per cent in April. Low cost carriers (LCCs) garnered higher loads, from 69-72 per cent. Compared to that, loads of full service carriers hovered around 59-65 per cent. Market shares, however, remained largely unchanged, with the exception of Jet Airways whose share came down from 17.8 per cent in March to 16.7 per cent in April. "I would not attribute the increase in load factors as much to decrease in capacity as to attractive pricing. We also saw advance bookings really opening up in March, which had an impact on the loads in April," said Mohit Srivastava, head of online sales at makemytrip.com, a travel portal.
Anticipating a clear shift in traffic towards the LCCs, the full service carriers are now making efforts to woo travellers back, by shifting a considerable part of their capacity to the LCC model. While Jet Airways recently launched an all-economy class service called Jet Konnect, Kingfisher Airlines shifted some flights to its low cost arm, Kingfisher Red. Together, the two carriers have shifted around 78 flights to the low cost model.
Source: Business Standard
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