|
Jet to fly to Dubai
DUBAI, July 11, 2008: Jet Airways, which is already flying to to Abu Dhabi, Doha, Muscat, Bahrain and Kuwait, will start operation to Dubai from Delhi and Mumbai probably by middle of next month. The flights could start probably by mid-August as the airline has to make preparations for the timings and slots at airports, sources told media.
On an average, Jet reports nearly 65 per cent load factor on its Gulf routes. In some sectors it is higher.
Sources said though the airline has permission for its low-cost subsidiary,
Jetlite, to fly to the Gulf region, it is contemplating when to launch the service to the region considering low-cost carriers are losing money as a result of high oil prices.
The Dubai-Delhi and Dubai-Mumbai sector is the most lucrative for the Indian carriers. On January 1 this year, Jet Airways commenced operations to the Gulf and is India's first private airline to start services to the region with non-stop daily flights connecting India with Bahrain and Kuwait. - PTI
Airlines cut flights, change course of business
NEW DELHI/MUMBAI, July 07: 2008: There is more bad news from the aviation industry. Hit by high fuel prices, major airlines have reduced flights on the domestic circuit as demand is ebbing and flights are going half empty.
It is learnt that state-owned carrier Air India has cancelled around 30 flights whereas Jet Airways grounded more than 20 flights due to poor bookings. Delhi-based budget carrier SpiceJet has cancelled around 10 flights and Simplify Deccan has done away with 50 flights. Jet Airways has combined some flights, due to poor loads, on routes like
Delhi-Mumbai and Delhi-Kolkata.
Kingfisher is said to have postponed plans for international operations and the target now is September 2008 instead of August 2008.
For the last few months, Indian carriers' attempts to find funds for their loss-making ventures (that can be as high as Rs 9 crore daily for giants like Air India-IA or Jet-JetLite) could get more desperate now as crude inches towards the $150 mark.
Soure: The Economic Times
Airlines feel price hike pinch
New Delhi, July 02, 2008: Seven employees of Go Air were handed
a pre-drafted resignation letter, on which they had to sign. “We were forced to sign a pre-drafted resignation letter,” said one of them on
condition of anonymity. He said, “The company officials have told us we are being retrenched as the company is in losses and
such an action is necessary.”
Reacting to the development, Jeh Wadia, managing director, Go Air said: “Yes we
are downsizing the company. Since we have pulled out from some routes we need to
downsize.”
Go Air’s 10 per cent cut in employee strength is perhaps only the first
downsizing story in the Indian aviation sector. Incessant hike in aviation fuel prices coupled with increasing operating costs
has left the airlines in a financial tizzy.
Oil marketing companies on Monday again hiked aviation turbine fuel prices by
4.3 per cent. Jet fuel is about 60 to 70 per cent higher in India than anywhere in world, the
overriding reason why airlines in India are in bad fiscal health. Low-cost carrier Spice Jet has decided to close operations at Jaipur and has
reduced the number of flights to 97 from 117 per day.
Source: Hindustan Times
Airline companies hike airfares
MUMBAI, June 20, 2008: The country’s largest private airline, Jet Airways, state-owned Air India and low-cost airline SpiceJet have raised fares following the recent hike in jet fuel prices. A Jet Airways
executive confirmed that the airline has increased its base fares for up to 750 km by Rs 1,000,
between 750 km and 1,000 km by Rs 2,250 and beyond 1,000 km by Rs 3,000.
The base fare on Jet’s Mumbai-Chennai route will go up from Rs 1,350 to Rs 3,000 while that on the Bangalore-Hyderabad route will go up from Rs 600 to Rs 1,000. The new charges are being added to the base fare and do not include taxes and fuel and congestion surcharges as levied by various
airlines. Air India has also raised its base fares by Rs 1,000 for up to 750 km and by Rs 2,250 for distances between 750 km and 1000 km. These hikes in fares are to be effective from June 20.
New Delhi-based SpiceJet has increased the fuel surcharge on its routes. The fuel surcharge for up to 750 km (short-haul) has gone up by Rs 300 and beyond 750 km by Rs 550.
Travel agency sources said Kingfisher too has hiked fares but it was not confirmed independently. Industry sources said the
InterGlobe-promoted Indigo is likely to take a decision on the fare hike next week. The aviation industry had suffered a loss of Rs 4,000 crore in 2007-08. The losses are expected to double in the current fiscal.
Analysts said with global oil prices spiralling, airlines have hiked fuel surcharges five times in the past five months. ATF prices have risen from Rs 20,000 per kilolitre in 2004 to Rs 70,000 per kilolitre currently while the average fare has declined from Rs 6,000 in 2004 to Rs 3,900 during 2007.
Other airlines have already increased their fuel surcharges in the past few weeks, including private airlines Jet Airways, Kingfisher Airlines and Simplify Deccan, which hiked it by Rs 300-550. Spicejet
announced last week that it would be reducing its flights from 117 per day to 100 per day to combat soaring jet fuel prices.
Jet Airways has already deferred the launch of its New Delhi-Hong Kong flights from June till winter, taking into account the requirements of the market. It currently earns close to 40% of its revenues from international operations. Its low-cost arm,
Jetlite, will be taking over on thinner routes. It was learnt that airlines are likely to reduce capacity on loss-making routes too. These routes, mostly short-haul flights, would be Chennai-Bangalore, Hyderabad-Bangalore and
Jaipur-Ahmedabad. Indian carriers had told the civil aviation ministry at regular intervals that fares needed to be hiked by 20-25%
(Rs 2,000 on an average) to cover operational costs, considering the current high price of ATF.
Source: The Economic Times
|
|
