Say Goodbye to Free Toffees

In the face of piling losses, the airlines are now starting to eliminate even the littlest things from their flights. Cases in point: Indian has now eliminated the free toffees they handed out to economy passengers and the free fruit baskets they gave to premium fliers. Spicejet, meanwhile, has decided that it will no longer pass out free cookies, waters or toffees on their flights.

It may seem a little crazy that they can actually save money by getting rid of sweets, but SpiceJet says they will save Rs 50 Lakh annually by being stingy with the toffee.

Sleeping Pilots Miss Airport by, oh, 359 Miles

Pilots on an Air India flight from Jaipur, India, to Mumbai allegedly overshot the airport by 359 miles because they were sleeping during the flight. The crew members started their day with a 1:35am flight from Dubai and continued on with this 7am flight from Jaipur. That doesn't excuse falling asleep, but it kinda makes sense.

Air India, for its part, denies the incident took place.

Are we the worst tourists?

A survey done in Australia put Indians as the worst tourists for having the worst tourist etiquette. Well this survey was in Australia, wonder if the recent cricket series had anything to do with the abysmal ranking. A record number of Indians are traveling overseas, so may not really know some of the western ways, and i would not be surprised if our constant haggling (bargaining) gene has something to do with the ranking as well.

Airlines Set Delhi - Mumbai Fares at Rs 2000 Each Way

There's no evidence yet (yet!) of collusion between lowfare airlines, but strangely GoAir, SpiceJet and IndiGo have all raised their one-way base fares between Delhi and Mumbai to Rs 2,000 each way, doubling the previous base fare (and quadrupling the common sale fare). With fees, the fare now comes to about Rs 5,400 each way. The busy sector accounts for nearly half of all air travel in India.

If passengers rebel and refuse to fly, look for one of the airlines to break and drop fares back to Rs 500 levels.

Indian Airlines Tell Travel Agents: No More Commissions for You

India's full-service airlines have joined the budget carriers and much of the rest of the world in eliminating commissions on airline ticket sales. Budget airlines had eliminated commissions previously, but Jet, Air India and Kingfisher had been paying 5% - beginning in October, that'll drop to 0%. Customers should now expect travel agents to tack on a service fee to ticket sales, effectively increasing the fares you're paying for tickets. In the US and Europe, online agencies reacted by tacking on service fees to the tickets (usually about Rs 250) - we'll see how India's OTAs respond.

Jet Airways Reports Losses, and More Losses to Come

Jet Airways is feeling the pain: India's largest private carrier announced a loss for the last quarter and said that there will be more losses to come in the face of slowing traffic and soaring fuel costs. Fuel now makes up 45% (!) of airlines' operating cost - a jump of 90% from last year. Jet has grown their international business to more than 40% of their total flying, but fuel costs are hurting profitability on those routes, while downward fare pressures are contributing to losses on domestic routes.

More Bad News for SpiceJet: Airline Delays Aircraft Deliveries

SpiceJet's woes continued today as the airline is now rumoured to have delayed 7 of the 30 aircraft it had ordered. On top of that, their June load factors are about 78% versus 90% last year (that despite the Rs 99 fares they, and every other airline, were offering for the season). Want more bad news? The carrier is eliminating 20 flights, including Ahmedabad to Hyderabad and Jaipur, and reducing frequencies from Bangalore to Hyderabad & Chennai, and from Hyderabad to Chennai.

It's going to continue to get worse before it gets better.

Air India not to be Sold off

Per the civil aviation minister, Air India, will not be sold off. Well, for one their poll partners the communist party will not allow it, and second the worldwide airline market is currently in the dumps. So irrespective of how you feel about privatizing public companies nothing is going to happen for now.

Beware of the Jackals at Delhi's IGI Airport

Following the heavy rains in Delhi, IGI Airport was overrun by jackals, foxes and lizards on Monday, causing the closure of the airport for an hour. About 100 flights were affected by the animals, which had come to the runway to sun themselves following the storms.

Airlines May Begin to Reduce Domestic Flying

Some bad news for travellers: India's airlines, which are on track to lose more than $2 billion this year, are considering eliminating some of their domestic routes and frequencies as they try to figure out how to cut costs in the current fuel environment. Low fare airlines have been reluctant to raise fares, leaving them with unprofitable routes across their map. Just as travellers have become more accustomed to finding flights available at the times they want, they may have to get used to fewer flights and fuller planes.

But if that's the price of actually having the airlines survive, it's a small price to pay.

Jet Airways to Delay Expansion Plans

After launching flights to San Francisco over the weekend, a Jet Airways executive said that (except for Dubai) it is postponing further international expansion until at least 2009. Jet had plans to take over the world (or so it seemed), but given the fuel situation those plans will just have to wait. Jet joins a long (and growing) line of airlines cutting back on longer haul flights as a means to drive down fuel costs.

Air India Express Cancels Goa-Dubai Flights After 1 Week

Only 1 week after putting tickets on sale, Air India Express has canceled their thrice-weekly service from Goa to Dubai because of weak bookings. Peak season bookings were OK, but during the off-season, the airline could not justify flying the route. Indian Airlines flies Goa-Dubai twice weekly.

In the current fuel environment airlines have learned that if a route isn't working quickly, that they have to drop it - Air India Express should be commended for not wasting any cash trying to make this work.

Darjeeling Strike Turns Violent; Tourists Attacked

A quick update on the strike in Darjeeling and its effect on tourists: Strike organizers in the hills called for a 2-day break to allow tourists to get out of the region safely. However, a strike then broke out in the foothills, causing havoc in the region. Worse, a group of 8 tourists from Kolkata were attacked by Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) men, causing tour operators to cancel tours to the region. If you have travel planned to the region, it would be best to postpone or change your plans at this time.

Airlines send SOS to the Prime Minister

In an effort to plead the case of the airlines, Praful Patel the Civil Aviation Minister along with the honchos of Jet Airways and Kingfisher are meeting with the Prime Minister. The ATF Fuel costs are through the roof, and now make up close to 50% of the operational cost of the airlines. India has one of the highest tax rates on ATF in the world, and they want to plead their case to reduce the taxes as the entire industry is bleeding heavily. Airlines have had to increase the ticket prices resulting in lower load factors ( fewer passengers flying) ...hence the mounting losses. My 2 paisas, with pending elections and petrol & diesel prices (for cars) at the highest rates, commodity & food prices also riding high, the administration will have a tough decision on hand. Do they try to help the airlines (in Politics = Rich) or use that to subsidize diesel (in Politics = the Not so Rich, more votes). इधर खाई उधर कूआँ (Idhar Khai Udhar Kuan: One the side is a valley on the other a well)

Strike in Darjeeling Causes Havoc for Tourists

An estimated 40,000 tourists are stranded in Darjeeling because of a strike called by a group that wants a separate Gorkhaland state. Hotels have asked their guests to leave, but no transport is available out of the region. Unfortunately for those in the region who make a living off tourism, the strike has no end date, causing many to worry they will lose their livelihoods.

Cash-Strapped Airlines in India Delay Payments for Jet Fuel

How bad has is the financial situation of some of India's largest airlines? Very bad - several of them, Kingfisher and Jet Airways included, have fallen behind on payments for fuel even when they have been given rather loose credit lines. Indian Oil Corp now requires that Kingfisher pay for their fuel immediately at purchase (like when you get your petrol for your car) because they had fallen so far behind in paying for past fuel purchases.

The industry is a mess in India, with airlines losing roughly Rs 1600 for every passenger they fly.

How Paramount Airways Stays Profitable

The Economic Times has an interesting article about Paramount Airways and its steadfast refusal to expand beyond its southern base. Why the hardheaded approach? Because, against all odds, the carrier is profitable and intends to stay that way. Unlike nearly every other airline in the world, they have decided to focus on their niche and make money doing it, rather than expanding to every corner of the map at any cost.

The small carrier has offered a full-service product at low costs and stayed out of the way of competition where possible. And because they've always offered a full-service product, their customers are a bit less price sensitive -- this is helpful in an era where airfare taxes have increased 4x in the past year.

If Paramount continues to stick to what they do well, they'll find that niche carriers can have a profitable place in the aviation world - even as nearly every other competitor struggles with profits.

Court says Air India can Ground Fat Air Hostesses.

I mean with the current ATF prices an airline is looking to cut out any weight :) to get better mileage from their aircrafts. Just Kidding.

Will India's Airlines Ever See Profits? (Answer: It Will Be a While)

Airline Business magazine takes a look at India's airline industry and asks, "What's going wrong in India"? To spare you the 10 minutes of reading the (worthwhile) article, here's the short version: fuel costs & taxes and a miserable infrastructure. While fares have come down and routes have grown - especially in the lowfare sector, which now accounts for about 50% of the traffic in India, none of the airlines are close to turning a profit.

Executives are hopeful that a couple of states have cut the fuel tax and that others may soon follow. Airlines have added fuel surcharges as well to cover the growing costs. Plus, consolidation may finally help to push airfares up to an even close-to-reasonable level.

But the fundamental problems in the industry - too many carriers chasing the same routes - means that prices will stay too low and airlines will slowly bleed away cash. Says Tony Fernandes, the head of successful Malaysian lowfare carrier Air Asia: "I don't think it's a cost problem," he says. "I think they are not following the model. We'll let all the Indian airlines kill each other first. Then we will come in."

Jet Airways: No More Paneer Makhani on Flights

Well, not literally but pretty close. Jet Airways and the other carriers are looking to squeeze out costs where possible given the huge operating losses that they are suffering given the ridiculous fuel costs. Jet Airways' COO, Sudheer Raghavan per this article is quoted "We will also be taking a long, hard look at the choices we offer for passenger meals and the number of meals we uplift,". Well I know I am packing my own Naan and Paneer Makhani on my next flight.

From Slow to Bad to Worse

It first starts to slow then a market gets bad before it gets worse. The Indian aviation market is already slowing down and could soon get bad. The ATF prices are through the roof and when they make up 45% of the operational cost, you know things are getting bad. All airlines are already operating under losses, and with the slow down in the growth of passenger traffic, they are all pruning their routes. Some airlines are late in paying their airport dues as well. The civil aviation ministry is hence considering to remove the five year in-operation rule to allow the younger airlines to fly overseas, as airlines have higher yield on long-haul international flights (not to mention that they are more attractive for investors). Fasten your seat belts folks if the ATF prices do not let up soon there will be major turbulence ahead.

Tripmela Launches searchMela A Mega Search Tool

Tripmela announced the Launch of Searchmela, a travel search tool. This is not a Meta Search engine - rather a tool to help consumers find the best airfares from all your favorite website with one click. No longer will you have to visit 3 or 4 sites to compare airfares. Just visit searchmela.com now to see for yourself how easy it is to find the lowest airfares!

As Airlines cut back Air India Express Continues to Expand

Amidst all the news of reduction of expansion pans and route rationalization Air India Express continues to expand its services to the Middle East. This is a very lucrative sector for them, and with plenty of other low cost airlines looking to start or expand their services between this sector this is a good defensive move by them. They will be connecting three more smaller cities to Dubai:
Hyderabad to Dubai
Goa to Dubai
Pune to Dubai

With 7 additional aircrafts coming by next year, you can look for increased service to the Middle East and to the Far East countries.