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Tata Looks To Reclaim The Skies With Jet Airways Merger!

AirWhizzNov 15, 2018 No Comments

Tata Looks To Reclaim The Skies With Jet Airways Merger!

Aviation Insider

Tata Sons, the holding company of the Tata group of companies, is in advanced talks to acquire a significant stake in the troubled airline, Jet Airways

The airline, promoted by entrepreneur Naresh Goyal, has been scouting for investors to tide over its financial difficulties.

According to news reports , The Tata group and Naresh Goyal-promoted Jet Airways are inching towards a two-step transaction the first leg of which could see the merger of Jet with Tata Singapore Airlines. The second step of the deal could involve the purchase of the Goyal family’s stake in the combined entity by Singapore Airlines

The talks between representatives of Tata group, Singapore Airlines (SIA) and the Jet Airways management gathered pace after US private equity giant TPG Capital opted to go slow on its talks to buy a stake in Jet. As per the terms under discussion, Jet Airways will first merge with Tata SIA through a share swap.

The Naresh Goyal family, Etihad, Tata Sons and Singapore Airlines will all become partners in the new company. In the second stage, Singapore Airlines will buy out the shares of the Goyal family, giving them a complete exit. Goyal’s partner Etihad may continue with the venture as minority shareholder.

Buying Jet, with its fleet of 124 aircraft, would return Tata to the forefront of Indian aviation in terms of size, almost 70 years after its first airline was nationalised, and six years after it re-entered the market with two joint ventures, Vistara & Air Asia.

Should a deal with Jet succeed, Tata would gain access to hard-to-get parking slots at Mumbai’s congested airport, most of which are occupied by the 25-year-old airline.

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India Has The Largest Percentage Of Airline Women Pilots In The World!

AirWhizzNov 08, 2018 No Comments

India Has The Largest Percentage Of Airline Women Pilots In The World!

Aviation Insider

According to the latest data released by the International Society Of Women Airline Pilots (ISA+21), India not only has the largest percentage of Women pilots in the world, but the percentage of Indian women pilots is more than double the global average.

Statistics show that the global average of the percentage of women pilots is around 5.4%. In India, the percentage of women pilots is 12.4%. India has a total of 8797 pilots out of which 1092 are women and 385 of these are women commanders or captains.

Globally, the total number of airline pilots is over 1.5 lakh of which 8061 are women out of which 2190 are flight captains.

Here are a few stats about female pilots with airlines in India:

  • IndiGo has the second highest percentage of women pilots at nearly 13.9%. Of the 2,689 pilots that IndiGo employs, 351 are women.
  • Of the 1,867 pilots in Jet Airways, 231 are women (12.4%)
  • SpiceJet has 853 pilots of which 113 are women (13.2%)
  • Air India, country’s pioneer in employing women pilots, has 1,710 pilots of which 217 are women pilots (12.7%).

In fact, IndiGo and Jet Airways are the only two carriers in the world, other than US-based carriers like United Airlines American Airlines, Delta Airlines and Southwest Airlines, where the number of female captains is currently in three digits.

At 299 female captains, United Airlines employs the largest number of women commanders in the world followed by American Airlines at 152 and Southwest at 121. IndiGo has 118 women commanders and Jet Airways 100.

In case you didn’t know, the percentage of female pilots in India has been way above the global average for quite some time now. In a report released by ISA+21 in 2006, the global percentage of women pilots was 5.9%. Back then, the percentage of women airline pilots in India was 11%, which still was double the global average.

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Airlines Under Scanner For Alleged Fixing Of Airfares!

AirWhizzNov 02, 2018 No Comments

Airlines Under Scanner For Alleged Fixing Of Airfares!

Aviation Insider

The Competition Commission of India (CCI) has initiated an inquiry into the pricing of air tickets after it found that airlines were allegedly following a similar pattern while setting tariffs, thus making the process anti-competitive.

Airlines follow a bucket system in pricing their tickets, wherein fares are lower if the ticket is booked in advance. Tariffs increase when the travel is booked closer to the date of departure.

Airlines say that this is a software-based system which takes into account historical booking patterns while pricing the tickets.

CCI, a fair trade regulator, is investigating allegations of similar pricing as well as a simultaneous increase in ticket prices by airlines. The cases pertain to steep fluctuations in airfares during the Jat agitation in Haryana, floods in Chennai, among other instances, in the last few years.

According to CCI chief Mr. Sudhir Mittal, during the Jat riots in Haryana, all airlines decided to increase the price of tickets on the same day. A similar thing happened in 2015 when floods hit Chennai.

The regulator is waiting for a report from the Director General (DG), which is its investigation arm. Generally, cases where the CCI finds evidence of violations of competition norms, DG is detailed to investigate.

Mr. Mittal has said that they have asked the DG to look into the algorithms, used by airlines for determining fares, to ascertain whether airlines coordinated to fix prices or the algorithms function on their own to determine prices.

CCI, which keeps a tab on unfair business practices across all sectors, has the power to penalise entities for anti-competitive ways and direct them to cease operations or desist from indulging in such practices.

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“Lion Air” Flight Crashes In Indonesia,189 Passengers Missing!

AirWhizzOct 30, 2018 No Comments

Indonesia, which was coming to terms with the recent havoc created by an earthquake in the region, has yet again been hit with a tragedy.

Indonesia’s “Lion Air” airplane carrying 189 passengers and crew crashed into the Java Sea on Monday morning, moments after taking off from Jakarta Airport.

Flight JT 610 from Jakarta to the city of Pangkal Pinang, disappeared off the radar 13 minutes after taking off from the Indonesian capital at around 6:20 a.m. The airplane crashed and sunk deep into the sea.

The aircraft carried 178 adult passengers, 1 child and 2 babies. The flight’s crew consisted of Captain Bhavye Suneja and Captain Harino as second in command along with 5 crew members.

According to the Acting  Director Of Civil Aviation, Mr. Pramintohadi Sukarno, search operations are underway and rescue squads have been deployed around Tanjung Karawang, the site where the airplane was seen crashing.

A crisis center has also been established at Terminal 1B of the Jakarta Airport & Pangkal Pinang Airport to help families of the passengers.

Local media reports have said that the preliminary flight data shows a drop in the airplane’s altitude and increase in speed before the transmission got cut. The airplane appears to have plunged into the sea just off the course of Indonesia.

Lion Air hasn’t released an official statement.

The deadly crash of a Lion Air has renewed questions about the safety of Indonesian airline soon after U.S. and European regulators removed prohibitions against them.

Indonesia’s aviation industry has had a shaky past. The United States and the European Union banned its airplanes from their skies in 2007.

Indonesia relies heavily on air transport to connect its thousands of islands but has a poor aviation safety record and has suffered several fatal crashes in recent years.

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Bangalore Airport All Set To Add New Flight Routes This Winter!

AirWhizzOct 27, 2018 No Comments

Bangalore Airport All Set To Add New Flight Routes This Winter!

Aviation Insider

There is some good news for people flying from Bangalore Airport!

Kempegowda International Airport (KIA), operated by Bangalore International Airport Ltd(BIAL), will expand its flight connections with the launch of new domestic and international routes plus the addition of two airlines in the winter schedule, beginning from today. The five-month schedule will be in effect till March 30, 2019.

Budget carriers IndiGo and GoAir along with Air India will launch additional flights from Bangalore to eight international destinations.

Here are all the details about it:

  • IndiGo will operate daily flights to Male, Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur, Hong Kong and Kathmandu internationally and to Udaipur and Prayagraj (Allahabad) domestically
  • Air India is set to commence services to Bangkok and London from the Bangalore airport
  • GoAir, which commenced its international operations this month, will also connect Bangalore with Phuket in Thailand during the winter schedule
  • Air India Express will launch a round-trip flight to Singapore from Bengaluru, flying four times a week, from October 29
  • SpiceJet has plans to connect Kanpur, Gorakhpur and Udaipur with the city
  • Jet Airways will operate flight services from Bengaluru to Aizawl through Guwahati
  • Air India’s regional arm, Alliance Air, will fly to Kolhapur from KIA during the winters
  • The new Airlines set to make their Bangalore debuts are Turkish Cargo and Air India Express

Airlines’ winter schedule in India this year will commence from Saturday mid-night and will go on till March 30 next year.

With this, Bangalore will now connect to 82 destinations (53 domestic and 29 international). BIAL expects Bangalore airport to achieve about 744 aircraft movements per day (659 domestic, 85 international) at the start of winter this year.

It has also said that international flight movements will go up by 17 % while domestic flight movements will grow by 10 %.

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Cathay Pacific Airways Has Suffered The Biggest Airline Data Breach Ever!

AirWhizzOct 26, 2018 No Comments

Cathay Pacific Airways Has Suffered The Biggest Airline Data Breach Ever!

Aviation Insider

Hong Kong based, Cathay Pacific Airways has become the target of the world’s biggest airline data breach after a hacker accessed credit card, passport and personal details of around 9.4 million customers.

The airline came to know about this breach while conducting online security processes. But, they reported this incident on Thursday, almost 7 months after the hack was done.

While passports, addresses and emails were exposed, flight safety wasn’t compromised and there was no evidence that information has been misused, however, there are still no details revealing the origin of the attack.

Cathay Pacific has said the data stolen included names, nationalities, birth dates, phone numbers, addresses, passport, identity card numbers and expired credit card numbers, among other information & said no passwords were compromised. They have been contacting customers to advise them on how to protect themselves.

Cathay’s CEO, Mr. Rupert Hogg has released an apology statement saying that they are sorry for any inconvenience that may be caused due to this data breach. The statement also said that the airline acted immediately to contain the event, commence a thorough investigation with the assistance of a leading cybersecurity firm, and further strengthened their  IT security measures.

Hong Kong’s privacy commissioner expressed serious concern over the leak and said the office will initiate a compliance check with the airline. A dedicated website, infosecurity.cathaypacific.com, provides information about the event and what affected passengers should do next.

Some local lawmakers criticized Cathay for taking seven months to reveal the breach. Lam Cheuk-ting, a member of the Legislative Council’s security committee, told reporters that many people in Hong Kong are angry and the airline should’ve taken the initiative the very first day it found out.

Cathay’s Chief Customer and Commercial Officer Mr.Paul Loo said the airline wanted to have an accurate grasp of the situation and didn’t wish to “create unnecessary panic”.

Impacting more people than the population of Cathay Pacific’s home base of Hong Kong, the hack is in another league as compared to breaches reported by British Airways and Delta Air Lines Inc. this year.

Upon the release of this news, the shares of Cathay Pacific plummeted by almost 6.8 %, causing the airline’s market value to drop by $361 million.

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TRAVEL ALERT: Mumbai Airport To Remain Shut For 6 Hours Today!

AirWhizzOct 23, 2018 No Comments

TRAVEL ALERT: Mumbai Airport To Remain Shut For 6 Hours Today!

Aviation Insider

Are you flying in and out of Mumbai today (Tuesday, 23rd October 2018)?

If yes, then brace yourself for flight delays as both the main and the secondary runways of the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport will remain shut for operations for six hours, i.e. from 11 am to 5 pm, for repair and maintenance work.

The runways of the Mumbai airport will undergo maintenance and repair in two phases between October and February-March period.

During the shutdown period, around 300 flights will be affected per day. Flights which are scheduled to either take off or arrive between 5 pm and 8 pm are likely to be the worst hit.

National carrier, Air India tweeted about this situation asking passengers to visit the website/app and to contact the call center for details on rescheduled and cancelled flights.

Budget airline, GoAir, also tweeted about the same. The flights of other carriers are also expected to be hit in a big way.

On 4Th October, Mumbai International Airport Limited(MIAL) had released a statement saying that due to the maintenance work, both the runways 09/27 and 14/32 will remain shut for operations between 11 am and 5 pm on October 23.

They have also said that in the second phase, the maintenance and repair work on the intersection will be carried out between February 7 and March 30 (except on March 21) from 11 am to 5 pm on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays.

The primary runway of the airport has a capacity of 50 flight movements an hour against the declared capacity of 46, while the secondary one runway can handle up to 35 arrivals and departures in an hour. On an average, the airport handles around 1,000 flights a day.

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Government To Only Allow Data Services On Airplanes For Now!

AirWhizzOct 20, 2018 No Comments

Government To Only Allow Data Services On Airplanes For Now!

Aviation Insider

The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) is planning to allow only data/internet services aboard flights within India in the initial rollout of In-Flight Connectivity scheme.

Voice services have been put on a hold for now on account of some technical issues.

The DoT is likely to approach the Law Ministry next week for the review of these guidelines before notifying them. It could take around two weeks for the Ministry to sanction these guidelines.

They have held meetings with telecom operators and airlines, some of whom have shown interest to offer these services.

Once the licenses are rolled out, the carriers and telecom companies will reportedly have to bid to acquire the license for the service they want to push out.

While mobile phone use will still be restricted during take-off and landing, the Telecom Commission has approved lifting the ban on the use of mobile phones and internet services at cruising altitudes.

While it is still too early for a definite pricing structure for in-flight connectivity, it is anticipated that the cost of installing this will cost the airlines a lot.

Each aircraft would require an investment of about $1 million. The airplane will also have to be grounded for at least 10 days to retrofit the aircraft with the technology. In current circumstances, this revamping may not come across as very welcoming.

Globally, many airlines are offering Wi-Fi for passengers, but they have to switch off the facility when they enter Indian airspace. AirAsia, Air France, British Airways, Egypt Air, Emirates, Air New Zealand, Malaysia Airlines, Qatar Airways and Virgin Atlantic are among the 30 airlines who have to do this.

Indian carriers have been advocating internet services on flights as it would result in add-on revenues and bring them at par with international flights.

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