Category Archives: Aviation

SriLankan Airlines has recorded its first profitable fourth quarter (Q4) since 2006 for the financial year that ended on 31 March 2022 with a group net profit of USD 1.7 million despite pandemic challenges. SriLankan’s expansion initiative saw the launch of flights to several new destinations in the last year including Seoul; Moscow; Kathmandu and Paris. Frequencies were also gradually increased across the airline’s network in line with the recovery of the global travel industry and demand. The airline has also carried out major campaigns to boost tourism to the country including a major initiative in India, roadshows supporting new routes and most recently sponsoring the popular French annual adventure trail, Raid Amazones, in March of this year. The airline is now back to 75 per cent of the passenger revenue it made pre-pandemic in Q4 of 2019-20. Correspondingly, passenger numbers also rose to near 700,000 for the quarter. Ashok Pathirage, Chairman of SriLankan Airlines stated, “I am pleased to note that we ended 2021-22 on a high note, given our first quarterly profit in many years. The passenger demand remained strong, and revenues continued to recover from the setbacks of the pandemic during the quarter. Our annual expenditure remained within expectations. I am thankful to all our valued employees for contributing towards this achievement.” “We anticipate some headwinds in the first half of this financial year with high fuel prices and a short-term dip in demand to Sri Lanka. We have factored in these challenges and are working towards minimizing the impact with a strong business plan and a sound turnaround strategy to return to full-year profitability. Traffic is expected to recover fully by the end of the year …

Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia expects more domestic and international flights in a month and said the new UDAN scheme will provide last mile connectivity using helicopters and small aircraft is in the making. He said that regional connectivity is the focus of the government, with provision of last mile connectivity, adding that UDAN is a mission to connect every single citizen, and make flights accessible to common man.

Qatar Airways and IndiGo announced the reactivation of their strategic cooperation following the lifting of the suspension on international scheduled flights by the Indian government. Qatar Airways Group Chief Executive, Akbar Al Baker, said: “The reactivation of our strategic partnership with IndiGo is another milestone in the development of aviation between the State of Qatar and India. Together, both Qatar Airways and IndiGo will offer over 340 flights per week to 13 destinations in India. Never before has our partnership with IndiGo been stronger and the resumption of our strategic cooperation demonstrates the resilience, agility and commitment both partners have shown in overcoming the challenges of the pandemic.” 

Reviewing the airline’s fleet of aircraft in terms of leasing costs and operating efficiency is a key pillar within a broader cost restructuring plan embarked upon by the airline since the onset of the pandemic in 2020.  Other restructuring initiatives have thus far resulted in the airline ceasing to rely on government funding since the second quarter of 2021, and returning a profit since December 2021 – the most profitable month on record.   The initiation of the re-fleeting RFP is primarily prompted by the impending expiry of aircraft leases for over 50% of the current fleet. The airline recognizes that the current global market for aircraft leasing presents an attractive pricing environment which would maximise the cost savings which can be achieved via the timely execution of a re-fleeting strategy. The combination into a single RFP of replacement aircraft (expiring leases) with growth needs over the ensuing period, captures benefits of scale. A single procurement exercise also avails optionality in terms of selecting the optimum fleet structure in terms of operating efficiency, aircraft type and aircraft age.  All aircraft leases will be funded through the airline’s current existing cashflows, and the re-fleeting is expected to significantly reduce the airline’s cost structure going forward. The re-fleeting exercise will alongside other strategic initiatives help the airline increase its operating margins and further elevate its operating cash flows which will support the timely paying down of long-term debt to the Government of Sri Lanka and other lenders.  The promising turnaround in the airline’s financials have accrued both from cost restructuring as well as from selective growth initiatives in terms of expansion of the route network to include new destinations, and exploitation of growth …

Ajay Singh, CMD, SpiceJet shares that apart from ATF, excise duty is another issue that the aviation industry is dealing with. “It’s not just about bringing ATF under GST, it’s also excise duty, which is around 11%. The excise duty was hiked at the time when oil prices went down. Now that oil prices are at a record, excise duty is not coming down. Hence, we need to be very cognizant of the fact that aviation sector has suffered huge losses. It’s a chronically ill industry,” he said.

In a bid to further boost air connectivity of North Eastern Region with the rest of the country, Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) has approved a Scheme – ‘Providing air connectivity and Aviation infrastructure in North Eastern Region (NER’” to promote air connectivity in the NE states and, if required, to develop infrastructure for air connectivity. As part of this scheme, two important development will take place – first flight of Made in India HAL Dornier Do-228 from Dibrugarh in Assam to Pasighat in Arunachal Pradesh. Alliance Air will be India’s first commercial airline to fly Indian made aircraft for civil operations. There will also be inauguration of First FTO (Flying Training Organization) for North Eastern Region at Lilabari, Assam.

After several months of suspended activity due to the Covid-19 health crisis, Air Austral will resume gradually its flights to Chennai as of May 2022 with the approval of its regulatory authorities, the French Civil Aviation Authority, and Indian Authorities. Starting 6 May 2022, Air Austral will offer two weekly flights each Tuesday and Friday. These flights will be operated by Airbus AZU-300, Air Austral’s brand new aircraft. 

SriLankan Airlines has geared up for a busy Summer 2022 by increasing the number of scheduled flights by 40 per cent to match pre-pandemic levels and meet the growing demand for air travel as the industry continues to recover. The frequency increases will come into effect across SriLankan’s network of online destinations with the start of the airline’s summer flight schedule. The new schedule will facilitate smoother operations for the airline and offer customers greater flexibility, convenience and connectivity. One of the most significant changes is in SriLankan’s operations to India, which were scaled down considerably at the height of the pandemic. India recently reopened their skies for commercial passenger flights after two years of closure. In celebration of this encouraging development, SriLankan will be nearly doubling the number of weekly flights to India to over 100.  Other planned frequency increases to cities in the Indian Subcontinent include the operation of an extra weekly flight each to Gan, Maldives and Lahore, Pakistan. SriLankan is further planning to match the weekly number of flights to Abu Dhabi, Riyadh, Muscat and Seychelles in the Middle Eastern and African regions to its pre-pandemic level of operations. Frequencies to certain destinations in the Far East and Oceania would also be gradually increased in the coming months. Daily flights have already been introduced to Kuala Lumpur, while daily flights will be operated to Melbourne by May and to Bangkok and Jakarta by July of this year. Further, an additional weekly flight has been scheduled for Narita starting from July 2022. New destinations are also part of the plan and commercial passenger flights to Seoul, Korea are to be launched in May 2022. SriLankan Airlines earns …

The Mumbai International Cruise Terminal, the iconic sea cruise terminal coming up at BPX-Indira Dock, is expected to be commissioned by July 2024. The terminal will have a capacity of handling 200 ships and 1 million passengers per annum. Out of the total project cost of Rs. 495 crore, Rs. 303 crores will be incurred by Mumbai Port Authority and the remaining by private operators. This was informed by the Chairperson, Mumbai Port Authority, Rajiv Jalota, while addressing the media in Mumbai , on the occasion of completion of 7 years of Sagarmala – Government of India’s flagship programme for port-led development of the nation. 

Jyotiraditya M Scindia, Minister of Civil Aviation, Government of India, said that India is very rapidly moving on the issue of environment sustainability and the civil aviation sector is focusing on sustainability & net zero carbon emission which is the need of the hour. He also mentioned that 96 of India’s airports will be carbon neutral by 2024. India has been experimenting with Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) for two years where blended fuel has been used by some of the airlines. He highlighted the need for low-cost energy resources, to power the airport infrastructure, sustainable aviation fuel and fuel-efficient models, to encourage eco-friendliness and innovative solutions towards achieving carbon-neutrality.