Can Nandan turn Air India around?

Mumbai: Air India’s chiefs all have a singular ambition when they take charge—turn the carrier into a viable business.

So too with Rohit Nandan, who took over as chairman and managing director of the state-run airline in August. Not the easiest of tasks, given that it has about Rs. 42,570 crore of debt, is expected to make a loss of about Rs. 7,000 crore this financial year and is battling for passengers at home and abroad amid a slowing economy. The recent history of Air India is replete with leaders who have failed in their bid to turn it around. Will Nandan’s fate be any different?

“I certainly don’t have a magic wand...but I am doing all basic things to attain operational efficiency and financial freedom,” Nandan, 54, said in an interview. “I have met at least 200 employees in the last few weeks and they are fairly positive about the airline.”

The Indian Administrative Service officer is reworking the winter schedule, reconfiguring aircraft, outsourcing non-core functions and meeting employees every week to boost morale.

Predecessor Arvind Jadhav, too, sought to achieve this through meetings and a series of letters explaining his vision for the airline that has at least Rs. 22,000 crore in accumulated losses. But he had to leave after alienating both employees and the government.

The government’s propensity to put bureaucrats in charge of the airline adds to the scepticism in some quarters.

“You need a qualified turnaround specialist to revive Air India,” said Hormuz P. Mama, an independent aerospace analyst. “You need rigorous cost-cutting measures to save Air India. With this bloated workforce (30,000 workers), it is difficult to turn around Air India.”

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GoAir expands to Kolkata, Ranchi and Port Blair

Leading no-frills carrier GoAir has added three new destinations - Kolkata, Ranchi and Port Blair (all from Delhi) - effective October 8, taking its overall destinations to 24.

The decision to add these three centres is a part of its growth strategy, a statement from the company said.

The airline currently connects 21 destinations, and operates 84 daily flights, or around 588 weekly flights, it added.

GoAir recently announced the purchase of 72 next- generation A320 NEO aircraft. The airline is inducting three new A320s between this month and April.

Spicejet launches flights to Chennai, Hyderabad

Budget airline Spicejet has launched daily flights to Chennai and Hyderabad from here, as a part of its plans to connect 12 tier-II and -III cities across the country.
   
The services, which began on Thursday with the arrival of the first flight from Hyderabad, will be mostly operated by the airline's fleet of Q400 Nextgen Turbotrop aircraft, Spicejet CEO Neil Raymond Mills told reporters on Friday.
   
"Spicejet Airlines has been fast expanding its domestic footprint with Q400 Nexgen turbotrop aircraft from Bombardier. Its fleet addition aims at enhancing air connectivity to tier-II and III destinations including Aurangabad, Bhopal, Goa, Nagpur, Pune, Rajamundhry, Pune, Tirupati, Trivandrum and Vijayawada," he said.
   
The new services offer "affordable and competitive" rates to travellers, the airline official said.
   
The airline had placed orders for a total of 30 Q400 Nexgen which can accommodate 78 passengers and are widely accepted as an ideal short-haul flights.
   
Five aircraft have already been delivered and another two are expected by this month end.
   
The airlines had recently announced the addition of Tiruchirappalli as its 30th destination, he said.
Source: ZeeNews

Air India comes up with new scheme at competitive rates

Air India on Wednesday announced the extension of its short term promotion scheme, Silver and Platinum Pass aimed at providing air travel at competitive and affordable rates.

The Silver and Platinum Pass being offered in two variants for unlimited travel in economy and executive class on the domestic sectors of the national carrier will now be valid for fifteen days, the airlines said.

Passengers buying the Silver Pass can fly on economy class to any domestic sector of their choice at a fare of Rs 35,000 any number of times during the 15-day period.

Passengers who purchase the Platinum Pass can enjoy unlimited trips in executive class to any domestic destination at a fare Rs 75,000. This fare is inclusive of taxes, Air India said.

The passes are available for sale at the offices of Air India Airline and its approved travel from September 21, 2011 and will be valid for travel up to January 15, 2012.

The day of commencement of the journey will be treated as the first day and fifteen days will be counted from the date of the commencement of the journey for determining travel validity, officials said.
Source: India Times (Air India Online Booking)

Indian carriers chart strategy for lean season

India’s domestic carriers, struggling with mounting losses amid a fare war unleashed by Air India Ltd, met in Mumbai on Monday to decide on a strategy to shore up revenue and widen margins in a move that’s being watched by the aviation ministry.

“They want to hike base fares,” said one of three airline officials with direct knowledge of the meeting and what was discussed. All of them declined to be identified because of the sensitivity of the matter.

The post-lunch meeting, which was called at short notice, was held at Mumbai’s Waterstones Club, close to the international airport.

Representatives from state-owned Air India and budget carrier IndiGo, run by InterGlobe General Aviation Pvt. Ltd, didn’t attend.

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), the industry regulator, said it would investigate any efforts at cartelization, but was not aware of any such activity.

“We are watching the price scene situation very closely. There is a fare-monitoring unit in DGCA,” said director general Bharat Bhushan, who has been leading a campaign to root out pilots who’ve got their jobs with the help of forged documents. “So far we haven’t seen fares change.”

Those who attended the meeting included Jet Airways​ (India) Ltd executive vice-president Anita Goyal, Kingfisher Airlines Ltd chief executive officer (CEO) Sanjay Aggarwal, SpiceJet Ltd CEO Neil Mills and GoAir CEO Giorgio De Roni.

SpiceJet’s Mills declined to offer any comment. Email and calls to the Jet Airways’ spokesperson remained unanswered.

Kingfisher’s Aggarwal and GoAir’s De Roni didn’t reply to emailed questions.

The meeting came at the start of the two-week period considered the leanest of the year with many Indians avoiding travel because of religious sentiments, according to one of the officials cited above.

“It’s going to put a lot of pressure on the October-December quarter,” this official said, following the losses posted by all three listed airlines in the April-June period, traditionally considered the second best by way of profitability.

Jet Airways, along with its subsidiary JetLite, made a loss of Rs.128.36 crore, Kingfisher Rs.263.54 crore and SpiceJet Rs.71.96 crore in the first quarter of this fiscal compared with profits for Jet and SpiceJet year-on-year (y-o-y).

The current quarter is expected to be worse and it won’t get much better for the full fiscal, said an analyst.

“Q2 (second quarter) is going to be a disaster,” said Kapil Kaul, South Asia CEO of Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation. “There is a negative sentiment about the airline industry. And Q2 would further increase the downward bias. All the stocks will be serious underperformers. In this year, everyone will lose.”
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