Saturday, October 18, 2008
Usually, the rivalry between (Airbus and Boeing, ) two of the world's largest aircraft manufacturers is the centre piece of any airshow worldwide. One tries to outdo the other by squeezing as many orders. Nothing close to that was visible at the Hyderabad's India Aviation Airshow as it drew to a close.
Not a single new order was announced by the two majors though both declined to reduce their market forecast which expects India to buy another 1000 aircraft over the next twenty years. Possibly, who knows? But as of today that was "wishful thinking", as one top domestic airline executive told me.
Just to give a sense of the relationship between an airshow and aircraft orders - Nearly 700 aircraft, according to various reports, were announced at the Paris Airshow last year in June- including a fairly large one by India's Kingfisher Airlines (15 A350 XWB, 5 A340-500, 10 A330 and 20 A320 family aircraft). In November the same year, Dubai Airshow traded 350 aircraft orders valued US$69.7 billion. By July this year, at the Farnborough Airshow, orders worth US$64 billion were sealed.
In Hyderabad's Airbus instead said it has sold off Kingfisher's 5 A340 ultra long haul aircraft to other carriers as per its discussions with the airline.
There could be multiple reasons why there were no real orders clinched- or announced atleast. For one, global economic crisis means India's airlines are in no mood to continue their dream international expansion or domestic expansion as they have done over the past few years. Two, the Hyderabad airshow was the first civilian airshow (just over two dozen aircraft on display) in India- much similar to Dubai's 1989 start with 200 exhibits and 25 aircraft (its gone up to over 500 exhibits and 85 aircraft displayed now). And lastly it could also have been due to the absence of any international carriers- the usual suspects like Emirates, Qatar Airways, Etihad, and Dubai Aerospace Enterprise who have been ordering hundreds of aircraft were not in attendance here.
17/10/08 Tarun Shukla/Livemint
Not a single new order was announced by the two majors though both declined to reduce their market forecast which expects India to buy another 1000 aircraft over the next twenty years. Possibly, who knows? But as of today that was "wishful thinking", as one top domestic airline executive told me.
Just to give a sense of the relationship between an airshow and aircraft orders - Nearly 700 aircraft, according to various reports, were announced at the Paris Airshow last year in June- including a fairly large one by India's Kingfisher Airlines (15 A350 XWB, 5 A340-500, 10 A330 and 20 A320 family aircraft). In November the same year, Dubai Airshow traded 350 aircraft orders valued US$69.7 billion. By July this year, at the Farnborough Airshow, orders worth US$64 billion were sealed.
In Hyderabad's Airbus instead said it has sold off Kingfisher's 5 A340 ultra long haul aircraft to other carriers as per its discussions with the airline.
There could be multiple reasons why there were no real orders clinched- or announced atleast. For one, global economic crisis means India's airlines are in no mood to continue their dream international expansion or domestic expansion as they have done over the past few years. Two, the Hyderabad airshow was the first civilian airshow (just over two dozen aircraft on display) in India- much similar to Dubai's 1989 start with 200 exhibits and 25 aircraft (its gone up to over 500 exhibits and 85 aircraft displayed now). And lastly it could also have been due to the absence of any international carriers- the usual suspects like Emirates, Qatar Airways, Etihad, and Dubai Aerospace Enterprise who have been ordering hundreds of aircraft were not in attendance here.
17/10/08 Tarun Shukla/Livemint
Labels: General
To read the news in full | PermaLink
Hyderabad: Notwithstanding cancellation of three A340 aircraft by Kingfisher and turbulence in the aviation industry globally, Airbus has said that the company’s latest forecast, which is due in the next two months, would peg the demand for aircraft at a higher level.
Addressing a press conference here on Thursday at Indian Aviation 2008, John Leahy, Chief Operating Officer (Customers), said the Airbus market share in India had gone up to 57 per cent (of 250 aircraft) in 2007 from 20 per cent in 1981.
Dr Kiran Rao, Executive Vice-President (Sales and Marketing), said that world would need 24,000 new aircraft in the next 20 years.
“India with a growth rate of 11.3 per cent tops the list of emerging aviation markets with a total population of 5.6 billion,” he said.
Stating that the airport traffic had gone up significantly in India since 2003, Dr Rao said India was expected to have a total fleet size of 1,221 (the present capacity is 253) by 2006, requiring 992 new aircraft with a total value of $120 billion. It would require 670 single-aisle aircraft and 227 twin-aisle aircraft.
18/10/08 Business Line
Addressing a press conference here on Thursday at Indian Aviation 2008, John Leahy, Chief Operating Officer (Customers), said the Airbus market share in India had gone up to 57 per cent (of 250 aircraft) in 2007 from 20 per cent in 1981.
Dr Kiran Rao, Executive Vice-President (Sales and Marketing), said that world would need 24,000 new aircraft in the next 20 years.
“India with a growth rate of 11.3 per cent tops the list of emerging aviation markets with a total population of 5.6 billion,” he said.
Stating that the airport traffic had gone up significantly in India since 2003, Dr Rao said India was expected to have a total fleet size of 1,221 (the present capacity is 253) by 2006, requiring 992 new aircraft with a total value of $120 billion. It would require 670 single-aisle aircraft and 227 twin-aisle aircraft.
18/10/08 Business Line
Labels: Airbus, Foreign, General, India
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Hyderabad: Upbeat over growing demand for regional jets, Canada-based Bombardier said that it was considering options for establishing maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) facilities in India.
"We are in the process of evaluating options for MRO facilities in the Indian-subcontinent. We are already offering aircraft maintenance facilities to our existing operators in the Asia-Pacific region," Bombardier Aerospace Commercial Aircraft (BACA) Vice-President (Marketing) Trung Ngo said here.
Air India currently operates three CRJ 700s and Jet Airways flies seven CRJ 200s, produced by BACA. Bombardier is now aggressively showcasing its CRJ 900 regional jet in the Indian market, one of which is at display at the ongoing airshow here. These CRJs (Canadair regional jets) have passenger capacity ranging between 60 and 100.
"Our comprehensive family of Learjets, Challengers and Global Business Jets are operational in the region. We also offer a complete range of travel solutions to meet the ongoing growing business travel requirements," Bombardier Regional Vice-President (Sales) David Dixon said.
Ngo said that India and China were experiencing the highest forecast growth rates for regional and single-aisle commercial aircraft.
17/10/08 PTI/Economic Times
"We are in the process of evaluating options for MRO facilities in the Indian-subcontinent. We are already offering aircraft maintenance facilities to our existing operators in the Asia-Pacific region," Bombardier Aerospace Commercial Aircraft (BACA) Vice-President (Marketing) Trung Ngo said here.
Air India currently operates three CRJ 700s and Jet Airways flies seven CRJ 200s, produced by BACA. Bombardier is now aggressively showcasing its CRJ 900 regional jet in the Indian market, one of which is at display at the ongoing airshow here. These CRJs (Canadair regional jets) have passenger capacity ranging between 60 and 100.
"Our comprehensive family of Learjets, Challengers and Global Business Jets are operational in the region. We also offer a complete range of travel solutions to meet the ongoing growing business travel requirements," Bombardier Regional Vice-President (Sales) David Dixon said.
Ngo said that India and China were experiencing the highest forecast growth rates for regional and single-aisle commercial aircraft.
17/10/08 PTI/Economic Times
Labels: Aircraft Manufacturer, Bombardier, Canada, Foreign
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Hyderabad: India Aviation 2008 exposition, spread over four days, is the first in the series of such shows, to be held once every two years that offers high drama with a wide range of aircraft on the ground. India Aviation, the first exposition, demonstration and conference of its kind, is showcasing the opportunities, potential and strength in India's civil aviation sector.
By a bizarre coincidence, the exposition opened just the day after the genial Jet Airways chief Naresh Goyal and his more flamboyant Kingfisher counterpart Vijay Mallaya announced that they were joining hands to operate both domestic and international services in order to cut costs and brave the liquidity crunch imposed by the fall out of the global financial crisis. But the immediate fall out of their deal—the lay off of cabin crew and other staff, protests against pink slips and the hoopla surrounding it—cast an ominous shadow on the exposition.
Now, the main problem is that there are simply too many planes for the number of people who can afford to fly, and there are many more on order. India is one of the most expensive places in the world to buy aviation turbine fuel. Excise duties, throughput fees charged by airport operators and state taxes of up to 30 per cent for domestic flights result in a cost structure that cannot support a competitive industry. The global crisis resulting from high oil prices and declining traffic is hitting India so hard that growth has slowed from 33 per cent in 2007 to 7.5 per cent for the first six months of this year.
Predictably, the Union Minister for Civil Aviation Praful Patel dismissed it as turbulence at a time when the aviation industry in the country is looking up. He did not miss the opportunity to assure that steps to bail out airline companies will be taken soon but clarified that there would not be a cash bail - out. Patel exhorted states to reduce the tax on aviation turbine fuel to four per cent like Andhra Pradesh did and should look at the larger picture and see the benefits for the economy.
Participants did exactly this except for the top honchos of Indian airline companies for they had to weather the turbulence caused by the rising costs and cash crunch. Aerospace companies from the United States, the partner country of Indian Aviation 2008, eyed opportunities in Indian aviation infrastructure.
India's aviation sector offers investment opportunity of $200 billion to $300 billion by 2020, and it is confident of overcoming the 'temporary hurdles' to continue the growth. The tremendous investment opportunities are in various aspects of aviation like purchase of new aircraft, replacing the existing fleet, building infrastructure and improving navigation systems. Patel said the business opportunities in other facets of aviation like helicopter tourism, sea tourism and business aviation have to be explored. He said India was also ready to be part of the growth of global aviation and integrate with European Union and the US.
18/10/08 Amarnath K. Menon/India Today
By a bizarre coincidence, the exposition opened just the day after the genial Jet Airways chief Naresh Goyal and his more flamboyant Kingfisher counterpart Vijay Mallaya announced that they were joining hands to operate both domestic and international services in order to cut costs and brave the liquidity crunch imposed by the fall out of the global financial crisis. But the immediate fall out of their deal—the lay off of cabin crew and other staff, protests against pink slips and the hoopla surrounding it—cast an ominous shadow on the exposition.
Now, the main problem is that there are simply too many planes for the number of people who can afford to fly, and there are many more on order. India is one of the most expensive places in the world to buy aviation turbine fuel. Excise duties, throughput fees charged by airport operators and state taxes of up to 30 per cent for domestic flights result in a cost structure that cannot support a competitive industry. The global crisis resulting from high oil prices and declining traffic is hitting India so hard that growth has slowed from 33 per cent in 2007 to 7.5 per cent for the first six months of this year.
Predictably, the Union Minister for Civil Aviation Praful Patel dismissed it as turbulence at a time when the aviation industry in the country is looking up. He did not miss the opportunity to assure that steps to bail out airline companies will be taken soon but clarified that there would not be a cash bail - out. Patel exhorted states to reduce the tax on aviation turbine fuel to four per cent like Andhra Pradesh did and should look at the larger picture and see the benefits for the economy.
Participants did exactly this except for the top honchos of Indian airline companies for they had to weather the turbulence caused by the rising costs and cash crunch. Aerospace companies from the United States, the partner country of Indian Aviation 2008, eyed opportunities in Indian aviation infrastructure.
India's aviation sector offers investment opportunity of $200 billion to $300 billion by 2020, and it is confident of overcoming the 'temporary hurdles' to continue the growth. The tremendous investment opportunities are in various aspects of aviation like purchase of new aircraft, replacing the existing fleet, building infrastructure and improving navigation systems. Patel said the business opportunities in other facets of aviation like helicopter tourism, sea tourism and business aviation have to be explored. He said India was also ready to be part of the growth of global aviation and integrate with European Union and the US.
18/10/08 Amarnath K. Menon/India Today
Labels: General, India, Jet Airways
To read the news in full | PermaLink
