Edits, Columns & Analysis - December 2007

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'Jetlite will focus on non-metros for international routes'
TravelBizMonitor
Dec 31, 2007
In a freewheeling interview with Arti Saggi, Gary Kingshott, CEO, Jetlite outlines the strategy of the airline including plans for flights to the Middle East.
Q. What is Jetlite's plan for the Middle East and other international destinations?
A. We have asked for daily frequencies from a number of Indian points to various destinations in the Middle East. We have identified non-metro routes where we believe significant demand exists.
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`In six months, we`ll be under-leveraged`
Raghuvir Badrinath
Business Standard
December 28, 2007
Bangalore: Ravi Nedungadi, Chief Financial Officer and President of the UB Group who, during this year, has driven two of UB?s largest acquisitions, isn?t resting. Just a day after announcing that Kingfisher Airlines will merge with Deccan Aviation, Nedungadi is looking at the integration process as his next challenge over the next six months. It?s d?j? vu for him. The Kingfisher Airline and Deccan Aviation merger is like McDowell acquiring Shaw Wallace three years ago. Excerpts from his conversation with Raghuvir Badrinath>>>

India`s first `vegetarian` airline
Anjuli Bhargava
Business Standard
Dec 21, 2007
New Delhi: Just last month, as I was driving my children to a magic show in Gurgaon, I came across, quite unintentionally, the corporate headquarters of MDLR Airlines. While I don't know very much about the airline, its headquarters, I must say, gave me the jitters. Located on a small street connecting Gurgaon's main town bazaar with the never-to-be-ready NH8 expressway, it looks more like the office of a real estate agent than of an airline. I, for one, after looking at the headquarters, don?t want to fly in an MDLR aircraft. Nor would I endorse anyone's decision to take an MDLR flight to anywhere.
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Logic faulty in Kingfisher, Deccan merger
Nirmal John, R Jagannathan, Rabin Ghosh & Sindhu Bhattacharya
DNA Money
Sify
Dec 21, 2007
In maths, two negatives make a positive. But does the same idea work in mergers and acquisitions? Do two humungous loss-makers make for a profitable match?
Between them, Kingfisher Airlines and Deccan Aviation, which decided to merge on Wednesday, have run up collective losses of Rs 2,000 crore.
Even assuming lots of synergies and cost-cutting, the bleeding seems unlikely to end any time soon. More so, when the marriage brings two airlines with completely different brand identities - one a no-frills budget carrier and the other an upmarket player - under one roof.
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Aviation sector flies high but infrastructure hurdles remain
PTI
Economic Times
Dec 20, 2007
New Delhi: India's crowded skies saw the first wave of consolidation as some airlines merged and others gobbled up a rival to gain market share and cut losses during the year 2007 that was also marked by a rapid increase in air travellers, infrastructure hurdles and addition of new planes. Domestic passenger traffic soared by almost 40 per cent this year. This prompted nearly all the airlines to place orders for buying new aircraft, undeterred by the fact that they posted combined losses of about Rs 2,000 crore largely on account of rising fuel costs and payments of aircraft.
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Greenfield airports in North-East Region
Joy Roy Choudhury
Express TravelWorld
Dec 19, 2007
Kolkata: With the objective of operating up to 50 airports/airstrips in the North-Eastern region by the end of the XIth Five Year Plan and providing up to 600 flights per week within the region by using the appropriate type of aircraft; making the required improvements in existing airports / airstrips in a time-bound manner, the North-East Council has directed the Ministry of Development of North-Eastern Region and other related agencies of the Government of India to proceed expeditiously.
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What future for Air India?
Hormuz P Mama
Dec 18, 2007
Economic Times
Air India’s (A-I) unprecedented loss of Rs 448 crore was primarily caused by a one-time wage arrears settlement of Rs 425 crore. It was the first loss after five years of (admittedly declining) profits. Even without that one-time payout, however, the profit would have been only Rs 23 crore — at a time when airlines world-wide are enjoying boom conditions. IATA airlines together expect an overall profit of $5.1 billion for 2007. Ominously, A-I also had a fall in revenue over the previous year.
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Asian carriers cautiously optimistic about 2008
Nicholas Ionides
Airline Business
Flight International
Dec 18, 2007
Asia-Pacific airlines are looking towards 2008 with cautious optimism after healthy financial performances in 2007. Fuel prices may have been hitting new highs but as major Asia-Pacific carriers met at the recent Association of Asia-Pacific Airlines annual gathering in November, few dire concerns were expressed about 2008 earnings.
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Air safety weak
Daily News & Analysis
Dec 17, 2007
The Directorate General Civil Aviation (DGCA) may have been surprised, as reported by this paper, that during a random check on air safety one pilot on duty was found drunk and that flight personnel do not care for pre-flight meetings. Given how airlines are proliferating and staff is being hired at a breathtaking rate, safety is always in the danger of being compromised.
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Ground Realities
Times of India
Dec 14, 2007
The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) wants to lay down certain parameters to judge the performance of an airline. Some of these parameters are: punctuality of flight arrival and departure, behaviour of airline staff, seating facilities, maintenance and housekeeping of aircraft, food and beverages and information on delays, cancellations and refunds. There is no reason for DGCA to look into these issues. It has more important things to do.
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Why is being frisked by a CRPF jawan an ‘indignity’?
Namita Bhandare
Livemint
Dec 11, 2007
You only have to have a passing knowledge of New Delhi to know the two types of people who inhabit this city: ordinary folk and VIPs.
There are subtle sub-divisions within each of these categories. For instance, an ordinary member of Parliament might qualify only as a plain-vanilla VIP but a cabinet minister gets catapulted straight into the VVIP bracket. Similarly, I fall firmly under the ordinary folk banner. But as a journalist, I am aware of certain fringe benefits—not least of which is the power to write.
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Has Indian aviation hit an air pocket?
Lalatendu Mishra
Hindustan Times
Dec 10, 2007
Except for Jet Airways, all other operators are deep in the red, with estimated losses of around Rs 2,000 crore in 2006-07 alone. The cumulative loss was double this figure.
This fiscal, things are looking even more bleak. The continuous rise in airfares has started to become a barrier for low-cost fliers. Mounting congestion at airports is pushing up operating costs and pushing away passengers. And high manpower costs, driven by an acute shortage of personnel, are throwing all budgets out of whack.
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Air cargo business: Loaded with possibilities
B S Arun
Deccan Herald
Dec 10, 2007
Booming passenger traffic in Indian skies is making unprecedented waves with growth anywhere between 30 to 50 per cent in the last three years but a lesser known fact is that the business of air cargo has not lagged behind. Registering nearly 20 per cent growth in the last three years (both domestic and international), specially 34 per cent growth in domestic cargo in the last one year, air cargo sector left the rail and shipping sector far behind in growth. The growth in total tonnage of cargo carried was 10.3 per cent and 9.2 per cent in shipping and railway cargo, respectively, during the last three years.
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Best airline rewards credit cards in India: A review
Vaibhav Aggarwal
Rupee Times
Dec 08, 2007
Every business likes to reward its frequent customers and this goes well with the airlines too. Almost every major airline in India has tied up with credit card issuers and they are offering exciting reward programs. The whole idea is to maintain brand loyalty and get more customers. With e-commerce and online bookings booming, this arrangement provides a win-win situation. The airlines and credit card companies get more business and the traveler is rewarded for using the card and being loyal to the airline. Here we analyze few such offers among leading airlines and credit card providers and discover what each one of them has to offer.
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Indian airline privatisation faces uphill battle
Joe Leahy, Chris Hughes and Paul Betts
Financial Times
Rediff
Dec 06, 2007
If you do a web search on the terms "privatisation" and "India," the resulting headlines say it all: "Reserve Bank of India employees plan strike", "Protest against privatisation of ordnance factories", "Government employees stage demonstration".
Since India's ruling coalition, dominated by the Congress party with support from the communists, came to power in 2004, the country's privatisation drive has all but stopped. But there is one big exception - aviation. Praful Patel, India's reformist civil aviation minister, has helped drive the privatisation of Mumbai and 's moribund airports, overcoming initial protests by employees.
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‘It’s like flying into an abyss’
Rajiv Kothiyal
Vice-president (flight operations) Air Deccan & former Air Force pilo
(As told to Bhargavi Kerur)
Daily News & Analysis
Dec 04, 2007
Flying during fog is like flying into an abyss. And your adrenaline pumps up because you are rolling into darkness. A high level of alertness and extra caution are prerequisites while flying into fog. And it calls for great teamwork. The pilot and the co-pilot have to coordinate for a safe flight. Proper checks and procedures have to be carefully followed especially during fog conditions.
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What happens when fog strikes
Yogesh Kumar
Daily News & Analysis
Dec 04, 2007
When fog starts playing havoc everything goes for a toss in air as well as on ground. In air, each aircraft should be kept in a particular route at a fixed level and distance and on the ground the scene is one of utter chaos, lost tempers and often fisticuffs.
Yogesh Kumar defogs the fog >>>

Here comes the white monster
Yogesh Kumar & Bhargavi Kerur
Daily News & Analysis
Dec 04, 2007
NEW DELHI/BANGALORE: Place: Delhi airport.
Time: an early December morning. One walks into the departure building. The situation is as chaotic as one would expect it to be in winter.
Airline counters have no staff, airport officials with bovine placidity on their faces feign ignorance about everything.
Hundreds of fatigued passengers sit or stand around, most glued to television screen for details of flights and some dozing off in chairs.
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Profitable growth is the new mantra at Deccan
Mehul Srivastava and P.R. Sanjai
Livemint
Dec 04, 2007
New Delhi/Mumbai: In an interview this February in his office in Bangalore, G.R. Gopinath, the man who brought low-cost airlines to India, was feeling introspective.
The question—asked at a time when his Air Deccan appeared to teeter on the edge of profitability and oblivion, before Vijay Mallya gave it a shot in the arm, and before it racked up even more spectacular losses—was simple: What if, after having revolutionized air travel here in India, Air Deccan and Gopinath faltered in the next few months and never made it to the finish line, clearing the way for nimbler rivals to head towards profits and sustainability?
The normally garrulous Gopinath took a few seconds to compose a reply.
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Jet`s Kingfisher challenge
Anjuli Bhargava
Business Standard
December 1, 2007
New Delhi: Jet Airways's troubles over the last two years have coincided with Kingfisher's meteoric rise. Anjuli Bhargava susses out their strengths and weaknesses.
On October 28, at a ceremony to unveil Air Deccan’s new-look aircraft in Mumbai, chairman of United Breweries group and Kingfisher Airlines, Vijay Mallya, said with characteristic flourish: “We have given the full service carriers a run for their money. Now, we will give the low cost carriers a run for theirs.”
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