Aviation
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According to a 2006 poll by the Travel Industry Association, 64 percent of vacationers plan their trips within two weeks of traveling, and about a quarter of Americans plan all their vacations at the last minute. Although transportation tickets generally can become very expensive if booked closer to the travel date, there are still ways to find bargains on last-minute travel. Last-minute travel can be made more economical by choosing the right time of year to travel. There are deals to be had for travelers who are flexible with travel times and dates. After the peak summer travel season, generally starting in September, airlines usually offer heavily discounted fares. Traveling at an unpopular time of the week or time of day can lead to huge savings. It's also important to cross-check prices on several travel Web sites to see which combinations of flights, hotels and dates offer the best fare.
Standby Air Travel
Sometimes it's necessary to change the travel time on an existing airline ticket. Most airlines allow travelers to fly standby on an earlier flight. Standby passengers are seated on other planes on the same airline, provided there are empty seats. Some airlines, like United Airlines, charge a small fee for this service. Some discount carriers, such as Southwest Airlines, do not offer standby travel, because their tickets are relatively inexpensive already. Other restrictions also may exist, so it is best to contact specific carriers to find out the rules and fees that may apply. AirTran Airways offers heavily discounted tickets for last-minute travelers between the ages of 18 and 22 who are willing to take a bit of risk. Through their program called AirTran U, the airline allows travelers in that age range to travel stand-by at reduced fares. The program does not allow for passengers to check luggage, but a carry-on bag and a personal item is allowed. AirTran U allows passengers to travel for $69 per segment of a trip (a segment is defined as one take-off to landing). AirTran U tickets are not available during peak travel times, such as Christmas and Thanksgiving.
Seat Configurations Adding seats to an aircraft increases its revenue-generating power, without adding proportionately to its costs. However, the total number of seats aboard an aircraft depend on the operator's marketing strategy. If low prices are what an airline's customers favor, it will seek to maximize the number of seats to keep prices as low as possible. On the other hand, a carrier with a strong following in the business community may opt for a large business-class section, with fewer, larger seats, because it knows that its business customers are willing to pay premium prices for the added comfort and workspace. The key for most airlines is to strike the right balance to satisfy its mix of customers and thereby maintain profitability. Overbooking Airlines occasionally overbook flights, meaning that they book more passengers for a flight than they have seats on the same flight. The practice is rooted in careful analysis of historic demand for a flight, economics and human behavior. Historically, many travelers, especially business travelers buying unrestricted, full-fare tickets, have not traveled on the flights for which they have a reservation. Changes in their own schedules may have made it necessary for them to take a different flight, maybe with a different airline, or to cancel their travel plans altogether, often with little or no notice to the airline. Some travelers, unfortunately, reserve seats on more than one flight. Both airlines and customers are advantaged when airlines sell all the seats for which they have received reservations. An airline's inventory is comprised of the seats that it has on each flight. If a customer does not fly on the flight which he or she has a reservation, his or her seat is unused and cannot be returned to inventory for future use as in other industries. This undermines the productivity of an airline's operations; it is increasing productivity, of course, that contributes to lower airfares and expanded service. Consequently, airlines sometimes overbook flights. Importantly for travelers, airlines do not overbook haphazardly. They examine the history of particular flights, in the process determining how many no-shows typically occur, and then decide how much to overbook that particular flight. The goal is to have the overbooking match the number of no-shows. In most cases the practice works effectively. Occasionally, however, when more people show up for a flight than there are seats available, airlines offer incentives to get people to give up their seats. Free tickets are the usual incentive; those volunteering are booked on another flight. Normally, there are more volunteers than the airlines need, but when there are not enough volunteers, airlines must bump passengers involuntarily. In the rare cases where this occurs, federal regulations require the airlines to compensate passengers for their trouble and help them make alternative travel arrangements. The amount of compensation is determined by government regulation. Pricing Since deregulation, airlines have had the same pricing freedom as companies in other industries. They set fares and freight rates in response to both customer demand and the prices of competitors. As a result, fares change much more rapidly than they used to, and passengers sitting in the same section on the same flight often are paying different prices for their seats. Although this may be difficult to understand for some travelers, it makes perfect sense, considering that a seat on a particular flight is of different value to different people. It is far more valuable, for instance, to a salesperson who suddenly has an opportunity to visit an important client than it is to someone contemplating a visit to a friend. The pleasure traveler likely will make the trip only if the fare is relatively low. The salesperson, on the other hand, likely will pay a higher premium in order to make the appointment. For the airlines, the chief objective in setting fares is to maximize the revenue from each flight, by offering the right mix of full-fare tickets and various discounted tickets. Too little discounting in the
face of weak demand for the flight, and the plane will leave the ground with a large number of empty seats, and revenue-generating opportunities will be lost forever. On the other hand, too much discounting can sell out a flight far in advance and preclude the airline from booking lastminute passengers that might be willing to pay higher fares (another lost-revenue opportunity). The process of finding the right mix of fares for each flight is called yield, inventory or revenue management. It is a complex process, requiring sophisticated computer software that helps an airline estimate the demand for seats on a particular flight, so it can price the seats accordingly. And, it is an ongoing process, requiring continual adjustments as market conditions change. Unexpected discounting in a particular market by a competitor, for instance, can leave an airline with too many unsold seats if they do not match the discounts. Scheduling Since deregulation, airlines have been free to serve whatever domestic markets they feel warrant their service, and they adjust their schedules often, in response to market opportunities and competitive pressures. Along with price, schedule is an important consideration for air travelers. For business travelers, schedule is often more important than price. Business travelers like to see alternative flights they may take on the same airline if, for instance, a meeting runs longer or shorter than they anticipate. A carrier that has several flights a day between two cities has a competitive advantage over carriers that serve the market less frequently, or less directly. Airlines establish their schedules in accordance with demand for their services and their marketing objectives. Scheduling, however, can be extraordinarily complex and must take into account aircraft and crew availability, maintenance needs and airport operating restrictions. Contrary to popular myth, airlines do not cancel flights because they have too few passengers for the flight. The nature of scheduled service is such that aircraft move throughout an airline's system during the course of each day. A flight cancellation at one airport, therefore, means the airline will be short an aircraft someplace else later in the day, and another flight will have to be canceled. If an airline must cancel a flight because of a mechanical problem, it may choose to cancel the flight with the fewest number of passengers and utilize that aircraft for a flight with more passengers. While it may appear to be a cancellation for economic reasons, it is not. The substitution was made in order to inconvenience the fewest number of passengers.
MUMBAI: Domestic air passenger traffic continues its enviable growth with the country registering an 18% increase this year as compared to last year despite all the turbulence in the aviation sector. That translates to 77 lakh more domestic passengers flown in the period between January and October this year. India has now turned into an apt example of the well-known industry fact that passenger traffic growth need not have a correlation with financial health of airlines. Even as airlines in the country bleed, globally India continued to hog the top slot as far as percentage passenger traffic growth in the domestic sector is concerned. According to DGCA, domestic airlines in India carried 4.9 crore passengers in the Jan-Oct period as compared to 4.2 crore in 2010, making it an 18.3% growth. Then again, IATA's comparison of domestic passenger growth in six countries (Australia, Brazil, China, India, Japan, US) for September shows India in the lead with an 18% growth in revenue passenger kms (it is the sum of total number of fare-paying passengers and the kms distance they travelled). India is followed by China at 10% and Brazil at 7%. India has had an enviable domestic passenger traffic growth for quite some time now. The DGCA data for the month of October also shows a marked growth in domestic seat factor as compared to September. That is all airlines'aircraft flew with less empty seats in October as compared to September. For the month of October, IndiGo topped the chart with a 84 percent seat factor, followed by Kingfisher airlines at 79 percent. But in September, Kingfisher Airlines was in the lead with 80 percent seat factor, followed by Jetlite with 72 percent. Jet Airways had the lowest seat factor in October with only 71 percent of its aircraft filled and Air India had the lowest load in September with only 70 percent seat factor. But IndiGo lost out to other airlines in on-time performance record. Go Air, which operates about five percent of total domestic flights had the lead with a 94 percent on-time performance. It was followed by Kingfisher Airlines which registered 93 percent (see Box) ontime performance. IndiGo was third from the bottom with 91 percent on-time performance record. The main reason for delay, according to airlines, was on account of flight operations and crew. Figures: On-time performance (OTP) record for October 2011. Airline-------------------Overall OTP--------Percentage of total domestic operations.
Go Air---------------------94.3-------------------------4.7 Kingfisher-----------------92.6-------------------------19.2 Jet Airways-----------------92---------------------------22.3 JetLite-----------------------91.8---------------------------6.7 IndiGo-----------------------91.4--------------------------15.2 Spice Jet----------------------89---------------------------13.7 Air India----------------------80----------------------------18.1
Quotes:
We now expect air passenger traffic to grow by 7% in 2012-13 as against our earlier estimate of 11%.SOURCE: MONEYCONTROL.COM 2012-08-29 10:11:00
the economics of airline operations are causing air service networks to shrink ... It's all about matching costs to revenues that can be generated by flying a given route..SOURCE: RICHMOND TIMES-DISPATCH 2012-08-29 01:58:00
Rail passenger flow up by 7%
AHMEDABAD: Air traffic from Ahmedabad fell by nearly 10 per cent in the past four months. However, airlines' loss proved to be a gain for the railways. The railway traffic grew up by seven per cent in this financial year. Sources in the Western Railway (WR) said that during the financial year 201112, on an average 52,500 passengers boarded trains from Ahmedabad daily. The railway traffic in the first four months of this financial year 2012-13 has increased to 56,412 passengers per day - an increase of 7.5 per cent. "If we look at the trends the demand for the third and second AC for Mumbai and Delhi and even shorter distance was more. Even the demand for tatkal tickets for these classes were more than that of the sleeper class," said a WR official. WR officials said the railway has recently added one AC three-tier coach each in five trains on permanent basis for the passengers' convenience. Of these five trains, two trains - Gujarat mail and Duronto - are from Ahmedabad to
Mumbai. Both these train leave Ahmedabad late in the night. Officials claimed that despite adding these coaches the waiting list has not come down. They said that the night trains for Mumbai were more in demand. "It is only because the person can reach Mumbai early in the morning and return to Ahmedabad by the same train and after finishing his work that these trains have become so popular," said the official. He said Duronto was now a daily train. "There has been an increase of about 8 to 10 per cent in the passenger traffic as compared to previous years. And this was only because the passengers travelling by air were shifting to railways," said Jitendra Kumar Jayant, public relation officer, WR Ahmedabad division. Dinesh Mehta, an industrialist from Vatva said, "I travel to Mumbai and Delhi frequently. Earlier, I use to travel by air. However, when I once travelled by train I found it to be very convenient, financially and otherwise. Since I've started travelling by train, no one in my staff demand air travel. This has saved no less than Rs 50,000 per month on the travel expenses." Echoes Jigna Shah, who works in a multinational: "As part of the cost cutting, my company has banned air travel. "I once travelled by Duronto and returned on the same train. I found it much comfortable than flight and now I prefer to travel by train only. I park my car at the station and take it back on return."
Fare fire: Flyers parachute into trains
Ankur Jain, TNN | Aug 27, 2012, 12.28AM IST
AHMEDABAD: Call it cost-cutting or shunning of ostentation, but the dip in domestic flyers and increasing rail traffic suggest that with rising airline fares, Amdavadis are switching modes of transport. The impressive growth in airline traffic at Ahmedabad airport seems to have hit an air pocket. The Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel airport, which recorded a rise of more than 40 per cent in domestic air traffic last year, is registering a dip of around 10 per cent this year mainly on the Ahmedabad-Mumbai and Ahmedabad-Delhi routes. In fact, more than 10 domestic flights that were on the summer schedule have been cancelled over the past four months. The airlines have told the Airport Authority of India (AAI) that they have cancelled the flights for operational
reasons. Several flights have been cancelled on the Ahmedabad-Mumbai route. Airline officials said that the rising fuel cost and the increase in userdevelopment fees in Mumbai and Delhi have forced them to enhance airfares. Last year during summer vacations if one booked a flight ticket a week in advance then one-way economy class fare for Mumbai was between Rs 2,000 and Rs 3,000. Today, the prices are not less than Rs 4,000. "The airport has been seeing a slight dip in domestic flyers which might be due to the increase in the fares," said Ahmedabad airport director R K Singh. "However, the number of domestic flyers has increased at Ahmedabad airport over the period and the dip might be temporary and limited to a few sectors." Industry experts feel that the rise in fares have forced many to cut their flying bills. A financial think tank, Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE), has lowered its forecast for air-passenger traffic growth this year from 11 per cent to 7 per cent. CMIE has cited the sharp rise in fares due to a major hike in charges by private operators of Delhi and Mumbai airports as the reason behind lower growth. City-based travel agents said that they have noted a major dip in corporate bookings. "We have seen a dip in bookings in sectors where rail and road connectivity are well established," said Paras Grover, a travel agent. "Today, due to high fares for Delhi and Mumbai, individuals and corporate executives prefer an overnight journey on a bus or train."
IndiGo, Jet Airways charged higher fares in July: DGCA
NEW DELHI: No-frill carrier IndiGo and Jet Airwayshave charged higher fares in several sectors than all other Indian carriers in July when the overall average airfares dropped due to lean passenger traffic, according to a DGCA data. The data showed that IndiGo, Jet Airways and its no-frill arm JetKonnect charged an average of about 10-15 per cent higher fares than other airlines.
The DGCA fare analysis for July showed that there was an overall dip in air fares in the lean travel month compared to those in June. The fares dropped in 37 out of 48 sectors, mostly to non -metro Tier-II and Tier-III cities. The analysis, however, does not include major trunk routes on which the airlines have most flights and carry most of their passengers. While the highest fall in fares was recorded on Delhi- Gorakhpur route by Rs 6.3 a kilometre, the highest increase was averaged at Rs 2.1 per km on Mumbai-Nanded sector, the analysis showed. On Delhi-Dibrugarh route, IndiGo charged Rs 9,425 as the average one-way fare compared with the industry average of Rs 8,361, while its average fare on Delhi-Dabolim (Goa) route was Rs 7,836 compared with the industry average of Rs 7,625. Jet Airways charged Rs 12,001 and JetKonnect Rs 12,621 on Leh-Delhi sector, compared to the industry average of Rs 11,013. The Air India fare on this route was Rs 10,948. Similarly, Jet's average fare on Port Blair-Delhi route was Rs 10,377, compared to Air India's Rs 8,027 and industry average of Rs 9,182. The high airfares have been a major reason for domestic air travel, recording the steepest fall in seven years in July when 45.4 lakh people flew, 10 per cent less than 50.4 lakh recorded in the same month last year. While airline officials blame the high fares on rising fuel cost and hike in user development fees in Delhi and Mumbai, a financial think-tank cited the sharp rise in airfares as a reason to slash its forecast on air passenger traffic growth this year from 11 to seven per cent. "We now expect air passenger traffic to grow by seven per cent in 2012-13 as against our earlier estimate of 11 per cent," the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) said in its latest report.
Kingfisher Airlines' cheques worth Rs 10.3 crore bounce, GMR Hyderabad International Airport Ltd moves court
HYDERABAD: GMR Hyderabad International Airport Ltd (GHIAL), which manages Rajiv Gandhi International Airport here, has filed a petition in a local court againstKingfisher Airlines for dishonouring cheques. A case has been filed against Vijay Mallya-owned Kingfisher Airlines in Nampally criminal courts in Hyderabad for dishonouring cheques worth Rs 10.3 crore, sources said.
When contacted a senior official of GHIAL refused to comment saying the matter is "subjudice". Kingfisher spokesperson also refused to comment on the issue. "Four cheques for Rs 10.3 crore which were issued towards airport charges (parking, landing and navigation) bounced. As the mandatory time for filing is getting closer, a case has been filed," sources told PTI. Earlier in June, Mumbai International Airport, run byGVK Group, had filed a cheque bounce case against Kingfisher in a Mumbai criminal court. Delhi International Airport Ltd (DIAL) run by GMR group had filed a similar case dishonoured cheque of Rs 3 crore. Kingfisher Airlines' loss widened to Rs 651 crore for the quarter ended June 30 2012 from Rs 264 crore a year ago.
16.5 per cent growth in air traffic in from 200405 to 2010-11
PTI Mar 21, 2012, 09.57PM IST
NEW DELHI: Air traffic in India has witnessed a growth of 16.5 per cent during the period 2004-05 to 2010-11. Civil Aviation minister Ajit Singh told the Lok Sabha today that the domestic traffic had witnessed a cumulative annual growth rate of 18.5 per cent and while it was 14 per cent for international traffic during this period. Replying to a question, the Minister said that the total flights per week on domestic network had increased from 8724 in year 2006 to 12107 in year 2011. The number of airports operating Scheduled Air Services also increased from 50 in year 2000 to 82 in 2011, he added. The total domestic passengers carried by all Scheduled and Non-Scheduled operators has increased from 362.37 lakh in 2006-07 to 606.63 lakh in 2011 (upto January 2011 to December 2011), Singh said. Singh said that the increase in air traffic was a result of reduction in airfares over the last seven years and introduction of new routes.
Standby Air Travel
Sometimes it's necessary to change the travel time on an existing airline ticket. Most airlines allow travelers to fly standby on an earlier flight. Standby passengers are seated on other planes on the same airline, provided there are empty seats. Some airlines, like United Airlines, charge a small fee for this service. Some discount carriers, such as Southwest Airlines, do not offer standby travel, because their tickets are relatively inexpensive already. Other restrictions also may exist, so it is best to contact specific carriers to find out the rules and fees that may apply. AirTran Airways offers heavily discounted tickets for last-minute travelers between the ages of 18 and 22 who are willing to take a bit of risk. Through their program called AirTran U, the airline allows travelers in that age range to travel stand-by at reduced fares. The program does not allow for passengers to check luggage, but a carry-on bag and a personal item is allowed. AirTran U allows passengers to travel for $69 per segment of a trip (a segment is defined as one take-off to landing). AirTran U tickets are not available during peak travel times, such as Christmas and Thanksgiving.
Seat Configurations Adding seats to an aircraft increases its revenue-generating power, without adding proportionately to its costs. However, the total number of seats aboard an aircraft depend on the operator's marketing strategy. If low prices are what an airline's customers favor, it will seek to maximize the number of seats to keep prices as low as possible. On the other hand, a carrier with a strong following in the business community may opt for a large business-class section, with fewer, larger seats, because it knows that its business customers are willing to pay premium prices for the added comfort and workspace. The key for most airlines is to strike the right balance to satisfy its mix of customers and thereby maintain profitability. Overbooking Airlines occasionally overbook flights, meaning that they book more passengers for a flight than they have seats on the same flight. The practice is rooted in careful analysis of historic demand for a flight, economics and human behavior. Historically, many travelers, especially business travelers buying unrestricted, full-fare tickets, have not traveled on the flights for which they have a reservation. Changes in their own schedules may have made it necessary for them to take a different flight, maybe with a different airline, or to cancel their travel plans altogether, often with little or no notice to the airline. Some travelers, unfortunately, reserve seats on more than one flight. Both airlines and customers are advantaged when airlines sell all the seats for which they have received reservations. An airline's inventory is comprised of the seats that it has on each flight. If a customer does not fly on the flight which he or she has a reservation, his or her seat is unused and cannot be returned to inventory for future use as in other industries. This undermines the productivity of an airline's operations; it is increasing productivity, of course, that contributes to lower airfares and expanded service. Consequently, airlines sometimes overbook flights. Importantly for travelers, airlines do not overbook haphazardly. They examine the history of particular flights, in the process determining how many no-shows typically occur, and then decide how much to overbook that particular flight. The goal is to have the overbooking match the number of no-shows. In most cases the practice works effectively. Occasionally, however, when more people show up for a flight than there are seats available, airlines offer incentives to get people to give up their seats. Free tickets are the usual incentive; those volunteering are booked on another flight. Normally, there are more volunteers than the airlines need, but when there are not enough volunteers, airlines must bump passengers involuntarily. In the rare cases where this occurs, federal regulations require the airlines to compensate passengers for their trouble and help them make alternative travel arrangements. The amount of compensation is determined by government regulation. Pricing Since deregulation, airlines have had the same pricing freedom as companies in other industries. They set fares and freight rates in response to both customer demand and the prices of competitors. As a result, fares change much more rapidly than they used to, and passengers sitting in the same section on the same flight often are paying different prices for their seats. Although this may be difficult to understand for some travelers, it makes perfect sense, considering that a seat on a particular flight is of different value to different people. It is far more valuable, for instance, to a salesperson who suddenly has an opportunity to visit an important client than it is to someone contemplating a visit to a friend. The pleasure traveler likely will make the trip only if the fare is relatively low. The salesperson, on the other hand, likely will pay a higher premium in order to make the appointment. For the airlines, the chief objective in setting fares is to maximize the revenue from each flight, by offering the right mix of full-fare tickets and various discounted tickets. Too little discounting in the
face of weak demand for the flight, and the plane will leave the ground with a large number of empty seats, and revenue-generating opportunities will be lost forever. On the other hand, too much discounting can sell out a flight far in advance and preclude the airline from booking lastminute passengers that might be willing to pay higher fares (another lost-revenue opportunity). The process of finding the right mix of fares for each flight is called yield, inventory or revenue management. It is a complex process, requiring sophisticated computer software that helps an airline estimate the demand for seats on a particular flight, so it can price the seats accordingly. And, it is an ongoing process, requiring continual adjustments as market conditions change. Unexpected discounting in a particular market by a competitor, for instance, can leave an airline with too many unsold seats if they do not match the discounts. Scheduling Since deregulation, airlines have been free to serve whatever domestic markets they feel warrant their service, and they adjust their schedules often, in response to market opportunities and competitive pressures. Along with price, schedule is an important consideration for air travelers. For business travelers, schedule is often more important than price. Business travelers like to see alternative flights they may take on the same airline if, for instance, a meeting runs longer or shorter than they anticipate. A carrier that has several flights a day between two cities has a competitive advantage over carriers that serve the market less frequently, or less directly. Airlines establish their schedules in accordance with demand for their services and their marketing objectives. Scheduling, however, can be extraordinarily complex and must take into account aircraft and crew availability, maintenance needs and airport operating restrictions. Contrary to popular myth, airlines do not cancel flights because they have too few passengers for the flight. The nature of scheduled service is such that aircraft move throughout an airline's system during the course of each day. A flight cancellation at one airport, therefore, means the airline will be short an aircraft someplace else later in the day, and another flight will have to be canceled. If an airline must cancel a flight because of a mechanical problem, it may choose to cancel the flight with the fewest number of passengers and utilize that aircraft for a flight with more passengers. While it may appear to be a cancellation for economic reasons, it is not. The substitution was made in order to inconvenience the fewest number of passengers.
MUMBAI: Domestic air passenger traffic continues its enviable growth with the country registering an 18% increase this year as compared to last year despite all the turbulence in the aviation sector. That translates to 77 lakh more domestic passengers flown in the period between January and October this year. India has now turned into an apt example of the well-known industry fact that passenger traffic growth need not have a correlation with financial health of airlines. Even as airlines in the country bleed, globally India continued to hog the top slot as far as percentage passenger traffic growth in the domestic sector is concerned. According to DGCA, domestic airlines in India carried 4.9 crore passengers in the Jan-Oct period as compared to 4.2 crore in 2010, making it an 18.3% growth. Then again, IATA's comparison of domestic passenger growth in six countries (Australia, Brazil, China, India, Japan, US) for September shows India in the lead with an 18% growth in revenue passenger kms (it is the sum of total number of fare-paying passengers and the kms distance they travelled). India is followed by China at 10% and Brazil at 7%. India has had an enviable domestic passenger traffic growth for quite some time now. The DGCA data for the month of October also shows a marked growth in domestic seat factor as compared to September. That is all airlines'aircraft flew with less empty seats in October as compared to September. For the month of October, IndiGo topped the chart with a 84 percent seat factor, followed by Kingfisher airlines at 79 percent. But in September, Kingfisher Airlines was in the lead with 80 percent seat factor, followed by Jetlite with 72 percent. Jet Airways had the lowest seat factor in October with only 71 percent of its aircraft filled and Air India had the lowest load in September with only 70 percent seat factor. But IndiGo lost out to other airlines in on-time performance record. Go Air, which operates about five percent of total domestic flights had the lead with a 94 percent on-time performance. It was followed by Kingfisher Airlines which registered 93 percent (see Box) ontime performance. IndiGo was third from the bottom with 91 percent on-time performance record. The main reason for delay, according to airlines, was on account of flight operations and crew. Figures: On-time performance (OTP) record for October 2011. Airline-------------------Overall OTP--------Percentage of total domestic operations.
Go Air---------------------94.3-------------------------4.7 Kingfisher-----------------92.6-------------------------19.2 Jet Airways-----------------92---------------------------22.3 JetLite-----------------------91.8---------------------------6.7 IndiGo-----------------------91.4--------------------------15.2 Spice Jet----------------------89---------------------------13.7 Air India----------------------80----------------------------18.1
Quotes:
We now expect air passenger traffic to grow by 7% in 2012-13 as against our earlier estimate of 11%.SOURCE: MONEYCONTROL.COM 2012-08-29 10:11:00
the economics of airline operations are causing air service networks to shrink ... It's all about matching costs to revenues that can be generated by flying a given route..SOURCE: RICHMOND TIMES-DISPATCH 2012-08-29 01:58:00
Rail passenger flow up by 7%
AHMEDABAD: Air traffic from Ahmedabad fell by nearly 10 per cent in the past four months. However, airlines' loss proved to be a gain for the railways. The railway traffic grew up by seven per cent in this financial year. Sources in the Western Railway (WR) said that during the financial year 201112, on an average 52,500 passengers boarded trains from Ahmedabad daily. The railway traffic in the first four months of this financial year 2012-13 has increased to 56,412 passengers per day - an increase of 7.5 per cent. "If we look at the trends the demand for the third and second AC for Mumbai and Delhi and even shorter distance was more. Even the demand for tatkal tickets for these classes were more than that of the sleeper class," said a WR official. WR officials said the railway has recently added one AC three-tier coach each in five trains on permanent basis for the passengers' convenience. Of these five trains, two trains - Gujarat mail and Duronto - are from Ahmedabad to
Mumbai. Both these train leave Ahmedabad late in the night. Officials claimed that despite adding these coaches the waiting list has not come down. They said that the night trains for Mumbai were more in demand. "It is only because the person can reach Mumbai early in the morning and return to Ahmedabad by the same train and after finishing his work that these trains have become so popular," said the official. He said Duronto was now a daily train. "There has been an increase of about 8 to 10 per cent in the passenger traffic as compared to previous years. And this was only because the passengers travelling by air were shifting to railways," said Jitendra Kumar Jayant, public relation officer, WR Ahmedabad division. Dinesh Mehta, an industrialist from Vatva said, "I travel to Mumbai and Delhi frequently. Earlier, I use to travel by air. However, when I once travelled by train I found it to be very convenient, financially and otherwise. Since I've started travelling by train, no one in my staff demand air travel. This has saved no less than Rs 50,000 per month on the travel expenses." Echoes Jigna Shah, who works in a multinational: "As part of the cost cutting, my company has banned air travel. "I once travelled by Duronto and returned on the same train. I found it much comfortable than flight and now I prefer to travel by train only. I park my car at the station and take it back on return."
Fare fire: Flyers parachute into trains
Ankur Jain, TNN | Aug 27, 2012, 12.28AM IST
AHMEDABAD: Call it cost-cutting or shunning of ostentation, but the dip in domestic flyers and increasing rail traffic suggest that with rising airline fares, Amdavadis are switching modes of transport. The impressive growth in airline traffic at Ahmedabad airport seems to have hit an air pocket. The Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel airport, which recorded a rise of more than 40 per cent in domestic air traffic last year, is registering a dip of around 10 per cent this year mainly on the Ahmedabad-Mumbai and Ahmedabad-Delhi routes. In fact, more than 10 domestic flights that were on the summer schedule have been cancelled over the past four months. The airlines have told the Airport Authority of India (AAI) that they have cancelled the flights for operational
reasons. Several flights have been cancelled on the Ahmedabad-Mumbai route. Airline officials said that the rising fuel cost and the increase in userdevelopment fees in Mumbai and Delhi have forced them to enhance airfares. Last year during summer vacations if one booked a flight ticket a week in advance then one-way economy class fare for Mumbai was between Rs 2,000 and Rs 3,000. Today, the prices are not less than Rs 4,000. "The airport has been seeing a slight dip in domestic flyers which might be due to the increase in the fares," said Ahmedabad airport director R K Singh. "However, the number of domestic flyers has increased at Ahmedabad airport over the period and the dip might be temporary and limited to a few sectors." Industry experts feel that the rise in fares have forced many to cut their flying bills. A financial think tank, Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE), has lowered its forecast for air-passenger traffic growth this year from 11 per cent to 7 per cent. CMIE has cited the sharp rise in fares due to a major hike in charges by private operators of Delhi and Mumbai airports as the reason behind lower growth. City-based travel agents said that they have noted a major dip in corporate bookings. "We have seen a dip in bookings in sectors where rail and road connectivity are well established," said Paras Grover, a travel agent. "Today, due to high fares for Delhi and Mumbai, individuals and corporate executives prefer an overnight journey on a bus or train."
IndiGo, Jet Airways charged higher fares in July: DGCA
NEW DELHI: No-frill carrier IndiGo and Jet Airwayshave charged higher fares in several sectors than all other Indian carriers in July when the overall average airfares dropped due to lean passenger traffic, according to a DGCA data. The data showed that IndiGo, Jet Airways and its no-frill arm JetKonnect charged an average of about 10-15 per cent higher fares than other airlines.
The DGCA fare analysis for July showed that there was an overall dip in air fares in the lean travel month compared to those in June. The fares dropped in 37 out of 48 sectors, mostly to non -metro Tier-II and Tier-III cities. The analysis, however, does not include major trunk routes on which the airlines have most flights and carry most of their passengers. While the highest fall in fares was recorded on Delhi- Gorakhpur route by Rs 6.3 a kilometre, the highest increase was averaged at Rs 2.1 per km on Mumbai-Nanded sector, the analysis showed. On Delhi-Dibrugarh route, IndiGo charged Rs 9,425 as the average one-way fare compared with the industry average of Rs 8,361, while its average fare on Delhi-Dabolim (Goa) route was Rs 7,836 compared with the industry average of Rs 7,625. Jet Airways charged Rs 12,001 and JetKonnect Rs 12,621 on Leh-Delhi sector, compared to the industry average of Rs 11,013. The Air India fare on this route was Rs 10,948. Similarly, Jet's average fare on Port Blair-Delhi route was Rs 10,377, compared to Air India's Rs 8,027 and industry average of Rs 9,182. The high airfares have been a major reason for domestic air travel, recording the steepest fall in seven years in July when 45.4 lakh people flew, 10 per cent less than 50.4 lakh recorded in the same month last year. While airline officials blame the high fares on rising fuel cost and hike in user development fees in Delhi and Mumbai, a financial think-tank cited the sharp rise in airfares as a reason to slash its forecast on air passenger traffic growth this year from 11 to seven per cent. "We now expect air passenger traffic to grow by seven per cent in 2012-13 as against our earlier estimate of 11 per cent," the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) said in its latest report.
Kingfisher Airlines' cheques worth Rs 10.3 crore bounce, GMR Hyderabad International Airport Ltd moves court
HYDERABAD: GMR Hyderabad International Airport Ltd (GHIAL), which manages Rajiv Gandhi International Airport here, has filed a petition in a local court againstKingfisher Airlines for dishonouring cheques. A case has been filed against Vijay Mallya-owned Kingfisher Airlines in Nampally criminal courts in Hyderabad for dishonouring cheques worth Rs 10.3 crore, sources said.
When contacted a senior official of GHIAL refused to comment saying the matter is "subjudice". Kingfisher spokesperson also refused to comment on the issue. "Four cheques for Rs 10.3 crore which were issued towards airport charges (parking, landing and navigation) bounced. As the mandatory time for filing is getting closer, a case has been filed," sources told PTI. Earlier in June, Mumbai International Airport, run byGVK Group, had filed a cheque bounce case against Kingfisher in a Mumbai criminal court. Delhi International Airport Ltd (DIAL) run by GMR group had filed a similar case dishonoured cheque of Rs 3 crore. Kingfisher Airlines' loss widened to Rs 651 crore for the quarter ended June 30 2012 from Rs 264 crore a year ago.
16.5 per cent growth in air traffic in from 200405 to 2010-11
PTI Mar 21, 2012, 09.57PM IST
NEW DELHI: Air traffic in India has witnessed a growth of 16.5 per cent during the period 2004-05 to 2010-11. Civil Aviation minister Ajit Singh told the Lok Sabha today that the domestic traffic had witnessed a cumulative annual growth rate of 18.5 per cent and while it was 14 per cent for international traffic during this period. Replying to a question, the Minister said that the total flights per week on domestic network had increased from 8724 in year 2006 to 12107 in year 2011. The number of airports operating Scheduled Air Services also increased from 50 in year 2000 to 82 in 2011, he added. The total domestic passengers carried by all Scheduled and Non-Scheduled operators has increased from 362.37 lakh in 2006-07 to 606.63 lakh in 2011 (upto January 2011 to December 2011), Singh said. Singh said that the increase in air traffic was a result of reduction in airfares over the last seven years and introduction of new routes.
