Civil Aviation

*Carriers today announce that they have plans to further extend their Joint Business to offer customers a greater choice of destinations and routing options *News follows British Airways’ return to Doha, with its first flight from Gatwick since the start of the pandemic *This winter, the two airlines are operating up to six daily flights to Doha from London Heathrow and London Gatwick New Delhi,16th December: British Airways and Qatar Airways mark the next milestone in their Joint Business Partnership, as they announce their intent to extend their Joint Business. The news follows British Airways’ relaunch of daily services to Doha, with the airline’s first flight taking off from Gatwick last week, giving customers access to Qatar Airways’ expansive global network with connections from Doha to over 100 destinations across the world. The flight was operated by a Boeing 777-200ER aircraft featuring three cabins – Club World (business class), World Traveller Plus (premium economy) and World Traveller (economy). This winter, the airlines will jointly operate up to six daily flights between London and Doha – five from London Heathrow and one from London Gatwick. Following on from this milestone in their partnership, the two airlines announce that they intend to further expand their joint business and offer customers access to more destinations on their respective networks. The proposed expansion will give customers enhanced access from Europe to popular destinations in the Middle East, Asia, Africa and Australasia, such as Singapore, Sydney, Colombo and Nairobi. It will also improve access to destinations across Europe such as Amsterdam, Madrid or Dublin. Qatar Airways Group Chief Executive, His Excellency Mr. Akbar Al Baker, said: “Expanding our Joint Business with our strategic airline partner, British Airways, is an important milestone in our ambition of providing customers access to the most extensive route network and unrivalled product.” Sean Doyle, British Airways’ Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, said: “The launch of our first flight from Gatwick to Doha was an important milestone in our existing joint business with Qatar Airways. The proposed expansion of the joint business will be great news for customers, offering them access to more destinations across the world with seamless connections. We know customers are always looking for more options to connect onto popular holiday hotspots such as the Maldives and Seychelles, and this expansion will allow them to do just that.” The airlines expect to receive news of any relevant regulatory approvals of their expanded Joint Business proposition in the first half of 2022”

November 25, New Delhi: SriLankan Airlines assured to Indian travellers that the Airline is committed to increase the flights to destinations that were temporarily halted due to the pandemic, restore operations to pre-COVID-19 levels, and offer Indian travelers a wide range of connections to Sri Lanka.SriLankan Airlines’ Chairman, Ashok Pathirage, said “India is our biggest market, and we are dedicated to re-establish operations to full scale where the Indian market is concerned. We continued to operate both passenger and cargo flights to and from India even during periods of lockdown and despite many global travel restrictions. . “ It is an ideal time to create awareness about SriLankan Airlines’ operations in the Indian market and build confidence among travelers to book with the Airline as lockdowns are being lifted and global travel restrictions are eased, added Mr. Pathirage. “The inflow of tourists from India to Sri Lanka has increased considerably in the last few months, with Sri Lanka being one of the first few countries to open borders and welcome fully vaccinated Indian travelers including those who have taken Covaxin. India continues to be one of Sri Lanka’s most significant source markets for international travelers, “he said. “The Airline was able to adapt to meet the changing needs of the industry as the pandemic raged on and played a key role in bridging countries and facilitating the movement of people and critical supplies, including between India and Sri Lanka,” stated Richard Nuttall, Chief Commercial Officer of SriLankan Airlines. Accordingly, Cargo operations emerged as a key activity in the Airline’s business model, and SriLankan plans to introduce more dedicated Cargo flights to its operation. SriLankan Airlines’ Head of Worldwide Sales and Distribution, Dimuthu Tennakoon, said that the Airline is now forging ahead with plans and investments to reestablish its presence in the Indian market. “Recently, the Airline flew down a group of Indian media personnel for a familiarization (FAM) tour of Sri Lanka, so that they could be updated on the current environment in the country for Indian tourists in terms of facilities to ensure a COVID-Safe holiday. He added, “Likewise, we conducted several media FAM tours including a recently concluded major FAM tour for fifty top brand influencers from India who go to experience the diverse culture and heritage of Sri Lanka, which in turn they would promote to their audiences in India. Additionally, there is a pan-India brand campaign in progress at the moment.” When global aviation was at its lowest point, SriLankan Airlines continued to launch flights to new destinations including to Nairobi; Korea; Moscow; Frankfurt; Sydney; Kathmandu; and Paris during 2020 and 2021, with more destination in the pipeline. SriLankan Airlines’ global network expanded significantly, and all new destinations were introduced after thorough studies of factors such as demand, frequency and response. The new routes are indicative of the Airline’s continuous commitment to enhance its network and the travel options available to its passengers worldwide. SriLankan currently operates out of the following Indian cities: Chennai; Tiruchirappalli; Madurai; Bangalore; Hyderabad; Trivandrum; Kochi; Delhi and Mumbai. The Airline introduced a special “buy one and get one free” offer to Indian travelers in the past four months to entice them to travel to Colombo and beyond on SriLankan Airlines. The offer was timed along with the Sri Lankan Government’s announcement to reopen the island to fully vaccinated Indian tourists and was very successful. Furthermore, the Airline increased its frequency of flights from and to India to bring about greater convenience and choice to Indian passengers. Currently, SriLankan Airlines operates flights from 9 cities in India with 54 weekly flights.

New Delhi, 18 Nov 2021: Jyotiraditya M. Scindia, Union Minster of Civil Aviation inaugurated a curtain raiser event about Wings India, 2022 which is Asia’s largest event on Civil Aviation (Commercial, General and Business Aviation). Minister of State for Civil Aviation Shri V K Singh and Secretary, Civil Aviation Shri Rajiv Bansal and senior officials of Ministry of Civil Aviation were among those present on the occasion. Speaking on the occasion, Shri Scindia said that the Indian Civil Aviation industry has witnessed robust growth over the years and contributes significantly to the economic development of the country. India’s civil aviation industry is the pride of the nation as it is playing a key role in connecting Indians to the remotest corners of the country and to the world. It is bringing people from across the world to discover the huge business and tourism opportunities in India, he added. The Minister said that Indian aviation industry has flown many miles, set numerous milestones, and overcome many challenges to become one of the world’s most lucrative aviation markets. The industry has grown by leaps and bounds and has become the third largest domestic aviation market in the world. India today handles the third largest domestic traffic after the USA and China. He said that with a steady increase in the passenger volume, Indian airlines are charting new territories. “We all know that in this densely globalized economy, air transport is a key element in the country’s transport infrastructure and plays an important role in the Country’s economic growth”, he said. The Minister said that across all the sectors, one cannot undermine the fact that the support of Aviation industry in combating the impact of COVID-19 pandemic was great, by carrying enzymes, PPE kits, masks, medicines, and cargoes which states and union territories required. He said that the overall freight handled by the country’s airports during the first two quarters of FY-22 (combined) has recovered to more than 80% (15.36 Lakh MT during April-September, FY22) of the pre-pandemic level, despite the country being hit by a second wave in the first quarter. The Minister said that Civil Aviation is emerging as one of the major pillars providing fillip to economic growth. To bring the benefits of the Civil Aviation to the common people and provide affordable air connectivity, Government of India had announced Regional Connectivity Scheme (RCS) – UDAN (UdeDesh Ka Aam Nagrik) on 21st October 2016. As on date, 387 routes connecting 62 Airports including 6 Heliports and 2 Water Aerodromes have been made operational under RCS-UDAN Scheme. The minister appreciated the efforts the Civil Aviation Ministry, AAI and FICCI with the support of MEA and states government in organising this important event i.e. Wings India 2022, Hyderabad with the apt theme India@75: “New Horizon for Aviation Industry”. It aims to bring together the key stakeholders of the Global Aviation market, International regulators, States Governments and business associations as a group representing airlines, to facilitate direct interaction with various airlines, airport operators, cargo operators and other players at a common platform. Courtesy: PIB

Mumbai, August 11, 2021: GO FIRST recived its 49th Airbus A320 Neo at New Delhi as part of it fleet expansion.Earlier, it has inducted two Airbus A320neo aircraft in the 1st week of May 2021. GO FIRST has placed firm orders for delivery of 144 Airbus A320neo aircraft as part of its growth plan and the aircarft received was part of the same. Kaushik Khona, Chief Executive Officer, GO FIRST, said, “GO FIRST welcomes 49th A320neos to its fleet. We at GO FIRST, believe that the airline is uniquely placed with its ultra-low cost structure that has always stood us in good stead. GO FIRST has one of the youngest fleet globally – average fleet age of 3.7 years as of February 2021. Besides as of February 10, 2021, 82% of our fleet is predominantly fuel efficient A320neos – which are 17% to 20% more fuel-efficient than A320CEO aircraft with the lightest configuration .” As an ULCC, GO FIRST is focused towards maintaining low unit costs & operational efficiency and reliability to deliver a superior customer experience in comparison to other ULCCs and Low Cost Carriers (LCCs). As per CAPA Report on Indian Aviation Market Overview dated April 26, 2021,GO FIRST had a high aircraft utilization during the fiscal 2020, with an average utilization of 12.9 hours per day with a high load factor of 88.9%*. GO FIRST achieved the best on-time performance among the airlines in India for 15 consecutive months between the period September 2018 to November 2019. GO FIRST also had the least number of cancellations at 0.3% during the fiscal 2021 (as of January 31, 2021). It also had the lowest number of customer complaints at 0.3 per 10,000 customers (as against the industry average of 1.0 per 10,000 customers) during the fiscal 2021 (for the period up to January 31, 2021)*.

26 July, 2021, Dubai: Following the much-awaited resumption of its Dubai route in May, Cathay Pacific customers can now experience and travel the popular – Premium Economy cabin on-board the Airbus A350-900. Starting 06 August, 2021, passengers can experience luxury on one of Cathay Pacific’s most modern long-haul fleets. The technologically advanced Airbus A350-900 provides travellers with an unsurpassed cabin environment on its Dubai – Hong Kong route. The aircraft is configured in a three-class layout with 280 seats, comprising of 38 Business Class, 28 Premium Economy and 214 Economy seats. Each state-of-the-art cabin class on the A350-900 provides a whole new experience for passengers, with its extra-wide cabins including new seats, innovative inflight entertainment interface, inflight connectivity, and, where passengers can bask in a new level of comfort and convenience when travelling. “We are thrilled to not only announce the operation of the Airbus A350-900 to the UAE, which will allow us to cater to the wider cargo and passenger demand, but also the introduction of a brand new cabin class on this route,” Vishnu Rajendran, Area Manager, Middle East, said. “Given the current situation, we would like to give our customers a choice to travel in a more spacious cabin, while also providing a premium product with features such as an immersive inflight entertainment system, LED mood lighting, 50 per cent quieter cabins, as well as Wi-Fi connectivity, enabling our guests to have a luxurious and worry-free travel experience.”

New Delhi, 07th July 2021 In a major reshuffle of the union cabinet , Jyotiraditya Scindia has been appointed as new Civil Aviation Minister of India. The previous minister Hardeep Puri will now head Urban Development and Petroleum Ministry. As part of the cabinet reshuffle, Narendra Modi govt removed many heavyweight ministers and handedover top profiles to many new age politicians.Jyotiraditya Scindia joined the government on Wednesday in a reboot of the Union cabinet in which 36 new ministers including these two joined the government and seven got promoted. “I express my gratitude to all the senior leaders for giving me this opportunity. I will try to keep intact the belief that they have shown in me,” Scindia said after taking the ministerial oath. The Civil Aviation Ministry’s last monthly report published in May this year showed that passengers carried by domestic airlines from January to April this year were 291 lakh compared to 329 lakh during the same period last year – a fall by 11.65 per cent. At a time when aviation sector globally is going towards headwinds, it will be really challenging for the new minister to priorities his action towards development of the sector.

By Mark D Martin MRAeS General George S Patton once said, “Success is how high you bounce when you hit bottom”, and this at best sums up Go Air’s Journey so far. In the 15 year span of GoAir’s presence, the airline has borne witness to Kingfisher, Jet, Air Costa and Paramount Airways start and cease; and at the same time scrutinize nearly four attempts of SpiceJet’s near collapse and resurrection – and why Go Air lives on is of that it’s strategy has been centered on fleet sizing that’s not aggressive, a revenue model that proxies with Group Companies, a long term ROI window, losses and expenses that can still be managed by promotors and a fundamentally flat, ‘fish-bowl’ organization. GoAir’s product offering also has played a role with improving the airline’s survivability; it’s practically ‘see-through’, No-Nonsense, Plain Vanilla “What-You-See-Is-What-You-Get”/WYSIWYG Service Invention has paid off with creating a USP benefiting its corporate bulk booking customers and, diametrically opposing Holiday Maker segment. In hindsight, GoAir’s network reminds one of how Indian Airlines operated back in the day. Offer flight times and connections that are driven by what the traveler wants, and not by competition – as back when Indian Airlines was around, there no competition. I do believe the Wadia family too has had a role to play with the product and network offering, and in particular insightful inputs from Ms. Maureen Wadia, which stems from her experiences of working with airlines. Back in the 60’s and the 70’s, Maureen was Flight Stewardess with air India so clearly there resides understanding of the basics with what Indian travelers need. And that explains the unique timings of their flights. Go Air flies when others do not. For instance, the 10:45 PM departure for Delhi from Mumbai allows one to finish work, have dinner, a few drinks and fly home in ‘high-spirits’(very thoughtfully Parsi!), whilst the 11AM morning departure from Mumbai to Delhi allows on to wake up not too early, breakfast at leisure to catch a pleasantly timed ride back to to join office at half day making for a very comfortable overall, travel experience. And that goes too for how terrific the Sunday 12noon Mumbai Delhi Flight is. After running two airlines in my career, restructured one and having lived through the 2008 Financial crisis, for an airline the size of GoAir subsisting through the COVID 19 imbroglio is both a ‘walk in the Park’ and a ‘tight rope act’. And I’ll tell you why. In 2008, accrued debt as part of the lending wave that began from 2004 up until 2007 had gotten so bad that airlines were stuck with overcapacity and arid cash reserves whilst flying empty seats at a time when the price of oil spiked to nearly $160. The only logical steps left then was to aggressively downsize, amortize lending or close. The Situation Now 2021 and COVID presents a diametrically opposing situation. Cash accrued as part of profits made from previous years and working capital budgeted from FY2019-2020 apportioned for FY2020-2021 matches up to Zero income/earnings with P&L being frozen on account of the widespread flight restriction and ban on operating airline revenue services. Unlike 2008, 2020’s predicament presents the shocking reality of fixed and variable operating expenses staring Airline CEO’s and promotors with the only option left being an aggressive cost cut. Not the smartest thing to do. GoAir pulling through the COVID19 crunch centers on its ability to Optimize its operations and Network, Fixed and variable fleet lease expenses and focus on trimming the expense ‘flab’ that has crept into its operating structure over the years. A good starting point to this should commence with a Comprehensive Carbon Footprint and Fuel Burn Optimization Plan, Maintenance operations Cost Review, Micro and Macro Crew Operations and Safety Exceedance Cost Impact, Dissecting its entire Airport and Ground Operations costs and right align its Network Operations cost to effectively Augment its Revenue and earnings. Kaushik Khona at GoAir is possibly the most agile and aggressive step the Wadia’s could have done in the direction of Cost Optimization more so since Kaushik unlike anyone else before knows the Management and functioning DNA of the Wadia group extremely well. Kaushik’s approach with GoAir centers on his powerful understanding of Airline Financials, P&L and Revenue and Returns and this has worked exceptionally well for GoAir in the past. Kaushik during his previous tenure at Go Air ran a very tight ship with firm process and operation controls and this has paid off. GoAir’s challenge has been finding the right leader that can understand airline balance sheets and ensure revenues are optimized to ensure operations continuity, which sadly didn’t happen before except for showmanship being attached to the brand as big-spenders that eventually proved to be “all bang-no-buck” for the Wadia’s. As promotors, the Wadia’s are awfully sentimental, emotional and over possessive with all its ventures, and their somewhat harsh and irrational aggression with internal matters in particular at Go Air stems from this approach, that they believe pays back with their experiences from their textile, Fashion Apparel, Retail and FMCG Businesses. In all this, the Wadia’s could not have found a better manager than Kaushik as he understands both the Wadia’s temperament, sentiments, and emotions extremely well. The GoAir of 2021 with Khona unlike before with flashy, swish, glitterati CEO’s that didn’t do much of a value add except splash and splurge promotor money on marketing with little or no fundamental knowledge of airline financials or technical acquaintance of running a successful one – gets replaced with a “hard-wired” operational and financial control that’s directly linked to efficiency. GoAir prior to COVID 19 had its focus set on International Operations, therefore any plans for network expansion should have become infructuous, with what being left to do now would be to align and structure costs and P&L, which Kaushik is a “Jedi Master” at doing. Although I’m not too optimistic with the success of Go Air’s IPO given the current

Dubai, UAE, 17 June, 2021: Emirates is ramping up its operations and expanding services across its network to meet strong leisure travel demand over the summer, as entry restrictions ease for travellers. The airline has been gradually and safely rebuilding its route network and advancing its strategy to optimise its presence in key markets to serve leisure and growing business travel demand, as well as segments of travellers visiting friends and relatives. Today, Emirates serves 115 global passenger destinations, and by the end of July, it will have recovered close to 90% of its pre-pandemic network, operating 880 weekly services across 124 cities. The airline will resume services to seven cities in July including: Venice on 1 July; Phuket, Nice, Orlando and Mexico City on 2 July; Lyon on 9 July and Malta on 14 July. Emirates will also launch flights to Florida’s second largest city and one of the world’s most popular holiday spots, Miami, starting 22 July. His Highness Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, Emirates Chairman and Chief Executive said: “Emirates is committed to keeping Dubai, businesses and communities around the world connected and we are working hard to rebuild our network and secure access to more destinations in partnership with various authorities and stakeholders. We are encouraged by the latest developments as many countries have begun to turn the page and reopen for international visitors, and we are seeing strong signs of pent-up demand wherever restrictions have eased. Emirates is nimbly matching up flight services and identifying opportunities to grow our footprint, and provide customers more opportunities to safely get where they want to go this summer, offering best-in-class service, greater convenience and more choice.” More flights to top destinations Across its network, the airline will boost capacity and expand its schedules by layering on frequencies for the summer, connecting more customers with popular destinations and adding more choice and convenience as they plan their long-awaited holidays. Emirates will be adding frequencies to 12 cities across Europe, Africa and North America as more destinations re-open for international visitors, and offer quarantine free travel. Emirates destinations with enhanced schedules for July and August include: German cities Munich, Dusseldorf and Hamburg; Zurich; Vienna; Prague; Madrid; Stockholm; Brussels; Lisbon; Chicago and Tunis. In Europe, the airline currently flies to more than 30 cities in 20 countries including popular holiday destinations Greece, Spain, Italy, France and Malta, which offer quarantine free arrivals. In the United States, with rapid vaccine rollouts and the reopening of air travel at a rate outpacing the world, Emirates will continue to build its presence. With the addition of Miami to its network in July, Emirates will operate over 70 weekly flights to the US, offering over 26,000 seats across 12 gateways including Boston, Chicago, New York (JFK and Newark), Houston, Dallas, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, Washington DC and Orlando. The airline is also ramping up its trans-Atlantic operations Milan-New York and Athens-Newark to meet large passenger volumes and high demand across its premium cabins. An expanded A380 summer network Emirates will also boost its A380 network this summer to 15 cities on 129 weekly services. During the summer, the airline plans to activate over 30 of its A380s to augment its 151 strong fleet of Boeing 777s. The Emirates A380 experience continues to be sought after by customers, with many going out of their way to book their travel on an Emirates A380 for its signature products, spaciousness, quietness and unmatched levels of comfort. Emirates will be deploying the A380 to the following cities during the summer period: Cairo, Jeddah, Amman, Guangzhou, London Heathrow, Manchester, Frankfurt, Vienna, Paris, Munich, Moscow, New York JFK, Los Angeles, Washington D.C. and Toronto. Stepping up of deployment of the A380 demonstrates the importance of the aircraft to Emirates’ recovery and growth strategy. The A380 ensures the efficient use of capacity on high demand routes, and enables Emirates to deliver its sought-after A380 experience to more customers, helping the airline to maintain its leadership position in key cities across its network.