Interview

Ramco Aviation recently signed a deal with Korean Air to implement Aviation suite & software solutions. To brief more about the current project as well as update on  other business plans, Saravanan Rajarajan S,Director – Aviation Solution Consulting, Ramco Systems, interacted with Vishal Kashyap, Managing Editor, Aviation World. Q: Kindly brief about the current deal with Korean Air’s Engine Maintenance Center at Incheon? A: Korean Air recently announced the construction of new engine maintenance MRO complex in Unbuk, near Incheon International Airport, which is slated to open in 2027. This complex will be the largest of its kind in Asia. Korean Air has previously managed its engine maintenance at its Bucheon facility, complemented by final performance testing at the ETC in Unbuk. The engine maintenance cluster will streamline the entire process with a strategic consolidation, enhancing operational efficiency by streamlining all the engine maintenance phases to a centralized site. Korean Air is also set to significantly enhance its aircraft engine maintenance capability from servicing 100 engines to 360 annually, across a broader spectrum of engine types. Currently, the airline conducts overhauls on six engine models, including Pratt & Whitney’s PW4000 and GTF; CFM International’s CFM56; and General Electric’s GE90-115B. The expansion includes adding three more engine models to its portfolio, including GE’s GEnx and CFMI’s LEAP-1B. Implementing Ramco’s Aviation Software will form a backbone to streamline Engine Maintenance operations across current engine shops and planned expansion sites, replacing multiple legacy systems to unify operations across the Engineering, Production, and Supply Chain functions. In addition, Korean Air will also benefit from digital enablers such as Mobility apps for Mechanics, Warehouse clerks, and E-Pubs to manage digital documents from OEMs. Q: The big number of aircraft orders in India has proved to be boon for the MRO industry. How do you see the potential of Ramco solutions in this growing aviation market? A: Currently, only 15 to 20 percent of the MRO work of Indian carriers is done within India, with the rest serviced overseas. With the large orders from Indian carriers, there is an opportunity for Indian Airframe, Engine, and Component MRO providers to grow their business. Ramco has a strong presence in the Indian MRO segment; two of the largest MROs in India, AIESL and GMR, have been our long-term customers. In addition, Ramco Aviation Software is deployed at various global sites catering to all lines of business. New MROs will need a strong digital backbone to enhance operational efficiency, productivity, and customer satisfaction. Ramco Aviation Software has a strong offering for the industry. Q: MRO as one of the key segment for Ramco Aviation, what are the unique and differentiated offer being made in this space? A: Ramco Aviation Software’s core function is managing continuous airworthiness and work execution from lines, hangars, and shops, as well as inventory and procurement, customer services, and quality control. The Solution helps digitally transform complex MRO processes. The integrated solution also helps in a wide range of functions, from Workscope induction to customer delivery and invoicing. Advanced capabilities, such as digital task cards, kitting and due parts tracking, mobility-based work execution, critical path, and turnaround time (TAT) management, help eliminate paper and inefficiencies. Other key advantages of Ramco Aviation Software apart from its integrated nature is through: Digitalization of OEM documents: The solution can process PDF-based and XML/SGML-based technical documents. Also, with its Direct EDI capabilities, it can access the OEM’s technical documentation library from the place of work through secure logins and API interfaces. This increases the operational efficiencies, by reducing the time and effort required to process the technical contents. Smart automation: Aviation maintenance processes generate a wealth of data pertaining to the aircraft engine defects, parts consumed, labor hours, elapsed time to carry out the repair and overhaul procedure. Accumulated over time, this data can become a goldmine of information to gain insights. Ramco, with its AI/ML capabilities, derives the insights in all key processes such as work scope planning & estimation, production planning & scheduling, and other supply chain aspects, automating core operations, helping customers gain an edge over the competition. Mobility-enabled shop floor work execution:Ramco’s Mechanic Anywhere mobile app helps the mechanics book time, report findings and record measurements, request parts and tools, and access the technical documents from the place of work. With the required regulatory approvals that are easily acquired through mobile apps, task and work compliance can be complied with digital e-signoff. Ecosystem Integration:Seamless flow of data between the ecosystem partners such as suppliers, customers, shipping partners and banking systems is essential for augmenting operational efficiency. Ramco’s MRO solution enables a robust customer ecosystem through customer portal, bots and EDI connectivity thus providing the dual advantage of boosting efficiency and improving the delivery of value to the customers. Real-time KPI monitoring & Analytics:Ramco’s integrated data analytics provides KPIs related to TAT, quality, cost, resource utilization, and warranties. These are computed dynamically without any need for manual consolidation and preparation. This allows for transparent and timely availability of insights for better decision-making. Q: Who are your potential customers and how do you address their requirements? Is it a customer-based requirement or pre-developed products which is in offer? A: Ramco Aviation Software is a fully web-centric application developed from the ground up specifically for the aviation industry. The solution offers an integrated platform for Airlines, 3rd party MROs, Defense, and Heli Operators to manage their functions around maintenance and engineering, supply chain, safety, technical records, planning, and financial control. We have a multi-layered customer engagement process, from tactical software support requirements to strategic periodic business reviews. Customer inputs are taken during the Project Blueprinting, Support Tickets classified as New Requirements, Surveys, and Usage audits; these are evaluated and prioritized for the product roadmap. We also work with our customers on a Co-Creation model for specific business needs leveraging next-generation technologies and for early adoption of new capabilities. Periodic assessment audits are carried out on usage, and recommendations are provided to improve utilization. We continuously work with

In Conversation The global technological solutions company “endava” has been driving innovations and transforming businesses of their clients based in over 25 countries. Within their 13 industry verticals, travel is one of the most important sectors where they serve airlines and airports. In a candid discussion, Dejan Cusic, SVP, Travel Industry, endava briefs Vishal Kashyap, Managing Editor Aviation World about how they see their market in the near future and best technical solutions they have for their customers. Excerpts… Looking into the growing Indian Aviation, how do you project to tap the sector in near future? India is too big market to ignore and it’s a growing market. So, it is something we will definitely focus on in the future. As we are speaking now, we don’t have any presence there, but we are considering our options how to penetrate into the Indian market. There are a few ways and at the moment we are deciding on our options. Similar situation we had in Australia two years ago as we didn’t had our presence there but now we have 300-400 people in that region. So, I don’t know but on the next Arab Aviation Summit we’ll talk and I’m sure that story will be different in a year time related to India. How convenient it is to adapt to endava products and use it? We have lot of technology knowledge people implementing our technology. We don’t have any specific product but how it works is typically we would come to airline sometimes with our idea and explore their idea and then we would do project and implement what they want. Almost always it’s bespoke software development. Why bespoke? Because once when you go with out of the box product, it’s very hard to differentiate yourself because everyone else has it. So we would go and do a very custom build program for particular business problem for our clients. Your products/technology seems to be very unique, so post-implementation will it have any cost impact on the passengers? It’s a very generic and as I mentioned a few things and one was NDC one order. So the whole idea behind new distribution channel in one order is that airlines will be able to upsell and cross sell products from other people. For example, a few days ago, I came from Europe to Dubai and the airline turned out that internet which was quite expensive on my roaming tariff from Ireland. I’m wondering what options you have. You go to the first shop and you buy SIM card locally, you put it in your phone and you have your data through local carrier. That’s one way to do it. The other way to do it would be may be for the airlines on the booking part when I’m booking, maybe to sell me eSIM. And before I fly, I scan eSIM and when I land in Dubai, I already have local SIM. So I think that’s the future for airlines to think about what else they could sell for us. And we will actually like it and appreciate it because it will make our life easier. And as in case of this eSIM, if I would have it, I wouldn’t bother around buying it. So you see my point. And that will enable because they will make more money on ancillaries, which I’m willingly paying because I need it. That will enable them to make their basic offering more attractive as well. I believe that is going to be a very good solution for your customers. Any particular point that you want to highlight and share with our readers? Again, great industry, great place to be for the airlines. You know all the stories about the future demand as technology will play a big part of it. One thing which is mentioned quite often now is sustainability and we did first moves in terms of how technology could help with sustainability. Airlines and aviation as an industry is quite an old industry with a lot of legacy systems, and we have some specific interesting tools and methodology how we help airlines to transform their IT systems. (The interaction was done at Arab Aviation Summit, in Ras Al kahimah, UAE)

IN CONVERSATION Indian aviation is growing with leaps and bounds with increasing demand of trained professionals. This has also created interest for global training organizations to either venture or enhance their presence in the country. With having presence in over 10 countries, ALVES Alexandre, Global Chief Operating & Commercial Officer, Airways Aviation Academy beliefs that the growth rate of India is so fast that there will be constraints finding all the qualified professionals. In an exclusive interview with Vishal Kashyap, Managing Editor, Aviation World, he shares his plans for India. Excerpts… Brief us about the global presence of Airways Aviation and what all course does it provides? Airways Aviation currently operates directly in 10 countries: Australia, India, Lebanon, Turkey, UAE, Germany, France, Montenegro, Italy and Senegal. Our Lebanese operation is expanding now to Cyprus and we are about to enter Portugal, Cabo Verde and Morocco with new operations. We are also expanding into Hainan in China with a local partner. We have different levels of schools if we can call it like that. The entry level is a Foundation School, which is what we have opened in Hyderabad last year. There we provide a proper airline focused assessment, focusing not only on standard skills such as Math’s, Physics and English but also pilot skills using ADAPT from Symbiotic which gives us a psychological and psychometric evaluation of the candidate. After that we provide our own Foundation Course which is what we can call a non-certified PPL theory course, and after that we are in a very good condition to tell the candidates if he can or not invest their time and money in pursuing their career as pilots. Once they pass successfully, we guide them to our next level of schools where we provide commercial pilot training. In addition, in our fully fledged academies we provide also cabin crew, maintenance technician and ground services courses. Examples of our main academies that cover the full scope are Australia and France. How is the response to the Hyderabad training Center in India and when it started? We started slowly in August 2023, and we’ve been running Foundation Courses almost every month. So far, we graduated successfully 36 students of which 8 continued to take their CPL training in Australia. This year we plan to expand our courses by launching DGCA Theory not only in Hyderabad but in several other Indian cities. We are also looking into some flight schools already operating in India, for a possible acquisition. How do you see the Indian market and what projections you have to cater to the demands? Personally, as you know, I’ve been looking into the Indian market since 2017. It was obvious for me that the market was under performing and was not showing its true potential. Now, with the changes the government has done, giving incentives for regional flights, opening new airports, promoting new operators to join the market, the growth of Indian middle class and the latest merger of Air India and TATA Group airlines (Vistara and Air Asia India) finally we are seeing the true potential. The only problem now is that the growth rate being pushed is so fast that there will be constraints finding all the qualified professionals, such as pilots or maintenance technicians, to follow this growth. And it’s there that we can help, using our experience of over 45 years in training thousands and thousands of aviation professionals in a multitude of countries. Tell us about the fleet you have and approx training cost and timeline as per Indian Civil Aviation Requirements? We operate currently around 70 aircraft throughout our flight schools but we plan to expand the fleet significantly. Most of our aircraft are Diamond Aircraft but we still operate Cessna, Piper and Tecnam, depending on the level of school we are talking. Cost of the pilot course varies from country to country, depending on the location, type of training, type of qualification (ICAO, CASA, EASA, etc.). It can go from USD65.000 to USD105.000. But as I mentioned, we plan to expand in India and start training locally and for that reason we are looking into possible acquisitions. This will address the desire of the government to have more aviation training in the country and can also help with the costs for everyone looking into getting their pilot course. Do you have any tie-ups with any training academy or airlines in India for training as well as recruitment purpose? We have the possibility of doing very interesting training contracts with some of the leading airlines and that is also why we want to invest more in the country and grow by having a flight training operation there. At this stage we cannot say more but I’m sure we will have news in the next few months. Any additional information if you would like to share? Airways Aviation is more a B2B focused aviation training organization than B2C. Through the years our organization has trained thousands of military and civilian pilots, cabin crew, maintenance technicians and other professionals for airlines, governments and official organizations in a variety of countries of Oceania, Asia, Middle East, Africa and Europe. Having said this, of course our B2C customers are very welcome and it’s part of our strategy to diversify not only the geographic source of our customers but also the type of customers. There is a saying that we shouldn’t put all the eggs in the same basket. Our presence in a multitude of countries of different regions of the globe and the fact that we operate with self-sponsored students up to leading airlines and air forces, enable us to be financially more stable than most of our competitors. We are also very fast in deciding our investments and as you may have seen, we are on fast but steady growth path, this can bring some assurance to all our customers that we are their go to aviation training organization.

At the Routes Asia 2024 Summit in Langkawi,Malaysia, Preeti Puja, Associate Editor, Aviation World, interacted with Mr. Rashed Alshammari, Vice President, Commercial, Air Connectivity Program, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia on various development initiatives under the Kingdom’s “Vision 2030’. Excerpts… What are your expectations from Routes Asia 2024? The expectation from Routes Asia by exhibiting is to unlock the new destinations from Asia and other continent and to have their activity in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). The KSA is working on much extensive airport expansion plans? Could you please elaborate on this? We are there committed to growth of KSA. We oversee enhancing route development in the KSA in a holistic way. We take care and look after enhancing the inbound tourism to enable the tourism sector as per the strategic target and objective set by ‘Vision 2030’ and also we look after executing the Aviation strategy. So, we are the bridge between tourism and aviation sector. When it comes to expansion of airports, yes we look after it like for ex. Riyadh Airport. Our target is to have more than 120 million passengers by 2030. As part of the strategic program, we are targeting to have 150 million inbound tourists in the KSA by enabling the tourism sector. When it comes to enabling the aviation sector, we are targeting to unlock more than 250 destinations and having more than 330 million passenger traffic within the KSA by 2030. We are seeing this as a realistic target and we are executing and progressing positively towards opening more destinations. Especially, Saudi Arabia is a untouched market and we wanted to have more new destination and grow our tourism capacity. There has been lot of focus on making tech enabled airports with all modern amenities. Kindly brief a bit on this about the concept. The tech is the key enabler to promote a seamless passenger experience. Today, when we want to expand our inbound tourism, we have new destination, that requires the high tech technology. The seamless travel experience from the frisk point for the passengers for the airport, than moving from airport to the other terminal experience and then to the city. That takes key enabler to attract and monitor the high quality experience and for each inbound passenger or tourist to Saudi Arabia. KSA has also modified its various rules for expats and other visitors Is it in line of increasing tourism footfall and bringing more investment? Today Saudi Arabia, as one of the tourism initiative, we have introduced the e-Visa for specific country. It just matter of one click and within 90 seconds you receive your e-Visa. Plus we are welcoming our neighborhood who is living in nearby countries to come and explore Saudi Arabia. So this is we look after enhancing the full experience for certain citizens, expats and even the tourist who is visiting Saudi Arabia. Riyadh Air is making good vibes across the world? What are the operational plans of the airlines and which sector it will cater to? Well, Riyadh Air can answer this question on their behalf. In general, I believe Riyadh Air would be key enabler to contribute in our strategic target while bringing new destination, adding new capacity and bringing more tourist to the KSA. How do you see India as your partner? India is key partner for us. Indian carriers are expanding their direct flights to many different destinations of Saudi Arabia. It’s one of the pillar and enabler for the tourism activity in the KSA.

Peter Semone,Chairman, PATA (Pacific Asia Travel Association) discussed with Preeti Puja, Associate Editor, Aviation World at Routes Asia in Langkawi about the sustainability in tourism.Excerpts… Talking about the sustainability in travel, what does that mean and what perspective you are looking at? Sustainability is all about the environment. It’s kind of holistic thing we need to look at it. Sustainability for tourism is balancing the socioeconomic benefits with some of the negative environmental impacts that happen actually on cultures as well. I think, sustainability is becoming more of a balance between what you do and may be what you may necessarily do. Aviation sector is little bit far off in terms of as it has been able to make SAF and all other things that if we can do, we can continue working on the environment angle but in the same time let’s work on some of the other areas that is critical to sustainability. Because one of the thing we have to think now is partnership between industry, government and its community. It’s very much about community and so far Asia has benefited to a large degree from tourism but like many destination in Europe they are going start to feel that may be the benefit and how ways the positive elements and this is a really interesting thing in terms of sustainability. You know, we build tourism so quickly in Asia but we forgot or maybe we don’t see sometimes the invisible burden of tourism. So, when you have tourist, there is a lot of positive in terms of than leaving money behind but they leave a lot of other things behind as well like trash, they use lot of water, they add to traffic, congestion, just overall they are another element that kind of operating within the community . So sustainability is turning to be finding out what is the price of tourism. Because, I think in a lot of ways we haven’t actually calculated what’ s the true cost of tourism. We only talk about revenues but we never really talk about at the destination level, about the expense, so we have three indicators: right: (i) we say number of visitors(ii) Per tourist spend and (iii) length of stay. And, that’s the very generic number. We need to be little bit more specific for work being done, we need to measure the invisible burden of tourism and understand that better and at least we all have to contribute the negative impact that we bring and hopefully more. Tourism may be benefiting countries like India or Malaysia as much as we are saying that it is the sustainability and cost of hosting the tourist is much higher than we recognize. Has the perception changed Post COVID? I think Covid accelerated everything because it allowed us to see the other side of the coin which is if we don’t have tourism , everything is nice like environment is better , community is peaceful, but there is no money coming in. We need the money, we need tourism but I think we also learn that let’s structure and mitigate and reduce some of the negative impacts that happening and I think the people are also lot more aware as they have seen its like in their community to have tourist or not have tourist. I think the Covid just accelerated everything and I may very worried about certain issues like sustainable development cause because I think the other negative externality that we have to be worried is environment. One thing is Geo politics and the other thing is poverty and the gap that exist. It’s a long journey and its going to take little more time together in partnership with the public and private sector. I think we can do it we have to be determined to do it. Any message for the readers of Aviation World? I am very eager for PATA to partner more closely with the Aviation sector.PATA has been for more than 70 years and we have strong relationships with the aviation sector. I think in the Aviation sector there has been lot of cost cutting, membership subscriptions like that they took of but I think I believe that relationship between the Asia Pacific Aviation Sector and PATA can really help us develop together and we can work very much for the Ministry of Tourism and the government and the private sector at the destination level but having that the partnership in advocacy will make a big difference in the Aviation Sector as it goes through lot of changes. In many ways we are going to rewrite the way tourism is organized in the next ten years and very much includes the aviation sector.

Interview: At the Singapore Airshow, Alan Lim, Director, Alton Aviation Consultancy, moderated a panel discussion on “Explore the future of Advanced Air Mobility” where various case studies and important issues were discussed. To brief more about the sector, Alan in an interview with Vishal Kashyap, Managing Editor, Aviation World talked about the emerging UAM and AAM sector and how it is going to transform the sector in future. Excerpts… What are your core areas of work in the Aviation sector? Alton Aviation Consultancy is a specialised management consultancy firm and it’s solely focused on the aviation sector. So if you talk about airlines, airports, MROs, and even some of the lessors or financial investors that are looking at aviation assets, we basically do these as well planned. So increasingly, we have a new practice called the mobility practice that’s looking at things like advanced air mobility. So that really looks at helping our clients understand what exactly is this market about, what do we have to expect, what people want, what is it going to look like, what are the use cases, the whole sort of things about the strategic and business planning side of the business, and of course how they should tackle this industry. So really our area of focus is more on the strategy inside of the business where we advise our clients really things about the market, about the outlook, about how they should tackle certain segments, or certain markets, what they should do. It’s very strategic working. With the current trend on UAM & AAM how do you see the market growing? I think for this UAM or AAM industry, we are at a stage right now where everyone is focused on building their vehicles and getting it certified for compliance service. We’ve heard across for the past few days, everyone is saying last year was about meeting everyone, understanding who our partners are . At this year, it’s about getting everything together, putting everything in place, and trying to push out to get the vehicle certified within the next 18 to 24 months by 2025-26 time frame. I think a lot of them recognize that if we look at the Asia-Pacific region, from the commercial aviation perspective, that is by far the largest market and then the fastest growing market in the world, right? There is a lot of growing middle class in the country, growing population, basically has very good tailwind for the growth of the entire aviation sector in general. But when we look at AAM in particular, we think about what are the used cases for these vehicles and what has been always talked about intra-City travel so traveling within the cities. So in a lot of Asia-Pacific countries, and even in parts of India, we see very congested cities where there is potentially a used case or market for these vehicles to transport people from point A to point B, you know, to cutting through all the different types of congestion. So I think, you know, other use cases that you can think about is, you know, logistics, getting tighter to last mile or, you know, industrial more remote type of logistics transport, which, again, if you look at Asia-Pacific, level of urbanization is not as high. There is a lot of potential for these type of landscape and I think by a large, a lot of the industry recognizes that this is a market that they cannot ignore. Asia-Pacific, or even the Middle East are markets where they have been supportive regulators and governments to try and develop not only the infrastructure but to help these OEMs bring their aircraft into service. There is also push to really develop that framework to be able to test and operate these vehicles. This supportive environment is one of the key enabler for this market to move forward to grow in the Asia-Pacific region. How do you see the adaption process when there is so much change in technology in this sector? I think what we’ve heard and what we’ve seen as well, there is a lot of operators as well as lot of the OEMs who are trying to get their vehicles certified first. Regulators are also taking a very cautious approach while certifying any vehicles. But having that limited and sort of very gradual approach to it has its benefit. Both regulators and operators has to get comfortable with the operation of the vehicles, but I think the more important bit is to allow the public to actually see this. Because an operation to accept that this is potentially a future form of transportation, but also to be able to be a bit more enthusiastic. Right now, people outside the industry will probably see it as a bit of a foreign content, not quite sure what it is, so until you see these things take out the sky, being operated on a limited basis, either demonstration flights or even, sort of limited commercial operations,that’s really how we build up that acceptance and enthusiasm you know, for these kinds of vehicles. So, I think what we will see is a very gradual of these services. I think within the next five years, it will still be relatively low-uptake as these vehicles will improve in technology. As you know, regulators get more comfortable with them but as we get into the 2030s,completely,but the mid-’30s, we’ll start faster, adoption of some of these folks. As a consultant what you would advice the start ups about the investment in this sector? From an investor’s perspective, I think a lot of the investors in this segment have a couple of rational stories. Like, one obviously it’s a growing segment that many of them views that they cannot ignore. So, we see the likes of Airbus, Boeing, even Embraer just behind us. They have embarked on AAM division or AAM company to develop their own vehicles. But I think the other angle is also the

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW The 11th edition of Arab Aviation Summit at Ras Al Khaimah witnessed top-class delegates from across the world. The 2-day event focused on key issues that are projected to develop Aviation and tourism in this region. At the summit, Frederico Fernandes, Director, Arab Aviation Summit in an interview with Vishal Kashyap, Managing Editor, Aviation World explained the significance of this summit and how it’s going to transform the Aviation activities in the Arab World. Excerpts… How Arab Aviation Summit (AAS) 2024 is important for this region and what’s the strategy for way forward? It’s our second year and I hope that the delegates are enjoying it. Arab Aviation Summit is a platform to showcase and to learn about Aviation in the Arab World and Arab Aviation Travel and it’s an amazing example for how to be successful and how to be disruptive into the Aviation sector. The latest mega hubs in the world happened to show here for a reason. We had Qatar, UAE and now we’re going with Riyadh. And also it’s a major hub for visiting relatives and friends and ethnic passengers. There are lot of great examples in all around cross-sector, from airlines to operators, software, managers, media for the Arab world. AAS is very private platforms attended by only guests where one meets and discuss the achievements and learn as well. So, that’s why we have a first day of the aviation event covered by workshops. Where we speak with our partners and we select which are the teams that are trending or the teams that we need to get better insights. Second day, the leaders discussed and showcased what they are doing in hope that we can also mobilize and inspire all the sector. As I believe that the focus is more on the sustainability and also the tech-enabled Aviation in the future. In 2023, the event focus was more on sustainability. What’s the theme for 2024? Last year, we had quite more focus on sustainability as it was our first year. We discussed a lot from infrastructure to technology. We had Airbus and some of the other players that were already using technology. This year we also discussed on sustainability but the focus was more on HR (Human Resource Capital) because it’s very important. We are seeing now that several areas are even growing further, like Riyadh. Others will also grow because they will lose qualified personnel to other areas. For example, India is a major concern because India is growing very fast in Aviation terms and it’s also improving the life. So many cities have a better life index meaning that a lot of people will go back home to work and those people are very important for Middle East. So, it’s really an issue that Middle East and Arab world needs to think about.   We need to start recruiting and enabling the next generation of professionals because there will be a lot of commuting between Asia, namely India, big power in Aviation and Middle East, which uses a lot of workforce from India. So, this is the thing that we wanted to discuss and we did it quite well. We brought Saudi, England, European universities and also local trainees and universities from Arab world. For investment, we had the panel as owners of assets that can go up to 300 billion. So, when they were discussing with us, where are they moving their aircraft or investments further? Again, India and Arab world, Saudi and UAE are on the top map. It’s very interesting for us as well as industry to understand this trend, so that they can start moving and constructing the future of tomorrow. Arab Aviation Summit is jointly hosted by RAK Tourism board. What are the benefits of jointly hosting this important event? RAK has been growing very well and it has an amazing team of tourism professionals that is following this incredible vision of His Highness, the ruler of RAK. They wanted to make a partnership with Arab Aviation Summit because of Aviation. But we exist to approach Aviation to travel because there is a lot of shows of travel, there is a lot of shows of aviation, but sometimes they don’t meet. The tourist operators don’t meet an aircraft manufacturer. Sometimes they want aircraft, but they don’t know how to do it. So, we are this bridge between the Aviation guys and the hospitality guys. So, I’m available to fly and to support. RAKTDA understood that movement and since the beginning partnered with us to allow that movement to happen in their beach. This is a commitment that we have together and I think it’s a wonderful relationship and they are also helping us to grow, which is a very important thing. What would be your focus for the future summit? What exactly are you looking forward to add on? For the next summit, we’re going to gather again the most influenced partners. RAKTDA is one of them and we’re going to reflect on what needs to be discussed because we will change the team again. After that, we try to curate the best speakers, the best entrepreneurs, the best brilliant minds and we will push the team out and work around that and call again the industry. Come and listen to us and we also want to listen to you and business will grow. Concluding remarks from you to cater to the much bigger Arab Aviation market? I think that Arab World, Arab Aviation and Arab Travel are a great example of success. Of course, we can see on top of the pyramid three countries that are also leading that success. But even if you look to further countries, they are also very interesting. Arab world is an extraordinary example of what is being done in terms of technology, digitalisation, flexibilisation and entrepreneurship. They created the biggest mega hubs and now they’re creating the biggest destinations in the world. It’s a great example

Exclusive Interview: For ATR, India is one of the most important market and it projects to have additional 50-150 aircraft in next decade in this region. In an exclusive interview, Jean Pierre Clercin, Head of commercial, ATR,APAC Region, shared his thoughts on various perspectives with Vishal Kashyap, Managing Editor, Aviation World. Excerpts… What is the current outlook of ATR for the Indian market in terms of number of orders and focus for the future as well? Asia Pacific is our largest market today and of course in the South Asia in particular I mean is coming forward and its going to be the largest one. If you look at our customer base in India, we have IndiGo that has today 45 aircraft that should come up to 50 this year. We have Alliance Air that has 20 ATR including 2 ATR 42 and then we have a newcomer called Fly91 that’s out of Goa and that has taken 2 aircraft from a leasing company based out of Dubai. So today, if you look at the position, there will be over 70 aircraft within the next 12 months. What makes ATR perfect fit for regional connectivity both in terms of operations and economics? So there are a few things. I think first, the aircraft in terms of its capacity for takeoff and landing can actually operate out of very simple runways and airports. It doesn’t require a lot of GSE to maintain. I mean, people can embark, disembark from the stairs. There is a built-in, if you want, power unit. It’s very independent in that sense and you can land and take off on runways of down to 1200 meters at full load. Of course, it depends on temperature and this kind of things. But I mean, that’s the ballpark. And of course, the ATR 42 has even better performance. It’s actually right above 1000 meters. And you probably heard we have this 42-600 STOL, that’s going to come up into service next year, which will be able to operate on the runway down to 800 meters. So if you look at the number of airports in India, but worldwide, I mean, yes, you have the big ones like the Delhi, the Mumbai, the Singapore, but then you have a lot of smaller airports. The worldwide traffic of 95% is concentrated in 5% of the bigger airports. So it means that there is 95% of the airports that only carry 5% of the traffic and usually can go. So that’s the first part that you can access these small runways in these small communities. The other part, of course, is that it’s good to have a capable aircraft, but it has to be, I would say, economically effective to be able to deliver the right customers because the people in those communities don’t necessarily have millions of dollars to pay, you know, in airfares. And so the aircraft, the ATR, is very frugal in terms of fuel burn. For instance, it has a very-very low cost base of operation. If you compare with similar regional jets, the ATR burns 45% less fuel than the original jets of the same category. With the obsession we have in delivering a good cost base, an excellent aircraft for airlines to be able to make a profit, but it can also serve the communities in the country. I think this is why it was so widespread and we’ve been in India now for more than 20 years. India is always been an important part of our markets. What’s been very interesting, I find is that you have a government that is extremely inspired. Today, the country is developing so fast that you need to develop more effective connectivity, and the vision that the government had with the VGF and the UDAN scheme supports that. The fact that the country has the rights to go around fast and we fit in that because we have the perfect products to serve those communities. It’s affordable and is easy to operate. Why still only scheduled operators are successful in RCS UDAN scheme and not NSOPs in India? Yes, the reason why I think because what happens in this segment of the market is that traditionally small players come into it but they are all afraid to start a route. If you’re a small player and you put an aircraft and say, okay, I think there’s going to be market there. And then you don’t find your market, you’re dead! What I think is very smart from the government is that they say, I’m going to help you with the risk. Not, forever, but for three years. Then it works and the operator stands on its own feet and it works and keeps on working. It’s not like they’re giving or subsidizing but they are taking other risks. And I think this is where the market is so vibrant today in India. And I think for me it’s the benchmark and other countries should look at. This is probably why India is so dynamic and has so much promise for tomorrow. Because, you have very smart people pushing the right policies. Courageous entrepreneurs and that makes actually this country and the place to be in aviation today. What numbers of aircraft orders you are projecting from India and what will be delivery schedule? In terms of order in India, we assess that over the next 10 years, 50 to 150 additional aircraft coming up in the country. So, that’s the official forecast. But, I do believe looking into the energy even 150 may be smaller. Apart from India which is your other important market? In terms of size it’s a bit deceptive because size is not necessarily the main story. I think growth is the main story. So, today, the biggest market for ATR is Indonesia. There is about a hundred aircraft actually over there. And second will be Brazil and India would have about the same level.

Indonesia is one of the largest island nations which cater to the high number of tourist from all across the world. Like every country this island nation is also under the recovery process after the severe impact of the pandemic.Vishal Kashyap, Managing Editor, Aviation World at the CASEA 2023 summit in Bangkok interacted with Mr. Denon Prawiraatmadja, Chairman, Indonesia National Air Carriers Association ( INACA) and Vice Chairman, Chamber of Commerce for Transportation in Indonesia. He discussed in detail about how Indonesia is enhancing its aviation sector economy, government’s ‘National Strategic Program’ ,SAF and holistic growth in the nation. Excerpts… Tell us about INACA and its vision? Also your views on the aviation sector in Indonesia? INACA is the only airlines association in Indonesia which consists of 11 commercial airlines and 21 air charters. My opinion about the aviation Industry in Indonesia as you perhaps knows that the Indonesia is a country that consists of 17000 islands. So airlines are a necessity for a country like Indonesia for the purpose of logistics, passengers. It is a necessity for Indonesia people to their economy.In this matter first thing is we as an association has to become a strategic partner to the governments of Indonesia. We have to collaborate with the governments of Indonesia in giving the opinion and advice on how Indonesia’s aviation futures. We have to make the aviation industry healthier . Well perhaps you understand if I may share little bit more without this cost structure 30 per cent of cost of operation are actually came from leasing which is that has the impact from Indonesia Rupiah against other foreign currency. This is beyond the Aviation industries pan of control. So the remaining 70 per cent has to be strategized for the future. We are not talking about the next few years ahead, we have to plan this precisely for the next few decades. Because if we are talking about transportation system my opinion we need to talk about the holistic concept, not only aircraft in particular, we need to plan how we manage our sustainable aviation fuel in the future. We have to strategies how we make concept of hub and spoke for domestic airlines for international airline getting into the Indonesia to support the domestic airline and to support the local economy. That’s what I am going to emphasize, what should be improved is to make Aviation Industry and all the families of Aviation, for a country like Indonesia that as archipelago country that we need to make this industry healthier. Otherwise, the impact of healthy industry of transportation is also impacted to other sector of business. By making an aviation industry In Indonesia strategically become healthier, this will become the role of the association as a strategic partner to the governments. How do you see the transformation in Air Traffic in your country which is primarily dependent on tourism? I think not only in Indonesia but so far other countries during the Covid time, we all faced challenges. Because, yes it’s true that post Covid not only airlines but airport also tried to recover their activity by stages. But what we think we need to resolve this. In that period of time the members of the association has to negotiate with the lesser and I think this is part of the challenge that member of the association is facing today. Since Indonesia become a country that is known also as tourism destination I think this will speed up the recovery process and as easy as the governments of Indonesia , the authorities has more flexibility on post Covid regulations . So I am confident , based on the White paper that is released by INACA , by the association, by 2025 all the activities are going to back with what we have before Covid time. As you mentioned, now the focus is shifting to promote other destinations apart from Bali? What are the steps being planned and which are those cities? I agree that airlines business and tourism business is like siblings. Other than Bali the governments of Indonesia plan to ‘National Strategic Program ‘to have the tourism industry grow like Labuan Bajo. Perhaps the next other tourism destinations like West Sumatra, which is known as province that had tradition of good culinary. So these support from government as NSP for next tourism destination in Indonesia will directly increase numbers of passengers from other countries to Indonesia.I think the NSP in enhancing the tourism business will become the strengthening the economy of Indonesia despite Indonesia also known as downstream export product like nickel mining but for accelerating the air transportation I think tourism business there has been a program from the government and will become the most impactful policy to the airlines industry. What are the key steps that according you still need to be addressed by Indonesian government to make Civil Aviation sector more viable? When I mention about the holistic concept about the Aviation Industry, it’s not basically addressed to ministry of transportation. When we are talking about the level of safety standards, Indonesia is not quite bad now. We are number 53 in safety standards if I am not mistaken. But when we are talking about the holistic concept of making the aviation industry healthier,it is inbox the ministry of tax to give an incentive, ministry of state owned enterprise, ministry of trade. So the government should involve to support how the airlines business that connect people among all these islands can be supportive. Our DGCA is quite communicative with us in terms of regulations, providing Upset Prevention and Recovery Training (UPRT) is not that mandatory in Indonesia but DGCA accept that as a additional problem for a pilot to do a UPRT training . So we as an association provide these training for airlines to do the UPRT. One of those things that I address a concern is the fuel . We just had the presentation about SAF. We recommend to

India is a big Aviation market for the United States and one airport that is really booming with 186% growth in passenger numbers within the first two quarters of 2023 is San Francisco International Airport (SFO). To share more insight Kevin Bumen, CFO and Chief Commercial Officer, San Francisco International Airport in an Interview with Vishal Kashyap, Managing Editor, Aviation World discuss at length about the growth, future plans, association with Air India and may more interesting points. Excerpts… There is always a great interest for Indian Carrier to operate to SFO. How do you see the relevance of existing route and addition of more flights in near future? Air India has been a huge success story as far as SFO is concerned. During the pandemic there were few airlines that grew in our market which is quite remarkable for many reasons. When we look back over the last 4 years, the target to 2019 was just one destination initially with Delhi and of course they have grown now to three in a very short time. They have essentially double the operation from 9 flights a week to 17 a week and which breaks down with majority to Delhi of course but having seen the other market in India with structure established, really chose the strength of the market across the entire country. Seat capacity has gone up from 2042 seats per week back in August 2019 and this August we are 4397 seats per week. It’s a huge increase. We look forward obviously potential for Mumbai, Bengaluru to get a daily service and then we also see future markets as Hyderabad and Chennai which can likely support flights as well. What’s the exact number of traffic of San Francisco International Airport from India both in terms of connectivity and pax? When we look at the overall area or market and its measured on the basis of frequency of daily passengers today. The market has a lot of potential and knows those passengers could be flowing in number of ways to and from but having that kind of strength in the region the opportunity for non-stop services is very strong. It’s also been seen that India is primed for significant growth, especially in the luxury travel market. What’s your take on this transition? Significant growth is happening and we have got 186 % increase just in the first half of this year. It’s extremely exciting and it speaks to the fact that SFO is ready. Our premium airport recently named by Wall Street Journal as number one airports in the United States. We have got so many memorable experiences that enhance the travel experience including the Grand Hyatt Hotel, a 4 star hotel connected to the transit system in the terminal. We have butler concierge services, we have an SFO museum, we have got duty free shopping, major luxury retails, etc. These are all source of wonderful amenities. We have amazing airline lounges and we are working with Air India for potential airport lounge at SFO, so that’s in the similar stages of planning. I really feel the market is ready and we demonstrated that with the rapid growth we had certainly challenging time for the industry. How SFO Int. Airport would like to explore newer opportunities from India? We certainly like to see more non-stop services to new destinations like Hyderabad and Chennai that I earlier mentioned and additional frequencies in existing Delhi market that we have today The growth across India is a very exciting prospect to us. India is certainly a large country and any part of the world you can fly non-stop and that is always a great convenience to the passengers. I think those would be two very important goals for us. We also look it at airports like Mumbai and Delhi that’s one of the best airports in the world as we look at the customer experience and certainly having SFO connected to two very high quality markets is of great importance to us and we look into our airport SQ ranking , SFO, Delhi and Mumbai are all top 10 in the world for customer experience. So those who fly in these routes have an incredible airport experience that just adds to the strength of the market. It’s really nice when you see that balance in the market. We also as an airport strive for carrier diversity in the market. We are number three in the US in the carrier diversity and we serve around 50 airlines and we feel that it brings value to the passengers both in terms of choice of carrier and adding in destination but certainly it also keeps pricing competitive. We look forward to United returning to the market. They have obviously struggle in India due to the aerospace access to the Russia so if that issue evolves, United going to this market will be an important factor as well. As part of the upcoming sales mission to India what are your primary objectives? We get out to visit airlines from time to time and we really look forward to celebrate our strong relationship with Air India. But with focus on the future growth plans and as a carrier that’s is growing rapidly, time spent at HQs with the team really helps us to strengthen the relationship and clarify the planning on both sides so we work on closely together. Certainly we will be talking about many achievements of SFO and how we see our placement as a gateway to the North American market for Indian travelers and certainly our desire to assist in and support in Air India growth in the market. And then we will be spending time with the travel community and helping them learn more about SFO and some of the unique aspects of the airport and what sets us apart both as a west coast gateway in the US but just a getaway in the North America. So I want to sharing