India’s
aviation sector has become such a pathetic joke that frankly speaking it’s not
even funny anymore. It’s just simply pitiful and reaching a knife edge of impatience.
Earlier this month the pilots of Jet Airwayswent
on strike leaving thousands stranded. During that time India’s Civil
Aviation Minister Mr.Praful Patel took
the moral high ground and spoke something to the effect which suggested that
private Airlines mismanage their employee grievances worse when compared to the
government run Air India.
As
of Now the 5 day saga of the striking executive pilots of Air India is over. A
liberal approach always seems the right thing when the fire is in someone else’s
home but when your own house is burning down, what will you do Mr. Patel?
And
here we go! Yet another article with Jet
Airways and India’s Civil Aviation sector plastered in.Yes, Yes we know!
The airline articles are plugging up the site but there’s little we can do when
the country’s largest private airliner is grounded thanks to a sudden attack of
civil disobedience disguised as ‘sick leave’. A strike which has left the
desperately problem ridden Civil Aviation officials with a fresh new set of problems,
an impatient bunch of airline pilots wanting to punch the management in the face,
a management dealing with a harsh economic downturn and crores in loan
repayments and even more crores in revenue losses. Most of all thousands of
domestic and international travelers stranded thanks to Jet Airways.
Air India has been grounded. Now that its official that the country’s
national carrier will be bailed out by the government, the easy part is over.
The hard part starts now. Restructuring a gargantuan company which is packed to
the brim with too many employees, a lackluster business model, over dependence
on the government and huge losses is a very difficult and time consuming task.
There are simply way too many people to satisfy and the fact that it’s a Public Sector Company does not make it a single bit easier.
The airline companies simply
can’t seem to catch a break and unfortunately neither can airline passengers.
Once again the airline sector is all set to hike air fares across domestic
routes on all flights. The country’s two biggest airliners, Kingfisher and Jet Airways have already announced that they will indeed be raising
prices by as much as Four Hundred rupees a ticket. This time the excuse for the
price hike being given is the all too often heard ‘fuel surcharge’.
For the past one year airline
passengers have been subject toone
agony after another ,all of which have been ways of raising money for the
airline companies either in the name of ‘maintenance fees’, ’infrastructure
fee’, ’user development fee’ or simply the fuel surcharge.
Low cost airliner Spicejet is trying to make the most of the
current economic condition to increase its standing in India’s Aviation Industry.One shouldn’t be surprised because Spicejet’s management has been saying that
they are interested in making the company a bigger player in Indian skies.
Reports are now doing the rounds that Spicejet is actively negotiating for an
acquisition or a merger with another low budget airliner GoAir.
To say that the past year was a
‘bad year’ for Indian airline companies would be a massive understatement. The
shock of a massive surge in fuel prices had forced airlines to take drastic measures.
The layoff episode as witnessed with the Jet Airways fiasco is well documented.
The merger of India’s two biggest domestic private airlines raised many an eyebrow.
At least 2009 was forecasted to be somewhat docile for airline companies. Plans
however have gone awry. Barely a month after a collective decision by private
airliners to cut costs has come a reversal of the same decision. Fares will be
hiked leaving air travelers with a costlier air ticket.
Indian Airline Companies will be
happy that the year 2008 will be over within a couple of days time. No year in
twenty years has troubled the still developing Indian Aviation Industry the way
the current calendar year has. Problems like bad infrastructure, distant
airports and horrible roads remain. All of this has remained trivial compared
to the crippling economic crisis of 2008 which has seen the bitterest of foes
in the Indian skies making up solely to keep themselves in business. January
2009 will be welcomed by Jet Airways, the country’s largest
domestic airline with a fare cut.
Under normal circumstances ,it
would have been a complete shocker but these are abnormal times and one where
companies across the world are simply hoping to tide over. By the look of
things we’re in for a long haul of uncertainty and lesser growth. In India the
effects of these times have hit the Aviation
Industry the hardest. Not only are companies under threat from volatile
fuel prices but also a domestic consumer who is simply unwilling to pay more
for an airline ticket. So when Naresh Goyal of Jet Airways and Vijay Mallya of Kingfisher Airlines decided to come together, airline pundits were
hardly surprised. Rumors that the two biggest private airline companies in India
would come together had been going around for quite some time.
The rise in fuel prices and the
slow onset of recession has sent the Airline Industry into shock not only in India
but worldwide. A few weeks ago a high ranking executive of Emirates, the Dubai based
airline said that his own airline faces the possibility of a drop in profits.
This is an important statement because Emirates are the only airline Worldwide
to have been the least affected by rising fuel prices . In addition they have
managed to make money while many other airlines have gone totally bust.
The airline companies simply
can’t seem to catch a break and unfortunately neither can airline passengers.
Once again the airline sector is all set to hike air fares across domestic
routes on all flights. The country’s two biggest airliners, Kingfisher and Jet Airways have already announced that they will indeed be raising
prices by as much as Four Hundred rupees a ticket. This time the excuse for the
price hike being given is the all too often heard ‘fuel surcharge’.
Low cost airliner Spicejet is trying to make the most of the
current economic condition to increase its standing in India’s Aviation Industry.One shouldn’t be surprised because Spicejet’s management has been saying that
they are interested in making the company a bigger player in Indian skies.
Reports are now doing the rounds that Spicejet is actively negotiating for an
acquisition or a merger with another low budget airliner GoAir. 
To say that the past year was a
‘bad year’ for Indian airline companies would be a massive understatement. The
shock of a massive surge in fuel prices had forced airlines to take drastic measures.
The layoff episode as witnessed with the Jet Airways fiasco is well documented.
The merger of India’s two biggest domestic private airlines raised many an eyebrow.
At least 2009 was forecasted to be somewhat docile for airline companies. Plans
however have gone awry. Barely a month after a collective decision by private
airliners to cut costs has come a reversal of the same decision. Fares will be
hiked leaving air travelers with a costlier air ticket. 
Indian Airline Companies will be
happy that the year 2008 will be over within a couple of days time. No year in
twenty years has troubled the still developing Indian Aviation Industry the way
the current calendar year has. Problems like bad infrastructure, distant
airports and horrible roads remain. All of this has remained trivial compared
to the crippling economic crisis of 2008 which has seen the bitterest of foes
in the Indian skies making up solely to keep themselves in business. January
2009 will be welcomed by Jet Airways, the country’s largest
domestic airline with a fare cut. 
Under normal circumstances ,it
would have been a complete shocker but these are abnormal times and one where
companies across the world are simply hoping to tide over. By the look of
things we’re in for a long haul of uncertainty and lesser growth. In India the
effects of these times have hit the Aviation
Industry the hardest. Not only are companies under threat from volatile
fuel prices but also a domestic consumer who is simply unwilling to pay more
for an airline ticket. So when Naresh Goyal of Jet Airways and Vijay Mallya of Kingfisher Airlines decided to come together, airline pundits were
hardly surprised. Rumors that the two biggest private airline companies in India
would come together had been going around for quite some time. 
The rise in fuel prices and the
slow onset of recession has sent the Airline Industry into shock not only in India
but worldwide. A few weeks ago a high ranking executive of Emirates, the Dubai based
airline said that his own airline faces the possibility of a drop in profits.
This is an important statement because Emirates are the only airline Worldwide
to have been the least affected by rising fuel prices . In addition they have
managed to make money while many other airlines have gone totally bust. 