The aviation Industry has been growing over past few months after witnessing some of the worst

times, thanks to increased taxes, high fuel prices, Union fights and standoffs ! The aviation
Industry has also been in news for all the wrongs reasons
But, things are surely getting better with Aviation Industry registering close to 50% growth year
on year as well as month on month.

According to latest report released by Aviation ministry, there has been a sustained growth in
both the capacity and demand which continued even in the month of January, 2011.
Indian Aviation Industry Market Share
Indigo and Kingfisher remained the top performers in the Industry on back of good and timely
services. Kingfisher currently holds 19.5% percent Indian market share closely followed by
Indigo Airlines which has 19.2% market share. Although, the Jet Airways and Jet Lite combined
market share is higher at 24.8 percent !


Seat Factor
On back of festive peak season, December saw tremendous growth in seat factor ratio, with
Indigo registering maximum seat factor of 93.3%. However, Jan seat factors dipped on lower
demand.

Flight Cancellations
Indigo scored very well in this area as well which registered lowest cancellation ratio of just 0.5
percent. Spicejet (0.9%) and Jet Airways (1.3%) also witnessed quite less cancellations. On other
hand, JetLite was by far the worst performer with 3.5 percent flight cancellations!

Passenger Complaints
Now this one is a surprise Air India performed better than all other carriers registering least
passenger complaints with only 1.2 in 10,000 passengers complaining about various services .
Go Air was the worst performer with just over 5 passengers in 10k complaining about their
services.

Out of the total complaints, 29 percent of all were for lost baggage, while 5.9 percent were
refund related issues!
Isnt it surprising that passengers flying on Air India complain the least !


Aviation Industry in India is a significant one among those industry segments that have
experienced a phenomenal growth across the globe over the past years. The open sky policy of
the Indian government is one of the key factors that have allured international players into the
aviation industry in India. Since long, the aviation industry in India has been growing in terms of
number of air travel firms and number of aircrafts. Today, private airlines alone bear the burden
of not less than 75% of the domestic aviation requirements.
Indian aviation industry is the 9
th
largest in the world. As per the statistics released by the
Ministry of Civil Aviation, in the year 2008 alone not less than 29.8 million people travelled to
and from India which was a 30% surge from 2007. Industry experts have predicted that not less
than 50 million passengers will be served by the India aviation industry by 2015. Widening
opportunities in India will create room for over 69 foreign airlines entering the Indian aviation
sector from about 49 countries.
Growth of Indian Aviation industry
The Civil Aviation market in India witnessed a CAGR growth of about 18%, which was valued
at US$ 5.6 billion in the year 2008. This figure witnessed almost a doubling surge in August
2009 with the domestic airliners transporting more than 3.67 million passengers against only
2.92 million in the corresponding period of 2007, which was a increase up by 26%. The
estimation made by the Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation (CAPA) states that the domestic airline
traffic in the country will go up by 30% to 35% till in 2011 and 2012, while the international
traffic is expected to increase by 15%. This would mean not less than 110 million passengers
traveling by air by the year 2011. The Aviation Ministry in India has allotted US$ 9 billion to
modernize the existing airports by the year 2011.
With respect to the volume of domestic passengers, US have always been leading the sector
followed by China, Japan and India. Between 2005 and 2008, the number of domestic flights in
the nation rose up by 69%, while the domestic aviation sector grew by 9-10%.
Some of the notable players in the India aviation industry include Kingfisher Airlines and
Kingfisher Red (previously Air Deccan), Jet Airways and Jet Lite (previously Air Sahara), Air
India and Indian (previously Indian Airlines), IndiGo, SpiceJet, GoAir, Paramount Airways and
MDLR Airlines.
Future of Aviation industry in India
With a surging demand and with the entry of a large number of domestic and international
companies into the sector, India aviation Industry is sure to witness a phenomenal growth in the
near future demonstrating a CAGR growth rate of more than 15% in the forth coming years. It is
also estimated that the Ministry of Civil Aviation in India will alone handle about 280 million
passengers by the year 2020. Industry experts envisage about US$ 110 billion new investments
in the Indian aviation sector with not less than US$ 80 billion exclusively targeted for the
purchase of new aircraft and US$ 30 billion for developing the infrastructure at the airports.

Airline commanders can now have fewer flying hours experience
July 11, 2011
Airline commanders can now have fewer flying hours experience
To meet the growing demand for flight commanders, Indian carriers have resorted to decreasing
the minimum flying hour eligibility criteria for a co-pilot to become a commander. The latest to
have changed the criteria is Kingfisher Airlines, which has reduced the requirement to 2,500
hours from the current 3,000 hours.
According to the Civil Aviation Requirements issued by the Directorate General of Civil
Aviation (DGCA), any co-pilot with 1,500 hours of flying experience and an Airline Transport
Pilots Licence can become a commander.
A Kingfisher executive, on the condition of anonymity, explained they had carried out the
process to fill the need for commanders, as many of the carriers pilots were leaving for other
airlines in which they become commanders without many flying hours.
Our pilots are leaving for other airlines operating Airbus aircraft with much less minimum
flying hour criteria to become commanders. To stop the pilots from leaving, our airline has also
brought it (minimum flying hour criteria) down to 2,500 hours, said the executive. Kingfisher,
IndiGo and GoAir operate only Airbus aircraft in their fleet. Air India and Jet Airways also have
Airbus aircraft in their fleet.
A Kingfisher spokesperson declined to comment on the issue.
Analysts also feel it is dangerous to promote young pilots with fewer flying hours to
commanders. It is a very dangerous and unfair situation, as the captain flying with just 2,000
hours flying experience is like flying with a pilot who has absolutely no experience, said
Mohan Ranganathan, a Chennai-based aviation analyst, who has worked as a pilot with various
airlines.
Asia-Pacifics first world class aviation varsity to come up at Indira
Gandhi Rastriya Udaan Academy in UP
July 18, 2011
An international aviation university and a helicopter training facility, arguably the first of its kind
in the Asia Pacific region, will soon come up at Indira Gandhi Rastriya Udaan Academy
(IRGUA) at Fursatganj in Uttar Pradesh.
The decision was taken at a meeting of IRGUAs governing council held here today under the
chairmanship of civil aviation secretary Nasim Zaidi along with other members including
Congress General Secretary Rahul Gandhi, MP Capt Satish Sharma , DGCA E K Bharat
Bhushan.
The university aims to impart quality education in every field of aviation requirements which
include aviation engineering, aeronautics, air traffic management, aviation administration and
management, applied meteorology, aviation environmental science and maintenance repair and
overhaul, an official statement said.
The world class university would be the first of its kind in the Asia Pacific region, catering to
growing need of the aviation sector of the region, he added.
Phasing out foreign pilots while airlines add aircraft
July 18, 2011
On one of the many job hunting and information sharing online networking forums, pilots from
round the world post their queries on the Indian job market. They are worried about their job
prospects in India worlds second largest growing aviation market after China ever since
the Indian air safety regulator, Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), mandated foreign
pilots to clear medical examination in the country last year.
India, which has been trying to phase out foreign pilots from its domestic airlines, has been
pushing the deadline on the airlines insistence. The deadline has been postponed to 2013 from
August 2010, said DGCA chief EK Bharat Bhushan. But the airlines insist that this goal will be
tough to meet.
There is a huge scarcity of experienced pilots in the country. Airlines are left with no choice but
to hire them from abroad, a senior executive at Jet Airways, the countrys largest private carrier,
told The Indian Express.
At present, there are 356 foreign pilots employed with domestic airlines, almost half of their total
strength in 2009 as per DGCA figures. Jet Airways has 140 possibly the highest number of
foreign pilots as Kingfisher airlines refused to share latest number on its rolls.
We are expanding rapidly. By year-end, over seven aircraft will be inducted. We need flight
crew for these, the executive said. The airline has an immediate requirement of 50 senior pilots
or commanders and another 50 by year-end.