AI rejects Sahara bid for HQ on lease?

NEW DELHI: Sahara India's hunt for iconic properties globally has now taken it to Air India's 23-storeyed landmark headquarters at Mumbai's Nariman Point. Cash-strapped AI had recently decided to keep the top three floors and lease out the remaining 16 lakh square feet to generate about Rs 50 crore a year. The Lucknow-based Sahara group wants to lease the entire area for 30 years. 

However, AI sources said the Sahara bid has not been accepted as the airline wants to lease the building for shorter period. A Sahara spokesman said the group wants the AI Building but did not elaborate for what purpose. "We have advertised to lease the building, except the top three floors, for a period of three to five years while Sahara wants it for 30 years to possibly house a hotel here. So, there is no option of leasing the building to them. Also, if one party takes the entire building then they may want to rename this landmark. One of our terms and conditions is that the building must remain as AI Building," said a senior official, adding that the Sahara bid has not been accepted. 

AI does not want what Chicago witnessed some time back - see the name of its landmark Sears Tower change to Willis Tower. At the time of its completion in 1973, it was the tallest building in the world. London-based insurance broker Willis Group Holdings agreed to lease a portion of the building - still the tallest in US - in March 2009 and obtained the building's naming rights. 

"We are going to lease out four floors in the next fortnight and have bids for four more floors from government departments but their rates are below our expectations. We have mulled over the reasons for the below expectation response and discovered that the short three to five year lease may be preventing people from approaching us," said the official. 

Some interested parties have told AI brass that they would need to invest a lot in the areas they plan to lease. Renting the same for a short 3-5 year period, they claim, did not justify such an investment. The AI board is now going to review the lease period. 

AI desperately needs to raise cash to survive. On Tuesday, the aviation ministry told Parliament that the airline has a debt burden of Rs 47,226 crore as on July 31, 2012. According to its approved financial restructuring plan, AI is required to raise Rs 5,000 crore over a decade through asset monetization. The airline has appointed a global real estate consultant to examine its properties in India and abroad and suggest a roadmap for their monetization.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/business/india-business/AI-rejects-Sahara-bid-for-HQ-on-lease/articleshow/17671704.cms

Dreamliners make Air India's Delhi-Frankfurt route profitable

MUMBAI: Air India, which is struggling to make money on international routes, has managed to turn around its loss-making Delhi-Frankfurt sector after it deployed Boeing's 787 Dreamliners in this route since October this year. 

The national carrier, which has ordered 27 Dreamliners, maintains that the superior technology of this aircraft will help the company reduce maintenance and fuel cost. 

"The airline is able to save at least Rs 20 lakh per flight after the Dreamliner is deployed. After four long loss-making years, we are making profit on this route now," said a top Air India official, who didn't wish to be identified. 

Air India wants to strengthen its London route and launch the 787 on its Paris sector as well. AI, which has three 787s, will have seven by the end of the financial yearThe carrier also plans to start flights with the Dreamliner on popular routes like Sydney and Melbourne while another aircraft will do a mix of Hong Kong and Singapore. 

The decision to make Delhi its hub has also paid off because of better connectivity and the number of flights from Delhi has gone up to 90 from 54 in two years. The hub at Delhi will also allow Air India to be a network carrier, a pre-requisite for Star Alliance membership. 

But some commanders are a bit skeptical of the Dreamliner strategy. While some senior AI commanders agree that operational costs may have come down because of the deployment of the Boeing 787s, they argue that revenues too have slipped. "When we compare the Boeing 787 with the Boeing 777s, there's a fuel cost saving of about 17 lakh for a seven hour flight as there is a 12 tonnes less fuel burn per hour on a 787 when you compare it with the 777. But the Boeing 787 has fewer business class seats - 18 against 35 on a 777. So, essentially there's a dip in revenue though the operating cost might have come down. But the target should be to bolster revenue and not look at cutting operational costs alone," said a senior AI commander, choosing not to be identified.

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/news-by-industry/transportation/airlines-/-aviation/dreamliners-make-air-indias-delhi-frankfurt-route-profitable/articleshow/17685393.cms

IndiGo mkt leader, AI flies past Jet but slips on on-time performance

New Delhi: Air India continues to hold on to a fifth of the domestic air travel market while IndiGo remains the clear leader with more than one in four passengers preferring to travel with it this November.

During 2012, IndiGo has flown past Jet Airways to gain  market leadership whereas in the second half of the year, Air India has improved its market share and on-time performance dramatically. Both have obviously taken away market share from erstwhile leader Jet,
which has meanwhile withdrawn flights on some unprofitable routes, both on domestic as well as international sectors.

There could be further threat to Jet in case Kingfisher Airlinesdoes return to the skies, as its promoter Vijay Mallya claims, with limited operations in the next couple of months. Kingfisher has been grounded since October one this year. Also, the domestic air travel market is already shrinking and unless Jet has a long-term strategy up its sleeve, its market share may well slide further in the coming months.

According to data released by the Director General of Civil Aviation this evening, domestic air travel market shrunk by almost four lakh passengers to 50.20 lakh this November against 54.14 lakh passengers in the same month last year. Between January and November this year, the number of domestic air passengers declined by about 3% to 534.14 lakh against 550.32 in the same 11-month period last year. As per DGCA data, IndiGo held 27.3% of the domestic market, AI held 20.7%, SpiceJet 19.5%, Jet Airways 18.3%, GoAir 7.4% and JetLite 6.9% market share.
In November, which was a festive month, all domestic airlines showed an improvement in seat factors which measures number of seats occupied against the total number of seats sold. Keeping up with its performance in all of 2012, IndiGo managed to fill more of its aircraft than any other airline at almost 8.5 seats for every 10 on offer. Air India came a close second at almost 8 seats but Jet lagged behind with just 7.4 seats in 10. So while IndiGo and AI could easily fill three fourths of each aircraft, Jet could not. SpiceJet, a low fare airline like InidGo, Jet’s own low fare subsidiary JetLite and GoAir all managed to fill three fourths of their aircraft. This clearly shows that among full service carriers, only Air India reached this benchmark.

But on the parameter of on-time performance, Air India slipped badly in November when compared to October this year since it managed ontime operations in less than 7 flights in 10 in November against more than 8 out of 10 in October.

Unless this issue is addressed urgently by the airline, it could slip back to its previous records of less than 70% OTP and this could well make it lose precious market share in the long run. IndiGo remained the most trustworthy on OTP with more than 9 of its 10 flights landing and taking off on time at the country’s six big airports even though it slipped a bit from the October OTP of over 96%. Jet together with JetLite was almost 85% on time, followed by SpiceJet at 82.2% and GoAir at 74.4%.

http://www.firstpost.com/business/indigo-mkt-leader-ai-flies-past-jet-but-slips-on-on-time-performance-563392.html

DVB Bank, world’s largest aircraft financier drags DGCA to court

MUMBAI | NEW DELHI: DVB Bank, the world's largest aircraft financier, has filed a case against the country's aviation regulator for delayed deregistration of twoKingfisher AirlinesBSE -4.26 % aircraft, accusing the Indian administration of helping Vijay Mallya, the bankrupt airline's billionaire owner. 

The German firm has also vowed to suspend all funding to Indian carriers casting doubts over future purchase programmes of airlines such as Indi-Go and Jet Airways. 

The two Kingfisher aircraft in question are now located in Turkey and under the possession of DVB, but the hapless German bank is finding it impossible to deregister the aircraft from India and proceed with its sale. DVB took possession of the aircraft when it landed in Turkey in August for regular maintenance. 

"The Indian administration is certainly helping Mallya by not deregistering aircraft," said Carsten Gerlach, senior vice-president, aviation finance, at DVB. 

The case will come up for hearing on April 8, 2013, said Ajai Achuthan of Desai & Diwanji, a law firm based in Mumbai. DVB's writ petition is against DGCA and Kingfisher Airlines for not de-registering the two aircraft. 

DVB's move may act as a red rag for other lenders to Indian companies, but may not have a shortterm impact as most aircraft orders placed by domestic airlines are bunched together for delivery from 2015 onwards. For instance, in January 2011, budget carrier IndiGo created history by ordering 180 Airbus A-320 NEOs with a list price of almost $16 billion (Rs 72,000 crore) to be delivered between 2016 and 2025. However, IndiGo is still taking delivery of the 100 A-320s worth $6 billion, which it ordered in 2005. 

The Wadia group promoted GoAir has ordered 72 Airbus 320 NEO aircraft in June this year. 

The deliveries will begin from 2015, with an induction rate of 15 aircraft per year. Jet AirwaysBSE -1.15 % has ordered 10 B-787 to be delivered starting 2014. In October, the Centre for Asia-Pacific Aviation (CAPA) said that Chennai-headquartered low-cost airline SpiceJetBSE 0.96 % is in advanced discussions to order 30-40Boeing 737 MAX aircraft. 

Air India has placed orders for 27 Dreamliners, delayed by 4 years, for which delivery has already started, but the financing has been tied up. 

DVB is one of the largest providers of recourse and limited-recourse debt (senior and junior) to passenger/cargo airlines and aircraft operating lessors worldwide. 

It has funded 900 aircraft all over the world, and in India, the bank has, in the past, done "significant financing" for Jet Airways, Indi-Go, Air India and SpiceJet in addition to Kingfisher aircraft. In some cases, DVB has done indirect financing for Indian airline companies. 

Selling the two Airbus 320s of 2006 vintage could help DVB recover $23.5 million each. "It is a totally unnecessary situation," rues Gerlach. "We cannot work on this aircraft for maintenance or certify this aircraft and carry out modification for the prospective new owners of the aircraft." Deregistration is compulsory requirement to carry out such acts. 

The Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has been going slow on their application causing enormous loss. Gerlach has visited DGCA office twice and even met the civil aviation secretary, he says. Gerlach had approached DGCA on August 23, 2012 and later followed it up with another meeting on September 20. 

DVB is represented Desai & Diwanji, a reputed solicitor firm. A writ petition against the DGCA was filed on December 3. DGCA, in its defence, says that it will go by the law of the land. "We don't have any problems in deregistering an aircraft. We did so even in the case of Paramount. But we can't take a decision regarding a company which has gone to court as it can influence the outcome of litigation. We have to go by the law," said Arun Mishra, the DGCA chief.

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/news-by-industry/transportation/airlines-/-aviation/dvb-bank-worlds-largest-aircraft-financier-drags-dgca-to-court/articleshow/17685507.cms?curpg=2

AAI asked to ensure fire safety in hangars

In the wake of the major fire accident in the hangar of Begumpet airport, the Fire Services Department has advised the Airports Authority of India (AAI) to ensure fire safety measures in all the hangars inside the premises.

Installation of sprinkler and hydrant systems, smoke detectors, besides deployment of well-trained security personnel should be taken up to prevent fire accidents in future.

Gross negligence

Of the six hangars, two are being used by the Indian Air Force and hangar number 3 by the A.P. Aviation Academy. Three other hangars near the Air Traffic Control (ATC) are maintained by Indian Airlines.

Of these, one was given on lease to a Central government agency, while two others are used by Indian Airlines for parking their own aircraft, said officials.

“The National Building Code (NBC) stipulates mandatory fire safety systems in hangars but those maintaining them are turning a deaf ear to the norms,” a senior fire official said. He said fire safety norms were ignored at Hangar number 3, which was gutted in Monday’s fire accident and no-objection certificate (NOC) was also not obtained from the department.

AAI official visits spot

Meanwhile, a Deputy Executive Director of AAI came from Chennai and visited the spot on Wednesday. The Director-General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) officials here sent a message to its headquarters in New Delhi explaining the circumstances that led to the mishap.

http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-andhrapradesh/aai-asked-to-ensure-fire-safety-in-hangars/article4220090.ece

Airport food fails to fly in Chennai

High prices and poor quality keep passengers away from eateries

Atrociously priced but poor in quality — food sold at the Chennai airport is far from satisfactory, say air passengers.

Sheila Narayan (49), who frequently flies from Chennai to New Delhi, said she refrains from buying food at the airport. “Once my husband bought a veg. sandwich for Rs. 100 from one of the outlets inside the terminal and it was spoilt. We had a protracted argument with an employee but he refused to refund the money.”

Airport sources say that the outlets charge exorbitant rates because the rental imposed by the Airport Authority of India (AAI) is very high. At present, they pay Rs. 1050 per sq. m as the rent, plus 25 per cent for facility charges like water, electricity etc.

“Since they pay high rentals, they slap this amount on the customers by hiking the food prices. Also, AAI has no control over the pricing of foodstuff in the airport. While some of the outlets have a kitchen in the airport which lacks hygiene, the others prepare it in some makeshift kitchen in neighbouring areas. There is no mechanism to monitor the quality of food sold here,” said an airport official. Whenever the AAI increases the water or electricity charges, the stalls immediately increase the food prices, he added. He mentioned a study, Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP), recommended by The National Academy of Science (USA) in 1985 and said the AAI should ideally follow it to ensure food safety. HACCP, one of the inexpensive methods for testing the end product, furnishes details on ‘reasonable precautions’ and ‘due diligence’ to be taken in matters of food safety, he said.The outlets present at the airport include Sangeetha, Sapthagiri, Taj, Sri Krishna Sweets and Golden Chariot. Officials of the outlets say that all efforts are taken to ensure quality of food.

“We get all our supplies from Café Coffee Day and we have tried maintaining the quality of food. Whenever there are complaints we ensure that we resolve the issues at the earliest,” said general manager of Sapthagiri Restaurant.

Representatives of Café Coffee Day, too, say they try to keep a check on quality. “Since our suppliers trained to serve the food are not there, food may have got spoilt sometimes if it is not stored well. But we always try to give best quality of food,” said regional manager of Café Coffee Day.

D. Sudhakar Reddy, founder and president of Air Passengers Association of India (APAI) said, “Though it is over-priced, at least the food stalls in the other metros serve better food. The AAI must ideally give access to food safety and drug administration department and allow them to inspect the stalls regularly.”

Airport director, H.S. Suresh said the passengers must immediately contact the manager and file a complaint. “Unless this is done, we may not know that the quality of food is bad. Based on the complaints, we give the outlets regular feedback.”

“The AAI must give access to food safety and drug administration department and allow them to inspect the stalls”

http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-tamilnadu/airport-food-fails-to-fly-in-chennai/article4220258.ece

6% drop in domestic passenger traffic at Bangalore airport

Bangalore, Dec. 19:  

Bangalore International Airport saw a 6 per cent drop in domestic passenger traffic compared with 2011 while there was a 4 per cent increase in international passengers.

A press statement from Bangalore International Airport Ltd (BIAL) said the total number of passenger traffic declined 4 per cent to 12 million passengers. The airport also received its 50 millionth passenger since the airport opened in May, 2008.

“Looking ahead, we will set another milestone in 2013 with the phased opening of the expanded terminal. The new terminal will have the capacity to handle 20 million passengers annually,” BIAL Managing Director Sanjay Reddy said.

While the major domestic carriers have shown an increase in air traffic movements year on year, drop in the domestic passengers has been attributed to the stoppage of Kingfisher Airlines as well as the general slump in economy.

The airport at present handles 285 aircraft movements daily, servicing about 32,000 passengers. Between April-December 6.86 million passengers transited via the Bengaluru International Airport.

In 2012, Malaysia Airlines, Silk Air and AeroLogic Cargo increased their frequencies from BIAL. While Malaysia Airlines has started a second frequency for Bangalore – Kuala Lumpur, Silk Air has one additional weekly frequency.

Currently, 33 airlines fly to BIAL and connect to over 51 destinations in India and abroad. New domestic routes in 2012 include Belgaum, Ranchi and Tuticorin. The airport also handled 226,817 tonnes of cargo in 2012 with the growth being flat.

http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/todays-paper/tp-others/tp-states/6-drop-in-domestic-passenger-traffic-at-bangalore-airport/article4218934.ece

Air travel dips 8% in Nov; IndiGo top carrier

New Delhi, Dec. 19:  

Domestic airlines carried 8 per cent fewer passengers in November this year against last year. Incidentally, the number of passengers carried by domestic airlines during 2012 has been declining since June this year, compared with the same period last year.

The latest data, released by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation, show domestic airlines carried 50.20 lakh passengers in November this year compared with 54.14 lakh passengers last year.

November saw the industry reduce the number of flights operated and seats offered by close to 6 per cent, while passenger demand shrunk by over 7 per cent. The data show that the industry has been cutting capacity and demand for air travel in the domestic market has been shrinking since May this year.

On a stand-alone basis, in November this year, Delhi-based low-cost airline IndiGo flew most passengers (13.69 lakh), followed by Air India (10.38 lakh), SpiceJet (9.78 lakh), Jet Airways (9.17 lakh), Go Air (3.73 lakh) and JetLite (3.45 lakh).

The industry paid Rs 37.54 lakh as compensation to 1,142 passengers who were denied boarding by various airlines. In addition, Rs 34.66 lakh was paid to 14,864 passengers as compensation for cancellation of flights, while Rs 25.03 lakh was paid to 63,640 passengers for flight delays.

The data show that during January-November this year, the number of passengers carried by domestic airlines declined by almost 3 per cent at 5.34 crore passengers during against 5.5 crore flown during the same period last year.

http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/todays-paper/tp-logistics/air-travel-dips-8-in-nov-indigo-top-carrier/article4218898.ece

DGCA asks Kingfisher Airlines to furnish flight plan

NEW DELHI: The civil aviation regulator, DGCA, has asked Vijay Mallya's Kingfisher AirlinesBSE -3.41 % to furnish a concrete plan on issues such as "adequate working capital, airworthiness of planes and settling employee dues," failing which, they said Kingfisher's licence will not be activated. 

The regulator is waiting for Vijay Mallya to fulfil his promise made on December 7, of presenting a revival plan before month-end. Renewal of the airline's licence would be an uphill task, going by the requirements the government wants the air carrier to fulfil, experts say. 

The cash-strapped airline has been grounded since October and its flying permit has been suspended by the government because of its inability to carry on operations satisfactorily. 

At the lenders meet on Monday, the airline officials have claimed that they would restart operations in good time to avoid losing flying licence, which expires on December 31. 

"Their revival plan must include availability of adequate working capital and settling of employees dues, to begin with. The airworthiness of their aircraft and fulfillment of pilots' medical requirements are the other things it should have," the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) chief Arun Mishra told ET. 

The new conditions have emerged because Kingfisher's aircraft have been grounded for long and if pilots haven't flown for a month, their licence gets redundant. 

The submission of any such revival plan by KFABSE -3.41 % in the next 12 days now looks even more remote after lenders turned down Vijay Mallya's demand for bank guarantees on Monday, even though he promised to invest at least 105 crore in its equity by February. 

On the other hand, the government seems to have extended the long rope given to Kingfisher Airlines again by talking of a provision by which the airline can regain flying permit by submitting a recovery plan within the next two years. 

"This holds for all airlines. There is a circular which lays out a provision that if an airline's licence expires, they can regain it avoiding the circuitous route, by giving a revival plan in two years of licence expiry," an official from the ministry of civil aviation said.

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/news-by-industry/transportation/airlines-/-aviation/dgca-asks-kingfisher-airlines-to-furnish-flight-plan/articleshow/17671800.cms

Kingfisher needs to get OK from all stakeholders: DGCA

NEW DELHI: Kingfisher may have told bankers on Monday that it plans to restart limited operations by infusing Rs 425 crore in phases, but implementing the same may not be easy. Senior DGCA officials said on Tuesday they have not received any formal proposal from KFA to restart operations and they added the rider that the airline will need to first get the nod from airport operators, oil companies, employees and other vendors before being allowed to fly again. 

Getting these stakeholders, especially airports, on board without clearing their dues may be difficult. Kingfisher chief Vijay Mallya last week wrote to Airports Authority of India (AAI), requesting the PSU not to pursue the cheque bounced cases it has filed against the airline as it is preparing to fly again. 

Kingfisher owes about Rs 300 crore to AAI and cheques issued for Rs 117 crore have bounced. The authority has turned down Mallya's request and replied to his letter, saying that the matter is sub-judice and will be pursued in court. "We cannot allow Kingfisher to fly again till it clears our dues. Our stand has not changed," said a senior AAI official, while reacting to Kingfisher's Monday's claims to restart operations. 

A senior DGCA official said: "We will take into account what these parties say about Kingfisher's plans to fly again. We want the airline to fly again but only if it can do so completely safely and by maintaining whatever skeletal schedule it has. There cannot be a situation where it starts flying and again stops for some other reason." AAI and Mumbai airport management have already written to Director General of Civil Aviation Arun Mishra not to allow Kingfisher to fly again till it clears their dues. 

A number of vendors, employees and airport operators doubt Kingfisher's claims and wonder if the promoters will be able to get funds. Many employees have not got the third tranche of salary that was to be paid on Diwali. 

"The promoters want the airline to somehow fly again as a grounded airline will not get any investor. It has been more than a year since Mallya first made the claim of recapitalizing Kingfisher. During this time, the condition has only deteriorated and now the airline is firmly grounded," said an airport operator. 

Mallya offers 3kg gold at Tirupati 

TIRUPATI: Vijay Mallya made an offering of gold bricks on Tuesday, on his 58th birthday, weighing about 3 kg, at the famous hill shrine of Lord Venkateswara on Tuesday. Mallya requested temple authorities to use it for gilding the doors at the sanctum sanctorum, Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams deputy executive officer (temple) Chinnamgari Ramana said.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/business/india-business/Kingfisher-needs-to-get-OK-from-all-stakeholders-DGCA/articleshow/17671714.cms

Indian route is very profitable, says Cathay Pacific official

CHENNAI, DEC. 18: 

With 80 per cent passenger load factor in its aircraft, India is a top destination for Cathay Pacific Airways to focus. India and China are the fastest growing destinations for the airline, said Tom Wright, its General Manager, South Asia, Middle East and Africa.

The Indian route is very profitable, he told newspersons.

“We are comfortable with 75-80 per cent load factor. If it goes beyond that, it will create a spill over effect,” he said at the launch of the airline’s new business class and new premium economy cabins on the Chennai-Hong Kong route from January 1.

TURBULENT TIME

The global aviation sector is going through a turbulent time while the Indian market is at a ‘low point.’

The plan of foreign direct investment in India’s aviation sector is a ‘great idea,’ he said. Wright made it clear that currently there is no interest in Cathay Pacific to investin Indian airlines.

“It (investing) is not a bad idea, but it is not a business model that the airline follows,” he said. On the new in-flight products in its A330-300 aircrafts, Wright said that following the recent increase of flights from four times a week to a daily service, Chennai will be first city in South India to offer a three-class configuration – new business class, premium economy class and the new long-haul economy class.

The airline had earlier launched this facility in its Delhi-Hong Kong route.

The return fare on the Chennai-Hong Kong route for the new business class will be Rs 86,000; for premium economy class it is Rs 40,000 and for economy class it is Rs 35,000 (this is a promotional offer for two months).

EXPANSION TO OTHER CITIES

On plans to expand to other Indian cities, Wright said that the airline had used all its traffic rights.

The airline hopes that new premium economy class could be an attraction for long-haul passengers.

From India, 30-40 per cent of passengers’ final destination is Hong Kong, South China or Macau.

The rest proceed to countries such as the US, Japan and Australia.

This class provides comfort with more spacious cabins than the traditional economy class. The seat itself is wider and has a bigger recline, he said.

http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/industry-and-economy/logistics/indian-route-is-very-profitable-says-cathay-pacific-official/article4214171.ece?ref=wl_industry-and-economy

Baggage over 20 kg in SpiceJet, Jet will weigh more on pocket

NEW DELHI, DEC. 18: 

Carrying more than 20 kg as check-in baggage on a domestic flght? Be prepared to pay more for on SpiceJet, full-service Jet Airways and its subsidiary JetLite.

Both airlines are now charging Rs 250 a kg of excess baggage. While Jet Airways hiked the rate from Rs 210 a kg, SpiceJet used to charge Rs 200.

In a communication, SpiceJet has said the new excess baggage charges apply on all tickets sold after December 16.

Jet Airways hiked the excess baggage rate earlier this month. Neither Air India nor low-cost airline IndiGo has increased the excess baggage rate on domestic flights.

Industry watchers point out that airlines generally keep the excess baggage rates charges high so as to encourage passengers to travel light.

Generally, the excess baggage rate is calculated at 1 per cent of the one-way first class fare or 4 per cent of the full economy fare.

The latest move by SpiceJet and Jet Airways is part of a trend among domestic airlines that are looking to increase their revenues by hiking the cost of incidental services. This is a common practice globally.

CHARGING FOR PRINTOUT

Now, domestic airlines have started charging passengers Rs 50 for taking a print out of their ticket at the airport. Earlier, this service was available free of cost.

Similarly, you can book a seat and order a meal on low-cost airline IndiGo before the flight by paying Rs 600.

Go Air levies a non-refundable convenience fee of Rs 100 per passenger (inclusive of service tax and cess, if applicable) for all online transactions.

Dubai-based low cost airline Air Arabia allows a passenger seven kg as hand baggage free of charge, but charges a flat fee of Rs 1,000 for a 20-kg bag and Rs 2,000 for a 40-kg bag checked in.

http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/industry-and-economy/logistics/baggage-over-20-kg-in-spicejet-jet-will-weigh-more-on-pocket/article4214222.ece?homepage=true&ref=wl_home