News Analysis India

Tag: AirAsia

  • AirAsia India offers special fare for unlimited rescheduling, lower cancellation fees

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: AirAsia India said on Wednesday it is offering special “premium flex fares” that will give passengers a number of services such as unlimited rescheduling of flight bookings, discounted cancellation fees and free selection of pre-booked meals.

    With this special fare, passengers can now make unlimited changes up to two hours prior to the scheduled flight departure without any fees, its statement said.

    “Guests opting for premium flex fares get a host of complimentary services, including unlimited rescheduling of flight bookings, discounted cancellation fees of only Rs 500 for cancellations beyond 72 hours against the standard cancellation fees of Rs 3,000 and free standard seats from rows 6-11 and 15-32,” it mentioned.

    The passengers will also get 50 per cent off on premium seats in row numbers 1-5, 12 and 14, and a free selection from the airline’s menu of pre-booked meals, it added.

  • 78.22 lakh domestic air passengers in March, slightly lower than February: DGCA

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: Around 78.22 lakh domestic passengers travelled by air in March, which is slightly lower than 78.27 lakh who travelled in February, Indian aviation regulator DGCA said on Tuesday.

    According to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), 77.34 lakh people travelled by air within the country in January. While IndiGo carried 41.85 lakh passengers in March, a 54 per cent share of the total domestic market, SpiceJet flew 10.03 lakh passengers, which is 12.8 per cent share of the market, according to data shared by the DGCA.

    It showed that Air India, GoAir, Vistara and AirAsia India carried 9.17 lakh, 6.12 lakh, 5 lakh and 5.42 lakh passengers respectively in March. The occupancy rate or load factor of the six major Indian airlines was between 64.5 per cent and 76.5 per cent in March, it stated.

    “The passenger load factor in the month of March 2021 has shown increasing trend compared to previous month primarily due to beginning of tourist season,” the DGCA said. The regulator noted that the occupancy rate at SpiceJet was 76.5 per cent in March.

    According to the DGCA the occupancy rates for IndiGo, Vistara, GoAir, Air India and AirAsia India were 66.4 per cent, 64.5 per cent, 71.5 per cent, 70.6 per cent and 65.1 per cent respectively. India resumed domestic passenger flights on May 25 last year after a gap of two months due to the coronavirus pandemic.

    Indian airlines are allowed to operate a maximum of 80 per cent of their pre-pandemic domestic flights. The DGCA data mentioned that in March, IndiGo had the best on-time performance of 97.8 per cent at four metro airports — Bengaluru, Delhi, Hyderabad and Mumbai.

    The regulator said that GoAir and SpiceJet were at number two and three positions at these four airports in March with 95.8 per cent and 92.2 per cent on-time performance respectively. The aviation sector has been significantly impacted due to the travel restrictions imposed in India and other countries in view of the coronavirus pandemic.

    All airlines in India have taken cost-cutting measures such as pay cuts, leaves without pay and layoffs in order to tide over the crisis.

  • Tata Group to file an Expression of Interest for Air India today: Sources

    Tata Group to file an Expression of Interest for Air India today. Tata group will use Air Asia as a vehicle where Tata Sons has a significant majority stake, said Sources.Tata group will use Air Asia as a vehicle where Tata Sons has a significant majority stake, sources informed

    The Tata Group is believed to have used its budget airline joint venture in India with Malaysia’s AirAsia Group, Air Asia India, to submit the EoI, according to a report in ToI. Several news reports said that Tata Sons was considering to slowly raise its stake in AirAsia India to more than 76 per cent by the end of 2020-21.

    Further, a group of 200 Air India staff is likely to file EoI, and the group claims to have a financial investor onboard, the publication mentioned. Budget airline SpiceJet’s Chairman and Managing Director Ajay Singh also is eyeing the embattled national carrier but the domestic carrier was reticent to comment.