Air Deccan to contest DGCA verdict

India’s largest low-cost carrier, the Deccan Aviation Pvt. Ltd-owned Air Deccan, will have to replace a thrifty, free-seating arrangement it has on the 350 flights it runs daily, replacing it with seat-numbered boarding passes. This is in order to comply with a new directive issued by the aviation regulator, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA).Air Deccan is the only airline in the country that does not provide seat numbers to its passengers as part of a business strategy to keep its planes flying more and staying on the ground less. It allows passengers to occupy any seat on boarding the plane on a first-come, first-seated basis, reducing seating time by up to 40-45%, according to company officials.

Tuesday’s move by the arm of the civil aviation ministry, which the airline said it is going to protest against, could result in higher airfares.“If the government is going to dictate terms and get into micro-management of the airline, then we will have to take up the issue with them,” Air Deccan’s chief revenue officer Samyukta Sridharan said on phone from Bangalore. “It will have a huge impact (on us).”The DGCA directive makes it compulsory for all airline companies to issue seat numbers to passengers before boarding. It also asks all airlines to make sure that handicapped passengers are the first ones to be boarded on a plane and the last ones to be deplaned.Apart from helping the handicapped, the DGCA directive also serves another function.

“Such allocation of seat numbers will also facilitate quick headcount of passengers for tallying with passenger manifest entries as and when required. Furthermore, in the unlikely event of an aircraft accident or in the case of unlawful interference with the aircraft, the seat numbers allotted to individual passengers will assist follow-up action and investigation,” the ministry said in a statement.Except for the initial few months when the airline started operations, Air Deccan has never had a mechanism to allocate seat numbers to passengers. Some of the world’s profitable low-cost airlines, such as the Ireland-based Ryanair Ltd and the Thai AirAsia Co. Ltd-owned AirAsia, follow the same practice. This allows them to utilize the aircraft more by reducing its ‘turnaround time’ on ground.

This is how it works: every time a standard Airbus A320 aircraft, the most-used plane in India, lands, it spends about 30 minutes for maintenance checks, refuelling, cleaning and boarding of the next set of passengers.Air Deccan says the new norms will increase the turnaround time by 20 minutes and that would reduce the number of hours a plane is in the air from the current average of 11 hours daily. Planes of full-service carriers such as Kingfisher Airlines Ltd fly only about nine hours a day.An analyst criticized the government move. “At this stage of the industry (in India), restrictions on the airlines are not warranted for,” said Kapil Kaul, a New Delhi-based analyst with the Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation.

Airlines such as US’ South West Airlines Co. only started issuing seat numbers after being in service for 25 years. “You pay for preferred seating and anything additional. That’s how the low-cost model works the world over,” Kaul said.Air Deccan flies about 7.5 lakh passengers annually with a fleet of 43 planes flying 350 flights daily.The new norms applicable immediately, civil aviation ministry officials said, will help keep track of instances of overbooking at airlines and regulate the flow of passengers at the airport security gates.

Courtesy: Wall Street Journal

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DGCA makes seat allocation compulsory

In a move that will directly affect the country's leading low-cost carrier, Air Deccan, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has imposed a norm that makes it mandatory for every airline to allocate seats and row numbers to passengers on the boarding card. The new guidelines came into effect last week on April 26. The guidelines have been issued under the provisions of Rule 133A of Aircraft Rules 1937 for all passenger transport aircraft operators. According to a Press statement released by the Ministry of Civil Aviation, the guidelines have been issued to "ensure correct loading of aircraft and keeping the centre of gravity of the aircraft within limits at all times during flight". According to the statement, the guidelines will do away with confusions and ensure "boarding is done in a smooth and orderly manner". Also, in the event of an accident, the numbers will help in investigations.

A DGCA official said a carrier violating the new rules will be forced to explain, before penal action is initiated. While all other carriers provide customers with boarding passes with seat numbers allocated, Air Deccan has been using free seating on its aircraft to save time. Industry experts pointed out that these measures will cause hike in fares. "Seat-number allocation measures will increase turnaround time of an aircraft by an hour, instead of the current 40 minutes. An idle Airbus A320 for an hour would mean $1800 to the owner. Therefore, the airline would finally pass on this additional cost to the passengers," said a source. "Globally, budget carriers were not allocating seat numbers in order to increase aircraft utilisation.

Airports’ infrastructure are also helping these carriers to help this system. With this (the new norm), passengers will have to report at least 2 hours in advance and those reporting late for a flight may have to be dumped,” say sources. Mohan Kumar, consultant and former chief finance officer of Air Deccan, added: "The new norm will not impact Air Deccan. There is no additional investment required to meet this condition. This will affect Air Deccan in future as and when the airline wants to increase the number of flights." At present, Air Deccan has a flight utilisation rate, which is between 10.5 hours and 11 hours. Air Deccan is targeting 12-hour aircraft utilisation rate in future, in line with international budget carriers.

Courtesy: Business Standard

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Jet Airways takes delivery of first 777-300ER

Jet Airways, India's largest private airline, took delivery of the airline's first of 10 777-300ER (Extended Range) airplanes. The airplane was delivered in Jet Airways' new paint scheme that features a new design, colors and typeface. The airplane will enter service on May 5, commemorating the airline's 14th anniversary of operations. Jet Airways, which originally placed the order for 10 777-300ERs in September 2005, currently operates 49 Classic and Next-Generation Boeing 737- 400/-700/-800/-900 airplanes within its fleet. In December 2006, the airline also placed an order for 10 787 Dreamliners.

Courtesy: Reuters

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