THE COST OF AIR INDIA – SPICEJET SHIFTS AIRLINE DIVESTMENT FROM BOEING TO OPERATIONS AIRBUS COST CUTTING P 7 P 10 P 13 OCTOBER-NOVEMBER 2019 `100.00 (INDIA-BASED BUYER ONLY) VOLUME 12 • ISSUE 5 WWW.SPSAIRBUZ.COM ANAIRBUZ EXCLUSIVE MAGAZINE ON CIVIL AVIATION FROM INDIA Projects like the Volocopter 2X, with nine electric engines and eighteen rotors, can carry two passengers and is expected to contribute hugely to urban air mobility in the near future. ADVANCES IN 2008/24198 DELENG/ AIRCRAFT PROPULSION AN SP GUIDE PUBLICATION PAGE 20 RNI NUMBER: THERE IS NO COMPARISON. NO EQUAL. THERE IS ONLY ONE. THE COMMERCIAL JET ENGINE IN A LEAGUE OF ITS OWN. Powered by an industry‑first geared architecture — and more than 40 other groundbreaking innovations — the Pratt & Whitney GTF™ is unlike any engine that’s come before it. EXPLORE THE FUTURE OF FLIGHT AT PW.UTC.COM PW CE GTF NoComparison_SPsAirbuz.indd 1 8/13/19 5:00 PM Client: Pratt & Whitney Commercial Engines Ad Title: GTF - No comparison. Publication: SPs Air Buz - Oct/Nov Issue #5 Trim: 210 x 267 mm • Bleed: 220 x 277 mm • Live: TABLE OF CONTENTS ENGINES / TECHNOLOGY P20 ADVANCES IN AIRCRAFT PROPULSION Cover: THE COST OF AIR INDIA – SPICEJET SHIFTS AIRLINE DIVESTMENT FROM BOEING TO OPERATIONS AIRBUS COST As fossil fuel reserves get CUTTING P 7 P 10 P 13 OCTOBER-NOVEMBER 2019 `100.00 Bio-fuel technologies, driven by (INDIA-BASED BUYER ONLY) depleted at a disquieting VOLUME 12 • ISSUE 5 WWW.SPSAIRBUZ.COM ANAIRBUZ EXCLUSIVE MAGAZINE ON CIVIL AVIATION FROM INDIA Projects like the Volocopter 2X, with nine electric engines and eighteen rotors, can carry two passengers and is expected to contribute hugely to urban air the dual motivations of fossil fuel pace, there is pressure on mobility in the near future. depletion and climate change engine Original Equipment imperatives, are progressing at a rapid Manufacturers to innovate. pace. The technological feasibility of Cover Photograph: ADVANCES IN Brandlab / Skyports / 2008/24198 using bio-fuels in aircraft engines has DELENG/ AIRCRAFT PROPULSION AN SP GUIDE PUBLICATION PAGE 20 Volocopter / GRAFT RNI NUMBER: already been demonstrated amply. SP's AirBuz Cover 5-2019.indd 1 04/11/19 3:36 PM AIRLINES / FINANCE P7 THE COST OF AIRLINE OPERATIONS Time and again, airline failures can be traced to one key item which is the FUEL MAINTENANCE FOREIGN EXCHANGE MARKET SloWDOWN WEAKENING ruPEE ‘Cost of Operations’ that spiraled out FUEL CONSUMPTION & CONSERVATION MAINTENANCE REPAIR & OVERALL of control COMPETITION IN THE INDUStrY CAPITAL & FINANCING COSTS AIRPORT CHARGES ATF TAXATION GST ON MRO P10 POLICY / DISINVESTMENT AIRLINES / OPERATIONS AIR INDIA – DIVESTMENT P13 SPICEJET SHIFTS FROM BOEING TO AIRBUS DEPARTMENTS Grounding of the Boeing 737 MAX, which constitutes most of SpiceJet’s fleet, is the P2 A WORD FROM EDITOR main reason that could pave way for this P3 NEWS BRIEFS significant deal for Airbus P32 FINALLY INDUSTRY / P&W TECHNOLOGY / GAGAN P25 ROLE OF PRATT & WHITNEY IN P30 GAGAN MESSAGING SERVICE MAINSTREAM AIR TRANSPORT INAUGURATED Pratt & Whitney (P&W) is a subsidiary of The latest venture dubbed as GEMINI, United Technologies Corporation (UTC) has been developed through a SPECIAL producing aircraft engines widely used in collaborative effort between the AAI and CONTRIBUTION TO both civil and military aviation. INCOIS. BUSINESS AVIATION SP’S AIRBUZ • ISSUE 5 • 2019 • 1 A WORD FROM EDITOR PUBLISHER AND EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Jayant Baranwal EDITOR Air Marshal B.K. Pandey (Retd) DEPUTY MANAGING EDITOR Neetu Dhulia GROUP EXECUTIVE EDITOR Vishal Thapar CONTRIBUTORS Group Captain A.K. Sachdev (Retd) Group Captain Joseph Noronha (Retd) S.R. Swarup, Vasuki Prasad HE AIRCRAFT INDUSTRY IS currently engaged in the search for solu- Shriniwas Mishra tions that would help reduce emissions. Measures such as use of bio-fuel in CHAIRMAN & MANAGING DIRECTOR Jayant Baranwal place of fossil fuel is one obvious solution and electric propulsion is another. PLANNING & BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT But the greater concern is that the reserves of fossil fuels the world over are Executive Vice President: Rohit Goel depleting rapidly and are likely to run out sooner than later. Both these issues GROUP DIRECTOR - SALES & MARKETING Thave driven the global aerospace industry to embarked on the search for alternative meth- Neetu Dhulia ods of aircraft propulsion. An in depth analysis by A.K. Sachdev on the new developments DEPUTY DIRECTor – SALES in aircraft propulsion has been included in this issue of the magazine. In another article Rajeev Chugh in this issue of the magazine, A.K. Sachdev delves on the role that engine make Pratt & Manager – HR & ADMIN Bharti Sharma Whitney has played over the last several generations in the domain of aircraft engines and ASSISTANT Manager – HR & ADMIN the significant contribution by the company. Pooja Tehlani Cost of operations spiralling out of control impinges seriously on the financial well DEPUTy Manager – CIRCULATION being of the airlines and generally is the underlying cause of their failure. With rising cost Rimpy Nischal of inputs especially the extremely labile pricing of aviation turbine fuel (ATF) and a highly GROUP RESEARCH ASSOCIATE Survi Massey competitive environment that compels airlines to keep their air fares at affordable levels, CREATIVE DIRECTOR airlines find it an extremely difficult task to balance their books. Satyendra Pandey, who Anoop Kamath has a wealth of experience in the management of the airline industry, has carried out a GRAPHIC DESIGNERS comprehensive analysis of the problems related to the management of cost of operations Vimlesh Kumar Yadav, Sonu S. Bisht of airlines. His report on the subject figures in this issue of the magazine. SP’s websiTES SpiceJet, one of the leading private carriers in India in the low cost segment, has since Sr Web Developer: Shailendra Prakash Ashish Web Developer: Ugrashen Vishwakarma its launch in the country, been operating a fleet of airliners from the US aerospace giant © SP Guide Publications, 2019 Boeing. However, with problem that has surfaced in the recent past with the Boeing 737 SUBSCRIPTION/CIRCULATION MAX 8 airliners leading to the grounding of this fleet, the Indian low cost carrier SpiceJet Annual Inland: `600 • Foreign: US$180 is seriously considering induction of a sizeable number of airliners from the Airbus family E-mail: [email protected] to service their expansion plans in the future. A report on this subject by Ayushee Chaud- [email protected] hary of SP Guide Publications has been included in this issue of SP’s AirBuz. LETTER TO EDITOR [email protected] A major problem pertaining to the Indian civil aviation sector that the Ministry of FOR ADVERTISING DETAILS CONTACT Civil Aviation has been grappling with for quite some time now with no light visible at [email protected] the end of the tunnel, is to privatise the loss making national carrier Air India. The way [email protected] a state-owned airline should be managed has been clearly demonstrated by the manner SP GUIDE PUBLICATIONS PVT LTD in which a tiny state such as Singapore has nurtured its national asset Singapore Airlines A-133 Arjun Nagar (Opposite Defence Colony), New Delhi 110003, India. which has always been ranked as one of the leading airlines in the world. Unfortunately, Tel: +91 (11) 24644693, 24644763, 24620130 performance over the last seven decades has established without doubt that the govern- Fax: +91 (11) 24647093 ment in India is incapable of turning the tide. An in depth analysis by Anil Chopra on the E-mail: [email protected] problem of divestment of India has been included in this issue of SP’s AirBuz. BENGALURU, INDIA 204, Jal Vayu Vihar, Kalyan Nagar All this and more in this issue of SP’s AirBuz. Welcome aboard and we wish you many Bengaluru 560043, India. happy landings! Tel: +91 (80) 23682204 Jai Hind! www.spguidepublications.com Owned, published and printed by Jayant Baranwal, printed at Kala Jyothi Process Pvt Ltd and Published at A-133, Arjun Nagar (Opposite Defence Colony), New Delhi 110003, India. All rights reserved. B.K. Pandey MEMBER OF: Editor 2 • SP’S AIRBUZ • Issue 5 • 2019 www.spsaIrbuz.com G Earlier, Buffet had admitted it was one of his few indulgences. Subse- quently, what elevated the business jet from a luxury toy to what is increas- ingly seen as a vital corporate tool? In the US, hundreds of Fortune 500 com- panies now flaunt their own aircraft, with companies arguing that this vital conveyance saves time and boosts pro- ductivity.NEWS A recentBRIEFS CNN report quoted ( AIRLINE NEWS and ICICI subscribed to `2,000 crore each, in a single system of certification such as the SBI subscribed to `1,100 crore. The bond European Aviation Safety Authority (EASA). was floated at 6.99 per cent, around 86 basis The Boeing 737 Max has been grounded FORECAST BY AIRBUS ON REQUIREMENT points higher than the three-year govern- globally since a fatal Ethiopian Airlines OF NEW AIRCRAFT ment bond yield, which stood at 6.13 per crash in March and a similar deadly acci- Airbus expects the worldwide passenger cent and was subscribed nearly three times. dent with Indonesia’s Lion Air last year. and freighter aircraft fleet to more than As per spokesperson from Air India “The double in the next twenty years, the com- bond received bids worth `20,830 crore AIRASIA CONTRIBUTES TO MAKING KUALA pany said in its Global Market Forecast from 47 bidders which includes banks and LUMPUR AN LCC MEGAHUB (GMF) for the period 2019 to 2038. The 2019 mutual funds. It is the highest in the yield- AirAsia welcomes the findings of the annual report, titled “Cities, Airports & Air- based bond market in the history of Bombay OAG Megahubs Index 2019 reaffirming craft,” forecasts the need for 39,210 new air- Stock Exchange.