Global growth rate of flights continues to slowdown: OAG
By TBM Staff | Mumbai

The world’s airlines are scheduled to operate just one per cent more flights for July 2008 compared with the same month last year. According to the latest statistics from OAG (Official Airline Guide), the world’s authority on flight information, this represents an additional 34,800 flights. Capacity for July is up by three per cent year on year.

The total number of flights scheduled to operate worldwide this month is 2.64 million, offering 318.3 million seats to travellers around the globe. Within this global figure of all scheduled passenger flight operations, the low cost sector accounts for 459,000 flights (17 per cent) and 68.3 million seats (21 per cent). Frequencies and capacity in the low cost sector are both showing 13 per cent growth for July 2008 v/s July 2007.

Within the United States, domestic activity has dropped 2 per cent overall or 21,500 fewer flights this month, resulting in 818,000 fewer seats. This is despite increases in low cost frequencies and capacity within the US of four per cent and three per cent respectively.

Figures for Europe and Asia Pacific indicate these regions are faring better at present, with intra-Europe and intra-Asia Pacific figures both showing a three per cent increase in the number of flights (up by 18,268 and 15,975 respectively) and a four per cent rise in capacity of 3.03 million and 3.07 million more seats year on year.

Steve Casley, Chief Operating Officer, OAG commented, “The OAG figures for July reveal signs of an impending downturn in the aviation industry. While some regions continue to show steady growth, the impact from the current climate in the United States is already contributing to an overall slowdown in the global figures and on the key long-haul routes between North America and hubs in Europe, Asia Pacific and Latin America. The full impact will be clearer when we publish our forecast for Quarter Four.”

The figures were revealed in the latest OAG Aviation Statistics, a regular snapshot of airline activity around the world. Flight information and data solutions company OAG collates data from more than 900 scheduled airlines, on a daily basis, which gives an accurate overview of anticipated travel demand.

The transatlantic route, traditionally one of strong growth, is showing just one per cent increase in flights and two per cent in capacity for July. Similarly, there is just one per cent rise in the number of transpacific flights and seats. Flights between Western Europe and the Middle East, however, are up by 11 per cent, and there is a rise of six per cent for flights between Western Europe and Asia Pacific.

India continues to show year-on-year growth far exceeding the average. For this month, there is a 34 per cent increase in flights to and from India (4,545 extra flights representing 870,000 more seats) and a 12 per cent rise in domestic operations (5,341 flights, 576,000 seats). The Middle East is showing a 20 per cent growth in international operations (7,248 flights and 1.4 million seats), but a drop of -four per cent on routes within the region.

Other territories showing a notably significant increase in year-on-year capacity are the Russian Federation (621,000 more domestic seats, 558,000 more international seats); France, with 428,000 more international seats, of which 84 per cent is in the low cost sector; UAE with 694,000 more international seats, largely driven by continued growth of Emirates and Etihad; Canada, with 321,000 more domestic seats, largely attributable to WestJet and Porter; and Poland, with 492,000 more international seats, of which around half are in the low cost sector.

Aircraft fleet data from OAG reveals there are 40,197 planes operating worldwide this month compared to 38,886 the same time last year, an increase of 3.4 per cent. North America accounts for 36 per cent of the global market, followed by Europe with 27 per cent. Globally, there are more than 8,100 aircraft on order this month, a rise of just under 20 per cent compared to this time last year. North America is the only region showing a decline year on year, with 0.6 per cent fewer aircraft on order compared with July 2007. Asia Pacific accounts for the largest share of new orders (33 per cent) and the Middle East is showing the largest year on year percentage increase at 74.3 per cent (347 more aircraft on order than a year ago).

Source : TravelBizMonitor.com

Qantas jumbo makes emergency landing after mid-air drama

Image from BBC News

MANILA (AFP) — A Qantas Boeing 747 flying to Melbourne made an emergency landing in Manila on Friday after a dramatic mid-air rupture that left a "gaping hole" in its fuselage, officials and passengers said.

Stunned passengers reported how the jumbo, which originated in London and made a stop in Hong Kong, plunged 20,000 feet (6,000) metres in an "absolutely terrifying" ordeal.

A Qantas spokeswoman said the plane, carrying 346 passengers and 19 crew, diverted to Manila where it was now undergoing inspection on the ground.

"There was a terrific boom, and bits of wood and debris just flew forward into first (class) and the oxygen masks dropped down," June Kane, a passenger from Melbourne, told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

"We were told that one of the rear doors, a hole had blown into it, but I've since looked at the plane and there's a gigantic gaping hole in the plane. "It was absolutely terrifying, but I have to say everyone was very calm," she added, speaking from the Philippine capital.

Qantas chief executive officer Geoff Dixon said initial inspections showed the aircraft had sustained a hole in its fuselage, and it was currently being inspected by engineers. He said the flight crew performed emergency procedures after oxygen masks were deployed and there were no reports of any injuries. Dixon said the Australian Transportation Safety Bureau and Civil Aviation Safety Authority had been notified.

Manila airport operations officer Ding Lima said the aircraft lost cabin pressure shortly after leaving Hong Kong bound for Melbourne. "The captain of the aircraft immediately called the (Manila) control tower for an immediate landing," Lima told local radio. "There is a big hole in the belly of the aircraft near the right wing about three metres in diameter," he added.

Flight QF30, which took off from Hong Kong at 9:00am (0100 GMT), had been due to arrive in Melbourne at 1145 GMT, according to the Qantas website. Lorena Dimaya, a Qantas assistant supervisor in Manila, said the aircraft had landed safely just after 11:00am local time and the incident had not been "life threatening." She said the plane had taken off from Hong Kong when it "encountered some technical problems and requested to be diverted to Manila, where it made an emergency landing."

Passenger June Kane said the problem seemed to centre on the baggage compartment of the plane. "I'm looking at the plane now and on the left-hand side, just forward of the wing, there's a gaping hole from the wing to the underbody," she said. "It's about two metres by four metres and there's baggage hanging out so you assume that there's a few bags that may have gone missing.

Passengers praised the crew for landing the plane safely. "We heard a very large bang, the oxygen masks came out. But the crew was very calm and everything was fine," said Phil Rescall, a 40-year-old man from England travelling to Australia for work. "I think we were all very lucky."

"The crew were terrific, they did a great job," another passenger, Brendan McClements, said. "Everyone gave them a round of applause as we landed."

Source : AFP

Keep HAL airport open: AAI
24 Jul 2008, TNN

Anshul Dhamija and Sujit John

Bangalore: The new Bengaluru International Airport (BIA) has landed in a turbulent whirlwind with the Airports Authority of India (AAI).

The AAI has prepared a report that says that BIA’s capacity is less than what its promoters have stated, that the airport is already saturated, and that the promoters have violated a key clause in the concession agreement signed with the government. It has gone on to recommend that the old HAL airport be kept open till BIA builds an additional terminal.

The AAI report, a copy of which is with The Times of India, follows a directive by the civil aviation minister to study the capacity issues at BIA. The AAI had designated a 4-member team to conduct the study in June.

The report says that the Bangalore International Airport Ltd (BIAL) must take “immediate action...to create an additional capacity of 10 million passengers per annum to avoid further congestion and to handle the projected growth.” The report goes on to say, “In view of the saturation of the passenger terminal, import cargo, apron and runway, it is recommended that, in the meantime, the existing HAL Airport may be permitted to operate until the time of commissioning of proposed additional capacity at the new Bengaluru International Airport.”

As per AAI’s calculations, the terminal capacity at BIA can only handle 9.78 million passengers annually as against the city’s passenger traffic of 10.12 million passengers in 2007-08. This means that since the day BIA opened on May 24, the airport has been under capacity. BIAL, on the contrary, has claimed that the airport’s capacity is 11.4 million passengers, which could even go up to handle 14 million passengers annually.

As per recommendations of the International Air Transport Association (IATA), an airport which has to handle passenger traffic of 10 million passengers should have a terminal size of 1,50,000 sqm in area. BIA, according to the AAI report, has a terminal size of barely half that at 71,310 sqm.

The report goes on to state: “BIAL revised its forecast to 11.4 million in November, 2006, for the year 2015 which deviates from the actual traffic drastically. In fact the traffic was growing as high as 43.9% when the revised forecast was made in November 2006.

As per the concession agreement para 14.2 (page-61) BIAL was supposed to provide facilities as per IATA/ICAO standards and was to provide 27.3 sqm of space per peak hour passenger (PHP), whereas the actual area provided is 19.8 sqm per PHP, which is in deviation with the concession agreement.”

As per norms followed by IATA, the capacity of an airport terminal is calculated on the ratio between the total area of an airport terminal to the number of peak hour passengers, which for any airport should be a minimum of 25 sqm/PHP.

In fact the figure of 19.8 sqm/PHP at BIA is way below that of older airports in Chennai and Kolkata which have figures of 23.15 sqm/PHP and 24.15 sqm/PHP respectively. In the new Hyderabad airport terminal, it is estimated to be 35.21 sqm/PHP.

Further, taking the terminal building in its totality, the report states that the “basement area of 18,665 sqm is not used for passenger facilitation, it is used for storage, services and utilities. Therefore, basement area should be excluded from the total terminal area which will reduce area/PHP to 14.6 sqm.”

What AAI report also said

• BIA’s peak hour runway capacity is 32 movements as against current peak hour demand of 25. With anticipated annual growth rate of 25%, runway is likely to saturate during 2010-11. Immediate action should be taken for construction of second runway
• Existing number of parking bays are 42 as against peak hour demand of 41 bays (26 passenger aircraft, 5 freighter, 10 buffer for contingency). Addition of 30 more bays recommended
• There is imbalance between import and export cargo area which needs adjustment, that is import cargo is saturated whereas export cargo and domestic cargo have adequate capacity. It is therefore recommended that an additional import cargo capacity may be created immediately.

Source : The Times of India

From October 1, 2008, airlines in India are going to stop paying commissions on their tickets sales by travel agents.

Travel agents are understandably incensed. Until about a year ago they used to earn 9% commission, which was dropped to 5%, and in another 2 months, will drop to 0.

Industry experts say most small agents will shut shop, while the bigger ones will earn special bonuses, instead of commission, from airlines, which will get increased, even further, thanks to the smaller agents closing down.

The various travel agents' associations, whose members account for 85% of tickets sold, have threatened to stop selling air tickets, which will impact the Rs. 33,000 Crore airline industry in India.

For many smart customers, travel agents were already operating in the Zero Commission regime, since we would take back the commission, in the form of discounts.

Painful as it is, it is time for travel agents in India, to start walking the extra mile to earn their commissions. As a customer I do not need to pay 5% to a travel agent to just do an online booking that I can do myself. In most mature markets, travel agents receive no commission from the airline, and charge service fees, which demands the provision of value addded services.

For many years, I have been telling my travel agent friends that they need to provide services commensurate with their commissions. Start providing holistic travel related services. Hotels, car rentals, visa and passport services, travel insurance, travel advice, and tours, are just some of the areas they must look at.

Online travel agents, such as Ezeego1.com, Cleartrip.com, Yatra.com and Makemytrip.com have already started finding alternative sources of revenue. Some these agents have less than 30% of their total revenues coming from airline bookings.

Agents who develop skills and offer services that help the customer find better deals, and an easier travel experience, will survive, others will just disappear in to history.