Gulf airlines star direct flights from Calcuta

Two Gulf-based airlines that had thought of starting direct flights from the city sometime soon have shelved their plans, a day after British Airways said it was scrapping its Calcutta-London flight from March.

Etihad Airways, the national airline of the United Arab Emirates, and Qatar Airways had both acquired rights to fly to and from Calcutta.

Today, a senior Etihad official said from Delhi: “There are no plans now to launch flights in the Calcutta-Abu Dhabi sector.”

Etihad had announced it would start Calcutta-Abu Dhabi direct flights but had not fixed the weekly frequency.

Qatar Airways had plans to start a Doha-Calcutta flight but didn’t sound too keen any more. “It does not seem to be happening now,” an airline official said.

Sources have cited global recession and increase in air turbine fuel surcharge as reasons that have compelled airlines to go for route rationalisation that has hit Calcutta the most.

British Airways, which flies Calcutta-London three times a week, will snap the direct link from March 28, 2009. Officials said the route was not making a profitable contribution to the airline.

In October, Air India had stopped services on this route.

German airline Lufthansa has cut its weekly flight frequency to the city from five to three from this winter.

Aviation industry sources said Calcutta was becoming a “non-viable” sector for international airline operators because of shrinking passenger load. Although 2007 saw 20 per cent more international passengers over the previous year, the rate slumped to 5 per cent this year.

“We apprehend a negative growth in 2009 if the trend continues,” said a senior official of an international airline that has flights from the city.

A survey by the Airports Authority of India also revealed a dip in passenger traffic over the past few months.

While the number of domestic and international travellers in the first four months of 2007 grew between 20 and 25 per cent over the corresponding period the year before, the growth was 8 to 10 per cent in the same period in 2008.

“Any long-haul flight needs nearly 80 per cent passenger load to stay viable. But the load factor now is much less than that,” said an official of a European airline.

Travel officials said they were worried. “The withdrawals and deferring of launch plans are sending ominous signals to the travel industry in eastern India,” said Anil Punjabi, chairman (east), Travel Agents Federation of India. “We are appealing to British Airways to reconsider its decision.”

Wrong runway

A Singapore Airlines flight tonight entered the wrong runway while taking off.

“The flight entered the secondary runway instead of the main one,” a Calcutta airport official said. No casualty was reported.

Airlines Flight Makes Emergency Landing In West Palm Beach

An American Airlines flight bound for Dallas-Fort Worth turned around shortly after takeoff from West Palm Beach, Fla., after the pilot reported engine trouble.

Palm Beach International Airport spokeswoman Casandra Davis says 141 passengers and crew members were aboard American Flight 1473 on Friday morning. Davis says the pilot landed the aircraft safely at the airport.

Tim Wagner’s a spokesman for Fort Worth-based American. He says Flight 1473 spent about six minutes in the air before landing.

Wagner says passengers were booked on another flight for Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, which departed shortly after noon on Friday.

Thai Airways International Seeks Delay on Airbus Order

Thai Airways International will ask Airbus to delay delivery of six A330 planes because its cash is running low after an eight-day shutdown of the country’s main international airport. The airline expects its first loss in 45 years in 2008 after antigovernment protesters shut down the airport for eight days starting Nov. 25, stranding about 400,000 travelers. The closure may cost Thai Air about 19 billion baht ($545 million) in lost sales and cancellations.

Brazil’s Azul CEO Sees Airline’s 2010 Traffic Up 50%

Brazilian low-cost, low-fare airline Azul Linhas Aereas SA will transport 50% more passengers in 2010 than in the current year, continuing its swift expansion, Chief Executive David Neeleman said Thursday.

Since beginning operations in late 2008, the airline grew to take 4.4% of Brazil’s $6.5 billion civil aviation market in October.

“We will continue to grow significantly faster than the overall market next year,” Neeleman said on the sidelines of an industry conference in Sao Paulo.

Neeleman, founder of JetBlue Airways Corp. (JBLU) in the United States, predicted the Brazilian airline market will expand 10% to 15% in 2010, returning to pre-economic crisis growth.

Azul is maintaining its fleet expansion plans. It will add seven new Embraer (ERJ, EMBR3.BR) jets next year to its existing fleet of 14.

“But we could still expand much faster than that,” he added.

The airline was struggling to raise funds for the new planes amid the wider financial crisis, but Neeleman said that the company has now secured $235 million to buy the aircraft.

Neeleman said Azul will add three new destinations in 2010 to its current domestic network of 16 cities.

The company is in “no hurry” to go public, he added. It is now privately held.

Meanwhile, it has no plans to add international routes.

Airlines Changes Strategic and Plans Market Next Year for Survive Recession

The recession is officially on. U.S. automakers are hanging on by a thread, truckers are scrambling to stay on the road and the railroads have been derailed somewhat by the slow economy.

So surely airlines will take another blow in 2009, correct? We’ll see another cycle of bankruptcies and shutdowns, and airline CEOs will be the next group of industry titans clamoring for help from Congress, right? Apparently not.

Faced with record fuel prices this summer, the airlines remade themselves by downsizing and raising fares, showing a discipline not seen in the past. Now that oil prices are plunging, analysts say the industry is more prepared than most for the effects of a long recession.

“The price of oil trumps softening demand when it comes to airline profits,” said Rick Seaney, chief executive of FareCompare.com. “I think the total price of domestic airline tickets, which includes a full year of fees for bags, seat selection, Cokes, pillows, etc., will be at 21st-century highs as airlines have shown an uncharacteristic willingness to cut seats to keep planes full, providing maximum pricing power.”

So even after piling up huge losses again in 2008, the U.S. airline industry is expected to generate a profit next year.

Some forecasts are for a relatively small gain for airlines. The International Air Transport Association projects a $300 million profit for the entire North American airline industry next year, after estimating that 2008 losses will reach $5 billion.

But one airline analyst pegs the U.S. airline industry’s net income next year at $5 billion, which would equal 2007 levels. That number assumes oil at an average $80 a barrel, unit revenues for airlines growing and capacity well below 2008 levels.

There has been about a 10 percent reduction in the number of available seats since last year, all prompted by oil reaching nearly $150 a barrel earlier this year.

“The common wisdom is that airlines cannot shrink themselves to profitability,” said Michael Derchin, senior analyst with FTN Midwest in a recent report. “We disagree.”

Derchin argues that all the airlines have shrunk. Even Southwest Airlines, a low-cost carrier that historically has swooped in to fill the voids left by the carcasses of dead airlines, will be smaller next year than in 2008.

“In the past, others ate the lunch of the shrinking elephant. We are not seeing that today,” Derchin wrote. “In hindsight, taking 10 percent capacity out ahead of a recession was critical.”

The local airline industry has felt the effects of the industry downsizing. Kansas City International Airport has about 60 fewer daily departures compared with this time last year. In addition, cutbacks by American Airlines and Midwest Airlines have resulted in more than 500 area airline jobs disappearing this year.

Fewer flights, sharply higher fares and a recession have led to double-digit percentage passenger declines at KCI in the past few months. However, airport officials remain encouraged that airlines are looking at Kansas City for additional service as they reconfigure their networks in a down economy.

For the entire industry, aviation experts estimate that 500 airplanes have been taken out of operation this year as a result of airlines cutting flights and the disappearance of more than 30 carriers.

“In fact, the number of aircraft taken out of service in the past several months is the equivalent of one very large airline going out of business,” said Beverly Goulet, vice president of corporate development and treasurer of AMR Corp., American’s holding company