This growth has been achieved through the integration of operational efficiencies network planning, strategic code shares, marketing initiatives and on-time performance, all of which has helped the airline stay a step ahead, said Nikos Kardassis, CEO, Jet Airways.

Though the industry is not raking in huge profits, they are nevertheless reducing losses significantly, writes B S Arun

After seeing their earnings touch rock-bottom owing to a series of issues including the recent worldwide recession, there seems to a faint light at the end of the tunnel for the airlines industry both in India and around the globe. Not that the industry is raking in huge profits but losses are being reduced significantly. And that includes the crisis-ridden Air India!

Read full story at Deccanherald

JetLite, the wholly owned subsidiary of Jet Airways India Ltd, has also posted good seat factors of 85.3 per cent carrying over 4.02 lakh passengers in the month of May 2010. JetLite’s code share with Jet Airways has enabled the airline to enhance its penetration of the travelling market.

According to Nikos Kardassis, CEO, Jet Airways, “A record breaking eight months of consecutive growth ratifies the fact that Jet Airways has been able to capitalise on the upswing in domestic and global air traffic. This is largely due to the effective network planning and strategic marketing initiatives implemented in the past year which have enabled us to stay a step ahead of the growth curve in the Indian aviation sector. Our enhanced domestic and international network capabilities, coupled with strategic code-shares, have further helped us deliver seamless travel solutions to our discerning guests. Most importantly, the unwavering dedication and commitment displayed by the Jet Airways team has played a decisive role in Jet Airways consolidating its leadership position. A marked increase in demand for our premiere segment and growing popularity of the recently launched Konnect Select offering, further exemplifies our understanding of the dynamic needs of the Indian consumer.”

News Source – travelbizmonitor.com

According to Patna airport director Arvind Dubey: “Introduction of low-cost carriers, an increasing number of well-to-do Biharis settled outside Bihar who are fly to their native state and an improved law and order condition are the main contributors to this success story.”

There appears logic in his claim as low-cost carriers like Kingfisher Red, Jet Airways Konnect and IndiGo are offering daily flights to major destinations like Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore and Kolkata making things easy for those opting for aerial routes.

Aviation industry sources said increased economic activities in Bihar and investment opportunities too have contributed in a big way to this success story as many non-Biharis who earlier hesitated visiting the state are now coming here to explore business opportunities.

Jet Airways saw the best month ever for flights to India from the UK in March 2010, with seven months of consecutive growth since October 2009. The airline has been sustaining its seat factor for its international operations at over 75% reflecting continued high demand for Jet Airways’ award-winning product. Despite the turbulent economic climate, the carrier has continued to woo business guests onboard with ultra-high levels of service, making improvements in business class such as becoming the first airline to offer complimentary Dom Perignon Champagne.

The Indian market leader is now predicting that demand for business travel and front end traffic will help drive Jet Airways’ expansion in Europe.

Key priorities for 2010 for Jet include increasing expanding connectivity in the Middle East to match demand. A new daily flight to Doha, Qatar, from Delhi started in January 2010. Jet’s first daily direct service from Mumbai to Johannesburg launched on 14 April 2010, in time for the World Cup.

This demand has set alarm bells ringing in the aviation ministry as it’s the state government’s responsibility to provide connectivity to the upcoming new terminal 3 (T3). “Since the state was not able to provide an additional road link in time for the T3 opening in July, AAI offered to give this alternate route through airport land so that passengers are saved from jams on the single approach road. But AAI is not going to bear the financial burden of this project,” said a senior official. The project is expected to cost Rs 70 crore which the Delhi government has agreed to bear but any cost overrun may have to be borne by central agencies like DDA, but there is no agreement on that yet.

Worried that this latest problem may delay the crucial link to T3, the Delhi International Airport Pvt Ltd (DIAL) has written to the cabinet secretariat’s coordination wing that is looking after Commonwealth issues, including connectivity to IGI. The consortia has sought an urgent meeting of all stakeholders so that the tunnel road gets ready by the due date of September 30.

The ministry and DIAL’s worries stem from the fact that currently traffic to IGI is divided between the diametrically opposite domestic and international terminals. But T3, which will be inaugurated on July 3, will be an integrated domestic-cum-international terminal. International flights will be shifted there on July 14 from the existing international terminal. Domestic flights of Air India (domestic or erstwhile Indian Airlines), Jet, JetLite, Jet Airways Konnect, Kingfisher and Kingfisher Red will also operate to and from T3 from July 31. Only two big domestic carriers — IndiGo and SpiceJet — will operate out of 1D, that’s on the existing domestic side.

“Almost 90% of all fliers in and out of Delhi will be travelling towards the existing international terminal as T3 is right next door. With just the existing link road in front of Radisson, there will be massive jams, especially during peak traffic hours. Ideally, a new link road should have opened along with T3 but the state government did not show the required alertness,” said an official.

Dubai carrier loses $11 million a day in lost business and passenger accommodation, as volcano creates chaos.

Carrier has 20 per cent of its fleet grounded. Cancellation and accommodation costs running into millions for other global airlines. (SUPPLIED)

Emirates has so far incurred a total loss of $50 million (Dh183.5m) in revenues as a result of the flights disruptions caused by volcanic ash cloud from Iceland’s Eyjafjoell volcano that erupted on Wednesday last week.

“For Emirates, it has been a $50m loss of income so far over a period of five days by the way of losing $10m a day. In addition, we have lost another $5m (per day loss of $1m) in terms of accommodating the stranded passengers in Dubai hotels,” Tim Clark, President, Emirates airline, told Emirates Business. “These are losses which are coming straight out of our own pocket.”

The airline said it is providing accommodation for approximately 6,000 passengers who were in transit when the disruption began, and that, to date, over 80,000 passengers have been impacted by the ongoing disruption. Clark added that the airline has cancelled operations to all its UK and European routes due to the ongoing issue with the “exception of some”.

“We estimate it will take around 24 hours to get flight schedules back to normal,” said Clark, adding that the airline is not accepting passengers for travel to any European destinations excluding Moscow, Athens, Larnaca, Malta and Istanbul until April 20.

He further said that Emirates has had to ground 20 per cent of its fleet, with 30 planes on the ground as of now.

“We, along with the heads of other European carriers, are possibly seeking some relief and relaxation in terms of the shutdown of airspace. It does not have to be a complete shutdown,” Clark told Emirates Business. Meanwhile, the impact of the volcanic eruptions is being felt by almost all the Gulf carriers serving the UK and European destinations.

These include Etihad Airways, Qatar Airways, Oman Air and Gulf Air – they have all had to bear consequences, including economic, from the shutdown of UK and European airspace.

Flight restrictions have been extended in most parts of Europe until today and weather forecast predicts that the ash cloud could remain for many more days, leaving many airlines across the globe in a quandary.

Etihad Airways

Etihad Airways said yesterday its flight cancellations remain in place to the UK, Ireland, Belarus and the majority of its European destinations until further notice, due to the spread of volcanic ash cloud. The Abu Dhabi-based carrier also said that it has reinstated services to Moscow as of yesterday afternoon and that Moscow services will return to their normal operating schedule from today. The airline’s spokesperson told Emirates Business that about 2,500 passengers were stranded in the region and that their staying expenses were taken care of by the airline. However, the spokesperson denied to comment on the total loss that the airline had to incur due to this.

Oman Air

The flagship airline of Oman avowed that several Europe-bound passengers were stranded in the region. “We fly to London, Munich, Frankfurt and Paris. These flights have all been cancelled since the closure of European airspace. We have a few hundred passengers bound for Europe stranded in the region,” said the airline spokesperson. When asked about losses, he said: “It is currently too early to make a proper assessment on the losses incurred.”

Gulf Air

The Bahrain-based airline, too, cancelled its flights to the European subcontinent. The company’s websites stated it is monitoring the situation in the Europe. The carrier said in a statement the volcanic ash plume over European airspace has lead to the cancellation of its flights to and from London, Paris and Frankfurt. Around 32 flights have been affected since April 15, when these airports were declared closed, Gulf Air said. According to the company’s website, travellers can rebook their seats. “Passengers holding confirmed tickets on disrupted flights can also claim full or partial refund. No cancellation, refund, service charges, fees or penalties will be imposed,” the website stated.

Qatar Airways

Passengers flying in Qatar Airways remained stranded not just in the Middle East but also in India. While an e-mail sent to Qatar Airways about the current status of the situation went unanswered, the Doha-based carrier said earlier it has cancelled more than 40 flights scheduled for Friday and Saturday to and from European destinations. Affected destinations include Berlin, Copenhagen, London, Manchester, Munich, Paris and Stockholm.

Global scene

Flights from the Asia too were cancelled. Asian airline, cancelled flights and accommodation costs are running into millions of dollars for the airline. “If this continues, there will be an impact on the earnings of all big carriers,” Dow Jones quoted an officer from Asia.

Australian carrier Qantas, which uses Singapore as one of its major hubs for Europe-bound flights, has offered stranded passengers at Asian ports the opportunity to take flights back to Australia. It says about 10,000 passengers have in total been affected by cancellations. A spokeswoman for Qantas said it has about 1,000 passengers stranded in Singapore, with many now taking up the offer to return to Australia, DJ reported. Singapore Airlines, one of the biggest carriers in the world, said it has been unable to move many of its stranded passengers due to limited capacity on alternative routes. Singapore Airlines spokesperson Nicholas Ionides said the carrier has been cancelling around 20 flights to and from Europe daily, since the problem began.

“At this point, Rome and Athens airports are open to us,” said Ionides. “We have put all stranded passengers in hotels – we can’t put extra flights to open airports mainly because those airports have imposed restrictions and they are not accepting more flights.”

China Airlines, Taiwan’s largest airline by revenue, spent at least NT$5 million on chartering buses and a ferry to move passengers in Europe, a company’s public relation officer was quoted by DJ.

China Airlines, which operates flights to five destinations in Europe, diverted one London-bound flight on Thursday to Frankfurt, and chartered buses to transport the nearly 300 passengers to Paris from Frankfurt, and from Paris to London by ferry, the official who declined to be named, said.

Taiwan’s Tourism Bureau said currently there are 1,455 Taiwanese passengers in Europe awaiting return flights, but all tour groups leaving after Friday have already cancelled their flights. Mid-April is the beginning of the peak travel season to Europe, according to the bureau.

China Airlines and smaller rival EVA Airways posted on their websites that they have cancelled another 19 flights on Sunday and Monday to and from Europe, including connecting flights.

India’s Jet Airways said it will soon start routing some of its flights to the US and Canada via Athens. A spokeswoman for Jet said the airline has received permission from government authorities in the European Union and India to use Athens as a temporary transit point until London Heathrow and Brussels airports re-open.

A spokesman for another Indian carrier, Air India, also said that the airline is planning to fly to the US via alternative routes. Among other airlines, Cathay Pacific has now cancelled all its European flights to and from Hong Kong for Sunday, Monday and some flights even for Tuesday, with exception of those to Rome. Another 16 flights scheduled from Thursday to Sunday have been further delayed until at least Tuesday, it said. Flag carrier Air China said it has cancelled nine flights to Europe from Beijing and two from Shanghai that were scheduled for Sunday, a Dow Jones Newswires report said.

Revenue loss

International Air Transport Association or IATA on Sunday said in a recent statement that Airlines worldwide were losing at least $200m per day in revenue. “The estimate is conservative and does not include costs such as rerouting planes or caring for stranded passengers. Airlines worldwide will lose a collective $2.8bn in 2010 after an estimated $9.8bn cumulative loss last year, IATA had predicted last month.

Meanwhile, the Sydney-based Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation or Capa, gave a bigger estimate than IATA for lost industry revenue, saying a third day of disruptions could total $1bn, Capa’s Chief Operating Officer, Derek Sadubin was quoted by Bloomberg as saying this.

He said: “The lost revenue for the industry could be in the hundreds of millions, possibly as high as $1bn.” He added that some six million passengers would be affected if the shutdown of European airports continues. “It will take days to restore schedules, even if the scare is called off today,” stated Bloomberg, quoting Capa’s recent report.

Ash cloud brings in the cash for UAE hotels

Bindu Suresh Rai

As the volcanic ash cloud continues to create havoc, the biggest casualty in this disaster is the opening of the Armani Hotel Dubai, which has been delayed again with flights being grounded across Europe.

In a statement to Emirates Business, a spokesperson from Armani Hotel said: “Due to the unforeseen closure of European Aerospace and the subsequent cancellation of international flights, the much anticipated grand opening of Armani Hotel Dubai has been postponed from April 21 to April 27.”

It has been learned that designer, Giorgio Armani, along with a lieu of celebrities, were stranded in Europe, prompting local partners Emaar Properties to delay the opening of the Burj Khalifa property by six days.

However, a silver lining has emerged for the UAE’s hospitality industry at large, which is seeing 100 per cent occupancy levels in some cases as hotels struggle to accommodate air passengers stranded in Dubai and Abu Dhabi. Premier Inn is running at full occupancy across all three properties, as the budget chain takes in passengers from Emirates airline, which it partners with.

Similarly, hospitality giants Jumeirah Group, Rotana, Rezidor and the InterContinental Hotel Group (IHG) are also witnessing a surge in room bookings.

“We are completely booked across all three properties, however, the situation updates every 24 hours,” Darroch Crawford, Managing Director for Premier Inn Middle East, told Emirates Business. “However, there is no doubt hotels are taking advantage of the situation through rates, bookings and their F&B outlets.”

Similarly, Al Bustan Rotana Hotel is enjoying a 94 per cent occupancy. Helena Al Sayed, Director of Marketing and Communications for the hotel, said: “We are running at 94 per cent occupancy, with almost 30 per cent of that being passengers that have been stranded at the airport and those who have extended their stay due to their flights being cancelled.” Meanwhile, IHG sales teams have approached airlines to take in passengers.

Christian Pertl, Director of Sales and Marketing, IHG Dubai Festival City, said: “Our sales force proactively contacted all the major airlines to offer as much support as possible – this included calls to Virgin Atlantic, British Airways, Lufthansa, Air France and Emirates. We accommodated as many rooms as we could offer.”

However, Pertl added that they did not notice a definite surge in occupancy as their existing properties, InterContinental Dubai Festival City and the Crowne Plaza Hotel, were already at near capacity.

While some hotels had to turn away passengers because they were full, a spokesperson from Jumeirah Group said: “We have been able to accommodate all our guests that have been affected within Jumeirah Hotels.”

Hotels in the capital were also enjoying the boom, with Rezidor Group’s Park Inn and Radisson Blu Abu Dhabi, Yas Island, completely booked out.

Torbjorn Bodin, General Manager Radisson Blu Hotel, Abu Dhabi Yas Island, said: “Both our properties here are fully occupied, with the make-up of the residents being largely those that were in-house guests before the flight situation arose and are now unable to leave for Europe.”

Source – news.oneindia.in

Jet Airways, Air India to resume flights from midnight

Mumbai, Apr 18 (ANI): The director-general of civil aviation on Sunday gave “go ahead”to Jet Airways and Air India to resume their flights to and from the US and Canada via Athens in Greece from Monday.

According to the Jet Airways, the chosen route would avoid the volcanic ash that is currently affecting European airspace.

The airline also plans to resume flights to London and Brussels as soon as London Heathrow and Brussels airports re-open.

As a goodwill gesture, in case of cancellation or rescheduling of passengers’ travel plans, Jet Airways has decided to waive off all penalties.

Meanwhile, the national carrier, Air India, has decided to resume its flight to the US from Monday.

The airline will operate its non-stop Boeing 777-200 LR flights, on the Mumbai-New York-Mumbai and Delhi-New York-Delhi sectors.

However, these flights will operate through alternative routes, in view of closure of the European Airspace.

As there is a backlog of passengers due to flight cancellations over the past few days, passengers are advised to contact Air India before proceeding to the Airport.

The call centre numbers from India are: 1800 22 77 22, 0124 2877 777; from USA – 1800 223 7776. (ANI)

Emirates loses $50m in income to volcanic ash

Dubai carrier loses $11 million a day in lost business and passenger accommodation, as volcano creates chaos.

By

• Shweta Jain and Sachin Dave

Published Monday, April 19, 2010

Carrier has 20 per cent of its fleet grounded. Cancellation and accommodation costs running into millions for other global airlines. (SUPPLIED)

Emirates has so far incurred a total loss of $50 million (Dh183.5m) in revenues as a result of the flights disruptions caused by volcanic ash cloud from Iceland’s Eyjafjoell volcano that erupted on Wednesday last week.

“For Emirates, it has been a $50m loss of income so far over a period of five days by the way of losing $10m a day. In addition, we have lost another $5m (per day loss of $1m) in terms of accommodating the stranded passengers in Dubai hotels,” Tim Clark, President, Emirates airline, told Emirates Business. “These are losses which are coming straight out of our own pocket.”

The airline said it is providing accommodation for approximately 6,000 passengers who were in transit when the disruption began, and that, to date, over 80,000 passengers have been impacted by the ongoing disruption. Clark added that the airline has cancelled operations to all its UK and European routes due to the ongoing issue with the “exception of some”.

“We estimate it will take around 24 hours to get flight schedules back to normal,” said Clark, adding that the airline is not accepting passengers for travel to any European destinations excluding Moscow, Athens, Larnaca, Malta and Istanbul until April 20.

He further said that Emirates has had to ground 20 per cent of its fleet, with 30 planes on the ground as of now.

“We, along with the heads of other European carriers, are possibly seeking some relief and relaxation in terms of the shutdown of airspace. It does not have to be a complete shutdown,” Clark told Emirates Business. Meanwhile, the impact of the volcanic eruptions is being felt by almost all the Gulf carriers serving the UK and European destinations.

These include Etihad Airways, Qatar Airways, Oman Air and Gulf Air – they have all had to bear consequences, including economic, from the shutdown of UK and European airspace.

Flight restrictions have been extended in most parts of Europe until today and weather forecast predicts that the ash cloud could remain for many more days, leaving many airlines across the globe in a quandary.

Etihad Airways

Etihad Airways said yesterday its flight cancellations remain in place to the UK, Ireland, Belarus and the majority of its European destinations until further notice, due to the spread of volcanic ash cloud. The Abu Dhabi-based carrier also said that it has reinstated services to Moscow as of yesterday afternoon and that Moscow services will return to their normal operating schedule from today. The airline’s spokesperson told Emirates Business that about 2,500 passengers were stranded in the region and that their staying expenses were taken care of by the airline. However, the spokesperson denied to comment on the total loss that the airline had to incur due to this.

Oman Air

The flagship airline of Oman avowed that several Europe-bound passengers were stranded in the region. “We fly to London, Munich, Frankfurt and Paris. These flights have all been cancelled since the closure of European airspace. We have a few hundred passengers bound for Europe stranded in the region,” said the airline spokesperson. When asked about losses, he said: “It is currently too early to make a proper assessment on the losses incurred.”

Gulf Air

The Bahrain-based airline, too, cancelled its flights to the European subcontinent. The company’s websites stated it is monitoring the situation in the Europe. The carrier said in a statement the volcanic ash plume over European airspace has lead to the cancellation of its flights to and from London, Paris and Frankfurt. Around 32 flights have been affected since April 15, when these airports were declared closed, Gulf Air said. According to the company’s website, travellers can rebook their seats. “Passengers holding confirmed tickets on disrupted flights can also claim full or partial refund. No cancellation, refund, service charges, fees or penalties will be imposed,” the website stated.

Qatar Airways

Passengers flying in Qatar Airways remained stranded not just in the Middle East but also in India. While an e-mail sent to Qatar Airways about the current status of the situation went unanswered, the Doha-based carrier said earlier it has cancelled more than 40 flights scheduled for Friday and Saturday to and from European destinations. Affected destinations include Berlin, Copenhagen, London, Manchester, Munich, Paris and Stockholm.

Global scene

Flights from the Asia too were cancelled. Asian airline, cancelled flights and accommodation costs are running into millions of dollars for the airline. “If this continues, there will be an impact on the earnings of all big carriers,” Dow Jones quoted an officer from Asia.

Australian carrier Qantas, which uses Singapore as one of its major hubs for Europe-bound flights, has offered stranded passengers at Asian ports the opportunity to take flights back to Australia. It says about 10,000 passengers have in total been affected by cancellations. A spokeswoman for Qantas said it has about 1,000 passengers stranded in Singapore, with many now taking up the offer to return to Australia, DJ reported. Singapore Airlines, one of the biggest carriers in the world, said it has been unable to move many of its stranded passengers due to limited capacity on alternative routes. Singapore Airlines spokesperson Nicholas Ionides said the carrier has been cancelling around 20 flights to and from Europe daily, since the problem began.

“At this point, Rome and Athens airports are open to us,” said Ionides. “We have put all stranded passengers in hotels – we can’t put extra flights to open airports mainly because those airports have imposed restrictions and they are not accepting more flights.”

China Airlines, Taiwan’s largest airline by revenue, spent at least NT$5 million on chartering buses and a ferry to move passengers in Europe, a company’s public relation officer was quoted by DJ.

China Airlines, which operates flights to five destinations in Europe, diverted one London-bound flight on Thursday to Frankfurt, and chartered buses to transport the nearly 300 passengers to Paris from Frankfurt, and from Paris to London by ferry, the official who declined to be named, said.

Taiwan’s Tourism Bureau said currently there are 1,455 Taiwanese passengers in Europe awaiting return flights, but all tour groups leaving after Friday have already cancelled their flights. Mid-April is the beginning of the peak travel season to Europe, according to the bureau.

China Airlines and smaller rival EVA Airways posted on their websites that they have cancelled another 19 flights on Sunday and Monday to and from Europe, including connecting flights.

India’s Jet Airways said it will soon start routing some of its flights to the US and Canada via Athens. A spokeswoman for Jet said the airline has received permission from government authorities in the European Union and India to use Athens as a temporary transit point until London Heathrow and Brussels airports re-open.

A spokesman for another Indian carrier, Air India, also said that the airline is planning to fly to the US via alternative routes. Among other airlines, Cathay Pacific has now cancelled all its European flights to and from Hong Kong for Sunday, Monday and some flights even for Tuesday, with exception of those to Rome. Another 16 flights scheduled from Thursday to Sunday have been further delayed until at least Tuesday, it said. Flag carrier Air China said it has cancelled nine flights to Europe from Beijing and two from Shanghai that were scheduled for Sunday, a Dow Jones Newswires report said.

Revenue loss

International Air Transport Association or IATA on Sunday said in a recent statement that Airlines worldwide were losing at least $200m per day in revenue. “The estimate is conservative and does not include costs such as rerouting planes or caring for stranded passengers. Airlines worldwide will lose a collective $2.8bn in 2010 after an estimated $9.8bn cumulative loss last year, IATA had predicted last month.

Meanwhile, the Sydney-based Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation or Capa, gave a bigger estimate than IATA for lost industry revenue, saying a third day of disruptions could total $1bn, Capa’s Chief Operating Officer, Derek Sadubin was quoted by Bloomberg as saying this.

He said: “The lost revenue for the industry could be in the hundreds of millions, possibly as high as $1bn.” He added that some six million passengers would be affected if the shutdown of European airports continues. “It will take days to restore schedules, even if the scare is called off today,” stated Bloomberg, quoting Capa’s recent report.

Ash cloud brings in the cash for UAE hotels

Bindu Suresh Rai

As the volcanic ash cloud continues to create havoc, the biggest casualty in this disaster is the opening of the Armani Hotel Dubai, which has been delayed again with flights being grounded across Europe.

In a statement to Emirates Business, a spokesperson from Armani Hotel said: “Due to the unforeseen closure of European Aerospace and the subsequent cancellation of international flights, the much anticipated grand opening of Armani Hotel Dubai has been postponed from April 21 to April 27.”

It has been learned that designer, Giorgio Armani, along with a lieu of celebrities, were stranded in Europe, prompting local partners Emaar Properties to delay the opening of the Burj Khalifa property by six days.

However, a silver lining has emerged for the UAE’s hospitality industry at large, which is seeing 100 per cent occupancy levels in some cases as hotels struggle to accommodate air passengers stranded in Dubai and Abu Dhabi. Premier Inn is running at full occupancy across all three properties, as the budget chain takes in passengers from Emirates airline, which it partners with.

Similarly, hospitality giants Jumeirah Group, Rotana, Rezidor and the InterContinental Hotel Group (IHG) are also witnessing a surge in room bookings.

“We are completely booked across all three properties, however, the situation updates every 24 hours,” Darroch Crawford, Managing Director for Premier Inn Middle East, told Emirates Business. “However, there is no doubt hotels are taking advantage of the situation through rates, bookings and their F&B outlets.”

Similarly, Al Bustan Rotana Hotel is enjoying a 94 per cent occupancy. Helena Al Sayed, Director of Marketing and Communications for the hotel, said: “We are running at 94 per cent occupancy, with almost 30 per cent of that being passengers that have been stranded at the airport and those who have extended their stay due to their flights being cancelled.” Meanwhile, IHG sales teams have approached airlines to take in passengers.

Christian Pertl, Director of Sales and Marketing, IHG Dubai Festival City, said: “Our sales force proactively contacted all the major airlines to offer as much support as possible – this included calls to Virgin Atlantic, British Airways, Lufthansa, Air France and Emirates. We accommodated as many rooms as we could offer.”

However, Pertl added that they did not notice a definite surge in occupancy as their existing properties, InterContinental Dubai Festival City and the Crowne Plaza Hotel, were already at near capacity.

While some hotels had to turn away passengers because they were full, a spokesperson from Jumeirah Group said: “We have been able to accommodate all our guests that have been affected within Jumeirah Hotels.”

Hotels in the capital were also enjoying the boom, with Rezidor Group’s Park Inn and Radisson Blu Abu Dhabi, Yas Island, completely booked out.

Torbjorn Bodin, General Manager Radisson Blu Hotel, Abu Dhabi Yas Island, said: “Both our properties here are fully occupied, with the make-up of the residents being largely those that were in-house guests before the flight situation arose and are now unable to leave for Europe.”

The growth since June 2009 (since when the negative growth got reversed) was led by mainly by budget flying. The combined market share of pure LCCs (low-cost carriers) like IndiGo, SpiceJet, JetLite and Go Air is close to 40%. With Jet and Kingfisher now deploying almost 70-80% of their domestic fleet on budget brands like Jet Airways Konnect and Kingfisher Airlines Booking, the share of LCC is close to 70% now. National carrier Air India (domestic) with a 17.8% share is the only airline without a domestic LCC and now finds leading budget carrier IndiGo closely snapping at its heels.

The lean travel month of March saw passenger load factors of airlines going down from impressive 80-90% highs in the December to February. Big players saw their loads in the range of 74% (IndiGo) to 66.5% (AI-domestic). Pure LCCs enjoyed the highest loads with Jet and Kingfisher remaining above 70% due to a huge deployment of their planes on budget segment.

In a note to clients on Tuesday, Sachin Gupta, analyst, HSBC Securities and Capital Markets, said, “The company (Jet) expects the supply and demand situation to stay tight in FY11 and the overall load factor to improve by 4 percentage points. Jet Airways expects yield to improve by 10-15% in the first quarter of FY11. International operations have also stabilised with most routes breaking even.”

Kapil Kaul, chief executive officer of airline consultancy firm, Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation (Capa), backed this forecast saying his company had predicted Jet’s turnaround in January itself.

“We had said in our report in January that Jet will record net profit in FY11, which means it will have net profit in Q1, Q3 and Q4,” he said.

Kaul said there are several factors fueling the full service carrier’s profitability.

“First, we expect a strong domestic demand, which will push up traffic growth to over 15%. International sector will also grow at 10-12%. Overall yield is expected to grow 5-7% in FY11. In Q3, it will grow at 10%.”

The Capa’s India chief said Jet’s prudence in cutting capacity and cost base has helped it fly towards profitability. “On the international routes, it reduced capacity by using A330 instead of B777 and on many routes it has taken off A330 and is using A320,” he said.

A few days back, the company said it is close to breaking even on its US routes.

In December last year, the company had achieved break-even at the operating level.

According to an analyst with a domestic research firm, buoyant local demand and stabilisation of operations on the international sector will help Jet.

The airline has also been able to improve its fleet utilisation after dry-leasing three aircraft to Thai Airways and four to Turkish Airways. The company will earn over $1 million per aircraft per month through aircraft lease deals.

“This should improve overall fleet utilisation in international operations and result in cost savings of $27 million in this fiscal,” Gupta wrote in his report.

“The company’s domestic passenger traffic is likely to grow 12-15% in FY11 and industry supply is seen growing at 6% (net addition of 12-14 fleet in the overall industry by Spicejet and Indigo). This should lead to an overall improvement in the load factor,” he added.

The HSBC analyst said Jet expects a 76% load factor for domestic operations in FY11 and 83% in international operations.
His note also said that the company is seeing very strong advance bookings for April and May and was expecting a load factor of 80% for the first quarter.

For tickets booked beyond 14 days, yields are already up by 5-6%. The company expects yield to improve by 10-15% for the same period.

In 2008-09, the company’s losses were Rs 470 crore but in the December quarter it made net profit of slightly over Rs 100 crore.
Capa’s Kaul said Indian airline industry, excluding state-owned Air India, would log in a profit of $250-300 million in the domestic sector in FY11.